HARP of the North, farewell! The hills grow dark, Yet, once again, farewell, thou Minstrel Harp! Much have I owed thy strains on life's long way, Hark; as my lingering footsteps slow retire, Some Spirit of the air has waked thy string; 'Tis now a Seraph bold, with touch of fire, 'Tis now the brush of Fairy's frolic wing. Receding now, the dying numbers ring Fainter and fainter down the rugged dell, And now the mountain breezes scarcely bring A wandering witch-note of the distant spellAnd now, 'tis silent all! Enchantress, fare thee well: NOTES TO CANTO SIXTH. Note I. These drew not for their fields the sword, The Scottish armies consisted chiefly of the nobility and barons, with their vassals, who held lands under them, for military service by themselves and their tenants. The patriarchal influence exercised by the heads of clans in the Highlands and borders was of a different nature, and sometimes at variance with feudal principles. It flowed from the Patria Potestas, exercised by the chieftain as representing the original father of the whole name, and was often obeyed in contradiction to the feudal superior. James V. seems first to have introduced, in addition to the militia furnished from these sources, the service of a small number of mercenaries, who formed a body-guard, called the foot-band. The satirical poet, Sir David Lindsay, (or the person who wrote the prologue to his play of the "Three Estaites,") has introduced Finlay of the foot-band, who, after much swaggering upon the stage, is at length put to flight by the fool, who terrifies him by means of a sheep's skull upon a pole. I have rather chosen to give them the harsh features of the mercenary soldiers of the period, than of this Scottish Thraso. These partook of the character of the Adventurous Companions of Froissart, or the Condottieri of Italy. One of the best and liveliest traits of such manners is the last will of a leader, called GeffroyTete Noir, who having been slightly wounded in a skirmish, his intemperance brought on a mortal disease. When he found himself dying, he summoned to his bed-side the adventurers whom he commanded, and thus addressed them : "Fayre sırs, quoth Geffray, I knowe well ye have alwayes served and honoured me as men ought to serve their soveraygne and capitayne, and I shai be the gladder if ye wyll agre to have to your capitayne one that is discended of my bloode. Beholde here Aleyne Roux, my cosyn, and Peter his brother, who are men of armes and of my blode. I require you to make Aleyne youre capitayne, and to swear to hym faythe, obeysaunce, love, and loyalte, here in my presence, and also to his brother: howe be it, I wyll that Aleyne have the soverayne charge. Sir, quod they, we are well content, for we hauve ryght well chosen. There all the companyons made theym servyant to Aleyne Roux and to Peter his brother. Whan all that was done, than Geffraye spake agayne, and sayde, Nowe, sirs, ye hauve obeyed to my pleasure, I canne you great thanke; wherfore, sirs, I wyll ye have parte of that ye have holpen to conquere. I saye unto you, that in yonder chest that ye se stande yonder, therin is to the some of xxx thousande frankes-I wyll give them accordynge to my conscyence. Wyll ye all be content to fulfyle my testament; howe saye ye? Sir, quod they, we be ryght well contente to fullfyll your commaundement. Thane firste, quod he, I wyll and give to the chapell of Saynt George, here in this castell, for the reparacions therof, a thousande and five hundrede frankes; and I gyve to my lover, who hath truely served me, two thousande and fyve hundrede frankes; and also I gyve to Aleyne Roux, youre newe capitayne, foure thousande frankes; also to the varlettes of my chambre I gyve fyve hundrede frankes. To myne offycers I gyve a thousand and fyve hundrede frankes. The rest I gyve and bequeth as I shall shewe you. Ye be upon a thyrtie companyons all of one sorte; ye ought to be bretherne, and all of one alyaunce, without debate, ryotte, or stryfe among you. All this that I have shewed you ye shall fynde in yonder cheste. I will that ye departe all the resydue equally and truelly bitwene you thyrtie. And if ye be nat thus contente, but that the devylle will set debate bytwene you, than beholde yonder is a stronge axe, breke up the coffer, and gette it who can. To those wordes every man ansuered and said, Sir, and dere maister, we are and shall be all of one accorde. Sir, we have so moche loved and douted you, that we will breke no coffer, nor breke no poynt of that ye have ordayned and commaunded."-Lord BERNER'S Froissart. Note II. Thou now hast glee-maiden and harp; The jongleurs, or jugglers, as we learn from the elaborate work of the late Mr. Strutt, on the Sports and Pastimes of the people of England, used to call in the aid of various assistants, to render these performances as captivating as possible. The glee-maiden was a necessary attendant. Her duty was tumbling and dancing; and therefore the Anglo-Saxon version of the Saint Mark's Gospel states Herodias to have vaulted or fo tumbled before King Herod. In Scotland, these poor creatures seem, even at a late period, to have been bondswomen to their masters, as appears from a case reported by Fountainhall. "Reid the mountebank pursues Scot of Harden and his lady, for stealing away from him a little girl, called the tumbling-lassie, that danced upon his stage; and he claimed damages, and produced a contract, whereby he bought her from her mother for £30 Scots. But we have no slaves in Scotland, and mothers cannot sell their bairns; and physicians attested, the employment of tumbling would kill her; and her joints were now grown stiff, and she declined to return; though she was at least a 'prentice, and so could not run away from her master: yet some cited Moses' law, that if a servant shelter himself with thee, against his master's cruelty, thou shalt surely not deliver him up. The lords, renitente cancellario, assoilzed Harden on the 27th of January, (1687).-FOUNTAINHALL'S Decisions, vol. i. p. 439. * The facetious qualities of the ape soon rendered him an acceptable addition to the strolling band of the jongleur. Ben Jonson, in his splenetic introduction to the comedy of "Bartholomew Fair," is at pains to inform the audience that "he has ne'er a sword and buckler man in his fair, nor a juggler, with a well-educated ape, to come over the chaine for the king of England, and back again for the prince, and sit still on his haunches for the pope and the king of Spaine." Note III. That stirring air that peals on high, There are several instances, at least in tradition, of persons so much attached to particular tunes, as to require to hear them on their deathbed. Such an anecdote is mentioned by the late Mr. Riddell, of Glenriddell, in his collection of border tunes, respecting an air called the "Dandling of the Bairns," for which a certain Gallovidian laird is said * Though less to my purpose, I cannot help noticing a circumstance respecting another of this Mr. Reid's attendants, which occurred during James II.'s zeal for catholic proselytism, and is told by Fountainhall with dry Scottish irony. "January 17th, 1687.-Reid the mountebank is received into the popish church, and one of his blackamores was persuaded to accept of baptism from the popish priests, and to turn Christian papist; which was a great trophy he was called James, after the king and chancellor, and the apostle James."--Ibid. p. 440. Q to have evinced this strong mark of partiality. It is popularly told of a famous freebooter, that he composed the tune known by the name of Macpherson's Rant while under sentence of death, and played it at the gallows-tree. Some spirited words have been adapted to it by Burns. A similar story is recounted of a Welch bard, who composed and played on his death-bed the air called Dafydd y Garegg Wen. But the most curious example is given by Brantome, of a maid of honour at the court of France, intitled Mademoiselle de Limeuil. "Durant sa maladie, dont e le trespassa, jamais elle ne cessa, ains causa tousjours; car elle estoit fort grande parleuse, brocardeuse, et très bien et fort à propos, et très-belle avec cela. Quand l'heure de sa fin fut venue, elle fit venir à soy son valet, (ainsi que les filles de la cour en ont chacune un) qui s'appelloit Julien, et scavoit très-bien jouer du violon. Julien, luy dit elle, prenez vostre violon et sonnez moy tousjours jusques à ce que me voyez morte (car je m'y en vais,) la défaite des Suisses, et le mieux que vous pourrez, et quand vous serez sur le mot, 'Tout est perdu,' sonnez le par quatre ou cing fois, le plus piteusement que vous pourrez; ce que fit l'autre, et elle-mesme luy aidoit de la voix, et quand ce vint tout est perdu,' elle la reïtera par deux fois; et se tournant de l'autre costé du chevet, elle dit à ses compagnes: Tout est perdu à ce coup, et à bon escient; et ainsi décéda. Voilà une morte joyeuse et plaisante. Je tiens ce conte de deux de ses compagnes, dignes de foi, que virent jouer ce mystère." -Œuvres de Brantome, ii. 507. The tune to which this fair lady chose to make her final exit was composed on the defeat of the Swiss at Marignano. The burden is quoted by Panurge, in Rabelais, and consists of these words, imitating the jargon of the Swiss, which is a mixture of French and German. Tout est verlore Tout est verlore bi Got! Note IV. Battle of Beal' an Duine. St. XV. p. 207. A skirmish actually took place at a pass thus called, in the Trosachs, and closed with the remarkable incident mentioned in the text. It was greatly posterior in date to the reign of James V. "In this roughly-wooded island, the country people secreted their * That at the eastern extremity of Loch-Katrine, so often mentioned in the text. |