the interesting information that it continued long afterwards to be sung by the maidens and minstrels of Scotland: "Maydens of Englande, sore may ye mourne For your lemmans he have loste at Bannockysborne, What! weneth the Kinge of Englande In relating a victory which a small body of Scots gained over a larger body of English in Eskdale, Barbour dispenses with a detailed narrative on the ground that "Young wemen, quhen thai will play, Another satirical song, hitting at "the deformyte of clothyng that at those days was used by Englyshmenne," is said by Fabyan to have been composed on the occasion of the marriage of the infant David Bruce to the Princess Jane of England-Fane Makepiece, as she was popularly nicknamed: "Long beardes heartles, Paynted hoodes witles, Maketh Englande thriftles." Besides these songs on particular events, Wintoun gives us the general information about poems having been written on Sir William Wallace : “Of his gud Dedis and Manhad Gret Gestis, I hard say, are made." On the exploits of Wallace in France, it is said by Fordun,1 that songs were written in France itself, as well as in Scotland. With all this evidence it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that there must have been at one time a considerable amount of popular lyrical poetry, created by the national enthusiasm which gathered around the events and the heroes of the great War of Independence in Scotland. But, in addition to the unimportant fragments cited above, we have a couple of ballads which deserve notice at least. The ballad of Auld Maitland, though maintained by Aytoun and Child to be a modern production, is regarded by Leyden, Scott, and Hogg as being of very ancient date; while we have the testimony of the last to its popularity in the district of the Ettrick forest.2 Whatever may be the decision of criticism on this question, we cannot be far wrong, with the opinion of Scott and Leyden, in taking Auld Maitland as a fair representative of the ballads of the time. The ballad Gude Wallace, a defective version of which first appeared in Johnson's "Museum," and the ballad of Sir William Wallace, first published in The Thistle of Scotland," refer to one of the well-known adventures in the legendary life of the popular hero. Though their original date is wholly uncertain, and they are evidently to a great extent modernised, they appear to me to retain unmistakable traces of old origin. At least they, 1 Fordun's "Scotichronicon," II. 176 (edit. Goodall). 2 Scott's "Border Minstrelsy," vol. i. pp. 314, 315. 3 Both of these ballads will be found in Child's "English and Scottish Ballads," vol. vi. pp. 232-242. as well as the ballad of Auld Maitland, preserve, in its freshness, the thoroughly military spirit of the timethe exhilaration at the prospect of battle, "That stern joy which warriors feel At foemen worthy of their steel." These can be but meagre representatives, so far as number is concerned, of the lyrical poetry in which the struggle to maintain national independence was celebrated; but, when examined with care, they reveal the influence which must have been exerted by the literature they represent. There is in these ballads, as there was undoubtedly in all of the same group, an admiring love of the heroes who assumed the championship of the popular cause; while there is also the fierce hatred of the foe which characterises a warlike age. "It's ne'er be said in France, nor e'er In Scotland, when I'm hame, In the ballads and songs of this period, therefore, we may see one of the influences which served to perpetuate the dread of any interference with Scottish independence, and the jealous dislike of England lest she might seize some opportunity to crush that independence. This dread and jealousy are visible, not only throughout the particular struggle in which they 1 From Auld Maitland. Another reading of the third line in this verse gives"That Edward once lay under me;" but either reading illustrates the point of the quotation. : originated they weakened the hands of Knox and Murray, who were among the first Scotchmen to see clearly the identity of Scottish interests with those of England, while they strengthened the conservative French party at the court of Holyrood; they gave an additional bitterness to the long contest of the seventeenth century; they formed a principal obstacle to the Union of the century following; they put a fresh vigour into the dying struggle of the Stuart cause; they are still discernible in the strongly marked character which makes the Scotchman retain so many distinctive peculiarities of his country, even in the midst of powerful foreign influences; and they are now only beginning to give way before that wiser legislation and more frequent intercourse which are at last welding the two nations. into one. § 2.-The Border Feuds. The influence pointed out at the close of the previous section may be attributed to another group of ballads, but these possess some characteristics so distinctive that they are more appropriately gathered into a class by themselves. The general hostility between England and Scotland was, of course, hottest in the Border counties of each kingdom; and the special feuds between the clans on opposite sides of the Border paid little or no regard to the general relations of the two countries were, in fact, as likely to break out in peace as in war. This was owing mainly to two circumstances -the general system of warfare in feudal times, and the special kind of warfare adopted by the Scots. Under the feudal system the defence of the Border was necessarily entrusted to the great families on either side; while the Scots, unable generally to cope in the open field with the armies of a comparatively populous and wealthy kingdom, carried on the war by retiring before the superior invading forces of the enemy, and retaliating in predatory raids. A state of society was thus created which aroused in intensity various human passions, such as form fit materials for the fierce minstrelsy of warlike tribes, and the habits of the people encouraged the minstrel to celebrate in song the exploits of favourite heroes. The earliest Scottish ballad of this group is The Battle of Otterbourne, which is, without doubt, the finest of the historical ballads that have been preserved. The ballad refers to a chivalrous combat which took place in connection with one of the most formidable invasions of England ever made by the Scots. Their forces amounted to about 50,000, the main body entering by the west, while a small body of 2,000 or 3,000, under the Earl of Douglas, made a diversion in the east. The smaller division penetrated as far as Newcastle, where they were met by a force under Sir Henry Percy-the familiar Harry Hotspur, son of the Earl of Northumberland. In one of several passages at arms, Hotspur's pennon was carried off by Douglas. Incited by a chivalrous challenge from Douglas, Hotspur followed the little Scotch army with a force of above 8,000 men, and came upon it at Otterburn by moonlight on the 19th of August, 1388. The Scots were strongly en |