attended Gustavus in his invasion of Germany, with | portance, Hepburn was with the King of Sweden on more than a thousand officers, and twelve thousand the plain of Leipzig. The Saxons were lost, and soldiers, all Scotsmen. Hepburn, on arriving in Count Tilly in person was preparing to charge the Pomerania, was placed under the chancellor Ox- Swedes and Lavonians at the head of his main body, enstiern, who, being apprised that by a daring midnight when Gustavus selected 2,000 Scottish musketeers, attack, Munro, with a few Scottish Highlanders, with 2,000 horse posted on their flanks, to interrupt driven by shipwreck on the Isle of Rugen, had re-won their triumphant career. By an oblique movement that fertile spot for Gustavus, despatched Munro's Hepburn then threw his brigade into the ground old friend and fellow-student, Sir John Hepburn, deserted by the Saxons, where the Imperialists, led with his "invincibles" to his succour, as the Austrians by the savage John of Tsercla, conspicuous in his were closing in on all sides. Hepburn here assumed conical hat and red feather, were already within pistolthe command under a commission as governor of shot. The Scottish regiments here amazed the ImRugenwalde, and mustering, arming and disciplining perialists by for the first time firing in platoons. 8,000 among the gentlemen and boors of the island, Hepburn led them in person in full military trappings soon cleared all Further Pomerania of the Imperialists. which outshone all in the army, the laurel in his In the second campaign of Gustavus against the helmet, and sword in his hand. The pikemen in empire, Hepburn, in his 30th year, without any front-three ranks stooping, and three crect, six increase of rank, received command of a brigade, volleys at once were poured from the faces of their denominated Hepburn's Scots Brigade, or the Green squares-the pikemen charged, the musketeers clubbed Brigade (as other divisions of the army were desig- their muskets, and the columns of Tilly were broken nated Yellow, Blue and White Brigades). It seems and driven back with frightful slaughter by the regithat the colour of the soldiers' doublets, scarfs, ments of Hepburn, Lumsden and Reay. feathers and standards was green. Instigated by Gustavus to revenge the slaughter of the Scots at New Brandenburg, Hepburn and Munro side by side led on the Green Brigade to the Gueben Gate of Frankfort on the Oder, hung their petards and stormed the quarter. One Scottish pikeman slew eighteen Imperialists with his own hand; and Lumsden's regiment alone captured nine pair of colours, for which Gustavus told the brave cavalier of Fife to ask whatever he wished that a king could bestow, and he should have it. And in the assault Hepburn was wounded by a shot" above the knee that he was lame of before." After many more brilliant services on the Rhine and in the march on Bavaria, amongst others capturing a castle and leading the van on the Lech, Hepburn was made Governor of Munich. Confronted with Wallenstein at Nuremburg, Gustavus unhappily had high words with Hepburn, whose fire and spirit could not brook such even from a king. He instantly threw up his commission and withdrew, declaring that he would never more unsheath his sword in the quarrels of Sweden, although Gustavus loved him well, placed more confidence in him thau in any other officer, and had just appointed him to command half the infantry of his vast army of 70,000 men. Gustavus was also considered to have treated ungenerously the Marquis of Hamilton, who, with Hepburn, remained within the beleaguered walls of Nuremburg, an idle spectator of the warlike scene. Munro succeeded to the command of the Green Brigade. Yet when Gustavus, entrusting his strong camp to the militia of Nurem burg, crossed the Rednitz with his whole army in order of battle, on the eve of St. Bartholomew, 1632, Hepburn, destitute of any command, rode near the king, mounted on his charger, and in his complete suit of inlaid armour, a close casque with gorget, breast and back pieces, pauldrons, vambraces and gauntlets, with pistols at his saddle, as if going on service. At one part of the conflict, finding no able The most dashing of the Scots expeditions to the German wars was, perhaps, that of 6,200 led by the gallant Marquis of Hamilton from Leith in July 1630, after much groundless detention upon a charge preferred against the Marquis by James Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, who accused him of aiming at the Scottish crown. The accusation was proved to be unfounded by a trial, and Lord Ochiltree for his pains remained in durance in Blackness Castle for twenty years, having only been liberated by Oliver Cromwell. Landing by mistake at Wolgast, the Scots on their long march suffered from the consumption of German bread, new honey and German beer, which did not "agree with their constitutions." But they were all completely armed; and the brightness of their un-officer near him who could hasten to examine the sullied mail, glittering from the armourer's hands, contrasted strongly with the rusty harness of the Scots veterans in the camp of Gustavus. Their leader, too, outshone the Swedish monarch, and rivalled the princes of the empire in the magnificence of his table, his equipage and liveries. Forty volunteers composed his train of pages. Two hundred chosen yeomen in complete steel were his body-guard. And on arriving in the camp at Werben, Gustavus made many apologies for the poor quarters he could afford him. After many incidental services of merit and im ground for a proposed attack, Gustavus requested this service of Hepburn, who complied and reported the attempt practicable. And again, when it became necessary to draw off the Swedish regiments which had advanced too far, Gustavus addressed himself to Hepburn, to order these regiments to retreat; and accepting the service because it was a hazardous one the cavalier executed the task with daring and decision, and marched the troops, which must otherwise have been cut off, back to the king's post. Hepburn, attaching himself to the Marquis of Hamilton, quitted Gustavus at Neustadt, and returned to London by way of France. One month after Hepburn quitted his standard, the great Gustavus was slain on the plain of Lutzen, November 6, 1632. His large rowelled spurs, richly ornamented and gilt, taken off his heels when he was killed on the field of battle, by Colonel Hugh Somerville, his aide-de-camp, are now preserved in the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries, at Edinburgh. Hepburn, on his arrival at the Court of St. James, was knighted. The Swedish Intelligencer, the chief source of Mr. Grant's information, was at this time written down from conversations held by the editor with Sir John Hepburn, Lord Reay, and other Swedish officers. Hepburn could have remained but a few months in Britain, as early in the succeeding year he obtained from Louis XIII. the command of a regiment composed of various old Scottish companies, serving in the army of France. Sir Andrew Gray, Sir John Seaton, and numerous Scottish officers and soldiers were then in the French army. The cuirassiers and archers of the Scottish Guard, in their white surcoats and gorgeous half-armour of the brightest steel, were all gentlemen of the first Scottish families. Hepburn gained in France the friendship of the Cardinal Dukes of Richelieu and La Valette. The eight hundred years' league with Scotland was cordially remembered by Frenchmen. But the pride and bearing of the haughty soldiers of fortune gave rise to the popular expression, "proud as a Scotsman" -"fier comme un Ecossais." One of those who first trailed a pike under Sir John Hepburn in Alsace and Lorraine, was John Middleton, a poor private soldier, who afterwards became Earl of Middleton. Hepburn bore the baton of Maréchal-de-camp in the invasion of Lorraine, at the age of thirty-six. Forming a junction with the Swedish army of Duke Bernard at Landau, the latter was taken into the French service with four thousand horse and seven thousand foot: these last almost entirely Scotsmen, the remnants of the gallant Scots veterans so long led by Gustavus-all that survived of the Green Brigade. The whole were incorporated into the Corps styled the Regiment d'Hebron-a regiment ordered by Louis XIII. to take the right of all others then being embodied. Having somewhat rashly ventured to examine the principal breach at the siege of Saverne, the brave Hepburn fell, struck by a shot from the ramparts, in the joint of his gorget, where it failed to protect him. Thus the glitter of the rich armour in which he so much delighted, was probably the cause of his death. He was borne away by a party of faithful Scottish soldiers, as the gallant Turenne, sword in hand, stormed the same breach, at the head of a strong French and Scottish column. He was buried in the old church of Toul in French Lorraine, where Louis XIV. erected a monument to his memory, which bears record of his having been "the best soldier in Christendom, and consequently in the world." Chronicle of Ethelfled.' ALFRED the king sent a company of spearmen into the north, to demand of the monks of Lindisfarne (who had found refuge in the monastery of Crayke) the loan of the Durham Book. And in pledge thereof, he sent his holy ring and golden circlet with gems ysette, for the said monks to have and hold until that he the book should restore. Were the time and place convenient, I would now relate the dangers these spears met by the way, and the number of days their journey lasted; howbeit, they wonne back at length unto the royal vill, and with them brought the book, which the monks humbly prayed that the king of his mercy would neither dog's-ear nor deface. Now the king, being advertised that the book was at hand, did instantly remit and set aside the matters be was then engaged in. And sending for the queen, and for me Ethelfled, that we his pleasure might partake, he spent the entirety of that afternoon, and much of sundry afternoons following, in contemplating with us the delineations and devices which had taken the good bishop of Lindisfarne twenty and two years to execute. Now, when I saw what good limning might in very deed amount to, I apprised my own craftless attempts as meanly as the king himself could do-(howbeit, he had never made merry with them again;) and with much zeal and application I set myself to copy as many of the borderings and initial letters in the Durham Book as time would allow, in colours of azure, and green, and violet, and yellow, and scarlet, and gold. For Werefrith the chaplain had learned the art of preparing gold for the illumination of manuscripts; and the way he did it was this. He filed the gold very finely, brayed it in a mortar with the sharpest vinegar 2 he could get, (which proved to be some home-made wine my loved mother had made of her own grapes, and sent to the king; but we never did her to wit of what it came to,) and whenas Then he added it turned black, he poured it forth. unto it some salt or nitre, which dissolved it and made it fit for use. Also, for he was clever in little things, he wist how to prepare parchment much better than I had done; and also vellum. His method with the first was this: he let it lie, by the space of three days, under lime; then stretched it, scraped it well on either side, then dried it, and stained it of what colour it liked him best. It pleaseth ine to wit how all things should be done, albeit some things it pleaseth me not to do. About this time, my father brought to Winchester our royal lady Ethelswitha, queen of Mercia; and then returned after a while to his duty on king Buhred, who was purposed he should accompany him to Rome. His royal spouse was meantime to remain in the safeguard of her brother, king Alfred. Thus wo (1) Continued from p. 219. had two queens, Ethelswithas, at court; which some people peradventure thought one too many. How beit Alfred the king was always very kind unto his own cyth and cynn; and thus it fell that Ethelswitha his sister lived upon him many a day; and when the troubles of the country increased, became no small burthen unto him. For this queen was one of those, who, while for ever giving out that they are nobody, are yet always expecting to be treated like somebody. Howbeit, the king at length persuaded her to go into a monastery; and I am thankful to say it was not mine. Ethelswitha, that is to say my sister, had no need to fear the comparisons that could not fail to be made between her and the queen of Mercia, there being as much difference between them as between fescue and cord-grass. For whereas my sister had always been of excellent beauty, there was now no woman equal unto her for fairness, in or about the | court. And whereas the queen of Mercia's hair was of reddish yellow, and rather harsh, Ethelswitha's was of the palest brown, silky, and a marvel for length. And sometimes, for the greater state, she let it down to its full length, confined only by a circlet of pearls: but more commonly she put it up in shining coils, like Judith of Bethulia in the song; whence the king would call her "the woman of the twisted locks." And whereas the queen of Mercia's eyes were of a cold grey colour, and somewhat too prominent, Ethelswitha's were blue, with soft shadowings round about. And whereas the queen of Mercia did nothing from morn to night but exact service and talk like the foolish, Ethelswitha was ever caring for others. And whereas the queen of Mercia always loved to be helped to the best, Ethelswitha always helped her to the best. And whereas the queen of Mercia was full troublesome unto her brother, and Ethelswitha loved him as her own soul, it came to pass that the king wearied a little of his sister, and loved his wife exceedingly. : Now, by reason of this queen's coming into Winchester and taking so much upon her, it naturally befel that I lost my place a little; not only as second woman at court, but in the thoughts of the king and of the queen and thus my approaching profession ceased to be the chief thing talked of. Alfred the king was minded to build and endow a noble monastery for ranclike virgins at Shaftesbury, and to make me the mitred abbess thereof; but the house, which was to be of solid stone, would take long to raise; and moreover he was rather short of money; wherefore he and my father thought it good that I should become postulant at Wareham Abbey in Dorsetshire, which is dedicated to St. Etheldreda, or, as we say in the vulgar tongue, St. Audrey. The mothers and sisters amounted but to twenty; and were had in reputation, as well for the simplicity of their rule and their sanctity, as for their deft handling of the needle, and their skill in making sweetmeats. Wherefore, I was taken thither by my (1) Cord-grass is remarkably stiff and strait; fescue affords excellent pasturage. good father, to do the abbess to wit of my intentions. We were three days on the road, and slept one night at Winborne. The holy mother received us right kindlike: she was pleased at the honour and wealth about to be conferred on her house; add to which, as I have since learned, the arrival of a new face in a religious house is as that of an angel. We saw nought of the nuns, save in the chapel. The abbey, which stood aloof from the town and castle, on a little peninsula formed by the confluence of two rivers, was getymbrade on piles of oak and alder, by reason that the marshy ground would not bear the weight of stone, and was surrounded by many willows and rushes. The chapel had, till of late, been thatched instead of leaded; and, for lack of glazing to the windows, the swallows and sparrows had been used to fly in and out, chirping and screaming, and to build their nests within the roof. I returned with my father to Winchester, to await some needful forms. I saw a couple of treow-whirtas by the road side, a-making of a gate, the posts whereof lay on the ground; and I noted that as much of the wood was prepared to lie under the ground as above it, for the greater strength. Then remembered I Eadwulf's homely saying; and was a little troubled that I had indeed seen but the outside of a nunnery. At the king's palace gate were gathered many men and horses; and one of our own freedmen, stepping up unto my father, said, "The lady Eadburga hath arrived." Then my heart rejoiced, for that my blessed mother, who had made the journey by short stages, had reached the royal vill. And when I saw her loved face, with the deep lined marks of her late pains on it, that were no pains now, I felt gladlike that heaven had restored her dear life and listened unto my vow, and I was ready to yield myself up, a willing ransom. Alfred the king looked grave but yet kind, when he saw me: and, saith he, "Thou hast taken the first step now, and wilt not, I think, fall back." I saw he would not think highly of me if I did. Then, or ever my father returned unto king Bubred, which he very shortly did, we had a little snatch of family happiness, before we parted for ever: for I saw his face no more. Very bitter-sweet was our communing together; but my mother was a very conscientious woman,3 and would on no account put a stumbling-block in my path by her lamentations. I wonder, even now, that they opposed not my vocation a little earlier, nor bemoaned it a little more than, it seems to me, they did. After all, I was very young and tender.. Howbeit, Alfred the king had other burthens on his mind. It fell one day, that I was illuminating a capital G with gold and with scarlet and with purple, when he came and stood beside me, overlooking me. I thought that peradventure he was again making merry at my expense, and was about to ask him what fault he was now finding, when I heard him give (2) Built of timber; like Croyland monastery. (3) She was living in the time of Asser, who speaks of her in terms of high praise. of the living set them free. I can only say that it will be a bad day for England when these corruptions are allowed to creep in and establish themselves among us: peradventure they will, for that we are too wanting in suspicion and too fond of imitating our neighbours; howbeit, I hope it will not be in the time of me Ethelfled: they shall not be countenanced in this house if I can help it. a deep sigh; and, looking up, saw he was not thinking | sheep and goats!) are to be kept until that the prayers of my work in any wise, but of something afar off. And seeing me look up, he saith, "Woe is me, my sister! . . I wis not if to any good I have as yet been born. The land is full of foemen :-what have I done? nothing. The land also is full of misery,-what have I done? nothing. The land also is full of ignorance, and so is its king, and what have I done? nothing. Woe is me!"-I said, "All men love you, my king." He said, "But I despise myself. For I know something should be done, and I know not how to do it, nor what it is. . . Ho! the happy man that ever had a sword hanging over his head by a single hair! And yet so it always is with me!" And he groaned in himself and turned away. 1 Another time, we were riding at a breathing pace, through the green shaw, when we heard a countryman behind the bushes say to his fellow, "Thou didst not vail thy cap unto the king." And the other made answer, "Na, I wunna. For, as comely as he is, wi's blue eyen an' white teeth, he's as cruel as a viking, an' strings up poor knaves an' they do but say bentgrass is fox-tail. I'se none of such vikingr." Then the king said to me under his breath, bitterly, "So, all men love me! . . I am a viking! sorrow is mine, my sister! I did but seek to keep them from notorious lying and violence and taking of bribes by a few examples: and they say I hang men for mistaking one grass for another!" Then considered I, and saw that of all men kings are born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward; and I pitied him in my heart. Also I saw that nothing mundane, including worldly pomp, royal estate, beauty of person, connubial felicity, can give entire peace; which cannot be found out of ourselves, nor yet in ourselves, but only in God. Howbeit, I did not yet apprehend this perfectly. As about this time, Alfred the king returned the Durham Book to the monks of Lindisfarne; offering them twenty hides of land, with men and horses thereto belonging, if they would part with it. But they would not; forasmuch as they alleged its value to be above rubies: therefore they returned him his circlet and holy ring. 2 Also about this season began the doctrine of transubstantiation, newly brought over from France, to be much spoken about and spoken against among us. To me Ethelfed it seemeth the people of that land must needs, like the Athenians of old, be ever running after some new thing: inasmuch as, not many years back, they took up the religious worship of graven images, and thought to bring us unto it; albeit, we would not hearken unto them. Also, there are those among them that fable a place cleped purgatory, where the souls of them that were neither bad nor good (as though Christ spake of any but the Now, the time of my admission as postulant drawing nigh, my women were busied in making me the given number of white tunics; and I divided among them as impartially as I could, my pale and dark tunics, and all the rest of the gay coloured raiment I no longer should want. For simplicity and uniformity of attire is the first rule of the religious life. Natheless, my white tunics cost double the price of the coloured, and were more trouble to make. For there were certain folds in the wide sleeves I was minded to have fitted with much nicety, for the greater grace; which cost my maidens much trouble and some tears: whereupon Urfried, my mother's woman, was heard to say there was less trouble in fitting a bride than a nun. Urfried would fain have all the credit to herself; and when the younger women tried the fitting and missed it, she was heard to say, "Young people are wonder' wise now a-days; and yet I have been thought to know a cricket from a grasshopper." Now Ethelswitha's mind was that I should enjoy as much world's-pleasure as possible in the little time me remained: whereas, I desired, and my mother me upbore in it, that I should thenceforth partake of nothing that should interfere with my vocation. Nevertheless, there was a pleasure, the only one in store, and a full brief one, the which my heart fastened on as greedily as it could have done on any pleasure of the world. This was my looked-for journey to St. Audrey's in company of the king and the queen, who were minded to see me to the last, and who, I thought, would afford me even pleasanter and dearer companionship than even my father had done; and I wis that the imaginings of this journey, its halts and short stages, and my naturally being foremost in my companions' thoughts, blinded me no little to the obscure darkness beyond. But mark how mundane things turn out! My mother was too feeble for the journey: Alfred the king was detained at court by pressing business; and he behoved to allot the conduct of the progress to the last person I could have wished to go with me. I ventured to name this slightly unto the king. He said, "Why?" ... Alas! how hard a matter it sometimes is, when "Why" is asked, to give a straightforward answer!... I did not, and the matter stood as it was. Now Ethelswitha was purposed in her heart to go with me, at least one day's journey: nothing could shake her. So a company of spears was appointed; and the Mercian queen, thinking it promised fair to keep house with my mother, spake of going and be a pleasing party, and being no ways minded to returning with Ethelswitha. Truly this would have spoiled all; and if she had had the least rihtlike garment, and then delivered some trifling message. feeling, she would not have thought to thrust herself | This little occurrence went much to the heart of me between the parting embraces of two dear sisters. Ethelfled: I wist somewhat of the authority and Happily, she gave it up; partly because Alfred the dignity of the matres monasterii without doors, as, how king went not, partly, methinketh, because that her that a mitred abbess was exempt from the jurisdiction hair always roughened much, riding in the wind, let her of the diocesan, having in herself episcopal authority smear it ever so much with honey. And thus, my loved within her precincts, and also taking her seat in the sister and I had not the trouble of her company. great council of the nation; but I had neither beheld nor conceived the extent of her rule over her house, nor the amount of subjection of body, will, and thought, exacted of every soul within it. For albeit I had been bred up by an aunt who was an abbess, or, as we say in Saxon, abudisse, yet the children in a monastic school see nought of the nuus' interior lives, wherefore my introduction to it was new and somewhat revolting to me. I will not say much of my parting with my mother: it could not fail that we should weep sore; howbeit, I dried mine eyes as soon as I could. Whoever you are, now a-reading this book, you cannot need to be told that great stir was occasioned at St. Audrey's by the arrival of the queen, who thought fit to go with me the whole way. All that day there was bustle and festivity; the day following commenced my three days' retreat, which I bore better than I had looked for; that is, more brave-like, but I think, not much to my spiritual good, for my thoughts were all in tumult. Then I confessed, and we all went to mass, (the queen had received the king's concurrence by a special messenger;) then I, in white yclad, stood outside the chapel door, and knocked. The priest and holy mother asked what I wanted. I made answer that I desired to be ad-tification was their rule; but they seemed willing to mitted as postulant into the community. They let me in, and led me up unto the altar. Then the priest cut off a small lock of my hair, and blessed me, and gave me a rosary. I arose, and went away, quite self-collected. At noon Ethelswitha departed. In going up unto the altar, I had heard some one whisper unto my sister, "What a beautiful postulant!" which I tried not to attend to, nor remember, But how weak and wrong a thing to let me hear such an ejaculation at such a moment! For, doth not a single dead fly taint the box of precious ointment? And my self-devotion was at that moment as ointment poured forth at my Saviour's feet. Thus we add to one another's sins and to one another's burthens. When Ethelswitha had departed, the holy mother summoned me into her chamber, and told me in detail the rule of the house. While she was yet speaking, some one tapped at the door; and she said, "Come in," and proceeded with her discourse. A nun entered, who straightway kneeled down within the chamber, and continued in that posture until the holy mother had brought her speech to a close, which she did not hasten, but rather drew out. Now I Ethelfled had continually seen persons kneel unto the king and to the queen, and unto mine own father and mother, but had never known them thus left long together without being bidden to arise; and the newness of the sight was accompanied by commiseration for the nun, who appeared feeble in body, and frequently changed colour. Howbeit, the holy mother at length said composedly, "Thou mayst arise, daughter;" whereupon, the nun gat from off her knees, approached the holy mother, kneeled again, kissed the hem of her (1) It is a disputed point whether the Anglo-Saxon monasteries were not under a simpler and more primitive rule than the Benedictine. VOL. XV. The holy mother had scarce concluded her speaking, when the last Angelus rang us to the chapel, where I was ware of twenty pair of round eyes furtively gazing at me. After prayers came supper; and I found that my admission was to be kept as a kind of festival: though there was but a humble feast, after all. The sisters had treen' platters; and only the holy mother and I had silver spoons. Indeed, mor A depart therefrom, too, all they could. As saith Tinne, "He helped him to the best, though it were but a marrow-bonc." My seat was next the holy mother, which I took for a pleasing recognition of my rank; howbeit, I shortly learned it was only because I happened to be the only postulant. Recreation being permitted, there ensued some attempt at general discourse; but it proved so dull that I was glad when the bell tolled for complines. Then we all formed in solemn procession; and, with slow step and heads abased, proceeded to night-prayer. novice read the prayers and we made response; while candles were lighted before different shrines. Then we remained awhile in silent meditation, very hushed and still then one of the sisters read a discourse: then the holy mother blessed us the portress brought in the house keys and laid them on the altar, saying, "O holy Father! preserve us this night from all evil!" Then we each kissed the floor; and proceeded orderly, silently, and in the dark, each to our own cell. There, having knelt in prayer, each again kissed the ground, saying "Dust I am, and to dust shall I return:" then crossed herself and lay down, saying, "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to you I commend my spirit." I Ethelfled could neither sleep nor weep, nor even think. A tight cord seemed tied across my heart: spiritually speaking there was one. Wherefore I lay awake and still: and, at dead of night, I heard stealthful footsteps along the gallery. Two nuns and two novices were on their way to the chapel, to spend the consecrated hour. At four in the morning we arose. We went in procession to the chapel. We spent an half-hour on (1) Wooden trenchers. T |