For our bill of complaint, it might be tried in more than one way. It might be by “the honour of the Warden,” who often had knowledge, personal or acquired, of the case, and felt competent to decide the matter off-hand. On his first appearance he had taken an oath (yearly renewed) in presence of the opposite Warden and the whole assemblage to do justice, and he now officially “fyled” or “cleared the bill” (as the technical phrase ran) by writing on it the words “foull (or ‘clear’), as I am verily persuaded upon my conscience and honour”--a deliverance after the method wherein individual peers give their voice at a trial of one of their order. This did not of necessity end the matter, for the complainant could present a new bill and get the verdict of a jury thereon, which also was the proper tribunal where the Warden declined to interfere. It was thus chosen: The English Warden named and swore in six Scots, the Scots Warden did the like to six Englishmen. The oath ran in these terms:--“Yea shall cleare noe bill worthie to be fild, yea shall file no bill worthie to be cleared,” and so forth. Warden sergeants were appointed who led the jury to a retired place; the bills were presented; and the jurymen fell to work. It would seem that they did so in two sections, each considering complaints against its own nationality. If the bill was “fyled,” the word “foull” was written upon it (of course, a verdict of guilty); but how to get such a verdict under such conditions? The assize had more than a fellow-feeling for the culprit: like the jury in Aytoun’s story, they might think that Flodden (then no distant memory) was not yet avenged. There were divers expedients to this end. Commissioners were sometimes appointed by the two crowns to solve a difficulty a Warden Court had failed to adjust. Again, it was strangely provided that “If the accused be not quitt by the oathe of the assize it is a conviction.” One very stubborn jury (_temp._ 1596) sat for a day, a night, and a day on end, “almost to its undoeinge.” The Warden, enraged at such conduct and yet fearing for the men’s lives, needs must discharge them. I ought to mention an alleged third mode of trial by vower, who, says Sir Walter Scott, was an umpire to whom the dispute was referred. Rather was he a witness of the accused’s own nation. Some held such evidence essential to conviction; if honest, it was practically conclusive. Well! Suppose the case too clear and the man too friendless, and the jury “fyled” the bill. If the offence were capital, the prisoner was kept in safe custody, and was hanged or beheaded as soon as possible. But most affairs were not capital. Thus the Border Law forbad hunting in the other kingdom without the express leave of the owner of the soil. Just such an unlicensed hunting is the theme of _Chevy Chase_. Thus:--