"I wat weil no," quo' the Laird's ain 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."

THE

DEATH OF FEATHERSTONHAUGH.

THIS old Northumbrian ballad was originally printed in the notes to Marmion, but it is here inserted in its proper place. It was taken down from the recitation of a woman eighty years of age, mother of one of the miners in Alston-Moor, by the agent of the lead mines there, who communicated it to my friend and correspondent, R. Surtees, Esq. of Mainsforth. She had not, she said, heard it for many years; but, when she was a girl, it used to be sung at merry-makings, " till the roof rung "again." To preserve this curious, though rude rhyme, it is here inserted. The ludicrous turn given to the slaughter, marks that wild and disorderly state of society, in which a murder was not merely a casual circumstance, but, in some cases, an exceedingly good jest. The structure of the ballad resembles the " Fray of Suport," having the same irregular stanza and wild chorus.

THE

DEATH OF FEATHERSTONHAUGH.

Hoor awa', lads, hoot awa,'

Ha' ye heard how the Ridleys, and Thirlwalls, and a', Ha' set upon Albany* Featherstonhaugh,

And taken his life at the Deadmanshaugh?

There was Willimoteswick,

And Hardriding Dick,

And Hughie of Hawdon, and Will of the Wa'.

I canno tell a', I canno tell a',

And mony a mair that the deil may knaw.

The auld man went down, but Nicol, his son,

Ran away afore the fight was begun ;

And he run, and he run,

And afore they were done,

There was many a Featherston gat sic a stun,
As never was seen since the world begun.

* Pronounced Awbony.

I canno tell a', I canno tell a';

Some gat a skelp,* and some gat a claw;

But they gar'd the Featherstons haud their jaw,†—
Nicol, and Alick, and a.'

Some gat a hurt, and some gat nane;
Some had harness, and some gat sta'en.‡

Ane gat a twist o' the craig ;§

Ane gat a bunch¶¶ o' the wame ;**

Symy Haw gat lamed of a leg,

And syne ran wallowing hame.tt

Hoot, hoot, the auld man's slain outright!

Lay him now wi' his face down:-he's a sorrowful sight.

Janet, thou donot,‡‡

I'll lay my best bonnet,

Thou gets a new gude-man afore it be night.

Skelp-Signifies slap, or rather is the same word which was originally spelled schlap.

+ Haud their jaw-Hold their jaw; a vulgar expression still in use. Gat sta'en-Got stolen, or were plundered; a very likely termination of the fray.

§ Craig-Neck.

++ Wallowing-Bellowing.

Bunch-Punch.

** Wame-Belly.

Donot-Silly slut. The Border bard calls her so, because she was weeping for her husband; a loss which he seems to think might be soon repaired.

2

Hoo away, lads, hoo away,

Wi's a be hangid if we stay.

Tak' up the dead man, and lay him anent the bigging: Here's the Bailey o' Haltwhistle,*

Wi' his great bull's pizzle,

That supp'd up the broo', and syne-in the piggin.+

Bailey o' Haltwhistle-The Bailiff of Haltwhistle seems to have arrived when the fray was over. This supporter of social order is treated with cha racteristic irreverence by the moss-trooping poet.

+ An iron-pot with two ears.

VOL. I.