once, and prematurely, have announced the plot to many of my countrymen, among whom the traditional stories above mentioned are still current. The Author has to apologize for the inadvertent appropriation of a whole line from the tragedy of Douglas, "I hold the first who strikes, my foe." THOMAS THE RHYMER. IN THREE PARTS. PART FIRST. Few personages are so renowned in tradition as Thomas of Erceldoune, known by the appellation of The Rhymer. Uniting, or supposed to unite, in his person, the powers of poetical composition, and of vaticination, his memory, even after the lapse of five hundred years, is regarded with veneration by his countrymen. To give anything like a certain history of this remarkable man, would be indeed difficult; but the curious may derive some satisfaction from the particulars here brought together. It is agreed, on all hands, that the residence and probably the birth place, of this ancient bard, was Erceldoune, a village situated upon the Leader, two miles |