If the beautiful specimens of architecture which were produced in this age may be regarded as furnishing certain criteria for judging of the general state of the arts, we would be warranted in assigning to them a much higher degree of perfection than many of our readers would be inclined to admit. It is, however, difficult to believe, that a nation could have arrived at a high degree of excellence in an art which required a superior knowledge of the principles of science, as well as the greatest refinement in taste, without having made a corresponding proficiency in those of a subordinate character. The exquisite workmanship which adorned the crosses and monuments within the sacred precincts of the Island of Iona, commands at once the admiration and respect of strangers; and the fragments which have escaped the ravages of modern Vandalism, display a neatness of execution in the figures, lettering and embellishments, which may justly claim competition with the productions of the present day. Some, who will not look further than the subsequent poverty and degradation of Scotland, insist that these crosses and monuments are French manufacture, and were imported from France. This conjecture will not admit of a moment’s reflection. They might as well inform us that the Abbey of Melrose, the Cathedral of Glasgow, and all the rest of our sacred edifices, were importations from the same quarter. With more propriety, however, it may be alleged, that the most elegant of our Ecclesiastical structures were erected by a band of ingenious architects and workmen belonging to various countries, who associated together about this time, under the name of Free Masons, and wandered about Europe, offering their services where they expected the most liberal encouragement. Of these men, it is presumed Scotland has a right to claim a fair proportion.
Naval architecture also appears to have met with due encouragement; for we find, in the year 1249, Hugh de Chantillon, Earl of St Paul and de Blois, a powerful vassal of Louis IX., joined the crusaders under that monarch at Cyprus, with fifty knights carrying banners, besides a numerous body of Flemings, on board of a vessel of great strength and dimensions, which, according to Matthew Paris,[22] (who calls it a marvellous vessel), was built at Inverness, in the Murray Firth. On this occasion Macpherson remarks,[23] “That a French nobleman should apply to the carpenters of Inverness for a ship, is a curious circumstance; which seems to infer, that they had acquired such a degree of reputation in their profession, as to be celebrated in foreign countries.” A large vessel was afterwards built for the Venetians at the same place.[24]
As the state of literature at this period was nearly on a level all over Britain, the following specimens of the earliest lyrical effusions of the Scottish and English Muse known to exist, may serve the purpose of exciting a more elaborate inquiry.
ANCIENT ENGLISH SONG.
Summer is come in,
Loud sings the cuckoo;
Groweth seed, and bloweth meed,
And springth woods new,
Singth the cuckoo.
Ewe bleateth after lamb,
Loweth after calf, cow;
Bullock starteth, buck verteth,
Merry sings the cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo,
Well singth the cuckoo,
May’st thou never cease.
ANCIENT SCOTTISH SONG.
“Quhen Alysandyr oure Kyng wes dede,
That Scotland led in Luwe and Le,
Away wes Sons of Ale and Brede,
Of Wyne and Wax, of Gamyn and Gle:
Oure Gold wes changyd in-to Lede.
Cryst, borne in-to Virgynytè,
Succour Scotland and remede,
That Stad is in perplexytè.”
The law of Scotland is known to all to have been that of the Romans. The municipal and commercial departments were under the control of the Court of the “Four Burghs,” which consisted of representatives from Berwick, Edinburgh, Roxburgh and Stirling; to whom all matters connected with commerce, and the rights and privileges of the burgesses, were referred. The Chamberlain’s Court had also a jurisdiction over the burghs in matters respecting the trade and general policy of the kingdom. The chamberlain, in the discharge of his duty, was constrained to make periodical progress through the kingdom, to adjust the standards, weights and measures, kept in the different burghs. It was also his duty to detect any imposition that might be practised by the King’s servants, in exacting more goods at the King’s price (which was lower than the market), than what were required for his service, and thereby making a profit to themselves. From the regulations of the Chamberlain’s Court, it appears that inspectors were appointed to examine and certify, by their seal of office, the quantity and quality of cloth, bread, and casks containing liquors; and that other officers, called “Troners,” had the inspection of wool. Salmon fishings also were carefully regulated; and fishing during the night, or while the salmon were not in season, was prohibited.[25]
The great councils of the nation, from whence all the laws emanated, had their meetings at Scone; and the promulgation of any new act was preceded by the ringing of the great bell of the monastery where the meetings were held. By this practice, “the bell of Scoon” became, in time, a cant expression for the law of the land.[26] These councils were almost solely attended by the barons and ecclesiastics of the highest rank. Neither merchants nor burgesses were admitted. Representations, therefore, from the Chamberlain’s Court, and the Court of the Four Burghs, afforded the only chance for correcting the mistakes which might arise from the ignorance of these aristocratic legislators.