122 Battle of Sark. 



In conclusion, 1 have a riddle for which no solution is forth- 

 coming. If any of the members can make g-ood this defect may 

 I beg- to be favoured with the answer : — 



A blind man saw a hare, 

 A dumb man cried " Where ? " 

 A legless man ran andcatched it, 

 And a naked man put it in his pocket. 



This is said to be a " catch " riddle, to which no answer can be 

 given. 



IV. — 77zf Battle of Sark. By Mr G-EORGE Neilson. 



The county of Dumfries has seen a fair share of fighting in its 

 day, yet never within the clearly defined historic period has it fur- 

 nished the site for a really first-class battle. That of Sark was 

 one of the most considerable ever fought on Dumfriesshire soil. 

 Unfortunately, the i-ecord of it is confused in the last degree ; its 

 very date is with difficulty to be determined ; and the most circum- 

 stantial account of it comes from Hector Boece, a historian regard- 

 ing whom the main problem always is how much of him one is safe 

 to believe. The worst of it is that there appears to be no evidence 

 from English sources to clear away the obscurities on this side of 

 the Solway. 



The Asloan MS., written soon after 1460, contains a series of 

 memoranda of public events, in narrating which chronological 

 sequence is too often disregarded, although its authority is reckoned 

 of the highest. Next, after an entry dated " the yer of God 

 J^'iiij'^xlviij., the xxv. day of Pebruar," occurs the following in- 

 valuable passage on page 18 of the print of the chronicle : — 



" That samyn yer, the xxiii. day of October, was the battell 

 of Lochmabeue Stane, within the perrische of Sanct Patrick. 

 Quhar Hew of Douglas, erll of Ormond, was chiftaue on the Scottis 

 syd, and with him schir Jhon Wallace of Oragy, the lord of Jhon- 

 stoun, the lord Somervellis son and air, David Stewart of Castell 

 Myll, the schireff of Air, with uthir syndry gentillis of the west- 

 land, and thair men was callit four thousand. And on the Ynglis 

 syde the younger Persye, schir Jhon of Pennyntoune, schir Jhon 

 Herntoun war chiftanis, and with thaim sex thousand of Ynglis 

 men, quhar thar chiftanis war tane and fifteen hundred men with 

 thaim slane, drownit five hundred. And on the Scottis syde xxvi. 



