The person bearing this redoubtable nom de guerre
was an Elliott, and resided at Thorleshope, in Liddesdale.
He occurs in the list of Border riders, in 1597.
The crest of the Cranstouns, in allusion to their name, is a crane
dormant, holding a stone in his foot, with an emphatic Border motto,
Thou shalt want ere I want. Arms thus punning on the name,
are said heraldrically to be "canting".
The ill-fated third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. His
children (twins) by Mary died at birth. He fled after she was
deposed, and he died in a Danish prison.
Anne, the heiress of Buccleuch, who had been married to the unhappy
Duke of Monmouth, [bastard] son of Charles II. He was beheaded for
his rebellion against James II., 1685.
The place on Carlisle wall where the moss-troopers, if caught,
were hung. The neck-verse was the first verse of Psalm 51. If a criminal
claimed on the scaffold ``benefit of his clergy,'' a priest instantly
presented him with a Psalter, and he read his neck-verse. The power
of reading it entitled him to his life, which was spared; but he
was banished from the kingdom.
A Borderer, whose profession was pillage of the English. These
marauders were called moss-trooper because they dwelt in the
mosses, and rode, on their incursions, in troops.