back.

He looked over his left shoulder,
And for to see what he might see;
There was he aware of his auld father,
Came tearing his hair most piteouslie.

"O hald your tongue, my father," he says,
"And see that ye dinna weep for me!
"For they may ravish me o' my life,
"But they canna banish me fro' heaven hie.'

"Fare ye weel, fair Maggie, my wife!
"The last time we came ower the muir,
"'Twas thou bereft me of my life,
"And wi' the Bishop thou play'd the whore.

"Here, Johnie Armstrang, take thou my sword,
"That is made o' the metal sae fine;
"And when thou comest to the English[C] side,
"Remember the death of Hughie the Graeme."

[Footnote A: _Garlard_--Anc. Songs.]

[Footnote B: _Boles_--Anc. Songs.]

[Footnote C: _Border_--Anc, Songs.]

NOTE ON HUGHIE THE GRAEME.

_And wi' the Bishop thou play'd the whore._--P. 326, v. 9.

Of the morality of Robert Aldridge, bishop of Carlisle, we know but
little; but his political and religious faith were of a stretching and
accommodating texture. Anthony a Wood observes, that there were many
changes in his time, both in church and state; but that the worthy
prelate retained his offices and preferments during them all.

JOHNIE OF BREADISLEE.

AN ANCIENT NITHESDALE BALLAD.

The hero of this ballad appears to have been an outlaw and
deer-stealer--probably one of the broken men residing upon the border.
There are several different copies, in one of which the principal
personage is called _Johnie of Cockielaw_. The stanzas of greatest merit
have been selected from each copy. It is sometimes said, that this
outlaw possessed the old castle of Morton, in Dumfries-shire, now
ruinous:--"Near to this castle there was a park, built by Sir Thomas
Randolph, on the face of a very great and high hill; so artificially,
that, by the advantage of the hill, all wild beasts, such as deers,
harts, and roes, and hares, did easily leap in, but could not get out
again; and if any other cattle, such as cows, sheep, or goats, did
voluntarily leap in, or were forced to do it, _it is doubted_ if their
owners were permitted to get them out again."--_Account of Presbytery
of Penpont, apud Macfarlane's MSS._ Such a park would form a convenient
domain to an outlaw's castle, and the mention of Durrisdeer, a
neighbouring parish, adds weight to the tradition. I have seen, on a
mountain near Callendar, a sort of pinfold, composed of immense rock