A duke's son dowbled (i. e. dubbed), a borne man in France, There cannot be any doubt, that this prophecy was The prophecy, put in the name of our Thomas the Rhymer, as it stands in Hart's book, refers to a later period. The narrator meets the rhymer upon a land, beside a lee, who shows him many emblematical visions, described in no mean strain of poetry. They chiefly relate to the fields of Flodden and Pinkie, to the national distress which followed these defeats, and to future halcyon days, which are promised to ScotOne quotation or two will be sufficient to establish this fully: land. Our Scottish king sal come ful keene, A feddered arrow sharp, I weene, Shal make him winke and warre to see. When he is bludie and woe for blood; « For God's luve, turn you againe, narrator, concerning the name and abode of the person who showed him these strange matters, and the answer of the prophet to that question: Then to the Bairne could I say, Where dwells thou, or in what countrie? A French queene shall beare the sonne, As neere as the nint degree: I frained fast what was his name, Where that he came, from what country.] In Erslingtoun I dwell at hame, Thomas Rymour men cals me. There is surely no one, who will not conclude, with Lord Hailes, that the eight lines, inclosed in brackets, are a clumsy interpolation, borrowed from Berlington, with such alterations as might render the supposed prophecy applicable to the union of the crowns. While we are on this subject, it may be proper briefly to notice the scope of some of the other predictions in Hart's collection. As the prophecy of Berlington was intended to raise the spirits of the nation, during the regency of Albany, so those of Sybilla and Eltraine refer to that of the Earl of Arran, afterwards Duke of Chatelherault, during the minority of Mary, a period of similar calamity. This is obvious from the following verses: Take a thousand in calculation, In that yere there shall a king, The date, above hinted at, seems to be 1549, when the Scottish regent, by means of some succours derived from France, was endeavouring to repair the consequences of the fatal battle of Pinkie: Allusion is made Who can doubt for a moment, that this refers to the to the supply given to the « Moldwarte (England) by the battle of Flodden, and to the popular reports concern-fained hart» (the Earl of Angus). The regent is deing the doubtful fate of James IV.? Allusion is im- scribed by his bearing the antelope; large supplies are mediately afterwards made to the death of George Doug promised from France, and complete conquest predicted las, heir apparent of Angus, who fought and fell with to Scotland and her allies. Thus was the same hackhis sovereign: neyed stratagem repeated, whenever the interest of the rulers appeared to stand in need of it. The regent was not, indeed, till after this period, created Duke of Chatelherault; but that honour was the object of his hopes and expectations. The sternes three that day shall die, That bears the harte in silver sheen. The well-known arms of the Douglas family are the heart and three stars. In another place, the battle of Pinkie is expressly mentioned by name: At Pinken Cluch there shall be spilt Much gentle blood that day; There shall the bear lose the guilt, And the eagill bear it away. To the end of all this allegorical and mystical rhapsody is interpolated, in the later edition by Andro Hart, a new edition of Berlington's verses, before quoted, altered and manufactured so as to bear reference to the accession of James VI., which had just then taken place. The insertion is made, with a peculiar degree of awkwardness, betwixt a question put by the The name of our renowned soothsayer is liberally used as an authority, throughout all the prophecies published by Andro Hart. Besides those expressly put in his name, Gildas, another assumed personage, is supposed to derive his knowledge from him; for he concludes thus: True Thomas me told in a troublesome time In the prophecy of Berlington, already quoted, we are told, Marvellous Merlin, that many meu of tells, with a club. 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 upon Lomond Law; he hears a voice, which bids him to Merdwynn Wyllt, or Merlin the Wild, in whose stand to his defence; he looks around, and beholds a name, and by no means in that of Ambrose Merlin, the flock of hares and foxes pursued over the mountains friend of Arthur, the Scottish prophecies are issued. by a savage figure, to whom he can hardly give the name of man. At the sight of Waldhave, the appaThat 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 Waldhave defends himself with his dale, in remorse for the death of his nephew, we learn from Fordun. In the Scotichronicon, lib. iii, cap. 31, sword, throws the savage to the earth, and refuses to is an account of an interview betwixt St Kentigern and let him arise, till he swears by the law and lead he Merlin, then in this distracted and miserable state. He lives upon, « to do him no harm,» This dene, he is said to have been called Lailoken, from his mode of permits him to arise, and marvels at his strange aplife. On being commanded by the saint to give an ac-pearance: which he that the count of himself, he penance forms 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: says, Sude perfossus, lapide percussus et unda, per 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, enquiring each time in what manner the To the first demand Merlin anperson should die. swered, 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 The grave of Merlin is pointed out at person. Drummelzier, in Tweeddale, beneath an aged thornOn 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 tree. 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 at the prophet's grave. PENNYCUICK'S History of 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 world 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 A 1 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. Hle answers briefly to Waldhave's inquiry concerning Go musing upon Merling if thou wilt; This is exactly similar to the meeting betwixt Merlin These prophecies of Merand Kentigern in Fordun. lin 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, alove 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 astronomical knowledge, that his wife, Guendolen, had resolved, upon the next morning, to take another husband. As he had presaged to her that this would happen, and had promised her a nuptial gift (cautioning ber, 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 antier of the stag. Dixerat et silvas et saltus circuit omnes, 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. 21 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. Sir David Lindsay's Epistle to the King. This is a true token that Thomas of tells, 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 Earl of Arran, to be conducted to his trial at Edinburgh, Spottiswoode says that he asked, «Who was Earl of Arran?' and being answered that Captain James was the man, after a short pause he said, And is it so? I know then what I may look for!' meaning, as was thought, that the old prophecy of the Falling of the heart by the mouth of Arran,' should then be fulfilled. Whether this was his mind or not, it is not known; but some spared not, at the time when the Hamiltons were banished, in which business he was held too earnest, to say, that he stood in fear of this prediction, and went that course-only to disappoint it. But, if so it was, he did find himself now deluded; for he fell by the mouth of another Arran than he imagined.»SPOTTISWOODE, p. 313. The fatal words alluded to seem to be these in the prophecy of Merlin: 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 Visions; 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 Cumæan 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; 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, 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. PART II. ALTERED FROM ANCIENT PROPHECIES. WHEN seven years were come and gane, The sun blink'd fair on pool and stream; And Thomas lay on Huntlie bank, He heard the trampling of a steed, And he beheld a gallant knight, Come riding down by the Eildon Tree. He was a stalwart knight, and strong; « 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, 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 Ereildoun, 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 century, penes Mr Douce of London, containing a 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, Co que del naim dire se solent, Ki femme Kaberdin dut aimer, Li naim redut Tristram narrer, E entusché par grant engin, Quant il afole Kaherdin; Pur cest plaie e pur cest mal, Enveiad Tristran Guvernal, En Engleterre pur Ysolt THOMAS ico granter ne volt, Et si volt par raisun mostrer, Qu'ico ne put pas esteer, etc, The tale of Sir Tristrem, as narrated in the Edinburgh MS., is totally different from the voluminous romance in prose, originally compiled on the same subject by Rusticien de Puise, and analysed by M. de Tressan; but agrees in every essential particular with the metrical performance just quoted, which is a work of much higher antiquity. PART III.-MODERN. WHEN seven years more had come and gone, And Ruberslaw show'd high Dunyon (1) Then all by bonnie Coldingknow, (2) Pitch'd palliouns took their room, And crested helms, and spears a rowe, Glanced gaily through the broom. The Leader, rolling to the Tweed, The feast was spread in Ercildoune, In Learmont's high and ancient hall;" And there were knights of great renown, And ladies laced in pall. Nor lack'd they, while they sat at dine, Nor mantling quaighs of ale. True Thomas rose, with harp in hand, (In minstrel strife, in Fairy Land, Hush'd were the throng, both limb and tongue, And harpers for envy pale; And armed lords lean'd on their swords, And hearken'd to the tale. In numbers high, the witching tale Those numbers to prolong. Yet fragments of the lofty strain Float down the tide of years, As, buoyant on the stormy main, A parted wreck appears. He sung King Arthur's Table Round: The warrior of the lake; How courteous Gawaine met the wound, (4) And bled for ladies' sake. But chief, in gentle Tristrem's praise, The notes melodious swell; Was none excell'd, in Arthur's days, Ensenzie-War-cry, or gathering-word. 2 Quaighs-Wooden cups, composed of staves hooped together. * See introduction to this Ballad. |