Wilson's Tales of the Borders, and of Scotland - Historical, Traditionary, and Imaginative With a Glossary #266607

Wilson's tales of the borders,<br><br>And of Scotland.<br><br>The wife or the Wuddy.<br><br>"There was a criminal in a cart<br>Agoing to be hanged -<br>Reprieve to him was granted;<br>The crowd and cart did stand,<br>To see if he would marry a wife,<br>Or, otherwise, choose to die!<br>'Oh, why should I torment my life?'<br>The victim did reply;<br>'The bargain's bad in every part -<br>But a wife's the worst! - drive on the cart.'"<br><br>Honest sir John Falstaff talketh of "minions of the moon;" and, truth to tell, two or three hundred years ago, nowhere was such an order of knighthood more prevalent than upon the Borders. Not only did the Scottish and English borderers make their forays across the Tweed and the ideal line, but rival chieftains, though of the same nation, considered themselves at liberty to make inroads upon the property of each other. The laws of meum and tuum they were unable to comprehend. Theirs was the strong man's world, and with them might was right. But to proceed with our story. About the beginning of the seventeenth century, one of the boldest knights upon the Borders was William Scott, the young laird of Harder.