J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 1

INTRODUCTION. XXV
The pertinacious opposition of Angus to his doom
irritated to the extreme the fiery temper of James,
and he swore, in his wrath, that a Douglas should
never serve him ; an oath which he kept in circum-
stances, under which the spirit of chivalry which
he worshipped* should have taught him other
feelings.
While these transactions, by which the fate of
Scotland was influenced, were passing upon the
Eastern Border, the Lord Maxwell seems to have
* I allude to the affecting story of Douglas of Kilspindie,
uncle to the Earl of Angus. This gentleman had been placed
by Angus about the King's person, who, when a boy, loved
him much on account of his singular activity of body, and was
wont to call him his Graysteil, after a champion of chivalry,
in the romance of Sir Eger and Sir Grime. He shared, how-
ever, the fate of his chief, and, for many years, served in
France. Weary at length of exile, the aged warrior, recol-
lecting the King's personal attachment to him, resolved to
throw himself on his clemency. As James returned from
hunting in the park at StirHug, he saw a person at a distance,
and, turning to his nobles, exclaimed, " Yonder is my Gray-
" steil, Archibald of Kilspindie !" As he approached, Douglas
threw himself on his knees, and implored permission to lead
an obscure life in his native land. But the name of Douglas
was an amulet, which steel'd the King's heart against the in-
fluence of compassion and juvenile recollection. He passed
the suppUant without an answer, and rode briskly up the steep
hill towards the castle. Kilspindie, though loaded with a hau-
berk under his clothes, kept pace with the horse, in vain eu-