those West Indian adventurers, who, during the course of the seventeenth century, were popularly known by the name of Buccaneers. The successes of the English in the predatory incursions upon Spanish America, during the reign of Elizabeth, had never been forgotten; and from that period downward, the exploits of Drake and Raleigh were imitated, upon a smaller scale indeed, but with equally desperate valour, by small bands of pirates, gathered from all nations, but chiefly French and English. The engrossing policy of the Spaniards, tended greatly to increase the number of these freebooters, from whom their commerce and colonies suffered, in the issue, dreadful calamity. The Windward Islands, which the Spaniards did not deem worthy their own occupation, had been gradually settled by adventurers of the French and English nations. But Frederick of Toledo, who was dispatched in 1630, with a powerful fleet against the Dutch, had orders from the court of Madrid to destroy these colonies, whose vicinity at once offended the pride, and excited the jealous suspicious of their Spanish neighbours. This order the Spanish admiral executed with sufficient rigour; but the only consequence was, that the planters, being rendered desperate by persecution, began, under the well-known name of Buccaneers, to commence a retaliation so horridly savage that the perusal makes the reader shudder. When they carried on their depredations at sea, they boarded, without respect to disparity of number, every Spanish vessel that came in their way; and, demeaning themselves both in the battle and after the conquest more like demons than human beings, they succeeded in impressing their enemies with a sort of superstitious terror, which rendered them incapable of offering effectual resistance. From piracy at sea they advanced to making predatory descents on the Spanish territories, in which they displayed the same furious and irresistible valour, the same thirst of spoil, and the same brutal inhumanity to their captives. The large treasures which they acquired in their adventures, they dissipated by the most unbounded licentiousness in gaming, women, wine, and debauchery of every species. When their spoils were thus wasted, they entered into some new association, and undertook new adventures. For forther particulars concerning these extraordinary banditti, the reader may consult Raynal, or the common and popular book called the History of the Buccaneers, Note 5. Stanza xii. On Marston heath Met, front to front, the ranks of death. The well-known and desperate battle of Long-Marston Moor, which terminated so unfortunately for the cause of Charles, commenced under very different auspices. Prince Rupert had marched with an army of 20,000 men for the relief of York, then besieged by Sir Thomas Fairfax, at the head of the parliamentary army, and the Earl of Leven, with the Scottish auxiliary forces. In this he so completely succeeded, that he compelled the besiegers to retreat to Marston-moor, a large open plain, about eight miles distant from the city. Thither they were followed by the prince, who had now united to his army the garrison of York, probably not less than ten thousand men strong, under the gallant Marquis (then Earl) of Newcastle. Whitelocke has recorded, with much impartiality, the following particulars of this eventful day::-«The right wing of the parliament was commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax, and consisted of all his horse, and three regiments of the Scots horse; the left wing was commanded by the Earl of Manchester and Colonel Cromwell. One body of their foot was commanded by Lord Fairfax, and consisted of his foot, and two brigades of the Scots foot for a reserve; and the main body of the rest of the foot was commanded by General Leven. « The right wing of the prince's army was commanded by the Earl of Newcastle, the left wing by the prince himself, and the main body by General Goring, Sir Charles Lucas, and Major-General Porter; thus were both sides drawn up into battalia. July 3d, 1644. In this posture both armies faced each other, and about seven o'clock in the morning the fight began between them. The prince, with his left wing, fell on the parliament's right wing, routed them, and pursued them a great way; the like did General Goring, Lucas, and Porter, upon the parliament's main body. The three generals, giving all for lost, hasted out of the field, and many of their soldiers fled, and threw down their arms; the king's forces, too eagerly following them, the victory, now almost achieved by them, was again snatched out of their hands. For Colonel Cromwell, with the brave regiment of his countrymen, and Sir Thomas Fairfax, having rallied some of his horse, fell upon the prince's right wing, where the Earl of Newcastle was, and routed them; and the rest of their companions rallying, they fell altogether upon the divided bodies of Rupert and Goring, and totally dispersed them, and obtained a complete victory after three hours' fight. From this battle and the pursuit some reckon all agree that above 3000 were buried 7000 Englishmen ; of the prince's men were slain in the battle, besides those in the chace, and 3000 prisoners taken, many of their chief officers, 25 pieces of ordnance, 47 colours' 10,000 arms, two waggons of carabines and pistols, 130 barrels of powder, and all their bag and baggage.» WHITELOCKE's Memoirs, Lond. 1682, fol. p. 89. Lord Clarendon informs us that the king, previous to receiving the true account of the battle, had been informed, by an express from Oxford, << that Prince Rupert had not only relieved York, but totally defeated the Scots, with many particulars to confirm it, all which was so much believed there, that they had made public fires of joy for the victory.>> Note 6. Stanza xix. How troops of roundheads choked the Ouse, First lured their Lesley o'er the Tweed. Monckton and Mitton are villages near the river Ouse, and not very distant from the field of battle. The particulars of the action were violently disputed at the time; but the following extract, from the manuscript history of the Baronial House of Somerville, is decisive as to the flight of the Scottish general, the Earl of Leven. The particulars are given by the author of the history on the authority of his father, then the representative of the family. This curious manuscript has been published by consent of my noble friend, the present Lord Somerville. << The order of this great battell, wherin both armies standing of this, ther was that night such a consternatione in the parliament armies, that it's believed by most of those that wer there present, that if the prince, haveing so great a body of horse inteire, had made ane on fall that night, or the ensueing morning be tyme, he had carryed the victorie out of their hands; for it's certane, by the morning's light, he had rallyed a body of ten thousand men, whereof ther was neer three thousand gallant horse. These, with the assistance of the toune and garrisoune of Yorke, might have done much to have recovered the victory, for the losse of this battell in effect lost the king and his interest in the three kingdomes, his majestie never being able eftir this to make head in the north, but lost his garrisons every day. was neer of ane equall number, consisting, to the best calculatione, neer to three score thousand men upon both sydes, I shall not take upon me to discryve; albeit, from the draughts then taken upon the place, and information I receaved from this gentleman, who being then a volunteer, as having no command, had opportunitie and libertie to ryde from one wing of the armie to the other, to view all ther severall squadrons of horse and battallions of foot how formed, and in what manner drawn up, with every other circumstance relating to the fight, and that both as to the king's armies and that of the parliament's, amongst whom, untill the engadgment, he went from statione to statione to observe ther order and forme; but that the descriptione of this battell, with the various success on both sides at the beginning, with the losse of the royal armie, and the sad effects «As for Generall Lesselie, in the beginning of this that followed that misfortune as to his majesties inter-flight haveing that part of the army quite brocken, est, hes been so often done already by English authors, where he had placed himself, by the valour of the little to our commendatione, how justly I shall not dis-prince, he imagined, and was confermed by the opinione pute, seeing the truth is, as our principall generall fled of others then upon the place with him, that the batthat night neer fourtie mylles from the place of the tell was irrecoverably lost, seeing they wer fleeing upon fight, that part of the armie where he commanded all hands; theirfore they humblie intreated his excelbeing totallie routed: but it is as true, that much of lence to reteir and wait his better fortune; which, the victorie is attributed to the good conduct of David without farder advyscing, he did; and never drew bridle Lesselie, lievetennent-general of our horse. Cromwell until he came the lenth of Leads, having ridden all that himself, that minione of fortune, but the rod of God's night with a cloak of drap de berrie about him, bewrath, to punish eftirward three rebellious nations, dis-longing to this gentleman of whom I write, then in his dained not to take orders from him, albeit then in the same qualitie of command for the parliament, as being lievetennent-generall to the Earl of Manchester's horse, whom, with the assistance of the Scots horse, having routed the prince's right wing, as he had done that of the parliament's. These two commanders of the horse upon that wing wisely restrained the great bodies of ther horse from persuing these brocken troups, but, wheelling to the left-hand, falls in upon the naked flanks of the prince's main battalion of foot, carying them doune with great violence; nether mett they with any great resistance untill they came to the Marques of Newcastle his battallione of White Coats, who, first peppering them soundly with ther shott, when they came to charge, stoutly boor them up with their picks that they could not enter to break them. Here the parlia-out, 'Lievetennent-collonell, what news?'—All is safe, ment's horse of that wing receaved their greatest losse, and a stop for sometyme put to their hoped-for victorie; and that only by the stout resistance of this gallant battallione, which consisted neer of four thousand foot, untill at length a Scots regiment of dragouns, commanded by Collonell Frizeall, with other two, was brought to open them upon some hand, which at length they did, when all the ammunitione was spent. Having refused quarters, every man fell in the same order and ranke wherein he had foughten. Be this execution was done, the prince returned from the persuite of the right wing of the parliament's horse, which he had beatten and followed too farre, to the losse of the battell, which certanely, in all men's opinions, he might have caryed, if he had not been too violent upon the persuite; which gave his enemies upon the left-hand opportunitie to disperse and cut doune his infanterie, who, having cleared the field of all the standing bodies of foot, wer now, with many of ther oune, standing ready to receave the charge of his allmost spent horses, if he should attempt it, which the prince observeing, and seeing all lost, he retreated to Yorke with two thousand horse. Notwith retinue, with many other officers of good qualitie. It was neer twelve the next day before they had the certanety who was master of the field, when at length there arryves ane express, sent by David Lesselie, to acquaint the general they had obtained a most glorious victory, and that the prince, with his brocken troups, was fled from Yorke. This intelligence was somewhat amazeing to these gentlemen that had been eye witnesses to the disorder of the armie before ther retearing, and had then accompanyed the general in his flight, who, being much wearyed that evening of the battell with ordering his armie, and now quite spent with his* long journey in the night, had casten himselfe doune upon a bed to reste, when this gentleman comeing quyetly into his chamber, he awoke, and hastily cryes may it please your excellence, the parliament's armie ROKEBY. of their success to the goodness and justice of their cause, until Divine Justyce trysted them with some cross dispensatione, and then you might have heard this language from them, 'That it pleases the Lord to give his oune the heavyest end of the tree to bear, that the saints and the people of God must still be sufferers while they are here away, that the malignant party was God's rod to punish them for their unthankfulnesse, which in the end he will cast into the fire;' with a thousand other expressions and scripture citations, pro phanely and blasphemiously uttered by them to palliate their villainie and rebellion.»-Memorie of the Somervilles.-Edinb. 1815. Note 7. Stanza xix. With his barb'd horse, fresh tidings say Stout Cromwell has redeem'd the day. Cromwell, with his regiment of cuirassiers, had a principal share in turning the fate of the day at Marstonmoor, which was equally matter of triumph to the independents, and of grief and heart-burning to the presbyterians and to the Scottish. Principal Baillie expresses his dissatisfaction as follows: 255 of Troughend were a very ancient family, as may be Note 9. Stanza xx. And near the spot that gave me name, Risingham, upon the river Reed, near the beautiful hamlet of Woodburn, is an ancient Roman station, formerly called Habitancum. Camden says, that in his time the popular account bore that it had been the abode of a deity or giant, called Magon; and appeals, in support of this tradition, as well as to the etymology of Risingham, or Reisenham, which signifies, in German, the habitation of the giants, to two Roman altars taken out of the river, inscribed DEO MOGONTI CADENORUM. About half a mile distant from Risingham, upon an eminence covered with scattered birch-trees and fragments of rock, there is cut upon a large rock, in alto relievo, a remarkable figure, called Robin of Risingham, or Robin of Redesdale. It presents a hunter, with his bow raised in one hand, and in the other what seems to be a hare. There is a quiver at the back of the figure, and he is dressed in a long coat, or kirtle, coming down to the knees, and meeting close, with a girdle bound round him. Dr Horsley, who saw all monuments of antiquity with Roman eyes, inclines to think this figure a Roman archer: and certainly the bow is rather of the ancient size than of that which was so formidable in the hand of the English archers of the middle ages, « The independents sent up one quickly to assure that all the glory of that night was theirs; and they and their Major-general Cromwell had done it all there alone; but Captain Stuart afterward shewed the vanity and falsehood of their disgraceful relation. God gave us that victory wonderfully. There were three generals on each side, Lesley, Fairfax, and Manchester; Rupert, Newcastle, and King. Within half an hour and less, all six took them to their heels; this to you alone. The disadvantage of the ground, and violence of the flower of Prince Rupert's horse, carried all our right wing down; only Eglinton kept ground, to his great loss: his lieutenant-crowner, a brave man, I fear, shall die, and his son Robert be mutilated of an arm. Lindsay had the greatest hazard of any; but the beginning of the victory was from David Lesly, who before was much suspected of evil designs; he, with the Scots and Crom-whole figure prevents our founding strongly upon mere inaccuracy of proportion. The popular tradition is well's horse, having the advantage of the ground, did that it represents a giant, whose brother resided at dissipate all before them.»-BAILLIE'S Letters and Woodburn, and he himself at Risingham. It adds, Journals, Edinb. 1785. 8vo. II, 36. that they subsisted by hunting, and that one of them, finding the game become too scarce to support them, poisoned his companion, in whose memory the monument was engraven. What strange and tragic circumstance may be concealed under this legend, or whether Note 8. Stanza xx. Do not my native dales prolong Of Percy Rede the tragic song, Train'd forward to his bloody fall, By Girsonfield, that treacherous Hall? cover. But the rudeness of the In a poem, entitled « The Lay of the Reedwater Min-it is utterly apocryphal, it is now impossible to disstrel,» Newcastle, 1809, this tale, with many others peThe name of Robin of Redesdale was given to one culiar to the valley of the Reed, is commemorated:- of the Umfravilles, Lords of Prudhow, and afterwards << The particulars of the traditional story of Percy Reed to one Hilliard, a friend and follower of the king-makof Troughend, and the Halls of Girsonfield, the author ing Earl of Warwick. This person commanded an had from a descendant of the family of Reed. From army of Northamptonshire and northern men, who this account it appears that Percival Reed, Esquire, a seized on and beheaded the Earl of Rivers, father to keeper of Reedsdale, was betrayed by the Halls (hence Edward the Fourth's queen, and his son, Sir John denominated the false-hearted Ha's) to a band of moss-Woodville.-See HOLLINSHED, ad annum 1469. troopers of the name Crosier, who slew him at Batinghope, near the source of the Reed. «The Halls were, after the murder of Percy Reed, held in such universal abhorrence and contempt by the inhabitants of Reedsdale, for their cowardly and treacherous behaviour, that they were obliged to leave the country.» In another passage we are informed that the ghost of the injured Borderer is supposed to haunt the banks of a brook called the Pringle. These Reeds Note 10. Stanza xxi. I do thou revere The statutes of the buccaneers » were in reality more equitable than could have been expected from the state of society under which they had been formed. They chiefly related, as may readily be conjectured, to the distribution and the inheritance of their plunder. Note 2. Stanza iv. When the expedition was completed, the fund of wrought to others.»-Itinerary, Oxford, 1768, Svo. prize-money acquired was thrown together, each party p. 88. taking his oath that he had retained or concealed no part of the common stock. If any one transgressed in this important particular, the punishment was his being set ashore on some desert key or island, to shift for himself as he could. The owners of the vessel had then their share assigned for the expenses of the outfit. These were generally old pirates, settled at Tobago, Jamaica, St Domingo, or some other French and English settlement. The surgeon's and carpenter's salaries, with the price of provisions and ammunition, were also defrayed. Then followed the compensation due to the maimed and wounded, rated according to the damage they had sustained; as six hundred pieces of eight, or six slaves, for the loss of an arm or leg, and so in pro. portion. When the « After this act of justice and humanity, the remainder of the booty was divided into as many shares as there were buccaneers. The commander could only Jay claim to a single share, as the rest; but they complimented him with two or three, in proportion as he had acquitted himself to their satisfaction. vessel was not the property of the whole company, the person who had fitted it out, and furnished it with necessary arms and ammunition, was entitled to a third of all the prizes. Favour had never any influence in the division of the booty; for every share was determined by lot. Instances of such rigid justice as this are not easily met with, and they extended even to the dead. Their share was given to the man who was known to be their companion when alive, and therefore their heir. If the person who had been killed had no intimate, his part was sent to his relations, when they were known. If there were no friends nor relations, it was distributed in charity to the poor and to churches, which were to pray for the person in whose name these benefactions were given, the fruits of inhuman but necessary piratical plunders.»-RAYNAL'S History of European Settlements in the East and West Indies, by Justamond, Lond. 1776, 8vo. III, p. 41. CANTO II. Note 1. Stanza ii. the course of Tees. The ruins of this abbey, or priory, for Tanner calls it the former and Leland the latter, are beautifully situated upon the angle, formed by a little dell called Thorsgill, at its junction with the Tees. A good part of the religious house is still in some degree habitable, but the church is in ruins. Eglistone was dedicated to St Mary and St John the Baptist, and is supposed to have been founded by Ralph de Multon about the end of Henry the Second's reign. There were formerly the tombs of the families of Rokebys, Bowes, and Fitzhughs. Note 3. Stanza v. the mound Raised by that legion long renown'd, Whose votive shrine asserts their claim, Of pious, faithful, conquering fame.. Close behind the George Inn at Greta-bridge, there is a well-preserved Roman encampment, surrounded with a triple ditch, lying between the river Greta and a brook called the Tutta. The four entrances are easily to be discerned. Very many Roman altars and monuments have been found in the vicinity, most of which are preserved at Rokeby by my friend Mr Morritt. Among others is a small votive altar, with the inscription LEG. VI. VIC. P. F. F. which has been rendered Legio. Sexta. Victrix. Pia. Fortis. Fidelis. Note 4. Stanza vi. Rokeby's turrets high. This ancient manor long gave name to a family by whom it is said to have been possessed from the Conquest downward, and who are at different times distinguished in history. It was the Baron of Rokeby who finally defeated the insurrection of the Earl of Northumberland, tempore Hen. IV., of which Hollinshed gives the following account: «The king, advertised hereof, caused a great armie to be assembled, and came forward with the same towards his enemies; but yer the king came to Nottingham, Sir Thomas (or, as other copies haue) Sir Rafe Rokesbie, shiriff of Yorkeshire, assembled the forces of the countrie to resist the earle and his power; comming to Grimbauthbrigs, beside Knaresborough, there to stop them the passage; but they returning aside got to Weatherbie, and so to Tadcaster, and finally came forward unto Bramham Moor, near to Haizelwood, where they chose their ground meet to fight upon. The shiriffe was as readie to giue battell as the erle to receiue it; and so with a standard of St George spread, set fiercelie, vpon the earle, who, vnder a standard of his owne armes, encountered his aduersaries with great manhood. There was a sore incounter and cruell conflict betwixt the parties; but in the end the victorie fell to the shiriffe. The Lord Bardolfe was taken, but sore wounded, so that he shortlie after died of the hurts. As for the Earle of Northumberland, he was slain outright; so that now the prophecy was fulfiled, «Hard un-which gaue an inkling of this his heauy hap long be fore, namelie, The view from Barnard Castle commands the rich and magnificent valley of Tees. Immediately adjacent to the river, the banks are very thickly wooded; at a little distance they are more open and cultivated; but being interspersed with hedge-rows, and with isolated trees of great size and age, they still retain the richness of woodland scenery. The river itself flows in a deep trench of solid rock, chiefly limestone and marble. The finest view of its romantic course is from a handsome modern bridge built over the Tees, by the late Mr Morritt of Rokeby. In Leland's time the marble quarries seem to have been of some value. der the cliff by Egleston, is found on eche side of Tese very fair marble, wont to be taken up booth by marbelers of Barnardes Castelle and of Egleston, and partly to have been wrought by them, and partly sold on- For this carle was the stocke and maine root of all that Stirps Persitina periet confusa ruina. were left aliue, called by the name of Persie; and of manie more by diuers slaughters dispatched. For whose misfortune the people were not a little sorrie, making report of the gentleman's valiantnesse, renowne, and honour, and applieing vnto him certcine lamentable verses out of Lucaine, saieing, Sed nos nec sanguis, nec tantum vulnera nostri For his head, full of siluer horie haires, being put upon a stake, was openlie carried through London, and set vpon the bridge of the same citie: in like manner was the Lord Bardolfe's.»-HOLLINSHED'S Chronicles, Lond. 1808, 4to. IH. 45. The Rokeby, or Rokesby, family continued to be distinguished until the great civil war, when, having embraced the cause of Charles I., they suffered severely by fines and confiscations. The estate then passed from its ancient possessors to the family of the Robinsons, from whom it was purchased by the father of my valued friend, the present proprietor. Note 5. Stanza vii. A stern and lone, yet lovely road, As e'er the foot of minstrel trode! What follows is an attempt to describe the romantic glen, or rather ravine, through which the Greta finds a passage between Rokeby and Mortham, the former situated upon the left bank of Greta, the latter on the right bank, about half a mile nearer to its junction with the Tees. The river runs with very great rapidity over a bed of solid rock, broken by many shelving descents, down which the stream dashes with great noise and impetuosity, vindicating its etymology, which has been derived from the Gothic, GRIDAN, to clamour. The banks partake of the same wild and romantic character, being chiefly lofty cliffs of limestone rock, whose gray colour contrasts admirably with the various trees and shrubs which find root among their crevices, as well as with the hue of the ivy, which clings around them in profusion, and hangs down from their projections in long sweeping tendrils. At other points the rocks give place to precipitous banks of earth, bearing large trees intermixed with copse-wood. In one spot the dell, which is elsewhere very narrow, widens for a space to leave room for a dark grove of yew-trees, intermixed here and there with aged pines of uncommon size. Directly opposite to this sombre thicket, the cliffs on the other side of the Greta are tall, white, and fringed with all kinds of deciduous shrubs. The whole scenery of this spot is so much adapted to the ideas of superstition, that it has acquired the name of Blockula, from the place where the Swedish witches were supposed to hold their sabbath. The dell, however, has superstitions of its own growth, for it is supposed to be haunted by a female spectre, called the Dobie of Mortham. The cause assigned for her appearance is a lady's having been whilom murdered in the wood, in evidence of which her blood is shown upon the stairs of the old tower of Mortham. But whether she was slain by a jealous husband or by savage banditti,,or by an uncle who coveted her estate, or by a rejected lover, are points upon which the traditions of Rokeby do not enable us to decide. Note 6. Stanza xi. What gales are sold on Lapland's shore. « Also I shall show very briefly what force conjurers and witches have in constraining the elements enchanted by them or others, that they may exceed or fall short of their natural order: premising this, that the extream land of North Finland and Lapland was so taught witchcraft formerly in heathenish times, as if they had learned this cursed art from Zoroastres the Persian; though other inhabitants by the sea-coasts are reported cise this devilish art, of all the arts of the world, to adto be bewitched with the same madness; for they exermiration; and in this, or other such like mischief, they commonly agree. The Finlanders were wont formerly, amongst their other errors of gentilisme, to sell winds to merchants that were stopt on their coasts by contrary weather; and when they had their price, they knit three magical knots, not, like to the laws of Casthe merchants; observing that rule, that when they unsius, bound up with a thong, and they gave them vnto when the second a stronger wind, but when they unloosed the first they should have a good gale of wind, tied the third, they should have such cruel tempests that they should not be able to look out of the forecastle to avoid the rocks, nor move a foot to pull down the sails, nor stand at the helm to govern the ship; and they made an unhappy trial of the truth of it, who denied that there was any such power in those knots.»>— OLAUS MAGNUS'S istory of the Goths, Swedes, and Vandals, Lond. 1658. fol. pag. 47. Note 7. Stanza xi. How whistle rash bids tempests roar. That this is a general superstition is well known to all who have been on ship-board, or who have conversed with seamen. The most formidable whistler that I remember to have met with was the apparition of a certain Mrs Leaky, who, about 1636, resided, we are told, at Mynehead, in Somerset, where her only son drove a considerable trade between that port and Waterford, and was owner of several vessels. This old gentlewoman was of a social disposition, and so acceptable to her friends, that they used to say to her and to each other, it were pity such an excellent good-natured old lady should die; to which she was wont to reply, that whatever pleasure they might find in her company just now, they would not greatly like to see or converse with her after death, which nevertheless she was apt to think might happen. Accordingly, after her death and funeral, she began to appear to various persons by night and by noon-day, in her own house, in the town and fields, at sea and upon shore. So far had she departed from her former urbanity, that she is recorded to have kicked a doctor of medicine for his impolite negligence in omitting to hand her over a stile. It was also her humour to appear upon the quay, and call for a boat. But especially so soon as any of her son's ships approached the harbour, « this ghost would appear in the same garb and likeness as when she was alive, and, standing at the mainmast, would blow with a whistle, and though it were never so great a calm, yet immediately there would arise a most dreadful storm, that would break, wreck, and drown ship and goods.>> When she had thus proceeded until her son had neither credit to freight a vessel, nor could have procured men to sail it, she began to attack the persons of his family, and |