So they shot out and they shot in,
Till the morn that it was day,
When mony o' the Englishmen
About the draw-brigg lay;
When they hae yoket carts and wains,
To ca' their dead away,
And shot auld dikes aboon the lave,
In gutters where they lay.
_Ball. of Old Mettlin._
The expedition of the Douglas against Musgrave is, like the
innumerable Border battles of that reign, only shortly mentioned by
historians; and although it was a notable encounter, and is detailed
by Isaac at great length, it lies out of our way here. Let it suffice
that they skirmished cautiously for two days with various success, and
at last came to an engagement on a field right opposite to the
junction of the Tweed and Gala. After a hard fought battle, Douglas'
left wing was discomfitted; and just as he was arranging his force so
as to cover the retreat, an unaccountable confusion was noted among
the English ranks, which seemed to be engaged anew, and with one
another, there being no other army nigh. Douglas, recalling his routed
squadrons, faced about, but advanced with caution, till he saw
Musgrave's army broken and flying in all directions. This gallant feat
was accomplished by a Sir John Gordon, who was on his way with seven
hundred fresh men to the assistance of Douglas; and as he came on the
English ranks behind at that important crisis, he broke them at the
first onset, and took Sir Thomas Musgrave prisoner with his own hand.
Thus far the affairs of Douglas wore the aspect of prosperity--but a
settled gloom hung over his mind; an oppression of spirits was apparent
in every sentence that he uttered and every plan he suggested, and these
were far from being traits of his wonted disposition. But the monk
Benjamin had been with him again and again!--had been harrassing his
soul with commissions and messages from the mansions of the dead; and
one night he heard the voice of his lost and dearly regretted princess,
speaking to him in his tent, as it were out of the canvas. Still the
most solemn injunctions of secrecy were imposed on him, insomuch that he
deemed himself not at liberty to open his mind to any one. Besides all
this, the disconsolate Mary Kirkmichael had been constantly lingering
nigh to him, and always presenting herself in the utmost agony of mind,
to make enquiries about her royal mistress. That lady's appearance
became so terrible to him that he was unable to bear it, and gave strict
charges that she should not be suffered to come within the limits of his
camp. But for all that, availing herself of her rank and her sex's
privilege, she forced her way to him several times, and at every visit
filled his soul with the most racking torments; so that, harrassed with
_war_ as he was, he found this his first intercourse with _women_,
attended with ten times more distracting and grievous perils than the
former. While, on the other hand, the heroes that visited the castle of
Aikwood, even those who escaped, not including the wretched victims who
remained behind, discovered, to their dear bought experience, that
there were perils in nature infinitely superior to both.
It is now absolutely necessary to shorten the curate's narrative, to
prevent this work running to an inordinate length; and though two of
his tales have been left out already, the great events that follow
must also be related in a style abbreviated, though not mangled by
indistinctness.
After the intrepid Lord Musgrave had sacrificed his own life in order
to save those of his only brother and the lady of his love, Clavering
was unanimously chosen captain in his room, and every soldier took a
new oath to him to die in defence of the fortress. The commission of
which he accepted was a dismal one; but he entered into all the
feelings of the famishing inmates in their hatred of the Scots, and
implacable enmity against them,--therefore, he was the very man for
their purpose.
Every attempt of the besiegers to scale the walls of the castle, or to
gain an entrance by fraud or force, had hitherto proved utterly
abortive; the determined sons of England laughed at them, regarding
them in no other light than as freaks of mere insanity, or the gambols
of children. The fortress was impregnable with such heroes within, had
they been supplied with sufficient stores of food and of arrows, both
of which had long been exhausted; and though a small and welcome
supply of the former had been obtained during the tempest and the
flood which followed, for which they were obliged to the devil and
Master Michael Scott, yet, like all the benefits derived from that
quarter, it proved rather more hurtful than advantageous, for they
devoured it with such avidity that the distemper, with which they had
formerly been visited, broke out among them with greater violence than
ever. Yet disregarding all these privations, which a looker-on would
suppose might naturally tend to break the human heart and daunt the
resolution of the boldest,--with famine and pestilence both staring
them in the face,--they bound themselves by a new and fearful
oath never to yield the fortress to the Scots while a man of them
remained alive. Every new calamity acted but as a new spur to their
resolution; and their food being again on the very eve of exhaustion,
their whole concern was how to procure a new supply. Not that they
valued their own lives or their own sufferings,--these had for a good
while been only a secondary consideration,--but from the excruciating
dread that they should die out, and the Scots attain possession of the
fortress before Christmas.
The warders soon noted the alteration that had taken place in the
beleaguering army. They perceived the ground that had formerly been
occupied by the Angus men, and the Mar Highlanders, now taken up by
the tall, athletic, and careless looking borderers, against whom they
found their antipathy was not so mortal: and they had some surmisings
of what really was the case, that a strong diversion had been made in
their favours, that had drawn off their inveterate and hateful enemy
Douglas from the siege. Every hour convinced them farther of the truth
of this suggestion; for they perceived a laxness in the manner of
conducting the blockade which they had not witnessed for many days,
and all their conversation turned on the manner in which they ought to
avail themselves of it. The carelessness of the besiegers themselves,
or something subordinate thereto, soon furnished an opportunity to
them of putting their policy once more to the test, and that by an
adventure the most ardently desired. On the second day after the
departure of Douglas the warder on the topmost tower perceived, on a
rising ground two miles to the southward, about thirty head of cattle,
that came gradually in view as a wing of a large drove might be
supposed to do; and after they had fed for some time there, two men
came before them and chased them back out of sight of the castle, as
if a great oversight had been committed by letting them come in view
of it. Notice of this important discovery was instantly given to the
captain, and the news spreading among the garrison, many a long and
longing look was cast from the battlements and loopholes of the high
western tower that day. They were not cast in vain. Just toward the
fall of evening they perceived a part of the drove appear again only a
very short space from the castle, and they likewise perceived by their
colours that they were a drove of English beasts which had been
brought from their native pastures by the strong hand of rapine, for
the supply of this new come border army. They perceived likewise that
they approached the army by a concealed way, that the two glances they
got of them were merely casual, and that they were very slightly
guarded.
A council of war was immediately called, in which it was agreed,
without one dissentient voice, that the garrison should make a sham
sally at the eastern draw-bridge, as if with intent to gain the city,
in order that they might draw the attention of the besiegers to that
point; and in the meantime the captain, with the choicest of the
men were to march out by Teviot-bridge, of which the garrison
had necessarily the sole possession, and endeavour to seize the
prey. Thence they were to proceed westward, and try to elude the
enemy's posts, or give them battle, if the former were found to
be impracticable; but at all events, either to die or succeed in
attaining that valuable supply, or a part of it. The success of the
contest now turned on that single point as on a pivot; the balance was
against them, but, that turned in their favours by an exertion of
warrior prowess, they could then reckon on a complete triumph over
their unappeasable foes.
Besides, every thing seemed to concur in support of their gallant
expedition. The nights were dark even beyond their usual darkness at
that gloomy season, and the moon did not arise till two in the
morning. Both these circumstances were in their favour,--the one in
attaining possession of the prey unperceived, and the other in
enabling them to fight their way home; for they knew that though they
themselves might pass the strong Scottish posts favoured by the deep
darkness, still it was impossible to bring the drove through them, and
along the bridge, without a hard skirmish. The captain, therefore,
gave command to the division left behind, that the more noise they
heard of an engagement about the bridge of Teviot, and the gate toward
the west, the more they should press their battle eastward, to divert
the strength of the army to that quarter. Because on that side the
Scots could make no impression, and the English could lose nothing
there save a few lives, which they accounted of small avail; but if
the expedition to the west failed, their cause was finally ruined.
That was a busy evening within the walls of Roxburgh, while all was
quietness and indifference without. Within there was arming and
disarming, for the suits of armour that once fitted these emaciated
warriors would not now hang on their frames. There was grinding of
swords, pointing of spears and ox-goads, and even the slaughter-houses
of the fort were cleared, with a provident concern seldom overlooked
by Englishmen; and at eleven o'clock at night, by the convent matin
bell, Clavering, with five hundred chosen men, well armed, issued
silently from the garrison, creeping along the Teviot-bridge on their
hands and knees. From that they proceeded westward in the most
profound silence, and so close by the Scottish posts, that they heard
them breathing and conversing together. One party crept up all the way
within the water-brae, and the other, led by Clavering himself, past
through between two Scottish posts, drawing themselves along the
ground close on their breasts, and once or twice were obliged to squat
close down, and lie silent for a considerable space, while the
following dialogue passed between the sentinels.
"Od, Sandie Scott, think ye it can be true that the English are eating
ane another?"
"There's nae doubt o't. I hear that they're snapping up five o' the
fattest o' their number every day. They will eat themsels out bit by
bit that gate."
"Aih wow, man! I wad rather die o' hunger than pick the banes of ane
acquaintance. Bursten devils, that they are!"
"Aha, Sandie, billie, ye dinna ken till ye be tried. A man will do
ought or he die o' hunger. An do you ken, Sandie Scott, I think our
captain has done wrang in bringing sae mony fat bullocks a' sae near
the castle at ae time. Thae hungered louns will hae a haud o' some o'
them, and maybe cut a wheen o' our throats into the bargain, some o'
thir dark nights."
"Now, ye see neighbour, I ken sae weel that our master never does the
sma'est thing without some design, that I think he wants to wile out
the English, and then kill them; and that he has brought a' thir braw
stots o'er the border, just on the same principle that a fisher throws
a bait into the water."
"Na, na, Sandie, that canna be the case, for he has gi'en strict
orders that no ane o' them be suffered to come within sight o' the
castle. He just thinks the beasts canna be sae safe ony where else as
beside himsel' and his lads. But hunger has sharp een, and I wadna
wonder if this drove should lead to some hard tulzie."
"Whisht! Godsake, haud your tongue! What's that I hear?"
"The English, I'll warrant you. If hunger hae clear een, fear has unco
lang lugs. What was it that Sandie heard?"
"I heard a kind o' rubbing and thristing, as a fox or a foumart had
been drawing himsel through a hole aneath the ground. Hilloa! What
guard?"
"Howpasley and Gemelscleugh."
"Watch weel. There's something stirring."
"Not a mouse."
"So say the sleeping foresters; but I can tell you, men o'
Gemelscleuch and Howpasley, an there be nought stirring aboon the
ground, the moudies are very busy aneath it the night. Clap close, and
keep an ee on the withergloom. I had a heavy dream at nightfa', and
I'm resolved no to close an ee. Come, neighbour, tell a tale, or say a
rhame to keep us wauking."
"Have ye heard the new ballant made by the rhiming dominie o'
Selchrit, the queerest thing ever was heard? It begins this gate:
The Devil he sat in Dornock tower,
And out at a slip-hole keekit he,
And he saw three craws come yont the lift,
And they winged their flight to the Eildon tree.
O whow, O whow, quo the muckle deil,
But yon's a sight that glads my ee,
For I'll lay the steel-brander o' hell
There's a storm a-brewing in the west countrye."
* * * * *
"Whisht, for heaven's sake! I heard the tod again, Hilloa!
Gemelscleuch to the glaive! Have lug and hawk e'e, or there'll be news
afore the morn that's unheard tell o' yet."
"And that there will! Saint David be with us! and the blessed Saint
Mary, the mother of God, be with us! Hist havering, say Benedicite."
At that instant a sharp breeze arose which drowned the noise, and
Clavering and his men passed fairly by on their perilous expedition.
Beyond the next hollow they found the cattle all lying puffing and
dozing on a round hill. An immense drove of them there seemed to be,
for the hill appeared to be literally covered, but the night was as
dark as pitch, and they could see nothing distinctly. Clavering gave
his commands in a whisper to his chief men, to surround the whole
drove, and drive them furiously, that by these means they might throw
the enemy's lines into confusion. "We have the advantage of the
ground," said he; "the bridge is clear, and the gates open. Let us
play the men for once, and our difficulties are all over. Providence
has favoured us beyond what could have been calculated on. Our force
is superior to that of our enemies on this side the river. On whatever
side our column is attacked, let us keep a running fight, so as to
push on and preserve the prey, and the day is our own: And now, Saint
Anthony for the right!"
The men then formed themselves into a crescent behind the cattle
six-line deep, and with club, goad, and spear pushed them on. There
were a few dour lazy driving runts behind that bore all the thumps,
but the bulk were high-spirited, and galloped off on the path toward
Roxburgh with the utmost fury, insomuch that the delighted drivers
never got a sight of them. They broke through the Scottish lines
without either stop or stay. The alarm was instantly given, but a
night muster is always attended with some delay. So the English
thought,--so they said; and to their great joy they found their
suggestions realized; for not till the last cow was past the strong
line of posts on the height were they attacked by the Scots. But then,
indeed, the Gemelscleuch and Howpasley men set upon them with
unparallelled fury, and being every five minutes joined by more of
their companions, they pressed hard upon the English, who, being
obliged to keep up a retreating battle, fell thick on the brae beyond
the bridge. The brave and judicious Longspeare himself led the attack,
and behaved like a lion; for though wounded in three different places
of the body, he fought in the front of the main battle all that night.
The Scots, to the utter amazement of their enemies, never once offered
to stop the cattle, but merely attacking the English crescent behind,
drove them and cattle and all towards the bridge. This Clavering and
his chief men attributed wholly to the surprise by which the Scots
were taken; and when the former saw the dark column of cattle take the
bridge, he thanked the God of heaven, the blessed Virgin, and all the
saints whose names were known to him, for such a wonderful success and
merciful deliverance. The English host then raised such a shout of
triumph that the echoes called from the castled towers to the forest,
and from the forest to the distant rocks. The Scots soon joined in it
with equal enthusiasm; and the two armies then engaged at the eastern
gate, also joined their voices to the general chorus. The gray friars
of Roxburgh, and the Benedictine monks of Kelso, raised their heads
from their flinty pillows, committed themselves to heaven, and
deplored the madness and folly of the men of the world. The city dames
wept and prayed, and the men ran to head-quarters to learn the cause
of the uproar. The sounds were actually heard in the camp of Douglas,
at the distance of sixteen miles; and when this was reported to him
next morning, he said, "There was the Redhough on the ramparts of
Roxburgh!"
But man's thoughts are vanity! He cannot judge of events so as to
calculate on what is to happen from one moment to another: incidents
of the slightest moment so often having the effect of overturning the
greatest and most momentous enterprizes. Never was there one so
nearly overturned as this, although it was not once thought of till
afterwards,--and it was on this wise: There was a strong guard of
English placed at the south end of the bridge, to guide the foremost
of the drove on to it, or help to cut a way for the cattle through
such troops as might interpose. The cattle, as was said, came
galloping furiously without intervention, and, as if led by an unseen
providence, took the bridge with all their vigour, the battle being
then raging behind them, and the shouts beginning to rend the sky.
This guard had nothing to do, of course, but to open into two lines,
and give them head. But at the end of the bridge there was a deep
puddle, and among the men there chanced to be a little boy, who was
running about and thrashing the cattle as they went through this
puddle, which made them spring up the arch with redoubled velocity,
which the urchin thought good sport. But in the midst of this
frolic he bolted away at once with such velocity that he had almost
overthrown one of the men in the file, and as he ran he cried out,
"Lord, saw ever ony mortal the like o' that?" "What was it, rash
idiot?" said the man. "Grace and mercy, man, did you not see how yon
great black stott stood straight up on his hind legs and waded the
pool?" said the boy. "Take that to clear your eyes, impertinent brat,"
said the man, and gave him a blow with his fist that made him run away
howling and crying, always repeating as he went, "I'll tell your
captain,--now! 'at will I that--now!"
The combat behind the cattle thickened apace. The English were sore
borne down on the hill, but when they came to the little plain at the
bridge-end they stood firm, and gave as hard blows as they got. They
had fairly gained their aim, and their spirits, so long depressed,
mounted to an unusual height. The last lingering hoof of the whole
countless drove was now on the arch, and they could calculate on
holding out the fortress against their hated foes not only till
Christmas, but till that time twelvemonth. Their shouts of joy were
redoubled. So also were those of the Scots. "The people are mad!" said
they, "thus to shout for their own loss and their own defeat. It is a
small trait of the cursed perversity of the whole nation!"
The English narrowed their front and narrowed their front still as
their files found room on the arch of the bridge, which was long and
narrow, and very steep at the south end, that rose directly from the
plain. But the road up to the castle by the two tremendous iron gates
was likewise exceedingly steep, and went by a winding ascent, so that
the latter end of the drove, those dull driving ones that bore all the
strokes, got very slowly up, and with great difficulty. There was a
guard of considerable strength left in this gateway by Clavering, lest
any attempt should be made by the enemy to enter in his absence. But
these men had strict charges to clear the way for the cattle, and help
to drive the foremost ones up the steep. The fore part of the drove
however came up the steep with such main fury, that the men were glad
to clear a way for them, by flying out of the path, up to the citadel.
There was not a man left in the gateway, save two at each of the iron
portcullises, and these stood in deep niches of the wall, out of all
danger. Each of these men held the end of a chain that was twisted
round an immense bolt in the wall,--and these bolts, Isaac says, are
to be seen sticking to this day. On untwisting this chain the
portcullises fell down, and when they were to raise up it was done
with levers. Well, as the two outermost men stood in their niches,
holding by the ends of their chains, they observed, that two of the
oxen that first came in, nay the very first two that came in, turned
round their ugly heads, leaned their sides to the wall, and kept in
their places, the one on the one side and the other on the other, till
the whole drove passed them. The men could not move from their posts
to drive them on with the rest, but they wondered at the beasts; and
the one cried to the other, "What can ail them two chaps?" "O them are
two tired ones," said the other: "Dom them for two ugly monsters! they
look as them hod been dead and roosen again."
At length, by dint of sore driving and beating, the last hoof of the
Warden's choice drove passed inward through the castle gate of
Roxburgh, for the maintenance of his irascible enemies. Could any
thing be so unfortunate? or how was he to set up his face, and answer
to the Douglas now? But the Redhough was determined that he would set
up his face and answer to the Douglas and his country too, as well as
to his kinsmen and followers, whom he valued highest of all. Just as
the last lazy cow crossed the gate, and when the triumphant shouts of
the English were at the loudest, the two great lubberly oxen that
stood shaking their ugly heads, and leaning against the wall, ripped
up their own bellies; and out of two stuffed hides two most ingenious
cases, started up two no less men than Sir Ringan Redhough and his
doughty friend Charlie Scott of Yardbire. Off went the heads of the
two porters in one moment, and down came the portcullis with a
thundering rattle, and a clank that made the foundations of the gate
shake. "Now, southron lads, haud ye there!" cried the Redhough: "Time
about is fair play. Keep ye the outside o' the door threshold as lang
as ye hae gart us keep it."
They next went up and seized the other two porters, whom they saved
alive, to teach them how to bolt, bar, open, and shut the gates; but
the men had taken the oaths with the rest, and remained obstinate. No
threatening could make them move either finger or tongue except in
mockery, which provoked the Redhough so that he despatched them
likewise. On reaching the great square the Warden found his men in
peaceable possession. Six score brave chosen men had entered among the
cattle, each in a stuffed ox or cow hide, and had now like their
captain cast their sloughs, and stood armed at all points to execute
his commands. They found nothing to do, save a prodigious difficulty
in working their way from the western to the eastern gate. There were
so many turnings and windings; so many doors and wickets; so many
ascents and descents,--that an army might have gained possession of
the one end and yet have been kept out of the other for years. But the
surprise here was so complete, that the Borderers had in fact nothing
to do but to keep the possession, thus obtained in so easy and at the
same time so gallant a style. The shouts that arose from the western
battle had so much encouraged those at the eastern gate, that they had
sallied out, and attacking the besiegers sword in hand, had driven
them back within their strong line of defence. This retreat was a part
of the plan of the Scots, to draw off the remaining force from the
gate, and while they were in the hottest of the skirmish, down came
Redhough and his lads from the interior of the castle behind them, cut
down the few guards about the entrance and the draw-bridge with ease,
and having raised that, and shut the double gates on that quarter
likewise, he placed the Armstrongs there as a guard, and returned into
the interior, still uncertain what enemies he had to combat within.
This mighty fortress was, from the one drawbridge to the other, a full
quarter of a mile in length, walled and moated round, and contained
seven distinct squares or castles, every one of which was a fortress
of itself. But the strongest of all was the division on the western
part, which was denominated the citadel, and had gates and bars of its
own, and towers that rose far above the rest. Into this strong place
the sole remnant of the English soldiers had retreated, which
consisted merely of the guard that kept the western porch and made way
for the cattle, a few stragglers beside, and some official people that
kept always within. Through every other part of the castle the Scots
found free passage; and by the time the moon had been risen for an
hour, the shouts of "A Douglas! a Douglas! a Redhough! a Redhough!"
were heard from every part of the walls, excepting the western tower.
There indeed a faint and subdued shout announced at intervals the name
of the King of England, for it was now no more a Musgrave! and as for
Clavering they wist not whether he was dead or alive, taken or at
liberty.
When the first ranks of the Englishmen that came up behind the cattle
saw the gates shut against them, they took it for some accident, or
some mistake that the porters had fallen into, on listening to the
shouts of the adverse parties: but after calling and remonstrating to
no purpose, they began to suspect that there was treason at the bottom
of it, and the whisper of treason spread among that part of the forces
which was now forced against the gate. They could do nothing; for they
neither had room to fight nor fly, and they knew not whom to suspect,
or what had befallen them. As for those at the farther end of the
bridge, they were so hotly engaged with their opponents, that they had
little time to consider of any thing; but finding themselves fixed to
the spot, and no movement making toward the gate, they conceived that
something there was wrong, which retarded the regular entrance of the
troops for so long a time. They now fought only three to three abreast
on the steep arch of the bridge, down which the English drove the
Scots six or seven times, the latter always returning to the charge
with that vigour which a certainty of success inspires. Clavering
fought them in the rear, and in the hottest of the battle still
encouraging his men to deeds of desperate valour, little weening how
matters went within. But when the names of the Scottish chiefs were
resounded from the walls, every heart among the English was chilled,
and every arm unnerved in one instant. They had no conception how the
thing could have happened; it appeared so far beyond all human power
to have effected it, that it was several hours before it gained
general credit among them. They had kept the fortress so long, with so
little dread of its being wrested from them, and withal suffered so
much in it, that they could not believe the evidence of their senses,
that by a course of events entirely of their own planning, they
should be all without the walls, and the Scots within. It was like a
work of enchantment. Like some of the late inconceivable works of the
spirits of divination.
The Scots could make no impression on them upon that long narrow
bridge; but they could not long stand cooped up there; and when
they saw that all hope was lost of regaining entrance, they threw
themselves over a high parapet, and took possession of the steep bank
between the bottom of the southern wall and the river Teviot. The
river being dammed below, it stood like a frith round the bottom of
this bank, which was so steep that they could not stand on it, but
were obliged to clamber alongst it on their hands and feet. Escape
being impracticable, the Scots suffered them to take possession of
that bank undisputed, and to keep it, supposing they must surrender
next day; but a great number were slain before the latter end of the
train was disentangled of the bridge.
The Scots had now free access to the gate, into which Gemelscleuch and
Howpasley were admitted. The Warden embraced them, and thanked them
for their wise counsel, as well as their great bravery; and they again
set about traversing and surveying the fortress, concerning which
Charlie Scott said, "It wad tak a man a year and a day to find out a'
the turnings and windings about it."
The battle at the eastern draw-bridge had continued from midnight
without intermission; and after the break of day our chiefs witnessed
a scene from the walls that was without a parallel. That division of
the Scots army was composed of Douglas' men, being the same troops
that were there before, and they were commanded by Sir James Douglas
of Dalkeith. That knight got private intelligence of the Warden's
intention to storm the castle, by what means he knew not, but resolved
to hold himself in readiness; and, as he was desired, when the sortie
was made, he retreated at first, drawing them off from the gate. When
the cry arose that the castle was taken, his men became frantic with
joy, and resolute on taking ample vengeance on their enemies, they
burst upon them without regularity, making great havock, and at the
same time throwing away many of their own lives. Sir James with great
difficulty restrained them, called a parley, and offered the expelled
garrison quarter; but they returned for answer, that they weened he
had called the parley to ask quarter of them, and they had determined
to refuse it. They concluded by telling him to see to himself, and
insult them no more by such messages, for as yet he knew not with whom
he was warring. The battle was then renewed by the light of the moon
with greater fury than ever; they fought like baited bears, with
recklessness of life and the silence of death. Deadly hate was in
every thrust, and the last words of every falling warrior were, "Have
at them yet."
When the day light arose, the English fought within a semicircular
wall of mangled carcasses; for, grievous to relate, they were not
corpses; yet were they piled in a heap higher than a man's height,
which was moving with agonized life from top to bottom, and from the
one end to the other; for the men having all fallen by sword wounds,
few of them were quite dead. The English were now reduced to a small
number, yet, in the strife, their ardour seemed to prevail over that
of their opponents. The Border chiefs, inured as they were to war,
stood amazed, and even shocked, at the scene presented to their
view. Yardbire was the first to deprecate it in these words: "Gude
faith, Sirs, it strikes me, that this is rather carrying war to an
extremity."
"Rescue! rescue!" shouted the Warden: "Give quarter to these men for
my sake. I will pay their ransom myself."
When the Douglas' vassals heard this, they lowered the points of their
swords, and drew back from the slaughter, commanding the English to
ground their weapons. The latter consulted together for a few minutes,
and void of all dread, save that of being obliged to submit to the
Scots, they broke with one consent over the pile of human bodies, and,
carrying destruction before them, opened a way into the middle of the
Scottish columns; nor ceased they fighting until every man of them
was cut down. The rest of the English army were in a fold. Escape was
impossible. Ten men could have prevented it on all sides, yet for a
whole day and night did they hold their tenure of that perpendicular
bank, although before the evening many were losing their holds, and
rolling into the river from exhaustion. Then the sudden immersion
arousing them somewhat from their torpor, scores of them might be seen
at a time crawling to the side of the water, and endeavouring to
clamber once more up the bank; but at last they sunk back into the
deep, and their last breath arose to the surface in small chains of
fetid air bubbles. No one knew what became of the young and intrepid
Clavering,--at what time, or in what place he fell; and without a head
as these men were, it was not till the second morning, when the breath
of revenge had cooled, and after much expostulation on the part of the
conquerors, that the wretched remnant yielded themselves prisoners of
war, and were all suffered to depart on their parole, with high
encomiums on their valour. But these commendations were received with
the gall of bitterness; and none of them could tell, when they went
home, how or by what means they were expelled.
The Warden and his men now set themselves with all their endeavour to
take the citadel; and, feebly as it was defended, it cost them no
little trouble. It is probable that it might have held out a few days
longer, but when Douglas and his army were seen approaching on their
return from the battle, the impatience of the Borderers could be no
longer restrained; and Yardbire, with a remnant of his Olivers, Potts,
and Laidlaws, scaled the wall in the faces of the enemy, who had
scarcely power left to cleave a head without a helmet, and throwing
themselves into the square, became masters of the gate in a few
minutes; so that before Douglas reached the top of the hill of Barns,
his colours were placed on the topmost tower of the citadel.
It may easily be conceived with what joy, wonder, and admiration he
gazed on this phenomenon. Joy that his broad lands and possessions
were thus insured to him, of which for some time past he scarcely
retained a hope; and admiration how that indefatigable chief had
accomplished, in a few days, that which he had exerted himself in vain
to accomplish for the space of as many months. The idea of being so
far outdone in policy was without doubt somewhat bitter to the palate
of a Douglas, for never till this day can they brook a competitor in
the field; but, considering how matters stood, it would have been the
worst of policy to have let such a feeling appear. Douglas therefore
testified the highest satisfaction, extolling the Warden's head to
conceive and hand to accomplish, in terms such as he had never been
heard to utter. "Glorious Redhough! unparallelled Redhough!" exclaimed
he again and again: "Thou and thy lads are the men to trust."
The chief received him at the castle gate, welcoming him in jocular
terms of high chivalry to the castle of Roxburgh, which he took care
always to denominate "my castle." This was soon noted by the Douglas:
and as soon as they entered the governor's house in the citadel,
Douglas made over to him, by regular deeds and instruments, the seven
first baronies he chose to name. This document, together with the
royal charters confirming it, is extant, and in the possession of one
of the Warden's lineal descendants at this day. On receiving this
grant, signed, sealed, and witnessed, Sir Ringan delivered over the
keys of the castle to the Earl of Douglas and Mar, and the two
exchanged seats at the table. Douglas also conferred the honours of
knighthood on Charlie Scott, Simon Longspeare, and John of Howpasley;
while Sir Ringan bestowed one of his new baronies on each of these
brave gentlemen in support of their new dignities, burdened only with
a few additional servitudes. On his right hand hero, the hereditary
claimant of the post of honour, he conferred the barony of Raeburn and
Craik, that he might thenceforward be the natural head of his
hard-headed Olivers and skrae-shankit Laidlaws. To Longspeare he gave
Temadale; and to Howpasley, Phingland and Langshaw. When Charlie first
rose from his knee, and was saluted as Sir Charles Scott of Raeburn
and Yardbire, he appeared quite cast down, and could not answer a
word. It was supposed that his grateful heart was overcome with the
thought that the reward bestowed on him by his generous chief had been
far above his merits.
The news of the capture were transmitted to court with all expedition;
on which King Robert returned word, that he would, with his queen,
visit the Douglas in the castle of Roxburgh, and there, in the
presence of the royal family, and the nobles of the court, confer on
him his daughter's hand in marriage, along with such other royal
grants and privileges as his high gallantry and chivalrous spirit
deserved. He added, that he had just been apprized by his consort,
that his daughter, the princess Margaret, had been for some time
living in close concealment in the vicinity of Roxburgh, watching the
progress of her lover with a devotion peculiar to her ardent and
affectionate nature. If the Douglas was aware of this, which the King
had some reasons for supposing, he requested that he would defer
seeing her until in the presence of her royal parents. There was a
thrust indeed! An eclaircissement was approaching too much for man to
bear.--But that heart-rending catastrophe must be left to the next
chapter. In the meantime, for perspicuity's sake, we must relate how
this grand device of the Warden's originated, by which the castle was
won, and himself and followers honoured and enriched.
It was wholly owing to the weird read by the great enchanter Master
Michael Scott. So that though the reader must have felt (as the editor
did in a very peculiar manner,) that Isaac kept his guests too long in
that horrible place the castle of Aikwood, it will now appear that not
one iota of that long interlude of his could have been omitted; for
till the weird was read, and the transformation consummated, the
embassy could not depart,--and unless these had been effected, the
castle could not have been taken. The editor, for brevity's sake left
out both the youth's and maiden's characteristic tales, which shall
appear by and by, but more he durst not cancel.
When the passage out of the book of fate was repeated to Sir Ringan,
he never for a moment doubted either its truth or fulfilment, provided
he and his friends could discover its true meaning. But the words were
wrapt in mystery; and, when conjoined with the enchantment practised
on his men, were for a long time so completely unintelligible, that
all save Sir Ringan himself, and his echo Dickie of Dryhope, gave up
the hope of reconciling the given destiny with reason or common sense.
As for the friar, he entered his protest against paying any regard to
it from the beginning, on the principle that all the Master's powers
and foreknowledge were deputed to him by subordinate and malevolent
spirits, and that good could not arise out of evil. The Warden's
philosophy, on the other hand, taught him to estimate facts and
knowledge as he found them developed among mankind, without enquiring
too nicely into the spirit of their origin; for the more deeply that
was wrapt in mystery, the more powerful was its sway over his
imagination. Charlie Scott felt much disposed to coincide with his
master in these principles, but in all deep matters he was diffident
in offering his advice or sentiments. He, however, hit upon the right
cue in this instance, and that by the most natural combination of
ideas that ever presented themselves to mortal man. The right
understanding of the prophecy was about to be given up in despair. The
intervals of silence during the discussion were becoming longer and
longer each time. It was in order to break one of these, rather than
to impose his advice on his chief, that Charlie ventured to deliver
himself as follows: "Gude faith, my masters, I see nothing for it, but
that we get Master Michael Scott to turn us into fat owsen again, or
bulls, or stotts, or what ye like. Then the English will drive us a'
gladly into the castle for marts to their beef barrels. But when we
are fairly in, we wad need the gospel friar to change us to men again,
or, gude faith, we wad be in a bad predicament. But I hae some faith
to put in auld Michael's power, (as I hae good right,) and gin that
could be done as he seemed to hint, by the blood of Bruce! but we wad
dowss their doublets for them."
"Might we not rather disguise ourselves as cattle, cousin?" said
Howpasley.
"I have seen our jugglers and mountebank players," said Longspeare,
"disguise themselves as a lion, a tiger, a bear, a wolf, and even as a
great serpent, and dragon, so that I myself took them for these
animals."
"Why then may not we disguise ourselves as oxen, so that we may pass
for them in a dark night?" said the Warden.
"Ay, in a dark night," said Dickie; "what is to hinder us? If we but
walk on all four we will pass with hungry men for oxen in a dark
night."
Thus was the hint given, which was improved on as above related, till
it effected the desired and important event, the taking of Roxburgh
castle, and that in the most masterly and prudent style ever conceived
by man. They had a small drove of cattle collected, as well as hides;
but the disguised ones took care to keep in the front or the middle
of these, in short on the side farthest from an Englishman. The one
who walked through the dub in an upright posture, had not perceived
the shabby boy so near him.
Abundance of all the good things that the kingdom could produce were
now poured into the castle with all expedition; and every preparation
made for the reception of the King and Queen of Scotland. The carnage
had been so great at the two gates that night the fortress was taken,
that the citizens of Roxburgh, as well as the three establishments of
monks and friars in the vicinity, besought of Douglas that the slain
might not be buried nigh to the city, for fear of infection; and if
this was granted, they proffered to be at the sole charge of removing
and burying them with all holy observances. This was readily granted,
and they were removed to a little plain behind the present village,
where thousands of their bones have lately been dug up. The burying
continued for three days.