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type of the mosstroopers of Cumberland poetry ; and it matters 

 little whether he is placed upon the Scottish or upon the Cumbrian 

 side of the Border, for, when occasion served, he could plunder 

 with equal facility from either or from both ; for — 



A stark moss-trooping Scot was he, 



As e'er couched Border lance by knee ; 



Through Solway sands, through Tarras moss, 



Blindfold he knew the paths to cross ; 



By wily turns, by desperate bounds. 



Had bafifled Percy's best blood-hounds ; 



In Esk or Liddel, fords were none, 



But he would ride them one by one. 



Alike to him was time or tide, 



December's snow, or July's pride ; 



Alike to him was tide or time. 



Moonless midnight, or matin prime ; 



Steady of heart, and stout of hand. 



As ever drove prey from Cumberland ; 



Five times outlawed had he been 



By England's king, and Scotland's queen. 



My next quotation, though in the style and times of Border 

 Poetry, will bring us a good deal nearer home. Miss Harriet 

 Martineau, by an inquiry in one of the early numbers of Notes and 

 Queries, obtained a ballad about which she had given the following 

 notes. 



"About the middle of the seventeenth century, occasionally 

 resided on the large island in Windermere a member of the 

 ancient but now extinct family of Philipson of Crooke Hall. He 

 was a dashing cavalier, and, from his fearless exploits, had acquired 

 among the Parliamentarians the significant though not very 

 respectable cognomen of 'Robin the Devil' On one of these 

 characteristic adventures, he rode, heavily armed, into the large 

 old church of Kendal, with the intention of there shooting an 

 individual from whom he had received a deeply-resented injury. 

 His object, however, was unaccomplished, for his enemy was not 

 present ; and in the confusion into which the congregation were 

 thrown by such a warlike apparition, the dauntless intruder made 

 his exit, though subjected to a struggle at the church door. His 



