who, through necessity or choice, were trained to arms, and who were as ready to overthrow as to support the throne. Malcolm, the son of Kenneth the Third, availed himself of the innovation, in regard to the regal succession made by his father, to urge his pretensions to the crown. Aided by their respective partisans, the competitors met in conflict in Upper Stratherne; and Kenneth the Grim was mortally wounded.

A.D.

MALCOLM the SECOND.-The reign of Malcolm, though 1003. S turbulent, was vigorous. He defended his country from the attacks of the Danes and the incursions of the English. Three successive and desperate attacks were made by the former, during the first eleven years of this reign, to obtain a permanent settle ment on the North-east shores of Scotland.

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A.D. The first was at Mortlach, in Moray; where the intruders 1010. S were compelled to yield the palm of victory to the bravery of the Scots. To commemorate his victory, Malcolm afterwards built a religious house on the field of battle. The second descent was made on the shores of Angus. Camus, a valiant Dane, having landed near Panbride, penetrated into the country but a few miles, when his forces were defeated and he was slain in the pursuit. A monumental stone, called Camus' Cross, commemorates the spot of his sepulture.

The Danes, though discouraged by defeat, made a third descent upon the coast of Buchan, near Slaines Castle; but they were over thrown by the chief of that district. Scotland was the only country in which these ruthless warriors were not permitted to settle permanently, though they succeeded in establishing themselves in Ireland, England, and Normandy. Sueno, the Dane, despairA.D. ing to overcome the valorous Scots, entered into a treaty 1014. S with Malcolm, by which Scotland was finally exempted from the piratical incursions of his countrymen.

This was a happy epoch for Scotland, which had for a century and a half been visited with the horrible devastations of a merci less invader.

The Ostmen or Danes, who had settled in Ireland, embraced Christianity about the middle of the tenth century; and it is an important fact, that this change in their religious principles greatly mitigated their natural ferocity, and restrained their piratical propensity. As the profession of the Christian religion, though greatly corrupted, was introduced into the Pagan regions of the North,

the European governments were gradually improved, and the spirit of piracy insensibly disappeared.

Exempted from the attacks of foreign enemies, Malcolm had leisure to contemplate the project of extending his dominion. From the Earl of Northumberland, he wrested the district of Lothian; which was conceded by treaty, and attached unalienably to the Scottish monarchy. Malcolm's ambitious views excited the jealousy of Canute; who, under pretence of obtaining an engagement to perform the customary homage for Cumberland, penetrated into ScotA.D. land. The demands of the haughty Dane were prudently 1031. complied with.

Had Malcolm, in the administration of the laws, been guided by a spirit of wisdom and moderation, his character would have been untarnished. But Finlegh, the father of Macbeth and governor of Ross, perished by the king's resentment; and the governor of Moray, the father of Lulach, was burned in his castle, with fifty of his clan. Revenge, though delayed, remained unsatisfied, until Macbeth avenged the death of his father and the wrongs of his wife.

Malcolm died, or, as some affirm, was assassinated, at Glammis, in Angus. A rude mass, sixteen feet high and five broad, without an inscription, is still shown in the churchyard of Glammis, as King Malcolm's grave-stone. His assassins escaped not with impunity, though they fell not by the sword of justice. After committing the foul murder, they endeavoured to escape; but, in crossing Forfar Loch, which was then frozen, the ice gave way, and they all miserably perished.

A.D.

DUNCAN.-Duncan, the grandson and successor of Mal1033. colm, was a prince of a gentle disposition. After his accession, he was required by Canute to fulfil his grandfather's engagements, and repress the turbulance of the Northumbrians. The Scots were not very successful; but the death of Canute suspended their operations.

The events of Duncan's reign were few and unimportant, if we except his tragical and lamented fate. His grandfather, the late King, had slain Kermeth the Fourth, and supplanted his family. Kenneth's granddaughter, the lady Gruach, was married, first to the Maormor or Chief of Moray, who was burnt with many of his clan. Her second husband was the renowned Macbeth, who was the grandson, by a daughter, of Malcolm the Second. Lady

to his purpose.

Macbeth's thoughts were deeply engaged in contemplating the redress of her own and her grandfather's wrongs. Macbeth, too, conceiving himself entitled to royalty, wanted no spur to urge him He assassinated the King at Bothgowanan, near Elgin, whither he had been drawn, by some urgent duty, within the territorial government of Macbeth. Duncan left two sons,Malcolm who fled to England, and Donald who was chased to the Hebrides.

A.D.

MACBETH.-This celebrated person was by birth the 1039. Thane of Ross, and by his marriage Thane of Moray. He delayed not, after the murder of his Sovereign, to seize the sceptre. Supported by the lieges of Ross and Moray, and the partisans of Kenneth the Fourth, he hastened to Scone, where he was crowned king. Conscious of his defective title, he endeavoured to acquire stability to his government by a beneficent and vigorous administration.

He was just,

For ten years, he reigned in apparent security. vigilant, and merciful to the poor. But the crime of a most sacrilegious murder was secretly regarded with abhorrence by the nation. An unsuccessful effort was made by the Abbot of Dunkeld to drive the usurper from the throne, and to restore the legitimate heir. Even Macbeth himself seems to have been haunted by a poignant consciousness of guilt. To sooth the anguish of his spirit, he was liberal to the poor, he gave largesses to the clergy, and caused ample distributions to be made at Rome. To the Culdees of Lochleven he conveyed valuable lands.

But his temper, naturally cruel, burst the restraints he had imposed on himself. He murdered Bancho, a nobleman nearly allied to the royal family; he confiscated the estates of many of the disaffected nobles; and maintained a band of plunderers whom he kept as his body guard. To protect himself from the vengeance of the nobility, who envied his greatness and detested his cruelty, be built a castle on Dunsinnan Hill. He exacted heavy contribu tions from the nobility, and even required their personal attendance to complete the fortress.

Macduff, Thane of Fife, less obsequious than the other nobles, declined obedience, and fled to England. He encouraged the exiled Malcolm to assert his right to the crown of his ancestors. Siward Earl of Northumberland, Malcolm's maternal uncle, having received the command of ten thousand men from the English

king, marched into Scotland and defeated Macbeth, who fled to the North, where his friends were numerous, resolving still to contend for the sovereignty: But he was slain in battle the following year, by the hand of the injured Macduff. In the vicinity of Lunfanan, two miles north-west of the village of Kincardine O'Niel, in Aberdeenshire, there is a valley in which the vestiges an an cient fortress are still discernible, a hundred yards in length and twenty in breadth. In this solitary place, it is conjectured, Macbeth sought an asylum.

Lulach, Lady Macbeth's son, was acknowledged king by the lieges of Ross and Moray. The pageant monarch reigned but a few months. Malcolm discovered his lurking place, and slew him in Strathbogie. Macbeth and Lulach were buried in Iona, the charnel-house of the Scottish kings. Concerning the fate of Lady Macbeth, history and tradition are silent.

CHAPTER III.

Malcolm the Third-transactions with England—his policy and character.

A.D.

MALCOLM the THIRD, surnamed Canmore, i. e. in Gaelic 1057. Great head. Malcolm having no competitor to fear or op pose, successfully employed himself in calming the irritated feelings of his disappointed enemies. Nor were his faithful friends forgotten. The patriot Macduff, by whose means he was restored to the throne, sought po reward in titles of dignity, pensions, or grants of crown lands. Agreeably to his request, the King bestowed on him the following privileges: That he and his successors should have the right of placing the kings of Scotland on the throne at their coronation; that they should lead the van of the Scottish armies whenever the royal banner was displayed; that if any his family or clan committed unpremeditated slaughter, they should have a peculiar sanctuary, and obtain pardon, upon payment of an atonement in money.

of

Little is known of the first nine years of Malcolm's reign. He was induced by gratitude and interest to cultivate peace with England, until the death of Edward the Confessor. Harold, the last prince of the Saxon line, succeeded; but he was opposed by his brother Tostig; who, aided by a body of Norwegians, invaded England.

C

The intruder was repulsed and fled to Scotland, where he obtained an asylum. But, in a second attempt upon England, he and his confederate Harold King of Norway, were slain at the battle of Slaneford Bridge, near York.

A.D.

The alliance between Scotland and England was superseded by the victory and accession of William the Conqueror. Ed1066. gar Atheling, the heir of the Saxon line, a prince of contemptible understanding, though despised by the Conqueror as incapable, from his mental imbecility, of exciting any formidable opposition, was notwithstanding supported by the malecontent lords who fled with him and his family to Scotland; and sought the protection of Malcolm, who soon after espoused Margaret, the sister of the fugitive prince.

The

A formidable attack was meditated against England by the adherents of Atheling, in conjunction with the Danes and Scots. The Saxons and Danes made a descent upon Yorkshire. Conqueror had the address by bribery to dissolve the confederacy. Edgar and his adherents found safety in flight and concealment. Ignorant of the fate of his allies, Malcolm, when too late, led his forces into England by the Western borders through Cumberland. He wasted and pillaged the country; even religious houses were plundered and burnt, and they who fled thither for sanctuary were destroyed in the conflagration.

Gospatric, a Northumbrian chief, who had deserted Atheling, retaliated severely upon Malcolm's subjects in Cumberland; which so enraged the latter, that he commanded his army to seize all the young men and women in the counties through which they passed, and carry them captive into Scotland. So great was the number thus carried off, that for many years they were to be found in every Scottish village and hovel.

Humber and the Tees.

To punish the late revolt, William the Conqueror emulated the barbarity of the Scots. He laid waste the country between the The wretched inhabitants who perished not by famine, either sold themselves for slaves, or sought an asylum in Scotland. Thither many Normans of quality, as well as Saxons, retired. All who were obnoxious to William's government obtained a hospitable reception at the Court of Malcolm. Resolved to avenge on Malcolm the insults he had offerA.D. Į ́ed, William invaded Scotland. The Scots, though poor, 1072.

were independent. They advanced to meet the Conquer