above the rest of his complices."-PITSCOTTIE, p. 78. folio edit,

Note XIV.

Against the war had Angus stood,

And chafed his royal lord.-P. 95.

Angus was an old man when the war against England was resolved upon. He earnestly spoke against that measure from its commencement; and, on the eve of the battle of Flodden, remonstrated so freely upon the impolicy of fighting, that the king said to him, with scorn and indignation, " if he was afraid, he might go home." The earl burst into tears at this insupportable insult, and retired accordingly, leaving his sons, George, master of Angus, and Sir William of Glenbervie, to command his followers. They were both slain in the battle, with two hundred gentlemen of the name of Douglas. The aged earl, broken-hearted at the calamities of his house and his country, retired into a religious house, where he died about a year after the field of Flodden.

Note XV.

Then rest you in Tantallon Hold.-P. 96. The ruins of Tantallon Castle occupy a high rock projecting into the German Ocean, about two miles east of North Berwick. The building is not seen till a close

approach, as there is rising ground betwixt it and the land. The circuit is of large extent, fenced upon three sides by the precipice which overhangs the sea, and on the fourth by a double ditch and very strong outworks. Tantallon was a principal castle of the Douglas family, and when the Earl of Angus was banished, in 1527, it continued to hold out against James V. The king went in person against it, and, for its reduction, borrowed from the castle of Dunbar, then belonging to the Duke of Albany, two great cannons, whose names, as Pitscottie informs us, with laudable minuteness, were "Thrawn-mouth'd Mow and her Marrow;" also, " two great botcards, and two moyan, two double falcons, and four quarter-falcons;" for the safe guiding and re-delivery of which, three lords were laid in pawn at Dunbar. Yet, notwithstanding all this apparatus, James was forced to raise the siege, and only afterwards obtained possession of Tantallon by treaty with the governor, Simeon Panango. When the Earl of Angus returned from banishment, upon the death of James, he again obtained possession of Tantallon; and it actually afforded refuge to an English ambassador, under circumstances similar to those described in the text. This was no other than the celebrated Sir Ralph Sadler, who resided there for some time under Angus's protection, after the failure of his negociation for matching the infant Mary with Edward VI. He

says, that though this place was poorly furnished, it was of such strength as might warrant him against the malice of his enemies, and that he now thought himself out of danger.1

There is a military tradition, that the old Scotch March was meant to express the words,

Ding down Tantallon,

Mak a brig to the Bass.

Tantallon was at length "dung down" and ruined by the Covenanters; its lord, the Marquis of Douglas, being a favourer of the royal cause. The castle and barony were sold in the beginning of the eighteenth century to President Dalrymple of North Berwick, by the then Marquis of Douglas.

Note XVI.

Their motto on his blade.-P. 96.

A very ancient sword, in possession of Lord Douglas, bears, among a great deal of flourishing, two hands point

The very curious State Papers of this able negociator have been lately published by Mr Clifford, with some Notes, by the Author of MARMION,

ing to a heart, which is placed betwixt them, and the date 1329, being the year in which Bruce charged the Good Lord Douglas to carry his heart to the Holy Land. The following lines (the first couplet of which is quoted by Godscroft as a popular saying in his time) are inscribed around the emblem:

So money guid as of ye Dovglas beinge,

Of ane surname was ne'er in Scotland seine.

I will ye charge, efter yat I depart,

To holy grawe, and thair bury my hart;
Let it remane ever BOTHE TYME AND HOwr,
To ye last day I see my Saviour.

I do protest in tyme of all my ringe,
Ye lyk subject had never ony keing.

This curious and valuable relique was nearly lost during the civil war of 1745-6, being carried away from Douglas Castle by some of those in arms for Prince Charles. But great interest having been made by the Duke of Douglas among the chief partizans of Stuart, it was at length restored. It resembles a Highland claymore, of the usual size, is of an excellent temper, and admirably poised.

Note XVII.

Martin Swart.-P. 105.

The name of this German general is preserved by that of the field of battle, which is called, after him, Swart-moor. There were songs about him long current in England.-See Dissertation prefixed to RITSON'S Ancient Songs, 1792, page lxi.

Note XVIII.

Perchance some form was unobserved,

Perchance in point of faith he swerved.-P. 106. It was early necessary for those who felt themselves obliged to believe in the divine judgment being enunciated in the trial by duel, to find salvos for the strange and obviously precarious chances of the combat. Various curious evasive shifts, used by those who took up an unrighteous quarrel, were supposed sufficient to convert it into a just one. Thus, in the romance, of " Amys and Amelion," the one brother-in-arms, fighting for the other, disguised in his armour, swears that he did not commit the crime of which the Steward, his antagonist, truly, though maliciously, accused him whom he represented. Brantome tells a story of an Italian, who entered the lists upon an unjust quarrel, but, to make his cause good, fled from his enemy at the first onset.