kingdoms, notwithstanding their mutual hostility and reciprocal depredations.

A natural intercourse took place between the English and Scottish Marches at Border meetings and during the short intervals of peace.

quently at parties of the chase and

They met fre

football.

The

custom, also, of paying blackmail, or protection rent, introduced a connection betwixt the countries; for a Scottish Borderer taking blackmail from an English inhabitant was not only himself bound to abstain from injuring such person, but also to maintain his quarrel, and recover his property if carried off by others. Hence a union arose betwixt the parties, founded upon mutual interest, which counteracted, in many instances, the effects of national prejudice.

In

This humanity and moderation was, on certain occasions, entirely laid aside by the Borderers. the case of deadly feud, either against an Englishman or against any neighbouring tribe, the whole force of the offended clan was bent to avenge the death of any of their number. This vengeance not only vented itself upon the homicide and his family, but upon all his kindred, on his whole tribe, and on every one, in fine, whose death or ruin could affect him with regret.

The immediate rulers of the Borders were the chiefs of the different clans. The abodes of these petty princes by no means corresponded to the extent of their power. We do not find on the Scottish Borders the splendid and extensive baronial castles which graced and defended the opposite frontier.

The Gothic grandeur of Alnwick, of Raby, and of Naworth marks the wealthier and more secure state of the English nobles. The Scottish chieftain, however extensive his domains, derived no pecuniary advantage, save from such parts as he could himself cultivate or occupy.

Payment of rent was hardly known on the Borders till after the Union of 1603. All that the landlord could gain from those residing upon his estate was their personal service in battle, their assistance in labouring the land retained in his natural possession, and perhaps a share in the spoil which they acquired by rapine. This, with his herds of cattle and of sheep, and with the blackmail which he exacted from his neighbours, constituted the revenue of the chieftain; and from funds so precarious he could rarely spare sums to expend in strengthening or decorating his habitation.

Another reason is found in the Scottish mode of warfare. It was early discovered that the English surpassed their neighbours in the arts of assaulting and defending fortified places. The policy of the Scots, therefore, deterred them from erecting upon the Borders buildings of such extent and strength as, being once taken by the foe, would have been capable of receiving a permanent garrison.

To themselves the woods and hills of their country were pointed out by the great Bruce as their safest bulwarks; and the maxim of the Douglases, that "it was better to hear the lark sing than the mouse cheep," was adopted by every Border chief. For

these combined reasons the residence of the chieftain was commonly a large, square battlemented tower, called a keep or peel, placed on a precipice on the banks of a torrent, and, if the ground would permit, surrounded by a moat.

In short, the situation of a Border house, encompassed by woods, and rendered almost inaccessible by torrents, by rocks, or by morasses, sufficiently indicated the pursuits and apprehensions of its inhabitants. No wonder, therefore, that James the Fifth, on approaching the castle of Lockwood, the ancient seat of the Johnstones, is said to have exclaimed "that he who built it must have been a knave in his heart."

An outer wall, with some light fortifications, served as a protection for the cattle at night. The walls were of an immense thickness, and they could easily be defended against any small force-more especially as, the rooms being vaulted, each story formed a separate lodgment, capable of being held for a considerable time. On such occasions the usual mode adopted by the assailants was to expel the defenders by setting fire to wet straw in the lower apartments. But the Border chieftains seldom chose to abide in person a siege of this nature; and I have scarce observed a single instance of a distinguished baron made prisoner in his own house.

The common people resided in paltry huts, about the safety of which they were little anxious, as they contained nothing of value. On the approach of a superior force they unthatched them, to prevent their

being burned, and then abandoned them to the foe. Their only treasures were a fleet and active horse, with the ornaments which their rapine had procured for the females of their family, of whose gay appearance they were vain.

We are left to conjecture how they occupied the time when winter or when accident confined them to their habitations. The little learning which existed in the Middle Ages glimmered, a dim and dying flame, in the religious houses; and even in the sixteenth century, when its beams became more widely diffused, they were far from penetrating the recesses of the Border mountains. The tales of tradition, the song, with the pipe or harp of the minstrel, were probably the sole resources against weariness during the short intervals of repose from military adventure.

The more rude and wild the state of society, the more general and violent is the impulse received from poetry and music. The muse, whose effusions are the amusement of a very small part of a polished nation, records, in the lays of inspiration, the history, the laws, the very religion of savages. Where the pen and the press are wanting, the flow of numbers impressed upon the memory of posterity the deeds and sentiments of their forefathers.

Verse is naturally connected with music, and among a rude people the union is seldom broken. By this natural alliance, the lays, "steeped in the stream of harmony," are more easily retained by the reciter, and produce upon his audience a more impressive effect. Hence there has hardly been found

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to exist a nation so rude as not to listen with enthusiasm to the songs of their bards, recounting the exploits of their forefathers, recording their laws and moral precepts, or hymning the praises of their deities.

But where the feelings are frequently stretched to the highest pitch by the vicissitudes of a life of danger and military adventure, this predisposition of a savage people to admire their own rude poetry and music is heightened, and its tone becomes peculiarly determined. It is not the peaceful Hindu at his loom, it is not the timid Esquimau in his canoe, whom we must expect to glow at the war-song. The music and the poetry of each country must keep pace with their usual tone of mind, as well as with the state of society.

The subject of their compositions is determined by the same circumstances. Those themes are necessarily chosen by the bard which regard the favourite exploits of the hearers, and he celebrates only those virtues which from infancy he has been taught to admire. Hence the music and songs of the Borderers were of a military nature, and celebrated the valour and success of their predatory expeditions.

The minstrels praised their chieftains for the very exploits against which the laws of the country. denounced a capital doom. An outlawed freebooter was to them a more interesting person than the king of Scotland exerting legal power to punish his depredations; and when the characters are contrasted, the latter is always represented as a ruthless and sanguinary tyrant.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.