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zour ennymes with manheid, or elis to leif miserabillie und yair servitude; and suffer zour wifeis and daughteris to be falziet be thayr lust. Remember yt ze ar nocht to fecht now onlie for zour native cuntre, bot for the livis of yaim that ar maist deir and tender freindis. Consider, that nocht onlie I, bot al Scotland, seis zow fecht yis day, and notis baith zour manheid and cowarty. Belt zow, yairfor, valziant campionis, with ye more manheid and curage, yt zour mater is just, and mouit only in zour just defence. Consider how zour ennymes inuadis zow onlie for pray and spulzie of gudis, and sal be theirfore sone vincust quhen thay se zow giuen with verenant constance to debait the samyn. And first, I pray zow refresh zour bodies with meit, syne cloith ye samyn with armour, yt ze may be the grace of God have victory." Skairslie wer thir wordis said, quhen Kyng Acho began to exhort his army in maner as followis :-"Wer nocht zour manheid is prouin to me lang tyme, wyse freindis, with sicker victory in your handis, it had bene vane to ieoparde my body this day with zou, or to haif essailzett sic thingis yat bene uncertane for thaym that ar certane. It had bene more lesum, (gyf ze be febill and astonist pepil,) to haif levit ane hard and sobir lyfe at hame with miserie and gret laubour, than to haif ieoperd yow in battal aganis zour ennymes. Nochtheless, sen ze with deliueret purpos ar votit to follow gud fortoun and me, zou man se how occasioun, and sufficient oppertunite, schawis quhat virteu and reward sall follow to ilk man for his laubouris. Ze se now, (that ze desir it maist,) zour ennimes, full of riches and guddis, quhilkis ar to be gottin now be na thing se mekil as preis and dint of swerd, and nocht onlie gif ze happin to have the glore of victory, shall fall to zow the ryche treasour of this army, bot the hail realme of Scotland sal fall, in reward of our labourisVincus, thairfore, zour ennymes, and every thing in Scotland sal be offerit to zow, with maist magnificence, and fra zour ennymes be vincust, every ane of zow sal be rewarded with landis at zour pleseir, and ze sal be as riche in tymes cumyn, as zour ennymes ar at this tyme. Farther, sen gret charges may nocht be done but (without) extreme ieoparde, I beseik you, advise how esalye yis battall sal be led aganis our en nymes, for the derth, that now apperis amang them, hes maid thaym more febill than ony other pepill. Thus ar thay sa destitute of corparal strength, that thay sall giff backis to ws or they cum to ony straikes, for thay ar bot ane shad

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dow of pepill, ann may therefore be slane Ilke miserabill beistis-and becaus thay ar in more noumer of pepill than ze, thair spulze sall be to zow the more riche. Be contrar, gif discomfiture falls to zow, quhilk God forbeit, na thing sall follow bot deith and heirschip quhare ze cum; and youcht (though) I beleif nathing less than sic adversiteis, I beseik zow giff ony sic miseruenture fallis, reuenge zour deith, that ze be nocht slane like beistis quhilkis ar offerit in sacrifice; for we are circulit, as ze se, on ilk syde, with enneymes, and our schippis seuerit sa far fra ws, that we may haif na refuge thairby. Thus restis na succouris to us, gif we be discomfist. Attour quhat folly and quhat extreme miserie is to ony creature, to leif the wappenis quhilkis may defend his life, and have his confidence only in swiftness of feit. Now sen zow have sa gud experience quhat commoditeis may fall be zour manheid, and quhat mischeif and sorow may fall be zour cowarty, suffir nocht zour handis to dul in sleeth that ze may be propiciant fortoun haif sikir victory, quhilk is now in zour handis, quhair throw incredible riches and felicite may thairefter succeed. Skairsly wer thir wourdis endit, quhen baith the armyis began to array other. In the mene tyme, Acho come with all his ordenance on the middil, quhare Kyng Alexander was arrayit for the tyme, traisting, gif the samyn wer brokin, ye remanent battellis to be sone vincust. This battall was fochtyn with gret cruelte on athir syde, specially quhare the two Kingis faucht, for thay ruschit ay to thay partis quhare thay saw their pepyl waikest, exhortyng thaim to schaw thair manheid and curage. Kyng Acho, incontinent, maid hym, with ane band of forty campionis, to rusche out throw ye samyn battal, quhair King Alexander faught. Nochtheless, he was stoutlie resistit, for Kyng Alexander had sa gret noumer of pepill with hym, yt he stuffit the battal with fresche men in all partis quhair it failzit, quhill at last baith the wingis of Danis wer put to flycht. Incontinent, Alexander Stewart of Paisley come with ane buschement of fresche men to the myddil ward, quhair King Alexander was fechtand againis King Acho, with lang bergane. and uncertain victory. The Danis seing this Alexander cum with new and recent victory on them, gaif bakkis, on quhome followit ye Scottis with gret cruelte, throw all Cunnyngame, and made Ithand (Eydent-dilligent) slaughter of thaym, quhill the richt put an end to all thair laubour. On the morow, King Acho fled with an few noumer to the castell of Ayr, quhilk wes tane latelie by hym, and in the mene

tyme, he gat tithingis that his flott, quhilk contenit L. schippis, wes perist be unmerceyfull tempest, and nane of thaym sauit except foure, attour ye marineris, quhilkis eschapit eftir ye tinsal of thair schippis, war all slane be the inhabi tantis of the cuntre. Kyng Acho, brokin in yis maner, gat yir IIII. scheppis, and fled to Orknay. In yis battal war slene XXIIII. M. Danis, and of Scottish V. M. Yis battel wes fouchten at Largis, on ye thrid day of Auguat, fra our redemption i. M. ii. C. LXIII. Zeris. Kyng Acho, at his cumyng to Orknay, send for ane new army out of Norroway and Denmark, to inuade ye Scottis againis ye nixt symer, nochttheless, becaus he deceissit in ye zeir nixt following, all his army skalit, and ye weiris ceisit.

FURTHER ANECDOTES OF THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.

MR. EDITOR,

Eltrieve-Lake, February 22, 1818.

In a former number of your Miscellany, there appeared an affecting instance of the sagacity of a Shepherd's Dog, the truth of which I can well attest, for the owner, John Hoy, was my uncle; that is, he was married to my mother's sis ter. He was all his life remarkable for breeding up his dogs to perform his commands with wonderful promptitude and exactness, especially at a distance from him, and he kept always by the same breed.

The first remarkable one that I had, was named Sirrah, he was beyond all comparison the best dog I ever saw. He was of a surly unsocial temper-disdained all flattery, and refused to be caressed; but his attention to his master's commands and interests never will again be equalled by any of the canine race. Were I to relate all his exploits, it would require a volume; I shall only mention one or two, to prove to you what sort of an animal he was.

I was a shepherd for ten years on the same farm, where I had always about 700 lambs put under my charge every year at weining time. As they were of the short or black-faced breed, the breaking of them was a very ticklish and difficult task. İ was obliged to watch them night and day for the first four

days, during which time I had always a person to assist me. It happened one year, that just about midnight the lambs broke and came up the moor upon us, making a noise running louder than thunder. We got up and waved our plaids, and shouted, in hopes to turn them, but we only made matters worse, for in a moment they were all around us, and by our exertions we cut them into three divisions; one of these ran north and another south, and those that came up between us straight up the moor to the westward. I called out "Sirrah, my man, they're awa?" the word, of all others, that set him most on the alert, but owing to the darkness of the night, and blackness of the moor, I never saw him at all. As the division of the lambs that ran southward were going straight towards the fold, where they had that day been taken from the dams, I was afraid they would go there, and again mix with them; so I threw off part of my clothes, and pursued them, and by great personal exertion, and the help of another old dog that I had beside Sırrah, I turned them, but in a few minutes afterwards lost them altogether. I ran here and there not knowing what to do, but always at intervals gave a loud whistle to Sirrah, to let him know that I was depending on him By that whistling, the lad who was assisting found me out, but he likewise had lost all traces of the lambs whatsoe ver. I asked if he had never seen Sirrah? He said he had not; but that after I left him, a wing of the lambs had come round him with a swirl, and that he supposed Sirrah had then given them a turn, though he could not see him for the darkness. We both concluded, that whatever way the lambs ran at first, they would finally land at the fold where they left their mothers, and without delay we bent our course towards that; but when we came there, we found nothing of them, nor was there any kind of bleating to be heard, and discovered with vexation that we had come on a wrong track.

My companion then bent his course towards the farm of Glen on the north, and I ran away westward for several miles along the wild track, where the lambs had grazed while fol. lowing their dams We met after it was day, far up in a place called the Black Cleuch, but neither of us had been able to discover our lambs, nor any traces of them. It was the most extraordinary circumstance that had ever occurred in the annals of the pastoral life! We had nothing for it but to return to our master, and inform him that we had lost his whole flock of lambs to him, and knew not what was become of one of them.

On our way home, however, we discovered a body of lambs at the bottom of a deep ravine, called the Flesh Cleuch, and the indefatigable Sirrah standing in front of them, looking all around for some relief, but still standing true to his charge. The sun was then up; and when we first came in view of them, we concluded that it was one of the divisions of the lambs, which Sirrah had been unable to manage until he came to that commanding situation, for it was about a mile and a half distant from the place where they first broke and scattered. But what was our astonishment, when we discovered by degrees that not one lamb of the whole flock was wanting! How he had got all the divisions collected in the dark, is beyond my comprehension. The charge was left entirely to himself from midnight until the rising of the sun; and if all the shepherds in the Forest had oeen there to have assisted him, they could not have effected it with greater propriety. All that I can say further is, that I never felt so grateful to any creature below the sun, as I did to my honest Sirrah that morning.

He had one very laughable peculiarity, which often created disturbance about the house,-it was an outrageous ear to music. He never heard music but he drew towards it; and he never drew towards it, but he joined in it with all his vigour.. Many a good psalm, song, and tune, was he the cause of being spoiled; for when he set fairly to, at which he was not slack, the voices of all his coadjutors had no chance with his. It was customary with the worthy old farmer with whom I resided, to perform family worship evening and morning; and before he began it was always necessary to drive Sirrah to the fields, and close the door. If this was at any time forgot or neglected, the moment that the psalm was raised, he joined. with all his zeal, and at such a rate that he drowned the voices of the family before three lines could be sung. Nothing farth er could be done till Sirrah was expelled. But then; when he got to the peat stack know before the door, especially if he got a blow in going out, he DID give his powers of voice full scope without mitigation, and even at that distance, he was often a hard match for us all.

Some imagined it was from a painful sensation he did this. No such thing. Music was his delight; it drew him towards it like a charm. I slept in the byre-loft-Sirrah in the hay-nook in a corner below. When sore fatigued, I sometimes retired to my bed before the hour of family worship. In such cases, whenever the psalm was raised in the kitchen,