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France, while aught noble remained in that country.' The family of Bethune, or Beatoun, in Fife, produced three learned and dignified prelates; namely, Cardinal Beaton, and two successive archbishops of Glasgow, all of whom flourished about the date of the romance. Of this family was descended Dame Janet Beaton, Lady Buccleuch, widow of Sir Walter Scott of Branksome. She was a woman of masculine spirit, as appeared from her riding at the head of her son's clan, after her husband's murder. She also possessed the hereditary abilities of her family in such a degree, that the superstition of the vulgar imputed them to supernatural knowledge. With this was mingled, by faction, the foul accusation of her having influenced Queen Mary to the murder of her husband. One of the placards, preserved in Buchanan's Detection, accuses of Darnley's murder « the Erie of Bothwell, Mr James Balfour, the persoun of Fliske Mr David Chalmers, black Mr John Spens, who was principal deviser of the murder'; and the Quene assenting thairto, throw the persuasion of the Erle Bothwell, and the witchcraft of Lady Buckleuch,»>

Note 10. Stanza xi.

He learn'd the art that none may name,
In Padua, far beyond the sea.

Padua was long supposed, by the Scottish peasants, to be the principal school of necromancy. The Earl of Gowrie, slain at Perth, in 1600, pretended, during his studies in Italy, to have acquired some knowledge of the cabala, by which, he said, he could charm snakes, and work other miracles; and, in particular, could produce children without the intercourse of the sexes. See the examination of Wemyss of Bogie before the Privy Council, concerning Gowrie's Conspiracy.

Note 11. Stanza xi.

His form no darkening shadow traced
Upon the sunny wall.

The shadow of a necromancer is independent of the sun.-Glycas informs us, that Simon Magus caused his shadow to go before him, making people believe it was an attendant spirit.-HEYWOOD's Hierarchie, p. 475. The vulgar conceive, that when a class of students have made a certain progress in their mystic studies, they are obliged to run through a subterraneous hall, where the devil literally catches the hindmost in the race, unless he crosses the hall so speedily, that the arch-enemy can only apprehend his shadow. In the latter case, the person of the sage never after throws any shade; and those, who have thus lost their shadow, always prove the best magicians.

Note 12. Stanza xii.

The viewless forms of air.

The Scottish vulgar, without having any very defined notion of their attributes, believe in the existence of an intermediate class of spirits residing in the air, or in the waters; to whose agency they ascribe floods, storms, and all such phenomena as their own philosophy cannot readily explain. They are supposed to interfere in the affairs of mortals, sometimes with a malevolent purpose, and sometimes with milder views. It is said, for example, that a gallant baron, having reThis expression and sentiment were dictated by the situation of France, in the year 1803, when the poem was originally written,

1831.

turned from the Holy Land to his castle of Drummel-
ziar, found his fair lady nursing a healthy child, whose
birth did not by any means correspond to the date of
his departure. Such an occurrence, to the credit of
the dames of the crusaders Be it spoken, was so rare,
that it required a miraculous solution. The lady, there-
fore, was believed, when she averred confidently, that
the Spirit of the Tweed had issued from the river while
she was walking upon its bank, and compelled her to
submit to his embraces: and the name of Tweedie was
bestowed upon the child, who afterwards became Baron
of Drummelziar, and chief of a powerful clan.
those spirits were also ascribed, in Scotland, the

-airy tongues, that syllable men's names,
On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.

Το

When the workmen were engaged in erecting the ancient church of Old Deer, in Aberdeenshire, upon a small hill called Bissau, they were surprised to find that the work was impeded by supernatural obstacles. At length, the Spirit of the River was heard to say,

It is not here, it is not here,

That ye shall build the church of Deer; But on Taptillery,

Where many a corpse shall lie.

The site of the edifice was accordingly transferred to Taptillery, an eminence at some distance from the place where the building had been commenced.-MACFARLANE'S MSS. I mention these popular fables, because the introduction of the River and Mountain Spirits may not, at first sight, seem to accord with the general tone of the romance, and the superstitions of the country where the scene is laid.

Note 13. Stanza xix.

fancied moss-trooper, etc.

This was the usual appellation of the marauders upon the Borders; a profession diligently pursued by the inhabitants on both sides, and by none more actively and successfully than by Buccleuch's clan. Long after the union of the crowns, the moss-troopers, although sunk in réputation, and no longer enjoying the pretext of national hostility, continued to pursue their calling.

:

Fuller includes, among the wonders of Cumberland, « The moss-troopers so strange in the condition of their living, if considered in their Original, Increase, Height, Decay, and Ruine,

1. « Original. I conceive them the same called Borderers in Mr Cambden; and characterised by him to be, a wild and warlike people. They are called moss-troopers, because dwelling in the mosses, and riding in troops together. They dwell in the bounds, or meeting, of the two kingdoms, but obey the laws of neither. They come to church as seldom as the 29th February comes into the kalendar.

2. « Increase. When England and Scotland were united in Great Britain, they that formerly lived by hostile incursions, betook themselves to the robbing of their neighbours. Their sons are free of the trade by their father's copy. They are like to Job, not in piety and patience, but in sudden plenty and poverty; sometimes having flocks and herds in the morning, none at night, and perchance many again next day. They may give for their mottoe, vivitur ex rapto, stealing from their honest neighbours what they sometimes require.

They are a nest of hornets: strike one, and stir all of | descended from the ancient house of Hassendean.» The them about your ears. Indeed, if they promise safely to conduct a traveller, they will perform it with the fidelity of a Turkish janizary: otherwise, woe be to him that falleth into their quarters!

lands of Deloraine now give an earl's title to the descendant of Henry, the second surviving son of the Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth. I have endeavoured to give William of Deloraine the attributes which characterised the Borderers of his day; for which I can only plead Froissart's apology, that, «< it behoveth, in a

teyne and sustayne the peasable.» As a contrast to my Marchman, I beg leave to transcribe, from the same author, the speech of Amergot Marcell, a captain of the Adventurous Companions, a robber, and a pillager of the country of Auvergne, who had been bribed to self his strong-holds, and to assume a more honourable military life under the banners of the Earl of Armagnac. But when he remembered alle this, he was sor

3. « Height. Amounting, forty years since, to some thousands. These compelled the vicinage to purchase their security, by paying a constant rent to them.-lynage, some to be folyshe and outrageous, to maynWhen in their greatest height, they had two great enemies-the Laws of the Land, and the Lord William Howard of Naworth. He sent many of them to Carlisle, to that place where the officer doth always his work by day-light. Yet these moss-troopers, if possibly they could procure the pardon, for a condemned person of their company, would advance great sums out of their common stock, who, in such a case, cast in their lots amongst themselves, and all have one purse.rowful; his tresour he thought he wolde not mynysshe; 4. « Decay. Caused by the wisdom, valour, and diligence, of the Right Honourable Charles Lord Howard, Earl of Carlisle, who routed these English Tories with his regiment. His severity unto them will not only be excused, but commended, by the judicious, who consider how our great lawyer doth describe such persons, who are solemnly outlawed. BRACTON, lib. 8. trac. 2. cap. 11. Ex tunc gerunt caput lupinum, ita quod sine judiciali inquisitione rite pereant, et secum suum judicium portent; et merito sine lege pereunt, qui secundum legem vivere recusarunt. - Thenceforward, (after that they are outlawed) they wear a wolf's head, so that they lawfully may be destroyed, without any judicial inquisition, as who carry their own condemnation about them, and deservedly die without law, because they refused to live according to law."

5. « Ruine. Such was the success of this worthy lord's severity, that he made a thorough reformation among them; and the ringleaders being destroyed, the rest are reduced to legall obedience, and so, I trust, will continue.»-FULLER'S Worthies of England, p. 216.

The last public mention of moss-troopers occurs during the civil wars of the 17th century, when many ordinances of parliament were directed against them. Note 14. Stanza xix.

How the brave boy, in future war,
Should tame the unicorn's pride,

Exalt the crescent and the star.

he was wonte dayly to serche for newe pyllages, wherbye encresed his profyte, and then he sawe that alle was closed fro' hym. Then he sayde and imagyned, that to pyll and to robbe (all thynge considered) was a good lyfe, and so repented hym of his good doing. On a tyme, he said to his old companyons, Sirs, there is no sporte nor glory in this worlde amonge men of warre, but to use suche lyfe as we have done in tyme past. What a joy was it to us when we rode forth at adventure, and sometyme found by the way a riche priour or merchaunt, or a route of mulettes of Mountpellyer, of Narbonne, of Lymens, of Fongans, of Besyers, of Tholous, or of Carcassone, laden with cloth of Brussels, or peltre ware comynge fro the fayres, or laden with spycery fro Bruges, fro Damas, or fro Alysaundre: whatsoever we met, all was ours, or els ransoumed at our pleasures; dayly we gate new money, and the vyllaynes of Auvergne and of Lymosyn dayly provided and brought to our castell whete mele, good wynes, beffes, and fatte mottons, pullayne, and wylde foule : We were ever furnyshed as tho we had been kings. When we rode forthe, all the countrey trymbled for feare: all was ours goyng and comynge. Howe tok we Carlast, I and the Bourge of Compayne, and I and Perot of Bernoys took Caluset: how dyd we scale, with lytell ayde, the strong castell of Marquell, pertayning to the Erl Dolphyn: I kept it nat past fyve days, but I receyved for it, on a feyre table, fyve thousand franks, and forgave one thousande for the love of the Erl Dolphyn's children. By my fayth, this was a fayre and a good lyfe; where

The arms of the Kerrs of Cessford, were, Vert on a cheveron, betwixt three unicorns' heads erased argent, three mullets sable; crest, a unicorn's head erased pro-fore I repute myselve sore deceyved, in that I have renper. The Scotts of Buccleuch bore, Or on a bend azure; ́a star of six points betwixt two crescents of the first.

Note 15. Stanza xx.

---William of Deloraine.

up,

dered up the fortress of Aloys; for it wolde have kept
fro alle the worlde, and the day that I gave
was fournyshed with vytalles, to have been kept seven
yere without any re-vytaylynge. This Erl of Armynake
hath deceyved me: Olyve Barbe, and Perot le Bernoys,
shewed to me how I shulde repent myself: certayne I
sorc repent myselfe of what I have done,'»>-FROISSART,
vol. II, p. 195.

Note 16. Stanza xxi.

By wily turns, by desperate bounds,
Had baffled Percy's best blood-hounds.

The lands of Deloraine are joined to those of Buccleuch, in Ettrick Forest. They were immemorially possessed by the Buccleuch family, under the strong title of occupancy, although no charter was obtained from the crown until 1545.-Like other possessions, the lands of Deloraine were occasionally granted by them to vassals, or kinsmen, for Border service. Satchells mentions, among the twenty-four gentlemen pensioners The kings and heroes of Scotland, as well as the Borof the family, « William Scott, commonly called Cut-der-riders, were sometimes obliged to study how to evade at-the-Black, who had the lands of Nether Deloraine, for his service.» And again, «This William of Deloraine, commonly called Cut-at-the-Black, was a brother of the ancient house of Haining, which house of Haining is

that

the pursuit of blood-hounds. Barbour informs us, Robert Bruce was repeatedly tracked by sleuth-dogs. On one occasion, he escaped by wading a bow-shot down a brook, and ascending into a tree by a branch which

overhung the water: thus leaving no trace on land of
his footsteps, he baffled the scent. The pursuers came
up:-

Rycht to the burn thal passyt ware,
Bot the sleuth-bund made stinting thar,
And waueryt langityme ta and fra,
That be na certain gate couth ga;

Till at the last that John of Lorn

Persenvit the hund the sleuth had lorne.

The Bruce, Book vii.

longed formerly to a family of Scotts, thus commemorated by Satchells:

Hassendean came without a call,

The ancientest house among them all.

Note 19. Stanza xxvii.

On Minto-crags the moon-beams glint.

A romantic assemblage of cliffs, which rise suddenly above the vale of Teviot, in the immediate vicinity of A sure way of stopping the dog was to spill blood the family seat, from which Lord Minto takes his title. upon the track, which destroyed the discriminating A small platform, on a projecting crag, commanding a fineness of his scent. A captive was sometimes sacri- most beautiful prospect, is termed Barnhills' Bed. This ficed on such occasions. Henry the Minstrel tells a ro-Barnhills is said to have been a robber, or outlaw. There mantic story of Wallace, founded on this circumstance: are remains of a strong tower beneath the rocks, where -The hero's little band had been joined by an Irish- he is supposed to have dwelt, and from which he deman, named Fawdon, or Fadzean, a dark, savage, and rived his name, On the summit of the crags are the suspicious character. After a sharp skirmish at Black-fragments of another ancient tower, in a picturesque Erne Side, Wallace was forced to retreat with only six-situation. Among the houses cast down by the Earl of teen followers. The English pursued with a Border Hartforde, in 1545, occur the towers of Easter-Barnhills, sleuth-bratch, or blood-hound:

In Gelderland there was that bratchet bred,
Siker of scent, to follow them that fled;

So was he used in Eske and Liddesdail,

While (i. e. till) she gat blood no fleeing might avail,

In the retreat, Fawdon, tired, or affecting to be so, would go no farther: Wallace, having in vain argued with him, in basty anger, struck off his head, and continued the retreat. When the English came up, their hound stayed upon the dead body:

The sleuth stopped at Fawdon, still she stood,
Nor farther would fra time she fand the blood.

The story concludes with a fine Gothic scene of terror. Wallace took refuge in the solitary tower of Gask. Here he was disturbed at midnight by the blast of a horn: he sent out his attendants by two and two, but no one returned with tidings. At length, when he was left alone, the sound was heard still louder. The champion descended, sword in hand; and, at the gate of the tower, was encountered by the headless spectre of Fawdon, whom he had slain so rashly. Wallace, in great terror, fled up into the tower, tore open the boards of a window, leapt down fifteen feet in height, and continued his flight up the river. Looking back to Gask, he discovered the tower on fire, and the form of Fawdon upon the battlements, dilated to an immense size, and holding in his hand a blazing rafter. The minstrel concludes,

Trust ryght wele, that all this be sooth, indeed,
Supposing it be no point of the creed.

The Wallace, Book v.

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and of Minto crag, with Minto town and place. Sir
Gilbert Elliot, father to the esent Lord Minto,' was
the author of a beautiful pastoral song, of which the
following is a more correct copy than is usually pub-
lished. The poetical mantle of Sir Gilbert Elliot has
descended to his family.

My sheep I neglected, I broke my sheep-hook,
And all the gay haunts of my youth I forsook:
No more for Amynta fresh garlands I wove;
Ambition, I said, would soon cure me of love.
But what had my youth with ambition to do?
Why left I Amynta? why broke I my vow?

Through regions remote in vain do I rove,
And bid the wide world secure me from love.
Ah, fool to imagine, that aught could subdue
A love so well founded, a passion so true!
Ah, give me my sheep, and my sheep-hook restore,
And I'll wander from love and Amynta no more!

Alas! 't is too late at thy fate to repine!
Poor shepherd, Amynta no more can be thine!
Thy tears are all fruitless, thy wishes are vain,
The moments neglected return not again.
Ah! what had my youth with ambition to do?
Why left I Amynta? why broke I my vow ?

Note 20. Stanza xxviii. ancient Riddel's fair domain.

The family of Riddel have been very long in possession of the barony called Riddell, or Ryedale, part of which still bears the latter name. Tradition carries their antiquity to a point extremely remote; and is, in some degree, sanctioned by the discovery of two stone coffins, one containing an earthen pot filled with ashes and arms, bearing a legible date, A. D. 727'; the other dated 936, and filled with the bones of a man of gigantic size. These coffins were discovered in' the foundations of what was, but has long ceased to be, the chapel of Riddell; and, as it was argued, with plausibility, that they contained the remains of some ancestors of the family, they were deposited in the modern place of sepulture, comparatively so termed, though built in

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and

Note 2. Stanza i.

-St David's ruin'd pile.

dale, died possessed.-2d, A bull of Pope Adrian IV., carved and fretted, containing niches for the statues of confirming the will of Walter de Ridale, knight, in fa-saints, and labelled with scrolls, bearing appropriate vour of his brother Anschittil de Ridale, dated 8th texts of scripture. Most of these statues have been deApril, 155. 3d, A bull of Pope Alexander III., con- molished. firming the said will of Walter de Ridale, bequeathing to his brother Anschittil the lands of Liliesclive, Whettunes, etc., and ratifying the bargain betwixt Anschittil David I. of Scotland purchased the reputation of and Huctredus, concerning the church of Liliesclive, in consequence of the mediation of Malcolm II., and con- sanctity, by founding, and liberally endowing, not only firmed by a charter from that monarch. This bull is the monastery of Melrose, but those of Kelso, Jedburgh, dated 17th June, 1160. 4th, A bull of the same pope, many others, which led to the well-known obserconfirming the will of Sir Anschittil de Ridale, in favourvation of his successor, that he was a sore saint for the of his son Walter, conveying the said lands of Lilies- crown. clive and others, dated 10th March, 1120. It is remarkable, that Liliesclive, otherwise Rydale, or Riddel, and the Whittunes, have descended, through a long train of ancestors, without ever passing into a collateral line, to the person of Sir John Buchanan Riddell, Bart. of Riddell, the lineal descendant and representative of Sir Anschittil.-These cirmstances appeared worthy of notice in a Border wor...

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Note 22. Stanza xxxi.

Old Melros' rose, and fair Tweed ran.

The ancient and beautiful monastery of Melrose was founded by King David I. Its ruins afford the finest specimen of Gothic architecture and Gothic sculpture which Scotland can boast. The stone of which it is built, though it has resisted the weather for so many ages, retains perfect sharpness, so that even the most minute, ornaments seem as entire as when newly wrought. In some of the cloisters, as is hinted in the next Canto, there are representations of flowers, vegetables, etc., carved in stone, with accuracy and precision so delicate, that we almost distrust our senses, when we consider the difficulty of subjecting so hard a substance to such intricate and exquisite modulation. This superb convent was dedicated to St Mary, and the monks were of the cistertian order. At the time of the Reformation, they shared in the general reproach of sensuality and irregularity, thrown upon the Roman. churchmen. The old words of Galashiels, a favourite Scottish air, ran thus:

O the monks of Melrose made gude kale!
On Fridays when they fasted;

They wanted neither beef nor ale,
As long as their neighbours' lasted.

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Note 3. Stanza ii. -lands and livings, many a rood,

Had gifted the shrine for their souls' reposo. The Buccleuch family were great benefactors to the Abbey of Melrose. As early as the reign of Robert II., Robert Scott, baron of Murdieston and Rankelburn (now Buccleuch), gave to the monks the lands of Hinkery, in Ettrick Forest, pro salute animæ suæ.- Chartulary of Melrose, 28th May, 1415.

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The Borderers were, as may be supposed, very igno rant about religious matters. Colville, in his Paranesis, or Admonition, states, that the reformed divines were so far from undertaking distant journies to convert the Heathen, << as I wold wis at God that ye wold only go bot to the Hielands and Borders of our own realm, to gain our awin countreymen, who, for lack of preching and ministration of the sacraments, must, with tyme, becum either infidells or atheists.»> But we learn, from Lesly, that, however deficient in real religion, they regularly told their beads, and never with more zeal than when going on a plundering expedition.

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« By my faith,» sayd the Duke of Lancaster (to a Portuguese squire), « of all the feates of armes that the Castellyans, and they of your countrey doth use, the castynge of their dartes best pleaseth me, and gladly I wolde see it; for, as I hear say, if they strike one aryghte, without he be well armed, the dart will pierce him thrughe.»-« By my fayth, sir,» sayd the squyer, ye say trouth; for I have seen many a grete stroke given with them, which at one time cost us derely, and was to us great displeasure; for, at the said skyrmishe, Sir John Laurence of Coygne was striken with a dart in such wise, that the head perced all the plates of his cote of mayle, and a sacke stopped with sylke, and passed thrughe his body, so that he fell down dead.»-FROISSART, vol. II, ch. 44.-This mode of fighting with darts

was imitated in the military game called Juego de las canas, which the Spaniards borrowed from their Moorish invaders. A Saracen champion is thus described by Froissart: «Among the Sarazyns, there was a yonge knight called Agadinger Dolyferne; he was always wel mounted on a redy and a lyght horse; it seemed, when the horse ranne, that he did fly in the ayre. The knyghte seemed to be a good man of armes by his dedes; he bare always of usage three fethered dartes, and ryght well he could handle them; and, according to their custome, he was clene armed, with a long white towell about his heed. His apparell was blacke, and his own colour browne, and a good horseman. The Crysten men say, they thoughte he dyd such deeds of armes for the love of some yonge ladye of his countrey. And true it was, that he loved entirely the king of Thune's daughter, named the Lady Azala; she was inherytour to the realme of Thune, after the discease of the king, her father. This Agadinger was sone to the Duke of Olyferne. I can nat telle if they were married together after or nat; but it was shewed me, that this knyght, for love of the sayd ladye, during the siege, did many feats of armes. The knyghtes of Fraunce would fayn have taken hym; but they colde never attrape nor inclose him, his horse was so swyft, and so redy to his hand, that alwaies he escaped.»-Vol. II, ch. 71.

Note 7. Stanza x, thy low and lonely urn,

O gallant chief of Otterburne.

into a

threw his unfortunate prisoner, horse and man, dungeon, and left him to perish of hunger. It is said, the miserable captive prolonged his existence for several days by the corn which fell from a granary above the vault in which he was confined.' So weak was the royal authority, that David, although highly incensed at this atrocious murder, found himself obliged to appoint the Knight of Liddesdale successor to his victim, as sheriff of Teviotdale. But he was soon after slain, while hunting in Ettrick Forest, by his own godson and chieftain, William, Earl of Douglas, in revenge, according to some authors, of Ramsay's murder: although a popular tradition, preserved in a ballad quoted by Godscroft, and some parts of which are still preserved, ascribes the resentment of the earl to jealousy. The place where the Knight of Liddesdale was killed is called, from his name, William-Cross, upon the ridge of a hill called William-Hope, betwixt Tweed and Yarrow. His body, according to Godscroft, was carried to Lindean church the first night after his death, and thence to Melrose, where he was interred with great pomp, and where his tomb is still shown.

Note 9. Stanza xii.
The moon on the east oriel shone.

It is impossible to conceive a more beautiful specimen of the lightness and elegance of Gothic architecture, when in its purity, than the eastern window of Melrose Abbey. Sir James Hall of Dunglass, Bart., has, with great ingenuity and plausibility, traced the Gothic order through its various forms, and seemingly eccentric ornaments, to an architectural imitation of wicker work; of which, as we learn from some of the legends, the earliest christian churches were constructed. In such an edifice, the original of the clustered pillars is traced

The famous and desperate battle of Otterburne was fought 15th August, 1388, betwixt Henry Percy, called Hotspur, and James, Earl of Douglas. Both these renowned champions were at the head of a chosen body of troops, and they were rivals in military fame; so that Froissart affirms, «Of all the battaylles and encounter-to a set of round posts, begirt with slender rods of wilyngs that I have made mencion of here before in all this hystory, great or smalle, this batayle that I treat of nowe was one of the sorest and best foughten, without cowardes or faynte hertes; for there was neyther knyght nor squyer but that dyde his devoyre, and fought hande to hande. This batayle was lyke the batayle of Becherell, the which was valiantly fought and endured.» The issue of the conflict is well known: Percy was made prisoner, and the Scots won the day, dearly purchased by the death of their gallant general, the Earl of Douglas, who was slain in the action. He was buried at Melrose, beneath the high altar. « His obsequye was done reverently, and on his bodye layde a tomb of stone, and his baner hangyng over hym.»>—FROISSART, vol. II, p. 161.

Note 8. Stanza x.

-dark knight of Liddesdale.

William Douglas, called the Knight of Liddesdale, flourished during the reign of David II.; and was so distinguished by his valour, that he was called the Flower of Chivalry. Nevertheless, he tarnished his renown by the cruel murder of Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie, originally his friend and brother in arms. The king had conferred upon Ramsay the sheriffdom of Teviotdale, to which Douglas pretended some claim. In revenge of this preference, the Knight of Liddesdale came down upon Ramsay, while he was administering justice at Hawick, seized and carried him off to his remote and inaccessible castle of Hermitage, where he

low, whose loose, summits were brought to meet from all quarters, and bound together artificially, so as to produce the frame-work of the roof; and the tracery of our Gothic windows is displayed in the meeting and interlacing of rods and hoops, affording an inexhausti ble variety of Beautiful forms of open work. This ingenious system is alluded to in the romance. Sir James Hall's Essay on Gothic Architecture is published in The Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions.

Note 10. Stanza xii.

"They sate them down on a marble stone,

A Scottish monarch slept below.

A large marble stone, in the chancel of Melrose, is pointed out as the monument of Alexander II., one of

There is something affecting in the manner in which the old Prior of Lochleven turns from describing the death of the gallant Ramsay to the general sorrow which it excited:

To tell you there of the manere,

It is bot sorrow for til here;

He wes the grettast menyd man

That ony cowth have thowcht of than,

Of his state, or of mare be fare;

All meynt him, bath bettyr and war;
The ryche and pure him menyd bath,
For of his dede was mekil skath.

Some years ago a person digging for stones, about the old castle of Hermitage, broke into a vault containing a quantity of chaff, some bones, and pieces of iron; amongst others, the curb of an ancient bridle, which the author has since given to the Earl of Dalhousie, under the impression, that it possibly may be a relique of his brave ancestor. The worthy clergyman of the parish has mentioned this discovery in his statistical account of Castletown.

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