General Notes

REFN: 1390AN
REFN: P1390
MALCOLM III., OR CANMORE, KING OF SCOTLAND.—Few sovereigns in the obscu
re and barbarous periods of nations have been more fortunate in their chan
ces of posthumous renown than Malcolm Canmore. He has had Buchanan for h
is historian, and Shakspeare for his eulogist. What the former learn
ed of him from Fordun, and detailed with all the grace and majesty of t
he Roman language, the latter embodied in poetry, and such poetry as wi
ll endure till the end of time. Every age will feel as if Malcolm Canmo
re had lived but yesterday, and was worthy of every inquiry.
He was the son of Duncan, who succeeded to the throne of Scotland by the a
ssassination of his grandfather, Malcolm II. This "gracious Duncan" of t
he great poet appears to have been a soft, easy king, and little fitted f
or the stormy people over whom he was called to rule. Still less does he a
ppear to have been adapted to those difficult trials by which he was quick
ly beset, in the first instance, from the insurrection of Macdonald, o
ne of the powerful thanes of Scotland, who called in the Islesmen to his a
id; and afterwards, from the invasion of the Danes, who tried the barren s
hores of Scotland, after they had wasted to the uttermost the rich coas
ts of France and England. In both cases, however, he was delivered by t
he military prowess of his cousin, Macbeth, who not only quelled the revo
lt of the islanders, but drove the Danes to their shipping with great slau
ghter. To understand aright the importance of these military services of M
acbeth, we should remember that the great question at issue in Scotland n
ow was, what race should finally predominate in the country. So large a po
rtion of what had been England during the heptarchy, had been won and inco
rporated into Scotland, that the Anglo-Saxon race baDe fair to outnumber a
nd surpass the Celtic; and the rebellion of Macdonald was nothing more, pe
rhaps, than one of that long series of trials between the two people
s, in which the Celt finally succumbed. As for the Danish invasion, it mig
ht have ended either in a permanent settlement in Scotland, like that whi
ch had been effected by the Danes in Normandy, or a complete conquest, li
ke that which they had achieved in England, while, in either case, Scotla
nd would have been a sufferer.
After these dangerous conflicts had terminated, Duncan made his eldest so
n, Malcolm, Prince of Cumberland, by which he designated him heir to the S
cottish throne. This appointment, however, was anything but pleasing to Ma
cbeth. Here the reader will remember the predictions of the weird sister
s, which form a very important fact in the strange history of the perio
d. But Macbeth had enough to incite him in his ambitious career independen
tly of witch or prophetess. By the Tanist law of succession, common to t
he Celts of Scotland as well as Ireland, Macbeth, who was the cousin-germ
an of Duncan, should have succeeded to the government on the death of t
he latter, should his son be still a minor; but Duncan, by this moveme
nt in favour of young Malcolm, set asiDe the Tanist law, which had been t
he general rule of Scotland, and precluded Macbeth from all hope of bei
ng king. To be requited for his public services by exclusion from his inhe
ritance, was too much for such an ambitious spirit, while the only chan
ce of remedy was the possible death of Duncan, before Malcolm was old enou
gh to be his father’s successor. We know how such a prospect has paved t
he way to a throne in every nation, whether barbarous or civilized. Dunc
an was assassinated. This foul deed of Macbeth, however, was not committ
ed under trust, and in his own castle, as Shakspeare, for the purpos
es of poetry, has represented; but at Bothgowan (or the Smith’s Dwelling
), near Elgin, by an ambuscaDe appointed for the deed. This event is sa
id to have occurred A.D. 1039. Macbeth immediately placed upon his own he
ad the crow