PETITS-MAITRES.

THE appellation of petit-maître is given to a certain set of young men of the court, who take the lead of the rest, and affect a superiority by their free and bold behaviour. Their origin is very ancient. I believe they are derived from those heroes, that kings and princes used to keep near their persons, to serve them in dangerous emergencies. Such were formerly the mighty men of Israel, and those whom David entertained at his court, and in his armies, and of whom so many wonders are recorded in history.

"These heroes have kept up their credit, or sunk, according to the inclinations of the princes whom they served, and to whom they were obliged to conform themselves. Under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, they were those young men without experience, who gave a fatal counsel to that prince. By listening to them he had the mortification to have his kingdom divided, and ten tribes revolt before his face to his enemy and his rival.

"The Greeks had heroes of this kind, who served them on great occasions without hesitation. Alexander the Great had some who partook both of his dangers and his amusements. The Romans also had them; but their use was strangely perverted under Nero; and it was in his school that a new species of petit-maître was formed, who distinguished themselves by their follies and extravagancies.

"In France we have seen nothing of the same kind till the reign of Francis I. and his children. Henry III. brought the petits-maîtres into great credit. They were the minions of that corrupted court. The Duke of Guise called the King of Navarre his petit-maître.-After this, we heard no more of petits-maîtres till under the Cardinal Richlieu, who retained in his service a certain number of resolute persons, whom he employed in the execution of his designs.— Rochfort, whose memoirs we have, was one of them. The Prince de Condé had some of these petits-maîtres, who were greatly distinguished for their courage.

"Those of the present day, whether brave or not, are the sayers of bons mots, rash and violent young men, who judge precipitately, alter the fashions, and assume the privilege of fixing the value and merit of every thing, and of giving novelty to those pleasures which in reality they destroy."

The above extract is only curious, as it gives the true sense of an appellation which is frequently misunderstood in this country.

H. J. P.

RANDOLPH'S FIELD.

MR. EDITOR,

ABOUT an hundred yards west of the public road leading to Stirling, from the village of St. Ninians, and within half a mile of that town, lies an open field called "Randolphs," thus named in honour of the gallant nephew of Robert de Brus, or Bruce, as he is usually denominated, the illustrious restorer of the ancient line of Scotish kings, and of his country's independence. About three weeks since, an opulent citizen of Stirling, designing to build a house in that field, had given orders to tradesmen to clear the ground for that purpose. Shortly after beginning their operations, they dug up an immense number of human bones, in almost every part where they had broke ground. The number of men buried in that spot, and thus, after the lapse of near five hundred years, dragged from their graves, must, at least in the opinion of those who inspected the bones, in which number was the author of this article, have amounted to more than five hundred. A few yards to the south of this field, and now enclosed, and a little to the west of the former, stand two perpendicular stones, erected in memory of the events of the day previous to the battle of Bannockburn. These stones still exist an object of curiosity to the spectator, and of interest to the patriot.

The operations of Randolph, on that occasion, having had a very considerable influence on the events of the following day, a day never to be eradicated from the memory of any one retaining the least spark of the sacred fire of patriotism, I shall be pardoned for troubling you with a short sketch of that action.

The efforts of a handful of men, struggling for the first and greatest of blessings, liberty, must excite the sympathy, and command the admiration of the generous and the brave, whatever be their nation or their country. In Greece, temples have been built, and statues erected to the honour of Marathon: a coarse, rugged, grey stone, upon the side of the road, within half a mile of the village of St. Ninians, and leading to Sauchie, obscured by filth, and half-covered with rubbish, alone marks the standard of a hero who conquered, and an army whose exertions, in one day, obtained, and for centuries secured, the freedom of their native land. But it is to the action of Randolph I, for the present, confine myself.

The object of the immense army led by Edward the Second,

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and his plans, need not here be mentioned at much length. Suffice it to state, that the castle of Stirling alone remained with the English, of all the places of strength in Scotland. Mowbray, its governor, had obtained, from the impetuous Edward Bruce, disgusted with the delays of a regular siege, a truce for twelve months, to which the Scotish king reluctantly acceded. If not relieved by an English army, by St. John the Baptist's day, Mowbray bound himself, by the honour of a true knight, the only obligation those troubled times counted sacred, to deliver the garrison to the Scotish king. Thus, what Robert Brus had ever dreaded and avoided, the independence of his country was put to the hazard of a single battle. Edward the Second having levied an immense army of English, as well as foreigners, proceeded to the relief of Stirling.

In the month of June, 1314, the Scotish army was rendezvous'd about two miles to the southward of Stirling, in what was called the New Park. The forces of Edward were seen marching by the then great forest of Torwood, on the ancient Roman road to the river Bannock, which they had determined to pass.

The Chapel of St. Ninian, standing nearly upon the spot occupied by the present church, has, to the south, remarkably steep banks, at the bottom of which flows a small rivulet, which a little below joins the Kerse, then so marshy and swampy, as to be impassable by cavalry. Randolph was stationed on the left of the Scotish line, a little south of the present village of St. Ninians, and particularly enjoined to prevent any detachment from the English army, from reaching Stirling. The Scotish army had advanced rather to the front of the New Park, facing the east: the royal standard was displayed and fixed in the flat stone already mentioned. The English army had reached the little river Bannockcoh, with its steep banks, and some intervening ground separated the two armies.

In these circumstances, the evening previous to the great battle, Randolph, with other general officers, happened to be near the Scotish standard, at the Borstane, surveying the situation of the English army, then in full view. Robert anxiously surveying the enemy's force, and the surrounding grounds, perceived a number of hostile cavalry, pushing along the skirts of the Kerse, hitherto concealed by the hills that bound it, a little to the eastward of St. Ninians, bending their course in a direct line to Stirling castle. This was a body of eight hundred cavalry, under the gallant Lord Clifford, who had been detached from the English army, a few miles to the eastward, and ordered to proceed, unobserved, to succour the castle of Stirling. Their arrival at the garrison would, by absolving

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Mowbray from his engagements, have ruined the measures of the Scotish king. Randolph he reproached, in an angry tone, for his inadvertence, and, pointing to Clifford's force, observed, a rose had fallen from his chaplet ;" in other words, he had failed in his duty, and tarnished his honour. Irritated by this public rebuke, Randolphi instantly joined his troops, determined to repair the effects of his oversight, or perish in the attempt. With nearly five hundred select spearinen, he marched by the west of the present village of St. Ninians, to intercept the enemy in their progress to Stirling. He had nearly gained the spot, now bearing his name, when Lord Clifford, who, with his eight hundred cavalry, had got before him about a quarter of a mile, perceiving his intention, and the inferiority of the Scotish force, wheeled about, proceeded to Randolph's little force, determined to give battle. Randolph formed his troops in the them usual manner: an irregular column inclining to circular, consisting of small companies a little separated, very deep, and, so to speak, forming so many round balls, individually and generally supporting each other, waited the assault. Instantly they were surrounded; the charge was impetuous, and the resistance firm; English ardour was opposed to Scotish perseverance; the contest became bloody, and the Kings of England and Scotland, with their whole armies, were the spectators. The superior number of their force, and the very extensive ground these occupied, inspired the admiring English army with exultation ;-their countrymen surrounded, and altogether enveloped among numbers, produced, in the army of Robert, the most profound despondency.

The generous Douglass, the representative of the illustrious family, whose descendants, in valorous deeds, have far eclipsed the glory of every family in christendom, lamenting the condition of his friend, though his rival in fame, keenly solicited his master's permission to march to the rescue of Randolph. "He has brought himself into danger," answered Robert, "let him extricate himself." The sentiments of friendship prevailing over the apprehension of his sovereign's displeasure in the mind of the magnanimous Douglass, he determined to proceed, "With or without your leave," replied he, "I advance; my friend shall not be destroyed." With a few hundred men, Douglass was advancing to the scene of action; a more complete view of the state of the combatants induced him to halt. The scene was now changed: Repulsed in every attempt to penetrate this bristle (so to speak) of Scotish spears; the majority of their number fallen; their gallant leader, the illustrious Clifford, struck down, and incapable of longer animating them by

his courage or his example, the remainder of the English force upon the foot of fear," Douglass would not, by dividing with him the victory, diminish the well-earned laurels of Randolph. Vanquished on every side, a very small part of the English departed from the field, pursued by the victorious Scots. This spectacle pro portionally excited and cherished the hopes of the on-looking ar mies. Had this action not been fought and gained, the field now called Bannockburn would, in all probability, have witnessed the last spectacle of Scotish glory-and been the grave of Caledonian independence.

The fall of the great Clifford is marked by the most northern, and the largest of the two perpendicular stones I have already noticed; another valiant knight, Sir Guilleme D'Amecote* we are told was the first who was killed. The more westerly stone, in all probability, marks his grave. The bodies of the dead were committed to their native earth in a large trench, where they have remained undisturbed until the event which has occasioned my letter.

"The

The accounts of the bulk of historians are, in some respects, different from others in describing this action. I have chiefly followed that of Barbour, a cotemporary author, who, though a poet, and a priest, was a man of veracity. With that author in my hand, I have a thousand times inspected the field of Bannockburn, on which, though not precisely a native, the days of my early youth, far, far indeed the happiest of my existence, were spent. tales of the times of old" were, even through the obscure medium of a dark tradition, the sweetest enjoyment of my soul. Subsequent reflection and experience have convinced me of some inaccuracies in many of our historians, in their narrative of the battle of Bannockburn. Your insertion of this may induce me to give some account of the exploits of that renowned day, the sequel to that of Randolphs field. To the accounts of the downright Fordun, the costive Major, the lying and fabulous Boetius, the romancing though classical Buchanan, the well-meaning, though often ill-informed Nimno, and even the judicious and truly accurate Sir D. Dalrymple, something may be added; and it is trusted the sentiments of one who has, a thousand times, traversed every foot of the ground where that great battle was fought, may not prove altogether unacceptable even to English readers. I am, &c.

* Of this Sir G. D'Amecote I know nothing. respondents can give some account of his family. he was certainly English.

JUSTUS.

Perhaps some of your cor Though the name be French,