of patriotism in the spirit of chivalry without the incessant vengeance and refusal of quarter which make Harry's Wallace reek of the shambles.[1] Written in or about 1482 or 1483, the poem was shaped when Scotland and England were at war, when Edward IV, intriguing with the exiled Duke of Albany and Earl of Douglas, was the object of intense exasperation. He had supported Albany's pretension to the crown, and fomented every treason against the Scottish throne; his armies had over-run the borders with fire and sword; his fleets had assailed—though not with impunity—Scottish ships in the Firth of Forth; and his bargain with Albany was that, as the price of English support, Albany, if successful in winning the kingdom, should hold it as Edward's feudatory, and should further cede to him the fortresses of Berwick and Lochmaben and the territories of Liddesdale and Eskdale and Annandale. There was justification therefore for Scottish indignation against such a policy of conquest by intrigue and against a 'king of reyff'.
The phrase was radically a Lancastrian taunt, Scotland had long and with fair consistency favoured the red rose. Margaret of Anjou and Henry VI had once found shelter in exile at the Scottish court. The French and the Scots were leagued enemies of the house of York. Edward IV, the Yorkist victor, veritably enough a 'king of reyff' in England, had both by war and policy become a 'revare' in Scotland too and the country was up in arms. Of the national indignation Harry's poem is a passionate expression. Tending so directly to explain its violence and ruthlessness of tone, the ascertainment of its date thus considerably intensifies its political and historical significance. In virtue
- ↑ Brace's declared policy was to take prisoners (Bruce, viii. 509); Harry's Wallace on the other hand, made it a rule to give no quarter to men (Wallace, iii. 217–8, iv. 256–7, 299, vi. 405, 412, ix. 159, 517, 753–4, 1110. Harry rejoices even in the plunder of the dead, vi. 764–5; and, at ix. 753–4 makes Wallace deny sanctuary to refugees in a church.
