The Scottish ballads - National Library of Scotland

55
" And tak thee thae twa as gude kye,
I trow, as a' thy three raicht be
And yet here is the white-footed naigie
I trow he'll carry baith thee and me.
But I may nae langer in Cumberland bide
The Armstrangs they wad hang me hie."
So Dickie's ta en leave at lord and master,
And at Burgh under Stanmuir there dwells he.*
HOBBIE NOBLE.f
Foul fa' the breist first treason bred in
That Liddesdale may safely say
For in it there was baith meat and drink,
And corn unto our geldings gay
And we were a' stout-hearted men,
As England she might often say
But now we maun turn our backs and flee,
Since brave Noble is sold away.
* At the conclusion of the ballad, the singer used invariably to add,
that Dickie's removal to Burgh under Stanmuir did not save him from the
clutches of the Armstrongs. Having fallen into their power, several years
after this exploit, he was plunged into a large boiling pot, and so put to
death. The scene of this cruel transaction is pointed out somewhere la
Cumberland.
t This ballad delineates the fate of the hero who acted so conspicuous a
part in the deliverance of Jock o' the Syde. After Hobbie had for some
time exercised his profession against that native district from which he was
banished, his countrymen at length succeeded in bribing some of his Scottish
protectors to deliver him up. The chief person concerned in his rendition
was an Armstrong, usually called Sim o' the Mains, the proprietor
of a Border keep near Castletoun, now in ruins. Under the pretext of a
foray into England, Hobbie was conducted by this person, and, it would
appear, other four, to Conscouthart-green, in the Waste of Bewcastle,
and there surrendered to the proper officer of justice, by whom he was
conducted to Carlisle, and executed next morning. The Laird of Mangerton,
with whom Hobbie was in high favour, is said to have taken a severe
revenge upon the traitors who betrayed him; and Sim o' the Mains, having
fled into England from the resentment of his chief, was seized, and
executed at Carlisle, within two months after Hobble's death. This ballad
first appeared in the Hawick Museum, along with Jock o' the Syde and
Dick o the Cow.
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