No-close beneath proud Newark's tower
Arose the Minstrel's lowly bower:
A simple hut; but there was seen
The little garden hedged with green,
The cheerful hearth, and lattice clean.
There shelter'd wanderers, by the blaze,
of heard the tale of other days;
For much he loved to ope his door,
And give the aid he begg'd before.
So pass'd the winter's day; but still,
When summer smiled on sweet Bowhill,
And July's eve, with balmy breath,
Wared the blue-bells on Newark heath;
When throstles sung in Hare-head shaw,
And corn was green on Carterhaugh,
And flourish'd, broad, Blackandro's oak,
The aged harper's soul awoke!

Then would he sing achievements high,
And circumstance of chivalry,
Till the rapt traveller would stay,
Forgetful of the closing day;

And noble youths, the strain to hear,
Forsook the hunting of the deer;
And Yarrow, as he roll'd along,
Bore burden to the Minstrel's song.

NOTES.

CANTO I.

Note 1. Stanza i.

The feast was over in Branksome tower.

subject to such egregious inconvenience. When the bargain was completed, he drily remarked, that the cattle in Cumberland were as good as those of Teviotdale; and proceeded to commence a system of reprisals upon the English, which was regularly pursued by his successors. In the next reign, James II. granted to Sir Walter Scott of Branksome, and to Sir David, his son, the remaining half of the barony of Branksome, to be held in blanch for the payment of a red rose. The cause assigned for the grant is, their brave and faithful exertions in favour of the king against the house of Douglas, with whom James had been recently tugging for the throne of Scotland. This charter is dated the 2d February, 1443; and, in the same month, part of the barony of Langholm, and many lands in Lanarkshire, were conferred upon Sir Walter and his son by the same monarch.

After the period of the exchange with Sir Thomas Inglis, Branksome became the principal seat of the Buccleuch family. The castle was enlarged and strengthened by Sir David Scott, the grandson of Sir William, its first possessor. But, in 1570-1, the vengeance of Elizabeth, provoked by the inroads of Buccleuch, and his attachment to the cause of Queen Mary, destroyed the castle, and laid waste the lands of Branksome. In the same year the castle was repaired, and enlarged by Sir Walter Scott, its brave possessor; but the work was not completed until after his death, in 1574, when the widow finished the building. This appears from the following inscription. Around a stone, bearing the arms of Scott of Buccleuch, appears the following legend: «SIR W. SCOTT OF BRANXHEIM KNYT YOE OF SIR WILLIAM SCOTT OF KIRKURD KNYT BEGAN YE WORK UPON YE 24 of March 1571 ZIER QUHA DEPARTIT AT GOD'S PLEISOUR YE 17 APRIL 1574.» On a similar compartment are sculptured the arms of

Douglas, with this inscription, «DAME Margaret Doug

LAS HIS SPOUS COMPLEITIT THE FORSAID WORK IN OCTOBER

1576. Over an arched door is inscribed the following

In the reign of James I. Sir William Scott of Buc-
traca, chief of the clan bearing that name, exchanged,
var Thomas Inglis of Manor, the estate of Mur-
se, in Lanarkshire, for one half of the barony of
Indome, or Branxholm, lying upon the Teviot,
three miles above Hawick. He was probably
ared to this transaction from the vicinity of Brank- IN. VARLD. 18. NOCHT.
e to the extensive domain which he possessed in
Larick Forest and in Teviotdale. In the former dis-

In

moral verse:

AT..

NATURE. HES. BROUGHT. TAT. BAL. LEST.

THARFORE. SERVE. GOD. KEIP. VEIL.

NOCHT. DECAY.

TE. HOD. TRY. FANE. SAL.

t he held by occupancy the estate of Buccleuch, 2 much of the forest land on the river Ettrick. Tendale he enjoyed the barony of Eckford, by a grant from Robert II. to his ancestor, Walter Scott of Branksome Castle continued to be the principal seat Hirsurd, for the apprehending of Gilbert Ridderford, of the Buccleuch family, while security was any object tofirmed by Robert III, 3d May, 1424. Tradition im- in their choice of a mansion. It has since been the putes the exchange betwixt Scott and Inglis to a con-residence of the commissioners, or chamberlains, of versation, in which the latter, a man, it would appear, the family. From the various alterations which the a mild and forbearing nature, complained much of building has undergone, it is not only greatly restricted which he was exposed to from the English in its dimensions, but retains little of the castellated lenderers, who frequently plundered his lands of Brank- form, if we except one square tower of massy thickSir William Scott instantly offered him the ness, the only part of the original building which now state of Murdiestone, in exchange for that which was remains. The whole forms a handsome modern residence, lately inhabited by my deceased friend, Adam Ogilvy, Esq. of Hartwoodmyres, Commissioner of his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch.

SIR WALTER SCOTT ОР BRANIHOLM KNIGHT. MARGARET DOUG-
LAS, 1591.

juries

Brantholm is the proper name of the barony; but Branksome has been adopted, as suitable to the pronunciation, and more proper

he poetry.
There are no vestiges of any building at Buccleuch, except the
the of a chapel, where, according to a tradition current in the time
Satt of Satchells, many of the ancient barons of Buccleuch lie
ared. There is also said to have been a mill near this solitary
an extraordinary circumstance, as little or no corn grows
in several miles of Buccleuch. Satchells says it was used to
priad worn for the bounds of the chieftain.

The extent of the ancient edifice can still be traced by some vestiges of its foundation, and its strength is obvious from the situation, on a steep bank surrounded by the Teviot, and flanked by a deep ravine, formed by a precipitous brook. It was anciently surrounded by wood, as appears from the survey of Roxburghshire,

made for Pont's Atlas, and preserved in the Advocate's Library. This wood was cut about fifty years ago, but is now replaced by the thriving plantations which have been formed by the late noble proprietor, around the ancient mansion of his forefathers.

Note 2. Stanza iii.
Nine-and-twenty knights of fame

Hung their shields in Branksome-hall.

The ancient barons of Buccleuch, both from feudal splendour, and from their frontier situation, retained

in their household, at Branksome, a number of gentle-
men of their own name, who held lands from their
chief, for the military service of watching and warding
his castle. Satchells tells us, in his doggrel poetry,

No barou was better served into Britain;
The barons of Buckleugh they kept their call,
Four and twenty gentlemen in their hall,
All being of his name and kin;

Each two had a servant to wait upon him;
Before supper and dinner, most renowned,
The bells rung and the trumpets sowned:
And more than that, I do confess,
They kept four and twenty pensioners.
Think not I lie, nor do me blame,
For the pensioners I can all name:
There's men alive, elder than I,
They know if I speak truth, or lie;.
Every pensioner a room did gain,
For service done and to be done;
This I'll let the reader understand,
The name both of the men and land,
Which they possessed, it is of truth,

Both from the lairds and lords of Buckleugh.

restless military disposition of its inhabitants, who we seldom on good terms with their neighbours. The fo lowing letter from the Earl of Northumberland Henry VIII. in 1533, gives an account of a successf inroad of the English, in which the country was plu dered up to the gates of the castle, although the invade failed in their principal object, which was, to kill, make prisoner, the laird of Buccleuch. It occurs the Cotton MS. Calig. B. v111. f. 222.

«

Pleaseth yt your most gracious highnes to be aduc tised, that my comptroller, with Raynald Carnab desyred licence of me to invade the realme of Scotlan they thought best exploit by theyme might be don for the annoysaunce of your highnes enemys, whe

and to haue to concur withe theyme the inhabitants Northumberland, suche as was toward me accordingt theyre assembly, and as by theyre discrecions vpone ti same they shulde thinke most convenient; and soo the dyde mete vpone Monday, before nyght, being the i day of this instant monethe, at Wawhope, uppon North Tyne water, above Tyndaill, where they were to d number of xv c men, and soo invadet Scotland, at t hour of viii of the clok at nyght, at a place calle Whele Causay; and before xi of the clok dyd send fort a forrey of Tyndaill and Ryddisdaill, and laide all th resydewe in a bushment, and actyvely dyd set vpon towne called Branxholm, where the lord of Buclong dwellythe, and purpesed theymeselves with a trayne fo hym lyke to his accustomed manner, in rysying to a frayes; albeit, that knight he was not at home, and so they brynt the said Branxholm, and other townes, as t say Whichestre, Whichestre-helme, and Whelley, an haid ordered theymeself soo, that sundry of the sai Lord Buclough's servants, who dyd issue fourthe of hi gates, was takyn prisoners. They dyd not leve on house, one stak of corne, nor one shyef, without th gate of the said Lord Buclough vnbrynt; and thus serym aged and frayed, supposing the Lord of Buclough to b within iii or iiii myles to heve trayned him to the bush ment; and soo in the breyking of the day dyd the forrey and the busliment mete, and reculed homeward, making theyr way westward from theyre invasion to be over Lyddersdaill, as intending yf the fray frome theyre furst entry by the Scotts waiches, or otherwyse by warnyng, shulde haue bene gyven to Gedworth and the countrey of Scotland theyreabouts of theyre invasion; whiche Gedworth is from the Wheles Causay vi myles, that thereby the Scots shulde have cumen further valo theyme, and more out of ordre; and soo upon sundry good consideracons, before they entered Lyddersdaill, as well accompting the inhabitants of the same to be <«< Of a truth,» says Froissart, «the Scottish cannot boast great skill with the bow, but rather bear towards your highnes, and to enforce theyme the more with which, in time of need, they give heavy strokes.» thereby, as alsoo to put an occasion of suspect to the The Jedwood-axe was a sort of partisan, used by horse-kinge of Scotts and his counsaill, to be taken anensi men, as appears from the arms of Jedburgh, which bear a cavalier mounted, and armed with this weapon.

Accordingly, dismounting from his Pegasus, Satchells gives us, in prose, the names of twenty-four gentlemen, younger brothers of ancient families, who were pensioners to the house of Buccleuch, and describes the lands which each possessed for his Border service. In time of war with England, the garrison was doubtless augmented. Satchells adds, «These twenty-three pensioners, all of his own name of Scott, and Walter Gladstanes of Whitelaw, a near cousin of my lord's, as aforesaid, were ready on all occasions, when his honour pleased cause to advertise them. It is known to many of the country better than it is to me, that the rent of these lands, which the lairds and lords of Buccleuch did freely bestow upon their friends, will amount to above twelve or fourteen thousand merks a-year.»—History of the Name of Scott, p. 45. An immense sum in those

times.

Note 3. Stanza v.

And with Jedwood-axe at saddle-bow.

It is also called a Jedwood or Jeddart staff.

Note 4. Stanza vi.

They watch against southern force and guile,
Lest Scroope, or Howard, or Percy's powers,
Threaten Branksome's lordly towers,

axes,

theyme, amonges theymselves, made proclamacions, for the said inhabitants of Lyddersdaill, without amy commanding, vpon payne of dethe, assurance to be prejudice or hurt to be done by any Inglysman vuto theyme, and soo in good ordre abowte the howre of ten of the clok before noon, vppone Tewisday, dyd pass through the said Lyddersdaill, when dyd come diverse of the said inhabitants there to my servauntes, under the said assurance, offerring theymselfs with any serthe vice they couthe make; and thus, thanks be to Godde, your highnes' subjects, abowte the howre of xii of the clok at none the same daye, came into this youre

From Warkworth, or Naworth, or merry Carlisle. Branksome Castle was continually exposed to attacks of the English, both from its situation and the 'Room, portion of land.