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ghes realme, bringing wt theyme above xl Scottsmen priseners, one of theyme named Scot, of the surname tky of the said Lord of Buclough, and of his held; they brought alsoo cce nowte, and above and mares, keeping in savetic frome losse or your said highnes subjects. There was alsoo , called Newbyggins, by diverse fotmen of Tyn&nd Ryddesdaill, takyn vp of the night, and ed, when was slayne ii Scottsmen of the said , and many Scotts there hurte; your highnes abjects was xiii myles within the grounde of Scotde, and is from my house at Werkworthe, above lx des of the most evil passage, where great snawes latine lye; heretofore the same townes now brynt hath st at any time in the mynd of man in any warrs been enterprised unto nowe; your subjects were thereto Imre encouraged for the better advancement of your yes service, the said Lord of Buclough beyng was a mortall enemy to this your graces realme, and bedyd say, within xiii days before, he woulde see who stye near him; wt many other cruell words, the knowledge whereof was certainly haid to my said servants, before theyre enterprice maid vppon him; st humbly beseeching your majesty, that youre highLanks may concur vnto theyme, whose names be bee inclosed, and to have in your most gracious memory, the paynfull and diligent service of my pore rate Wharton, and thus, as I am most bounden, call dispose wt them that be under me f*

unce of your highnes enemys.» In resentment f this foray, Buccleuch, with other Border chiefs, sembled an army of 3000 riders, with which they ted into Northumberland, and laid waste the try as far as the banks of Bramish. They baffled, tefeated, the English forces opposed to them, and rared loaded with prey.-PINKERTON'S History, vol. Ep 318.

Note 5. Stanza vii.
Bards long shall tell,

How Lord Walter fell.

& Walter Scott of Buccleuch succeeded to his pfather, Sir David, in 1492. He was a brave and powerful baron, and warden of the West Marches of Sealand His death was the consequence of a feud twixt the Scotts and Kerrs, the history of which is sary, to explain repeated allusions in the romance. In the year 1526, in the words of Pitscottie, << the Ear of Angus, and the rest of the Douglasses, ruled all they liked, and no man durst say the contrary; refore the king (James V., then a minor) was heaThy displeased, and would fain have been out of their and, if he might by any way: And, to that effect, rate a quiet and secret letter with his own hand, and to the Laird of Buccleuch, beseeching him that he would come with his kin and friends, and all the free that he might be, and meet him at Melross, at his e-passing, and there to take him out of the Dougses hands, and to put him to liberty, to use himself ng the lave (rest) of his lords, as he thinks expe

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king's writing, and to bring the matter to pass as the king desired: And, to that effect, convened all his kin and friends, and all that would do for him, to ride with him to Melross, when he knew of the king's home-coming. And so he brought with him six hundred spears, of Liddesdale, and Annandale, and countrymen, and clans thereabout, and held themselves quiet while that the king returned out of Jedburgh, and came to Melross, to remain there all that night.

« But when the Lord Hume, Cessford, and Fernyhirst
(the chiefs of the clan of Kerr), took their leave of the
king, and returned home, then appeared the laird of Buc-
kleuch in sight, and his company with him, in an
arrayed battle, intending to have fulfilled the king's
petition, and therefore came stoutly forward on the
back side of Haliden hill. By that the Earl of Angus,
with George Douglas, his brother, and sundry other of
his friends, seeing this army coming, they marvelled
what the matter meant; while at the last they knew
the Laird of Buccleuch, with a certain company of the
thieves of Annandale. With him they were less af-
feared, and made them manfully to the field contrary
them, and said to the king in this manner, 'Sir, yon is
Buccleuch, and thieves of Annandale with him, to
unbeset your grace from the gate (i, e. interrupt your
passage). I vow to God they shall either fight or flee;
and ye shall tarry here on this know, and my brother
George with you, with any other company you please;
and I shall pass, and put yon thieves off the ground,
and rid the gate unto your grace, or else die for it.'
The king tarried still, as was devised, and George
Douglas with him, and sundry other lords, such as the
Earl of Lennox, and the Lord Erskine, and some of the
king's own servants; but all the lave (rest) past with
the Earl of Angus to the field against the Laird of
Buccleuch, who joyned and countered cruelly both the
said parties in the field of Darnelinver,' either against
other, with uncertain victory. But at the last, the Lord
Hume, hearing word of that matter how it stood,
returned again to the king in all possible haste, with
him the lairds of Cessfoord and Fairnyhirst, to the
number of fourscore spears, and set freshly on the lap
and wing of the Laird of Buccleuch's field, and shortly
bare them backward to the ground; which caused the
laird of Buccleuch, and the rest of his friends, to go
back and flee, whom they followed and chased; and
especially the lairds of Cessfoord and Fairnyhirst fol-
lowed furiouslie, till at the foot of a path the Laird of
Cessfoord was slain by the stroke of a spear by an
Elliott, who was then servant to the Laird of Buccleuch.
But when the Laird of Cessfoord was slain, the chase
ceased. The Earl of Angus returned again with great
merriness and victory, and thanked God that he saved
him from that chance, and passed with the king to
Melross, where they remained all that night. On the
morn they passed to Edinburgh with the king, who was
very sad and dolorous of the slaughter of the Laird of
Cessfoord, and many other gentlemen and yeomen
slain by the laird of Buccleuch, containing the number
of fourscore and fifteen, which died in defence of the
king, and at the command of his writing.»

This letter was quietly directed, and sent by one of
king's own secret servants, which was received very
thankfully by the Laird of Buccleuch, who was very
ad thereof, to be put to such charges and familiarity
With his prince, and did great diligence to perform the Skinner's Field, from a corruption of Skirmish Field.

I am not the first who has attempted to celebrate in verse the renown of this ancient baron, and his ha

1 Darnwick, near Melrose. The place of conflict is still called

zardous attempt to procure his sovereign's freedom. In a Scottish Latin poet we find the following verses:

VALTERIUS Scores BALCLUCHIUS.
Egregio suscepto facinore, libertate Regis, ac aliis rebus gestis
clarus, sub JACOBO V. A. Christi, 1526.
Intentata aliis, nullique audita priorum

Audet, ner pavidum morsve, metusve, quatit,
Libertatem aliis soliti transcribere Regis:

Subreptam hanc Regi restituisse paras ;
Si vincis, quanta O succedunt præmia dextræ;
Sin victus, falsas spes jace, pone animam.
Hostica vis nocuit: stant altæ robora mentis

Atque decus. Vincet, Rege probante, fides.
INSITA queis animis virtus, quosque acrior ardor
Obsidet, obscuris nox premat an tenebris?

A

and, as might be expected, they were often, as in th present case, void of the effect desired. When Sir Wa ter Mauny, the renowned follower of Edward III., ha taken the town of Ryoll, in Gascony, he remember to have heard that his father lay there buried, a offered a hundred crowns to any who could show hi his grave. A very old man appeared before Sir Walt and informed him of the manner of his father's deat and the place of his sepulture. It seems the Lord Mauny had, at a great tournament, unhorsed a wounded to the death a Gascon knight, of the house Mirepoix, whose kinsman was bishop of Cambray, F this deed he was held at feud by the relations of t

Heroes ex omni Historia Scotica Lectissimi, Auctore Jonas. Knight, until he agreed to undertake a pilgrimage

JONSTONIO, Abredonense Scoto, 1603.

In consequence of the battle of Melrose, there ensued a deadly feud betwixt the names of Scott and Kerr, which, in spite of all means used to bring about an agreement, raged for many years upon the Borders. Buccleuch was imprisoned, and his estates forfeited, in the year 1535, for levying war against the Kerrs, and restored by act of parliament, dated 15th March, 1542, during the regency of Mary of Lorraine. But the most signal act of violence, to which this quarrel gave rise, was the murder of Sir Walter himself, who was slain by the Kerrs in the streets of Edinburgh, in 1552. This is the event alluded to in Stanza VII.; and the poem is supposed to open shortly after it had taken place.

The feud between these two families was not reconciled in 1596, when both chieftains paraded the streets of Edinburgh with their followers, and it was expected their first meeting would decide their quarrel. But, on July 14th of the same year, Colvil, in a letter to Mr Bacon, informs him, «that there was great trouble on the Borders, which would continue till order should be taken by the Queen of England and the King, by reason of the two young Scots chieftains, Cessford and Bacclugh, and of the present necessity and scarcity of corn amongst the Scots Borderers and riders. That there had been a private quarrel betwixt these two lairds, on the Borders, which was like to have turned to blood; but the fear of the general trouble had reconciled them, and the injuries which they thought to have committed against each other were now transferred upon England: not unlike that emulation in France between the Baron de Biron and Mons. Jeverie, who, being both ambitious of honour, undertook more hazardous enterprises against the enemy, than they would have done if they had been at concord together.» -BIRCH'S Memorials, vol. II, p. 69.

Note 6. Stanza viii.

No! vainly to each holy shrine,

In mutual pilgrimage, they drew. Among other expedients resorted to for staunching the feud betwixt the Scotts and the Kerrs, there was a bond executed, in 1529, between the heads of each clan, binding themselves to perform reciprocally the four principal pilgrimages of Scotland, for the benefit of the souls of those of the opposite name who had fallen in the quarrel. This indenture is printed in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. I. But either it never took effect, or else the feud was renewed shortly afterwards. Such pactions were not uncommon in feudal times;

the shrine of St James of Compostella, for the bene of the soul of the deceased. But as he returned throu the town of Ryoll, after accomplishment of his vow, was beset, and treacherously slain, by the kindred the knight whom he had killed. Sir Walter, guid by the old man, visited the lowly tomb of his fathe and, having read the inscription, which was in Lati he caused the body to be raised, and transported to i native city of Valenciennes, where masses were, in t days of Froissart, duly said for the soul of the unfort nate pilgrim.-Cronycle of FROISSART, vol. I, p. 123.

Note 7. Stanza viii.

While Cessford owns the rule of Car.

The family of Ker, Kerr, or Car,1 was very powerf on the Border. Fynes Morrison remarks, in his Tr vels, that their influence extended from the village Preston-Grange, in Lothian, to the limits of Englan Cessford Castle, the ancient baronial residence of t family, is situated near the village of Morebattle, with two or three miles of the Cheviot Hills.-It has bec a place of great strength and consequence, but is no ruinous. Tradition affirms, that it was founded! Halbert, or Habby Kerr, a gigantic warrior, concernin whom many stories are current in Roxburghshire. Ti Duke of Roxburghe represents Ker of Cessford: a di tinct and powerful branch of the same name own th Marquis of Lothian as their chief. Hence the distinction betwixt Kers of Cessford and Fairnihirst.

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France, while aught noble remained in that country.' turned from the Holy Land to his castle of DrummelThe family of Bethune, or Beatoun, in Fife, produced ziar, found his fair lady nursing a Kealthy child, whose learned and dignified prelates; namely, Cardinal birth did not by any means correspond to the date of wan and two successive archbishops of Glasgow, all his departure. Such an occurrence, to the credit of vm flourished about the date of the romance. the dames of the crusaders be it spoken, was so rare, family was descended Dame Janet Beaton, Lady that it required a miraculous solution. The lady, there' , widow of Sir Walter Scott of Branksome. fore, was believed, when she averred confidently, that Sew a woman of masculine spirit, as appeared from the Spirit of the Tweed had issued from the river while ng at the head of her son's clan, after her hus- she was walking upon its bank, and compelled her to Surder. She also possessed the hereditary abili- | submit to his embraces: and the name of Tweedie was of her family in such a degree, that the supersti- bestowed upon the child, who afterwards became Baron of the vulgar imputed them to supernatural of Drummelziar, and chief of a powerful clan. То Lwledge. With this was mingled, by faction, the foul those spirits were also ascribed, in Scotland, the rusation of her having influenced Queen Mary to the order of her husband. One of the placards, preserved Puchanan's Detection, accuses of Darnley's murder

Erie of Bothwell, Mr James Balfour, the persoun of Fiske Mr. David Chalmers, black Mr John Spens, Tos principal deviser of the murder; and the Quene ting thairto, throw the persuasion of the Erle Bothvel, and the witchcraft of Lady Buckleuch.» ̧

Note 10. Stanza xi.

Be learn'd the art that none may name,

Ia Padua, far beyond the sca.

Prisa was long supposed, by the Scottish peasants, tour the principal school of necromancy. The Earl of be, siain at Perth, in 1600, pretended, during his as in Italy, to have acquired some knowledge of rabala, by which, he said, he could charm snakes, serk other miracles; and, in particular, could prochildren without the intercourse of the sexes.the examination of Wemyss of Bogie before the My Council, concerning Gowrie's Conspiracy.

Note 11. Stanza xi.

His form no darkening shadow traced
Upon the sunny wall.

Te shadow of a necromancer is independent of the cas informs us, that Simon Magus caused his go before him, making people believe it was madant spirit.-HEYWOOD's Hierarchie, p. 475. *gar conceive, that when a class of students have f a certain progress in their mystic studies, they ied to run through a subterraneous hall, where

literally catches the hindmost in the race, she crosses the hall so speedily, that the arch-enemy aly apprehend his shadow. In the latter case, the Pes of the sage never after throws any shade; and , who have thus lost their shadow, always prove de best magicians.

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Note 12. Stanza xii.

The viewless forms of air.

The Scottish vulgar, without having any very defined Son of their attributes, believe in the existence of termediate class of spirits residing in the air, or the waters; to whose agency they ascribe floods, rs, and all such phenomena as their own philosoAnnot readily explain. They are supposed to ere in the affairs of mortals, sometimes with a 246ent purpose, and sometimes with milder views. aid, for example, that a gallant baron, having reThis expression and sentiment were dictated by the situation Pae, in the year 1803, when the poem was originally written,

of

-airy tongues, that syllable men's names,

On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.

When the workmen were engaged in erecting the ancient church of Qld 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,

Were 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.

A 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 reputation, 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.

I. « 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,» ↑ 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!

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lands of Deloraine now give an earl's title to the d scendant of Henry, the second surviving son of the D chess of Buccleuch and Monmouth. I have endeavou to give William of Deloraine the attributes which e racterised the Borderers of his day; for which Lean o plead Froissart's apology, that, « it behoveth, i

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 ma When in their greatest height, they had two great ene- teyne and sustayne the peasable. As a contrast to mies-the Laws of the Land, and the Lord William Marchman, I beg leave to transcribe, from the sa Howard of Naworth. He sent many of them to Car- author, the speech of Amergot Marcell, a captain of lisle, to that place where the officer doth always his Adventurous Companions, a robber, and a pillage: work by day-light. Yet these moss-troopers, if possi- the country of Auvergne, who had been bribed to bly they could procure the pardon for a condemned his strong-holds, and to assume a more honoura person of their company, would advance great sums out military life under the banners of the Earl of Arm of their common stock, who, in such a case, cast in nac. But when he remembered alle this, he was! their lots amongst themselves, and all have one purse. | rowful; his tresour he thought he wolde not mynys 4. Decay. Caused by the wisdom, valour, and he was wonte dayly to serche for newe pyllages, wh diligence, of the Right Honourable Charles Lord Howard, bye encresed his profyte, and then he sawe that Farl of Carlisle, who routed these English Tories with was closed fro' hym. Then he sayde and imagy his regiment. His severity unto them will not only be that to pyll and to robbe (all thynge considered) w excused, but commended, by the judicious, who consi- good lyfe, and so repented hym of his good doing. der how our great lawyer doth describe such persons, a tyme, he said to his old companyons, Sirs, ther who are solemnly outlawed. BRACTON, lib. 8. trac. 2. no sporte nor glory in this worlde amonge men of wa cap. 11. Ex tunc gerunt caput lupinum, ita quod but to use suche lyfe as we have done in tyme p sine judiciali inquisitione rite pereant, et secum suum What a joy was it to us when we rode forth at adv judicium portent; et merito sine lege pereunt, qui ture, and sometyme found by the way a riche priou secundum legem vivere recusarunt,— Thenceforward, merchaunt, or a route of mulettes of Mountpellyer, (after that they are outlawed) they wear a wolf's head, Narbonne, of Lymens, of Fongans, of Besyers, of T so that they lawfully may be destroyed, without any ju- lous, or of Carcassone, laden with cloth of Brussels dicial inquisition, as who carry their own condemna-peltre ware comynge fro the fayres, or laden tion 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 ta me the unicorn's pride,

Exalt the crescent and the star.

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 proper. 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.

spycery fro Bruges, fro Damas, or fro Alysaund
whatsoever we met, all was ours, or els ransoumet
our pleasures; dayly we gate new money, and the
laynes of Auvergne and of Lymosyn dayly provided?
brought to our castell whete mele, good wynes, befi
and fatte mottons, pullayne, and wylde foule: We
ever furnyshed as tho we had been kings. When
rode forthe, all the countrey trymbled for feare: all
ours goyng and comynge. Howe tok we Carlast, Ia
the Bourge of Compayne, and I and Perot of Bern
took Caluset: how dyd we scale, with lytell ayde,
strong castell of Marquell, pertayning to the Erl D
phyn: I kept it nat past fyve days, but I receyved for
on a feyre table, fyve thousand franks, and forgave
thousande for the love of the Erl Dolphyn's childr
By my fayth, this was a fayre and a good lyfe; whe
fore I repute myselve sore deceyved, in that I have r
dered up the fortress of Aloys; for it wolde have ke
fro alle the worlde, and the day that I
was fournyshed with vytalles, to have been kept sev
yere without any re-vytaylynge. This Erl of Armyna.
hath deceyved me: Olyve Barbe, and Perot le Bernoy
shewed to me how I shulde repent myself: certayne
sore repent myselfe of what I have done.'»>—FROISSA
vol. II, p. 195.

Note 16. Stanza xxi.

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

gave

up,

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 of the family, a William Scott, commonly called Cut-der-riders, were sometimes obliged to study how to evad at-the-Black, who had the lands of Nether Deloraine, for the pursuit of blood-hounds. Barbour informs us, his service.» And again, « This William of Deloraine, Robert Bruce was repeatedly tracked by sleuth-dogcommonly called Cut-at-the-Black, was a brother of the On one occasion, he escaped by wading a bow shot dow ancient house of Haining, which house of Haining is a brook, and ascending into a tree by a branch whic

The kings and heroes of Scotland, as well as the Bo

tha

verbang the water: thus leaving no trace on land of footsteps, he baffled the scent. The pursuers came

Rycht to the burn thai passyt ware,
Bot the sleath-hand made stinting thar,
And waueryt langkyme ta and fra,
That he na certain gate couth ga;

Till at the last that John of Lorn
Pereavit the hund the sleuth had lorpe.

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. pen the track, which destroyed the discriminating A small platform, on a projecting crag, commanding a freness of his scent. A captive was sometimes sacri- most beautiful prospect, is termed Barnhills' Bed. This ford en sach 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 spicious character. After a sharp skirmish at Black-fragments of another ancient tower, in a picturesque Ere 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, death-bratch, or blood-hound: and of Minto crag, with Minto town and place. Sir Gilbert Elliot, father to the present Lord Minto,' was the author of a beautiful pastoral song, of which the following is a more correct copy than is usually published. The poetical mantle of Sir Gilbert Elliot has descended to his family.

In Gelderland there, was that bratchet bred,
Siker of scent, to follow them that fled;
So was be used in Eske and Liddesdail,

While (1. e. till) she gat blood no fleeing might avail.

In the retreat, Fawdon, tired, or affecting to be so,
uld go no farther: Wallace, having in vain argued
him, in hasty anger, struck off his head, and con-`
ed the retreat. When the English came up, their
hound stayed upon the dead body:—

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

The story concludes with a fine Gothic scene of ter. Wallace took refuge in the solitary tower of Gask. He he was disturbed at midnight by the blast of a ; he sent out his attendants by two and two, but e returned with tidings. At length, when he was se, the sound was heard still louder. The chamdescended, sword in hand; and, at the gate of the was encountered by the headless spectre of Fawwhom he had slain so rashly. Wallace, in great fled up into the tower, tore open the boards of a dow, leapt down fifteen feet in height, and continued sight up the river. Looking back to Gask, he disered the tower on fire, and the form of Fawdon upon he battlements, dilated to an immense size, and holdhis hand a blazing rafter. The minstrel con

Trast ryght wele, that all this be sooth, indeed,
Supposing it be no point of the creed.
The Wallace, Book v.

Me Ellis has extracted this tale as a sample of Henry's
try-Specimens of English Poetry, vol. I, p. 351.

Note 17. Stanza xxv.
Dimly he view'd the Moat-hill's mound.

This is a round artificial mound near Hawick, which,
its name (Mot, Ang. Sax. Concilium, Conventus),
probably anciently used as a place for assembling
tional council of the adjacent tribes. There are
any such mounds in Scotland, and they are sometimes,
rarely, of a square form.

Note 18. Stanza xxv.

Beneath the tower of Hazeldean.

The estate of Hazeldean, corruptly Hassendean, be

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.
Ab, 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 gigan. tic 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 1110. But the following curious and authentic documents warrant more conclusively the epithet of << ancient Riddel:» 1st, A charter by David I. to Walter Rydale, sheriff of Roxburgh, confirming all the estates of Liliesclive, etc., of which his father, Gervasius de Ry

Grandfather to the present earl.-1819.

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