Note 93 — B. MEMOIR OF PATRICK EARL OF DUNBAR.92 Page 13.
Reading edition
“Lychtly he lowch, in scorn as it had beyn, And said; ‘He had sic message seyldyn seyne, That Wallace now as gouernowr sall ryng: Her is gret faute off a gud prince or kyng. That king off Kyll I can nocht wndirstand; Off him I held neuir a fur off land. That bachiller trowis, for fortoun schawis her quhell, Thar with to lest; it sall nocht lang be weill. Bot to yow, lordis, and ye will wndirstand, I mak yow wyss, I aw to mak na band. Als fre I am in this regioun to ryng, Lord off myn awne, as euyr was prince or king. In Ingland als gret part off land I haiff; Manreut tharoff thar will no man me craiff. Quhat will ye mar? I warne yow, I am fre; For your somoundis ye get no mar off me.’”
In corroboration of an insolent answer having been returned by the Earl of Dunbar, Dr Jamieson quotes the following authority: “When summoned by the guardian of Scotland to attend a convention at Perth, he contemptuously refused. Blind Harrie is supported by the Tower Records.” Caledonia, ii. p. 246.
Also on the following lines of the answer,
“That King off Kyll I can nocht wndirstand; Off him I held neuir a fur off land,”
the Doctor remarks “I need scarcely say, that the earl had given Wallace this contemptuous designation, as being a native of the district of Kyle in Ayrshire.” It is with much reluctance we hazard an opinion at variance with so learned and respectable an authority as Dr Jamieson, more particularly, where the subject is one connected with a study, in the pursuit of which, he has acquired a lasting and well-merited reputation. That the scoffing Earl intended any allusion to the birth-place of Wallace, by styling him “King of Kyle,” we would feel inclined to question, even if it had been established that he was a native of that district. Kyle, as well as Carrick, (two neighbouring districts of Ayrshire), are derived from the Celtic words, Cóille, and Carraig; the former signifying a forest, or woody district, and the latter the rocky portion of the country, two terms perfectly descriptive of the localities of both districts. Wallace had always been spoken of, by the English and their emissaries, as a leader of a banditti. Langtoft calls him “William Waleis that maister was of theves;” and they represented him as a sort of Robin Hood, who had established his authority in the woods of Scotland, in the same manner as the “King of merry Sherwood” had done in the forest of that name. When Gospatrick, therefore, called Wallace “King of Kyll,” we presume he meant to call him “King of the Forest,” which implied a king of robbers and outlaws; and that this was the sense in which it was understood by him and the Scottish nobles, is evident from the indignation it excited, and the instant determination of the Guardian to revenge the insult which had been thus offered to himself and those under his authority. To have called him the king of the place in which he was born, could not be considered by Wallace as a very grievous insult, considering the situation he occupied. That Cóille was at one time generally used all over Scotland to designate a wood, or forest, is evident from the names of many places in which the word can still be traced. It is, however, sometimes improperly confounded with Cill, (a place of interment). We are afraid that the above etymology will not meet the approbation of the favourers of the pretensions of Old King Coilus, but this we cannot help; and have only to regret that the ancient language of the country has been so little consulted by those who engage to write its history.