Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/159

Rh own countrymen, none of whose property he was ever known to have meddled with. He always "quartered upon the enemy," and thought that by doing so he did good service to the state; but not being consulted in the various treaties of peace which occasionally took place between the sovereigns of the two kingdoms, he did not always feel himself called upon to recognize them, and accordingly continued to levy his black-mail from the borders, all the way, it is said, unto Newcastle. Though the king had made peace with England, Johnnie Armstrong had not; and he therefore continued to carry on the war in defiance of all those treaties and truces to which he was not a party. On this occasion the daring borderer, expecting a gracious reception from the king, and desirous of appearing before his sovereign in a manner becoming what he conceived to be his own rank, presented himself and his retainers, all magnificently appareled, before his majesty. The king, who did not know him personally, at first mistook him for some powerful nobleman, and returned his salute; but on learning his name, he instantly ordered him and all his followers to be taken into custody and hanged upon the spot. "What wants that knave that a king should have," exclaimed James, indignantly struck with the splendour of Armstrong's and his followers' equipments, and, at the same time, turning round from them on his heel as he spoke. The freebooter at first pled hard for his life, and endeavoured to bribe the king to spare him. He offered his own services and that of forty men at any time, when the king should require it, free of all expense to his majesty. He further offered to bring to him any subject of England duke, earl, lord, or baron, against any given day, either dead or alive, whom his majesty might desire either to destroy or to have as a captive. Finding that all he could say and all he could offer had no effect in moving the king from his determination, the bold borderer, seeing the die was cast, and his fate sealed, instantly resumed the natural intrepidity of his character, "I am but a fool," he said, raising himself proudly up, "to look for grace in a graceless 'face. But had I known, sir, that you would have taken my life this day, I should have lived upon the borders in despite of both king Henry and you; and I know that the king of England would down-weigh my best horse with gold to be assured that I was to die this day." No further colloquy took place; Armstrong and all his followers were led off to instant execution. A popular tradition of the borders, where his death was much regretted, says, that the tree on which Armstrong was executed, though it continued to vegetate, never again put forth leaves. After subjecting several other notorious offenders to a similar fate, the king returned to Edinburgh on the 24th of July. In the following summer, he set out upon a similar expedition to the north, with that which he had conducted to the south, and for similar purposes at once to enjoy the pleasures of the chase and to bring to justice the numerous and daring thieves and robbers with which the country was infested.

This practice of converting the amusement of hunting into a means of dispensing justice throughout the kingdom, was one to which James had often recourse, for on these occasions he took care always to be attended with an armed force, sufficiently strong to enforce the laws against the most powerful infringer; and he did not spare them when within his reach. For thieves and robbers lie had no compassion; common doom awaited them all, whatever might be their rank or pretensions. In this particular he was stern and inflexible to the last degree; and the times required it. There was no part of his policy more beneficial to the kingdom than the resolute, incessant, and relentless war which he waged against all marauders and plunderers.

On the expedition which he now undertook to the north, he was accompanied by the queen mother, and the papal ambassador, then at the Scottish court. The