242 NETHER LOCHABER. 



men of Lochaber, is unquestionable, and a truly formidable weapon 

 it must have been. With a crescent axe face to cut with, it had a 

 hook at the back by which horsemen could be caught hold of and 

 dragged from their saddles, to be despatched at leisure as they lay 

 helpless upon the ground. The shaft was necessarily of consider- 

 able length, about six feet, of ash or other tough wood, and of no 

 greater girth than a common hay-fork handle. The shaft of the 

 modern weapon, however, is between seven and eight feet long, 

 and of a girth that an ordinary hand does not suffice to grasp. The 

 axe proper, too, or head of the arm usually shown as a Lochaber 

 axe, is nearly twice the weight of that of the older and more 

 business-like weapon. An Indian tomahawk with a six-foot shaft, 

 or a mediaeval knight's battle-axe with a six-foot handle, such as 

 that with which the Bruce cleft the skull of Henry de Boune 

 at Bannockburn, would probably be nearer to the pattern of the 

 original Lochaber axe than the ridiculously big and cumbrous 

 modern article. You remember the scene in Scott's Lord of the 

 Isles 



" Of Hereford's high blood he came, 

 A race renown'd for knightly fame. 

 He burn'd before his Monarch's eye, 

 To do some deed of chivalry. 

 He spurr'd his steel, he couched his lance, 

 And darted on the Bruce at once. 



. " As motionless as rocks, that bide 



The wrath of the advancing tide, 

 The Bruce stood fast. Each breast beat high, 

 And dazzled was each gazing eye. 

 The heart had hardly time to think, 

 The eyelid scarce had time to wink, 

 "While on the King, like flash of flame, 

 Spurr'd to full speed the warhorse came ! 

 The partridge may the falcon mock, 

 If that slight palfrey stand the shock ; 

 But, swerving from the knight's career, 

 Just as they met, Bruce shunn'd the spear. 



