cease. You shall most faithfully do this, in remembrance that you did most cruelly slay me: and that you may the better call to God for mercy, repent unfeignedly of your sins, and do good works. The officer of Eksdale-side shall blow, Out on you! Out on you! Out on you! for this heinous crime. If you, or your successors, shall refuse this service, so long as it shall not be full sea at the aforesaid hour, you or yours shall forfeit your lands to the abbot of Whitby, or his successors. This I entreat, and earnestly beg, that you may have lives and goods preserved for this service; and I request you to promise, by your parts in heaven, that it shall be done by you, and your successors, as is aforesaid requested; and I will confirm it by the faith of an honest man. Then the hermit said, My soul longeth for the Lord: and I do as freely forgive these men my death, as Christ forgave the thieves on the cross.' So he yielded up the ghost the eighth day of December, anno Domini 1159, whose soul God have mercy upon. Amen. This service," it is added, "still continues to be performed with the prescribed ceremonies, though not by the proprietors in person. Part of the lands charged therewith are now held by a gentleman of the name of Herbert."

The lovely Edelfled.-St. XIII, p. 49. She was the daughter of King Oswy, who, in gratitude to heaven for the great victory which he won in 655, against Penda, the pagan King of Mercia, dedicated Edelfleda, then but a year old, to the service of God in the monastery of Whitby, of which St. Hilda was then abbess. She afterwards adorned the palace of her education with great magnificence.

--of thousand snakes, each one
Was changed into a coil of stone,
When holy Hilda prayed.
---how sea-fowls pinion fail,
As over Whitby's towers they sail.

--St. xm, p. 49. These two miracles, are much insisted upon by all ancient writers, who have occasion to men

tion either Whitby or St. Hilda. The reliques of the snakes which infested the precincts of the convent, and were, at ihe abbess's prayer, not only beheaded, but petrified, are still found about the rocks, and are termed by Protestant fossilists Ammonitæ.

The other miracle is thus mentioned by Camden: "It is also ascribed to the power of her sanctity, that these wild geese, which, in the winter, fly in great flocks to the lakes and rivers unfrozen in the southern parts, to the great amazement of every one, fall down suddenly upon the ground, where they are in their flight over certain neighbouring fields hereabouts: a relation I should not have made, if I had not received it from several credible men. But those who are less inclined to heed superstition, attribute it to some occult quality in the ground, and to somewhat of antipathy between it and the geese, such as they say is between wolves and scylla-roots; for, that such hidden tendencies and aversions, as we call sympathies and antipathies, are implanted in many things by provident nature for the preservation of them, is a thing so evident, that everybody grants it.' Mr. Charlton, in his history of Whitby, points out the true origin of the fable, from the number of sea-gulls, that, when flying from a storm, often alight near Whitby; and from the woodcocks, and other birds of passage, who do the same upon their arrival on shore, after a long flight.

His body's resting-place of old,
How oft their patron changed, they told.
-St. xiv, p. 49.
St. Cuthbert was, in the choice of his sepul-

chre, one of the most mutable and unreasonable saints in the calendar. He died A.D. 686, in a hermitage upon the Farne islands, having resigned the bishopric of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, about two years before. His body brought to Lindisfarne, where it remained until a descent of the Danes, about 763, when the monastery was nearly destroyed. The monks fled to Scotland, with what they deemed their chief treasure, the reliques of St. Cuthbert. The saint was, however, a most capricious fellow-traveller; which was the more intolerable, as, like Sinbad's Old Man of the Sea, he journeyed upon the shoulders of companions. They paraded him through Scotland for several years, and came as far west as Whithern, in Galloway, whence they attempted to sail for Ireland, but were driven back by tempests. He at length made a halt at Norham; from thence he went to Melrose, where he remained stationary for a short time, and then caused himself to be launched upon the Tweed in a stone coffin, which landed him at Tillmouth, in Northumberland. This boat is finely shaped, ten feet long, three feet and a half in diameter, and only four inches thick; so that, with very little assistance, it might certainly have swam. still lies, or at least did so a few years ago, in two pieces, beside the ruined chapel of Tillmouth. From Tillmouth, Cuthbert wandered into Yorkshire; and at lengfh made a long stay at Chester-le-street, to which the bishop's see was transferred. At length, the Danes continuing to infest the country, the monks removed to Rippon for a season; and it was in return from thence to Chester-le-street that, passing through a forest called Dunholme, the Saint and his carriage became immovable at a place named Wardlaw, or Wardilaw. Here the Saint chose his place of residence; and all who have seen Durham must admit, that, if difficult in his choice, he evinced taste in at length fixing it. It is said that the Northumbrian Catholics still keep secret the precise spot of the Saint's sepula time. When one dies, the survivors associate ture, which is only entrusted to three persons at the depository of so valuable a secret. to them, in his room, a person judged fit to be

It

Even Scotland's dauntless king and heir, &c. Before his standard fled.—St. xv, p. 49. Every one has heard, that when David I, with his son Henry, invaded Northumberland, in in 1136, the English host marched against them under the holy banner of St. Cuthbert; to the efficacy of which was imputed the great victory which they obtained in the bloody battle of Northallerton, or Cuton-moor. The conquerors were at least as much indebted to the jealousy and intractability of the different tribes who composer David's army; among whom, as mentioned in the text, were the Galwegians, the Britons of Strath-Clyde, the men of Teviotdale and Lothian, with many Norman and German warriors, who asserted the cause of the Empress Maud.

'Twas he, to vindicate his reign,
Edged Alfred's faulchion on the Dane,
And turned the Conqueror back again.
-St. XV, p. 49.

Cuthbert, we have seen, had no great reason to spare the Danes when' opportunity offered. Accordingly, I find in Simeon of Durham, that the Saint appeared in a vision to Alfred. when lurking in the marshes of Glastonbury, and promised him assistance and victory over his heathen enemies; a consolation which, as was reasonable, Alfred, after the victory of Ashendown, rewarded, by a royal offering at the shrine of the Saint. As to William the Conqueror, the terror spread before his army, when he marched to punish the revolt of the Northumbrians, in

1096, had forced the monks to fly once more to Holy Island with the body of the Saint. It was, however, replaced before William left the north; and, to balance accounts, the Conqueror, having intimated an indiscreet curiosity to view the Saint's body, he was, while in the act of commanding the shrine to be opened, seized with heat and sickness, accompanied with such a panic terror, that, notwithstanding there was a sumptuous dinner prepared for him, he fled without eating a morsel (which the monkish historian seems to have thought no small part both of the miracle and the penance), and never drew his bridle till he got to the river Tees.

St. Cuthbert sits, and toils to frame
The sea-born beads, that bear his name.
-St. XVI, p. 49.

Although we do not learn that Cuthbert was, during his life, such an artificer as Dunstan, his brother in sanctity, yet, since his death, he has acquired the reputation of forging those Entrochi which are found among the rocks of Holy Island, and pass there by the name of St. Cuthbert's Beads. While at this task, he is supposed to sit during the night upon a certain rock, and use another as his anvil. This story was perhaps credited in former days; at least, the Saint's legend contains some not more probable.

Old Colwalf-St. XVII, p. 49.

He

Coelwolf, or Culwulf, King of Northumberland, flourished in the eighth century. He was a man of some learning; for the venerable Bede dedicates to him his "Eclesiastical History." abdicated the throne about 738, and retired to Holy Island, where he died in the odour of sanctity. Saint as Colwulf was, however, I fear the foundation of the penance-vault does not correspond with his character; for it is recorded among his memorabilia, that, finding the air of the island raw ani cold, he indulged the monks, whose rule had hitherto confined them to milk or water, with the comfortable privilege of using wine or ale. If any rigid antiquary insists on this objection, he is welcome to suppose the penance-vault was intended, by the founder, for the ore genial purposes of a cellar.

These penitential vaults were the Geisselgewolbe of German convents. In the earlier and more rigid monastic times of discipline, they were sometimes used as cemetery for the lay benefactors of the convent, whose unsanctified corpses were then seldom permitted to pollute the choir. They also served as places of meeting for the chapter, when measures of uncommon severity were to be adopted. But their most frequent use, as implied by the name, was as places for performing penances or undergoing punishment.

Tynemouth's haughty Prioress.-St. XIX. p. 50. That there was an ancient priory at Tynemouth is certain. Its ruins are situated on a high rocky point; and, doubtless, many a vow was made at the shrine by the distressed mariners, who drove towards the iron-bound coast of Northumberland in stormy weather. It was anciently a nunnery; for Virca, abbess of Tynemouth, presented St. Cuthbert (yet alive) with a rare winding-sheet, in emulation of a holy lady called Tuda, who had sent him a coffin; but, as in the case of Whitby and of Holy Island, the introduction of nuns at Tynemouth, in the reign of Henry VIII, is an anachronism. The nunnery at Holy Island is altogether fictitious. Indeed, St. Cuthbert was unlikely to permit such an establishment; for, notwithstanding his accepting the mortuary gifts above mentioned, and his carrying on a visiting acquaintance with the abbess of Coldingham, he certainly hated the whole female sex; and, in revenge of a slippery trick played to him by an Irish princess, he, after

death, inflicted severe penances on such as presumed to approach within a certain distance of his shrine.

On those the wall was to enclose

Alive. within the tomb.-St. xxv, p. 50. It is well known that the religious, who broke their vows of chastity, were subjected to the same penaly as the Roman vestals in a similar case. A small niche, sufficient to enclose their bodies, was made in the massive wall of the condeposited in it, and the awful words, VADE IN vent; a slender pittance of food and water was PACEM, were the signal for immuring the criminal. It is not likely that in later times this punishment was often resorted to; but, among the ruins of the abbey ot Coldingham, were some years ago discovered the remains of a female skeleton, which, from the shape of the niches and position of the figure seemed to be that of an immured nun.

CANTO THIRD.

The village Inn-St. 11, p. 53.

The accommodations of a Scottish hostelrie, or inn, in the 16th century, may be collected from Dunbar's admirable tale of "The Friars of Ber

wick." Simon Lawden, "the gay ostleir," seems to have lived very comfortably; and his wife decorated her person with a scarlet kirtle, and a belt of silk and silver, and rings upon her fingers; and feasted her paramour with rabbits, capons, partridges, and Bourdeaux wine.

The death of a dear friend.-St. XIII, p. 55. Among other omens to which faithful credit is given among the Scottish peasantry, is what is called the "dead-bell," explained, by my friend James Hogg, to be that tinkling in the ears which the country people regard as the secret intelligence of some friend's decease. He tells a story to the purpose in "The Mountain Bard."

The Goblin Hall-St. XIX, p. 55.

A vaulted hall under the ancient castle of Gifford, or Yester, (for it bears either name indifferently,) the construction of which has, from a very remote period, been ascribed to magic. The Statistical Account of the Parish of Garvald and Baro gives the following account of the present state of this castle and apartment:"Upon a peninsula, formed by the water of Hopes on the east, and a large rivulet on the west, stands the ancient castle of Yester. Sir David Dalrymple, in his Annals, relates, that Hugh Gifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there was a capacious cavern formed by magical arts, and called in the country Bo-hall, i.e., Hobgoblin Hall.' A stair of twenty-four steps led down to this apartment, which is a large and spacious hall, with an arched roof: and though it hath stood for so many centuries, and been exposed to the external air for a period of fifty or sixty years, it is still as firm and entire as if it had only stood a few years. From the floor of this hall, another stair of thirty-six steps leads down to a pit which hath a communication with Hopes water. A great part of the walls of this large and ancient castle are still standing." I have only to add, that, in 1737, the Goblin Hall was tenanted by the Marquis of Tweedale's falconer. It is now rendered inaccessible by the fall of the stair.

There floated Haco's banner trim,

Above Nerweyan warriors grim.—St. XX, p. 55. In 1263, Haco, King of Norway, came into the Firth of Clyde with a powerful armament, and made a descent at Largs, in Ayrshire. Here he was encountered and defeated, on the 2nd October, by Alexander III. Haco retreated to Orkney, where he died soon after this disgrace

of his age. I am uncertain if I abuse poetical license, by introducing Sir David Lindesay in the character of Lion-Herald, sixteen years before he obtained that office.

Crichton Castle.-St. x, p. 60.

A large ruinous castle on the banks of the Tyne, about seven miles from Edinburgh. As indicated in the text, it was bullt at different times, and with a very differing regard to splendour and accommodation. The oldest part of the building is a narrow keep, or tower, such as formed the mansion of a lesser Scottish baron; but so many additions have been made to it, that there is now a large courtyard, surrounded by buildings of different ages. The castle belonged originally to the Chancellor, Sir William Crichton, and probably owed to him its first enlargement, as well as its being taken by the Earl of Douglas, who imputed to Crichton's counsels the death of his predecessor, Earl William, beheaded in Edinburgh Castle, with his brother, in 1440. In 1483, it was garrisoned by Lord Crichton, then its proprietor, against King James II, whose displeasure he had incurred by seducing his Sister Margaret, in revenge, it is said, for the monarch having dishonoured his

bed.

Earl Adam Hepburn.-St. XII, p. 60.

He was the second Earl of Bothwell, and fell in the field of Flodden, where, according to an ancient English poet, he distinguished himself by a furious attempt to retrieve the aay. Adam was grandfather to James, Earl of Bothwell, too well known in the history of Queen Mary.

For that a messenger from heaven, In vain to James had counsel given Against the English war.-St. XIV. p. 61. The story is told by Pitscottie with characteristic simplicity:-"The King, seeing that France could get no support of him for that time, made a proclamation, full hastily, through all the realm of Scotland, both east and west, south and north, as well in the Isles as in the firm land, to all manner of man betwixt sixty and sixteen years, that they should be ready, within twenty days, to pass with him, with forty days' victuals, and to meet at the Burrow-muir of Edinburgh, and there to pass forward where he pleased. The King came to Lithgow, where he happened to be for the time at the Council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion to God, to send him good chance and fortune in his voyage. In this meantime, there came a man clad in a blue gown at the kirk-door, and belted about him in a roll of linen cloth. He seemed to be a man of two-andfifty years, with a great pikestaff in his hand, and came first forward among the lords, crying for the King, saying, he desired to speak with him. While, at the last, he came where the King was sitting in the desk at his prayers: but when he saw the King, he made him little reverence or salutation, but leaned down on the desk before him, and said to him in this manner, as after follows:-'Sir King, my mother hath sent me to you, desiring you not to pass, at this time, where thou art proposed; for if thou does. thou wilt not fare well in thy journey, nor none that passeth with thee. Further, she bade thee mell with no woman, nor use their counsel, nor let them touch thy body, nor thou theirs; for if thou do it, thou will be confounded, and brought to shame. By this man had spoken thir words unto the King's grace, the evening song was near done, and the King paused on their words, studying to give him an answer; but this man vanished away, as he had been a blink of the sup, or a whip of the whirlwind, and could no more be seen. I heard say, Sir David Lindesay, lyon-herauld, and John Inglis, the marshal, who were, at that time, young men, and special servants to the King's grace, who were standing

June saw his father's overthrow.-St. xv, p. 21.

The rebellion against James III was ŝignalised by the cruel circumstance of his son's presence in the hostile army. When the King saw his own banner displayed against him, and his son in the faction of his enemies, he lost the little courage he ever possessed, fled out of the field, fell from his horse as it started at a woman and a waterpitcher, and was slain, it is not well understood by whom. James IV, after the battle, passed to Stirling, and hearing the monks of the chapelroyal deploring the death of his father, their founder, he was seized with deep remorse, which manifested itself in severe penances. The battle of Sauchieburn, in which James III fell, was fought 18th of June, 1488.

Spread all the Borough-Moor below, &c.
-St. XXV, p. 62.

The Borough, or Common Moor of Edinburgh, was of very great extent, reaching from the southern walls of the city to the Bottom of Braid's Hills. When James IV mustered the array of the kingdom there, in 1513, the Borough Moor was, according to Hawthornden, "a field spacious, and delightful by the shade of many stately and aged oaks." Upon that, and similar occasions, the royal standard is traditionally said to have been displayed from the Hare Stane, a high stone, now built into the wall, on the left hand of the highway leading towards Braid, not far from the head of Bruntsfieldlinks. The Hare Stone probably derives its name from the British word, Har, signifying an army.

--in proud Scotland's royal shield The ruddy Lion ramped in gold. -St. XXVIII, p. 63. The well-known arms of Scotland.

CANTO FIFTH.

Caledonia's Queen is changed.-Int. p. 64. The old town of Edinburgh was secured on the north side by a lake, now drained, and on the south by a wall, which there was some attempt to make defensible even so late as 1745. The gates, and the greater part of the wall, have been pulled down, in the course of the late exMy ingenious and valued friend, Mr. Thomas tensive and beautiful enlargement of the city. Campbell, proposed to celebrate Edinburgh under the epithet here borrowed. But the "Queen of the North" has not been so fortunate as to receive from so eminent a pen the proposed distinction.

Since first, when conquering York arose, To Henry meek she gave repose.-Int. p. 64. Henry VI, with his queen, his heir, and the chiefs of his family, fled to Scotland, after the fatal battle of Towton.

The cloth-yard arrows flew like hail.-St. 1, p. 65.

This is no poetical exaggeration. In some of the counties of England, distingished for