A History of Scotland, civil and ecclesiastical, from the earliest times to the death of David I, 1153

Preface

. The object of the author in bringing this work before the public is to present in a popular form the history and state of the people of Scotland during a period little known to any but students of archæology. Modern his torians, with the exception of Dr Skene, have passed lightly over it, stating what is true enough, that there are no reliable facts to chronicle. But there is a growing love for the investigation of the mythological and legend ary history of peoples other than the Hebrew, Greek and Roman, a feeling that present enigmas may be solved, and present duties enforced hy such an investigation. The study of the mythology and legends of the peoples named, forms an integral part of the education even of the young : why should we neglect our own ancestors, the Celt and the Teuton ? The boy is father to the man — if at the present day we receive with reverence or rapture the childish records of the great names in Literature and Art, why should we not treasure up all that remains of the forefathers who gave us the rude outline of our present institutions in Church and State ?

While making free use of modern works, the author has taken his facts entirely from the earliest authorities, and has based his inferences on these facts and on these alone. He trusts that his readers will treat his work as an honest attempt to bring before them an important period in our National History, little known and less thought of. Glasgow, 1SS6. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Roman Period

PACK Early Notices of Britain — Discovered by the Romans — Invasion of Cæsar — Conquests of Agricola — Hadrian and the Roman Wall— Campaign of Severus — Constantius Chlorus — Constantine and his Successors — Condition of the Inhabitants — Invasion of Northern Tribes and Saxons — Repelled by Theodosius — Province of Valentia — Renewed Invasions — Britain abandoned by the Romans — Probable state of Civilisation, ........ 1-26

Chapter II. Legendary History

Legendary History — Origin of Races from Philology — Bede — Nennius — Geoffrey of Monmouth — Origin of the Britons — Origin of the Picts from Philology — Legendary Origin of the Scots — Accounts of Bede — Chronicles of Picts and Scots, Fordun, etc., 27-44

Chapter III. Origin Of The Term Scot

Origin of the term Scot ; not mentioned earlier than A.D. 360 ; originally applied to the Inhabitants of Ireland, and Colonists from there — Scots Celts not Teutons — Origin and His- CONTENTS. VIII PAGE tory of the Scots — Buchanan's Remarks — Fordun's Account—Irish Account — Historical Value of these Accounts — Early Condition of Ireland — Political Organisation of Ireland— Carried to Scotland — Colony of Dalriada in Scotland — Civilisation of the Scots — Danish Invasions — Disastrous Consequences— Civilisation of the Scots Christian — Reflections on its Character, ..... 45"D7

Chapter IV. Narrative

— FIFTH TO SIXTH CENTURY. Narrative — Obscurity of the History of the Period — Worthlessness of Contemporary Authors — Gildas and Nennius — Bede the sole Authority — Irruption of Picts on withdrawal of the Imperial Forces — Struggle in Valentia — Picts, Saxons — Angles — Christianity and Heathendom — Arthurian Epic — Ida the Flamebearer — Strathclyde — Bernicia — The British Kingdom in Scotland — Rhydderch Hael — Struggles with the Angles — Annexed to Scotia A.D. 945, . . 68-82

Chapter V. Pictland

Pictland —History unknown previous to A.D. 565 — Brude — War with Bernicia — Continuous struggle in Northumbria, Mercia, Deira, Penda, Cæd walla — Oswald King of Bernicia — Battle of Denisesburn — Cædwalla slain — Oswald slain by Penda — Penda slain by Oswy — Triumph of Christianity — Pictland — Brude — Invasion by Ecgfrid King of Bernicia, his Defeat and Death — Angles lose their hold of Southern Scotland — Naitan — Religious Controversies — Dalriada, Aidan, Columba, Dommall Breac — Battle of Moyra — Anarchy in Dalriada — Attack by Aengus — Dissolution of the Kingdom — Northumbria acquires most of Strathclyde — Kingdom of Fortrenn — Danish Invasions — Kenneth MacAlpin, . . . . . . S3-108 CONTENTS. IX

Chapter VI. Norse Invasions

FAGF. Norse Invasions — Extent and Importance of these — High Character of the Religion, Intellect and Culture of the Teutons — Iceland and the Sagas — Scandinavia and the Vikings — the Vikings in Ireland — in Orkney and Shetland — Norsemen in Scotland — Extent and Influence of the Immigration — Narrative from Accession of Kenneth — Norse Invasions — Death of Kenneth — Donald, Constantin— Norse Invasions — Aed, Eocha, Gregory, . . 109- 1 38

Chapter VII. Donald First King Of Alban

Accession of Donald first King of Alban — Contest in the Northern Districts — Danish Invasion and Death of Donald — Constantine II. — Danish Invasion— Renovation of the Church — Cellach first Bishop of Alban — Civil Reforms — Strathclyde; Danish Invasions — Relations with England — Battle of Brunanburg — Ode on the Victory of Athelstane — Eric of the Bloody Axe — Constantine retires from Public Life — Accession of Malcolm, son of Donald — Cession of Strathclyde to Alban — Eric, Gunhilde — Danes of Northumbria — Indulph — Cession of Edinburgh to Alban — Dubh's Accession— Cuilean disputes it — Is in the end successful — Kenneth II. — Cession of Lothian — Constantine — Kenneth — Malcolm II. — Alban now called Scotia — Malcolm attacks Bernicia — Makes affinity with the Earl of Orkney — Crinan Abbot of Dunkeld — Malcolm invades England — Cnut invades Scotia — English Claims — Death of Malcolm ; his Character and Policy — A.D. 889-1034, 139-177 X CONTENTS.

Chapter VIII. Narrative

— DUNCAN. PAGE Accession of Duncan — Unsuccessful Invasion of England — Orkney aad Orcadian History — Turf Einar — Gunhild — Earl Sigurd — His Conquests — Grim and Helgi — Olaf Tryggvason conquers Orkney and imposes Christianity — Death of Sigurd — Thorfinn the Mighty — Amor his Poet — King Duncan —Thorfinn — Macbeth — Death of Duncan and Accession of Macbeth — His Character and Death — Lulach, A.D. IO34-58, 178-213

Chapter IX. Malcolm III

— CANMORE. Malcolm III. — State of Society — Lineage and Character — Fixes his residence at Dunfermline — First Invasion of England — Norman Conquest of England — The Aetheling and his Sisters take refuge in Scotia — Disturbances in Northumbria — Malcolm invades England a second time — He meets Edgar Aetheling and his Sisters — They visit Scotland — Malcolm is united in Marriage to Margaret — Her character — Turgot's Life — William invades Scotia — Peace concluded at Abernethy — Terms of this considered — Prince Duncan returns with William — Edgar Aetheling — Reduction of Moray — Third invasion of England — William Rufus retaliates — Terms of Peace — Rufus annexes Cumberland and makes the Solway his frontier— Malcolm visits William Rufus — Returns and invades England for the last time — His defeat and death — His character — Death of Margaret, ...... 214-248 CONTENTS. XI

Chapter X. Calamitous Effects Of The Death Of Malcolm

PAGE Malcolm's Death a heavy Calamity — Donald Bane made King — His Title challenged — Duncan's short Reign — Is slain by the Scots — Donald Bane King a second time — His defeat and fate — Accession of Edgar son of Malcolm — Expedition of Magnus Barefoot — Character and Death of Edgar — Accession of Alexander — His Character — Northern Insurrection promptly quelled— Death of Alexander — David I. succeeds and re-unites Lothian and Cumbria — His Character — Introduces the Feudal system and written Charters — Northern Insurrection — Quelled — Death of Henry I. and unfriendly relations with England — Prince Henry returns with King Stephen, but is soon recalled — David invades England — Battle of the Standard — Marriage of Prince Henry — His untimely Death — Death and Character of David I. — His Innovations or Creations, 249-277

Appendix

. A SHORT HISTORY OF IRELAND, From a.m. 2242 TO A.D 49S, 281-327 LIST OF WORKS QUOTED OR CITED. Adamnan's Life of St Columba, by Dr Reeves (Scottish Historians). Vol. 6. 1874. Ailred's, St, Life of St Ninian, by Dr Forbes (Scottish Historian). Vol. 5. 1874. Annals of the Four Masters. 7 vols. 1 85 1. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Aytoun's Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers. 1853. Baring-Gould's Old Testament Legends. 2 vols. 1871. Bede's Ecclesiastical History (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Bede's Life of St Cuthbert. 1840. Bower's Scotochronicon. 1759* Bruce's Roman Wall. 1853. Burton's History of Scotland. 9 vols. 1S76. Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, by Dr Skene. 1867. Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis (Iona Club). 1834-46. Corpus Poetarum Boreale by Vigfusson and Powell. 2 vols. 1S83.

Curwen's History of Booksellers. London. Cusack's, Miss, Life of St Brigit. 1877. Cusack's, Miss, Life of St Columba. 1877. Cusack's History of the Irish Nation. 1877. Cusack's Trias Thaumuturga. 1877. Fielding's Works. 5 vols. 1812. Forbes' Calendar of Scottish Saints. Fordun's Chronicle (Scottish Historians). 2 vols. 1872. Freeman's Norman Conquest. 1877. Froude's Short Studies on Great Subjects. 2 vols. 1S67. Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Bohn's Library). Gildas' Works (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Giraldus Cambrensis (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Goethe's Faust, Martin's Translation. 1S66. Green's Short History of the English People. 1S74. Hailes', Lord, Annals. 1819. Hallam's Literary History. 4 vols. 1864.

Henry of Huntingdon's Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Herbert's Icelandic Poetry. 1S06. Hollinshead's Scottish Chronicle. 2 vols. 1805. Innes' (Father) Critical Essay (Scottish Historians). Vol 8. 1S79. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary. 4 vols. 1808-25. LIST OF WORKS QUOTED OR CITED. foceline's Life of St Kentigern (Scottish Historians. ) Vol-5- '874- Keating's, Geoffrey, History of Ireland. 1841. Keith's Historical Catalogue of Scottish Bishops. 1824. Kenrick's Phœnicia. 1855. Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. 4 vols. Lecky's History of European Morals. 2 vols 1869. Lecky's History of Rationalism in Europe. 2 vols. 1866. Matthew of Westminster's Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Milman's History of Christianity. 3 vols. 1867. Milman's History of Latin Christianity. 9 vols. 1867.

Montalembert's Monks of the West. 7 vols. 1S61. Moore's, Thomas, History of Ireland. 4 vols. 1835. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, by Soames. 4 vols. 1845. Midler's, Max, Science of Language. 2 vols. 1861. Muller's, Max, Chips from a German Workshop. 2 vols. 1S67. MacLauchlan's Early Scottish Church. 1865. Neander's Church History (Bohn's Library). Nennius' History of the Britons (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Old Statistical Account of Scotland. Ordericus Vitalis (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Palgrave's England and Normandy. 1851-57. Petrie's Round Towers of Ireland. 1845. Pinkerton's Enquiry into the History of Scotland. 2 vols. 1789. Prescott's History of Philip II. 3 vols. 1855. Rawlinson's Herodotus. 4 vols. 1875. Rees', Cambro, British Saints. 1855. Reeves' Culdees of the British Islands. 1864.

Rhys', Professor, Celtic Britain. 1882. Robertson's, E. W. , Scotland under her Early Kings. 2 vols. 1862. Six old English Chronicles (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Skene's Celtic Scotland. 3 vols. 1876. Skene's Four Books of Wales. 2 vols. 1868. Soames' Anglo-Saxon Church. 1838. Tennyson's Idylls of the King. 1859. Todd's Life of St Patrick. 1864. Turgot's Life of Queen Margaret, translated by W. F. Leith. 1884. Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill. 1858. Warton's History of English Poetry. 4 vols. 1871. William of Malmesbury's Chronicle (Bohn's Antiquarian Library). Wilson's Archæology of Scotland. 1 851. Worsæ's, the Danes and Northmen. 1852. Wyntoun's Cronykill (Scottish Historians). 3 vols. 1872. CIVIL HISTORY A D

Chapter I. The Roman Period

Early Notices of Britain — Discovered by the Romans — Invasion of Cæsar — Conquests of Agricola — Hadrian and the Roman Wall — Campaign of Severus — Constantius Chlorus — Constantine and his Successors — Condition of the Inhabitants — Invasion of Northern Tribes and Saxons — Repelled by Theodosius — Province of Valentia — Renewed Invasions — Britain abandoned by the Romans — Probable state of Civilisation. It is as near as may be an ascertained historical fact, that the Phœnicians, from their colonies on the west coast of Spain, were the first to discover the British Isles. There is no mention of them, however, in the scant litera ture preserved, the early colonisers of the world, the prototypes of the Anglo-Saxon, with their usual astute ness, probably kept the knowledge to themselves. Hero dotus is very sceptical of the existence of these isles : 'Nor do I know of any islands called the Cassiterides (Tin Islands), whence the tin comes which we use.'1 These islands were known to the Carthaginians ; one of whom, Himilco, in the middle of the fourth century, B.C. 362, 350, left an account of his voyage to the north west coasts of Europe, which was extant in the fourth century of our era, and from which Festus Avienus, a writer of that period, drew his information.

In this writer's poetical description of the world he gives the following graphic account of the British Isles, in which our readers will at once recognise the coracle, the well known boat used by the early Britons and the Scots : ' Beneath this promontory (Cape Finisterre) spreads the vast Œstryrnnian gulph, in which rise out of the sea the islands Œstrymnides, scattered with wide intervals, rich in metal of tin and lead. The people are proud, clever and active, and all engaged in incessant cares of commerce. They furrow the wide rough strait, and 1 Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 503. VOL. I. A the ocean abounding in sea monsters, with a new species of boat. For they know not how to frame keels with pine or maple, as others use, nor to construct their curved backs with fir ; but, strange to tell, they always equip their vessels with skins joined together, and often traverse the salt sea in a hide of leather.

It is two days' sail hence to the Sacred Island, as the ancients called it, which spreads a wide space of turf in the midst of the waters, and is inhabited by the Hibernian people. Near to this again is the broad island of Albion.'1 From this and the voyage of Pytheas the Massilian Aristotle, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Pliny, derived their knowledge of Britain. But it was very scanty, and what is told us is highly tinged with the marvels of all early travels. Publius L. Crassus, who conquered the north-west of Spain about ioo B.C., was the first who showed the Romans the way to the Cassiterides and Britain, and from that time commercial intercourse was carried on with the continent. But though the name of Albion was known to the ancients, and a trade in tin carried on between the Scilly Islands and the coast of Cornwall with Gaul and Spain, nothing definite was known of the British Isles and their inhabitants until the invasion of Julius Cæsar, B.C. 55.

Cæsar was successful in his two campaigns, but made no attempt, as in Gaul, to preserve his conquest. As usual, he gives a description of the country and its in habitants. He does full justice to the valour of the Britons ; he tells of the custom of staining their bodies with woad, and of their use of chariots in battle. The people of the coast he considered immigrants from Bel gium, and that they were more civilised than those living in the interior, who clothed themselves in the skins of beasts, and subsisted entirely on their cattle and animals slain in hunting. He also makes a statement which has been much controverted — that a family of a dozen or so had their wives in common. 1 Kenrick's Phœnicia, pp. 217, 218. A.D. 43-78. During the period of the struggle for the possession of the empire of Rome, Britain was left to itself, and it was not till the reign of Claudian, a.d. 43, that its con quest was attempted and in part effected.

During the intervening period little, we may say nothing, is known ; it is extremely probable that there would be an active immigration from Belgic Gaul ; and as in all the suc ceeding immigrations, the strangers would take the lion's share, and push the original settlers into the less favoured parts of the island. The southern portion of Britain, on the west to the Solway, and on the east to the Tweed, or perhaps the Forth, was conquered by the Roman arms, under a succession of able generals, by the time that Julius Agricola, in a.d. 78, arrived and assumed the civil and military command. The narrative of the govern ment and campaigns of Agricola has been told us by the greatest of Roman, perhaps of ancient, historians. The two modern historians of Scotland, Burton and Skene, differ as to its value.

Mr Burton thinks that there is a good deal of the panegyric in it, everything subservient to its hero. He evidently shares Pinkerton's opinion : ' Tacitus is the eagle of history, and keeps such a sublime tract, that particulars often escape his notice.' Mr Skene, however, has no such misgivings, and places the highest value on the life of Agricola. It is, however, as Mr Burton himself observes, ' the only distinct account of the wars of the Romans in Scotland, though they long struggled for the annexation of the country, and were, perhaps, for 300 years in occupation of its soil.' 1 Agricola on his arrival subdued North Wales, which was the only part of south Britain which defied the im perial arms. The Roman governor then turned his attention to the internal administration of the province ; by his wise and just reforms, combined with the institu- 1 Burton's History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 7, ed. 1876.

The in cidents related by Hector Bœce are the products of his own imagination, and, though flattering to our national vanity, are of no historical value. 70. tion of municipal privileges, and a more equitable ad justment of the taxes, he gained the confidence of the Britons, and established the Roman power on the basis of justice and moderation. In the following year Agricola determined to bring into subjection the northern tribes, who had either pre served their independence or had not come into contact with the Roman power. The district forming now the northern counties of England, and the south of Scotland to the Firths of Forth and Clyde, was inhabited by a warlike nation called Brigantes, in which we may include the tribes named by Roman authors, the Selgovæ, whose territories were Dumfries-shire and part of Kirkcudbright ; the Novantæ, Wigtownshire and part of Ayrshire ; the Damnonii, the north of Ayrshire, Renfrew, Lanark, Linlithgow, and Stir ling ; the Otadeni, the Lothians, Berwickshire, Peebles, and Northumberland.

The Brigantes certainly included also in their number the most warlike of the Britons of the south who refused to submit to the Roman arms, and sullenly retired to the north. In later times they are termed Mæatæ, or middle Britons, and though afterwards their country was incorporated into a province of the empire, they were never thoroughly Romanised, and were the first to throw off the Roman power. This tribe, or confederacy of tribes, had resisted hitherto the Roman arms, in many cases successfully, and, though conquered in battle, owned a very precarious allegiance to the imperial power. Pinkerton proves to his entire satisfaction that the Brigantes were of Gothic extraction, and that the kindred Saxons who, in a few centuries, peopled1 their country, were of kindred blood, and spoke a kindred language.

Agricola, in the second year of his administration, determined to break the power of this formidable an tagonist, and to annex the district. In this he was successful. In a single campaign, by the force or terror of his arms, the Brigantes were subdued and their country incorporated into the Roman system, thus bringing the 1 Pinkerton's Inquiry, vol. 1. p. 30, ed. 1789. A.D. 78-85. whole of the north of England and the south of Scotland, to the estuaries of the Forth and Clyde, under the im perial sway. Always bent on the conciliation and civilization of his subjects, Agricola spared no efforts for their improve ment, and within the space of two years, his biographer tells us, he had introduced among the natives the Roman dress, manners, and literature ; he had initiated the building of temples, of courts of justice, and of baths ; their dwellings were improved, and they were fast be coming luxurious and voluptuous Romans.

Mr Burton cynically observes, ' all within the space of two years, a rather brief period for so great an achievement' 1 The further north the Romans advanced, the natural obstacles were greater, and as they found in many cases insurmountable. The conquest of the level portion of England was comparatively easy, but the whole of Scot land was, to some extent, as difficult as the mountain fastnesses of Wales and Cumberland, whither the unsub dued Britons had retired. The Romans later on felt the full force of these natural obstacles, and fixed as a boundary to the empire the line between the Tyne and the Solway Firth, where the island is contracted to a space of about seventy miles. But the Cheviot hills have furnished a natural boundary which, in after times, became the march between England and Scotland; the enemy could only enter Scotland by the level route on either side of these hills, and they, in any case, were a next to impregnable refuge.

Agricola, in his first northern campaign, had found the tribes who disputed his conquest much the same on both sides of the Cheviots, the resistance that of brave warriors, the natural obstacles great, but not insuperable. But when he arrived at another portion of Britain where the Firths of Forth and Clyde penetrate far into the 1 For the credit of Tacitus we give the following quotation : ' Martial, Ovid, and Propertius speak of their works as being known all the world over ; that young and old, women and girls, in Rome and in the provinces, in Britain, and in Gaul, read their verses.' — Curwen's History of Booksellers, p. 78-85, interior, and the neck of land is contracted to a distance of thirty-five miles, he found a different country and a different people. Their prowess he and his successors were yet to feel ; but the vast mountain ranges to the west and north would at once be seen from the Roman encampment.

This country the Romans termed Cale donia ; but from what native word (if any) they derived it, it is now impossible to say. The term is not to be found in the chronicles earlier than the days of Bœce ; the name of the country in the writings of that time is Albu, Alba, Alban, Albin. Before entering on the sketch of Agricola's campaigns, it will be necessary shortly to describe the physical fea tures of the country which successfully defied the im perial arms. Of these features the great mountain chains dominate all others, and give a character to the country; more even than what is termed the Lowlands of Scotland in its southern part, do the northern Lowlands stand out distinct. North of the natural boundary we have referred to, commencing near Dumbarton, rises the great mountain chain which, running due north, terminates at the Ord of Caithness.

It is termed in Bede, Adamnan, and other early writers, the Dorsum Britanniæ (or back-bone of Britain) and Drumalban. It separated the kingdoms of Dalriada from Pictland, and is now the boundary of Ayrshire and the western Highlands. From Fort- William at the west, rises a shorter but more elevated range, which extends right across the country to the German Ocean near Aberdeen. At its centre and western termination rise the two highest mountains in Scotland. This range is termed the Month, and was the boundary between the southern and the northern Picts. There are thus four divisions in the north of Scotland divided by these barriers, two western and two eastern, two southern and two northern, — the division on the west at Ben Nevis, on the east at Aberdeen. The eastern divisions are watered by two great rivers and their tributaries, the Spey to the north and the Tay A.D. 78-85. to the south.

From the barrier of the Month from whence these rivers flow on either side, proceed also smaller ranges of mountains, which only terminate as the rivers approach the sea. These ranges have been loosely termed the Grampians, and they present the appearance, and to all intents and purposes the reality, of a continuous mountain range, and form a barrier which in later times was called the Highland line. The western divi sion is intersected by the well-known lochs which add so much to the picturesque scenery of this part of the Highlands ; the mountains rise precipitately from the very edge of the shore, and leave little space for cultiva tion and the means of existence for a sparse population, contrasting most unfavourably with the rich plains on the eastern division. This country the Roman general determined to bring under the imperial sway, and in the language of his biographer, ' Agricola in his next cam paign, a.d. 80, ravaged the territories of new nations as far as the estuary of the river Tay.' The ground thus rapidly gained was secured by forts, of which remains have been identified.

The route, so far as we can judge by these remains and those of Roman camps, was through Dumfries, Lanark, and Stirling-shires, crossing the Forth at Stirling, thence by the passes of the Ochils through Stratherne to Perth. The Roman commander, after leaving garrisons in his out-posts, now determined to construct a line of forts across the neck of land between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, from Borrow stounness to Old Kilpatrick. This operation occupied the fourth summer. The fifth was spent in reconnaissances, and in endeavouring to discover the strength of the northern tribes. Mr Skene is of opinion that he ' crossed the Firth of Clyde with a small body of troops in one vessel, and penetrated through the hostile district of Cowal and Kintyre, till he saw the western ocean, with the coast running due north, presenting in the interior one mass of inaccessible mountains ; the five islands of the Hebrides, and the blue shores of Ireland rising above the western horizon.' l 1 Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. pp. 47, 48.

See also note. 78-85, Meanwhile alarming reports were pouring in at headquarters of the movements of the Caledonians, and that a great confederacy was being organised for the purpose of driving out the invaders. Agricola determined, in stead of waiting the attack behind his line of fortifications, to assume the offensive, and assail the enemy in his own savage fastnesses. The campaign he arranged as an attack by land and sea, the fleet and army com bining their operations. The land forces were conveyed across the Firth of Forth, and accompanied by the naval armament, which crept along the coast, the peninsula of Fife was taken possession of, and the combined forces rendezvoused on the east bank of the Tay near Perth, at a place called Grassy Mounts, where an entrenched camp was formed. This had barely been completed when a fierce assault was made by the Caledonians on the outlying forts ; and so alarming was the progress of the enemy, that many of his officers advised Agricola to abandon the territory gained, and fall back on the line of fortifications between the Forth and Clyde.

The Roman general, however, was not the man to listen to timid counsels ; he pursued his offensive movement, and advanced in three divisions northward, probably in a parallel line with the river Tay. While on the march, the weakest of these divisions, the ninth legion, was sur prised by a night attack, which was at first successful ; the Caledonians fought their way into the sacred pre cincts of the Roman camp, but the legionaries, undis mayed, made a stubborn resistance, and made known to the commander-in-chief their desperate position. As day dawned Agricola brought up reinforcements from the other divisions, and after a gallant struggle, the north ern warriors were completely routed, and driven pell mell out of the camp to the friendly refuge of the forests and marshes. Tacitus seems to say that had not the country possessed these formidable obstacles in the way of pursuit, the war would then and there have been brought to a close.

The invaders, now as much elated as formerly they were cast down, with shouts demanded a further advance A.D. 78-85, into the enemy's country. Both parties made their pre parations for the decisive struggle, the Romans eager for the fray, the Caledonians dauntless and determined in their resistance. The sixth and last campaign in Scotland (Caledonia) was eminently successful, and the narrative is graphically told in the pages of Tacitus ; the desperate resistance of the brave defenders of their country is as graphically told by Bœce, and the patriotic Scotsman makes the heroic leader of the Caledonians contest the palm of eloquence as well as valour with Agricola, — ' The Scots leader de livered an address that rivalled, if it did not excel, the most brilliant efforts of classic oratory.' Agricola led his army northward, and at a place called by the Roman historian Mount Grampius,1 a decisive battle was fought, in which the Caledonians, under their leader Galgacus, were utterly defeated, ten thousand of the barbarians were slain, while the Roman loss is said to have been only three hundred and forty.

On the morrow after the battle no enemy was to be seen : * It seem'd as if their mother earth, Plad swallowed up her warlike birth.' Caledonia was annexed to the Roman empire. We have not attempted to fix the locality of these two famous battles. The criticism on the name Mount Grampius is too severe and learned for ordinary readers. Mr Burton, with the example of Mr Jonathan Oldbuck's unfortunate purchase of the prætorium2 before him, does not attempt to give the site of the last decisive engagement. General Roy and George Chalmers make it at Ardoch ; Gordon (the Antiquary's friend) at Dealgan Ross near Comrie ; another favourable theory is at Urie in Kincardineshire ; the latest authority, Mr Skene, at the peninsula formed by the junction of the Isla and the Tay, where are the remains of a strong and massive vallum called Cleaven Dyke, extending from the one river to the other, with a small Roman fort at one end, and enclosing a large 1 For locality of Grampius see Burton's Scotland, vol. i. pp. 15-18. ' Scott's Antiquary, chap. 78-87 triangular space capable of containing Agricola's whole troops, guarded by the rampart in front and by a river on each side.