given by the Norwegians; and probably they had also settlements in Caithness and the Orcades. When, therefore, Kenneth finally defeated, dispersed, and destroyed the Picts, he obtained possession of the middle provinces of Scotland from sea to sea, having joined his original dominions on St George's Channel to the eastern shores washed by the German Ocean. Behind him, to the northeast, lay the warlike and poor Scandinavians; but in front of his kingdom, and between that and the present English frontier, lay three states, enjoying a boisterous and unsettled independence, and each peopled by a mixed race.

The first of these was Galloway, then extended considerably beyond the limits of the shires of Wigton and Kirkcudbright, to which the name is now limited. This remote and desolate region erelong acknowledged a vassalage to the crown; but being inhabited by a very brave and barbarous people, continued, substantially, a separate state till about 1234. Secondly, bounded on the east, and partly on the north, by Galloway, lay Strathclwyd, inhabited by British tribes, of the nation generally called Meatæ. These also were compelled to acknowledge the superiority of the throne. They may be generally described as occupying the territory from the castle of Dunbarton to near the village of Melrose; but their limits, like those of all savage nations, were variable and uncertain, as they failed or succeeded in wars with their neighbours. The last mention of the inhabitants of Strathclwyd, as a people having a separate kinglet

or prince, occurs in 1018. Thirdly, still to the eastward of the Strathclwyd Britons lay the provinces now called Berwickshire and the three Lothians. This fertile country was the object of cupidity, in a much greater degree, than the barren mountains of the more western frontier; and, after the decay of the Roman power, it lay peculiarly exposed to the inroads of the Picts, who appear to have settled there a large division of their nation, called Vecturiones, who mingled, doubtless, among such remains of Britons as might still dwell to the south of the Firth of Forth. But when the sword of the Saxons drove back the Pictish incursions, the victors appear to have won from the Picts all the flat country comprehending Berwickshire and East Lothian, and the greater part of West Lothian, which they joined to the Saxon kingdom of Deiria, or Northumberland. The Northumbrian Saxons being in their turn hard pressed by the Danes, their kingdom was so much weakened, that the Scots were tempted to cross the frith of Forth, then called the Scottish Sea, for the purpose of occupying Lothian; and about 830 they made themselves masters of the keys of that province, Dunbar and Edwinsbury (Edinburgh). At a later period (961), Edgar, King of England, in a council held at York, divided the territory hitherto designated as Northumberland, into two parts. The more southern half corresponds with the modern county of Northumberland, the northern moiety comprehended Lothian and the district now called Berwickshire. Finding this latter division of the

country so obnoxious to the attacks of the Scots, Edgar made an agreement with Kenneth the Second, and conferred upon him that portion, to be held of the English crown. Thus came Lothian to the government of the Northern Princes, but by grant from the King of England, and therefore under condition of paying homage—a circumstance which has thrown additional confusion into a confused part of British history. Finally, upon like terms, a considerable part of Westmoreland and Cumberland was some time after conceded to the Scot.

From the time of Kenneth Mac Alpine to that of Macbeth-that is, from 841 to 1040, a space of about two centuries, we have a line of fifteen kings of Scots, of whom it is easy to perceive that, in spite of the absurd prejudices concerning the inferiority of the Gaelic race, they sustained successfully the sceptre of Kenneth, and, by repeated battles both with the English and the Danes, not only repelled the attacks of their neighbours, but consolidated the strength of their kingdom, gradually modelling an association of barbarous and in part wandering tribes into the consistence of a regular state. It is true that, through the mist of years, these sceptered shades are seen but indistinctly and dimly; yet, as we catch a glimpse, we see them occupied always in battle, and often in conquest.

The more civilized descendants of the murdered Duncan come on the stage with an interest peculiar to themselves, as well as that which arises from

the name of their ancestor, at the tale of whose murder our imagination has been so early awakened. If it be true, as we are told by Fordun, that Malcolm, called Canmore (i. e. Greathead), actually repaired, during the usurpation of Macbeth, to the court of England, already refined by the multitude of Normans whom Edward the Confessor assembled around him, we may conclude him to have been the first of his race who obtained some share of a better education than the wilderness called Scotland could at that time afford. His history shows symptoms of a vigorous and regular government. He had strength and generosity sufficient to receive and protect the heir of his benefactor Edward, when the battle of Hastings had thrust him from his throne. He wedded Margaret, sister to the disinherited Atheling, who, by the influence which she obtained over her husband, tamed the impetuosity of a fiery spirit, and inclined to acts of religion and charity blood which, like that of Malcolm's ancestors, was naturally of a choleric temperament. There can be no doubt that, during the reign of this king, considerable improvement was made by the Scottish nation. The King's bounty and the Queen's benevolence drew to the court of Malcolm Canmore tides of various emigrants, both Normans and Saxons, and these brought with them their respective arts and languages. The English tongue already prevailed in Lothian, where the Northumbrian Saxons and the Danes had been long seated, and where they had communicated to the descendants of the Vecturiones, or

Southern Picts, a language which, from their previous intercourse with Scandinavians, that people might be in some degree prepared to receive. When, therefore, the Scottish princes made the important acquisition of Lothian and Berwick, they found the Anglo-Saxon, or English, completely established there; as being the language of a people who had more ideas to express, it must have been more copious than the Gaelic, and we can, consequently, see no reason to wonder that it should have become, by degrees, the dialect of their court.

In the introduction of the Saxon language into his kingdom, Malcolm himself was a considerable agent. As frequently happens, he caught the flame of religion from the pure torch of conjugal affection. His love of his consort led him to engage in the devotional services which afterwards procured for her the title of a saint. Totally illiterate, the King was unable to peruse his wife's missals and prayerbooks; but he had them gorgeously bound, and frequently, by kissing them, expressed his veneration for what he could not understand. When the Queen undertook to correct some alleged abuses of the church, Malcolm stood interpreter betwixt the fair and royal reformer and such of the Scottish clergy as did not understand English, which Malcolm loved because it was the native tongue of Margaret. Such pictures occurring in history delight by their beauty and their simplicity. A king of fierce barbarians, himself the bravest of mankind, takes on him the yoke of devotion at the voice of a mild and beautiful woman, and serves,