APPENDIX TO THE LORD OF THE ISLES. the Scottish reserve. It is traditionally said, that at this crisis, he addressed the Lord of the Isles in a phrase used as a motto by some of his descendants, "My trust is constant in thee." Barbour intimates, that the reserve "assembled on one field," that is, on the same line with the Scottish forces already engaged; which leads Lord Hailes to conjecture that the Scottish ranks must have been much thinned by slaughter, since, in that circumscribed ground, there was room for the reserve to fall into the line. But the advance of the Scottish cavalry must have contributed a good deal to form the vacancy occupied by the reserve. ings over his armor, he fell unknown, after his horse had been Sir Marmaduke Twenge, an English knight, contrived to NOTE 4 D. To arms they flew,-axe, club, or spear,― The followers of the Scottish camp observed, from the Gillies' Hill in the rear, the impression produced upon the English army by the bringing up of the Scottish reserve, and, prompted by the enthusiasm of the moment, or the desire of plunder, assumed, in a tumultuary manner, such arms as they found Dearest, fastened sheets to tent-poles and lances, and showed themselves like a new army advancing to battle. "Yomen, and swanys, and pitaill,2 And said that thai wald se the fycht; Fyftene thowsand thai war, or ma. Sla! sla! Apon thaim hastily!'" The unexpected apparition, of what seemed a new army, tary tenants 1 Swaine.-2 Rabble.-3 Kept the provisions.-4 Lying.-5 Selves.6 Somewhat.-7 Are.- Stiff. NOTE 4 E. O! give their hapless prince his due.-P. 464. Edward II., according to the best authorities, showed, in the fatal field of Bannockburn, personal gallantry not unHe remained on the worthy of his great sire and greater son. field till forced away by the Earl of Pembroke, when all was lost. He then rode to the Castle of Stirling, and demanded admittance; but the governor, remonstrating upon the impru dence of shutting himself up in that fortress, which must so soon surrender, he assembled around his person five hundred men-at-arms, and, avoiding the field of battle and the victorious army, fled towards Linlithgow, pursued by Douglas with about sixty horse. They were augmented by Sir Lawrence Abernethy with twenty more, whom Douglas met in the Torwood upon their way to join the English army, and whom he easily persuaded to desert the defeated monarch, and to assist in the pursuit. They hung upon Edward's flight as far as Dunbar, too few in number to assail him with effect, but enough to harass his retreat so constantly, that whoever fell an instant behind, was instantly slain or made prisoner. Edward's ignominious flight terminated at Dunbar, where the Earl of March, who still professed allegiance to him, "received him full From thence, the monarch of so great an empire, gently," and the late commander of so gallant and numerous an army, escaped to Bamborough in a fishing vessel. Bruce, as will appear from the following document, lost no time in directing the thunders of Parliamentary censure against such part of his subjects as did not return to their natural allegiance after the battle of Bannockburn. APUD MONASTERIUM DE CAMBUSKENNETH, VI DIE NOVEMBRIS, M,CCC, XIV. Judicium Reditum apud Kambuskinet contra omnes illos qui renowned warrior, there fell many representatives of the noblest houses in England, which never sustained a mere bloody and disastrous defeat. Barbour says that two hundred pairs of gilded spurs were taken from the field of battle; and that some were left the author can bear witness, who has in his possession a curious antique spur, dug up in the morass, not long since. "It wes forsuth a gret ferly, To se samyn1 sa fele dede lie. I am now to take my leave of Barbour, not without a sincere wish that the public may encourage the undertaking of my friend Dr. Jamieson, who has issued proposals for publishing an accurate edition of his poem, and of blind Harry's Wa lace. The only good edition of The Bruce was published by Mr. Pinkerton, in 3 vols., in 1790; and, the learned editor having had no personal access to consult the manuscript, it is not without errors; and it has besides become scarce. Of Wallace there is no tolerable edition; yet these two poems do no small honor to the early state of Scottish poetry, and The Bruce is justly regarded as containing authentic historical facts. The following list of the slain at Bannockburn, extracted from the continuator of Trivet's Annals, will show the extent of the national calamity. William Lovel, Henry de Wileton, Baldwin de Frevill, John de Clivedon,1 Adomar la Zouche, John de Merewode, John Maufe,a Thomas and Odo Lele Erce-signet (Custos Targie Domini Regis), was made prisoner dekene, Robert Beaupel (the son), John Mautravers (the son), William and William Giffard, and 34 other knights, not named by the historian. with his two clerks, Roger de Wakenfelde and Thomas de Switon, upon which the king caused a seal to be made, and entitled it his privy seal, to distinguish the same from the signet so lost. The Earl of Hereford was exchanged against Bruce's queen, who had been detained in captivity ever since the year 1306. The Targia, or signet, was restored to England through the intercession of Ralph de Monthermer, ancestor of Lord Moira, who is said to have found favor in the eyes of the Scottish king. Continuation of TRIVET'S Annals, Hall's edit. Oxford, 1712, vol. ii. p. 14. Such were the immediate consequences of the Field of Bannockburn. Its more remote effects, in completely establishing the national independence of Scotland, afford a boundless field for speculation. It may be some apology for the imperfections of this poem, that it was composed hastily, and during a short tour upon the Continent, when the Author's labors were liable to frequent interruption; but its best apology is, that it was written for the purpose of assisting the Waterloo Subscription. ABBOTSFORD, 1815. The Field of Waterloo. I. FAIR Brussels, thou art far behind, From proud St. Michael's tower; Thy wood, dark Soignies, holds us now, Where the tall beeches' glossy bough Published by Constable & Co. in October, 1815. 8vo. 5s. 2 "The wood of Saignies is supposed to be a remnant of the forest of Ardennes, famous in Boiardo's Orlando, and immor For many a league around, tal in Shakspeare's' As you Like it.' It is also celebrated in Tacitus as being the spot of successful defence by the Germans against the Roman encroachments."-BYRON. Our woodland path has cross'd; And the straight causeway which we tread, Prolongs a line of dull arcade, Unvarying through the unvaried shade Until in distance lost. II. A brighter, livelier scene succeeds;' And corn-fields, glance between; The peasant, at his labor blithe, Plies the hook'd staff and shorten'd scythe:- Their ripening to have seen! Their architecture view; Yet one mile on, yon shatter'd hedge And sinks so gently on the dale, In easier curves can flow. Brief space from thence, the ground again Ascending slowly from the plain, Forms an opposing screen, Which, with its crest of upland ground, The soften'd vale between Slopes smooth and fair for courser's tread; Nor wood, nor tree, nor bush, are there, Nor fosse nor fence are found, Save where, from out her shatter'd bowers, Rise Hougomont's dismantled towers." IV. Now, see'st thou aught in this lone scene .Can tell of that which late hath been?A stranger might reply, "The bare extent of stubble-plain Seems lately lighten'd of its grain; And yonder sable tracks remain Marks of the peasant's ponderous wain, When harvest-home was nigh. His childless sovereign. Heaven denied an heir, To the original chapel of the Marquis of Castanaza has now been added a building of considerable extent, the whole interior of which is filled with monumental inscriptions for the heroes who fell in the battle. The MS. has not this couplet. "As a plain, Waterloo seems marked out for the scene of some great action, though this may be mere imagination. I have viewed with attention, those of Platea, Troy, Mantinea, Leuctra, Chæronea, and Marathon; and the field around Mont St. Jean and Hougomont appears to want little but a better cause, and that indefinable but impressive halo which the lapse of ages throws around a consecrated spot, to vie in interest with any or all of these, except, perhaps, the last men. tioned."-BYRON. |