110 COUNTRY ESSAYS. 



" Gude Lord Scroope's to the hunting gane, 



He has ridden o'er moss and muir, 



And he has grippit Hughie the Graeme, 



For stealing o' the Bishop's mare." 



Sir Walter Scott could not precisely identify him, but suspected 

 him to have been one out of some four hundred Borderers 

 "wanted" about 1553 for divers murders and maraudings. 

 Indeed, it would be difficult as well as invidious to select him 

 from his kith and kin, who, along with many more, are thus 

 enumerated : " Ritchie Grame of Bailie, Will's Jock Grame, 

 Wat Grame, called Flaughtail, Nimble Willie Grame, Mickle 

 Willie Grame," &c., &c. 



What memories crowd upon us at Carlisle ! In very early 

 days tradition connected it with King Arthur. As the 

 Laureate, however, does not introduce the city in his " Idylls'' 

 (doubtless because Sir Walter had already associated it with 

 the Flower of Kings in his " Bridal of Triermain "), this is 

 often forgotten. Yet the King's Round Table may be seen 

 near Penrith, as well as at Winchester. The present genera- 

 tion of readers should compare how much finer is the moral 

 character of King Arthur under Mr. Tennyson's hands than in 

 Sir Walter Scott's conception of him. 



One of the most gallant of Border exploits was performed at 

 " Carlisle fair and free," in 1596, when Lord Buccleuch, with 

 two hundred men, one night surprised the castle (in which the 

 Warden of the Marches, Lord Scroope of Bolton, was sleeping 

 at the time), and utterly forbearing to take plunder or hold the 

 place, contented himself with rescuing a prisoner whom 

 Scroope, he conceived, had unjustly seized. The ballad of 

 " Kinmont Willie " abounds with flashes of humour in telling 

 the tale. Kinmont himself, when rescued, calls : 



" ' Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroope ! 



My gude Lord Scroope, farewell ! ' he cried, 

 ' I'll pay you for my lodging maill [rent], 

 When first we meet on the Border side.'" 



