stone's Latin, referring for further particulars to the naked simplicity of Birrell's Diary, 30th July, 1588. tates itself from a height of at least fifty feet, there is thrown, for the convenience of the neighbourhood, a rustic foot-bridge, of about three feet in breadth, and without ledges, which is scarcely to be crossed by a stranger without awe and apprehension. Note 9. Stanza xv. For Tineman forged by fairy lore. Archibald, the third Earl of Douglas, was so unfortunate in all his enterprises, that he acquired the epithet of TINEMAN, because he tined, or lost his followers in every battle which he fought. He was vanquished, as every reader must remember, in the bloody battle of Homildon-hill, near Wooler, where he himself lost an eye, and was made prisoner by Hotspur. He was no « Mors improbi hominis non tam ipsa immerita, quam pessimo exemplo in publicum fœde perpetrata. Gulielmus Stuartus Alkiltrius, Arani frater, natura ac moribus, cujus sæpius memini, vulgo propter sitim sanguinis sanguinarius dictus, a Botlivelio, in Sanctæ Crucis Regia, exardescente ira, mendacii probro lacessitus, obscoenum osculum liberius retorquebat; Bothvelius hanc contumeliam tacitus tulit, sed ingentem irarum molem animo concepit. Utrinque postridie Edinburgi conventum, totidem numero comitibus armatis, præsidii causa, et acriter pugnatum est; cæteris amicis et clientibus metu torpentibus, aut vi absterritis, ipse Stuartus fortissime dimicat, tandem excusso gladio a Bothvelio, Scythica feritate transfoditur, sine cujus-less unfortunate when allied with Percy, being wounded quam misericordia; habuit itaque quem debuit exitum. Dignus erat Stuartus qui pateretur; Bothvelius qui faceret. Vulgus sanguinem sanguine prædicabat, et horum cruori innocuorum manibus egregie parentatum.»>-JOHNSTONI Historia Rerum Britannicarum, ab anno 1572, ad annum 1628. Amstelodami, 1655, fol. p. 135. Note 6. Stanza xii. The Douglas, like a stricken deer, The exiled state of this powerful race is not exaggerated in this and subsequent passages. The hatred of James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate, that, numerous as their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority had usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the most remote parts of Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the strictest and closest disguise. James Douglas, son of the banished Earl of Angus, afterwards well known by the title of Earl of Morton, lurked, during the exile of his family, in the north of Scotland, under the assumed name of James Innes, otherwise James the Grieve (i. e. Reve or Bailiff). «And as he bore the name,» says Godscroft, «< so did he also execute the office of a grieve or overseer of the lands and rents, the corn and cattle, of him, with whom he lived.»> From the habits of frugality and observation which he acquired in this humble situation, the historian traces that intimate acquaintance with popular character, which enabled him to rise so high in the state, and that honourable economy by which he repaired and established the shattered estates of Angus and Morton.-History of the House of Douglas. Edinburgh, 1743. vol. II, p. 160. Note 7. Stanza xiii. Maronnan's cell. The parish of Kilmarnock, at the eastern extremity of Loch Lomond, derives its name from a cell or chapel, delicated to Saint Maronoch, or Marnoch, or Maronnan, about whose sanctity very little is now remembered. There is a fountain devoted to him in the same parish, but its virtues, like the merits of its patron, have fallen into oblivion. Note 8. Stanza xiv. and taken at the battle of Shrewsbury. He was so unsuccessful in an attempt to besiege Roxburgh Castle, that it was called the Foul Raid, or disgraceful expedition. His ill fortune left him indeed at the battle of Beaugé, in France: but it was only to return with double emphasis at the subsequent action of Vernoil, the last and most unlucky of his encounters, in which he fell, with the flower of the Scottish chivalry, then serving as auxiliaries in France, and about two thousand common soldiers, A. D. 1424. Note 10. Stanza xv. Did, self-unscabbarded, foreshow The ancient warriors, whose hope and confidence rested chiefly in their blades, were accustomed to deduce omens from them, especially from such as were supposed to have been fabricated by enchanted skill, of which we have various instances in the romances and legends of the time. The wonderful sword SKOFNUNG, wielded by the celebrated Hrolf Kraka, was of this description. It was deposited in the tomb of the monarch at his death, and taken from thence by Skeggo, a celebrated pirate, who bestowed it upon his son-inlaw, Kormak, with the following curious directions: «The manner of using it will appear strange to you. A small bag is attached to it, which take heed not to violate. Let not the rays of the sun touch the upper part of the handle, nor unsheathe it, unless thou art ready for battle. But when thou comest to the place of fight, go aside from the rest, grasp and extend the sword, and breathe upon it. Then a small worm will creep out of the handle: lower the handle, that he may more easily return into it.» Kormak, after having received the sword, returned home to his mother. He showed the sword, and attempted to draw it, as unnecessarily as ineffectually, for he could not pluck it out of the sheath. His mother, Dalla, exclaimed, «< Do not despise the counsel given to thee, my son.»> Kormak, however, repeating his efforts, pressed down the handle with his feet, and tore off the bag, when Skofnung emitted a hollow groan: but still he could not unsheathe the sword. Kormak then went out with Bessus, whom he had challenged to fight with him, and drew apart at the place of combat. He sat down upon the ground, --Bracklinn's thundering wave. and ungirding the sword, which he bore above his This is a beautiful cascade made at a place called the vestments, did not remember to shield the hilt from the Bridge of Bracklinn, by a mountain stream called the rays of the sun. In vain he endeavoured to draw it, Keltie, about a mile from the village of Callender, in till he placed his foot against the hilt; then the worm Menteith. Above a chasm, where the brook precipi-issued from it. But Kormak did not rightly handle the weapon, in consequence whereof good fortune deserted it. As he unsheathed Skofnung, it emitted a hollow murmur.-Bartholini, de Causis Contemptæ a Danis adhuc Gentilibus Mortis, Libri Tres. Hafniæ, 1689, 4to. p. 574. Note 12. Stanza xix. Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe! Besides his ordinary name and surname, which were chiefly used in the intercourse with the Lowlands, To the history of this sentient and prescient weapon, every Highland chief had an epithet expressive of his I beg leave to add, from memory, the following legend, patriarchal dignity as head of the clan, and which was for which I cannot produce any better authority. A common to all his predecessors and successors, as young nobleman, of high hopes and fortune, chanced Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt, or Arsaces to those of to lose his way in the town which he inhabited, the Parthia. This name was usually a patronymic, excapital, if I mistake not, of a German province. He pressive of his descent from the founder of the family. had accidentally involved himself among the narrow Thus the Duke of Argyle is called Mac-Callum More, or and winding streets of a suburb, inhabited by the low- the son of Colin the Great. Sometimes, however, it is est order of the people, and an approaching thunder- derived from armorial distinctions, or the memory of shower determined him to ask a short refuge in the some great feat; thus Lord Seaforth, as chief of the most decent habitation that was near him. He knocked Mackenzies, or Clan-Kennet, bears the epithet of Caberat the door, which was opened by a tall man of a grisly fae, or Buck's Head, as representative of Colin Fitzand ferocious aspect, and sordid dress. The stranger gerald, founder of the family, who saved the Scottish was readily ushered to a chamber, where swords, king, when endangered by a stag. But besides this scourges, and machines, which seemed to be imple- title, which belonged to his office and dignity, the ments of torture, were suspended on the wall. One of chieftain had usually another peculiar to himself, these swords dropped from its scabbard, as the noble- which distinguished him from the chieftains of the man, after a moment's hesitation, crossed the threshold. same race. This was sometimes derived from comHis host immediately stared at him with such a marked plexion, as dhu or roy; sometimes from size, as beg or expression, that the young man could not help demand-more; at other times from some particular exploit, or ing his name and business, and the meaning of his looking at him so fixedly. «<<I am,» answered the man, << the public executioner of this city; and the incident you have observed is a sure augury that I shall, in discharge of my duty, one day cut off your head with the weapon which has just now spontaneously unsheathed itself.>> The nobleman lost no time in leaving his place of refuge; but, engaging in some of the plots of the period, was shortly after decapitated by that very man and instrument. Lord Lovat is said, by the author of the Letters from Scotland, to have affirmed, that a number of swords that hung up in the hall of the mansion-house, leaped of themselves out of the scabbard at the instant he was born. The story passed current among his clan, but, like that of the story I have just quoted, proved an unfortunate omen.- Letters from Scotland, vol. II, p. 214. Note 11. Stanza xvii. -the pibroch proud. The connoisseurs in pipe-music affect to discover, in a well-composed pibroch, the imitative sounds of march, conflict, flight, pursuit, and all the «< current of a heady fight. To this opinion Dr Beattie has given his suffrage, in the following elegant passage :—« A pibroch is a 'species of tune, peculiar, I think, to the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. It is performed on a bagpipe, and differs totally from all other music. Its rhythm is so irregular, and its notes, especially in the quick movement, so mixed and huddled together, that a stranger finds it impossible to reconcile his ear to it, so as to perceive its modulation. Some of these pibrochs, being intended to represent a battle, begin with a grave motion, resembling a march; then gradually quicken into the onset; run off with noisy confusion, and turbulent rapidity, to imitate the conflict and pursuit; then swell into a few flourishes of triumphant joy; and perhaps close with the wild and slow wailings of a funeral procession.»—Essay on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, Chap. III, Note. from some peculiarity of habit or appearance. The line of the text therefore signifies, Black Roderick, the descendant of Alpine. The song itself is intended as an imitation of the jorrams, or boat-songs of the Highlanders, which were usually composed in honour of a favourite chief. They are so adapted as to keep time with the sweep of the oars, and it is easy to distinguish between those intended to be sung to the oars of a galley, where the stroke is lengthened and doubled as it were, and those which were timed to the rowers of an ordinary boat. Note 13. Stanza xx. -the best of Loch Lomond lie dead on her side. The Lennox, as the district is called, which encircles the lower extremity of Loch Lomond, was peculiarly exposed to the incursions of the mountaineers, who inhabited the inaccessible fastnesses at the upper end of the lake, and the neighbouring district of Loch Katrine. These were often marked by circumstances of great ferocity, of which the noted conflict of Glen Fruin is a celebrated instance. This was a clan-battle, in which the Macgregors, headed by Allaster Macgregor, chief of the clan, encountered the sept of the Colquhouns, commanded by Sir Humphry Colquhoun of Luss. It is on all hands allowed, that the action was desperately fought, and that the Colquhouns were defeated with slaughter, leaving two hundred of their name dead upon the field. But popular tradition has added other horrors to the tale. It is said, that Sir Humphry Colquhoun, who was on horseback, escaped to the castle of Benechra, or Banochar, and was next day dragged out and murdered by the victorious Macgregors in cold blood. Buchanan of Auchmar, however, speaks of his slaughter as a subsequent event, and as perpetrated by the Macfarlanes. Again it is reported, that the Macgregors murdered a number of youths, whom report of the intended battle had brought to be spectators, and whom the Colquhouns, anxious for their safety, had shut up in a barn to be out of danger. One account of the Macgregors denies this circumstance entirely: another ascribes it to the savage and blood-thirsty disposition of a single individual, the bastard brother of the laird of Macgregor, who amused himself with this second massacre of the innocents in express disobedience to the chief, by whom he was left their guardian during the pursuit of the Colquhouns. It is added, that Macgregor bitterly lamented this atrocious action, and prophesied the ruin which it must bring upon their ancient clan. The following account of the conflict, which is indeed drawn up by a friend of the clan Gre-wick, he afterwards brought him back to Edinburgh, gor, is altogether silent on the murder of the youths. «In the spring of the year 1602, there happened great dissensions and troubles between the laird of Luss, chief of the Colquhouns, and Alexander, laird of Macgregor. The original of these quarrels proceeded from injuries and provocations mutually given and received, not long before. Macgregor, however, wanting to have them ended in friendly conferences, marched at the head of two hundred of his clan, to Leven, which borders on Luss, his country, with the view of settling matters by the mediation of friends; but Luss had no such intentions, and projected his measures with a different view; for he privately drew together a body of 300 horse and 500 foot, composed partly of his own clan and their followers, and partly of the Buchanans, his neighbours, and resolved to cut off Macgregor and his party to a in case the issue of the conference did not anman, swer his inclination. But matters fell otherwise than he expected; and though Macgregor had previous information of his insidious design, yet, dissembling his resentment, he kept the appointment, and parted good friends in appearance. borne were given up to sword and fire, and absolutely hunted down by blood-hounds like wild beasts. Argyle and the Campbells, on the one hand, Montrose, with the Græmes and Buchanans, on the other, are said to have been the chief instruments in suppressing this devoted clan. The laird of Macgregor surrendered to the former, on condition that he would take him out of Scottish ground. But to use Birrell's expression, he kept «< a Highlandman's promise; » and, although he fulfilled his word to the letter, by carrying him as far as Ber where he was executed with eighteen of his clan.-BirRELL'S Diary, 2d Oct. 1603. The clan Gregor being thus driven to utter despair, seem to have renounced the laws from the benefit of which they were excluded, and their depredations produced new acts of council, confirming the severity of their proscription, which had only the effect of rendering them still more united and desperate. It is a most extraordinary proof of the ardent and invincible spirit of clanship, that, notwithstanding the repeated proscriptions providently ordained by the legislature, «< for the timeous preventing the disorders and oppression that may fall out by the said name and clan of Macgregors and their followers,» they were, in 1715 and 1745, a potent clan, and continue to subsist as a distinct and numerous race. Note 14. Stanza xxviii. ——The king's vindictive pride Boasts to have tamed the Border side. In 1529, James V made a convention at Edinburgh, for the the Border robbers, who, during the license of his minopurpose of considering the best mode of quelling rity, and the troubles which followed, had committed many exorbitances. Accordingly he assembled a flying army of ten thousand men, consisting of his principal nobility and their followers, who were directed to bring their hawks and dogs with them, that the monarch might refresh himself with sport during the intervals of military execution. With this array he swept through Ettrick Forest, where he hanged over the gate of his own castle, Piers Cockburn of Henderland, who had prepared, according to tradition, a feast for his reception. He caused Adam Scott of Tushielaw also to be executed, who was distinguished by the title of King of the Border. But the most noted victim of justice, «No sooner was he gone, than Luss, thinking to surprise him and his party in full security, and without any dread or apprehension of his treachery, followed with all speed, and came up with him at a place called Glenfroon. Macgregor, upon the alarm, divided his men into two parties, the greatest part whereof he commanded himself, and the other he committed to the care of his brother John, who, by his orders, led them about another way, and attacked the Colquhouns in flank. Here it was fought with great bravery on both sides for a considerable time; and, notwithstanding the vast disproportion of numbers, Macgregor, in the end, obtained an absolute victory. So great was the rout, that 200 of the Colquhouns were left dead upon the during that expedition, was John Armstrong of Gilspot, most of the leading men were killed, and a mul-nockie, famous in Scottish song, who, confiding in his titude of prisoners taken. But what seemed most surprising and incredible in this defeat, was, that none of the Macgregors were missing, except John, the laird's brother, and one common fellow, though indeed many of them were wounded.»-Professor Ross's History of the Family of Sutherland, 1631. The consequences of the battle of Glen Fruin were very calamitous to the family of Macgregor, who had already been considered as an unruly clan. The widows of the slain Colquhouns, sixty, it is said, in number, appeared in doleful procession before the king at Stirling, each riding upon a white palfrey, and bearing in her hand the bloody shirt of her husband displayed upon a pike. James VI was so much moved by the complaints of this «< choir of mourning dames,» that he let loose his vengeance against the Macgregors, without either bounds or moderation. The very name of the clan was proscribed, and those by whom it had been own supposed innocence, met the king, with a retinue of thirty-six persons, all of whom were hanged at Carlenrig, near the source of the Teviot. The effect of this rush-bush kept the cow,» and «<thereafter was great severity was such, that, as the vulgar expressed it, << the peace and rest a long time, wherethrough the king had great profit; for he had ten thousand sheep going in the Ettrick Forest in keeping by Andrew Bell, who made the king as good count of them as they had gone in the bounds of Fife.»-PITSCOTTIE'S History, p. 153. Note 15. Stanza xxviii. What grace for Highland chiefs judge ye, By fate of Border chivalry. James was, in fact, equally attentive to restrain rapine and feudal oppression in every part of his dominions. << The king past to the Isles, and there held justice courts, and punished both thief and traitor according to their demerit. And also he caused great men to show their holdings, wherethrough he found They have been accustomed from their infancy to many of the said lands in non-entry; the which he con- be often wet, and to take the water like spaniels, and fiscate and brought home to his own use, and after- this is become a second nature, and can scarcely be ward annexed them to the crown, as ye shall hear. called a hardship to them, insomuch that I used to say, Syne brought many of the great men of the isles cap- they seemed to be of the duck kind, and to love water tive with him, such as Mudyart, M'Connel, M'Loyd of as well. Though I never saw this preparation for sleep the Lewes, M'Neil, M'Lane, M'Intosh, John Mudyard, in windy weather, yet, setting out early in a morning M'Kay, M'Kenzie, with many other that I cannot re-from one of the huts, I have seen the marks of their hearse at this time. Some of them he put in ward, and some in court, and some he took pledges for good rule in time coming. So he brought the isles, both north and south, in good rule and peace; wherefore he had great profit, service, and obedience of people long time thereafter; and as long as he had the heads of the country in subjection, they lived in great peace and rest, and there was great riches and policy by the king's justice.»-PITSCOTTIE, p. 152. Note 16. Stanza xxxv. Rest safe till morning;-pity 't were Such cheek should feel the midnight air. Hardihood was in every respect so essential to the character of a Highlander, that the reproach of effeminacy was the most bitter which could be thrown upon him. Yet it was sometimes hazarded on what we might presume to think slight grounds. It is reported of old Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, when upwards of seventy, that he was surprised by night on a hunting or military expedition. He wrapped him in his plaid, and lay contentedly down upon the snow, with which the ground happened to be covered. Among his attendants who were preparing to take their rest in the same manner, he observed that one of his grandsons, for his better accommodation, had rolled a large snow-ball, and placed it below his head. The wrath of the ancient chief was awakened by a symptom of what «< This and many other stories are romantic: but there is one thing, that at first thought might seem very romantic, of which I have been credibly assured, that when the Highlanders are constrained to lie among the hills, in cold dry windy weather, they sometimes soak the plaid in some river or burn (i. e. brook); and then, holding up a corner of it a little above their heads, they turn themselves round and round, till they are enveloped by the whole mantle. They then lay themselves down on the heath, upon the leeward side of some hill, where the wet and the warmth of their bodies make a steam, like that of a boiling kettle. The wet, they say, keeps them warm by thickening the stuff, and keeping the wind from penetrating. lodging, where the ground has been free from rime or snow, which remained all around the spot where they had lain.»-Letters from Scotland, Lond. 1754, 8vo. II, p. 108. Note 17. Stanza xxxv. --his henchman canie. ready, upon all occasions, to venture his life in defence << This officer is a sort of secretary, and is to be of his master; and at drinking-bouts he stands behind his seat, at his haunch, from whence his title is derived, and watches the conversation, to see if any one offends his patron. chieftain, and several other Highland gentlemen, near << An English officer being in company with a certain Killichumen, had an argument with the great man; and both being well warmed with usky, at last the dispute grew very hot. «A youth who was henchman, not understanding one word of English, imagined his chief was insulted, and thereupon drew his pistol from his side, and snapped it at the officer's head; but the pistol missed fire, fered death from the hand of that little vermin. otherwise it is more than probable he might have suf bottle, with the Highlanders, to see every one of them << But it is very disagreeable to an Englishman over a have his gilly, that is, his servant, standing behind him all the while, let what will be the subject of conversation.»-Letters from Scotland, II, 159. CANTO III. Note 1. Stanza i. And while the fiery cross glanced, like a meteor, round. When a chieftain designed to summon his clan, upon any sudden or important emergency, he slew a goat, and, making a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the fire, and extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was called the Fiery Cross, also Crean Tarigh, or the Cross of Shame, because disobedience to what the symbol implied inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift and trusty messenger, who ran full speed with it to the next hamlet, where he presented it to the principal person, with a single word implying the place of rendezvous. He who received the symbol was bound to send it forward, with equal dispatch, to the next village; and thus it passed with incredible celerity through all the districts which owed allegiance to the chief, and also among his allies and neighbours, if the danger was common to them. At sight of the fiery cross, every man, from sixteen years old to sixty, ca « I must confess I should have been apt to question this fact, had I not frequently seen them wet from morning to night, and, even at the beginning of the rain, not so much as stir a few yards to shelter, but continue in it without necessity, till they were, as we say, wet through and through. And that is soon ef-pable of bearing arms, was obliged instantly to repair, fected by the looseness and sponginess of the plaiding; but the bonnet is frequently taken off, and wrung like a dishclout, and then put on again. in his best arms and accoutrements, to the place of rendezvous. He who failed to appear suffered the extremities of fire and sword, which were emblematically denounced to the disobedient by the bloody and burnt by Richard Fox, Bishop of Durham, tempore Henrici marks upon this warlike signal. During the civil war | VIII. « We have further understood, that there are of 1745-6, the fiery cross often made its circuit; and many chaplains in the said territories of Tynedale and upon one occasion it passed through the whole district Redesdale, who are public and open maintainers of conof Breadalbane, a tract of thirty-two miles, in three cubinage, irregular, suspended, excommunicated, and hours. The late Alexander Stewart, Esq. of Inverna- interdicted persons, and withal so utterly ignorant of hyle, described to me his having sent round the fiery letters, that it has been found by those who objected cross through the district of Appine, during the same this to them, that there were some who, having celecommotion. The coast was threatened by a descent brated mass for ten years, were still unable to read the from two English frigates, and the flower of the young sacramental service. We have also understood there men were with the army of Prince Charles Edward, are persons among them who, although not ordained, then in England: yet the summons was so effectual, do take upon them the offices of priesthood; and, in that even old age and childhood obeyed it; and a force contempt of God, celebrate the divine and sacred rites, was collected in a few hours, so numerous and so en- and administer the sacraments, not only in sacred and thusiastic, that all attempt at the intended diversion dedicated places, but in those which are profane and upon the country of the absent warriors was in pru- interdicted, and most wretchedly ruinous; they themdence abandoned, as desperate. selves being attired in ragged, torn, and most filthy vestments, altogether unfit to be used in divine or even | This practice, like some others, is common to the Highlanders with the ancient Scandinavians, as will ap-in temporal offices. The which said chaplains do admi pear by the following extract from Olaus Magnus: nister sacraments and sacramental rites to the aforesaid manifest and infamous thieves, robbers, depredators, receivers of stolen goods, and plunderers, and that without restitution, or intention to restore, as evinced by the fact; and do also openly admit them to the rites of ecclesiastical sepulchre, without exacting security for restitution, although they are prohibited from doing so by the sacred canons as well as by the institutes of the saints and fathers. All which infers the heavy peril of their own souls, and is a pernicious example to the other believers in Christ, as well as no slight, but an aggravated injury to the numbers despoiled and plundered of their goods, gear, herds, and chattels.»>1 To this lively and picturesque description of the confessors and churchmen of predatory tribes, there may be added some curious particulars respecting the priests attached to the several septs of native Irish, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These friars had indeed to << When the enemy is upon the sea-coast, or within the limits of northern kingdomes, then presently, by the command of the principal governours, with the counsel and consent of the old soldiers, who are notably skilled in such like business, a staff of three hands length, in the common sight of them all, is carried, by the speedy running of some active young man, unto that village or city, with this command,—that on the 3, 4, or 5 day, one, two, or three, or else every man in particular, from fifteen years old, shall come with his arms, and expences for ten or twelve days, upon pain that his or their houses shall be burnt (which is intimated by the burning of the staff), or else the master to be hanged (which is signified by the cord tied to it), to appear speedily on such a bank, or field, or valley, to hear the cause he is called, and to receive orders from the said provincial governours what he shall do. Wherefore that messenger, swifter than any post or waggon, hav-plead, that the incursions, which they not only pardoning done his commission, comes slowly back again, bringing a token with him that he hath done all legally; and every moment one or another runs to every village, and tells those places what they must do.» - - - - «< The messengers, therefore, or the footmen, that are to give warning to the people to meet for the battail, run fiercely and swiftly; for no snow, no rain, nor heat can stop them, nor night hold them; but they will soon run the race they undertake. The first messenger tells it to the next village, and that to the next; and so the hubbub runs all over till they all know it in that stift or territory, where, when, and wherefore they must meet.» -OLAUS MAGNUS' History of the Goths, englished by J.S. London, 1658, book iv, chap. 3, 4. Note 2. Stanza iv. That monk, of savage form and face. The state of religion in the middle ages afforded considerable facilities for those whose mode of life excluded them from regular worship, to secure, nevertheless, the ghostly assistance of confessors, perfectly willing to adapt the nature of their doctrine to the necessities and peculiar circumstances of their flock. Robin Hood, it is well known, had his celebrated domestic chaplain, Friar Tuck. And that same curtal friar was probably matched in manners and appearance by the ghostly fathers of the Tynedale robbers, who are thus described in an excommunication fulminated against their patrons ed, but even encouraged, were made upon those hostile to them, as well in religion as from national antipathy. But by protestant writers they are uniformly alleged to be the chief instruments of Irish insurrection, the very well-spring of all rebellion towards the English government. Lithgow, the Scottish traveller, declares, the Irish wood-kerne, or predatory tribes, to be but the hounds of their hunting priests, who directed their incursions by their pleasure, partly for sustenance, partly to gratify animosity, partly to foment general division, and always for the better security and easier domination of the friars. Derrick, the liveliness and minuteness of whose descriptions may frequently apologise for his doggrel verses, after describing an Irish feast, and the encouragement given, by the songs of the bards, to its termination in an incursion upon the parts of the country more immediately under the dominion of the English, records the no less powerful arguments used by the friar to excite their animosity: And more t'augment the flame, The Monition against the Robbers of Tynedale and Redesdale, with which I was favoured by my friend Mr Surtees, of Mainsfort, 2 Lithgow's Travels, first edit. p. 431. |