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Scotland, had a degree of civilization on each side of them
which was at least far superior to their own; and the
execution of the laws of each kingdom, though sometimes
interrupted, was upon the whole tolerably steady and
uniform. Yet nothing of the kind ever got a footing here:
the lust of roving and plunder supplanted every thing else,
and was so continual and uninterrupted, as to resemble
instinct. To their very meetings of merriment they came
armed; and frequently gave fresh ardour, by new quarrels, to
former animosities, even when they met purposely for a
treaty of peace. That they might be more invisible during
their outrodes, and consequently less liable to the
effects of their enemies' vigilance, the colour of their
cloathes resembled that of the scenes of their employment,
or of their season of action, that is, of a brown heath and
a cloudy evening. No knowledge conferred honour here, but
that of the art of plundering; viz. of intricate
byways, of perplexed passages in swamps and moors, and of
the bow. Thus, examples of what might condemn their conduct
were never offered to them, and immemorial custom seemed, as
it were, to sanctify their wildness. Every Border-man
almost, without exception, was brought up in a state which
we would call unhappy, and every circumstance of his life
tended to confirm his partiality for an uncertain bed, and
unprovided diet. Danger was his companion from his infancy,
and would of course debar him of the knowledge of many
conveniences of settled life, yet at the same time suggest
modes of convenience and habits of amusement, which it would
require either real experience or long observation to be
able to form an idea of. For what conception have we of
things which use has not engrafted? Thus a Border-man could
not want those adscitious conveniences which he never knew,
though we cannot do without them. He had seen nothing of
human affairs where there was not toil and hazard; therefore
toil and hazard became, of course, to be considered as the
necessary contingents of existence, were most intimately
blended with it, and could not be detached from it: besides,
every boy of spirit wishes to be a man, and to be a man in
those times and places was to watch his own, and plunder
others. Injuries may be forgot, quarrels obliterated, and
prejudices rooted out, in the course of a man's life; but
this fondness for roving, when it has once got hold, is, if
my private observation has not been strangely misguided, the
most obstinate of all prepossessions and attachments. I
shall therefore call it the leading spirit of the
Moss-Troopers of both Marches. Without doubt, it received,
as I said before, occasional aid from circumstances, and was
accompanied by other passions, the antecedents,
co-temporaries, or consequents of itself, which had a drift
to the same end; but itself was the ruling and most constant
principle. That I may not be thought to assign the foregoing
character rashly, and without authority, I shall subjoin a
few circumstances relative to their temper, out of very many
that may be found; and try to give an idea of the men whom a
continual acquaintance with danger had trained so far as to
sport with it.
Seven desperadoes of the Marches, without any motive that we
know of, but their natural restlessness, and desperate love
of plunder and violence, broke into and seized upon the
castle of Berwick, killed Sir Robert Boynton the governor,
but dismissed his family, on condition that they should
either pay 2000 Merks for their ransom, or return again. In
consequence of this violence, Piercy of Northumberland, the
Lord Warden, made his complaint to the Warden of the Scots
Marches, who disclaimed all knowledge of the business, and
offered to join his forces to those of Piercy towards
redressing it. Upon this Piercy summoned them with all
possible expedition, in the name of the King of England, and
required an immediate surrender: but so many similar tempers
did the neighbourhood furnish, that notwithstanding the
shortness of the time, their numbers were increased to 48,
who, refusing to yield either to the King of England, or the
King of Scotland, declared that they would keep the fortress
for the King of France only. They were therefore directly
invested by Piercy with 7000 English archers, and 3000 horse
under Neville, Lucy, Stafford, and others; against whom they
defended the fortress for eight days, with the loss of only
two of their comrades; but on the ninth, after a long and
furious assault, an entry was made by storm, and they were
all put to the sword.
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