Lines, ADDRESSED TO MONSIEUR ALEXANDRE, THE CELE BRATED VENTRILOQUIST. 1824. Of yore, in old England, it was not thought good What should folk say to you? who have faces such plenty, That from under one hood, you last night show'd us twenty! Stand forth, arch deceiver, and tell us in truth, Or are you, at once, cach live thing in the house? But I think you're a troop-an assemblage-a mob, Epilogue TO THE DRAMA FOUNDED ON "ST. RONAN'S WELL." 1824. "After the play, the following humorous address (ascribed to an eminent literary character,) was spoken with infinite effect by Mr. Mackay in the character of Meg Dodds."-Edinburgh Weekly Journal, 9th June, 1824. 1" When Monsieur Alexandre. the celebrated ventriloquist, was in Scotland, in 1824, he paid a visit to Abbotsford, where he entertained his distinguished host, and the other visiters, with his unrivalled imitations. Next morning, when he was about to depart, Sir Walter felt a good deal embarrassed as to the scrt of acknowledgment he should offer; but at length, resolving that it would probably be most agreeable to the young foreigner to be paid in professional coin, if in any, he stepped aside for a few minutes, and, on returning, presented him with this epigram. The reader need hardly be reminded that Sir Walter Scott held the office of Sheriff of the county of Selkirk." -Scotch newspaper, 1830. 2 The lines, with this date, appeared in the Edinburgh Annual Register of 1824. 3 James Laing was one of the Depute-Clerks of the city of Edinburgh, and in his official connexion with the Police and the Council-Chamber, his name was a constant terror to evildoers. He died in February, 1806. 4 The Watch-hole. Enter MEG DODDS, encircled by a crowd of unruly boys, whom a town's-officer is driving off. THAT'S right, friend-drive the gaitlings back, And lend yon muckle ane a whack; They scarce will let an auld wife walk I've seen the day they would been scaur'd, For Jamie Laing—3 But whar's the gude Tolbooth' gane now? Whar's the auld Claught, wi' red and blue ? Whar's Jamie Laing? and whar's John Doo?? And whar's the Weigh-house ?" Deil hae't I see but what is new, Except the Playhouse! Yoursells are changed frae head to heel, There's some that gar the causeway reel With clashing hufe and rattling wheel, And horses canterin', Wha's fathers daunder'd hame as weel Wi' lass and lantern. Mysell being in the public line, Fortune's and Hunter's 10 gane, alas! 7 John Doo, or Dhu-a terrific-looking and high-spirited member of the Town Guard, and of whom there is a print by Kay, etched in 1784. 8 The Weigh-House, situated at the head of the West Bow, Lawnmarket, and which had long been looked upon as an en cumbrance to the street, was demolished in order to make way for the royal procession to the Castle, which took place on the 22d of August, 1822. 9 Fortune's Tavern-a house on the west side of the Old Stamp Office Close, High Street, and which was, in the carly part of the last century, the mansion of the Earl of Eglintoun.-The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the day held his levees and dinners in this tavern. 10 Hunter's-another once much-frequented tavern, in Writer's Court, Royal Exchange. 11 Bayle's Tavern and Coffeehouse, originally on the North Bridge, east side, atterwards in Shakspeare Square, but removed to admit of the opening of Waterloo Place. Such was The Tolbooth of Edinburgh, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, the dignified character of this house, that the waiter always was pulled down in 1817. The ancient Town Guard. The reduced remnant of this body of police was finally disbanded in 1817 appeared in full dress, and nobody was admitted who had not a white neckcloth-then considered an indispensable insig nium of a gentleman. 2 Y The sages to disparage woman s power, Shall sympathy with Mary's woes be lost? And show-my fingers tingle at the thought- wrought, In vain did fate bestow a double dower Of ev'ry ill that waits on rank and pow'r, It charms alike the castle and the hovel, From Redgauntlet. She'll tell the Bailie. Epilogue. 1824. THE sages for authority, pray look Seneca's morals, or the copy-book "IT was but three nights ago, that, worn out by the uniformity of my confinement, I had manifested more symptoms of despondence than I had before exhibited, which I conceive may have attracted the attention of the domestics, through whom the circumstance might transpire. On the next morning, the following lines lay on my table; but how conveyed 1 Mr. William Murray became manager of the Edinburgh was never spoken, but written for some play, afterwards withTheatre in 1815. "I recovered the above with some difficulty. I believe it drawn, in which Mrs. H. Siddons was to have spoken it in the character of Queen Mary."-Extract from a Letter of Sir Waller Scott to Mr. Constable, 22d October, 1824. roots. And it show'd me that a small worm had gnaw'd its Whate'er your liberty hath known of pleasure. wicket of the castle at midnight. Kindness fadeth away, but vengeance endureth. From The Talisman. (4.)-MOTTOES. (1.)-CHAP. II. Chap. xxxi. 1825. (1.)-AHRIMAN. "So saying, the Saracen proceeded to chant verses, very ancient in the language and structure, which some have thought derive their source from the worshippers of Arimanes, the Evil Principle." DARK Ahriman, whom Irak still When, bending at thy shrine, If the Benigner Power can yield Where weary pilgrims drink; Or if He bid the soil dispense How few can they deliver The arrows of thy quiver! Chief in Man's bosom sits thy sway, Whate'er of specious form be there, Say, hast thou feeling, sense, and form, As Eastern Magi say; With sentient soul of hate and wrath, Or art thou mix'd in Nature's source, Converting good to ill; An evil principle innate, Contending with our better fate, And oh! victorious still? Howe'er it be, dispute is vain. On all without thou hold'st thy reign, Each mortal passion's fierce career, Whene'er a sunny gleam appears, Thus, from the moment of our birth, Thou rul'st the fate of men; "Therefore thus speaks my lady," the fair page he said, Untroubled in his look, and untroubled in his breast, The knight the weed hath taken, and reverently hath kiss'd: "Now bless'd be the moment, the messenger be blest! Much honour'd do I hold me in my lady's high behest; And say unto my lady, in this dear night-weed dress'd, To the best arm'd champion I will not veil my crest; But if I live and bear me well 'tis her turn to take the test." Here, gentles, ends the foremost fytte of the Lay of the Bloody Vest. Chap. iii. (2.)-SONG OF BLONDEL.-THE BLOODY VEST. "THE song of Blondel was, of course, in the Norman language; but the verses which follow express its meaning and its manner." "Twas near the fair city of Benevent, When the sun was setting on bough and bent, Far hath he fared, and farther must fare, "Thus speaks my lady," the page said he, And the knight bent lowly both head and knee, "She is Benevent's Princess so high in degree, And thou art as lowly as knight may well beHe that would climb so lofty a tree, Or spring such a gulf as divides her from thee, THE BLOODY VEST. FYTTE SECOND. THE Baptist's fair morrow beheld gallant feats- The victors won glory, the vanquish'd won graves. And 'twas he whose sole armour on body and breast, There were some dealt him wounds that were bloody and sore, But others respected his plight, and forebore. He flung down his warder, the trumpets sung peace; The feast it was nigh, and the mass it was nigher, pierced through; All rent and all tatter'd, all clotted with blood, With foam of the horses, with dust, and with mud, Not the point of that lady's small finger, I ween, Could have rested on spot was unsullied and clean. Must dare some high deed, by which all men may see "This token my master, Sir Thomas a Kent, His ambition is back'd by his high chivalric. Restores to the Princess of fair Benevent; |