Stories from Scottish history : selected from Scott's Tales of a grandfather

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IV

Contents

CHAP.

XIX. James II and the Black Douglasses- (i) At Edinburgh Castle

(2) At Thrieve Castle

(3) At Stirling Castle

(4) At Roxburgh Castle XX. A King's Fears .

XXI. Cochran and Bell-the-Cat

XXII. The Fatal Shrift

XXIII. Stout Hearts

XXIV. A Gallant King .

XXV. The Strong Ship Lion .

XXVI. Flodden Field

XXVII. A Dash for Liberty

XXVIII. John Armstrong .

XXIX. The Goodman of Ballengiech

XXX. WlSHART AND BEATON

XXXI. Queen Mary's Youth .

XXXII. Kirk o' Field

XXXIII. The Earl of Bothwell

XXXIV. The Queen's Flight .

XXXV. Troublous Times

XXXVI. Queen Mary in Prison XXXVII. Fotheringay Castle XXXVIII. James VI and Kinmont Willie XXXIX. The Gowrie-House Mystery XL. The Union ....

Chronological Table .

Preface

TO present a selection from Sir Walter Scott's " Tales of a Grandfather " appears at first sight to be taking an unpardonable liberty with such an established favorite.

The size of the storehouse, however, is apt to discourage search for the treasures within, and it is possible that many of the " Tales " may be enjoyed by children who yet could not make their way through the whole book.

In the present volume, the stories are taken from the First Series, and, since space forbids a wider range, all lie between the rise of William Wallace and the Union of the crowns. This limit, unfortunately, excludes the Tale of Macbeth, which, largely perhaps from the simplicity of its language, is one of Sir Walter's best-told " Tales " ; but the story is beyond the region of authentic history, and is, besides, well known to most children from Shakespeare's play. It was also with much regret that the account of v vi Preface

Malcolm Canmore and his Saxon Queen was omitted, as well as the viyid description of the Battle of the Standard.

The selections do not represent every phase in the history of the three centuries embraced, nor are they claimed to be in strict quantitative proportion to their historical importance. Occasionally an incident is omitted for the sole reason that Scott's treatment of it is too weighty to admit of its inclusion in a simple book of stories. For instance, it may seem strange that an event of such moment as the Reformation should, with its dauntless hero Knox, have been passed over in silence, but it was felt that there was too little incident in the chapters dealing with the subject to render them sufficiently interesting for the present purpose.

Consecutive narration has been aimed at, and where the connection between the chapters is interrupted, the chronological table on the last pages of the book may be of use in bridging the interval.

At certain points, principally at the commencement of chapters, some small rearrangement of the text has been necessary, but with these unimportant exceptions the original has been faithfully followed.

Preface vii

The above explanations indicate the scope of this little book. It is hoped that Sir Walter Scott's lively sketches may interest his young readers in the history of that country which he loved so dearly and depicted so well.

Introduction

IT was in the summer of 1827 that Sir Walter Scott told his six-year-old grandson many stories of Scottish kings and warriors as, mounted on " Douce Davie " and the Shetland pony " Marion," they rode together through the woods round Abbotsford.

While autumn was passing into winter, and there were rainy days to spend in his library, Sir Walter wrote out the stories which had delighted his small audience under the trees, and dedicated these " Tales of a Grandfather" to Hugh Littlejohn, Esq. (properly John Hugh Lockhart), in words which are still read by hundreds of people, though the child to whom they were addressed died more than seventy years ago.

In the " Tales of a Grandfather " we have a complete history of Scotland down to the end of the Rebellion of '45, when Charles Edward Stuart, the Bonnie Prince Charlie of Jacobite song, made his unsuccessful attempt to win the Scottish throne from George II. Besides telling us of events in x Introduction

Scottish history, Sir Walter describes the laws and customs of the country in different times — matters which are as important, and often quite as interesting, as any account of battles and heroic deeds. With so much to write about, it is no wonder Scott has given us a large book. Its size is almost eight times that of the present selections, which are taken from the earlier part of " Tales of a Grandfather."

We generally find that the best stories are those told by people who have themselves seen what they describe, or by those who can most fully imagine how things appeared at the time and place they speak of. Sir Walter Scott's lively pictures are due to two facts : first, that he had himself visited the places mentioned in his History, many of them being favorite haunts of his, while his antiquarian tastes made him familiar with the armor, dress, and implements of olden times ; and secondly, that he had the gift of peopling historic sites with the appropriate figures of those who had once moved in them. To conjure up the past was a favorite amusement with Sir Walter, and wherever a place recalled to his mind some famous deed, the actors, in his imagination, moved once more on the scenes, and history lived again.

Introduction xi

Of course, imagination alone could not have performed such feats. Scott had (to use his own phrase) " fastened like a tiger " upon every collection of old songs or romances which chance threw in his way, and from these, and from books of Scottish history and tradition, he gained so accurate a knowledge of distant times that he could indulge his fancy without letting it lead him astray. To wander through the country was another of his pleasures. Sometimes his excursions were on horseback, more often on foot. In his early days, in spite of his lameness, he would walk long distances, going on in a dreamy fashion much farther than he intended. At that time twenty to thirty miles a day did not seem to him an unreasonable amount of walking. Indeed, his father, who was sometimes annoyed by the fits of wandering which led the lad so far from home, would say that in his belief Walter was born to be a strolling peddler !

When he had a week or so at his disposal, in the summers which followed his being called to the Bar, he explored Liddesdale, a lonely district where many a dismantled Border tower reminded him that —

"A time there was When this hill-pass xii Introduction

With castle, keep and peel, 1

Stood iron-teethed,

Like warrior sheathed In mail from head to heel."

These " raids " into Liddesdale are a good example of the way in which Scott picked up much of his curious lore. Making his way through a part of the country where there were no inns at which to spend the night, he would find shelter each evening in some lonely farmhouse or shepherd's cottage, and from his hosts would learn the traditions of the place, often in the words of a Border ballad which had never found its way into print. These old-world verses delighted him at the time he heard them from the lips of country-folk, and, sinking into his memory, they were a treasure to the end of his life. Without effort he could recall any number of rhymes. He was known, to repeat a ballad of eighty-eight stanzas which he had heard only once — and this after a considerable time had elapsed.

So, while some historians are content to range libraries in search of material for their writings, Scott, though making full use of books, went literally farther afield. But it must not be supposed that his early wanderings, such as the

1 Peel : a square tower.

Introduction xiii

" Liddesdale raids," were undertaken with a view to writing at a future date. It was without a thought of the use he might afterward make of such lore, that he first entered on the quest of collecting local stories and verses. As an old Scottish friend of his remarked long after : " He was makin' himsel' a' the time, but he didna ken maybe what he was about till years had passed. At first he thought o' little, I dare say, but the queerness and the fun."

Sir Walter Scott's knowledge of the history of his country is quite as remarkable for the uncommon nature of the facts he gathered, as for their enormous quantity. This is just what we should expect, knowing of his delight in escaping from beaten tracks. Any little anecdote concerning characters in Scottish history, any song which breathed the feeling of another age, any tradition or superstition still lingering in the minds of country people, — one and all, these remnants of earlier life in Scotland were added to the solid basis of history on which his books are built.

Lord Macaulay illustrates the value of these scraps which Sir Walter collected. In Lincoln Cathedral, he says, there is a beautiful painted window which, strangely enough, was made by an apprentice out of pieces of glass thrown aside xiv Introduction

by his master. In like fashion Scott has picked up many fragrants of ballads and local history which some writers would not deign to use, looking on them as too insignificant, but which in his hands go to form books of romance and history surpassing others of more elaborate workmanship.

It is told of Sir Walter Raleigh that one day he watched from his prison window a brawl in the street, which he afterward described, along with three other eye-witnesses, and no two out of the four reports were alike. And if it is difficult to get an undisputed description of recent events, it is much more so in the case of what has happened several hundred years ago — our historians having often to choose between different accounts of the same incident.

Sir Walter Scott is not a critical historian. His " Tales of a Grandfather " were written for a child, and he does not in them argue about disputed facts, or attempt to find a solution for mysteries which have baffled the most ingenious investigators — such as the Gowrie plot, or Queen Mary's share in the murder of Darnley. He prefers, in such cases, to tell the facts as they are acknowledged by every one, and not to bias his readers in their view, though in the case of

Introduction xv

Queen Mary he does not conceal his own disapproval of Elizabeth's conduct toward her cousin.

He is, on the whole, lenient and kindly in his judgments, and when he has to decide between conflicting opinions he is glad to accept, or at least consider, the better view of an action. His admiration for King Robert the Bruce has been challenged by critical historians, who point out that Bruce in his earlier days fought for his own gain, and they call him, in consequence, an adventurer. But Scott does not excuse his earlier conduct. He speaks of him as being guilty of a base crime when he fought with the English against Scotland, and all his praise is justly given to the Bruce who, throwing aside selfish motives, became the hero and liberator of his country.

Sir Walter was a staunch Tory. His love for the " old order " of things, however, is not due to his Conservatism alone : it springs from his interest as a lawyer in records of earlier generations, from his passion as an antiquarian for relics of the past, but most of all from his devotion as a Scotsman to the country which cradled his race.

And, indeed, the history of Scotland might well fascinate a man of Sir Walter's romanceloving nature. Its long story of strife and bloodxvi Introduction

shed is relieved by wonderful instances of love and loyalty and gallantry carried to the verge of foolhardiness ; on every page we are in the midst of stir and warfare —

" The air is full of battle,

It is full of the trumpets' sound, Of the tramp of dashing horses

And the cries of the crowd around."

The repeated claims of England to the overlordship of Scotland, and the fierce love of liberty which has always characterized the peoples of the northern kingdom, involved the two countries from earliest times in an almost continuous state of warfare ; when this was in abeyance the spirit of enmity still lurked on the Borders, and Scots and English alike made deadly raids for the pleasure of plundering their hostile neighbors. Besides constant quarrels with the English, Scotland suffered from disturbances at home. The early Jameses had, time after time, to combat the ambitious Douglases — " stalwart earls, broadbrowed, black-bearded, pinnacled on power o'ergrown," who threatened to wrest the crown from the Stewart family. And if quiet prevailed around the King's person, there were still endless broils among the unruly Borders or wild

Introduction xvii

Highland clans in the north. Boldness and ferocity were conspicuous in the men who battled for their very existence in those days ; but loyalty, courage, and endurance came too from their harsh training, and true knights there were on both sides of the Border, who acted up to the maxim —

" Thy sword is to keep thine honor white, And thine honor must keep thy good sword bright, And both must be free from stain."

In their descendants we can trace the same sterling qualities which marked the noblest of the earlier Scots. Perhaps in none are the characteristics of courage and endurance, loyalty and patriotism, more clearly seen than in him who gave us these tales " far brought from out the storied past."

M. G. E.

CHAPTER I FOR HOME AND COUNTRY Thou takest a pledge upon thee now

To be loyal and true and brave, Ever to succor the weak and low, And to make the fierce oppressor bow,

And the helpless to aid and save.

—M. B. Smedley.

EDWARD I of England reduced Scotland almost entirely to the condition of a conquered country, although he had obtained possession of the kingdom, less by his bravery, than by cunningly taking advantage of the disputes and divisions that followed among the Scots themselves after the death of Alexander III. The English soldiers, who had been placed in garrison in the different castles of Scotland, thought themselves masters of the country, treated the Scots with great contempt, took from them by main force whatever they had a i fancy to, and if the owners offered to resist, abused them, beat and wounded, and sometimes killed them ; for which acts of violence the English officers did not check or punish their soldiers. Scotland was, therefore, in great distress, and the inhabitants, exceedingly enraged, only wanted some leader to command them, to rise up in a body against the English or Southern men, as they called them, and recover the liberty and independence of their country, which had been destroyed by Edward the First.

Such a leader arose in the person of William Wallace, whose name is still so often mentioned" in Scotland. It is a great pity we do not know exactly the history of this brave man ; for at the time when he lived, every one was so busy fighting, that there was no person to write down the history of what took place ; and afterward, when there was more leisure for composition, the truths that were collected were greatly mingled with falsehood. What I shall tell you of him, is generally believed to be true.

William Wallace was the son of a private gentleman, called Wallace of Ellerslie, in Renfrewshire, near Paisley. He was very tall and handsome, and one of the strongest and bravest men that ever lived. He had a very fine counte-

For Home and Country 3

nance, with a quantity of fair hair, and was particularly dexterous in the use of all weapons which were then employed in battle. Wallace, like all Scotsmen of high spirit, had looked with great indignation upon the usurpation of the crown by Edward, and upon the insolences which the English soldiers committed on his countrymen. It is said, that when he was very young, he went a-fishing for sport in the river of Irvine, near Ayr. He had caught a good many trout, which were carried by a boy, who attended him with a fishing-basket, as is usual with anglers. Two or three English soldiers, who belonged to the garrison of Ayr, came up to Wallace, and insisted, with their usual insolence, on taking the fish from the boy. W T allace was contented to allow them a part of the trout, but he refused to part with the whole basketful. The soldiers insisted, and from words came to blows. Wallace had no better weapon than the butt- end of his fishing-rod ; but he struck the foremost of the Englishmen so hard under the ear with it, that he killed him on the spot ; and getting possession of the slain man's sword, he fought with so much fury that he put the others to flight, and brought home his fish safe and sound. The English governor of Ayr sought for him, to punish him with death for this action ; but Wallace lay concealed among the hills and great woods till the matter was forgotten, and then appeared in another part of the country. He is said to have had other adventures of the same kind, in which he gallantly defended himself, sometimes when alone, sometimes with very few companions, against superior numbers of the English, until at last his name became generally known as a terror to them.

But the action which occasioned his finally rising in arms, is believed to have happened in the town of Lanark. Wallace was at this time married to a lady of that place, and residing there with his wife. It chanced, as he walked in the market-place, dressed in a green garment, with a rich dagger by his side, that an Englishman came up and insulted him on account of his finery, saying, a Scotsman had no business to wear so gay a dress, or carry so handsome a weapon. It soon came to a quarrel, as on many former occasions ; and Wallace, having killed the Englishman, fled to his own house, which was speedily assaulted by all the English soldiers. While they were endeavoring to force their way in at the front of the house, Wallace escaped by a back-door, and got in safety to a rugged and

For Home and Country 5

rocky glen, near Lanark, called the Cartland crags, all covered with bushes and trees, and full of high precipices, where he knew he should be safe from the pursuit of the English soldiers. In the meantime, the governor of Lanark, whose name was Hazelrigg, burned Wallace's house, and put his wife and servants to death ; and by committing this cruelty increased to the highest pitch, as you may well believe, the hatred which the champion had always borne against the English usurper. Hazelrigg also proclaimed Wallace an outlaw, and offered a reward to any one who should bring him to an English garrison, alive or dead.

On the other hand, Wallace soon collected a body of men, outlawed like himself, or willing to become so, rather than any longer endure the oppression of the English. One of his earliest expeditions was directed against Hazelrigg, whom he killed, and thus avenged the death of his wife. He fought skirmishes with the soldiers who were sent against him, and often defeated them ; and in time became so well known and so formidable, that multitudes began to resort to his standard, until at length he was at the head of a considerable army, with which he proposed to restore his country to independence.

CHAPTER II Not few nor slight his burdens are

Who gives himself to stand, Steadfast and sleepless as a star

Watching his fatherland.

—M. B. Smedley.

ABOUT this time is said to have taken place a memorable event, which the Scottish people called the Barns of Ayr. It is alleged that the English governor of Ayr had invited the greater part of the Scottish nobility and gentry in the western parts, to meet him at some large buildings called the barns of Ayr, for the purpose of friendly conference upon the affairs of the nation. But the English earl entertained the treacherous purpose of putting the Scottish gentlemen to death. The English soldiers had halters with running nooses ready prepared, and hung upon the beams which supported the roof ; and as the Scottish gentlemen were admitted by two and two at a time, the nooses were thrown over their heads, and they were pulled up by the neck, and thus hanged or strangled to death. Among those who were 6 slain in this base and treacherous manner, was, it is said, Sir Reginald Crawford, Sheriff of the county of Ayr, and uncle to William Wallace.

When Wallace heard of what had befallen, he was dreadfully enraged, and collecting his men in a wood near the town of Ayr, he resolved to be revenged on the authors of this great crime. The English in the meanwhile made much feasting, and when they had eaten and drunk plentifully, they lay down to sleep in the same large barns in which they had murdered the Scottish gentlemen. But Wallace, learning that they kept no guard or watch, not suspecting there were any enemies so near them, directed a woman who knew the place, to mark with chalk the doors of the lodgings where the Englishmen lay. Then he sent a party of men, who, with strong ropes, made all the doors so fast on the outside, that those within could not open them. On the outside the Scots had prepared heaps of straw, to which they set fire, and the barns of Ayr, being themselves made of wood, were soon burning in a bright flame. Then the English were awakened, and endeavored to get out to save their lives. But the doors, as I told you, were secured on the outside, and bound fast with ropes ; and, besides, the blazing houses were surrounded by the Scots, who forced those who got out to run back into the fire, or else put them to death on the spot ; and thus great numbers perished miserably. Many of the English were lodged in a convent, but they had no better fortune than the others ; for the prior of the convent caused all the friars to arm themselves, and, attacking the English guests, they put most of them to the sword. This was called the " Friar of Ayr's blessing." We cannot tell if this story of the Bams of Ayr be exactly true ; but it is probable there is some foundation for it, as it is universally believed in that country.

Thus Wallace's party grew daily stronger and stronger, and many of the Scottish nobles joined with him. Among these were Sir William Douglas, the Lord of Douglas-dale, and the head of a great family often mentioned in Scottish history. There was also Sir John the Grahame, who became Wallace's bosom friend and greatest confidant. Many of these great noblemen, however, deserted the cause of the country on the approach of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, the English governor, at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army. They thought that Wallace would be unable to withstand the attack of so many disciplined soldiers, and hastened to submit themselves to the English, for fear of losing their estates. Wallace, however, remained undismayed, and at the head of a considerable army. He had taken up his camp upon the northern side of the river Forth, near the town of Stirling. The river was there crossed by a long wooden bridge, about a mile above the spot where the present bridge is situated.

The English general approached the banks of the river on the southern side. He sent two clergymen to offer a pardon to Wallace and his followers, on condition that they should lay down their arms. But such was not the purpose of the high-minded champion of Scotland.

" Go back to Warenne," said Wallace, " and tell him we value not the pardon of the King of England. We are not here for the purpose of treating of peace, but of abiding battle, and restoring freedom to our country. Let the English come on — we defy them to their very beards ! "

The English, upon hearing this haughty answer, called loudly to be led to the attack. Their leader, Sir Richard Lundin, a Scottish knight, who had gone over to the enemy at Irvine, hesitated, for he was a skilful soldier, and he saw that, to approach the Scottish army, his troops must pass over the long, narrow wooden bridge ;

lo Stories From Scottish History

so that those who should get over first might be attacked by Wallace with all his forces, before those who remained behind could possibly come to their assistance. He therefore inclined to delay the battle. But Cressingham the treasurer, who was ignorant and presumptuous, insisted that it was their duty to fight, and put an end to the war at once ; and Lundin gave way to his opinion, although Cressingham, being a churchman, could not be so good a judge of what was fitting as he himself, an experienced officer.

The English army began to cross the bridge, Cressingham leading the van, or foremost division of the army; for, in those military days, even clergymen wore armor and fought in battle. That took place which Lundin had foreseen. Wallace suffered a considerable part of the English army to pass the bridge, without offering any opposition ; but when about one-half were over, and the bridge was crowded with those who were following, he charged those who had crossed with his whole strength, slew a very great number, and drove the rest into the river Forth, where the greater part were drowned. The remainder of the English army, who were left on the southern bank of the river, fled in great confusion, having first set fire to the wooden bridge,

A Patriot in Arms ll

that the Scots might not pursue them. Cressingham was killed in the very beginning of the battle ; and the Scots detested him so much, that they flayed the skin from his dead body, and kept pieces of it, in memory of the revenge they had taken upon the English treasurer. Some say they made saddle-girths of this same skin ; a purpose for which I do not think it could be very fit. It must be owned to have been a dishonorable thing of the Scots to insult thus the dead body of their enemy, and shows that they must have been then a ferocious and barbarous people. The remains of Surrey's great army fled out of Scotland after this defeat ; and the Scots, taking arms on all sides, attacked the castles in which the English soldiers continued to shelter themselves, and took most of them by force or stratagem. Many wonderful stories are told of Wallace's exploits on these occasions ; some of which are no doubt true, while others are either invented, or very much exaggerated. It seems certain, however, that he defeated the English in several combats, chased them almost entirely out of Scotland, regained the towns and castles of which they had possessed themselves, and recovered for a time the complete freedom of the country. He even marched into England, and laid

Cumberland and Northumberland waste, where the Scottish soldiers, in revenge for the mischief which the English had done in their country, committed great cruelties. Wallace did not approve of their killing the people who were not in arms, and he endeavored to protect the clergymen and others, who were not able to defend themselves. " Remain with me," he said to the priests of Hexham, a large town in Northumberland, " for I cannot protect you from my soldiers when you are out of my presence." The troops who followed Wallace received no pay, because he had no money to give them ; and that was one great reason why he could not keep them under restraint, or prevent their doing much harm to the defenceless country people. He remained in England more than three weeks, and did a great deal of mischief to the country.

Indeed, it appears, that, though Wallace disapproved of slaying priests, women, and children, he partook of the ferocity of the times so much, as to put to death without quarter all whom he found in arms. In the north of Scotland, the English had placed a garrison in the strong castle of Dunnottar, which, built on a large and precipitous rock, overhangs the raging sea. Though the place is almost inaccessible, Wallace and his followers found their way into the castle, while the garrison in great terror fled into the church or chapel, which was built on the veryverge of the precipice. This did not save them, for Wallace caused the church to be set on fire. The terrified garrison, involved in the flames, ran some of them upon the points of the Scottish swords, while others threw themselves from the precipice into the sea, and swam along to the cliffs, where they hung like sea-fowl, screaming in vain for mercy and assistance.

The followers of Wallace were frightened at this dreadful scene, and falling on their knees before the priests who chanced to be in the army, they asked forgiveness for having committed so much slaughter, within the limits of a church dedicated to the service of God. But Wallace had so deep a sense of the injuries which the English had done to his country, that he only laughed at the contrition of his soldiers. " I will absolve you all, myself," he said. " Are you Scottish soldiers, and do you repent for a trifle like this, which is not half what the invaders deserved at our hands ? " So deep-seated was Wallace's feeling of national resentment, that it seems to have overcome, in such instances, the scruples of a temper which was naturally humane.