grandchild, or even a son of a deceased monarch. But, the third daughter of John, called the Red Comyn,' in truth, the maxims of inheritance in Scotland were who was slain by Bruce in the Dominican church at sometimes departed from at periods when they were Dumfries, and hence he was a mortal enemy of that much more distinctly understood. Such a transposi- prince, and more than once reduced him to great straits tion took place in the family of Hamilton, in 1513, during the early and distressed period of his reign, as when the descendants of James, 3d Lord, by Lady Janet we shall have repeated occasion to notice. Bruce, Home, were set aside, with an appanage of great value when he began to obtain an ascendancy in Scotland, indeed, in order to call to the succession those which he took the first opportunity in his power to requite these had by a subsequent marriage with Janet Beaton. In injuries. He marched into Argyleshire to lay waste the short, many other examples might be quoted to show country. John of Lorn, son of the chieftain, was postthat the question of legitimacy is not always determined ed with his followers in the formidable pass between by the fact of succession; and there seems reason to Dalmally and Bunawe. It is a narrow path along the believe that Ronald, descendant of « John of Ila,» by verge of the huge and precipitous mountain called Ann of Lorn, was legitimate, and therefore Lord of the Cruachan Ben, and guarded on the other side by a preIsles de jure, though de facto his younger half brother, cipice overhanging Loch Awe. The pass seems to the Donald, son of his father's second marriage with the eye of a soldier as strong, as it is wild and romantic to princess of Scotland, superseded him in his right, and that of an ordinary traveller. But the skill of Bruce apparently by his own consent. From this Donald so had anticipated this difficulty. While his main body, preferred is descended the family of Sleate, now Lords engaged in a skirmish with the men of Lorn, detained Mac-Donald. On the other hand, from Ronald, the ex- their attention to the front of their position, James of cluded heir, upon whom a very large appanage was Douglas, with Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir William Wisesettled, descended the chiefs of Glengary and Clanro- man, and Sir Andrew Grey, ascended the mountain with nald, each of whom had large possessions, and a nu- a select body of archery, and obtained possession of the merous vassalage, and boasted a long descent of warlike heights which commanded the pass. A volley of arancestry. Their common ancestor, Ronald, was mur- rows descending upon them directly warned the Ardered by the Earl of Ross at the monastery of Elcho, gyleshire men of their perilous situation, and their reA. D. 1346. I believe it has been subject of fierce dis- sistance, which had hitherto been bold and manly, was pute, whether Donald, who carried on the line of Glen- changed into a precipitate flight. The deep and rapid gary, or Allan of Moidart, the ancestor of the captains river of Awe was then (we learn the fact from Barbour of Clanronald, was the eldest son of Ronald, the son of with some surprise) crossed by a bridge. This bridge John of Ila. A humble Lowlander may be permitted to the mountaineers attempted to demolish, but Bruce's waive the discussion, since a seannachie of no small followers were too close upon their rear: they were, note, who wrote in the 16th century, expresses himself therefore, without refuge and defence, and were disupon this delicate topic in the following words: persed with great slaughter. John of Lorn, suspicious of the event, had early betaken himself to the galleys which he had upon the lake; but the feelings which Barbour assigns to him, while witnessing the rout and slaughter of his followers, exculpate him from the charge of cowardice. <«<I have now given you an account of every thing you can expect of the descendants of the clan Colla (i. e. the Mac-Donalds), to the death of Donald Du at Drogheda, namely, the true line of those who possessed the Isles, Ross, and the mountainous countries of Scotland. It was Donald, the son of Angus, that was killed at Inverness, by his own harper (Mac-i'Cairbre), son of John of the Isles, son of Alexander, son of Donald, son of John, son of Angus Og. And I know not which of his kindred or relations is the true heir, except these five sons of John, the son of Angus Og, whom I here set down for you, namely, Ronald and Godfrey, the two sons of the daughter of Mac-Donald of Lorn, and Donald and John Mor, and Alexander Carrach, the three sons of Margaret Stewart, daughter of Robert Stewart, King of Scotland.»-Leabhar-dearg. Note 8. Stanza xi, --the house of Lorn. The house of Lorn, as we observed in a former note, was, like the Lords of the Isles, descended from a son of Somerled, slain at Renfrew in 1164. This son obtained the succession of his main-land territories, comprehending the greater part of the three districts of Lorn, in Argyleshire, and of course might rather be considered as petty princes than feudal barons. They assumed the patronymic appellation of Mac-Dougal, by which they are distinguished in the history of the middle ages. The Lord of Lorn, who flourished during the wars of Bruce, was Allaster (or Alexander) MacDougal, called Allaster of Argyle. He had married To John of Lorn it should displease, As to themselves to tholl the ill. After this decisive engagement, Bruce laid waste Argyleshire, and besieged Dunstaffnage Castle, on the western shore of Lorn, compelled it to surrender, and placed in that principal strong-hold of the Mac-Dougals a garrison and governor of his own. The elder MacDougal, now wearied with the contest, submitted to the victor: but his son, « rebellious,» says Barbour, «< as he wont to be,» tled to England by sea. When the wars between the Bruce and Baliol factions again broke out in the reign of David II, the Lords of Lorn were again The aunt, according to Lord Hailes. But the genealogy is distinctly given by Wintoun : The third daughter of Red Comyn, Took and wedded til his wife, WINTOUN'S Chronicle, Book VIII, c. VI. line 206. found upon the losing side, owing to their hereditary enmity to the house of Bruce. Accordingly, upon the issue of that contest, they were deprived by David II and his successor of by far the greater part of their extensive territories, which were conferred upon Stewart, called the Knight of Lorn. The house of Mac-Dougal continued, however, to survive the loss of power, and affords a very rare, if not an unique, instance of a family of such unlimited power, and so distinguished during the middle ages, surviving the decay of their grandeur, and flourishing in a private station. The castle of Dunolly, near Oban, with its dependencies, was the principal part of what remained to them, with their right of chieftainship over the families of their name and blood. These they continued to enjoy until the year 1715, when the representative incurred the penalty of forfeiture, for his accession to the insurrection of that period; thus losing the remains of his inheritance, to replace upon the throne the descendants of those princes, whose accession his ancestors had opposed at the expense of their feudal grandeur. The estate was, however, restored about 1745, to the father of the present proprietor, whom family experience had taught the hazard of interfering with the established government, and who remained quiet upon that occasion. He therefore regained his property when many Highland chiefs lost theirs. the most beautiful and interesting which is witnessed Note 10. Stanza xxiv. Hewn in the rock, a passage there So strait, so high, so steep, With peasant's staff one valiant hand And plunged them in the deep. The fortress of a Hebridean chief was almost always on the sea-shore, for the facility of communication which the ocean afforded. Nothing can be more wild than the situations which they chose, and the devices by which the architects endeavoured to defend them. Narrow stairs and arched vaults were the usual mode of access, and the draw-bridge appears at Dunstaffnage, and elsewhere, to have fallen from the gate of the building to the top of such a staircase: so that any one, advancing with hostile purpose, found himself in a state of exposed and precarious elevation, with a gulf between him and the object of his attack. The Nothing can be more wildly beautiful than the situation of Dunolly. The ruins are, situated upon a bold and precipitous promontory, overhanging Loch Etive, and distant about a mile from the village and port of Oban. The principal part which remains is the donjon or keep; but fragments of other buildings, overgrown with ivy, attest that it had been once a place of importance, as large apparently as Artornish or Dunstaffnage. These fragments inclose a court-yard, of which the keep probably formed one side: the entrance being by a steep ascent from the neck of the isthmus, formerly cut across by a moat, and defended doubtless by out- These fortresses were guarded with equal care. works and a draw-bridge. Beneath the castle stands duty of the watch devolved chiefly upon an officer the present mansion of the family, having on the one called the Cockman, who had the charge of challenging hand Loch Etive, with its islands and mountains, on all who approached the castle. The very ancient fathe other two romantic eminences tufted with copse-mily of Mac-Niel of Barra kept this attendant at their wood. There are other accompaniments suited to the castle about an hundred years ago. Martin gives the scene, in particular a huge upright pillar, or detached following account of the difficulty which attended his fragment of that sort of rock called plum-pudding procuring entrance there:stone, upon the shore, about a quarter of a mile from << The little island Kismul lies about a quarter of a the castle. It is called Clach-na-cau, or the Dog's mile from the south of this isle (Barra); it is the seat Pillar, because Fingal is said to have used it as a stake of Macneil of Barra; there is a stone wall round it two to which he bound his celebrated dog Bran. Others storeys high, reaching the sea; and within the wall say, that when the Lord of the Isles came upon a visit there is an old tower and an hall, with other houses to the Lord of Lorn, the dogs brought for his sport about it. There is a little magazine in the tower, to were kept beside this pillar. Upon the whole a more which no stranger has access. I saw the officer called delightful and romantic spot can scarce be conceived; the Cockman, and an old cock he is: when I bid him and it receives a moral interest from the considerations ferry me over the water to the island, he told me that attached to the residence of a family once powerful he was but an inferior officer, his business being to atcnough to confront and defeat Robert Bruce, and now tend in the tower; but if (says he) the constable, who sunk into the shade of private life. It is at present then stood on the wall, will give you access, I'll ferry possessed by Patrick Mac-Dougal, Esq. the lineal and you over. I desired him to procure me the constable's undisputed representative of the ancient Lords of Lorn. permission, and I would reward him; but having waitThe heir of Dunolly fell lately in Spain, fighting undered some hours for the constable's answer, and not rethe Duke of Wellington,-a death well becoming his ceiving any, I was obliged to return without seeing this ancestry. Note 9. Stanza xxi. Those lightnings of the wave. The phenomenon called by sailors Sea-fire, is one of famous fort. Macneil and his lady being absent, was the cause of this difficulty, and of my not seeing the place. I was told, some weeks after, that the constable was very apprehensive of some design I might have in viewing the fort, and thereby to expose it to the con-mented, about three-fourths of an inch in breadth. quest of a foreign power; of which I supposed there was no great cause of fear. »> CANTO II. Note 1. Stanza iii. -De Argentine. Sir Egidius, or Giles de Argentine, was one of the most accomplished knights of the period. He had served in the wars of Henry of Luxemberg with such high reputation, that he was, in popular estimation, the third worthy of the age. Those to whom fame assigned precedence over him were, Henry of Luxemberg himself, and Robert Bruce. Argentine had war An red in Palestine, encountered thrice with the Saracens, Nobilis Argenten, pugil inclyte, dulcis Egidi, « The rst line mentions the three chief requisites of a true knight-noble birth, valour, and courteousness. Few Leonine couplets can be produced that have so much sentiment. I wish that I could have collected more ample memorials concerning a character altogether different from modern manners. Sir Giles d'Argentine was a hero of romance in real life.»> So observes the excellent Lord Hailes. Note 2. Stanza iv. Fill me the mighty cup!» h said, « Erst own'd by royal Somerlei.» A Hebridean drinking-cup, of the most ancient and curious workmanship, has been long preserved in the castle of Dunvegan, in Skye, the romantic seat of MacLeod, of Mac-Leod, the chief of that ancient and powerful clan. The horn of Rorie More, preserved in the same family, and recorded by Dr Johnson, is not to be compared with this piece of antiquity, which is one of the greatest curiosities in Scotland. The following is a pretty accurate description of its shape and dimensions, but cannot, I fear, be perfectly understood without a drawing. This very curious piece of antiquity is nine inches and three-quarters in inside depth, and ten and a half in height on the outside, the extreme measure over the lips being four inches and a half. The cup is divided into two parts by a wrought ledge, beautifully orna Beneath this ledge the shape of the cup is rounded off, and terminates in a flat circle, like that of a tea-cup; four short feet support the whole. Above the projecting ledge the shape of the cup is nearly square, projecting outward at the brim. The cup is made of wood (oak to all appearance), but most curiously wrought and embossed with silver work, which projects from the vessel. There are a number of regular projecting sockets, which appear to have been set with stones; two or three of them still hold pieces of coral, the rest are empty. At the four corners of the projecting ledge or cornice, are four sockets, much larger, probably for pebbles or precious stones. manship of the silver is extremely elegant, and appears to have been highly gilded. The ledge, brim, and legs of the cup, are of silver. The family tradition bears that it was the property of Neil Ghlune-dhu, or Blackknee. But who this Neil was, no one pretends to say. Around the edge of the cup is a legend, perfectly legible, in the Saxon black letter, which may be read at length thus: The work Vich Liahia Magryneil et sperat Domino Ihesu dari Ufo Johanis Mich Magni Principis de Hr Manae Onili Oimi. Which may run in English: Ufo, the son clementiam illorum opera. Fecit Anno Domini 993 of John, the son of Magnus, Prince of Man, the grandson of Liahia Macgryneil, trusts in the Lord Jesus that will obtain mercy. Oneil Oimi made this in the year their works (i. e. his own and those of his ancestors) of God nine hundred and ninety-three. But this version does not include the puzzling letters HR before the word Manae. Within the mouth of the cup the word Jesus is repeated four times. From this and other circumstances it would seem to have been a chalice. This circumstance may perhaps account for the use of two Arabic numerals, 93. These figures were introduced by Pope Sylvester, A. D. 991, and might be used in a vessel formed for church service so early as 993. The workmanship of the whole cup is extremely elegant, and resembles, I am told, antiques of the same nature preserved in Ireland. The cups thus elegantly formed, and highly valued, were by no means utensils of mere show. Martin gives the following account of the festivals of his time, and I have heard similar instances of brutality in the Lowlands at no very distant period. « The manner of drinking used by the chief men of the Isles is called in their language Streah, i. e. a Round; for the company sat in a circle, the cup-bearer filled the drink round to them, and all was drank out, whatever the liquor was, whether strong or weak; they continued drinking sometimes twenty-four, sometimes forty-eight hours. It was reckoned a piece of manhood to drink until they became drunk, and there were two men with a barrow attending punctually on such occasions. They stood at the door until some became drunk, and they carry'd them upon the barrow to bed, and returned again to their post as long as any continued fresh, and so carried off the whole company, one by one, as they became drunk. Several of my acquaintance have been witnesses to this custom of drinking, but it is now abolished.»> This savage custom was not entirely done away within this last generation. I have heard of a gentleman who happened to be a water-drinker, and was per mitted to abstain from the strong potations of the company. The bearers carried away one man after another, till no one was left but this Scottish Mirglip. They then came to do him the same good office, which, however, he declined as unnecessary, and proposed to walk to his bed-room. It was a permission he could not obtain. Never such a thing had happened, they said, in the castle! that it was impossible but he must require their assistance, at any rate he must submit to receive it; and carried him off in the barrow accordingly. A classical penalty was sometimes imposed on those who baulked the rules of good fellowship by evading their share of the banquet. The same author continues: « Among persons of distinction it was reckoned an affront put upon any company to broach a piece of wine, ale, or aquavitæ, and not to see it all drank out at one meeting. If any man chance to go out from the company, though but for a few minutes, he is obliged, upon his return, : in their language, were called Marischall Tach: the first Every family had commonly two stewards, which, of these served always at home, and was obliged to be versed in the pedigree of all the tribes in the Isles, and in the Highlands of Scotland; for it was his province to assign every man at table his seat according to his and before he take his seat, to make an apology for his absence in rhyme which if he cannot perform, he is liable to such a share of the reckoning as the company thinks fit to impose: which custom obtains in many places still, and is called Bianchiz Bard, which, in their language, signifies the poet's congratulat-quality; and this was done without one word speaking, ing the company.» Few cups were better, at least more actively, employed in the rude hospitality of the period, than those of Dunvegan; one of which we have just described. There is, in the Leabhar-dearg, a song, intimating the overflowing gratitude of a bard of Clan-Ronald, after the exuberance of a Hebridean festival at the patriarchal fortress of Mac-Leod. The translation being obviously very literal, has greatly flattened, as I am informed, the enthusiastic gratitude of the ancient bard; and it must be owned that the works of Homer or Virgil, to say nothing of Mac-Vuirich, might have suffered by their transfusion through such a medium. It is pretty plain, that when the tribute of poetical praise was bestowed, the horn of Rorie More had not been inactive. Upon Sir Rodric Mor Macleod, by Nial Mor Mac-Vuirich. <«< The six nights I remained in the Dunvegan, it was not a show of hospitality I met with there, but a plentiful feast in thy fair hall among thy numerous host of heroes. «The family placed all around under the protection of their great chief, raised by his prosperity and respect for his warlike feats, now enjoying the company of his friends at the feast,―amidst the sound of harps, overflowing cups, and happy youth unaccustomed to guile, or feud, partaking of the generous fare by a flaming fire. ་་ Mighty chief, liberal to all in your princely mansion, filled with your numerous warlike host, whose generous wine would overcome the hardiest heroes, yet we continued to enjoy the feast, so happy our host, so generous our fare.»-Translated by D. Mac-Intosh. It would be unpardonable in a modern bard, who has experienced the hospitality of Dunvegan Castle in the present day, to omit paying his own tribute of gratitude for a reception more elegant indeed, but not less kindly sincere, than Sir Roderick More himself could : only by drawing a score with a white rod, which this Marischall held in his hand, before the person who was bid by him to sit down and this was necessary to prevent disorder and contention; and though the Marischall might sometimes be mistaken, the master of the family incurred no censure by such an escape; but this custom has been laid aside of late. They had also cup-bearers, who always filled and carried the cup round the company, and he himself always drank off the first draught. They had likewise pursemasters, who kept their money. Both these officers had an hereditary right to their office in writing, and each of them had a town and land for his service: some of those rights I have seen fairly written on good parchment. »– MARTIN'S Western Isles. Note 4. Stanza ix. -the rebellious Scottish crew, Who to Rath-Erin's shelter drew, With Carrick's outlaw'd chief. -་་ It must be remembered by all who have read the Scottish history, that after he had slain Comyn at Dumfries, and asserted his right to the Scottish crown, Robert Bruce was reduced to the greatest extremity by the English and their adherents. He was crowned at Scone by the general consent of the Scottish barons, but his authority endured but a short time. According to the phrase said to have been used by his wife, he was for that year << a summer king, but not a winter one.»>> On the 29th March, 1306, he was crowned king at Scone. Upon the 19th June, in the same year, he was totally defeated at Methven, near Perth; and his most important adherents, with a few exceptions, either executed, or compelled to embrace the English interest, for safety of their lives and fortunes. After this disaster his life was that of an outlaw, rather than a candidate for monarchy. He separated himself from the females of his retinue, whom he sent for safety to the castle of Kildrummie, in Aberdeenshire, where they afterward became captives to England. From Aberdeenshire, Bruce retreated to the mountainous parts of Breadalbane, and approached the borders of Argyleshire. There, as mentioned in a preceding, and more fully in a subsequent note, he was defeated by the Lord of Lorn, who had assumed arms against him in revenge of the death of his relative, John the Red Comyn. Escaped from this peril, Bruce, with his few attendants, subsisted by hunting and fishing, until the weather compelled them to seek better sustenance and shelter than the Highland mountains afforded. With great difficulty they crossed, from Rowardennan probably, to the western banks of Loch Lomond, partly in a miserable boat, and partly by swimming. The valiant and loyal Earl of Lennox, to whose territories they had now found their way, welcomed them with tears, but was unable to assist them to make an effectual head. The Lord of the Isles, then in possession of great part of Cantyre, received the fugitive monarch and future restorer of his country's independence, in his castle of Dunnaverty, in that district. But treason, says Barbour, was so general, that the king durst not abide there. Accordingly, with the remnant of his followers, Bruce embarked for Rath-Erin, or Rachrine, the Recina of Ptolemy, a small island, lying almost opposite to the shores of Ballycastle, on the coast of Ireland. The islanders at first fled from their new and armed guests, but upon some explanation, submitted themselves to Bruce's sovereignty. He resided among them until the approach of spring (1306), when he again returned to Scotland, with the desperate resolution to reconquer his kingdom, or perish in the attempt. The progress of his success, from its commencement to its completion, forms the brightest period in Scottish history. Note 5. Stanza xi. THE BROACH OF LORN. It has been generally mentioned in the preceding notes, that Robert Bruce, after his defeat at Methven, being hard pressed by the English, endeavoured, with the dispirited remnant of his followers, to escape from Breadalbane and the mountains of Perthshire into the Argyleshire Highlands. But he was encountered and repulsed, after a very severe engagement, by the Lord of Lorn. Bruce's personal strength and courage were never displayed to greater advantage than in this conflict. There is a tradition in the family of the MacDougals of Lorn, that their chieftain engaged in personal battle with Bruce himself, while the latter was employed in protecting the retreat of his men; that Mac-Dougal was struck down by the king, whose strength of body was equal to his vigour of mind, and would have been slain on the spot, had not two of Lorn's vassals, a father and son, whom tradition terms Mac-Keoch, rescued him, by seizing the mantle of the monarch, and dragging him from above his adversary. Bruce rid himself of these foes by two blows of his redoubted battle-axe, but was so closely pressed by the other followers of Lorn, that he was forced to abandon the mantle, and broach which fastened it, clasped in the dying grasp of the Mac-Keochs. A studded broach, said to have been that which King Robert lost upon this occasion, was long preserved in the family of Mac-Dougal, and was lost in a fire which consumed their temporary residence. The metrical history of Barbour throws an air of credibility upon the tradition, although it does not entirely coincide either in the names or number of the vassals by whom Bruce was assailed, and makes no mention of the personal danger of Lorn, or of the loss of Bruce's mantle. The last circumstance, indeed, might be warrantably omitted. According to Barbour, the king, with his handful of followers, not amounting probably to three hundred men, encountered Lorn with about a thousand Argyleshire men in Glen-Douchart, at the head of Breadalbane, near Teyndrum. The place of action is still called Dalry, or the King's Field. The field of battle was unfavourable to Bruce's adherents, who were chiefly menat-arms. Many of the horses were slain by the long poleaxes, of which the Argyleshire Scottish had learned the use from the Norwegians. At length Bruce commanded a retreat up a narrow and difficult pass, he himself bringing up the rear, and repeatedly turning and driving back the more venturous assailants. Lorn, observing the skill and valour used by his enemy in protecting the retreat of his followers, « Methinks, Murthokson,» said he, addressing one of his followers, << he resembles Gol-mac-morn, protecting his followers from Fingal.»—A most unworthy comparison, observes the archdeacon of Aberdeen, unsuspicious of the future fame of these names; he might with more propriety have compared the king to Sir Gaudefer de Larys, protecting the foragers of Gadyrs against the attacks of Alexander. Two brothers, the strongest among Lorn's followers, whose names Barbour calls Mackyn-Drosser (interpreted Durward, or Porterson), resolved to rid their chief of this formidable foe. A third person (perhaps the Mac-Keoch of the family tradition) associated himself with them for this purpose. They watched their opportunity until Bruce's party had entered a pass between a lake (Loch-Dochart probably) and a precipice, where the king, who was the last of the party, had scarce room to manage his steed. Here his three foes sprung upon him at once. One seized his bridle, but received a wound which hewed off his arm; a second grasped Bruce by the stirrup and leg, and endeavoured to dismount him, but the king, putting spurs to his horse, threw him down, still holding by the stirrup. The third, taking advantage of an acclivity, sprung up behind him upon his horse. Bruce, however, whose personal strength is uniformly mentioned as exceeding that of most men, extricated himself from his grasp, threw him to the ground, and cleft his skull with his sword. By similar exertion he drew the stirrup from his grasp whom he had overthrown, and killed him also with his sword as he lay among the horse's feet. The story seems romantic, but this was the age of romantic exploit; and it must be remembered that Bruce was armed cap-a-pie, and the assailants were half-clad mountaineers. Barbour adds the following circumstance, highly characteristic of the sentiments of chivalry. Mac-Naughton, a baron of Cowal, pointed out to the Lord of Lorn the deeds of valour which Bruce performed in this memorable retreat, with the highest expressions of admiration. «It seems to give thee pleasure,» said Lorn, « that he makes such havoc This is a very curious passage, and has been often quoted in the Ossianic controversy. That it refers to ancient Celtic tradition, there can be no doubt, and as little that it refers to no incident in the poems published by Mr Macpherson as from the Gaelic. The hero of romance, whom Barbour thinks a more proper prototype for the Bruce, occurs in the romance of Alexander, of which there is an unique translation into Scottish verse in the library of the Honourable Mr Maule, of Panmure.-See WEBER'S Romances, vol. I, App; endix to Introduction, p. lxxiii. |