words, to combat for their rights and their liberty. The Scots They yield,' cried Edward; see, they im

kneeled down.

plore mercy.

They do,' answered Ingelram de Umfraville,

'but not ours. On that field they will be victorious, or die.' --Annals of Scotland, vol. II. p. 47.

Note XVIII.

"Forth, Marshal, on the peasant foe!

We'll tame the terrors of their bow,

And cut the bow-string loose!"-St. XXII. p. 253. The English archers commenced the attack with their usual bravery and dexterity. But against a force, whose importance he had learned by fatal experience, Bruce was provided. A small, but select, body of cavalry were detached from the right, under command of Sir Robert Keith. They rounded, as I conceive, the marsh called Milntown bog, and, keeping the firm ground, charged the left flank and rear of the English archers. As the bowmen had no spears, nor long weapons, fit to defend themselves against horse, they were instantly thrown into disorder, and spread through the whole English army a confusion, from which they never fairly recovered.

"The English archers shot so fast,
That might their shot have any last,
It had been hard to Scottis men.
But King Robert, that well gan ken,'

! Know.

That their shot right hard and grievous,
Ordained, forouth' the assembly,
His Marschall, with a great menzie,
Five hundred armed into steel,
That on light horse were horsed well,
For to pryk among the archers,
And to assail them with their spears,
That they no leisure have till shoot.
This marischell that I of mute,3
That Sir Robert of Keith was called,
As I befor here has you told,
When he saw the battles so
Assembled, and together go,
And saw the archers shoot stoutly;
With all them of his company,
In haste upon them gan he ride,
And overtooke them at a side ;4
And rushed among them so rudely,
Sticking them so dispiteously,
And in such fusion bearing downe
And slaying them, foroutin ransoun;6
That they them scalyt euerilkane.8
And from that time forth there was na
That assembled shot to ma.9
When Scotts archers saw that they sua

Although the success of this manœuvre was evident, it is very remarkable that the Scottish generals do not appear to have profited by the lesson. Almost every subsequent battle which they lost against England, was decided by the archers, to whom the close and compact array of the Scottish phalanx afforded an exposed and unresisting mark. The bloody battle of Halidown-hill, fought scarce twenty years afterward, was so completely gained by the archers, that the English are said to have lost only one knight, one esquire, and a few footsoldiers. At the battle of Neville's Cross, in 1346, where David II. was defeated and made prisoner, John de Graham, observing the loss which the Scots sustained from the English bowmen, offered to charge and disperse them, if a hundred men at arms were put under his command. "But, to confess the truth," says Fordun," he could not procure a single horseman for the service proposed." Of such little use is experience in war, where its results are opposed by habit or prejudice.

Note XIX.

Each braggart churl could boast before,

Twelve Scottish lives his baldric bore !-St. XXIV. p. 255, Roger Ascham quotes a similar Scottish proverb, "whereby they give the whole praise of shooting honestly to Englishmen, saying thus, ' that every English archer beareth under his girdle twenty-four Scottes.' Indeed Toxophilus says before, and truly of the Scottish nation, The Scottes surely be good men of warre in theyre owne feates as can be ; but as for shootinge,

they can neither use it to any profite, nor yet challenge it for any praise."-Works of Ascham, edited by Bennet, 4to, p. 110.

It is said, I trust incorrectly, by an ancient English historian, that the "good Lord James of Douglas" dreaded the superiority of the English archers so much, that when he made any of them prisoner, he gave him the option of losing the fore-finger of his right hand, or his right eye, either species of mutilation rendering him incapable to use the bow. I have mislaid the reference to this singular passage.

Note XX.

Down! down! in headlong overthrow,

Horseman and horse, the foremost go.—St. XXIV. p. 256. It is generally alleged by historians, that the English menat-arms fell into the hidden snare which Bruce had prepared for them. Barbour does not mention the circumstance. According to his account, Randolph, seeing the slaughter made by the cavalry on the right wing among the archers, advanced courageously against the main body of the English, and entered into close combat with them. Douglas and Stuart, who commanded the Scottish centre, led charge, and the battle becoming general along the whole line, was obstinately maintained on both sides for a long space of time; the Scottish archers doing great execution among the English men-at-arms, after the bowmen of England were dispersed.

their division also to the

Note XXI.

And steeds that shriek in agony.—St. XXIV. p. 256.

I have been told that this line requires an explanatory note; and, indeed, those who witness the silent patience with which horses submit to the most cruel usage, may be permitted to doubt, that, in moments of sudden or intolerable anguish, they utter a most melancholy cry. Lord Erskine, in a speech made in the House of Lords, upon a bill for enforcing humanity towards animals, noticed this remarkable fact, in language which I will not mutilate by attempting to repeat it. It was my fortune, upon one occasion, to hear a horse, in a moment of agony, utter a thrilling scream, which I still consider the most melancholy sound I ever heard.

Note XXII.

Lord of the Isles, my trust in thee

Is firm as Ailsa-rock;

Rush on with Highland sword and targe,

I with my Carrick spearmen, charge.-St. XXVII. p. 261. When the engagement between the main bodies had lasted some time, Bruce made a decisive movement, by bringing up the Scottish reserve. It is traditionally said, that at this crisis, he addressed the Lord of the Isles in a phrase used as a motto by some of his descendants, "My trust is constant in thee.” Barbour intimates, that the reserve " assembled on one field,” that is, on the same line with the Scottish forces already en