James and Surrey, is certain. See PINKERTON'S History, and | number of three hundred light axes, all clad in white livery, the authorities he refers to, vol. ii. p. 99. Heron of Ford had been, in 1511, in some sort accessory to the slaughter of Sir Robert Kerr of Cessford, Warden of the Middle Marches. It was committed by his brother the bastard, Lilburn, and Starked, three Borderers. Lilburn and Heron of Ford were delivered up by Henry to James, and were imprisoned in the fortress of Fastcastle, where the former died. Part of the pretence of Lady Ford's negotiations with James was the liberty of her husband. NOTE 3 S. The fair Queen of France Sent him a turquois ring and glove, "Also the Queen of France wrote a love-letter to the King of Scotland, calling him her love, showing him that she had suffered much rebuke in France for the defending of his honour. She believed surely that he would recompense her, again with some of his kingly support in her necessity; that is to say, that he would raise her an army, and come three foot of ground on English ground, for her sake. To that effect she sent him a ring off her finger, with fourteen thousand French crowns to pay his expenses." PITSCOTTIE, p. 110.-A turquois ring; probably this fatal gift is, with James's sword and dagger, preserved in the College of Heralds, London. NOTE 3 T. Archibald Bell-the- Cat.-P. 122. Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, a man remarkable for strength of body and mind, acquired the popular name of Bell-the-Cat, upon the following remarkable occasion:-James the Third, of whom Pitscottie complains, that he delighted more in music, and "policies of building," than in hunting, hawking, and other noble exercises, was so ill advised, as to make favourites of his architects and musicians, whom the same historian irreverently terms masons and fiddlers. His nobility, who did not sympathize in the King's respect for the fine arts, were extremely incensed at the honours conferred on those persons, particularly on Cochrane, a mason, who had been created Earl of Mar; and, seizing the opportunity, when, in 1482, the King had convoked the whole array of the country to march against the English, they held a midnight council in the church of Lauder, for the purpose of forcibly removing these minions from the King's person. When all had agreed on the propriety of this measure. Lord Gray told the assembly the apologue of the Mice, who had formed a resolution, that it would be highly advantageous to their community to tie a bell round the cat's neck, that they might hear her approach at a distance; but which public measure unfortunately miscarried, from no mouse being willing to undertake the task of fastening the bell. "I understand the moral," said Angus, "and, that what we propose may not lack execution, I will bell-the-cat." The rest of the strange scene is thus told by Pitscottie: and black bends thereon, that they might be known for Cochran the Earl of Mar's men. Himself was clad in a riding-pie of black velvet, with a great chain of gold about his neck, to the value of five hundred crowns, and four blowing horns, with both the ends of gold and silk, set with a precious stone, called a berryl, hanging in the midst. This Cochran had his heumont borne before him, overgilt with gold, and so were all the rest of his horns, and all his pallions were of fine canvas of silk, and the cords thereof fine twined silk, and the chains upon his pallions were double overgilt with gold. "This Cochran was so proud in his conceit, that he counted no lords to be marrows to him, therefore he rushed rudely at the kirk-door. The council inquired who it was that perturbed them at that time. Sir Robert Douglas, Laird of Lochleven, was keeper of the kirk-door at that time, who inquired who that was that knocked so rudely? and Cochran answered, This is I, the Earl of Mar.' The which news pleased well the lords, because they were ready boun to cause take him, as is before rehearsed. Then the Earl of Angus passed hastily to the door, and with him Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven, there to receive in the Earl of Mar, and so many of his complices who were there, as they thought good. And the Earl of Angus met with the Earl of Mar, as he came in at the door, and pulled the golden chain from his craig, and said to him, a tow would set him better. Sir Robert Douglas syne pulled the blowing horn from him in like manner, and said, 'He had been the hunter of mischief over long." This Cochran asked, My lords, is it mows, or earnest? They answered, and said, 'It is good earnest, and so thou shalt find; for thou and thy complices have abused our prince this long time; of whom thou shalt have no more credence, but shalt have thy reward according to thy good service, as thou hast deserved in times bypast; right so the rest of thy followers.' "Notwithstanding, the lords held them quiet till they caused certain armed men to pass into the King's pallion, and two or three wise men to pass with them, and give the King fair pleasant words, till they laid hands on all the King's servants, and took them and hanged them before his eyes over the bridge of Lawder. Incontinent they brought forth Cochran, and his hands bound with a tow, who desired them to take one of his own pallion tows and bind his hands, for he thought shame to have his hands bound with such tow of hemp, like a thief. The lords answered, he was a traitor, he deserved no better; and, for despight, they took a hair tether, 3 and hanged him over the bridge of Lawder, above the rest of his complices."-PITSCOTTIE, p. 78, folio edit. NOTE 3 U. Against the war had. Angus stood, Angus was an old man when the war against England was resolved upon. He earnestly spoke against that measure from its commencement; and, on the eve of the battle of Flodden, remonstrated so freely upon the impolicy of fighting, that the King said to him, with scorn and indignation, "if he was afraid he might go home." The Earl burst into tears at this insupportable insult, and retired accordingly, leaving his sons George, Master of Angus, and Sir William of Glenbervie, to command his followers. They were both slain in the battle, with two hundred gentlemen of the name of Douglas. The aged Earl, broken-hearted at the calamities of his house and his country, retired into a religious house, where he died about a year after the field of Flodden. 3 Halter. NOTE 3 V. Tantallon hold.-P. 122. The ruins of Tantallon Castle occupy a high rock projecting into the German Ocean, about two miles east of North Berwick. The building is not seen till a close approach, as there is rising ground betwixt it and the land. The circuit is of large extent, fenced upon three sides by the precipice which overhangs the sea, and on the fourth by a double ditch and very strong outworks. Tantallon was a principal castle of the Douglas family, and when the Earl of Angus was banished, in 1527, it continued to hold out against James V. The King went in person against it, and for its reduction, borrowed from the Castle of Dunbar, then belonging to the Duke of Albany, two great cannons, whose names, as Pitscottie informs us with laudable minuteness, were "Thrawn-mouth'd Meg and her Marrow;" also, "two great botcards, and two moyan, two double falcons, and four quarter falcons;" for the safe guiding and re-delivery of which, three lords were laid in pawn at Dunbar. Yet, notwithstanding all this apparatus, James was forced to raise the siege, and only afterwards obtained possession of Tantallon by treaty with the governor, Simon Panango. When the Earl of Angus returned from banishment, upon the death of James, he again obtained possession of Tantallon, and it actually afforded refuge to an English ambassador, under circumstances similar to those described in the text. This was no other than the celebrated Sir Ralph Sadler, who resided there for some time under Angus's protection, after the failure of his negotiation for matching the infant Mary with Edward VI. He says, that though this place was poorly furnished, it was of such strength as might warrant him against the malice of his enemies, and that he now thought himself out of danger.1 I do protest in tyme of al my ringe, Ye lyk subject had never ony keing." This curious and valuable relic was nearly lost during the civil war of 1745-6, being carried away from Douglas-Castle by some of those in arms for Prince Charles. But great interest having been made by the Duke of Douglas among the chief partisans of the Stuart, it was at length restored. It resembles a Highland claymore, of the usual size, is of an excellent temper, and admirably poised. NOTE 3 X. Martin Swart.-P. 124. A German general, who commanded the auxiliaries sent by the Duchess of Burgundy with Lambert Simnel. He was defeated and killed at Stokefield. The name of this German general is preserved by that of the field of battle, which is called, after him, Swart-moor.-There were songs about him long current in England. See Dissertation prefixed to RITsox's Ancient Songs, 1792, p. Ixi. NOTE 3 Y. Perchance some form was unobserved; It was early necessary for those who felt themselves obliged to believe in the divine judgment being enunciated in the trial There is a military tradition, that the old Scottish March by duel, to find salvos for the strange and obviously precawas meant to express the words, Ding down Tantallon, Mak a brig to the Eass. rious chances of the combat. Various curious evasive shifts, used by those who took up an unrighteous quarrel, were supposed sufficient to convert it into a just one. Thus, in the romance of "Amys and Amelion," the one brother-in-arms, fighting for the other, disguised in his armour, swears that he Tantallon was at length "dung down" and ruined by the did not commit the crime of which the Steward, his antagoCovenanters; its lord, the Marquis of Douglas, being agonist, truly, though maliciously, accused him whom he refavourer of the royal cause. The castle and barony were sold presented. Brantome tells a story of an Italian, who enin the beginning of the eighteenth century to President Dal-tered the lists upon an unjust quarrel, but, to make his cause rymple of North Berwick, by the then Marquis of Douglas. NOTE 3 W. Their motto on his blade.-P. 122. A very ancient sword, in possession of Lord Douglas, bears, among a great deal of flourishing, two hands pointing to a heart, which is placed betwixt them, and the date 1329, being the year in which Bruce charged the Good Lord Douglas to earry his heart to the Holy Land. The following lines (the first couplet of which is quoted by Godscroft as a popular saying in his time) are inscribed around the emblem: "So mony guid as of ye Dovglas beinge, I will ye charge, efter yat I depart, To holy grawe, and thair bury my hart; Let it remane ever BоTHE TYME AND HOWR, The very curious State Papers of this able negotiator were, in 1810, published by Mr. Clifford, with some notes by the Author of Marmion. good, fled from his enemy at the first onset. "Turn, coward!" exclaimed his antagonist." Thou liest," said the Italian, "coward am I none; and in this quarrel will I fight to the death, but my first cause of combat was unjust, and I abandon it." "Je vous laisse à penser," adds Brantome, "s'il n'y a pas de l'abus là." Elsewhere he says, very sensibly, upon the confidence which those who had a righteous cause entertained of victory: "Un autre abus y avoit-il, que ceux qui avoient un juste subjet de querelle, et qu'on les faisoit jurer avant entrer au camp, pensoient estre aussitost vainqueurs, voire s'en assuroient-t-ils du tout, mesmes que leurs confesseurs parrains et confidants leurs en respondoient tout-à-fait, comme si Dieu leur en eust donné une patente; et ne regardant point à d'autres fautes passées, et que Dieu en garde la punition a ce coup là pour plus grande, despiteuse, et exemplaire."-Discours sur les Duels. NOTE 3 Z. The Cross.-P. 125. The Cross of Edinburgh was an ancient and curious struc ture. The lower part was an octagonal tower, sixteen feet in diameter, and about fifteen feet high. At each angle there was a pillar, and between them an arch, of the Grecian shape. Above these was a projecting battlement, with a turret at each correr, and medallions, of rude but curious workmanship, between them. Above this rose the proper Cross, a column of one stone, upwards of twenty feet high, surmounted with a unicorn. This pillar is preserved in the grounds of the property of Drum, near Edinburgh. The Magistrates of Edinburgh, in 1756, with consent of the Lords of Session (proh pudor!) destroyed this curious monument, under a wanton pretext that it encumbered the street; while, on the one hand, they left an ugly mass called the Luckenbooths, and, on the other, an awkward, long, and low guard-house, which were fifty times more encumbrance than the venerable and inoffensive Cross. From the tower of the Cross, so long as it remained, the heralds published the acts of Parliament; and its site, marked by radii, diverging from a stone centre, in the High Street, is still the place where proclamations are made. NOTE 4 A. This auful summons came.-P. 125. This supernatural citation is mentioned by all our Scottish historians. It was, probably, like the apparition at Linlithgow, an attempt, by those averse to the war, to impose upon the superstitious temper of James IV. The following account from Pitscottie is characteristically minute, and furnishes, besides, some curious particulars of the equipment of the army of James IV. I need only add to it, that Plotcock, or Plutock, is no other than Pluto. The Christians of the middle ages by no means misbelieved in the existence of the heathen deities; they only considered them as devils; and Plotcock, so far from implying any thing fabulous, was a synonyme of the grand enemy of mankind. "Yet all thir warnings, and uncouth tidings, nor no good counsel, might stop the King, at this present, from his vain purpose, and wicked enterprize, but hasted him fast to Edinburgh, and there to make his provision and furnishing, in having forth his army against the day appointed, that they should meet in the Burrow-muir of Edinburgh: That is to say, seven cannons that he had forth of the Castle of Edinburgh, which were called the Seven Sisters, casten by Robert Borthwick, the master-gunner, with other small artillery, bullet, powder, and all manner of order, as the master-gunner could devise. "In this meantime, when they were taking forth their artillery, and the King being in the Abbey for the time, there was a cry heard at the Market-cross of Edinburgh, at the hour of midnight, proclaiming as it had been a summons, which was named and called by the proclaimer thereof, The Summons of Plotcock; which desired all men to compear, both Earl, and Lord, and Baron, and all honest gentlemen within the town, (every man specified by his own name,) to compear, within the space of forty days, before his master, where it should happen him to appoint, and be for the time, under the pain of disobedience. But whether this summons was proclaimed by vain persons, night-walkers, or drunken men, for their pastime, or if it was a spirit, I cannot tell truly; but it was shewn to me, that an indweller of the town, Mr. Richard Lawson, being evil-disposed, ganging in his gallery-stair foreanent the Cross, hearing this voice proclaiming this summons, thought marvel what it should be, cried on his servant to bring him his purse; and when he had brought him it, he took out a crown, and cast over the stair, saying, 'I appeal from that summons, judgment, and sentence thereof, and takes me all whole in the mercy of God, and Christ Jesus his son.' Verily, the author of this, that caused me write the manner of this summons, was a landed gentleman, who was at that time twenty years of age, and was in the town the time of the said summons; and thereafter, when the field was stricken, he swore to me, there was no man that escaped that was called in this summons, but that one man alone which made his protestation, and appealed from the said summons; but all the lave were perished in the field with the king." NOTE 4 B. One of his own ancestry, Drove the Monks forth of Coventry.-P. 127. This relates to the catastrophe of a real Robert de Marmion, in the reign of King Stephen, whom William of Newbury describes with some attributes of my fictitious hero: "Homo bellicosus, ferocia, et astucia, fere nullo suo tempore impar." This Baron, having expelled the Monks from the church of Coventry, was not long of experiencing the divine judgment, as the same monks, no doubt, termed his disaster. Having waged a feudal war with the Earl of Chester, Marmion's horse fell, as he charged in the van of his troop, against a body of the Earl's followers: the rider's thigh being broken by the fall, his head was cut off by a common foot-soldier, ere he could receive any succour. The whole story is told by William of Newbury. NOTE 4 C. the savage Dane At Iol more deep the mead did drain.-P. 128. The Iol of the heathen Danes (a word still applied to Christmas in Scotland) was solemnized with great festivity. The humour of the Danes at table displayed itself in pelting each other with bones; and Torfæus tells a long and curious story, in the History of Hrolfe Kraka, of one Hottus, an inmate of the Court of Denmark, who was so generally assailed with these missiles, that he constructed, out of the bones with which he was overwhelmed, a very respectable intrenchment, against those who continued the raillery. The dances of the northern warriors round the great fires of pine-trees, are commemorated by Olaus Magnus, who says, they danced with such fury holding each other by the hands, that, if the grasp of any failed, he was pitched into the fire with the velocity of a sling. The sufferer, on such occasions, was instantly plucked out, and obliged to quaff off a certain measure of ale, as a penalty for "spoiling the king's fire." NOTE 4 D. On Christmas eve.-P. 128. In Roman Catholic countries, mass is never said at night, except on Christmas eve. Each of the frolics with which that holyday used to be celebrated, might admit of a long and cu rious note; but I shall content myself with the following de dered as the prince of the power of the air." The most remarkable instance of these surviving classical superstitions, is that of the Germans, concerning the Hill of Venus, into which she attempts to entice all gallant knights, and detains them there in a sort of Fools' Paradise. scription of Christmas, and his attributes, as personified in one of Ben Joson's Masques for the Court. Since the first edition of Marnion appeared, this subject has received much elucidation from the learned and extensive la bours of Mr. Douce; and the Chester Mysteries (edited by J. H. Markland, Esq.] have been printed in a style of great elegance and accuracy, (in 1818,) by Bensley and Sons, London, for the Roxburghe Club. 1830. "Enter CHRISTMAS, with two or three of the Guard. He is attired in round hose, long stockings, a close doublet, a highcrowned hat, with a brooch, a long thin beard, a truncheon, little ruffs, white shoes, his scarfs and garters tied cross, and his drum beaten before him.-The names of his children, with their attires: Miss-Rule, in a velvet cap, with a sprig, a short cloak, great yellow ruff, like a reveller; his torch-bearer bearing a rope, a chcese, and a basket ;-Caroll, a long tawny coat, with a red cap, and a flute at his girdle; his torch-bearer carrying a song-book open;-Minc'd-pie, like a fine cook's wife, drest neat, her man carrying a pie, dish, and spoons ;-Gamboll, like a tumbler, with a hoop and bells; his torch-bearer arm'd with cole-staff, and blinding cloth;-Post and Pair, with a pair-royal of aces in his hat, his garment all done over with pairs and purs; his squire carrying a box, cards, and counters;-New-year's-Gift, in a blue coat, serving-man like, with an orange, and a sprig of rosemary gilt on his head, his hat full of brooches, with a collar of gingerbread; his torch-mily. bearer carrying a march-pain, with a bottle of wine on either arm;-Mumming, in a masquing pied suit, with a visor; his torch-bearer carrying the box, and ringing it ;- Wassal, like a neat sempster and songster; her page bearing a brown bowl, drest with ribbands, and rosemary, before her;--Offering, in a short gown, with a porter's staff in his hand; a wyth borne before him, and a bason, by his torch-bearer;-Baby Cocke, drest like a boy, in a fine long coat, biggin, bib, muckender, and a little dagger; his usher bearing a great cake, with a bean and a pease." NOTE 4 E. Who lists may in their mumming see It seems certain, that the Mummers of England, who (in Northumberland at least) used to go about in disguise to the neighbouring houses, bearing the then useless ploughshare; and the Guisards of Scotland, not yet in total disuse, present, in some indistinct degree, a shadow of the old mysteries, which were the origin of the English drama. In Scotland, (me ipso teste,) we were wont, during my boyhood, to take the characters of the apostles, at least of Peter, Paul, and Judas Iscariot; the first had the keys, the second carried a sword, and the last the bag, in which the dole of our neighbours plumb-cake was deposited. One played a champion, and recited some traditional rhymes; another was "Alexander, King of Macedon, Who conquer'd all the world but Scotland alone: These, and many such verses, were repeated, but by rote, and unconnectedly. There was also, occasionally, I believe, a Saint George. In all, there was a confused resemblance of the ancient mysteries, in which the characters of Scripture, the Nine Worthies, and other popular personages, were usually exhik'ted. It were much to be wished that the Chester Mystenes were published from the MS. in the Museum, with the annotations which a diligent investigator of popular antiquities might still supply. The late acute and valuable antiquary, Mr. Ritson, showed me several memoranda towards such a task, which are probably now dispersed or lost. See, however, his Remarks on Shakspeare, 1783, p. 38. 1 Now Lord Polwarth. NOTE 4 F. Where my great grandsire came of old, Mr. Scott of Harden,1 my kind and affectionate friend, and distant relation, has the original of a poetical invitation, addressed from his grandfather to my relative, from which a few lines in the text are imitated. They are dated, as the epistle in the text, from Mertoun-house, the seat of the Harden fa "With amber beard, and flaxen hair, Our ancestors made of a goose; And scorn enthusiastic zeal?- Pray come, and welcome, or plague rott Your friend and landlord, Walter Scott. "Mr. Walter Scott, Lessuden." The venerable old gentleman, to whom the lines are addressed, was the younger brother of William Scott of Raeburn. Being the cadet of a cadet of the Harden family, he had very little to lose; yet he contrived to lose the small property he had, by engaging in the civil wars and intrigues of the house of Stuart. His veneration for the exiled family was so great, that he swore he would not shave his beard till they were restored: a mark of attachment, which, I suppose, had been common during Cromwell's usurpation; for, in Cowley's "Cutter of Coleman Street," one drunken cavalier upbraids another, that, when he was not able to afford to pay a barber, he affected to “wear a beard for the King." I sincerely hope this was not absolutely the original reason of my ancestor's beard; which, as appears from a portrait in the possession of Sir Henry Hay Macdougal, Bart., and another painted for the famous Dr. Pitcairn, was a beard of a most dignified and venerable appearance. NOTE 4 G. The Spirit's Blasted Tree.-P. 130. I am permitted to illustrate this passage, by inserting “Ceubren yr Ellyll, or The Spirit's Blasted Tree," a legendary tale, by the Reverend George Warrington : genius. By the favour of the late Earl of Kellie, descended on the maternal side from Dr. Pitcairn, my father became The old gentleman was an intimate of this celebrated possessed of the portrait in question. The event, on which this tale is founded, is preserved by tradition in the family of the Vaughans of Hengwyrt; nor is it entirely lost, even among the common people, who still point out this oak to the passenger. The enmity between the two Welsh chieftains, Howel Sele, and Owen Glendwr, was extreme, and marked by vile treachery in the one, and ferocious cruelty in the other. The story is somewhat changed and softened, as more favourable to the character of the two chiefs, and as better answering the purpose of poetry, by admitting the passion of pity, and a greater degree of sentiment in the description. Some trace of Howel Sele's mansion was to be seen a few years ago, and may perhaps be still visible, in the park of Nannau, now belonging to Sir Robert Vaughan, Baronet, in the wild and romantic tracks of Merionethshire. The abbey mentioned passes under two names, Vener and Cymmer. The former is retained, as more generally used. "Yet Fancy, in a thousand shapes, Bore to his home the Chief once more: Some saw him on high Moal's top, Some saw him on the winding shore. "With wonder fraught the tale went round, Amazement chain'd the hearer's tongue : Each peasant felt his own sad loss, Yet fondly o'er the story hung. "Oft by the moon's pale shadowy light, His aged nurse and steward grey Would lean to catch the storied sounds, Or mark the flitting spirit stray. "Pale lights on Cader's rocks were seen, And midnight voices heard to moan; 'Twas even said the Blasted Oak, Convulsive, heaved a hollow groan: "And to this day the peasant still, With cautious fear, avoids the ground: In each wild branch a spectre sees, And trembles at each rising sound. "Ten annual suns had held their course, In summer's smile, or winter storm; The lady shed the widow'd tear, As oft she traced his manly form. "Yet still to hope her heart would cling, As o'er the mind illusions play, Of travel fond, perhaps her lord, To distant lands had steer'd his way. ""Twas now November's cheerless hour, Which drenching rain and clouds deface, Dreary bleak Robell's tract appear'd, And dull and dank each valley's space. "Loud o'er the weir the hoarse flood fell, "A stranger pass'd Llanelltid's bourne, His dark-grey steed with sweat besprent Which, wearied with the lengthen'd way, Could scarcely gain the hill's ascent. "The portal reach'd,-the iron bell Loud sounded round the outward wall; Quick sprang the warder to the gate, To know what meant the clam'rous call. "O! lead me to your lady soon; Say, it is my sad lot to tell, To clear the fate of that brave knight, She long has proved she loved so well." "Then, as he cross'd the spacious hall, The menials look surprise and fear; Still o'er his harp old Modred hung, And touch'd the notes for grief's worn ear. "The lady sat amidst her train; A mellow'd sorrow mark'd her look: Then, asking what his mission meant, The graceful stranger sighed and spoke : "O could I spread one ray of hope, One moment raise thy soul from woc |