Notes on Branxholme. By W. Eliott Lockhart. 431 



thay may come quhair thay walde be. Fra ance thay take the pray, be 

 bontgates alanerlie and bygates and the nyt seasone thay cum quhair thay 

 walde be, Be thir places of wildernes, bygates, kraigs and glenis the perfyter 

 that ane amang thame is, the mair he is maid of, and in the gretter honour 

 is he halden, as a man of ane excellent ingine : and thay ar of sic subtilitie, 

 that verie sindle thay lat the pray be takue frome thame, excepte sluth- 

 houndes be thair gyd and follow thair fute rycht, than sumtymes chances 

 that be thair aducrsares they may wanto the pray." 1 



Bloodhounds were in frequent use, and in fact at one time 

 were ordered to be kept. 



" That in every parish there may be some largg dogges kept, one or moe, 

 according to the qnantitie of the parish, for the following of pettie stouthes." 2 

 "Persons who were aggrieved or had lost anything were allowed to pur- 

 sue the hot trode with hound and horn, -with hue and cry, and all other 

 accustomed manner of hot pursuit." 3 



The power of following in pursuit of stolen goods was given under 

 the Border laws of all the Treaties. In 1551 Sir Robert Bowes 

 states : — 



The injured persons " may lawfully follow their goodes either with a 

 sleuth hounde the trodde thereof, or elles by such other meanes as they 

 best can advyse. ... If any man interrupte suche persone, in his 

 saide pursute, he shall answerre hym to the bill of his goodes spoyled or 

 taken. And onely for the troublance of the partie spoyled in his trod (as 

 the termes of the border be) the trobler shall be condempned to make 

 redresse to the partie of his goodes stolon or spoyled with doble and 

 salffieas afore is mentyoned." 4 



Patten in his description of the battle of Pinkie, thus describes 

 the armour and weapons, as well as the mode of fighting of the 

 Scottes at that period. 



" Ilakbutters have they few or none, and appoint theyi- light most com- 

 monly alwais on foot. They cum to the felde wel furnished all with jak 

 and skull, dagger, buckler, and swoordes all notably brode and thin, of 

 exoeedinge good temper, and vniuersally so made to slyce, that as I 

 neuer sawe none so good, so think I it hard to deuyse ye better; hereto 

 euery man hys pyke and a great kercher wrapped twyse or thrise about 

 his neck, not for colde, but for cutting. In their nray towards ye ivining 

 wtyeenemie, they cling and thrust so nere in ye foreranke shoulder to 

 shoulder together wyth thoyr pykes in bothe handes strayght before them 

 and theyre followers in that order soo harde at theyr backes . . . that 

 if they doo assaile vndissuered, no force can wel withstond them." He 



1 Leslie, Dalrymple's Trans., p. 102. 

 - Armstrong, p. 66, from MSS. Gen. Reg. Ho., 1601, 

 :i Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 1772, p. 77-8. 



4 Armstrong's Hist, of Liddisdale, p. 46-7, from MS, Record Office, ff. 

 86-S6b. : also Lansdowne MS., No. 262. f. 1. 



