ferent potentates of Europe with as much of impudent ease as he did of the peers of his own country, and of his interest at court. In 1696 his assurance arrived to such a height that he sent a letter to the speaker of the House of Commons, in which he pretended that no person had been more actively engaged with Sir John Fenwick than himself; but his character was so notoriously bad that the house would not suffer it to be read. Though baffled he was not abashed: and he followed his base projects, till in 1703 the House of Lords prosecuted him in the Queen's Bench, for publishing two false and scandalous libels under the titles of" Original Letters of the late King James and others to his greatest Friends in England;" and "Twenty-six Depositions of Persons of quality and worth." He was convicted, and his sentence marked the enormity of his wickedness. The court ordered that he should appear in the courts of Westminster with a paper affixed to his person, denoting his offence, stand thrice in the pillory, be sent to the house of correction to be whipped, be continued at labor until October 24 following, and remain in custody until he paid a fine of 1000 marks. He went to the pillory with unblushing effrontery; but he suffered from the indignation of the mob severely, both at Temple Bar and Charing Cross, and hardly escaped with life from the punishment they inflicted upon him.* THE SEASON. In a volume containing "The Weaver's Boy, a Tale; and other Poems: by Chauncy Hare Townshend," there are the following verses-their title had been previously used to a composition by SchillerThe Vernal Extasy. I Come away! Come away! Flow'rs are fresh, and fields are gay! Herself a flying primrose, hovers Wild hyacinths, as beautiful As he who gave them their sweet name Noble. With a dearly-purchas'd fame, Come away! Come away! Freshly bath'd in rainbow dews, That unite the rival hues. I mark'd one in the parky glade Come away! Come away! Though the cheering sun be set, Mr. W. A. Delamotte, jun., took a drawing of this tree in the present year (1831), and obligingly communicated it for the present engraving. It is alleged that the tree was planted in the time of William the Conqueror, and has existed while three churches successively raised their walls beside it. Windlesham church is about a mile and a half from Bagshot. It is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and a record in it states that the breaking off a branch from the old yew subjected the trespasser to a whipping at the cart's tail, or pillory and fine. The trunk of the tree, as it now appears, is twenty-one feet high, and, at a yard from the ground, measures twelve feet in circumference. The Rev. Thomas Snell, who has been rector from the year 1807, placed a strong ash prop to support its venerable remains. Bagshot, formerly called Bacsiet, is a hamlet to the parish of Windlesham, and is well known for good posting houses and inns. The manor of Windlesham was given by Edward the Confessor to the church of Westminster, and Henry VIII. granted it to St. John's College, Cambridge, which still holds the lordship with a court-leet and court-baron Bagshot. The earliest mention of the manor of Bagshot is, that, in the reign of Henry II., one Ralph held it, in fee farm, as of the king's demesne. Since then it had distinguished possessors. Edward III. gave it to his uncle Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, who was beheaded by the intrigues of Mortimer, and whose son Edmund, by restoration of blood, obtained restitution of his father's estates. Edmund was succeeded by his brother John, whose heir was his sister Joan, called the "Fair Maid of Kent," who married Edward the Black Prince. The manor of Bagshot returned to the crown, and, in November 1621, James I. granted it, with other possessions, to Sir Edward Zouch, by the following service, that Sir Edward on the feast of St. James' then next, and every heir male of Sir Edward on that feast, next after they succeeded to the estate, should carry up the first dish to the king's table at dinner, and pay £100 of gold coined at the royal mint, in lieu of wards and services. By failure of issue male, Bagshot reverted, and Charles II. granted it for 1000 years, in trust, for the Duchess of Cleveland and her children by the king. It was afterwards sold, and now belongs to the Earl of Onslow, June 24 MIDSUMMER Day. For the various usages upon this grea festival see the Every-Day Book. BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. To this fatal battle, which was fought on the 24th of June, 1314, recurrence may perhaps be allowed, for the purpose of giving by far the most accurate and circumstantial account of the conflict. It plunged, for a time, almost every rank of society in England in terror and distress.* The Edward II., persisting in his father's claim to Scotland, resolved by one effort to reduce that nation, and assembled an army of above a hundred thousand men. Robert Bruce, grandson of the competitor with Baliol, raised an army of thirty thousand men against Edward, and took his station in the neighbourhood of Stirling, behind the river Bannockburn. English army came up and encamped near Torwood. The defeat of a detachment of eight hundred cavalry, despatched by lord Clifford to the relief of Stirling, inspired the Scots army with courage for the general engagement. At length, on Monday, June 24th, 1314, appeared the dawn of that important day which was to decide whether Scotland was to be independent or subjugated. Early all was in motion in both armies. Religious ardor of the Scots. A solemn mass, in sentiments mingled with the military the manner of those times, was said by Maurice, abbot of Inchchanfry, who administered the sacrament to the king and the great officers about him, upon a hill near the camp, probably Cockshothill, while inferior priests did the same to the rest of the army. Then, after a sober repast, they formed in order of bat tle, in a tract of ground now called Nether Touchadam, which lies along the declivity of a gently rising hill, about a mile due south from the castle of Stirling. This situation was chosen for its advantages. Upon the right they had a range of step rocks, now called Gillie's-hill, in which the hill abruptly terminates. In their front were the steep banks of the rivulet of Bannockburn. Upon the left lay a Related in Dr. Drake's Mornings in Spring, from Nimmo's History of Stirlingshire, 1777, 8vo. morass, now called Milton Bog, from its vicinity to a small village of that name. Much of this bog is still undrained, and a part of it is at present a mill-dam. As it was then the middle of summer, it was almost dry; but, to prevent attack from that quarter, Robert resorted to stratagem. He had some time before ordered many ditches and pits to be digged in the morass, and in the fields upon the left, and these to be covered over again with green turf, supported by stakes driven into the bottom of them, so that the ground had still the appearance of being firm. He also caused calthrops, or sharp-pointed irons, to be scattered through the morass, some of which have been found there, in the memory of people yet alive. By means of the natural strength of the position, and these devices, his army stood within an intrenchment, fortified by invisible pits and ditches, answering to the concealed batteries of modern times. The Scottish force was drawn up in three divisions. Their front extended nearly a mile in length along the brink of the river. The right, which was upon the highest grounds, was commanded by Edward Bruce, brother to the king; the left was posted on the low grounds, near the morass, under the direction of Randolph; the king himself took the charge of the centre. A fourth division was commanded by Walter, lord high steward, and James Douglas, both of whom had that morning received knighthood from the king. While in this posture, waiting for the English, the trumpets, clarions, and horns, continued to blow with so hideous a noise as made the neighbouring rocks and woods to echo. The English army was fast approach ing, in three great divisions, led on by the monarch in person, and the earls of Пlereford and Glocester. The centre was formed of infantry, and the wings of cavalry, many of whom were armed capa-pec. Squadrons of archers were upon the wings, and at certain distances along the front. The king was attended by two knights, sir Giles de Argentine, and sir Aymer de Vallance, who rode "at his bridle," one upon each side of him. When Edward beheld the order in which the Scots were drawn up, and their determined resolution to give battle to his formidable host, he expressed surprise to those about him. Sir Ingram Umfraville suggested a plan which was likely to ensure a cheap and bloodless victory. He counselled the king to make a fent of retreating with the whole army, behind the tents; which would tempt the Scots to break their ranks, in order to plunder the camp, when the English night suddenly face about and fall upon them. This advice was rejected; Edward deemed that there was no need of stratagem in order to defeat a force so inferior. When the two armies were upon the point of engaging, the abbot of Inchchanfry, having posted himself, with a crucifix in his hand, before the Scots, the ranks dropped upon their knees in devotion. The English concluded that by kneeling, when they should have been ready to fight, they meant to surrender at discretion, and begged their lives. The Scots rose again, and resuming their arms with steady countenances, the English began the action by a vigorous charge upon the left wing of the Scots, under Randolph, near the spot where the bridge is now thrown over the river, at the small village of Chartreshall, which was the only place where the river could be crossed in any sort of order. A large body of cavalry advanced to attack in front. Meanwhile another compassed about to fall upon the flank and rear, and fell into the snare prepared for them. Many of their horses were disabled by sharp irons rushing into their feet; others tumbled into concealed pits, and could not disentangle themselves. In this situation Randolph vigorously charged upon them. While this was passing upon the left wing of the Scottish army, the battle was spreading and raging along the front. It was commenced by the impetuous courage of an Englishman. The Scottish king was mounted upon a little palfry, carry ing a battle-ax in his hand, and upon his helmet he wore a purple hat in form of a crown. This dress, with his activity, as he rode in front of the lines, observing their order, and cheering the men, rendered him very conspicuous. Henry Bohun, an English knight, cousin to the earl of Hereford, and ranked amongst the bravest in Edward's army, galloped furiously up to engage with Robert in single combat, and, by so eminent an act of chivalry, end the contest. Bohun missed his first blow, and Robert immediately struck him dead with his battle-ax, which broke in the handle, from the violence of the stroke. This bold attack upon their king, in the face of the whole army, roused the Scots to instant onset. and they rushed furiously upon their foes The ardor of one of their divisions carried it too far, and it was sorely galled by a large body of English archers, who charged it in flank; these were soon dispersed by Edward Bruce, who came behind them with a party of spearmen; or, according to other accounts, by sir Robert Keith, whom the king despatched to its relief, with a company of five hundred horse. Edward Bruce, however, soon needed similar relief himself. A strong body of English cavalry charged the right wing, which he commanded, with such fury, that he had been quite overpowered, if Randolph, who appears to have been at that time disengaged, had not marched to his assistance. The battle was now at the hottest, and the fortune of the day uncertain. The English continued to charge with unabated vigor; the Scots received them with inflexible intrepidity, and fought as if victory depended upon each man's single arm. A singular scene suddenly altered the face of affairs, and contributed greatly to decide the contest. All the servants and attendants of the Scottish army, amounting, it is said, to above fifteen thousand, had been ordered, before the battle, to retire with the baggage behind Gillies-hill. During the engagement they arranged themselves in a martial form, some on foot, and others mounted upon baggagehorses. Marching to the top of the hill, they there displayed white sheets upon long poles, in the form of banners, and moved towards the field of battle with frightful shouts. The English, taking them for a fresh reinforcement to the Scots, were seized with panic, and gave way in great confusion. Buchanan says that the king of England was the first that fled; but in this he contradicts all other historians, who affirm that the English monarch was among the last in the field. According to some accounts, he would not be persuaded to retire, till sir Aymer de Vallance, seeing the day lost, seized his horse's bridle, and forced him off. The king's other knight, sir Giles de Argentine, would not leave the field. Throwing nimself at the head of a battalion, he animated it to prodigious efforts, but was soon overpowered and slain. Sir Giles was a champion of great renown; he had signalized himself in several battles with the Saracens, and was reckoned the third knight for valor in his day The Scots pursued and made deadly havoc among the English, especially at the passage of the river, where order in retreat could not be kept, because of the irregularity of the ground. Within a short mile from the field of battle is a plot of ground, called the Bloody Field;" it is said to take its name from a party of the English having there faced about, and sustained a dreadful slaughter. This tradition corresponds with a relation in several historians concerning Gilbert de Clare, earl of Glocester, and nephew to Edward II. Seeing the general rout, he made an effort to renew the battle at the head of his military tenants; and, after having done much execution with his own hand, was, with most of his party, cut in pieces. With this martial prince perished Robert de Clifford, first lord of the honor of Skipton: they fought side by side. Their heroism had excited the admiration of Bruce; they had been companions in the field, and, that they might not be separated after death, he sent thier bodies to Edward II. at Berwick, to be interred with the honors due unto their valor. At the battle of Bannockburn there feil, on the side of the English, one hundred and fifty-four earls, barons, and knigh's, seven hundred gentlemen, and more than ten thousand common soldiers. A few stanzas, from one of the oldest effusions on this subject, will show the fiery and taunting tone of exultation raised by Scottish minstrelsy upon the victory. Song of the Scottish Maidens. Let fly their shafts like snow. When England's arrows fly !" Must learn to wail and sigh; All gore from helm to heel; |
