They appear, in a
great measure, to have fallen victims to the strictness of the new
enactments.--_Ridpath_, p. 703.--_Stow_, 819.--_Laing_, Vol. I. The
lands, possessed by them in former days, have chiefly come into the
hands of the Buccleuch family, and of the Elliots; so that, with one
or two exceptions, we may say, that, in the country which this warlike
clan once occupied, there is hardly left a land-holder of the name.
One of the last border reivers was, however, of this family, and lived
within the beginning of the last century. After having made himself
dreaded over the whole country, he at last came to the following end:
One--, a man of large property, having lost twelve cows in one
night, raised the country of Tiviotdale, and traced the robbers into
Liddesdale, as far as the house of this Armstrong, commonly called
_Willie of Westburnflat_, from the place of his residence, on the
banks of the Hermitage water. Fortunately for the pursuers he was
then asleep; so that he was secured, along with nine of his friends,
without much resistance. He was brought to trial at Selkirk; and,
although no precise evidence was adduced to convict him of the special
fact (the cattle never having been recovered), yet the jury brought
him in _guilty_ on his general character, or, as it is called in our
law, on habite and repute.
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