Saracenic origin. It occurs twice in the " 1 66 Coguntur omnes Epistolæ Itineraria" of Tollius: "Carcer subterraneus, sive, ut Mauri appellant, MAZMORRA," p. 147.; and again, Captivi sub noctem in ergastula subterranea, quæ Turca Alge zerani vocant MAZMORRAS," p. 243. The same word applies to the dungeons of the ancient Moorish castles in Spain, and serves to shew from what nation the Gothic stile of castle-building was originally derived. Note VI. Earl Adam Hepburn.-P. 199. He was the second Earl of Bothwell, and fell in the field of Flodden, where, according to an ancient English poet, he distinguished himself by a furious attempt to retrieve the day : Then on the Scottish part, right proud, The Earl of Bothwell then out brast, But there he caught a wellcome cold, The Englishmen straight down him threw. Flodden Field. Adam was grandfather to James, Earl of Bothwell, too well known in the history of Queen Mary. Note VII. For that a messenger from heaven, In vain to James had counsel given Against the English war.-P. 200. This story is told by Pitscottie with characteristic simplicity: "The king, seeing that France could get no support of him for that time, made a proclamation, full hastily, through all the realm of Scotland, both east and west, south and north, as well in the Isles as in the firm land, to all manner of man betwixt sixty and sixteen years, that they should be ready, within twenty days, to pass with him, with forty days victual, and to meet at the Burrow-muir of Edinburgh, and there to pass forward where he pleased. His proclamations were hastily obeyed, contrary the Council of Scotland's will; but every man loved his prince so well, that they would, on no ways, disobey him; but every man caused make his proclamation so hastily, conform to the charge of the king's proclamation. "The king came to Lithgow, where he happened to be for the time at the Council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion to God, to send him good chance and fortune in his voyage. In this mean time, there came a man clad in a blue gown in at the kirk-door, and belted about him in a roll of linen-cloth; a pair of brotikings * on his feet, to the great of his legs; with all other hose and clothes conform *Buskins. thereto : but he had nothing on his head, but syde* red yellow hair behind, and on his haffets, † which wan down to his shoulders; but his forehead was bald and bare. He seemed to be a man of two-and-fifty years, with a great pike-staff in his hand, and came first forward among the lords, crying and speiring for the king, saying, he desired to speak with him. While, at the last, he came where the king was sitting in the desk at his prayers; but when he saw the king, he made him little reverence or salutation, but leaned down grofling on the desk before him, and said to him in this. manner, as after follows: Sir king, my mother hath sent me to you, desiring you not to pass, at this time, where thou art purposed; for if thou does, thou wilt not fare well in thy journey, nor none that passeth with thee. Further, she bade thee mell§ with no woman, nor use their counsel, nor let them touch thy body, nor thou theirs; for, if thou do it, thou wilt be confounded and brought to shame. 66 By this man had spoken thir words unto the king's grace, the evening song was near done, and the king paused on thir words, studying to give him an answer; but, in the mean time, before the king's eyes, and in the presence of all the lords that were about him for the time, this man vanished away, and could no ways be seen nor comprehended, but vanished away as he had been a blink of the sun, or a whip of the whirlwind, and could no more be seen. I heard Sir David Lindesay, lyon-herauld, and John Inglis the say, * Long. + Cheeks, Asking. § Meddle. k marshal, who were, at that time, young men, and special servants to the king's grace, were standing presently beside the king, who thought to have laid hands on this man, that they might have speired further tidings at him: But all for nought; they could not touch him; for he vanished away betwixt them, and was no more seen.' Buchanan, in more elegant, though not more impressive language, tells the same story, and quotes the personal information of our Sir David Lindesay: "In iis (i. e. qui proprius astiterant) fuit David Lindesius, Montanus, homo spectatæ fidei et probitatis, nec a literarum studiis alienus, et cujus totæ vitæ tenor longissime a mentiendo aberrat; a quo nisi ego haec uti tradidi, pro certis accepissem, ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulam, omissurus eram."-Lib. XIII. The king's throne, in St Catherine's aisle, which he had constructed for himself, with twelve stalls for the Knights Companions of the Order of the Thistle, is still shown as the place where the apparition was seen. I know not by what means St Andrew got the credit of having been the celebrated monitor of James IV.; for the expression in Lindesay's narrative, 'My mother has sent me," could only be used by St John, the adopted son of the Virgin Mary. The whole story is so well attested, that we have only the choice between a miracle or an imposture. Mr Pinkerton plausibly argues, from the caution against incontinence, that the queen was privy to the scheme of those who had recourse to this expedient to deter King James from his impolitic warfare. 1 Note VII. The wild buck bells.-P. 201. I am glad of an opportunity to describe the cry of the deer by another word than braying, although the latter has been sanctified by the use of the Scottish metrical translation of the Psalms. Bell seems to be an abbreviation of bellow. This sylvan sound conveyed great delight to our ancestors, chiefly, I suppose, from association. A gentle knight in the reign of Henry VIII., Sir Thomas Wortley, built Wantley Lodge, in Wancliffe Forest, for the pleasure (as an ancient inscription testifies,) of "listening to the hart's bell." Note VIII. June saw his father's overthrow.—P. 201. The rebellion against James III. was signalized by the cruel circumstance of his son's presence in the hostile army. When the king saw his own banner displayed against him, and his son in the faction of his enemies, he lost the little courage he ever possessed, fled out of the field, fell from his horse as it started at a woman and water pitcher, and was slain, it is not well understood by whom. James IV., after the battle, passed to Stirling, and hearing the monks of the chapel royal deploring the death of his father, their founder, he was seized with deep remorse, which manifested itself in severe penances. See a following Note on Canto V. The battle of Sauchie-burn, in which James III. fell, was fought 18th June, 1488. |