of Tantallon, and the hearts of the Homes and Kerrs. The former, whose
strength was proverbial[12], defied a royal army; and the latter, at
the Pass of Pease, baffled the Earl of Argyle's attempts to enter the
Merse, as lieutenant of his sovereign. On this occasion, the borderers
regarded with wonder and contempt the barbarous array, and rude
equipage, of their northern countrymen Godscroft has preserved the
beginning of a scoffing rhyme, made upon this occasion:

The Earl of Argyle is bound to ride
From the border of Edgebucklin brae[13];
And all his habergeons him beside,
Each man upon a sonk of strae.

They made their vow that they would slay--

_Godscroft_, v. 2. p. 104. Ed. 1743.

[Footnote 12: "To ding down Tantallon, and make a bridge to the Bass,"
was an adage expressive of impossibility. The shattered ruins of this
celebrated fortress still overhang a tremendous rock on the coast of
East Lothian.]

[Footnote 13: Edgebucklin, near Musselburgh.]

The pertinacious opposition of Angus to his doom irritated to the
extreme the fiery temper of James, and he swore, in his wrath, that a
Douglas should never serve him; an oath which he kept in circumstances
under which the spirit of chivalry, which he worshipped[14], should
have taught him other feelings.