194 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 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 himself made any pretensions to the first of these time, since, very shortly after his death, we find him characters, or whether it was gratuitously conferred celebrated as a prophet and as a poet. Whether he 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 Wintown's Chronicle "Of this fycht quilum spak Thomas Of Ersyldoune, that sayd in derne, There suld meit stalwartly, starke and sterne. But how he wist it was ferly."-Book viii. chap. 32. town's eyes at least, how Thomas came by his There could have been no ferly (marvel) in Winknowledge of future events, had he ever heard of the inspired nun of Haddington, which, it cannot be doubted, would have been a solution of the mystery, much to the taste of the Prior of Lockleven.S 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 surname was Lermont, or Learmont; and that the appellation of 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,t 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 have, as to the source of the Rhymer's prophetic Whatever doubts, however, the learned might the hereditary name of Learmont; or, at least, was skill, the vulgar had no hesitation to ascribe the better known and distinguished by the epithet, which whole to the intercourse between the bard and the he had acquired by his personal accomplishments. Queen of Faery. The popular tale bears, that ThoI must, however, remark, that, down to a very late mas was carried off, at an early age, to the Fairy period, the practice of distinguishing the parties, even Land, where he acquired all the knowledge, which in formal writings, by the epithets which had been made him afterwards so famous. After seven years' bestowed on them from personal circumstances, in-residence, he was permitted to return to the earth, stead of the proper surnames of their families, was to enlighten and astonish his countrymen by his common, and indeed necessary, among the Border prophetic powers; still, however, remaining bound clans. So early as the end of the thirteenth centu- to return to his royal mistress, when she should inry, when surnames were hardly introduced in Scot-timate her pleasure. Accordingly, while Thomas land, this custom must have been universal. There was making merry with his friends in the Tower of is, therefore, nothing inconsistent in supposing our Ercildoune, a person came running in, and told, with poet's name to have been actually Learmont, al- marks of fear and astonishment, that a hart and though, in this charter, he is distinguished by the hind had left the neighbouring forest, and were, compopular appellation of The Rhymer. lage. The prophet instantly arose, left his habitaposedly and slowly, parading the street of the viltion, 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, We are better able to ascertain the period at which From the Chartulary of the Trinity House of Soltra. Omnibus has literas visuris vel audituris Thomas de Ercildoun filius et beres Thomæ Rymour de Ercildoun salutem in Domino. Noveritis me per fustem et baculum in pleno judicio resignasse ac per presentes quietem clamasse pro me et heredibus meis Magistro domus Sanctæ Trinitatis de Soltre et fratribus ejusdem domus totam terram meam cum omnibus pertinentibus suis quam in tenemento de Ercildoun hereditarie tenui renunciando de toto pro me et heredibus meis omni jure et clameo quæ ego seu antecessores mei in eadem terra alioque tempore de perpetuo habuimus sive de futuro habere possumus. In cujus rei testimonio presentibus his sigillum meum apposui data apud Ercildoun die Martis proximo post festum Sanctorum Apostolorum Symonis et Jude Anno Domini Millesimo cc. Nonagesimo Nono. Henry the Minstrel, who introduces Thomas into the history of Wallace, expresses the same doubt as to the source of his prophetic knowledge: "Thomas Rhymer into the faile was than 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. THOMAS THE RHYMER. It seemed to the Editor unpardonable to dismiss a person so important in Border tradition as the Rhy-"All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven! mer, 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. The former copy, however, as might be expected, is far more minute as to local description. To this old tale the Editor has ventured to add a Second Part, consisting of a kind of cento, from the printed prophecies vulgarly ascribed to the Rhymer; and a Third 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 severe antiquaries, the Editor has prefixed to the Second Part some remarks on Learmont's prophecies. 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, Rins through the springs o' that countrie. * [Huntly Bank, and the adjoining ravine, called, from immemorial tradition, the Rymer's Glen, were ultimately included in the domain of Abbotsford. The scenery of this glen forms the background of Edwin Landseer's portrait of Sir Walter Scott, painted in 1833.-ED.] That weird, &c.-That destiny shall never frighten me. THE reader is here presented, from an old, and unfortunately an imperfect MS., with the undoubted original of Thomas the Rhymer's intrigue with the Queen of Faery. It will afford great amusement to those who would study the nature of traditional poetry, and the changes effected by oral tradition, to compare this ancient romance with the foregoing ballad. The same incidents are narrated, even the expression is often the same; yet the poems are as different in appearance, as if the older tale had been regularly and systematically modemized by a poet of the present day. Incipit Prophesia Thomæ de Erseldoun. In a lande as I was lent, In the gryking of the day, Ay alone as I went, In Huntle bankys me for to play; I saw the throstyl, and the jay. It beth neuyer discryuyd for me. A while she blew, a while she sang, Sadyll and brydil war With sylk and sendel about bedone, And hyr croper of the arase, Her brydil was of gold fyne, On euery syde forsothe hang bells thre, Her brydil reynes A semly syzt Crop and patyrel In every joynt She led thre grew houndes in a leash, And undir her gyrdil mene flene. In the bankes of . He sayd Yonder is Mary of Might, That bar the child that died for me, Certes bot I may speke with that lady bright, I schal me hye with all my might, Hyr to mete at Eldyn Tre. *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. If I be pareld most of prise, And euer more I shall with ye dwell, Suld you neuer be wryede for me. Man on molde you will me marre, And yet bot you may haf your will, Trow you well, Thomas, you cheuyst ye warre; She sayd, Man, you lyst thi play, What berde in bouyr may dele with thee, I pray ye, Thomas, let me be. Her heyre hang down about hyr hede, That he before had sene in that stede Tak thy leue, Thomas, at son and mone, This twelmonth sall you with me gone, Alas, he seyd, ful wo is me, I trow my dedes will werke me care, Jesu, my sole tak to ye, Whedir so euyr my body sal fare. It was as derke as at midnizt, The nyghtyngale bredyng in her neste, The throstylcock sang wald hafe no rest. To the joyes of paradyce. Sees thou, Thomas, yon thyrd way, Sees thou, Thomas, yone fayr castell, Of town and tower it beereth the belle, Than was sche fayr, and ryche anone, The grewhoundes had fylde thaim on the dere, The raches coupled, by my fay, And kokes standyng with dressyng knyfe, Knyghtes dansyd by two and thre, Ladyes that were gret of gre, Sat and sang of rych aray. Thomas sawe much more in that place," Than I can descryve, Til on a day, alas, alas, My lovelye ladye sayd to me, Busk ye, Thomas, you must agayn, Here you may no longer be: Hy then zerne that you were at hame, I sal ye bryng to Eldyn Tre. And said, Lowely ladye, lat me be, Haf I be bot the space of dayes three. Fare wele, Thomas, I wende my way. * The Elfin Queen, after restoring Thomas to earth, pours forth a string of prophecies, in which we distinguish references to the events and personages of the Scottish wars of Edward III. The battles of Duplin and Halidon are mentioned, and also Black Arnes, Countess of Dunbar. There is a copy of this poem in the Museum of the Cathedral of Lincoln, another in the collection in Peterborough, but unfortunately they are all in an imperfect state. Mr. Jamieson, in his curious Collection of Scottish Ballads and Songs, has an entire copy of this ancient poem, with all the col lations. The lacuna of the former editions have been supplied from his copy. THOMAS THE RHYMER. PART SECOND. ALTERED FROM ANCIENT PROPHECIES. 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. The verses are as follows: "La Countesse de Donbar demande a Thomas de Essedoune quant la guerre d'Escoce prendreit fyn. Eyl l'a repoundy et dyt. When man is mad a kyng of a capped man; When man is levere other mones thyng than his owen; When londe thouya forest, ant forest is felde; When hares kendles o' the her'stane; When Wyt and Wille werres togedere ; When mon makes stables of kyrkes, and steles castels with stye; When men ledes men in ropes to buyen and to sellen; When a quarter of whaty whete is chaunged for a colt of ten markes ; When prude (pride) prikes and pees is leyd in prisoun; When a Scot ne me hymn hude ase hare in forme that the English ne shall hym fynde; When rycht ant wronge astente the togedere; When laddes weddeth lovedies; When Scottes flen so faste, that, for faute of shep, hy drowneth hemselve; When shal this be? Nouther in thine tyme ne in mine; Ah comen ant gone Withinne twenty winter ant one." PINKERTON'S Poems, from MAITLAND'S MSS. quoting from Harl. Lib. 2253. F. 127. As I have never seen the MS. from which Mr. Pinkerton makes this extract, and as the date of it is fixed by him (certainly one of the most able antiquaries of our age) to the reign of Edward I. or II., it is with great diffidence that I hazard a contrary opinion. There can, however, I believe, be little doubt, that these prophetic verses are a forgery, and not the production of our Thomas the Rhymer. But I am inclined to believe them of a later date than the reign of Edward I. or II. The gallant defence of the castle of Dunbar, by Black Agnes, took place in the year 1337. The Rhymer died previous to the year 1299 (see the charter, by his son, in the introduction to the foregoing ballad.) It seems, therefore, very improbable, that the Countess of Dunbar could ever have an opportunity of consulting Thomas the Rhymer, since that would infer that she was married, or at least engaged in state matters, previous to 1299; whereas she is described as a young, or a middle-aged woman, at the period of her being besieged in the fortress, which she so well defended. If the Editor might indulge a conjecture, he would suppose, that the prophecy was contrived for the encouragement of the English invaders, during the Scottish wars; and that the names of the Countess of Dunbar, and of Thomas of Ercildoune, were used for the greater credit of the forgery. According to this hypothesis, it seems likely to have been composed after the siege of Dunbar, which had made the name of the THE prophecies, ascribed to Thomas of Ercil- Countess well known, and consequently in the reign doune, have been the principal means of securing to of Edward III. The whole tendency of the prophehim remembrance "amongst the sons of his people." cy is to aver, that there shall be no end of the ScotThe author of Sir Tristrem would long ago have tish war, (concerning which the question was projoined, in the vale of oblivion, "Clerk of Tranent, posed,) till a final conquest of the country by Engwho wrote the adventure of Schir Gawain," if, by land, attended by all the usual severities of war. good hap, the same current of ideas respecting an- "When the cultivated country shall become forest," tiquity, which causes Virgil to be regarded as a ma- says the prophecy;-"when the wild animals shall gician by the Lazaroni of Naples, had not exalted inhabit the abode of men ;-when Scots shall not the bard of Ercildoune to the prophetic character. be able to escape the English, should they crouch Perhaps, indeed, he himself affected it during his as hares in their form"-all these denunciations seem life. We know, at least, for certain, that a belief in to refer to the time of Edward III., upon whose his supernatural knowledge was current soon after victories the prediction was probably founded. The his death. His prophecies are alluded to by Barbour, mention of the exchange betwixt a colt worth ten by Wintoun, and by Henry the Minstrel, or Blind marks, and a quarter of "whaty [indifferent] wheat,' Harry, as he is usually termed. None of these au- seems to allude to the dreadful famine, about the thors, however, give the words of any of the Rhy-year 1388. The independence of Scotland was, mer'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 however, as impregnable to the mines of superstition, as to the steel of our more powerful and more wealthy neighbours. The war of Scotland is, thank God, at an end; but it is ended without her people having either crouched like hares in their form, or being drowned in their flight, "for faute of ships,"-thank God for that too. The pro phecy, quoted page 196, is probably of the same date, | sitions the subject of a dissertation, published in his and intended for the same purpose. A minute search of the records of the time would, probably, throw additional light upon the allusions contained in these ancient legends. Among various rhymes of prophetic import, which are at this day current amongst the people of Teviotdale, is one, supposed to be pronounced by Thomas the Rhymer, presaging the destruction of his habitation and family: "The hare sall kittle (litter] on my hearth stane, And there will never be a Laird Learmont again.” The first of these lines is obviously borrowed from that in the MS. of the Harl. Library.-" When hares kendles o' the her'stane"-an emphatic image of desolation. It is also inaccurately quoted in the prophecy of Waldhave, published by Andro Hart, 1613: "This is a true talking that Thomas of tells, The hare shall hirple on the hard [hearth] stane." Spottiswoode, an honest, but credulous historian, seems to have been a firm believer in the authenticity of the prophetic wares, vended in the name of Thomas of Ercildoune. "The prophecies, yet extant in Scottish rhymes, whereupon he was commonly called Thomas the Rhymer, may justly be admired; having foretold, so many ages before, the union of England and Scotland in the ninth degree of the Bruce's blood, with the succession of Bruce himself to the crown, being yet a child, and other divers particulars, which the event hath ratified and made good. Boethius, in his story, relateth his prediction of King Alexander's death, and that he did foretel the same to the Earl of March, the day before it fell out; saying, 'That before the next day at noon, such a tempest should blow, as Scotland had not felt for many years before.' The next morning, the day being clear, and no change appearing in the air, the nobleman did challenge Thomas of his saying, calling him an impostor. He replied, that noon was not yet passed. About which time a post came to advertise the earl of the king his sudden death. "Then,' said Thomas, this is the tempest I foretold; and so it shall prove to Scotland.' Whence, or how, he had this knowledge, can hardly be affirmed; but sure it is, that he did divine and answer truly of many things to come."-SPOTTISWOODE, p. 47. Besides that notable voucher, Master Hector Boece, the good archbishop might, had he been so minded, have referred to Fordun for the prophecy of King Alexander's death. That historian calls our bard ruralis ille vates."-FORDUN, lib. x. cap. 40. What Spottiswoode calls "the prophecies extant in Scottish rhyme" are the metrical productions ascribed to the seer of Ercildoune, which, with many other compositions of the same nature, bearing the names of Bede, Merlin, Gildas, and other approved soothsayers, are contained in one small volume, published by Andro Hart, at Edinburgh, 1615. Nisbet the herald (who claims the prophet of Ercildoune as a brother-professor of his art, founding upon the various allegorical and emblematical allusions to heraldry,), intimates the existence of some earlier copy of his prophecies than that of Andro Hart, which, however, he does not pretend to have seen.* The late excellent Lord Hailes made these compo Remarks on the History of Scotland. His attention is chiefly directed to the celebrated prophecy of our bard, mentioned by Bishop Spottiswoode, bearing, that the crowns of England and Scotland should be united in the person of a King, son of a French Queen, and related to Bruce in the ninth degree. Lord Hailes plainly proves, that this prophecy is perverted from its original purpose, in order to apply it to the succession of James VI. The groundwork of the forgery is to be found in the prophecies of Berlington, contained in the same collection, and runs thus: ་་ Of Bruce's left side shall spring out a leafe, And shall be fleemed of faire Scotland, With hempen helteres and horse of tre. However it happen for to fall, The French Quen shall bearre the sonne, Ane from the Bruce's blood shal come also, As neere as the ninth degree. Yet shall there come a keene knight over the salt sea, A duke's son dowbled, [i. e. dubbed,] a born man in France, There cannot be any doubt that this prophecy was intended to excite the confidence of the Scottish nation in the Duke of Albany, regent of Scotland, who arrived from France in 1515, two years after the death of James IV. in the fatal field of Flodden. The Regent was descended of Bruce by the left, i. e. by the female side, within the ninth degree. His mother was daughter of the Earl of Boulogne, his father banished from his country-" fleemit of fair Scotland." His arrival must necessarily be by sea, and his landing was expected at Aberlady in the Frith of Forth. He was a duke's son, dubbed knight; and nine years, from 1513, are allowed him, by the pretended prophet, for the accomplishment of the salvation of his country, and the exaltation of Scotland over her sister and rival. All this was a pious fraud, to excite the confidence and spirit of the country. The prophecy, put in the name of our Thomas the Rhymer, as it stands in Hart's book, refers to a later period. The narrator meets the Rhymer upon a land beside a lee, who shows him many emblematical visions, described in no mean strain of poetry, They chiefly relate to the fields of Flodden and Pinkie, to the national distress which followed these defeats, and to future halcyon days, which are promised to Scotland. One quotation or two will be sufficient to establish this fully : "Our Scottish King sal come ful keene, A feddered arrow sharp, I ween, Shall make him winke and warre to see. "The muscle is a square figure like a lozenge, but it is al ways voided of the field. They are carried as principal figures by the name of Learmont. Learmont of Earlstoun, in the Merss, carried or on a bend azure three muscles; of which family was Sir Thomas Learmont, who is well known by the name of Thomas the Rhymer, because he wrote his prophecies in rhime. This prophetick herauld lived in the days of King Alexander the Third, and prophesied of his death, and of many other remark able occurrences; particularly of the union of Scotland with Eng-ings, or because they are pointed out by their crests and exterior land, which was not accomplished until the reign of James the Sixth, some hundred years after it was foretold by this gentleman, whose prophecies are much esteemed by many of the vulgar even at this day. I was promised by a friend a sight of his prophecies, of which there is everywhere to be had an epitome, which, I suppose, is erroneous, and differs in many things from the original, it having been oft reprinted by some unskilful persons. Thus many things are amissing in the small book which are to be met with in the original, particularly these two lines concerning his neighbour, Bemerside Tyde what may betide, Haig shall be laird of Bemerside." And indeed his prophecies concerning that ancient family have hitherto been true; for, since that time to this day, the Haigs have been lairds of that place. They carrie, Azure a saltier cantoned with two stars in chief and in base argent, as many crescents in the flanques or; and for crest a rock proper, with this motto, taken from the above-written rhyme-Tyde what may."-NIS BET on Marks of Cadency, p. 158. He adds, "that Thomas' meaning may be understood by heralds when he speaks of kingdoms whose insignia seldom vary, but that individual families cannot be discovered, either because they have altered their bearornaments, which are changed at the pleasure of the bearer." Mr. Nisbet, however, comforts himself for this obscurity, by reflecting, that " we may certainly conclude, from his writings, that herauldry was in good esteem in his days, and well known to the vulgar."-Ibid. p. 160. It may be added, that the publication of predictions, either printed or hieroglyphical, in which noble families were pointed out by their armorial bearings, was, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, extremely common; and the influence of such predictions on the minds of the common people was so great as to occasion a prohibition by statute, of prophecy by reference to heraldic emblems. Lord Henry Howard also (afterwards Ear! of Northampton] directs against this practice much of the rea soning in his learned treatise, entitled, "A Defensation against the Poyson of pretended Prophecies." |