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

278 ]MINSTEELSY OF
ARCHIE OF CA'FIELD..
It may perhaps be thought, that, from the near resem-
blance which this ballad bears to Kinmont Willie, and
Jock o' the Side, the editor might have dispensed with
inserting it in this collection. But, although the inci-
dents in these three ballads are almost the same, yet
there is considerable variety in the language ; and each
contains minute particulars, highly characteristic of Bor-
der manners, which it is the object of this publication to
illustrate. Ca'field, or Calfield, is a place in Wauchop-
dale, belonging of old to the Armstrongs. In the ac-
count betwixt the English and Scottish Marches, Jock
and Geordie of Ca'field, there called Calf-hill, are repeat-
edly marked as delinquents. — History of Westmorelayid
and Cumberland, vol. I. Introduction, p. S3. " Mettled
" John Hall, from the laigh Tiviotdale," is perhaps John
Hall of Newbigging, mentioned in the list of Border
clans, as one of the chief men of name residing on the