C hame being the only man of note and lineage who had joined him; but, in this year, 1497, a great change took place; men of ancient family and powerful connexions, the worthy Scots,' from many quarters, come trooping to his banner, and choose him as their leader. This account is corroborated by Winton's Chronicle,' an unsuspected authority, and by the English historians, Hemingford, pp. 119, 121, and Trivet, p. 299. These writers now, for the first time, take notice of him as a popular and daring leader, whose successes began to alarm the captain of Edward in Scotland. It were easy to point out many additional particulars, which appear to prove the same fact, that there is, in the Book of Wallace,' by Henry the Minstrel, an extraordinary admixture of glaring error and absurdity, with minute historical truth; and that he must have had access to some valuable materials; and I may now mention, that, in more than one place, he refers to original authorities which have perished, and represents himself as little else than the transcriber from another author. In his account of the seizure of Percy's baggage by Wallace, he adds, As my autor me tald.' In speaking of the hero's marriage, he observes, Mine autor says she was his richteous wyf.' In his spirited account of the romantic skirmish in Elcho Park, he again tells us, I but rehearse, as my autor will say;' and lastly, in his fifth book, v. 533, we have this curious passage, from which a conjecture may be formed who this author was— < Maister Johne Blair was oft in that message, ** * He was the man that principal undirtuk, 6 6 It was, therefore, in all probability, the 'Latyne Buk of Wallace's Life,' compiled by this worthy ecclesiastic Master John Blair, who, as we are elsewhere informed, officiated as his chaplain, from which Henry the Minstrel derived those authentic particulars which may be detected, cropping out, as geologists say, from beneath the more fabulous superficies of his history. There is a curious passage in Major's History of Scotland,' which gives us some insight into the mode in which Blind Harry pursued his vocation. The book of William Wallace,' says this author, was composed during my infancy, by Henry, a man blind from his birth. He wrote in popular rhymes, a species of composition in which he was no mean proficient, such stories as were then current among the common people. From these compilations I must not be blamed if I withhold an implicit belief, as the author was one, who, by reciting them to the great, earned his food and raiment, of which indeed he was worthy *. It is thus easy to conceive, that whilst the main groundwork of his narrative was authentic, his recitation of his verses in the halls or at the tables of the great might lead him to omit some fact, to introduce another, to alter, or perhaps add to a third, according to the feelings or prejudices of his audience, and thus gradually bring confusion and contradiction * Major, Historia Britt. p. 169. into his history; nor is it to be forgotten, that many errors may be traced to the ignorance of those who transcribed the poem, and that other blunders may have crept in from the carelessness of succeeding copyists. But my object in these few remarks on the noted poem of the blind Minstrel is attained if I have established grounds for the doubt or question with which they commenced, namely, whether the Book of Wallace' is to be considered as wholly, or even principally, a work of fiction; whether, amidst all its palpable contradictions which are so easily detected, there does not run through it, in many places, a vein of historic truth. II. BRUCE AND ST. FILLAN. There is a curious piece of traditionary superstition connected with Bruce and Bannockburn, which, as it was not to be found in Fordun or Winton, I omitted in the text. Perhaps I was wrong in doing so, as the circumstance is characteristic of the times. It relates to an alleged miracle regarding the luminous arm of St. Fillan ; and it may first be necessary to inform the reader that this saint has given his name to many chapels and holy fountains in Scotland. Camerarius informs us he was Abbot of Pittenweem, in Fife, and afterwards died a hermit, in the wild and romantic district of Glenurquhay, A. D. 649. The legend asserts, that when engaged in transcribing the Scriptures, his left hand or arm emitted a supernatural effulgence, by which he was enabled, without resorting to the more natural expedient of using torches or candles, to carry on his labours at midnight as easily as at midday. This luminous arm was ever after preserved as a relic, and Bruce, who neglected nothing which might give confidence to his soldiers, and whose own mind was probably not insensible to the influence of such ideas, carried it along with him, inclosed in its silver shrine, to Bannockburn. The chaplain of the king, however, dreading lest the precious relic should, in the subsequent battle, perhaps fall into the hands of the English, secretly abstracted it, and left nothing but the silver shrine in the royal tent. At night, Robert, with his mind agitated by his various affairs, scarce allowed himself any sleep, but consumed the night in watching, and directed his prayers to St. Fillan, whose arm he believed to be shut up in the silver shrine which was carried with the army; when to his surprise the casket was observed to open and shut suddenly, and on inspection it was found that the saint had deposited his arm in the shrine as an assurance of victory. There yet lingers in the northern parts of the kingdom a strong superstitious belief in the powers of the same saint to cure lunacy, and the magical operations by which his aid is invoked are still performed at his chapel and pool of Strathfillan, in Breadalbane. A curious relic of St. Fillan existed not very long ago at Killin, where it was seen in July, 1782, by Mr. William Thomson. The following letter from that gentleman, to the late Earl of Buchan, gives a minute description of it : At Killin, July 5, 1782, in the house of Malise Doire, a day I was shown what he called the Quigrich. It is the head of a Croisier, formerly belonging to St. Fillan, who gave his name to a neighbouring strath, With it is shown a copy of the king's letters of appropriation and security, which I have carefully transcribed. The neighbours conducted me to the envied possessor of this relic, who exhibited it, according to the intent of the royal investment. A youth of nineteen, the representative of his father's name, and presumptive heir to this treasure, lay droop ing in an outer apartment, under the last gasp of a consumption. The relic weighs about seven or eight pounds, is of silver gilt, and hollow at one end, A. On the other end, c, which is flat, is engraved a crucifix, having a star on each side. An oval crystal is set in the front of the staff, and is here seen in profile B. B The document shown with this curious piece of antiquity is in the following terms: |