Save but the solitary way To Burndale's ruin'd grange. A woful place was that, I ween, As sorrow could desire; For nodding to the fall was each crumbling wall, And the roof was scathed with fire. It fell upon a summer's eve, While, on Carnethy's head, The last faint gleams of the sun's low beams And the convent bell did vespers tell, And mingled with the solemn knell The heavy knell, the choir's faint swell, Deep sunk in thought, I ween, he was, He gazed on the walls, so scathed with fire, "Now, Christ thee save!" said the Gray Brother; "O come ye from east, or come ye from west, "I come not from the shrine of St. James the divine, Nor bring reliques from over the sea; I bring but a curse from our father the Pope, "Now, woful pilgrim, say not so! And shrive thee so clean of thy deadly sin, "And who art thou, thou Gray Brother, When He, to whom are given the keys of earth and heaven, Has no power to pardon me ?" 'O I am sent from a distant clime, When on his neck an ice-cold hand * foot, in order to visit him. The beauty of this striking scene has been much injured, of late years, by the indiscriminate use of the axe. The traveller now looks in vain for the leafy bower, "Where Jonson sat in Drummond's social shade." Upon the whole, tracing the Eske from its source, till it joins the sea at Musselburgh, no stream in Scotland can boast such a varied succession of the most interesting objects, as well as of the most romantic and beautiful scenery. 1803. -The beautiful scenery of Hawthornden has, since the above note was written, recovered all its proper ornament of wood. 1831. WAR-SONG OF THE ROYAL EDINBURGH LIGHT DRAGOONS. BY WALTER SCOTT. "Nennius. Is not peace the end of arms? Caratach. Not where the cause implies a general conquest. Had we a difference with some petty isle, Or with our neighbours, Britons, for our landmarks, Or making head against a slight commotion, The gods we worship, and, next these, our honours, It must not be-No! as they are our foes, Bonduca. THE following War-Song was written during the apprehension of an invasion. The corps of volunteers to which it was addressed, was raised in 1797, consisting of gentlemen, mounted and armed at their own expense. It still subsists, as the Right Troop of the Royal Mid-Lothian Light Cavalry, commanded by the Honourable Lieutenant-Colonel Dundas.t The noble and constitutional measure of arming freemen in defence of their own rights, was nowhere more successful than in Edinburgh, which furnished a force of 3000 armed and disciplined volunteers, including a regiment of cavalry, from the city and county, and two corps of artillery, each capable of others, might, in similar circumstances, be applied serving twelve guns. To such a force, above all the exhortation of our ancient Calgacus: "Proinde ituri in aciem, et majores vestros ct posteros cogitate." 1812. WAR-SONG OF THE ROYAL EDINBURGH LIGHT DRAGOONS. To horse! to horse! the standard flies, The Gallic navy stems the seas, From high Dunedin's towers we come, Our casques the leopard's spoils surround, Though tamely crouch to Gallia's frown Their ravish'd toys though Romans mourn; Oh! had they mark'd the avenging call || Shall we, too, bend the stubborn head, Dress our pale cheek in timid smile, Or brook a victor's scorn? [The song originally appeared in the Scots Magazine for 1802. 1 Now Viscount Melville.-1831. The royal colours. [The contemporary criticism on this noble ballad was all feeble, but laudatory, with the exception of the following remark :"The painter is justly blamed, whose figures do not correspond-Ep.1 with his landscape-who assembles banditti in an Elysium, or bathing loves in a lake of storm. The same adaptation of parts is expedient in the poet. The stanzas 'Sweet are thy paths, O passing sweet!' 'And classic Hawthornden,' disagreeably contrast with the mysterious gloomy character of the ballad. Were these omitted, it would merit high rank for the terrific expectation it excites by the majestic introduction, and the awful close."-Critical Review, November, 1803.-ED.] The allusion is to the massacre of the Swiss Guards, on the fatal 10th August, 1792. It is painful, but not useless, to remark, that the passive temper with which the Swiss regarded the death of their bravest countrymen, mercilessly slaughtered in discharge of their duty, encouraged and authorized the progressive injustice, by which the Alps, once the seat of the most virtuous and free people upon the continent, have, at length, been converted into the citadel of a foreign and military despot. A state degraded is half enslaved.-1812. No! though destruction o'er the land Come pouring as a flood, For gold let Gallia's legions fight, Unbribed, unbought, our swords we draw, To guard our king, to fence our law, If ever breath of British gale Or footstep of invader rude, With rapine foul, and red with blood, Pollute our happy shore, Then farewell home! and farewell friends! Resolved, we mingle in the tide, To horse! to horse! the sabres gleam; LORD SOULIS. BY JOHN LEYDEN. THE subject of the following ballad is a popular tale of the Scottish Borders. It refers to transactions of a period so important, as to have left an indelible impression on the popular mind, and almost to have effaced the traditions of earlier times. The fame of Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table, always more illustrious among the Scottish Borderers, from their Welsh origin, than Fin Maccoul, and Gow Macmorne, who seem not, however, to have been totally unknown, yielded gradually to the reDown of Wallace, Bruce, Douglas, and the other patrots, who so nobly asserted the liberty of their country. Beyond that period, numerous, but obscure and varying legends, refer to the marvellous Merlin, or Myrrdin the Wild, and Michael Scott, both magicians of notorious fame. In this instance the enchanters have triumphed over the true man. But the charge of magic was transferred from the ancient.sorcerers to the objects of popular resentment of every age: and the partisans of the Baliols, the abetters of the English faction, and the enemies of the Protestant and of the Presbyterian reformation, have been indiscriminately stigmatized as necromancers and warlocks. Thus, Lord Soulis, Archbishop Sharp, Grierson of Lagg, and Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, receive from tradition the same supernatural attributes. According to Dalrymplet the family of Soulis seems to have been powerful during the contest between Bruce and Balol; for adhering to the latter of whom they incurred forfeiture. Their power extended over the South and West Marches; and near Deadrigs, in the parish of Eccles, in the East Marches, their familybearings still appear on an obelisk. William de Soulis, Justiciarius Laodoniæ, in 1281, subscribed the famous obligation, by which the nobility of Scotland bound themselves to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Maid of Norway and her descendants: (RHYMER, tom. ii. pp. 266,)—and, in 1291, Nicholas de Soulis appears as a competitor for the crown of Scotland, which he claimed as the heir of Margery, a bastard daughter of Alexander II., and wife of Allan Durward, or Chuissier.-CARTE, p. 177. DALRYMPLE'S Annals, vol. i. p. 203. But their power was not confined to the Marches; for the barony of Saltoun, in the shire of Haddington, derived its name from the family; being de*(Sir Walter Scott was, at the time when he wrote this song, Quartermaster of the Edinburgh Light Cavalry. See one of the Epistles Introductory to Marmion.-ED.] Dalrymple's Collection concerning the Scottish History, p. 395. signed Soulistoun, in a charter to the predecessors of Nevoy of that Ilk, seen by Dalrymple; and the same frequently appears among those of the benefactors and witnesses in the chartularies of abbeys, particularly in that of Newbottle. Ranulphus de Soulis occurs as a witness, in a charter, granted by King David, of the teinds of Stirling; and he, or one of his successors, had afterwards the appellation of Pincerna Regis. The following notices of the family and its decline, are extracted from Robertson's Index of Lost Charters.§ Various repetitions occur, as the index is copied from different rolls, which appear to have never been accurately arranged. Charter to the Abbacie of Melross, of that part of the barony of Westerker, quhilk perteint to Lord Soulis-a Rob. I, in vicecom. Melrose. To the Abbey of Craigelton, quhilkis perteint to Lord Soullis-ab eodem-Candida Casa. To John Soullis, knight, of the lands of Kirkanders and To John Soullis, knight, of the baronie of Torthorald- To John Soullis, of the lands of Kirkanders--ab eodem- To John Soullis, of the barony of Kirkanders-que fuit To James Lord Douglas, the half lands of the barony of To Robert Stewart, the son and heir of Walter Stewart, To Robert Bruce, of the lands of Liddesdale, whilk To Robert Bruce, son to the King, the lands of Liddes- To Archibald Douglas, of the baronie of Kirkanders, To Murdoch Menteith, of the lands of Gilmerton, quhilk To Waltero Senescallo Scotine of Nesbit, (exceptand the To William Lord Douglas, of the lands of Lyddal, whilkis To James Lord Douglas, of the barony of Westerker, The hero of tradition seems to be William Lord Soulis, whose name occurs so frequently in the foregoing list of forfeitures; by which he appears to have possessed the whole district of Liddesdale, with Westerkirk and Kirkandrews, in Dumfries-shire, the lands of Gilmertoun near Edinburgh, and the rich baronies of Nisbet, Longnewton, Caverton, Maxtoun, and Mertoun, in Roxburghshire. He was of royal descent, being the grandson of Nicholas de Soulis, who claimed the crown of Scotland, in right of his grandmother, daughter to Alexander II.; and who, could her legitimacy have been ascertained, must have excluded the other competitors. The elder brother of William was John de Soulis, a gallant warrior, warmly attached to the interests of his country, who, with fifty Borderers, defeated and made prisoner Sir Andrew Harclay, at the head of three hundred Englishmen, and was himself slain fighting in the cause of Edward the Bruce, at the battle of Dundalk, in Ireland, 1318. He had been joint-warden of the kingdom with John Cummin, after the abdication of the immortal Wallace, in 1300; in which character he was recognised by John Baliol, who, in a charter granted after his dethrone Transactions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, vol. i. p. 269. Index of many records of charters granted between 1309 and 1413, published by W. Robertson, Esq. ment and dated at Rutherglen, in the ninth year of his reign (1302,) styles him " Custos regni nostri." The treason of William, his successor, occasioned the downfall of the family. This powerful baron entered into a conspiracy against Robert the Bruce, in which many persons of rank were engaged. The object, according to Barbour, was to elevate Lord Soulis to the Scottish throne. The plot was discovered by the Countess of Strathern. Lord Soulis was seized at Berwick, although he was attended, says Barbour, by three hundred and sixty squires, besides many gallant knights. Having confessed his guilt in full Parliament, his life was spared by the King; but his domains were forfeited, and he himself confined in the castle of Dumbarton, where he died. Many of his accomplices were executed; among others, the gallant David de Brechin, nephew to the King, whose sole crime was having concealed the treason, in which he disdained to participate.* The Parliament, in which so much noble blood was shed, was long remembered by the name of the Black Parliament. It was held in the year 1320. From this period, the family of Soulís make no figure in our annals. Local tradition, however, more faithful to the popular sentiment than history, has recorded the character of their chief, and attributed to him many actions which seem to correspond with that character. His portrait is by no means flattering; uniting every quality which could render strength formidable, and cruelty detestable. Combining prodigious bodily strength, with cruelty, avarice, dissimulation, and treachery, is it surprising that a people, who attributed every event of life, in a great measure, to the interference of good or evil spirits, should have added to such a character the mystical horrors of sorcery? Thus, he is represented as a cruel tyrant and sorcerer; constantly employed in oppressing his vassals, harassing his neighbours, and fortifying his Castle of Hermitage against the King of Scotland; for which purpose he employed all means, human and infernal; invoking the fiends by his incantations, and forcing his vassals to drag materials, like beasts of burden. Tradition proceeds to relate, that the Scottish King, irritated by reiterated complaints, peevishly exclaimed to the petitioners, Boil him if you please, but let me hear no more of him." Satisfied with this answer, they proceeded with the utmost haste to execute the commission; which they accomplished by boiling him alive on the Nine-stane Rig, in a cauldron, said to have been long preserved at Skelf-hill, a hamlet betwixt Hawick and the Hermitage. Messengers, it is said, were immediately despatched by the King, to prevent the effects of such a hasty declaration; but they only arrived in time to witness the conclusion of the ceremony. The Castle of Hermitage, unable to support the load of iniquity which had been long accumulating within its walls, is supposed to have partly sunk beneath the ground; and its ruins are still regarded by the peasants with peculiar aversion and terror. The door of the chamber, where Lord Soulis is said to have held his conferences with the evil spirits, is supposed to be opened once in seven years, by that demon, to which, when he left the castle never to return, he committed the keys, by throwing them over his left shoulder, and desiring it to keep them till his return. Into this chamber, which is really the dungeon of the castle, the peasant is afraid to look; for such is the active malignity of its inmate, that a willow inserted at the chinks of the door, is found peeled, or stripped of its bark, when drawn back. The Nine-stane Rig, where Lord Soulis was *As the people thronged to the execution of the gallant youth, they were bitterly rebuked by Sir Ingram de Umfraville, an Eng lish or Norman knight, then a favourite follower of Robert Bruce. "Why press you," said he, "to see the dismal catastrophe of so generous a knight? I have seen ye throng as eagerly around him to share his bounty, as now to behoid his death." With these words he turned from the scene of blood, and repairing to the King, craved leave to sell his Scottish possessions, and to retire from the country. "My heart," said Umfraville, ̧ will not, for the wealth of the world, permit me to dwell any longer, where I have seen such a knight die by the hands of the executioner." With the King's leave, he interred the body of David de Brechin, Bold his lands, and left Scotland for ever. The story is beautifully told by Barbour, book 19th. boiled, is a declivity about one mile in breadth, and four in length, descending upon the Water of Hermitage, from the range of hills which separate Liddesdale and Teviotdale. It derives its name from one of those circles of large stones which are termed Druidical, nine of which remained to a late period. Five of these stones are still visible; and two are particularly pointed out, as those which supported the iron bar, upon which the fatal cauldron was suspended. The formation of ropes of sand, according to popular tradition, was a work of such difficulty, that it was assigned by Michael Scott to a number of spirits, for which it was necessary for him to find some interminable employment. Upon discovering the futility of their attempts to accomplish the work assigned, they petitioned their taskmaster to be al lowed to mingle a few handfuls of barley-chaff with the sand. On his refusal, they were forced to leave untwisted the ropes which they had shaped. Such is the traditionary hypothesis of the vermicular ridges of the sand on the shore of the sea. Redcap is a popular appellation of that class of spirits which haunt old castles. Every ruined tower in the south of Scotland is supposed to have an inhabitant of this species. LORD SOULIS. LORD SOULIS he sat in Hermitage Castle, "While thou shalt bear a charmed life, "Nor forged steel, nor hempen band, "If danger press fast, knock thrice on the chest, Lord Soulis he sat in Hermitage Castle, 66 "And look thou east, and look thou west, He look'd over fell, and he look'd o'er flat The page he look'd at the skrieht of day, Till a horseman gray, in the royal array, Rode down the Hazel-shaw. O May she came, and May she gaed, O May she came, and May she gaed, And who was it but cruel Lord Soulis, He brought her to his castle gray, Says "Be content, my lovely May, With her yellow hair, that glitter'd fair, She sigh'd the name of Branxholm's heir, "Now, be content, my bonny May, Or ever and aye shall ye rue the day You heard young Branxholm's name. "O'er Branxholm tower, ere the morning hour, When the lift is like lead sae blue, The smoke shall roll white on the weary night, Syne he's ca'd on him Ringan Red, From friend, or foe, in Border feid, Red Ringan sped, and the spearmen led Ay many a wight, unmatch'd in fight, And bloody set the westering sun, But little thought young Branxholm's heir He shot the roebuck on the lee, The dun-deer on the law; The glamourt sure was in his ee O'er heathy edge, through rustling sedge, And he thought it was his merry-men true, Far from relief, they seized the chief; Through Hermitage slack they sent him back Syne onward fure for Branxholm tower, * Lift-Sky. ↑ Glamour-Magical delusion. The idea of Lord Soulis' familiar seems to be derived from the curious story of the spirit Orthone and the Lord of Corasse, which, I think, the reader will be pleased to see in all its Gothic simplicity, as translated from Froissart, by the Lord of Berners. "It is great marveyle to consyder one thynge, the whiche was shewed to me in the Earl of Foiz house at Ortayse, of hym that enformed me of the busynesse at Juberothe, [Aljubarota, where the Spaniards, with their French allies, were defeated by the Portrase, A. D. 1385.] He shewed me one thyng that I have often tynes thought on sithe, and shall do as long as I live. As this super told me that of trouthe the next day after the battayl was the fought, at Juberoth, the Erle of Foiz knewe it, whereof I bad at marveyle; for the said Sonday, Monday, and Tuesday, the erle was very pensyf, and so sadde of chere, that no man could have a worde of hym And all the said three days he wold nat Be cut of his chambre, nor speke to any man, though they were Dever so nere about hym. And, on the Tuesday night, he called to him his brother Arnault Guyllyam, and sayd to him, with a soft voice, Our men hath had to do, whereof I am sorrie; for it is come of them by their voyage, as I sayd or they departed. Arnault Guyllyam, who was a sage knight, and knewe right well his brother's condicions, I. e. temper.] stode still, and gave none an And than the erle, who thought to declare his mind more plainlye, for long he had borne the trouble thereof in his herte, akageyn more higher than he dyd before, and sayd, By God, Sir Arnault, it is as I save, and shortely ye shall here tidynges thereof; but the countrey of Byerne, this hundred yere, never lost suche a losse at no journey, as they have done now in Portugal. Dyvera knights and squyers, that were there present, and herde hym say so, stode styll, and durst nat speke, but they remember ed his wordes. And within a ten days after, they knewe the to me! "Now, welcome, noble Branxholm's heir! And broad and bloody rose the sun, When the page was aware of Red Ringan there. To the gate of the tower Lord Soulis he speeds, As he lighted at the wall, Says "Where did ye stable my stalwart steeds And where do they tarry all?" 66 'We stabled them sure, on the Tarras Muir; We stabled them sure," quoth he: "Before we could cross the quaking moss, They all were lost but me.' He clench'd his fist, and he knock'd on the chest And at the third knock each rusty lock He turn'd away his eyes as the lid did rise, And he heard breathed slow, in murmurs low, In muttering sound the rest was drown'd But slow as it rose, the lid did close, * Now rose with Branxholm's ae brother O'er glen and glade, to Soulis there sped And that Teviotdale would soon assail His towers and castle gray. With clenched fist, he knock'd on the chest, And again he heard a groan; And he raised his eyes as the lid did rise, The charm was broke, when the spirit spoke, "Shut fast the door, and for evermore commit to me the key. "Alas! that ever thou raised'st thine eyes, Thine eyes to look on me! Till seven years are o'er, return no more, trouthe thereof, by such as had been at the busynesse, and there they shewed every thinge as it was fortuned at Juberoth. Than the erle renewed agayn his dolour, and all the countreye were in sorrowe, for they had lost their parentes, brethren, chyldren, and frendes. Saint Mary' quod I to the squyer that showed me thys tale, how is it that the Earl of Foiz could know, on one daye, what was done within a day or two before, beyng so farre off? By my faythe, sir,' quod he, as it appeared well, he knewe it.'-Than he is a diviner, quod I, or els he hath messangers, that flyethe with the wynde, or he must needs have some craft. The squyer began to laugh, and sayd, Surely he must know it by some art of negromansye or otherwyse. To say the trouthe, we cannot tell how it is, but by our ymaginacions.'-'Sir,' quod I, suche ymaginacions as ye have therein, if it please you to shew me, I wolde be gladde thereof; and if it bee suche a thynge as ought to be secrete, I shall not publysshe it, nor as long as I am in thys countrey I shall never speke word thereof.'—' I praye you thereof,' quod the squyer, for I wolde nat it shulde be knowen, that I shulde speke thereof. But I shall shewe you, as dyvers men speketh secretelye, whan they be togyder as frendes.' Than he drew me aparte into a corner of the chappell at Ortayse, and then began his tale, and sayd : It is well a twenty yeares paste, that there was, in this coun. trey, a Barone, called Raymond, Lord of Corasse, whyche is a sevyn leagues from this towne of Ortayse. Thys Lorde of Corasse had that same tyme, a plee at Avignon before the Pope, for the dysmes . e. tithes] of his churche, against a clerk, curate there; the whiche priest was of Catelogne. He was a grete clerk, and claymed to have ryghte of the dysmes, in the towne of Corasse, which was valued to an hundred Horens by the yere, and the ryghte that he had, he shewed and proved it; and, by sentence diffvnitive, Pope Urbano the Fyfthe, in consistory gencrall, con Think not but Soulis was wae to yield He threw them o'er his left shoulder, dempned the knighte, and gave judgement wyth the preest, and rasse, when he knewe any thynge, he wrote thereof to the Earl of of this last judgment he had letters of the Pope, for his possession, Foiz, who had great joy thereof; for he was the lord, of all the and so rode tyll he came into Berne, and there shewed his letters worlde, that most desyred to here news out of straunge places. and bulles of the Popes for his possession of his dysmes. The And, on a tyme, the Lord of Corasse was with the Erle of Foiz, Lord of Corasse had gret indignacion at this preest, and came to and the erle demaunded of hym, and sayd, 'Sir of Corasse, dyd hym, and said, Maister Pers, or Maister Mairtin, (as his name ye ever as yet se your messengere ? Nay, surely, sir,' quod the was,) thinkest thou, that by reason of thy letters I will lose mine knyghte, nor I never desyred it. That is marveyle,' quod the herytage-be not so hardy, that thou take any thynge that is erle; if I were as well acquainted with him as ye be, I wolde myne; if thou do, it shall cost thee thy life. Go thy waye into have desyred to have seen hymn; wherefore, I pray you, desyre it some other place to get thee a benefyce, for of myne herytage of him, and then telle me what form and facyon lie is of. I have thou gettest no parte, and ones for alwayes, I defy thee. The herd you say how he speaketh as good Gascon as outher you or L' clerk douted the knight, for he was a cruell man, therefore he Truely, sir,' quod the kuyght, so it is: he speketh as well, and durst nat parceyver. Then he thought to return to Avignon, as as fayr, as any of us both do. And, surely, sir, sithe ye counsayle he dyde; but, whan he departed, he came to the knight, the Lord me, I shall do my payne to see him as I can." And so, on a night, of Corasse, and sayd, Sir, by force, and nat by ryght, ye take as he lay in his bedde, with the ladye his wyfe, who was so intired away from me the ryght of my churche, wherein you greatly hurt to here Orthone, that she was no longer afrayd of hym; than cam your conscience. I am not so strong in this countrey as ye be; Orthone, and pulled the lord by the eare, who was fast asleep, and but, sir, knowe for trouthe, that as soon as I may, I shall sende to therewith he awoke, and asked who was there? I am here,' you suche a champyon, whom ye shall doubte more than me.' quod Orthone. Then he demaunded, From whens comest thou The knight, who doubted nothyng his thretynges, said, 'God be nowe?' 'I come,' quod Orthone, 'from Prague, in Boesme!'with thee; do what thou mayst; I doute no more dethe than.How farre is that hens ?' quod the knyght. A threescore days' lyfe for all thy wordes, I will not lese mine herytage.' Thus, journey,' quod Orthone. And art thou come hens so soon?' quod the clerk departed from the Lord of Corasse, and went I cannot the knyght. Yea truely,' quod Orthone, 'I come as fast as the ell whether into Avygnon or into Catalogne, and forgat nat the wynde, or faster.'-Hast thou than winges? quod the knyght. promise that he had made to the Lord of Corasse or he departed. Nay, truely,' quod he. How canst thou than flye so fast? quod For when the knight thoughte leest on hym, about a three the knyght. 'Ye have nothing to do to knowe that,' quod Ormonethes after, as the knyght laye on a nyght a-bedde in his thone. No?' quod the knyght, I would gladly se thee, to know castelle of Corasse, with the lady, there came to hym messangers what forme thou art of Well,' quod Orthone, ye have nothing invisible, and made a marvellous tempest and noise in the castell, to do to knowe: it sufficeth you to here me, and to shewe you that it seemed as though the castell shulde have fallen downe, tidynges.'-'In faythe.' quod the knyght, I wolde love thee and strak gret strokes at his chambre dore, that the goode ladye, moche better an Í myght se thee ones. Well,' quod Orthone, his wife, was soore afrayde. The knight herd alle, but he spoke sir, sithe you have so gret desyre to se me, the first thynge that no worde thereof; bycause he wolde shewe no abusshed corage, ye se tomorrowe, when ye ryse out of your bedde, the same shall for he was hardy to abyde all adventures. Thys noyse and tem- be I.- That is sufficient, quod the lorde. Go thy way; I gyve pest was in sundry places of the castell, and dured a long space, thee leave to departe for this nyght.' And the next mornynge the and at length cessed for that nyght. Than the nexte mornynge, lord rose, and the ladye his wyfe was so afrayd, that she durst all the servants of the house came to the lord, when he was risen, not ryse, but fayned herself sicke and sayd she wolde not ryse. and sayd, Sir, have you nat herde this night that we have done? Her husband wolde have had her to have rysen. Sir,' quod she, The lord dissembled, and sayd, 'No! I herd nothing-what have than I shall se Orthone, and I wolde not se him by my gode wille." you herde?' Than they shewed him what noyse they hadde -Well,' quod the knyght, I wolde gladly se hym. And so he herde, and how alle the vessel in the kychen was overtowned. arose, fayre and easily, out of his bedde, and sat down on his Than the lord began to laugh, and sayd, Yea, sirs! ye dremed; bedde-syde, wenying to have seen Orthone in his own proper it was nothynge but the wynde. In the name of God!' quod form; but he save nothynge wherbye he myghte say, Lo, yonder the ladye, I herde it well.' The next nyght there was as great is Orthone.' So that day past, and the next night came, and when noyse and greatter, and suche strokes gyven at his chambre dore the knyght was in his bedde, Orthone came, and began to speke, and windows, as alle shulde have broken in pieces. The knyghte as he was accustomed. Go thy waye,' quod the knyght, thou starte up out of his bedde, and wolde not lette, to demaunde arte but a lyer; thou promysest that I shuld have sene the, and it who was at his chambre dore that tyme of the nyght; and anone was not so.'-'No' quod he, and I showed myself to the.'he was answered by a voyce that sayd, 'I am here.' Quod the That is not so,' quod the lord. Why,' quod Orthone, whan ye knyght, Who sent thee hyder?-The clerk of Catelogne sent rose out of your bedde, sawe ye nothynge?' Than the lorde stume hyder,' quod the voice, to whom thou dost gret wronge, for dyed a lytell, and advysed himself well. Yes, truely,' quod the thou hast taken from hym the ryghtes of his benefyce; I will nat knyght, now I remember me, us I sate on my bedde-syde, thynkleave thee in rest tylle thou haste made hym a good accompte, so ing on thee, I sawe two strawes upon the pavement, tumblynge that he be pleased.' Quod the knight, What is thy name, that one upon another. That same was I.' quod Orthone, 'into that thou art so good a messangere ? Quod he, I am called Orthone.' fourme I dyd putte myself as than,- That is not enough to me,' -Orthone!' quod the knight, the servyce of a clerke is lytell quod the lord; I pray thee putte thyselfe into some other fourme, profyte for thee. He wille putte thee to moche payne if thou be-that I may better se and knowe thee.'- Well,' quod Orthone, 'ye leve hym. I pray thee leave hym, and come and serve me; and will do so muche, that ye will lose me, and I to go fro you, for ye I shall give thee goode thanke." Orthone was redy to auns were, desyre to moch of me. Nay,' quod the knyght, thou shalt not for he was inamours with the knyghte, and sayde, Woldest thou go fro me; let me se the ones, and I will desyre no more.'fayne have my servyce?'-' Yea, truly,' quod the knyghte, so Well,' quod Orthone, ye shall se me to-morrowe; take hede, thou do no hurte to any persone in this house.'-'No more I will the first thyng that ye se after ye be out of your chamber, it shall do,' quod Orthone, for I have no power to do any other yvell, but be I.'-- Well,' quod the knyght, I am than content. Go thy to awake thee out of thy slepe, or some other.'- Well, quod the way, lette me slepe.' And so Orthone departed, and the next knyght, do as I tell thee, and we shall soone agree, and leave the mornyng the lord arose, and yssued oute of his chambre, and yvill clerke, for there is no good thyng in him, but to put thee to went to a windowe, and looked downe into the courte of the caspayne; therefore, come and serve me. Well,' quod Orthone, tell, and cast about his eyen. And the firste thing he sawe was a and sythe thou wilt have me, we are agreed.' sowe, the greattest that ever he sawe; and she seemed to be so "So this spyrite Orthone loved so the knight, that oftentymes leane and yvell-favoured, that there was nothyng on her but the he wold come and vysyte him, while he lay in his bedde aslepe, skynne and the bones, with long eares, and a long leane snout. and outher pull him by the eare, or els stryke at his chambre dore The Lord of Corasse had marveyle of that leane sowe, and was or windowe. And, whan the knyght awoke, than he would saye, wery of the sighte of her, and commaunded his men to fetch his Orthone, lat me slepe. Nay,' quod Orthone, that I will nat houndes, and sayd, 'Let the dogges hunt her to dethe, and devour do, tyll I have shewed thee such tydinges as are fallen a-late.' her.' His servants opened the kenells, and lette oute his houndes, The ladye, the knyghtes wyfe, wolde be sore afrayed, that her and dyd sette them on this sowe. And, at the last, this sowe heer wald stand up, and hyde herself under the clothes. Than the made a great crye, and looked up to the Lord of Corasse as he knyght wolde saye, Why, what tidynges has thou brought me?' looked out at a windowe, and so sodaynely vanyshed awaye, no -Quod Orthone, I am come out of England, or out of Hungry, man wyste howe. Than the Lord of Corasse entred into his or some other place, and yesterday I came hens, and such things chambre, right pensyve, and than he remembered hym of Orthone, are fallen, or such other.' So thus the Lord of Corasse knewe, by his messangere, and sayd, I repent me that I set my houndes on Orthone, every thing that was done in any part of the worlde. him. It is an adventure an I here any more of hym; for he sayd And in this case he contynued a fyve yere, and could not kepe his to me oftentymes, that if I displeased hym, I shulde lose hym. own counsayle, but at last discovered it to the Earl of Foiz. I The lord said trouthe, for never after he cam into the castell of shall shewe you howe. Corasse, and also the knyght dyed the same yere next followinge. "So, sir,' said the squyer, thus have I shewed you the lyfe of Orthone, and howe, for a season, he served the Lord of Corasse with newe tidynges.It is true, sir,' said I, but nowe, as to your firste purpose: Is the Earl of Foiz served with suche an messangere? Surely,' quod the squyer, it is the ymagination of many, that he hath such messengers, for ther is nothynge done in any place, but and he sette his myne thereto, he will knowe it, and whan men thynke leest thereof. And so dyd he, when the goode knyghtes and squyers of this country were slayne in Portugale at Guberothe, Some saythe, the knowledge of such thynges hath done him moche profyte, for and there be but the value of a spone lost in his house, anone he will know where it is.' So thus, then, I toke leave of the squyer, and went to other company; but I bare well away his tale."-BoURCHIER'S Transla tion of Froissart's Chronycle, vol. ii. chap. 37. "The firste yere, the Lord of Corasse came on a day to Or. tayse, to the Erle of Foiz, and sayd to him. Sir, such things are done in England, or in Scotland, or in Almange, or in any other Countrey. And ever the Erle of Foiz found his sayeing true, and had great marveyle how he shulde know suche things so shortly. And, on a tyme, the Earl of Foiz examined him so straitly, that the Lord of Corasse shewed hym alle togtyder howe he knewe it, and howe he came to hym firste. When the Erle of Foiz hard that, he was joyfull, and said, Sir of Corase, kepe him well in your love; I wolde I hadd suche an messanger; he costeth you nothyng, and ye knowe by him every thynge that is done in the worlde. The knyght answered, and sayd, Sir, that is true.' Thus, the Lord of Corasse was served with Orthone a long season. I can nat saye if this Orthone hadde any more masters or nat; but every weke, twise or thrise, he wolde come and vysite the Lord of Corasse, and wolde shewe hym such tidyngs of any thing that was fallen fro whens he came. And ever the Lord of Co The circumstance of Lord Soulis having thrown the key over his left shoulder and bid the fiend keep it till his return, is noted |