he 8th and the
23rd of that month, he razed and cast down the abbeys of Jedburgh,
Kelso, Dryburgh, and Melrose, and burned the town of Kelso. At the same
time he destroyed about 30 towns, towers and villages on the Tweed, 36
on the Teviot, 12 on Rulewater, 13 on the Jed, 45 on the Kale, 19 on the
Bowmont, 109 in the parishes of Eccles and Duns in Berwickshire, with 20
other towns and villages in the same county. The places destroyed are
all named in the report to the English king, along with a classified
list of that terrible sixteen days' destruction, embracing 7 monasteries
and friars' houses, 16 castles, towers and peels, 5 market-towns, the
immense number of 243 villages, with 13 mills, and 3 hospitals."

It cannot be forgotten that upon Border soil were fought at least six of
the great historical battles of the nation, _viz._, Halidon Hill (1333);
Otterburn (1388); Homildon Hill (1402); Flodden (1513); Solway Moss
(1542); and Ancrum Moor (1544). Of mere internal contests there are the
fight at Arkinholm (Langholm, 1455), between Scotsmen, where James II.
broke the power of the Douglases; the battle of Hedgeley Moor (1464),
and of Hexham (1464) between the English adherents of Lancaster and
York, when the Lancastrians were defeated; the affair of Melrose
(Skirmish Hill, 1526) between Borderers under the Earl of Angus and
Buccleuch; and Philiphaugh (1645) when Leslie drove Montrose from the
field. Of what were purely faction fights and deeds of daring such as
the Raid of the Reidswire (1575), and the rescue of Kinmont Willie
(1596), the ancient ballads will keep their memory green for many a year
to come.

PLATE 5

VIEW OF NORHAM

CASTLE

FROM A WATER-COLOUR SKETCH

PAINTED BY

JAMES ORROCK, R.I.

(_See pp. 39, 60, 93_)

[Illustration]

Two great incidents of Border warfare stand out before all
others--Otterburn and Flodden. Old Froissart has told the story of
Otterburn. The Scottish barons, tired of the fickleness and
inactivity of their king, determined to invade England, met at Aberdeen,
and arranged the preliminaries for a great gathering at Southdean,
beyond Jedburgh. On the day appointed the best blood in Scotland was
assembled. "There had not been for sixty years so numerous an
assembly--they amounted to twelve hundred spears and forty thousand
other men and archers." The Earl of Douglas, the Earl of March and
Dunbar, and the Earl of Moray, with three hundred picked lancers and two