Thou, born of stern necessity,
Dull peace! the desert yields to thee,
And owns thy melancholy sway.

At a later period, the Saxon families, who fled from the exterminating
sword of the Conqueror, with many of the Normans themselves, whom
discontent and intestine feuds had driven into exile, began to rise
into eminence upon the Scottish borders. They brought with them
arts, both of peace and of war, unknown in Scotland; and, among their
descendants, we soon number the most powerful border chiefs. Such,
during the reign of the [Sidenote: 1249] last Alexander, were Patrick,
earl of March, and Lord Soulis, renowned in tradition; and such were,
also, the powerful Comyns, who early acquired the principal sway upon
the Scottish marches. [Sidenote: 1300] In the civil wars betwixt Bruce
and Baliol, all those powerful chieftains espoused the unsuccessful
party. They were forfeited and exiled; and upon their ruins was
founded the formidable house of Douglas. The borders, from sea to
sea, were now at the devotion of a succession of mighty chiefs, whose
exorbitant power threatened to place a new dynasty upon the Scottish
throne. It is not my intention to trace the dazzling career of this
race of heroes, whose exploits were alike formidable to the English,
and to their sovereign.

The sun of Douglas set in blood. The murders of the sixth earl, and
his brother, in the castle of Edinburgh, were followed by that of
their successor, poignarded at Stirling by the hand of his prince. His
brother, Earl James, appears neither to have possessed the abilities
nor the ambition of his ancestors. He drew, indeed, against his
prince, the formidable sword of Douglas, but with a timid and
hesitating hand. Procrastination ruined his cause; and he was