The thirden she doodl'd upon her knee, She's ta'en the fifthen upon her lap. Till her eldest dochter syne said she, When he cam till the chalmer in, "I left you routh o' ale and bread; "I left ahind me braw bowsters blae; My bairnies are ligging i' the bare strae. "I left ye sae mony a groff wax-light; My bairnies ligg i' the mirk a' night. "Gin aft I come back to visit thee, Up spak little Kirstin in bed that lay: Aye when they heard the dog nirr and bell, Aye whan the dog did wow, in haste They cross'd and sain'd themselves frae the ghaist. Aye whan the little dog yowl'd, with fear (And O gin I were young!) They shook, at the thought that the dead was near. (I' the greenwood it lists me to ride.) or, (Fair words sae mony a heart they cheer.) St. 1. May, maid. 2. Stead, place. 3. Bairns, children. In fere, together. GLOSSARY. that of a bolt or arrow from a bow. Riven, split asunder. Wa', wall. 17. Wow'd, howled. Winsome, engaging; giving Lift, sky; firmament; air. 8. Bowster, bolster, cushion; 25. Buskit, dressed. 10. Groff, great; large in Quail, are quelled; die. girt. Mark, mirk; dark. 11. Lang i the night, late. `Grat, wept. Mools, mould; earth. 12. Eard, earth. Gae, go. 14. Prigged, entreated earn estly and perseveringly. Gang, go. 15. Craw, crow. 16. Banes, bones. Stark, strong. Bowt, bolt; elastic spring, like Need, want. 29. Ahind, behind. 34. Sained; blessed, literally, NOTE L. Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak, . Beloved of our Elfin Queen?—P. 172. It has been already observed, that fairies, if not positively malevolent, are capricious and easily of fended. They are, like other proprietors of forests, peculiarly jealous of their rights of vert and venison, as appears from the cause of offence taken in the original Danish ballad. This jealousy was also an attribute of the northern Duergar, or dwarfs; to many of whose distinctions the fairies seem to have succeeded, if, indeed, they are not the same class of beings. In the huge metrical record of German chivalry, entitled the Helden-Buch, Sir Hildebrand, and the other heroes of whom it treats, are engaged in one of their most desperate adventures, from a rash violation of the rose-garden of an Elfin, or Dwarf King. There are yet traces of a belief in this worst and most malicious order of Fairies among the Border wilds. Dr. Leyden has introduced such a dwarf into bis ballad entitled the Cout of Keeldar, and has not forgot his characteristic detestation of the chase. "The third blast that young Keeldar blew, Still stood the limber fern, And a wee man, of swarthy hue, Upstarted by a cairn. "His russet weeds were brown as heath And the hair of his head was frizzly red "An urchin, clad in prickles red, Clung cow'ring to his arm; The hounds they howl'd, and backward fled, "Why rises high the stag-hounds's cry, "Brown dwarf, that o'er the moorland strays, 'The Brown Man of the Muirs, who stays "Tis sweet beneath the heather-bell To live in Autumn brown; And sweet to hear the lav'rock's swell, "But woe betide the shrilling horn, The chase's surly cheer! Whom first at morn I hear.'" The poetical picture here given of the Duergar corresponds exactly with the following Northumbrian legend, with which I was lately favoured by my learned and kind friend, Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth, who has bestowed indefatigable labour upon the antiquities of the English Border counties. The subject is in itself so curious, that the length of the note will, I hope, be pardoned. "I have only one record to offer of the appearance of our Northumbrian. Duergar. My narratrix is Elizabeth Cockburn, an old wife of Offerton, in this county, whose credit, in a case of this kind, will not, I hope, be much impeached, when I add, that she is, by her dull neighbours, supposed to be occasionally insane, but, by herself, to be at those times endowed with a faculty of seeing visions, and spectral appearances, which shun the common ken. "In the year before the great rebellion, two young men from Newcastle were sporting on the high moors above Elsdon, and after pursuing their game several hours, sat down to dine in a green glen near one of the mountain streams. After their repast, the younger lad ran to the brook for water, and after stooping to drink, was surprised, on lifting his head again, by the appearance of a brown dwarf, who stood on a crag covered with brackens, across the burn. This extraordinary personage did not appear to be above half the stature of a common man, but was uncommonly stout and broad-built, having the appearance of vast strength. His dress was entirely brown, the colour of the brackens, and his head covered with frizzled red hair. His countenance was expressive of the most savage ferocity, and his eyes glared like a bull. It seems he addressed the young man first, threatening him with his vengeance, for having trespassed on his demesnes, and asking him if he knew in whose presence he stood? The youth replied, that he now sup posed him to be the lord of the moors; that he offended through ignorance; and offered to bring him the game he had killed. The dwarf was a little mollified by this submission, but remarked, that nothing could be more |