J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 1

XIV IXTRODUCTIOX.
By this policy, he prevented the house of Angus,
mighty as it was, from rising to the height, whence
the elder branch of their family had been hurled.
Nor did James fail in affording his subjects on
the Marches marks of his royal justice and protec-
1510 tion. The clan of Turnbull having been guilty of
unbounded excesses, the King came suddenly to
Jedburgh, by a night march, and executed the
most rigid justice upon the astonished offenders.
Their submission was made with singular solemni-
ty. Two hundred of the tribe met the King, at
the water of Rule, holding in their hands the na-
ked swords with which they had perpetrated their
crimes, and having each around his neck the hal-
ter which he had well merited. A few were capi-
tally punished, many imprisoned, and the rest dis-
missed, after they had given hostages for their fu-
ture peaceable demeanonv. —HolinsJied's ChronicU.
Lesly.
The hopes of Scotland, excited by the prudent
and spirited conduct of James, were doomed to a
sudden and fatal reverse. Why should we recapi-
tulate the painful tale, of the defeat and death of a
high-spirited prince.? Prudence, policy, the pro-
digies of superstition, and the advice of his most