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Not so, by high Dunlathmon's fire,

Thy heart was froze to love and joy, When gaily rung thy raptured lyre,

To wanton Morna's melting eye.»>

Wild stared the minstrel's eye of flame,
And high his sable locks arose,
And quick his colour went and came,
As fear and rage alternate rose.

« And thou! when by the blazing oak I lay, to her and love resign'd, Say, rode

ye on the eddying smoke,

Or sail'd ye on the midnight wind?

« Not thine a race of mortal blood, Nor old Glengyle's pretended line; Thy dame, the Lady of the Flood,

Thy sire, the Monarch of the Mine. >>

He mutter'd thrice St Oran's rhyme,
And thrice St Fillan's powerful prayer; (5)
Then turn'd him to the eastern clime,

And sternly shook his coal-black hair.

And, bending o'er his harp, he flung

His wildest witch-notes on the wind; And loud, and high,and strange, they rung, As many a magic change they find.

Tall wax'd the Spirit's altering form, Till to the roof her stature grew; Then, mingling with the rising storm, With one wild yell, away she flew.

Rain beats, hail rattles, whirlwinds tear:
The slender hut in fragments flew;

But not a lock of Moy's loose hair
Was waved by wind, or wet by dew.

Wild mingling with the howling gale, Loud bursts of ghastly laughter rise; High o'er the minstrel's head they sail, And die amid the northern skies.

The voice of thunder shook the wood,

As ceased the more than mortal yell; And, spattering foul, a shower of blood Upon the hissing firebrands feli.

Next, dropp'd from high a mangled arm; The fingers strain'd a half-drawn blade; And last, the life-blood streaming warm, Torn from the trunk, a gasping head.

Oft o'er that head, in battling field,

Stream'd the proud crest of high Benmore; That arm the broad claymore could wield, Which dyed the Teith with Saxon gore.

Woe to Moneira's sullen rills!

Woe to Glenfiulas' dreary glen! There never son of Albyn's hills

Shall draw the hunter's shaft agen!

E'en the tired pilgrim's burning feet

At noon shall shun that sheltering den, Lest, journeying in their rage, he meet The wayward Ladies of the Glen.

And we-behind the chieftain's shield, No more shall we in safety dwell; None leads the people to the fieldAnd we the loud lament must swell.

O hone a rie'! O hone a rie'!

The pride of Albyn's line is o'er, And fallen Glenartuey's stateliest tree; We ne'er shall see Lord Ronald more!

NOTES.

Note 1. Stanza iii.

Well can the Saxon widows tell.

The term Sassenach, or Saxon, is applied by the Highlanders to their Low-country neighbours.

Note 2. Stanza iv.

How blazed Lord Ronald's beltane tree.

The fires lighted by the Highlanders on the first of May, in compliance with a custom derived from the Pagan times, are termed, the Beltane Tree. It is a festival celebrated with various superstitious rites, both in the north of Scotland and in Wales.

Note 3. Stanza vii.

The seer's prophetic spirit found, etc.

I can only describe the second sight, by adopting Dr Johnson's definition, who calls it « an impression, either by the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon the mind, by which things distant and future are perceived and seen as if they were present.» To which I would only add, that the spectral appearances, thus presented, usually presage misfortune; that the faculty is painful to those who suppose they possess it; and that they usually acquire it, while themselves under the pressure of melancholy.

Note 4. Stanza xxii.

Will good St Oran's rule prevail.

St Oran was a friend and follower of St Columba, and was buried in lcolmkill. His pretensions to be a saint were rather dubious. According to the legend, he consented to be buried alive, in order to propitiate certain demons of the soil, who obstructed the attempts of Columba to build a chapel. Columba caused the body of his friend to be dug up, after three days had elapsed; when Oran, to the horror and scandal of the assistants, declared, that there was neither a God, a judgment, nor a future state! He had no time to make further discoveries, for Columba caused the earth ouce more to be shovelled over him with the utmost dispatch, The chapel, however, and the cemetry, was called Reilig Ouran; and, in memory of his rigid celibacy, no female was permitted to pay her devotions, or be buried, in that place. This is the rule alluded to in the

poem.

Note 5. Stanza lv.

And thrice St Fillan's powerful prayer.

St Fillan has given his name to many chapels, holy

fountains, etc. in Scotland. He was, according to Ca- is a ruined chapel. Brotherstone is a heath, in the neighbourhood of Smaylho'me Tower.

This ancient fortress and its vicinity formed the scene of the author's infancy, and seemed to claim from him this attempt to celebrate them in a Border tale. The catastrophe of the tale is founded upon a well-known Irish tradition.

THE Baron of Smaylho'me rose with day,
He spurr'd his courser on,
Without stop or stay, down the rocky way,

That leads to Brotherstone.

merarius, an abbot of Pittenweem, in Fife, from which
situation he retired, and died a hermit in the wilds of
Glenurchy, A.D. 649. While eng ged in transcribing
the Scriptures, his left hand was observed to send forth
such a splendour, as to afford light to that with which
he wrote; a miracle which saved many candles to the
convent, as St Fillan used to spend whole nights in that
exercise. The 9th of January was dedicated to this
saint, who gave his name to Kilfillan, in Renfrew, and
St Phillans, or Forgend, in Fife. Lesley, lib. 7. tells us,
that Robert the Bruce was possessed of Fillan's miracu
lous and luminous arm, which he inclosed in a silver
shrine, and had it carried at the head of his army. Pre-He went not with the bold Buccleuch,
vious to the battle of Bannockburn, the king's chap-
lain, a man of little faith, abstracted the relic, and de-
posited it in some place of security, lest it should fall
into the hands of the English. But, lo! while Robert
was addressing his prayers to the empty casket, it was
observed to open and shut suddenly; and, on inspection,
the saint was found to have himself deposited his arm
in the shrine, as an assurance of victory. Such is the
tale of Lesley. But though Bruce little needed that the
arm of St Fillan should assist his own, he dedicated to
him, in gratitude, a priory at Killin, upon Loch Tay.

In the Scots Magazine for July, 1802 (a national periodical publication, which has lately revived with considerable energy), there is a copy of a very curious crown-grant, dated 11th July, 1487, by which James III. confirms to Malice Doire, an inhabitant of Strathfillan, in Perthshire, the peaceable exercise and enjoy. ment of a relic of St Fillan, called the Quegrich, which he, and his predecessors, are said to have possessed since the days of Robert Bruce. As the Quegrich was used to cure diseases, this document is, probably, the most ancient patent ever granted for a quack medicine. The ingenious correspondent, by whom it is furnished, further observes, that additional particulars concerning St Fillan are to be found in BALLENDEN'S Boece, Book 4, folio ccxiii, and in PENNANT'S Tour in Scotland, 1772, Pp. 11, 15.

THE EVE OF SAINT JOHN.

His banner broad to rear:

He went not 'gainst the English yew

To lift the Scottish spear.

Yet his plate-jack' was braced, and his helmet was laced,
And his vaunt-brace of proof he wore;
At his saddle-gerthe was a good steel sperthe,
Full ten pound weight and more.

The baron return'd in three days' space,

Afd his looks were sad and sour;
And weary was his courser's pace,

As he reach'd his rocky tower.

He came not from where Ancram Moor
Ran red with English blood;
Where the Douglas true, and the bold Buccleuch,
'Gainst keen Lord Evers stood.

Yet was his helmet hack'd and hew'd,
His acton pierced and tore;

His axe and his dagger with blood embrued,
But it was not English gore.

Ile lighted at the Chapellage,

He held him close and still;
And he whistled thrice for his little foot-page,
His name was English Will.

« Come thou hither, my little foot-page;
Come hither to my knee;

Though thou art young, and tender of age,
I think thou art true to me.

<< Come, tell me all that thou hast seen,
And look thou tell me true!

SMAYLHO ME, or Smallholm Tower, the scene of the following ballad, is situated on the northern boundary of Roxburghshire, among a cluster of wild rocks, called Sandiknow Crags, the property of Hugh Scott, Esq. of Harden. The tower is a high square building, surround-Since I from Smaylho'me tower have been, ed by an outer wall, now ruinous. The circuit of the outer court, being defended, on three sides, by a precipice and morass, is accessible only from the west, by a steep and rocky path. The apartments, as is usual in a Border keep, or fortress, are placed one above another,For, from height to height, the beacons bright

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What did thy lady do?»

My lady, each night, sought the lonely light,
That burns on the wild Watchfold;

Of the English foemen told.

The bittern clamour'd from the moss,
The wind blew loud and shrill;

and communicate by a narrow stair; on the roof are
two bartizans, or platforms, for defence or pleasure.
The inner door of the tower is wood, the outer an iron
grate; the distance between them being nine feet, the
thickness, namely, of the wall. From the elevated si-Yet the craggy pathway she did cross,
tuation of Smaylho'me Tower, it is seen many miles in
To the eiry beacon hill.
every direction. Among the crags, by which it is sur-
rounded, one, more eminent, is called The Watchfold;
and is said to have been the station of a beacon, in the
times of war with Eagland. Without the tower-court

The plate-jack is coat-armour; the vaunt-brace, or wanteɛs armour for the body; the sperthe, a battle-axe.

2 See an account of the battle of Aucram Moor, suljained wi ballad.

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At the lone midnight hour, when bad spirits have

power,

'In thy chamber will I be.'

With that he was gone, and my lady left alone,

And no more did I see.»

Then changed. I trow, was that bold baron's brow, From the dark to the blood-red high;

« Now, tell me the mien of the knight thou hast seen, For, by Mary, he shall die!»

<< His arms shone full bright in the beacon's red light, His plume it was scarlet and blue;

On his shield was a hound, in a silver leash bound, And his crest was a branch of the yew.»

<< Thou liest, thou liest, thou little foot-page,
Loud dost thou lie to me!

For that knight is cold, and low laid in the mould,
All under the Eildon-tree.»>

«Yet hear but my word, my noble lord,
For I heard her name his name;
And that lady bright, she call'd the knight,
Sir Richard of Coldinghame.»>

The bold baron's brow then changed, I trow,
From high blood-red to pale-

«The grave is deep and dark-and the corpse is stiff

and stark

So I may not trust thy tale.

« Where fair Tweed flows round holy Melrose, And Eildon slopes to the plain,

Full three nights ago, by

some secret foe, That gay gallant was slain.

The varying light deceived thy sight,

And the wild winds drown'd the name;

For the Dryburgh bells ring, and the white monks do

sing,

For Sir Richard of Coldinghame!»

lle pass'd the court-gate, and he open'd the tower

grate,

And he mounted the narrow stair,

To the bartizan-seat, where, with maids that on her wait,

Ile found his lady fair.

Yet there sleepeth a priest in the chamber to the That lady sat in mournful mood;

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The King of England had promised to these two be rons a feudal grant of the country, which they had thus reduced to a desert; upon hearing which, Arch.ba Douglas, the seventh carl of Angus, is said to have sworn to write the deed of investiture upon their skins with sharp pens and bloody ink, in resentment fær their having defaced the tombs of his ancestors, at Me rose.- Godscroft. In 1545, Lord Evers and Lat again entered Scotland with an army, consisting a 3000 mercenaries, 1500 English Borderers, and 700 sured Scottishmen, chiefly Armstrongs, Turabulis, other broken clans. In this second incursion, the Elish generals even exceeded their former cruelty. Ern burned the tower of Broomhouse with its lady (a mob and aged woman, says Lesley), and her whole fam The English penetrated as far as Melrose, which they had destroyed last year, and which they now again p laged As they returned towards Jedburgh, they wer followed by Angus, at the head of 1000 horse, who wis shortly after joined by the famous Norman Leslev, v.5. a body of Fife-men. The English, being probably willing to cross the Teviot while the Scots hung er their rear, halted upon Ancram Moor, above the villa of that name; and the Scottish general was deliberatio whether to advance or retire, when Sir Walter Scott

The editor has found no instance upon record of this fre having taken assurance with England. Hence they manlly infor dreadfully from the English forays. In August, 1546 (the year pr ceding the battle), the whole lands belonging to Bandeach, îʼn § Teviotdale, were harried by Evers; the out-works, or barak the tower of Branxbolm, burned; eight Scots slain, thirty maz prisoners, and an immense prey of horses, cattle, and sheep, car off. The lands upon Kale Water, belonging to the same chift i were also plundered, and much spoil obtained, thirty Scots sak and the Moss Tower (a fortress near Eckford) raked very smo Thus Buccleuch had a long account to settle at Ancram Bour.Mundis's State Papers, pp. 45, 46.

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Fair maiden Lylliard lies under this stane,
Little was her stature, but great was her fame;
Upon the English louns she laid mony thumps.
And when her 1 gs were cutted off, she fought upon her stumps.
Vide Account of the Parish of Melrose.

of Buccleuch came up, at full speed, with a small but chosen body of his retainers, the rest of whom were near at hand. By the advice of this experienced warrior (to whose conduct Pitscottie and Buchanan ascribe the success of the engagement), Angus withdrew from the height which he occupied, and drew up his forces It appears, from a passage in Stowe, that an ancestor behind it, upon a piece of low flat ground, called Pa- of Lord Evers held also a grant of Scottish lands from nier-heugh, or Peniel-heugh. The spare horses, being an English monarch. «I have seen.» says the histosent to an eminence in their rear, appeared to the Eng-rian, <«< under the broad seale of the said King Edward lish to be the main body of the Scots, in the act of, a manor called Ketnes, in the countie of Ferfare, in Bight. Under this persuasion, Evers and Latoun hurried precipitately forward, and, having ascended the hill, which their foes had abandoned, were no less dismayed than astonished, to find the phalanx of Scottish spearmen drawn up, in firm array, upon the flat ground

below. The Scots in their turn became the assailants.

A heron, roused from the marshes by the tumult, soar-
ed away betwixt the encountering armies: «O !» ex-
claimed Angus, « that I had here my white goss hawk,
that we might all yoke at once!»-Godscroft. The
English, breathless and fatigued, having the setting sun
and wind full in their faces, were unable to withstand
the resolute and desperate charge of the Scottish lances.
No sooner had they begun to waver, than their own al-
lies, the assured Borderers, who had been waiting the
event, threw aside their red crosses, and, joining their
countrymen, made a most merciless slaughter among
the English fugitives, the pursuers calling upon each
other to remember Broomhouse»-Lesley, p. 478
In the battle fell Lord Evers, and his son, together with
Sir Brian Latoun, and Soo Englishmen, many of whom
were persons of rank. A thousand prisoners were
taken. Among these was a patriotic alderman of Lon-
don, Read by name, who, having contumaciously re-
fused to pay his portion of a benevolence, demanded
from the city by Henry VIII., was sent by royal autho-
rity to serve against the Scots. These, at settling his
ransom, he found still more exorbitant in their exac-
tions than the monarch.-REDPATH'S Border History,
Evers was much regretted by King Henry,
who swore to avenge his death upon Angus; against
whom he conceived himself to have particular grounds
of resentment, on account of favours received by the
earl at his hands. The answer of Angus was worthy
of a Douglas.
« Is our brother-in-law offended,» said
he, that I, as a good Scotsman, have avenged my ra-
vaged country, and the defaced tombs of my ancestors,
apon Ralph Evers? They were better men than he,
and I was bound to do no less-and will he take my
life for that? Little knows King Henry the skirts of
Kirnetable: I can keep myself there against all his
English host.»-Godscroft.

P. 553.

4

Such was the noted battle of Ancram Moor. The spot on which it was fought is called Lyliard's Edge, from an Amazonian Scottish woman of that name, who is reported, by tradition, to have distinguished herself in the same manner as Squire Witherington. The old people point out her monument, now broken and defaced. The inscription is said to have been legible within this century, and to have run thus:

'Angus had married the widow of James IV., sister to king Heary VIII.

Scotland, and necre the furthest part of the same na-
tion northward, given to Jolin Eure and his heirs, an-
cestor to the Lord Eure that now is, and for his service
done in these partes, with market, etc. dated at Laner-
cost, the 20th day of October, anno regis, 34.»—
STOWE'S Annals, p. 210.
This grant, like that of
Henry, must have been dangerous to the receiver.

Stanza xlviii.

There is a nun in Dryburgh bower.

The circumstance of the nun, « who never saw the day,» is not entirely imaginary. About fifty years ago, an unfortunate female wanderer took up her residence in a dark vault, among the ruins of Dryburgh-Abbey, which, during the day, she never quitted. When night fell, she issued from this miserable habitation, and went to the house of Mr Haliburton, of Newmains, the editor's great-grandfather, or to that of Mr Erskine, of Shielfield, two gentlemen of the neighbourhood. From their charity she obtained such necessaries as she could be prevailed upon to accept. At twelve, each night, she lighted her candle, and returned to her vault; assuring her friendly neighbours that, during her absence, her habitation was arranged by a spirit, to whom she gave the uncouth name of Fatlips; describing him as a little man, wearing heavy iron shoes, with which he trampled the clay floor of the vault, to dispel the damps.. This circumstance caused her to be regarded, by the well-informed, with compassion, as deranged in her understanding; and by the vulgar, with some degree of terror. The cause of her adopting this extraordinary mode of life she would never explain. It was, however, believed to have been occasioned by a vow, that, during the absence of a man, to whom she was attached, she would never look upon the sun. lover never returned. He fell during the civil war of 1745-6, and she never more would behold the light of day.

Her

The vault, or rather dungeon, in which this unfortunate woman lived and died, passes still by the name of the supernatural being, with which its gloom was tenanted by her disturbed imagination, and few of the neighbouring peasants dare enter it by night.

CADYOW CASTLE.

ADDRESSED TO THE

RIGHT HON. LADY ANNE HAMILTON.

THE ruins of Cadyow, or Cadzow Castle, the ancient baronial residence of the family of Hamilton, are situated upon the precipitous banks of the river Evan, * Kirnetable, now called Cairntable, is a mountainous tract at the about two miles above its junction with the Clyde. It was dismantled in the conclusion of the civil wars,

bead of Douglasdale,

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