Anniversary Address. 37 



his power. New disorders broke out on the Borders. Eng- 

 lish and Scotch commissioners were appointed to meet at 

 Berwick,* who agreed that unless the excesses of the men of 

 Liddisdale were redressed by a certain date, it should be 

 lawful for the king of England to issue letters of marque to 

 enable his subjects to make reprisals until redress was obtained ; 

 but a special exception was made in favour of Hermitage, which 

 the English were not to besiege or take. 



These measures were deeply resented both by the Borderers 

 and their chiefs, who thought their former exertions in behalf 

 of the king deserved more consideration. Bothwell in par- 

 ticular was highly incensed, and entered into a treasonable 

 correspondence with the earl of Northumberland. A secret 

 meeting was arranged, to which he repaired with three 

 attendants, one of whom was Robert Elwolde (Elliot) of the 

 Army tage, probably the captain of the hold, whence it may be 

 concluded that the party set out from the castle. In a letter 

 to king Henry, of the 27th December, 1531, Northumberland 

 gives a curious account of the interview, in which Bothwell, 

 " for revenging of his displeasure or relieving of his hart and 

 stomach against the Skottes king," engages to serve in the wars 

 against Scotland with 1000 gentlemen and 6000 commons, 

 and ends by expressing his expectation that through such 

 means and the help of Angus they should "crowne your 

 Grace in the town of Edinburg within brief time."f On these 

 practices reaching the king's ears Bothwell was again com- 

 mitted to ward, and remained in confinement for some years, 

 after which he went into exile. In 1538 he was compelled 

 to resign into the king's hands the lordship of Liddel as being 

 a nest of free-booters, to be held for the future by the king. 

 By an Act of Parliament passed in 1540, " the Landes and 

 lordship of Liddisdale, with the castle of Armytage," were 

 formally annexed to the crown. But it appears to have been 

 virtually under royal control from the time of the earl's 

 imprisonment ; for in the Lord High Treasurer's accounts % 



• Redpath, 529. See too 475, Rymer, XII. 275. 

 + Tytler Hist., V., 200. note, 

 t Pitcaim, Crim. Tri. I. 294. 



