-tenths of the Border reivers.
It was not the mere love of plunder or mischief which impelled them to
prosecute their calling. They were animated by a spirit of revenge. Times
almost without number the armies of England had crossed the Border,
burning villages and homesteads, destroying the crops, carrying off goods
and cattle, leaving those whom they had thus ruthlessly despoiled to the
tender mercies of an uncertain climate and an impoverished soil, from
which even at the best they had difficulty in extracting a bare
subsistence.

The English were, comparatively speaking, rich and powerful. They could
command great forces, against which it was in vain, in most cases, for the
Scottish Borderers to contend. Hence when they were assailed they drove
their cattle into the recesses of mountain or forest, burned or otherwise
destroyed what they could not remove--so that the enemy might be enriched
as little as possible--and betook themselves to some distant shelter,
where they awaited the course of events. As soon as the enemy had
withdrawn, they returned to their places of abode, which, though
destroyed, were easily reconstructed--the work of rebuilding being done in
a day or two--and then they set about recouping themselves for the losses
they had sustained by making incursions on the English Border, and
carrying off every thing they could lay their hands on. This system of
plunder and reprisal went on merrily along the whole line of the Borders
for many generations. All the great Border families were involved in it,
and devoted themselves to the work with a zeal and enthusiasm which left
nothing to be desired. They doubtless felt that in plundering the English
they were not only enriching themselves, but promoting the interests of
their country, and paying back a long standing and heavily accumulating
debt.

II.

PERCY'S PENNON.

"It fell about the Lammas time
When Yeomen wonne their hay,
The doughty DOUGLAS 'gan to ride
In England to take a prey."

BATTLE OF OTTERBURN.

The Battle of Otterburn, which took place in the autumn of 1388, is
without question one of the most interesting episodes in Border history,
and is especially significant as an illustration of the prowess and
chivalry of the Border Chiefs. The chief combatants on the Scottish side
were the Earls of Douglas, Moray, March, and Crawford, the Lord
Montgomery, and Patrick Hepburn of Hales, and his