146 Field Meeting — Burnfoot. 



fashion of the time. This favour was in the form of a pair of 

 lady's gauntlets, on which the white lion, the Percy cognizance, 

 was several times outlined in pearls, and which were richly fringed 

 with filigree work in gold. When he was borne to earth the 

 Douglas carried off this trophy. Tradition represents the victor 

 as boasting to the Percy that he would carry it home to his castle 

 of Dalkeith, but intimating that he would place it for three nights 

 in front of his tent to give him an opportunity of recovering it if 

 he could by force of ai-ms. We know that Percy did not succeed ; 

 for here are the identical gauntlets, remarkably well preserved, 

 still in possession of the Douglas family, the rows of pearls intact, 

 the silk lining still retaining its pink hue, although the outward 

 material is necessarily much faded. The Scots were certainly 

 pursued, and the battle of Otterburn, among the Cheviot hills, 

 was the sequel. Douglas, according to the balladist, had presage 

 of its issue. 



" But I ha'e dreamed a dreary dream. 

 Ayont the Isle of Skye 



I saw a dead man win a fight, 

 And I think that man was I." 



He fell in battle ; but his friends obeyed his behest to "hide me 

 by the bracken bush," and carry his standard still in the thick of 

 the fio-ht, rallying his men with the victorious cry — " A Douglas ! 

 A Dou^-las !" The standard-bearer was Archibald Douglas, 

 ancestor of the family of Cavers, who became hereditary Sheriffs 

 of Teviotdale, and the standard, together with the gauntlets, 

 remains in their possession to this day. It is a green flag thirteen 

 feet long, of the tapering pennon shape, having a lion emblazoned 

 in the centre of the Held, together with the heart and the three 

 stars of the Douglas arms. The Norman-French legend, in bold 

 lettering — " Jamais arryere," " Never behind " — is the mediaeval 

 equivalent of the modern Douglas motto, " Forward." The flag 

 is in somewhat frail condition and requires to be handled with 

 great care. One rent in it had been mended by Sir Walter Scott 

 when on a visit to Cavers, and the white stitches which he had 

 been induced to put in it further enhanced the interest in the 

 precious relic. 



Descending to the dining-room, the visitors had an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing the family portraits. These include two by 

 Raeburn George Malcolm, who farmed Hurnfoot before it had 



