field till forced away by the Earl of Pembroke, when all was 1ost. He then rode to the Castle of Stirling, and demanded admittance; but the governor, remonstrating upon the imprudence 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 ignominous flight terminated at Dunbar, where the Earl of March, who still professed allegiance to him, “received him full gently." From thence, the monarch of so great an empire, 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 tunc fuerunt contra fidem et pacem Domini Regis. Anno gracie millesimo tricentisimo quarto decimo sexto die Novembris tenente parliamentum suum Excellentissimo principe Domino Roberto Dei gracia Rege Scottorum Illustri in monasterio de Cambuskyneth concordatum fuit finaliter Judicatum [ac super] hoc statutum de Concilio et Assensu Episcoporum et ceterorum Prelatorum Comitum Baronum et aliorum nobilium regni Scocie nec non et tocius communitatis regni predicti quod omnes qui contra fidem et pacem dicti domini regis in bello seu alibi mortui sunt [vel qui dic] to die ad pacem ejus et fidem non venerant licet sepius vocati et legitime expectati fuissent de terris et tenementis et omni alio statu infra regnum Scocie perpetuo sint exheredati et habeantur de cetero tanquam inimici Regis et Regni ab omni vendicacione juris hereditarii vel juris alterius cujuscunque in posterum pro se et heredibus suis in perpetuum privati Ad perpetuam igitur rei memoriam et evidentem probacionem hujus Judicii et Statuti sigilla Episcoporum et aliorum Prelatorum nec non et comitum Baronum ac ceterorum nobilium dicti Regni presenti ordinacioni Judicio et statuto sunt appensa. Sigillum Abbatis de Newbotill Sigillum Abbatis de Deer Sigillum Gilberti de la Haya Constabularii Scocie Sigillum Roberti de Keth Mariscalli Scocie Sigillum Hugonis de Ros Sigillum Jacobi de Duglas Sigillum Johannis de Sancto Claro Sigillum Thome de Ros Sigillum Alexandri de Settone Sigillum Walteri Haliburtone Sigillum Davidis de Balfour Sigillum Duncani de Wallays Sigillum Thome de Dischingtone Sigillum Andree de Moravia Sigillum Archibaldi de Betun Sigillum Ranulphi de Lyill Sigillum Malcomi de Balfour Sigillum Normanni de Lesley Sigillum Nigelli de Campo bello Sigillum Morni de Musco Campo NOTE 4 F.. Nor for De Argentine alone, Through Ninian's church these torches shone, The remarkable circumstances attending the death of De Argentine have been already noticed (Note L.) Besides this renowned warrior, there fell many representatives of the noblest houses in England, which never sustained a more 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. Mr. Pinkerton, in 3 vols., in 1790; and, the learned editor naving 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 honour 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. And in sum there were slain, along with the Earl of Gloucester, forty-two barons and bannerets. The number of earls, barons, and bannerets made captive, was twenty-two, and sixty-eight knights. Many clerks and esquires were also there slain or taken. Roger de Northburge, keeper of the king's signet, (Custos Targiæ Domini Regis,) was made prisoner 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 favour 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. 2 Maule. The Field of Waterloo: A POEM.' Though Valois braved young Edward's gentle hand, Nor Audley's squires nor Mowbray's yeomen brook'd,- TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF WELLINGTON, PRINCESS OF WATERLOO, &c. &c. &c. THE FOLLOWING VERSES ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. ADVERTISEMENT. 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 labours were liable to frequent interruption; but its best apology is, that it was written for the purpose of assisting the Waterloo Subscription. 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;1 And corn-fields, glance between; The peasant, at his labour blithe, Plies the hook'd staff and shorten'd scythe:- Their ripening to have seen! Their architecture view; Looks on the field below, And sinks so gently on the dale, That not the folds of Beauty's veil 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 On that wide stubble-ground; 6 Nor fosse nor fence are found, Save where, from out her shatter'd bowers, Rise Hougomont's dismantled towers.7 IV. Now, see'st thou aught in this lone scene And where the earth seems scorch'd by flame, 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 I neroes who fell in the battle. The MS. has not this couplet. 6 "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, Charonea, 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 mentioned."-BYRON. |
