EARLIEST TRAD ITI ONS. 9
have elevated the character of his people. Tradition represents him as beguiling his
tedious captivity in England with his pencil ; and Barnes relates that he left behind him,
in a vault in Nottingham Castle, the whole story of our Saviour’s passion, curiously
engraved on a rock with his own hand.’
With the death of this unfortunate prince terminated the direct line of the Bruce, that
had so nobly established, in the independence of Scotland, their right to the throne ; and
with it, too, may be considered to close the first epoch in the history of the Scottish capital,
while as yet it was only the occasional seat of her Parliaments, and the temporary residence
of her prince ; with many of the characteristics of a frontier town, ever on the watch to
repel the approach of foreign invaders, or with resolute endurance to stand the Gst brunt
of the Southron’s hostile inroads.
Abercromby* says of it at this time : ‘‘ Edinburgh was then but a small burgh, or rather,
as Walsingham calls it, a village, the houses of which, because they were so often exposed
to incursions from England, being thatched for the most part with straw and turf; and
when burnt or demolished, were with no great difficulty repaired. me strength of the
Castle, the convenience of the Abbey, the fruitfulness of the adjacent country, and its no
great distance from the borders, made after kings chuse to reside for the most part, to hold
their Parliaments, and keep their courts of justice in this place.” Their mode of defence
corresponded with the character of their habitations. When an overwhelming host crossed
the borders, and poured down in irresistible fury upon the neighbouring Lothians, like the
borderers of later times, they drove off their cattle, concealed their more bulky wealth,
and even carried away the straw roofs of their houses, as some security against a conflagation:
leaving the. enemy to wreak their futile vengeance upon the walls, that could be again
replaced, to satisfy their simple wants, almost ere the retreating foes had reached their
homes. Yet they never failed to retaliate ; and no sooner had the invaders been starved
into a retreat from the deserted plains, than the burghers of the smoking hamlet were at
their heels ; and, as Abercromby adds, “ Conformably to their usual custom, followed the
enemy into his own country, and never put up their swords till by a retaliating invasion
they had made up for their losses.”
To complete the view of national manners at this early period, we shall add the lively
picture of Froi~sart,w~h ich, notwithstanding the peculiarities incident to a foreigner’s
description of habits altogether new to him, exhibits traits that may still be found under
comparatively slight modifications at the present day, after a11 the changes that five centuries
have produced. ‘( The Scots,” says he, (‘ are bold and hardy, and much inured to
war ; they bring no carriages with them, on account of the mountains they have to pass,
neither do they carry with them any provisions of bread or wine ; they have no occasion
for pots or caldrons, for they dress the flesh of their cattle in the skins, after they have
taken them off, and being nure to find plenty of them in the country they invade, they
carry none with them. Under the flaps of his saddle, each man carries a broad plate of
metal,’ andthe trusses behind him a bag full of meal. They place this plate over the fire,
.
’
Martial Achievementa, vol. ii. p. 141. * Bid, voL ii. 189. a Banatyne, Mkc. Edin. Re- Scotorum Dwcrip. ’ Ibid, voL i p, 32.
a Scottiec, A Girdle.
B
