Minor Notes.
Remains of Sir Hugh Montgomery (Vol. iv., p. 206.).
—Allusion has been made to the following stanza from "Chevy Chase:"—
"Against Sir Hugh Montgomery,
So right his shaft he set,
The grey goose wing that was thereon
In his heart's blood was wet."
Having lately visited the sea-bathing town of Largs, my attention was attracted to a building in the churchyard forming the present burying ground. In this building, bearing date of erection 1636 by Sir Robert Montgomery (ancestor of the present Earl of Eglinton), there is an elaborately carved tomb of mason work, beneath which is a strongly arched stone vault, where, besides the founder and others, tradition has placed the remains of the brave Sir Hugh Montgomery. It is difficult to reconcile this with the long prior date of the battle of Chevy Chase, unless the vault, which has certainly a very ancient look, can be substantiated to have existed before the above building. Taking matters as they go, the remains of the warrior now appear in the most humiliating condition—reduced to a hard, dry bony skeleton deprived of legs and thighs, with the singular appearance of the skull having been cloven (most likely) by a battle-axe, the skull being held together by some plate or substance and rude stitching. The body is said to have been originally embalmed, and enclosed in a lead coffin, which was barbarously torn off some forty years ago, as sinks for fishing nets. The building, tomb, and vault, taken altogether, present perhaps one of the finest specimens of this species of architecture in Scotland, and are additionally curious from the cone roof of the building being highly ornamented with descriptive paintings in a tolerable state of preservation. It is understood that some historical notices of the whole have been privately printed by a Scotch antiquarian, of which some of your learned readers may be aware, and may furnish more ample details than the foregoing.
G.
Glasgow, Sept. 23, 1851.