Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field in Six CantosScott, Walter
General
Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field in Six Cantos
Scott, Walter
Flodden, Battle of, England, 1513 -- Poetry
'By this man had spoken thir words unto the King's grace, the
evening-song was near done, and the King paused on thir words,
studying to give him an answer; but, in the meantime, before the
King's eyes, and in the presence of all the lords that were about
him for the time, this man vanished away, and could no ways be seen
nor comprehended, but vanished away as he had been a blink of the
sun, or a whip of the whirlwind, and could no more be seen. I heard
say. Sir David Lindesay, Lyon-herauld, and John Inglis the marshal,
who were, at that time, young men, and special servants to the
King's grace, were standing presently beside the King, who thought
to have laid hands on this man, that they might have speired further
tidings at him: But all for nought; they could not touch him; for
he vanished away betwixt them, and was no more seen.'
Buchanan, in more elegant, though not more impressive language,
tells the same story, and quotes the personal information of our Sir
David Lindesay: 'In iis, (i.e. qui propius astiterant) fuit David
Lindesius, Montanus, homo spectatae fidei et probitatis, nec a
literarum studiis alienus, et cujus totius vitae tenor longissime a
mentiendo aberat; a quo nisi ego haec uti tradidi, pro certis
accepissem, ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulam omissurus eram."--
Lib. xiii. The King's throne, in St. Catherine's aisle, which he had
constructed for himself, with twelve stalls for the Knights
Companions of the Order of the Thistle, is still shown as the place
where the apparition was seen. I know not by what means St. Andrew
got the credit of having been the celebrated monitor of James IV;
for the expression in Lindesay's narrative, "My mother has sent me,"
could only be used by St. John, the adopted son of the Virgin Mary.
The whole story is so well attested, that we have only the choice
between a miracle or an imposture. Mr. Pinkerton plausibly argues,
from the caution against incontinence, that the Queen was privy to
the scheme of those who had recourse to this expedient, to deter
King James from his impolitic war.'
Stanza XV. line 287. 'In Scotland there are about twenty palaces,
castles, and remains, or sites of such,
"Where SCOTIA'S kings of other years"
had their royal home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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