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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 field— And 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 Glenartney'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 Icolmkill. 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 once 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 Iv..

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 merarius, an abbot of Pittenweem, in Fife, from which 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.

situation he retired, and died a hermit in the wilds of
Glenurchy, A.D. 649. While engaged 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 am, 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- His banner broad to rear:
lain, a man of little faith, abstracted the relic, and de-He went not 'gainst the English yew
posited it in some place of security, lest it should fall
To lift the Scottish spear.
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 enjoyment 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.

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,
And 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 Moor2
Rau 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.

He 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!
Since I from Smaylho'me tower have been,
What did thy lady do?»>

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

For, from height to height, the beacons bright
Of the English foemer told.

SMAYLHO ME, or Smallholm Tower, the scene of the fol-
lowing 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-
ed by an outer wall, now ruinous. The circuit of the
outer court, being defended, on three sides, by a pre-
cipice and morass, is accessible only from the west, by
steep and rocky path. The apartments, as is usual in
Border keep, or fortress, are placed one above another,
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
every direction. Among the crags, by which it is sur-
rounded, one, more eminent, is called The Watch fold;
and is said to have been the station of a beacon, in the
times of war with England. Without the tower-court

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

To the eiry beacon hill.

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

See an account of the battle of Ancram Moor, subjoined to the ballad.

<< I watch'd her steps, and silent came

Where she sat her on a stone;

No watchiman stood by the dreary flame; It burned all alone.

«The second night I kept her in sight,
Till to the fire she came,

And, by Mary's might! an armed knight
Stood by the lonely flame.

« And many a word that warlike lord
Did speak to my lady there;

But the rain fell fast, and loud blew the blast,
And I heard not what they were.

«The third night there the sky was fair,
And the mountain blast was still,
As again I watch'd the secret pair,
On the lonesome beacon hill.

<< And I heard her name the midnight hour, And name this holy eve;

And say, Come this night to thy lady's bower; 'Ask no bold baron's leave.

'He lifts his spear with the bold Buccleuch; 'His lady is all alone;

'The door she 'll undo to her knight so true,

'On the eve of good St John.'

'I cannot come; I must not come;

'I dare not come to thee;

'On the eve of Saint John I must wander alone'In thy bower I may not be.'

'Now, out on thee, faint-hearted knight!

Thou shouldst not say me nay;

For the eve is sweet, and when lovers meet, Is worth the whole summer's day.

And I'll chain the blood-hound, and the warder shall not sound,

And rushes shall be strew'd on the stair, So, by the black rood-stone,' and by holy St John, I conjure, thee, my love, to be there!'

Though the blood-hound be mute, and the rush be

neath my foot,

And the warder his bugle should not blow,

'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 1 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.»>

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The lady blush'd red, but nothing she said;
Nor added the baron a word;

Then she stepp'd down the stair to her chamber fair,
And so did her moody lord.

In sleep the lady mourn'd, and the baron toss'd and turn'd,

And oft to himself he said

«The worms around him creep, and his bloody grave is deep

It cannot give up the dead.»>

It was near the ringing of matin-bell,
The night was well nigh done,
When a heavy sleep on that baron fell,

On the eve of good St Johu.

The lady look'd through the chamber fair,
By the light of a dying flame;

And she was aware of a knight stood there-
Sir Richard of Coldinghame!

«Alas! away, away!» she cried,

« For the holy Virgin's sake!» «Lady, I know who sleeps by thy side: But, lady, he will not awake.

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Insight gear, etc. (furniture) an incalculable
quantity.

MURDIN'S State Papers, vol. i, p. 51.

The King of England had promised to these two barons a feudal grant of the country, which they had thus reduced to a desert; upon hearing which, Archibald Douglas, the seventh earl of Angus, is said to have sworn to write the deed of investiture upon their skins, with sharp pens and bloody ink, in resentment for their having defaced the tombs of his ancestors, at Melrose.- -Godscroft. In 1545, Lord Evers and Latoun again entered Scotland with an army, consisting of 3000 mercenaries, 1500 English Borderers, and 700 assured Scottishmen, chiefly Armstrongs, Turnbulls, and other broken clans. In this second incursion, the English generals even exceeded their former cruelty. Evers burned the tower of Broomhouse with its lady (a noble and aged woman, says Lesley), and her whole family. The English penetrated as far as Melrose, which they had destroyed last year, and which they now again pillaged. As they returned towards Jedburgh, they were followed by Angus, at the head of 1000 horse, who was shortly after joined by the famous Norman Lesley, with a body of Fife-men. The English, being probably unwilling to cross the Teviot while the Scots hung upon their rear, halted upon Ancram Moor, above the village of that name; and the Scottish general was deliberating whether to advance or retire, when Sir Walter Scott

The editor has found no instance upon record of this family having taken assurance with England. Hence they usually suffered dreadfully from the English forays. In August, 15ff (the year preceding the battle), the whole lands belonging to Buccleuch, in West Teviotdale, were harried by Evers; the out-works, or barnkin, of the tower of Branxholm, burned; eight Scots slain, thirty made prisoners, and an immense prey of horses, cattle, and sheep, carried off. The lands upon Kale Water, belonging to the same chieftain, were also plundered, and much spoil obtained; thirty Scots slain, and the Moss Tower (a fortress near Eckford) smoked very soreThus Buccleuch had a long account to settle at Ancram Moor.MURDIN's State Papers, pp. 45, 46.

447

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 legs 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 flight. 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.

Stanza xlviii.

There is a nun in Dryburgh bower.

I., a manor called Ketnes, in the countie of Ferfare, in Scotland, and neere the furthest part of the same nation northward, given to John Eure and his heirs, ancestor to the Lord Eure that now is, and for his service done in these partes, with market, etc. dated at Lanercost, the 20th day of October, anno regis, 34,»STOWE'S Annals, p. 210. A heron, roused from the marshes by the tumult, soar-Henry, must have been dangerous to the receiver. This grant, like that of ed away betwixt the encountering armies: «O!» exclaimed Angus, « that I had here my white goss hawk, that we might all yoke at once!»-Godscroft. The The circumstance of the nun, «who never saw the English, breathless and fatigued, having the setting sun day,» is not entirely imaginary. About fifty years ago, and wind full in their faces, were unable to withstand the resolute and desperate charge of the Scottish lances. in a dark vault, among the ruins of Dryburgh-Abbey, an unfortunate female wanderer took up her residence No sooner had they begun to waver, than their own al- which, during the day, she never quitted. When night lies, the assured Borderers, who had been waiting the fell, she issued from this miserable habitation, and event, threw aside their red crosses, and, joining their went to the house of Mr Haliburton, of Newmaius, the countrymen, made a most merciless slaughter among editor's great-grandfather, or to that of Mr Erskine, of the English fugitives, the pursuers calling upon each Shielfield, two gentlemen of the neighbourhood. From other to remember Broomhouse!»-Lesley, p. 478. In the battle fell Lord Evers, and his son, together with be prevailed upon to accept. At twelve, each night, their charity she obtained such necessaries as she could Sir Brian Latoun, and 800 Englishmen, many of whom she lighted her candle, and returned to her vault; aswere persons of rank. A thousand prisoners were suring her friendly neighbours that, during her abtaken. Among these was a patriotic alderman of London, Read by name, who, having contumaciously reher habitation was arranged by a spirit, to whom fused to pay his portion of a benevolence, demanded she gave the uncouth name of Fatlips; describing him from the city by Henry VIII., was sent by royal autho-he trampled the clay floor of the vault, to dispel the as a little man, wearing heavy iron shoes, with which rity to serve against the Scots. These, at settling his

p. 553.

ransom, he found still more exorbitant in their exactions 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 << that I, as a good Scotsman, have avenged my ravaged country, and the defaced tombs of my ancestors, upon 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.

he,

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 Henry VIII.

2 Kirnetable, now called Cairntable, is a mountainous tract at the head of Douglasdale.

sence,

damps. This circumstance caused her to be regarded,
her understanding; and by the vulgar, with some de-
by the well-informed, with compassion, as deranged in
ordinary mode of life she would never explain. It was,
gree of terror. The cause of her adopting this, extra-
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
lover never returned.
upon the sun. Her
1745-6, and she never more would behold the light of
He fell during the civil war of
day.

nate woman lived and died, passes still by the name of
The vault, or rather dungeon, in which this unfortu-
the supernatural being, with which its gloom was te-
nanted 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, about two miles above its junction with the Clyde. It was dismantled in the conclusion of the civil wars,

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