Puis fift le Roy porter amont
Sa banniere et la feynt Eymont
.La faint George et la faint Edwavt
Et o celes par droit efwart
La S eg rave 8c le Herifort
Et cele au Seigneur diClijffovt
A ki le chafteaus fut donnes.
‘Notwithilanding the care Edward took to fecure this place, it
•was retaken by the Scots the following year; but very foon after
was repofiefied * by the Englijh, after a very long fiege. It appears
that the Scats again recovered it, for in one. of the invafionl
o f the former, the gallant owner, Sir Euftace Maxwell fupported
a fiege in it of dome weeks, and obliged the enemy to retire ; but
confidering that it might fall into the hands o f the Englijh, and
tbecome noxious to his country, generoufly difmantled it, and for
.that piece 'o f difinterefted fervice was properly rewarded by his
prince, -who remitted to him and his heirs for ever, the annual
pecuniary acknowlegements they paid to the crown for the cafble
and lands o f rCaerlaveroc ,-f. It was again rebuilt; but in 1355
f being then in pofielfion of the Englijh) was taken by Roger Kirk-
patric, and leveled to the ground Notwithilanding thefe repeated
misfortunes, it was once more reftored; and once more
ruined, by the Earl o f Sujfex in 1570' |], From this time the
* Maitland’s Hifl. Scot. II. 460.
4 Crawford’s Peerage o f Scotland\ 370.
t Major de geftis Scotorum, 248. more probably rendered defencelefs.
if Camden’ s annals in Kennet, II. 429. It appears to me that the prefent are the
antient towers, fo exa&ly do they anfwer to the old poetic defcription; but that the
cwners, till the year i6]}8> neglefled it as a fortrefs, yet inhabited it as a manfion.
Lords
I Lords of the place feem for fome interval to have been difcou-
■raged from any attempt towards reftoring a fortrefs fo diftinguiihed
■ by its misfortunes; for Camden in 1607, fpeaks o f it as only a
■ weak houfe belonging to the barons of Maxwell: yet once more
W Robert firft Earl of Nithfdale, in 1638, ventured to re-eilablifh the *
aftrong hold of the family .; ftill it was ill-fated ; for in the courfe
B o f Crmwel’s ufurpation, it was furrendered on terms ill preferv-
B e d ; and a receit was given for the furniture by one Finch; in
¡t-which among other particulars is mention o f eighty beds, a proof
B o f the hofpitality or the fplendor ofthepla.ee. ‘The form o f the
»prefent caftle is triangular ; at two o f the corners had been a
■round tower, but one is now demolilhed; and on each fide the
■gateway, which forms the third angle, are two rounders. Over
■the arch is the creit of the Maxwells (placed there when the
■caftle was laft repair’d) with the date, and this motto, I hid ye fair,
■ meaning Wardlaw-, the hill where the gibbet Hood .; for in feudal
■times, it feems to have been much in ufe.
The caftle yard is triangular : one fide which feems to have been
■the ri'fidencc of the family, is very elegantly built ; has three ftories, .
■ with very handfqme window caies : on the pediment of the lower
Bare coats of arms; over the feeond legendary tales ; over the
■ third, I think-Ovidian-fables,-...all neatly.cut in ftone. The op-.
Bppfite. fide, is plain. In. front is a handfome, door cafe, leading
‘ I f t0 iH §re,t » *s ninety-one- feet by twenty-fix. . The
■ whole internal length o f that fide.a hundred and twenty-three.
|| The Maxwells, Lords of Caerlaveroc, .are o f great antiquity :
^ but their hiftory mixed with all the. misfortune and all the dif-
£w| grace