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GENELOGICAL SKETCH OF THE JOHNSTONES – THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE KNIGHTED, IN
1590, AS SIR JAMES JOHNSTONE OF DUNSKELLIE – CLAN RELATIONSHIP OF HIS
DEPENDANTS – EXTENSIVE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE FAMILY – MAXWELL EXPATRIATED
BY THE KING – HE CO-OPERATES WITH THE SPANIARDS IN THEIR SCHEME FOR THE
CONQUEST OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, AND ORIGINATES A REBEL MOVEMENT IN
DUMFRIESSHIRE – DUMFRIES ATTACKED BY A ROYAL FORCE, LED BY THE KING –
FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF MAXWELL – HE CONTINUES, THOUGH A PRISONER, TO
CORRESPOND WITH THE CATHOLIC POWERS – MAXWELL OF NEWLAW DEPRIVED OF THE
PROVOSTSHIP OF DUMFIRES BY THE KING – MURDER OF THE EXPROVOST – SIR JAMES
JOHNSTONE IMPRISONED ON A CHARGE OF REBELLION – LORD MAXWELL GAINS HIS
MAJESTY’S FAVOUR, AND SUBSCRIBES THE CONFESSION OF FAITH, THOUGH SUSPECTED
OF BEING STILL A CATHOLIC – COMMISSIONERS SENT BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO
OPERATE ON LORDS HERRIES AND MAXWELL – JOHNSTONE IS DEPRIVED OF THE
WARDENSHIP, AND THE OFFICE IS CONFERRED ON MAXWELL – A PEACE PATCHED UP
BETWEEN THEM – THEY SOLEMNLY AGREE TO FORGET THE PAST, AND REMAIN FRIENDS
FOR THE FUTURE – THE BOND OF PEACE IS RUPTURED BY A RAID OF THE WAMPHRAY
JOHNSTONES INTO NITHSDALE.
WHEN James heard of his mother’s execution early in 1587, he consulted
with Lord Maxwell and other Border chiefs as to the propriety of avenging
her death by a destructive raid against the Southrons; but the King’s
wrath very soon evaporated, and the only foray undertaken by him into
England was a pacific one, in 1603, when he went southwards to receive the
English crown as Queen Elizabeth’s heir. Prior to that event James
laboured diligently to secure the tranquillity of Dumfriesshire: for this
purpose he caused its “Capulets and Montagues” to enter into assurances of
peace with each other, and to promise to submit their disputes to the
consideration of his Council, instead of bringing them to “the dread
arbitrament of the sword.” The death of Johnstone, in 1586, greatly
promoted the success of these pacific measures, and the civil war in the
County was suspended for about a year; but only to be renewed on a larger
scale, and with more disastrous consequences.
The origin of the Johnstone family has already been taken notice of. [Vide
p. 43.] John de Johnstone, who submitted to Edward E. in 1296, is supposed
to have been the father of a chief of the same name who witnessed a
charter of the barony of Comlongan and other contiguous lands, bequeathed,
in 1332, by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, to his nephew William. Prior
to the latter date the family had acquired large possessions in the
County, and were beginning to acquire more than a local repute by their
prowess in the field. Gilbert, the next chief, was succeeded by his son,
Sir John de Johnstone, who made a distinguished figure in the reign of
Robert II.: he was one of the guardians of the Western Marches in 1371,
and often exerted himself with good effect against the English Borderers,
especially in 1378, as is recorded by Wyntoun in the following passage: -
“When at the wattyr of Sulway
Schyr Jhon of Jhonystown, on a day
Of Inglis men wen cust a gret dele:
He bare him at that tyme sa welle,
That he and the Lord of Gordowne,
Had a sowerane guid renown,
Of ony that was of thar degre,
For full thai war of gret bownte.”
The grandson of this valorous knight, Sir Adam Johnstone, contributed by
his gallantry to the Scottish triumph at Sark; and the latter was
succeeded by Sir John Johnstone, who, by marrying Mary, eldest daughter of
John, the fourth Lord Maxwell, effected an alliance between the two houses
that were shortly afterwards to be arrayed against each other in deadly
hate. We find James, the fruit of this marriage, and next chief of the
clan, actively engaged in repelling the invasion of Scotland by the Earl
of Douglas and the Duke of Albany in 1484. His heir, Adam Johnstone, died
in 1508, and was succeeded by James, whose eldest son and heir, John,
signalized himself at the battle of Pinkie. Two or three additional links
of the genealogical chain – John, James, John, son, grandson, and great
grandson of the Pinkie warrior – bring us to the immediate progenitor of
the doughty chief who received the wardenship in 1579, contested the
provostship of Dumfries in 1584, and, after long warring with the
Maxwells, was quietly “gathered to his fathers” in 1586, leaving his
lands, and also the heritage of an implacable feud, to his eldest son,
James, born to him by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Walter Scott of
Buccleuch.
In 1580, the young chief of the Johnstones obtained a letter of provision,
under the Great Seal, assigning to him the revenues of the suppressed
Abbey of Holywood; he was served heir to his deceased father in 1588; and
when, two years afterwards, the newly-married consort of the King, Anne of
Denmark, was crowned, he received the honour of knighthood – a coveted
distinction that had been enjoyed by several of his ancestors – the style
assigned to him being Sir James Johnstone of Dunskellie, now called Cove,
where he had a castle, which he occasionally occupied.
By the middle of the fourteenth century, an immense number of families
bearing the Johnstone name were to be found in Annandale, all counting
kinship with the Lord of “Lochwood’s lofty towers:” their relation towards
him being in every respect more like that borne by Highland clansmen to
their chief than the feudal vassalage of Norman origin that generally
prevailed throughout the Lowlands. As illustrative at once of the
numerical extent of this great Border sept, and of the close relationship
in which its members stood to each other, we quote, in an abridged form,
an agreement entered into by them on the 14th of November,
15555: - “Bond by Gavin Johnstone; Ninian Johnstone in Fingland; David
Johnstone in Stagwood; John Johnstone in Langside; David Johnstone in
Banks; John Johnstone in Vilehol; Adam Johnstone, son to Vilehol: David
Johnstone in Rayhills; Adam Johnstone his brother; Mathew Johnstone of the
Thrid; William Johnstone in Kirkhill; William Johnstone in Brumewell; John
Johnstone his brother; John Johnstone in Banks; George Graym; Fergus the
Graym; James Grahame in Grahame of Badoch; James Graham of Bordland;
Andrew Johnstone in Fuldoun; David Johnstone his brother; Edward
Johnstone; Thomas Johnstone; John Johnstone; Mark Johnstone of Fairholm;
Herbert Johnstone in Castlehill; and Robert Johnstone, obliging them by
the faith and troth of their bodies, if it happened any Johnstone
pertaining to them, when they are pledged for man-tenant or servant, to
comit stouthreif, fire, slaughter, oppression, or any crime, to seik the
person that committed the crime and deliver him up to the Laird of
Johnstone to be punished for his demerits; and if they can not apprehend
him they obliged them to herry and put them [out] of the country, and to
satisfy and redress the complainers with their own goods and gier.”
[Annandale Papers.]
Among the branches of the family, a distinguished position was occupied by
the Johnstones of Dryfesdale or Locherbie, whose head resided in a
fortalice at the town of that name, now used as a police station, which
was well defended by deep lochs on three sides. “Their lands (which, up
till the beginning of last century, extended to Annan Water, taking in
Roberthill, Shillahill, and Tarmuir) had been always chiefly occupied by
people of their own name and kindred: the ‘Johnstones of Driesdale’ being
enrolled about 1550 to bring to the field forty-six fighting men.” [Mr.
Charles Stewart of Hillside, who, in a little work entitled “Rides,
Drives, and Walks about Moffat,” and in various communications to the
local newspapers, has supplied much valuable information regarding the
Johnstones, and Annandale in ancient times. “Locherbie,” says Mr. Stewart,
“seems to have been one of the Saxon towns (clustering round the dwelling
of the laird) which are still numerous in England, though there are
scarcely any in this country now to be seen excepting Torthorwald. It
would seem to have been, in 1617, in nearly the same form of street as it
is now. The houses were chiefly occupied by little farmers, who possessed
amongst them in Runrigg 300 or 400 acres of surrounding arable land –
their cattle grazing on the extensive common of 1500 acres of moor to the
westwards. Most of them had also avocations as the handicraftsmen and
little traders of the district. The town was, as now, the central resort
of the adjacent valleys and dales; and, being on the highroad to the
English border, the fairs had been long established by Royal charter.”]
In April, 1587, Dumfries was visited by King James at the head of a
considerable force, his inducements for doing so being complaints by the
General Assembly regarding the attempts made in 1584, by Lord Herries, to
revive Romanism, and renewed disturbances on the Border, which were laid
at the door of Lord Maxwell. [Spottiswoode, vol. ii., p. 381.] Herries, on
hearing of these proceedings, repaired to Edinburgh and offered himself
for trial. The charges against him could not be substantiated; but he was
found to have proved remiss in his office of Warden, to which he had been
appointed on the death of the Laird of Johnstone. On promising amendment
in this latter respect, and engaging to obey any summons that might be
sent to him by the Assembly, he was allowed to return to Terregles.
[Spottiswoode, vol. ii., p. 381.]
Lord Maxwell’s followers were so reduced in number by the recent feuds,
that he durst not face the royal troops as his combative nature prompted.
He was unable even to stand out for terms; and, withdrawing from the
neighbourhood, left these to be made for him by Lord Herries, Sir John
Gordon, and other friends, who gave bonds on his behalf, that he would
leave the realm beyond seas in a month; that, when abroad, he should do
nothing to injure the Protestantism or the peace of Scotland; and, lastly,
that he should not return without his Majesty’s license to that effect.
Behold, then, the unruly Border baron bidding adieu to his native
Nithsdale, and seeking refuge in a distant land. It would have been better
for him and Dumfriesshire if he had continued an exile, and closed life’s
discordant day by a twilight of peace, even though his dust had been left
sleeping in a foreign soil. To Spain he directed his course, but found no
rest there. Perhaps he did not seek repose; “for quiet to quick bosoms is
a hell.” The Spaniards were busy fitting out their “Invincible Armada,” by
which they had already, in imagination, conquered Britain, the chief
bulwark of Protestantism, and annihilated the Reformation; and the
expatriated Scottish lord, influenced by aspirations which so accorded
with his own devotedness to Popery, resolved to assist the meditated
expedition, by returning to his native country, and making a diversion in
its favour.
With this evil end in view, Maxwell landed at Kirkcudbright in April,
1588, where he was joined by several of the nobility, and a large body of
his own retainers. Lord Herries, disapproving of this rash and unpatriotic
movement on the part of his kinsman, took counsel with the King regarding
the course to be pursued in such an untoward crisis. “Summon the traitor
to appear before us,” said his sapient Majesty. A royal precept to that
effect was issued forthwith, which Maxwell treated with contempt; and in a
trice afterwards Dumfriesshire was in the throes of a rebellion. The
Castle of Dumfries, Carlaverock, Lochmaben, and others in the Maxwell
interest were garrisoned – the flags from their turrets fluttering a
defiance to the King, which their booming guns proclaimed in a fiercer
tone. Their resistance was merely nominal, however, except that which was
given by Lochmaben. So serious did matters seem, that King James once more
proceeded to Dumfries, in order to encourage, by his presence, the royal
troops commissioned to cope with the insurrection. When about to enter the
Burgh, they were resisted at the gates by a large party of burgesses; and
Maxwell, who was in the Castle at the time, and had concluded that it
would be unable to sustain a siege, withdrew from it, whilst his friendly
townsmen kept the assailants in check. [Spottiswoode accounts for the
resistance given to the royal forces, by saying that the burgesses were
not aware that the King was personally present. (Vol. ii., p. 283.)]
Hurrying on horseback to Kirkcudbright, he there embarked on board a
vessel in the Dee. Soon another ship hove in sight, freighted from the
port of Ayr by Sir William Stewart, and which the fugitive lord learned,
when too late, had come to capture him. After a rapid chase from
Kirkcudbright, along the Carrick shore to Crossraguel, Maxwell’s vessel
was run down, and himself put under arrest.
Meanwhile, though the Castles of Dumfries and Carlaverock no longer
frowned rebelliously upon the royal troops, the fortress of Lochmaben,
which was commanded by David Maxwell, brother of the Laird of Cowhill,
held out against them bravely. They laid regular siege to it, but the
walls were so stout and well defended that it made no progress. The King
had only small pieces of ordnance, which made little impression on the
stubborn stronghold. Heavier cannon, however, having been borrowed by him
from the English Warden, a hot bombardment was proceeded with, which,
after continuing two days, caused the garrison to capitulate. Its valiant
commander, David Maxwell, and five of his leading men, were hanged before
the castle gate – an act of severity which contrasts strangely with the
forbearance shown towards the chief rebel and originator of all the
mischief, who, after being brought by his captor, Stewart, to Dumfries,
was sent to Edinburgh Castle, where he suffered but a brief and lenient
imprisonment.
According to Calderwood, the plot thus crushed was first made known to the
King by Queen Elizabeth, some of whose officers had intercepted letters
sent by the Earl of Huntly, Lord Maxwell, and Lord Claude Hamilton to King
Ferdinand of Spain, in which their plans were divulged. Even after Lord
Maxwell was put in ward, a written intercourse was kept up by his party
with Ferdinand and the Duke of Parma, by means of a priest named Bruce,
belonging to the household of that nobleman. Bruce, in a letter to the
Duke, makes the following reference to the imprisoned conspirator: - “The
Earle of Mortoun, alias Lord Maxwell, to whom I have given consolation by
writ in prison, hath instantly prayed me also in writ, to remember his
most affectioned service to your Highness, finding himself greatly
honoured with the care it pleased you to have of him. By the grace of God
he is no more in danger of his life by way of justice, it not being
possible for his enemies to prove against him anything which they had
supposed in his accusation; as also the King’s affection not so far
alienated from him as it hath been heretofore; and in case they would
annoy him, or that it were presently requisite for the weel of our cause
to deliver him, we have ever moyen to get him out of prison, and abide
nought in the meane time, but the King’s will toward his libertie; only to
avoid all persute, that they would make, if we delivered him
extraordinarlie. When they offered him, in the King’s name, his libertie,
if he would subscrite the Confession of the Hereticks’ Faith, he answered
– He would not do it for the King’s crown, nor for an hundredth thousand
lives, if he had them to lose; and hath offered to confound the Ministers
by publick disputation. I shall solicit the lords his friends to procure
of the King his libertie very soon: for he importeth the well of our cause
more than any of the rest, by reason of his forces which are neer England,
and the principal town of Scotland, and the ordinar residence of our King;
as also he is the lord most resolute, constant, and of greatest execution
of any of the Catholicks.” [Calderwood, pp. 236-37.]
King James, having re-established his authority, returned in triumph to
Dumfries, the inhabitants of which gave him but a cold welcome – relishing
his visit all the less because he summarily dismissed from the provostship
Maxwell of Newlaw, brother of Lord Herries, who had incurred his
displeasure by opposing the entrance of the royal troops. The subsequent
fate of the ex-Provost was tragical in the extreme: he having been waylaid
and slain by a party of Johnstones and Grahams, because his father, the
late Lord Herries, had treated them with rigour when Warden of the
Marches. Whilst his Majesty was at Dumfries, he also presided over a
justiciary court held for the trial of Lord Maxwell’s followers, and other
defenders. After making an imposing royal progress through part of the
Border district, and, in token of his ire against treason, and other forms
of lawlessness, burning the Towers of Langholm [The Tower of Langholm,
which still survives as a ruin, was a small square keep that belonged to
Johnnie Armstrong, and was, after his execution, acquired by the
Maxwells.], Castlemilk [Castlemilk, in the parish of St. Mungo, was built
by one of the Bruces, and came into the family of Stewart by the marriage
of Walter, the High Steward, with one of King Robert’s daughters. The
Maxwells eventually acquired it by marriage. A house of the same name,
built in 1796, occupies its site; and a stately new mansion has just been
erected near it, by the proprietor of the estate. It belongs, with the
estate, to Robert Jardine, Esq., M.P. for Ashburton.], and Morton, the
King proceeded to Edinburgh, leaving John, Lord Hamilton, to act as his
lieutenant over the whole Borders, with the assistance of Lord Herries,
and other Dumfriesshire barons.
It was now Johnstone’s turn to exhibit disloyalty. When Francis Stewart,
Earl of Bothwell [He was the eldest son of John Stewart, Prior of
Coldingham, natural son of James V.; his mother being Lady Jane Hepburn,
sister of the infamous Earl of Bothwell who stands charged with the murder
of Darnley, and who afterwards married his widow, the Queen of Scots.
Francis Stewart received the title from James IV. in 1576.], with the view
of obtaining pre-eminent power in the State, made a bold attempt to seize
the King’s person, he had for one of his accomplices the Annandale chief –
for which disloyal act the latter, like Lord Maxwell, was imprisoned in
Edinburgh Castle. Maxwell was liberated, by an act of grace, on the day of
the royal marriage, 12th September, 1589; and Johnstone managed
to break out of his prison, returned to Lochwood. Again the King visited
Dumfriesshire, for the purpose of overawing such of the Border clans as
had given assistance to Bothwell, or had in other respects poured contempt
on his authority. His Majesty did not find the gates of the Shire town
barred against him on this occasion. The burgesses opened them readily to
his Majesty, giving him a hearty welcome; for the Superior of the town was
now a favourite at Court, and had renounced his rebellious designs, and,
nominally at least, his Romanist opinions. James issued a proclamation
from Dumfries, offering pardon to all who would repudiate Bothwell, and
engage to keep the peace. These merciful conditions were accepted by many,
though not by Sir James Johnstone; and when his Majesty left the County it
was still far from being thoroughly tranquillized. Whether from motives of
policy or conviction, Lord Maxwell subscribed the Confession of Faith on
the 26th of January, 1593, before the Presbytery of Edinburgh,
the signature used by him being that of “Morton,” the earldom of which he
still claimed. There is good reason to suppose that he continued a
Romanist at heart; and, at all events, his profession of Protestantism,
and his practice in after life, were often broadly at variance.
When, in 1601, the General Assembly saw reason to bewail a great defection
from the zeal and purity of the true religion, they attributed it in some
measure to the want of a sufficient number of pastors “in places that are
of chiefest importance, as the town of Dumfries,’ [Calderwood, p. 453.]
near to which Lord Herries resided. Arrangements were made by the Assembly
to settle additional ministers in the most destitute localities; also to
bring their influence to bear upon the Popish lords by means of personal
visitation – Mr. David Lindsey and Mr. John Hall being the clergymen
appointed to operate on Lord Herries. [Ibid.] In the Assembly of the
following year, those two visiting commissioners reported that they had
been unable to hold a conference with his lordship on account of the
shortness of his stay in Edinburgh. The whole question was then entered
upon anew; and it was resolved by the Assembly that certain noblemen’s
houses and families should be temporarily supplied with pastors or
chaplains, able not only to instruct and confirm them in the Protestant
faith, “but also to procure that their families be not corrupted with the
companie and resorting of professed Papists, Jesuits, and other seminarie
priest.” [Calderwood, p. 459.] For these purposes Mr. Robert Wallace was
appointed to wait upon Lord Herries, and Mr. Henry Blyth on Lord Maxwell.
[Ibid.] It is curious to note the instructions given to these clerical
visitors.
The Assembly, bent on subduing the nobles who stood in the way of their
good work, enjoined their representatives to use an amount of moral
pressure which is inconsistent with modern ideas on the subject, and the
nature of which may be inferred from the subjoined quotation: - “Ye shall
addresse your selves with all convenient diligence, and necessarie
furniture, to enter in their companie and families, there to remain with
them for the space of three moneths continuallie; during which time your
principal care shall be, by public doctrine, by reading and interpretation
of the Scriptures ordinarily at their tables, and by conference at all
meet occasions, to instruct them in the whole grounds of true religion and
godliness; specially in the heeds controverted; and confirme them therein.
Take pains to catechize their families ordinarily every day once or twice
at the least, or so often as may bring them to some reasonable measure of
knowledge, and feeling of religion, before the expiring of the time
prescribed for your remaining there; and let this action begin and end
with prayer.” [Ibid., p. 460.]
At the same Assembly, visitors were set apart for enquiring into the
“life, doctrine, qualification, and conversation” of all the ministers;
and in this capacity John Knox [Ibid., p. 461.] proceeded to Nithsdale and
Annandale, taking with him Mr. Patrick Shaw and Mr. John Smith as
colleagues. No report from the visitors has fallen under our notice; and
we are left to conjecture as to the way in which Mr. Wallace fared when he
went on his proselytizing mission to Lord Herries; and whether or not Mr.
Blyth succeeded in re-establishing the Protestantism of Lord Maxwell. We
suspect that in both instances failure was the result. The King had begun
to look coldly on Presbyterianism; he was preparing to graft upon it a
strange prelatic shoot, and to hamper in many respects the action of the
Assembly – thus retarding the Reformed cause, and encouraging both its
avowed and secret enemies. It was scarcely to be expected that the nobles
who had opposed it all along, or had only nominally embraced it, would
under such circumstances change their creed or their policy.
On the 2nd of February, 1593, Lord Maxwell and Angus, the new
Earl of Morton, came to an unseemly issue on the question of precedency,
in St. Giles’s Church, Edinburgh; and just as they were about to draw
swords within the sacred edifice, the Lord Provost interfered and caused
the combative barons to be sent guarded to their lodgings in the city.
Soon after this bloodless incident, Maxwell returned to Dumfriesshire,
never more to leave it in life. Sir James Johnstone having by his recent
rebellious acts forfeited the wardenry of the Western Marches, that office
was again given to the Lord of Nithsdale; and thus armed he proceeded to
the Border for the purpose of allaying its turbulence. Probably the King
meant him to adopt stringent measures towards the Johnstones; but when it
seemed as if the strife between the families was about to be renewed, a
peace was patched up between them through the mediation of mutual friends.
The rival chiefs were thereby induced not only to give up their
antagonism, but to enter into an alliance offensive with relation to the
wily chief of Drumlanrig, who was, for sufficient reasons, distrusted by
both. This agreement, duly signed by the contracting parties, is still
preserved among the Annandale papers. In accordance with it, John, Earl of
Morton, Lord Maxwell, and Sir James Johnstone of Dunskellie agreeing for
themselves, and taking burden upon them for their next kin, friends,
tenants, and servants, “oblige them by the faith and troth of their bodies
that they nor their foresaids intromit or agree with Sir James Douglas of
Drumlanrig, nor his kin, friends, tenants, and servants, without the
special advice and consent of the other had thereto; and that both their
assurance, and assurance with the said Sir James Douglas, should be done
in one day; and in case any of them had an action of law against him, to
concur, fortifie, and assist [each] other to the intensist of their power;
and should take a true, upright, and aefold part with others while the
feid were agreed or reconciled.”
This contract is dated the 13th of March, 1592, only twenty-one
months previous to the battle of Dryfe-Sands; and there is another more
general one of a still later date – April 1st of that year – in
which Maxwell and Johnstone come under a solemn obligation for themselves
and friends to “freely remit and forgive all rancours of mind, grudge,
malice, and feids that had passed, or fallen furth between them in any
time bygone.” [Annandale Papers.] A noble resolution, truly! which, if
faithfully carried out, would have had a happy effect on the rival houses,
and given a slight foretaste of the millennium to the County.
Unfortunately their bond of union was feeble as a thread of flax, their
friendship transitory as a wintry sunbeam on snow-clad hills, their
interchange of kindly words delusive –
“The torrent’s smoothness ere it dash below.”
The Johnstones had become hand and glove with the Lord Warden! They would
therefore be able, so far as he was concerned, to enter upon predatory
pursuits with impunity, if they only left unharmed the dependants of the
house of Maxwell. So thinking, a party of the Annandale men, headed by
William Johnstone of Wamphray, surnamed the Galliard, sweeping into Upper
Nithsdale, ravaged the lands of Lord Sanquhar; but all the rich “hereship”
acquired by them was no equivalent for the loss they sustained, as their
trusty leader, captured by the Crichtons, was, without remorse, converted
by his captors into a “tassel” for the gallows tree, though the poor
fellow, in view of such an ignominious doom, prayed hard for mercy, and
tried to win by bride what he could not gain from pity. “O! Simmy, Simmy:”
– so he pleaded to his chief capture, Simon of the Side –
“O! Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang,
And I’ss ne’er mair a Crichton wrang;
O! Simmy, Simmy, now let me be,
And a peck o’ gowd I’ss gie to thee.”
William Johnstone of Kirkhill, on whom the leadership of the “lads of
Wamphray” now devolved, mustered them in great force in order to levy more
spoil, and exact what was even sweeter to a Borderer than any amount of
stouthrief – revenge.
“Back tae Nithsdale they hae gane,
And awa the Crichtons’ nowt hae taen;
And when they cam to the Wellpath-head,
The Crichtons bade them “ ‘Light and lead.’”
That is to say, dismount and give battle, the very thing that Kirkhill
Willie wanted, and which he promised to supply the Crichtons with to their
hearts’ content.
“Then out spoke Willie of the Kirkhill,
‘Of fighting, lads, ye’se hae your fill;’
And from his horse Willie he lap,
And a burnished brand in his hand he gat.
“Out through the Crichtons Willie he ran,
And dang them down, baith horse and man.
O, but the Johnstones were wondrous rude,
When the Biddes burn ran three days blude.”
[Biddes Burn, a brook which waters a mountainous tract lying between
Nithsdale and Annandale, near the head of the Evan.]
In returning homewards, the exulting victors left other unpleasant
memories of their foray on the lands of Drumlanrig, Closeburn, and Lag;
and if the ballad from which we have quoted is to be relied upon, they –
quite in character – wound up their saturnalia by a jovial carouse in a
tavern at the head of Evan Water: -
“As they cam in at Evan-head,
At Ricklaw Holm they spread abread.
‘Drive on, my lads, it will be late;
We’ll hae a pint at Wamphray gate.’”
And there Willie of Kirkhill, proud, exultant, elated with success, and
(shall we say?) “glorious” with the “barley bree,” thus complimented his
gallant followers: -
“Where’er I gang, or where’er I ride,
The lads of Wamphray are on my side;
And of a’ the lads that I do ken,
The Wamphray lad’s the king of men.”
[Sir Walter Scott seems to have attached no small amount of historical
value to the ballad from which these verses are taken – “The Lads of
Wamphray;” and we have quoted from it as it is true to the spirit, if not
to the letter, and the incidents tend to illustrate the character of the
Border raids.] |
