les I. He was called Christie's Will, though from what reason
does not now seem very clear; neither is it at all evident why, after
the execution of his forbear, Johnny, and his fifty followers, at
Carlenrig, the Tower of Gilnockie was not forfeited to the crown, and
taken from the rebellious clan altogether; but, to be sure it was in
those days more easy to take a man's life than his property, insomuch as
the former needed no guard, while the other would have required a small
standing army to keep it and the new proprietor together. Certain,
however, it is, that Christie's Will did get possession of the Tower of
Gilnockie, where, according to the practice of the family, he lived "on
Scottish ground and English kye;" and, when the latter could not easily
be had, on the poorer land of his neighbours of Scotland.

[A] In a MS. we have seen, as old as the end of the 15th
century, "the Laird of Mangerton" is placed at the head of the
Liddesdale chiefs--Harden, Buccleuch, and others coming after him
in respectful order.

This descendant of the Armstrongs was not unlike Johnny; and, indeed, it
has been observed that throughout the whole branches of the family there
was an extraordinary union of boldness and humour--two qualities which
have more connection than may, at first view, be apparent. Law-breakers,
among themselves, are seldom serious; a lightness of heart and a turn
for wit being necessary for the sustenance of their outlawed spirits, as
well as for a quaint justification--resorted to by all the tribe--of
their calling, against the laws of the land. In the possession of these
qualities, Will was not behind the most illustrious of his race; but he,
perhaps, excelled them all in the art of "_conveying_"--a polite term
then used for that change of ownership which the affected laws of the
time denominated _theft_. This art was not confined to cattle or
plenishing, though

"They left not spindell, spoone, nor speit,
Bed, boster, blanket, sark, nor sheet:
John of the Park ryps kist and ark--
To all sic wark he is sae meet."[B]

[B] See Maitland's curious satire on the Border robberies.--ED.

It extended to abduction, and this was far seldomer exercised on damsels
than on men, who would be well ransomed, especially of those classes,
duke, earl, or baron, any of whom Johnny offered (for his life) to
bring, "within a certain day, to his Majesty James V., either quick
or dead." This latter par