Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

THE SCOTTISH BORDEll, 487
NOTES
ON
ARCHIE ARMSTRANG^S AITH.
The hero of this ballad was a native of Eskdale, and contributed
not a little towards the raising his clan to that pre-emi-
nence which it long maintained amongst the Border thieves,
and which none indeed but the ElUots could dispute. He lived
at the Stubholm, immediately below the junction of the Wauchope
and the Eske ; and there distinguished himself so much
by zeal and assiduity in his professional duties, that at length
he found it expedient to emigrate, his neighbours not having
learned from Sir John FalstafF, " that it is no sin for a man
" to labour in his vocation." He afterwards became a cele-
brated jester in the English court. In more modern times, he
might have found a court in which his virtues would have en-
titled him to a higher station. He was dismissed in disgrace
in the year 1637, for his insolent wit, of which the following
may serve as a specimen. One day, when Archbishop Lavul
was just abovit to say grace before dinner, Archie begged permission
of the king to perform that office in his stead j and
having received it, said, " All praise to God, and little Laud
" to the deil." The exploit detailed in this ballad has been
preserved, with many others of the same kind, by tradition,
and is at this time current in Eskdale.