IX.

Though inly chafed at this delay,
Lord Marmion bears it as he may,
The Palmer, his mysterious guide,
Beholding thus his place supplied,

Sought to take leave in vain:
Strict was the Lion-King's command,
That none, who rode in Marmion's band,
Should sever from the train :
"England has here enow of spies
In Lady Heron's witching eyes:"
To Marchmount thus, apart, he said,
But fair pretext to Marmion made.
The right hand path they now decline,
And trace against the stream the Tyne.

X.

At length up that wild dale they wind,
Where Crichtoun Castlet crowns the bank;
For there the Lion's care assigned

A lodging meet for Marmion's rank.
That castle rises on the steep

Of the green vale of Tyne:

And far beneath, where slow they creep,
From pool to eddy, dark and deep,
Where alders moist, and willows weep,
[MS.-"The Lion King his message said:-

&c.]
A large ruinous castle on the banks of the Tyne, about ten
miles from Edinburgh. As indicated in the text, it was built at
different times, and with a very different regard to splendour and
accommodation. The oldest part of the building is a narrow
keep, or tower, such as formed the mansion of a lesser Scottish
baron; but so many additions have been made to it, that there is
now a large court-yard, surrounded by buildings of different ages.
The eastern front of the court is raised above a portico, and de-
corated with entablatures, bearing anchors. All the stones of
this front are cut into diamond facets, the angular projections of
which have an uncommonly rich appearance. The inside of this
part of the building appears to have contained a gallery of great
length, and uncommon elegance. Access was given to it by a
magnificent staircase, now quite destroyed. The soffits are orna-
mented with twining cordage and rosettes; and the whole seems
to have been far more splendid than was usual in Scottish ens-
tles. The castle belonged originally to the Chancellor, Sir Wil
liam Crichton, and probably owed to him its first enlargement,
as well as its being taken by the Earl of Douglas, who imputed to
Crichton's counsels the death of his predecessor Earl William,
beheaded in Edinburgh Castle, with his brother, in 1440. It is said
to have been totally demolished on that occasion; but the pre-
sent state of the ruins shows the contrary. In 1483, it was garri
soned by Lord Crichton, then its proprietor, against King James
III., whose displeasure he had incurred by seducing his sister Mar
garet, in revenge, it is said, for the monarch having dishonoured
his bed. From the Crichton family the castle passed to that of
the Hepburns, Earls Bothwell; and when the forfeitures of Stew-
art, the last Earl Bothwell, were divided, the barony and castle
of Crichton fell to the share of the Earl of Buccleuch. They were
afterwards the property of the Pringles of Clifton, and are now
that of Sir John Callander, baronet. It were to be wished the
proprietor would take a little pains to preserve these splendid re-
mains of antiquity, which are at present used as a fold for sheep,
and wintering cattle; although, perhaps, there are very few ruins
in Scotland, which display so well the style and beauty of an-
cient castle-architecture. The castle of Crichton has a dungeon
vault, called the Massy More. The epithet, which is not uncom-
monly applied to the prisons of other old castles in Scotland, is

My Liege hath deep and deadly swore,'

You hear her streams repine.‡
The towers in different ages rose;
Their various architecture shows
The builders' various hands;
A mighty mass, that could oppose,§
When deadliest hatred fired its foes,
The vengeful Douglas bands.
XI.

Crichtoun! though now thy miry court
But pens the lazy steer and sheep,
Thy turrets rude, and totter'd keep,
Have been the minstrel's loved resort.
Oft have I traced, within thy fort,

Of mouldering shields the mystic sense,
Scutcheons of honour, or pretence,
Quartered in old armorial sort,

Remains of rude magnificence.
Nor wholly yet had time defaced
Thy lordly gallery fair;

Nor yet the stony cord unbraced,
Whose twisted knots, with roses laced,
Adorn thy ruin'd stair.

Still rises unimpaired below,

The court-yard's graceful portico;
Above its cornice, row and row,
Of fair-hewn facets richly show
Their pointed diamond form,
Though there but houseless cattle go
To shield them from the storm.
And, shuddering, still may we explore,
Where oft whilom were captives pent,
The darkness of thy massy-more;

Or, from thy grass-grown battlement,
May trace, in undulating line,
The sluggish mazes of the Tyne.

XII.

Another aspect Crichtoun showed,
As through its portal Marmion rode;
But yet 'twas melancholy state
Received him at the outer gate;
For none were in the castle then,
But women, boys, or aged men.

With eyes scarce dried, the sorrowing dame,
To welcome noble Marmion, came;
Her son, a stripling twelve years old,
Proffered the baron's rein to hold;

For each man that could draw a sword
Had marched that morning with their lord,
Earl Adam Hepburn,-he who died
On Flodden, by his sovereign's side, T

of Saracenic origin. It occurs twice in the "Epistole Itinera
ria" of Tollins: " Carcer subterraneus, sive, ut Mauri appel-
p. 147; and again, "Coguntur omnes capti-
lant, Mazmorra,"
vi sub noctem in ergastula subterranea, quæ Turca Algere-
zani vocant Mazmorras," p. 243. The same word applies to the
dungeons of the ancient Moorish castles in Spain, and serves to
show from what nation the Gothic style of castle- building was
originally derived.*

[MS." Her lazy streams repine."]

SMS." But the huge mass could well oppose."]

(MS-" Of many a mouldering shield the sense.")
THe was the second earl of Bothwell, and fell in the field of
Flodden, where, according to an ancient English poet, he distin-
guished himself by a furious attempt to retrieve the day:-
Then on the Scottish part, right proud,
The Earl of Bothwell then out brast,
And stepping forth, with stomach good,
Into the enemies' throng he thrast;
And Bothwell! Bothwell! cried bold,

["In Scotland, formerly, as still in some parts of Greece, the great chief tains required, as an acknowledgment of their authority, that those who pum ed through their lands should repair to their castle, to explain the purpose of their journey, and receive the hospitality suited to their rank. To neglect this was held discourtesy in the great, and insolence in the inferior traveller; and so strictly was the efiqnette insisted on by some feudal lords, that the Lord Oliphant is said to have planted guns at his castle of Newtyle in Angus, so as to command the high-road, and compel all restive passengers to do this act of homage.

"It chanced when such ideas were predominant, that the Lord of Crichton Castle received intelligence that a Southern chieftain of high rank, some my Scott of Buccleuch, was to pass his dwelling on his return from court. The Lord Crichton made great preparation to banquet his expected guest, who In his first nevertheless rode past the castle without paying the expected visIL burst of indignation, the Baron pursued the discourteous traveller with a body of horse, made him prisoner, and confined him in the dungeon, while he him self and his vassals feasted upon the good cheer which ha been provided With the morning, however, came reflection, and anxiety for the desperate feud which impen-led, as the necessary consequence of his rough proceeding. It is said, that, by way of amende honorable the Baron, upon the second day, placed his compelled guest in his seat of honour in the hall, while he himself retired into his own dungeon, and thus did at once penance for his rashness, satisfied the honour of the stranger chief, and put a stop to the feud which must otherwise have taken place between them. "Sir Walter Scott's Provincial Antiquities, vol. i. p. 25-6,

Long may his Lady look in vain!
She ne'er shall see his gallant train*
Come sweeping back through Crichtoun-Dean.
'Twas a brave race, before the name
Of hated Bothwell stained their fame.t

XIII.

And here two days did Marmion rest,
With every rite that honour claims,
Attended as the King's own guest ;-
Such the command of royal James,
Who marshalled then his land's array,
Upon the Borough-moor that lay.
Perchance he would not foeman's eye
Upon his gathering host should pry,
Till full prepared was every band
To march against the English land.
Here while they dwelt, did Lindesay's wit
Oft cheer the Baron's moodier fit;
And, in his turn, he knew to prize

Lord Marmion's powerful mind, and wise,-
Trained in the lore of Rome and Greece,
And policies of war and peace.‡

XIV.

It chanced, as fell the second night,
That on the battlements they walked,
And, by the slowly fading light,
Of varying topics talked;

To cause his soldiers to ensne,

Bat there he caught a wellcome cold,

The Englishmen straight down him threw.

Thus Habarn through his hardy heart

His fatal fine in conflict found," &c.

Flodden Field, a Poem; edited by H. Weber. Edin. 1808.

M8.-"Well might his gentle Lady mourn,

Doom'd ne'er to see her Lord's return,"]

And, unaware, the herald-bards

Said, Marmion might his toil have spared,
In travelling so far;

For that a messenger from heaven
In vain to James had counsel given
Against the English war :
And, closer questioned, thus he told
A tale, which chronicles of old
In Scottish story have enrolled :-

XV.

SIR DAVID LINDESAY'S TALE.
"Of all the palaces so fair, T
Built for the royal dwelling,
In Scotland, far beyond compare
Linlithgow is excelling;**
And in its park, in jovial June,
How sweet the merry linnet's tune,
How blithe the blackbird's lay!
The wild buck bellstt from ferny brake,
The coot dives merry on the lake,
The saddest heart might pleasure take
To see all nature gay.

But June is to our sovereign dear
The heaviest month in all the year:
Too well his cause of grief you know,-
June saw his father's overthrow.‡‡

probitatis, nec a literarum studiis alienus, et cujus totius citæ tenor longissime a mentiendo aberrat; a quo nisi ego hæc uti tradidi, pro certis accepissem, ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulum, 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

*Adam was grandfather to James, earl of Bothwell, too well having been the celebrated monitor of James IV.; for the ex

known in the history of Queen Mary.

1 MS.-" Nor less the Herald Monarch knew

The Baron's powers to value true

Hence confidence between them grew."]

[MS-"Then fell from Lindesay, unaware, That Marmion might

Marmion might well his labour spare."]

pression 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 war.

In some places Mr. Scott's love of variety has betrayed him into strange imitations. This is evidently formed on the school of Sternhold and Hopkins, Of all the palaces so fair,""&c. JEFFREY.] ** [In Scotland there are about twenty palaces, castles, and remains, or sites of such, "Where Scotia's kings of other years"

had their royal home.

The

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 reas of Scotland, both east and west, south and north, as well ine isles as in the firm land, to all manner of men between 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 Barrow muir of Edinburgh, and there to pass forward where he "Linlithgow, distinguished by the combined strength and Pleased. His proclamations were hastily obeyed, contrary the beauty of its situation, must have been early selected as a royal council of Scotland's will; but every man loved his prince so residence. David, who bought the title of saint by his liberality well, that they would on no ways disobey him; but every man to the church, refers several of his charters to his town of Linlithcaused make his proclamation so hastily, conform to the charge gow; and in that of Holyrood expressly bestows on the new moof the king's proclamation. nastery all the skins of the rums, ewes, and lambs, belonging to "The king came to Lithgow, where he happened to be for the his castle of Linliten, which shall die during the year time at the council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion convenience afforded for the sport of falconry, which was so to God, to send him good chance and fortune in his voyage. In great a favourite during the feudal ages, was probably one cause this mean time, there came a man, clad in a blue gown, in at of the attachment of the ancient Scottish monarchs to Linlithgow the kirk door, and belted about him in a roll of linen cloth: a pair and its fine lake. The sport of hunting was also followed with of brotikings on his feet, to the great of his legs; with all other success in the neighbourhood, from which circumstance it probably bow and clothes conform thereto; but he had nothing on his arises that the ancient arms of the city represent a black greyhead but sydet red yellow hair behind, and on his haffets which hound bitch tied to a tree. The situation of Linlithgow wat down to his shoulders; but his forehead was bald and bare. Palace is eminently beautiful. It stands on a promontory of some Heemed to be a man of two-and-fifty years, with a great pike-elevation, which advances almost into the midst of the lake. staff in his hand, and came first forward among the lords, cry- The form is that of a square court, composed of buildings of four ag and speirings for the king, saying, he desired to speak with stories high, with towers at the angles. The fronts within the While, at the last, he came where the king was sitting in square, and the windows, are highly ornamented, and the size of The desk at his prayers; but when he saw the king, he made him the rooms, as well as the width and character of the staircases, Ele reverence or salutation, but leaned down groffling on the are upon a magnificent scale. One banquet-room is ninety-four desk before him, and said to him in this manner, as atter follows: feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty-three feet high, with a galSir King, my mother hath sent me to you, desiring you not to lery for music. The king's wardrobe, or dressing-room, looking pis, at this time, where thou art purposed; for if thou does, to the west, projects over the walls, so as to have a delicious hou wilt not fare well in thy journey, nor none that passeth with prospect on three sides, and is one of the most enviable boudoirs thee. Further, she bade thee mell with no woman, nor use their we have ever seen."--SIR WALTER SCOTT's Provincial Anconsel, nor let them touch thy body, nor thou theirs; for, if thou tiquities.] do it, the wilt be confounded and brought to shame.'

By this man had spoken thir words unto the king's grace, the evering 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 cres, 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 or comprehended, but vanished away as he had bren a blink of the sun, or a whip of the whirlwind, and could no more be seen. I heard say, Sir David Lindesay, Lion-herauld, and John Inglis the marshal, who were, at that time, young men, 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 eht: they could not touch him: for he vanished away betwixt them, and was no more seen."

Buchanan, in more elegant, though not more impressive lanare, tells the same story, and quotes the personal information of cur Sir David Lindesay: "In tis. (i. e. qui propius atiteTant) fuit David Lindestus, Montanus, homo spectata fidei et ↑ Long. : Cheeks. § Asking,

Bestins

Medille.

I am glad of an opportunity to describe the cry of the deer by another word than braying, although the latter has been sancti fied 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 bart's bell,"

The rebellion against James III. was signalized by the cruel the King saw his own banner displayed against him, and his son circumstance of his son's presence in the hostile army. When

in the faction of his enemies, he lost the little courage he bad 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 stanza ix. of canto y. The battle of Sauchie-burn, in which James III. fell, was fought 18th June, 1488.

XXVIII.

Nor marked they less, where in the air
A thousand streamers flaunted fair;
Various in shape, device, and hue,
Green, sanguine, purple, red, and blue,
Broad, narrow, swallow-tailed, and square,
Scroll, pennon, pensil, bandrol, there
O'er the pavilions flew.t

Highest, and midmost, was descried
The royal banner floating wide;

The staff, a pine-tree, strong and straight,
Pitched deeply in a massive stone,
Which still in memory is shown,

Yet bent beneath the standard's weight,
Whene'er the western wind enrolled,
With toil, the huge and cumbrous fold,

And gave to view the dazzling field,
Where, in proud Scotland's royal shield,
The ruddy lion ramped in gold.s

XXIX.

Lord Marmion viewed the landscape bright,-
He viewed it with a chief's delight,-
Until within him burned his heart,
And lightning from his eye did part,
As on the battle-day;

Such glance did falcon never dart,
When stooping on his prey.

Oh! well, Lord Lion, hast thou said,
Thy king from warfare to dissuade

Were but a vain essay:

For, by St. George, were that host mine,
Not power infernal, nor divine,
Should once to peace my soul incline,
Till I had dimmed their armour's shine
In glorious battle-fray!"-

Answered the bard, of milder mood:
"Fair is the sight,-and yet 'twere good,
That kings would think withal,

When peace and wealth their land has blessed, 'Tis better to sit still at rest, T

Than rise, perchance to fall."

XXX.

Still on the spot Lord Marmion stayed,
For fairer scene he ne'er surveyed.
When sated with the martial show
That peopled all the plain below,
The wandering eye could o'er it go,
And mark the distant city glow

With gloomy splendour red;

For on the smoke-wreaths, huge and slow,
That round her sable turrets flow,

The morning beams were shed,"

And tinged them with a lustre proud,
Like that which streaks a thunder-cloud.
Such dusky grandeur clothed the height,
Where the huge castle holds its state,
And all the steep slope down,

* Each of these feudal ensigns intimated the different rank of those entitled to display them.

I do not exactly know the Scottish mode of encampment in 1513, but Patten gives a curious description of that which he saw after the battle of Pinkey, in 1547:-" Here now, to say somewhat of the manner of their camp: As they had no pavilions, or round houses, of any commendable compass, so wear there few other tentes with posts, as the used manier of making is; and of these few also, none of above twenty foot length, but most far, ander; for the most part all very sumptuously beset, (after their fashion,) for the love of France, with fleur-de-lys, some of blue buckeram, some of black, and some of some other colours. These white ridges, as I call them, that, as we stood on Fauxsyde Bray, did make so great muster toward us, which I did take then to be a number of tentes, when we came, we found it a linen drapery, of the coarser cambryk in dede, for it was all of canvas sheets, and wear the tenticles, or rather cabyns and couches of their soldiers; the which (much after the common building of their country beside) had they framed of four sticks, about an ell long piece, whearof two fastened together at one end aloft, and the two endes beneath stuck in the ground, an ell asunder, standing in fashion like the bowes of a sowes yoke; over two such bowes Cone, as it were, at their head, the other at their feet) they stretched a sheet down on both sides, whereby their cabin became roofed like a ridge, but skant shut at both ends, and not very close beneath on the sides, unless their sticks were the shorter, or their wives the more liberal to lend them larger napery; howbeit, when they had lined them, and stuff'd them so thick with straw, with the weather as it was not very cold, when they wear ones couched, they were as warm as they had been wrapt in horses dung."PATTEN'S Account of Somerset's Expedition.

Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky,
Piled deep and massy, close and high,
Mine own romantic town!**
But northward far, with purer blaze,
On Ochil mountains fell the rays,
And, as each heathy top they kissed,
It gleamed a purple amethyst.
Yonder the shores of Fife you saw;
Here Preston-bay, and Berwick-law;
And, broad between them rolled,
The gallant Frith the eye might note,
Whose islands on its bosom float,

Like emeralds chased in gold.
Fitz-Eustace' heart felt closely pent;
As if to give his rapture vent,
The spur he to his charger lent,
And raised his bridle hand,
And, making demi-vault in air,

Cried, "Where's the coward that would not dare
To fight for such a land!"

The Lindesay smiled his joy to see;††

Nor Marmion's frown repressed his glee.

XXXI.

Thus while they looked, a flourish proud,
Where mingled trump, and clarion loud,
And fife, and kettle-drum,
And sackbut deep, and psaltery,
And war-pipe with discordant cry,
And cymbal clattering to the sky,
Making wild music bold and high,

Did up the mountain come;

The whilst the bells, with distant chime,
Merrily tolled the hour of prime,

And thus the Lindesay spoke :‡‡
"Thus clamour still the war notes when
The King to mass his way has ta'en,
Or to St. Katharine's of Sienne,§§

Or chapel of St. Rocque.

To you they speak of martial fame;}
But me remind of peaceful game,

When blither was their cheer,
Thrilling in Falkland woods the air,
In signal none his steed should spare,
But strive which foremost might repair
To the downfall of the deer.

XXXII.

"Nor less," he said," when looking forth,
I view yon empress of the north
Sit on her hilly throne;

Her palace's imperial bowers,
Her castle, proof to hostile powers,
Her stately halls and holy towers-¶¶

Nor less," he said, "I moan,

To think what wo mischance may bring,
And how these merry bells may ring
The death dirge of our gallant King;
Or, with the larum, call

The burghers forth to watch and ward,
'Gainst southern sack and fires to guard
[MS.-"The standard staff, a mountain pine,

Pitch'd in a huge memorial stone,
That still in monument is shown."]

The well-known arms of Scotland. If you will believe Boe-
thius and Buchanan, the double tressure round the shield, mention-
ed, p. 199, counter fluer de lysed, or lingued and armed azure,
was first assumed by Achains, King of Scotland, contemporary of
Charlemagne, and founder of the celebrated League with France;
but later antiquaries make poor Eochy, or Achy, little better than
a sort of King of Brentford, whom old Grig (who has also swelled
into Gregorius Magnus) associated with himself in the important
duty of governing some part of the north-eastern coast of Scotland.
[MS.-Lord Marmion's large dark eye flash'd light,
It kindled with a chief's delight,
For glow'd with martial joy his heart,
As upon battle-day."]

T[MS.-"Tis better sitting still at rest,
Than rising but to fall;

And while these words he did exchange,
They reached the camp's extremest range."

The Poet appears to have struck his pen through the two lines
in italics, on conceiving the magnificent picture which replaces
them in the text, and in which there is so little of erasure.]
** [MS.-" Dun-Edin's towers and town."]
** [MS.-"The Lion smiled his joy to see."]
: IMS.-" And thus the Lion spoke."]
$$ IMS.-" Or to our Lady's of Sienne."]
[MS. "To you they speak of martial fame,
To me of mood more mild and tame-
Blither would be their cheer."]
TT [MS." Her stately fanes and holy towers."]