ale.

_Ere the Laird's Jock had stown frae thee_.--P. 211. v. 4.

The commendation of the Laird's Jock's honesty seems but indifferently
founded; for, in July 1586, a bill was fouled against him, Dick of
Dryup, and others, by the deputy of Bewcastle, at a warden-meeting,
for 400 head of cattle taken in open forray from the Drysike in
Bewcastle: and, in September 1587, another complaint appears at the
instance of one Andrew Rutledge of the Nook, against the Laird's Jock,
and his accomplices, for 50 kine and oxen, besides furniture, to
the amount of 100 merks sterling. See Bell's MSS., as quoted in the
_History of Cumberland and Westmoreland_. In Sir Richard Maitland's
poem against the thieves of Liddesdale, he thus commemorates the
Laird's Jock:

They spuilye puir men of thair pakis,
They leif them nocht on bed nor bakis;
Baith hen and cok,
With reil and rok,
The _Lairdis Jock_
All with him takis.

Those, who plundered Dick, had been bred up under an expert teacher.

JOCK O' THE SIDE.

* * * * *

The subject of this ballad, being a common event in those troublesome
and disorderly times, became a favourite theme of the ballad-makers.
There are, in this collection, no fewer than three poems on the rescue
of prisoners, the incidents in which nearly resemble each other;
though the poetical description is so different, that the editor did
not think himself at liberty to reject any one of them, as borrowed
from the others. As, however, there are several verses, which, in
recitation, are common to all these three songs, the editor, to
prevent unnecessary and disagreeable repetition, has used the freedom
of appropriating them to that, in which they seem to have the best
poetic effect.

The reality of this story rests solely upon the foundation of
tradition. Jock o' the side seems to have been nephew to the laird
of Mangertoun, cousin to the Laird's Jock, one of his deliverers, and
probably brother to Chrystie of the Syde, mentioned in the list of
border clans 1597. Like the Laird's Jock, he also is commemorated by
Sir Richard Maitland.--See the _Introduction_.

He is weil kend, Johne of the Syde,
A greater theif did never ryde;
He never tyris
For to brek byris.
Our muir and myris
Ouir gude ane guide.

The land-serjeant, mentioned in this ballad, and also in that of
_Hobble Noble_, was an officer under the warden, to whom was committed
the appreh