Friar John hath told us it is wrote, No conscience clear, and void of wrong, Himself still sleeps before his beads Have mark'd ten aves, and two creeds."-1 XXVII. "Let pass," quoth Marmion; "by my fay, 1 Friar John understood the soporific virtue of his beads and breviary, as well as his namesake in Rabelais. "But Gargantua could not sleep by any means, on which side soever he turned himself. Whereupon the monk said to him, ‘I never sleep soundly but when I am at sermon or prayers: Let us therefore begin, you and I, the seven penitential psalms, to try whether you shall not quickly fall asleep.' The conceit pleased Gargantua very well; and, beginning the first of these psalms, as soon as they came to Beati quorum, they fell asleep, both the one and the other." 2 A Palmer, opposed to a Pilgrim, was one who made it his sole business to visit different holy shrines; travelling incessantly, and subsisting by charity: whereas the Pilgrim retired to his usual home and occupations, when he had paid his devotions at the particular spot which was the object of his pilgrimage. The Palmers seem to have been the Quæstionarii of the ancient Scottish canons 1242 and 1296. There is in the In his black mantle was he clad, On his broad shoulders wrought; Was from Loretto brought; XXVIII. When as the Palmer came in hall, Nor lord, nor knight, was there more tall, Or look'd more high and keen; For no saluting did he wait, Bannatyne MS. a burlesque account of two such persons, entitled Simmy and His Brother. Their accoutrements are thus ludicrously described (I discard the ancient spelling): "Syne shaped them up, to loup on leas, Two tabards of the tartan; They counted nought what their clouts were When sew'd them on, in certain. Syne clampit up St. Peter's keys, Made of an old red gartane; St. James's shells, on t'other side, shews As pretty as a partane Toe, On Symmye and his brother.” 1The first presentment of the mysterious Palmer is laudable. - Jeffrey. But strode across the hall of state, And fronted Marmion where he sate,1 But his gaunt frame was worn with toil; And when he struggled at a smile, His eye look'd haggard wild: Poor wretch the mother that him bare, Danger, long travel, want, or woe, Soon change the form that best we know— And blanch at once the hair; Hard toil can roughen form and face,2 And want can quench the eye's bright grace, Nor does old age a wrinkle trace More deeply than despair. Happy whom none of these befall,3 XXIX. Lord Marmion then his boon did ask; "And near Lord Marmion took his seat." "Hard toil can alter form and face, And want can roughen youthful grace, quench dim the eyes of grace." Happy whom none such woes befall." So he would march with morning tide,1 1 MS. "So he would ride with morning tide." A 2 St. Regulus (Scotticé, St. Rule), a monk of Patræ, in Achaia, warned by a vision, is said, a. d. 370, to have sailed westward, until he landed at St. Andrews, in Scotland, where he founded a chapel and tower. The latter is still standing; and, though we may doubt the precise date of its foundation, is certainly one of the most ancient edifices in Scotland. cave, nearly fronting the ruinous castle of the Archbishops of St. Andrews, bears the name of this religious person. It is difficult of access; and the rock in which it is hewed is washed by the German Ocean. It is nearly round, about ten feet in diameter, and the same in height. On one side is a sort of stone altar; on the other an aperture into an inner den, where the miserable ascetic, who inhabited this dwelling, probably slept. At full tide, egress and regress are hardly practicable. As Regulus first colonised the metropolitan see of Scotland, and converted the inhabitants in the vicinity, he has some reason to complain that the ancient name of Killrule (Cella Reguli) should have been superseded, even in favour of the tutelar saint of Scotland. The reason of the change was, that St. Rule is said to have brought to Scotland the relics of St. Andrew. 8 St. Fillan was a Scottish saint of some reputation. Although popery is, with us, matter of abomination, yet the Saint Mary grant, that cave or spring Or bid it throb no more!" XXX. And now the midnight draught of sleep, Lord Marmion drank a fair good rest, · Alone the Palmer pass'd it by, Though Selby press'd him courteously. common people still retain some of the superstitions connected with it. There are in Perthshire several wells and springs dedicated to St. Fillan, which are still places of pilgrimage and offerings, even among the Protestants. They are held powerful in cases of madness; and, in some of very late occurrence, lunatics have been left all night bound to the holy stone, in confidence that the saint would cure and unloose them before morning. See various notes to the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 1 MS."The cup pass'd round among the rest.” 2 MS." Soon died the merry wassel roar." |