Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume I Part 16

And at last Sir Mathewe Reedman's hors foundered, and fell under hym.

Than he stept forthe on the erthe, and drewe oute his swerde, and toke corage to defend himselfe. And the Scotte thoughte to have stryken hym on the brest, but Sir Mathewe Reedman swerved fro the stroke, and the speare point entred into the erthe. Than Sir Mathewe strake asonder the speare wyth his swerde. And whan Sir James Limsay sawe howe he had lost his speare, he cast away the tronchon, and lyghted a-fote, and toke a lytell battell-axe, that he carryed at his backe, and handled it with his one hand, quickly and delyverly, in the whyche feate Scottes be well experte. And than he set at Sir Mathewe, and he defended himselfe properly. Thus they journeyed toguyder, one with an axe, and the other with a swerde, a longe season, and no man to lette them. Fynally, Sir James Limsay gave the knyght such strokes, and helde him so shorte, that he was putte out of brethe in such wyse, that he yelded himselfe, and sayde,--'Sir James Limsay, I yeld me to you.'--'Well,' quod he; 'and I receyve you, rescue or no rescue.'--'I am content,' quod Reedman, 'so ye dele wyth me like a good companyon.'--'I shall not fayle that,' quod Limsay, and so put up his swerde. 'Well,' said Reedman, 'what will ye nowe that I shall do? I am your prisoner; ye have conquered me; I wolde gladly go agayn to Newcastell, and, within fiftene dayes, I shall come to you into Scotlande, where as ye shall a.s.signe me.'--'I am content,' quod Limsay; 'ye shall promyse, by your faythe, to present yourselfe, within these foure wekes, at Edinborowe; and wheresoever ye go, to repute yourselfe my prisoner.' All this Sir Mathewe sware, and promised to fulfil."

The warriors parted upon these liberal terms, and Reedman returned to Newcastle. But Lindsay had scarcely ridden a mile, when he met the bishop of Durham, with 500 horse, whom he rode towards, believing them to be Scottish, until he was too near them to escape. The bysshoppe stepte to him, and sayde, 'Limsay, ye are taken; yelde ye to me.'--'Who be you?' quod Limsay. 'I am,' quod he, 'the bysshoppe of Durham.'--'And fro whens come you, sir?' quod Limsay. 'I come fro the battell,' quod the bysshoppe, 'but I strucke never a stroke there. I go backe to Newcastell for this night, and ye shal go with me.'--'I may not chuse,' quod Limsay, 'sith ye will have it so. I have taken, and I am taken; suche is the adventures of armes.' Lindsay was accordingly conveyed to the bishop's lodgings in Newcastle, and here he was met by his prisoner, Sir Matthew Reedman; who founde hym in a studye, lying in a windowe, and sayde, 'What! Sir James Lindsay, what make you here?' Than Sir James came forth of the study to him, and saydc, 'By my fayth, Sir Mathewe, fortune hath brought me hyder; for, as soon as I was departed fro you, I mete by chaunce the bisshoppe of Durham, to whom I am prisoner, as ye be to me. I beleve ye shall not nede to come to Edenborowe to me to mak your fynaunce. I thynk, rather, we shall make an exchange one for another, if the bysshoppe be also contente.'--'Well, sir,' quod Reedman, 'we shall accord ryghte well toguyder; ye shall dine this day with me: the bysshoppe and our men be gone forth to fyght with your men. I can nat tell what we shall know at their retourne.'--'I am content to dyne with you,'

quod Limsay."--_Froissart's Chronicle_, translated by Bourchier, Lord Berners, Vol. I, chap. 146.

_O gran bonta de' cavalieri antiqui!

Eran rivali, eran di fe diversi; E si sentian, de gli aspri colpi iniqui, Per tutta la persona anco dolersi; E pur per selve oscure, e calle inqui Insieme van senza sospetto aversi._ L'Orlando.

_But the Jardines wald not with him ride_.--P. 64. v. 2.

The Jardines were a clan of hardy west-border men. Their chief was Jardine of Applegirth. Their refusal to ride with Douglas was, probably, the result of one of those perpetual feuds, which usually rent to pieces a Scottish army.

_And he that had a bonny boy, Sent out his horse to gra.s.s_.--P. 67. v, 4.

Froissard describes a Scottish host, of the same period, as consisting of "IIII. M. men of armes, knightis, and squires, mounted on good horses; and other X.M. men of warre armed, after their gyse, right hardy and firse, mounted on lytle hackneys, the whiche were never tyed, nor kept at hard meat, but lette go to pasture in the fieldis and bushes."--_Cronykle of Froissart_, translated by Lord Berners, Chap. xvii.

THE SANG OF THE OUTLAW MURRAY.

This ballad appears to have been composed about the reign of James V.

It commemorates a transaction, supposed to have taken place betwixt a Scottish monarch, and an ancestor of the ancient family of Murray of Philiphaugh in Selkirkshire. The editor is unable to ascertain the historical foundation of the tale; nor is it probable that any light can be thrown upon the subject, without an accurate examination of the family charter chest. It is certain, that, during the civil wars betwixt Bruce and Baliol, the family of Philiphaugh existed, and was powerful; for their ancestor, Archibald de Moravia, subscribes the oath of fealty to Edward I.A.D. 1296. It is, therefore, not unlikely, that, residing in a wild and frontier country, they may have, at one period or other, during these commotions, refused allegiance to the feeble monarch of the day, and thus extorted from him some grant of territory or jurisdiction. It is also certain, that, by a charter from James IV., dated November 30, 1509, John Murray of Philiphaugh is vested with the dignity of heritable sheriff of Ettrick Forest, an office held by his descendants till the final abolition of such jurisdictions by 28th George II. cap. 23. But it seems difficult to believe that the circ.u.mstances, mentioned in the ballad, could occur under the reign of so vigorous a monarch as James IV. It is true, that the _Dramatis Personae_ introduced seem to refer to the end of the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth, century; but from this it can only be argued, that the author himself lived soon after that period. It may, therefore, be supposed (unless farther evidence can be produced, tending to invalidate the conclusion), that the bard, willing to pay his court to the family, has connected the grant of the sheriffship by James IV. with some further dispute betwixt the Murrays of Philiphaugh and their sovereign, occurring, either while they were engaged upon the side of Baliol, or in the subsequent reigns of David II. and Robert II. and III., when the English possessed great part of the Scottish frontier, and the rest was in so lawless a state as hardly to acknowledge any superior. At the same time, this reasoning is not absolutely conclusive. James IV. had particular reasons for desiring that Ettrick Forest, which actually formed part of the jointure lands of Margaret, his queen, should be kept in a state of tranquillity.--_Rymer_, Vol. XIII. p. 66. In order to accomplish this object, it was natural for him, according to the policy of his predecessors to invest one great family with the power of keeping order among the rest. It is even probable, that the Philiphaugh family may have had claims upon part of the lordship of Ettrick Forest, which lay intermingled with their own extensive possessions; and, in the course of arranging, not indeed the feudal superiority, but the property, of these lands, a dispute may have arisen, of sufficient importance to be the ground-work of a ballad.--It is farther probable, that the Murrays, like other border clans, were in a very lawless state, and held their lands merely by occupancy, without any feudal right. Indeed, the lands of the various proprietors in Ettrick Forest (being a royal demesne) were held by the possessors, not in property, but as the kindly tenants, or rentallers, of the crown; and it is only about 150 years since they obtained charters, striking the feu-duty of each proprietor, at the rate of the quit-rent, which he formerly paid.

This state of possession naturally led to a confusion of rights and claims. The kings of Scotland were often reduced to the humiliating necessity of compromising such matters with their rebellious subjects, and James himself even entered into a sort of league with Johnie Faa, the king of the gypsies.--Perhaps, therefore, the tradition, handed down in this song, may have had more foundation than it would at present be proper positively to a.s.sert.

The merit of this beautiful old tale, it is thought, will be fully acknowledged. It has been, for ages, a popular song in Selkirkshire.

The scene is, by the common people, supposed to have been the castle of Newark, upon Yarrow. This is highly improbable, because Newark was always a royal fortress. Indeed, the late excellent antiquarian Mr.

Plummer, sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire, has a.s.sured the editor, that he remembered the _insignia_ of the unicorns, &c. so often mentioned in the ballad, in existence upon the old tower at Hangingshaw, the seat of the Philiphaugh family; although, upon first perusing a copy of the ballad, he was inclined to subscribe to the popular opinion.

The tower of Hangingshaw has been demolished for many years. It stood in a romantic and solitary situation, on the cla.s.sical banks of the Yarrow. When the mountains around Hangingshaw were covered with the wild copse which const.i.tuted a Scottish forest, a more secure strong-hold for an outlawed baron can hardly be imagined.

The tradition of Ettrick Forest bears, that the Outlaw was a man of prodigious strength, possessing a batton or club, with which he laid _lee_ (i.e. waste) the country for many miles round; and that he was at length slain by Buccleuch, or some of his clan, at a little mount, covered with fir-trees, adjoining to Newark castle, and said to have been a part of the garden. A varying tradition bears the place of his death to have been near to the house of the Duke of Buccleuch's game-keeper, beneath the castle; and, that the fatal arrow was shot by Scot of Haining, from the ruins of a cottage on the opposite side of the Yarrow. There was extant, within these twenty years, some verses of a song on his death. The feud betwixt the Outlaw and the Scotts may serve to explain the asperity, with which the chieftain of that clan is handled in the ballad.

In publishing the following ballad, the copy princ.i.p.ally resorted to is one, apparently of considerable antiquity, which was found among the papers of the late Mrs. c.o.c.kburn, of Edinburgh, a lady whose memory will be long honoured by all who knew her. Another copy, much more imperfect, is to be found in Glenriddel's MSS. The names are in this last miserably mangled, as is always the case when ballads are taken down from the recitation of persons living at a distance from the scenes in which they are laid. Mr. Plummer also gave the editor a few additional verses, not contained in either copy, which are thrown into what seemed their proper place. There is yet another copy, in Mr.

Herd's MSS., which has been occasionally made use of. Two verses are restored in the present edition, from the recitation of Mr. Mungo Park, whose toils, during his patient and intrepid travels in Africa, have not eradicated from his recollection the legendary lore of his native country.

The arms of the Philiphaugh family are said by tradition to allude to their outlawed state. They are indeed those of a huntsman, and are blazoned thus; Argent, a hunting horn sable, stringed and garnished gules, on a chief azure, three stars of the first. Crest, a Demi Forester, winding his horn, proper. Motto, _Hinc usque superna venabor_.

THE SANG OF THE OUTLAW MURRAY.

Ettricke Foreste is a feir foreste, In it grows manie a semelie trie; There's hart and hynd, and dae and rae, And of a' wilde beastes grete plentie.

There's a feir castelle, bigged wi' lyme and stane; O! gin it stands not pleasauntlie!

In the forefront o' that castelle feir, Twa unicorns are bra' to see; There's the picture of a knight, and a ladye bright, And the grene hollin abune their brie.[106]

There an Outlaw keeps five hundred men; He keepis a royalle c.u.mpanie!

His merryemen are a' in ae liverye clad, O' the Liukome grene saye gaye to see; He and his ladye in purple clad, O! gin they lived not royallie!

Word is gane to our n.o.bil king, In Edinburgh, where that he lay, That there was an Outlaw in Ettricke Foreste, Counted him nought, nor a' his courtrie gay.

"I make a vowe," then the gude king said, Unto the man that deir bought me, "I'se either be king of Ettricke Foreste, Or king of Scotlonde that Outlaw sail be!"

Then spak the lord, hight Hamilton, And to the n.o.bil king said he, "My sovereign prince, sum counsell take, First at your n.o.bilis, syne at me.

"I redd ye, send yon braw Outlaw till, And see gif your man c.u.m will he: Desyre him c.u.m and be your man, And hald of you yon Foreste frie.

"Gif he refuses to do that, We'll conquess baith his landis and he!

Or else, we'll throw his castell down, And make a widowe o' his gay ladye."

The king then call'd a gentleman, James Boyd, (the Earl of Arran his brother was he) When James he cam befor the king, He knelit befor him on his kne.

"Wellc.u.m, James Boyd!" said our n.o.bil king; "A message ye maun gang for me; Ye maun hye to Ettricke Foreste, To yon Outlaw, where bydeth he:

"Ask him of whom he haldis his landis, Or man, wha may his master be, And desyre him c.u.m, and be my man, And hald of me yon Foreste frie.

"To Edinburgh to c.u.m and gang, His safe warrant I sall gie; And gif he refuses to do that, We'll conquess baith his landis and he.

"Thou may'st vow I'll cast his castell down, And mak a widowe o' his gay ladye; I'll hang his merryemen, payr by payr, In ony frith where I may them see."

James Boyd tuik his leave o' the n.o.bil king, To Ettricke Foreste feir cam he; Down Birkendale Brae when that he cam, He saw the feir Foreste wi' his e'e.

Baithe dae and rae, and hart and hinde, And of a' wilde beastis great plentie; He heard the bows that bauldly ring, And arrows whidderan' hym near bi.

Of that feir castell he got a sight; The like he neir saw wi' his e'e!

On the fore front o' that castell feir, Twa unicorns were gaye to see; The picture of a knight, and a ladye bright, And the grene hollin abune their brie.

Thereat he spyed five hundred men, Shuting with bows on Newark Lee;

They were a' in ae livery clad, O' the Lincome grene sae gaye to see.

His men were a' clad in the grene, The knight was armed capapie, With a bended bow, on a milk-white steed; And I wot they ranked right bonilie.

Thereby Boyd kend he was master man, And serv'd him in his ain degre.

"G.o.d mot thee save, brave Outlaw Murray!

Thy ladye, and all thy chyvalrie!"

"Marry, thou's wellc.u.m, gentelman, Some king's messenger thou seemis to be."

"The king of Scotlonde sent me here, And, gude Outlaw, I am sent to thee; I wad wot of whom ye hald your landis, Or man, wha may thy master be?"