Here I shall mercilessly quote the whole of William of Deloraine's Itinerary from Branksome Tower till he rides Ale when "great and muckle o' spate." "Soon in his saddle sate he fast And soon the steep descent he past, Soon cross'd the sounding barbican, And soon the Teviot side he won. Eastward the wooded path he rode, Green hazels o'er his basnet nod; "He pass'd the Peel of Goldiland, And cross'd old Borthwick's roaring strand; Dimly he view'd the Moat-hill's mound. Where Druid shades still flitted round; In Ilawick twinkled many a light; Behind him soon they set in night; And soon he spurr'd his coarser keen Beneath the tower of hazeldean. "The clattering hoofs the watchmen mark:-- 'Stand, ho! thou courier of the dark.'-- 'For Branksome, ho!' the knight rejoin'd, And left the friendly tower behind. He turn'd him now from Teviotside, And guided by the tinkling rill, Northward the dark ascent did ride, And gained the moor at Horslichill; Broad on the left before him lay, For many a mile, the Roman way. {175} "A moment now he slack'd his speed, A moment breathed his panting steed; Drew saddle-girth and corslet-band, And loosen'd in the sheath his brand. On Minto-crags the moonbeams glint, Where Barnhill hew'd his bed of flint; Who flung his outlaw'd limbs to rest, Where falcons hang their giddy nest, Mid cliffs, from whence his eagle eye From many a league his prey could spy; Cliffs, doubling, on their echoes borne, The terrors of the robbers' horn; Cliffs, which, for many a later year, The warbling Doric reed shall hear, When some sad swain shall teach the grove, Ambition is no cure for love! "Unchallenged, thence pass'd Deloraine, To ancient Riddel's fair domain, Where Aill, from mountains freed, Down from the lakes did raving come; Each wave was crested with tawny foam, Like the mane of a chestnut steed. In vain! no torrent, deep or broad, Might bar the bold moss-trooper's road. At the first plunge the horse sunk low, And the water broke o'er the saddlebow;