"O yield thee to yon braken bush, That grows upon yon lilly lee; For there lies aneth yon braken bush[L43] What aft has conquer'd mae than thee." "I winna yield to a braken bush, 45 Nor yet will I unto a brier; But I wald yield to Earl Douglas, Or Sir Hugh Montgomery, if he was here." As soon as he knew it was Montgomery, He stuck his sword's point in the ground, 50 And Sir Hugh Montgomery was a courteous knight. And he quickly caught him by the hand. This deed was done at Otterburn, About the breaking o' the day; Earl Douglas was buried at the braken bush, 55 And Percy led captive away. 13. At this place a recited copy, quoted by Finlay (_Scottish Ballads_, I. p. xviii.), has the following stanzas:-- Then out an spak a little wee boy, And he was near o' Percy's kin, "Methinks I see the English host, A-coming branking us upon; Wi' nine waggons scaling wide, And seven banners bearing high; It wad do any living gude To see their bonny colours fly. 43, 44. Supplied by Motherwell from a recited copy. THE BATTLE OF HARLAW. From Ramsay's _Evergreen_, i. 78. This battle took place at Harlaw, near Aberdeen, on the 24th of July, 1411. The conflict was occasioned by a dispute concerning the succession to the earldom of Ross, between Donald, Lord of the Isles, and the son of the Regent, Robert, Duke of Albany, whose claim was supported by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar. The consequences of this battle were of the highest importance, inasmuch as the wild Celts of the Highlands and Islands received such a check that they never again combined for the conquest of the civilized parts of Scotland. The _Battle of Harlaw_ is one of the old ballads whose titles occur in the _Complaynt of Scotland_ (1548). A bag-pipe tune of that name is mentioned in Drummond of Hawthornden's mock-heroic poem, the _Polemo Middinia_: "Interea ante alios dux Piper Laius heros, Præcedens, magnamque gerens cum burdine pypam Incipit Harlai cunctis sonare Batellum."