The Caged Lion | Page 2

is to
be found in Stowe's 'Survey of London,' and likewise in the evidence
before the Parliamentary Commission, which shows what it was
intended by Queen Philippa to have been to the river-side population,
and what it might have been had such intentions been understood and
acted on--nay, what it may yet become, since the foundation remains
intact, although the building has been removed.
C. M. YONGE.
November 24, 1869.


CHAPTER I
: THE GUEST OF GLENUSKIE
A master hand has so often described the glens and ravines of Scotland,
that it seems vain and presumptuous to meddle with them; and yet we
must ask our readers to figure to themselves a sharp cleft sloping
downwards to a brawling mountain stream, the sides scattered with
gray rocks of every imaginable size, interspersed here and there with
heather, gorse, or furze. Just in the widest part of the valley, a sort of
platform of rock jutted out from the hill-side, and afforded a station for
one of those tall, narrow, grim-looking fastnesses that were the strength
of Scotland, as well as her bane.

Either by nature or art, the rock had been scarped away on three sides,
so that the walls of the castle rose sheer from the steep descent, except
where the platform was connected with the mountain side by, as it were,
an isthmus joining the peninsula to the main rock; and even this
isthmus, a narrow ridge of rock just wide enough for the passage of a
single horse, had been cut through, no doubt with great labour, and
rendered impassable, except by the lowering of a drawbridge.
Glenuskie Castle was thus nearly impregnable, so long as it was
supplied with water, and for this all possible provision had been made,
by guiding a stream into the court.
The castle was necessarily narrow and confined; its massive walls took
up much even of the narrow space that the rock afforded; but it had
been so piled up that it seemed as though the builders wished to make
height compensate for straitness. There was, too, an unusual amount of
grace, both in the outline of the gateway with its mighty flanking
towers, and of the lofty donjon tower, that shot up like a great finger
above the Massy More, as the main building was commonly called by
the inhabitants of Glenuskie.
Wondrous as were the walls, and deep-set as were the arches, they had
all that peculiar slenderness of contour that Scottish taste seemed to
have learnt from France; and a little more space was gained at the top,
both of the gateway towers and the donjon, by a projecting cornice of
beautifully vaulted arches supporting a battlement, that gave the
building a crowned look. On the topmost tower was of course planted
the ensign of the owner, and that ensign was no other than the regal
ruddy Lion of Scotland, ramping on his gold field within his tressure
fiery and counter flory, but surmounted by a label divided into twelve,
and placed upon a pen-noncel, or triangular piece of silk. The eyes of
the early fifteenth century easily deciphered such hieroglyphics as these,
which to every one with the least tincture of 'the noble science'
indicated that the owner of the castle was of royal Stewart blood, but of
a younger branch, and not yet admitted to the rank of knighthood.
The early spring of the year 1421 was bleak and dreary in that wild
lonely vale, and large was the fire burning on the hearth in the castle
hall, in the full warmth of which there sat, with a light blue cloth cloak
drawn tightly round him, a tall old man, of the giant mould of Scotland,
and with a massive thoughtful brow, whose grand form was rendered

visible by the absence of hair, only a few remnants of yellow locks
mixed with silver floating from his temples to mingle with his
magnificent white beard. A small blue bonnet, with a short eagle
feather, fastened with a brooch of river pearl, was held in the hands that
were clasped over his face, as, bending down in his chair, he murmured
through his white beard, 'Have mercy, good Lord, have mercy on the
land. Have mercy on my son,--and guard him when he goes out and
when he comes in. Have mercy on the children I have toiled for, and
teach me to judge and act for them aright in these sore straits; and
above all, have mercy on our King, break his fetters, and send him
home to be the healer of his land, the avenger of her cruel wrongs.'
So absorbed was the old man that he never heard the step that came
across the hall. It was a slightly unequal step, but was carefully hushed