inst the horses of the Scots, caused many of them to throw their
riders, while the rest galloped away. The women of the castle caught
fifty of the riderless horses, on which more of the garrison mounted and
joined in the pursuit of the flying Scots, whom they chased nearly to
Berwick.

The tables were sometimes turned, however; and on one of these occasions
the valiant Sir Thomas Gray and his son were enticed out of the castle
into an ambush laid for them by their foes, and both captured.

In 1513, just before the battle of Flodden, its walls were at length
laid low by James IV., but not until the famous cannon "Mons
Meg"--still, I believe, to be seen at Edinburgh Castle--had been brought
against it. One of the cannon-balls fired from "Mons Meg" was found,
and is still kept with others at the Castle. It is said that the Scots
were told of the weakest spot in the fortifications by a treacherous
inmate of the castle, who doubtless expected a rich reward for his
information. Indeed, the ballad of "Flodden" says he came for it; but
the valiant and chivalrous king would give him no reward but that which
he said every traitor deserved--a rope.

Afterwards the castle was restored once more, but its more stirring days
were over; and, to-day, it stands a shattered but dignified ruin,
overlooking the tranquil river and peaceful woodlands which once echoed
so continuously to the clash of arms and the shouts of besiegers and
besieged.

The village of Norham was in Saxon days known as Ubbanford--the Upper
Ford of two that were available in those days on the Tweed. There was a
church here, too, in Saxon times, for Bishop Ecfrid built one about the
year 830, and in it was buried the Saxon king Ceolwulf who became a
monk: the present church has a good deal remaining of the one built on
the same site by Bishop Flambard, about the same time as the castle.
Earl Gospatric, whom William the Conqueror made Earl of Northumberland
in return for a considerable sum of money--doubtless thinking that to
give a Northumbrian the Earldom would reconcile the North to his
rule--is buried in the church porch. Gospatric joined in the resistance
of the North to William, but returned to his allegiance later. The
Market Cross of Norham stands on the original base.

From Norham to Tweedmouth the river sweeps forward between picturesque
ever-widening banks, and often hidden by a leafy screen, past the
village of Horncliffe, beneath the Union Suspension B