A. D. 1316. tion of Queen Blear-eye, or Blearie, till after the death of her grandson, Robert III. that is, about ninety years after her own death; and this, of itself, must greatly invalidate the evidence arising from a tradition to which so confident an appeal is made. I do not by this admit that she was known by that name, at the distance of ninety years after her death; for hitherto I have not seen any evidence that she was known by that name, till near four hundred years after her death." Many other circumstances in the vulgar tale, are exceedingly improbable. 1. The Princess Marjory is supposed to have been hunting on horse-back when the time of the delivery of her first child approached. 2. The day appointed for this extraordinary hunting party, was Shrove Tuesday. The protestants of Paisley, in whose neighbourhood this story may be said to have originated, cannot decern the difference betwixt Shrove Tuesday, and any other Tuesday: but if a Roman Catholic princess, even in our free times, should be invited to a hunting match on Shrove Tuesday, she would be shocked at the profane invitation. 3. It is a singular circumstance, that the princess should have dislocated the vertebrae of the neck, and yet that there A. D. 1316. should have been time to perform so successfully the Caesarean operation on her child. 4. It is extraordinary that there should have been at hand any person so capable of performing the operation, as not to hurt the child any farther than by a flesh wound in the eyelid, or on the ball of the eye. "Of late years, the circumstances of the story have been somewhat varied; and it has been reported, that the Princess Marjory was not riding on a hunting party, but was riding to Mass, when she lost her life. The person who made this improvement on the story, knew that Shrove Tuesday was a day kept holy by the Romish church, for the purposes of solemn confession." "Another story is now told in the neighbourhood of Queen Blearies cross. It is said that there were disturbances in the country; that the Princess Marjory rode from Renfrew towards Paisley, with the purpose of taking refuge there; but that she was thrown from her horse, and died of the fall. It sup. poses that the Princess Marjory rode on horseback at a period so critical, from necessity, not choice," A. D. 1316. 4 "Having made these observations on the popular story of Queen Blearie, I leave it to my readers to form the conclusion." The reasoning employed in the foregoing dissertation, to account for the appellation of Faranyeir to Robert III. and to fix the period of its being first used, does not appear conclusive. Had this term been applied merely to indicate the late Robert, it certainly would have been likewise used in speaking of other deceased kings; which is not the case. The real occasion of this appellation appears to have been thus: Upon the accession of this king, he assumed the popular name of Robert, instead of his baptismal name John. Owing to this circumstance, he appears to have received from his subjects the jocular cognomen, or sobriquet, of John Faranyeir; as indicating that he was John last year, or formerly, though now Robert: In process of time, when his baptismal name of John was forgotten among the people, the sobriquet, or nickname, would be customarily attached to his regal name, Robert; and it is highly probable, that both of these designations, John Faranyeir, and Robert Faranyeir, were used among his people during his own reign, more especially the former. There is every reason to believe that many of these nick-names were actually applied to kings and great men, during their lives, or almost immediately afterwards: as Long-shanks, Cœur-de-lion, Carnarvon, Beau-clerk, Plantagenet, Black Prince, Rufus, Ghent, Bloody Mary, King-maker, Long-sword, Grim, Bell-the-cat, and many others: and the practice still continues, in political squabbles, popular custom, and schoolboy familiarity, to the present times. Upon the whole, therefore, it may be safely concluded, that the terms of Blear-eye, and Faranyeir were actually applied to Robert II. and Robert III. during their respective reigns, or immediately afterwards, to distinguish them from Robert I. called the Bruce, and from each other. The disease or deformity in the eye, from which Robert II. got the name of Blearie, is exceedingly common among old people; especially such as have been much exposed to the severities of the weather. The absurdity of the name of Queen Blearie, as noticed by Lord Hailes, is perfectly obvious. A. D. 1816. From the Assumption of Supreme Power in Ulster, by Edward We now return to notice the proceedings of Edward Bruce in Ireland. Almost immediately after the defeat of the Anglo-Irish forces at Kenlis, Edward Bruce resumed the siege of Carrickfergus castle. At this period, the Scots seem to have been exceedingly unskilful in that part of the art of war which relates to the attack of fortified places. Escalade, stratagem, surprisal or blockade, comprise the whole methods which appear to have been employed by them during this reign, for |