No familiarity can distract from "Waterloo," which holds its own by Barbour's "Bannockburn," and Scott's "Flodden."

At the battle of Flodden, in which the Scots were routed and their Sovereign slain, the earl of Surry remarkably distinguished himself; he commanded under his father, and as soon as the jealousy of the Peers had fastened upon the one, they took care that the other should not escape.

For love of the French Queen, as much as for the rights of Scotland, he clothed himself in mail and put his country's noblest, dearest, and best in arms, to die on Flodden Field.

The great battle of Flodden was fought upon the 9th of September, 1513.

Besides King James, there fell at Flodden the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, thirteen earls, two bishops, two abbots, fifteen lords and chiefs of clans, and five peers' eldest sons, besides La Motte the French ambassador, and the secretary of the King.

It is from this cause that the sensations of sorrow and national lamentation occasioned by the defeat were peculiarly poignant and lastingso that to this day few Scotsmen can hear the name of Flodden without a shudder of gloomy regret.

All the magistrates and able-bodied citizens had followed their King to Flodden, whence very few of them returned.

There seems to be some uncertainty whether the holder of this dignity at the time of the battle of Flodden was Sir Alexander Lauder, ancestor of the Fountainhall family, who was elected in 1511, or that great historical personage, Archibald Earl of Angus, better known as Archibald Bell-the-Cat, who was chosen in 1513, the year of the battle.

Both of them were at Flodden.

Mr. Arnot, in the history of that city, says, "The news of their overthrow in the field of Flodden reached Edinburgh on the day after the battle, and overwhelmed the inhabitants with grief and confusion.

This banner, along with that of the Earl Marischal, still conspicuous in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, was honourably brought back from Flodden, and certainly never could have been displayed in a more memorable field.

" No event in Scottish history ever took a more lasting hold of the public mind than the "woeful fight" of Flodden; and, even now, the songs and traditions which are current on the Border recall the memory of a contest unsullied by disgrace, though terminating in disaster and defeat.

EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN I. News of battle!news of battle!

He is keeping Royal state and semblance still; Knight and noble lie around him, Cold on Flodden's fatal hill.

In the mountains growled the thunder, As I leaped the woeful wall, And the heavy clouds were settling Over Flodden, like a pall." XII.

Death is nearer to us, brethren, Than it seemed to those who died, Fighting yesterday at Flodden, By their lord and master's side.

Bid the women leave their wailing, Do they think that woeful strain, From the bloody heaps of Flodden Can redeem their dearest slain? Bid them cease,or rather hasten To the churches, every one; There to pray to Mary Mother,

There again we'll meet our children, Who, on Flodden's trampled sod, For their king and for their country Rendered up their souls to God.

Ye come to remind me that my father and my brother fell on the field of Flodden, in defence of a foolish king, and that I, too, bled therethat there also lie the bones of my kinsman, Cuthbert of Fastcastle, of my brother Cockburn and his son, and the father and brother of my Alison.

" "Nay, if you love me, tell me," she replied, laying her hand upon his brow, "for since your return from the field of Flodden, I have not seen you look thus.

" "Wretch!" exclaimed the henchman Trotter, dashing forward, and raising his sword, "said ye that my master proved false at Flodden?" "Hold!"

Flodden and Bannockburn were household words, as potent as Agincourt and Cressy.

Having come into the possession of the Crown, the estate was given by Edward VI. to Sir William Sidney, who had fought at Flodden Field.

The above woodcut shews a portion of the King's room in Ford Castle, which still contains souvenirs of Flodden Fieldaccording to an article in the Magazine of Art.

" Then, again, take the story told in Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, of the blacksmith whom Sir Walter had formerly known as a horse-doctor, and whom he found at a small country town south of the Border, practising medicine with a reckless use of "laudamy and calomy," apologising at the same time for the mischief he might do, by the assurance that it "would be lang before it made up for Flodden."