M. men of warre armed, after their gyse, right
hardy and firse, mounted on lytle hackneys, the whiche were never
tyed, nor kept at hard meat, but lette go to pasture in the fieldis
and bushes."--_Cronykle of Froissart_, translated by Lord Berners,
Chap. xvii.
* * * * *
THE SANG OF THE OUTLAW MURRAY.
This ballad appears to have been composed about the reign of James V.
It commemorates a transaction, supposed to have taken place betwixt a
Scottish monarch, and an ancestor of the ancient family of Murray of
Philiphaugh in Selkirkshire. The editor is unable to ascertain the
historical foundation of the tale; nor is it probable that any light
can be thrown upon the subject, without an accurate examination of
the family charter chest. It is certain, that, during the civil wars
betwixt Bruce and Baliol, the family of Philiphaugh existed, and was
powerful; for their ancestor, Archibald de Moravia, subscribes the
oath of fealty to Edward I.A.D. 1296. It is, therefore, not unlikely,
that, residing in a wild and frontier country, they may have, at one
period or other, during these commotions, refused allegiance to the
feeble monarch of the day, and thus extorted from him some grant of
territory or jurisdiction. It is also certain, that, by a charter
from James IV.
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