XXXIII.

Ill with King James's mood that day,
Suited gay feast and minstrel lay;
Soon were dismiss'd the courtly throng,
And soon cut short the festal song.
Nor less upon the sadden'd town
The evening sunk in sorrow down;
The burghers spoke of civil jar,
Of rumour'd feuds and mountain war,
Of Moray, Mar, and Roderick Dhu,
All up in arms—the Douglas too,
They mourn'd him pent within the hold,
"Where stout Earl William was of old,"*
And there his words the speaker staid,
And finger on his lip he laid,
Or pointed to his dagger blade.
But jaded horsemen, from the west,
At evening to the castle press'd;
And busy talkers said they bore
Tidings of fight on Katrine's shore;
At noon the deadly fray begun
And lasted till the set of sun.
Thus giddy rumour shook the town,
Till closed the Night her pennons brown.

* Stabbed by James II. in Stirling Castle.

END OF CANTO THE FIFTH.

NOTES TO CANTO FIFTH.

Note I.

Nor then claim'd sovereignty his due,

While Albany, with feeble hand,

Held borrow'd truncheon of command.-St. VI. p. 163.

There is scarcely a more disorderly period in Scottish history than that which succeeded the battle of Flodden, and occupied the minority of James V. Feuds of ancient standing broke out like old wounds, and every quarrel among the independent nobility, which occurred daily, and almost hourly, gave rise to fresh bloodshed. "There arose," says Pitscottie, "great trouble and deadly feuds in many parts of Scotland, both in the north and west parts. The Master of Forbes, in the north, slew the Laird of Meldrum under tryst, (i, e. at an agreed and secured meeting): likewise, the Laird of Drummelziar slew the Lord Fleming at the hawking; and likewise, there was slaughter among many other great lords, p. 131. Nor was the matter much mended under government of the Earl of Angus, for though he caused the king to ride through all Scotland, "under pretence and colour of justice, to punish thief and traitor, none were found greater than were in their own company. And none at that time durst strive with a Douglas, nor yet with a Douglas's man, for if they did, they got the worse. Therefore none durst plainzie of no extortion, theft, reiff, nor slaughter done to them by the Douglasses, or their men ; in that cause they were not heard, so long as the Douglasses had the court in guiding.”—Ibid., p. 138.

Note II.

The Gael, of plain and river heir,

Shall, with strong hand, redeem his share. St. VII. p. 164.

The ancient Highlanders verified in their practice the lines of

Gray :

An iron race the mountain cliffs maintain,

Foes to the gentler genius of the plain;

For where unwearied sinews must be found,

With side-long plough to quell the flinty ground;

To turn the torrent's swift descending flood:
To tame the savage, rushing from the wood;
What wonder if, to patient valour train'd,

They guard with spirit what by strength they gain'd;
And while the rocky ramparts round they see

The rough abode of want and liberty,

(As lawless force from confidence will grow,)
Insult the plenty of the vales below?

Fragment on the Alliance of Education and Government.

So far, indeed, was a Creagh or foray from being held disgraceful, that a young chief was always expected to show his talents for command so soon as he assumed it, by leading his clan on a successful enterprize of this nature, either against a neighbouring sept, for which constant feuds usually furnished an apology, or against the Sassenach, Saxons, or Lowlanders, for which no apology was necessary. The Gael, great traditional historians, never forgot that the Lowlands had, at some remote period, been the property of their Celtic forefathers, which furnished an ample vindication of all the ravages that they could make ou the unfortunate districts which lay within their reach. Sir James Grant, of Grant, is in possession of a letter of apology from Cameron of Lochiel, whose men had committed some depredations upon a farm called Moines, occupied by one of the Grants. Lochiel assures Grant, that however the mistake had happened, his instructions were precise, that the party should foray the province of Moray (a Lowland district,) where, as he coolly observes, "all men take their prey."

Note III.

-I only meunt

To show the reed on which you leant,
Deeming this path you might pursue

Without a pass from Roderick Dhu.-St. XI. p. 167.

This incident, like some other passages in the poem, illustrative of the character of the ancient Gael, is not imaginary, but borrowed from fact. The Highlanders, with the inconsistency of most nations in the same state, were alternately capable of great exertions of generosity, and of cruel revenge and perfidy. The following story I can only quote from tradition, but with such an assurance from those by whom it was communicated, as permits me little doubt of its authenticity. Early in the last century, John Gunn, a noted Catheran, or Highland robber, infested Inverness-shire, and levied black mail up to the walls of the provincial capital. A garrison was then maintained in the castle of that

town, and their pay (country banks being unknown,) was usually transmitted in specie, under the guard of a small escort. It chanced that the officer who commanded this little party was unexpectedly obliged to halt, about thirty miles from Inverness, at a miserable inn. About night-fall, a stranger, in the Highland dress, and of very prepossessing appearance, entered the same house. Separate accommodation being impossible, the Englishman offered the newly-arrived guest a part of his supper, which was accepted with reluctance. By the conversation, he found his new acquaintance knew well all the passes of the country, which induced him eagerly to request his company on the ensuing morning. He neither disguised his business and charge, nor his apprehensions of that celebrated freebooter, John Gunn. The Highlander hesitated a moment, and then frankly consented to be his guide. Forth they set in the morning; and in travelling through a solitary and dreary glen, the discourse again turned on John Gunn. "Would you like to see him?" said the guide; and, without waiting an answer to this. alarming question, he whistled, and the English officer, with his small party, were surrounded by a body of Highlanders, whose numbers put resistance out of question, and who were all well armed. "Stranger," resumed the guide, "I am that very John Gunn by whom you feared to be intercepted, and not without cause: for I came to the inn last night. with the express purpose of learning your route, that I and my fol. lowers might ease you of your charge by the road. But I am incapable of betraying the trust you reposed in me, and having convinced you that you were in my power, I can only dismiss you unplundered and unin. jured." He then gave the officer directions for his journey, and disappeared with his party, as suddenly as they had presented themselves.

Note IV.

For, train'd abroad his arms to wield,

Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield.-St. XV. p. 171.

The use of defensive armour, and particularly of the buckler or target, was general in queen Elizabeth's time, although that of the single rapier seems to have been occasionally practised much earlier.⚫ Rowland Yorke, however, who betrayed the fort of Zulphin to the Spaniards, for which good service he was afterwards poisoned by them, is said to have been the first who brought the rapier-fight into general Faller, speaking of the Swash-bucklers, or bullies of queen Elizabeth's time, says, "West Smithfield was formerly called Ruffian's

use.

See Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 61.

Hall, where such men usually met, casually or otherwise, to try masteries with sword and buckler. More were frightened than hurt, more hurt than killed therewith, it being accounted unmanly to strike beneath the knee. But since that desperate traitor Rowland Yorke first introduced thrusting with rapiers, sword and buckler are disused." In The Two Angry Women of Abingdon, a comedy, printed in 1599, we have a pathetic complaint:-" Sword and buckler fight begins to grow out of use. I am sorry for it: I shall never see good manhood again. If it be once gone, this poking fight of rapier and dagger will come up; then a tall man, and a good sword and buckler man, will be spitted like a cat or rabbit." But the rapier had, upon the continent, long superseded, in private duel, the use of sword and shield. The masters of the noble science of defence were chiefly Italians. They made great mystery of their art and mode of instruction, never suffered any person to be present but the scholar who was to be taught, and even examined closets, beds, and other places of possible concealment. Their lessons often gave the most treacherous advantages; for the challenger, having the right to choose his weapons, frequently selected some strange, unusual, and inconvenient kind of arms, the use of which he practised under these instructors, and thus killed at his ease his antagonist, to whom it was presented for the first time on the field of battle. See BRANTOME's Discourse on Duels, and the work on the same subject, "si gentement ecrit," by the venerable Dr. Paris de Puteo. The Highlanders continued to use broad-sword and target until disarmed after the affair of 1746-6.

Note V.

Like mountain-cat who guards ner young,

Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung.-St. XVI. p. 172.

I have not ventured to render this duel so savagely desperate as that of the celebrated Sir Ewan of Lochiel, chief of the clan Cameron, called, from his sable complexion, Ewan Dhu. He was the last man in Scotland who maintained the royal cause during the great civil war, and his constant incursions rendered him a very unpleasant neighbour to the republican garrison at Inverlochy, now Fort-William. The governor of the fort detached a party of three hundred men to lay waste Lochiel's possessions, and cut down his trees; but, in a sudden and desperate attack made upon them by the chieftain, with very inferior numbers, they were almost all cut to pieces. The skirmish is detailed in a curious memoir of Sir Ewan's life, printed in the Appendix of Pennant's Scottish Tour.

"In this engagement, Lochiel himself had several wonderful escapes.