Elliot is not
accused of doing so in Scrope's dispatches, but he may have come as far
as Staneshaw bank, where half the company were left behind, says
Satchells, with the horses, which were also left, says the ballad. In
that case Elliot would not be observed in or near the Castle. Yet it
may have been known in Scotland that he was of the party.
He was, as Satchells says, a cousin, he was also a friend of
Buccleuch's, and he may conceivably have taken a part in this glorious
adventure, though he could not, AT THE MOMENT, be called laird of
Stobs. Were I an Elliot, this opinion would be welcome to me! Really,
Salkeld was in a good position to know whether Elliot rode with
Buccleuch or not.
The whole question is not one on which I can speak dogmatically. A
person who suspects Scott intensely may believe that there were no
ballad fragments of Kinmont in his possession. The person who, like
myself, thinks Satchells, with his "It fell about the Martinmas," knew
a ballad vaguely, believes that Satchells HAD some ballad sources
bemuddled in his old memory.
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