three lords to pass in pledge for the said artillery, till it was delivered again, and received the same, in manner as after follows: that is to say, two great canons thrown-mouthed Mow and her Marrow, with two great botcards and two moyans, two double falcons, and four quarter falcons, with their powder and bullets, and gunners for to use them, conform to the king's pleasure."* After the siege of Tantallon, Argyle came to Dunbar in pursuit of Douglas, and advanced to the Pease. In 1528, James sent to Flanders for more artillery. and ammunition to supply Dunbar, Stirling, &c. The castle continued to be occupied by the French during the reign of James V.; and when this unhappy monarch, wounded by the perfidy of his nobles, had abandoned himself to melancholy, it is said that his distresses were increased by the intelligence that one Leech, a Lincolnshire refugee, had murdered Somerset, an English herald, at Dunbar.† Lindsay's Chron. Ridpath's Bord. Hist.. CHAPTER XI. The priest beheld the bridal group before the altar stand, And sigh'd as he drew forth his book with slow reluctant hand: THE KEEPSAKE Queen Mary. THE same picture, it has been observed, with deeper shadows, is about to be exhibited, that disgraced the former minorities. James V. was succeeded by his daughter Mary, an infant scarcely a month old. The 'ambition of the great, which the kings of France and England endeavoured to keep at variance, employed every means to strengthen their party, while the dif ference of religious opinions that now prevailed, afforded a favourable opportunity for their accomplishJames had left the office of regent open to every pretender, and Cardinal Beaton was the first that claimed that high dignity; but the church party were discomfited, and on the 22d December, the earl of Arran, on being proclaimed sole tutor to the queen, and governor of the kingdom, assumed the rights of the castle of Dunbar. ment. The English, in the inroad under the earl of Hertford, in 1544, after their return from the siege of Leith, and after burning Haddington, encamped 66 the second night near Dunbar, (26th May,) and on the morning set fire to the town, when “ men, women, and children, were suffocated and burnt."* During another inroad, they took and fortified the abbey of Coldingham, and ravaged the neighbourhood. The governor who went in pursuit of the invaders, met with such a gallant resistance, that, alarmed at the approach of the main army, he secretly departed to Dunbar. The bravery of Angus, however, saved the artillery. With a band of his dependants he marched in rear of the ordnance, and in despite of the English horsemen, brought it safe to the castle. In 1547, when lord Borthwick was appointed keep "The same day we burnt a fine town of the earl Bothwell's, called Haddington, with a great nunnery and a house of friars. The next night after, we encamped besides Dunbar; and there the Scots gave a small alarm to our camp. But our watches were in such readiness that they had no vantage there, but were fain to recoil without doing of any harm. That night they looked for us to have burnt the town of Dunbar, whic hwe deferred till the morning at the dislodging of our camp, which we executed by V. C. of our hakbutters, being backed with V. C. horsemen. And by reason we took them in the morning, who having watched all night for our coming, and perceiving our army to dislodge and depart, thought themselves safe of us, were newly gone to their beds; and in their first sleeps closed in with fire, men, women, and children, were suffocated and burnt. That morning being very misty and foggy, we had perfect knowledge by our espials, that the Scots had assembled a great power at a strait called the Pease.”—Expedicion under the Erle of Hertforde. The other piles and villages desolated by these cold-blooded savages, were Preston and the castle of Seton, Tranent, Shenstone, (probably Stevenston,) Markle, Traprene, Kirklandhill, Hether. wick, Belton, East Barns, &c. er of Hailes castle, (during the outlawry of Bothwell,) he was commanded, in the event of being attacked by the English, to apply to the captain of Dunbar for assistance in the Lord Governor's absence. The same year, the duke of Somerset invaded Scotland with an army of 14,000 men. Beacons were placed on the hills near the coast. Robert Hamilton, captain of Dunbar, was charged with that on the Domilaw above Spot; the prioress of North Berwick with that on North Berwick Law; and the earl of Bothwell with Dumpender Law, And it was ordained, that all fencible men, between sixteen and sixty, should appear at the marketcrosses of Dunbar, North Berwick, Haddington, &c. "weil boddin in feir of weir."* The duke's army having crossed the pass of Pease, with "puffyng and payne," as Patten says, demolished the castles of Dunglass, Innerwick, and Thornton On passing Keith's Hist. 52. t "This done, about noon, we marched on, passing soon after within the gunshot of Dunbar, a town standing longwise upon the sea-side, whereat is a castle, (which the Sco's count very strong,) that sent us divers shots as we passed, but all in vain: their horsemen shewed themselves in their fields beside us, towards whom Bartevile with his viii. men, all hakbutters on horseback, (whom he had right well appointed,) and John de Rybaud, with divers others, did make; but no hurt on either side, saving that a man of Bartevile's slew one of them with his piece, the skirmish was soon ended. We went a iiii. mile farther, and having travelled that day a x. mile, we camped nigh Tantallon, and had at night a blind alarm. Here had we first advertisement certain, that the Scots were assembled in camp at the place where we found them. 66 Marching this morning a ii. mile, we came to a fair river call. Dunbar, the castle fired several shots, but the army had not time to spare from their main enterprize för the reduction of such a strong fortress. After the defeat at Pinkey* in 1548, Dunbar was burnt by the German mercenaries under the earl of Shrewsbury, on his return to England from the attack on Haddington. In 1550, when Thomas, master of Erskine, was sent ambassador to France, he was instructed to request the French king, to fortify and maintain such garrisons in Dunbar, Blackness, &c. as were recessary in the time of peace;+ and, in 1551, when the fort of Aberlady at Luffness was considered an un ed Lyn, (Tyne,) running all straight eastward toward the sea; over this river is there a stone bridge, that they name Linton bridge, of a town thereby on our right hand, and eastward as we went, that stands upon the same river. Our horsemen and carriages passed through the water, (for it was not very deep,) our footmen over the bridge. The passage was very strait for an army, and therefore the longer in setting over. Beyond this bridge about a mile westward, (for so methought as then we turned,) upon the same river on the southside, stands a proper house, and of some strength, belike, they call it Hayles Castle, and pertaineth to the earl of Bothwell, but kept as then by the governor's appointment, who held the earl in prison."-Patten's Journal. The army kept along the coast, to be near their ships, which were in the Forth; from Hailes they proceeded by Beanston and Garleton to Longniddry, keeping clear of Haddington; their encampment on the 9th September being at Salɩ Preston. *The lord of Yester and Hobby Hambleton, captain of Dunbar, were amongst the prisoners taken at the battle of Pinkey. † See Note I. at the end of this chapter. |