Page:The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Scott (1805).djvu/284

 enterprize seems finally to have been abandoned from the difficulty of providing these strangers with the necessary "victuals and carriages" in so poor a country as Dumfries-shire. History of Cumberland, Vol. I. Introd. p. lxi. From the battle-pieces of the ancient Flemish painters, we learn that the Low Country and German soldiers marched to an assault with their right knees bared. And we may also observe, in such pictures, the extravagance to which they carried the fashion of ornamenting their dress with knots of ribband. This custom of the Germans is alluded to in the Mirrour for Magistrates, p. 121.

Sir John Scott of Thirlestaine flourished in the reign of James V. and possessed the estates of Thirlestaine, Gamescleugh, &c. lying upon the river of Ettricke, and extending to St Mary's Loch, at the head of Yarrow. It appears that when James had assembled his nobility, and their feudal followers, at Fala, with the purpose of invading England, and was, as is well known, disappointed by the obstinate refusal of his peers, this baron alone declared himself ready to follow the king wherever he should lead. In memory of his fidelity, James granted to his family a charter of arms, entitling them to bear a border of fleurs-de-luce similar to the tressure in the royal arms, with a bundle of spears for the crest; motto, Ready, aye Ready. The charter itself is printed by Nisbet; but his work