The gyne, and wappyt owt the stane,
  That ewyn towart the lyft is gane,
  And with gret wycht syne duschyt doun,
  Rycht be the wall in a randoun;
  And hyt the sow in sic maner,
  That it that wes the maist sowar,
  And starkast for to stynt a strak,
  In sundre with that dusche it brak. 
  The men than owt in full gret hy,
  And on the wallis thai gan cry,
  That thair sow wes feryt thar. 
  Jhon Crab, that had hys geer all yar
  In hys fagalds has set the fyr,
  And our the wall syne gan thai wyr,
  And brynt the sow till brands bar.

The Bruce, Book XVII

The springalds, used in defence of the castle of Lauder, were balistae, or large cross-bows, wrought by machinery, and capable of throwing stones, beams, and huge darts.  They were numbered among the heavy artillery of the age; “Than the kynge made all his navy to draw along, by the cost of the Downes, every ship well garnished with bombardes, crosbowes, archers, springalls, and other artillarie.”—­Froissart.

Goads, or sharpened bars of iron, were an obvious and formidable missile weapon.  Thus, at the assault of Rochemiglion “They within cast out great barres of iron, and pots with lyme, wherewith they hurt divers Englishmen, such as adventured themselves too far.”—­Froissart, Vol.  I. cap. 108.

From what has been noticed, the attack and defence of Lauder castle will be found strictly conformable to the manners of the age; a circumstance of great importance, in judging of the antiquity of the ballad.  There is no mention of guns, though these became so common in the latter part of the reign of Edward III., that, at the siege of St. Maloes, “the English had well a four hondred gonnes, who shot day and night into the fortresse, and agaynst it.”—­Froissart, Vol.  I. cap. 336.  Barbour informs us, that guns, or “crakis of wer,” as he calls them, and crests for helmets, were first seen by the Scottish, in their skirmishes with Edward the Third’s host, in Northumberland A.D. 1327.

  Which some call Billop-Grace.—­P. 28. v. 5.

If this be a Flemish, or Scottish, corruption for Ville de Grace, in Normandy, that town was never besieged by Edward I., whose wars in France were confined to the province of Gascony.  The rapid change of scene, from Scotland to France, excites a suspicion, that some verses may have been lost in this place.  The retreat of the English host, however, may remind us of a passage, in Wintown, when, after mentioning that the Earl of Salisbury raised the siege of Dunbar, to join King Edward in France, he observes,

  “It was to Scotland a gud chance,
  “That thai made thaim to werray in France;
  “For had thai halyly thaim tane
  “For to werray in Scotland allane.

  Eftyr the gret mischeffis twa,
  Duplyn and Hallydowne war tha,
  Thai suld have skaithit it to gretly. 
  Bot fortowne thoucht scho fald fekilly
  Will noucht at anis myscheffis fall;
  Thare-fore scho set thare hartis all,
  To werray Fraunce richit to be,
  That Scottis live in grettar le.