He was made sheriffe of Ettricke Foreste,
Surely while upwards grows the trie;
And if he was na traitour to the king,
Forfaulted he suld nevir be.

Wha ever heard, in ony times,
Sicken an Outlaw in his degre,
Sick favour get befor a king,
As did the OUTLAW MURRAY of the Foreste frie?

[Footnote 106: Brow.]

[Footnote 107: Southern, or English.]

[Footnote 108: Afraid.]

[Footnote 109: A ford on the Tweed, at the mouth of the Caddon Burn,
near Yair.]

NOTES ON THE SANG OF THE OUTLAW MURRAY.

* * * * *

_Then spak the Lord, hight Hamilton_.--P. 86. v. 4.

This is, in most copies, the _earl_ hight Hamilton, which must be a
mistake of the reciters, as the family did not enjoy that title till
1503.

_James Boyd (the Earl of Arran his brother), &c._--P. 87. v. 2.

Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, was forfeited, with his father and uncle,
in 1469, for an attempt on the person of James III. He had a son,
James, who was restored, and in favour with James IV. about 1482. If
this be the person here meant, we should read "The Earl of Arran his
_son_ was he." Glenriddel's copy reads, "A highland laird I'm sure was
he." Reciters sometimes call the messenger, the laird of Skene.

_Down Birkendale Brae when that he cam_.--P. 88, v. 2.

Birkendale Brae, now commonly called _Birkendailly_, is a steep
descent on the south side of Minch-Moor, which separates Tweeddale
from Ettrick Forest; and from the top of which you have the first view
of the woods of Hangingshaw, the castle of Newark, and the romantic
dale of Yarrow.

_The laird of the Corehead, &c._--P. 93. v. 1.

This is a place at the head of Moffat-water, possessed of old by the
family of Halliday.

_To Andrew Murray of Cockpool_.--P. 94. v. 1.

This family were ancestors of the Murrays, earls of Annandale; but the
name of the representative, in the time of James IV. was William, not
Andrew. Glenriddel's MS. reads, "the country-keeper."

_To Sir James Murray of Traquair_.--P. 94. v. 3.

Before the barony of Traquair became the property of the Stewarts, it
belonged to a family of Murrays, afterwards Murrays of Black-barony,
and ancestors of Lord Elibank. The old castle was situated on the
Tweed. The lands of Traquair were forfeited by Willielmus de Moravia,
previous to 1464; for, in that year, a charter, proceeding upon his
forfeiture, was granted by the crown "Willielmo Douglas de Cluny." Sir
Jam