Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume I Part 32

I'll guide ye a' right safely thro'; Lift ye the pris'ner on ahint me."

Wi' that the water they hae ta'en, By ane's and twa's they a' swam thro'; "Here are we a' safe," quo' the Laird's Jock, "And, puir faint Wat, what think ye now?"

They scarce the other brae had won, When twenty men they saw pursue; Frae Newcastle toun they had been sent, A' English lads baith stout and true.

But when the land-serjeant the water saw, "It winna ride, my lads," says he; Then cried aloud--"The prisoner take, But leave the fetters, I pray, to me."

"I wat weil no," quo' the Laird's Jock; "I'll keep them a'; shoon to my mare they'll be, My gude bay mare--for I am sure, She has bought them a' right dear frae thee."

Sae now they are on to Liddesdale, E'en as fast as they could them hie; The prisoner is brought to's ain fire side, And there o's airns they mak him free.

"Now, Jock, my billie," quo' a' the three, "The day is com'd thou was to die; But thou's as weil at thy ain ingle side, Now sitting, I think, 'twixt thee and me."

[Footnote 174: _Spaits_--Torrents.]

[Footnote 175: _Caugers_--Carriers.]

[Footnote 176: _Branks and brecham_--Halter and cart-collar.]

[Footnote 177: _Mese_--Soothe.]

[Footnote 178: _Cholerford brae_--A ford upon the Tyne, above Hexham.]

[Footnote 179: _Fie_--Predestined.]

HOBBIE n.o.bLE.

We have seen the hero of this ballad act a distinguished part in the deliverance of Jock o' the Side, and are now to learn the ungrateful return which the Armstrongs made him for his faithful services.[180]

Halbert, or Hobbie n.o.ble, appears to have been one of those numerous English outlaws, who, being forced to fly their own country, had established themselves on the Scottish borders. As Hobbie continued his depredations upon the English, they bribed some of his hosts, the Armstrongs, to decoy him into England, under pretence of a predatory expedition. He was there delivered, by his treacherous companions, into the hands of the officers of justice, by whom he was conducted to Carlisle, and executed next morning. The laird of Mangerton, with whom Hobbie was in high favour, is said to have taken a severe revenge upon the traitors who betrayed him. The princ.i.p.al contriver of the scheme, called here Sim o' the Maynes, fled into England from the resentment of his chief; but experienced there the common fate of a traitor, being himself executed at Carlisle, about two months after Hobbie's death. Such is, at least, the tradition of Liddesdale. Sim o' the Maynes appears among the Armstrongs of Whitauch, in Liddesdale, in the list of clans so often alluded to.

[Footnote 180: The original editor of the _Reliques of Ancient Poetry_ has noticed the perfidy of this clan in another instance; the delivery of the banished Earl of Northumberland into the hands of the Scottish regent, by Hector of Harelaw, an Armstrong, with whom he had taken refuge.--_Reliques of Ancient Poetry_, Vol. I. p. 283. This Hector of Harelaw seems to have been an Englishman, or under English a.s.surance; for he is one of those, against whom bills were exhibited, by the Scottish commissioners, to the lord-bishop of Carlisle.--_Introduction to the History of Westmoreland and c.u.mberland_, p. 81. In the list of borderers, 1597, Hector of Harelaw, with the Griefs and Cuts of Harelaw, also figures as an inhabitant of the Debateable Land. It would appear, from a spirited invective in the Maitland MSS. against the regent, and those who delivered up the unfortunate earl to Elizabeth, that Hector had been guilty of this treachery, to redeem the pledge which had been exacted from him for his peaceable demeanour. The poet says, that the perfidy of Morton and Lochlevin was worse than even that of--

--the traitour Eckie of Harelaw, That says he sould him to redeem his pledge; Your deed is war, as all the world does know-- You nothing can but covatice alledge.

_Pinkerton's Maitland Poems_, Vol. II. p. 290.

Eckie is the contraction of Hector among the vulgar.

These little memoranda may serve still farther to ill.u.s.trate the beautiful ballads, upon that subject, published in the _Reliques_.]

Kershope-burn, where Hobbie met his treacherous companions, falls into the Liddel, from the English side, at a place called Turnersholm, where, according to tradition, turneys and games of chivalry were often solemnized. The Mains was anciently a border-keep, near Castletoun, on the north side of the Liddel, but is now totally demolished.

Askerton is an old castle, now ruinous, situated in the wilds of c.u.mberland, about seventeen miles north-east of Carlisle, amidst that mountainous and desolate tract of country, bordering upon Liddesdale, emphatically termed the Waste of Bewcastle. Conscouthart Green, and Rodric-haugh, and the Foulbogshiel, are the names of places in the same wilds, through which the Scottish plunderers generally made their raids upon England; as appears from the following pa.s.sage in a letter from William, Lord Dacre, to Cardinal Wolsey, 18th July, 1528; _Appendix to Pinkerton's Scotland_, v. 12, No. XIX. "Like it also your grace, seeing the disordour within Scotlaund, and that all the mysguyded men, borderers of the same, inhabiting within Eskdale, Ewsdale, Walghopedale, Liddesdale, and a part of Tividale, foranempt Bewcastelldale, and a part of the middle marches of this the king's bordours, entres not this west and middle marches, to do any attemptate to the king our said soveraine's subjects: but thaye come throrow Bewcastelldale, and retornes, for the most part, the same waye agayne."

Willeva and Speir Edom are small districts in Bewcastledale, through which also the Hartlie-burn takes its course.

Of the castle of Mangertoun, so often mentioned in these ballads, there are very few vestiges. It was situated on the banks of the Liddel, below Castletoun. In the wall of a neighbouring mill, which has been entirely built from the ruins of the tower, there is a remarkable stone, bearing the arms of the lairds of Mangertoun, and a long broad-sword, with the figures 1583; probably the date of building, or repairing, the castle. On each side of the shield are the letters S.A. and E.E. standing probably for Simon Armstrong, and Elizabeth Elliot. Such is the only memorial of the laird of Mangertoun, except those rude ballads, which the editor now offers to the public.

HOBBIE n.o.bLE.

Foul fa' the breast first treason bred in!

That Liddesdale may safely say: For in it there was baith meat and drink, And corn unto our geldings gay.

And we were a' stout-hearted men, As England she might often say; But now we may turn our backs and flee, Since brave n.o.ble is sold away.

Now Hobbie was an English man, And born into Bewcastle dale; But his misdeeds they were sae great, They banish'd him to Liddesdale.

At Kershope foot the tryst was set, Kershope of the lilye lee; And there was traitor Sim o' the Mains, And with him a private companie.

Then Hobbie has graithed his body fair, Baith wi' the iron and wi' the steil; And he has ta'en out his fringed grey, And there, brave Hobbie, he rade him weel.

Then Hobbie is down the water gane, E'en as fast as he could his; Tho' a' should hae bursten and broken their hearts, Frae that riding tryst he wad na be.

"Weel be ye met, my feres[181] five!

And now, what is your will wi' me?"

Then they cried a', wi ae consent, "Thou'rt welcome here, brave n.o.ble, to me.

"Wilt thou with us into England ride, And thy safe warrand we will be?

If we get a horse, worth a hundred pound, Upon his back thou sune shalt be."

"I dare not by day into England ride; The land-serjeant has me at feid: "And I know not what evil may betide, For Peter of Whitfield, his brother, is dead.

"And Anton Shiel he loves not me, For I gat twa drifts o' his sheep; The great Earl of Whitfield[182] loves me not, For nae geer frae me he e'er could keep.

"But will ye stay till the day gae down, Untill the night come o'er the grund, And I'll be a guide worth ony twa, That may in Liddesdale be found.

"Tho' the night be black as pick and tar, I'll guide ye o'er yon hill sae hie; And bring ye a' in safety back, If ye'll be true, and follow me."

He has guided them o'er moss and muir, O'er hill and hope, and mony a down; Until they came to the Foulbogshiel, And there, brave n.o.ble, he lighted down.

But word is gane to the land-serjeant, In Askerton where that he lay-- "The deer, that ye hae hunted sae lang, Is seen into the Waste this day."

"Then Hobbie n.o.ble is that deer!

I wat he carries the style fu' hie; Aft has he driven our bluidhounds back, And set ourselves at little lee.

"Gar warn the bows of Hartlie-burn; See they sharp their arrows on the wa': Warn Willeva, and Speir Edom, And see the morn they meet me a'.