M. 390.

CASTLE OF DUNBAR.

THE eastern coast of Scotland, from Berwick to the mouth of the Frith of Forth, is bound round with a barrier of inaccessible rocks and shoals, which rendered the few harbours it affords places of the utmost consequence, from an early period of Scottish history. That of Dunbar, though capable only of receiving small vessels, was farther made important by the vicinity of a very strong castle, which, built within the sea-mark upon several rocks, connected together by fortifications, was, before the invention of gunpowder, esteemed almost impregnable. Very little now remains of what was, in former years, an extensive, as well as a formidable castle. The gate leading to the keep or donjon is the most perfect part of the ruins, and still exhibits several shields with armorial bearings, amongst which are those of the Duke of Albany, bearing the arms of the Isle of Man, Dunbar, and Annandale, quartered with those of Scotland, as on the Trinity Church in Edinburgh. We shall presently see that the bearer of these arms had a particular interest in the citadel which they adorn. Of the other coats many are defaced.

Excepting this gate, and one or two fragments presented in the view, the massive vestiges of the castle which remain are scarcely to be discerned, in colour or shape, from the rude dark rocks on which they are founded; yet an antiquary may discover that these fragments belong to different ages, during the course of which the edifice was renewed, or its plan enlarged with additional defences. Beneath the reef of rocks which sustains these stern memorials of a warlike age, run several caverns, some of them to a great extent, through which the tide, when in strong current, rages with awful fury. The highest and largest of these vaults is stated, with little probability, to have been occupied as a prison. It seems more likely to have been used as a place for securing the boats and skiffs belonging to the garrison.

It has frequently happened, in the course of this work, that more frequent and important historical recollections have been attached to places of which slight vestiges now remain, than to others which still continue in a state nearly entire. The remembrances connected with these rude vestiges of former strength and consequence, are interwoven with the History of Scotland. The Castle of Dunbar was accounted, from an early period, the key to the eastern part of that kingdom.

The manor of Dunbar, with many other possessions, was conferred by Malcolm Canmore upon Patrick, Earl of Northumberland, a princely fugitive, who retired into Scotland from the wrath of William the Conqueror, and whose name and title, "Comes Patricius," are

contracted by our historians into Cos Patrick, or Gospatrick, by which his descendants, created Earls of Dunbar and March, were afterwards for a length of time distinguished. If the Castle of Dunbar does not owe its actual foundation to this illustrious exile, who obtained the grant in 1072, it must have been much enlarged by him.

In the wars of Bruce and Baliol, Patrick, eighth Earl of Dunbar and March, adhered to the English interest, and hence the infamy with which the name of Gospatrick is pursued in history, tradition, and legend. But while the Earl of March followed the English banners, his wife, Margery Comyn, surrendered his castle of Dunbar to her countrymen of Scotland, choosing rather to betray the trust of her husband than the fealty she owed to her country. Earl Warrene was despatched, with Edward I.'s usual celerity, to press the siege of this important place. Unprepared for sustaining a blockade, the garrison agreed to surrender unless relieved within a time specified. The assembled force of Scotland marched to their succour; but, with the same ill conduct which usually attended their military operations on a large scale, they hazarded a battle on disadvantageous ground, and were defeated with great slaughter. The garrison of Dunbar, on approach of the Scottish army, had exultingly spread their banners, and upbraided the English with the popular reproach, that the curse of Saint Augustine had endowed the English with an appendage proper to quadrupeds alone, in all systems except that of Lord Monboddo. "Come hither, ye long-tailed hounds," they exclaimed from their battlements, "and we will cut off your tails for you." Their note was changed, however, on the total defeat of their countrymen, and the castle was forced to surrender at discretion. This fatal battle was fought 28th April, 1296; and about 350 years afterwards, Cromwell defeated the Scots on almost the same ground, and under similar circumstances of rashness on their part, and military skill on that of the English commander.

The ninth Earl of Dunbar and March followed his father's politics, and adhered to the English while they could maintain a party in Scotland. Even after the fatal defeat at Bannockburn, he continued to espouse their interest, opened the gates of his castle of Dunbar to the fugitive Edward II., "full gently" received him, and dismissed him safely to Berwick by sea. This was honourable, because Cospatrick must have had in his thoughts at that time the making his peace with his native monarch, and could not be ignorant how easily and advantageously he might have done so, by detaining in custody the person of the King of England.

Cospatrick afterwards submitted himself and his fortress to Robert Bruce, and continued to serve his country with fidelity until the luckless battle of Halidon Hill, when it was generally thought the Scottish

nation was so thoroughly subdued, that no man remained, with power to bring an army together, and skill to lead it when assembled.

The Earl of March, who commanded Berwick for the Scottish, surrendered after the loss of the battle, became anew the liegeman of John Baliol, or rather of England, and engaged himself to repair his castle of Dunbar, and garrison it, for the English. This was in 1333; but in 1334, Cospatrick had quitted the English cause once more, and with open solemnity renounced his allegiance to Edward III., as he advanced with a mighty army into Scotland in the autumn of that year. The earl himself kept the field with the Regent of Scotland, and did gallant service. In the meantime, his castle of Dunbar had perhaps its most brilliant epoch.

This stronghold was left by the earl under the command of his heroic countess, Agnes Randolph, daughter of the celebrated Randolph, Earl of Murray, and grand-niece of Robert Bruce. She was well known at the period, and is still dear to popular tradition, by the name of Black Agnes of Dunbar. This heroine, at a time when almost all the fortresses in the south of Scotland were subdued by the enemy, defended Dunbar with a zeal and magnanimity worthy the illustrious blood which flowed in her veins; and, while the captivity of one regent, and the inexperience of another, seemed to precipitate the ruin of the Scottish nation, a woman retained firmly within her grasp one of the most important keys of the kingdom. Dunbar being of the utmost consequence to both parties, the English laid close siege to it, under the command of a renowned leader, Montague, Earl of Salisbury. But he met with a more than equal adversary in Black Agnes, who, surmounting the timidity of her sex, showed herself on the walls with the indifference of a veteran, and when the battering engines flung massive stones and fragments of rock on her battlements, she caused her maidens, as if in scorn, to wipe away the dust with their handkerchiefs. When the Earl of Salisbury caused bring up to the walls a huge military engine, called the sow, intended, like the Roman testudo, to protect those employed to undermine the walls, Black Agnes, perceiving him on horseback, directing the operation, called out to him, in a scoffing rhyme,

"Beware, Montagow, '
For farrow shall thy sow."

An enormous rock was then discharged on the engine by her commands, which crushed it to pieces, while the countess and her attendants ridiculed the unfortunate pioneers, as they escaped in confusion, and termed them the litter of pigs belonging to the English sow. Ritson admitted the Countess Agnes into the list of Scottish poets upon the strength of that single couplet; from the record of Scotland's heroes none can presume to erase her. The obvious jest

of the sow's farrowing having passed to other countries, the same story is told, perhaps truly, of Judge Banks's lady, while holding out Corffe Castle against the Parliament forces; which I only mention for the sake of introducing my friend Mr William Stewart Rose's lines, as applicable to either the Scottish or English heroine, though written in allusion to the last. The author addresses Corffe Castle, in which the reader may remember that one Edward was murdered, and another detained prisoner. But, continues the poet,

To return from Corffe Castle to that of Dunbar, we must record another remarkable incident which distinguished this memorable siege. The Earl of Salisbury, conceiving he had gained over to his interest the warder of one of the gates of the castle, treated with him for the admittance of an English force, which he proposed to lead in person. The warden, in appearance, agreed to the English general's proposal, but, in reality, betrayed it to his lady. He was directed to promise admission at a certain hour, when, the countess being prepared for their reception, the portcullis was dropped on those who had entered. Salisbury narrowly escaped, but his armour-bearer, Copeland, with others, remained a prisoner. "Aha, lord earl!" exclaimed the countess to Montague, as she saw him retreating in all haste, "you have disappointed us! We thought to have had your company at supper, and that you would have enlisted with us to keep this our castle against the robbers of England."

Nothwithstanding the repeated disappointment of his attempts, Salisbury continued his attack, and the countess her defence, with the same obstinacy, until a long blockade, maintained by sea and land, had reduced the place to extremity. Fortunately the heroic Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalwolsey heard of the distress of the castle. He embarked with forty resolute men, and, under the cover of a dark night, entered the castle by a postern from the sea, relieved the wants of the garrison, and sallying next morning upon the un

wary besiegers surprised them by storming their posts, and putting all to the sword.

The siege, which had lasted six weeks, was now abandoned by the English, and their leaders even made a truce with the victorious Scots, neither safe, honourable, nor profitable to the English, says one of their own chroniclers, but acceptable and useful to the Scottish; and this turn in her fortunes Scotland owed to the defence of Dunbar by Black Agnes Randolph.

George, tenth Earl of Dunbar and March, the son of the gallant Countess Agnes, was a brave and wise leader, but had not her fortune, or perhaps her spirit of patriotism. At least the bonds of loyalty hung as loose on that powerful Border noble as on some of his predecessors, who seemed to have transferred their precarious allegiance from one kingdom to the other, as best suited their own interest. On a quarrel with Alexander, Duke of Albany, brother of James III., and at that time his brother's chief counsellor, the earl retreated into England, and left his son-in-law, Maitland, to defend his Castle of Dunbar against the Scottish forces. But Maitland seems soon to have surrendered the charge, and while the Earl of March continued in England. The Earl of March himself found refuge at the English court, and rendered various services to Henry IV., not only in the Scottish wars, but at the battle of Shrewsbury, where his military talents contributed to decide the fate of the day against the celebrated Hotspur. And as that memorable name recalls us to the scenes of Shakspeare, we may remark that the letter upon which Percy makes such characteristic comments,* is supposed to have been addressed to him by this same Earl of Dunbar and March, whose concurrence in his conspiracy he had solicited, but who thought it more prudent to remain on the king's side.

While the Earl of March was engaged in the English service, his large estate and seignories underwent forfeiture, and, with his hereditary Castle of Dunbar, passed to the crown nominally, but, in truth, into the hands of his enemy, Alexander Duke of Albany, who was at the same time created Earl of March. And although the Earl Patrick made his peace with his native prince, yet it was at the expense of a considerable part of his domains. Nor does it appear that he obtained repossession of Dunbar Castle, which it perhaps suited the ambitious schemes of Albany to retain. The gateway, already noticed as the most entire part of the present ruins, was probably built by him, as it bears his armorial insignia, in which his native coat of Stewart is quartered with the feudal bearings of Annandale, March, and Man. But the stronghold was wrested from his grasp, as from that of its hereditary owner, after it had sheltered his retreat on a

[See I. King Henry IV. Act II. Scene III.]