247 



thickness. Tantallan was a stronghold of the Donglas family. Over 

 the entrance there still remains, though nearly obliterated, the sculp- 

 tured blazon of the bloody heart, the well-known emblem of that 

 powerful and haughty family. The situation and strength of this fort- 

 alice long set at defiance every attempt at its reduction, and gave rise 

 to the popular belief that it was impregnable and indestructible. "Ding 

 down Tantallan ! — mak a brig to the Bass !" became a proverb ex- 

 pressive of the belief that the one project was as impracticable as the 

 other. The barony of North Berwick and the castle of Tantallan 

 were forfeited by the earl of Douglas in 1455, and were given by James 



III. to the fifth earl of Angus, known in history as " Archibald Bell- 

 the-cat;" and whose earnest but ill-requited remonstrance with James 



IV. on the eve of the battle of Flodden, against the war with England, 

 and his consequent retirement to Tantallan, have been celebrated by 

 Sir Walter Scott in Marmion. When the succeeding earl of Angus 

 had incurred the displeasure of James V,, he shut himself up in this 

 castle, which held out against a siege conducted by the monarch in 

 person. The king " borrowed " says Sir Walter " from the castle of 

 Dunbar, then belonging to the Duke of Albany, two great cannons, 

 whose names, as Pitscottie informs us with laudable minuteness, were 

 ' Thrawn-mouth'd Meg and her Marrow ;' also * two great botcards, 

 and two moyan, two double falcons, and four quarter falcons,' for the 

 safe guiding and redelivery of which, three lords were laid in pawn at 

 Dunbar !" King James, notwithstanding these means and appliances, 

 was obliged to raise the siege, and only got possession of the place 

 afterwards by treaty with the governor. It is foreign to the present 

 purpose to trace the history of this remarkable seat of feudal power. 

 Amidst its varying fortunes it continued to maintain its reputation as 

 a place of strength, and set at defiance the military art of the times, 

 till it was " dung down " by the Covenanters in the reign of Charles I., 

 its lord at that time, the Marquis of Douglas, having identified himself 

 with the royal cause. Sir Walter Scott describes the castle with cha- 

 racteristic minuteness and vivacity : — 



" But scant three miles the band had rode, 

 When o'er a height they passed, 

 And sudden, close before them show'd 



His lowers, Tantallan vast. 

 Broad, massive, high and stretching far. 

 And held impregnable in war. 

 On a projecting rock they rose 

 And round three sides the ocean flows, 



