"what will ye nowe that I shall do? I am your prisoner ; ye have conquered me; I wolde gladly go agayn to New"castell, and, within fiftene dayes, I shall come to you into "Scotland, where as ye shall assigne me.'—' I am content,' "quod Lindsay; ' ye shall promyse, by your faythe, to pre"sent 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, Lindsay, ye are taken; yelde ye to me.' "— Who be you?' quod Lindsay.-' I am,' quod he, the "Bysshoppe of Durham.'-' And fro whens come you, sir?' "quod Lindsay. I come fro the battell,' quod the bys shoppe, 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 Lindsay, 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 sayde, 'By my fayth, Sir Mathewe, for"tune 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 think, rather, we shall make an exchange one for another, "if the bisshoppe be also contente.'-' Well, sir,' quod Reed6 man, we shall accord ryght 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 "Lindsay."-FROISSART'S Chronicle, translated by Bourchier, Lord Berners, vol. I. chap. 146. O gran bontà de' cavalieri antiqui! 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 grass.-P. 69. v. 4. Froissart 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 tied, nor kept at hard "meat, but lette go to pasture in the fieldis and bushes."Chronykle 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 fron tier 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 circumstances mentioned in the ballad could occur under the reign of so vigorous a monarch as James IV. It is true, that the Dramatis Personæ 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, ac tually 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 |