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869748f
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People who have suffered every hardship and atrocity, and who have every reason to fear that they will suffer them again, may submit tamely, or they may fight for survival. The English and Scots of the frontier were not tame folk.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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5343764
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They scorched the earth, destroyed their own homes and fields, took to the hills and the wilderness with their beasts and all they could move, and carried on the struggle by onfall, ambush, cutting supply lines, and constant harrying.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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8288916
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Unfortunately, to the ordinary people, war and peace were not very different. The trouble with all Anglo-Scottish wars was that no one ever won them; they were always liable to break out again.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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d16ad58
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The Border, in a sense, was a bloody buffer state which absorbed the principal horrors of war. With the benefit of hindsight, one could almost say that the social chaos of the frontier was a political necessity.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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9594b99
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dark, wiry soldier at the first bed was cleaning his rifle, hauling the pull-through along the barrel. 'Not like that,' said Bennet-Bruce. 'Pull it straight out, not at an angle, or you'll wear away the muzzle and your bullets will fly off squint, missing the enemy, who will seize the opportunity to unseam you, from nave to chaps.' He tugged at the pull-through. 'What the hell have you got on the end of this, the battalion colours?
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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94e6a48
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the idyll was marred by the appearance round the southern headland of a small, waspish-looking vessel, standing slowly out on a course parallel to our own. It happened that I saw her first, and drew my commander's attention to her with a sailor-like hail of: "Jesus! Look at that!" Spring"
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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cacbbbe
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Aye, weel, here's tae us.' 'Wha's like us?' said McGilvray. 'Dam' few,' said Forbes. 'And they're a' deid,' I said, completing the ritual. 'Aw-haw-hey,' said Daft Bob and we drank.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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e42d00f
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Other March law offences included truce-breaking, attacking castles, impeding a Warden, importing wool, and a delightful local custom known as "bauchling and reproaching". This meant publicly vilifying and upbraiding someone, usually at a day of truce; such abuse might be directed at a man who had broken his word, or had neglected to honour a bond or pay a ransom. The "bauchler" (also known as brangler, bargler, etc.) sometimes made his rep..
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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e8a3b97
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he was a man of his hands, and most were, he might decide to wait and plan for the day when he could raid the robbers in his turn, and get his revenge illegally with interest. Or he could decide on pursuit, across the frontier if necessary. This was a strictly legal, almost a hallowed process, known by the descriptive name of "hot trod"."
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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55bf264
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the fatal privilege". It enshrined the right to recover one's property by force, and in practice to deal with the thieves out of hand. A trod might lawfully be made at any time within six days after the offence; if it was followed immediately it was a hot trod, otherwise it was known as a cold trod. In either case it was governed by strict rules; a careful line was drawn, under Border law, between a trod and a reprisal raid."
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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b0403af
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The 1563 agreement between England and Scotland speaks of "lawfull Trodd with Horn and Hound, with Hue and Cry and all other accustomed manner of fresh pursuit"; according to Scott, this obliged the pursuer to carry a lighted turf on his lance-point, as earnest of open and peaceful intentions."
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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f867212
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Blackmail was paid by the tenant or farmer to a "superior" who might be a powerful reiver, or even an outlaw, and in return the reiver not only left him alone, but was also obliged to protect him from other raiders and to recover his goods if they were carried off. It reached the proportions of a major industry, with the blackmailers employing collectors and enforcers (known as brokers), and even something like accountants."
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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92eb9f9
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That guttural, hissing mumble, with all its "Tz" and "zl" and "rr" noises, like a drunk Scotch-Jew having trouble with his false teeth, is something you don't forget in a hurry. So"
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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d0886e2
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you see, and the folly of sitting smug in judgment years after, stuffed with piety and ignorance and book-learned bias. Humanity is beastly and stupid, aye, and helpless, and there's an end to it.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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a2c93f2
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To attempt to apply normal law and government to the Border area was a waste of time, and both countries had long recognised this. Thus there grew up a body of local law and custom, often extremely complex, seldom consistent, and in practice all too rough and ready, by which the two governments attempted to keep their frontier subjects in order. It can probably be said to have worked moderately well, in that it prevented a decline into comp..
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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4d70cb1
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there were solid gold and silver vessels and ornaments, crusted with gems, miles of jewel-sewn brocade, gorgeous pictures and statues that the troops just hacked and smashed, beautiful enamel and porcelain trampled underfoot, weapons and standards set with rubies and emeralds which were gouged and hammered from their settings--all this among the powder-smoke and blood, with native soldiers who'd never seen above ten rupees in their lives, a..
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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191a993
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And it was understood that Scottish Borderers did not take kindly to outside Wardens. The oustanding example was the unfortunate Frenchman, Anthony Darcy, the Sieur de la Bastie, who in 1516 was ill-advised enough to accept the Wardenry of all the Scottish Marches, with particular responsibility in the east. This was Hume country, and they regarded Darcy with "horrid resentment". He seems to have been a brave, honest and conscientious Warde..
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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31d9af4
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In her, ignorance and stupidity formed a perfect shield against the world: this, I suppose, is innocence. It
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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35c3e9d
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It's always the same before the shooting begins--the hostesses go into a frenzy of gaiety, and all the spongers and civilians crawl out of the wainscoting braying with good fellowship because thank God they ain't going, and the young plungers and green striplings roister it up, and their fiancees let 'em pleasure them red in the face out of pity, because the poor brave boy is off to the cannon's mouth, and the dance goes on and the eyes gro..
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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8ca777c
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The Border reivers were aggressive, ruthless, violent people, notoriously quick on the draw, ready and occasionally eager to kill in action, when life or property or honour were at stake. They were a brave people, and risked their lives readily enough; when they had to die, they appear to have done so without undue dramatics or bogus defiance which would have been wasted anyway. They lived in a society where deadly family feud was common, a..
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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df2fd9c
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By God, I wish that spit had been a real one, with me to turn it.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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ac71477
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Ga'n git 'em, marras! Remember Arroyo!" "Booger Arroyo!" roared Grandarse, and the corporal pulled himself up into a sitting position, and as we swung past he was trying to sing, in a harsh unmusical croak. Aye, Ah ken John Peel an' Ruby too, Ranter an' Ringwood, Bellman an' True From a find to a check, from a check to a view
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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b254290
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Oh, the holy satisfaction of the godly--when it comes to delight in cruelty I'm just a child compared to them
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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e8c73a7
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Looking back over sixty-odd years, life is like a piece of string with knots in it, the knots being those moments that live in the mind forever, and the intervals being hazy, half-recalled
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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8c3a579
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when the games going against you, stay calm - and cheat.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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6490e45
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it wasn't that I'd grown any braver as I got older - the reverse if anything
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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ef52f3b
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the English general was less concerned for the moment with what he was going to do in Scotland than with the problem of actually getting his army there in working order. His main worry was a shortage of beer for the troops; on September 2 he was indenting for "vi or vii hundred tonne of bere", five days later he was noting that "I feare lak of no thyng so moche as of drynk", and this despite the brewing that was taking place at Berwick, and..
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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8523ad8
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Here I was alone, and could take my own time. In other parts of the world one always seems to be in a great hurry, tearing from one spot to the other at a gallop, but out yonder, perhaps because distances are so great, time don't seem to matter; you can jog along, breathing fresh air and enjoying the scenery and your own thoughts about women and home and hunting and booze and money and what may lie over the next hill.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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1171db6
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about him, and that all the signs were that he
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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8433a07
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You must convince your chiefs that what you're telling 'em is important, which ain't difficult, since they want to believe you, having chiefs of their own to satisfy; make as much mystery of your methods as you can; hint what a thoroughgoing ruffian you can be in a good cause, but never forget that innocence shines brighter than any virtue, "Flashman? Extraordinary fellow - kicks 'em in the crotch with the heart of a child"; remember that s..
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experience
hedonism
human-nature
knowledge-of-self
philosophy
the-way-the-world-works
wisdom
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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a35cb8c
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Certainly no general [Slim] ever did more with less; in every way, he was one of the great captains.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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0a97a1b
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There are few sounds as menacing as a bayonet being fixed.
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George MacDonald Fraser |
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d448582
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Only very young soldiers and head-cases object to boredom in war-time.
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George MacDonald Fraser |