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quarter-falcons;" for the safe guiding and redelivery 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, Simeon 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 negociation 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. *

There is a military tradition, that the old Scotch March was meant to express the words,

Ding down Tantallon,

Mak a brig to the Bass.

Tantallon was at length "dung down" and ruined by the Covenanters; its lord, the Marquis of Douglas, being a favourer of the royal cause. The castle and barony were sold

*The very curious State Papers of this able negociator, are shortly to be. published by Mr Clifford, with some Notes, by the Author of MARMION..

in the beginning of the eighteenth century to President Dalrymple of North Berwick, by the then Marquis of Douglas.

Note XVI.

Their motto on his blade.-P. 264.

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 carry 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 beine,
Of ane surname was ne'er in Scotland seine

I will ye charge, efter yat I depart,

To holy grawe, and thair bury my hart;

Let it remane ever BOTHE TYME and нOWR,

To ye last day I sie my Saviour.

I do protest in tyme of al my ringe,

Ye lyk subject had never ony keing.

This curious and valuable relique 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 partizans of Stuart, it was at length restored. It resembles a Highland claymore, of the usual size, is of an excellent temper, and admirably poised.

Note XVII.

Martin Swart.-P. 273.

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 Ritson's Ancient Songs, 1792, page lxi.

Note XVIII.

Perchance some form was unobserved,

Perchance in point of faith he swerved.---P. 274.

It was early necessary for those who felt themselves obliged to believe in the divine judgment being enunciated in the trial by duel, to find salvos for the strange and obviously precarious 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 did not commit the crime of which the Steward, his antagonist, truly, though maliciously, accused him whom he represented. Brantome tells a story of an Italian, who entered the lists upon an unjust quarrel, but, to make his cause good, fled from his enemy at the first on“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

set.

66

was unjust, and I abandon it." "Je vous laisse a penser," adds Brantome, "s'il ny a pas de l'abus la." de l'abus la." 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-afait, 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 à ce coup là pour plus grande, despiteuse, et exemplaire.” -Discours sur les Duels."

Note XIX.

Dun-Edin's Cross.-P. 279.

The Cross of Edinburgh was an ancient and curious structure. 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 corner, 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 an unicorn. This pillar is preserved at the House 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 XX.

This awful summons came.-P. 281.

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 disbelieved in the existence of the heathen deities; they only considered them as devils ; *

*See, on this curious subject, the Essay on Fairies, in the " Border Minstrelsy," Vol. II., under the fourth head; also Jackson on Unbelief, p. 175. Chaucer calls Pluto the "King of Faerie ;" and Dunbar names him " Pluto, that elrich incubus." If he was not actually the devil, he must be considered 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 in a sort of Fools' Paradise.

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