a habiliment, called 'King Robert Bruce's serk,' i. e. shirt, meaning, perhaps, his shirt of mail; although no other arms are mentioned in the inventory. It might have been a relic of more sanctified description, a penance shirt, perhaps. Extract from 'Inventare of ane Parte of the Gold and Silver conyeit and unconyeit, Jowellis, and uther Stuff perteining to Umquhile oure Soverane Lords Fader, that he had in Depois the Tyme of his Deceis, and that come to the Handis of oure Soverane Lord that now is. M.CCCC.LXXXVIII.' 'Memorandum fund in a bandit kist like a gardeviant,' in the fyrst the grete chenye of gold, contenand sevin score sex linkis.

Item, thre platis of silver.

Item, tuelf salfatis.3

Item, fyftene discheis ouregilt.

Item, a grete gilt plate.

Item, twa grete bassingis ouregilt.

Item, FOUR MASARIS, CALLED King Robert thE BROCIS, with a cover.
Item, a grete cok maid of silver.

Item, the hede of silver of ane of the coveris of masar.

Item, a fare dialle.

Item, twa kasis of kny ffis."

Item, a pare of auld kniffis.

Item, takin be the smyth that oppinnit the lokkis, in gold fourty demyis. Item, in Inglys grotis. . . . xxiiii li. and the said silver given again to the takaris of hym.

Item, ressavit in the cloissat of Davidis tour, ane haly waterfat of silver, twa boxis, a cageat tume, a glas with rois-water, a dosoune of torchis, King ROBERT BRUCIS SERK.'

The real use of the antiquarian's studies is, to bring the minute information which he collects to bear upon points of history. For example, in the inventory I have just quoted, there is given the contents of the black kist, or chest, belonging to James III., which was his strong box, and contained a quantity of treasure in money and jewels, surpassing what might have been at the period expected of poor Scotland's gear.' This illustrates and authenticates a striking passage in the History of the House of Douglas, by Hume of Godscroft. The last Earl of Douglas (of the elder branch) had been reduced to monastic seclusion in the Abbey of Lindores, by James II. James III., in his distresses, would willingly have recalled him to public life, and made him his lieutenant. 'But he,' says Godscroft, 'laden with years and old age, and weary of troubles, refused, saying, Sir, you have keept mee, and your black coffer in Sterling, too long, neither of us can doe you any good: I, because my friends have forsaken me, and my followers and dependers are fallen from me, betaking themselves to other masters; and your black trunk is too farre from you, and your enemies are between you and it: or (as others say) because there was in it a sort of black coyne, that the king had caused to be coyned by the advice of his courtiers; which moneyes (saith he) sir, if you had put out at the first, the people would have taken it; and if you had employed mee in due time, I might have done you service. But now there is none that will take notice of 1 Gard-vin, or wine-cooler. Chain. Salt-cellars, anciently the object of much curious workmanship. Dishes. Basons.- Dial.-7 Cases of knives.-8 English groats.

me, nor meddle with your money.'-HUME's History of the House of Douglas, fol. Edin. 1644, p. 206.

NOTE K.

'Arouse old friends, and gather new.'—P. 328.

As soon as it was known in Kyle, says ancient tradition, that Robert Bruce had landed in Carrick, with the intention of recovering the crown of Scotland, the Laird of Craigie, and forty-eight men in his immediate neighbourhood, declared in favour of their legitimate prince. Bruce granted them a tract of land, still retained by the freemen of Newton to this day. The original charter was lost when the pestilence was raging at Ayr; but it was renewed by one of the Jameses, and is dated at Falkland. The freemen of Newton were formerly officers by rotation. The provost of Ayr, at one time, was a freeman of Newton, and it happened to be his turn, while provost in Ayr, to be officer in Newton, both of which offices he discharged at the same time.

NOTE L.

'Let Ettrick's archers sharp their darts,

The fairest forms, the truest hearts!’—P. 328.

The forest of Selkirk, or Ettrick, at this period, occupied all the district which retains that denomination, and embraced the neighbouring dales of Tweeddale, and at least the upper ward of Clydesdale. All that tract was probably as waste as it is mountainous, and covered with the remains of the ancient Caledonian forest, which is supposed to have stretched from Cheviot Hills as far as Hamilton, and to have comprehended even a part of Ayrshire. At the fatal battle of Falkirk, Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, brother to the steward of Scotland, commanded the archers of Selkirk forest, who fell around the dead body of their leader. The English historians have commemorated the tall and stately persons, as well as the unswerving faith of these foresters. Nor has their interesting fall escaped the notice of an elegant modern poetess, whose subject led her to treat of that calamitous engagement :

'The glance of the morn had sparkled bright
On their plumage green and their actons light;
The bugle was strung at each hunter's side,
As they had been bound to the chase to ride;
But the bugle is mute, and the shafts are spent,
The arm unnerved and the bow unbent,
And the tired forester is laid

Far, far from the clustering greenwood shade!
Sore have they toil'd-they are fallen asleep,
And their slumber is heavy, and dull, and deep!

When over their bones the grass shall wave,
When the wild winds over their tombs shall rave,
Memory shall lean on their graves, and tell

How Selkirk's hunters bold around old Stewart fell !'

-Wallace, or the Fight of Falkirk, Lond.
quarto, 1809, pp. 170, 1.

CANTO SIXTH.

NOTE A.

'When Bruce's banner had victorious flow'd

O'er Loudoun's mountain, and in Ury's dale.'-P. 329.

The first important advantage gained by Bruce, after landing at Turnberry, was over Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, the same by whom he had been defeated near Methven. They met, as has been said, by appointment, at Loudounhill, in the west of Scotland. Pembroke sustained a defeat; and from that time Bruce was at the head of a considerable flying army. Yet he was subsequently obliged to retreat into Aberdeenshire, and was there assailed by Comyn, Earl of Buchan, desirous to avenge the death of his relative, the Red Comyn, and supported by a body of English troops under Philip de Moubray. Bruce was ill at the time of a scrofulous disorder, but took horse to meet his enemies, although obliged to be supported on either side. He was victorious, and it is said that the agitation of his spirits restored his health.

NOTE B.

'When English blood oft deluged Douglas-dale.'-P. 329.

The good Lord James of Douglas,' during these commotions, often took from the English his own Castle of Douglas, but being unable to garrison it, contented himself with destroying the fortifications, and retiring into the mountains. As a reward to his patriotism, it is said to have been prophesied, that how often soever Douglas Castle should be destroyed, it should always again arise more magnificent from its ruins. Upon one of these occasions he used fearful cruelty, causing all the store of provisions, which the English had laid up in his castle, to be heaped together, bursting the wine and beer-casks among the wheat and flour, slaughtering the cattle upon the same spot, and upon the top of the whole, cutting the throats of the English prisoners. This pleasantry of the 'good Lord James' is commemorated under the name of the Douglas's Larder. A more pleasing tale of chivalry is recorded by Godscroft. By this means, and such other exploits, he so affrighted the enemy, that it was counted a matter of great jeopardie to keep this castle, which began to be called the adventurous (or hazardous) Castle of Douglas; whereupon Sir John Walton, being in suit of an English lady, she wrote to him, that when he had kept the adventurous Castle of Douglas seven years, then he might think himself worthy to be a suitor to her. Upon this occasion Walton took upon him the keeping of it, and succeeded to Thruswall, but he ran the same fortune with the rest that were before him. For Sir James, having first dressed an ambuscado near unto the place, he made fourteen of his men take so many sacks, and fill them with grass, as though it had been corn, which they carried in the way to Lanark, the chief market town in that county: so hoping to draw forth the captain by that bait, and either to take him or the castle, or both. Neither was this expectation frustrated, for the captain did bite, and came forth to have taken this victual (as he supposed). But ere he could reach these carriers, Sir James, with his company, had gotten between the castle and him; and these disguised carriers, seeing the captain following after

them, did quickly cast off their sacks, mounted themselves on horseback, and met the captain with a sharp encounter, being so much the more amazed, as it was unlooked for: wherefore, when he saw these carriers metamorphosed into warriors, and ready to assault him, fearing that which was, that there was some train laid for them, he turned about to have retired to his castle, but there he also met with his enemies; between which two companies he and his whole followers were slain, so that none escaped: the captain afterwards being searched, they found (as it is reported) his mistress's letter about him.'HUME'S History of the House of Douglas, fol. pp. 29, 30.

NOTE C.

' And fiery Edward routed stout St John.'—P. 330.

'John de St John, with 1500 horsemen, had advanced to oppose the inroad of the Scots. By a forced march he endeavoured to surprise them, but intelligence of his motions was timeously received. The courage of Edward Bruce, approaching to temerity, frequently enabled him to achieve what men of more judicious valour would never have attempted. He ordered the infantry, and the meaner sort of his army, to entrench themselves in strong narrow ground. He himself, with fifty horsemen well harnessed, issued forth under cover of a thick mist, surprised the English on their march, attacked and dispersed them.' -DALRYMPLE'S Annals of Scotland, quarto, Edinburgh, 1779, p. 25.

NOTE D.

'When Randolph's war-cry swell'd the southern gale.'-P. 330. Thomas Randolph, Bruce's sister's son, a renowned Scottish chief, was in the early part of his life not more remarkable for consistency than Bruce himself. He espoused his uncle's party when Bruce first assumed the crown, and was made prisoner at the fatal battle of Methven, in which his relative's hopes appeared to be ruined. Randolph accordingly not only submitted to the English, but took an active part against Bruce, appeared in arms against him, and in the skirmish where he was so closely pursued by the bloodhound, it is said his nephew took his standard with his own hand. But Randolph was afterwards made prisoner by Douglas in Tweeddale (see p. 406), and brought before King Robert. Some harsh language was exchanged between the uncle and nephew, and the latter was committed for a time to close custody. Afterwards, howthey were reconciled, and Randolph was created Earl of Moray about 1312. After this period he eminently distinguished himself, first by the surprise of Edinburgh Castle, and afterwards by many similar enterprises, conducted with equal courage and ability.

ever,

NOTE E.

'Stirling's towers,

Beleaguer'd by King Robert's powers;

And they took term of truce.'-P. 331.

When a long train of success, actively improved by Robert Bruce, had made him master of almost all Scotland, Stirling Castle continued to hold out. The care of the blockade was committed by the King to his brother Edward, who concluded a treaty with Sir Philip Mowbray, the governor, that he should sur

render the fortress, if it were not succoured by the King of England before St John the Baptist's day. The King severely blamed his brother for the impolicy of a treaty, which gave time to the King of England to advance to the relief of the castle with all his assembled forces, and obliged himself either to meet them in battle with an inferior force, or to retreat with dishonour. Let all England come,' answered the reckless Edward; we will fight them were they more.' The consequence was, of course, that each kingdom mustered its strength for the expected battle, and as the space agreed upon reached from Lent to Midsummer, full time was allowed for that purpose.

NOTE F.

To summon prince and peer,

At Berwick-bounds to meet their Liege.'-P. 331.

There is printed in Rymer's Fœdera the summons issued upon this occasion to the sheriff of York; and he mentions eighteen other persons to whom similar ordinances were issued. It seems to respect the infantry alone, for it is entitled, De peditibus ad rescussum Castri de Stryvelin, a Scotis obsessi, properare faciendis. This circumstance is also clear from the reasoning of the writt, which states:-'We have understood that our Scottish enemies and rebels are endeavouring to collect as strong a force as possible of infantry, in strong and marshy grounds, where the approach of cavalry would be difficult, between us and the Castle of Stirling.' It then sets forth Mowbray's agreement to surrender the castle if not relieved before St John the Baptist's day, and the King's determination, with divine grace, to raise the siege. Therefore,' the summons further bears, to remove our said enemies and rebels from such places as above mentioned, it is necessary for us to have a strong force of infantry fit for arms.' And, accordingly, the sheriff of York is commanded to equip and send forth a body of four thousand infantry, to be assembled at Werk, upon the tenth day of June first, under pain of the royal displeasure, &c.

NOTE G.

'And Cambria, but of late subdued,

Sent forth her mountain-multitude.'-P. 332.

Edward the First, with the usual policy of a conqueror, employed the Welsh, whom he had subdued, to assist him in his Scottish wars, for which their habits, as mountaineers, particularly fitted them. But this policy was not without its risks. Previous to the battle of Falkirk, the Welsh quarrelled with the English men-at-arms, and after bloodshed on both parts, separated themselves from his army, and the feud between them, at so dangerous and critical a juncture, was reconciled with difficulty. Edward II. followed his father's example, in this particular, and with no better success. They could not be brought to exert themselves in the cause of their conquerors. But they had an indifferent reward for their forbearance. Without arms, and clad only in scanty dresses of linen cloth, they appeared naked in the eyes even of the Scottish peasantry; and after the rout of Bannockburn, were massacred by them in great numbers, as they retired in confusion towards their own country. They were under command of Sir Maurice de Berkley.