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The heavy knell, their choir's faint swell,

Came slowly down the wind,

And on the Pilgrim's ear they fell,

As his wonted path he did find.

Deep sunk in thought, I ween, he was,

Nor ever raised his eye,

Until he came to that dreary place,

Which did all in ruins lie.

He gazed on the walls so scathed with fire,

With many a bitter groan

And there was aware of a Grey Friar,

Resting him on a stone.

"Now, Christ thee save!" said the Grey Brother; "Some pilgrim thou seem'st to be."

But in sore amaze did Lord Albert gaze,

Nor answer again made he.

"O come ye from east, or come ye from west,

Or bring reliques from over the sea,

Or come ye from the shrine of Saint James the divine,

Or Saint John of Beverley ?".

"I come not from the shrine of Saint James the divine,

Nor bring reliques from over the sea;

I bring but a curse from our father, the Pope,

Which for ever will cling to me.”

"Now, woeful Pilgrim, say not so!

But kneel thee down by me,

And shrive thee so clean of thy deadly sin.
That absolved thou may'st be."—

"And who art thou, thou Grey Brother,

That I should shrive to thee,

When he, to whom are given the keys of earth and

heaven,

Has no power to pardon me?”—

"O I am sent from a distant clime,

Five thousand miles away,

And all to absolve a foul, foul crime,
Done here 'twixt night and day."

The Pilgrim kneel'd him on the sand,
And thus began his saye-

When on his neck an ice-cold hand

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NOTES

ON

THE GREY BROTHER.

From that fair dome, where suit is paid
By blast of bugle free.-P. 289. v. 3.

The barony of Pennicuik, the property of Sir George Clerk, Bart., is held by a singular tenure; the proprietor being bound to sit upon a large rocky fragment, called the Buckstane, and wind three blasts of a horn, when the king shall come to hunt on the Borough Muir, near Edinburgh. Hence, the family have adopted, as their crest, a demi-forester proper, winding a horn, with the motto, Free for a Blast. The beautiful mansion-house of Pennicuik is much admired, both on account of the architecture and surrounding scenery.

To Auchendinny's hazel glade.-P. 289. v. 3. Auchendinny, situated upon the Eske, below Pennicuik, the present residence of the ingenious H. Mackenzie, Esq. author of The Man of Feeling, &c.

And haunted Woodhouselee.-P. 289. v. 3. For the traditions connected with this ruinous mansion, see the ballad of Cadyow Castle, p. 255.

Who knows not Melville's beechy grove.-P. 289. v. 4. Melville Castle, the seat of the Honourable Robert Dundas, member for the county of Mid-Lothian, is delightfully situated upon the Eske, near Lasswade. It gives the title of viscount to his father, Lord Melville.

And Roslin's rocky glen.-P. 289. v. 4.

The ruins of Roslin Castle, the baronial residence of the ancient family of St Clair. The Gothic Chapel, which is still in beautiful preservation, with the romantic and woody dell in which they are situated, belong to the right honourable the Earl of Rosslyn, the representative of the former lords of Roslin.

Dalkeith, which all the virtues love.-P. 289. v. 4.

The village and castle of Dalkeith belonged, of old, to the famous Earl of Morton, but is now the residence of the noble family of Buccleuch. The park extends along the Eske, which is there joined by its sister stream of the same name.

And classic Hawthornden.-P. 289. v. 4.

Hawthornden, the residence of the poet Drummond. A house of more modern date is enclosed, as it were, by the ruins of the ancient castle, and overhangs a tremendous precipice, upon the banks of the Eske, perforated by

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