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archery, shafts of this extraordinary length |
were actually used. Thus, at the Battle of
Blackheath, between the troops of Henry VII,
and the Cornish insurgents, in 1496, the bridge
of Dartford was defended by a picked band of
archers from the rebel army, "whose arrows,'
says Hollinshed, "were in length a full cloth-
yard." The Scottish, according to Ascham, had
a proverb, that every English archer carried
under his belt twenty-four Scots, in allusion to
his bundle of unerring shafts.

To pass, to wheel, the croupe to gain,
And high curvett, that not in vain
The sword-sway might descend amain

On foeman's casque below.-St. II, p. 65.
"The most useful air, as the Frenchmen term
it, is territerr; the courbettes, cabrioles, or un pass
et un sault, being fitter for horses of parade and
triumph than for soldiers: yet I cannot deny
but a demivolle with courbettes, so that they be
not too high, may be useful in a fight or meslee;
for, as Labroue hath it, in his Book of Horse-
manship, Monsieur de Montmorency having a
horse that was excellent in performing the demi-
volle, did, with his sword, strike down two adver-
saries from their horses in a tourney, where
divers of the prime gallants of France did meet;
for, taking his time, when the horse was in the
height of his courbette, and discharging a blow
then, his sword fell with such weight and force
upon the two cavaliers, one after another, that
he struck them trom their horses to the ground.'
-Lord Herbert of Cherbury.

He saw the hardy burghers there
March armed, on foot, with faces bare.

-St. 11, p. 65.

The Scottish burgesses were, like yeomen, appointed to be armed with bowes and sheaves, sword, buckler, knife, spear, or a good axe instead of a bow, if worth £100: their armour to be of white or bright harness. They wore bright steel caps, without crest or visor.

On foot the yeoman too.-St. III, p. 65. Bows and quivers were in vain recommended to the peasantry of Scotland, by repeated statutes; spears and axes seem universally to have been used instead of them. Their defensive armour was the plate-jack, hauberk, or brigantine; and their missile weapons, crossbows and culverins. All wore swords of excellent temper, according to Patten; and a voluminous handkerchief round their neck, "not for cold, but for cutting." The mace also was much used in the Scottish army.

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When the feudal array of the kingdom was called forth, each man was obliged to appear with forty days' provision. When this was expended, which took place before the battle of Flodden, the army melted away, of course. Almost all the Scottish forces, except a few knights, men-at-arms, and the Border-prickers, who formed excellent light cavalry, acted upon

foot.

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torians. His romantic disposition, which led him
highly to relish gaiety, approaching to license,
was, at the same time, tinged with enthusiastic
devotion. These propensities sometimes formed
a strange contrast. He was wont, during his
fits of devotion, to assume the dress, and con-
form to the rules, of the order of Franciscans;
and when he had thus done penance for some
time in Stirling, to plunge again into the tide of
pleasure. Probably, too, with no unusual in-
consistence, he sometimes laughed at the super-
stitious observances to which he at other times
subjected himself.

Sir Hugh the Heron's wife held sway.
-St. x, p. 66.

King James's acquaintance with Lady Heron of Ford did not commence until he marched into England. Our historians impute to the king's infatuated passion the delay's which led to the fatal defeat of Flodden.

Archibald Bell-the-Cat.-St. XIV, p. 67. Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, a man remarkable for strength of body and mind, acquired the popular name of Bell-the-Cat, upon the following remarkable occasion:-James the Third, of whom Pitscottie complains that he delighted more in music and "policies of building, than in hunting, hawking, and other noble exercises, was so ill-advised as to make favour. ites of his architects and musicians, whom the same historian irreverently terms masons and fiddlers. His nobility, who did not sympathize in the King's respect for the fine arts, were extremely incensed at the honours conferred on these persons, particularly on Cochran, a mason, who had been created Earl of Mar. And, seizing the opportunity, when, in 1482, the King had convoked the whole array of the country to march against the English, they held a midnight council in the church of Lauder, for the purpose of forcibly removing these minions from the King's person. When all had agreed on the propriety of the measure, Lord Gray told the assembly the apologue of the Mice, who had formed a resolution that it would be highly advantageous to their community to tie a bell round the cat's neck, that they might hear her approach at a distance; but which public means unfortunately miscarried, from no mouse being willing to undertake the task of fastening the bell. "I understand the moral," said Angus; "and, that what we propose may not lack execution, I will bell the cat."

Against the war had Angus stood,

And chafed his royal lord.-St. XIV, p. 68. Angus was an old man when the war against England was resolved upon. He earnestly spoke against that measure from the commencement; and, on the eve of the battle of Flodden, remon strated so freely upon the impolicy of fighting, that the King said to him, with scorn and indig nation. "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.

Then rest you in Tantallon hold.-St. xv. p. 68.

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.

Thei motto on his blade.-St. xv. p. 68.

A very ancient sword, in posssesion of Lord Douglas, bears, among a great deal of flourishing, two hands pointing to a heart, which is placed betwixt them, and the date 1829, being the year in which Bruce charged the good Lord Douglas to carry his heart to the Holy Land.

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 partisans of Stuart, it was at length restored. It resembles a Highland claymore of the usual size, is of an excellent temper, and admirably poised.

Martin Swart.-St. XXI, p. 69.

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.

Perchance some form was unobserved,
Perchance in point of faith he swerved.
-St, XXI, p. 69.

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 carious 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.

de Marmion, in the reign of King Stephen, whom William of Newbury describes with some attributes of my fictitious hero. This Baron, having expelled the monks from the church of Coventry, was not long of experiencing the divine judg ment, as the same monks, no doubt, termed his disaster. Having waged a feudal war with the Earl of Chester, Marmion's horse fell, as he charged in the van of his troops, against a body of the Earl's followers: the rider's thigh being broken by the fall, his head was cut off by a common foot soldier, ere he could receive any

succour.

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Who lists, may in their mumming spy
Traces of ancient mystery.-Int., p. 72.

It seems certain that the Mummers of England, who (in Northumberland at least) used to go about in disguise to the neighbouring houses, pre-bearing the then useless ploughshare; and the Guisards of Scotland, not yet in total disuse, present, in some indistinct degree, a shadow of the old mysteries, which were the origin of the English drama. In Scotland (me ipso teste), we were wont, during my boyhood, to fake the characters of the Apostles; at least, of Peter, Paul, and Judas Iscariot; the first had the keys, the second carried a sword, and the last the bag, in which the dole of our neighbour's plum-cake was deposited. One played a Champion, and recited some traditional rhymes; another was

Dun-Edin's Cross.-St. XXV, p. 70. The Cross of Edinburgh was an ancient and curions structure. The lower part was an octagonal tower, sixteen feet in diameter, and about fifteen feet high. At each angle there was a pillar, and between them an arch, of the Grecian shape. Above these was a projecting battlement, with a turret at each corner, and medallions, of rude but curious workmanship, between them. Above this rose the proper Cross, a column of one stone, upwards of twenty feet high, surmounted with an unicorn. This pillar is preserved at the House of Drun, near Édinburgh. The magistrates of Edinburgh, in 1756, with the consent of the Lords of Sessions, destroyed this curious monument, under a wanton pretext that it encumbered the while, on the one hand, they left an ugly mass, called the Luckenbooths, and, on the other, an awkward, long, and low guard-house, which were fifty times more encumbrance than the venerable and inoffensive Cross.

street;

From the tower of the Cross, so long as it remained, the heralds published the Acts of Parliament; and its site, marked by radii, diverging from a stone centre, in the High Street, is still the place where proclamations are made.

This awful summons came.-St. xxv, p. 70. This supernatural citation is mentioned by all our Scottish historians. It was probably, like the apparition at Linlithgow, an attempt, by those averse to the war, to impose upon the superstitious temper of James IV.

Fitz-Eustace bade them pause a while, Before a venerable pile.-St. XXIX, p. 70. The convent alluded to is a foundation of Cistertian nuns, near North Berwick, of which there are still some remains. It was founded by Duncan, Earl of Fife, in 1216.

That one of his own ancestry Drove the Monks forth of Coventry. -St. XXXI, p. 71. This relates to the catastrophe of a real Robert

Alexander, king of Macedon, Who conquered all the world but Scotland alone; When he came to Scotland his courage grew cold,

To see a little nation courageous and bold. These, and many such verses, were repeated, but by rote, and unconnectedly. There was also Occasionally, I believe, a Saint George. In all there was a confused resemblance of the ancient mysteries, in which the characters of Scripture, the Nine Worthies, and other popular personages, were usually exhibited.

The Highlander

Will on a Friday morn look pale,

If asked to tell a fairy tale.-Int., p. 72. The Daoine shi, or Men of Peace, of the Scottish Highlanders, rather resemble the Scandinavian Duergar than the English Fairies. Notwithstanding their name, they are, if not absolutely malevolent, at least peevish, discontented, and apt to do mischief on slight provocation. The belief of their existence is deeply impressed on the Highlanders, who think they are particularly offended with mortals who talk of them, who wear their favourite colour, green, or in any respect interfere with their affairs. This is especially to be avoided on Friday, when, Germany, this subterraneous people are held whether as dedicated to Venus, with whom, in nearly connected, or, for a more solemn reason. they are more active, and possessed of greater powers.

The Towers of Franchemont.-Int., p. 72. The journal of the friend to whom the forth canto of the poem is inscribed furnished me with

2

the following account of a striking superstition;

"Passed the pretty little village of Franchemont, near Spaw, with the romantic ruins of the old castle of the Counts of that name. The road leads through many delightful vales, on a rising ground. At the extremity of one of them stands the ancient castle, now the subject of many superstitious legends. It is firmly believed by the neighbouring peasantry that the last Baron of Franchemont deposited in one of the vaults of the castle a ponderous chest, containing an immense treasure in gold and silver, which, by some magic spell, was entrusted to the care of the devil, who is constantly found sitting on it in the shape of a huntsman. Any one adventurous enough to touch the chest is instantly seized with the palsy. Upon one occasion, a priest of noted piety was brought to the vault. He used all the arts of exorcism to persuade his infernal majesty to vacate the seat, but in vain ; the huntsman remained immovable. At last, moved by the earnestness of the priest he told him that he would agree to resign the chest if the exorciser would sign his name with blood. But the priest understood his meaning, and refused, as by that act he would have delivered over his soul to the devil. Yet, if anybody can discover the mystic words used by the person who deposited the treasure, and pronounce them, the fiend must instantly decamp. I had many stories of a similar nature from a peasant, who had himself seen the devil, in the shape of a great cat."

The very form of Hilda fair,

Hovering upon the sunny air.-St. Iv, p, 74. "I shall only produce one instance more of the great veneration paid to Lady Hilda, which still prevails even in these our days, and that is, the constant opinion that she rendered, and still renders herself visible on some occasions, in the abbey of Streanshalh, or Whitby, where she so long resided. At a particular time of the year (viz., the summer months), at ten or eleven in the forenoon, the sunbeams fall in the inside of the northern part of the choir; and 'tis then that the spectators, who stand on the west side of Whitby churchyard, so as just to see the most northerly part of the abbey past the north end of Whitby church, imagine they perceive in one of the highest windows there the resemblance of a woman, arrayed in a shroud. Though we are certain this is only a reflection, caused by the splendour of the sunbeams, yet fame reports it, and it is constantly believed among the vulgar to be an appearance of Lady Hilda in her shroud, or rather in a glorified state; before which, I make no doubt, the Papists, even in these our days, offer up their prayers with as much zeal and devotion as before any other image of their most glorified saint."-History of Whitby.

A bishop by the altar stood.-St. XI, p. 75. The well-known Gawain Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, son of Archibald Bell-the-Cat, Earl of Angus He was author of a Scottish metrical version of the Eneid, and of many other poetical pieces of great merit. He had not at this period attained the mitre.

-The huge aud sweeping brand, Which wont of yore in battle fray His foeman's limbs to top away, As woodknife shreds the sapling spray. -St. XI, p. 75. Angus had strength and personal activity corresponding to his courage. Spens of Kilspindle, a favourite of James IV, having spoken of him lightly, the Earl met him while hawking, and compelling him to single combat, at one blow cut asunder his thigh bone, and killed him on the spot. But ere he could obtain James's pardon for this slaughter, Angus was obliged to yield

his castle of Hermitage in exchange for that of Bothwell, which was some diminution to the family greatness. The sword with which he struck so remarkable a blow was presented to his descendant, James, Earl of Morton, afterwards regent of Scotland, to Lord Lindsaye of the Byres.

A letter forged! St. Jude to speed!

Did ever knight so foul a deed?-St. xv, p. 76. Lest the reader should partake of the Earl's astonishment, and consider the crime as inconsistent with the manners of the period, I have to remind him of the numerous forgeries (partly executed by a female assistant) devised by Robert of Artois, to forward his suit against the Countess Masada; which being detected, occasioned his flight into England, and proved the remote cause of Edward the Third's memorable wars in France. John Harding, also, was expressly hired by Edward IV to forge such documents as might appear to establish the claim of fealty asserted over Scotland by the English monarchs.

Where Lennel's convent closed their march,

-St. XVIII, p. 77.

This was a Cistertian house of religion, now almost entirely demolished. Lennel house is now situated near Coldstream, almost opposite to Cornhill, and consequently very near to Flodden Field.

The Till by Twisel Bridge.-St. XIX, p. 77. On the evening previous to the memorable battle of Flodden, Surrey's head-quarters were at Barmoor wood, and King James held an inaccessible position on the ridge of Flodden-hills, one of the last and lowest eminences detached from the ridge of Cheviot. The Till, a deep and slow river, winded between the armies. On the morning of the 9th of September, 1513, Surrey marched in a north-westerly direction, and crossed the Till with his van and artillery at Twisel Bridge, nigh where that river joins the Tweed, his rear-guard passing about a mile This movement had the higher, by a ford. double effect of placing his army between King James and his supplies from Scotland, and of striking the Scottish monarch with surprise, as he seems to have relied on the depth of the river in his front. But as the passage, both over the bridge and through the ford, was difficult and slow, it seems possible that the English might struggling with natural obstacles. I know not have been attacked to great advantage while if we are to impute James's forbearance to want of military skill, or to the romantic declaration which Pitscottie puts in his mouth, "that he was determined to have his enemies before him on a plain field," and therefore would suffer no interruption to be given, even by artillery, to their passing the river.

The ancient bridge of Twisel, by which the English crossed the Till, is still standing beneath Twisel Castle, a splendid pile of Gothic architecture, as now rebuilt by Sir Francis Blake, Bart., whose extensive plantations have so much improved the country around. The glen is romantic and delightful, with steep banks on each side, covered with copse, particularly with hawthorn. Beneath the tall rock, near the bridge, is a plen tiful fountain, called St. Helen's Well.

Hence might they see the full array

Of either host, for battle fray-St. XXII, p. 88. The reader cannot here expect a full account of the battle of Flodden; but, so far as is necessary to understand the romance, I beg to remind him, that when the English army, by their skilful counter-march, were fairly placed between King James and his own country, the Scottish monarch resolved to fight; and setting fire to his tents,

94

SCOTTS POETICAL WORKS.

descended from the ridge of Flodden to secure the neighbouring eminence of Brankstone, on which that village is built. Thus the two arinies met almost without seeing each other, when, according to the old poem of Flodden Field,' "The English line stretched east and west, And southward were their faces set; The Scottish northward proudly prest, And manfully their foes they met."

The English army advanced in four divisions. On the right, which first engaged, were the sons of Earl Surrey-namely, Thomas Howard, the admiral of England, and Sir Edmund, the knightmarshal of the army. Their divisions were separated from each other; but, at the request of Sir Edmund, his brother's battalion was drawn very near to his own. The centre was commanded by Surrey in person; the left wing by Sir Edward Stanley, with the men of Lancashire and of the palatinate of Chester. Lord Dacres, with a large body of horse, formed a reserve." When the smoke, which the wind had driven between the armies, was somewhat dispersed, they perceived the Scots, who had moved down the hill in a similar order of battle, and in deep silence. The Earls of Huntley and of Home commanded their left wing, and charged Sir Edmund Howard with such success as to entirely defeat his part of the English right wing. Sir Edmund Howard's banner was beaten down, and he himself escaped with difficulty to his brother's division. The Adiniral, however, stood firm, and Dacres advancing to his support with the reserve of cavalry, probably between the intervals of the division commanded by the Brothers Howard, appears to have kept the victors in effectual check. Home's men, chiefly Borderers, began to

Plage the baggage of both armies, and their

is branded by the Scottish historians with negligence or treachery. On the other hand, Huntley, on whom they bestow many enco miums, is said by the English historians to have left the field after the first charge. Meanwhile, the Admiral, whose flank these chiefs ought to have attacked, availed himself of their inactivity, and pushed forward against another large division of the Scottish army in his front, headed by the Earls of Crawford and Montrose, both of whom were slain, and their forces routed. On the left, the success of the English was yet more decisive; for the Scottish right wing, consisting of undisciplined Highlanders, commanded by Lennox and Argyle, was unable to sustain the charge of Sir Edward Stanley, and especially the severe execution of the Lancashire archers. The King and Surrey, who commanded the respective centres of their armies, were meanwhile engaged in close and dubious conflict. James, surrounded by the flower of his kingdom, and impatient of the galling discharge of arrows, supported also by his reserve under Bothwell, charged with such fury that the standard of Surrey was in danger. At that critical moment, Stanley, who had routed the left wing of the Scottish, pursued his career of victory, and arrived on the right flank, and in the rear of James's division. which, throwing itself into a circle, disputed the battle till night came on. Surrey then drew back his forces; for the Scottish centre not having been broken, and their left wing being victorious, he yet doubted the event of the field. The Scottish army, however, felt their loss, and abandoned the field of battle in disorder before dawn. They lost, perhaps, from eight to ten thousand men, but that included the very prime of their nobility, gentry, and even clergy. The English lost a great number of men, perhaps within one-third of the vanquished, but they were of inferior note.

The spot from which Clara views the battle must be supposed to have been upon a hillock commanding the rear of the English right wing,

which was defeated, and in which conflict Marmion is supposed to have failen.

Brian Tunstall, stainless knight.

-St. XXIV, p. 78. Sir Brian Tunstall, called in the romantic language of the time, Tunstall the Undefiled, was one of the few Englishmen of rank slain at Flodden. His place of residence was Thurland Castle.

View not that corpse mistrustfully,
Defaced and mangled though it be;
Nor to yon Border castle high
Look northward with upbraiding eye.
-St. XXXV, p. 80.

There can be no doubt that King James fell in the battle of Flodden. He was killed, says the curious French Gazette, within a lance's length of the Earl of Surrey; and the same account adds, that none of his division were made prisoners, though many were killed-a circumstance that testifies the desperation of their resistance. The Scottish historians record many of the idle reports which passed among the vulgar of their day. Home was accused by the popular voice, not only of failing to support the King, but even of having carried him out of the field and murdered him. And this tale was revived in my remembrance by an unauthenticated story of a skeleton, wrapped in a bull's hide, and surrounded with an iron chain, said to have been found in the well of Home Castle; for which, on inquiry, I could never find no better authority than the sexton of the parish having said that, if the well were cleaned out, he would not be surprised at such a discovery. Home was the chamberlain of the King, and his prime favourite. He had much to lose (in fact, did lose all) in consequence of James's death, and nothing earthly to gain by that event; but the retreat or inactivity of the left wing, which he commanded, after defeating Sir Edmund Howard, and even the circumstance of his returning unhurt and loaded with spoil from so fatal a conflict, rendered the propagation of any calumny against him easy and acceptable. Other reports gave a still more romantic turn to the King's fate, and averred that James, weary of greatness after the carnage among his nobles, had gone on a pilgrimage to merit absolution for the death of his father, and the breach of his oath of amity to Henry. In particular, it was objected to the English, that they could never show the token of the iron belt; which, however, he was likely enough to have laid aside on the day of battle, as encumbering his personal exertions. produce a better evidence, the monarch's sword and dagger, which are still preserved in the Herald's College in London. Stowe has recorded a degrading story of the disgrace with which the remains of the unfortunate monarch were treated in his time. An unhewn column marks the spot where James fell, still called the King's Stone.

--fanatic Brook

The fair cathedral stormed and took.

They

-St. XXXVI, p. 80. This storming of Lichfield Cathedral, which had been garrisoned on the part of the King, took place in the great civil war. Lord Brook, who, with Sir John Gill, commanded the assailants, was shot with a musket-ball through the visor of his helmet. The Royalists remarked, that he was killed by a shot fired from St. Chad's Cathedral, and upon St. Chad's Day, and received his death-wound in the very eye with which, he had said, he hoped to see the ruins of all the cathedrals in England. The magnificent church in question suffered cruelly upon this and other occasions, the principal spire being ruined by the fire of the besiegers.

ARGUMENT.

THE Scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in the vicinity of Loch-Katrine, in the Western Highlands of Perthshire. The time of Action includes Six Days, and the transactions of each day Occupy a Canto.

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CANTO FIRST THE CHASE.

HARP of the North! that mouldering long hast hung,

On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring

And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung,
Till envious ivy did around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,-
O minstrel harp, still must thine accents
sleep?

Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring, Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep,

Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep?

Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon,

Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd, When lay of hopeless love or glory won,

Aroused the fearful, or subdued the proud. At each according pause was heart aloud

Thine ardent symphony sublime and high! Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bow'd; For still the burthen of thy minstrelsy Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's matchless eye.

[See page 98.

O wake once more! how rude soe'er the hand That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray;

O wake once more! though scarce my skill command

Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay; Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away, And all unworthy of thy nobler strain, Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway,

The wizard note has not been touched in vain. Then silent be no more! Enchantress, wake again!

I.

The Stag at eve had drunk his fill,
Where danced the moon on Monan's rill,
And deep his midnight lair had made
In lone Glenartney's hazel shade;
But, when the sun his beacon red'
Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head,
The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy bay,
Resounded up the rocky way,

And faint, from farther distance borne,
Were heard the clanging hoof and horn.

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