glas. The aged earl, broken-hearted at the calamities of his house and country, retired into a religious house, where he died about a year after the field of Flodden. 15. Then rest you in Tantallon hold.-P. 84. I do protest in tyme of al my ringe, This curious and valuable relique was nearly lost during the civil war of 1745-6, being carried away from Douglas castle by some of those in arms made by the duke of Douglas among the chief parfor prince Charles. But great interest having been tisans of Stuart, it was at length restored. It resembles a highland claymore of the usual size, is of an excellent temper, and admirably poised. 17. Martin Swart.-P. 85. 18. Perchance some form was unobserved: The ruins of Tantallon castle occupy a high rock protecting into the German ocean, about two miles east of North Berwick. The building is not seen till a close approach, as there is rising ground Jetwixt it and the land. The circuit is of large extent, fenced upon three sides by the precipice which overhangs the sea, and on the fourth by a The name of this German general is preserved fouble ditch and very strong outworks. Tantallon was a principal castle of the Douglas family, and by that of the field of battle, which is called, after him, Swart-moor.-There were songs about him when the earl of Angus was banished, in 1527, it long current in England. See dissertation prefixed continued to hold out against James V. The king to Ritson's Ancient Songs, 1792, page lxi. went in person against it, and, for its reduction, borrowed from the castle of Dunbar, then belonging to the duke of Albany, two great cannons, Perchance in prayer, or faith, he swerved.-P. 85. whose names, as Pitscottie informs us with lauda- It was early necessary for those who felt themble minuteness, were "Thrawn-mouth'd Mow selves obliged to believe in the divine judgment and her Marrow;" also, “two great botcards, and being enunciated in the trial by duel, to find salvos two moyan, two double falcons, and four quarter for the strange and obviously precarious chances falcons:" for the safe guiding and re-delivery of of the combat. Various curious evasive shifts, used which, three lords were laid in pawn at Dunbar. by those who took up an unrighteous quarrel, were Yet, notwithstanding all this apparatus, James was supposed sufficient to convert it into a just one. forced to raise the siege, and only afterwards ob- Thus, in the romance of "Amys and Amelion," tained possession of Tantallon by treaty with the the one brother-in-arms, fighting for the other, governor, Simeon Panango. When the earl of An- disguised in his armour, swears that he did not gus returned from banishment, upon the death commit the crime of which the steward, his antagoof James, he again obtained possession of Tantal-nist, truly, though maliciously, accused him whom lon, and it actually afforded refuge to an English he represented. Brantome tells a story of an Itaambassador, under circumstances similar to those lian who entered the lists upon an unjust quarrel, described in the text. This was no other than the but, to make his cause good, fled from his enemy celebrated sir Ralph Sadler, who resided there at the first onset. "Turn, coward!" exclaimed for some time under Angus's protection, after the his antagonist. "Thou liest," said the Italian, failure of his negotiation, for matching the infant Mary with Edward VI. He says, that though this place was poorly furnished, it was of such strength as might warrant him against the malice of his enemies, and that he now thought himself out of langer. There is a military tradition, that the old Scottish march was meant to express the words, Ding down Tantallon, Tantallon was at length "dung down" and ruined by the covenanters; its lord, the marquis of Douglas, being a favourer of the royal cause. The castle and barony were sold in the beginning of the eighteenth century to president Dalrymple of North Berwick, by the then marquis of Douglas. 16. their motto on his blade.-P. 84. A very ancient sword, in possession of lord Douglas, bears, among a great deal of flourishing, two hands pointing to a heart which is placed betwixt them, and the date 1329, being the year in which Bruce charged the good lord Douglas to carry his heart to the holy land. The following lines (the first couplet of which is quoted by Godscroft, as popular saying in his time) are inscribed around the emblem: So mony guid as of ye Douglas beinge, Of ane surname was ne'er in Scotland seine. a The very curious state papers of this able negotiator have been lately published by Mr. Clifford, with some notes by the author of Marmion. coward am I none; and in this quarrel will Í fight to the death, but my first cause of combat was unjust, and I abandon it." "Je vous laisse a penser," adds Brantome, “s'il n'y a pas de l'abus la." Elsewhere, he says, very sensibly, upon the confidence which those who had a righteous cause entertained of victory; “ Un autre abus y avoit-il, que ceux qui avoient un juste subjet de querelle, et qu'on les faisoit jurer avant entrer au camp, pensoient estre aussitost vainqueurs, voire s'en assuroient-t-ils du tout, mesme que leurs confesseurs, parrains, et confidants leurs en respondoient tout-a-fait, comme si Dieu lear en eust donne une patente; et ne regardant point a d'autres fautes passees, et que Dieu en garde la punition a ce coup la pour plus grande, despiteuse, et exemplaire."-Discours sur les Duels. 19. Dun-Edin's cross.-P. 86. The cross of Edinburgh was an ancient and curious structure. The lower part was an octagonal tower, sixteen feet in diameter, and about fifteen feet high. At each angle there was a pillar, and between them an arch, of the Grecian shape. Above these was a projecting battlement, with a turret at each corner, and medallions, of rude but curious workmanship, between them. Above these rose the proper cross, a column of one stone, upwards of twenty feet high, surmounted with a unicorn. The pillar is preserved at the house of Drum, near Edinburgh. The magistrates of Edinburgh, in 1756, with consent of the lords of Session, (proh pudor!) destroyed this curious monument, under while, on the one hand, they left an ugly mass, a wanton pretext that it incumbered the street; called the Luckenbooths, and, on the other, an awkward, long, and low guard-house, which were ner of the summons, was a landed gentleman, who fifty times more incumbrance than the venerable was at that time twenty years of age, and was in and inoffensive cross. the town the time of the said summons; and there From the tower of the cross, so long as it re-after, when the field was stricken, he swore to me, mained, the heralds published the acts of parlia-there was no man that escaped that was called in ment; and its site, marked by radii, diverging from this summons, but that one man alone whieh made a stone centre in the High Street, is still the place his protestation, and appealed from the said sumwhere proclamations are made. mons: but all the lave were perished in the field with the king." 21. Fitz-Eustace bade them pause awhile 22. That one of his own ancestry 20. This awful summons came.-P. 86. This supernatural citation is mentioned by all our Scottish historians. It was probably, like the apparition of Linlithgow, an attempt, by those The convent alluded to is a foundation of Cisaverse to the war, to impose upon the superstitious tertian nuns, near North Berwick, of which there temper of James IV. The following account from are still some remains. It was founded by DunPitscottie is characteristically minute, and fur- can, earl of Fife, in 1216. nishes, besides, some curious particulars of the equipment of the army of James IV. 1 need only add to it, that Plotcock, or Plutock, is no other Drove the monks forth of Coventry.-P. 88. than Pluto. The Christians of the middle ages by This relates to the catastrophe of a real Robert no means disbelieved in the existence of the hea- de Marmion, in the reign of king Stephen, whom then deities: they only considered them as devils; William of Newbury describes with some attriand Plotcock, so far from implying any thing fabu-butes of my fictitious hero: "Homo bellicosus, felous, was a synonyme of the grand enemy of man-rocia, et astutia, fere nullo suo tempore impar. kind. "Yet all their warnings, and uncouth tid- This baron, having expelled the monks from the ings, nor no good counsel, might stop the king, church of Coventry, was not long experiencing the at this present, from his vain purpose, and wicked divine judgment, as the same monks no doubt enterprise, but hasted him fast to Edinburgh, and termed his disaster. Having waged a feudal war there to make his provisions and furnishing, in hav- with the earl of Chester, Marmion's horse fell, as ing forth of his army against the day appointed, he charged in the van of his troop, against a body that they should meet in the Burrow-muir of Edin- of the earl's followers: the rider's thigh being broburgh; that is to say, seven cannons that he had ken by the fall, his head was cut off by a common forth of the castle of Edinburgh, which were call-foot-soldier, ere he could receive any succour. The ed the Seven Sisters, casten by Robert Borthwick, whole story is told by William of Newbury. the master-gunner, with other small artillery, bul let, powder, and all manner of order, as the mastergunner could devise. 1. NOTES TO CANTO VI. -the savage Dane At Iol more deep the mead did drain.-P. 89. "In this mean time, when they were taking forth their artillery, and the king being in the ab- The Iol of the heathen Danes, (a word still apbey for the time, there was a cry heard at the mar-plied to Christmas in Scotland,) was solemnized ket-cross of Edinburgh, at the hour of midnight, with great festivity. The humour of the Danes at proclaiming as it had been a summons, which was table displayed itself in pelting each other with named and called by the proclaimer thereof, The bones; and Torfæus tells a long and curious story, Summons of Plotcock; which desired all men to in the history of Hrolfe Kraka, of one Huttus, an compear, both earl, and lord, and baron, and all inmate of the court of Denmark, who was so gehonest gentlemen within the town, (every man nerally assailed with these missiles, that he conspecified by his own name,) to compear, within structed, out of the bones with which he was overthe space of forty days, before his master, where whelmed, a very respectable entrenchment, against it should happen him to appoint, and be for the those who continued the raillery. The dances of time under the pain of disobedience. But whether the northern warriors round the great fires of pinethis summons was proclaimed by vain persons, trees are commemorated by Olaus Magnus, who night-walkers, or drunken men, for their pastime, says, they danced with such fury, holding each or if it was a spirit, I cannot tell truly; but it was other by the hands, that, if the grasp of any failed, shown to me, that an indweller of the town, Mr. he was pitched into the fire with the velocity Richard Lawson, being evil-disposed, ganging in of a sling. The sufferer, on such occasions, was his gallery-stair foreanent the cross, hearing this instantly plucked out, and obliged to quaff off a voice proclaiming this summons, thought marvel certain measure of ale, as a penalty for "spoiling what it should be, cried on his servant to bring the king's fire." him his purse; and when he had brought him it, he took out a crown, and cast over the stair, say- 2. On christmas eve the mass was sung.-P. 89. ing, I appeal from that summons, judgment, and In Roman Catholic countries, mass is never said sentence thereof, and takes me all whole in the at night, excepting on christmas eve. Each of the mercy of God, and Christ Jesus his Son. Verily, frolics, with which that holiday used to be celebratthe author of this, that caused me write the man-ed, might admit of a long and curious note; but I shall content myself with the following description of christmas, and his attributes, as personified in one of Ben Jonson's masques for the court. See, on this curious subject, the essay on Fairies, in the "Border Minstrelsy," vol. ii, under the fourth head; also Jackson on unbelief, p. 175. Chaucer calls Pluto the "king of Faerie;" and Dunbar names him "Pluto, that "Enter christmas, with two or three of the guard. elrich incubus." If he was not actually the devil, he must He is attired in round hose, long stockings, a close be considered as the "prince of the power of the air." The most remarkable instance of these surviving classical doublet, a high-crowned hat, with a brooch, a superstitions, is that of the Germans, concerning the Hill long thin beard, a truncheon, little ruffs, white of Venus, into which she attempts to entice all gallant shoes, his scarfs and garters tied across, and his knights, and detains them in a sort of Fool's Paradise. drum beaten before him. "The names of his children, with their attires. “ Miss-rule, in a velvet cap, with a sprig, a short cloak, great yellow ruff, like a reveller; his torchbearer bearing a rope, a cheese, and a basket. "Caroll, a long tawny coat, with a red cap, and a flute at his girdle; his torch-bearer carrying a song-book open. "Minced pie, like a fine cook's wife, drest neat, her man carrying a pie, dish, and spoons. "Gamboll, like a tumbler, with a hoop and bells; his torch-bearer armed with a cole-staff, and blinding cloth. "Post and pair, with a pair-royal of aces in his hat, his garment all done over with pairs and purs; his squire carrying a box, cards, and counters. "New-years-gift, in a blue coat, serving-man like, with an orange, and a sprig of rosemary gilt on his head, his hat full of brooches, with a collar of gingerbread; his torch-bearer carrying a marchpain, with a bottle of wine on either arm. “Mumming, in a masquing pied suit, with a visor; his torch-bearer carrying the box, and ringing it. Wassal, like a neat sempster and songster; her page bearing a brown bowl, dressed with ribbons, and rosemary, before her. "Offering, in a short gown, with a porter's staff in his hand; a wyth borne before him, and a basin, by his torch-bearer. "Baby Cocke, drest like a boy, in a fine long coat, biggin, bib, muckender, and a little dagger; his usher bearing a great cake, with a bean and a pease. " 3. Who lists may in their mumming see Traces of ancient mystery.-P. 89. It seems certain, that the mummers of England, who (in Northumberland at least) used to go about in disguise to the neighbouring houses, bearing the then useless ploughshare; and the Guisards of Scotland, not yet in total disuse, present, in some indistinct degree, a shadow of the old mysteries, which were the origin of the English drama. In Scotland (me ipso teste) we were wont, during my boyhood, to take the characters of the apostles, at least of Peter, Paul, and Judas Iscariot; the first had the keys, the second carried a sword, and the last the bag, in which the dole of our neighbours' plum-cake was deposited. One played a champion, and recited some traditional rhymes; another was friend and distant relation, has the original of a "With amber beard, and flaxen hair, Pray come, and welcome, or plague rot The venerable old gentleman, to whom the lines are addressed, was the younger brother of William Scott of Raeburn. Being the cadet of a cadet of the Harden family, he had very little to lose; yet he contrived to lose the small property he had, by engaging in the civil wars and intrigues of the house of Stuart. His veneration for the exiled family was so great, that he swore he would not shave his beard till they were restored: a mark of attachment, which, I suppose, had been common during Cromwell's usurpation; for, in Cowley's "Cutter of Coleman-street,' one drunken cavalier upbraids another, that, when he was not able to afford to pay a barber, he affected to "wear beard for the king." I sincerely hope this was not absolutely the original reason of my ancestor's beard; which, as appears from a portrait in the possession of sir Henry Hay Macdougal, bart. and another painted for the famous Dr. Pitcairn,* was a beard of a most dignified and venerable appear a ance. 5.-the spirit's blasted tree.-P. 90, I am permitted to illustrate this passage, by inserting "Ceubren yr Ellyll, or the Spirit's Blasted Tree," a legendary tale, by the reverend George Warrington: "The event on which this tale is founded, is preserved by tradition in the family of the Vaughans of Henwyrt: nor is it entirely lost, even among the common people, who still point out this oak -Alexander, king of Macedon, Who conquer'd all the world but Scotland alone; to the passenger. The enmity between the two When he came to Scotland his courage grew cold, Welch chieftains, Howel Sele, and Owen Glyndwr, To see a little nation so courageous and bold. was extreme, and marked by vile treachery in the These, and many such verses, were repeated, but one, and ferocious cruelty in the other. The by rote, and unconnectedly. There was also occa- story is somewhat changed and softened, as more sionally, I believe, a saint George. In all, there favourable to the characters of the two chiefs, and was a confused resemblance of the ancient myste- as better answering the purpose of poetry, by adries, in which the characters of Scripture, the nine mitting the passion of pity, and a greater degree worthies, and other popular personages, were usu- of sentiment in the description. Some trace of ally exhibited. It were much to be wished, that Howel Sele's mansion was to be seen a few years the Chester mysteries were published from the ago, and may perhaps be still visible, in the park MS. in the museum, with the annotations which of Nannau, now belonging to sir Robert Vaughan, a diligent investigator of popular antiquities might baronet, in the wild and romantic tracts of Mestill supply. The late acute and valuable antiquary, rionethshire. The abbey mentioned passes under Mr. Ritson, showed me several memoranda to- two names, Vener and Cymmer. The former is wards such a task, which are probably now dis-retained, as more generally used." persed or lost. See, however, his Remarks on Shakspeare, 1783, p. 38. 4. Where my great grandsire came of old, With amber beard, and flaxen hair.-P. 89. Mr. Scott, of Harden, my kind and affectionate • The old gentleman was an intimate of this celebrated genius. By the favour of the late earl of Kelly, descended on the maternal side from Dr. Pitcairn, my father became possessed of the portrait in question. The history of their feud may be found in Pennant's Tour in Wales. THE SPIRIT'S BLASTED TREE. Through Nannau's chase as Howel pass'd, How should the sounds return again? Then sudden anger flash'd his eye, And deep revenge he vow'd to take, On that bold man who dared to force" His red deer from the forest brake. Unhappy chief! would nought avail, No signs impress thy heart with fear, Thy lady's dark mysterious dream, Thy warning from the hoary seer? Three ravens gave the note of death, As through mid air they wing'd their way; Then o'er his head, in rapid flight, They croak,-they scent their destined prey. Ill-omen'd bird! as legends say, Who hast the wond'rous power to know, Blinded by rage, alone he pass'd, A peasant mark'd his angry eye, He saw him reach the lake's dark bourne, He saw him near a blasted oak, But never from that hour return. Three days pass'd o'er, no tidings came;- Yet knew not where to point their way. They ne'er must see their lord again. Yet fancy, in a thousand shapes, Bore to his home the chief once more: Some saw him on high Moel's top, Some saw him on the winding shore. Yet fondly o'er the story hung. Convulsive, heaved a hollow groan With cautious fear avoids the ground; As oft she traced his manly form. To distant lands had steered his way. And dull and dank each valley's space. A stranger pass'd Llanelltid's bourne, His dark gray steed with sweat besprent, Which, wearied with the lengthen'd way, Could scarcely gain the hill's ascent. The portal reach'd-the iron bell Loud sounded round the outward wall; Quick sprung the warder to the gate, To know what meant the clam'rous call. "O! lead me to your lady soon; Say,-it is my sad lot to tell, To clear the fate of that brave knight, A mellow'd sorrow mark'd her look: One moment raise thy soul from wo, The story claims thy full belief: For now that mighty chief lies low! "E'en from the day, when, chain'd by fate, By wizard's dream, or potent spell, Lingering from sad Salopia's field, 'Reft of his aid the Percy fell; "E'en from that day misfortune still, Vindictive still for Hotspur's death. In some lone cot, or desert wood. "Clothed in a shepherd's humble guise, He gain'd by toil his scanty bread; He who had Cambria's sceptre borne, And her brave sons to glory led! "To penury extreme, and grief, The chieftain fell a lingering prey; I heard his last few faltering words, Such as with pain I now convey. "To Sele's sad widow bear the tale, 'Nor let our horrid secret rest; 'Give but his corse to sacred earth, "Then may my parting soul be blest.'"Dim wax'd the eye that fiercely shone, And faint the tongue that proudly spoke, And weak that arm, still raised to me, Which oft had dealt the mortal stroke. "How could I then his mandate bear? Or how his last behest obey? A rebel deem'd, with him I fled; With him I shunn'd the light of day. "Proscribed by Henry's hostile rage, My country lost, despoil'd my land, Desperate, I fled my native soil, And fought on Syria's distant strand "O, had thy long-lamented lord The holy cross and banner view'd, Died in the sacred cause! who fell Sad victim of a private feud! "Led by the ardour of the chase, Far distant from his own domain; From where Garthmaelan spreads her shades The Glyndwr sought the opening plain. "With head aloft and antlers wide, A red buck roused then cross'd in view; Stung with the sight, and wild with rage, Swift from the wood fierce Howel flew. "With bitter taunt, and keen reproach, And bade him loud the battle wage. Made anger more intensely blaze. And all its shrivell'd arms were bare. And dropp'd his bleeding corpse within." The rumour through the hamlet ran; Then, conscious, from the scene withdrew, And proudly deck'd their slaughter'd lord. With holy rites and prayers address'd; Nine white-robed monks the last dirge sang, And gave the angry spirit rest. 6. The highlander man. (near Spaw,) with the romantic ruins of the o.d castle of the counts of that name. The road leads through many delightful vales, on a rising ground; at the extremity of one of them, stands the ancient castle, now the subject of many superstitious legends. It is firmly believed by the neighbouring peasantry, that the last baron of Franchemont deposited, in one of the vaults of the castle, a ponderous chest, containing an immense treasure in gold and silver, which, by some magic spell, was intrusted to the care of the devil, who is constantly found sitting on the chest in the shape of a huntsAny one adventurous enough to touch the chest is instantly seized with the palsy. Upon one occasion, a priest of noted piety was brought to the vault: he used all the arts of exorcism to persuade his infernal majesty to vacate his seat, but in vain; the huntsman remained immovable. At last, moved by the earnestness of the priest, he told him, that he would agree to resign the chest, if the exorciser would sign his name with blood. But the priest understood his meaning, and refused, as by that act he would have delivered over his soul to the devil. Yet if any body can discover the mystic words used by the person who deposited the treasure, and pronounce them, the fiend must instantly decamp. I had many stories of a similar nature from a peasant, who had himself seen the devil, in the shape of a great cat." 8. The very form of Hilda fair, Hovering upon the sunny air.-P. 91. "I shall only produce one instance more of the great veneration paid to lady Hilda, which still prevails even in these our days; and that is, the constant opinion that she rendered, and still renders, herself visible, on some occasions in the abbey of Streanshall, or Whitby, where she so long resided. At a particular time of the year (viz. in the summer months,) at ten or cleven in the forenoon, the sun-beams fall in the inside of the northern part of the choir; and 'tis then that the spectators, who stand on the west side of Whitby church-yard, so as just to see the most northerly part of the abbey past the north end of Whitby church, imagine they perceive, in one of the highest windows there, the resemblance of a woman arrayed in a shroud. Though we are certain this The Daoine shi', or men of peace, of the Scot-is only a reflection, caused by the splendour of the tish highlanders, rather resemble the Scandina-sun-beams, yet fame reports it, and it is constantvian duergar than the English fairies. Notwith-ly believed among the vulgar, to be an appearance standing their name, they are, if not absolutely of lady Hilda in her shroud, or rather in a glorimalevolent, at least peevish, discontented, and apt fied state; before which, I make no doubt, the pato do mischief on slight provocation. The belief pists, even in these our days, offer up their prayof their existence is deeply impressed on the high-ers with as much zeal and devotion, as before any landers, who think they are particularly offended other image of their most glorified saint."-CHARL with mortals, who talk of them, who wear their TON's History of Whitby, p. 33. favourite colour, green, or in any respect interfere with their affairs. This is especially to be avoided on Friday, when, whether as dedicated to Ve Will, on a Friday morn, look pale, 9. A bishop by the altar stood.-P. 93. The well known Gawain Douglas, bishop of Dun He had not at this period attained the mitre. Dus, with whom, in Germany, this subterraneous keld, son of Archibald Bell-the-cat, earl of Angus. people are held nearly connected, or for a more He was author of a Scottish metrical version of the solemn reason, they are more active, and possess-Eneid, and of many other poetical pieces of great ed of greater power. Some curious particulars merit. concerning the popular superstitions of the highlanders, may be found in Dr. Graham's Picturesque Sketches of Perthshire. 7.the towers of Franchemont.-P. 90. The journal of the triend to whom the fourth canto of the poem is inscribed, furnished me with the following account of a striking superstition. "Passed the pretty little village of Franchemont, 10. the huge and sweeping brand Which wont, of yore, in battle-fray, His foemen's limbs to shred away, As wood-knife lops the sapling spray.-P. 93. Angus had strength and personal activity corresponding to his courage. Spens of Kilspindie, a favourite of James IV, having spoken of him lightly, the earl met him while hawking, and, compelling him to single combat, at one blow cut asun |