Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven. My mother bid me go fetch him some pie, Heigho! but I wont have him I fetched him some pie, And he cut it awrye, Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven. My mother bid me go fetch him some tart, Heigho! but I wont have him I fetched him some tart, Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven. My mother bid me go fetch him some bread, Heigho! but I wont have him I fetched him some bread, And he waggled his head, Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven. My mother bid me go draw him some ale, Heigho! but I wont have him— I drew him some ale, And he supped like a whale, Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven. My mother bid me go get him a light, I got him a light, But he could not walk straight, Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven. My mother bid me go shew him to bed, I shewed him to bed, And he asked me to wed, Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven. My mother tells me he has plenty of brass, Heigho! but I wont have him Old Nick take his brass, I will neer be his lass, Wi' his old grey beard just newly shaven! WALLBOTTLE DEAN. ALLBOTTLE Dean, about seven miles west from Newcastle, through which runs the Newburn, is a beautiful and romantic ravine; and in some parts affords very remarkable scenery. The deadly nightshade, a poisonous plant of the narcotic kind is found here. The berries, though less powerful than the leaves, have often produced fatal effects, especially among children, who often mistake them for sloes. A few years since, three boys belonging to the neighbourhood of Newburn, eat a quantity of them, to one of whom they proved fatal: the other two were, with difficulty, recovered by proper medicines. After this circumstance happened, attempts were made to extirpate the noxious plant in this quarter, which, however have not been altogether successful, as several were seen loaded with fruit in the autumn of 1808. About sixty years ago, William Pettigrew, a Scot, erected a hut in Wallbottle dean, against the side of a hill that was covered with brushwood, about a furlong south of the turnpike road: here he resided some years with his family, and hence acquired the appellation of "Willie of the wood." He had been bred to the employment of husbandry, but at this time earned a subsistence by driving a coal waggon. The habitation was built with sods, and thatched with broom: four staves driven into the ground, and a couple of planks, served for a table, and a bed was formed by a few old coal-buckets, or corves turned up, and overlaid with straw. Pettigrew built a seat under the spreading branches of a oak that grew near his hut, where he was often seen, during leisure hours, instructing his children to read. In the summer season, the romantic scenery, added to the charming melody of the birds, and the incessant murmuring of the adjoining rivulet, rendered the situation extremely delightful. The country folk prompted by curiosity, often paid them a visit, when Mrs. Pettigrew would have accosted them with-"You're welcome to the house i' the glen, guid folk." The groups of visitors at length became so numerous, that they were troublesome; but Pettigrew projected a scheme to turn the public curiosity to his private interest: he procured bread and cheese, ale, &c., which were readily sold, whereby he was enabled to maintain his family in a more comfortable way. Some colliers intending sport, went one night when the family had retired to rest, and threatened to break into the hut. Pettigrew called upon his stripling sons to his assistance:-"Rise Jock: rise Guy: rise Willox," cried he, "tak' ilka ane a staff into your hand, and I'll tak' the sword." The pretended robbers, however, went away without doing any material injury. From this humble situation, two of Pettigrew's sons rose to ranks of distinction one of them went into the army, and, in course of time was promoted to a lieutenancy: the other acquired some celebrity as a preacher in the Methodist connexion. At one part of the stream a road winds along the very verge of its precipitous banks, allowing only one vehicle to pass at a time and that with the greatest difficulty, a peculiarity which has sometimes produced serious results. One circumstance in particular may be related. A gentleman and his wife driving a gig on this road seeing a house in the immediate vicinity, the former got out to make an enquiry. The latter holding the reins, imprudently urged the horse forward, and being unaware of the danger, one wheel slipped over the bank, and immediately, she, the horse and the gig, were precipitated to the bottom of the dean, a depth of about forty feet. The horse had his legs broke, and his collar bone fractured, the gig was much broken, and when her husband came he found his wife severely bruised, but not otherwise injured. She was conveyed to the adjacent village, where she ultimately recovered. But consequences of a much more disastrous nature attended the rapid swelling of this small rivulet by heavy rains in July 24, 1796. A small arch having been cast over this stream, an embankment of earth was formed upon it for the purpose of making a waggon way from an adjoining colliery; the arch being too small for the admission of the body of water, and the trees, hay, &c., brought down by it, was soon choaked up, and the water then forming an immense lake in the valley above, at length burst down the embankment, and rolling with an impetuosity scarcely conceivable, instantly carried away an adjoining mill, and a man working in it, was drowned at a moment when he suspected no danger. In its progress to the river Tyne, it carried away three houses at the east end of the village of Newburn, where three people unfortunately lost their lives; all the houses in the low part of the village were filled with water, and the inhabitants having no apprehension of their danger, escaped with great difficulty. N the month of June 1402, a Scottish army crossed the borders, and, after doing considerable mischief, was defeated at Nesbit Moor: Hepburn of Hales, its general, was slain, with many of his companions, and nearly all the rest of the knights were taken prisoners. The victorious commander on this occasion was not an Englishman, but a disaffected Scot, the great earl of March, who, in consequence of the bad faith of the imprudent duke of Rothsay, heirapparent to the Scottish throne, gave up his fealty, did homage to the king of England, and joined in the closest confederacy with the Percies of Northumberland. Earl Douglas, who had got a grant of the estates of the earl of March, anxious to drive him to his ruin, and to revenge the loss of Nesbit Moor; and supported by the duke of Albany, entered Northumberland. Ten thousand warriors, the best of Scotland, followed the banner of the Douglas, which flew like a meteor from the Lothians to the Tweed, from the Tweed to the Tyne; but the earl, whom the Scots surnamed "Tyne-man," or "Lose-man," from his repeated defeats and failures, with all the personal valour of his race, enjoyed so small a portion of their sagacity as to be unable to learn military experience from reiterated calamity. Having carried terror and devastation as far as the walls of Newcastle, without any force to oppose him, he turned back loaded with plunder, and marched in a careless manner towards the Tweed. During his ill-calculated advance to the south, the earl of Northumberland, and his son, the Hotspur Percy, with his deadly enemy the earl of March, gathered a numerous army in his rear. Douglas, hampered by his spoil, came suddenly upon this force, which was posted near Millfield, in the northern part of Northumberland. He perceived a strong position between the two armies, called Homildon · E. W. was an Irish Doctor: "Humbledown Hill' afterwards appeared in a Volume of Poems which he published.-Chatto's Col. Hill, and he had the good sense to seize it. The English, with the people of the earl of March, occupied the ridges of a neighbouring hill, but they left it to advance to the assault; and Harry Percy (or Hotspur) was about to charge up the hill of Homildon, when March caught his bridle, and advised him to stay where he was, and begin the fight with his archers, not with his horse. The advice was taken; the English bowmen advanced to the foot of the hill, and shot upwards with wonderful force and correct aim. Instead of charging at first, as Bruce did the English archers at Bannockburn, Douglas did nothing, but left his people drawn up in ranks on the face of the hill, where they presented one general mark to the enemy. Scarcely an English arrow flew in vain; the Scots fell in heaps withont fighting. At last Douglas made up his mind to charge down the hill, or, as it is related by Fordun, Swinton, a spirited knight, induced this movement by exclaiming—“Oh! my brave fellow-soldiers, what fascinates you to-day, that you stand like deer and fawns in a park to be shot, instead of shewing your ancient valour, and meeting your foes hand-to-hand? Let those who will, descend with me, and, in the name of the Lord, we will break that host and conquer, or, if not, at least die with honour, like soldiers." As Douglas descended, the English bowmen retired a little, but they pulled their bows as they withdrew, and, presently halting again, they sent a flight of arrows so "sharp and strong," that no armour could withstand it; and as he was spurring forward, the Douglas himself, whose armour was of the most perfect temper, was wounded, though not mortally, in five different places. He fell from his horse, was made prisoner, and then a complete rout of the Scots ensued. Eight hundred of them remained on the field, and five hundred, it is said, were drowned in the Tweed. Besides Douglas, whose principal wound deprived him of an eye, Murdach, the son of the duke of Albany, the earls of Moray and Angus, two barons, eighty knights, (among whom were some Frenchmen), and many other persons of rank, were made prisoners by the Percies. Swinton, Gordon, Livingston of Calendar, Ramsay of Dalhousie, Walter Sinclair, Roger Gordon, and Walter Scott, were in the number of the more illustrious slain. The English men-at-arms, knights, and squires, never drew the sword or couched the lance, the whole affair being decided by the archers. Such was the famous battle of Homildon Hill, which was fought on Holyrood-day, the 14th of September, 1402. |