Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Isles.

NOTE 2 N.

And Ronin's mountains dark have sent

Their hunters to the shore.-P. 434.

and children, the sad relics of the ancient inhabitants of the island, 200 in number, who were slain on the following occa sion:-The Mac-Donalds of the Isle of Egg, a people dependent on Clan-Ranaid, had done some injury to the Laird of Mac-Leod. The tradition of the isle says, that it was by a personal attack on the chieftain, in which his back was broken. But that of the other isles bears, more probably, that the injury was offered to two or three of the Mac-Leods, who, landing upon Eigg, and using some freedom with the young women, were seized by the islanders, bound hand and foot, and turned adrift in a boat, which the winds and waves safely conducted to Skye. To avenge the offence given, Mac-Leod sailed with such a body of men, as rendered resistance hope. less. The natives, fearing his vengeance, concealed themselves in this cavern, and, after a strict search, the MacLeods went on board their galleys, after doing what mischief they could, concluding the inhabitants had left the isle, and betaken themselves to the Long Island, or some of ClanRanald's other possessions. But next morning they espied from the vessels a man upon the island, and immediately landing again, they traced his retreat by the marks of his footsteps, a light snow being unhappily on the ground. Mac

Ronin (popularly called Rum, a name which a poet may be pardoned for avoiding if possible) is a very rough and mountainous island, adjacent to those of Eigg and Cannay. There is almost no arable ground upon it, so that, except in the plenty of the deer, which of course are now nearly extirpated, it still deserves the description bestowed by the archdean of the "Ronin, sixteen myle north-wast from the ile of Coll, lyes ane ile callit Ronin Ile, of sixteen myle long, and six in bredthe in the narrowest, ane forest of heigh mountains, and abundance of little deir in it, quhilk deir will never be slane dounewith, but the principal saittis man be in the height of the hill, because the deir will be callit upwart ay be the tainchell, or without tynchel they will pass upwart perforce. In this i.e will be gotten about Britane als many wild nests upon the plane mure as men pleasis to gadder, and yet by resson the fowls hes few to start them except deir. This ile lyes from the west to the eist in lenth, and pertains to M'Kena-Leod then surrounded the cavern, summoned the subterrabrey of Colla. Many solan geese are in this ile."--MONRO'S Description of the Western Isles, p. 18.

NOTE 20.

On Scooreigg next a warning light
Summon'd her warriors to the fight;
A numerous race, ere stern Macleod

O'er their bleak shores in vengeance strode.-P. 435.

These, and the following lines of the stanza, refer to a dreadful tale of feudal vengeance, of which unfortunately

there are relics that still attest the truth. Scoor-Eigg is a

high peak in the centre of the small Isle of Eigg, or Egg. It is well known to mineralogists, as affording many interesting specimens, and to others whom chance or curiosity may lead to the island, for the astonishing view of the mainland and neighbouring isles, which it commands. I shall again avail myself of the journal I have quoted.1

nean garrison, and demanded that the individuals who had offended him should be delivered up to him. This was peremptorily refused. The chieftain then caused his people to divert the course of a rill of water, which, falling over the entrance of the cave, would have prevented his purposed vengeance. He then kindled at the entrance of the cavern a huge fire, composed of turf and fern, and maintained it with unrelenting assiduity, until all within were destroyed by suffocation. The date of this dreadful deed must have been recent, if one may judge from the fresh appearance of those relics. I brought off, in spite of the prejudice of our sailors, a skull from among the numerous specimens of mortality which the cavern afforded. Before re-embarking we visited another cave, opening to the sea, but of a character entirely different, being a large open vault, as high as that of the same height. The height and width of the opening gives a cathedral, and running back a great way into the rock at ample light to the whole. Here, after 1745, when the Catholic priests were scarcely tolerated, the priest of Eigg used to perform the Roman Catholic service, most of the islanders being of that persuasion. A huge ledge of rocks rising about half-way up one side of the vault, served for altar and pulpit; and the appearance of a priest and Highland congregation in such an extraordinary place of worship, might have engaged the pencil of Salvator."

NOTE 2 P.

-that wondrous dome, Where, as to shame the temples deck'd By skill of earthly architect,

"26th August, 1814.-At seven this morning we were in the Sound which divides the Isle of Rum from that of Eigg. The latter, although hilly and rocky, and traversed by a remarkably high and barren ridge, called Scoor-Rigg, has, in point of soil, a much more promising appearance. Southward of both lies the Isle of Muich, or Muck, a low and fertile island, and though the least, yet probably the most valuable of the three. We manned the boat, and rowed along the shore of Egg in quest of a cavern, which had been the memorable scene of a horrid feudal vengeance. We had rounded more than half the island, admiring the entrance of many a bold natural cave, which its rocks exhibited, without finding that which we sought, until we procured a guide. Nor, indeed, was it surprising that it should have escaped the search of strangers, as there are no outward indications more than might distinguish the entrance of a fox-earth. This noted cave has a very narrow opening, through which one can hardly creep on his knees and hands. It rises steep and lofty within, and runs into the bowels of the rock to the depth of 255 measured feet; the height at the entrance may be about three feet, but rises within to eighteen or twenty, and the breadth may vary in the same proportion. The rude and stony bot-mity of the vault-the variety of the tints formed by white, tom of this cave is strewed with the bones of men, women,

1 See note 2 0, p. 478, ante.

Nature herself, it seem'd, would raise
A Minster to her Maker's praise!-P. 435.

It would be unpardonable to detain the reader upon a won der so often described, and yet so incapable of being understood by description. This palace of Neptune is even grander upon a second than the first view. The stupendous columns which form the sides of the cave, the depth and strength of the tide which rolls its deep and heavy swell up to the extre

crimson, and yellow stalactites, or petrifactions, which oecupy the vacancies between the base of the broken pillars which form the roof, and intersect them with a rich, curious,

and variegated chasing, occupying each interstice-the corresponding variety below water, where the ocean rolls over a dark-red or violet-coloured rock, from which, as from a base, the basaltic columns arise-the tremendous noise of the swelling tide, mingling with the deep-toned echoes of the vault,are circumstances elsewhere unparalleled.

Nothing can be more interesting than the varied appearance of the little archipelago of islets, of which Staffa is the most remarkable. This group, called in Gaelic Tresharnish, affords a thousand varied views to the voyager, as they appear in different positions with reference to his course. The variety of their shape contributes much to the beauty of these effects.

NOTE 2 Q.

Scenes sung by him who sings no more.-P. 435.

The ballad, entitled " Macphail of Colonsay, and the Mermaid of Corrievrekin." [See Border Minstrelsy, vol. iv. p. 285,] was composed by John Leyden, from a tradition which he found while making a tour through the Hebrides about 1801, soon before his fatal departure for India, where, after having made farther progress in Oriental literature than any man of letters who had embraced those studies, he died a martyr to his zeal for knowledge, in the island of Java, immediately after the landing of our forces near Batavia, in August 1811.

"Bot to King Robert will we gang.
That we haff left wnspokyn of lang.
Quhen he had conwoyit to the se
His brodyr Eduuard, and his menye,
And othyr men off gret noblay.
To Tarbart thai held thair way,
In galayis ordanyt for thair far.
Bot thaim worthyt draw thair schippis thar:
And a myle wes betuix the seys;

Bot that wes lompnyt 2 all with treis.
The King his schippis thar gert 3 draw.
And for the wynd couth stoutly blaw
Apon thair bak, as thai wald ga,
He gert men rapys and mastis ta,
And set thaim in the schippis hey,

And sayllis to the toppis tey;

And gert men gang thar by drawand.

The wynd thaim helpyt, that was blawand; Swa that, in a litill space,

Thair flote all our drawin was.

"And quhen thai, that in the Ilis war,
Hard tell how the gud King had thar
Gert hys schippis with saillis ga
Owt our betuix [the] Tarbart [is] twa,
Thai war abaysit 5 sa wtrely.

For thai wyst, throw auld prophecy,
That he suld ger 6 schippis sua
Betuix thai seis with saillis ga,
Suld wyne the Ilis sua till hand,
That nane with strenth suld him withstand.
Tharfor they come all to the King.
Wes nane withstud his bidding,
Owtakyn7 Jhone of Lorne allayne.
Bot weill sone eftre wes he tayne;
And present rycht to the King.
And thai that war of his leding,
That till the King had brokyn fay,8
War all dede, and destroyit away.'

BARBOUR'S Bruce, Book x., v. 821

NOTE 2 R.

Up Tarbal's western lake they bore,

Then dragg'd their bark the isthmus o'er.-P. 436.

The peninsula of Cantire is joined to South Knapdale by a very narrow isthmus, formed by the western and eastern Loch of Tarbat. These two saltwater lakes, or bays, encroach so far upon the land, and the extremities come so near to each other, that there is not above a mile of land to divide them. "It is not long," says Pennant, "since vessels of nine or ten tons were drawn by horses out of the west loch into that of the east, to avoid the dangers of the Mull of Cantyre, so dreaded and so little known was the navigation round that promontory. It is the opinion of many, that these little isthmuses, so frequently styled Tarbat in North Britain, took their name from the above circumstance; Tarruing, signifying to draw, and Bata, a boat. This too might be called, by way of pre-eminence, the Tarbat, from a very singular circumstance related by Torfæus. When Magnus, the barefooted king of Norway, obtained from Donald-bane of Scotland the cession of the Western Isles, or all those places that could be surrounded in a boat, he added to them the peninsula of Cantyre by this fraud: he placed himself in the stern of a boat, held the rudder, was drawn over this narrow track, and by this species of navigation wrested the country from his brother monarch."PENNANT'S Scotland, London, 1790, p. 190.

But that Bruce also made this passage, although at a period two or three years later than in the poem, appears from the evidence of Barbour, who mentions also the effect produced upon the minds of the Highlanders, from the prophecies current amongst them :

Were obliged to.-2 Laid with trees.-3 Caused.-4 Could.

NOTE 2 S.

The sun, ere yet he sunk behind
Ben-Ghoil," the Mountain of the Wind,"
Gave his grim peaks a greeting kind,

And bade Loch Ranza smile.-P. 436.

Loch Ranza is a beautiful bay, on the northern extremity of Arran, opening towards East Tarbat Loch. It is well described by Pennant :-"The approach was magnificent; a fine bay in front, about a mile deep, having a ruined castle near the lower end, on a low far projecting neck of land, that forms another harbour, with a narrow passage; but within has three fathom of water, even at the lowest ebb. Beyond is a little plain watered by a stream, and inhabited by the people of a small village. The whole is environed with a theatre of mountains; and in the background the serrated crags of GriananAthol soar above."-PENNANT'S Tour to the Western Isles, p. 191-2. Ben-Ghaoil, "the mountain of the winds," is generally known by its English, and less poetical name, of Goatfield.

5 Confounded.-6 Make.--7 Excepting.-8 Faith.

NOTE 2 T.

Each to Loch Ranza's margin spring;

That blast was winded by the King!—P. 437.

The passage in Barbour, describing the landing of Bruce, and his being recognised by Douglas and those of his followers who had preceded him, by the sound of his horn, is in the original singularly simple and affecting.-The king arrived in Arran with thirty-three small row-boats. He interrogated a female if there had arrived any warlike men of late in that country. "Surely, sir," she replied, "I can tell you of many who lately came hither, discomfited the English governor, and blockaded his castle of Brodick. They maintain themselves in a wood at no great distance." The king, truly conceiving that this must be Douglas and his followers, who had lately set forth to try their fortune in Arran, desired the woman to conduct him to the wood. She obeyed.

"The king then blew his horn on high;
And gert his men that were him by,
Hold them still, and all privy;
And syne again his horne blew he.
James of Dowglas heard him blow,
And at the last alone gan know,
And said, 'Soothly yon is the king;
I know long while since his blowing.'
The third time therewithall he blew,
And then Sir Robert Boid it knew;
And said, 'Yon is the king, but dread,
Go we forth till him, better speed.'
Then went they till the king in hye,
And him inclined courteously.
And blithly welcomed them the king,
And was joyful of their meeting,
And kissed them; and speared 1 syne
How they had fared in hunting?
And they him told all, but lesing: 2
Syne laud they God of their meeting.

1

Syne with the king till his harbourye Went both joyfu' and jolly.”

BARBOUR'S Bruce, Book v., p. 115, 116.

NOTE 2 U.

-his brother blamed,

But shared the weakness, while ashamed,
With haughty laugh his head he turn'd,

And dash'd away the tear he scorn'd.—P. 438.

The kind, and yet fiery character of Edward Bruce, is well painted by Barbour, in the account of his behaviour after the battle of Bannockburn. Sir Walter Ross, one of the very few Scottish nobles who fell in that battle, was so dearly beloved by Edward, that he wished the victory had been lost, so Ross had lived.

"Out-taken him, men has not seen

Where he for any men made moaning."

And here the venerable Archdeacon intimates a piece of scan

dal. Sir Edward Bruce, it seems, loved Ross's sister, par amours, to the neglect of his own lady, sister to David de Strathbogie, Earl of Athole. This criminal passion had evil consequences; for, in resentment to the affront done to his sister, Athole attacked the guard which Bruce had left at Cambuskenneth, during the battle of Bannockburn, to protect his magazine of provisions, and slew Sir William Keith, the commander. For which treason he was forfeited.

In like manner, when in a sally from Carrickfergus, Neil Fleming, and the guards whom he commanded, had fallen, after the protracted resistance which saved the rest of Edward Bruce's army, he made such moan as surprised his followers: "Sic moan he made men had ferly, 3

For he was not customably

Wont for to moan men any thing,

Nor would not hear men make moaning."

Such are the nice traits of character so often lost in general history.

NOTE 2 V.

Thou heard'st a wretched female plain In agony of travail-pain,

And thou didst bid thy little band Upon the instant turn and stand, And dare the worst the foe might do, Rather than, like a knight untrue, Leave to pursuers merciless

A woman in her last distress.-P. 440.

This incident, which illustrates so happily the chivalrous generosity of Bruce's character, is one of the many simple and natural traits recorded by Barbour. It occurred during the expedition which Bruce made to Ireland, to support the pretensions of his brother Edward to the throne of that kingdom. Bruce was about to retreat, and his host was arrayed for moving.

"The king has heard a woman cry, He asked what that was in by.4

'It is the layndar, sir,' sai ane,

"That her child-ill6 right now has ta'en
And must leave now behind us here.
Therefore she makes an evil cheer.' 7
The king said, 'Certes, 8 it were pity
That she in that point left should be,
For certes I trow there is no man
That he no will rue 9 a woman than.'
His hosts all there arested he,
And gert 10 a tent soon stinted 11 be,
And gert her gang in hastily,
And other women to be her by.
While she was delivered he bade;
And syne forth on his ways rade.
And how she forth should carried be,
Or he forth fure, 12 ordained he.
This was a full great courtesy,
That swilk a king and so mighty,
Gert his men dwell on this manner,
But for a poor lavender."

BARBOUR'S Bruce, Book xvi. pp. 39, 40.

Asked.-2 Without lying.-3 Wonder.-4 Haste.-5 Laundress. Child-bed.

7 Stop. Certainly.-9 Pity.-10 Caused.-11 Pitched12 Moved.

NOTE 2 W.

O'er chasms he pass'd, where fractures wide Craved wary eye and ample stride.-P. 442.

The interior of the island of Arran abounds with beautiful Highland scenery. The hills, being very rocky and precipitous, afford some cataracts of great height, though of inconsiderable breadth. There is one pass over the river Machrai, renowned for the dilemma of a poor woman, who, being tempted by the narrowness of the ravine to step across, succeeded in making the first movement, but took fright when it became necessary to move the other foot, and remained in a posture equally ludicrous and dangerous, urtil some chance passenger assisted her to extricate herself. It is said she remained there some hours.

surprised a considerable supply of arms and provisions, and I nearly took the castle itself. Indeed, that they actually did so, has been generally averred by historians, although it does not appear from the narrative of Barbour. On the contrary, it would seem that they took shelter within a fortification of the ancient inhabitants, a rampart called Tor an Schian. When they were joined by Bruce, it seems probable that they had gained Brodick Castle. At least tradition says, that from the battlements of the tower he saw the supposed signal-fire on Turnberry-nook. . . . The castle is now much modernized, but has a dignified appearance, being surrounded by flourishing plantations.

NOTE 2 X.

He cross'd his brow beside the stone Where Druids erst heard victims groan ; And at the cairns upon the will,

O'er many a heathen hero piled.-P. 442.

The isle of Arran, like those of Man and Anglesea, abounds with many relics of heathen, and probably Druidical, superstition. There are high erect columns of unhewn stone, the most early of all monuments, the circles of rude stones, commonly entitled Druidical, and the cairns, or sepulchral piles, within which are usually found urns enclosing ashes. Much doubt necessarily rests upon the history of such monuments, nor is it possible to consider them as exclusively Celtic or Druidical. By much the finest circles of standing stones, excepting Stonehege, are those of Stenhouse, at Stennis, in the island of Pomona, the principal isle of the Orcades. These, of course, are neither Celtic nor Druidical; and we are assured that many circles of the kind occur both in Sweden and Norway.

NOTE 2 Z.

Oft, too, with unaccustom'd ears,

A language much unmeet he hears.-P. 442.

Barbour, with great simplicity, gives an anecdote, from which it would seem that the vice of profane swearing, afterwards too general among the Scottish nation, was, at this time, confined to military men. As Douglas, after Bruce's return to Scotland, was roving about the mountainous country of Tweeddale, near the water of Line, he chanced to hear some persons in a farm-house say "the devil." Concluding, from this hardy expression, that the house contained warlike guests, he immediately assailed it, and had the good fortune to make prisoners Thomas Randolph, afterwards the famous Earl of Murray, and Alexander Stuart, Lord Bonkle. Both were then in the English interest, and had come into that country with the purpose of driving out Douglas. They afterwards ranked among Bruce's most zealous adherents.

NOTE 2 Y.

Oul Brodick's gothic towers were seen;
From Hastings, late their English Lord,
Douglas had won them by the sword.-P. 442.

Brodick or Brathwick Castle, in the Isle of Arran, is an ancient fortress, near an open roadstead called Brodick-Bay, and not far distant from a tolerable harbour, closed in by the Island of Lamlash. This important place had been assailed a short time before Bruce's arrival in the island. James Lord Douglas, who accompanied Bruce to his retreat in Rachrine, seems, in the spring of 1306, to have tired of his abode there, and set out accordingly, in the phrase of the times, to see what adventure God would send him. Sir Robert Boyd accompanied him; and his knowledge of the localities of Arran appears to have directed his course thither. They landed in the island privately, and appear to have laid an ambush for Sir John Hastings, the English governor of Brodwick, and

1 Spring.-2 Began.-3 Loftily.-4 Several.

NOTE 3 A.

For, see! the ruddy signal made,

That Clifford, with his merry-men all, Guards carelessly our father's hall.-P. 443.

The remarkable circumstances by which Bruce was induced to enter Scotland, under the false idea that a signal-fire was lighted upon the shore near his maternal castle of Turnberry -the disappointment which he met with, and the train of success which arose out of that very disappointment, are too curious to be passed over unnoticed. The following is the narrative of Barbour. The introduction is a favourable specimen of his style, which seems to be in some degree the model for that of Gawain Douglas :

"This wes in ver,' quhen wynter tid,
With his blastis hidwyss to bid,
Was our drywyn: and byrdis smale,
As turturis and the nychtyngale,
Begouth 2 rycht sariely 3 to syng;
And for to mak in thair singyng
Swete notis, and sownys ser,
And melodys plesand to her.
And the treis begouth to ma 5
Burgeans, and brycht blomys alsua,
To wyn the helyng7 off thair hewid,

5 Make.-6 Buds. 7 Coverting.

That wykkyt wyntir had thaim rewid.1
And all gressys beguth to spryng.
In to that tyme the nobill king,
With his flote, and a few menye,2
Thre hundyr I trow thai mvcht be,
Is to the se, owte off Arane
A litill forouth,3 ewyn gane.

"Thai rowit fast, with all thair mycht, Till that apon thaim fell the nycht, That woux myrk 4 apon gret maner, Swa that thai wyst nocht quhar thai wer. For thai na nedill had, na stane; Bot rowyt alwayis in till ane, Sterand all tyme apon the fyr.

That thai saw brynnand lycht and schyr. 5
It wes bot auentur 6 thaim led:

And they in schort tyme sa thaim sped,
That at the fyr ary wyt thai;
And went to land bot mar delay.

And Cuthbert, that has sene the fyr,
Was full off angyr, and off ire:
For he durst nocht do it away;
And wes alsua dowtand ay
That his lord suld pass to se.
Tharfor thair cummyn waytit he;
And met them at thair ary wing.

He wes wele sone broucht to the King,
That speryt at him how he had done.
And he with sar hart tauld him sone,
How that he fand nane weill luffand;
Bot all war fayis, that he fand:
And that the lord the Persy,
With ner thre hundre in cumpany,
Was in the castell thar besid,
Fullfillyt off dispyt and prid.
Bot ma than twa partis off his rowt
War herberyt in the toune without;
And dyspytyt yow mar, Schir King,
Than men may dispyt ony thing.'
Than said the King, in full gret ire;
Tratour, quhy maid thow than the fyr?'--
'A! Schyr,' said he, sa God me se!
The fyr wes newyr maid for me.
Na, or the nycht, I wyst it nocht;
Bot fra I wyst it, weill I thocht
That ye, and haly your menye,
In hy 7 suld put yow to the se.
For thi I cum to mete yow her,
To tell perellys that may aper.'

"The King wes off his spek angry, And askyt his prywé men, in hy, Quhat at thaim thoucht wes best to do. Schyr Edward fryst answert thar to, Hys brodyr that wes swa hardy, And said: 'I saw yow sekyrly Thar sall na perell, that may be,

Dryve me eftsonys 8 to the se.

Myne auentur her tak will I,

Quhethir it be esfull or angry.'

'Brothyr,' he said, 'sen thou will sua,
It is gude that we samyn ta
Dissese or ese, or payne or play,
Eftyr as God will ws purway.9
And sen men sayis that the Persy
Myn heretage will occupy;

And his menye sa ner ws lyis,
That ws dispytis mony wyss;

Ga we and wenge 10 sum off the dispyte

And that may we haiff done alss tite; 11
For thai ly traistly, 12 but dreding
Off ws, or off our her cummyng.

And thoucht we slepand slew thaim all,
Repruff tharof na man sall.
For werrayour na forss suld ma,
Quhethir he mycht ourcom his fa
Throw strenth, or throw suteité;
Bot that gud faith ay haldyn be.'"
BARBOUR'S Bruce, Book iv., v. L.

NOTE 3 B.

Now ask you whence that wondrous light, Whose fairy glow beguiled their sight ?— It ne'er was known.-P. 445.

The following are the words of an ingenious correspondent, to whom I am obliged for much information respecting Turnberry and its neighbourhood. "The only tradition now remembered of the landing of Robert the Bruce in Carrick, relates to the fire seen by him from the Isle of Arran. It is still generally reported, and religiously believed by many, that this fire was really the work of supernatural power, unassisted by the hand of any mortal being; and it is said, that, for several centuries, the flame rose yearly on the same hour of the same night of the year, on which the king first saw it from the turrets of Brodick Castle; and some go so far as to say, that if the exact time were known, it would be still seen. That this superstitious notion is very ancient, is evident from the place where the fire is said to have appeared, being called the Bogles' Brae, beyond the remembrance of man. In support of this curious belief, it is said that the practice of burning heath for the improvement of land was then unknown; that a spunkie (Jack o'lanthorn) could not have been seen across the breadth of the Forth of Clyde, between Ayrshire and Arran; and that the courier of Bruce was his kinsman, and never suspected of treachery."-Letter from Mr. Joseph Train, of Newton Stuart, author of an ingenious Collection of Poems, illustrative of many ancient Traditions in Galloway and Ayrshire, Edinburgh, 1814. [Mr. Train made a journey into Ayrshire at Sir Walter Scott's request, on purpose to collect accurate information for the Notes to this poem; and the reader will find more of the fruits of his labours in Note 3 D. This is the same gentleman whose friendly assistance is so often ac. knowledged in the Notes and Introductions of the Waverley Novels.]

NOTE 3 C.

They gain'd the Chase, a wide domain
Left for the Castle's silvan reign.-P. 445.

The Castle of Turnberry, on the coast of Ayrshire, was the property of Robert Bruce, in right of his mother. Lord Hailes

1 Bereaved.-2 Men.-3 Before.-4 Dark.-5 Clear.- Adventure.

Haste.

8 Soon after.-9 Prepare.-10 Avenge.-11 Quickly. -18 Confidently.

« AnteriorContinuar »