Page:The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Scott (1805).djvu/228

 fyve thousande frankes, and forgave one thousande for the love of the Erl Dolphyn's children. By my fayth, this was a fayre and a good lyfe; wherefore I repute myselve sore desceyved, in that I have rendred up the fortres of Aloys; for it wolde have ben kept fro alle the worlde, and the daye that I gave it up, it was fournysshed with vytaylles to have been kepte seven yere without any re-vytaylynge. This Erl of Armynake hath disceyved me: Olyve Barbe, and Perot le Bernoys, shewed to me howe I shulde repente myselfe; certayne I sore repente myself of that I have done."—-Froissart, vol. ii. p. 195.

The kings and heroes of Scotland, as well as the Border-riders, were sometimes obliged to study how to evade the pursuit of blood-hounds. Barbour informs us, that Robert Bruce was repeatedly tracked by sleuth-dogs. On one occasion, he escaped by wading a bow-shot down a brook, and thus baffled the scent. The pursuers came up:

A sure way of stopping the dog was to spill blood upon the