cretly hanged thirty. Every now and then the annals of the Border contain notices of this kind, "The Regent of Jedburgh to catch the thieves ;" and we have seen how he disposed of them. But it is not to be supposed that those who suffered were poor men. The Border Chieftains were all thieves, and many instances are on record of the leading men of important clans being hanged. But this could not be done. easily; and, accordingly, we find that when any noted mosstrooper had become unmanageable, it was necessary to imprison the heads of the friendly clans before marching on the culprits, and even then 10,000 fighting men were at times required to execute the decrees of the day. At the Circuit Ayres a whole army was required to guard the King's Justiciary and enforce his judgments. An army of 10,000 for guard at Jedburgh during the Circuit? What a contrast to our own times.

From all this, it is obvious that the phrase has arisen entirely from the judges being forced to take trial of the character of the persons slain. If he had belonged to one of the broken men or clans, then the person accused was acquitted, if not he suffered punishment. So far from any thing being wrong in the form of trial, it was in perfect consistency with justice. If the person slain was worthy of death by the law, it was quite right to acquit the person who slew him. I am confident no ground exists for the proverb, and that the justice then as well as now, is as purely administered here as in any part of her Majesty's dominions. I am afraid I have dwelt too long upon this subject,

but I feel anxious to free our locality from such a reproachful phrase.

I shall now advert to a matter which cannot fail to be interesting to the inhabitants of this locality, and which is not generally known. This neighbourhood is the birth-place of the gallant family of Randolph. During the early part of the twelfth century the Barony of Rue-Castle was enjoyed by a lady called Bethoc, who not only gave her name to the parish, but gave birth to a long line of gallant heroes and heroines to Randolph, who supported the Crown on the head of the Bruce, and to Black Agnes, the magnanimous defender of the Castle of Dunbar. The appellation of Bedrule was originally Rule-Bethoc, and by an easy transposition converted into Bethocrule, Beth-rule, Both-rule, and lastly Bedrule. It afterwards became the property of the too celebrated John Comyn. These lands, when forfeited by Comyn, were granted by Robert I. to James Douglas, and are described in the charter as the lands of Bethocrule, in the Valley of the Teviot.

The mention of the gallant Randolph reminds me of another name famed in Border Wars, and with whom our Burgh is more immediately connected than with any others of the brave defenders of their country; I mean the family of Stewarts. The Stewarts lived in the town, and had large possessions in the district. In the charters of the twelfth century, Sir John Stewart is described as “de Jedworth.” I have no doubt that the name of "Stewart-field" is, after all, the ancient name of Hartrigge. In 1394, Sir

William Stewart of Jedworth was chosen one of the Ambassadors to treat of peace with England. And it was the same Sir William Stewart, who, with the son of the Earl of Douglas, broke down the bridge of Roxburgh, plundered the town, made a breach in the walls, and burnt hay and fuel to the amount of £2000. It was the same Sir William Stewart who was taken prisoner at the battle of Homildon, and was soon after tried as a traitor, under the illegal directions of Henry Percy, the Hotspur of Shakespere, and unwarrantably executed by his lawless order: thus terminating, says a writer of the day, "an earthly career, marked by bold exertions and determined resolution, in an age when such characteristics were so common as to require the extraordinary endeavours of their distinguished possessors." These Stewarts were descended from John Stewart of Buncle, who fell at Falkirk in 1298. The Stewarts were related to the Turnbulls of Minto. In 1390, John Turnbull of Minto disponed to his nephew, Sir William Stewart of Jedworth, along with the lordship and lands, the advowson of the Church of Minto, "which pertained to him in virtue of his lordship.” Next year this grant was confirmed by King Robert. But it is not a little curious to observe, that when Sir William Stewart's oldest son married one of the Stewarts of Dalswinton, and attempted to take sasine of the lands of Minto, it was resisted by Walter Turnbull, who declared the hereditary sasine null and void, on the ground that he himself was the legal Baron of Minto, and that his father, John Turnbull,

who had granted the lands to Sir William Stewart, was a Leper at the time. The verdict of a jury declared the deed invalid on that ground. By order of James II., the Sheriff of Teviotdale perambulated the lands, and divided it between the two claimants.

Having alluded to the Turnbulls, I may observe that they were a powerful clan-not only proprietors of Minto, but about the same period possessors of the Barony of Bedrule. One of the clan, William, was Bishop of Glasgow from 1448 till 1454, and became famous for founding the University of that great city. Auld Bedrule was at the battle of the Redswyre, with all his Turnbulls at his back; and, according to the ballad, they did right well.

The Rutherfords were also a powerful family in Jedburgh and the neighbourhood. They were at one time proprietors of Bedrule, Edgerston, Hindalee, Hunthill, and Rutherford. In the town the name was very common indeed, so that out of every twenty names 15 were Rutherfords. It seems that the name of Rutherford has been conferred by the ford on the Tweed near Makerston. Rutherford, in the language of the early people, just means the ford at the Redland-in other words, the place where you pass the Tweed at the red land heights. It is the only place on the Tweed where the peculiarity of soil exists—in short, it is in the tract of the red freestone.

The next subject to which I wish to advert to very shortly, is the origin of the feud which subsisted between the gallant houses of Douglas and Percy for so many years. In early time Sir Alexander Gordon

It

was the superior of Jed Forest. Robert I. conferred the Town, Castle, and Forest of Jedburgh, on Douglas his favourite warrior. Baliol surrendered these as well as Bonjedworth to the English King, who immediately granted the Castle, Town, and constabulary to Henry Percy. Again in 1352, the same King granted the same territory and powers to Henry the son of Henry Percy. Robert III. granted to George the Earl of Angus, the sheriffship of Roxburghshire, with the Town, Castle, and Forest of Jedburgh. is not a little singular that, in all these grants, the forest is described not as Jedforest as it is now modernized; but "Jedburgh Forest." It seems to have been the town that gave the name to the forest, and not the river of Jed. In the above grants, we cannot fail to discover the true cause of enmity between these gallant families, which during these early days produced so much blood and rapine. And I am satisfied, after the most careful consideration, that the fine old ballad of Chevy Chase, with which every one of you is no doubt familiar, does not refer to the battle of Otterburn at all; but to a private contest between the Douglas and Percy, for the possession of the hunting ground, which each claimed as his own, by grants from their respective Sovereigns. Godscroft, in treating of the battle of Otterburn, mentions its having been the subject of popular song, and proceeds thus: " but that which is commonly sung of the Hunting of Cheviot, seemeth indeed poetical, and a mere fiction to stir up virtue; yet a fiction whereof there is no mention either in the Scottish or English Chronicle. Neither