430 Notes on Branxholme. By W. Elliott Lockhart. 



in their skins after they have taken them off ; and being sure to find plenty 

 of them in the country which they invade, they carry none with them. Under 

 the flaps of his saddle, each man carries a broad plate of metal ; behind the 

 saddle a little bag of oatmeal ; when they have eaten too much of the sod- 

 den flesh, and their stomach appears weak and empty, they place this plate 

 over the fire, mix with water their thin oatmeal, and when the plate is heated 

 they put a little of the paste upon it, and make a thin cake like a cracknel, 

 or biscuit, which they eat to warm their stomachs. It is therefore no wonder 

 that they perform a longer day's march than the soldiers. In this manner 

 the Scots entered England, destroying and burning everything as tlicj- 

 passed. They seized more cattle than they knew what to do with. 

 Their army consisted of four thousand men at arms, knights and esquires 

 well mounted, besides twenty thousand men, bold and hardy, arrned after 

 the manner of their country and mounted upon little hackneys, that are 

 never tied up or dressed, but turned immediately after the day's march, to 

 pasture on the heath or in the fields." 1 



Leslie, writing nearly 200 years later, also bears witness to 

 their frugality. 



" Vponfleshe, milk, and cheis, and sodne bcir or orgmount,principallie thay 

 lyue. Thay haue vcrie lytle vse of breid, evin as thay haue of gude beir, 

 ainaist na wine, ze quhen baith ar present, thay ar seine in nouther of 

 thame to delyte mekle." 2 



Leslie thus describes their horsemanship and their contempt 

 for any one going on foot. 



" Agane gif thay percciue that fromc that place thay mon flie, schortlie 

 thair followers thay saiflic deceiue thronch certane difficile myres, 

 quhilkes albeit thay be lyke medowis greine abone, and lyke fast zeard 

 appeir vndirneth, zit quhen a man entiris, thay sal gaip wyd, and swallie 

 him vp in a maner to the deipth. be thir sinkes wil gang not only the 

 Reiuers selfes quha ar baith of a wondirful swoftnes and lychtnes, bot 

 the horses in lyke maner thay vse to bow thair hochis and to pase throuch 

 mony partes, and lykwyse to pas oner qahair our fote men skairse dar 

 follow : and for this cause the horse thay dar nocht schoc wt yrne schone. 

 Afilthie thing thay cstcime it, and a vcri abiecte man thay halde him that 

 gangis vpon his fate, ony voyage, quhairthrouch cuvnis that al ar hors- 

 men." 3 



In their forays, from their wonderful knowledge of the country 

 as well as the activity of their small horses, they were seldom 

 taken prisoners, unless tracked by bloodhounds. 



" In the nycht seasone be troupis thay take mony by-gatis ; in the day- 

 tyme thay ly hidd in secrete places afore appoynted to that end, and thair 

 thay recreate and refreshe thame selfes and the horses, quhil be nycht 



1 Sir John Froissart's Chronicle (Trans, by Thos. Johnes,) chap. xvii. 



2 Leslie, p. 98; Border Antiquities, App. vi. ; Border Sketches, Lady 

 Minto, p. 23. ;! Ibid., p. 99. 



