"Thomas Musgrave doth deny all this charge; and saith, that he will prove that Lancelot Carleton doth falsely bely him, and will prove the same by way of combat, according to this indenture. Lancelot Carleton hath entertained the challenge; and so, by God's permission, will prove it true as before, and hath set his hand to the same.

(Signed) THOMAS MUSGRAVE. LANCELOT CARLETON."

He, the jovial harper.-St. XXXI. p. 121.

The person, here alluded to, is one of our ancient Border minstrels, called Rattling Roaring Willie. This soubriquet was probably derived from his bullying disposition; being, it would seem, such a roaring boy as is frequently mentioned in old plays. While drinking at Newmill, upon Teviot, about five miles above Hawick, Willie chanced to quarrel with one of his own profession, who was usually distinguished by the odd name of Sweet Milk, from a place on Rule-water so called. They retired to a meadow on the opposite side of the Teviot, to decide the contest with their swords, and Sweet Milk was killed on the spot. A thorn-tree marks the scene of the murder, which is still called Sweet Milk Thorn. Willie was taken and executed at Jedburgh, bequeathing his name to the beautiful Scottish air, called " Rattling Roaring Willie." Ramsay, who set no value on traditionary lore, published a few verses of this song in the Tea Table Miscellany, carefully suppressing all which had any connection with the history of the author, and origin of the piece. In this case,

however, honest Allan is in some degree justified, by the extreme worthlessness of the poetry. A verse or two may be taken as illustrative of the history of Roaring Willie, alluded to in the text.

Now Willie's gane to Jeddart,

And he is for the rude-day* ;
But Stobs and young Falnash†,
They followed him a' the way;
They followed him a' the way,

They sought him up and down,
In the links of Ousenam water
They fand him sleeping sound.

Stobs lighted aff his horse,

And never a word he spak,
Till he tie'd Willie's hands

Fu' fast behind his back;

Fu' fast behind his back,

And down beneath his knee,

And drink will be dear to Willie,
When sweet milk‡ gars him die.

Ah wae light on ye, Stobs!
An ill death mot ye die!

Ye're the first and foremost man
That e'er laid hands on me;

That e'er laid hands on me,
And took my mare me frae;
Wae to ye, Sir Gilbert Elliot,
Ye are my mortal fae!

* The day of the Rood-fair at Jedburgh.

✦ Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs, and Scott of Falnash.

A wretched pun on his antagonist's name.

NOTE S

ON

CANTO V.

The Bloody Heart blazed in the van,

Announcing Douglas, dreaded name !--St. IV. p. 130. The chief of this potent race of heroes, about the date of the poem, was Archibald Douglas, seventh Earl of Angus, a man of great courage and activity. The bloody heart was the well-known cognizance of the house of Douglas, assumed from the time of Good Lord James, to whose care Robert Bruce committed his heart, to be carried to the Holy Land.

Beneath the crest of old Dunbar,

And Hepburn's mingled banners, come, Down the steep mountain glittering far,

66

And shouting still, " a Home! a Home!"-St. IV. p. 130. The Earls of Home, as descendants of the Dunbars, ancient Earls of March, carried a lion rampant, argent; but, as a diffe

rence, changed the colour of the shield from gules to vert, in allusion to Greenlaw, their ancient possession. The slogan, or war-cry of this powerful family, was, " a Home! a Home!" It was anciently placed in an escroll above the crest. The helmet is armed with a lion's head erased gules, with a cap of state gules, turned up ermine.

The Hepburns, a powerful family in East Lothian, are usually in close alliance with the Homes. The chief of this clan was Hepburn, Lord of Hailes; a family which terminated in the too famous Earl of Bothwell.

Pursued the foot-ball play.—St. VI.

p. 133.

The foot-ball was anciently a very favourite sport all through Scotland, but especially upon the Borders. Sir John Carmichael of Carmichael, warden of the middle marches, was killed in 1600 by a band of the Armstrongs, returning from a foot-ball match. Sir Robert Carey, in his Memoirs, mentions a great meeting appointed by the Scottish riders, to be held at Kelso, for the purpose of playing at foot-ball, but which terminated in an incursion upon England. At present the football is often played by the inhabitants of adjacent parishes, or of the opposite banks of a stream. The victory is contested with the utmost fury, and very serious accidents have sometimes taken place in the struggle.