Scalacronica. Translated by Sir Herbert Maxwell. (Mac- Lehose and Sons,
Glasgow. 24s. net.)—Sir Thomas Gray, of Heton, warder of Norham Castle, was taken prisoner by a Scottish force, and carried to Edinburgh Castle, where he was detained for two years. He was fortunate enough to be allowed access to the library, and he spent his time in writing a history of the world, which begins, of course, with the Creation. Much of his work is a compilation. It becomes really valuable when he gets to his own time, or, rather, to the time of which he had authoritative knowledge. This is a period of sixty-odd years, for it includes the life of his father, also a Sir Thomas. The elder Gray was wounded in a fight between William of Wallace and William de Heselrig, Sheriff of Clydesdale, and had a narrow escape of his life. " He lay all night naked between two burning houses which the Scots had set on fire, whereof the heat kept life in him." It was in the month of May, and therefore bitterly cold. The younger Gray has a good deal to tell us about the unhappy reign of Edward II., and about the French wars of his successor. The story of Crecy, unfortunately, came into a part of the manuscript which has perished. John Leland made, it is true, an epitome, but this is of the baldest kind,—it gives sir lines to the battle. When Poitiers was fought, Thomas Gray was in his Scottish prison. The book is illustrated with a hundred and more heraldic shields of various distinguished persons, such as Robert Bruce, John Balliol, Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, Piers de Gaveston, Hugh le Despenser, Robert de Manors, and Hubert de Burgh. The curious title of Sir Thomas's work has an heraldic significance. It means " Ladder-chronicle," and probably alludes to the ladder which formed the Gray crest.
Previous page
