The Northern Marches
Ma. D. L. W. Town has done an admirable piece of research in delving into the last years of the English and Scottish Borders before the Union. He draws a picture of the life that was lived, and in particular he gives a narrative of the events of 1558 to 1603. Queen Elizabeth and James VI. of Scotland both treated Border affairs as matters of great importance. Mr. Tough says that modern English historians by their comparative silence, especially about the Laws of the Marches, show that they think that Her Highness was wrong. " Readers of this book," he adds, " will be able to decide the question for themselves."
Really we are not quite sure that they will. Two very different kinds of importance may be attached to the Marches. It may be argued that the curious laws of these disordered districts illuminate the growth of social principle among the clansmen—not only there but elsewhere—whose descendants were ultimately welded into a coherent community. Such a study is of course important in a sense, but chiefly for the anthropologist. The Border lands lagged far behind the more settled interior in progress of every kind. In the reign of Elizabeth the South of England was hundreds of years ahead of the Northern Marches in learning, art, and the laws.
But there may be another sense in which the history of the Marches was more important than most modern historians
have allowed it to be. The Marches were the chessboard upon which James VI. of Scotland (with his eye on the English Throne) and Queen Elizabeth moved their pieces. It can hardly be doubted that James inspired, or at least was gratified by, many of the raids into English territory. If the rulers of the Scottish Marches had made regular war upon the English Marches they might have advanced the cause of James more quickly than it was advanced by circumstances—but, on the other hand, they might not. After all, for Scotsmen the glorious memory of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn had been almost swallowed up in the disaster of Flodden. As James VI. was heir to the English Throne he had only to wait. Altogether, after reading Mr. Tough's book we are not quite sure how he means us to answer the question which he propounds. In our mind the importance of the Marches remains much as it was before. Although we do not feel called upon to adjust our values, we have to thank Mr. Tough for having led us back into a romantic land to which we had not paid a literary visit since we read Hodgkin's excellent Wardens of the Marches.
Mr. Tough points out how strong was the attachment of the Borderers to the celebrated or noble families who were their natural leaders. The same thing is true of all communities of half-primitive men. The Dunbars and the Lennoxes of the Scottish Marches were not more faithfully followed than the Mortimers of the Welsh Marches ; and no doubt the historian of any other March—say the March (or Mark) of Branden- burg—would have to emphasize precisely the same phenome- non. The geography of the Border, of course, explains to a considerable degree the life lived, but Mr. Tough is not in- clined to go the whole way with those who take a materialistic view of history. He believes that during the reign of Elizabeth, at least, the lack of a strong Government at Edinburgh was a more potent influence than geography. Still, you cannot get away from geography. From Berwick to the head of the Solway Firth is about seventy miles in a straight line and nearly one hundred and twenty along the frontier. No wholesome-minded boy could cast his eyes upon the Cheviots without seeing what a glorious region they are for raiding and hiding.
If the quasi-warfare had been regularly organized one side or the other would have taken the enemy in the rear by sea. The fact that Scotsmen never attacked Holy Island or Bam- burgh Castle shows that the warfare was always unscientific. The Solway Firth does not in itself offer any such proof, as it is so shallow that anywhere near the head of the bay the Borderers could easily wade across.
Mr. Tough gives an excellent selection of photographs showing the character of Border fortifications, and the towers or " peels " in which the richer land-owners lived. Penrith is a very good example of a Border town with a market-place in the middle. Thither cattle could be driven in an emer- gency and the narrow lanes leading to it were easily defensible. The typical Borderer was bold in adventure, but strangely weak, almost cringing, when brought to justice. His habit of submitting himself to authority—the authority of his leader—merely took a new form when he found himself exposed to a new power.
In the history of the Marches the word " decay " is of curiously frequent occurrence. The old writers were always deploring the decay of something or other—as, for instance, the decay of the determination of the English Marches to keep themselves to themselves. Perhaps this was the most deadly of all kinds of decay. As there was no restriction on immigration and the Scots found that life in England was both safe and cheaper, they came over the Border in great numbers as settlers. The best that can be said of Border morality is that it had all the chivalry of the bandit's life. It was rare for a Borderer to break a pledge or to betray a friend. But for the rest he acted on the " good old rule " Which Wordsworth attributed to Rob Roy ; anything that belonged to another was his if he could seize it and would remain his if he was strong enough to keep it.
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