panies do ride or go to the said places, sometimes wading up to the middles, through burns and rivers; and then, they being come to the place, do lie down on the ground, till those foresaid scouts, which are called the Tinkhell, do bring down the deer; but, as the proverb says of a bad cook, so these tinkhell men do lick their own fingers; for, besides their bows and arrows, which they carry with them, we can hear, now and then, a harquebuss or a musket go off, which they do seldom discharge in vain. Then, after we had staid there three hours, or thereabouts, we might perceive the deer appear on the hills round about us (their heads making a shew like a wood), which, being followed close by the tinkhell, are chased down into the valley where we lay; then all the valley, on each side, being way-laid with a hundred couple of strong Irish greyhounds, they are all let loose, as occasion serves, upon the herd of deer, that with dogs, guns, arrows, durks, and daggers, in the space of two hours, fourscore fat deer were slain; which after are disposed of, some one way, and some another, twenty and thirty miles, and more than enough left for us, to make merry withal, at our rendezvous.»> Note 3. Introduction. -lone Saint Mary's silent lake. This beautiful sheet of water forms the reservoir from which the Yarrow takes its source. It is connected with a smaller lake, called the Loch of the Lowes, and surrounded by mountains. In the winter, it is still frequented by flights of wild-swans; hence my friend Mr Wordsworth's lines: The swans on sweet St Mary's lake Near the lower extremity of the lake, are the ruins of Dryhope tower, the birth-place of Mary Scott, daughter of Philip Scott of Dryhope, and famous by the traditional name of the Flower of Yarrow. She was married to Walter Scott of Harden, no less renowned for his depredations, than his bride for her beauty. Her romantic appellation was, in latter days, with equal justice, conferred on Miss Mary Lilias Scoti, the last of the elder branch of the Harden family. The author well remembers the talent and spirit of the latter Flower of Yarrow, though age had then injured the charms which procured her the name. The words usually sung to the air of «Tweedside,» beginning «What beauties does Flora disclose,» were composed in her honour. Note 4. Introduction Hath laid Our Lady's chapel low. The chapel of Saint Mary of the Lowes (de lacubus) was situated on the eastern side of the lake, to which it gives name. It was injured by the clan of Scott, in a feud with the Cranstouns: but continued to be a place of worship during the seventeenth century. The the Wizard's grave; That Wizard Priest's, whose bones are thrust At one corner of the burial ground of the demolished chapel but without its precincts, is a small mound, called Binram's corse, where tradition deposits the remains of a necromantic priest, the former tenant of the chaplainry. His story much resembles that of Ambrosio in the « Monk,» and has been made the theme of a ballad, by my friend Mr James Hogg, more poetically designed the Ettrick Shepherd. To his volume, entitled the « Mountain Bard,» which contains this, and many other legendary stories and ballads of great merit, I refer the curious reader. Note 6. Introduction. A mountain lake, of considerable size, at the head of the Moffat-water. The character of the scenery is uncommonly savage; and the earn, or Scottish eagle, has, for many ages, built its nest yearly upon an islet in the lake. Lochskene discharges itself into a brook, which, after a short and precipitate course, falls from a cataract of immense height and gloomy grandeur called ant's Grave,» afterwards mentioned, is a sort of trench, from its appearance, the « Grey Mare's Tail.» The «Giwhich bears that name, a little way from the foot of the cataract. It has the appearance of a battery de signed to command the pass. Note 7. Stanza i. Where, from high Whitby's cloister'd pile, The Abbey of Whitby, in the Archdeaconry of Cleaveland, on the coast of Yorkshire, was founded A. D. 657, in consequence of a vow of Oswy, King of Northumberland. It contained both monks and nuns of the benedictine order; but, contrary to what was usual in such establishments, the abbess was superior to the abbot. The monastery was afterwards ruined by the Danes, and rebuilded by William Percy, in the reign of the Conqueror. There were no nuns there in Henry the Eighth's time, nor long before it. The ruins of Whitby Abbey are very magnificent. Lindisfarn, an isle on the coast of Northumberland, monastery, and from its having been the episcopal seat was called Holy Island, from the sanctity of its ancient of the see of Durham during the early ages of British christianity. A succession of holy men held that office: but their merits were swallowed up in the superior fame of St Cuthbert, who was sixth bishop of Durham, and who bestowed the name of his << patrimony,» upon the extensive property of the see. The ruins of the monastery upon Holy Island betoken great antiquity. The arches are, in general, strictly Saxon; and the pillars which support them, short, strong, and massy. In some places, however, there are pointed windows, which indicate that the building has been repaired at a period long subsequent to the original foundation. The exterior ornaments of the building, being of a light sandy stone, have been wasted, as described in the text. Lindisfarn is not properly an island, but rather, as the venerable Bede has termed it, a semi-isle: for, although surrounded by the sea at full tide, the ebb leaves the sands dry between it and the opposite coast of Northumberland, from which it is about three miles distant. Note 8. Stanza xiii. Then Whitby's nuns exulting told, The popular account of this curious service, which was probably considerably exaggerated, is thus given in «A True Account,» printed and circulated at Whitby: «In the fifth year of the reign of Henry II., after the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy, the lord of Uglebarnby, then called William de Bruce; the lord of Smeaton, called Ralph de Percy; with a gentleman and freeholder called Allatson, did, on the 16th of October, 1159, appoint to meet and hunt the wild boar, in a certain wood, or desert place, belonging to the abbot of Whitby; the place's name was Eskdale-side; and the abbot's name was Sedman. Then, these young gentlemen being met, with their hounds and boar-staves, in the place beforementioned, and there having found a great wild boar, the hounds ran him well near about the chapel and hermitage of Eskdale-side, where was a monk of Whitby, who was an hermit. The boar being very sorely pursued, and dead-run, took in at the chapel-door, there laid him down, and presently died. The hermit shut the hounds out of the chapel, and kept himself within at his meditations and prayers, the hounds standing at bay without. The gentlemen, in the thick of the wood, being just behind their game, followed the cry of their hounds, and so came to the hermitage, calling on the hermit, who opened the door, and came forth; and within they found the boar lying dead; for which, the gentlemen, in a very great fury, because the hounds were put from their game, did most violently and cruelly run at the hermit with their boar-staves, whereby he soon after died. Thereupon the gentlemen, perceiving and knowing that they were in peril of death, took sanctuary at Scarborough. But at that time the abbot being in very great favour with the king, removed them out of the sanctuary; whereby they came in danger of the law, and not to be privileged, but likely to have the severity of the law, which was death for death. But the hermit being a holy and devout man, and at the point of death, sent for the abbot, and desired him to send for the gentlemen who had wounded him. The abbot so doing, the gentlemen came; and the hermit, being very sick and weak, said unto them, 'I am sure to die of those wounds you have given me. The abbot answered, 'They shall as surely die for the same.' But the hermit answered, Not so, for I will freely forgive them my death, if they will be content to be enjoin'd the penance I shall ay on them for the safeguard of their souls. The gentlemen being present, bade him save their lives. Then said the hermit, 'You and yours shall hold your In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum, a << 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.>> Note 9. Stanza xiii. She was the daughter of King Oswy, who, in gratitude to Heaven for the great victory which he won 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 place of her educationwith great magnificence. - how sea-fowls' pinions fail, As over Whitby's towers they sail. These two miracles are much insisted upon by all ancient writers, who have occasion to mention either Whitby or St Hilda. The relics of the snakes which infested the precincts of the convent, and were, at the 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, when they are in their flight over certain neighbouring fields hereabouts: à 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 betwixt 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 every body 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. Note 11. Stanza xiv. His body's resting-place, of old, How oft their patron changed, they told. St Cuthbert was, in the choice of his sepulchre, 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 Lindisfarn, or Holy Island, about two years before. His body was brought to Lindisfarn, 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 relics 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 his 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 Tilmouth 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. It still lies, or at least did so a few years ago, in two pieces, beside the ruined chapel of Tilmouth. From Tilmouth, Cuthbert wandered into Yorkshire; and at 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 immoHere vable at a place named Wardlaw, or Wardilaw. 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 sepulture, which is only entrusted to three persons at a time. When one dies, the survivors associate to them, in his room, a person judged fit to be the depositary of so valuable a secret. Note 12. Stanza xv. Even Scotland's dauntless king, and heir, etc. Before his standard fled. Every one has heard, that when David J., with his son Henry, invaded Northumberland 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 composed 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. See CHALMERS Caledonia, p. 622; a most laborious, curious, and interesting publication, from which considerable defects of style and manner ought not to turn aside the Scottish antiquary. Note 13. Stanza xv. 'T was he, to vindicate his reign, 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 when he marched to punish the revolt of the army, 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. Note 14. Stanza xvi. Although we do not learn that Cuthbert was, during length made a long stay at Chester-le-street, to which his life, such an artificer as Dunstan, his brother in sanctity, yet, since his death, he has acquired the reputation of forging those entrochie 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. : Note 15. Stanza xvii. Old Colwnlf. Ceolwolf, or Colwulf, King of Northumberland, flourished in the eighth century. He was a man of some learning for the venerable Bede dedicates to him his «Ecclesiastical History.» He 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 and 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 more genial purposes of a cellar. These penitential vaults were the Geissel-gewolbe of German convents. In the earlier and more rigid times of monastic discipline, they were sometimes used as a 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 more frequent use, as implied by the name, was as places for performing penances, or undergoing punishment. Note 16. Stanza xix. sufficient to enclose their bodies, was made in the massive wall of the convent; a slender pittance of food and water was deposited in it, and the awful words, VADE IN PACE, were the signal for immuring the criminal. It is not likely that, in latter times, this punishment was often resorted to; but, among the ruins of the abbey of Coldingham, were some years ago discovered the remains of a female skeleton, which, from the shape of the niche, and position of the figure, seemed to be that of an immured nun. CANTO III. Note 1. Stanza ii. Simon The accommodations of a Scottish hostelrie, or inn, in the 16th century, may be collected from Dunbar's admirable tale of «The Friars of Berwick.»> Lawder, « 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 Bordeaux wine. At least, if the Scottish inns were not good, it was not for want of encouragement from the legislature; who, so early as the reign of James I. not only enacted, that in all boroughs and fairs there be hostellaries, having stables and chambers, and provisions for man and horse, but by another statute, ordained, that no man, travelling on horse or foot, should presume to lodge any where except in these hostellaries; and that no person, save innkeepers, should receive such travellers, under the penalty of forty shillings for exercising such hospitality.1 But, in spite of these provident enactments, the Scottish hostels are but indifferent, and strangers continue to find reception in the houses of individuals. Note 2. Stanza xiii. The death of a dear friend. 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 to the shrine by the distressed mariners, who drove towards the ironbound coast of Northumberland in stormy weather. It was anciently a nunnery; for Virea, 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 Whit by, and of Holy Island, the introduction of nuns attain Bard,» p. 26. 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. 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 cars which the country people regard as the secret intelligence of some friend's deccase. He tells a story to the purpose in the << Moun Note 3. Stanza xix. 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 Clifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there was a capacious cavern formed by magical art, and called in the country, Bo-hall, i. e. Hobgoblinhall. A stair of twenty-four steps led down to this ↑ James I. Parliament I. cap. 24: Parliament III. cap. 56. Note 7. Stanza xxii. As born upon that blessed night, 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 enIt is a popular article of faith, that those who are tire as if it had only stood a few years. From the floor of this hall, another stair of thirty-six steps leads down born on Christmas, or Good Friday, have the power of to a pit which hath a communication with Hopes-wa-seeing spirits, and even of commanding them. The ter. A great part of the walls of this large and ancient Spaniards imputed the haggard and downcast looks of castle is still standing. There is a tradition, that the their Philip II. to the disagreeable visions to which this privilege subjected him. Castle of Yester was the last fortification in this country that surrendered to General Gray, sent into Scotland by Protector Somerset.»> Statistical Account, vol. XIII. I have only to add that, in 1737, the Goblin Hall was tenanted by the Marquis of Tweeddale's falconer, as I learn from a poem by Boyse, entitled « Retirement,>> written upon visiting Yester. It is now rendered inaccessible by the fall of the stair. Sir David Dalrymple's authority for the anecdote is Fordun, whose words are,—« A. D. MCCLXVII. Hugo Giffard de Yester moritur; cujus castrum, vel saltem caveam, et dongionem, arte dæmonica antiquæ relationes ferunt fabrifacta: nam ibidem habetur mirabilis specus subterraneus, opere mirifico constructus, magno terrarum spatio protelatus, qui communiter Bo-HALL appellatus est.» Lib. X, cap. 21.-Sir David conjectures, that Hugh de Gifford must either have been a very wise man, or a great oppressor. Note 4. Stanza xx. There floated Haco's banner trim, 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 2d October, by Alexander III. Haco retreated to Orkney, where he died soon after this disgrace to his arms. There are still existing, near the place of battle, many barrows, some of which, having been opened, were found, as usual, to contain bones and urns. Note 5. Stanza xx. his wizard habit strange. «Magicians, as is well known, were very curious in the choice and form of their vestments. Their caps are oval, or like pyramids, with lappets on each side, and fur within. Their gowns are long, and furred with foxskins, under which they have a linen garment, reaching to the knee. Their girdles are three inches broad, and have many cabalistical names, with crosses, trines, and circles inscribed on them. Their shoes should be of new russet leather, with a cross cut upon them. Their knives are dagger fashion; and their swords have neither guards nor scabbards.»> See these, and many other particulars, in the Discourse concerning Devils and Spirits, annexed to REGINALD SCOTT's Discovery of Witchcraft, edition 1665. Note 6. Stanza xx. Note 8. Stanza xxv. Yet still the mighty spear and shield The following extract from the Essay upon the Fairy Superstitions, in « The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,» vol. II, will show whence many of the particulars of the combat between Alexander III. and the goblin knight are derived: like << Gervase of Tilbury (Otia Imperial. ap. Script. rer. Brunsvic. vol. I, p. 797) relates the following popular story concerning a fairy knight: Osbert, a bold and powerful baron, visited a nobie family in the vicinity of Wandlebury, in the bishopric of Ely. Among other stories related in the social circle of his friends, who, according to custom, amused each other by repeating ancient tales and traditions, he was informed, that if any knight, unattended, entered an adjacent plain by moon-light, and challenged an adversary to appear, he would be immediately encountered by a spirit in the form of a knight. Osbert resolved to make the experiment, and set out, attended by a single squire, whom he ordered to remain without the limits of the plain, which was surrounded by an ancient entrenchment. On repeating the challenge, he was instantly assailed by an adversary, whom he quickly unhorsed, and seized the reins of his steed. During this operation, his ghostly opponent sprung up, and darting his spear, a javelin, at Osbert, wounded him in the thigh. Osbert returned in triumph with the horse, which he committed to the care of his servants. The horse was of a sable colour, as well as his whole accoutrements, and apparently of great beauty and vigour. He remained with his keeper till cock-crowing, when, with eyes flashing fire, he reared, spurned the ground, and vanished. On disarming himself, Osbert perceived that he was wounded, and that one of his steel boots was full of blood. Gervase adds, that, as long as he lived, the scar of his wound opened afresh on the anniversary of the eve on which he encountered the spirit.'-Less fortunate was the gallant Bohemian knight, who, travelling by night, with a single companion, came in sight of a fairy host, arrayed under displayed banners. Despising the remonstrances of his friend, the knight pricked forfrom the ranks, apparently in defiance. His compaward to break a lance with a champion, who advanced nion beheld the Bohemian overthrown, horse and man, by his aerial adversary; and returning to the spot next morning, he found the mangled corpses of the knight and his steed.»-Hierarchy of Blessed Angels, p. 554. Besides the instances of elfin chivalry above quoted, many others might be alleged in support of employing « A pentacle is a piece of fine linen, folded with five corners, according to the five senses, and suitably inscribed with characters. This the magician extends to wards the spirits which he evokes, when they are stub-fairy machinery in this manner. The forest of Glenmore, born and rebellious, and refuse to be conformable unto the ceremonies and rites of magic.» See the Discourse, etc. above mentioned, p. 66. in the North Highlands, is believed to be haunted by a spirit called Lham-dearg, in the array of an ancient warrior, having a bloody hand, from which he takes his name. |