THE SOUTERS OF SELKIRK.

THIS little lyric piece, with those which immediately follow in the collection, relates to the fatal battle of Flodden, in which the flower of the Scottish nobility fell around their sovereign, James IV.

The ancient and received tradition of the burgh of Selkirk affirms, that the citizens of that town distinguished themselves by their gallantry on that disastrous occasion. Eighty in number, and headed by their town-clerk, they joined their monarch on his entrance into England. James, pleased with the appearance of this gallant troop, knighted their leader, William Brydone, upon the field of battle, from which few of the men of Selkirk were destined to return. They distinguished themselves in the conflict, and were almost all slain. The few survivors, on their return home, found, by the side of Lady-Wood Edge, the corpse of a female, wife to one of their fallen comrades, with a child sucking at her breast. In memory of this latter event, continues the tradition, the present arms of the

burgh bear, a female, holding a child in her arms, and seated on a sarcophagus, decorated with the Scottish lion; in the back-ground a wood.

A learned antiquary, whose judgment and accuracy claim respect, has made some observations upon the probability of this tradition, which the editor shall take the liberty of quoting, as an introduction to what he has to offer upon the same subject. misfortune to differ from the at least lay candidly before the opinion.

And, if he shall have the learned gentleman, he will public the grounds of his

"That the souters of Selkirk should, in 1513, amount "to fourscore fighting men, is a circumstance utterly in"credible. It is scarcely to be supposed, that all the "shoemakers in Scotland could have produced such an 66 army, at a period when shoes must have been still less "worn than they are at present. Dr Johnson, indeed, "was told at Aberdeen, that the people learned the art of "making shoes from Cromwell's soldiers. The num"bers,' he adds, that go barefoot, are still sufficient to "show that shoes may be spared: they are not yet con"sidered as necessaries of life; for tall boys, not other"wise meanly dressed, run without them in the streets; " and, in the islands, the sons of gentlemen pass several "of their first years with naked feet.'-(Journey to the "Western Islands, p. 55.) Away, then, with the fable of Mr Tytler, though he mentions

"the souters of Selkirk.

it as the subject of a song, or ballad, does not remem

"ber ever to have seen the original genuine words,’— "as he obligingly acknowledged in a letter to the editor. "Mr Robertson, however, who gives the statistical ac"count of the parish of Selkirk, seems to know something "more of the matter - Some,' says he, have very false"ly attributed to this event (the battle of Flowden), that

"There was no Earl of Hume,' he adds, at that time, "nor was this song composed till long after. It arose " from a bet betwixt the Philiphaugh and Hume families; "the souters (or shoemakers) of Selkirk, against the men “of Hume, at a match of football, in which the souters of "Selkirk completely gained, and afterwards perpetuated "their victory in that song.'-This is decisive; and so "much for Scottish tradition."-Note to Historical Essay on Scotish Song, prefixed to Scotish Songs in 2 vols. 1794. It is proper to remark, that the passage of Mr Robertson's statistical account, above quoted, does not relate to the authenticity of the tradition, but to the origin of the song, which is obviously a separate and distinct question. The entire passage in the statistical account (of which a part only is quoted in the essay) runs thus:

Here, too, the inhabitants of the town of Selkirk, who "breathed the manly spirit of real freedom, justly merit "particular attention. Of one hundred citizens, who fol

"lowed the fortunes of James IV. on the plains of Flow"den, a few returned, loaded with the spoils taken from "the enemy. Some of these trophies still survive the rust "of time, and the effects of negligence. The desperate "valour of the citizens of Selkirk, which, on that fatal day, "was eminently conspicuous to both armies, produced ve

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ry opposite effects. The implacable resentment of the "English reduced their defenceless town to ashes; while "their grateful sovereign (James V.) showed his sense of "their valour, by a grant of an extensive portion of the fo"rest, the trees for building their houses, and the proper"ty as the reward of their heroism."-A note is added by Mr Robertson." A standard, the appearance of which "bespeaks its antiquity, is still carried annually (on the "day of riding their common) by the corporation of wea"vers, by a member of which it was taken from the Eng"lish in the field of Flowden. It may be added, that the "sword of William Brydone, the town clerk, who led the "citizens to the battle (and who is said to have been "knighted for his valour), is still in the possession of "John Brydon, a citizen of Selkirk, his lineal descen"dant."-An additional note contains the

in the Essay on Scotish Song.

passage quoted

If the testimony of Mr Robertson is to be received as decisive of the question, the learned author of the essay will surely admit, upon re-perusal, that the passage in the statistical account contains the most positive and unequivocal declaration of his belief in the tradition.

Neither does the story itself, upon close examination, contain any thing inconsistent with probability. The towns upon the border, and especially Selkirk and Jedburgh, were inhabited by a race of citizens, who, from the necessity of their situation, and from the nature of their possessions (held by burgage tenure), were inured to the use of arms. Selkirk was a county town, and a royal burgh; and when the array of the kingdom, amounting to no less than one hundred thousand warriors, was marshalled by the royal command, eighty men seems no unreasonable proportion from a place of consequence, lying so very near the scene of action.

Neither is it necessary to suppose, literally, that the men of Selkirk were all souters. This appellation was obviously bestowed on them, because it was the trade most generally practised in the town, and therefore passed into a general epithet. Even the existence of such a craft, however, is accounted improbable by the learned essayist, who seems hardly to allow, that the Scottish nation was, at that period, acquainted with the art " of accommodating their feet with shoes." And here he attacks us with our own weapons, and wields the tradition of Aberdeen against that of Selkirk. We shall not stop to enquire, in what respect Cromwell's regiment of missionary coblers deserves, in point of probability, to take precedence of the souters of Selkirk. But, allowing that all the shoemakers in England, with Praise-the-Lord Barebones at their head, had generously combined to instruct the men of Aber