against Presbyterianism once more rose high in England. Dryden expresses it in Absalom and Achitophel1 where Scotland is typified by Hebron, in which banished David ruled before he was recalled to reign in Jerusalem, and where two 'false Hebronites,' Robert Ferguson and James Forbes, are personally satirised. He again attacked Presbyterianism in general in the Hind and the Panther, where it appears as the wolf. Never was so deformed a beast of grace': its native kennel was Geneva, but colonies of these monsters had been established in Holland and Scotland.2 Occasionally Dryden seems to echo some of Cleveland's lines, but times had changed since 1644, and in spite of the animosity expressed to Presbyterianism there is little sign of the bitterness against the Scots as a race which had risen so high between 1644 and 1651. One reason is obvious; the rebellion of 1679 had been a partial and local movement; Scotland as a whole had remained quiet; there had been no new attempt to intervene across the border. Poets and ballad writers even contrasted the conduct of the Scots with that of the English Whigs, much to the advantage of the former. One called The Loyal song, Scot,' paints the surprise of a Scot on arriving in England in the midst of the Exclusion Bill agitation and finding the English Whigs, under the mask of reform, scheming to establish Presbytery and a Commonwealth. He decides to go back to Scotland since a loyal lad's in danger here.'s A poem called 'The Convert Scot and Apostate English' sets forth still more clearly that the two nations had changed parts. Cleveland's ashes, it begins, will surely rise, for now the Scots are become proselytes and the English rebels. "Twas our fanatic Presbyter, The Devil's factors, made the plot; By them misled the Scots did err When them thou call'dst "Apostate Scot."" But now, the author continues, the northern air blows sweetly, dispelling mists, and there are no clouds there. The heirapparent to the throne finds a refuge in Scotland from his enemies in England: 'Brave Scots go on, a braver man Ne'er wanted yet protection 1 Absalom and Achitophel, part i. 1. 59; part ii. ll. 320-349.. 2 Hind and Panther, part i. ll. 153-234. Published in April, 1687. 8A Choice Collection of 180 Loyal Songs,' printed by N. T., 1685, p. 189. Than our great Duke of York; what can But this merit oblivion? All that is past of guilty fact Lies buried here, in this one act.' Henceforth they will be called 'the Convert Scots,' not Rebels or Apostates. Only let them stand by the Duke and the friends of monarchy in England: 'A glorious occasion now Courts yet with opportunity: When all men failed us, you stood by. Your king, your country, all their friends Let's hand in hand together move. Down with your kirk-roost, curb them so And York conduct you in command.'1 If Charles II. had been obliged to appeal to force it is probable that he would have attempted to employ Scottish arms as the poet suggested. But the contest over the Exclusion Bill in England ended without fighting. The strength of the king's government in Scotland was shown by the facility with which it suppressed Argyle's rebellion in 1685. His defeat is the theme of an English ballad entitled 'The King and Parliament or the Destruction of Argyle,' his capture, of another called The Rebel Captive." In both these productions the feeling is anti-Whig rather than anti-Scotch; they are expressive of political rather than national prejudices; in one the parliament of Scotland is praised as loyal and brave; in the other Argyle is denounced and derided as a traitor, not as a Scot. 2 The ballad literature of the period supplies some other indications of the subsidence of national animosities, which, small in themselves, are yet worth noting. According to Mr. Chappell, English ballads began to be circulated in Scotland about 1679: he supposes that their circulation was permitted by the Duke of York in order to gain popularity. It is more certain that 1'A collection of 86 Loyal Poems,' collected by N. T., 1685, p. 45. 2 Roxburghe Ballads, v. 611, 621. Both are also to be found in A Collection of 180 Loyal Songs,' pp. 358, 365. 3 Roxburghe Ballads, iii. 674. Scottish traditional ballads began to be printed by English ballad publishers during the latter part of the seventeenth century and attained some popularity in England. The gallant Grahams,' 'Johnnie Armstrong's Last Good-Night,' and 'A delectable new ballad, intituled Leader-Haughs and Yarrow' appear with some others in the Roxburghe collection. The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime' is another example of the adaptation of a border ballad.1 Scottish amatory ballads became still more popular south of the Border. One, commencing Wilt thou be wilful still?' was transcribed in the manuscript note-book found on Monmouth when he was captured after Sedgmoor.2 A large number of Scottish songs or what were meant to represent Scottish songs-were in circulation in England during the reign of Charles II. Some are possibly adaptations of genuine songs; most are imitations, written in a fictitious dialect by English poetasters. Mr. Ebsworth, who reprints a large number of them, terms them the Anglo-Scotch indecorous absurdities wherein Londoners delighted.'3 Examples are, 'An excellent new Play-House Song called The Bonny Grey-eyed Morn, or Jockey roused with Love,' which was sung in 1676 in Tom Durfey's play, The Plotting Sisters.' Another example is 'Pretty Kate of Edinburgh,' being a new Scotch song sung to the King at Windsor by the same author.* A third is 'The Bonny Scot, or the Yielding Lass,' also by Durfey, which was included later in Allan Ramsay's and Herd's collections. These songs, written by Durfey and his imitators, are interesting not on account of their intrinsic merit but as indications of popular feeling. As John Selden observes, more solid things do not show the complexion of the times so well as ballads and libels.' Some of the extracts quoted before show that a ballad and a libel were often the same thing. It was a step towards union when ballads of a different type came into vogue, and when the popular literature of one nation, or something resembling it, began to interest the other. 1 See Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 575-608. 3 lb. vi. 618. C. H. FIRTH. 2 lb. iv. 544. Bagford Ballads, i. 16. A New View of the War of Independence THE HE part played by the North of Scotland in the War of Independence has been consistently ignored by Scottish historians. They have always taken it for granted that the War of Independence was won by the Lowlands of Scotland, though they have not explained how and whence Bruce obtained the adherents who made his early successes, and consequently his ultimate success, possible. Professor Hume Brown, in his history, does not discuss the point. Mr. Andrew Lang observes: But we still ask, how did he achieve any success? The nation as a whole was not yet with him (that his later forfeitures of his enemies proves); patriotism, properly speaking, was as yet rudimentary. The Commons had fallen away after Wallace's death; of the nobles some were indifferent, many were bitterly hostile, holding Bruce in deadly feud. Rome, since 1304 no ally, was now an embittered foe, because of Bruce's sacrilege, and he lay under excommunication-then, and much later, a terrible position. Who composed Bruce's forces while he wandered in Galloway? A few knights, probably, with some hundreds of broken men from Kyle, Annandale, Carrick, and the Isles.' Sir Herbert Maxwell, writing of Bruce's campaign against the Earl of Buchan, says: For several months after this we hear no more of either Bruce or Buchan. It is quite likely that Buchan's inactivity was the result of the growing popularity of Bruce and the idea of independence. Failing some such reason, it seems amazing that such a favourable chance of capturing or crushing the King of the Scots was allowed to slip.' It seems clear, therefore, that these writers are unable 3 1 Hist. of Scotland, i. 212. 2 That is after Christmas Eve, 1307-Sir Herbert here proceeding on the assumption that the Battle of Inverurie was fought on 22nd May, 1308, instead of on Christmas Eve, 1307, which can, I think, be proved to be the correct date. See below, page 134, for Bruce's movements in the spring and summer of 1308. 3 Robert the Bruce, p. 177. to explain who formed the armies which Bruce led to victory. Mr. Andrew Lang, however, goes a step further. In an appendix to the first volume of his history, headed The Celts in the War of Independence,' he says: The War of Independence was won by the Lowland Scots (in origin mainly of English descent) fighting under the standards of leaders more or less Norman by blood.' There is not, I think, historical evidence to support so emphatic a statement. Bruce's ultimate success was made possible-indeed was secured-not by the support which he obtained from the Lowland Scots or in the Lowlands, but by the support he obtained in the north and in the other parts of Celtic Scotland. At the first glance this may seem a rash statement, and I do not wish to be understood to imply that Bruce obtained no support in the Lowlands. But it seems to me that the centre of his strength was in the north and not in the south-in Celtic and not in Lowland Scotland. It is remarkable that no fortress of importance in the Lowlands of Scotland was captured by Bruce or his adherents until 1312. In that year Buittle, Dalswinton, Caerlaverock, and Lochmaben were captured; Perth, Dumfries, and Linlithgow fell in the following year, and Roxburgh and Edinburgh about the same time. Dundee was certainly in English hands as late as 1312, while Stirling and Bothwell did not surrender until after Bannockburn. On the other hand, by the middle of 1309 Scotland north of the Tay, with the exception of Perth and Dundee, was entirely in Bruce's hands, while the Celtic part of Scotland south of the Tay was held by Douglas and Edward Bruce, and formed the base from which the Scots carried the war into the enemy's country. When Bruce was crowned at Scone in March 1306, he had no more devoted adherent than David de Moravia, Bishop of Moray. The bishop was a member of the powerful and patriotic house of Moray, the only noble house which had stood by Wallace after the surrender of the Scottish nobility on 9th July, 1297. Immediately Bruce was crowned King, the Bishop of Moray preached a Holy War throughout the length and breadth of his diocese with such effect that the men of Moray flew to Bruce's standard. After Methven the bishop had to flee for 1 Hist. of Scotland, i. 495. 2 Palgrave's Documents illustrating the History of Scotland, 346. |