They made oath severally, each to the truth of his quarrel--a ceremony which Henry Gow performed with serene and manly confidence, Bonthron with a dogged resolution, which induced the Duke of Rothsay to say to the High Constable: "Didst thou ever, my dear Errol, behold such a mixture of malignity, cruelty, and I think fear, as in that fellow's countenance ?" "He is not comely," said the Earl, "but a powerful knave as I have seen." "I'll gage a hogshead of wine with you, my good lord, that he loses the day.

Henry the armourer is as strong as he, and much more active; and then look at his bold bearing! There is something in that other fellow that is loathsome to look upon.

Let them yoke presently, my dear Constable, for I am sick of beholding him." The High Constable then addressed the widow, who, in her deep weeds, and having her children still beside her, occupied a chair within the lists: "Woman, do you willingly accept of this man, Henry the Smith, to do battle as your champion in this cause ?" "I do--I do, most willingly," answered Magdalen Proudfute; "and may the blessing of God and St.John give him strength and fortune, since he strikes for the orphan and fatherless!" "Then I pronounce this a fenced field of battle," said the Constable aloud.

"Let no one dare, upon peril of his life, to interrupt this combat by word, speech, or look.

Sound trumpets, and fight, combatants!" The trumpets flourished, and the combatants, advancing from the opposite ends of the lists, with a steady and even pace, looked at each other attentively, well skilled in judging from the motion of the eye the direction in which a blow was meditated.