The Three Perils of Man; or, War, Women, and Witchcraft, Vol. 1 (of 3)
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CHAPTER III.
"Come, come, my hearts of flint; modestly; decently; soberly; and handsomely.--No man afore his leader.--Ding down the enemy to-morrow,--ye shall not come into the field like beggars.--Lord have mercy upon me, what a world this is!--Well, I'll give an hundred pence for as many good feathers, and a hundred more for as many scarts:--wounds, dogs, to set you out withal! Frost and snow, a man cannot fight till he be brave! I say down with the enemy to morrow!"
_Sir John Oldcastle._
The castle of Roxburgh was beleaguered by seven thousand men in armour,but never before had it been so well manned, or rendered so formidablein its butresses; and to endeavour to scale it, appeared as vain anattempt as that of scaling the moon.
There was a great deal of parading, and noise went on, as that ofbeating drums, and sounding of trumpets and bugles, every day; andscarcely did there one pass on which there were not tilting boutsbetween the parties, and in these the English generally had theadvantage. Never was there, perhaps, a more chivalrous host than thatwhich Musgrave had under his command within the walls of Roxburgh; theenthusiasm, the gallantry, and the fire of the captain, werecommunicated to all the train.
Their horses were much superior to those of the Scots; and, in place ofthe latter being able to make any impression on the besieged, they couldnot, with all the vigilance they were able to use, prevent their postsfrom being surprised by the English, on which the most desperateencounters sometimes took place. At first the English generallyprevailed, but the Scots at length became inured to it, and stood theshocks of the cavalry more firmly. They took care always at the firstonset to cut the bridle reins with their broad-swords, and by that meansthey disordered the ranks of their enemies, and often drove them inconfusion back to their strong-hold.
Thus months flew on in this dashing sort of warfare, and no impressionwas made on the fortress, nor did any appear practicable; and every oneat court began to calculate on the failure and utter ruin of theDouglas. Piercy of Northumberland proffered to raise the country, andlead an army to the relief of the castle; but this interference Musgravewould in nowise admit, it being an infringement of the task imposed onhim by his mistress.
Moreover, he said, he cared not if all the men of Scotland lay aroundthe castle, for he would defy them to win it. He farther bade themessenger charge Piercy and Howard to have an army ready at the expiryof the Christmas holidays, wherewith to relieve him, and clear theBorder, but to take no care nor concern about him till then.
About this time an incident, right common in that day, brought a numberof noble young adventurers to the camp of Douglas. It chanced, in anencounter between two small rival parties at the back of the convent ofMaisondieu, which stood on the south side of the Teviot, that Sir Thomasde Somerville of Carnwath engaged hand to hand with an English knight,named Sir Comes de Moubray, who, after a desperate encounter, unhorsedand wounded him. The affair was seen from the walls of Roxburgh, as wellas by a part of the Scottish army which was encamped on a rising groundto the south, that overlooked the plain; and, of course, like all otherchivalrous feats, became the subject of general conversation. Somervillewas greatly mortified; and, not finding any other way to recover hishonour, he sent a challenge to Moubray to fight him again before thegate of Roxburgh, in sight of both armies. Moubray was too gallant torefuse. There was not a knight in the castle who would have declinedsuch a chance of earning fame, and recommending himself to his mistressand the fair in general. The challenge was joyfully accepted, and thetwo knights met in the midst of a circle of gentlemen appointed by botharmies, on the castle green, that lay betwixt the moat and the river,immediately under the walls of the castle. Never was there a moregallant combat seen. They rode nine times against each other with fullforce, twice with lances and seven times with swords, yet always managedwith such dexterity that neither were unhorsed, nor yet materiallywounded. But at the tenth charge, by a most strenuous exertion, SirThomas disarmed and threw his opponent out of his saddle, with hissword-arm dislocated. Somerville gained great renown, and his fame wassounded in court and in camp. Other challenges were soon sent from bothsides, and as readily accepted; and some of the best blood both ofScotland and England was shed in these mad chivalrous exploits. Theambition of the young Scottish nobles was roused, and many of themflocked as volunteers to the standard of Douglas. Among these were someof the retainers of Redhough, who could not resist such an opportunityof trying their swords with some rivals with whom they had erstexchanged sharp blows on the marches. Simon of Gemelscleuch, his cousinJohn of Howpasley, and the Laird of Yard-bire, all arrived in the campof Douglas in one night, in order to distinguish themselves in thesetilting bouts. Earl Douglas himself challenged Musgrave, hoping therebyto gain his end, and the prize for which he fought; but the knight, trueto his engagement, sent him for answer, that he would first see thebeginning of a new year, and then he should fight either him or any ofhis name, but that till then he had undertaken a charge to which allothers must be subordinate.
The Laird of Yardbire, the strongest man of the Border, fought threecombats with English squires of the same degree, two on horseback andone on foot, and in all proved victorious. For one whole month the siegepresented nothing new save these tiltings, which began at certain hoursevery day, and always became more obstinate, often proving fatal; andthe eagerness of the young gentry of both parties to engage in them grewinto a kind of mania: But an event happened which put an end to them atonce.
There was a combat one day between two knights of the first degree, whowere surrounded as usual by twenty lancers from each army, all the restof both parties being kept at a distance, the English on the tops oftheir walls, and the Scots on the heights behind, both to the east andwest; for there was one division of the army stationed on the hill ofBarns and at the head of the Sick-man's Path, and another on the risingground between the city and castle. The two gentlemen were equallymatched, and the issue was doubtful, when the attendant Scottish guardsperceived, or thought they perceived, in the bearing of the Englishknight, some breach of the rules of chivalry; on which with one voicethey called out "foul play." The English answered, "No, no, none." Thetwo judges called to order, on which the spearmen stood still andlistened, and hearing that the judges too were of different opinions,they took up the matter themselves, the Scots insisting that the knightshould be disarmed and turned from the lists in disgrace, and theEnglish refusing to acquiesce. The judges, dreading some fatalconclusion, gave their joint orders that both parties should retire inpeace, and let the matter be judged of afterwards; on which the Englishprepared to quit the ground with a kind of exultation, for it appearedthat they were not certain with regard to the propriety of their hero'sconduct. Unluckily, it so happened that the redoubted Charlie Scott ofYard-bire headed the Scottish pikemen on the lists that day, a verydevil for blood and battery, and of strength much beyond that generallyallotted to man. When he saw that the insidious knight was going to beconducted off in a sort of triumph, and in a manner so different fromwhat he deemed to suit his demerits, he clenched the handle of his swordwith his right hand, and screwed down his eyebrows till they almosttouched the top of his nose. "What now, muckle Charlie?" said one thatstood by him. "What now!" repeated Charlie, growling like a wolf-dog,and confining the words almost within his own breast, "The deil sal bakeme into a ker-cake to gust his gab wi', afore I see that saucy tiketa'en off in sic a way." And with that he dropt his pike, drew hissword, and rushing through the group he seized the knight's horse by thebridle with his left hand, thinking to lead both him and his master awayprisoners. The knight struck at him with all his might, but for thisCharlie was prepared; he warded the blow most dexterously, and in wrath,by the help of a huge curb-bridle, he threw the horse backward, first onhis hams, and then on his back, with his rider under him. "Tak ye that,master, for whistling o' Sundays," said the intrepid borderer, and beganto lay about him at the English, who now attacked him on both sides.
Charlie'
s first break at the English knight was the watch-word for ageneral attack. The Scots flew to the combat, in perfect silence, anddetermined hatred, and they were received by the other party in the samemanner. Not so the onlookers of both hosts,--they rent the air with loudand reiterated shouts. The English poured forth in a small narrow columnfrom the east gate along the draw-bridge, but the Scottish horsemen, whowere all ready mounted, the better to see the encounter from theirstations, scoured down from the heights like lightning, so that theyprevailed at first, before the English could issue forth in numberssufficient to oppose them. The brave Sir Richard Musgrave, the captain'syounger brother, led the English, he having rushed out at their head onthe first breaking out of the affray; but, notwithstanding all hisbravery, he with his party were driven with their backs to the moat, andhard pressed, Douglas, with a strong body of horse, having got betwixtthem and the castle-gate. The English were so anxious to relieve theiryoung hero that they rushed to the gate in crowds. Douglas suffered apart to issue, and then attacking them furiously with the cavalry, hedrove them back in such confusion, that he got possession of thedraw-bridge for several minutes, and would in all likelihood haveentered with the crowd, had it not been for the portcullis, themachinery of which the Scots did not understand, nor had they the meansof counteracting it; so that just when they were in the hottest and mostsanguine part of their enterprize, down it came with a clattering noiselouder than thunder, separating a few of the most forward from theirbrethren, who were soon every one cut down, as they refused to yield.
In the meantime it fared hard with Richard, who was overpowered bynumbers; and though the English archers galled the Scottish cavalrygrievously from the walls, he and all that were with him being forcedbackward, they plunged into the moat, and were every one of them eitherslain or taken prisoners. The younger Musgrave was among the latter,which grieved his brother Sir Philip exceedingly, as it gave Douglas anundue advantage over him, and he knew that, in the desperate state ofhis undertaking, he would go any lengths to over-reach him. From thatday forth, all challenges or accepting of challenges was prohibited byMusgrave, under pain of death; and a proclamation was issued, stating,that all who entered the castle should be stripped naked, searched, andexamined, on what pretence soever they came, and if any suspiciouscircumstances appeared against them, they were to be hanged upon a posterected for the purpose, on the top of the wall, in sight of botharmies. He was determined to spare no vigilance, and constantly said hewould hold Douglas at defiance.
There was only one thing that the besieged had to dread, and it washaply, too, the only thing in which the Scots placed any degree of hope,and that was the total failure of provisions within the castle.Musgrave's plan, of getting small supplies at a time from England bynight, was discovered by Sir Ringan Redhough, and completely cut off:and as Douglas hanged every messenger that fell into his hands, no newplan could be established; and so closely were the English beleaguered,that any attempt at sending additional supplies to those they had provedof no avail. The rival armies always grew more and more inveterateagainst each other, and the most sharp and deadly measures wereexercised by both. Matters went on in this manner till near the end ofOctober, when the nights grew cold, long, and dark. There was nothingbut the perils of that castle on the Border talked of over all Scotlandand England. Every one, man, maid, and child, became interested in it.It may well be conceived that the two sovereign beauties, the Lady JaneHoward and Princess Margaret of Scotland, were not the least so; andboth of them prepared, at the same time, in the true spirit of the age,to take some active part in the matter before it came to a final issue.One of them seemed destined to lose her hero, but both had put on theresolution of performing something worthy of the knights that wereenduring so much for their sakes.