VI. Why do these steeds stand ready dight? VII. Such is the custom of Branksome-Hall.Many a valiant knight is here; But he, the chieftain of them all, His sword hangs rusting on the wall, Bards long shall tell, VIII. Can piety the discord heal, Or stanch the death-feud's enmity? In mutual pilgrimage, they drew; For chiefs, their own red falchions slew: While Cessford owns the rule of Carr, While Ettrick boasts the line of Scott, The slaughter'd chiefs, the mortal jar, The havoc of the feudal war, Shall never, never be forgot!5 1 See Note C. 2 See Note D. 3 Edinburgh. The war-cry, or gathering word, of a Border clan. Among other expedients resorted to for stanching the feud betwixt the Scotts and the Kerrs, there was a bond executed in 1529, between the heads of each clan, binding themselves to perform reciprocally the four principal pif grimages of Scotland, for the benefit of the souls of those of the opposite name who had fallen in the quarrel. This indenture is printed in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. i. But either it never took effect, or else the fend was renewed shortly afterwards. Such pactions were not uncommon in feudal times; and, as night be expected, they were often, as in the present case, void of the effect desired. When Sir Walter Mauny, the renowned follower of Edward III., had taken the town of Ryol in Gascony, he remembered to have heard that his father lay there buried, and offered a hundred crowns to any who could show him his grave. A very old man appeared before Sir Walter, and informed him of the manner of his father's death, and the place of his sepulture. It seems the Lord of Mauny had, at a great tournament, unhorsed, and wounded to the death, a Gascon knight, of the house of Mirepoix, whose kins man was Bishop of Cambray. For this deed he was held at feud by the relations of the knight, until he agreed to undertake a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compostella, for the benefit of the soul of the deceased. But as he returned through the town of Ryol, after accomplishment of his vow, he was beset and treacherously slain, by the kindred of the knight whom he had killed. Sir Walter, guided by the old man, visited the lowly tomb of his father; and, having read the inscription, which was in Latin, he caused the body to be raised, and trans IX. In sorrow o'er Lord Walter's bier And many a flower, and many a tear, Old Teviot's maids and matrons lent: But o'er her warrior's bloody bier The Ladye dropp'd nor flower nor tear! Vengeance, deep-brooding o'er the slain, Had lock'd the source of softer woe; And burning pride, and high disdain, Forbade the rising tear to flow; Until, amid his sorrowing clan, Her son lisp'd from the nurse's knee"And if I live to be a man, "My father's death revenged shall be!"Then fast the mother's tears did seek To dew the infant's kindling cheek. X. All loose her negligent attire, All loose her golden hair, Hung Margaret o'er her slaughter'd sire, And wept in wild despair. But not alone the bitter tear Had filial grief supplied; For hopeless love, and anxious fear, Nor in her mother's alter'd eye Her lover, 'gainst her father's clan, All purple with their blood; And well she knew, her mother dread, Before Lord Cranstoun she should wed,2 Would see her on her dying bed. Tra 1 The family of Ker, Kerr, or Carr, was very powerful on the Border. Fynes Morrison remarks, in his Travels, that their influence extended from the village of PrestonGrange in Lothian, to the limits of England. Cessford Castle, the ancient baronial residence of the family, is situated near the village of More battle, within two or three miles of the Cheviot Hills. It has been a place of great strength and consequence, but is now ruinous. dition affirms, that it was founded by Halbert, or Habby Kerr, a gigantic warrior, concerning whom many stories are current in Roxburghshire. The Duke of Roxburghe represents Kerr of Cessford. A distinct and powerful brauch of the same name own the Marquis of Lothian as their chief. Hence the distinction betwixt Kerrs of Cessford and Fairmibirst. 2 The Cranstouns. Lord Cranstonn, are an ancient Border family, whose chief seat was at Crailing, in Teviot dale. They were at this time at fend with the clan of Scott; for it appears that the Lady of Buccleuch, in 1557. beset the Laird of Cranstoun, seeking his life. Neverthe less, the same Cranstoun, or perhaps his son, was married to a daughter of the same lady. 3 See Note E. 4 Padua was long supposed, by the Scottish peasants, to be the principal school of necromancy. The Earl of The name is spelt differently by the various families who bear it. Carr is selected, not as the most correct, but as the most ptical reading. 1 And of his skill, as bards avow, He taught that Ladye fair, That moans the mossy turrets round. Is it the roar of Teviot's tide, That chafes against the scaur's red side? That means old Branksome's turrets round? Gowrie, slain at Perth, in 1600, pretended, during his studies in Italy, to have acquired some knowledge of the cabala, by which, he said, he could charm snakes, and work other iniracles; and, in particular, could produce children without the intercourse of the sexes.-See the Examination of Wemyss of Bogie before the Privy Coun cil, concerning Gowrie's Conspiracy, The shadow of a necromancer is independent of the sun. Glycas informs us, that Simon Magus caused his shadow to go before him, making people believe it was an attendant spirit.-HEYWOOD's Hierarchic. p. 475. The vulgar conceive, that when a class of students have made a certain progress in their mystic studies, they are obliged to run through a subterraneous hall, where the devil literally catches the hindmost in the race, unless he crosses the hall so speedily, that the arch-enemy can only apprebend his shadow. In the latter case, the person of the sage never after throws any shade; and those, who have thus lost their shadow, always prove the best magi The Ladye sought the lofty hall, Even bearded knights, in arms grown old, How the brave boy, in future war, XX. The Ladye forgot her purpose high, XXI. A stark moss-trooping Scott was he, By England's King, and Scotland's Queen. XXII. "Sir William of Deloraine, good at need, Say that the fated hour is come, Will point to the grave of the mighty dead. XXIII. "What he gives thee, see thou keep; Into it, Knight, thou must not look; XXIV. "O swiftly can speed my dapple-grey steed, Which drinks of the Teviot clear; Ere break of day," the Warrior 'gan say, And safer by nene may thy errand be done, 1 See Note II. See Note 1. 3 Hairibee, the place of executing the Border marauders at Carlisle. The neck-verse is the beginning of the 51st Palm, Miserere mei, &c., anciently read by criminals viaiming the benefit of clergy. XXV. Soon in his saddle sate he fast, And cross'd old Borthwick's roaring strand; XXVI. The clattering hoofs the watchmen mark ;- XXVII. A moment now he slack'd his speed, XXVIII Unchallenged, thence pass'd Deloraine, To ancient Riddel's fair domain," Where Aill, from mountains freed, Down from the lakes did raving come; Each wave was crested with tawny foam, Like the mane of a chestnut steed. In vain! no torrent, deep or broad, Might bar the bold moss-trooper's road. 1 Barbican, the defence of the outer gate of a feudal castle. Peel, a Border tower. 3 This is a round artificial mount near Hawick, which, from its name (fot. Ang. Six. Concilium, Conventus), was probably anciently used as a place for assembling a national council of the adjacent tribes. There are many such mounds in scotland, and they are sometimes, but rarely, of a square form. 4 The estate of Hazeldean, corruptly Hassendean, belonged formerly to a family of Scotts, thus commemorated by Satcheils: "Hassendean came without a call. The ancientest house among them all." 5 An ancient Roman road, crossing through part of Roxburghshire. See Note K. 7 See Note L. In bitter mood he spurred fast, Now midnight lauds3 were in Melrose sung. In solemn wise did rise and fail, Like that wild harp, whose magic tone Is waken'd by the winds alone. HERE paused the harp; and with its swell His hand was true, his voice was clear, Then go but go alone the while But when Melrose he reach'd, 'twas silence all; Then view St. David's ruin'd pile ;? He meetly stabled his steed in stall, 1 Barded, or barbed,-applied to a horse accoutred with defensive arinour. Halidon was an ancient seat of the Kerrs of Cessford, now demolished. About a quarter of a mile to the northward lay the field of battle betwixt Buccleuch and Angus, which is called to this day the Skirmish Field.-See Note C. And, home returning, soothly swear, 11. Short halt did Deloraine make there; Lauds, the midnight service of the Catholic church. "Who knocks so loud, and knocks so late?""From Branksome I," the warrior cried ; which Scotland can boast. The stone of which it is built, though it has resisted the weather for so many ages, retains perfect sharpness, so that even the most ininute ernaments seem as entire as when newly wrought. In Some of the cloisters, as is hinted in the next Canto, there are representations of flowers, vegetables, &c. carved in stone with accuracy and precision so delicate, that we altest distrust our seuses, when we consider the difficulty of subjuting so hard a substance to such intricate and exquisite modulation. This superb convent was dedicated to St. Mary, and the monks were of the Cistertian order. At the time of the Reformation, they shared in the general reproach of sensuality and irregularity, thrown upon the Roman churchmen. The old words of Galashiels, a favourite Scottish air, ran thus: O the monks of Melrose made gude kale 1 They wanted neither beef nor ale, 1 Kale, Broth, For Branksome's Chiefs had in battle stood, repose. 1 The buttresses, ranged along the sides of the ruins of Melrose Abbey, are, according to the Gothic style, richie carved and fretted, containing niches for the statues of saints, and labelled with scrolls, bearing appropriate texts of Scripture. Most of these statues have been demolished. 2 David I. of Scotland, purchase 1 the reputation of sanctity, by founding, and liberally endowing, not only the monastery of Melrose, but those of Kelso, Jedburgh, and many others; which led to the well-known obser vation of his successor, that he was a sore saint for the crown. The Buccleuch family were great benefactors to the Abbey of Melrose. As early as the reign of Robert 11.. III. Bold Deloraine his errand said; He enter'd the cell of the ancient priest, To hail the Monk of St. Mary's aisle. IV. "The Ladye of Branksome greets thee by me; V. And strangely on the Knight look'd he, And his blue eyes gleam'd wild and wide; "And, darest thou, Warrior! seek to see What heaven and hell alike would hide? My breast, in belt of iron pent, With shirt of hair and scourge of thorn; For threescore years, in penance spent, My knees those flinty stones have worn ; Yet all too little to atone For knowing what should ne'er be known. Would'st thou thy every future year In ceaseless prayer and penance drie, Yet wait thy latter end with fear Then, daring Warrior, follow me!" VI. "Penance, father, will I none; For mass or prayer can I rarely tarry, And he thought on the days that were long since by, When his limbs were strong, and his courage was high Now, slow and faint, he led the way, And beneath their feet were the bones of the dead. 1 VIII. Spreading herbs, and flowerets bright, Nor herb, nor floweret, glisten'd there, The youth in glittering squadrons start; ? Sudden the flying jennet wheel, And hurl the unexpected dart. He knew, by the streamers that shot so bright, That spirits were riding the northern light. IX. By a steel-clenched postern door, They enter'd now the chancel tall; The darken'd roof rose high aloof On pillars lofty and light and small: The key-stone, that lock'd each ribbed aisle, Was a fleur-de-lys, or a quatre-feuille ; The corbells were carved grotesque and grim ; And the pillars, with cluster'd shafts so trin, With base and with capital flourish'd around, Seem'd bundles of lances which garlands had bound. X. Full many a scutcheon and banner riven, Shook to the cold night-wind of heaven, Around the screened altar's pale; And there the dying lamps did burn, Before thy low and lonely urn, O gallant Chief of Otterburne!4 And thine, dark Knight of Liddesdale! $ O fading honours of the dead! high ambition, lowly laid! So speed ine my errand, and let me be gone."O VII. Again on the Knight look'd the Churchman old, And again he sighed heavily: For he had himself been a warrior bold, Robert Scott, Baron of Murdieston and Rankleburn (now Buccleuch), gave to the monks the lands of Hinkery, in Ettrick Forest, pro salute animæ suæ.-Chartulary of Melrose, 28th May, 1415 1 Arentayle, visor of the helmet. 2 The Borderers were, as may be supposed, very igno rant about religious matters. Colville, in his Paranesis. or Admonition, states, that the reformed divines were so far from undertaking distant journeys to convert the Heathen, as I wold wis at God that ye wold only go bot to the Hielands and Borders of our own realm, to gain our awin countreymen, who, for lack of preching and ministration of the sacraments, must, with tyme, becum either infidells, or atheists." But we learn, from Lesley, that, however deficient in real religion, they regularly told their beads, and never with ere zeal than wheu going on a plundering expedition. i The cloisters were frequently used as places of sepul ture. An instance occurs in Dryburgh Abbey, where the cloister has an inscription, bearing, Hic jacet frater Archibaldus. 2 See Note M. 3 Corbells, the projections from which the arches spring. usually cut in a fantastic face, or mask. 4 The famous and desperate battle of Otterburne was fought 15th August, 1558, betwixt Heury Percy, called Hotspur, and James, Earl of Douglas. Both these re nowned champions were at the head of a chosen body of troops, and they were rivals in military fame; so that Froissart affirms, " Of all the hattayles and encounteryngs that I have made mencion of here before in all this hys tory, great or smalle, this battayle that I treat of nowe was one of the sorest and best foughten, without cowardes or faynte hertes: for there was neyther knyghte nor squyer but that dyde his devoyre, and foughte hande to hande. This batayle was lyke the batayle of Becherell, the which was valiauntly fought and endured." The issue of the conflict is well known: Percy was made prisoner, and the Scots won the day, dearly purchased by the death of their gallant general, the Earl of Douglas, who was slain in the action. He was buried at Melrose, beneath the high altar. "His obsequye was done reverently, and on his bodye layde a tombe of stone, and his haner hangyng over hym."-FROISSART, vol. ii. P. 165. 5 See Note N. |