Mercer Chronicle

THE MERCER CHRONTCLE. y
No shouts responsive from the fleet are heard
Nor mock, nor vaunt, nor insult, not a word ;
But on a given signal from the mast
Of each tall vessel towered as it passed
The galling emblem — into bundles tied
The lowly broom 17 shrub the proud vaunt supplied,
Which said " No English fleet can dare the breeze," 18
" While Scottish ships triumphant sweep the seas."
A fiendish roar of deep concentred wrath
Burst from the walls — while on its homeward path
The fleet in calm contemptuous silence speeds.
Not for one moment the rude routing heeds.
Swiftly along the Scottish coast it steers,
And heaven -impel led, its destination nears ;
Till safely anchored in the Firth of Tay,
Yet eager to set forth again, it lay.
Such are the stories and traditions old,
Our grandsires of this Perthshire race have told.
And not confined to Perthshire — for we see
Them spread from Berwick 19 to the Northern Dee.
17 » Which shows that gallant Admiral van Tromp
A wrinkle shrewd from good John Mercer got ;
Or otherwise, one thought, as great wits jump
Occurred alike to Dutchman and to Scot."
18 The planta genista is thought to be the lowly (?) emblem of the
Plantagenets, themselves of Northman descent ; but we think the token,
which is of Northman origin, signifies quite the reverse of humility ;
and we also conclude that all schoolboys, who have felt the flagellating
force of this plant, when it reflected, or rather touched their honour, will
agree with us ; and will say that the idea is still preserved among the
Americans the genuine descendants of those renowned Northmen, for
they are always talking of a " whipping ! " while the Saxon portion of
the British can only talk of a licking ; the descendants of the Normans
in Britain being generally accustomed " to thrash " their opponents !
19 We think, from inquiries yet made, that it is questionable whether
the Mercer family were not settled at Berwick before their ancestor
came to Perth. Berwick was the port of the ancient and once most
•powerful kingdom of Northumberland : Edwin, king of which, built