oaths, and beard

he bubble

he cannon

OU L

, was one of those of whom Louis XI had long since said that they held in their hands the fort

nobility who yet acknowledged his cause, rendered it impolitic and unsafe to commit his personal safety to their keeping. The Scottish nation was the hereditary enemy of the English, and the ancient, and, as it seemed, the natural allies of France. They were poor, courageous, faithful; their ranks were sure to be supplied from the superabundant population o

them dignity in their own eyes, as well as importance in those of the nation of France. They were sumptuously armed, equipped, and mounted; and each was entitled to allowance for a squire, a valet, a page; and two yeomen, one of whom was termed coutelier, from the large knife which he wore to dispatch those whom in the melee his master had thrown to the ground. With these

inferior quality; but as their pay and appointments were excellent, their masters were easily able to select

rge and ghastly scar, which, beginning on his forehead, and narrowly missing his right eye, had laid bare the cheek bone, and descended from thence almost to the tip of his ear, exhibiting a deep seam, which was sometimes scarlet, sometimes purple, sometimes blue, an

commission to Our Lady as their Captain General. The Archer's gorget, arm pieces, and gauntlets, were of the finest steel, curiously inlaid with silver, and his hauberk, or shirt of mail, was as clear and bright as the frostwork of a winter morning upon fern or brier. He wore a loose surcoat or cassock of rich blue velvet, open at the sides like that of a herald, with a large white St. Andrew's cross of embro

rm, which has since been called the St. Andrew's cross. Certain of his relics were brought to Scotland in the fourth century, and he has s

complished man at arms than now saluted him in the person of his mother's brother, called Ludovic with the Scar, or Le Balafre; yet he could not but shrink a little from the grim expression of his c

replied young Durward; "but I am

re used to pass rivers. They are employed by the peasantry of the country near Bordeaux to traverse those deserts of loose sand called Landes. S]. But sit thee down-

is; and promptly-ay, with the promptitude of fear and precipitation, was it heard and obeyed. A flagon of champagne stood before them, of which the elder took a d

must fear the wine pot less, if you would wear beard on your face, and write yourself soldier. Bu

e," answered Que

etter in my life. Dead! the thing is impossible. I have never had so much as a headache, unless after revelling out of my two or three

ve without a wife. He loved to have his house in order-loved to look on a pretty woman too; and was somewhat strict in life withal-matrimony did all this for

my two uncles, and my two elder brothers, and seven of my kinsmen, and the harper, and the tasker, and some six more of o

evil chance it was; but fate of war-fate of war.-When did this mishap befall, fair nephew?" With that he took a deep draught of wine, and shook h

orm, from Amaury Bras de fer, a captain of free lances, whom you must have heard of. I killed him on his own threshold, and gained as much gold

Andrew, carry this to my gossip, jolly Father Boniface, the monk of St. Martin's; greet him well from me, by the same token that he could not say God save ye when we last parted at midnight.-Tell my gossip that my brother and sister, and some others of my house, are all dead and gone, and I pray him to say masses for their souls as far as the value of these links will carry him, and to do on trust what else may be necessary to free th

telier

ddle girth and stirrup leather till thou art as raw as Saint Bartholomew [he was flayed alive. In Michael Angelo's Last Judgment he is re

p, which the coutelier drank off, and

s hear what was your own for

stouter than I was, till we were all brought dow

"Look at this, now, my fair nephew," tracing the dark crimson gash which wa

some spark of life; but although a learned monk of Aberbrothik, who chanced to be our guest at the fatal time, and narrowly escaped being killed in the fray, was

the reading and writing, which I could never learn, and the psalmody, which I could never endure, and the dress, which is that of a mad beggar-Our Lady forgive me! [here he crossed himself] and their fasts, which do not suit my ap

, either in the cloister or in the tom

bersart who had taken the vows and afterwards broke out of cloister, and became a captain of Free Companions. He had a mistress, the prettiest wench I ever saw, and th

r to be in some degree a pledge for me, I was induced to take upon me the dress of

xceed their own. "To write, say'st thou, and to read! I cannot believe it-never Durward could write his name that ever I heard of, nor

mother died, and as my health was now fully restored, I communicated to my benefactor, who was also Sub Prior of the convent, my reluctance to take the vows; and it was agreed between us, since my vocation lay not to the cloister, that I should be sent out into the world to s

theft thou mayst have made, but hath a horror at anything like a breach of the

d the youth; "for to you, fair unc

of my person, and can at need spare a superfluous link or two, or it may be a superfluous stone for sale, that can answer any immediate purpose. But you may ask, fair kinsman, how you are to come by such toys as this." (He shook his chain with complacent triumph.) "They hang not on every bush-the

keeps a more noble state than the King of France, and that there is more honour to be won under his banners-that good blows are

d crown upon his head, or else charging at the head of his troops like Charlemagne in the romaunts, or like Robert Bruce or William Wallace in our own true histories, such as Barbour and the Minstrel. Hark in thine ear, man-it is all moonshine in the water. Policy-policy does it all. But what is policy, you will

art of Italy, and Spain as far as the Ebro. As Emperor of the West he bore the title Caesar Augustus. He established churches and monasteries, and enco

one. He defeated the English forces at Bannockburn in 1314, and thus secured the independence of

pendence against Edward I of England. Wallace was betrayed in 1305

ry with Chaucer. His principal work, The Bruc

of a poem on the life and deeds of Wallace which w

; "I would serve, since serve I must in a foreign land, somewhere w

at we could be much farther forward than the Duke and all his brave nobles of his own land? If we were not up with them, we had a chance to be turned on the Provost Marshal's hands for being slow in making to; if we were abreast of them, all would be called well and we might be thought to have deserved our pay; and grant that I was a spear's length or so in the front, whi

n Heaven's name, fair uncl

ustrious count, and my most mighty marquis, e'en rein up your fiery courage till it is wanted, for it is apt to start out of the course, and to hurt its master; here are my companies of ordnance-here are my French Guards-here are, above all, my Scottish Archers, and mine honest Ludovic with the Scar, who will fight, as well or better than you, will fight with all that undisciplined val

y and almost slothful life, to mount guard round an elderly man whom no one thinks of harming, to spend summer day and winter night up in yonder battlements, and

hat the bravest and most dangerous deeds are done by daylight. I could tell you of some, as scaling castles, making prisoners, and the like, where one who shall be nameless hath run higher risk and gained greater favour than any desperado in the train of desperate Charles of Burgundy. And if it please his Majesty to remain

ten to teach me there might be much danger in deeds by which little glory was acquired. I need not say

ther can I write or read. But I am your mother's brother; I am a loyal Lesly. Think you that I am like to recommend to you anything unw

ne of his grand feudatories in attendance, none of the high officers of the crown; half solitary sports, shared only with the menials of his household; secret councils, to which only low and obscure men are invited; rank and nobility depresse

change. If, again, the King pleases to give to plain Ludovic le Balafre a commission which he will execute, instead of employing the High Constable, who would perhaps betray it, doth it not show wisdom? Above all, doth not a monarch of such conditions best suit cavaliers of fortune, who must go where their services are most highly prized, and most frequently in demand?-No, no, child, I tell thee Louis knows how to choose his confidants, and what to charge them with; suiting, as they say, the burden to each man's back. He is not like the

o use any efforts for correcting. It might have been expected that, when left alone, Durward would have again betaken himself to his turret, in order to watch for the repetition of those delicious sounds which had soothed his morning reverie. But that was a chapter of roman

h he might traverse without fear of disagreeable interruption from snares and pitfalls, and there endeavoured to compose his t