--“_He had sic message seyldyn seyne,_
“_That Wallace now as gouernowr sall ryng:_
“_Her is gret faute off a gud prince or kyng._
“_That_ kyng off Kyll _I can nocht wndirstand;_
“_Off him I held neuir a fur off land._”--V. 18.
That Corspatrick, Earl of Dunbar, used this provoking language, appears
highly probable; as it is certain from other documents that, “when
summoned by the guardian of Scotland, to attend a convention at Perth,”
he “contemptuously refused. Blind Harrie is supported by the Tower
Records.” Caledonia, II. 246.
I need scarcely say, that the earl had given Wallace this contemptuous
designation, as being a native of the district of Kyle in Ayrshire.
“_In lyff or dede, in faith, him sall we haiff,_
“_Or ger him grant quhom he haldis for his lord;_
“_Or ellis war_ schaym _in story to racord._”--V. 44.
In MS. _schapin_; but undoubtedly from inadvertency. It had perhaps
been written _schaym_.
_In till_ Gorkhelm _erll Patrik leiffit at rest._
_For mar power Wallace past in the west._--V. 129.
Edit. 1594,--_Cokholme_; followed by 1620, and other editions. But
Macpherson says that Gorkhelm, here mentioned, is “in Etrik forest.”
Geogr. Illustr.
_Was nayne sa strang, that gat off him a strak,_
_Eftir agayne maid neuir a Scot to_ waik.--V. 285.
In Edit. 1594, _wraik_, i. e. wreck. Perhaps this is the true reading.
As in MS., it may signify, “to be deficient,” or “wanting,” as used for
_vaik_. Here we have the double negative, common in Scottish.
_This ryall ost, but restyng, furth thai rid,_
_Till_ Browis feild, _&c._--V. 493.
In Edit. 1594, _Brokis feild_; Edit. 1648, _Browes_. D. Macpherson
refers to _Browis-feld_ as in Teviotdale. Geogr. Illustr.
_Gud_ Lundy _than till hym he callit thar,_
_And_ Hew _the_ Hay, _off Louchowort was ayr._--V. 581.
“Richard de _Lundie_, _Lundin_, or _London_, was a powerful baron in
the shire of Fife. He brought five hundred men to Wallace’s aid in the
encounter with Macfadyan near Craigmore, in Perthshire.--Lundie, having
become dissatisfied with some of the Scottish leaders, was on the side
of the English in the battle of Stirling Bridge, September 11, 1297.
“In a charter by King William the Lion to the town of Perth, 1210, one
of the witnesses is Robert de _London_, the king’s son. This natural
son of the king had married the heiress of Lundin in Fife, and from her
lands took his surname. Richard was their lineal descendant.
“In 1679, the family of Lundie, because of their descent, obtained
liberty to bear the royal arms of Scotland. Afterwards the heiress
married John Drummond, Earl of Melfort,” second son of James, Earl of
Perth. This family is now represented by the Hon. R. P. Burrel Drummond
of Perth.
I have extracted the greatest part of this note from those added to the
Perth Edit. of Wallace, by my worthy friend the late Reverend James
Scott of Perth, well known as an accurate and indefatigable antiquary.
V. also Nisbet, I. p. 64. 107.
_Hew the Hay_ seems to be the same person who afterwards married a
sister of King Robert the Bruce, the widow of Laurence Lord Abernethy.
He was descended from William Hay of Errol, and was ancestor to
the family of Tweeddale. V. Nisbet, I. 182. He is designed Hay
of Locharret, or Lochquharret, county of Edinburgh. The ancient
orthography was _Lochuswerword_, _Locherworn_. Sir James Dalrymple’s
Coll. Pref. 76; also _Locherward_, Ind. Chart. I. 26,--16. 9. 13.
_All_ Mydlame _land thai brynt wp in a fyr,_
_Brak parkis doun, distroyit all the schyr._--V. 945.
In MS. _mydlen_. This I have explained as signifying middle, or
denoting lands lying in the interior of a county or district. V. Etym.
Dict. But I have here adopted the reading of Edit. 1594. Wallace being
represented as at this time in Yorkshire, this is probably the honour
or town of Middleham in the northern part of this county. In Bleau’s
Atlas, it is written _Midlam_. It afterwards belonged to the Nevilles,
who were Earls of Richmond.
_Amang noblis gyff euyr ony thar was,_
_So lang throw force in Ingland lay on cass,_
_Sen_ Brudus _deit, but battaill, bot Wallace._--V. 962.
In editions _Brutus_: i. e. he who is called _the Brute_.
_Than had we nayn bot ladyis to repruff._
_That sall_ he nocht, _be God that is abuff._
_Vpon wemen I will na wer begyn._--V. 1437.
In Edit. 1594, ver. 1438 is thus given;
That sall _not be_, be God that sitis abufe.
This might at first view seem to correspond better with the preceding
line, as signifying the determination of Wallace to make no retaliation
on the female sex for the treachery of men; but as the author perhaps
refers back to what is said in v. 1435, as to the king breaking any
truce, made by women, as soon as he found it convenient, and then
proceeds to declare that he would make no war on them, I have retained
the verse as it is in MS. Thus, it expresses a determination that
Edward should have no opportunity of acting so treacherous a part.
_A harrold went, in all the haist he may,_
_Till_ Tawbane _waill, quhar at the Scottis lay._--V. 1497.
In Edit. 1594, _Auane_. The place is the same mentioned before, v.
1170, Sanct _Awbawnys_, i. e. St Albans. If we might suppose the
_Tantonie bell_ to be a corruption of “St Antony’s bell,” we could
easily account for the introduction of the letter _T_ here, as an
abbreviation for _Sanct_.
_We ask her als, be wertu off this band,_
_Our_ ayris, _our king, be wrang led off Scotland._--V. 1517.