knight Bachelors;-nor among the professors of the different universities of the three kingdoms;-neither among the dignitaries and proctors of the English Church; nor among the Stipended Clergy of the Kirk of Scotland; nor among the Judges, the Advocates, Writers of the signet, or Solicitors in the Scotch Law Courts; neither among the Judges, Masters in Chancery, and Sergeants in the English Law Courts; and not even in the different grades of our Admirals; and but two were found in the grades of our Generals; and three only registered among the Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels in our Army. An inquisitive stranger to our country, to notice this observation or rather remark of ours, might be led, and naturally enough too, to imagine this large body of men in a manner interdicted by the constitution and laws of the kingdom from any share in its government, however competent in abilities of mind thereto: and he might become strengthened in this conjecture when informed that several of the Scots, the Johnstons and the Elliots, sprang from ancestors, who were held in as little estimation as those of the Armstrongs at one period of time by the government of the country, have been intrusted in offices of the highest importance, and some of them ennobled by the Peerage. We are indeed aware but of one individual of the Armstrongs, who has made any figure in the Annals of Britain since the Border compact was annihilated,-we allude to Archy Armstrong, who resided at the Stubholm, immediately below the junction of the Wauchope and the Esk, and was a subjugated individual of the last Moss-trooping marauders of any consequence in numbers or terror in the country, especially about Bew Castle in Cumberland, commanded by a William Armstrong, called for distinction sake Christie's Will. This Archy was distinguished for his wit, and became a celebrated Jester in the court of Charles I., but was soon dismissed in disgrace from this dignified office for his "insolent wit," as it was termed, on Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. For, one day, when this prelate was about, as was his duty at the king's table, when he chanced to be of his sovereign's dinner party, to say grace, Archy intruded, and begged permission of the king to peform that duty; and it being granted him, proceeded with great gravity, "All praise to God, and little laud to the deil." After his dismissal from court, he retired to the parish of Arthuret in Cumberland, where he died at an advanced age, and was buried within the church of the parish where may be now seen a tablet to his memory. His name, it can hardly be doubted, will go down to posterity so long as that of Laud shall have place in British history, and that, no doubt, will be, till annals of our Island are no more. It is not difficult to conceive how the families, and of course the name, of the Armstrongs, had so greatly increased, particularly towards the close of the Border compact, when we call to mind that every male born under it was registered a retainer to one or other of the chiefs, to whom they became attached, in after life, so strongly, that it was rare to hear of any one leaving his home to seek for other protection. But how are we to account for their continuance in such great numbers, notwithstanding so many of them must have spread themselves abroad to seek for bread, immediately on the dissolution of the clanship in the manner we have already described it? Only two causes occur to us as likely to have thus operated; to wit, the Handy fist marriages which had so long obtained in the Border districts, as they had always done in the Highland districts of Scotland, and against which there was no law that either of the parties might not covenant again, however frequently prior contracts had been broken by them; and the indelicate to give it no worse a name-promiscuous intercourse of the sexes so notoriously prevailing now, as it had done for centuries, among all the clans of the Border districts, both on the north and south side the Esk, though we are obliged to confess, from our own observance, we think with less reserve on the northern side. The first custom we have named has passed away since the begin ning, though not sooner, of the last century—but the latter, we lament to say, is in no degree diminishing-we will not, however, soil our pages with describing this intercourse, but content ourselves with noticing, it has doubtless tended to the corruption of morals, and most assuredly to the increase of bastardy. Traverse these districts, and particularly that immediately around Canobie, and you will want no further proof of the evil arising from these wretched customs,-must we proceed?-It is hardly to be believed how few individuals you meet with, if you enquire of them from what chief of their clan they are descended, or who were their fathers, can satisfy your curiosity. That there are, notwithstanding, numbers of the clan of the Armstrongs from the original tree in a lineal legitimate male descent remaining, there can be no reasonable doubt. We have heard of a great-greatgrandson of John of Gilnochy, who kept the principal Inn at Hawick in the memory of several yet living in that neighbourhood; and we saw about forty years ago in that Inn a large Ŏaken Cradle, which was known to have been brought from Gilnochy tower, in which the boisterous chief was accustomed to be rocked asleep by his valets. We knew also two sons of the Host of Hawick Inn, tenanting å farm at Gilnochy under his Grace Henry of Buccleuch. There was likewise, to our knowledge, an old gentleman at Glensier in Sark parish, known under the designed name of "John O' the Garden," who had proof, he averred, in his possession of a legitimate lineal descent from Kinmount Willie of notorious memory; and we once had personal acquaintance with a gentleman near Edinburgh-who had been in the service of Henry Duke of Buccleuch, who in his cups was used to boast he was a Firebrass, a corruption of the French Fier-à-bras, signifying Hector, intimating thereby he was descended truly from Hector of Harielaw; and that he came certainly from the town of Harielaw, we had the means of ascertaining beyond all dispute. Hence, then, we have a genealogical line of legitimate descent of these men, from Fortinbras's ancestor flying for refuge into Denmark The parties intending to enter into these depraved contracts, met at a particular place, on a certain day, most commonly at the return of an Annual Fair or Wake, when they joined hands in the presence of witnesses, and agreed to cohabit together for one year, to prove whether they should like one another well enough to become man and wife, and if at the expiry of that period they were satisfied with each other, the nuptial knot was tied by a regular priest; if otherwise, they separated, the man becoming burthened with the child, should one have been born to him within the year of trial, or the woman pregnant at the moment of separation,-unless, however, the woman should agree to take the charge upon herself, which it was optional in her to do, in preference to the man, and then he became exonerated from having any thing more to do with either mother or child. A. D. 787, to the present year 1832, a period of one thousand and forty-five years, comprising, short only of five years, thirty-five generations, reckoning thirty years to a generation; is there, it may be asked, a family in the united kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, however long it may have been ennobled, or otherwise dignified by the Sovereigns of either of the kingdoms, that can boast of a descent, uninterrupted on the male side, of greater, or even of equal length? J. T. SONG.-TUNE—“ Gramachree.” BY ROBERT GILFILLAN. FAIR maiden with the bright blue eye, Or faulters on my tongue O! ne'er was I beguil'd before Thy image, lovely as the morn, For nature in her fairest forms But breathes and speaks of thee !— Thy voice is in the song that falls O! welcome love, if this be love- [WE intended to introduce the following article with certain observations of our own. Lest, however, delay should stamp it of too old a date, we act on the Horatian counsel-Carpe diem, quàm minimùm credula postero.' Hence our readers have the contribution without comment.-ED.] THE REFORM BILL AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES. THE Reform Bill, if it passes, must materially change the present constitution. It is the new Magna Charta. Let us ask, by whom is it to be carried into effect? By Barristers; and were we assured that they shall be Barristers learned in the law and not merely in name, who could be more proper? We find that the judges are to name Barristers who shall revise the lists of Borough votes, have power to insert and expunge names and rectify mistakes in the lists, to summon witnesses, administer oaths and collect evidence in various ways. A new Court (the times are prolific in such things) will be established in each County, City and Borough, where these new judges will settle and sign the lists in open court, and be invested with authority to adjourn from time to time. It is generally conceived that some degree of study is necessary to acquire the title of a Barrister, whose office entitles him to such situations as these; the presumption of a common-sense view of the matter favours the general opinion-that some course of study or examination is gone through. It is known that dinners are eaten and names set down, but it is not known that these dinners and names are all that is required. It is known also that all persons, who go to the bar with a view to practice, become the pupils of a Conveyancer or Special Pleader, but it is not known that the attendance is any thing but compulsory, and may consist either of ten months or ten days, which is more frequent. Indeed the majority of the public are deceived in this respect; we do not mean to say that Barristers in general have not, by their own exertions, become competent to the practice of their own profession. But we do mean to say that a great many Barristers are totally ignorant of any branch of law, and that the granting a degree to an ignorant person is injurious to the interests of the public. The legislature is greatly deceived on this point; it constantly acts on the supposition that a Barrister is necessarily a lawyer. The machinery of all kinds of acts is left to be carried on by the bar. They are appointed exclusively to all sorts of situations,-most properly, in our opinion, if the public be made secure that the degree, which entitles them to the office, is appropriately conferred. But the fact is, that the men to whom these places and situations are given are not properly qualified; they are taken from among the Barristers who are not lawyers, and hence it is that we so constantly hear complaints in the administration of justice in our police offices, in our colonies, and in inferior judicial and legal situations of all kinds. It is explained, when it is known that the persons appointed to these situations may be Barristers who have never read a law book in their lives, and who have been subjected to no examination. It must therefore astonish every well-wisher to the cause of reform, to whom these facts are known, to find that to the same class of bunglers and incapables, as have in so many instances made nullities and absurdities of our best framed laws, has to be entrusted the managing of the machinery of the Reform Bill. It is too certain that the eminent members of the profession will neither be the persons selected, nor is it probable that such men, whose merit is sure to meet with an abundant reward, would accept of such offices as are necessary to the completing the ministerial scheme of reform. We shall have the briefless Barristers of quarter-session circuits sitting in a court to determine on the right of Englishmen to vote in the election of their lawgivers, where the nicest points of the law of conveyancing, of landlord and tenant, and of the local customary tenure and prescriptive right to the elective franchise will all have to be mooted. Nay, if the Reform Bill is to be carried into effect in this mode, we scruple not to assert, that the dissatisfaction, which is sure to arise from it, will go far to strip it of its popularity, and make the electors, who will have lost that elective franchise which it was in the power of no Barrister to take from them, and which the laws of the land guaranteed, bitterly regret the change, when such a judge shall have power to take away one man's right to the elective franchise and give it to another, and feel the absurdity of being declared an elector one year by one judge, and to have no vote next year by another; and such are the conse quences which to a greater or less degree must ensue. The consequences of the Reform Bill, dispassionately speaking, and without leaning to the theories of the Reformer on the one side and the Antireformer on the other, have been but slightly considered. The immediate and one of the most important effects of reform, in our opinion, will be the elevating the House of Peers as a branch of the Legislature to a position which it will be dangerous for it to occupy. In the present state of affairs, the House of Peers as a body seldom put forth their power; they have hitherto intrusted their interest to the nominees of the Boroughmongers sitting with the Commons. Reform, by taking away from the Peers the privilege of transacting their business by deputy, will, while destroying the pernicious power of such of their body as are Borough-proprietors, at the same time raise from comparative insignificance that very large portion of the Peerage whose power has been so long usurped by the proprietors of Boroughs. Then, it may be asked, will the House of Peers stand co-equal in power (except in regard to money matters) with the Commons?-and it will be answered that the constitution places them in strict equality; but in the moral power, which holds its sway by the means of public opinion, the House of Commons must always have the ascendancy. There are several great questions which must come before our Legislature in a very short time. The affairs of the Church will be canvassed, the East India Company's Monopoly, the Bank Charter, the Corn Laws, and many others, deeply affecting the weal of the people. In all or most of these questions the people's voice will be heard, and into which scale they will throw their weight is evident enough to all. Our present representatives are generally men inclined to liberal measures; and should there soon be a change, their successors are not likely to be less so. Unless some great alteration should take place in the opinions of the members of the upper house-and there seems but 2 R VOL. I. |