NOTES
��Deputy Warden of the Western Marches, seized under truce the person of William Armstrong of Kinmont elsewhere described as ' Will Kinmonde the common thieffe ' and haled him to Carlisle Castle, whence he was rescued ' with shouting and crying and sound of trumpet' by the Laird of Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddesdale, and a troop of two hundred horse. 'The Queen of England,' says Spottiswoode, 'having notice sent her of what was done, stormed not a little ' ; but see the excellent summary compiled by Scott (who confesses to having touched up the ballad) for the Minstrelsy.
Haribee= the gallows hill at Carlisle
reiver = a border thief, one of a class which lived sparely, fought stoutly, entertained the strictest sense of honour and justice, went ever on horseback, and carried the art of cattle-lifting to the highest possible point of perfection {National Observer, 3oA4 May, 1891)
yett = gate marshal men = officers stear = stir
Jawing = reckoning of law saft = light
basnet = helmet rank reiver = common fleyed = frightened curch = coif or cap thief bairns = children
lightly = to scorn herry = harry spier = ask
in a lowe = on fire corbie = crow hente = lifted, haled
slocken = to slake lear = learning maill = rent
splent = shoulder- row-footed = rough- furs = furrows
piece shod trew = trust
spauld = shoulder spait flood Christentie = Chris-
broken men = out- garred = made tendom
laws slogan = battle-cry
��xxx
Communicated by Mr. Hunt, who dates it about 1626 from Seyer's Memoirs, Historical and Topographical, of Bristol and its Neighbourhood (1821-23). The full title is The Honour of Bristol; shewing how the Angel Gabriel of Bristol fought with three ships, who boarded as many times, wherein we cleared our decks and killed five hundred of their men, and wounded many more, and made them Jly into Cales, when we lost but three men, to the Honour of the Angel Gabriel of Bristol. To the tune Our Noble King in his Progress. Cales (13), pronounced as a dissyllable, is of course Cadiz. It is fair to add that this spirited and amusing piece of doggerel has been severely edited.
��From the Minstrelsy, where it is 'given, without alteration or improvement, from the most accurate copy that could be recovered.' Th<- story runs that Helen Irving (or Helen Bell), of
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