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EOOKHOPE RTDE. 127 |
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They were numbered to never a man But forty under fifty.
The thieves was numbered a hundred men, I wat they were not of the worst to
That could be choosed out of Thirlwall and Willie-haver, [I trow they were the very first.]
But all that was in Rookhope-head, And all that was i' Nuketon-cleugh,
Where Weardale-men o'ertook the thieves, as And there they gave them fighting eneugh.
So sore they made them fain to flee,
As many was ' a'' out of hand, And, for tul have been at home again,
They would have been in iron bands. 100
And for the space of long seven years As sore they mighten a' had their lives,
But there was never one of them
That ever thought to have seen their ' wives.'
About the time the fray began, m
I trow it lasted but an hour, Till many a man lay weaponless,
And was sore wounded in that stour.
92. The reciter, from his advanced age, could not recollect the original line thus imperfectly supplied.—Eitson. |
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