" But WHAT Captain, and when? Sir Simon, in 1586, had been
Captain, he says, for thirty years. Thenceforth till near the Union of
the Crowns, Thomas was Captain, or acting Captain.
So considerable an event as the taking of a Captain of Bewcastle, who,
in the ballad, was shot through the head and elsewhere, could not
escape record in dispatches, and the periodical "March Bills," or
statements of wrongs to be redressed. Colonel Elliot's reply takes the
shape of the argument that the ballad may speak of some other Captain,
at some other time; and that, in one way or another, the sufferings and
losses of THAT Captain may have escaped mention in the English
dispatches from the Border. These dispatches are full of minute
details, down to the theft of a single mare. I am content to let
historians familiar with the dispatches decide as to whether the
Captain's mad ride into Ettrick, with his dangerous wounds, loss of
property, and loss of seventeen men killed and wounded (as in the
ballad), could escape mention.
The capture of Thomas Musgrave, I think, and two other incidents,--
confused in course of tradition, and handled by the poet with poetic
freedom,--are the materials of Jamie Telfer.
Pages:
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153