551. O sad and fatal mound! "An eminence on the northeast of the Castle,
where state criminals were executed. Stirling was often polluted with
noble blood. It is thus apostrophized by J. Johnston:
'Discordia tristis
Heu quotis procerum sanguine tinxit humum!
Hoc uno infelix, et felix cetera; nusquam
Laetior aut caeli frons geniusve soli.'
"The fate of William, eighth Earl of Douglas, whom James II. stabbed
in Stirling Castle with his own hand, and while under his royal
safe-conduct, is familiar to all who read Scottish history. Murdack Duke
of Albany, Duncan Earl of Lennox, his father-in-law, and his two sons,
Walter and Alexander Stuart, were executed at Stirling, in 1425. They
were beheaded upon an eminence without the Castle walls, but making part
of the same hill, from whence they could behold their strong Castle of
Doune and their extensive possessions. This 'heading hill,' as it was
sometimes termed, bears commonly the less terrible name of Hurly-hacket,
from its having been the scene of a courtly amusement alluded to by
Sir David Lindsay, who says of the pastimes in which the young King was
engaged:
'Some harled him to the Hurly-hacket;'
which consisted in sliding--in some sort of chair, it may be
supposed--from top to bottom of a smooth bank. The boys of Edinburgh,
about twenty years ago, used to play at the hurly-hacket on the Calton
Hill, using for their seat a horse's skull" (Scott).
558. The Franciscan steeple. The Greyfriars Church, built by James IV.
in 1594 on the hill not far from the Castle, is still standing, and has
been recently restored. Here James VI. was crowned on the 29th of July,
1567, and John Knox preached the coronation sermon.
562. Morrice-dancers. The morrice or morris dance was probably of
Spanish (or Moorish, as the name implies) origin, but after its
introduction into England it became blended with the Mayday games.
A full historical account of it is given in Douce's Illustrations of
Shakespeare. The characters in it in early times were the following:
"Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian (Robin's mistress
and the queen or lady of the May), the fool, the piper, and several
morris-dancers habited, as it appears, in various modes. Afterwards a
hobby-horse and a dragon were added" (Douce). For a description of the
game, see Scott's Abbot, ch. xiv., and the author's note. See also on
614 below.
564. The burghers hold their sports to-day. Scott has the following note
here:
"Every burgh of Scotland of the least note, but more especially the
considerable towns, had their solemn play, or festival, when feats of
archery were exhibited, and prized distributed to those who excelled
in wrestling, hurling the bar, and the other gymnastic exercises of the
period. Stirling, a usual place of royal residence, was not likely to
be deficient in pomp upon such occasions, especially since James V.
was very partial to them. His ready participation in these popular
amusements was one cause of his acquiring the title of the King of the
Commons, or Rex Plebeiorum, as Lesley has latinized it. The usual prize
to the best shooter was a silver arrow. Such a one is preserved at
Selkirk and at Peebles. At Dumfries a silver gun was substituted,
and the contention transferred to firearms. The ceremony, as there
performed, is the subject of an excellent Scottish poem, by Mr. John
Mayne, entitled the Siller Gun 1808, which surpasses the efforts of
Fergusson, and comes near those of Burns.
"Of James's attachment to archery, Pitscottie, the faithful though rude
recorder of the manners of that period, has given us evidence:
'In this year there came an ambassador out of England, named Lord
William Howard, with a bishop with him, with many other gentlemen,
to the number of threescore horse, which were all able men and waled
[picked] men for all kind of games and pastimes, shooting, louping,
running, wrestling, and casting of the stone, but they were well sayed
[essayed or tried] ere they past out of Scotland, and that by their own
provocation; but ever they tint: till at last, the Queen of Scotland,
the King's mother, favoured the English-men, because she was the King of
England's sister; and therefore she took an enterprise of archery
upon the Englishmen's hands, contrary her son the King, and any six
in Scotland that he would wale, either gentlemen or yeomen, that the
Englishmen should shoot against them either at pricks, revers, or buts,
as the Scots pleased.
'The King, hearing this of his mother, was content, and gart her pawn
a hundred crowns and a tun of wine upon the English-men's hands; and he
incontinent laid down as much for the Scottish-men. The field and ground
was chosen in St. Andrews, and three landed men and three yeomen chosen
to shoot against the English-men,--to wit, David Wemyss of that ilk,
David Arnot of that ilk, and Mr. John Wedderburn, vicar of Dundee; the
yeomen, John Thomson, in Leith, Steven Taburner, with a piper, called
Alexander Bailie; they shot very near, and warred [worsted] the
English-men of the enterprise, and wan the hundred crowns and the tun of
wine, which made the King very merry that his men wan the victory.'"
571. Play my prize. The same expression occurs in Shakespeare, T. A.
i. 1. 399: "You have play'd your prize." Cf. also M. of V. iii. 2. 142:
"Like one of two contending in a prize," etc.
575. The Castle gates. The main entrance to the Castle, not the postern
gate of 532 above.