NOTES ON THE NINTH BOOK.
The barge, be that, with a full werlik far, &c.—V. 136.
In Edit. 1594, it is;
The barge began with ane full weirlyke fair.
The language is defective as in MS. But began is scarcely the term that we could suppose the Minstrel to use. He would more probably have said;
The barge, be that, com with full werlik far.
I have therefore adhered to the reading of MS. borrowing the word in brackets in the next verse, from the edition quoted above.
“For my trespas I wald mak sum ramed.”
Wallace wyst weyll, thocht he war brocht to ded;
And off his lyff sum reskew mycht he mak.—V. 153.
The passage, as here given from the MS., is evidently deficient in sense. It is given more intelligibly in Edit. 1594.
For my trespas I wald mak sum remeid,
Monie saikles I haue gart put to deide.
Wallace wist weill, thocht he to deith was brocht,
Fra thame to chaip on na wyse micht he nocht.
And of his lyfe sum reskew micht he mak,
Ane better purpois syne sone than can he tak.
Ane Skelton than kepyt the careage,
A Brankstewat that was his heretage.—V. 625. MS.
In Edit. 1594, and 1648;
All Brankistnahait haill, that was his heritage.
A Brankstewat seems an error for All Brankstewat. Both in MS. and in editions, the name has been evidently corrupted. I suspect that it ought to be Branthwaite. For the Skeltons were a family of considerable antiquity in Cumberland. John de Skelton was knight of the shire in the reign of Edward II. Armathwaite was the designation of their property. But Richard Skelton, sheriff of Cumberland, in the reign of Henry VI., lived at Branthwaite. Brankistnahait, and Brankistewat, have been originally Brankisthwaite. Thwaite forms the termination of many local names in the north of England. Grose explains it; “The shelving part of the side of a mountain.” Hutchinson’s account corresponds: “Down the river of Dudden stands the manor of Thwaites, between the river and the mountains, and the ancient seat of Joseph Thwaites of Ulnerigg, Esq., and the place being a stony mountainous country, is not everywhere altogether fit for tillage, meadow, and pasture. But in several parts and pieces, as they are marked by nature, differing in form and quality of soil, or otherwise, by the inhabitants inclosed from the barren wastes of the fells; such pieces of land are now, and were of old, called Thwaites in most places of the shire, sometimes with addition of their quality, as Brackenthwaite, of ferns; Swithwaite, of rushes; Stonythwaite, of stones; Brentwaite, of its steepness; Brunthwaite, of burnt with the sun, &c.” Hist. of Cumberland, I. 531, 532. 494.
I do not find any similar term in AS. conveying the idea of a stony place. The signification has perhaps been originally more general, as denoting any place separated from another, as are those “inclosed from wastes;” from thweot-an, exscindere, q. “a place cut off” from another.
A squier Guthré amang thaim ordand thai,
To warn Wallace in all the haist he may.
Out off Arbroth he passit to the se.—V. 647.
This is understood as referring to the ancestor of the Guthries of Guthrie; and it is a strong presumption of the justness of the idea, that Arbroath is the harbour most contiguous to the seat of this ancient family. He is afterwards in different passages designed “the gud Guthré,” a character which, from all that I have seen, appears to have descended to his posterity.
In Barnan wod he had his lugyng maid.—V. 692.
Birnane, Edit. 1594. This is evidently Birname wood, that has derived such celebrity from its connection with the history of Macbeth.
“The hill of Birnam, rendered classic ground by the magic pen of Shakespeare, rises with a rude and striking magnificence to an elevation higher than that of the Sidla hills in Forfarshire, opposite to it. A round mount at the bottom of Birnam hill in the south-east, is worthy of remark. It is faced with steep oaks [q. rocks?] except for a few yards where it was fortified by art. This eminence has been known for time immemorial, by the names of Court-hill, and Duncan’s-hill, and is believed to have been on some occasions occupied by the unfortunate Scottish king of that name. It looks full in the face, at the distance of about twelve miles, the celebrated Dunsinan-hill, the seat and fortress of Macbeth.” Stat. Acc. VII. 355. 374.
Fersly thai fled, as fyr dois out off flynt.—V. 746.
The reading in MS. is, Freschly thai ferd. But to this no meaning can be attached. I have therefore given it as in the editions. But I suspect that there has been some corruption of the original here, as fled is introduced in the next line.
Till Ardargan he drew him prewaly.—V. 768.
This, I suppose, must be the place now called Ardargie, in the Ochil Hills, parish of Forgandenny, Perthshire.
Apon the morn, with fyftene hundreth men,
Till Black Irnsyde his gydys couth them ken.—V. 785.
“All round this monastery [Lindores, Fife,] was Earn-side-wood, where Wallace defeated the English. It was anciently four miles in length, and three in breadth; now there is nothing but some few shrubs to the east of the abbey.” Sibbald’s Hist. Fife, P. iv. sect. 9. p. 406.
It is added in a note: “Of this wood no vestige remains. The place where it is said to have grown lies along the shore of the Frith, a considerable way below the junction of the Tay and the Earn. The name seems to countenance the tradition, that the Earn alone once flowed by the bottom of the hills of Fife, and did not unite for several miles below this with the Tay, whose course was then along the foot of the hills, forming the northern boundary of the Carse of Gowrie, which lying thus betwixt two rivers, was frequently overflowed, and only became habitable, when, in a great inundation, the Tay burst into the Earn, where they now join.”
In A. Blair’s Relationes, this battle is said to have been fought on the 12th of June 1298.
Rycht weyll I wait, weschell is lewyt nayn,
Fra the Wood hawyn, to the ferry cald Aran.—V. 805.
Macpherson thinks that this is perhaps the same with Portnebaryan, mentioned by Wyntoun, q. “the haven of bread;” arran signifying bread in Gaelic, and barra in Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric. V. Geogr. Illustrations. Shall we add another supposition,—that Portnebaryan had been the ancient name of Port-on-craigs, a ferry to the eastward of Woodhaven. The latter still retains its ancient name. It lies opposite to Dundee.
—In that jornay othir to wyn or end.—V. 1048.
The whole passage to ver. 1057, Thai worthi Scottis, &c. is wanting in Edit. 1594, and subsequent editions. Both verses, 1049 and 1057, beginning in a similar manner, the intermediate ones must have been overlooked by some transcriber for the press. In MS. ver. 1050 is; The cruell strakis, &c. But as the sense requires it, I have substituted with, as in Edit. 1714, followed by that of Perth, 1790.
The lord Cwmyn, that erll off Bouchane was,
For auld inwy he wald [let] na man pass
That he mycht let, in gud Wallace supplé.—V. 1253.
According to Henry, his son John Comyn, younger of Badenoch, served himself heir to this envy; as he attributes to him, in a special manner, the loss of the battle of Falkirk. But the account which he gives of this battle disagrees with that of the English writers, who give not the slightest hint of such variance among the chieftains, as, had it really taken place, could not have been totally unknown to their opponents.
William, one of this family, was Chancellor to King David I., and in the year 1140, by the grant of the Empress Maud, was made Bishop of Durham. Crawfurd’s Officers, p. 7. So powerful did it become, that in the reign of Alexander III. there were three earls and one lord of this name, besides thirty knights of landed property. Nisbet, I. 367.
I need scarcely say that Comyn was competitor with the elder Bruce for the crown, as boasting the same blood. This ancient and honourable family is now represented by Sir William Cumyn Gordon, of Altyre and Gordonstown, Baronet.
A cruell captane intill Erth duelt thar,
In Ingland born, and hecht Thomlyn off Wayr.—V. 1283.
It is Erth also in Edit. 1594; Airth in that of 1620, and those of a later age.
“The tower at Airth was built before Sir William Wallace’s time. This tower is in good repair; it makes part of the house of Airth, and bears the name of Wallace’s Tower.” Stat. Acc. III. 493, 494.
Alexander de Airth, or Erth, is one of those whose names are recorded in the Ragman Roll. V. Nisbet, Rem. p. 23.
“The Erths of that ilk were once a very considerable family in this shire, being proprietors of Airth, Elphingstone, Carnock, and Plean. We find Adam de Erth mentioned among the commissioners who were appointed, in 1248, to ratify an agreement with England, concerning the regulations called the Border-laws. Bernard de Erth, who was probably a son of this Adam, married before 1271, one of the three daughters and co-heiresses of Finlaus de Campsie, a cadet of the family of Lennox.” Nimmo’s Stirlingshire, p. 516, 517. In the reign of James I. the eldest daughter of William Airth married “a son of the ancient family of Clackmannan, who thereupon came into possession of the lands of Airth. The family of Erth, like others, took their sirname from their lands; but it is now quite extinct in this country.” Ibid.
Than to Faslan the worthy Scottis can pass,
Quhar erll Malcom was bidand at defence.—V. 1518.
In editions it is Falkland. But this being so distant from the earl’s district, and from Dunbarton, where Wallace was immediately before, it must be an error. Macpherson places Faslan near the head of the Gairloch, above Roseneath, Dunbartonshire. V. Hist. Map of Scotl. In the passage, ver. 1514, Wallace and his party are said indeed to take their course thither from Roseneath, now a well known seat of the noble family of Argyle.
And eftir sone thar wncle couth thaim ta,
Gud Robert Keth, had thaim fra Glaskow toun;
Atour the se in Frans he maid thaim boun.—V. 1558.
This exactly tallies with the account given by Godscroft. V. p. 20.
A mariage als thai gert ordane him till,
The lady Ferss.—V. 1566.
In editions Ferres. On this head Godscroft says; “His next wife was an English lady called Ferrar, or Ferrais, of which name we find the Earls of Darbie to have beene in the dayes of King Henry the Third.” Hist. Dougl. p. 16. In the Fœdera they are designed De Ferrariis.
The Sanchar was a castell fayr and strang.—V. 1577.
Sauquhair, Edit. 1594. But here, and in the rest of the narrative, I have replaced what must have been the original term, as in Edit. 1620 and 1648, Sanquhair. “The wattyr of Craw,” ver. 1606, must be the rivulet now called Crawick, which falls into the Nith. V. Stat. Acc. VI. 451. There we are informed, that “the old castle of Sanquhair had been a building of considerable magnitude and extent;” and that “it is said to have been for some time in the possession of the English in the reign of Edward I., and to have been recaptured by Sir William Douglas,” as is here related. Ibid. p. 460, N.
And Jhonstoun als, that duelt in [to] Housdaill.—V. 1790.
This, in editions, is rendered Eskdaill. But this is undoubtedly a mistake. Housdaill is evidently the asperated pronunciation of the name of that district called Eusdaill, as being watered by the river Ewes, which joins the Esk at Langholm. V. Bleau’s Atlas, p. 47. This seems to have been the ancestor of the Marquisses of Annandale.
Thir thre capdanis he stekit in that stound,
Off Durisdeyr, Enoch, and Tybur mur.—V. 1806.
“The vestiges of Tiber’s castle, which has been a large building, are to be seen on the banks of the Nith. A small part of the wall next the river remains. Fosses are visible, and some entrenchments where it was most accessible. It is supposed that the barony of Tiber is named from Tiber, or Tiberius. There is a Roman encampment too. The English had a garrison in this castle in the time of Sir William Wallace, who took it by surprise.” Stat. Acc. P. of Penpont, I. 209.