The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, with memoir of the author.

ROKEBY. 317
swords or speares, which can seldom come nigh them:
yea, and oftentimes their mantle serveth them when
they are neere driven, being wrapped about their left
arme, instead of a target, for it is hard to cut through
with a sword; besides, it is light to beare, light to
throw away, and being (as they commonly are) naked,
it is to them all in all. Lastly, for a thiefe it is so
handsome as it may seem it was first invented for
him; for under it he may cleanly convey any fit pillage that cometh handsomely in his way, and when he
goeth abroad in the night in freebooting, it. is his best
and surest friend; for lying, as they often do, two or
three nights together abroad to watch for their booty,
with that they can prettily shroud themselves under
a bush or bankside till they may conveniently do their
errand; and when all is over, he can in his mantle
passe through any town or company, being closehooded over his head, as he useth, from knowledge of
any to whom he is indangered. Besides this, he or
any man els that is disposed to mischief or villany,
may, under his mantle, goe privily armed without suspicion of any, carry his head-piece, his skean, or pistol,
if he please, to be always in readiness."-SPENxsER'S
View of the State of Ireland, apud Works, ut supra,
viii. 367.
The javelins, or darts, of the Irish, which they
threw with great dexterity, appear, from one of the
prints already mentioned, to have been about four feet
long, with a strong steel head and thick knotted shaft.