Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/243

Rh Among the last was Hotspur himself, who had fought through the whole affray with his wonted prowess; Sir Ralph, his brother, who was grievously wounded; the seneschal of York, the captain of Berwick, and several English knights and gentlemen, who were esteemed the choice of their border chivalry.

Such was the battle of Otterburn, fought in the month of August, and in the year 1388. The loss of the English attests the pertinacity of the engagement, for they had eighteen hundred killed, about a thousand wounded, and as many taken prisoners. Such a victory also evinces, more than the most laboured eulogium, the high military skill of the Earl of Douglas, so that, had he lived, his renown might have worthily taken a place by the side of the hero of Bannockburn. But he died while still young, and achieved the victory even when dead by the terror of his name—a different fate from that of his gallant rival, Henry Percy, who was first a traitor to Richard II., his natural sovereign, and afterwards to Henry IV., a usurper, whom he had mainly contributed to elevate to the throne, and who finally died a proclaimed rebel on the field of Shrewsbury, amidst disaster and defeat. On the day after the engagement, the bishop of Durham, whose movements had been anticipated by the impetuosity of Hotspur, arrived upon the field, at the head of ten thousand horse, and a large array of foot—an army sufficient, as it seemed, to trample down the victors at a single charge. But the spirit of Douglas was still among his followers, so that under the command of Moray, they drew up in their former position, and showed themselves as ready for a second combat as they had been for the first; and the bishop, daunted by their bold appearance, drew off his forces, and retired without a blow. The Scots then resumed their route homeward unmolested; but instead of a joyful triumphal march, as it might well have been after such a victory, it was rather a sad and slow funeral procession, in the centre of which was a car that conveyed the body of their hero to the burial-place of his illustrious ancestors. It is not often thus that a soldier's love and sympathy so overwhelm a soldier's pride, in the full flush of his success. The funeral was performed with pompous military honours in the Abbey of Melrose, while the epitaph of the departed was indelibly engraven in the hearts of his countrymen and the page of Scottish history.

.—William Douglas, knight of Liddesdale, otherwise well known in Scottish history by the title of the Flower of Chivalry, has been reckoned, on the authority of John de Fordun, to have been a natural son of Sir James Douglas, the companion in arms of Robert Bruce, and as such he is generally mentioned by our Scottish historians. Others, however, make him out to have been lawful son of Sir James Douglas of Loudon. It is in vain to inquire into the date of birth, or early life of the distinguished personages of this period, as the first notice we generally receive of them is in some historic action, when they had attained the age of manhood. Sir William became possessor of the lands of Liddesdale, through marriage with Margaret Graham, daughter of Sir John Graham, lord of Abercorn. His first military exploit was the surprise and discomfiture of John Baliol at Annan, after the battle of Dupplin. On this occasion, the knight of Liddesdale marched under the banner of Andrew Murray, Earl of Bothwell; and so successful was the small band of Scottish patriots, that the adherents of the usurper were completely routed by a sudden night attack, Baliol himself escaping with difficulty, and more than half-naked, upon an unsaddled and unbridled horse, into England. In the following year (1333) Sir William was not so fortunate. Having been appointed