Page:Robert the Bruce and the struggle for Scottish independence - 1909.djvu/438

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366
Robert the Bruce.
[1329 A.D.

that these initials are quite inconsistent with fourteenth century practice.

Before taking final leave of Douglas Castle and its associations with Robert the Bruce, it may not be out of place to add to its memories one connected with another great Scotsman. When Sir Walter Scott, broken in health and fortune, travelled thither to study the scenery of his last romance, Castle Dangerous, he gazed on the landscape till, it is said, his eyes filled with tears, and he repeated the words, spoken by a descendant of the Black Douglas, as he lay dying at Otterburn.

"My wound is deep, I fain would sleep;
Take thou the vanguard of the three,
And hide me by the bracken bush,
That grows on yonder lilye lee.

"Oh! bury me by the bracken bush,
Beneath the blooming brier,
And never let living mortal ken
That e'er a kindly Scott lies here."

There remains to be told, in a few words, the remaining acts of King Robert's other great servant, Randolph, Earl of Moray.

David II. and his consort Johanna, sister of Edward III., were crowned at Scone, on November 24, 1331. Moray, from the first, vigilantly and sagaciously discharged the duties of Regent. One of his first recorded acts was one of considerable moment in respect of future relations with the Church of Rome. Ecclesiastical interference was