Cheered the young knights, and council sage CEASED the high sound-the listening throng CANTO FOURTH. I. SWEET Teviot! on thy silver tide Protection-money exacted by free-booters. + The Border beacons, from their number and position, formed a sort of telegraphic communication with Edinburgh.-The act of parliament 1455, c. 48, directs that one bale or faggot shall be warnIng of the approach of the English in any manner; two bales, that they are coming indeed; four bales, blazing beside each other, that the enemy are in great force. No longer steel-clad warriors ride As if thy waves, since Time was born, II. Unlike the tide of human time, Which, though it change in ceaseless flow, Its earliest course was doomed to know, Fell by the side of great Dundee.* III. Now over Border dale and fell, Full wide and far was terror spread; The Viscount of Dundee, slain in the battle of Killycrankie. + The Morasses were the usual refuge of the Border herdsmen, on the approach of an English army. Caves, hewed in the most dangerous and inaccessible places, also afforded an occasional re treat. Which, curling in the rising sun, IV. Now loud the heedful gate-ward cried- V. While thus he spoke, the bold yeoman The mutual cruelties of the Borderers, and the personal hatred of the Wardens gave to the Border wars, between England and Scotland, a character of savage atrocity which could not be paralelled even in the wars of the sixteenth century, + Watt Tinlinn was a retainer of the Buccleuch family, and held for his Border service a small tower on the frontiers of Liddesdale. Watt was, by profession, a autor (shoemaker), but, by inclination and practice, an archer and warrior, An inroad commanded by the Warden in person. Bilhope was famous among hunters for bucks and roes. *The Borderers, ou account of being exposed to having their houses burned or plundered, were anxious to display splendour in decorating and ornamenting their females. He was of stature passing tall, His spear, six Scottish ells in length, His shafts and bow, of wondrous strength, His hardy partner bore. VI. Thus to the Ladye did Tinlinn show "Belted Will Howard is marching here,* And hot Lord Dacre, with many a spear, It had not been burned this year and more. But I was chased the live-long night. Until I turned at Priesthaugh-Scrogg, And shot their horses in the bog, Lord William Howard, third son of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, By a poetical anachronism, he is introduced into the romance a few years earlier than be actually flourished. He was warden of the Western Marches; and from the rigour with which he repressed the Border excesses, the name of Belted Will Howard is still famous in our traditions. The well-known name of Dacre is derived from the exploits of one of their ancestors at the siege of Acre or Ptolemais, under Richard Cour de Lion. The lord Dacre of this period, was a man of hot and obstinate character, as appears from some particulars of Lord Surrey's letter to Henry VIII, giving an account of his behaviour at the siege and storm of Jedburgh. In the wars with Scotland, Heury VIII, and his successors employed numerous bands of mercenary troops. At the battle of Pinky there were in the English army six hundred hackbutteers, or musketeers on foot, and two hundred on horseback, composed chiefly of foreigners. From the battle pieces of the ancient Fem ish painters, we learn that the Low-Country and German soldiers marched to an assault with their right knees bared, Slew Fergus with my lance outright— He drove my cows last Fastern's night." VII. Now weary scouts from Liddesdale, VIII. From fair St Mary's silver wave, What time, save Thirlestane alone, IX. An aged knight, to danger steed, When James had assembled his nobility at Fala, to invade England, and was disappointed by their refusal, Sir John Scott of Thirlestane alone declared himself ready to follow the king wher ever he should lead. In memory of his fidelity, James granted to his family a charter of arms, entitling them to bear a border of Beurs-de-lace, similar to the treasure in the royal arms, with a bundle of spears for the crest; motto, Ready, aye ready. C |