The dismal Coronach.-St. xv, p. 109. The Coronach of the Highlanders, like the Ululatus of the Romans, and the Ulaloo of the Irish, was a wild expression of lamentation poured forth by the mourners over the body of a departed friend. When the words of it were articulate, they expressed the praises of the deceased, and the loss the clan would sustain by his death. Benledi saw the Cross of Fire, It glanced like lightning up Strath-Ire. -St. XIX, p. 109. A glance at the provincial map of Perthshire, or at any large may of Scotland, will trace the progress of the signal through the small district of lakes and mountains, which, in exercise of my poetical privilege, I have subjected to the authority of my imaginary chieftain; and which, at the period of my romance, was really occupied by a clan who claimed a descent from Alpine, a clan the most unfortunate and most persecuted, but neither the least distinguished, feast powerful, nor least brave, of the tribes of the Gael. The first stage of the Fiery Cross is to Duncraggan, a place near the Brigg of Turk, where a short stream divides Loch-Achray from LochVennachar. From thence, it passes towards Callender, and then, turning to the left up the pass of Lennie, is consigned to Norman at the chapel of Saint Bride, which stood on a small and romantic knoll in the middle of the valley, called Strath-Ire. Tombea and Arnandave, or Ardmandave, are names of places in the vicinity. The alarm is then supposed to pass along the lake of Lubnaig, and through the various glens in the district of Balquidder, including the neightbouring tracts of Glenfinlas and Strathgartney. Not faster o'er thy heathery braes, Balquidder, speeds the midnight blaze. -St. XXIV, p. 110. It may be necessary to inform the southern reader, that the heath on the Scottish moorlands is often set fire to, that the sheep may have the advantage of the young herbage produced in room of the tough old heather plants. This custom (execrated by sportsmen) produces occasionally the most beautiful nocturnal appearance, similar almost to the discharge of a volcano. By his Chieftain's hand.-St. XXIV. p. 110. The deep and implicit respect paid by the highland clansmen to their chief, rendered this both a common and a solemn oath. In other respects, they were like most savage nations, capricious in their ideas concerning the obligatory power of oaths. One solemn mode of swearing was by kissing the dirk, imprecating upon themselves death by that, or a similar weapon, if they broke their vow. But for oaths in the usual form, they are said to have had little respect. -Coir-nan-Uriskin.-St. XXV, p. 110. This is a very steep and most romantic hollow in the mountain of Benvenue, overhanging the south-eastern extremity of Loch-Katrine. It is surrounded with stupendous rocks, and overshadowed with birch-trees, mingled with oaks, the spontaneous production of the mountain, even where its cliffs appear denuded of soil. A dale in so wild a situation, and amid a people whose genius bordered on the romantic, did not remain without appropriate deities. The name literally implies the Corri, or Den, of the Wild or Shaggy Men. Perhaps this may have originally only implied its being the haunt of a ferocious banditti. But tradition has ascribed to the Urisk, who gives name to the cavern, a figure between a goat and a man; in short, however much the classical reader may be startled, precisely that of the Grecian Satyr. The Urisk seems not to have inherited, with the form, the petulance of the sylvan deity of the classics: his occupations, on the contrary, resembled those of Milton's lubber fiend, or of the Scottish Brownie, though he differed from both in name and appearance. The Urisks," says Dr. Graham, "were a sort of lubberly supernaturals, who, like the Brownies, could be gained over by kind attention to perform the drudgery of the farm, and it was believed that many of the families in the Highlands had one of the order attached to it. They were supposed to be dispersed over the Highlands, each in his own wild recess, but the solemn stated meetings of the order were regularly held stition, no doubt, alludes to some circumstance in this cave of Benvenue. This current superin the ancient history of this country." The wild pass of Beat-nam-Bo.-St. xxvII, p. 111. Bealach-nam-Bo, or the pass of cattle, is a most magnificent glade, overhung with aged birch-trees, a little higher up the mountain than the Coir-nan-Uriskin, treated of in the last note. The whole composes the most sublime piece of scenery that imagination can conceive. A single page to bear his sword, Alone attended on his Lord.-St. XXVII, p. 111. A Highland chief being as absolute in his patriarchal authority as any prince, had a corresponding number of officers attached to his person. He had his body-guards, called Luichtand entire devotion to his person. These, accordtach, picked from his clan for strength, activity, ing to their deserts, were sure to share abundantly in the rude profusion of his hospitality. CANTO FOURTH. The Taghairm call'd, by which, afar, The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the Taghairm, mentioned in the text. A person was wrapped up in the skin of a newly-slain bullock, and deposited beside a waterfall, or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the question proposed, and whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination, passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits, who haunt these desolate recesses. In some of the Hebrides, they attributed the same oracular power to a large black stone by the sea-shore, which they approached with certain solemnities, and considered the first fancy which came into their own minds, after they did so, to be the undoubted dictate of the tutelar deity of the stone, and as such, to be, if possible, punctually complied with. that huge cliff, whose ample verge Tradition culls the Hero's targe.-St. v, p. 112. There is a rock so named in the forests of Gleafinlas, by which a tumultuary cataract takes its course. This wild place is said in former times to have afforded refnge to an outlaw, who was supplied with provisions, by a woman who lowered them down from the brink of the precipice above. His water he procured for himself, by letting down a flagon tied to a string, into the black pool beneath the fall. Or raven on the blasted oak, -St. v, p. 112. Everything belonging to the chase was matter of solemnity among our ancestors, but nothing was more so than the mode of entting, or, as it was technically called, breaking the slaughtered stag. The forester had his allotted portion; the hounds had a certain allowance; and, to make this division as general as possible, the very birds had their share also. Which spills the foremost foeman's life, -St. VI, p. 112. Though this be in the text described as the response of the Taghairm, or Oracle of the Hide, it was of itself an augury frequently attended to. The fate of the battle was often anticipated in the imagination of the combatants, by observing which party first shed blood. It is said shat the Highlanders under Montrose were so deeply imbued with this notion, that on the morning of the battle of Tippermoor, they murdered a defencelesss herdsman, whom they found in the fields, merely to secure an advantage of so much consequence to their party. -Alice Brand.-St. XIII, p. 114. This little fairy tale is founded upon a very curious Danish ballad. Up spoke the moody Elfin Kang, --St. XIII, p. 114. In a long dissertation upon the Fairy superstition, published in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, the most valuable part of which was supplied by my learned and indefatigable friend Dr. John Leyden, most of the circumstances are collected which can throw light upon the popular belief which even yet prevails respecting them in Scotland. Dr. Grahame, author of an entertaining work upon the Scenery of the Perthshire Highlands, has recorded, with great accuracy, the peculiar tenets held by the Highlanders on this topic, in the vicinity of LochKatrine. The learned author is inclined to deduce the whole mythology from the Druidical system, an opinion to which there are many objections. "The Daonine Shi," or Men of Peace of the Highlanders, though not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a peevish, repining race of beings, who, possessing themselves but a scanty portion of happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more complete and substantial enjoyment. They are supposed to enjoy, in their subterraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness, a tinsel grandeur; which, however, they would willingly exchange for the more solid joys of mortality. "They are believed to inhabit certain round grassy eminences, where they celebrate their nocturnal festivities by the light of the moon. About a mile beyond the source of the Forth, above Locheon, there is a place called Coir shi'an, or the Cove of the Men of Peace, which is still supposed to be a favourite place of their residence In the neighbourhood are to be seen many round conical eminences; particularly one, near the head of the lake, by the skirts of which many are still afraid to pass after sunset, It is believed, that if, on Hallow-eve, any person, alone, goes round one of these hills nine times, towards the left hand (sinistrorsum), a door shall open, by which he shall be admitted into their subterraneous abodes. Many, it is said, of mortal race have been entertained in their secret recesses. There they have been received into the most splendid apartments, and regaled with the most sumptuous banquets, and delicious wines. Their females supass the daughters of men in beauty. The seemingly happy inhabitants pass their time in festivity, and in dancing to notes of the softest music. But unhappy is the mortal who joins in their joys, or ventures to partake of their dainties. By this indulgence, he forfeits for ever the society of men, and is bound down irrevocably to the condition of a Shi'ich, or man of peace. "A woman, as is reported in the Highland tradition, was conveyed, in days of yore, into the secret recesses of the men of peace. There she was recognised by one who had formerly been an ordinary mortal, but who had, by some fatality, become associated with the Shi'ichs. This acquaintance, still retaining some portion of human benevolence, warned her of her danger, and counselled her, as she valued her liberty, to abstain from eating and drinking with them for a certain space of time. She complied with the counsel of her friend; and when the period assigned was elapsed, she found herself again upon earth, restored to the society of mortals. It is added, that when she examined the viands which had been presented to her, and which had appeared so tempting to the eye, they were found, now that the enchantment was removed, to consist only of the refuse of the earth." As the Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, wore green habits, they were supposed to take offence when any mortals ventured to assume their favourite colour. Indeed, from some reason, which has been, perhaps, originally a general superstition, green is held in Scotland to be unlucky to particular tribes and counties. The Caithness men, who hold this belief, allege, as a reason, that their bands wore that colour when they were cut off at the battle of Flodden; and for the same reason they avoid crossing the Ord on a Monday, being the day of the week on which their ill-omened array set forth. Green is also disliked by those of the name of Ogilvy: but more especially is it held fatal to the whole clan of Grahame. It is remembered of an aged gentleman of that name, that when his horse fell in a fox-hase he accounted for it at once by observing that the whipcord attached to his lash was of this unlucky colour. For thou wert christen'd man.-St. XIII, p. 114. The Elves were supposed greatly to envy the privileges acquired by Christian initiation, and they gave to those mortals who had fallen into their power a certain precedence founded upon this advantageous distinction. frown of his countenance, she acknowledged I sunk down in a sinful fray. Though space and law the stag we lend, * * * * * Whoever reck'd where, how, or when. How eager the elves were to obtain for their offspring the prerogatives of Christianity will be proved by the following story:-"In the district called IIaga, in Iceland, dwelt a nobleman called Sigward Forster, who had an intrigue with one of the subterranean females. The elf St. xv, p. 114. became pregnant, and exacted from her lover a The subjects of Fairy-land were recruited firm promise that he would procure the baptism from the regions of humanity by a sort of crimpof the infant. At the appointed time the mothering system, which extended to adults as well as came to the churchyard, on the wall of which infants. Many of those who were in this world she placed a golden cup, and a stole for the supposed to have discharged the debt of nature, priest, agreeably to the custom of making an had only become denizens of the "Londe of offering at baptism. She then stood a little Faery.' apart. When the priest left the church, he inquired the meaning of what he saw, and demanded of Sigward if he avowed himself the father of the child. But Sigward, ashamed of the connection, denied the paternity. He was then interrogated if he desired that the child should be baptised; but this also he answered in the negative, lest, by such request, he should admit himself to be the father. On which the child was left untouched and unbaptized. Whereupon the mother, in extreme wrath, snatched up the infant and the cup, and retired, leaving the priestly cope, of which fragments are still in preservation. But this female denounced and imposed upon Sigward, and his posterity, to the ninth generation, a singular disease, with which many of his descendants are afflicted at this day." Thus wrote Einar Gudmund, pastor of the parish of Garpsdale, in Iceland, a man profoundly versed in learning, from whose manuscript it was extracted by the learned Torfæus. And gaily shines the fairy land; But all is glistening show. St. John actually used this illustration when engaged in confuting the plea of law proposed for the unfortunate Earl of Stafford :-"It was true, we give laws to hares and deers because they are beasts of chase; but it was never accounted either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes or wolves on the head as they can be found, because they are beasts of prey. In a word, the law and humanity were alike; the one being more fallacious, and the other more barbarous, than in any age had been vented in such an authority."-CLARENDON'S History of the Rebellion. Oxford, 1702. his Highland cheer, The harden'd flesh of mountain deer. The Scottish Highlanders in former times had a concise mode of cooking their venison, or rather of dispensing with cooking it, which appears greatly to have surprised the French, whom chance made acquainted with it. The Vidame of Chartres, when a hostage in England during the reign of Edward VI, was per -St. xv, p. 114. No fact respecting Fairy-land seems to be better ascertained than the fantastic and illusory nature of their apparent pleasure and splendour. It has already been noticed, in the former quo-mitted to travel into Scotland, and penetrated tations from Dr. Grahame's entertaining voluine, and may be confirmed by the following High land tradition: A woman, whose new-born child had been conveyed by them into their secret abodes, was also carried thither herself, to remain, however, only until she should suckle her infant. She one day during this period observed the Shi'ichs busily employed in mixing various ingredients in a boiling cauldron, and, as soon as the composition was prepared, she remarked that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the remainder aside for future use. In a moment when they were all absent, she also attempted to anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had time to apply it to one eye only, when the Daome Sh returned But with that eye she was henceforth enabled to see everything as it really passed in their secret abodes: she saw every object, not as she hitherto had done in deceptive splendour and elegance, but in its genuine colours and form. The gaudy ornaments of the apartments were reduced to the walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon after, having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her own home. Still, however, she retained the faculty of seeing, with her medicated eye, everything that was done, any where in her presence, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe the Shiich, or man of peace, in whose possession she had left her child, though to every other eye invisible. Prompted by maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began to inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished at being thus recognised by one of mortal race, demanded how she had been enabled to discover him. Awed by the terrible as far as to the remote Highlands. After a great hunting party, at which a most wonderful quantity of game was destroyed, he saw these Scottish savages devour a part of their venison raw, without any further preparation than compressing it between two battons of wood, so as to force out the blood, and render it extremely hard. This they reckoned a great delicacy; and when the Vidame partook of it, his compliance with their taste rendered him extremely popular. CANTO FIFTII. Not then claim'd sovereignty his due, There is scarcely a more disorderly period in Scottish history than that which succeeded the battle of Flodden, and occupied the minority of James V. Feuds of ancient standing broke out like old wounds, and every quarrel among the independent nobility, which occurred daily and almost hourly, gave rise to fresh bloodshed. The Gael, of plain and river heir, An iron race the mountain cliffs maintain, 140 SCOTT'S POETICAL WORKS. To turn the torrent's swift-descending flood; And while their rocky ramparts round they see The rough abode of want and liberty, So far, indeed, was a Creagh, or foray, from To show the reed on which you leant, Deeming this path you might pursue, Without a pass from Roderick Dhu This incident, like some other passages in the -St. XI, p. 119. poem, illustrative of the character of the ancient Gael, is not imaginary, but borrowed from fact. The Highlanders, with the inconsistency of most nations in the same state, were alternately capable of great exertions of generosity, and of cruel revenge and perfidy. The following story I can only quote from tradition, but with such an assurance from those by whom it was comanunicated, as permits me little doubt of its authenticity Early in the last century, John Gunn, a noted Catheran, or Highland robber, infested Inverness-shire, and levied black mail up to the walls of the provincial capital. A garrison was then maintained in the castle of that town, and their pay (country banks being unknown) was usually transmitted in specie, under the guard of a small escort. officer who commanded this little party was unIt chanced that the expectedly obliged to halt, about thirty miles from Inverness, at a miserable inn. nightfall, a stranger in the Highland dress, and About of very prepossessing appearance, entered the same house. Separate accommodation being impossible, the Englishman offered the newlyarrived guest a part of his supper, which was accepted with reluctance. By the conversation, he found his new acquaintance knew well all the passes of the country, which induced him eagerly to request his company on the ensuing morning. He neither disguised his business and charge, nor his apprehensions of that celebrated freebooter, John Gunn. The Highlander hesitated a moment, and then frankly consented to be his guide. Forth they set in the morning; and in travelling through a solitary and dreary glen, the discourse again turned on John Gunn. Would you like to see him?" said the guide; and, without waiting an answer to this alarming question, he whistled, and the English officer, with his small party, were surrounded by a body, whose number put resistance out of question, and who were all well armed. "Stranger," resumed the guide, "I am that very John Gunn by whom you feared to be intercepted, and not without cause; for I came to the inn last night with the express purpose of learning your route, that I and my followers might ease you of your charge by the road. But I am incapable of betraying the trust you reposed in me, and having convinced you that you were in my power, I can only dismiss you unplundered and uninjured." He then gave the officer directions for his journey, and disappeared with his party as suddenly as they had presented themselves. On Bochastle the mouldering lines, -St. XII, p. 119. lakes which form the seenery adjoining to the See here, all vantagless I stand. The duellists of former times did not always of arms, which are now judged essential to fair stand upon those punctilios respecting equality combat. It is true that, in formal combats in the lists, the parties were, by the judges of the field, put as nearly as possible in the same circumstances. But in private duel it was often otherwise. Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, strong leather, and studded with brass or iron, For, train'd abroad his arms to wield, Ye towers! within whose circuit dred. Every burgh of Scotland, of the least note, but more especially the considerable towns, had their solemn play, or festival, when feats of archery were exhibited, and prizes distributed to those who excelled in wrestling, hurling the bar, and the other gymnastic exercises of the period. Stirling, a usual place of royal residence, was not likely to be deficient in pomp upon such occasions, especially since James V was very partial to them. His ready participation in these popular amusements was one cause of his acquiring the title of King of the Commons. The usual prize to the best shooter was a silver arrow. Such a one is preserved at Selkirk and at Peebles. At Dumfries, a silver gun was substituted, and the contention transferred to fire arms. -Robin Hood.-St. XXII, p. 121. The exhibition of this renowed outlaw and his band was a favourite frolic at such festivals as we are describing. This sport, in which kings did not disdain to be actors, was prohibited in Scotland upon the Reformation, by a statute of the 6th Parliament of Queen Mary, c. 61, A.D. 1555, which ordered, under heavy penalties, that "na manner of persons be chosen Robert Hude, nor little John, Abbot of Unreason, Queen of May, nor otherwise." But, in 1561, "the rascal multitude," says John Knox, "were stirred up to make a Robin Hude, whilk enormity was of mony years left and damned by statute and act of parliament; yet they would not be forbidden." Accordingly they raised a very serious tumult, and at length made prisoners the magistrates, who endeavoured to suppress it, and would not release them till they extorted a formal promise that no one should be punished for his share of the disturbance. It would seem, from the complaints of the General Assembly of the kirk, that these prophane festivities were continued down to 1595. Bold Robin was, to say the least, equally successful in maintaining his ground against the reformed clergy of England; for the simple and evangelical Latimer complains of coming to a country church, where the people refused to hear him, because it was Robin Hood's day, and his mitre and rochet were fain to give way to the village pastime. Prize of the wrestling match, the King -St. xxIII, p. 121. | The Scottish armies consisted chiefly of the nobility and barons, with their vassals, who held lands under them, for military service by themselves and their tenants. The patriarchal influence exercised by the heads of clans in the Highlands and Borders was of a different nature, and sometimes at variance with feudal principles. It flowed from the Patria Potestas, exercised by the chieftain as representing the original father of the whole name, and was often obeyed in contradiction to the feudal superior. James V seems first to have introduced, in addition to the militia furnished from these sources, the service of a small number of mercenaries, who formed a body-guard, called the Foot Band. I have chosen to give them the harsh features of the mercenary soldiers of the period. Thou now hast glee-maiden and harp; The jongleurs, or jugglers, as we learn from the elaborate work of the late Mr. Strutt, on the sports and pastimes of the people of England, used to call in the aid of various assistants, to render these performances as captivating as possible. The glee-maiden was a necessary attendant. Her duty was tumbling and dancing; and therefore the Anglo-Saxon version of Saint Mark's Gospel states Herodias to have vaulted or tumbled before King Herod. In Scotland, these poor creatures seem, even at a late period, to have been bonds-women to their masters. The facetious qualities of the ape soon rendered him an acceptable addition to the strolling band of the jongleur. Ben Jonson, in his splenetic introduction to the comedy of "Bartholomew Fair," is at pains to inform the audience, "that he has ne'er a sword and buckler man in his fair, nor a juggler, with a well-educated ape, to come over the chaine for the King of England, and back again for the prince, and sit still on his haunches for the pope and the King of Spaine." That stirring air which peals on high, -St. XIV, p. 125. There are several instances, at least in tradition, of persons so much attached to particular tunes, as to require to hear them on their deathbed. Such an anecdote is mentioned by the late Mr. Riddel, of Glenriddel, in his collection of Border tunes, respecting an air called the "Dandling of the Bairns," for which a certain Gallovidian laird is said to have evinced this strong mark of partiality. It is popularly told of a famous freebooter, that he composed the tune known by the name of Macpherson's Rant while under sentence of death, and played it at the gallows-tree. Some spirited words have been adapted to it by Burns. A similar story is recounted of a Welsh bard, who composed and played on his death-bed the air called Dalyddy Farregg Wen. Battle of Beal an Duine.-St. xv, p. 125. A skirmish actually took place at a pass thus called in the Trosachs, and closed with the remarkable incident méntioned in the text. It was greatly posterior in date to the reign of James V. And Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King. -St. XXVI, p. 128. This discovery will probably remind the reader of the beautiful Arabian tale of Il Bondocanı. Yet the incident is not borrowed from that elegant story, but from Scottish tradition. James V, of whom we are treating, was a monarch whose good and benevolent intentions often rendered his romantic freaks venial, if not respectable, since, from his anxious attention to the interests of the lower and most oppressed class of his subjects, he was, as we have seen, popularly termed the King of the Commons. For the purpose of seeing that justice was regularly administered, and frequently from the less justifiable motive of gallantry, he used to travel the vicinage of his several palaces in various |