This song was written down by my obliging friend, Richard Surtees, Esq. of Mainsforth,1 from the recitation of Rose Smith, of Bishop Middleham, a woman aged upwards of ninety-one, whose husband's father and two brothers were killed in the affair of 1715.

[The author of the history of Durham.—Ev.}

LORD EWRIE.

LORD EWRIE was as brave a man
As ever stood in his degree;
The King has sent him a broad letter,
All for his courage and loyalty.'

Lord Ewrie is of gentill blode,

A knighte's son sooth to say;
He is kin to the Nevill and to the Percy,
And is married upon a Willowbé.

A noble Knight him trained upp,

Sir Rafe Bulmer is the man I mean ;'

At Flodden field, as men do say,
No better capten there was seen.

'Patent letters of nobility.

2 Sir William Bulmer, of Burnspeth Castle, who is here said to have commanded the troops raised in the Bishopric, in the battle of Floddenfield, was descended from an ancient, and, at one period, noble family. The last who was summoned to Parliament as a Peer of the realm, was Ralph, from 1st till 23d

He led the men of Bishopricke,

When Thomas Ruthal bore the sway: Though the Scottish Habs1 were stout and true, The English bowmen wan that day.

And since he has kepte Berwick upon Tweed,
The town was never better kept I wot;

He maintained leal and order along the Border,
And still was ready to prick the Scot.

The country then lay in great peace,

And grain and grass was sown and won; Then plenty fill'd the market crosse,

When Lord Ewrie kept Berwick town.

With our Queene's brother he hath been,2

And rode rough shod through Scotland of late; They have burn'd the Mers and Tiviotdale,

And knocked full loud at Edinburgh gate.

Edward III. Sir William routed the Borderers, who, under the command of Lord Home, made an incursion into Northumberland, previous to the Battle of Flodden. He is mentioned in the Metrical History of the Battle, v. 105, &c. In the present ballad, he is erroneously denominated Sir Ralph Bulmer.

1 [Hubs-i. e. halberts; spears.]

? The Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset, and brother of Queen Jane Seymour, made a furious incursion into Scotland, in 1545. See Introduction.

Now the King hath sent him a broad letter,

A Lord of Parliament to be:

It were well if every nobleman

Stood like Lord Ewrie in his degree.

THE LOCMHABEN HARPER.

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED. [1802.]

The Castle of Lochmaben was formerly a noble building, situated upon a peninsula, projecting into one of the four lakes which are in the neighbourhood of the royal burgh, and is said to have been the residence of Robert Bruce, while Lord of Annandale. Accordingly it was always held to be a royal fortress, the keeping of which, according to the custom of the times, was granted to some powerful lord, with an allotment of lands and fishings, for the defence and maintenance of the place. There is extant a grant, dated 16th March, 1511, to Robert Lauder of the Bass, of the office of Captain and keeper of Lochmaben Castle, for seven years, with many perquisites. Among others, the "lands stolen frae the King," are bestowed on the Captain, as his proper lands. What shall we say of a country, where the very ground was a subject of theft?

O HEARD ye na o' the silly blind Harper,
How long he lived in Lochmaben town?
And how he wad gang to fair England,

To steal the Lord Warden's Wanton Brown?