07 Z.-t V BALLADS AND LAYS SCOTTISH HISTORY. NORVAL CLYNK A.M. EDINBURGH : R. SHAND, DUNDAS STREET; VV. S. OKR & CO., LONDON ; AND W. CURRY .lu.v. & CO. DUBLIN, MDCCCXLIV. KDINBURGH ! PRINTEE BY STARK -AND COWPA^Y. ^ 4-4 6 1 A D V E R T 1 S E M E N T. H The present is an attempt to illustrate in a lyrical c«|form a few of the principal events in the public history •"of Scotland, for which there is afforded an ample field o c^without having recourse to local histories and tradi- ^tions, or those of private families. No endeavour is made to imitate the style of the old Ballads ; and if a the following pieces exhibit any portion of the spirit L. that characterizes the ancient minstrelsy, they owe it CO •^ to the stirring interest of their themes. The histori- cal notices annexed to each piece are intended chiefly to save the necessity of elsewhere looking for dates, names, and other facts which could not well bo intro- 41G728 IV ADVERTISEMENT. duced into the poem itself ; and, although at the risk of giving those paragraphs a bare and unattractive ap- pearance, the strong temptation to enlarge and embel- lish their matter by the insertion of additional pas- sages from history and ancient song, has been as much as possible resisted. A plan similar to that adopted in the present col- lection seems the one best calculated for modern me- trical history. By making some striking incident the subject of a distinct lyric, wherein the fancy of the poet shall not be allowed to interfere essentially with historical truth ; and by supplying from the pages of a standard annalist whatever may be necessary to com- plete the general narrative, a varied and pleasing chro- nicle will be produced, worthy, in proportion to the merit of its execution, to become a companion to the greater work. Without entertaining any hope of be- ing able fully to illustrate the annals of Scotland in this manner, the author of the limited volume now sub- ADVERTISEMENT. V mitted to the public will feel proud indeed if its recep- tion encourage him to add other pieces to the collection, and fresh links to the historic chain. In the meantime, he trusts that none of the poems in the series will be considered as displaying any undue national prejudice in reference to old points of discord between the two kingdoms now so happily united ; but that it will readily be understood when merely contemporary feel- ings are represented, and what portions express such sentiments as naturally and justly arise on a retrospect of the Past. EDJNBrRGH, \st November 1844. CONTENTS. 1. The Invasion of Haco, . . . Page 3 2. The Ked-Cross Knight, . . .14 3. The Wedding Masque of Alexander the Thiid, 25 4. King John de Baliol, . . .36 5. The Penance of King John, . . 42 6. Wallace of Elderslie, . . .50 7. De Longueville, ... 56 8. The Judgment of Wallace, . . .71 9. King Robert de Bruce, . . 76 10. The Battle of Bannockburn, . . .81 Lines written at the Bore-stone, . . 86 11. The Kingly Heart, ... 88 12. Agnes of Dunbar, . . . .102 13. The Battle of Ottcrburn, . . ]o7 14. Young Rothesay, . . . .117 Vlll CONTENTS. 15. The Battle of Haiiaw, . . Page 1-24 The Burgher's Song, . . 126 16. The Song of the Captive King, . . .132 1 7. Catharine Douglas, . . . 1 38 18. TheDool of Flodden, . . .146 De Profundis, . . . 153 19. Queen Magdalene, . . . 156 20. Lament of the Commons for James the Fifth, . 166 21. The Lay of Loehleven, . . . 170 22. The Battle of Langside, . . .181 23. The Death of Regent Moray, . . 189 24. Dirge for Queen Mary, . . .198 The Union Song, , . 206 BALLADS AND LAYS SCOTTISH HISTORY. BALLADS AND LAYS SCOTTISH HISTORY. I. 2rjje Inbastou of ii?ato. From the ancient warrior land Haco, Prince of Norway, came, Proud of heart and strong of hand, Scotland's Isles in arms to claim. England, on thy Western shore, Be not now the larnm dumb ! Where the Norsemen raged before. Thither Norsemen yet may come. BALLADS AND LAYS Ostmen of Hibernia's Isle, Ye that Henry's liegemen hate, Bid your mourning- widows smile, Bid your swords for vengeance wait ! Late from Norway's gazing coast Haco steered his navy's pride ; Shouted all his mighty host O'er Breydeyiar's swelling tide. Gales of promise o'er his bark Shook the banner's raven fold ; Round the prow, uprising dark. Angry dragons shone in gold. Men and ships, — how great a band Through the Hebrid Isles hath gone I Crested warriors crowded stand, Mail-clad rowers ply them on. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. Who shall rashly, vainly dare Lead against him ship and sword? Homage paying, quick repair Mona's Prince and Isla's Lord, Who shall meet his vast array? Hark the storm is answering ! Will the winds allegiance pay ? Will the tempest homage bring ? Wandering in the stormy gloom. Darkling moved the ships, and slow While the lightning's dart of doom Paled the golden dragons' glow. Spake the wildered King of Norse, — '•' Muttering hags in Scottish caves Give the deadly tempest force. Rousing wild the charmed waves. BALLADS AND LAYS " Priests, begin the rites divine, Break with psalms the evil spell, Loudly o'er the billowy brine Lift your voices' holy swell !" Sadly in the storm they cried Fi-om the rocks in suppliant strain : Feebly on the blast it died, Sadly, feebly, and in vain ! Still the tempest louder woke, Sweeping- o'er each woful deck : Still the billows, as they broke, Downward crushed the shrieking wreck ; Till the nearer shores of Clyde Saw the hostile navy sail, Breasting o'er the surging tide. Stoutly struggling with the gale. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. Soon to land the Norsemen spring', Gathering fast and g-athering aye : Alexander, Scotland's King, Meet at Largs the foe's array ! * Near and far, with warning horn, Fiery signals swiftly flew, Hurrying there, from eve to morn, Many a stalworth Scot and true. Clad in mail from head to heel. Hasted thither knight and lord. Yet the foremost foeman's steel Rattled on a peasant's sword. Alexander, Scotland's King, Guarding well his sires' renown, Bade liis willing host to bring Seaward forth from dale and town. BALLADS AND LAYS Heard ye not their steeds by night Thundering as he led them on ? Saw ye not at Largs how bright Sunrise on their armour shone ? There the shout that warriors love Burst at morning's early glow ; Heaven's tempest raged above, Battle's storm was rife below. Deeper grew at noon the fray, Murkier moved the troubled sun ; Sank in night his feeble ray Ere the bloody strife was done. Glory to the Heavens on high, Combating for Scotland there ! Roaring wind, and sea, and sky 'Gainst the Norsemen fighting were. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. Wo for Norway's sinking band ! Darkness hid them, battle-worn, Staying each contending hand, Darkness sweeter than the raorn. Go, to wailing Norway tell Tidings of her children's fate ; How at distant Largs they fell, Fighting long in dismal strait. Rudely sepulchred they lie 'Neath the cairn and rugged stone, Where the stormy sea-birds cry, Where the Western waters moan. Merry England, joy the while ! Homeward oars the Norsemen ply : Ostmen of Hibernia's Isle, See them pass unaiding by ! 10 BALLADS AND LAYS Wo for Norway's hapless King ! Baffled hope oppressed him sore ; Struck by sorrow's deadly sting-, Back he turned from Albyn's shore. Kingdom, kin, and native land Never, never shall he see ; Borne from Orkney's fatal strand Dead and shrouded shall he be. There, upon his dying place, Wounded in his soul he lay ; There the spirits of his race Crowded round him, dim and gray. Bid the Pagan forms avaunt. By the charm of Christian prayer, By the heavenward swelling chant, And the incense-perfumed air ! FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 1 I Answered then the warrior Kin^, — " Priests, though sweetly in mine ear Sound the holy strain ye sing, Pagan spirits sadly hear. " Yet awhile in rushing verse Let their warlike deeds be told : Bid the hoary bard rehearse • Chronicled achievements old. " Giant-hearted were my sires. Though but shadows now they seem ; Fiends of night through cavern fires Howling fled their faulchion's gleam. " Not from man or fiendish charm Come this bitter loss and wo ; Holier, higher, mightier arm Lays old Norway's Monarch low.'' 12 BALLADS AND LAYS Thus at midnight's awful hour Scotland's stern invader died : Scotland's King-, in princely power, Sheathed his sword in battle tried. Thus will Heaven's protecting hand Help the brave for evermore, Loving well their native land, Fighting for its sacred shore. The Norwegian King commenced his expedition in July 1263, and after anchoring his fleet in Brey- deyiar,or Bressay, Sound, and remaining for some time in Orkney, proceeded towards the Frith of Clyde, which he reached in September ; his progress hav- ing been seriously retarded by the artful negotiations of the young Scottish Monarch, Alexander the Third. While his vessels were in the Frith, a hurricane and tempest of unusual violence arose, which destroyed a considerable number of them, and greatly damaged FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 1 3 the remainder. Haco imputed the storm to the agency of the Scottish witches, and in the hojie of counter- acting their incantations, landed with several of his clergy on one of the islands of the Cumrays, where, at his desire, mass was celebrated amidst the raging of the elements. The fiercely-contested engagement at Largs took place in October, the Scots being com- manded by their King in person, along with Alex- ander, the High Steward of Scotland ; and on the issue of the battle proving so disastrous to the inva- ders, Haco returned with the shattered remains of his armament to Orkney, where he died on the loth of December. In the course of King Haco's southward voyage, the Ostmen, who were of Norse descent, and inha- bited the Eastern coast of Ireland, besought his pro- tection against the English; and the Norwegian leader, even after his repulse at Largs, showed a desire to give them immediate assistance in terms of their request, but was obliged to forego this design on account of the opposition which it met with from his own army. 14 BALLADS AND LAYS 11. Ye Scots whose faithful bosoms keep Old freedom's sacred flame Unquenched and pure from age to age, From age to age the same ; For you an olden tale I sing, A lofty tale and true ; But now not war's ungentle theme, Free Scots, I sing for you. Ye maidens twine the blue-bell flowers. Around the thistle twine, And hear a lay, — a lay of lo\'e And liberty divine ! FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 15 It was in the twelve hundredth year Of Christ, and seventy -three, When Alexander ruled the land In peace and loyalty ; One summer noon, O happy day ! There chanced a knight to ride, Pricking his steed in listless mood By Girvan's woody side. The lightly-soaring lark, unseen, Sent down his heavenly song, And ceaseless voices answered it The leafy boughs among. Unmailed and all companionless, Along the forest glade He journeyed on : the ruddy Cross His mantle bore displayed. 16 BALLADS AND LAYS And late on Syria's burning plain That blessed sign had led His knightly sword where danger scowled And Paynim foemen fled. As through the wood he went, the sound Of mirth came on his ear, And fitfully his bugle horn Some huntsman winded clear. He listened, and the hawkbell's chime The breeze was sweetly bringing, And shouts and laughter musical Were through the greenwood ringing. A gallant train ! they blithely come, With hawk and winded horn, All through the forest merrily On mettled palfreys borne. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 17 'Tvvas not the huntsmen's forest garb. Their faces all so merry ; Those damsels with their cheeks of bloom, And lips that mocked the cherry : He saw them, but ho marked them not, Nor could they now beguile His eyes, and yet his eyes he fixed And checked his steed the while. Beneath her woodland cap of green Her hair was darkly straying- ; Within her gentle eyes the light Of twenty summei's playing. The sunshine of a joyous heart Was in her smiling- shown ; And bore her brow no other gem Than purity alone. 18 BALLADS AND LAYS Her face, the form her cloak revealed, Her tapering boddice bound, Entranced his eyes, and o'er his heart An instant magic wound. With courteous greeting, bending low, He reined his steed aside, With seeming haste and lingering glance, Along the glade to ride. Outspake that dame of heart so free, — " Why haste you thus, Sir Knight ? Fear not, though we be strong in force, And you in single plight. " No Paynim Soldan's horde is here, Then safely ride with me. For welcome to my lonely towers A Red-Cross Knight will be." 4 FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 1 9 Ag-ain he bent him low in sella, — " O darae beyond compare ! As through these flowery paths I came That deck the woodland fair, " What form of fairy power, methought. The g-reenwood rules around ? And lo, the Queen of Love appears, In beauty brightly crowned ! " But pardon. Lady, if unstayed My journey must be sped. Nor add unto the witching lure Already o'er me shed." The Lady and her maidens all The captive knight surround, And powerless is the warrior's arm Whom gentle Love hath bound. 20 BALLADS AISIDLAYS Within her hand so soft and small She seized his bridle rein ; And through the wood, with hawk and horn;, Rode blithely on the tfain. Her merry maidens whispered then, With smiling- glances gay, " O gallantly, right gallantly, Onr sport hath sped to-day I " Why, huntsmen, are your bugles slow The wonted pryse to sound ? A Red-Cross Knight is worthier game Than e'er your beagles found." They cleared the wood, they crossed the wold, Bright gleamed the waves of Clyde, And Turnberry's stately walls and towers Looked o'er the ocean wide. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 2 I Within those walls, till even-song^, A g-uest the Knight remained, And morning- shone, and there was he In Beauty's thrall detained. He little recked the hours that fled, The days that went and came ; He looked but to his Lady's eyes, And they were still the same. Twice seven days have come and gone. And morning's beams are breaking; The distant heavings of the sea Are in the sun-light waking. Across the waves, along the shore, The silent dawn is stealing, Those darkly spreading castle walls And shrouded towers revealing. 22 BALLADS AND LAYS The lattice of the chapel dim Admits the holy beam, And carven roof and pillared floor Are brightening in the gleam. There lifts a priest his hand to bless A kneeling loving pair : 'Tis he, the gentle Red-Cross Knight, And she, that Lady fair ! That fairest dame is Countess high Of Carrick's hill and vale ; That gentlest knight is princely Bruce, Young Lord of Annandale. The wedding words were spoken there. Unknown to kith or kin ; And shall it please the Scottish King To dare his ward to win ? FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 23 But little cause her kindred found The gallant Bruce to spurn, Nor long did Alexander's breast With kingly anger burn. O Marjory, fair Marjory, How joyed thy soul to see Thy bright-eyed first-born smiling sit Upon his nurse's knee .' Bi\t could not even thy searching eye His future path reveal. When Bruce in all his manhood rose To work his country's weal. And ever blest from age to age The woodland meeting be, That gave a Bruce to Bannockburn, And kept our country free ! 24 BALLADS AND LAYS Marjory, Countess of Carrick in her own right, and the widow of Adam de Kilconquhar, who had been slain in Palestine during the Crusade, was a ward of Alexander III. at the time of her marriage with Ro- bert de Bruce, which occurred in the circumstances here mentioned, and a feudal fine of large amount had to be paid to the Monarch, in consequence of the par- ties having taken that step without previously apply- ing for and obtaining his consent. The lover of the Countess was then only the son of the Lord of An- nandale, the competitor for the Scottish Crown with John de Baliol, but by right of his wife he became Earl of Carrick, which was therefore one of the titles of his illustrious oifspring, Robert the First, born on 21st March 1274. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 25 III. crf)C SStrUDfng iJTasriuc of ^IcxanDcr rtjf STijirD. There comes iinhojjed no joy on earth The grieving- soul to cheer ; Nor heaviness succeeds to mirth But with a boding- fear, A prophesying of the heart, A dimming of the eye^ The sounding of a coming dart, A darkness passing by ; And oft rejoicing nations know More palpable and sure, iMore dread betokenings that foreshow Their joy shall not endure. 26 BALLADS AND LAYS Dull minstrel hence ! A blither lay In festive hall be sung ! King Alexander weds to-day A Princess fair and young. And Scottish maidens in the dance, To tabor, harp, and song, Move v/ith the laughing lords of France In mirthful maze along. The harpers, harping there in hall, Their Monarch's praises sing ; From ancient chieftains, warriors all, His high descent they bring. They hail him Sovereign of the Isles, Lord Paramount of Man, And reckon o'er the Norsemen's spoils In fight at Largs he wan. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 27 And all, in love and homage there, Look gladly on the King, While flowers before his Lady fair The bridal maidens fling. Some sit enchained in beaiity's spell, Around the banquet some; And hark ! the wakening notes that tell The merry masquers come. Like Elves that eldern forests haunt, They troop in quaintest guise ; How light their steps, how jubilant And bright their glancing eyes ! It is not joy unfelt they feign ; No hireling band are they, Nor menials low, in ruder train, Make up the galliard gay. 28 BALLADS AND LAYS But, first of all, the gladsome King Leads on his bride so fair ; Ladies and Lords are following In many a joyous pair. " The Elfin King, the Elfin Queen"— To pipe and harp they sung, Tripping beneath the branches green, Within the palace hung : *' The King and Queen of Elfin land Rule o'er the forests free ; The wild deer own their sceptre wand, And we their lieges be. " Their home the giant thistle wards, Their couch is thistle down. And aye the faithful lion guards The Elfin realm and crown. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 29 " And long o'er happy Eliin land Shall last their peaceful x'eign," — Why shuddering part the mirthful band ? What dumbness stops their strain ? As if some old and hidden grave, Beneath the masquers' tread, There to the light untimely gave Its shroudless, fleshless dead, Upstarted in the midst a form That rattled l)one on bone, Long while deserted by the worm, And left in dust, alone. Ho, bid the revellers all advance, The merry masque renew ! And death will ever close the dance With equal steps and true. 30 BALLADS AND LAYS In festive hall, a moment's space, It mocked with dismal glee The masquers' light and changing pace. Alone and silently ; And ceasing soon its cheerless play. Sudden, with outstretched arm And pointed finger, passed away, — Heaven shield the King from harm I Ye say not Alexander's cheek Grew paler than its wont ? Death had he seen where warriors seek Their fame in battle's front ; But fled the mirth and died the joy, For sick at heart were all To see a form so foul destroy So fair a festival. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 31 The sun rose brightly on the morn, And hearts, that yesternight With boding fear had sunk forlorn, Beat high with new delight. That form was not of charnel birth, 'Twas but a painted show, A cunning pageant meant for mirth, Portending weal nor wo I But hoary heads that shook with age Hoarded the token still. Devoutly waiting, sad and sage, The surely boded ill. And Ercildoune's unerring seer. Who sat by Eildon Tree, Foretold some mighty tempest near, Some wo that was to be. 32 BALLADS AND LAYS O deadly was the storm that came, And bitter was the wo, The weird of misery and shame The Scots were doomed to know ! The monarch of their heart to mourn Lying in gory phght, Down from the cliffs of steep Kinghorn Cast in the wildering night ; The daughter of his daughter dead To own their Liege and Queen, Ere yet the land a king had led Her infant eyes had seen ; And soon to hear, in fatal hour, (As still the weird went on,) That blighted was their tender flower, Their latest solace gone. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 33 And wo of woes, dark Tyranny Spread forth his dragon wing-, And Liberty waxed faint to see His death-like shadowing. Truth languished, in the dust o'erthrown, As Treachery grew strong ; And noble hearts became as stone, Through misery and wrong ; Till Right, that battled long in blood, Her glorious victory won ; Till Liberty exulting stood, And Scotland's weird was done. The incident of the Skeleton Masquer's sudden and startling appearance among the wedding revellers, occurred in Jedburgh at the marriage of Alexander, with Joleta, daughter of the French Count de Dreux in the year 1285. Thomas of Ercildoune's well- 34 BALLADS AND LAYS known prediction of a coming tempest was considered to have been accomplished by the fatal accident which befell the King soon after, and the untimely death of his grand-daughter Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, during her voyage from that country to Scotland, in 1290, followed by all the miseries which a con- tested throne, the usurped and tyrannical rule of a stranger, and the traitorous submission of their chiefs, can bring upon a free people. No monarch's death was ever mourned more truly, or with greater cause, than that of Alexander III. Since writing the foregoing ballad, the author finds that in doing so he has illustrated two stanzas of Wordsworth's, in the piece entitled " Presentiments," which almost induce a supposition that the Poet had in view the above passage of Scottish history. When some great change gives boundless scope To an exulting nation's hope, Oft, startled and made wise By your low-breathed intcrpretings, The simply-meek foretaste the springs Ot' bitter contraries. J FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 25 Ye daunt the proud array of war, Pervade the lonely ocean far As sail liath been unfurled ; For dancers in the festive hall What ghastly partners hath your call Fetched from the shadowy world ! 36 BALLADS AND LAYS IV. i^ing JTofitt Ue Baltol. Th e trumpet blared through Stirling town In blasts slow measured, oft and long, As moved the crowded street adown, From Stirling towers, a marshalled throng. Their pennons waved, their coursers' pace Answered the trumping pursuivant, And knights and nobles, high in place. Pranced in the train with haughty front. For there did John of Baliol ride, In royal mantle clad was he ; The fiery Lion's blazoned pride Proclaimed him Scotland's King to be. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 37 Great was the passing pomp, and clear The heralds' music swelling- high. But faintly rose in Baliol's ear His people's dearer harmony ; I'or feeble were the shouts as passed, Like some dark cloud, the gorgeous show, That dimmed the eye of age, and cast A shade on tearless manhood's brow. They could not hail with joyful look The nobles who had wronged their land, O r shout before a king who took His royalty from Southron hand. And there an humble Frere, and old, Beheld the train go prancing near ; The meanest page in scorn did hold That nameless Scot, that lowly Frere. 38 BALLADS AND LAYS Yet erst he strode a warrior brave, And coat of iron and buckler bore. When Alexander's freemen drave King Haco from the Scottish shore. And now within his aged eye For the old glory rose a tear ; With shame for high-born infamy, He burned in thought, that lowly Frere. '' O where is he, and where are they, The leader and the band so true, Whose worth shall wipe our shame away, And Scotland's former years renew ? " Where free hearts beat, where round the hearth The ready blades are hung, I know ; But Scottish chiefs forget their birth, And John to Edward bends him low, FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 39 ** Ah, Baliol, Baliol, thou hast won A weary lot and hard to bear I Confessed as King supreme by none, Yet suffering- all a kingdom's care. •' Thy lordship was enough for thee ; Less worship now thine honours bring, And thou hast learned how poor must be A sceptred thrall, a subject king." Thus sad in so\il, the aged Frere By winding Forth pursued his way, Until he heard a maiden near Sing to her task a simple lay ; — A mournful melody that plained For good King Alexander's fate ; How loving and beloved he reigned. How lorn was now his people's state. 40 BALLADS AND LAYS Warm in his heart a blitheness sprung-, As there the Frere his journey stayed : He blessed Heaven and her who sung, For he that simple song had made. With prouder step he wandered on, And while that strain was in his ear, King Edward on the English throne Was poorer than the lowly Frere. It is almost needless to say that the " mournful melody " here meant is the oft-quoted rhyme pre- served by the Scottish chronicler, Andrew Wynton, Prior of Lochleven, being the oldest known specimen of national song in the " North Countrie." ^Tijat Scotlantr Icti in luibc arCa le, fatonc tore ssons of ale anU bxttse, ©f \»giic ant) inax, of gamijn anti glc ; FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 41 ©uvc goltJ toes ci)an9Bti in=to Utit. CvgBt, botne in=to bivgnuBtc, succour *cotlan"i3, anli xcmclie, d)at stats is in pcx-plcxgtc. The character of Alexander III. was in every re- spect worthy of the affection which his subjects en- tertained for his person and memory, while the peace and the prosperity which distinguished his reign ren- dered more intolerable the subsequent state of the broken-hearted Scots. After the successes of Robert I. had restored his country to a great part of its for- mer happiness and tranquillity, the days of the earlier monarch were long remembered as *• the time of peace ; " and it so happens, from the unchanging na- ture of Scottish Chancery forms, that at the pre- sent day the reign of Alexander is referred to in the very same terms, when in the service of an heir to any particular lands mention is made of their ancient value " in tempore pads." The dishonourable reign of John Baliol commenced in 1292, and terminated, by his degradation, in 1296. 42 BALLADS AND LAYS V. E'f)e ^tnmte of Iting JTolju. " Here rest thine aged limbs awhile, Thoii Frere of Orders Gray, And drink thou of the good brown ale, Or of the new-made whey ; For strong hath been the July sun, And thou art travel-worn ; Come, bless the widow's roof to-night, And lodge with me till morn. INIy yoiingest son will pull the bent So fresh, thy bed to be ; My eldest from the broomy burn Will bring a fish for thee." I FROai SCOTTISH HISTORY. 43 *' Now blessing and sweet peace, daughter, Remain with thee and thine ! And none that succour wandering eld A full reward shall tine. My limbs are old and weak, kind dame. My wandering steps are slow ; But sorrow is a heavier ill, And sad in heart I go. Mine eyes are old and dim, daughter, But better had they been Beneath December's snow-drift closed. Ere they that sight had seen, — . That dismal sight of shame and wo I saw but yester morn ; The Scottish King in penance stand, And brook King Edward's scorn !" 44 BALLADS AND LAYS " Now he was worthy scorn, Father, Such craven soul to show ! But say how happed the deed of dool, Though it he pain to know." " Well know ye, dame, how our Scots lords, When Edward, in his pride, With John his vassal bade them hown In England's host to ride, How manfully in wrath they spurned His summons and his power. Renouncing for their King the faith He pledged in evil hour. The barons to the Border called Their followers all and sum, As if the spirit strong of old Once more had rousing come. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 45 They rode from east, they rode from west, And strove in arms amain. But resteth not with mortal might The victory to gain. Nor need I tell of Berwick's wo, Dunbar's disastrous field, And all our lords, for life and land, Their freedom fain to yield. The conflict and the issue lie In heavenly counsels deep. But honour, though a world be lost, A man, unarmed, may keep. King Edward to Saint Johnstoun* came With trump and gonfalon. And high in hall and chancel held The feast of good Saint John; • An ancient name for tlie citv of Perth. 46 BALLADS AND LAYS And northward thence to Brechin Tower He passed, in conquering state, Where Baliol, stricken in his pride, Stood singly at the gate ; And at Strathcathro yester morn Was Bahol's penance paid, Beside the kirk, within the bound Where many a Scot is laid. 1 saw the kingly Southron there. In purple and in pall, On cloth of gold enthroned sit. Where elm-tree shadows fall. The helmets of his peers around. Through the green leaves they glanced, And as the breeze of morning stirred The boughs, their bright plumes danced. 3 FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 47 And there, in presence, pale King John, With sceptre, robe and crown, Hent on the kirkyard's dewy moss His vassal eyes adown. Most like a pageant king he looked, A pageant king was he. Losing no kingdom w^hen he lost His robe of royalty. They lifted from his head the crown That Alexander wore, And from his grasp the sceptre took That Alexander bore. The rod of penitence instead His trembling hand displayed. While to the fire-eyed king his lipi Their hoarse confession made. 48 BALLADS AND LAYS His homage now renounced in vain, His striving- to be free. Treason he owned, and gave his crown At Edward's will to be. And could I there forget the past. Nor hope the blest return Of times when never foeman's heel One Scottish grave might spurn ? Could I but weep ? The Southron loons They mocked me for my tears, And thrust me on my joyless path Away before their spears. And now in weariness I go, With mournful thoughts opprest, Beside my childhood's home at last My weary bones to rest. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY 49 But they, methinks, shall stir with life, In the grim charnel gloom, When banded freemen first shall march In triumph past my tomh I" John Baliol's shameful penance, as a rebellious vas- sal of Edward I., was performed on the 7th of July 1296, in the churchyard of Strathcathro, Forfar- shire. A few months afterwards Sir William Wallace of Elderslie began his ever- memorable career. 50 BALLADS AND LAYS VI. tmaWatt of iEIDerslte. 'Tis not alone with present years The freeborn patriot's spirit dwells, Nor only with their hopes and fears His bosom sinks or swells. He loves to turn him to the morn Of liberty, and proudly mark Its dawn amid the gloom forlorn, And desolate and dark. He loves to watch, he claims to share, The hopes that cheered the struggling brave All fears to scorn, all toils to bear, And glorified their grave. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 51 Then turn, ye patriot Scots, with me, To Scotland's tintie of thrall, and sigh For banners fallen with the free, Who freely dared to die I Her ramparts and her halls behold. How scorched around and lone within. Or shamed by banners strange, and sold Through treachery's foulest sin ! The mateless mother lifts her moan, Weeping with those that sireless be ; The widowed maiden haunts alone The blackened trysting tree. And brings the summer wind no more The breath of flowers and free birds' song, For wide the burning breath of war Hath withering passed along. 52 BALLADS AND LAYS How may the lark and ousel sing- O'er fields and woods that wasted lie ? Or roaming wild-bee rest his wing Where no sweet flowers are by ? ^ But come the shouts and railing mirth Of strangers in their wassail glee ; The breeze that on the hills hath birth Alone is pure and free. Where springs that happy mountain wind The freeman with the deer may share A home, but only he can find The hope undying there. And hope is in yon beaming sky, In misty crag and shadowing tree ; Thy lifted blade, thy purposed eye. Dear Chief of Elderslie I FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 53 The Southron heard, as evening fell, Thy bugle blast in distant glen, But weened it was the night wolf's yell. And sought his cheer again. The brooding Scot knew well the sound. And, arming with a freeman's pride. He hasted to the gathering ground, By dell and mountain side. Wallace of Elderslie 1 my lay Would linger with thy name, and wake Fondly and wisely, that it may Be loved but for thy sake. Wallace of Scotland, her true Knight, True Champion of an injured throne, A land whose King betrayed his right, And cared not for his own ! 54 BALLAD8 AND LAYS Prince of the faithful that have wrought, Not for themselves, biit to obtain Their country's good, and purely sought To rescue, not to reign I Doth not the Scot who can retrace, Through changing years of sun and gloom, To thee the freedom of his race. Revisit oft thy tomb? Ah where? There is no grave for him In all the land he loved and saved ; No field where his death eye grew dim As last his faulchion waved. Abroad his traitor limbs disperse ! So doomed the justice of his foe ; Yet shall not thence the Poet's verse Be but a dirge of wo. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 55 Though hearts that loved him then were riven, His deathless spirit moved them still, And, wider than his bones were driven. It breathed on moor and hill. His spirit conquered at the last ; His name was marvellous in might ; And Scotland, when her toils were past, Remembered Wallace wiffht. The first exploit of this disinterested Champion of Liberty was achieved in 1297, and early in 1298 he was elected Governor of Scotland, in name of John Baliol, who was still recognised as the only sovereign of the country, notwithstanding his forced resignation. 56 BALLADS AND LAYS VII. Be Hongiiebille, " Fill well the bowl," said Longueville, " And drain in mirth the wine ; Fill high to pledge the Fiery Flag, Ye fearless feres of mine 1" When yet the crew were pledging round, The Reiver left the bowl, For wassail speech was on his tongue, While sorrow pressed his soul. Alone upon the deck he stood ; The full moon ht the sea ; Down in the deep he saw her sleep, — Above, and there was she ; FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 57 And there, mast high 'twixt sea and sky, The bloody flag was hung, Like murder's stain, or dream of pain On sinless slumber flung. And heavily the Reiver sighed, — " I'm weary and a- worn With bearing long a Reiver's name, Man's fear and angels' scorn. " Was there no mercy. Lord of France, No pardon for my sin, Or punishment save death alone To me and all my kin ? " The man I slew did wrong me sore Before thy Court and thee ; The stroke I rue was stricken there In anger hastily. 58 BALLADS AND LAYS " Though gallant be my men and true, And goodly galleys mine ; Though I be styled by fere and foe The monarch of the brine ; " Yet strong to evil was the power Of wrath, revenge, and fear, When peace with France my soul foreswore, To reign in riot here. " O had I vowed, in penitence, A pilgrim man to be ; To cool mine anger in the wave That rolls on Galilee ! " Or gone to freedom's noble fight, In Scotland hard bested. With Wallace, matchless chief, to pour My blood for his I shed ! FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 59 " How bright the fame his patriot arm Hath earned and earneth still I How dark the memory that shall cloud The name of Longueville I" There was a ship, at morning prime, The Scottish shore forsook, And southward, with the favouring gale, Her rapid course she took. Her mast Saint Andrew's banner bears, And Heaven be now her speed ! For with her goes the worthiest knight That Scotland hath in need. With sail distended drives the bark Far out from landsmen's ken ; For France the good knight hies in haste With fifty chosen men. 60 BALLADS AND LAYS Why starts the helmsman as he guides The vessel o'er the deep ? xA.nd cries with fear the mariner That by the mast doth keep ? " It is the Reiver, 'tis the foe Of all that sail the brine ! Red glinting- in the sun I mark The Sea-king's bloody sign. " I see him come with all his ships, And we have here but one : Now Heaven defend our land's defence, Or Scotland is undone ! " In evil hour we left her shore, And it doth anguish me That I her dearest knight should bring Jo deadly jeopardy." FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. Then spake the knight who trembled not For power of mortal clay, " How may this pirate-king- be known In battle's hot melee ?" " His locks are dark, his fierce eye burns With wild and withering light ; A giant form he hath, an arm That never rests in fight ; " And oft a blood-red plume he wears, A corslet red of hue ; But there is yet a token more Unchangeable and true. " Mark but the foremost of the foe, That on our deck shall spring ; The ruthless Reiver, it is he — It is the pirate king !" 62 BALLADS AND LAYS " Now higher raise our flag I" replied The knight from terror free, " And leave the deck, ye mariners, Clear to my men and me. " The reiving galleys near apace : Good Crawford, tend the sail, And at my signal slacken speed. Or hasten with the gale." Even as he spake, the Reiver's voice Came loudly on the lee : " Ho, yield you, friends of France !" he cried, " 'Tis vain to fight or flee." The sign was given ; with slackened sail The bark her fleetness stayed. While foremost on his foremost ship The Reiver shook his blade. 4 FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 63 Loud shouted then the pirate's men ; The Scots, hy fear or grief Unmoved, stood armed in silence round And gazed upon their chief. Ere prow had yet been met by prow. The Reiver forward sprang ; Fierce was his look, his red plume shook. His crimson hauberk rang. Scarce on the Scottish deck was he, When on his corslet fell One crushing blow, one mighty arm, That stunned him like a spell. Blood from his nostrils gushed, his eyes A bloody mist o'ercast, And on the trembling deck down thrown One foeman held him fast. 64 BALLADS AND LAYS 'Twas Scotland's Knight ; his faulchion bright Hung o'er the Pirate's head ; He gave the sign, and through the brine Again the vessel sped. The pirate crews were motionless With wonderment and fear, And shouting of his foemen filled The prostrate Reiver's ear ; As heavily his eye he raised Where gleamed the hovering steel : " O, who art thou that vanquishest The hapless Longueville ? " One man alone I proudly weened Could thus my victor stand ; The Scottish Champion, Wallace hight, The guardian of thy land. FROM SCOTTISH UISTORY. 65 '* Surely his form is such as thine ; And O, if thou art he, I'll own thee chief, nor think it shame That I should vanquished be ! " If thou art he, upon thy sword. As on a sacred shrine, I'll vow to quit my reiving life, And make thy fortune mine." Then smiled the Knight, the Wallace wight ! Then knelt De Longueville ; He vowed the vow with joyful heart And kissed the shining steel. A joyful man was Longueville To spurn a reiver's name, And ready were the pirates all To leave their life of shame. E 66 BALLADS AND LAYS They moved a gallant company Of stately ships along-, While Scotland's banner in the van Led on the warlike throng-. But fear not now, thou fair Rochelle, The Sea-king-'s ships to view ! The Pirate comes in peace, he comes King- Philip's grace to sue. A royal boon wight Wallace prayed Before the Monarch's throne ; He asked not lands, he asked not wealth, But pardoning grace alone, Pardon to bold De Longueville ; Nor could the King deny The knight that for his deeds he loved And held in worship high. PROM SCOTTISH lllSTOUY. And Longueville was light of heart, As France he left, to fight, With W allace and his warriors free, For Scotland and the right. And who among the mightiest Was worthier than he. That, even as the Graeme, was dear To him of Elderslie ? His arm in peril and emprize Was never failing found ; And long for kingly Bruce he fought On freedom's hatlle-ground. Not for the lands King Robert gave, By knightly service won, He bore to Scotland's soil the love Of Scotland's truest son. (^S BALLADS AND LAYS Her mountain air had stirred his soul New life, new hope to feel ; Her sacred cause had well redeemed The name of Longueville ! Soon after the unfortunate issue of the battle of Falkirk in 1298, Wallace voluntarily resigned the office of Governor. " He chose," says Mr Tytler, " rather to return to the station of a private knight, than to retain an elevation, which, owing to the jea- lousy of the nobility, brought ruin and distress upon the people. One ancient manuscript of Fordun (the faithful author of the Scotichronicon), asserts, that he passed over into France, where he was honourably welcomed and entertained by Phihp, (surnamed the Fair), and increased his high character for personal prowess l^y his successes against the pirates who then infested the seas ; so that his exploits were celebrat- ed in the French songs and ballads of the day. An examination of the valuable historical materials which exist in the public libraries of France might perhaps 4 FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 69 throw some light on this dark portion of his story. It is certain that his great name does not again occur in any authentic record, as hearing even a secondary command in the wars against Edward ; nor, indeed, do we meet with him in any public transaction until eight years after this, when he fell a victim to the imrelenting vengeance of that Prince." — History of Scotland, Vol. i. p. 150, 2d ed. If Blind Harry's romantic relation of his hero's exploits in France and on the sea could supply the want of the cotemporary ballads spoken of by Mr Tytler, no Scot could reasonably refuse to be content- ed with the minstrel's labour of love, " The Acts and Deeds of the most famous and valiant Champion Sir William Wallace." Some of the chapters of that poem are headed thus : — How Wallace passed to France, and took the Red Reiver in his passage ; How he slew John of Lyne on the Sea; How he wan the Land of Guienne in France ; How Wallace slew the two Champions in France ; How Wallace slew the Lion in France. The narrative given in the text 70 BALLADS AND LAYS follows the account of the adventure set forth in the " Acts and Deeds." Thomas Charteris de Longueville was the ancestor from whom the old family of Charteris of Kinfauns, near Perth, traced their descent ; and he is said to have obtained a grant of the lands from Robert I. for the faithful services rendered by him to that King during his struggles against the English. In the Castle of Kinfauns a huge two-handed sword is preserved, which appears to he about five hundred years old^ and bears the name of '* Charteris' sword.'' FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 71 VIII. rijc JTuUgntfttt of tUalUitt, High in the Hall of Doom King Edward's liegeman sate, And grimly waiting in the gloom And pomp of judgment state His guards stood round in dark array Ah, woful pomp ! Ah, gloomy day ! The Traitor, where is he ? Behold, with laurel crowned, A form of strength and majesty. In gyves and fetters bound ! Unworthy fetters I Can there lie Base treason in that kingly eye ? 72 BALLADS AND LAYS 'Tis Wallace, 'tis the Scot I Can aught of felon shame Dishonour with a darkening blot The ever-glorious name Of him whom hopeless thousands mourn, With grateful hearts, and all forlorn ? Say, hath he pledged his truth King Edward's faith to follow. Yet, spite of honour, void of ruth, With faithless heart and hollow, Hath traitor been, and in the land Destroyed and slain with rebel hand ? Say, hath ambition moved His dread all-daring sword ? No ; but his country he hath loved, And tyranny abhorred ! In this his deadly treason lies ; For this by tyrant power he dies. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 73 They mock the Scot in vain With crown of laurel there ; He strove no monarch's crown to gain, Nor wealth nor power to share ; Yet more than kingly name and might Exalts the praise of Wallace wight. He was the first who called Aloud for liberty, Teaching a people, sore enthralled, To will and to be free ; His dearest, loftiest wish to stand The Guardian of his native land. When victory's loud acclaim, 'J'hat cheered the land awhile, Was hushed, and Scots of noble name Ignobly ceased to toil. Amid his native mountains he Wandered a houseless man, but free. 74 BALLADS AND LAYS Delivered to his foes When yet his arm was strong, And in the ear of hope arose His rescued country's song-, He stands, no traitor, but betrayed, Death-doomed though 'twere an angel prayed. Proud King ! thy thirsting sword Won thee a victor's fame. Yet what hast thou, usurping lord. Of Scottish hearts to claim. That they thine Island birth should prize, Or triumph for thy victories? But lasting as the hills. And as the valleys dear. Wide spreading as the countless rills That hill and valley cheer. The memory and name shall be Of him who died to set them free ! FROM SCOTTISH UISTORY. 75 Sir William Wallace was executed at London, as a traitor, on 23d August 1305. ■ Till the commission of the crime that betrayed him to his own and his country's bitter and revenge- ful enemy, he had continued to defy the armies of the English King, and with a company of brave men, few but faithful, awaited, in the forests and mountain strongholds of his native Scotland, the hour that might again place him in a situation to restore her to hope, to freedom, and to peace. But it was the part of Wallace to die for his country, and of Bruce to render glorious the memory of Bannockburn. In referring to the condemnation of the Scottish Patriot, it ought always to be stated, that this was not the act of England as a nation, but of Edward alone ; for all classes of the English people regarded with deep re- spect his heroic actions, and his manly defence before the monarch's tribunal, and with the warmest com- passion the fate to which it doomed him. 76 BALLADS AND LAYS IX. 3^ing 2^ol)nt tJc Brucr. High offspring- of Princes, and kinsman of Kings, O come where the wail of the desolate rings ; For Scotland is king-less and spoiled is her throne ; De Bruce to the rescue I O come to thine own ! From thraldom the land of thy fathers deliver ; The home of thy mother is longing- for thee ; Then haste ere our hope shall have perished for ever With him, the lost warrior of lone Elderslie ! From halls of the Southron O hasten away, Where wine cups are flowing and dancers are gay ; Nor the days of thy strength in the tourney beguile, At Lincoln, or Durham, or merry Carlisle ! FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 77 For falsehood is round thee, and false is the favour Of England's proud monarch, though bright be its ray; Then trust not to Edward, thy country's enslaver ; His minions are watching thy speech to betray. But speed thee thy courser to fair Annandale, Where loyalty's welcome thy coming shall hail ; Each shout by Tweed river far echoed shall be In the dim forest wilds of the Don and the Dee. Though Freedom invite thee to battle and peril, To watching and travail in forest and field. Bold hearts ever faithful shall aid thee, Lord Earl, And Right be thy panoply, Heaven thy shield. When Lennox and Athole thy summons shall hear. With Hay and young Douglas their bands shall ap- pear, And Scotland's high prelates, the dauntless and true, Ride forth in their harness, when leaders are few. 78 BALLADS AND LAYS Then speed o'er the Border, the glory redeeming Whose fulgence encircled the old Scottish throne ; And lasting in light may that glory he beaming Around our King Robert 1 O come to thine own ! The Bruce o'er the Border came riding with speed ; His good sword he carried, unfaihng at need. And midst of his foemen, in peril and pain, The Banner of Liberty lifted again. O fair was the arm of the lady that crowned him, And royal the circlet she placed on his brow ; And brave were the barons who shouted around him, — " Heaven prosper King Robert, and tyrants o'er- throw I" The flight of Bruce from the English Court, which Scotland may consider as, in a great measure, the Hegira of her Independence, took place in February 1 305-G, at a time when the numbers of the Scottish patriots were few, and their hearts despairing, — for FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. ( 9 never bad the prospect of success against the power of Edward I. been so gloomy and distant. Robert I. was twice crowned at Scone ; once by Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, on the 27tb of March loOG ; and again, within a few days, by Isabella, Countess of Buchan, and sister of the Earl of Fife ; she having claimed the honour of installing the sovereign as a right belong- ing to her brother's family from the days of iNIalcolm Canmore. For this act she was subsequently punished by the vindictive English monarch, who caused her to be imprisoned in a cage " latticed with wood, cross- barred and secured with iron," constructed in an outer turret of Berwick Castle ; and she continued thus bar- barously confined for a period of four years, till re- moved to a monastery. The Bishop of Glasgow " supplied from his own wardrobe the robes in which Robert appeared at his coronation ; and a slight coronet of gold, probably borrowed by the Abbot of Scone from some of the saints or kings which adorned his Abbey, was employ- ed instead of the hereditary crown," carried away by King Edward. — Tytler's Hist, of Scot. Vol. i. p. 202. 80 BALLADS AND LAYS Between his coronation and the victory at Bannock- burn eight weary years elapsed, during w^hich inter- val the hei'oic Bruce underwent the severest reverses and privations, with the patient resolution that has made his remarkable career so deeply interesting, his manly character so greatly exalted, and his achieve- ments to receive, in every age, the glad sympathy of all who love their country. J FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 81 X. ^Tijc Battlt of BannofUiiunt. For Scotland and the Bruce A cry went forth, a sound That woke the south and roused the north, And stirred the isles around : From Cheviot to the Pentland sea, Ye that would Scotland's glory earn, For liberty, for liberty. Advance to Bannockburn I 82 BALLADS AND LAYS There must a fight be fought, There must a field be won, Ere Freedom from the conflict rest. In deadly strait begun. Hark, from the glens and moorlands free The warrior Scots that cry return ! For liberty, for liberty. We meet at Bannockburn ! My heart is with the chiefs Who marshalled there on field. In bannered lines, an iron host, With pike, and blade, and shield ; King Robert, in himself a band, Lord Edward, ever fierce in fight, Bold Randolph, of the lightning hand, And Douglas, dreaded knight. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 83 They saw no blenching cheek. No wandering eye, disclose The failing of one Scottish heart, Though trebly ranked their foes ; Though England's King his armies spread, Crowding the burdened plain afar, And peers a hundred singly led A thousand men to war. And when, on battle's eve. The Scottish trump on high Bade all for victory unresolved Or with their King to die. To quit unharmed that fated wold, How proudly burst one shout in air, That by its mighty concord told No voice was wanting there I 84 BALLADS AND LAYS Along the lines they knelt, Begging for mercy all ; But not to thee, vain Southron King, With craven look they call ! From Heaven's eternal armoury For never-failing- strength they prayed, Then high of heart, unbent in knee. The shock of battle stayed. They yielded not, nor shook, Nor sank one banner low. Yet then their firm array alone Drove back and stunned the foe ; And oft, as charge to charge succeeds, And troops, still baffled, still advance. Fires flash, and gore of men and steeds Reddens each Scottish lance. J IPROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 85 Now, Scotland, for thy cause ! Bends, breaks the English line c For liberty, for liberty Shout, for the charge is thine ! And well did Scotland's burning- host Charge home upon that glorious day, When crushed was England's tyrant boast, And fled her King away. The death Tier bravest died, The fear of those that flee, Was but one pang of all that racked Expiring Tyranny. And Scotland shall remember long, Nor England's self the conflict mourn, For Freedom sang her triumph song On holy Bannockburn. 86 BALLADS AND LAYS The l)attle of Bannockburn was fought on the 24th of June 1314. Besides the Scottish King-, the prin- cipal leaders of the patriot army were his brother Edward Bruce, his nephew Randolph Earl of Mo- ray, Sir James Douglas, and Walter the High Stew- ard. At this moment Scotland enjoys the important advantages which resulted from the victory then ob- tained over the mighty host of Edward II. It may nat be out of place to insert here the fol- lowing LINES WRITTEN AT THE BORE-STONE in September 1839. Five hundred years ago here stood The banner of a marshalled host, And here, five hundred years ago, A field was won and lost. What then ? Full many a bannered sign Hath waved defiance to the foe. And many a field been lost and woiij Five hundred years ago. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 87 But let no Scot unmoved declare, No friend of freedom coldly learu, That banner was the Bruce's sign, That field was Bannockburn 1 On the now venerated and oft-visited Bore or Bored Stone the standard of Bruce was planted ; and when Queen Victoria, during- her progress in Scot- land in 1842, passed along the field of Bannockburn, it was a right feeling that caused the Union Flag to wave from the same spot. 88 BALLADS AND LAYS XL The good King Robert dying spake, His warriors wept around ; " Friends of the Bruce ! mine hour is come, But not on battle ground. <« There was a time when I have feared On sickly couch to die, And oft my burning spirit yearned On foughten field to lie ; " But laud be to the Power that kept My life from manhood's prime ! For I have felt how blest it is To have repenting time. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 89 " Sir James of Douglas, brother dear ! We long have toiled together, Through countless pains together passed In fortune's wintry weather. " Rememberest thou that eve in June As in Glengairn we lay, A-resting from our travel sore Through all the summer day ? " How there with tales of bold eraprize We sped the weary time, Writ in the olden history, Or sung in minstrel rhyme ; " Of knightly feats and spurs well won. In fight with Paynim powers. At Acre's shore, or Ascalon, And Zion's leaguered towers? 90 BALLADS AND LAYS " 'Twas then a solemn vow I breathed, When Scotland peace had seen In tower and hamlet, glen and isle. And foes had banished been, " My way to far Jerusalem With fitting heart to take, A pilgrim and a warrior, there My tomb of peace to make. " And now hath Scotland joy and rest, Biit there is fixed for me Than by the Holy IMount to sleep Another destiny. "^ Yet hear, my Douglas I on thy word, Thy knightly honour swear, From lifeless Bruce this heart to take And hence to Zion bear." FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 91 The Douglas o"er the dying Bruce In watchful sorrow stood; — " My lieg-e beloved, I swear it here Upon my knighthood good !" A gleam lit up the monarch's eye ;— " Heaven bless thee, Douglas, now ! In weal and woe, in life and death, A brother true art thou. " When I in tomb am laid, begin, For thy dear honour's sake, Thy travel, with a princely train. And store of treasure take ; " And bear thee like a king the while. For distant lands to see. Proclaiming that thou carriest thus King Robert's heart with thee." 92 BALLADS AND LAYS Within Dunfermline's sacred choir The good King- Robert lies : The Douglas on his pilgrimage In loving duty hies. Within a silver casquet shrined The heart of Bruce he bore, And ever, as a friend beloved, Beside his own he wore ; While like a crowned king he held His journey o'er the sea, With noble knights, and squires to serve, Nor squires of low degree. The kind wind blew, the vessel flew, Unstayed, to Flemish strand, By Sluys' fair town and haven good, The first in Flemish land. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 93 " Here tarry we," the Doug-las said ; " Brief space our band may wait, And on the sea the Bruce shall hold His court in kingly state. " Welcome to all that welcome give. With open heart and hand ; Welcome to all of Christian name That join our pilgrim band !" Now loud and high the trumpet blew, Now plaintively and low ; There seemed a king- to battle bound Even as a king should go. There's not a guest hath come to greet, Or knight their troop to join. But welcome had in Bruce's name, With feast and flowing wine. 94 BALLADS AND LAYS And not a man the wealth hath seen That decked the Douglas' board;, But sware he lived in nobler wise Than Hainault's haughty lord. There came to doughty Douglas' ear A rumour from afar, How Christian lance with Moslem blade Did wage a righteous war ; How the bold Prince of fair Castile, And Leon's warriors true, Against Grenada's Moorish lord His host to battle drew. Then spake Sir James, the pilgrim knight, That tiding glad to hear, *' O fits it little thus to bide With idle sword and spear I FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 95 " The pilgrim hath a craven heart, That buckled steel would shun ; Nor wont was I the deed to fly, King Robert's self had done. " Unmoor the ship ! " The ship unmoored Sped proudly o'er the main, Till knights and squires and spearmen trod The martial fields of Spain. They heard the Christian clarions wind Their notes to warriors' tread ; They heard the Mooi'ish trumpets bray Their larums deep and dread. They saw the Red-cross banners brave In sunny splendour stream, And 'midst the turbaned Moslem foea The baleful Crescent gleam. 96 BALLADS AND LAYS It was the hour ere fight hath joined, Or signal trumpet blown, When breathlessly the cavalier Reins in his champing- roan ; When prayers are muttered, vows are breathed. Adieus are briefly paid, Ere swords be shattered, plumes be shorn, And warriors lowly laid. Proud was the Christian King to greet A knight so good and brave, And as a king to crowned king The welcome that he gave. In honour of the noble deeds That swelled the Douglas' fame, In honour of the noble Heart That with the Douglas came. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 97 " I yield thee here, Sir James," he said, " The vanguard line to lead : The Arm that aided Bruce and thee This day thy prowess speed ! " Then joined the eager hosts, and roared The battle's wild affray, Till broken fled, discomfited. The infidel array. Now joy to Leon and Castile I The Crescent gleams no more ; And honour to the Scottish knight, But wail to Scotland's shore ! Wail for the hour when bold Saint Clair In mortal peril fell, And Douglas spurred his steed to save The friend he loved so well I 98 BALLADS AND LAYS Far from the Christian host he rode, Till rallying foes around, And myriad swords, the Douglas held Within their narrowing bound. But ceaselessly his blade he plied Among the Paynim crew. And " Douglas to the rescue !" still He shoiited as he slew. King Robert's heart in casquet shrined, That by his corslet hung, Stained with his streaming blood, he took And, rising, forward flung. As o'er the din of battle's rout Arose his latest cry, — " Lead on, as thou wert wont, good Heart I'll follow thee or die !" J FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 99 He rushed amid the thickening spears, — Pierced o'er with wounds he fell ; Friend of the Bruce, unconquered Knight, Great Douglas, fare-thee-well ! And weeping Scots, upon the morn, There on the gory field The casquet found where Good Sir James Lay slaughtered on his shield. But not within the stranger's land The warrior's grave was made ; In Douglas Kii'k his dearest bones By kindred hands were laid. Nor yet to far Jerusalem They bore the Heart away, At Melrose given in holy charge To faithful fathers grey. 100 BALLADS AND LAYS And noble hearts delight to hear The tale of honour told, How Bruce and Douglas loved and toiled. And fought and died of old. The Romances of Chivalry do not afford any nar- rative more beautiful than that which History gives of the friendship of Bruce and Douglas. King Ro- bert died at Cardross on the 7th of June 1329, and Sir James Douglas did not long delay the expedition which was terminated by his heroic death in the suc- cessful battle with the IMoors in Andalusia. From the Letter addressed by the King to *' David, his beloved son," about a month before his death, it ap- pears to have originally been his desire to have his heart buried at Melrose. This very interesting do- cument is printed in Tytler's Lives of Scottish Worthies, Vol. ii. p. 154. The body of Bruce " was transported, with great solemnity, from Cardross to Dunfermline. It was here x'eceived by the whole body of the prelates and nobles, and deposited in a 1 FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. lOl small temporary chapel erected for the purpose, to which multitudes of the people crowded with deep and unaffected grief, to take their last look of him who had so faithfully spent his life in their service, and whom it had pleased God to make so wonderful an instrument for the secui'ing to them and to their children the richest inheritance which a monarch can bestow upon his people — their freedom from a fo- reign yoke. The last services of the Church were then performed ; after which the coffin was lowered into a vault, in the middle of the choir, opposite the high altar." — Ibid. p. 150. And well may the Scots whose fathers he saved, and who themselves feel the happy consequences of the Good King Robert's toil and victories, as they now stand beside his tomb, re- member with gratitude his travail, and say, Ittqximcat in patt i 102 BALLADS AND LAYS XII. ^giif» of Sttttbar. Away with Love's caressing ! By looks and breathed sighs Let others woo the blessing That lurks in ladies' eyes : I heed not Love's alluring call, When Freedom bids to war, And foes surround thy castle wall, Dark Agnes of Dunbar ! FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 103 Great Randolph's fearless daughter, Lord March's dame is she ; Beside the ocean water Her towers embattled be ; And now hath Salisbury's warlike Earl, With host on sea and plain^ Held them in sieging- strait and peril, For five long moons in vain. The darkness of her beauty, Her proud eye's queenly glance, Command a nobler duty Than song or wreathed dance. They lead where danger lies before, And meeds that knightly are ; To fight for Scotland's leaguered shore, And Agnes of Dunbar. 104 BALLADS AND LAYS No longer idly lingers Her hand on harp or lute, Nor weave her snowy fingers Their golden fancies mute ; For, waving from the rampart high, They mock the baffled foe, Or bid the bowman's arrow fly To strike some leader low. If feeble and unaided Her faithful band should yield, "With deep dishonour shaded Were Ramsay's name in field. Then forth my men ! The sun hath set, And night hath not a star ; In spite of foes, we'll succour yet Brave Agnes of Dunbar ! J FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 105 So Ramsay spake, unfearing:, The young and highsouled knight. And 'midst the foemen steering- His laden ship by night, Within the gate his troop at morn Were shouting, fresh for war, And England's host went back forlorn From Agnes of Dunbar. The ancient Castle of Dunbar, so important in the wars between the two kingdoms from its strength and situation, being the key to Scotland on the south-east, belonged to the Earls of March and Dunbar ; and in 1337, during the reign of David II., this fortress was besieged by the English invading army under Mon- tague Earl of Salisbury, a leader of experience. The owner. Earl Cospatrick, was then absent, but his countess, the daughter of Thomas Randolph, and grand-niece of Robert Bruce, defended the castle, and for a long time resisted all the attempts of the enemy, 106 BALLADS AND LAYS who at last trierl to reduce the place by famine. " Black Agnes," (as she was popularly styled,) after a heroic defence of five months, was fortunately re- lieved by the skill and intrepidity of Alexander Ram- say of Dalhousie, a knight well known in Scottish history, who with forty men, aided by the darkness of night, passed from the Bass Rock, in a ship laden with provisions, to the besieged fortress, and on ob- taining an entrance, continued the defence so vigo- rously that the English commander abandoned the enterprise in despair. 1 FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 107 XIII. ^f^t Battle of (I^ttfrfmm. How goes the night at Otterburn ? The night is like to noon : Lone riding in the welkin blue, Unclouded shines the moon ; And o'er the river, o'er the plain The rays of glory fall, Where martial tents are whitely spread In slumbering silence all. Is it a foraying border band A harvest come to make ? Or Lord of wide Northumberland Rode out the chase to take ? 108 BALLADS AND LAY? The rude moss-trooper scorns to rear His tent in foraying- raid : He rests him on his steed by day, By night in forest shade. And mark yon warlike banner well ; No Southron sign is there, But good Saint Andrew's conquering cross Waves in the moonlit air. Lord William Douglas, stainless knight, Is with that Scottish band ; And dares the Douglas thus to rest In English Percy's land ? O merry hath their marching been Through England's counties fair; And merrily to Scottish ground A goodly spoil they bear ! FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 109 Before Earl Douglas' tent there flies, On lance, a pennon blue, To bold Sir Henry Percy given By his dear Lady true. When Percy saw that trophy ta'en, A raving man was he, And vowed him quickly to rewin Its loved embroidery. How goes the night ? There bursts a sound Of trampling quick and near ; — " The foe, the foe, the Southron comes I Up, up, with brand and spear !' Dead lie the wakeful sentinels. But each, as sank he low, Forgat not with his dying breath A lengthened blast to blow. 110 BALLADS AND LAYS The slumbering Scots upstarted then, Woke by the larum blast, And March and Moray, dauntless Earls, Their armour buckled fast. The foemen, as they onward came, " A Percy, Percy 1" cried ; " A Douglas !" was the answering shout,— 'Twas Douglas' self replied. Loud were the shouts, and loud the strokes On helm and hauberk given, And blood-gouts burst through shattered mail The cleaving steel had riven. The stubborn battle fainted not ; Brave knights, good blades were there ; And over them the moon sent down Her smiles, like lady fair. FROM SCOTTISH UISTORY. Ill His battle-axe Lord William plied, While rose his slogan's swell : Where fight the bravest, Douglas fought, As fall the bravest, fell. His priest, of giant mould, is near. That priestly garb hath none. But mail of proof for cassock now. And morion clasped, hath on. With forward foot and fiery eye, The dying knight he guards, And stoutly still each hostile blow At weapon's point he wards. Two faithful 'squires in gory sleep Beside Lord William lay ; Their youthful hands their weapons grasped, Their bosoms pressed the clay. 112 BALLADS AND LAYS Brave Lindsay in the %ht looked round, Looked round him brave Saint Clair : — " O where is Douglas' spotless plume ? The Flower of Knighthood where ?" They sought, they found him bleeding laid And faint in death he cried, " Enough ! On battle-field I die, And so my fathers died. " But let not friend or foeman ween That thus on field I lie ; Let still my banner lifted be. And still my slogan cry. '* For there be ancient men have heard A seer foretell in hall, That Douglas dead a field should win : So may it now befall !" FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 113 How goes the night ? The battle's fire Nor wanes nor wavers yet : " A Douglas !" and " A Percy !" sound, And blades by blades are met. Till, fading slow, the moon-light pale The sky more feebly fills, And earliest morning's ruddier beams Come o'er the distant hills. Then fails the English line at last, And low its pennons fall ; For England's warriors as they stood Were worn and weary all. And Percy to the Douglas dead Did there in sadness yield The dinted sword his knightly arm No more had strength to wield. H 114 BALLADS AND LAYS At Otterburn they raised a bier. Lamenting sore the while, To bear the Douglas mournfully To rest in Melrose aisle. Brave Percy mourned, nor bravest Scots The falling tear would hide ; And when the homeward marching train Had reached the Border side, They plucked the heather from the hill, The briar from the brake. And laid them on the Douglas' corse For brave old Scotland's sake. lu the reign of Robert II., on the 5th of August 1388, the Battle of Otterburn was fought between the force of Sir Henry Percy, the famous Hotspur, and the young Earl of Douglas, who had led a divi- sion of the Scottish army across the Eastern Border. The conflict took place on a plain near the river Reed, in Northumberland. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 1 1 6 Froissart, who gives a minute account of the en- gagement, obtained the particulars from two knights of Foix, whom he met at Orthes in the following year, and at Avignon from a knight and two squires who had fought in the party of Douglas, as the other informants had done on the side of Percy. — " I had my information therefore," says this chronicler, " from both parties, who agree that it was the hardest and most obstinate battle that was ever fought." He further avers, " Of all the battles that have been de- scribed in this History, great and small, this of which I am now speaking was the best fought and the most severe, for there was not a man, knight, or squire, who did not acquit himself gallantly, hand to hand with his enemy." — Chronicles of England, France, &c. Jhones' Ed. " One circumstance connected with the death of Douglas is too characteristic of the times to be omitted. His chaplain, a priest of the name of Lundie, had followed him to the war, and fought dur- ing the whole battle at his side. When his body was discovered, this warrior clerk was found bestriding his dying master, wielding his battle-axe, and defending him from injury. He became afterwards Archdeacon of North Berwick." — Tytler's Hist. Vol. iii. page 52- 116 BALLADS AND LAYS 111 the old Scottish ballad of the Battle of Otter- bourne, commencing " It fell about the Lammas tide," the dying address of Douglas concludes thus : " O bury me by the braken bush, Beneath the bluming brier ; Let never living mortal ken That a kindly Scot lies here." Sir Hugh Montgomerie accordingly hid the body of Earl William " in the braken bush That his merrie mrti micht not see," and having taken prisoner Henry Percy in single- combat, answered the question of his captive, " To whom shall I yield?" by saying, ^' Thou shalt not yield to lord nor loon, Nor yet shalt thou yield to me j But yield thee to the braken bush That grows on yon lilye lee," f ROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 117 XIV. I^oung Uoti)tmv. Come where the greensward daisies rise, "Fair lady of the Western clirae ! And clustering- flowers whose glorious dies And balms make sweet our summer time. Lightly, at noon's half dreaming hour, The airy downs are floating by, But here no sun's mei'idian power Can strike thy cheek with evil eye. Then sit by Falkland's Palace walls, That, gardened round, so hoary stand, And list the while my lay recalls A story of thy fathers' land ! 118 BALLADS AND LAYS There was a king in Scotland reigned Once in the fierce and lawless time, When lands were won and power maintained By banded force or whispered crime ; Feeble of heart, in strength decayed, His years in sad unrest did run, And Ruler of the Land he made His first-born Prince, his darling son. Young Rothesay in his father's hall Had grown a bright and peerless flower, Though oft the boding tear would fall For him within his mother's bower. In youthful fire, and princely grace, He moved, and gladdened all who saw, And needs not, lady, words to trace The form thy fancy best can draw. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 119 Brave as a kingdom's heir should be, And whirled in pleasure's wild career, Yet pure and gentle poesy, And music's voice, to him were dear. The minstrel science loved he well, And strains that, by their simple art, Have made thy tender bosom swell, Had rule o'er Rothesay's wayward heart. The favour of the land he stole, Praised for his bounty evermore, But one stern kinsman in his soul Did hate him for the love it bore ; And watched dark Albany the hour. With serpent fang and eagle eye. When treachery and lawless power Should bring his brother's child to die. 120 BALLADS AND LAYS Dark was the hour and black the night, When Rothesay, by his friend betrayed. Was torn from all his life's delight, And low in Falkland's dungeon laid. But blacker than the midnight storm Despair's thick horror came in gloom, When ravening hunger's fiery form Glared on his soul, aud marked his doom ; When hours were added still to hours, And day was joined to weary day, And, unsustained, strong manhood's powers Were sinking in a dull decay ; For none from fount or plenished board Came to his need at morn or night ; Yet Rothesay's sire was king and lord, And he was next in royal right. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 121 His moaning sleep, too quickly flown, The hours of festive joy recalls, But waking famine sees alone The cold and hungry dungeon walls. He thirsted for the dew that filled The blue-bell cups his lattice by, And for the rain, at eve distilled. That mocked his burning agony ; Praying the pitying breeze of spring Through the close prison bars to bear One drop of all 'twas lavishing Against each thankless buttress there. And thus did high-born Rothesay die ; But' said I none to aid hira came? O shame it were my strain should lie Of woman's heart, unmanly shame ! 122 BALLADS AND LAYS For she is ever kind and true, And, night by night, her secret care, Her hand and voice, awhile withdrew Young Rothesay from his lone despair. But cruel eyes beheld her weep, ('Twas in the fierce and lawless time,) And woman's pity could not keep Her Prince from death, her land from crime. Yet many a lay I'd sing to thee, Till day forsook our Scottish strand, How gentle woman's loyalty Is praised throughout thy fathers' land. The year 1401 is marked by the treacherous mur- der of David, Duke of Rothesay, the eldest son of Robert III. at the instance of his ambitious uncle the Duke of Albany, and through the falsehood of his pretended friend. Sir John de Ramorgny. Rothesay, who was then about twenty-three years of age, pos- FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 123 sessed great beauty of person, was accomplished in li- terature and skilled in music, but fond of pleasure to excess. He had previously been appointed, for a term of three years, Lieutenant for his infirm father over the kingdom, and had bravely defended the Castli' of Edinburgh when besieged by Henry IV. of England. When the youthful Prince was so cruelly left in the dungeon of Falkland Castle to perish from hunger and thirst, " it is said that for a while the wretched prisoner was preserved in a remarkable man- ner by the kindness of a poor woman, who, in passing- through the garden of Falkland, and attracted by his groans to the grated window ot his dungeon, which was level with the ground, became acquainted with his story. It was her custom to steal thither at night, and bring him food by dropping small cakes through the grating, whilst her own milk, conducted through a pipe to his mouth, was the only way he could be supplied with drink." — Tytler's Hist. Vol, iii. p. 106. But on these visits of charity being at length disco- vered by the ruffians who were appointed to await the death of their prisoner, she was made to pay for her loyalty with her life. 124 BALLADS AND LAYS XV. m)t Battle of HMrlaUj. The vengeful chimain of the Isles Through Ross and Moray marched in ire, And hapless Garioch's flaming- miles Maddened his men with kindred fire : Terribly brief, each suffering cry Rose as the murderous host went by ; And burnings scorched the air, Till Benachie's dark sides on high Smiled grimly in the g-lare. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 125 To JBonaccord* the homeless flee, Seeking in haste its sheltering- wall ; And there the Islesmen long to see The Burgher trembling o'er his stall. But Heaven shall ward that mortal wo, And princely Mar shall meet the foe With many a knightly sword ; Nor last thy sons to battle go. Brave-hearted Bonaccord ! At noon the larum bell rang out, To bid them gather forth to fight ; Each stirring street sent up a shout That hurried more the arming wight ; The Burgher, for his look of care, Took then a warrior's glance and air, And youth his arms assayed. While he that erst did harness bear Spake of his good old blade. * " Bon- accord" is the motto and ancient war cry of the burgh of Aberdeen, and the name by which the citizens love to call it. 126 BALLADS AND LAYS THE BURGHERS SONG. Hark ! the bells are backward tolling-, O'er the city sharply swung-, From yon tower their summons rolling-, Chiming loud with burly tongue. Burghers, sworn and faithful all, Well ye know their larum call, Haste to city gate and wall. Watch and ward I Silken weed for mirthful mumming, Painted bow for sportive sward, But when hostile bands are coming, Haste in harness, watch and ward ! Burghers, brothers, speed your arming, Coat of fence and blade prepare I Thus the sudden foe's alarming- Ne'er shall take you unaware. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 127 Daily, nightly ready found, Sentinel the city round, Let the sleepless trumpet sound, Watch and ward ! Fight ! nor fear, in combat mortal. None be left your homes to guard ; Still shall round each lonely portal Holy angels watch and ward. They banded fast, and band so good Ne'er joined a haughty Baron's fray : For hearth and home they freely stood. Nor thralled serfs, nor hirelings they ; And he, their chief, no lordly load Of titles bore, yet proudly rode The Provost on his selle, And baron-like his bosom glowed To hear the trumpet swell. 128 BALLADS AND LAYS High swelled the trumpet as they went Forth by the gate, unfolded slow And slower closing, for it sent Dear hearts to meet a ruthless foe. And they were gone ; and hours passed by, While gentle watchers wearily Sighed two long suns away, Still hoping that some dear one's eye Might see them set as they. The bell rang out at dead of night, For faint was heard a bugle's note, And far the warders marked the light Of ruddy torches townward brought. O wasted still, or fled the Gael ? Returned the band with joy or wail ? That lonely bugle sent A changing voice that breathed a tale Of triumph and lament. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 129 'Twas the same band returning' all, But not as they had gone, for there The frequent corses to the wall Their living comrades feebly bare; And there, unvizored, pale and dead, Stretched on his steed, where torches shed A dim and sinking ray. The Provost came, and o'er him spread The town's broad banner lay. That troop its dinted staff around From noon to night were seen to bide, And dawning morn the Islesmen found Turned back from Ury's peaceful tide. And by that battle, red and stern, Our city-circled shore may learn Free swords at need to draw. Like them whose life-blood dyed the fern On thy old field, Harlaw I 130 BALLADS AND LAYS This inroad of Donald, Lord of the Isles, upon the northern Lowlands, in 1411, was occasioned by a dispute between that chief and the Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, concerning- the succession to the Earldom of Ross. The Islesmen, on coming to Har- law, on the banks of the Ury, about sixteen miles north of Aberdeen, were opposed by an army very much inferior in number to their own, and command- ed by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, who had hastily summoned to his standard the barons and gentlemen of the shires of Angus and Mearns, and the districts of Mar and Garioch. The bloody con- flict which ensued on the 24th of July, ended in the retreat of the invaders to their own country ; a result which saved great part of Scotland from the evils which the conquest of a civilized territory by savage Ketharans would have occasioned. A band of the burghers of Aberdeen, headed by Robert Davidson, their chief magistrate, mai'ched out to join the Lowland force, and greatly distinguished themselves in the engagement at Harlaw. " Tlicy war not manie men of weir, But tliey war wonder true." FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 13l The spirited, but not contemporary, poem which re- cites " the brim battel of the Harlaw," tells how, along with the other warriors who met Donald of the Isles, " The provost of braif Abirdene, With trumpettis and with tuik of drum, Came shortlie in his armour sheen ;" and numbers among those who fell in the fight, " The gude Sir Robert Davidson, Wha provost was of Abirdene." Most of the burgesses were slain with their leader, whose body lies buried in the city church of Saint Nicholas. Though generally mentioned with a knightly prefix to his name, he seems to have pos- sessed no other title than that of alderman, (the term provost not having, it is understood, been adopted till upwards of twenty years after the battle) ; for in the contemporary record preserved in Aberdeen, contain- ing entries of the public business of the burgh, he is called, whenever his name occurs, simply " Robertus Filius David»" 132 BALLADS AND LAYS xvr. S'i^e Song of ttjc Capttbe fting. O Lady fair, dear Lady mine ! Thy maiden love is sweet ; . One smile from thee, one glance divine, A bliss for monarchs meet ; And fondly thus thy hand to press Might life in death impart, But ne'er can make me mourn the less A captive holds thy heart. J FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 133 Though here, at Henry's Court so gay, Be dwelling all delight ; Though varying pleasures crowd the day, And song beguile the night ; And I be free to love, O yet Not all that wealth can bring, Nor Love, shall wile me to forget That I am Scotland's King I A kingdom in the North is mine, v A glorious mountain land, But now the sceptre of ray line Fills a usurper's hand ; And treason, from the day that smote With grief my father dear, Hath long with dark ambition wrought To keep me captive here. 184 BALLADS AND LAYS 'Tis fitting- that a Prince be seen With all his Peers around, But princely style hath ever been To me an idle sound. In vain for Douglas' form I look, Nor hear the corslets ring Of chiefs whose tread of iron shook The halls of Scotland's King. O Lady fair I It cannot be That treason's power should last, And youth endure captivity Till strength and hope be past. The strong shall sink, the proud shall fall. The faithful cease to mourn, And soon to freedom, home and hall, An exiled Prince return. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 135 Then shouting thousands, Lady mine ! Thy queenly form shall see, And for that fairest face of thine My welcome gladder l)e ; And songs of peace, poured gaily forth, In hut and hall shall ring, When thou art Lady of the North, And James is Scotland's King. Robert IIL, who knew and feared the ambition of his brother, the Duke of Albany, became, after the murder of Rothesay, anxious that his only surviving son should be placed beyond danger of the like treat- ment. Prince James was accordingly, when in his fourteenth year, given in charge to certain trustworthy persons to be taken to France, there to prosecute his education. The fear of injury to the young heir of the crown from traitorous designs could have been the only reason for this step ; for Prince David's at- tainments exclude the idea that Scotland had then no proper means for educating his surviving brother. 136 BALLADS AND LAYS On the voyage to France, however, the vessel in which James sailed was seized by an English corsair, and the Prince carried to the court of Henry IV. Although there was at the time a truce between the kingdoms, Henry most unwarrantably detained him as a captive or hostage, to the great grief of his heart-broken father, who died soon after. This ma- nifest breach of the law of nations occurred in 1405, and James, principally through the treasonable conduct of Albany, who aimed at retaining the Government in his hands, and transmitting it to his own children, to the exclusion of the rightful mo- narch, remained a prisoner for the long period of nearly twenty years. During this time he received by Henry's care, as if in amends of the wrong, the highest education in Hterature, art and science, and instruction in knightly exercises that the country could afford, and his natural genius advanced him to the first rank among poets. Except that he was obliged to consider himself under the restraint of a captive, he had no reason to complain of his treat- ment ; but to a prince of his energetic and high-spi- FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 137 rited disposition this restraint, slight as it was, must have been irksome and weary. Towards the close of his captivity he became the lover of the beautiful .Jane Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset, and of the royal blood of England. His affection for this lady, his '* Milk-white Dove," who possessed, as he declares, " Beauty enough to make a world to dote," is the subject of his chief poem, " The King's Quhair," (or Book) ; and as his Queen she accom- panied him to Scotland in 1424, to be a witness and sharer of the enthusiastic reception which he met with from his people. 138 BALLADS AND LAYS xvir. My lady and my love ! I know Thou lovest well at eve to hear Thy Poet proudly breathe his lay To thy sole listening ear, When every star is bright above ; Brightest of all, the star we love. The broad full moon companioning We marked its meeker beauty shine, But she her fulness changing soon In fickle pale decline, It turned its truer orb away, To beam alone with brighter ray. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 139 Fair names it hath, high names and old, From bards and sages here on earth, And higher in the highest Heaven That saw its beauteous birth : To us that faithful light is known By one fond name, " Our Star," alone. High musings of a soul at rest Are ours, fair dreams of joy to come. Fond thoughts that warmly swell the heart, But make affection dumb. As silently, hand pressed in hand, To watch our dearest star we stand. All happy thoug-hts are mine? as thus I i*ead with thee the starry skies ; And glancing oft with loving wile To watch thy thoughtful eyes. What crowning of ray love, to see Their smiling blueness turned on me I 140 BALLADS AND LAYS And now what noble theme of song Shall win to"-night thy listening ear. And flush thy fair young cheek with pride, My own, my only dear ? What new and not unworthy rhyme Of Scotland's old historic time ? Lovedst thou the lay the Poet King Sung in his weary golden thrall, Ere Scotland hailed his glad return To freedom, home, and hall ; Ere James his own good sceptre swayed, And lawless Pride his power obeyed ? Sad was the lay ; a gentle grief. Like gladness in its early dawn, For Love and Hope o'er captive gloom Their beams had richly thrown; But deeper wo must cloud the strain That tells how royal James was slain. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 141 Ah, 'tis not thus, alone with thee, Beneath yon loved and holy light. My tong-ue would paint the cruelty That stained the woful night, Or speak the outlaw's name whose hand To murder led the traitor band I On thy p\ire lips a worthier name Now softly trembles, Maiden dear ; Meeter for lips like thine to breathe, And our pure star to hear ; For Catharine Douglas* noble deed Hath earned full well such worthy meed. Not Good Sir James, the Douglas old, Had truer, readier arm than she Who, for the bolt by treason drawn, Of hers made offering free. Despising mortal harm, to bring A moment's safety to her king. 142 BALLADS AND LAYS Sadly thy bosom sighs at thought How that devoted arm was crushed And broken in its faithfulness. When James's murderers rushed, And in his breast their daggers quivered, Unarmed, unguarded, undelivered. That noble lady did not die : Though chronicles be mute of old, And of her fortune and her fate No history unfold, Yet willing Fancy shall for her Become a happy chronicler. She did not die ; she lived to be The honoured one of all her kin ; From all the land her faithfulness Worship and praise did win ; And they who hated Douglas' line Yet loved the Lady Catharine. FROM SC0TTI8U HISTORY. 143 Her loyalty and worth had laud From high and low, from old and young, And glowing minstrels duteously Her brave devotion sung, And suing barons bent the knee. All for her worth and loyalty. But one alone, a simple knight. Gallant in field and praised in hall. Who loved her well and woo'd her long, She chose before them all, And loving lived, for many a year, His honoured dame and lady dear. True love is wealth, and purest gold, That knows not dimness or decrease ; Solace in sorrow, joy in joy, Blessed content and peace ; In memory a glory ever. In hope and issue failing never. 144 BALLADS AND LAYS True love is ours, my beauteous one ! And shall no change or waning- see, But shine within our heart and home A guiding star to be ; The light of love still shining on. When sun and moon and stars are gone. The principal actor in the conspiracy against the life of James I. was Sir Robert Graham, a ruined and vindictive outlaw, aided by the Earl of Athole, a son of Robert II., and by Sir Robert Stewart, the Earl's grandson, and James's favoured Chamberlain. The plot was carried into effect when the Court was keep- ing the festival of Christmas in the Dominican Mo- nastery at Perth, and on the night between the 20th and 21st of February 1436. The king was convers- ing with the queen and her ladies before retiring to rest, when the noise of the approaching- assassins alarmed him, and it was then discovered, on attempt- ing to secure the door of the apartment, that the locks had been destroyed and the bolts removed, an act of treachery committed by the Chamberlain. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 145 " Graham and his accompKces rushed towards the king's bed-chamber, and having- slain Walter Straiten, a page, whom they met in the passage, began to force open the door amidst the shrieks of the queen and the women, who feebly attempted to barricade it. One of the ladies, named Catharine Douglas, with heroic resolution thrust her arm into the staple from which the bolt had been treacherously removed ; but it was instantly snapt and broken by the brutal vio- lence of the conspirators, who, with furious looks, and naked weapons stained with blood, burst into the chamber." — Tytler's Hist. Vol. iii. p. 264. The ill- fated Prince died under repeated wounds. 146 BALLADS AND LAYS XVIII. ^"^c Bool of jFIotmen, Around the crags of Arthur's Hill The ling-ering mists of uig-ht are sleeping, As dawns the morn, so sadly stilly, Dunedin's, Scotland's day of weeping. Far murmurs from the city rise Of wild distraction, wailing cries Uttered in haste and fear : Frequent and fast the war-bell tolls, And upward through the dimness rolls Its burthen on the ear, O'er mountain hollow, loch and lea Answering the deep, unquiet sea. Dunedin, is it thus with thee, The ancient and the royal city I FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 147 So fallen in sorrow's misery, Thy foes might soothly sig-h for pity. Though plague* dwell iu thee now, and death With pestilent and sickly breath The air of heaven oppress. Where lives the Scot that would forsake Thy wall in fear, or shrink to take His part in thy distress. When battle's ruin calls away The strong to arm the weak to pray ? Last moon, on yonder moor so wide, (O 'twas a sight to banish sorrow 1) The day that witnessed Scotland's pride Half of its brightness seemed to borrow From burnished mail and cloth of gold, And princely banners high unrolled, From plume and helm and lance ; • At the time of the battle of Flodden, iu 1513, a pesti- lence raged with violence within the city of Edinburgh. 148 BALLADS AND LAYS While chimed with shout and charger's neigh The claBg of arms and trumpet's bray In warlike consonance ; When James of Scotland marshalled forth The best and bravest of the North. High were the strain that numbered o'er The thousands on the moor outspreading, Their clans, their names and warlike store, The thousands to the Border treading ! King James beheld, with joyful eye. The myriad pennons round him fly. The Lion-banner lead, And felt a monarch's power and pride To see his Earls and Barons ride Each on a l)arbed steed, Their warriors bringing, at his will. To fight for France at Flodden Hill. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 149 So bright and glorious was the sheen Of that proud host, so brave the shouting, That sadness, when no more was seen The splendour, came with fear and doubting. lE'en they who loved their King the most, And shouted with the shouting host, For France made none acclaim. Nor bade to James's arms good speed With heart so fired as when at need Of liberty they came, For right to strive, nor only try A deed of boastful chivalry. Days passed away, and anxious nights, That gave of good or ill no tiding, While round the walls and on the heights Were signals set and watchers biding ; Till some, that by the plague were stricken, Told how strange sights would round them thicken Of banners bathed in gore ; 150 BALLADS AND LAYS And tender mothers woke and wept, Dreaming' at midnight, as they slept, Of battle's dire uproar : They woke to hear, ere morning's gleam, A waking rumour like their dream. 'Twas whispered in the council hall At night, and louder told at morrow, 'Twas shrieked abroad at matin call Throughout the city, wild with sorrow. That Scotland's monarch and his men, His knights and earls, would ne'er again From Flodden Hill come back. Then hearts were rent, and wo grew loud. In dwelling low and palace proud. And one wide grief did rack The nameless warrior's lonely mate. And Margaret in her queenly state. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 151 Hark in the streets a voice on high, 'Mid hurrying crowds and mournful wailing ! " Cease ye to clamour thus and cry, When firm resolve were more availing ! Ye faithful burghers, harnessed well, Soon as yc hear the 'larum bell, The warning sound obey ; And dames of worth, and matrons all, That with your households weep in hall, Pass to the kirk and pray That heaven may now our sovereign King, And host, from woful peril bring ! " Along the street, at morning light, A priestly band is wending slowly, All simply clad in vestments white. In order pacing sad and lowly. With looks cast down to earth they go, Chanting a psalm of deepest wo, A hoarse and broken strain ; 152 BALLADS AND LAYS And, issuing from their dreary home, Lamenting maids and matrons come To swell the passing train, In the sad song with anguish keeping Their bitter part of wail and weeping. And thus to yonder sacred pile They tread with bosoms inly bleeding. Beneath the porch, along the aisle. In seemly order still proceeding : Then bursts the chant more full and high. Blent with the organ's harmony, And, o'er the pavement kneeling, The people join, in heart alone, The swelling strain, in wandering tone From arch and pillar stealing, As round the priestly mourners go. And this their psalm of prayer and wo : PROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 153 DE PROFUNDIS. Out of the deep, the dreary deep Of sorrow, shame, and sin we call : Lord, hear our cry ! the tears we weep, For sin and shame and sorrow fall. Dread God of Wrath, what mortal may Thy frowning face behold and live I Blest God of Love, when sinners pray In faith and fear, Thou wilt forgive. Thy promised blessing, Lord, to win. For peace and rest we look and long ; And ere the watch of morn begin. To Heaven our prayers for mercy throng. So be Thou still Thy people's trust. And saving mercy's plenteous stream Shall siirely flow, and from the dust Of sorrow, shame, and sin redeem I 154 BALLADS AND LAYS In August 1513, James IV. assembled an army on the Boi'oug-h Moor, beside the Scottish capital, to the number of nearly a hundred thousand men, for the purpose of harassing the kingdom of Henry VIII., then personally engaged in the war in France against Louis XII., whose chivalrous ally James continued, when a more prudent policy would have better pleas- ed his own nobles, and saved the flower of his people from a bloody grave. His host, which in its progress to the Border dwindled away, from scarcity of provi- sions and the unsteady disposition of part of the troops, to thirty-five thousand in number, entered England on the 22d of August, and on the 9th of the ensuing month joined battle at the hill of Flod- den with the army of the Earl of Surrey, numbering twenty-six thousand men. On the next day, when the rumour of the fatal result, occasioned by the fear- less rashness of King James, reached Edinburgh, the presidents or temporary magistrates, appointed to act in the absence of the provost and bailies with the host, issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of the FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 155 hurgh, wherein, after referring to " a great rumour not yet certain," they commanded " that all manner of personis nyhbours, within the samen, have reddy their fensabill gear and wapponis for weir, and com- peir thairwith to the said presidents, at jowing of the comoun bell, for the keeping and defens of the toun against thaira that wald invade the samen ;" and also charged that all women of the lower class " pass to thair labours, and be not seen upon the gait, clamour- and and cryand, and that the other women of gude pass to the kirk and pray, whan time requires, for our Soverane Lord and his ariAy." Lord Hailes re- marks that, when this proclamation was issued, the magistrates " must have been convinced that all was lost, and yet their orders are accurate and firm, with- out that pomp of words which, by studying to con- ceal fear, betrays it." 156 BALLADS AND LAYS XIX. A Lily fair was Magdalene, Of France the love and pride, In silent chapel, all alone, Kneeling at morning tide. Down from the Heaven the floating light In eastern glory passed, And tints of beauty quivering round The place of prayer were cast ; And one bright ray, that glowing fell Beside the princess meek. Tinged, for a while, with cherub bloom The paleness of her cheek. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. lo7 For long that maiden young and fair Had drooped with deadly ill, And all save heavenly thoughts to her Were comfortless and chill. The grave to her was peace and bliss. Though it might cheerless be To those whose spirit sight was dull With earthly vanity ; Nor any joy on earth she knew Whose sweetness e'er could gain Her youthful heart to love in aught A world of care and pain. For royal state and pomp she felt A weariness and thrall : The solace of a holy hymn In worth excelled them all. 158 BALLADS AND LAYS And there, amid the beaming light, In peace she knelt to pray That speedily her hour would come To die and pass away. Then to her bower went Magdalene, In beauty without peer, And thither came her princely sire, King Francis, blithe of cheer. " Come down, my Princess fair," he cried, " My daughter dear and true ! There waits a noble knight in hall Come from afar to woo ; *' For JameSj the gallant Scottish King, Is longing there to pay His duty as beseems, and hear Your lips his welcome say." FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 159 " Alas," she sighed, " 'twere vain for me To be an earthly bride, And grief for him to love a form The grave ere long shall hide I " O spare me love, my Father dear I It were an idle boon. The offer of a noble heart, When Death must wed me soon." Yet then she left her gilded bower, And meekly stepped in hall, Where Scotland's King, of noble port, Low on his knee did fall. " Lily of France, fair Magdalene !" — Thus 'gan the Prince to sue. And straight a strong and winning power, The maiden's bosom knew. 160 BALLADS AND LAYS She saw a form, she heard a voice, That changed and charmed away The deadly paleness of her cheek That hour and all the day ; For all the day the charm of love Defied the mortal ill That made earth's highest bliss to seem So comfortless and chill. And glad of heart was she, (though soon To be the stranger's bride,) In silent chapel all alone, Kneeling at eventide. Her soul was pure, her hope was fixed In Heaven, her only stay, Yet was her prayer no more from earth In death to pass away. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 161 But fate's cold whisper came unsought, — *' Thine hour is near to die I" Then suddenly her bloom was gone, And tears bedimmed her eye. For now her bosom knew a joy So sweet it well might grieve A spirit, loving and beloved. This weary world to leave. From Notre-Dame at lofty noon The bells o'er Paris rung ; In Notre-Dame the choristers A joyful anthem sung ; For there, with pomp and royal state, And love's thrice blessed ring, The daughter of the Fleur-de-lys Was wed to Scotland's King. 162 BALLADS AND LAYS Now she hath breathed a parting prayer Within that chapel lone, And shed a last unplaining tear Upon the marble stone ; And swiftly, from the Palace home Her smile shall charm no more. Yon galley bears her o'er the tide That laves the Scottish shore. Ho ! Gather ye who love King James ! In ready welcome throng, And cry, " Long live Queen Magdalene !' So shall her days be long. She sighed, she smiled the shouts to hear, And in her feeble hand. So shining in its whiteness, took And kissed the pebbly sand. PROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 163 Her lips have kissed, her voice liath blessed, And sweetly prayed that all Heaven's blessings upon all the land For ever more might fall. And for her words were soft and sweet. More loudly rose on high The shout, " Long live Queen Magdalene !" The Queen who came to die. For summer's breeze, that sped her l)ark, Yet breathed in wold and wood, When Magdalene lay darkly tombed In holy Holyrood. The youthful King James V. visited the court of Francis I. at the close of the year 1536, and sought the hand of the Princess Magdalene, " the only daughter of Francis, a beautiful girl of sixteen, but over whose features consumption had already thrown 164 BALLADS AND LAYS a melancholy languor, which was in vain pointed out to the King- by the warning voice of his counsellors. It is said by the French historians that the Princess had fallen in love with the Scottish monarch at first sight ; and although her father earnestly and affection- ately dissuaded the match on account of her extreme delicacy of constitution, James would hear of no de- lay, and on New Year's Day the marriage was cele- brated with much pomp in the Church of Notre- Dame." — Tytler's Hist. Vol. v. p. 213. The royal pair, after a series of brilliant festivals had been held in their honour, sailed from France and landed in Scotland, at the shore of Leith, in May 1337. " On stepping from the ships upon the strand, she lifted a handful of sand to her mouth, and, thanking God for her safety, prayed with emphatic sensibility for pros- perity to the land and its peoj)le. Her countenance and manners were impressed with the most winning sweetness, but her charms were already touched by the paleness of disease, and, only forty days after she had entered her capital, amidst shouts of joy and ap- plause, the voice of universal gratulation was changed FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 165 into lamentation for her death." — Lives of Scottish Worthies, Vol. iii. jj. 251. This melancholy event is the subject of a poem by Sir David Lindsay. 166 BALLADS AND LAYS XX. ILamcttt of ti)t ^ommon» for gamts tijc jFtftJj. Oh ! wide is the sorrow in landward and borough, And dark is the token on Falkland's proud wall ! For James, the free hearted, our Prince hath departed. The King- of broad Scotland lies dead in his hall. And there as he's shrouded, with stern brows o'er- clouded. His barons are circled in gloomiest show ; But false is their seeming, and shame on their schem- ing* That broke his young heart with dishonour and wo ! By Fala's retreating and Solway's defeating Sad Scotland hath witnessed their treason in field : FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 167 From pride that would rend hermay Heaven defendherl Our land from its nobles deliver and shield ! But deep is the sorrow the wide Lowland thorough, In town and in hamlet, o'er valley and moor; For now long- and dreary oppression shall weary The hearts of the Scots that are landless and poor. Their roofs have received hmi, their welcome relieved him From wandering unknown in the forest by night, As oft he'd be roaming afar in the gloaming, Or ranging at will in the merry moonlight. Nor seldom at guisings and homely rejoicings Like some roving minstrel his wont was to be : Where light hearts were singing, and bridal mirth ringing, The gladdest, the lightest, the loudest was he. 168 BALLADS AND LAYS The poor he defended, and evei' befriended The true Scottish Commons and wroug-ht for their weal : Their homage was purest, their aid was the surest ; He knew that the lowly have aye been the leal. And true is their sorrow in landward and borough, As sadly his worth and his love they recall : Their mirth hath departed, for sore broken-hearted The King^of the Commons lies dead in his hall. When James V. died, on 13th December 1542, he Was only in his thirty-first year, and well might the body of the Scottish people lament his early and af- flicting departure, looking forward as they did to the probability of a long minority of the Sovereign, since the heir to the throne was the infant Princess Mary. He was cut off in the midst of labours which had for their end the peace and welfare of Scotland, and the amelioration of the condition of his poorer subjects. For the vigorous measures which he took to effect these objects, many of the powerful and turbulent PROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 169 barons hated his government and disliked himself. The obstacles often thrown in his way by them vexed his spirit ; their haughty disobedience of his commands at Fala Muir filled him with anger; and the subse- quent disgraceful rout at Solway Moss wounded his own and his country's honour, and broke his noble heart. As he lay on his deathbed at Falkland, " a few of his most favoured friends and councillors stood round his couch ; the monarch stretched out his hand for them to kiss ; and regarding them for some mo- ments with a look of great sweetness and placidity, turned himself upon the pillow and expired." — Tytler's Hist. Vol. v. p. 252. It were needless to ex- patiate on the character of this amiable Prince, who was justly called in his own time the King of the Poor, or of the Commons, for he never ceased to protect their interests ; and often had he sat by their humble hearths, inquiring into their wants, enlivening them with his mirthful converse, or perhaps singing to a laughing circle his own right pleasant ballad, " The Gaberlunzie Man." The acts and deeds of Wallace Wight are not more generally known than the adven- tures of the " Gudeman of Ballangeich." 170 BALLADS AND LAYS XXI. STije Hai? of iLodjIcbcn. Why steps in hall, so proud and stern, Lochleven's Island lord ? Why keeps the Douglas day and night Such wary watch and ward ? « His arm against our Mary's right Sustained Earl Moray's power ; His castle walls a captive keep Sad Scotland's bruised Flower ; And there our Queen a weary while Hath drooped in prison pain. But Loyalty, with Heaven to aid. Shall mock the Castellain ! FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. I 7 I Over the water softly goes The breath of opening ]\Iay ; From tower and isle the gentle sun Is wandering west away ; And list ! it is the hasty bell From dark Lochleven tower. That to the shore is wont to sound At evening's quiet hour. A watcher by the water's brink Lies crouching 'mid the fern, But not to lure the wary trout Or slay the kingly hern : At yon hostel in peaceful wise Ten lusty travellers bide, But now they take their steeds from stall And hown them all to ride ; 172 BALLADS AXD LAYS And hiding by the woody height Full forty cavaliers From the green boughs their bridles take, And from the earth their spears. Merrily sounds the castle bell With welcome voice to call The warders to their evening cheer, And household one and all. Blithely the warder leaves his watch, For he hath watched from noon ; And *' bar the gate !" proud Douglas cries, " Let enter lord nor loon. " Till all shall sup, and quaff a cup Of good old ale or wine, Nor knight nor lord shall rouse from board The meanest knave of mine !" FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 173 The Castellain sits, the castle key- Lies on the board beside : Who 'scapes without its secret aid Across the lake may ride ! A choice repast the youthful page Brings in with step demure : Well pleased the Douglas marks his mien, And napkin white and pure. But 'ware the page, good Castellain I Of cunning hand is he : Deem not the napkin near thee hides The vanished castle key ! The page retires with step demure, Half gladly, half in fear, But soon as forth from presence gone He hastens swift as deer. 174 BALLADS AND LAYS Well may he speed with throbbing heart, And lightly bounding limb : The fairest lady of the land In chamber waits for him I And proudly may his fingers fold Around the burly key ; For Scotland's Queen is captive yet, And he must set her free ! She listens for his hurrying feet, She hears his quickening breath. And pale, beside the chamber door. She leaneth, still as death. But with a glance she questions him, If he have freedom brought : His joyful eyes and loaded hand Make answer to her thought. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 175 Stout Douglas at the wine cup sits, Dreaming of praise and power, While Mary now with flushing cheek Forsakes his prison bower. Her little maiden's trembling hand She takes with gentle care, As o'er the silent stones they pass, And down the winding stair. Turned by the page, the groaning key Hath smote unto her heart, That in a deep-drawn sigh was driven Well nigh from hope to part ; But then some merry menial jest The pang from danger stole, Making the careless guards within To laugh with all their soul. 176 BALLADS AND LAYS And joy, O joy ! across the lake, To bathe her weary eyes The free wind comes, and at her feet The rippling water lies. The ready page unmoors the boat, The while her snowy veil, Bright bordered like an evening cloud, She waves in summer's gale. The lonely watcher by the lake That welcome sign espies, And straight, with up\tard course and fleet. His signal arrow flies. It warns the lusty travellers ten, And they with right good will, Ere yet the shaft returned, have warned The horsemen on the hill. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 177 O prosper well the gallant ship That ever crossed the brine, To bring- the wary Castellain Siach goodly Rhenish wine ! But ah, that hands of matchless white, That Scotland's sceptre bore, Should now be straining wearily The hard and rugged oar ! The gentle lady and the page Together bend and row, And sits the little bright-eyed Maid Upon the gliding prow. " Now to the shore look round thee, child. Look round thee well, and see If mounted horsemen to the Lake Approach by rock or tree." 178 BALLADS AND LAYS " O Lady 1 riding bravely down, A troop of knights appears : Between the wood and water move Their starry twinkling spears. " Two princes, with their plumes of white, The mounted spearmen lead, And one into the Lake, O look! Has spurred his prancing steed." " Then cheer thee well, my gallant page, And stoutly ply the oar 1 Lord Seton and young Douglas wait To welcome us on shore. ** Adieu, disloyal Castellain ! Adieu, unlovely Tower ! Thy walls are dark and joyless all, Nor meet for lady's bower. FROM SCOTTISH UISTOUY. 179 " Ply well the oar ! Our friends are nigh, Their steeds are wondrous fleet, And princely halls will open wide Their welcome Queen to greet : " For there are hearts in Scotland yet That burn for Mary's wrong, And Earls and Knights and Yeomen true Will round her banner throng !" The escape of Queen Mary from Lochleveu Castle, where she had been rigorously imprisoned since June 1567, was effected on the evening of the 2d of May in the following year. The castle belonged to William Douglas, one of the barons confederated against the Queen ; and, from its insular situation, as well as the character of its owner, was considered by James Stew- art, Earl of Moray, her half-brother, and by the other leaders of the revolution which deprived her of a throne, as a place completely secured against any 180 BALLADS AND LAYS such casualty. She was there compelled, with cir- cumstances of extreme harshness, to resign the crown in favour of her infant son, and nominate her " dear Brother," the Earl of Moray, Regent of the King- dom. George Douglas^, the younger brother of Lochleven, having become devoted to her interest, had once nearly succeeded in an attempt to accom- plish her freedom ; but the Queen, who had disguised herself as a menial servant, was discovered by the ex- traordinary whiteness of her handsj and carried back to more strict confinement. Young Douglas was dis- missed from the castle, but being earnestly bent on the deliverance of his beauteous and unfortunate mis- tress, he concerted measures with Lord Seton and the Hamiltons, and with the assistance of a page at the castle, called Little Douglas, at length effected his purpose in the manner narrated in the Ballad. — See Tytler's Hist. Vol. vii. pp. 173, 174. FROM SCOTTISH EUSTORY. 181 XXII. ^i^e Battle of Hangsttrr. There sat a merry harper By fair Lochleven side, While the dewy stars were gathering- Upon its darkening tide : He saw the torches twinkle Within its island hall, But the old forsaken Priory Was dim and silent all. The old and merry harper, He wove a joyous lay. How Scotland's JMary 'scaped her foes That bappy happy May. 182 BALLADS AND LAYS But came a sound that startled The still and lonely place : Behind him to the lake advanced A courser's clanging pace. His side was red with spurring, And white with foam his mane. And travel-stained the trooper's form Who grasped the tightening rein. Close by the waveless water The bridle back he drew : , His bugle horn he lifted thrice, And thrice a blast he blew. Answered the castle warder In winded echoes three, That cast upon the summer night A wandering melody. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 183 " What news, what news, bold trooper ? " The merry harper cried : " O joyful is the news I bear ! " The horseman proud replied : " The noble Earl of Moray Hath foiled the Popish Queen, And fair Lang-side, by Glasgow town, A goodly slaughter seen." Then sighed the harper hoary, O'erta'en with sudden wo : " How now," the angry trooper spake, " Hear'st thou my tidings so ? " If thou'rt a blind adorer At saintly Mary's shrine. Then will the news be hard to bear As purgatory's pyne 1 " 184 BALLADS AND LAYS " I hold not Rome's delusion Though grey in years I be, Yet ne'er with altered creed hath changed A minstrel's loyalty. " But come ye from the battle?'' — " From battle straight I come : Six thousand were Queen Mary's men, And four our gallant sum. " The foemen through the greenwood This morn had weened to go, But skilful Grange their purpose marked. And sorely marred their show. " ' Go win,' he cried, ' ye troopers, The river's southern side, Each horseman with a hagbutteer !' — And so we crossed the Clyde. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 185 " Then perisheil many a foeman. From bloody saddle thrown By thickening' shots our marksmen sent From bank and bush and stone. " Then pike with pike, and hagbut To hagbut closely set, With steed to steed and hand to hand, The hosts in battle met. " 'Tis said that your Queen Mary At distance spied the fray : She saw her mightiest nobles flee. Ere passed one hour away ; " The Hamilton, the Seton, Argyll and all his men ; Nor soon will Mary's charms recall Their broken bands again. 186 BALLADS AND LAYS " Let her go rue her beauty In sober convent weeds! In convent cell her Aves tell, Or lovers, on her beads !" Thus spoke the hasty trooper, The harper mutely heard. But bitter sorrow and disdain His loyal spirit stirred. Uprose he, unreplying, His weary way to go. And the thoughtful stars looked pitying down Upon the minstrel's wo. On Mary's restoration to freedom, her partizans immediately crowded in considerable numbers to her assistance ; " and a bond drawn up by the nobility for the defence of their Sovereign, and her restitution to her crown and kingdom, in the enthusiasm of the FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 187 moment, was signed by nine earls, nine bishops, eight- een lords, twelve abbots and priors, and nearly one hundred barons." She encamped her army at Ha- milton, and Regent Moray, who was at the time in Glasgow, about eight miles distant, lost not a mo- ment in summoning a force to oppose the Queen. His cavalry was commanded by Kirkcaldy of Grange, a soldier of great experience and skill ; and a brief but decisive engagement took place on 13th May 1368, at Langside ; the Queen's army having left Hamilton, and proceeded along the south bank of the river Clyde, with the intention of occupying Dum- barton. The encounter between the pikemen of the hostile forces was very severe and desperate ; and their long pikes were " so closely crossed and inter- laced that, when the soldiers behind discharged their pistols, and threw them, or the staves of their shat- tered weapons, in the faces of their enemies, they never reached the ground, but remained lying on the spears." — Tytler's Hist. Vol. vii. pp. 176-180. Mary witnessed the battle from an eminence half a mile distant ; and on beholding her troops completely rout- 188 BALLADS AND LAYS ed, she fled with the utmost speed to the Abbey of Dundrennan in Kirkcudbright, about sixty miles from Langside, and near the Enghsh territory. She there adopted the fatal resolution of taking refuge in Eng- land ; thus throwing herself into the power of Queen Elizabeth, her insidious and unscrupulous enemy, who thenceforward treated her as a prisoner, and after re- peatedly changing the place of her captivity, and in- creasing its severity, during the long period of nine- teen years, at last murdered her by the axe of an ex- ecutioner in the Castle of Fotheringay. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 189 XXIII. ^Tije Bcatf) of Jacgcnt ittorajj. Earl Mokay turned him on his steed Upon the wintry bent^ As on to fair Linlithgow town In princely state he went: — '* Why thus so sad, my trusty Home, And dreary seems thy face ? If winter's bleakness chill thy blood Spur on with fleeter pace." " Lord Regent, it is not the blast I feel, though I be old, Put fear for thee around my heart Is creeping, icy cold. 190 BALLADS AND LAYS " The champion, honoured and beloved, Of Scotland's Church art thou, And to our dead King James's son In homage blithe we bow. " But there be evil men and proud That bear thee deadly hate : Bent to destroy thy life and power^ They darkly watch and wait. " And Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, The gloomiest of his race. Hath vowed and planned a deed of blood : I know his secret place : " In yonder town the traitor lurks ; O keep thy life from peril I" " My steed is swift, my shield is Heaven,' Said Moray's fated Earl. FROM SCOTTISU HISTORY. 191 Then proudly rang- Linlithgow hells, As on a festive tide, And many thronged the street with shouts, To see the Regent ride. " God save the Regent !" was their cry, *' And Romish power confound. That long, too long, with darkest wile, Till now, the land hath bound !" Yet some ne'er shouted as he passed, Nor word of welcome spoke ; Yon hidden priest, yon muttering- dame That crossed her 'neath her cloak. Sore grieving' that for friend of Knox A christened bell should ring. Or naming low a Lady dear In prison sorrowing. 192 BALLADS AND LAYS But hatred scowled, and ban was breathed, Unheeded and apart ; Loud plaudits filled Earl Moray's ear, And high resolve his heart. For him the maiden left her lute. Nor stayed the groom in stall, And shining faces welcome sent From lattice, door and wall. Yet seemed his eye o'er all around Unquietly to run ; — 'Twas but the turning of his cheek The falling snow to shun ! From lattice, door and w^all he heard The people's glad acclaim ; But from one dwelling, closed and barred, No shout or smile there came ; 9 FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 193 The house of mitred Hamilton, — Saint Andrews' priest was he ; And darker grew the Regent's glance Its silent front to see. Onward he pricked in haste, and strove The cheerless spot to pass, But by his side and round him pressed The people's eager mass. Then suddenly a fiery flash, A sudden noise and smoke. Forth from the Arch-Priest's dwelling came. From its balcony broke. O horror ! From his rearing steed The dying Regent sank ; Pride withered from his eye, the snow His life-blood quickly drank ; N 194 BALLADS AND LAYS And clamorously bui'sting round An instant sorrow spread Through trooper, stripling, sire and dame, With vengeance joined, or dread. Death to the traitor ! But to whom ? For rage was weak and dark, Till, lo ! The murderer was revealed, And vengeance found a mark. Death to the traitorous Hamilton ! Revenge on Bothwellhaugh I Fast spurring o'er the snowy plain His gloomy form they saw. And soon upon his guilty track, With haste and hagbut fire. For many a mile avenging hoofs Followed through brake and briar. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 195 But vainly sped the hot pursuit O'er bent and icy flood. For, mocking all, strong- Cadzow towers Received the man of blood. Amid his drooping- friends was laid The slaughtered Earl the while, Till borne in funeral state to rest Within Saint Anthon's aisle. And there by an assembly high The Regent's praise was heard, When Knox, the fearless Presbyter, Like some old Prophet stirred, Beside the sable bier, defied Man's wicked will to mar The glory and the power of Truth, Or quench its risen Star. 196 BALLADS AND LAYS James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh had been taken prisoner at Langside, and condemned to death ; but the Regent allowed him to escape with the forfeiture of his property, which was bestowed by Moray on one of his adherents. That individual conducted himself with such atrocious cruelty towards the wife of Bothwellhaugh in seizing his estate, that Hamilton I'e- solved to avenge himself on the person of the Regent, and being encouraged by the powerful faction of his own name, planned the Earl's assassination on the oc- casion of his coming from Stirling- to Edinburgh by way of Linlithgow. The last Romish Aichbishop of Saint Andrews, who was uncle to Bothwellhaugh, had a dwelling-house in the High Street of Linlith- g-ow, and from it the assassin fired the murderous shot. 'I'he Regent was more than once warned of his danger, and particularly by John Hume, an at- tached follower, who earnestly endeavoured to dis- suade him from passing through the town. The murderer was joyfully received at Hamilton by the Archbishop and his other abettors. The Earl of Moray was slain in January 1569-70, FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. l97 when not yet forty years of age, in the heig^ht of his power and popularity as Regent of Scotland and leader of the Protestant Reformers, who made great lamentation over him. He was buried with solemn pomp in Saint Anthony's Aisle, within the High Church of Edinburgh, the bier having been previously placed before the pulpit while a sermon was delivered by John Knox to the assembled crowd of mourners. 198 BALLADS AND LAYS XXIV. Strge for dXnttn fHarj?. Rest to the weary, sweetest rest ! Peace to the soul whose peace was slain ! Joy to the spirit sorrow-prest, A heavenly joy for earthly pain ! Sweet rest to her whose sunless eyes Shall meet no more yon dawning ray That slowly leaves the breaking skies To light thy hall, dark Fotheringay ! The morn with slow reluctance creeps To mingle with the tapers' glare Dying around the pall that keeps Mary of Scotland shrouded there. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 199 Lift not the shroud ! A speaking stain Of blood upon its sable seen, Tells how the spirit fled from pain, For there the headsman's axe hath been. Beside their slaughtered Lady dear The faithful few have moaned and wept, And all the night their vigil drear. Through all the ghostly night, have kept. Why weep they thus, uncomforted, Taking no comfort from the morn ? No sorrowing tears of love are shed For captives won from thrall forlorn. And she, whose stricken form appears Wrapped in the sheltering robe of peace, Had felt, for many joyless years, Captivity's long pain increase. 200 BALLADS AND LAYS Why mourn for her ? Ah, mourn the dead ! Thoug'h anguish end in mortal sleep, Still must the tear of love be shed, Still must the living wail and weep. Fair France, lament for Mary's doom ! Her heart's dear country, from the time A child she saw thy gardens bloom. And shared thy crown in beauty's prime ; Land, in whose language best each word For hope, or joy, or love she knew ; Whose name remembered freshly stirred The anguish of her last adieu ! And thou, wide Scotland, wail 1 For she Was born sole heir to Scotland's Crown, When James, from all his royalty, In sorrow to the grave went down. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 201 Swell high the dirge for Scotland's Queen I Ye Minstrels of the North arise, If but one virtue that hath been Yet in your boasted harping lies ! Seek not to rouse your native land To vengeance due for England's deed, Whose Queen with an unholy hand Had doomed a Queen of Scots to bleed. Soon will the dark Avenger shake That sceptred hand with palsy fear, That proud and stony bosom quake The hollow voice of Death to hear. Bid not the daring Borderer come England to foray wide and far ; Wake not the gathering lowland drum Nor wing the fiery- cross of war. 202 BALLADS AND LAYS King Robert's heart is cold and sere, Dim is the blade Wight Wallace bore, The Douglas lies in charnel drear. And Flodden's Knight returns no more. Though Mary's son your homage claim, His heart is weak, his love is cold : A moment's wrath his cheek may flame, But to her foes his thoughts are sold. Ye minstrels ! wake a softer string. Battle's avenging notes forego. And Mary's changeful story sing, Her birth, her beauty, and her wo. Their rocky hearts and hate subdue Who stained with blood her palace bower, With crime reproached her, and o'erthrew With cruel grasp her queenly power. FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 203 Forgiving' all with parting breath Tell how the gentle Mary died, And, ere her lips grew dumb in death. Her truth she meekly testified. To hear her sad departing sung' The sternest eye a tear may shed ; Fanatic passion's fiery tongue Less fiercely blame the silent dead ; And future Scots will pitying say, In some far time from trouble free. Ah, that our wiser, happier day Had owned a Flower so fair as she ! At the Castle of Fotheringay, on the 8th of Febru- ary 1586-7, Mary fell a sacrifice to the fears and hatred of her cousin Queen Elizabeth. The narra- tive of her last hours cannot fail to affect with the 204 BALLADS AND LAYS liveliest pity every reader whose breast ever felt that emotion, whatever opinion he may entertain on the dis- puted points connected with Mary's eventful history. She certainly died as one conscious of none of the crimes laid against her ; while the death-scene of her more fortunate enemy exhibited a torture of mind the very opposite of the peaceful calmness with which Mary bowed her head to receive the last painful stroke that man could give. She declared that she died " true to Scotland, true to France. May God, who can alone judge the thoughts and actions of men, forgive those who have thirsted for my blood ! He knows my heart : He knows my desire hath ever been that Scotland and England should be united." In the person of her son, James VI., a union of the crowns did take place, and a great amount of pro- sperity and happiness has resulted to both kingdoms, but only after the lapse of many miserable years of national trouble. It may have been that those times of fear and calamity were ordained by the providence of Heaven, in order that such a union might not pro- duce its natural advantages till the blood of Mary FROM SCOTTISH HISTORY. 20.5 Stuart, which cemented it, the great iniquity commit- ted by the ruler of one country, and secretly approved of by the chief men of the other, had been atoned for by the United Nations. [ 206 J 2rije Wiwmx Song. I. Long time in the rude stormy ages of old The Scot and the Southron were strangers and foes, And oft at their meeting on ramj^art and wold Hath roared the loud thunder of battle and blows. Now verdantly smiling their battle fields lie, And Britons meet Britons as foemen no more. For bound in a union holy and high Their hearts have forgotten the rancour of yore. THE UNION SONG. 207 II. Fair England, thy Rose hath its bloom from above, Proud Scotland, thy Thistle stands sure on its stem, And Erin, bright Erin, thy union of love Adds strength to thy beauty, and honour to them ! The Shamrock's green leaves shadow silently forth, As threefold and free in the sunlight they grow. How join in one Empire the lands of the North, — An Empire so glorious let history show I III. And long may the Flag of their Union be seen Far waving in majesty over the earth. Secure on the land, on the billow serene. The emblem of freedom and wisdom and worth ! Still gladly rejoicing in Liberty's light. And scorning to breathe in the darkness of thrall, Unchanging in love and unfailing in might, May honour to one be the glory of all ! 208 THE UNION SONG. IV. Though bright be the trophies our fathers have won In thought's high achievement, and manhood's em- prize, We'll rest not our fame on the days that are gone, Or boast us the sons of the brave and the wise. The children shall equal the deeds of the sire. The future in glory out-glory the past, While dearly we'll cherish, till Time shall expire. One Country, one Cause, and one Hope at the last I THE END. EDINBURGH : PKINTED HY STARK AND COMPANY, OLD ASSEMBLY CLOSE, UCLAYoung Research Library PR4461 .C14b L 009 508 674 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below REC'D q MAR 5 1967 Z19SZi lOm-8,'32 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGKLh^S TTDDADV UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 001 416 711 8 m^