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THE LORD WARDEN IS APPEALED TO BY THE SUFFERERS FROM THE JOHNSTONE RAID –
THE PROCESSION OF “THE BLOODY SHIRTS” – THE KING COMMANDS HIS WARDEN TO
GIVE REDRESS TO THE PETITIONERS – MAXWELL PROCEEDS FOR THIS PURPOSE WITH A
POWERFUL FORCE INTO ANNANDALE – A RECONNOITRING PARTY SENT BY HIM, WHEN
ENCOUNTERED BY THE JOHNSTONES, TAKES REFUGE IN LOCHMABEN CHURCH – FIRE IS
APPLIED TO THE CHURCH, AND THE PARTY SURRENDERS – BATTLE OF DRYFE-SANDS –
DEFEAT OF THE NITHSDALE MEN – SLAUGHTER OF LORD MAXWELL – MODERN ASPECT OF
THE BATTLE-FIELD – LORD HERRIES MADE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES – JOHNSTONE
PARDONED – APPOINTED WARDEN, AND AGAIN DISGRACED – KING JAMES VISITS
DUMFRIES, AND HOLDS A COURT OF REDRESS IN THE BURGH – LORD MAXWELL
MEDIATES VENGEANCE ON JOHNSTONE FOR THE SLAUGHTER OF HIS FATHER – THE KING
INTERPOSES, BANISHES HIM FROM THE DISTRICT, AND EXACTS LETTERS FROM HIM,
IN WHICH HE AGREES TO BE RECONCILED TO HIS ENEMY – MAXWELL BREAKS THROUGH
HIS ENGAGEMENT, RECEIVES THE KING’S FORGIVENESS, AGAIN OFFENDS, AND IS
CONSIGNED TO EDINBURGH CASTLE – ESCAPES FROM IT BY STRATAGEM, AND RETURNS
TO DUMFRIESSHIRE.
THE sufferers from this rapacious incursion naturally complained of it to
the Warden, and asked for redress at his hands – request which placed him
in an awkward dilemma. He did not wish to revive his old feud with the
Johnstones; and perhaps he also believed that they had some right to
reckon on his forbearance, though there was no express compact to that
effect between them. Two influences, however, combined to make him resolve
on warlike measures, though he was personally inclined to peace. The
proprietors who had been pillaged, and were impatient for revenge, offered
to enter into bonds of man-rent with him to maintain his quarrels against
all sundry, provided he would exercise his authority as Warden to punish
the Johnstones: and the King about the same time issued a special
commission to him, by which he was enjoined to execute justice on the
guilty clan; James having been induced to take this step by a singular
deputation from Nithsdale, consisting, says Calderwood, of “certain poor
women with fifteen bloody shirts,” who presented themselves in the streets
of Edinburgh on Monday, the 23rd of July, and in presence of
the Court prayed for justice on those who, at the instance of the Laird of
Johnstone, had cruelly murdered their husbands, sons, and servants. As
their petition did not receive that prompt attention which they expected,
a procession of the bloody shirts was resolved on; and these were carried
through the streets “by pioneers,” whilst a sympathizing crowd cried out
for vengeance upon the King and Council [Calderwood.], till they at length
paid attention to the widow’s prayer.
Lord Maxwell saw in the offer of the Nithsdale gentlemen a means of
increasing his “following,” and strengthening the power of his family; and
when to this temptation was added the positive command of his sovereign,
he hesitated no longer, and forthwith took the field against his
hereditary enemy. Perhaps we do the noble lord no injustice when we
suspect that the prospect of wreaking vengeance on the ancient foes of his
house had some influence also in determining his conduct.
Johnstone on his part was not idle. On seeing sure indications of a
pending storm [According to Spottiswoode, the bond of agreement between
Maxwell and the Nithsdale gentlemen, “being negligently kept, fell into
the hands of one Johnstone of Cummertrees, and was by him carried to the
Laird of Johnstone,” who thus got timely notice of the combination entered
into against him (Vol. ii., p. 446.)], he prepared to meet it by an
alliance with his maternal relatives the Scotts of Eskdale and Teviotdale,
five hundred of whom came to his aid under the leadership of Sir Gideon
Murray of Elibank, who bore the banner of the Buccleuch in the temporary
absence of that chieftain abroad. The Elliots of Liddesdale, the Grahames
of the Debatable Land, and other Border tribes, also allied themselves to
Johnstone; and, as we learn from the Privy Council Records, “divers
Englishmen, tressounablie brocht within this realme,” swelled his ranks.
Maxwell, as a matter of form, summoned Johnstone to surrender in the
King’s name, and submit to be tried on the charges brought against him.
The citation being treated with scorn, war was inevitable; and,
considering that it was a county conflict, the forces brought into the
field were numerous on both sides. No fewer than two thousand men followed
the royal banner, as displayed by the Lord Warden, into Annandale; and
nearly as many of the Johnstone party went forth to meet them. Sometimes
the fate of kingdoms has been decided by smaller armies than those
marshalled against each other by these rival chiefs.
The Nithsdale men would probably assemble at the usual place of
wappenschaw – the meadow watered by the Lordburn, eastward of Dumfries –
and be thence led round the head of Lochar Moss towards Lochmaben. A
popular modern ballad [The Battle of Dryfe-Sands, by William M’Vitie, of
which a neat edition, with notes, has been recently published by Mr. D.
Halliday, bookseller, Locherbie.], written on the battle that ensued,
gives what is at best a doubtful list of the different companies that made
up Lord Maxwell’s army. Two churchmen – the Abbot of Newabbey and the
Vicar of Carlaverock – are represented as leading a hundred men each into
the field; but some years prior to the date of the conflict they had both
been forfeited, and the days of fighting eccleasiastics had been brought
to an end. The other contingents are given as follows: - Crichton,
Drumlanrig, and Dalziel, fivescore each; Dalswinton and Cowhill,
eighty-nine each; Kirkpatrick, Carnsalloch, and Breckenside, “full
fourscore” each; Charteris, sixty; Lag, fifty-four; while, we are told,
“The town Dumfries two hundred sent,
All picked and chosen every one;
With them their provost, Maxwell, went,
A bold, intrepid, daring man.
“Lord Maxwell’s own dependants rose
Eight hundred warriors, truly bred;
Kirkconnell doth the reckoning close,
An hundred valiant youths he led.”
It was in the dead of the year, “when dark December glooms the day,” that
this goodly bannered host moved from the County town – its leader, as a
matter of precaution, sending a reconnoitring company on before, under the
command of Captain Oliphant. The ill-fated troop went to watch the enemy’s
movements, but was too rash, and regardless of its own. When in the
neighbourhood of Bruce’s ancient burgh, a numerous body of the Johnstones,
led by James Johnstone of Kirkton, rushed suddenly upon Oliphant’s men and
put many of them to the sword, the Captain himself falling in the fray.
The rest fled for safety to the parish church [This church was a Gothic
building, and dedicated to Mary Magdalene. After standing in a ruinous
condition for some years, it was taken down in 1818; and during the
process, the key of the old fabric was found, and afterwards sent to the
Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh.]; but it afforded them no protection.
Fire was ruthlessly applied to the sacred building; and as the roof was
formed of straw, which fed the destructive flames, the edifice soon became
literally too hot to hold the refugees, and they were forced to surrender.
Thus the war opened in a manner that foreboded evil to the men of
Nithsdale. Maxwell, however, on hearing of the disaster, hurried forward,
hoping soon to eclipse it by a brilliant victory.
Late on the 6th of December, 1593, he crossed the Lochmaben
hills with his army, encamping for the night on the Skipmyre heights,
below which, at a considerable distance, flowed the Dryfe – a river so
called from the driving rush of its waters when swelled by rain. Crossing
it next forenoon, the Maxwells found themselves faced by the Johnstones,
the latter of whom were strongly posted on an elevated piece of ground,
which now forms part of the parish glebe. This ridge is about forty feet
high at its north end, and slopes gradually away southward: the Dryfe
flowing at that time much further westward than at present, and leaving
room on its left bank for the evolutions of the combatants. Sir James
Johnstone possessed no small amount of military skill; and by disposing of
his men on this acclivity, he was able to force the Maxwells into an
engagement on ground which the latter would never of their own choice have
taken up. Their position was quite exposed, and they must either fight
under serious disadvantages or commence a humiliating retreat – an
alternative which they never thought of resorting to. Johnstone further
strengthened himself and encouraged his men by some adroit preliminary
manœvring, with Maxwell, relying mainly on sheer force, failed to
counteract. Had the hostile ranks closed on equal terms, and in a trial of
strength alone, the likelihood is that Maxwell’s high hopes would have
been realized; but from the manner in which he was situated, and the mode
of warfare chosen by the opposing army, he was never able to bring above
the half of his men into action. Johnstone initiated the fighting by
“sending forth some prickers to ride and make provocation.” On went the
horsemen thus commissioned, flaunting their pennons in the faces of their
foremen, hurling at them stinging epithets, if not material missiles,
challenging them to come on if they dared, shouting the Johnstones’
war-cry, “Ready, aye ready!” as if to reproach the unreadiness of their
opponents, and then riding back unharmed to their own ranks.
To be bearded in this fashion was more than flesh and blood of the Maxwell
stamp could bear; and when the tormentors returned, repeated their
exasperating conduct, and then exultingly retired, the Warden – enraged at
a time when coolness was specially needed – sent a large detachment after
them, who rushed forth impetuously, crying, “Wardlaw! Wardlaw!” varied by
“I bid you bide, Wardlaw!” [Wardlaw is the name of a hill in the immediate
vicinity of Carlaverock Castle.] – the well-known slogan of the Nithsdale
chief. This was the very movement which Johnstone had wished to provoke.
The retreating horsemen never thought of turning rein in a vain attempt to
resist the torrent let loose upon them. Getting out of the way as rapidly
as possible, they allowed it to be met by those who were standing ready to
roll it back, and who did so. The Nithsdale detachment was received by a
much larger body, and broken up; and its fragments, falling back,
communicated to the main army of the Maxwells a share of its own
confusion. This was the crisis of the battle. As yet there had been
nothing but skirmishing, and little bloodshed; and if the Warden’s army
had stood firm when the Johnstones, in full force, charged down upon them,
the fortunes of the day might still have been redeemed. As soon as the
Annandale men left the heights, they gave up all the advantages of their
position – only, however, to improve the advantage given by the panic into
which the Maxwells were thrown. The latter never recovered from the
disorder caused by the repulse of their assailing troops; and when,
consequent upon that mishap, they were visited with a general assault,
they, after a brief but desperate resistance, gave way on all sides. The
Lairds of Lag, Closeburn, and Drumlanrig escaped by the fleetness of their
steeds; but there is not historical evidence that the charge represented
as brought against them by Lord Maxwell’s son, in the old ballad, was well
founded: -
“Adieu! Drumlanrig, false wert aye,
And Closeburn in a band!
The Laird of Lag frae my father that fled
When the Johnstone struck off his hand.
They were three brethren in a band –
Joy may they never see!
Their treacherous art and cowardly heart
Has twined my love and me.”
Lord Maxwell was less fortunate than his brother barons. When resistance
was useless, he retreated with the relics of his army from the field –
each of the fugitives going his own separate way, but most of them
proceeding in the direction of Lockerbie, the victors following hard upon
their track, and ruthlessly slaying all whom they overtook. On the Holm of
Dryfe, about half a mile below the old churchyard of the parish, were to
be seen, till recently, two large bushes, called “Maxwell’s Thorns,” which
commemorated this sanguinary battle and its sorrowful episode – the death
of the defeated nobleman. To the spot where these venerable trees “scented
the dewy air,” came the Lord of Nithsdale when the fight was over and hope
was gone, no way eager to survive his disgrace, and easily overtaken by a
young Annandale trooper – the sanguinary hero of Biddes Burn – who had
resolved to capture, main, or kill the enemy of his clan. Some days before
the battle, Maxwell, it is said, had offered a ten-pound land (that is,
land entered in the cess-book at that yearly amount) to any one who should
bring him the head or hand of Johnstone; which caused his antagonist to
retaliate by announcing that, though he had not a ten-pound land to give,
he would bestow a farm of half that value on the man who should bring him
the head or hand of Maxwell. Stimulated by this tempting offer, and also,
perhaps, by hatred towards the Nithsdale men, which all the blood shed at
Biddes Burn had failed to slake, William Johnstone of Kirkhill hurried
after the fugitive lord, and struck him from his horse. [Spottiswoode,
vol., ii. P. 446.] According to a report mentioned by Spottiswoode, the
unfortunate baron held out his hand, and claimed to be taken prisoner,
even as he had in similar circumstances spared the life of the Laird of
Johnstone; and, instead of his plea being heeded, the supplicating hand
was cut off, and then he was slain outright. Tradition, on the contrary,
states that Willie of Kirkhill, after obtaining the ghastly sign-manual
which attested his claim to receive a five-pound land from his chief, rode
away, and that the wife of James Johnstone of Kirkton discovered Maxwell
lying wounded, and beat him to death – a story which we reproduce, though
it seems to us highly improbable. Soon after the battle, it is said, Dame
Johnstone issued forth from Kirkton Tower, with a few female attendants,
for the purpose of seeking her husband, and also of giving relief to those
who might have been left wounded on the field. Locking the gates with her
own hand, and having the heavy keys suspended to her girdle, she soon
reached the precincts of the fatal spot, and there, in the dim gloaming,
discovered the hapless warrior lying bleeding and faint under an old
fir-tree. On bending down to inquire his name and condition, the sufferer
gasped out, “I am the Lord Maxwell; succour me, or I die!” and caught his
visitor convulsively by her garment. Thus appealed to, the Dame, cruelly
dour, as if she had not had a drop of “weeping blood” in her bosom, swung
the ponderous keys by the cord with fastened them, and brought them down
sheer on the head of the prostrate suppliant. Blow after blow of this
kind, till the chieftain’s brains were knocked out, formed the sole answer
given by this fiend in lady’s likeness to his cry for mercy; and she
strode away from the mangled carcase mightily satisfied with her evening’s
work. But this Annandale monster is, we believe, a mere creation of the
fancy; and we notice the legend only to say that it is unworthy of credit.
The likelihood is that Willie of Kirkhill, taking a lesson from the
Kirkpatrick motto, made sure of his reward by cutting off the head as well
as the hand of the prostrate warrior. Slain he was at all events; and the
body of the brave lord, lying gory and mutilated on the banks of Dryfe,
was a pitiful sight, had it been seen by eyes susceptible of pity: a chief
of high descent, the head of a noble house, the representative of royalty,
and, in spite of his turbulent temper, possessing many personal claims to
respect and affection – being, as Spottiswoode says [Spottiswoode, vol.
ii., p. 447.], “of great spirit, humane, courteous, and learned” – to be
thus ruthlessly slaughtered and mutilated in his manhood’s prime, was
indeed tragical, and strikingly illustrative of the fury too often
engendered by the Border feuds. [Sir Walter Scott, in Tales of a
Grandfather (p. 153, royal octavo edition), speaks of Maxwell as being an
elderly grey-haired man – agreeing in this respect with most other
historians; but Maxwell, as we learn from the family pedigree at Terregles,
was born in 1553, and was consequently only forty years of age at the time
of his death.]
His followers suffered to a fearful extend. Never before had the
Johnstones obtained such an opportunity of smiting their hereditary foes.
Comparatively few of the Maxwells fell in the battle, but hundreds of them
were cut off in the flight; and many who escaped with life were cruelly
wounded, especially by slashes in the face – called, proverbially,
“Lockerbie licks” – marks of which they bore till their dying day. The
fugitives were pursued as far as the Gotterby ford of the river Annan, in
which numbers sank, and swelled the roll of victims. Altogether, not fewer
than seven hundred of the Maxwell party perished in this disastrous battle
of Dryfe-Sands, the bloodiest of an internecine kind ever fought on the
Border Fells.
When visiting the scene of this conflict on a late occasion, we in fancy
summoned forth the opposing squadrons, and watched them closing in deadly
combat. Johnstone, skilled in strategy, coolly keeping his vantage ground;
the Maxwells, provoked to advance when their sole chance of safety lay in
remaining still, advancing, climbing the ridge under the bewildering
dazzle of a meridian sun; the terrific counter-charge as the men of
Annandale, rolling down like an avalanche, broke the enemy’s battalions,
and turned their temporary confusion into a ruinous panic-rout; the
luckless Lord of Nithsdale hurrying from the field, overtaken and
mercilessly slaughtered; the other fugitives, not caring to climb the
hills over which they had travelled on the previous day in hope and joy,
wending their darkling, dolorous way to the south-west, and thus, as it
were, rushing into the heart of the enemy’s land to be mutilated or perish
– all these scenes and incidents crowded vividly on our mental vision,
till we forgot the glory of the natual scenery watered by the Dryfe, in
the exciting reminiscences of a struggle which made its stream run red. We
sought unsuccessfully for the Maxwell Thorns – those interesting memorials
of the chief’s violent death, and of the bloody field. Not a trace of them
is not to be seen, they having been swept away by the river when in flood
upwards of twenty years ago. A fragment of one of them was transplanted to
a place not far distant, beyond the water’s sweep; but this vestige of the
monumental bushes has also disappeared. [Another vegetable memorial of the
conflict may still be seen in the neighbouring parish of Applegarth – “The
Albie Thorn,” planted about half a mile distant from the locality of the
battle, to denote the place where Bell of Albie, a follower of the
Johnstones, fell while in pursuit of the discomfited fugitives. –
Statistical Account, p. 183.]
When news was brought to King James of the despite done to his authority
by the defeat and slaughter of his representative in Dumfriesshire, he was
much incensed; and had he not been detained in the north by engrossing
State affairs, he would have taken active measures personally to chastise
the Annandale chief. Johnstone was forthwith “put to the horn,” and
proscribed as a rebel; and it was announced that those who intercommoned
with or harboured him would be deemed traitors to the King’s majesty. But
Johnstone had discomfited the royal host, had abased and slain his proud
rival, the King’s lieutenant, and did not care a pin’s fee for the King’s
proclamation. James might be monarch of Scotland, and obeyed as such by
barons who had not coped with him: but the head of the Johnstones was king
in his native dale; and to think of outlawing him there, or isolating him
from his kinsfolk, was simply ridiculous.
Nevertheless, for nearly two years after the conflict at Dryfe-Sands,
Dumfriesshire enjoyed a considerable amount of repose; and it was not till
an attempt was made, in the autumn of 1595, to seize some of the
refractory Johnstones, that the peace of the County was again broken. On
the death of Maxwell, Lord Herries was appointed Warden of the Western
Marches. He was enjoined by the King to meet with other barons in
Dumfries, for the purpose of restoring quiet; and but for the steps taken
by them, the banks of Nith would, in all probability, have suffered from
an Annandale raid. Having maintained order in Nithsdale for many months,
the new Lord Warden thought he would endeavour to tranquillize the
district over which Sir James Johnstone held lawless sway. With this good
object in view, Herries summoned a meeting of Maxwells in the Shire town;
and as the fighting men of the clan had been much reduced by the late
defeat, the Nether Pollok branch of the family furnished a welcome
contingent for the mediated expedition. At the head of three hundred
followers, Herries proceeded from Dumfries to Locherbie, and daringly laid
hold of several offenders belonging to the dominant clan. Other Johnstones
– true to their family motto – mustered in great force, rushed to the
rescue of their friends, and, after a sanguinary engagement, drove the
invaders from the dale.
What to do with Sir James Johnstone now, was a perplexing question, which
the King, after being puzzled with for a while, tried to solve by the
singular expedient of constituting him Warden in room of Lord Herries.
When the turbulent baron found himself, in April, 1596, invested with that
high office, he must have been filled with wonder. It was indeed strange
that he should have been made keeper of the King’s peace who had broken it
so often; but it was in noways strange that he felt awkward in his new
office, and gained no credit for the way in which he discharged its
duties.
The gossipping chronicler, Birrel, records in his diary [Diary of Robert
Birrel, burgess of Edinbugh.], under date July 13, 1597, “an feight or
combat betuix the Laird of Drumlanrick and the Laird of Johnestoun, and
their assisters;” and afterwards the latter fell into such disgrace that,
we are told, on May 27, 1598, “the Laird of Johnestoun his pictor [was]
hung at the Crosse [of Edinburgh], with his heid dounwart, and declarit
ane mansworne man; and upon the 5 of Junij he and his complices wer put to
the horne, and pronuncit rebellis at the Crosse, be opin proclamation.”
According to the same authority, Johnstone soon recovered from his fall,
he having been, on July 2, 1600, “restorit to hes honours, at the Crosse
of Edinburgh, be the proclamatione of a herald and four trumpettis.” We
may infer that the wardenship was again conferred upon him. For a year or
more previous to the latter date, that perilous office was held by Sir
John Carmichael, who was cruelly murdered by a party of “broken men”
whilst going to open a court at Lochmaben – his death affording another
instance of Border lawlessness at this period.
In November, 1597, James found himself under the necessity of going down
to the Western Border to act as his own warden. Early in the month he
arrived at Dumfries, firmly bent on repressing the turbulence of the
district. “A resolution,” says Moysie [Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland,
by David Moysie (MS.), as quoted in Chamber’s Domestic Annals.], “not to
return therefra till that turn was effectuale, as indeed his Majesty did
meikle to it.” In order to secure this object, the King established a
Court of Redress in the Burgh, made up of “aucht special honest gentlemen
of the County, least suspect, maist neutral and indifferent, and the best
inclined to justice,” with “twa or three of his Majesty’s Council
appointit to be present with them.” A large military force attended upon
the sovereign, without which his judicial efforts would have been
unavailing; the individuals he had to cope with caring nothing about the
majesty of the law, and totally unconscious of the “divinity that doth
hedge a king.” The court and its royal president had a busy four weeks of
it. During that time they, after trial, “hangit fourteen or fifteen
limmers, and notorious thieves;” whilst from every branch of the offending
septs they seized one or two leaders, as hostages “that the haill stouths
and reifs committed by them, or any of their particular branch, should be
redressed, and that they and all theirs should abstene from sic insolency
in time coming, under pain of hanging.” These live “pledges” were not, it
appears, put into the ordinary pledge-house, but distributed, to the
number of thirty-six, over houses rented for the purpose, where they were
required to pay rather less than twopence sterling each for their
maintenance daily. In this way the King to some extent redressed the
wrongs which Johnstone had overlooked; and on returning to Edinburgh, he
carried with him the hostages, as a security that the Johnstones,
Armstrongs, Bells, Irvings, and others whom they represented, should
continue at peace. He also constituted Lord Ochiltree his lieutenant; and
that nobleman remained at Dumfries several months, doing his best, by a
judicious distribution of rewards and punishments, to pacify the Shire.
“In the course of that period,” says Moysie, “he hangit and slew three
score of the most notable thieves, and kept the country in great quietness
and guid order.”
But the young Lord of Nithsdale had no desire to live at amity with the
Johnstones, so long as his father’s death remained unavenged. He cherished
a feeling of vindictive hatred against their chief, which the King (who
had, as we have said, again taken the latter into favour) tried in vain by
threats and entreaties to allay. In order to keep the incipient strife in
check, his Majesty commanded Lord Maxwell to withdraw into Clydesdale.
After remaining there, however, a year or more, he returned in the summer
of 1601, without the royal permission, for the avowed purpose of
compassing the ruin of his rival; and, as an earnest of his purpose, he
made a destructive incursion into Annandale, which lighted up anew the
flames of war. The disorders thus created brought the King again into
Dumfriesshire. Probably if he had banished both Johnstone and Maxwell, and
taken security that they would remain “furth of the realm,” he might have
secured the repose of the County.
James adopted no such resolute measures. In his usual feeble way, he
ordered Lord Maxwell to betake himself again to the banks of Clyde, and,
before doing so, to grant “letters of slanes,” dated 11th June,
1605, on behalf of his hated rival; according to which Maxwell “for
himself, and taking burden for all others concerned, in favour of Sir
James Johnstone of Dunskellie, knight, his kin friends, servants, and
dependants, whereby he remits and forgives all hatred, rancour, mutual
grudge, and quarrel which he had against him for the slaughter of John,
Lord Maxwell, his father, and all other slaughters, mutilations, and
insolencies which followed thereon.” [Annandale Papers.] The “mutilations”
here specified refer, doubtless, to the “Lockerbie licks” received by the
men of Nithsdale after their defeat at Dryfe-Sands. So coon as his
Majesty’s back was turned, and in spite of the meek, forgiving spirit
breathed in this document, the obdurate young nobleman reappeared in
Dumfries – reappeared to concoct new plots and stir up fresh broils.
Edinburgh Castle, to which Maxwell was next consigned as a sort of
reformatory prison, wrought no improvement upon him, and, indeed, could
not cage him long. Escaping in January, 1603, he was proclaimed an outlaw.
For some time neither the Government officers nor the chroniclers of the
period could trace his whereabouts, till at length the latter discovered
him, near the close of 1607, suddenly restored, like the hero of a
pantomime, to the free enjoyment of his rank and estates; and we do not
learn from them that he was ever called upon to “underly the law” for his
numerous offences. At the above period, says Chalmer [Caledonia, vol.
iii., p. 113.], “a contest arose between Lord Maxwell and the Earl of
Morton [Angus] about their several jurisdictions in Eskdale; and both
parties called out their people to decide their pretensions – not in the
forum, but the field. The Privy Council, which in some measure now
governed Scotland, commanded the contending parties to dismiss their
forces, and not approach the scene of their controversy; but Maxwell
contemned the order [as might have been looked for], and challenged his
antagonist to single combat. For these contempts Maxwell was committed to
Edinburgh Castle (which seems never to have been a safe State-prison), and
from which Maxwell again effected his escape. But he only escaped to
engage in a more fatal outrage.” This last sentence introduces us to a new
act in the dreadful Border tragedy, which, originating mainly in the
capricious disposal of the Western wardenship, culminated at Dryfe-Sands,
and did not terminate till the two principal remaining actors init, the
chiefs of the rival clans, fell dead upon the stage; one treacherously
shot by the other, and the assassin publicly executed for his crime.
It was by a combination of violence and stratagem that the noble prisoner
effected his escape. On the 4th of December, in accordance with
arrangements made between himself and his fellow-captives, Sir James
M’Connell and Robert Maxwell of Dinwoodie, or the Four, he gave an
entertainment to them and the keepers of the castle; which latter, who
must have been a set of jolly, easy-minded varlets, patronized to such an
extent that they became intoxicated. Lord Maxwell, artfully pandering to
the vanity of the inebriates, requested to see which of them wore the best
weapon. Their swords being produced, he handed one to each of his friends
and took one himself: but instead of comparing the arms, they hurried off
with them; and when the astonished wardens reeled to the door to seize the
fugitives, they found it locked. A few minutes before, Maxwell had sent
his servant to Struthers, the porter, to facilitate their passage through
the inner gate. The servant easily enough obtained leave to pass, but when
Struthers wished to close the gate again the former put his back to the
wicket, upon which the three men coming up glided out, the porter
receiving a cut in the hand from Lord Maxwell, as he tried to arrest their
progress. M’Connell, having his irons on, was unable on that account to
surmount the outer wall, which the other two prisoners readily scaled, and
secured their freedom. How wroth King James was on account of Maxwell’s
forcible breach of ward, is shown by a letter which his Majesty addressed
to his Privy Council, on the 14th of December, 1607, the
substance of which we subjoin: - “The leatt escheap of the Lord Maxwell,
furth ofour Castell of Edinburgh,” says his Majesty, “haveing gevein to us
moir nor just caus of discontentment at his foly, We have thocht meitt
heirby to direct you how to proceed aganes him. And first, we will this
Proclamatioun, herewith sent, to be publeissed at all placeis neidfull;
and that you hairefter tak ordour for tryale of all reseattares and
suppleares, and caus the extreametie of the law to be prosequit aganes
thame. And also you sall, upon ressait heirof, presentlie send charges to
tressoune for the rendering of his castellis and houssis, and you sall put
garesounes and keipars in eveirie one of the same to be interteined upon
the rentis belonging to the houssis, unto such tyme as We doctak farder
order thairwith. And als, our will is, that you give particular
directioune to suche as sall resave the Castell of Lochmabene, that they
mak delyverie of the same to our rycht trustie coising and counsallovr,
the Erll of Dunbar, or to ony other quhome the said Erll of Dunbar sall
direct, with our uther Warrand for resaveing thairof. Furthermore, you
sall cause charge the principallis of the said Lord Maxwell, his name and
followairis, being ony way men of mark, to find cautione and suertie,
under gritt pecuniall panes, that they sall noway resailt, supplie, nor
intercommune with him, You sall in lyk maner geve speciall ordour to our
garisoune, under the Lord of Scone’s command, and als to that uther under
Sir Wm. Cranstoune’s charge, that they mak specialle searche for the said
Lord Maxwell, his taking and apprehending. And heiroff, willing you to be
cairfull, and to omit nothing that may haisten ane exempler puneishment
upon him, for his prowd contempt.”
In the course of a short time after the receipt of this letter, one of the
Privy Councillors, Sir Thomas Hamilton, in name of the whole, addressed a
letter to the King, setting forth that it had been represented to them
that, unless the crimes for which Lord Maxwell and Sir James M’Connell had
been imprisoned were treasonable, their breach of ward could not import
treason. “As to the Lord Maxwell,” he said, “I have heard of his raising
of fyre at Dalfibbill, when he slew Willie Johnestoun, callit of
Eschieschielles, and ane uther Johnestoun;” but he added circumspectly,
“because he was sensyne had the honour to be admitted to your Royall
presence, I wald not presume to summond him for that fact, while first I
sould knaw your Majestei’s mynde thairanent; the knaulege whairof sall
lead me to proceid or desist.”
The royal reply to this request for instructions has not been preserved.
That it was of an unrelenting nature, may be fairly inferred from the
letter subsequently sent to the Council by the King, dated at the Palace
of Whitehall, 2nd February, 1608, and which (omitting some
unimportant passages) runs thus: - “We are informed that, notwithstanding
of the treasonable fact committit be the Lord Maxwell in eschaiping fourth
of our Castell of Edinburghe, and in forceing and hurting of the keipares
and poirtaris of the same, and of our speciall commandis and
Proclamatiounes, send doune for his taking and apprehending, that
nevertheles in plane contempt of our authoritie, and that he oppinley
travellis throuche and countrie accompaneid with no fewer than twentie
horse, and hes mead his repaire at syndrie tymes to our burgh of Drumfreis;
quhiche insolence is not way tolerabill, and skairse excussabill on your
pairtis, that ony of our declarit tratouris sould assume to themeselffis
so mutche libertie without conrolment. And thairfoir our pleasour and will
is, that upon ressait heiroff, you direct that our Gaird, under the
command of the Lord of Scoone, to repair to the burghe of Dumfreis, and
thare, with the Gaird under Sir William Cranstoune’s chairge, to make a
present diligent searche for the said Lord Maxwell, and either to
apprehend him or put him out of thoise boundis. Thairwith also the
Baillies of Drumfreis wold be chairgit to compeir befoir you, and if you
can try any thing of their knawledge of the said Lord Maxwellis being in
thair toune, We ar to will you to inflict ane exemplare puneishment upone
thame, baith by fynning and wairding. And als, you are to proceid in
rigoure, according to the warrant of our lawis, aganes all reseattares and
accompaniaris of the said Lord, that so others may be affrayed from coming
within the compass of the lyk contempe.” |
