THE RAVEN. 241 



this added to the hatred which was entertained towards the 

 bird. In the troublous times of the Eegent Albany, when 

 the Chevalier de la Beaute, who had been appointed Warden 

 of the Eastern Marches in the place of the Earl of Home, 

 was fleeing from the Homes of Wedderburn, with whom 

 he had quarrelled near Langton Tower, on the 20th of Sep- 

 tember 1 5 1 7, he is said to have been warned by a " weird 

 auld man " not to cross the streamlet which flows between 

 Langton and Duns ; ^ hence the popular rhyme — 



If ye pass owre tlie Cornysyke, 



The Corbies will get your bones to pyke.^ 



The following allusion to this bird is likewise made in a 

 Berwickshire rhyme, referring to the atrocious murder of 

 " Lady " Billie by her butler, Norman Eoss, at Linthill 

 House, near Eyemouth, on the 12th of August 1751 — 



Norman Eoss wi' pj'^kit pow, 



Three Corbies at his e'en ; 

 Girnin in the gallows tow, — 



Sic a sight was never seen.-'' 



In the olden times, when reiving was a favourite pursuit of 

 the Borderers, the Eaven seems to have occasionally come 

 in for his share of the spoil. 



The Corbies in the Corbie Heugli * 



Are Grouping like to dee ; 

 But our laird wUl gie them meat eneugh, 



And that you '11 soon see. 

 When Houldie and his reivers rude 



Hing on the gaUows tree. 



The late Dr. Henderson, of Chirnside, mentions in his 



1 For a full account of the quarrel between Home of Wedderburn and De la 

 Beauts, see Godscroft's History of the Homes of Wedderburn. 



2 Popular Rhymes of BerioieJcshire, p. 20. ^ H)id. p. 128. 



4 There is, or was, a locality near Ayton called the Corbie Heugh, because 

 numbers of Corbies were wont to breed there in former times. — Dr. Henderson's 

 Pop. Rhymes ofBer., p. 23. 



VOL, I. Q 



