many readers may not be displeased to have some account of the curious privilege enjoyed by the descendants of the famous Macduff, Thane of Fife, and thence called the law of the Clan, or family, bearing his name.

When the revolution was accomplished, in which Macbeth was dethroned and slain, Malcolm, sensible of the high services of the Thane of Fife, is said, by our historians, to have promised to grant the first three requests he should make. Macduff accordingly demanded, and obtained, first, that he and his successors, Lords of Fife, should place the crown on the King's head at his coronation; secondly, that they should lead the vanguard of the army, whenever the royal banner was displayed; and, lastly, this privilege of clan Macduff, whereby any person, being related to Macduff within the ninth degree, and having committed homicide in chaude melle, (without premeditation,) should, upon flying to Macduff's Cross, and paying a certain fine, obtain remission of their guilt. Such, at least, is the account given of the law by all our historians. Nevertheless, there seems ground to suspect that the privilege did not amount to an actual and total remission of the crime, but only to a right of being exempted from all other courts of jurisdiction, except that of the Lord of Fife. The reader is presented with an old document, in which the law of clan Macduff is pleaded on behalf of one of the ancestors of Moray of Abercairney; and it is remarkable that he does not claim any immunity, but solely a right of being repledged, because his cause had already been tried by Robert Earl of Fife, the sole competent judge. But the privilege of being answerable only to the chief of their own clan was, to the descendants of Macduff, almost equivalent to an absolute indemnity.

Macduff's Cross was situated near Lindores, on the march dividing Fife from Strathern. The form of this venerable monument unfortunately offended the zeal of the reformer, Knox, and it was totally demolished by his followers. The pedestal, a solid block of stone, alone escaped the besom of destruction. It bore an inscription, which, according to the apocryphal account of Sir Robert Sibbald, was a mixture of Latin, Saxon, Danish, and old French. Skene has preserved two lines :

"Propter Makgridim et hoc oblatum,

Accipe Smeleridem super lampade limpida labrum."
Skene, de verb. sig. voce Clan Macduff.

The full inscription, real or pretended, may be found in Sir Robert Sibbald's History of Fife, and in James Cunninghame's Essay upon Macduff's Cross, together with what is called a translation or rather paraphrase, of the piebald jargon which composes it. In Gough's edition of Camden's Britannia, a different and more intelligible version is given, on the authority of a Mr. Douglas of Newburgh. The cross was dedicated to a St. Macgider. Around the pedestal are tumuli, said to be the graves of those who, having claimed the privilege of the law, failed in proving their consanguinity to the Thane of Fife. Such persons were instantly executed. The people of Newburgh believe, that the spectres of these criminals still haunt the ruined cross, and claim that mercy for their souls which they had failed to obtain for their mortal existence.

The late Lord Hailes gives it as his opinion, that the indulgence was only to last till the tenth generation from Macduff.

Fordun and Wintoun state, that the fine, to be paid by the per

son taking sanctuary, was twenty-four merks for a gentleman, and twelve merks for a yeoman. Skene affirms it to be nine cows, and a colpindach (i. e. a quey, or cow, of one or two years old.)-FORDUN, lib. v. cap. 9; WINTOUN'S Cronykel, b. vi. cap. 48: SKENE, ut supra. The last cited author avers, that he has seen an old evident, bearing, that Spens of Wormestoun, being of Macduff's kin, enjoyed this privilege for the slaughter of one Kinnermonth. The following deed, of a like nature, is published from a copy, accurately transcribed from an original deed, in the hands of the late Mr. Cuming, of the Herald-Office, Edinburgh, by Messrs. Brown and Gibb, librarians to the Faculty of Advocates, The blanks are occasioned by some parts of the deed having been

obliterated.

["Cout is explained by Mr. Leyden to mean Colt. If the country people really designate him as Cout of Keeldar, they probably mean Chief of Keeldar

"In nomine domini, amen. Per presens publicum instrumentum cunctis pateat evidenter quod anno ejusdem domini mo. cco. nonagesimo primo, indictione quinta decima Pontificatus sanctissimi in Christo Patris, ac domini nostri Clementis divina providentia Papæ septimi anno quarto decimo, mensis Decembris die septimo, In mei notarii publici et testium subscriptorum presentia personaliter constitutus nobilis et potens vir Dominus Alexander de Moravia, miles, cum prolocutoribus suis, Domino Bernardo de Howden, milite, et Johanne de Legie, vocatus per rotulos indictamentorum super interfectione Willielmi de Spalden coram Justiciariis; viz. Johanne de Drummond milite, Mauricio de Drummond.

"Filium Willielmi in judicio sedentibus apud Foulis et potestatus erat, quod ex quo semel pro interfectione dicti hominis antea fuit per indictamentum judicio vocatus et replegiatus ad legem de clan Macduff, per Dominum Robertum Comitem de Fyfe non tenebatur coram quocunque alio de dicta interfectione judiciari, quousque dicta lex de clan Macduff suo intemerata privilegio de ipso ut prædicitur ad ipsam legem atto. Petens ipsum legaliter deliberari, et per ipsos vel eorum indictamentis sic indebite ulterius non vexari. Quiquidem judicis nolle dictum Dominum Alexandrum deliberarie si ipsum bene vellent respectuare eousque quod dominus de Brochepen justiciarius capitalis dicta actione ordinaverunt

quod sibi et suo concilio expedien

tius videretur, quiquidem Dominus Alexander et sui prolocutores eorum petitione et prestatione et predictorum judicum responsione, petierunt a me notario publico infra scripto præsentium acta fuerunt hæc apud Foulis, in itinere justiciario ibidem tento anno mense die et pontificatu prescriptis per nobilibus et discretis viris Dominus Mauricio Archidiacono Dumblan, Willielmo de Grame, Vinfrido de Cunyngham David, de

Militibus, Moritio de Drummond, Waltero de Drummond, Walter de Moravia, Scutiferis, testibus ad præmissa vocatis specialiter et rogatis.

"Et ego Johannes Symonis Clericus Dunkeldensis publicus imperial. notarius prædicti Domini Alexandri comparatione ipsius petitione et protestatione desuper justiciariorium responsione omnibusque aliis et singulis dum sic ut priusquam

et agerentur una cum prenominatis testibus presens interfui eaque sic fieri vidi et in hanc formam publicam, redegi manaque mea propria scripsi requisitus et roga om omnium premissorum signo meo consueto

signavi.”—W. S.

THE COUT OF KEELDAR.

BY J. LEYDEN.

The tradition on which the following ballad is founded derives considerable illustration from the argument of the preceding. It is necessary to add, that the most redoubted adversary of Lord Soulis was the Chief of Keeldar, a Northumbrian district, adjacent to Cumberland, who perished in a sudden encounter on the banks of the Hermitage. Being arrayed in armour of proof, he sustained no hurt in the coinbat; but stumbling in retreating across the river, the hostile party held him down below water with their lances till he died; and the eddy, in which he perished, is still called the Cout of Keeldar's Pool. His grave, of gigantic size, is pointed out on the banks of the Hermitage, at the western corner of a wall, surrounding the burial-ground of a ruined chapel. As an enemy of Lord Soulis, his memory is revered; and the popular epithet of Cout, (i. e. Colt,) is expressive of his strength, stature, and activity.'

'Muse I do

A shepherd thus should blaize

The Coot of beauty'. . . ."-Warner's Albion. MS. Letter of JOHN FINLAY, to W. S., 27th March, 1803.]

Tradition likewise relates, that the young Chief of [ Mangerton, to whose protection Lord Soulis had, in some eminent jeopardy, been indebted for his life, was decoyed by that faithless tyrant into his castle of Hermitage, and insidiously murdered at a feast.

The Keeldar Stone, by which the Northumbrian Chief passed in his incursion, is still pointed out, as a boundary mark, on the confines of Jed forest, and Northumberland. It is a rough insulated mass, of considerable dimensions, and it is held unlucky to ride thrice withershins' around it. Keeldar Castle is now a hunting seat, belonging to the Duke of Northumberland.

The Brown Man of the Muirs is a Fairy of the most malignant order, the genuine duergar. Walsingham mentions a story of an unfortunate youth, whose brains were extracted from his skull, during his sleep, by this malicious being. Owing to this operation, he remained insane many years, till the Virgin Mary courteously restored his brains to their station.

THE COUT OF KEELDAR.

The eiry blood-hound howl'd by night,
The streamers' flaunted red,
Till broken streaks of flaky light
O'er Keeldar's mountains spread.

The lady sigh'd as Keeldar rose:

"Come tell me, dear love mine, Go you to hunt where Keeldar flows, Or on the banks of Tyne?"—

"The heath-bell blows where Keeldar flows, By Tyne the primrose pale;

But now we ride on the Scottish side,
To hunt in Liddesdale."-

"Gin you will ride on the Scottish side,
Sore must thy Margaret mourn;
For Soulis abhorr'd is Lydall's lord,
And I fear you'll ne'er return.
"The axe he bears, it hacks and tears;

Widdershins-German widdersins. A direction contrary to the course of the sun; from left, namely, to right. 2 Streamers-Northern Lights.

3 An earth-fast stone, or an insulated stone, enclosed in a bed of earth, is supposed to possess peculiar properties. It is frequently applied to strains and bruises, and used to dissipate swellings; but its blow is reckoned uncommonly severe.

4 The adderstone, among the Scottish peasantry, is held in almost as high veneration, as, among the Gauls, the ovum anguinum, described by Pliny.-Natural History, l. xxix. c. 3. The name

With the leaves of the rowan tree; 5 And my casque of sand, by a mermaid's hand, Was formed beneath the sea.

"Then, Margaret dear, have thou no fear!
That bodes no ill to me,

Though never a knight, by mortal might,
Could match his gramarye."

Then forward bound both horse and hound,
And rattle o'er the vale;

As the wintry breeze through leafless trees
Drives on the pattering hail.

Behind their course the English fells

In deepening blue retire;
Till soon before them boldly swells
The muir of dun Redswire.

And when they reach'd the Redswire high,
Soft beam'd the rising sun;

But formless shadows seem'd to fly
Along the muir-land dun.

And when he reach'd the Redswire high,
His bugle Keeldar blew;

And round did float, with clamorous note
And scream, the hoarse curlew.

The next blast that young Keeldar blew,
The wind grew deadly still;

But the sleek fern, with fingery leaves,
Waved wildly o'er the hill.

The third blast that young Keeldar blew,
Still stood the limber fern;

And a Wee Man, of swarthy hue,
Upstarted by a cairn.

His russet weeds were brown as heath,

That clothes the upland fell;

And the hair of his head was frizzly red,
As the purple heather-bell.

is applied to celts, and other round perforated stones. The vulgar suppose them to be perforated by the stings of adders.

5 The rowan-tree, or mountain-ash, is still used by the peasantry, to avert the effects of charms and witchcraft. An inferior degree of the same influence is supposed to reside in many evergreens: as the holly and the bay. With the leaves of the bay, the English and Welsh peasants were lately accustomed to adorn their doors at Midsummer.-Vide BRAND'S Vulgar Antiquities. 6 Urchin-Hedgehog.

""Tis sweet, beneath the heather-bell,

To live in autumn brown;
And sweet to hear the lav'rocks swell
Far far from tower and town.

"But woe betide the shrilling horn,
The chase's surly cheer!
And ever that hunter is forlorn,

Whom first at morn I hear."

Says, "Weal nor woe, nor friend nor foe,
In thee we hope nor dread."

But, ere the bugles green could blow,
The Wee Brown Man had fled.

And onward, onward, hound and horse,
Young Keeldar's band have gone;
And soon they wheel, in rapid course,
Around the Keeldar Stone.

Green vervain round its base did creep,
A powerful seed that bore;

And oft, of yore, its channels deep

Were stain'd with human gore.

And still, when blood-drops, clotted thin,
Hang the gray moss upon,
The spirit murmurs from within,

And shakes the rocking stone.'

Around, around, young Keeldar wound,
And call'd, in scornful tone,
With him to pass the barrier ground,
The Spirit of the Stone.

The rude crag rock'd;,'I come for death,
I come to work thy woe!"-

And 'twas the Brown Man of the Heath,
That murmur'd from below.

But onward, onward, Keeldar past,
Swift as the winter wind,

When, hovering on the driving blast,
The snow-flakes fall behind.

They pass'd the muir of berries blae,
The stone cross on the lee;
They reach'd the green, the bonny brae,
Beneath the birchen tree.

This is the bonny brae, the green,
Yet sacred to the brave,

Where still, of ancient size, is seen,

Gigantic Keeldar's grave.

The lonely shepherd loves to mark
The daisy springing fair,

Where weeps the birch of silver bark,
With long dishevell❜d hair.

The grave is green, and round is spread
The curling lady-fern;

That fatal day the mould was red,
No moss was on the cairn.

And next they pass'd the chapel there;
The holy ground was by,

Where many a stone is sculptured fair,
To mark where warriors lie.

And here, beside the mountain flood,
A massy castle frown'd,

Since first the Pictish race in blood
The haunted pile did found.*

The restless stream its rocky base
Assails with ceaseless din;
And many a troubled spirit strays
The dungeons dark within.

Soon from the lofty tower there hied
A knight across the vale;
"I greet your master well," he cried,
"From Soulis of Liddesdale.

"He heard your bugle's echoing call,
In his green garden bower;
And bids you to his festive hall,
Within his ancient tower."

--

Young Keeldar call'd his hunter train ;— "For doubtful cheer prepare! And, as you open forcè disdain,

Of secret guile beware.

""Twas here for Mangerton's brave lord A bloody feast was set,

Who, weetless, at the festal board,
The bull's broad frontlet met.

"Then ever, at uncourteous feast,
Keep every man his brand;
And, as you 'mid his friends are placed,
Range on the better hand.

The rocking stone, commonly reckoned a Druidical monument, has always been held in superstitious veneration by the people. The popular opinion, which supposes them to be inhabited by a spirit, coincides with that of the ancient Icelanders, who worshipped the demons, which they believed to inhabit great stones. It is related in the Kristni saga, chap. 2, that the first Icelandic bishop, by chanting a hymn over one of these sacred stones, immediately after his arrival in the island, split it, expelled the spirit, and converted its worshippers to Christianity. The herb vervain, revered by the Druids, was also reckoned a powerful charm by the common people; and the author recollects a popular rhyme, supposed to be addressed to a young woman by the devil, who attempted to seduce her in the shape of a handsome young man :

"Gin ye wish to be leman mine,

Lay off the St. John's wort, and the vervine." By his repugnauce to these sacred plants, his mistress discovered the cloven foot.

a Castles, remarkable for size, strength, and antiquity, are, by the common people, commonly attributed to the Picts, or Pechs, who are not supposed to have trusted solely to their skill in masonry, in constructing these edifices, but are believed to have bathed the foundation-stone with human blood, in order to propitiate the spirit of the soil. Similar to this is the Gaelic tradition, according to which St. Columba is supposed to have been forced to bury St. Oran alive, beneath the foundation of his monastery, in order to propitiate the spirits of the soil, who demolished by night what was built during the day.

"And, if the bull's ill-omen'd head
Appear to grace the feast,
Your whingers, with unerring speed,
Plunge in each neighbour's breast."
In Hermitage they sat at dine,

In pomp and proud array;

And oft they fill'd the blood-red wine,
While merry minstrels play.

And many a hunting song they sung,
And song of game and glee;

Then tuned to plaintive strains their tongue, "Of Scotland's luve and lee."-"

To wilder measures next they turn : "The Black Black Bull of Noroway!"_3 Sudden the tapers cease to burn,

The minstrels cease to play.

Each hunter bold, of Keeldar's train,
Sat an enchanted man;

For cold as ice, through every vein,
The freezing life-blood ran.

Each rigid hand the whinger rung,
Each gazed with glaring eye;
But Keeldar from the table sprung,

Unharm'd by gramarye.

He burst the doors; the roofs resound;
With yells the castle rung;.
Before him, with a sudden bound,

His favourite blood-hound sprung.
Ere he could pass, the door was barr'd;
And, grating harsh from under,
With creaking, jarring noise, was heard
A sound like distant thunder.

The iron clash, the grinding sound,
Announce the dire sword-mill; 4
The piteous howlings of the hound
The dreadful dungeon fill.

With breath drawn in, the murderous crew
Stood listening to the yell;

And greater still their wonder grew,

As on their ear it fell.

They listen'd for a human shriek

Amid the jarring sound; They only heard, in echoes weak, The murmurs of the hound.

To present a bull's head before a person at a feast, was, in the ancient turbulent times of Scotland, a common signal for his assassination. Thus, Lindsay of Pitscottie relates in his History, p. 17, that "eftir the dinner was endit, once alle the delicate courses taken away, the Chancellor (Sir William Crichton) presentit the bullis head befoir the Earle of Douglas, in sign and token of con. demnation to the death."

The most ancient Scottish song known is that which is here alluded to

"Quhen Alysander our King wes dede,
That Scotland led in luve and le," etc.

3 The song alluded to is a wild fanciful popular tale of enchant

The death-bell rung, and wide were flung
The castle gates amain;
While hurry out the armed rout,

And marshal on the plain.

Ah! ne'er before in Border feud
Was seen so dire a fray!
Through glittering lances Keeldar hew'd
A red corse-paven way.

His helmet, formed of mermaid sand,
No lethal brand could dint;
No other arms could e'er withstand
The axe of earth-fast flint.

In Keeldar's plume the holly green,
And rowan leaves, nod on,
And vain Lord Soulis's sword was seen,
Though the hilt was adderstone.

Then up the Wee Brown Man he rose,
By Soulis of Liddesdale;
"In vain," he said, a thousand blows
Assail the charmed mail.

66

Or charm the rushing stream."
And now young Keeldar reach'd the stream,
Above the foamy linn ;

The Border lances round him gleam,
And force the warrior in.

The holly floated to the side,

And the leaf of the rowan pale ;
Alas! no spell could charm the tide,
Nor the lance of Liddesdale.

Swift was the Cout o' Keeldar's course
Along the lily lee;

But home came never hound nor horse,
And never home came he.

Where weeps the birch with branches green,
Without the holy ground,

Between two old gray stones is seen

The warrior's ridgy mound.

And the hunters bold, of Keeldar's train,

Within yon castle's wall,

In a deadly sleep must aye remain,

Till the ruin'd towers down fall.

ment, termed "The Black Bull of Noroway." The author is inclined to believe it the same story with the romance of the "Three Futtit Dog of Noroway," the title of which is mentioned in the complaynt of Scotland.

4 The author is unable to produce any authority that the execrable machine, the sword-mill, so well known on the continent, was ever employed in Scotland; but he believes the vestiges of something very similar have been discovered in the ruins of old castles.

5 That no species of magic had any effect over a running stream, was a common opinion among the vulgar, and is alluded to in Burn's admirable tale of Tam o' Shanter.