Suld wyne the Ilis sua till hand,

That nane with strength suld him withstand.
Tharfor thai come all to the King.
Wes nane withstud his bidding,
Owtakyn' Jhone of Lorne allayne.
Bot weill sone efire wes he tayne;
And present rycht to the King.
And thai that war of his leding,
That till the King had brokyn fay,2
War all dede, and destroyit away."

BARBOUR'S Bruce, Book x., v. 821.

NOTE Q.

For, see! the ruddy signal made,

That Clifford, with his merry-men all,

Guards carelessly our father's hall.-P. 156.

The remarkable circumstances by which Bruce was induced to enter Scotland, under the false idea that a signal-fire was lighted upon the shore near his maternal castle of Turnberrythe disappointment which he met with, and the train of success which arose out of that very disappointment, are too curious to be passed over unnoticed. The following is the narrative of Barbour. The introduction is a favourable specimen of his style, which seems to be in some degree the model for that of Gawain Douglas:

Excepting.-2 Faith.-- 3 Spring.-4 Began.-5 Loftily. Several.—7 Make.

. Buds. Covering.- 10 Bereaved.

And all gressys beguth to spryng.
In to that tyme the nobill king,
With his flote, and a few menye,'
Thre hundyr I trow thai mycht be,
Is to the se, owte off Arane
A litill forouth, ewyn gane.

"Thai rowit fast, with all their mycht,
Till that apon thaim fell the nycht,
That woux myrk3 apon gret maner
Swa that thai wyst nocht quhar thai wer.
For thai na nedill had, na stane;
But rowyt alwayis in till ane,
Sterand all tyme apon the fyr,

That thai saw brynnand lycht and schyr.4
It wes bot auentur thaim led:

And thai in schort tyme sa thaim sped,
That at the fyr arywyt thai;

And went to land bot mar delay.

And Cuthbert, that has sene the fyr,

Was full off angyr, and off ire:

For he durst nocht do it away;
And wes alsua dowtand ay
That his lord suld pass to se.
Tharfor thair cummyn waytit he;
And met thaim at thair arywing.

He wes wele sone broucht to the King,
That speryt at him how he had done.
And he with sar hart tauld him sone,
How that he fand nane weil luffand;
Bot all war fayis, that he fand:
And that the lord the Persy,
With ner thre hundre in cumpany,
Was in the castell thar besid,
Fulfillyt off dispyt and prid.

But ma than twa partis off his rowt
War herberyt in the toune without;
And dyspytyt yow mar, Schir King
Than men may dispyt ony thing.'
Than said the King, in full gret ire;
'Tratour, quhy maid thow than the fyr?'
'A! Schyr,' said he, 'sa God me se!
The fyr wes newyr maid for me.
Na, or the nycht, wyst it nocht;
Bot fra I wyst it, weill I thocht

1 Men.-2 Before.-3 Dark.-4 Clear.-5 Adventure.

That ye, and haly your menye,
In hy' suld put yow to the se,
For thi I cum to mete yow her,
To tell perellys that may aper.'

"The King wes off his spek angry,
And askyt his prywé men, in hy,
Quhat at thaim thoucht wes best to do.
Schyr Edward fryst answert thar to,
His brodyr that wes swa hardy,
And said; I say yow sekyrly
Thar sall na perell, that may be,
Dryve me eftsonys to the se.
Myne auentur her tak will I,
Quhethir it be esfull or angry.'
Brothyr,' he said, 'sen thou will sua,
It is gud that we samyn ta
Dissese or ese, or payne or play,
Eftyr as God will ws purway.3
And sen men sayis that the Persy
Myn heretage will occupy;

And his menye sa ner ws lyis,

That ws dispytis mony wyss;

The Bruce hath won his father's hall ! — P. 177.

I have followed the flattering and pleasing tradition, that the Bruce, after his descent upon the coast of Ayrshire, actually gained possession of his maternal castle. But the tradition is not accurate. The fact is, that he was only strong enough to alarm and drive in the outposts of the English garrison, then com

1 Haste.-2 Soon after.- Prepare.-4 Avenge.- Quickly. Confidently.

manded, not by Clifford, as assumed in the text, but by Percy. Neither was Clifford slain upon this occasion, though he had several skirmishes with Bruce. He fell afterwards in the battle of Bannockburn. Bruce, after alarming the castle of Turnberry, and surprising some part of the garrison, who were quartered without the walls of the fortress, retreated into the mountainous part of Carrick, and there made himself so strong, that the English were obliged to evacuate Turnberry, and at length the Castle of Ayr. Many of his benefactions and royal gifts attest his attachment to the hereditary followers of his house, in this part of the country.

It is generally known, that Bruce, in consequence of his distresses after the battle of Methven, was affected by a scorbutic disorder, which was then called a leprosy. It is said he experienced benefit from the use of a medicinal spring, about a mile north of the town of Ayr, called from that circumstance King's Ease. The following is the tradition of the country, collected by Mr. Train :-" After Robert ascended the throne, he founded the priory of Dominican monks, every one of whom was under the obligation of putting up to Heaven a prayer once every week-day, and twice in holydays, for the recovery of the king; and, after his death, these masses were continued for the saving of his soul. The ruins of this old monastery are now nearly level with the ground. Robert likewise caused houses to be built round the well of King's Ease, for eight lepers, and allowed eight bolls of oatmeal, and 281. Scotch money, per annum, to each person. These donations were laid upon the lands of Fullarton, and are now payable by the Duke of Portland. The farm of Shiels, in the neighbourhood of Ayr, has ́ to give, if required, a certain quantity of straw for the lepers' beds, and so much to thatch their houses annually. Each leprous person had a drinking-horn provided him by the king, which continued to be hereditary in the house to which it was first granted. One of those identical horns, of very curious workmanship, was in the possession of the late Colonel Fullarton of that Ilk."

1[Sir Walter Scott had misread Mr. Train's MS., which gave not King's Ease, but King's Case, i. e. Casa Regis, the name of the royal foundation described below. Mr. Train's kindness enables the Editor to make this correction, 1833.]

My correspondent proceeds to mention some curious remnants of antiquity respecting this foundation. "In compliment to Sir William Wallace, the great deliverer of his country, King Robert Bruce invested the descendants of that hero with the right of placing all the lepers upon the establishment of King's Case. This patronage continued in the family of Craigie, till it was sold along with the lands of the late Sir Thomas Wallace. The burgh of Ayr then purchased the right of applying the donations of King's Case to the support of the poor-house of Ayr. The lepers' charter-stone was a basaltic block, exactly the shape of a sheep's kidney, and weighing an Ayrshire boll of meal. The surface of this stone being as smooth as glass, there was not any other way of lifting it than by turning the hollow to the ground, there extending the arms along each side of the stone, and clasping the hands in the cavity. Young lads were always considered as deserving to be ranked among men, when they could lift the blue stone of King's Case. It always lay beside the well, till a few years ago, when some English dragoons encamped at that place wantonly broke it, since which the fragments have been kept by the freemen of Prestwick in a place of security. There is one of these charter-stones at the village of Old Daily, in Carrick, which has become more celebrated by the following event, which happened only a very few years ago:The village of New Daily being now larger than the old place of the same name, the inhabitants insisted that the charter-stone should be removed from the old town to the new, but the people of Old Daily were unwilling to part with their ancient right. Demands and remonstrances were made on each side without effect, till at last man, woman, and child, of both villages, marched out, and by one desperate engagement put an end to a war, the commencement of which no person then living remembered. Justice and victory, in this instance, being of the same party, the villagers of the old town of Daily now enjoy the pleasure of keeping the blue-stane unmolested. Ideal privileges are often attached to some of these stones. In Girvan, if a man can set his back against one of the above description, he is supposed not liable to be arrested for debt, nor can cattle, it is imagined, be poinded as long as they are fastened to the same stone. That stones were often used as symbols to denote the right of possess