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

INTRODUCTION. XXVll
" SO to continue the same at his Grace's pleasure,"
till the attempts of the inhabitants were fully atoned
for. This impolitic expedient, by which the Scot-
tish Prince, unable to execute justice on his turbu-
lent subjects, committed to a rival sovereign the
power of unlimited chastisement, was a principal
cause of the savage state of the Borders. For the
inhabitants, finding that the sword of revenge was
substituted for that of justice, were loosened from
their attachment to Scotland, and boldly threatened
to carry on their depredations, in spite of the efforts
of both kingdoms.
James V., however, was not backward in using
more honourable expedients to quell the banditti
on the Borders. The imprisonment of their chiefs, 1529
and a noted expedition, in which many of the prin-
cipal thieves were executed (see introduction to the
ballad, called Johnie Armstrongs) produced such
good effects, that, according to an ancient pictu-
resque history, " thereafter there was great peace
" and rest a long time, where through the King had
" great profit ; for he had ten thousand sheep go-
" ing in the Ettrick Forest, in keeping by Andrew
" Bell, who made the King so good covnit of them