The Border Law. very formal and deliberate manner, called a Bangle. The aggrieved party procured the glove, or picture, of the traitor, and when ever there was a meeting (a Day of Truce was too favorable an opportunity to be neg lected) he gave notice of the breach of faith to friend and foe, with blast of the horn and loud cries. The man insulted must give him the lie in his throat, and a deadly combat ensued. The laws of the Marches attempted to substitute the remedy by bill; that the matter might not " Goe to the extremyte of a baughle," or where that was impossible, to fix rules for the thing itself. Or, the wardens were advised to attend, with less than a hundred of retinue, to prevent "Brawling, buklingc, quarrelinge, and blood shed." Such things were a fruitful source of what a Scots act termed " the heathenish and barbarous custom of Deadly Feud." When one slew his fellow under unfair con ditions, the game of revenge went see-saw ing on for generations. The Border legis lators had many ingenious devices to quench such strife. A warden might order a man complained of to sign in solemn form a re nunciation of his feud; and if he refused, he was delivered to the opposite warden till he consented. In pre-Reformation days the Church did something by enjoining prayer and pilgrim age. A sum of money (Assythement) now and again settled old scores; or there might be a treaty of peace cemented by marriage. Sometimes, again, there was a fight by per mission of the sovereign. (Cf. the parallel case of the clan-duel in " The Fair Maid of Perth.") Still, prearranged single combats, duels in fact, were frequent on the Border. Turner, or Turnie Holme, at the junction of the Kirshope and Liddcl, was a favorite spot for them. And now business and pleasure alike are ended, and the day (fraught with anxiety to official minds) is waning fast. Proclamation is made that the multitude may know the matters transacted. Then it is declared that
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the lord wardens of England and Scotland, and Scotland and England (what tender care for each other's susceptibilities!) ap point the next Day of Truce, which ought not to be more than forty days hence, at such and such a place. Then, with solemn salutations and ponderous interchange of courtesy, each party turns homewards. As noted, the truce lasted till the next sunrise. As the nations were at peace (else there had been no meeting), this recognized the fact that the Borders were always more or less in a state of trouble. Also it prevented people from violently righting themselves forthwith. A curious case, in 1596, where this condition was broken, gave rise to a Border foray of the most exciting kind, commemorated in the famous ballad of "Kinmont Willie." A day of truce had been held on the Kershope Burn, and at its conclusion Willie Armstrong of Kinmont, a noted Scots freebooter, rode slowly off, with a few companions. Some taunt, or maybe the mere sight of one who had done them so much wrong, was too much for the Eng lish party, and Kinmont was chased, cap tured, and laid by the heels in Carlisle Castle. Buccleuch was keeper of Liddesdale. He had not been present at the Day of Truce; but when they told him that Kinmont had been seized " between the hours of night and day," he expressed his anger in no uncertain terms: — "He has ta'en the table wi' his hand, He garr'd the red wing spring on hie.
And have they ta'en him, Kinmont Willie, Against the truce of Horder tide? And forgotten that the bauld Huccleuch Is the keeper here on the Scottish side?"
Negotiations failing, Buccleuch deter mined to rescue Kinmont himself. In the darkness of a stormy night he and his men stole up to Carlisle, broke the citadel, res cued Kinmont, and carried him off in safety, whilst the English lawyers were raising ingenious technical justifications (you can
