54 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



intimidating the countess into a surrender, had it erected close under the 

 ramparts. The Scottish Camilla, however, met this additional bravado with the 

 strong figurative expression, that " Salisbury's ' sowe' — (the name of the engme) — 

 should speedily be made to cast her pigs," and suiting the action to the word, 

 gave the signal for a huge rock to be precipitated from the battlement, wliich, 

 by its fall, demoUshed the engine, and killing or scattering those within, verified 

 her prediction to the letter. Thus foiled in his last resource, and feeling the 

 insufficiency of mere iron, the besieger tried the effect of gold, and succeeded, 

 as he believed, in bribing the keeper to leave one of the gates open at a certain 

 hour in the night. Elated with his apparent success, the earl repaired, at the 

 hour concerted, with a chosen body of liis followers, and finding the gates open, 

 felt assured that all was now ui his power. Copeland, one of his officers, either 

 by accident, or in his eagerness to profit by the occasion, took precedence of 

 his lord, and, passing first under the arch, was mistaken for his master, and 

 suddenly caged by the fall of the portcuUis. Agnes, who had been duly apprised 

 of the treacherous attempt, and was now a spectator of the scene, addressing the 

 earl, jeeringly, exclaimed — " So, so — Montagu — we had hoped to-night to have 

 received the noble Salisbury as our guest, and consulted him on the best means 

 of defending a Scottish fortress against an English army ; but, as my lord declines 

 our invitation, we will e'en take counsel of ourselves. Good night, Montagu ! 

 with truth within, we fear no treason from without." 



Mortified at this defeat, the siege was now converted into a blockade. 

 Closely environed by sea and land, all supplies cut off, and with no chance that 

 the castle could hold out beyond a certain day, a surrender was confidently 

 anticipated. The greater the confidence, however, the greater the disappoint- 

 ment — and where the dream of conquest was premature, the reaUty of defeat 

 fell doubly heavy. Alexander Ramsay, fully apprised of the extremity to 

 which the heroic countess and her devoted garrison were reduced, solemnly 

 pledged himself to her cause, and, embarking at midnight, with forty men of 

 determined courage, skilfully eluded the English vigilance, and, rowing imme- 

 diately under the castle ramparts where they communicated with the water, were 

 joyfully received by the countess and her intrepid band. This succour was most 

 opportune, and converted the dread of famine into the shouts of triumph ; for 

 Ramsay, thinking his mission but half fulfilled so long as the enemy lay in front, 

 took instant measures for its completion, and sallying forth, at the head of his 

 comrades, slew and disarmed their advanced guard, and returned to lay the 

 spoils at the countess's feet. Discouraged by nineteen weeks of wasted strength 

 and defeated stratagem ; and confounded by this last, and most unlooked for, 



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