intelligence was brought that the disaffected lords, at the head of a considerable army, had advanced to the Torwood within a few miles of him. The only alternative was either to make his escape by going aboard Admiral Wood's fleet, which was stationed in the river Forth, near Alloa, or to engage the enemy with what forces he had. Though not distinguished for courage he resolved upon the latter, and prepared for battle.

The two armies met on a tract of ground which goes by the name of the little Canglar, upon the east side of a small brook called Sauchieburn, about three miles southward from Stirling, and one mile from the famous field of Bannockburn. The royal army was drawn up in three lines; but historians differ as to their number, and the leaders under whom they were arranged; some, beyond all probability, making them amount to thirty thousand. Nor is it agreed in what part the king had his station; only we are told that he was armed cap-à-pée, and mounted on a stately horse, which had been presented to him by David Lindsay, of Byres, who informed his majesty that he might, at any time, trust his life to his agility and surefootedness. The army of the malcontents was likewise ranged in three divisions: the first which was composed of East Lothian and Merse men, was commanded by the Lords Hume and Hailes, whose discontent arose from the king's annexing to his royal chapel, at Stirling, the revenues of the priory of Coldingham, to the disposal of which they pretended a right; the second line, which was made up of the inhabitants of Galloway and the shires upon the borders, was led by Lord Gray; the prince had the name of commanding what was called the main body; but was entirely under the direction of the lords about him. Showers of arrows from both sides began the action, but they soon came to a closer engagement with lances and swords. The royalists at first gained an advantage and drove the first line of the enemy; but these, being soon supported by the

borderers, who composed the second line, not only recovered their ground, but pushed the first and second lines of the royalists back to the third.

The small courage James possessed forsaking him at the first onset, he put spurs to his horse, and galloped off with a view to get aboard Wood's ship, which lay in sight at the distance of five miles; at least from the route he took, this is supposed to have been his intention. As he was crossing the brook of Bannockburn, at the small village of Meltown, about a mile to the east of the field of battle, a woman was drawing water at the brook; observing a man in armor, gallopping full speed towards her, she left her pitcher and ran off, afraid of being rode down. The horse starting at the sight of the pitcher, threw the king, who was so bruised with the fall and the weight of his armor, that he fainted away. This disaster happening within a few yards of a mill, from which the village derives its name, the miller and his wife carried him into the mill, and, though ignorant of his name and station, treated him with great humanity, administering to him such cordials as their house could afford.

When the king had recovered a little, he called for a priest, to whom, as a dying man, he might make a confession; and those about him demanding who he was, he replied, I was your king this morning. By this time some of the malcontents who, having observed the king's flight, had left the battle to pursue him, were come up to the place; and, as they were passing, the miller's wife clapping her hands with astonishment and grief oalled out, that if there was any priest among them he would instantly stop and confess the king. I am a priest, said one of them, lead me to his majesty. This person being brought in, he found the king lying in the corner of a mill covered with a coarse cloth, and approaching him upon his knees, under pretence of respect, while treachery filled his heart, asked him if he thought he could recover if he had the proper help of physicians? James ans

wering in the affirmative, the ruffian pulled out a dagger and stabbed him several times through the heart.

The name of the person who committed this atrocious deed is certainly not known; nor would the discovery add much to the stock of historical knowledge. The place where it was committed is well known, in that neighborhood, by the name of Beaton's mill, said to be so called from the person who at that time possessed it. It is yet standing, though now converted into a dwelling house, new and more commodious mills having been erected near. The lower part of its walls are still the same which received the unfortunate James; the upper part, of them have been renewed; and the reparation which it seems to have undergone appears to have had no other design than to perpetuate the memory of this tragical event, the circumstances of which have been so carefully handed down by tradition, that they are still related by the elderly inhabitants of the village, and perfectly correspond to the accounts which we meet with in the best historians.

After the king's flight his troops continued to fight with great bravery; but an uncertain rumor of his death being brought, they began to retreat towards Stirling. They were not, however, pursued, for all hostilities immediately ceased. The army of the confederates lay that night upon the field, and next day marched back to Linlithgow. The number of the slain upon both sides is uncertain, though it must have been considerable; for the action lasted a good space, and was well maintained by the combatants on each side; several of high rank fell upon the side of the royalists, among whom were the Earl of Glencairn, the Lords Temple, Erskine, and Ruthven.*

*The ancient house of Ruthven, once the seat of the unfortunate Gowries, consists of two square towers, built at different times, and distinct from each other; but now joined by buildings of later date. The top of one of the towers is called Maiden's

When the prince, who before the battle had given a strict charge about the safety of his father's person, heard the rumor of his death, he was deeply affected. It was not, however, till some days after the battle that he obtained the certainty of his father's death; for, if any of the confederate Lords were in the secret, they kept it' carefully from the Prince; and from the rest a report was spread, that the king had gone aboard Wood's fleet, and was still alive; but the admiral being called before the young king and the council, declared that he knew nothing of his late master. So little had the Prince been accustomed to his father's company, that he was almost a stranger to his person, for, when Wood appeared before him, struck with his stately appearance, or perhaps with some resemblance he bore to the late king, he serenely asked him, Sir, are you my father? to which the admiral, bursting into tears, replied, I am not your father, but I was your father's true servant.

At last the body of the king was discovered, and carried to the palace in Stirling castle, where it lay till it

leap, receiving its name on the following occasion: a daughter of the first Earl of Gowrie was addressed by a young gentleman of inferior rank in the neighborhood, a frequent visitor of the family, who would never give the least countenance to his passion. His lodging was in the tower, separate from that of his mistress

Sed vetuere patres quod non potuere vetare.

The lady, before the doors were shut, conveyed herself into her lover's apartment; but some prying duenna acquainted the Countess with it: who, cutting off, as she thought, all possibility of retreat, hastened to surprise them. The young lady's ears were quick; she heard the footsteps of the old Countess, ran to the top of the leads, and took the desperate leap of nine feet four inches, over a chasm of sixty feet, and luckily lighting on the battlements of the other tower, crept into her own bed, where her astonished mother found her, and of course apologised for the unjust suspicion. The fair daughter did not choose to repeat the leap; but the next night eloped and was married.

was interred with all due honor in the burial place of Cambuskenneth near to that of his queen, who had died not long before. The inhabitants of that place still pretend to show a spot in which a king and a queen are buried but no monument is to be seen. The battle was fought on the 11th of June, 1488, and was called the field of Stirling.

The confederate lords endeavored to atone for their treatment of their late sovereign, by their loyalty and duty towards the son, whom they placed instantly upon the throne, and the whole kingdom soon united in acknowledging his authority. As a penance, for the unnatural part he had acted towards his father, the monarch, according to the superstitious notions of those times, ever after wore an iron girdle upon his body, to which a link was added every year, till it became very ponderous.

The party who had taken arms against their late sovereign deemed it also requisite, for their future security, to have a parliamentary indemnity for these proceedings. Accordingly in a parliament that met soon after, they obtained a vote, by which all that had been done in the field of Stirling was justified and declared to have been lawful, on account of the necessity they lay under of employing force against the king's evil counsellors, the enemies of the kingdom. This vote, in law books, is called the proposition of the debate of the field of Stirling.

NOTES OF SCOTTISH AFFAIRS, FROM THE YEAR 1680 TO 1701.

The following memoranda, which tend to connect our subjects, may serve for notes to the history of a period as well known as any in the annals of Britain-or as characteristic facts of the manners of the age, are extracted