Lock the Door, Larriston

Lock the door, Larriston, Lion of Liddesdale;
Lock the door, Larriston, Lowther comes on;
The Armstrongs are flying,
The widows are crying,
The Castleton's burning, and Oliver's gone.
Lock the door, Larriston; high in the weather gleam
See how the Saxon plumes bob in the sky-
Yeoman and carbineer,
Billman and halberdier,
Fierce is the foray, and far is the cry.

Bewcastle brandishes high his proud scimitar,
Ridley is riding his fleet-footed grey;
Hedley and Howard there, .
Wandale and Windermere,
Lock the door, Larriston, hold them at bay.
Why cost thou smile, noble Elliot of Larriston?
Why does the joy candle gleam in thine eye?
Thou bold border-ranger
Beware of thy danger,
Thy foes are relentless, determined, and nigh.

Jock Elliot raised up his steel bonnet and lookit,
His hand grasped the sword with a nervous embrace;
Oh, welcome, brave foemen,
On earth there are no men
More gallant to meet in the fray or the chase.
Little know you of the hearts I have hidden here;
Little know you of our moss troopers' might;
Linhope and Sorbie true,
Tundhope and Milburn too,
Gentle in manner, but lions in fight.

I have Mangerton, Ogilvie, Raeburn, and Netherbie,
Old Sim, of Whitram, and all his array.
Come all Northumberland,
Teesdale and Cumberland,
Here at the Breeker Tower end shall the fray.
Scowled the broad sun o'er the links of green Liddesdale,
Red as the beacon-light tipped he the word;
Many a bold martial eye
Mirror'd that moming sky
Never more oped on his orbit of gold.

Shrill was the bugle's note, dreadful the warrior shout,
Lances and halberts in splinters were torn;
Helmet and haubert then
Brav'd the claymore in vain,
Buckler and armlet in shivers were shorn.
See how they wane, the proud files of the Windermere,
Howard ah! woe to the hopes of the day;
Hear the wild welkin rend,
While the Scots shouts ascend,
Elliot of Larriston! Elliot for aye!

notes: Written by James Hogg in 1797; evokes the general state of the
Borders in the first half of the sixteenth century.
Found in Lyric Gems Of Scotland. TD

TD
oct97