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"Der Koenig sitzt in Dumfermling Schloss:
Er trinkt blutröthen Wein;

'O wo triff ich einen Segler gut

Dies Schiff zu seglen mein?""

In like manner, the opening stanza of "Child Waters," and many other Scottish ballads, fall as naturally and easily into the German habits and forms of speech, as if they had originally been composed in that language:

"About Yule, when the wind was cule,
And the round tables began,

O there is come to our king's court
Mony weel favour'd man.'

"In Christmessfest, in winter kalt, Als Tafel rund began,

Da kam zu König's Hoff and Hall

Manch wackrer Ritter an."

It requires only a smattering of both languages, to see at what cheap expense, even of vocables and rhymes, the popular poetry of the one may be transferred to the other. Hardly any thing is more flattering to a Scottish student of German; it resembles the unexpected discovery of an old friend in a foreign land.

NOTE D.

EXTRACTS FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF M. G.
LEWIS.-P. 567.

My attention was called to this subject, which is now of an old date, by reading the following passage in Medwin's "Account of Some Passages in Lord Byron's later Years." Lord Byron is supposed to speak. "When Walter Scott began to write poetry, which was not at a very early age, Monk Lewis corrected his verse: he understood little then of the mechanical part of the art. The Fire King, in the 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,' was almost all Lewis's. One of the ballads in that work, and, except some of Leyden's, perhaps one of the best, was made from a story picked up in a stage-coach; I mean, that of 'Will Jones.'

'They boil'd Will Jones within the pot,

And not much fat had Will.'

"I hope Walter Scott did not write the review on 'Christabel; for he certainly, in common with many of us, is indebted to Coleridge. But for him, perhaps, 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel' would never have been thought of. The line,

'Jesu Maria shield thee well!'

is word for word from Coleridge."

pair of convincing you in time, that a bad rhyme is, in fact no rhyme at all. You desired me to point out my objections, leaving you at liberty to make use of them or not; and so have at Frederic and Alice.' Stanza 'st, 'hies' and 'joys are not rhymes; the 1st stanza ends with joys;' the 2d be gins with joying. In the 4th, there is too sudden a change of tenses, 'flows' and 'rose.' 6th, 7th, and 8th, I like much. 9th, Does not 'ring his ears' sound ludicrous in yours? The first idea that presents itself is, that his ears were pulled; but even the ringing of the ears does not please. 12th, Shower and 'roar,' not rhymes. 'Soil' and 'aisle,' in the 13th, are not much better; but 'head' and 'descried' are execrable. In the 14th, 'bar' and 'stair' are ditto; and 'groping' is a nasty word. Vide Johnson, He gropes his breeches with a monarch's air. .n the 15, you change your metre, which has always an unpleasant effect; and 'safe' and 'receive' rhyme just about as well as Scott and Lewis would. 16th, 'within' and 'strain' are not rhymes. 17th, hear' and 'air,' not rhymes. 18th, Two metres are mixed; the same objection to the third line of the 19th. Observe that, in the Ballad, I do not always object to a variation of metre; but then it ought to increase the melody, whereas, in my opinion, in these instances it is diminished.

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"THE CHASE.-12th, The 2d line reads very harshly; and 'choir' and 'lore' are not rhymes. 13th, Rides' and 'side' are not rhymes. 30th, Pour' and obscure,' not rhymes 40th, Spreads' and 'invades' are not rhymes. 46th, 'Rend and ascend' are not rhymes.

"WILLIAM AND HELEN.-In order that I may bring it nearer the original title, pray introduce, in the first stanza, the name of Ellenora, instead of Ellen. 'Crusade' and 'sped,' not rhymes in the 2d. 3d, Made' and 'shed' are not rhymes; and if they were, come too close to the rhymes in the 2d. In the 4th, Joy' and victory' are not rhymes. 7th, The first line wants a verb, otherwise is not intelligible. 13th, 'Grace' and 'bliss' are not rhymes. 14th, Bale' and 'hell' are not rhymes. 18th, Vain' and 'fruitless' is tautology; and as a verb is wanted, the line will run better thus, And vain is every prayer.' 19th, Is not to her' absolutely neces sary in the 4th line? 20th, Grace' and bliss,' not rhymes. 21st, Bale' and 'hell,' not rhymes. 22d, I do not like the word 'spent.' 23d, O'er' and 'star' are vile rhymes. 26th, A verb is wanted in the 4th line; better thus, 'Then whisper thus a voice.' 28th, Is not Is't thou, my love?' better than

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My love! my love!' 31st, If wight' means, as I conjecture, 'enchanted,' does not this let the cat out of the bag? Ought not the spur to be sharp rather than bright? In the 4th line, Stay' and' day' jingle together: would it not be better, 'I must be gone e'er day?' 32d, Steed' and bed' are not rhymes. 34th, Bride' and 'bed,' not rhymes. 35th, Seat and await,' not rhymes. 39th, Keep hold' and 'sit fast' seem to my ear vulgar and prosaic. 40th, The 4th line is defective in point of English, and, indeed, I do not quite understand the meaning. 43d, Arose' and 'pursues' are not rhymes. 45th, I am not pleased with the epithet 'savage; and the latter part of the stanza is, to me, unintelligible. 49th, Is it not closer to the original in line 3d to say, 'Swift ride the dead?' 50th, Does the rain whistle?' 55th, line 3d, Does it express, Is Helen afraid of them?' 59th, Door' and flower' do not rhymne together. 60th Scared' and The following is a specimen of my poor friend Lewis's criti'heard' are not rhymes. 63d, Bone' and 'skeleton' not cism on my juvenile attempts at ballad poetry; severe enough, rhymes. 64th, The last line sounds ludicrous; one fancies perhaps, but for which I was much indebted to him, as forc- the heroine coming down with a plump, and sprawling upon ing upon the notice of a young and careless author hints which her bottom. I have now finished my severe examination, and the said author's vanity made him unwilling to attend to, but I pointed out every objection which I think can be suggested." which were absolutely necessary to any hope of his ultima e

There are some parts of this passage extremely mistaken and exaggerated, as generally attends any attempt to record what passes in casual conversation, which resembles, in difficulty, the experiments of the old chemists for fixing quick

silver.

success.

Supposed 1799.

"Thank you for your revised 'Glenfinlas.' I grumble, but say no more on this subject, although I hope you will not be so inflexible on that of your other Ballads; for I do not des

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6th January, 1799.

"Your last Ballad reached me just as I was stepping into my chaise to go to Brocket Hall, (Lord Melbourne's,) so I took it with me, and exhibited both that and Glenfinlas with

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great success. I must not, however, conceal from you, that nobody understood the Lady Flora of Glengyle to be a disguised demon till the catastrophe arrived; and that the opinion was universal, that some previous stanzas ought to be introduced descriptive of the nature and office of the wayward Ladies of the Wood. William Lambe, too, (who writes good verses himself, and, therefore, may be allowed to judge those of other people,) was decidedly for the omission of the last stanza but one. These were the only objections started. I thought it as well that you should know them, whether you attend to them or not. With regard to St. John's Eve, I like it much, and, instead of finding fault with its broken metre, I approve of it highly. I think, in this last Ballad, you have bit off the ancient manner better than in your former ones. Glenfinlas, for example, is more like a polished tale, than an❘ old Ballad. But why, in verso 6th, is the Baron's helmet backed and hewed, if (as we are given to understand) he had assassinated his enemy? Ought not tore to be torn? Tore seems to me not English. In verse 16th, the last line is word for word from Gil Morrice. 21st, Floor' and 'bower' are not rhymes," &c. &c. &c.

The gentleman noticed in the following letter, as partaker in the author's heresies respecting rhyme, had the less occasion to justify such license, as his own have been singularly accurate. Mr. Smythe is now Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.

"LONDON, January 24, 1799.

"I must not omit telling you, for your own comfort, and that of all such persons as are wicked enough to make bad rhymes, that Mr. Smythe (a very clever man at Cambridge) took great pains the other day to convince me, not merely that a bad rhyme might pass, but that occasionally a bad rhyme was better than a good one!!!!!! I need not tell you that he left me as great an infidel on this subject as he found me.

"Ever yours,

"M. G. LEWIS." The next letter respects the Ballad called the "Fire King," stated by Captain Medwin to be almost all Lewis's. This is an entire misconception. Lewis, who was very fond of his idea of four elementary kings, had prevailed on me to supply a Fire King. After being repeatedly urged to the task, I sat down one day after dinner, and wrote the "Fire King," as it was published in the "Tales of Wonder." The next extract gives an account of the manner in which Lewis received it, which was not very favourable; but instead of writing the greater part, he did not write a single word of it. Dr. Leyden, now no more, and another gentleman who still survives, were Now Lord Melbourne -ED.

sitting at my side while I wrote it; nor did my occupation prevent the circulation of the bottle.

Leyden wrote a Ballad for the Cloud King, which is mentioned in the ensuing extract. But it did not answer Mat's ideas, either in the colour of the wings, or some point of costume equally important; so Lewis, who was otherwise fond of the Ballad, converted it into the Elfin King, and wrote a Cloud King himself, to finish the hierarchy in the way desired.

There is a leading mistake in the passage from Captain Medwin. "The Minstrelsy of the Border " is spoken of, but what is meant is the "Tales of Wonder." The former work contains none of the Ballads mentioned by Mr. Medwin-the latter has them all. Indeed, the dynasty of Elemental Kings were written entirely for Mr Lewis's publication. My intimate friend, William Clerk, Esq. was the person who heard the legend of Bill Jones told in a mail-coach by a sea captain, who imagined himself to have seen the ghost to which it relates. The tale was versified by Lewis himself. I forget where it was published, but certainly in no miscellany or publication of minc.

I have only to add, in allusion to the passage I have quoted, that I never wrote a word parodying either Mr. Coleridge or any one else, which, in that distinguished instance, it would have been most ungracious in me to have done; for which the reader will see reasons in the Introduction to "The Lay o! the Last Minstrel."

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"I return you many thanks for your Ballad, and the Extract, and I shall be very much obliged to your friend for the 'Cloud King. I must, however, make one criticism upon the Stanzas which you sent me. The Spirit, being a wicked one, must not have such delicate wings as pale blue ones. He has nothing to do with Heaven except to deface it with storms; and therefore, in The Monk,' I have fitted him with a pair of sable pinions, to which I must request your friend to adapt his Stanza. With the others I am much pleased, as I am with your Fire King; but every body makes the same objection to it, and expresses a wish that you had conformed your Spirit to the description given of him in The Monk, where his office is to play the Will o' the Wisp, and lead travellers into bogs, &c. It is also objected to, his being removed from his native land, Denmark, to Palestine; and that the office assigned to him in your Ballad has nothing peculiar to the Fire King,' but would have suited Arimanes, Beelzebub, or any other evil spirit, as well. However, the Ballad itself. I think very pretty. I suppose you have heard from Bell respecting the copies of the Ballads. I was too much distressed at the time to write myself," &c. &c.

"M. G. L·

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CONTRIBUTIONS

ΤΟ

Minstrelsy

OF THE

Scottish Border.

Imitations of the Ancient Ballad.

Thomas the Rhymer:

IN THREE PARTS.

PART FIRST.-ANCIENT.

FEW personages are so renowned in tradition as Thomas of Ercildoune, known by the appellation of The Rhymer. Uniting, or supposing to unite, in his person, the powers of poetical composition, and of vaticination, his memory, even after the lapse of five hundred years, is regarded with veneration by his countrymen. To give any thing like a certain history of this remarkable man would be indeed difficult; but the curious may derive some satisfaction from the particulars here brought together.

It is agreed on all hands, that the residence, and probably the birthplace, of this ancient bard, was Ercildoune, a village situated upon the Leader, two miles above its junction with the Tweed. The ruins of an ancient tower are still pointed out as the Rhymer's castle. The uniform tradition bears, that his sirname was Lermont, or Learmont; and that the appellation of the The Rhymer was conferred on him in consequence of his poetical compositions. There remains, nevertheless, some doubt upon the subject. In a charter, which is subjoined at length, the son of our poet designed himself "Thomas of Ercildoun, son and heir of Thomas Rymour of Ercildoun," which seems to imply that the father did not bear the hereditary name of Learmont; or, at least, was better 1 See Appendix, Note A.

2 The lines alluded to are these:

known and distinguished by the epithet, which he had acquired by his personal accomplishments. [ must, however, remark, that, down to a very late poriod, the practice of distinguishing the parties, even in formal writings, by the epithets which had been bestowed on them from personal circumstances, instead of the proper sirnames of their families, was common, and indeed necessary, among the Border clans. So early as the end of the thirteenth century when sirnames were hardly introduced in Scotland, this custom must have been universal. There is, therefore, nothing inconsistent in supposing our poet's name to have been actually Learmont, although, in this charter, he is distinguished by the popular appellation of The Rhymer.

We are better able to ascertain the period at which Thomas of Ercildoune lived, being the latter end of the thirteenth century. I am inclined to place his death a little farther back than Mr. Pinkerton, who supposes that he was alive in 1300, (List of Scottish Poets,) which is hardly, I think, consistent with the charter already quoted, by which his son, in 1299, for himself and his heirs, conveys to the convent of the Trinity of Soltra, the tenement which he possessed by inheritance (hereditarie) in Ercildoune, with all claim which he or his predecessors could pretend thereto. From this we may infer, that the Rhymer was now dead, since we find the son disposing of the family property. Still, however, the argument of the learned historian will remain unimpeached as to the time of the poet's birth. For if, as we learn from Barbour, his prophecies were held in reputation as early as "I hope that Thomas's prophecie, Of Erceldoun, shall truly be,

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In him." &c.

1306, when Bruce slew the Red Cummin, the sanctity, and (let me add to Mr. Pinkerton's words) the uncertainty of antiquity, must have already involved his character and writings. In a charter of Peter de Haga de Bemersyde, which unfortunately wants a date, the Rhymer, a near neighbour, and, if we may trust tradition, a friend of the family, appears as a witness.-Chartulary of Melrose.

It cannot be doubted, that Thomas of Ercildoune was a remarkable and important person in his own time, since, very shortly after his death, we find him celebrated as a prophet and as a poet. Whether he himself made any pretensions to the first of these characters, or whether it was gratuitously conferred upon him by the credulity of posterity, it seems difficult to decide. If we may believe Mackenzie, Learmont only versified the prophecies delivered by Eliza, an inspired nun of a convent at Haddington. But of this there seems not to be the most distant proof. On the contrary, all ancient authors, who quote the Rhymer's prophecies, uniformly suppose them to have been emitted by himself. Thus, in Winton's Chronicle

"Of this fycht quilum spak Thomas
Of Ersyldoune, that sayd in derne,
There suld meit stalwartly, starke and sterne.
He sayd it in his prophecy;

But how he wist it was ferly."

Book viii. chap. 32.

3

composedly and slowly, parading the street of the village. The prophet instantly arose, left his habitation, and followed the wonderful animals to the forest, whence he was never seen to return. According to the popular belief, he still " drees his weird" in Fairy Land, and is one day expected to revisit earth. In the meanwhile, his memory is held in the most profound respect. The Eildon Tree, from beneath the shade of which he delivered his prophecies, now no longer exists; but the spot is marked by a large stone, called Eildon Tree Stone. A neighbouring rivulet takes the name of the Bogle Burn (Goblin Brook) from the Rhymer's supernatural visitants. The veneration paid to his dwelling-place even attached itself in some degree to a person, who, within the memory of man, chose to set up his residence in the ruins of Learmont's tower. The name of this man was Murray, a kind of herbalist; who, by dint of some knowledge in simples, the possession of a musical clock, an electrical machine, and a stuffed alligator, added to a supposed communication with Thomas the Rhymer, lived for many years in very good credit as a wizard.

It seemed to the Editor unpardonable to dismiss a person so important in Border tradition as the Rhymer, without some farther notice than a simple commentary upon the following ballad. It is given from a copy, obtained from a lady residing not far from Ercildoune, corrected and enlarged by one in Mrs. Brown's MSS. There could have been no ferly (marvel) in Win- far more minute as to local description. To this old The former copy, however, as might be expected, is ton's eyes at least, how Thomas came by his knowledge of future events, had he ever heard of the in- tale the Editor has ventured to add a Second Part, spired nun of Haddington, which, it cannot be doubt-consisting of a kind of cento, from the printed propheed, would have been a solution of the mystery, much

to the taste of the Prior of Lochleven.'

Whatever doubts, however, the learned might have, as to the source of the Rhymer's prophetic skill, the vulgar had no hesitation to ascribe the whole to the intercourse between the bard and the Queen of Faëry. The popular tale bears, that Thomas was carried off, at an early age, to the Fairy Land, where he acquired all the knowledge, which made him afterwards so famous. After seven years' residence, he was permitted to return to the earth, to enlighten and astonish his countrymen by his prophetic powers; still, however, remaining bound to return to his royal mistress, when she should intimate her pleasure. Accordingly, while Thomas was making merry with his friends in the Tower of Ercildoune, a person came running in, and told, with marks of fear and astonishment, that a hart and hind had left the neighbouring forest, and were,

1 Henry the Minstrel, who introduces Thomas into the history of Wallace, expresses the same doubt as to the source of his prophetic knowledge :

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Part, entirely modern, founded upon the tradition of his having returned with the hart and hind, to the Land of Faery. To make his peace with the more Second Part some remarks on Learmont's prophecies. severe antiquaries,: the Editor has prefixed to the

cies vulgarly ascribed to the Rhymer; and a Third

THOMAS THE RHYMER.

PART FIRST.

ANCIENT.

TRUE THOMAS lay on Huntlie bank ;4
A ferlie he spied wi' his ee;
And there he saw a ladye bright,
Come riding down by the Eildon Tree

I cannot say by wrong or righteousness.
It may be deemed by division of grace," &c.
History of Wallace, Book it.
See the Dissertation on Fairies, prefixed to Tamlane,
Border Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 254.

3 There is a singular resemblance betwixt this tradition, and an incident cccurring in the life of Merlin Caledonius, which the reader will find a few pages onwards.

4 Huntly Rank, and the adjoining ravine, called, from im memorial tradition, the Rymer's Glen, were ultimately included in the domain of Abbotsford. The scenery of this glen forms

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Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk,
Her mantle o' the velvet fyne;
At ilka tett of her horse's mane,
Hung fifty siller bells and nine.

True Thomas, he pull'd aff his cap,

And louted low down to his knee, "All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven! For thy peer on earth I never did see."

"O no, O no, Thomas," she said, "That name does not belang to me; I am but the Queen of fair Elfland, That am hither come to visit thee.

"Harp and carp, Thomas," she said; "Harp and carp along wi' me; And if ye dare to kiss my lips,

Sure of your bodie I will be."

"Betide me weal, betide me woe,

That weird shall never daunton me."-" Syne he has kiss'd her rosy lips,

All underneath the Eildon Tree.

"Now, ye maun go wi' me," she said; "True Thomas, ye maun go wi' me; And ye maun serve me seven years, Thro' weal or woe as may chance to be."

She mounted on her milk-white steed; She's ta'en true Thomas up behind: And aye, whene'er her bridle rung,

The steed flew swifter than the wind.

O they rade on, and farther on;

The steed gaed swifter than the wind; Until they reach'd a desert wide,

And living land was left behind.

< Light down, light down, now, true Thomas, And lean your head upon my knee;

Abide and rest a little space,

And I will shew you ferlies three.

"O see ye not yon narrow road,

So thick beset with thorns and briers? That is the path of righteousness, Though after it but few enquires.

"And see ye not that braid braid road, That lies across that lily leven?

That is the path of wickedness,

Though some call it the road to heaven.

O they rade on, and farther on,

And they waded through rivers aboon the knee, And they saw neither sun nor moon,

But they heard the roaring of the sea:

It was mirk mirk night, and there was nae stern light, And they waded through red blude to the knee; For a' the blude that's shed on earth

Rins through the springs o' that countrie.

Syne they came on to a garden green,

And she pu'd an apple frae a tree-2 "Take this for thy wages, true Thomas;

It will give thee the tongue that can never lic."

THE prophecies, ascribed to Thomas of Ercildoune, have been the principal means of securing to him remembrance" amongst the sons of his people." The

the background of Edwin Landscer's portrait of Sir Walter that the apple was the produce of the fatal Tree of Know Scott, painted in 1833.-ED.

That weird, &c.-That destiny shall never frighten me.

2 The traditional commentary upon this ballad informs us,

ledge, and that the garden was the terrestrial paradise. The repugnance of Thomas to be debarred the use of falsehood, when he might find it convenient, has a comic effect.

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