ullor reid and white."

The wild heath presented all the splendour of a court, and the
amusements of a crowded city. Upon it were thousands of spectators, who
had come to witness the royal exhibitions, and the first durable bond of
amity between two rival nations. Some crowded to behold the tourneyings
of the knights with sword, spear, and battle-axe; others to witness the
representation of plays, written "expressly for the occasion;" while a
third party were delighted with the grotesque figures and positions of
the morris-dancers; and a fourth joined in, or were spectators of, the
humbler athletic exercises of wrestling, leaping, putting the stone, and
throwing the hammer.

All, too, were anxious to see the young king, whose courage and
generosity were the theme of minstrels, and of whom one sayeth--

"And ye Christian princes, whosoever ye be,
If ye be destitute of a noble captayne,
Take James of Scotland for his audacitie
And proved manhood, if ye will laud attayne."

But the young monarch was as remarkable for his gallantry and
eccentricity, as for his generosity and courage; and no one seemed able
to tell whether or not he lodged in the magnificent pavilion over which
the royal standard of Scotland waved, or whether he intended to welcome
his royal bride by proxy.

But our story requires that, for a time, we leave princes, knights, and
tournaments, and notice humbler personages, and more homely amusements.
At a distance from the pavilion, the tourneyings, the music, the plays,
and other exhibitions, was a crowd composed of some seven or eight
hundred peasantry engaged in and witnessing the athletic games of the
Borders. Near these were a number of humbler booths, in which the
spectators and competitors might regale themselves with the spirits and
tippeny then in use.

Amongst the competitors was one called Meikle Robin, or Robin Meikle. He
was strength personified. His stature exceeded six feet; his shoulders
were broad, his chest round, his limbs well and strongly put together.
He was a man of prodigious bone and sinews. At throwing the hammer, at
putting the stone, no man could stand before him. He distanced all who
came against him, and, while he did so, he seemed to put forth not half
his strength, while his skill appeared equal to the power of his arm.

Now, amongst the spectators of the sports, there stood one who was
known for many miles around by the appellation of _Strong Andrew