ministered in different courts. Offenses of the first class were speaking or conferring with Englishmen without permission of the king or the warden; and the warning Eng lishmen of Scots alertness in the matter of forays. In brief, aiding, abetting, or in any way holding intercourse with the " Auld Enemy" was March Treason (to adopt a convenient English term). In England the wardens were finally chosen for their political and military skill, and not because of their territorial position. Now the warden of the East Marches was commonly governor and castellan of Ber wick. The Castle of Harbottell was allotted to the warden of the Middle March; whilst for the West, Carlisle, where again governor and warden were often one, was the ap pointed place. Sometimes a lord warden general was appointed, sometimes a lieuten ant, but the wardens were commonly inde pendent. At the warden courts English men were punished for March Treason, a branch of which was furnishing the Scots with articles of merchandise or war. And here I note that Carlisle throve on this illegal traffic. At Carlisle fair the Carlisle burgher never asked the nationality of man or beast. The first got his money or its equivalent; the second was instantly passed through the hands of butcher and skinner. Though the countryside were wasted, the burghers lay safe within their strong walls, and waxed fat on the spoils of Borderer and Dalesman alike. Small wonder the city was "Mcrrie Carlisle"! The law struck with as little force against blackmail, or protection money, which it was an offense to pay to any person, Scots or English. From this source, Gilnockie and others, coining the terror of their name, drew great revenue. Another provision was against marriage with a Scots woman without the warden's con sent, for in this way traitors, or " half-mar rows," arose within the gate. Complete forms are preserved of the procedure at these warden courts. There were a grand
jury and an ordinary jury, and the warden acted very much as a judge of assize to-day. One or two technical terms I shall presently explain. Here I but note that the criminal, guilty of March Treason was beheaded, "according to the customs of the Marches." The international duties of the wardens were those of conference with each other, and the redressing of approved wrongs, which wrongs were usually done in raids and forays. The smaller Border chieftain dwelt in a peel tower, stuck on the edge of a rock or at the break of a torrent. It was a rude structure with a projecting battle ment. A stair, or ladder even, held its two stories together, and about it lay a barnkin — a space of some sixty feet encompassed by a wall, the laird's followers dwelling in huts hard by. For small parties the tower was self-sufficient in defense, and if it lay in the way of a hostile army the laird was duly warned by scouts or beacon fires, and with drew to some fastness of rock or marsh, carrying his few valuables, driving his live stock before him, leaving the foeman noth ing to burn and nothing to take away. With his followers he lived on milk, meat, and barley, together with the spoils of the forest and stream. The Marchmen are reported temperate — no doubt from necessity. Their kine, recruited by forays, were herded in a secluded part of the glen, and when the herd waxed small, and the laird was tired of hunting, and his women lusted after new ornament, and old wounds were healed, and the retainers were growing rusty, then it was time for a raid. Was the laird still inactive? In struck his lady's sharper wit, and the story goes that Watty of Harden was ever and anon served with a dish which, being uncovered, revealed a pair of polished spurs. Thus his wife, Mary Scott, the " Flower of Yarrow," — a very practical person, despite her romantic name, — urged him to snaffle and spear. Well, his riders were bidden to a trysting place; and hither, armed in jacks (which are leathern jerkins plated with iron)
