returned with the hart and hind, to the Land of Faërie. To make his peace with the more severe antiquaries, the Editor has prefixed to the Second Part some remarks on Learmont's prophecies. PART FIRST. ANCIENT. TRUE Thomas lay on Huntlie bank; True Thomas, he pulled aff his cap, "O no, O no, Thomas," she said; "That name does not belang to me; "Harp and carp,i Thomas," she said; "Betide me weal, betide me woe, 66 Now, ye maun go wi' me," she said; And ye maun serve me seven years, Through weal or woe as may chance to be." She mounted on her milk-white steed; And aye, when'er her bridle rung, O they rade on, and farther on; And living land was left behind. A wonder.-Jamieson. h Each. That weird, &c.- That destiny shall never frighten me. g The eye. i Sing. "Light down, light down, now, true Thomas, And lean your head upon my knee: And I will show you ferlies three. "O see ye not yon narrow road, So thick beset with thorns and briers?— "And see not ye that braid, braid road, Though some call it the road to heaven. "And see not ye that bonny road, That winds about the fernie brae ?- Where thou and I this night maun gae. Ye'll ne'er get back to your ain countrie." O they rade on, and farther on, And they waded through rivers aboon1 the knee, And they saw neither sun nor moon, But they heard the roaring of the sea. It was mirk,m mirk night, and there was nae stern" And they waded through red blude to the knee, Rins through the springs o' that countrie. Syne they came on to a garden green, It will give thee the tongue that can never lie.” "I dought neither speak to prince or peer, 66 For, as I say, so must it be." m Dark. n Star. Lily leven is a lawn overspread with lilies or flowers.-Jamieson. 1 Above. • The traditional commentary upon this ballad informs us, that the apple was the produce of the fatal Tree of Knowledge, 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. P Am able. He has gotten a coat of the even cloth, PART SECOND. ALTERED FROM ANCIENT PROPHECIES. THE prophecies, ascribed to Thomas of Ercildoune have been the principal means of securing to him remembrance "amongst the sons of his people." The author of Sir Tristrem" would long ago have joined, in the vale of oblivion, "Clerk of Tranent, who wrote the adventure of Schir Gawain,'" if, by good hap, the same current of ideas respecting antiquity, which causes Virgil to be regarded as a magician by the Lazaroni of Naples, had not exalted the bard of Ercildoune to the prophetic character. Perhaps, indeed, he himself affected it during his life. We know, at least, for certain, that a belief in his supernatural knowledge was current soon after his death. His prophecies are alluded to by Barbour, by Winton, and by Henry the Minstrel, or Blind Harry, as he is usually termed. None of these authors, however, give the words of any of the Rhymer's vaticinations, but merely narrate, historically, his having predicted the events of which they speak. The earliest of the prophecies ascribed to him, which is now extant, is quoted by Mr. Pinkerton from a MS. It is supposed to be a response from Thomas of Ercildoune to a question from the heroic countess of March, renowned for the defence of the Castle of Dunbar against the English, and termed, in the familiar dialect of her time, Black Agnes of Dunbar. This prophecy is remarkable, in so far as it bears very little resemblance to any verses published in the printed copy of the Rhymer's supposed prophecies. Corspatrick (Comes Patrick), earl of March, but more commonly taking his title from his castle of Dunbar, acted a noted part during the wars of Edward I. in Scotland. As Thomas of Ercildoune is said to have delivered to him his famous prophecy of King Alexander's death, the author has chosen to introduce him into the following ballad. All the prophetic verses are selected from Hart's publication. WHEN seven years were come and gane, And Thomas lay on Huntlie bank, Like one awakened from a dream. He heard the trampling of a steed, And he beheld a gallant knight Come riding down by the Eildon Tree. Says "Well met, well met, true Thomas! For the sun shines sweet on fauld and lea." He put his hand on the earlie's head; 16 The neist curse lights on Branxton Hills: And chieftains throng wi' meikle pride. A feathered arrow sharp, I ween, Shall make him wink and warre to see. a Mad. King Alexander, killed by a fall from his horse, near Kinghorn. The uncertainty which long prevailed in Scotland concerning the fate of James IV. is well known. t Leopards. "Enough, enough, of curse and ban; "The first of blessings I shall thee show, And knights shall die in battle keen. 66 Beside a headless cross of stone, The libbards there shall lose the gree;" A French queen shall bear the son, Likewise the waves of the farthest sea; For they shall ride ower ocean wide, PART THIRD. MODERN. THOMAS THE RHYMER was renowned among his contemporaries, as the author of the celebrated romance of "Sir Tristrem." Of this once-admired poem only one copy is now known to exist, which is in the Advocates' Library. The Editor, in 1804, published a small edition of this curious work; which, if it does not revive the reputation of the bard of Ercildoune, is at least the earliest specimen of Scottish poetry hitherto published. Some account of this romance has already been given to the world in Mr. ELLIS's "Specimens of Ancient Poetry," vol. i. p. 165, part iii. 410; a work to which our predecessors and our posterity are alike obliged; u Prize |