But England suld have found me meal and mault,
Gif I had lived this hundred yeir!

"She suld have found me meal and mault,
And beef and mutton in a' plentie;
But never a Scots wyfe could have said,
That e'er I skaith'd her a puir flee.

"To seik het water beneith cauld ice,
Surely it is a greit folie--
I have asked grace at a graceless face,
But there is nane for my men and me![88]

"But had I kenn'd ere I cam frae hame,
How thou unkind wadst been to me!
I wad have keepit the Border side,
In spite of all thy force and thee.

"Wist England's King that I was ta'en,
O gin a blythe man he wad be!
For anes I slew his sister's son,
And on his briest bane brak a trie."

The balladist then proceeds to give a minute description of the dress worn
by the redoubtable freebooter on this occasion--of his girdle, embroidered
and bespangled with gold, and his hat, with its nine targets or tassels,
each worth three hundred pounds. All that he needed to make him a king was
"the sword of honour and the crown." But nothing can now avail.

"Farewell! my bonny Gilnock hall,
Where on Esk side thou standest stout!
Gif I had lived but seven yeirs mair,
I wad hae gilt thee round about."

John murdered was at Carlinrigg,
And all his gallant companie;
But Scotland's heart was ne'er sae wae,
To see sae mony brave men die.

It was a foul deed, foully done. The King was no doubt determined, as it
is said, to "make the rush bush keep the cow," and perhaps to a certain
extent he succeeded, as some time after this, Andrew Bell kept ten
thousand sheep in Ettrick Forest, and they were as safe as if they had
been pasturing in Fife or the Lothians. But the murder of Armstrong in no
way daunted the other members of that notable clan. Many of them took
refuge on the English side of the Border, and for years waged a successful
predatory warfare against their _quondam_ Scottish neighbours. In 1535,
for example, we find that "Christopher Armstrong, Archibald his son,
Ingram Armstrong, Railtoun, Robert and Archibald Armstrong there, John
Elwald, called _Lewis John_, William, son of Alexander Elwald, and Robert
Carutheris, servants to the laird of Mangerton; John Forrestare, called
_Schaikbuklar_, Ninian Gray his servant, Thomas Armstrong in Greneschelis,
_Lang Penman_, servant of one called _Dikkis Will_. Thomas Armstrong of
Mangerton, and Symeon Armstrong, called _Sim