_In_ Gyllisland _thar was that brachell brede.--_
_So was scho vsyt on Esk and on Ledaill;_
_Quhill scho gat blude no flëyng mycht awail._--V. 25.
_Gilderland_, Edit. 1594; _Gelderland_, 1620, 1648, 1673, &c., also
1714. But this must be _Gillesland_ or _Gilsland_, a barony in
Cumberland. The Minstrel having said that the hound was _bred_ here,
immediately speaks of her being used to track in Esk and Liddisdale,
in the vicinity of Cumberland. So late as the reign of James I. of
England, there is an order dated A. 1616, that no less than nine
bloodhounds should be kept on the Border, upon Esk, and other places
mentioned. V. Pennant’s Tour, 1772; I. 77, II. 397.
Bellenden, after Boece, gives a particular description of these
bloodhounds, which agrees with the facts mentioned above, and has
considerable interest.
“The thrid kynd is mair than ony rache. Red hewit or ellis blak with
small spraingis of spottis, and ar callit be the peple sleuthhundis.
Thir doggis hes sa meruellous wit, that thai serche theuis, and
followis on thaym allanerlie be sent of the guddis that ar tane away.
And nocht allanerlie fyndis the theif, bot inuadis hym with gret
cruelté. And thocht the theuis oftymes cors the watter, quhair thai
pas, to caus the hound to tyne the sent of thaym and the guddis, yit he
serchis heir and thair with sic deligence, that be his fut he fyndis
baith the trace of the theiff and the guddis. The meruellous nature of
thir houndis wil haue na faith with vncouth peple. Howbeit the samyn
ar rycht frequent and ryfe on the bordouris of Ingland and Scotland.
Attour it is statute be the lawis of the bordouris, he that denyis
entres to the sleuthound in tyme of chace and serching of guddis, sal
be haldin participant with the cryme and thift committit.” Discription
of Albion, chap. XI.
This extract throws light on a passage in _The Bruce_, where the king
is made to refer to the vulgar idea as to the means necessary for
making the blood-hound lose his scent; although the statement given by
Boece opposes the opinion which had been generally received.
Bot Ik haiff herd oftymys say,
That quha endland a watter ay
Wald waid a bowdraucht, he suld ger
Bathe the slouth hund, and his leder,
Tyne the sleuth men gert hym ta.
THE BRUCE, B. v. 317.
John Hardyng has given a curious account of the means used by Edward
I. for taking Bruce, similar to that here said to have been employed
against Wallace.
The king Edward with hornes and _houndes_ him soght,
With menne on fote, through marris, mosse, and myre,
Through wodes also and mountens [wher they fought]
And euer the kyng Edward hight men greate hyre,
Hym for to take and by might conquere;
But thei might hym not gette by force ne by train,
He satte by the fyre when thei [went] in the rain.
In the stanza immediately following he indeed ascribes the death of
Edward to his disappointment, in never being able to get our king into
his hands:--
The kyng Edward _for anger_ fell in accesse,
And homeward came full sycke and sore annoyed.--
At Burgh vpon the sande he died anone, &c.
_Chronicle_, p. 303, 304.
_Kerlé beheld on to the bauld_ Heroun,
_Vpon Fawdoun as he was lukand doune._--V. 145.
This appears to have been the head of the ancient family of Heron, who
held Ford Castle in Northumberland. In the reign of Henry III. it was
in possession of Sir William Heron, who was governor of the castles
of Bamborough, Pickering, and Scarborough, lord warden of the forests
north of Trent, and sheriff of Northumberland for eleven successive
years. V. Hutchinson’s Northumb. II. 19. This castle has attracted
much attention, as having been the scene of the enchantments of its
fair mistress, by means of which our infatuated James IV. was disarmed
before the fatal battle of Flodden; and it has acquired additional
celebrity from the no less bewitching Muse of the author of Marmion.
_To_ Dawryoch _he knew the_ forss _full weill._--V. 265.
This is _Dalreoch_, on the south bank of the Earn, four or five miles
west from Forteviot. A bridge across the Earn is called that of
Dalreoch. By the _forss_ seems to be meant _ford_. V. Etym. Dict. in vo.
_Our thwort the Kerss to the_ Torwode _he yeide.--_
_The rone wes thik that Wallace slepyt in._--V. 319–357.
“In Dunipace parish is the famous Torwood, in the middle of which
there are the remains of Wallace’s Tree, an oak which, according to a
measurement, when entire, was said to be about twelve feet diameter.
To this wood Wallace is said to have fled, and secreted himself in the
body of that tree, then hollow, after his defeat in the north.” Stat.
Acc. III. 336.
This “is still dignified by the name of _Wallace’s Tree_. It stands in
the middle of a swampy moss, having a causeway round its ruins; and its
destruction has been much precipitated by the veneration in which the
Scottish hero has been long held, numerous pieces having been carried
off, to [be] convert[ed] into various memorials of the champion of
Scotland.” Kerr’s Hist. Bruce, I. 127.
_Throuch the Oychall thai had gayne all that nycht,_
_Till_ Airth _ferry, or that the day was brycht._--V. 411.
In MS. it is _Qwenys_ ferry; but the word first written has been
scraped out, and _Qwenys_ substituted on the head margent above it. The
term deleted seems to have been _erd_; most probably written by mistake
for _Airth_, in a copy which may have been taken from recitation. The
term _Qwenys_ indeed is apparently in the same hand with the rest of
the MS.; but the transcriber, thinking only of _erd_ as signifying
the earth, had indulged the idea that it must be an error. As the
companions of Wallace were on their way to Dunipace in quest of him,
to have gone from Gask to Queensferry would have been to take a very
circuitous course without any apparent necessity. _Airth_ is the
reading of editions 1594, 1620, 1648, and 1673. In Edit. 1714 it is
_Queens-ferry_, as would seem on the authority of the MS.
_In_ Dundaff _mur that sammyn nycht he raid._
_Schir Jhone the_ Grayme, _quhilk lord wes of that land,_
_Ane agyt knycht had maid nane othir band;_
_Bot purchest pess in rest he mycht bide still_, &c.--V. 436.
The castle of _Dundaff_, of which there are still some remains, was
situated in Stirlingshire, near the source of Carron. This old knight,
by some called David, by others John, was proprietor not only of
Dundaff, but of the lands of Strathblane and Strathcarron. V. Nimmo’s
Stirlingshire, p. 358. A fabulous antiquity has been ascribed to this
family; it having been asserted that the wall of Antonine vulgarly
received the name of _Graham’s Dike_, because in a very early period
of our history it was penetrated by a valorous chief, from whom those
of this celebrated name had their origin. We have no written evidence
of the existence of this family before the reign of David I., when
William de Grahame appears as witness to the charter of the foundation
of Holyrood-house. Sir J. Dalrymple’s Coll. p. 397. From it originated
many distinguished families, as that of Montrose, Menteith, Fintry,
Balgowan, &c. It was the son of this “agyt knycht” who was the faithful
friend of Wallace, and who fell at the battle of Falkirk.
“_Quhat worth of him? I pray you graithlye tell._”--V. 498.
By misapprehension, in all the printed copies, _word_; as if the
question were, “What intelligence is there concerning him?” But the
meaning is, “What _became_ of him?”
_Bot weyle I wait, quhar gret ernyst is in thocht,_
_It lattis wer in the wysest wys be wrocht._--V. 642.
i. e. “Where there is great anxiety of mind, it prevents the carrying
on of war in the wisest” or “most proper manner.”