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SMAYLHO'ME, Or Smallholm Tower, the scene | of the following 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, surrounded by an outer wall, now ruinous. The circuit of the outer court, being defended on three sides, by a precipice and morass, is accessible only from the west, by a steep and rocky path. The apartments, as is usual in a Border keep. or fortress, are placed one above the other, 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 gate; the distance between them being nine feet, the thickness, namely, of the wall. From the clevated situation of Smaylho'me Tower, it is seen many miles in every direction. Among the crags by which it is surrounded, 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 is a ruined chapel. Brotherstone is a heath, in the neighbourhood of Sinaylho'me Tower.

This ballad was first printed in Mr. LEWIS'S Tales of Wonder. It is here published, with some additional illustrations, particularly on account of the battle of Ancram Moor; which seemed proper in a work upon Border antiquities. The catastrophe of the tale is founded upon a well-known Irish tradition.2 This ancient fortress and its vicinity formed the scene of the Editor's infancy, and seemed to claim from him this attempt to celebrate them in a Border tale.

"This place is rendered interesting to poetical readers, by its having been the residence, in early life, of Mr. Walter Scott, who has celebrated it in his Eve of St. John. Toit he probably alludes in the introduction to the third canto of Marmion

Then rise those crags, that mountain tower.
Which charmed my fancy's wakening hour."
Scots Mag. March, 1809.

2 The following passage, in Dr. HENRY MORE'S Appendix to the Antidote against Atheism, relates to a similar phenomenon:-"I confess, that the bodies of devils may not be only warm, but sindgingly hot, as it was in him that took one of Melancthon's relations by the hand, and so scorched her, that she bare the mark of it to her dying day. But the examples of cold are more frequent; as in that famous story of Cuntius, when he touched the arm of a certain woman of Pentoch, as she lay in her bed, he felt as cold as ice; and so did the spirit's claw to Anne Styles." -Ed. 1662, p. 135.

arm-house in the immediate vicinity of Small

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.

He went not with the bold Buccleuch,
His banner broad to rear:
He went not 'gainst the English yew,
To lift the Scottish spear.

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 Moor?
Ran red with English blood;
Where the Douglas true, and the bold Buc-
cleuch,

'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 imbrued,—
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?"-

"I watch'd her steps, and silent came

Where she sat her on a stone;

No watchman 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;

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!

The door she'll undo, to her knight so true, On the eve of good St. John.'

mould,

All under the Eildon-tree."

"Yet hear but my word, my noble lord!
For I heard her name his name;
And that lady bright, she called the knight
Sir Richard of Coldinghame."—

The bold Baron's brow then changed, I trow,
From high blood-red to pale-

The grave is deep and dark-and the corpse

is stiff and stark

So I may not trust thy tale.

"Where fair Tweed flows round holy Melrose,
And Eildon slopes to the plain,
Full three nights ago, by some secret foe,
That gay gallant was slain.

"The varying light deceived thy sight,

And the wild winds drown'd the name; For the Dryburgh bells ring, and the white monks do sing,

For Sir Richard of Coldinghame!"

He pass'd the court-gate, and he oped the tower-gate,

And he mounted the narrow stair,

To the bartizan seat, where, with maids that on her wait,

He found his lady fair.

That lady sat in mournful mood;
Look'd over hill and vale;
Over Tweed's fair flood, and Mertoun's2 wood,
And all down Teviotdale.

1 Eildon is a high hill, terminating in three conical summits, immediately above the town of Melrose, where are the admired ruins of a magnificent monastery. Eildon-tree is said to be the spot where Thomas the Rhymer uttered his prophecies.-See p. 428.

2 Mertoun is the beautiful seat of Hugh Scott, Esq. of Harden.