upon Lomond Law; he hears a voice, which bids him stand to his defence; he looks around, and beholds a flock of hares and foxes pursued over the mountains by a savage figure, to whom he can hardly give the name of man. At the sight of Waldhave, the appa with a club. Waldhave defends himself with his sword, throws the savage to the earth, and refuses to let him arise, till he swears by the law and land he lives upon, « to do him no harm.» This done, he permits him to arise, and marvels at his strange ap While I am upon the subject of these prophecies, prophecies was published, describes himself as lying may I be permitted to call the attention of antiquaries to Merdwynn Wyllt, or Merlin the Wild? in whose name, and by no means in that of Ambrose Merlin, the friend of Arthur, the Scottish prophecies are issued. That this personage resided at Drummelzier, and roamed, like a second Nebuchadnezzar, the woods of Tweed-rition leaves the objects of his pursuit, and assaults him dale, in remorse for the death of his nephew, we learn from Fordun. In the Scotichronicon, lib. iii, cap. 31, is an account of an interview betwixt St Kentigern and Merlin, then in this distracted and miserable state. He is said to have been called Lailoken, from his mode of life. On being commanded by the saint to give an ac-pearance: count of himself, he says, that the penance which he performs was imposed on him by a voice from heaven, during a bloody contest betwixt Lidel and Carwanolow, of which battle he had been the cause. According to his own prediction, he perished at once by wood, earth, and water; for, being pursued with stones by the rustics, he fell from a rock into the river Tweed, and was transfixed by a sharp stake, fixed there for the purpose of extending a fishing-net : Sude perfossus, lapide percussus et unda, But, in a metrical history of Merlin of Caledonia, compiled by Geoffrey of Monmouth, from the traditions of the Welch bards, this mode of death is attributed to a page, whom Merlin's sister, desirous to convict the prophet of falsehood, because he had betrayed her intrigues, introduced to him, under three various disguises, inquiring each time in what manner the person should die. To the first demand Merlin answered, the party should perish by a fall from a rock; to the second, that he should die by a tree; to the third, that he should be drowned. The youth perished, while hunting, in the mode imputed by Fordun to Merlin himself. Fordun, contrary to the Welch authorities, confounds this person with the Merlin of Arthur; but concludes by informing us, that many believed him to be a different person. The grave of Merlin is pointed out at Drummelzier, in Tweeddale, beneath an aged thorntree. On the east side of the church-yard, the brook called Pausayl falls into the Tweed; and the following prophecy is said to have been current concerning their union : When Tweed and Pausayl join at Merlin's grave, On the day of the coronation of James VI, the Tweed accordingly overflowed, and joined the Pausayl prophet's grave, PENNYCUICK'S History of at the Tweeddale, p. 26. These circumstances would seem to infer a communication betwixt the south-west of Scotland and Wales, of a nature peculiarly intimate; for I presume that Merlin would retain sense enough to chuse, for the scene of his wanderings, a country having a language and manners similar to his own. Be this as it may, the memory of Merlin Sylvester, or the Wild, was fresh among the Scots during the reign of James V. Waldhave,' under whose name a set of I do not know whether the person here meant be Waldhave, an abbot of Melrose, who died in the odour of sanctity, about 1160. He was formed like a freike (man) all his four quarters; With haire growing so grime, fearful to see. He answers briefly to Waldhave's inquiry concerning Go musing upon Merling if thou wilt; This is exactly similar to the meeting betwixt Merlin and Kentigern in Fordun. These prophecies of Merlin seem to have been in request in the minority of The strange occupation, in which Waldhave beholds Merlin engaged, derives some illustration from a curious passage in Geoffrey of Monmouth's life of Merlin, above quoted. The poem, after narrating that the prophet had fled to the forests in a state of distraction, proceeds to mention, that, looking upon the stars one clear evening, he discerned, from his astrological knowledge, that his wife, Guendolen, had resolved, upon the next morning, to take another husband. As he bad presaged to her that this would happen, and had promised her a nuptial gift (cautioning her, however, to keep the bridegroom out of his sight), he now resolved to make good his word. Accordingly, he collected all the stags and lesser game in his neighbourhood, and, having seated himself on a buck, drove the herd before him to the capital of Cumberland, where Guendolen resided. But her lover's curiosity leading him to inspect too nearly this extraordinary cavalcade, Merlin's rage was awakened, and he slew him, with a stroke of an antler of the stag. The original runs thus: Dixerat: et silvas et saltus circuit omnes, Cervorumque greges agmen collegit in unum, For a perusal of this curious poem, accurately copied from a MS. in the Cotton library, nearly coeval with the author, I was indebted to my learned friend, the late Mr Ritson. There is an excellent paraphrase of it in the curious and entertaining Specimens of Early English Romances, published by Mr Ellis. James V; for among the amusements with which Sir David Lindsay diverted that prince during his infancy, -are The prophecies of Rymer, Bede, and Merlin. And we find, in Waldhave, at least one allusion to the very ancient prophecy, addressed to the Countess of Dunbar : This is a true token that Thomas of tells, When a ladde with a ladye shall go over the fields. The original stands thus: When laddes weddeth lovedies. Another prophecy of Merlin seems to have been current about the time of the regent Morton's execution. -When that nobleman was committed to the charge of his accuser, Captain James Stewart, newly created In the mouth of Arrane a selcouth shall fall, To return from these desultory remarks, into which the editor has been led by the celebrated name of Merlin, the style of all these prophecies, published by Hart, is very much the same. The measure is alliterative, and somewhat similar to that of Pierce Plowman's Vi sions; a circumstance which might entitle us to ascribe to some of them an earlier date than the reign of James V, did we not know that Sir Galloran of Galloway, and Gawaine and Gologras, two romances rendered almost unintelligible by the extremity of affected alliteration, are perhaps not prior to that period. Indeed, although we may allow, that during much earlier times, prophecies, under the names of those celebrated soothsayers, have been current in Scotland, yet those published by Hart have obviously been so often vamped and re-vamped, to serve the political purposes of different periods, that it may be shrewdly suspected, that, as in the case of Sir John Cutler's transmigrated stockings, very little of the original materials now remains. I cannot refrain from indulging my readers with the publisher's title to the last prophecy; as it contains certain curious information concerning the Queen of Sheba, who is identified with the Cumaan Sybil :<< Here followeth a prophecie, pronounced by a noble queene and matron, called Sybilla, Regina Austri, that came to Solomon. Through the which she compiled The heart was the cognizance of Morton. four bookes, at the instance and request of the said King Sol, and other divers: and the fourth book was directed to a noble king, called Baldwine, king of the broad isle of Britain; in the which she maketh mention of two noble princes and emperours, the which is called Leones. How these two shall subdue, and overcome all earthlie princes to their diademe and crowne, and also be glorified and crowned in the heaven among saints. The first of these two is Constantinus Magnus; that was Leprosus, the son of Saint-Helene, that found the croce. The second is the sixt king of the name of Steward of Scotland, the which is our most noble king.» With such editors and commentators, what wonder that the text became unintelligible, even beyond the usual oracular obscurity of prediction? If there still remain, therefore, among these predictions, any verses having a claim to real antiquity, it seems now impossible to discover them from those which are comparatively modern. Nevertheless, as there are to be found, in these compositions, some uncommonly wild and masculine expressions, the editor has been induced to throw a few passages together, into the sort of ballad to which this disquisition is prefixed. It would, indeed, have been no difficult matter for him, by a judicious selection, to have excited, in favour of Thomas of Ercildoun, a share of the admiration, bestowed by sundry wise persons, upon Mass Robert Fleming. For example : But then the lilye shall be loused when they least think; Thereafter on every side sorrow shal arise; Occupying offices anointed as they were. Taking the lily for the emblem of France, can there be a more plain prophecy of the murder of her monarch, the destruction of her nobility, and the desolation of her hierarchy? But, without looking farther into the signs of the times, the editor, though the least of all the prophets, cannot help thinking that every true Briton will approve of his application of the last prophecy quoted in the ballad. Hart's collection of prophecies has been frequently printed within the century, probably to favour the pretensions of the unfortunate family of Stuart. For the prophetic renown of Gildas and Bede, see FORDUN, lib. 3. Before leaving the subject of Thomas's predictions, it may be noticed, that sundry rhymes, passing for his prophetic effusions, are still current among the vulgar. Thus, he is said to have prophesied of the very ancient family of Haig of Bemerside, Betide, betide, whate'er betide, Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside. The grandfather of the present proprietor of Bemerside had twelve daughters, before his lady brought him a male heir. The common people trembled for the credit of their favourite soothsayer. The late Mr Haig was at length born, and their belief in the prophecy confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt. Another memorable prophecy bore, that the Old Kirk of Kelso, constructed out of the ruins of the Abbey, should fall when «< at the fullest.»>> At a very crowded sermon, about thirty years ago, a piece of lime fell from the roof of the church. The alarm, for the fulfilment of the words of the seer, became universal; and happy were they who were nearest the door of the predestined edifice. The church was in consequence deserted, and has never since had an opportunity of tumbling upon a full congregation. I hope, for the sake of a beautiful specimen of Saxo-Gothic architecture, that the accomplishment of this prophecy is far distant. Another prediction, ascribed to the Rhymer, seems to have been founded on that sort of insight into futurity, possessed by most men of a sound and combining judgment. It runs thus: At Eildon Tree if you shall be, A brigg ower Tweed you there may see. The spot in question commands an extensive prospect of the course of the river; and it was easy to foresee, that when the country should become in the least degree improved, a bridge would be somewhere thrown over the stream. In fact, you now see no less than three bridges from that elevated situation. Corspatrick (Comes Patrick), Earl of March, but more commonly taking his title from his castle of Dunbar, acted a noted part during the wars of Edward I in Scotland. As Thomas of Ercildoun is said to have delivered to him his famous prophecy of King Alexander's death, the author has chosen to introduce him into the following ballad. All the prophetic verses are selected from Hart's publication. He heard the trampling of a steed, Come riding down by the Eildon Tree. He was a stalwart knight, and strong; Says-« Well met, well met, true Thomas! << Light down, light down, Corspatrick brave, << A storm shall roar, this very hour, «Ye lied, ye lied, ye warlock hoar! For the sun shines sweet on fauld and lea.»> << A French queen shall bear the son, Shall rule all Britain to the sea: He of the Bruce's blood shall come, As near as in the ninth degree. « The waters worship shall his race, Likewise the waves of the farthest sea; For they shall ride ower ocean wide, With hempen bridles, and horse of tree.»> PART III. THOMAS THE RHYMER was renowned among his contemporaries, as the author of the celebrated romance of Sir Tristrem. Of this once admired poem only one copy is known to exist, which is in the Advocates' Library. The author, in 1804, published a small edition of this curious work, which, if it does not revive the reputation of the bard of Ercildoun, is at least the earliest specimen of Scottish poetry hitherto published. Some account of this romance has already been given to the world in Mr Ellis's Specimens of Ancient Poetry, vol. I, p. 165, III, p. 410; a work, to which our predecessors and our posterity are alike obliged; the former, for the preservation of the best selected examples of their poetical taste; and the latter, for a history of the English language, which will only cease to be interesting with the existence of our mother-tongue, and all that genius and learning have recorded in it. It is sufficient here to mention, that, so great was the reputation of the romance of Sir Tristrem, that few were thought capable of reciting it after the manner of the author;-a circumstance alluded to by Robert de Brune, the annalist: I see in song, in sedgeyng tale, Now thame says as they thame wroght, And in thare saying it semes nocht, That thou may here in Sir Tristrem, Over gestes it has the steme, Over all that is or was; If men it said as made Thomas, etc. It appears, from a very curious MS. of the thirteenth Mr Douce of London, containing a century, penes French metrical romance of Sir Tristrem, that the work of our Thomas the Rhymer was known, and referred to, by the minstrels of Normandy and Bretagne. Having arrived at a part of the romance, where reciters were wont to differ in the mode of telling the story, the French bard expressly cites the authority of the poet of Ercildoun : Plusurs de nos granter ne volent, The tale of Sir Tristrem, as narrated in the Edinburgh MS., is totally different from the voluminous romance In camp, in castle, or in bower, Lord Douglas, in his lofty tent, Dream'd o'er the woful tale; When footsteps light, across the bent, The warrior's ears assail. He starts, he wakes:-« What, Richard, ho! What venturous wight, at dead of night, Then forth they rush'd: by Leader's tide, A hart and hind pace side by side, Beneath the moon, with gesture proud, To Learmont's tower a message sped, First he woxe pale, and then woxe red; Never a word he spake but three;— << My sand is run; my thread is spun ; This sign regardeth me.>> The elfin harp his neck around, Then forth he went; yet turned him oft And Leader's waves, like silver sheen, << Farewell, my father's ancient tower! «The scene of pleasure, pomp, or power, Thou never more shalt be. << To Learmont's name no foot of earth Shall here again belong, And on thy hospitable hearth The hare shall leave her young. << Adieu! adieu!» again he cried, All as he turned him roun' << Farewell to Leader's silver tide! Farewell to Ercildoune !>> The hart and hind approach'd the place, And there, before Lord Douglas' face, 1 Selcouth-Wonderous. |