" Prefixed to that termed "_Kinmont Willie_"
the reader will find an account of the last warden raids performed
upon the border.
My sketch of border history now draws to a close. The accession of
James to the English crown converted the extremity into the centre of
his kingdom.
The east marches of Scotland were, at this momentous period, in a
state of comparative civilization. The rich soil of Berwickshire soon
invited the inhabitants to the arts of agriculture.--Even in the days
of Lesley, the nobles and barons of the Merse differed in manners
from the other borderers, administered justice with regularity, and
abstained from plunder and depredation.--_De moribus Scotorum_, p.
7. But, on the middle and western marches, the inhabitants were
unrestrained moss-troopers and cattle drivers, knowing no measure of
law, says Camden, but the length of their swords. The sterility of
the mountainous country, which they inhabited, offered little
encouragement to industry; and, for the long series of centuries,
which we have hastily reviewed, the hands of rapine were never there
folded in inactivity, nor the sword of violence returned to the
scabbard. Various proclamations were in vain issued for interdicting
the use of horses and arms upon the west border of England and
Scotland[31].
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