This was
accounted so great a disgrace to all connected with him, that his own
clansmen sometimes destroyed him, to escape the infamy he had brought
on them.
Constable, a spy engaged by Sir Ralph Sadler, talks of two Border
thieves, whom he used as his guides:--"That they would not care to
steal, and yet that they would not betray any man that trusts in them,
for all the gold in Scotland or in France. They are my guides and
outlaws. If they would betray me they might get their pardons, and
cause me to be hanged; but I have tried them ere this."--_Sadler's
letters during the Northern Insurrection._]
call us marauders, thieves, and what not; but the side we take we hold
by.--And I will be blithe when my Baron comes to a point which side he
will take, for the castle is a kind of hell, (Our Lady forgive me for
naming such a word in this place!) while he is in his mood, studying
how he may best advantage himself. And now, Heaven be praised, we are
in the open valley, and I may swear a round oath, should aught happen
to provoke it."
"My friend," said the Sub-Prior, "thou hast little merit in abstaining
from oaths or blasphemy, if it be only out of fear of evil spirits."
"Nay, I am not quite a Church vassal yet," said the jackman, "and if
you link the curb too tight on a young horse, I promise you he will
rear--Why, it is much for me to forbear old customs on any account
whatever.
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