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

THE SCOTTISH BORDER. 109
it, as others in Imnting a hare.' On this occasion lie
was totally unsviccessful, and nearly lost his relation,
Douglas of Ively, whom the freebooters made prisoner
— GODSCROFT, vol. II. p. 411.
Upon another occasion the Armstrongs were less for-
tunate. They had, in one of their incursions, plundered
the town of Haltwhistle, on the borders of Cumberland.
Sir Robert Carey, warden of the West Marches, demand-
ed satisfaction from the King of Scotland, and received
for answer, that the offenders were no subjects of his,
and that he might take his own revenge. The English
warden accordingly entered Liddesdale, and ravaged
the lands of the outlaws ; on which occasion, Sim of the
Cat-hill (an Armstrong) was killed by one of the Rid-
leys of Haltwhistle. This incident procured Haltwhistle
another visit from the Armstrongs, in which they burnt
great part of the town, but not without losing one of
their leaders, by a shot from a window.
" The death of this young man (says Sir Robert Carey)
" wrote (wrought) so deep an impression upon them (the
" outlaws) as many vowes were made, that before the
" end of next winter, they would lay the whole Border
" waste. This (the murder) was done about the end of
" May (1598.) The chiefe of all these outlaws was old
" Sim of JVhiflram.* He had five or six sonnes, as able
* Whittram is a place in Liddesdale, It is mistaken by the noble
editor for Whithern, in Galloway, as is Hartwessel (Haltwhistle, on the
borders of Cumberland) for Twisel, a village on the English side of
the Tweed, near Wark.