was soon assembled; and James, Duke of Buc- ton, whose conduct, they say, left the world to decleugh and Monmouth, was sent down, by Charles bate, whether he was most traitor, coward, or fool. II., to take the command, furnished with instruc- The generous Monmouth was anxious to spare the tions, not unfavourable to the Presbyterians. The blood of his infatuated countrymen, by which he royal army now moved slowly forward towards Ha-incurred much blame among the high-flying royalmilton, and reached Both well moor on the 22d of June,ists. Lucky it was for the insurgents that the battle 1679. The insurgents were encamped chiefly in the did not happen a day later, when old General Dalzell, Duke of Hamilton's park, along the Clyde, which who divided with Claverhouse the terror and hatred separated the two armies. Bothwell bridge, which of the Whigs, arrived in the camp, with a commisis long and narrow, had then a portal in the middle, sion to supersede Monmouth, as commander-inwith gates, which the Covenanters shut, and barri- chief. He is said to have upbraided the Duke, pubcadoed with stones and logs of timber. This impor- licly, with his lenity, and heartily to have wished his tant post was defended by three hundred of their own commission had come a day sooner, when, as best men, under Hackston of Rathillet, and Hall of he expressed himself, "These rogues should never Haughhead. Early in the morning, this party cross- more have troubled the King or country."+ But, ed the bridge, and skirmished with the royal van- notwithstanding the merciful orders of the Duke of guard, now advanced as far as the village of Both- Monmouth, the cavalry made great havoc among well. But Hackston speedily retired to his post, at the fugitives, of whom four hundred were slain. the end of Bothwell bridge. Guild thus expresses himself While the dispositions, made by the Duke of Monmouth, announced his purpose of assailing the pass, the more moderate of the insurgents resolved to offer terms. Ferguson of Kaitloch, a gentleman of landed fortune, and David Hume, a clergyman, carried to the Duke of Monmouth a supplication, demanding free exercise of their religion, a free parliament, and a free general assembly of the church. The Duke heard their demands with his natural mildness, and assured them he would interpose with his Majesty in their behalf, on condition of their immediately | dispersing themselves, and yielding up their arms. Had the insurgents been all of the moderate opinion, this proposal would have been accepted, much bloodshed saved, and, perhaps, some permanent advantage derived to their party; or had they been all Cameronians, their defence would have been fierce and desperate. But, while their motley and misassorted officers were debating upon the Duke's proposal, his field-pieces were already planted on the western side of the river, to cover the attack of the foot guards, who were led on by Lord Livingstone to force the bridge. Here Hackston maintained his post with zeal and courage; nor was it until all his ammunition was expended, and every support denied him by the general, that he reluctantly abandoned the important pass. When his party was drawn back, the Duke's army, slowly, and with their cannon in front, defiled along the bridge, and formed in line of battle, as they came over the river; the Duke commanded the foot, and Claverhouse the cavalry. It would seem, that these movements could not have been performed without at least some loss, had the enemy been serious in opposing them. But the insurgents were otherwise employed. With the strangest delusion that ever fell upon devoted beings, they chose these precious moments to cashier their officers, and elect others in their room. In this important operation, they were at length disturbed by the Duke's cannon, at the very first discharge of which the horse of the Covenanters wheeled, and rode off, breaking and trampling down the ranks of their infantry in their flight. The Cameronian account blames Weir of Greenridge, a commander of the horse, who is termed a sad Achan in the camp. The more moderate party lay the whole blame on HamilBut the Justiciary Court found this defence totally irrelevant."FOUNTAINHALL'S Decisions, vol. i. p. 88. Et ni Dux validus tenuisset forte catervas, The same deplorable circumstances are more elegantly bewailed in Wilson's Clyde, a poem, reprinted in Scottish Descriptive Poems, edited by the late Dr. John Leyden, Edinburgh, 1803 : "Where Bothwell's bridge connects the margin steep, To battle, deem'd his cause the cause of heaven; The object of Claverhouse's revenge, assigned by Wilson, is grander, though more remote and less natural, than that in the ballad, which imputes the severity of the pursuit to his thirst to revenge the death of his cornet and kinsman, at Drumclog; and to the quarrel betwixt Claverhouse and Monmouth, it ascribes, with great naivete, the bloody fate of the latter. Local tradition is always apt to trace foreign events to the domestic causes, which are more immediately in the narrator's view. There is said to be another song upon this battle, once very popular, but I have not been able to recover it. This copy is given from recitation. There were two Gordons of Earlstoun, father and son. They were descended of an ancient family in the west of Scotland, and their progenitors were be lieved to have been favourers of the reformed doctrine, and possessed of a translation of the Bible, as early as the days of Wickliffe. William Gordon, the father, was, in 1663, summoned before the Privy Council, for keeping conventicles in his house and woods. By another act of Council, he was banished out of Scotland, but the sentence was never put into execution. In 1667, Earlstoun was turned out of his house, which was converted into a garrison for the King's soldiers. He was not in the battle of Bothwore always an old-fashioned buff coat, his appearance in London never failed to attract the notice of the children and of the mob. King Charles II. used to swear at him, for bringing such a rabble of boys together, to be squeezed to death, while they gaped at his long beard and antique habit, and exhorted him to shave and dress like a Christian, to keep the poor bairns, as Dalzell expressed it, out of danger. In compliance with this request, he once appeared at court fashionably dressed, excepting the beard; but, when the King had laughed sufficiently at the metamorphosis, he resumed his old dress, to the great joy of the boys, his usual attendants.CREICHTON's Memoirs, p. 102. There is an accurate representation of this part of the engagement in an old painting, of which there are two copies extant; one in the collection of his Grace the Duke of Hamilton, the other at Dalkeith House. The whole appearance of the ground, even including a few old houses, is the same which the scene now presents. The removal of the porch, or gateway, upon the bridge, is the only perceptible difference. The Duke of Monmouth, on a white charger, directs the march of the party engaged in storming the bridge, while his artillery gall the motley ranks of the Covenanters. An engraving of this painting would be acceptable to the curious; and I am satisfied an opportunity of copying it, for that purpose, would be readily granted by either of the noble pro-ry prietors, 1810.... The picture has been engraved in outline for one of the publications of the Eannatyne Club. 1830. + Dalzell was a man of savage manners. A prisoner having railed at him, while under examination before the Privy Council, calling him "a Muscovia beast, who used to roast men, the general, in a passion, struck him with the pomel of his shabble, on the face, till the blood sprung."-FOUNTAINHALL, vol. 1. p. 159. He had sworn never to shave his beard after the death of Charles the First. The venerable appendage reached his girdle, and as he There is some reason to conjecture, that the revenge of the Cameronians, if successful, would have been little less sanguinathan that of the royalists. Creichton mentions, that they had erected in their camp, a high pair of gallows, and prepared a quantity of halters, to hang such prisoners as might fall into their hands; and he admires the forbearance of the King's soldiers, who, when they returned with their prisoners, brought them to the very spot where the gallows stood, and guarded them there, without offering to hang a single individual. Guild, in the Bellum Bothuellianum, alludes to the same story, which is rendered probable by the character of Hamilton, the insurgent generalGrILD'S MSS --CREIGHTON'S Memoirs, p. 61. well bridge, but was met, hastening towards it, by some English dragoons, engaged in the pursuit already commenced. As he refused to surrender, he was instantly slain.-WILSON'S History of Bothwell Rising-Life of Gordon of Earlstoun, in Scottish Worthies-WODROW's History, vol. ii. The son, Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun, I suppose to be the hero of the ballad. He was not a Cameronian, but of the more moderate class of Presbyterians, whose sole object was freedom of conscience, and relief from the oppressive laws against non-conformists. He joined the insurgents shortly after the skirmish at Loudon Hill. He appears to have been active in forwarding the supplication sent to the Duke of Monmouth. After the battle, he escaped discovery, by flying into a house at Hamilton, belonging to one of his tenants, and disguising himself in female attire. His person was proscribed, and his estate of Earlstoun was bestowed upon Colonel Theophilus Ogilthorpe, by the crown, first in security for 5000l. and afterwards in perpetuity.-FOUNTAINHALL, p. 390. The same author mentions a person tried at the Circuit Court, July 10, 1683, solely for holding intercourse with Earlstoun, an intercommuned (proscribed) rebel. As he had been in Holland after the battle of Bothwell, he was probably an accessory to the scheme of invasion, which the unfortunate Earl of Argyle was then meditating. He was apprehended upon his return to Scotland, tried, convicted of treason, and condemned to die; but his fate was postponed by a letter from the King, appointing him to be reprieved for a month, that he might, in the interim, be tortured for the discovery of his accomplices. The council had the unusual spirit to remonstrate against this illegal course of severity. On November 3, 1683, he received a farther respite, in hopes he would make some discovery. When brought to the bar, to be tortured, (for the King had reiterated his commands,) he, through fear, or distraction, roared like a bull, and laid so stoutly about him, that the hangman and his assistant could hardly master him. At last he fell into a swoon, and, on his recovery, charged General Dalzell, and Drummond, (violent Tories,) together with the Duke of Hamilton, with being the leaders of the fanatics. It was generally thought that he affected this extravagant behaviour to invalidate all that agony might extort from him concerning his real accomplices. He was sent, first, to Edinburgh Castle, and, afterwards, to a prison upon the Bass island: although the Privy Council more than once deliberated upon appointing his immediate death. On 22d August, 1684, Earlstoun was sent for from the bass, and ordered for execution, 4th November, 1684. He endeavoured to prevent his doom by escape; but was discovered and taken, after he had gained the roof of the prison. The Council deliberated, whether, in consideration of this attempt, he was not liable to instant execution. Finally, however, they were satisfied to imprison him in Blackness Castle, 16th September, 1684, where he remained till after the Revolution, when he was set at liberty, and his doom of forfeiture reversed by act of Parliament. See FOUNTAINHALL, Vol. i. pp. 238, 240, 245, 250, 301, 302. THE BATTLE OF BOTHWELL Bridge. "O BILLIE, billie, bonny billie, Will ye go to the wood wi' me? "O no, O no!" says Earlstoun, "For that's the thing that mauna be; For I am sworn to Bothwell Hill, Where I maun either gae or die."So Earlstoun rose in the morning, An' mounted by the break o' day; An' he has joined our Scottish lads, As they were marching out the way. "Now, farewell, father, and. farewell, mother, So they're awa' to Bothwell Hill, An' waly they rode bonnily! When the Duke o' Monmouth saw them comin', "Ye're welcome, lads," the Monmouth said, "But yield your weapons ane an a'; Waly -an interjection. cent; ས་ For gin ye'll yield your weapons up, And waly but he spoke bonnily! To you nor nae man that I see." Then he set up the flag o' red, A' set about wi' bonny blue;t Since ye'll no cease, and be at peace, See that ye stand by ither true.' They stell'd their cannons on the height, Thick they lay slain on every knowe.ll As e'er you saw the rain down fa', "O hold your hand," then Monmouth cry'd, ་་ His Cornet's death revenged sud be. "O hold your hand," then Monmouth cry'd, "If onything you'll do for me; Hold up your hand, you cursed Græme, T Else a rebel to our King ye'll be." Ireland, where he stayed all night; and in the morning, when he Blue was the favourite colour of the Covenanters; hence the took farewell, he came out of the door, saying to himself, 'Poor vulgar phrase of a truly blue Whig. Spalding informs us, that woman, a fearful morning, twice over. A dark misty morn when the first army of Covenanters entered Aberdeen, few or ing! The next morning, between five and six hours, the said none" wanted a blue ribband; the Lord Gordon, and some oth- John Brown having performed the worship of God in his family, ers of the Marquis (of Huntly's) family had a ribband, when was going, with a spade in his hand, to make ready some peat they were dwelling in the town, of a red flesh colour, which they ground: the mist being very dark, he knew not until cruel and wore in their hats, and called it the royal ribband, as a sign of bloody Claverhouse compassed him with three troops of horse, their love and loyalty to the King. In despite and derision there- brought him to his house, and there examined him who, though of, this blue ribband was worn, and called the Covenanters' rib- he was a man of a stammering speech, yet answered him disband, by the haill soldiers of the army, who would not hear of the tinctly and solidly; which made Claverhouse to examine those royal ribband, such was their pride and malice."-Vol. i. p. 123. whom he had taken to be his guides through the muirs, if ever After the departure of this first army, the town was occupied by they heard him preach? They answered, 'No, no, he was never the barons of the royal party, till they were once more expelled a preacher. He said, If he has never preached, meikle he has by the Covenanters, who plundered the burgh and country adja prayed in his time;' he said to John, Go to your prayers, for no fowl, cock, or hen, left unkilled, and the haill house- you shall immediately die ! When he was praying, Claverhouse dogs, messens, (i. e. lap-dogs,) and whelps within Aberdeen, kill interrupted him three times; one time, that he stopt him, he was ed upon the streets so that neither hound, messen, nor other pleading that the Lord would spare a remnant, and not make a dog, was left alive that they could see. The reason was this-full end in the day of his anger. Claverhouse said, 'I give you when the first army came here, ilk captain and soldier had a blue time to pray, and ye are begun to preach;' he turned about upribband about his craig [i. e. neck]; in despite and derision on his knees, and said, Sir, you know neither the nature of whereof, when they removed from Aberdeen, some women of preaching or praying, that calls this preaching.' Then continued Aberdeen, as was alleged, knit blue ribbands about their messens' without confusion. When ended, Claverhouse said, 'Take goodcraigs, whereat their soldiers took offence, and killed all their night of your wife and children. His wife, standing by with her dogs for this very cause."-P. 160. child in her arms that she had brought forth to him, and another child of his first wife's, he came to her, and said, 'Now, Marion, the day is conie that I told you would come, when I spake first to you of marrying me.' She said, 'Indeed, John, I can willingly part with you. Then,' he said, 'this is all I desire, I have no more to do but die. He kissed his wife and bairns, and wished purchased and promised blessings to be multiplied upon them, and his blessing. Claverhouse ordered six soldiers to shoot him; the most part of the bullets came upon his head, which scattered his brains upon the ground. Claverhouse said to his wife, What thinkest thou of thy husband now, woman?' She said, I have seen one of the ancient banners of the Covenanters it was divided into four compartments, inscribed with the wordsChrist-Covenant-King-Kingdom. Similar standards are mentioned in Spalding's curious and minute narrative, vol. ii. pp. 182, 245. § Stell'd-Planted. Knowe -Knoll. 1 Ilowe-Hollow. It is very extraordinary, that, in April, 1685, Claverhouse was left out of the new commission of Privy Council. as being too favourable to the fanatics. The pretence was his having married into the Presbyterian family of Lord Dundonald. An act of Council was also passed, regulating the payment of quarters, which is stated by Fountainhall to have been done in odium of Claverhouse, and in order to excite complaints against him. This charge, so inconsistent with the nature and conduct of Claverhouse, seems to have been the fruit of a quarrel betwixt him and the Lord High Treasurer.-FOUNTAINHALL, Vol. i. p. 360. That Claverhouse was most unworthily accused of mitigating the persecution of the Covenanters, will appear from the follow ing simple, but very affecting narrative, extracted from one of the little publications which appeared soon after the Revolution, while the facts were fresh in the memory of the sufferers. The imitation of the scriptural style produces, in passages of these works, an effect not unlike what we feel in reading the beautiful book of Ruth. It is taken from the life of Mr. Alexander Peden,* printed about 1720. In the beginning of May, 1885, he came to the house of John Brown and Marion Weir, whom he married before he went to I thought ever much of him, and now as much as ever.' He said, 'It were but justice to lay thee beside him.' She said, 'If ye were permitted, I doubt not but your crueltie would go that length: but how will ye make answer for this morning's work? He said. To man I can be answerable; and for God, I will take him in my own hand. Claverhouse mounted his horse, and marched and left her with the corpse of her dead husband lying there; she set the bairn on the ground, and gathered his brains, and tied up his head, and straighted his body, and covered him in her plaid, and sat down, and wept over him. It being a very desert place, where never victual grew, and far from neighbours, it was some time before any friends came to her; the first that came was a very fit hand, that old singular Christian woman, in the Cummer head, named Elizabeth Menzies, three miles distant, who had been tried with the violent death of her husband at Pentland, afterwards of two worthy sons, Thomas Weir, who was killed at Drumclog, and David Steel, who was suddenly shot afterwards when taken. The said Marion Weir, sitting upon her husband's rated by Fountainhall, 27th of March, 1685:- News came to the Privy Council, that about one hundred men, well armed and appointed, had left Ireland, because of a search there for such malcontents, and landed in the west of Scotland, and joined with the wild fanatics. cil, finding that they disappointed their forces by skulking from hole to hole, were of opinion, it were better to let them gather into a body, and draw to a head, and so they would get them altogether in a snare. They had one Mr. Peden, a minister with them, and one Isaac, who com The Coun The enthusiasm of this personage, and of his followers, invested him, as has been already noticed, with prophetic powers: but hardly any of the stories told of him exceeds that sort of gloomy conjecture of misfortone, which the precarious situation of his sect so greatly fostered. The following passage relates to the battle of Bothwell bridge: "That dismai day, 22 of June, 1679, of Bothwell bridge, when the Lord's people fell and fled before the enemy, he was forty miles distant, near the Border, and kept himself retired until the middle of the day, when borne friends said to him, Sir, the people are waiting for sermon.' He an- manded them. They had frighted most part of all the country ministers, swered, Let them go to their prayers: for me, I neither can nor will preach any this day, for our friends are fallen and fled before the enemy, at Hamilton, and they are hacking and bewing them down, and their bloed is running like water.'"' The feats of Peden are thus commemo so that they durst not stay at their churches, but retired to Edinburgh, or to garrison towns; and it was sad to see whole shires destitute of preaching, except in burghs. Wherever they came they plundered arms, and particularly at my Lord Dumfries's house."-Fountainhall Then wicked Claver'se turn'd about, I wot an angry man was he; And cry'd, "God bless his Majesty !" grave, told me, that before that, she could see no blood but she Fause witnesses he has wi' him ta'en, And ta'en Monmouth's head frae his body. Mony brave man lies cauld and still; The bloody battle of Bothwell Hill. man, who had borne arms for the cause of Stuart in 1715, told the Editor, that when the armies met on the field of battle at Sheriffmuir, a veteran chief, (I think he named Gordon of Glenbucket,) covered with scars, came up to the Earl of Mar, and earnestly pressed him to order the Highlanders to charge, before the regular army of Argyle had completely formed their line, and at a moment when the rapid and furious onset of the clans might have thrown them into total disorder. Mar repeatedly answered, it was not yet time: till the chieftain turned from him in disdain and despair, and, stamping with rage, exclaimed aloud," O for one hour of Dundee !'"* Claverhouse's sword (a strait cut-and-thrust blade) is in the "In earth's cold bed, the dusty part here lies, Of one who did the earth as dust despise! Here, in this place, from earth he took departure ; Now he has got the garland of the martyrs.” **This murder was committed betwixt six and seven in the morning: Mr. Peden was about ten or cleven miles distant, hav-possession of Lord Woodhouselee. In Pennycuick house is preing been in the fields all night; he came to the house betwixt seven and eight, and desired to call in the family, that he might pray amongst them; when praying he said, 'Lord, when wilt thou avenge Brown's blood? Oh, let Brown's blood be precious in thy sight and hasten the day when thou wilt avenge it, with Cameron's, Cargill's, and many others of our martyrs' names; and oh! for that day, when the Lord would avenge all their bloods !'-When ended, John Muirhead inquired what he meant by Brown's blood! He said twice over, What do I mean? Claverhouse has been at the Presshill this morning, and has cruelly murdered John Brown: his corpse are lying at the end of his house, and his poor wife sitting weeping by his corpse, and not a soul to speak a word comfortably to her.'" While we read this dismal story, we must remember Brown's station was that of an avowed and determined rebel, liable as Fach to military execution; so that the atrocity was more that of the times than of Claverhouse. That general's gallant adherence to his master, the misguided James VII., and his glorious death the field of victory, at Killicrankie, have tended to preserve and cli nis memory. He is still remembered in the Highlands as the most successful leader of their clans. An ancient gentle served the buff-coat, which he wore at the battle of Killicrankie. The fatal shot-hole is under the arm pit, so that the ball must have been received while his arm was raised to direct the pursuit. However he came by his charm of proof, he certainly had not worn the garment usually supposed to confer that privilege. and which was called the waistcoat of proof, or of necessity. It was thus made: "On Christmas dai, at night, a thread must be sponne of flax, by a little virgin girle, in the name of the divell; and it must be by her woven, and also wrought with the needle. In the breast, or fore part thereof, must be made, with needlework, two heads, on the head, at the right side, must be a hat and a long beard; the left head must have on a crown, and it must be so horrible that it maie resemble Belzebub; and on each side of the wastcote must be made a crosse."-SCOTT's Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 231. It would be now no difficult matter to bring down our popular poetry, connected with history, to the year 1745. But almost all the party ballads of that period have been already printed and ably illustrated by Mr. Ritson. 10 for one hour of Wallace wight, Or well-skilled Bruce, to rule the fight, &c.-Marmion.] PART SECOND.--ROMANTIC BALLADS. SCOTTISH MUSIC.-AN ODE. BY J. LEYDEN. TO IANTHE. AGAIN, sweet siren! breathe again The Celtic warrior's parted shade; Where shipwreck'd mariners are laid. Immured in mortal forms to mourn. Or if, as ancient sages ween, Can mingle with the mortal throng; "Tis when from heart to heart we roll The deep-toned music of the soul, That warbles in our Scottish song. I hear, I hear, with awful dread, * The Flathinnis, or Celtic paradise. The effect of music is explained by the Hindus, as recalling to our memory the airs of paradise, heard in a state of pre-existence.-Vide Sacontala. They leave the amber fields of day: Sweet siren, breathe the powerful strain! The crystal tower enchanted see! 'Now break," she cries, "ye fairy charms!"- Sing, how, beneath the greenwood tree, For any knight the fair could see. And sing the Hawk of pinion grey,|| As slow she raised her languid eye. Like evening's dewy star her eye; § See the ballad, entitled, Brown Adam. Borne on the surge's foamy crest, Her graceful bosom heaved the sigh. In youth's first morn, alert and gay, Ere rolling years had pass'd away, Remember'd like a morning dream, I heard these dulcet measures float, In many a liquid winding note, Along the banks of Teviot's stream. Sweet sounds! that oft have soothed to rest The sorrows of my guileless breast, And charm'd away mine infant tears: That in the wild the traveller hears. To visit Syria's date-crown'd shore, Through scenes that I no more must view.t INTRODUCTION TO THE TALE OF TAMLANE. ON THE FARIES OF POPULAR SUPERSTITION. "Of airy elves, by moonlight shadows seen. The silver token, and the circled green."-POPE. In a work avowedly dedicated to the preservation of the poetry and traditions of the "olden time," it would be unpardonable to omit this opportunity of making some observations upon so interesting an article of the popular creed, as that concerning the Elves, or Fairies. The general idea of spirits, of a limited power, and subordinate nature, dwelling among the woods and mountains, is perhaps common to all nations. But the intermixture of tribes, of languages, and religion, which has occurred in Europe, renders it difficult to trace the origin of the names which have been bestowed upon such spirits, and the primary ideas which were entertained concerning their manners and habits. The word elf, which seems to have been the original name of the beings afterwards denominated fairies, is of Gothic origin, and probably signified, simply, a spirit of a lower order. Thus, the Saxons had not only dun-elfen, berg-elfen, and munt-elfen, spirits of the downs, hills, and mountains; but also feld-elfen, wudu-elfen, sae-elfen, and water-elfen; spirits of the fields, of the woods, of the sea, and of the waters.§ In Low German, the same latitude of expression occurs; for night-hags are termed aluinnen and aluen, which is sometimes Latinized elua. But the prototype of the English elf is to be sought chiefly in the berg-elfen, or duergar, of the Scandinavians. From the most early of the Icelandic Sagas, as well as from the Edda itself, we learn the belief of the northern nations in a race of So fell it out of late years that an English gentleman, travelling in Palestine, not far from Jerusalem, as he passed through a country town, he heard, by chance, a woman sitting at her door, dandling her child, to sing. Bothwell bank, thou bloomest fair. The gentleman hereat wondered, and forthwith, in English, saluted the woman, who joyfully answered him; and said she was right glad there to see a gentleman of our isle; and told him that she was a Scottish woman, and carne first from Scotland to Venice, and from Venice thither, where her fortune was to be the wife of an officer under the Turk; who, being at that instant absent, and very soon to return, she entreated the gentleman to stay there until his return. The which he did; and she, for country sake, to show herself the more kind and bountiful unto him, told her husband, at his home-coming, that the gentleman was her kinsman; whereupon her husband entertained him very kindly; and, at his departure, gave him divers things of good value." VERSTIGAN'S Restitution of Decayed Intelligence. Chap. of the Sirnames of our Antient Families. Antwerp, 1605. (Dr. Leyden was, when he wrote these verses, on the eve of departing for India-where he died.-ED.] The reader will do well to compare this early essay with Sir Walter Scott's fourth Letter on Demonology, 1830, where he will dwarfish spirits, inhabiting the rocky mountains, and approaching, in some respects, to the human nature. Their attributes, amongst which we recognise the features of the modern fairy, were, supernatural wisdom and prescience, and skill in the mechanical arts, especially in the fabrication of arms. They are farther described, as capricious, vindictive, and easily irritated. The story of the elfin sword Tyrfing, may be the most pleasing illustration of this position. Suafurlami, a Scandinavian monarch, returning from hunting, bewildered himself among the mountains. About sunset he beheld a large rock, and two dwarfs sitting before the mouth of a cavern. The king drew his sword, and intercepted their retreat, by springing betwixt them and their recess, and imposed upon them the following condition of safety-that they should make for him a falchion, with a baldric and scabbard of pure gold, and a blade which should divide stones and iron as a garment, and which should render the wielder ever victorious in battle. The elves complied with the requisition, and Suafurlami pursued his way home. Returning at the time appointed, the dwarfs delivered to him the famous sword Tyrfing; then, standing in the entrance of the cavern, spoke thus: "This sword, O king, shall destroy a man every time it is brandished, but it shall perform three atrocious deeds, and it shall be thy bane." The king rushed forward with the charmed sword, and buried both its edges in the rock; but the dwarfs escaped into their recesses. This enchanted sword emitted rays like the sun, dazzling all against whom it was brandished; it divided steel like water, and was never unsheathed without slaying a man.-Hervarar Saga, p. 9. Similar to this was the enchanted sword Skoffnung, which was taken by a pirate out of the tomb of a Norwegian monarch. Many such tales are narrated in the Sagas; but the most distinct account of the duergar, or elves, and their attributes, is to be found in a preface of Torfæus to the history of Hrolf Kraka, who cites a dissertation by Einer Gudmund, a learned native of Iceland. "I am firmly of opinion," says the Icelander," that these beings are creatures of God, consisting, like human beings, of a body and rational soul; that they are of differ ent sexes, and capable of producing children, and subject to all human affections, as sleeping and waking, laughing and crying, poverty and wealth; and that they possess cattle, and other effects, and are obnoxious to death, like other mortals." He proceeds to state, that the females of this race are capable of procreating with mankind; and gives an account of one who bore a child to an inhabitant of Iceland, for whom she claimed the privilege of baptism; depositing the infant for that purpose, at the gate of the churchyard, together with a goblet of gold, as an offering.-Historia Hrolfi Kraka, a TORFEO. Similar to the traditions of the Icelanders, are those current among the Laplanders of Finland, concerning a subterranean people, gifted with supernatural qualities, and inhabiting the recesses of the earth. Resembling men in their general appearance, the manner of their existence and their habits of life, they far excel the miserable Laplanders in perfection of nature, felicity of situation, and skill in find the author's opinions on several points considerably modified; as also the Preface and Notes to GRIMM's Haus-undkinder Marchen; and an Essay on Popular Superstitions, by Mr. Southey, in the 37th Number of the Quarterly Review.--ED.] The writer of the learned Preface to Warton's History of English Poetry, (Edit. 1824.) doubts whether "this catalogue of Elfrics ever obtained currency among the people." He says, this is at least rendered doubtful, by its exact correspondence with the Grecian names of Dryades, &c. Elf, according to this writer, originally means running water-whence the Elbe; and here he notices a curious coincidence with vyuon and lympha.-ED.] Perhaps in this, and similar tales, we may recognise something of real history. That the Fins, or ancient natives of Scandinavia, were driven into the mountains, by the invasion of Odin and his Asiatics, is sufficiently probable; and there is reason to believe, that the aboriginal inhabitants understood, better than the intruders, how to manufacture the produce of their own mines. It is therefore possible, that, in process of time, the op pressed Fins may have been transformed into the supernatural duergar. A similar transformation has taken place among the vulgar in Scotland, regarding the Picta or Peghs, to whom they ascribe various supernatural attributes. |