[278] _Act Parl._, vol. i, Coll. Frag., p. 752.
[279] It has been suggested that _Christis Kirk of the Grene_, being "a
jocund skit upon the ludicrous incapacity of the Scottish rustic to
handle a bow", may have been intended "to fortify the statutes of law by
the aids of ridicule and satire" (Ross, _Early Scottish History and
Literature_).
[280] _Act Parl._, vol. ii, p. 8.
[281] _Act Parl._, vol. ii, p. 10.
[282] _Act Parl._, vol. ii, p. 45.
[283] _Act Parl._, vol. ii, p. 48.
[284] _Act Parl._, vol. ii, p. 100.
[285] _Act Parl._, vol. ii, p. 346.
[286] This was in accordance with the very first of the instructions
embodied in the Bruce's "Testament", those fourteen lines of which Mr.
Oman says that they "contain all the principles on which the Scots, when
well advised, acted for the next two hundred and fifty years".
"On fut suld be all Scottis weire, By hyll and mosse themselff to reare.
Lat woods for wallis be bow and speire, That innymeis do them na deire.
In strait placis gar keip all store, And byrnen ye planeland thaim
before. Thane sall thai pass away in haist When that thai find na thing
but waist. With wyles and waykings of the nyght And mekill noyis maid on
hytht, Thaim sall ye turnen with gret affrai, As thai ware chassit with
swerd away. This is the consall and intent Of gud King Robert's
testiment."
[287] _Reg. Priv. Coun._, vol. i, p. 62.
[288] "Victual" is the old Scots term for grain of any kind.
[289] _Reg. Priv. Coun._, sub. ann. cit.
[290] _Reg. Priv. Coun._, sub. ann. cit.