—_reme_, i. e. realm. In a letter despatched from the camp before Terouenne, in answer to the epistle of the Scottish king (see note on v. 53. p. 217), Henry says; “And yf _the example of the kyng of Nauarre_ beynge excluded from his royalme for assistence gyuen to the Frenche kyng cannot restrayne you from this vnnaturall dealynge, we suppose ye shall haue lyke assistence of the sayde Frenche kynge as the kyng of Nauarre hath nowe: _Who is a kynge withoute a realme_, &c.” Hall’s _Chron._ (_Henry viii._) fol. xxxi. ed. 1548. James, however, never received this letter: he was slain before the herald who bore it could procure a passage from Flanders. v. 158. _brake_] See note, p. 168. v. 324. v. 161. _Your beard so brym as bore at bay_]—_brym_, i. e. fierce,—rugged, bristly. James wore “his Beerde somethynge longe.” Lelandi _Collect._ iv. 285. ed. 1770. v. 162. _Your Seuen Systers, that gun so gay_] Lindsay of Pitscottie informs us that when James was making preparations for his fatal expedition against England “he had sewin great cannones out of the castle of Edinburgh, quhilkis was called the _Sewin Sisteris_, castin be Robert Borthik; and thrie maister gunneris, furnisched with pouder and leid to thame at thair pleasure.” _Cron. of Scotl._ i. 266. ed. 1814. These canons were named _Sisters_ because they were all of the same great size and fine fabric. Concerning Borthwick, master of the artillery to James, the following mention is made by Lesley: “Rex amplo stipendio Robertum Borthuik, insignem tormenti fabricandi artificem donauit, vt tormenta bellica maiora in arce Edinburgensi aliquamdiu conflaret: quorum permulta hodie in Scotia reperiuntur, hoc versu incisa: “Machina sum Scoto Borthuik fabricata Roberto.” _De or. mor. et reb. gest. Scot._ p. 353. ed. 1578. Page 187. v. 169. _The Popes curse gaue you that clap_]—_clap_, i. e. stroke. James died under a recent sentence of excommunication for infringing the pacification with England. v. 170. _Of the out yles the roughe foted Scottes_] i. e. the rough-footed Scots of the Hebrides: the epithet _rough-footed_ was given to them, because they wore, during the frost, a rude sort of shoe, made of undressed deer-skin, with the hairy side outwards; see MS. quoted in Pinkerton’s _Hist. of Scotland_, ii. 397. v. 171. _the bottes_] i. e. the worms. v. 172. _dronken dranes_]—_dranes_, i. e. drones. The Editor of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1736, printed “_dronken_ Danes;” and Weber (_Flodden Field_, p. 276) proposes the same alteration; but though the Danes (as the readers of our early dramatists know) were notorious for deep potations, the text is right. Our author has again, in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.; “We set nat a prane By suche a _dronken drane_.” v. 163. vol. ii. 72. “_Drane._ Fucus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. And compare _Pierce Plowman’s Crede_; “And right as _dranes_ doth nought but _drinketh_ vp the huny.” Sig. D i. ed. 1561.