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And Swinton laid the lance in rest.-P. 48.

At the battle of Beauge, in France, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, brother to Henry V., was unhorsed by Sir John Swinton of Swinton, who distinguished him by a coronet set with precious stones, which he wore around his helmet. The family of Swinton is one of the most ancient in Scotland, and produced many celebrated warriors. And shouting still, "A Home! a Home!"-P. 48.

The Earls of Home, as descendants of the Dunbars, ancient Earls of March, carried a lion rampant, argent; but, as a difference, changed the colour of the shield from gules to vert, in allusion to Greenlaw, their ancient possession. The slogan, or war-cry, of this powerful family was, "A Home! a Home!" The Hepburns, a powerful family in East Lothian, were usually in close alliance with the Homes.

Pursued the foot-ball play.-P. 49. The foot-ball was anciently a very favourite sport all through Scotland, but especially upon the Borders.

Cheer the dark blood-hound on his way.-P. 57.

The pursuit of Border marauders was followed by the injured party and his friends with blood-hounds and bugle-horn, and was called the hot-trod. He was entitled, if his dog could trace the scent, to follow the invaders into the opposite kingdom-a privilege which often occasioned blood-shed.

She wrought not by forbidden spell.-P. 59.

Popular belief, though contrary to the doctrines of the Church, made a favourable distinction betwixt magicians and necromancers, or wizards; the former were supposed to command the evil spirits, and the latter to serve, or at least to be in league and compact with those enemies of mankind.

A merlin sat upon her wrist.-P. 60.

A merlin, or sparrow-hawk, was usually carried by ladies of rank, as a falcon was, in time of peace, the constant attendant of a knight or baron.

And princely peacock's gilded train.-P. 60.

The peacock was considered, during the times of chivalry, not merely as an exquisite delicacy, but as a dish of peculiar solemnity. After being roasted, it was again decorated with its plumage, and a sponge, dipped in lighted spirits of wine, was placed in its bill. When it was introduced on days of grand festival, it was the signal for the adventurous knights to take upon them vows to do some deed of chivalry, "before the peacock and the ladies."

And o'er the boar-head, garnished brave.-P. 60. The boar's head was a dish of feudal splendour. In Scotland it was sometimes surrounded with little banners, displaying the colours and achievements of the baron at whose board it was served.

Smote, with his gauntlet, stout Hunthill.-P. 61.

The Rutherfords of Hunthill were an ancient race of Border lairds, whose names occur in history.

But bit his glove, and shook his head.-P. 61.

To bite the thumb, or the glove, seems not to have been considered upon the Border as a gesture of contempt, though so used by Shakspeare, but as a pledge of mortal revenge.

The pledge to Arthur Fire-the braes.-P. 61.

The person bearing this redoubtable nomme de guerre, was an Elliot, and resided at Thorleshope, in Liddesdale.

And first stept forth old Albert Græme.-P. 62.

John Grahame, second son of Malice, Earl of Monteith, commonly surnamed John with the Bright Sword, upon some displeasure risen against him at court, retired with many of his clan and kindred, into the English Borders, in the reign of King Henry the Fourth, where they seated themselves; and many of their posterity have continued there ever since.

Who has not heard of Surrey's fame?-P. 63.

The gallant and unfortunate Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was unquestionably the most accomplished cavalier of his time; and his sonnets display beauties which would do honour to a more polished age. He was beheaded on Tower-hill in 1516; a victim to the mean jealousy of Henry VIII.

Where erst St. Clairs held princely sway.-P. 65.

The St. Clairs are of Norman extraction, being descended from William de St. Clair, second son of Walderne Compte de St. Clair, and Margaret, daughter to Richard Duke of Normandy. He was called, for his fair deportment, the Seemly St. Clair; and, settling in Scotland during the reign of Malcolm Čeanmore, obtained large grants of land in Mid-Lothian. These domains were increased by the liberality of succeeding monarchs to the descendants of the family, and comprehended the baronies of Rosline, Pentland, Cowsland, Cardaine, and several others.

Thy pride and sorrow, fair Kirkwall.-P. 65.

The castle of Kirkwall was built by the St. Clairs, while Earls of Orkney. It was dismantled by the Earl of Caithness about 1615. Their barks the dragons of the wave.-P. 65.

The chiefs of the Vakingr, or Scandinavian pirates, assumed the title of Sakonungr, or Sea-kings. Their ships were often termed the serpents of the ocean.

Of that Sea-Snake, tremendous curled.-P. 65. The jormungandr, or Snake of the Ocean, whose folds surround the earth, is one of the wildest fictions of the Edda.

Of those dread Maids, whose hideous yell.-P. 65. These were the Valkyriur, or Selectors of the Slain, despatched by Odin from Valhalla, to choose those who were to die, and to distribute the contest.

Their falchions wrenched from corpses' hold.-P. 65.

The northern warriors were usually entombed with their arms, and their other treasures.

That mourns the lovely Rosabelle.-P. 66.

This was a family name in the house of St. Clair. Henry St. Clair, the second of the line, married Rosabelle, fourth daughter of the Earl of Stratherne.

Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch.-P. 66.

A large and strong castle, now ruinous, situated betwixt Kirkcaldy and Dysart, on a steep crag, washed by the Frith of Forth. Seemed all on fire that chapel proud.-P. 66.

The beautiful chapel of Roslin is still in tolerable preservation. It was founded in 1446, by William St. Clair, Prince of Orkney, &c. The Barons of Roslin were buried in a vault beneath the chapel floor.

Who spoke the spectre-hound in Man.-P. 68.

The ancient castle of Peel-town, in the Isle of Man, is said to have been haunted by an apparition, called, in the Mankish language, the Mauthe Doog, in the shape of a large black spaniel, with curled shaggy hair.

Did to St. Bryde of Douglas make.-P. 68.

This was a favourite saint of the house of Douglas, and of the Earl of Angus in particular.

MARMION.

He took the Sangreal's holy quest.-P. 78.

One day, when Arthur was holding a high feast with his Knights of the Round Table, the Sangreal, or vessel out of which the last passover was eaten, a precious relic, which had long remained concealed from human eyes, because of the sins of the land, suddenly appeared to him and all his chivalry. The consequence of this vision was, that all the knights took on them a solemn vow to seek the Sangreal. But, alas! it could only be revealed to a knight at once accomplished in earthly chivalry, and pure and guiltless of evil conversation. All Sir Launcelot's noble accomplishments were therefore rendered vain by his guilty intrigue with Queen Guenever, or Ganore; and in this holy quest he encountered only disgraceful disasters.

Day set on Norham's castled steep.-P. 79.

The ruinous castle of Norham (anciently called Ubbanford) is situated on the southern bank of the Tweed, about six miles above Berwick, and where that river is still the boundary between England and Scotland. The extent of its ruins, as well as its historical importance, shows it to have been a place of magnificence as well as strength. Edward I. resided there when he was created umpire of the dispute concerning the Scottish succession. In 1164 it was almost rebuilt by Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, who added a huge keep, or donjon. The ruins of the castle are at present considerable, as well as picturesque. They consist of a large shattered tower, with many vaults, and fragments of other edifices, enclosed within an outward wall of great circuit.

The battled towers, the donjon keep.-P. 79.

The donjon, in its proper signification, means the strongest part of a feudal castle-a high square tower, with walls of tremendous thickness, situated in the centre of the other buildings, from which, however, it was usually detached. The donjon contained the great hall, and principal rooms of state for solemn occasions, and also the prison of the fortress; from which last circumstance we derive the modern and restricted use of the word dungeon.

In mail, and plate, of Milan steel.-P. 81. The artists of Milan were famous in the middle ages for their skill in armoury.

Who checks at me, to death is dight.-P. 81.

The crest and motto of Marmion are borrowed from an old story.

Of Tamworth tower and town.-P. 83.

Lord Marmion, the principal character of the present romance, is entirely a fictitious personage. In earlier times, indeed, the family of Marmion, lords of Fontenay, in Normandy, was highly distinguished. Robert de Marmion, Lord of Fontenay, a distinguished follower of the Conqueror, obtained a grant of the castle and town of Tamworth, and also of the manor of Scrivelby, in Lincolnshire. One or both of these noble possessions was held by the honourable service of being the royal champion, as the ancestors of Marmion had formerly been to the Dukes of Normandy; but this office was afterwards adjudged to Sir John Dymocke, to whom the manor of Scrivelby had descended, and it still remains in that family.

Sir Hugh the Heron bold.-P. 83.

Were accuracy of any consequence in a fictitious narrative, this castellan's name ought to have been William; for William Heron of Ford was husband to the famous Lady Ford, whose siren charms are said to have cost our James IV. so dear.

Warbeck, that Flemish counterfeit.-P. 86.

The story of Perkin Warbeck, or Richard, Duke of York, is well known. In 1496 he was received honourably in Scotland; and James IV., after conferring upon him in marriage his own relation, the Lady Catherine Gordon, made war on England in behalf of his pretensions. To retaliate an invasion of England, Surrey advanced into Berwickshire at the head of considerable forces, but retreated after taking the inconsiderable fortress of Ayton.

And driven the beeves of Lauderdale.-P. 86.

The garrisons of the English castles of Wark, Norham, and Berwick, were, as may be easily supposed, very troublesome neighbours to Scotland. Sir Richard Maitland of Ledington wrote a poem, called "The Blind Baron's Comfort," when his barony of Blythe, in Lauderdale, was harried by Rowland Foster, the English captain of Wark, with his company, to the number of 300 men. They spoiled the poetical knight of 5000 sheep, 200 nolt, 30 horses and mares; the whole furniture of his house of Blythe, worth 100 pounds Scots (£8, 6s. 8d.), and everything else that was portable.

And given them light to set their hoods.-P. 86.

This line contains a phrase by which the Borderers jocularly intimated the burning of a house. When the Maxwells, in 1685, burned the castle of Lochwood, they said they did so to give the Lady Johnstone "light to set her hood."

The Priest of Shoreswood-he could rein.-P. 87.

This churchman seems to have been akin to Welsh, the vicar of St. Thomas of Exeter, a leader among the Cornish insurgents of 1549. Saint Rosalie retired to God.-P. 88.

Dryden, in his "Voyage to Sicily," says, "Sante Rosalia was of Palermo, and born of a very noble family, and when very young, abhorred so much the vanities of this world, and avoided the converse of mankind, resolving to dedicate herself wholly to God Almighty, that she, by divine inspiration, forsook her father's house, and never was more heard of, till her body was found in that cleft of a rock, on that almost inaccessible mountain where now the chapel is built."

The summoned Palmer came in place.-P. 89.

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

1212 and 1296.

Where good St. Rule his holy lay.-P. 90.

St. Regulus (Scottice, 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. A 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 is hardly practicable. As Regulus first colonized 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.

Thence to Saint Fillan's blessed well.-P. 90.

St. Fillan was a Scottish saint of some reputation. 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.

Where flourished once a forest fair.-P. 91.

Ettricke Forest, now a range of mountainous sheep-walks, was anciently reserved for the pleasure of the royal chase. Since it was disparked, the wood has been by degrees almost totally destroyed, although, wherever protected from sheep, copses soon arise without any planting. When the king hunted there, he often summoned the array of the country to meet and assist his sport.

Where erst the Outlaw drew his arrow.-P. 92. The tale of the outlaw Murray, who held out Newark Castle and Ettricke Forest against the king, may be found in the "Border Minstrelsy," vol. i.

By lone Saint Mary's silver lake.-P. 94.

This beautiful sheet of water forms the reservoir from which the Yarrow takes its source. It is connected with a smaller lake, called the Loch of the Lowes, and surrounded by mountains. In the winter it is still frequented by flights of wild swans; hence Wordsworth's lines:

"The swans on sweet St. Mary's lake
Float double, swan and shadow."

Near the lower extremity of the lake are the ruins of Dryhope Tower, the birth-place of Mary Scott, daughter of Philip Scott of Dryhope, and famous by the traditional name of the Flower of Yarrow. She was married to Walter Scott of Harden, no less renowned for his depredations than his bride for her beauty.

Hath laid Our Lady's Chapel low.-P. 94.

The chapel of Saint Mary of the Lowes (de lacubus) was situated on the eastern side of the lake to which it gives name. The vestiges of the building can now scarcely be traced; but the burial-ground is still used as a cemetery.

To sit upon the Wizard's grave.-P. 95.

At one corner of the burial-ground of the demolished chapel, but without its precincts, is a small mound, called Binram's corse, where tradition deposits the remains of a necromantic priest, the former tenant of the chaplainry.

Like that which frowns round dark Loch-skene.-P. 96.

A mountain lake of considerable size, at the head of the Moffat Water. The character of the scenery is uncommonly savage; and the erne, or Scottish eagle, has for many ages built its nest yearly upon an islet in the lake. A brook issues from Loch-skene, which, after a short and precipitate course, forms a cataract of immense height and gloomy grandeur, called, from its appearance, the "Grey Mare's Tail." The Giant's Grave," afterwards mentioned, is a sort

of trench, which bears that name, a little way from the foot of the cataract.

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