Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/158

218 of disposition. These qualities rendered him exceedingly beloved by the common people, of whom he was always besides so steady and effective a friend, as procured for him the enviable title of King 1 of the Poor.

Amongst the first cares of James, after his becoming possessed of the actual sovereignty of the kingdom, was to subdue the border thieves and marauders, who were carrying matters with a high hand, and had so extended their business during the lawless period of his minority, and so systematized their proceedings, that Armstrong of Kilnockie—the celebrated Johnnie Armstrong of the well-known old ballad—one of the most noted leaders of these predatory bands, never travelled abroad, even on peaceful purposes, without a train of six and twenty gentlemen well mounted, well armed, and always handsomely dressed in the gayest and most chivalrous garb of the times. As James, however, knew that he would have little chance of laying hold of these desperadoes if he sought them with openly hostile intentions, their predatory habits and intimate know- ledge of the localities of the country rendering it easy for them to evade any such attempt, he had recourse to stratagem. He gave out that he intended to have a great hunting match on the borders, and really did combine both sport and business in the expedition which followed. As was usual with the Scottish kings on hunting occasions, he summoned all the noblemen and gentlemen in the country, who could find it convenient, to attend him with their dogs on a certain day at Edinburgh, and, what was not so customary, to bring each a month's victuals along with him. Such a provision was always required when an army of common men were called together, but not in the case of convocations of men above that rank. The expedition in this case, however, was to be both warlike and sportive ; and the former might prevent the latter from affording them a sufficiency of game for their subsistence. The summons of the king for the border hunting was so willingly obeyed, that a host amounting to twelve thousand assembled in Edinburgh against the appointed time; and amongst these, some chieftains from very distant parts of the country, such as Huntly, Argyle, and Athol, all of whom brought their large, fierce Highland deer dogs along with them to assist in the chase. It was in the month of June, 1529, that this prodigious host of sportsmen, headed by the king in person, set out towards the borders. The greater part of them were well armed, and were thus prepared for any thing that might occur. On all such occasions pavilions, tents, bedding, &c. for the accommodation of the sportsmen, were despatched some days previous to the ground selected for the first day's amusement, and were afterwards moved from place to place as the scene of action was shifted. The king's pavilion was very splendid, and might readily be distinguished from all others by its superior richness and elegance. His dogs, too, were elevated above all the dogs of meaner men, as well by their extrinsic ornaments as by their intrinsic merits. Their collars were gilt, or were of purple velvet adorned with golden studs, while the royal hawks were provided with collars and bells of the same metal. The cavalcade having reached Meggotland, on the southern border of Peebleshire, a favourite hunting place of James's, and which was always reserved exclusively for the king's hunting the sport began, and in a few days no less than three hundred and sixty deer were slain. Soon after this, Armstrong of Kilnockie, little dreaming of the fate that awaited him, made his appearance among the sportsmen, at a place called Caerlanrig, it is said by invitation, but whether it was so or not he seems to have calculated on at least a civil,, if not a cordial reception from the king, being in total ignorance of the real object of the king's visit to the borders. Armstrong was not altogether unreasonable in such an expectation, for his robberies had always been confined to England, and he was rather looked upon as a protector than otherwise by his