rose to salute him, and invited him to join in their tions respecting elves. If the Irish elves are anywise distinguished from those of Britain, it seems to be by their disposition to divide into factions, and fight among themselves-a pugnacity characteristic of the Green Isle. The Welsh fairies, according to John Lewis, barrister-at-law, agree in the same general attributes with those of Ireland and Britain. We must not omit the creed of the Manxmen, since we find, from the ingenious researches of Mr. Waldron, that the Isle of Man, beyond other places in Britain, was a peculiar depository of the fairy traditions, which, on the island being conquered by the Norse, became in all probability checkered with those of Scandinavia, from a source peculiar and more direct than that by which they reached Scotland or Ireland. Such as it was, the popular system of the Celts easily received the northern admixture of Drows and Duergar, which gave the belief, perhaps, a darker colouring than originally belonged to the British Fairy land. It was from the same source also, in all probability, that additional legends were obtained, of a gigantic and malignant female, the Hecate of this mythology, who rode on the storm, and marshalled the rambling host of wanderers under her grim banner. This hag (in all respects the reverse of the Mab or Titania of the Celtic creed) was called Nicneven, in that latter system which blended the faith of the Celts and of the Goths on this subject. The great Scottish poet Dunbar has made a spirited description of this Hecate riding at the head of witches and good neighbours, (fairies, namely,) sorceresses and elves, indifferently, upon the ghostly eve of All-Hallow Mass.t In Italy we hear of the hags arraying themselves under the orders of Diana, (in her triple character of Hecate, doubtless,) and Herodias, who were the joint leaders of Individuals whose lives have been engaged in in- their choir. But we return to the more simple fairy trigues of politics or stratagems of war were some-belief, as entertained by the Celts before they were times surreptitiously carried off to Fairy land; as conquered by the Saxons. Alison Pearson, the sorceress who cured Archbishop Adamson, averred that she had recognised in the Fairy court the celebrated Secretary Lethington, and the old Knight of Buccleugh, the one of whom had been the most busy politician, the other one of the most unwearied partisans of Queen Mary, during the reign of that unfortunate queen. Upon the whole, persons carried off by sudden death were usually suspected of having fallen into the hands of fairies, and unless redeemed from their power, which it was not always safe to attempt, were doomed to conclude their lives with them. We must not omit to state, that those who had an intimate communication with these spirits, while they were yet inhabit ants of middle earth, were most apt to be seized upon and carried off to Elfland before their death. Of these early times we can know little; but it is singular to remark what light the traditions of Scotland throw upon the poetry of the Britons of Cumberland, then called Reged. Merlin Wyllt, or the wild, is mentioned by both; and that renowned wizard, the son of an elf, or fairy, with King Arthur, the dubious champion of Britain at that early period, were both said by tradition to have been abstracted by the fairies, and to have vanished, without having suffered death, just at the time when it was supposed, that the magic of the wizard, and the celebrated sword of the monarch, which had done so much to preserve British independence, could no longer avert the impending ruin. It may be conjectured that there was a desire on the part of Arthur, or his surviving champions, to conceal his having received a mortal wound in the fatal battle of Camlan; and to that we owe the wild and beautiful incident so finely versified by Bishop Percy, in which, in token of his renouncing in future the use of arms, the monarch sends his attendant, sole surviver of the field, to throw his sword, Excalibar, into the lake hard by. Twice eluding the request, the esquire at last complied, and threw the far-famed weapon into the lonely meer. A hand and arm arose from the water and caught Excalibar by the hilt, flourished it thrice, and then sank into the lake.+ The astonished messenger returned to his master to tell him of the marvels he had seen, but he only saw a boat at a distance push from the land, and heard shrieks of females in agony : The reason assigned for this kidnapping of the human race, so peculiar to the elfin people, is said to be, that they were under a necessity of paying to the infernal regions a yearly tribute out of their population, which they were willing to defray by delivering up to the prince of these regions the children of the human race, rather than their own. From this it must be inferred, that they have offspring among themselves, as it is said by some authorities, and particularly by Mr. Kirke, the minister of Aberfoyle. He indeed adds, that, after a certain length of life, these spirits are subject to the universal lot of mortality, a position, however, which has been controverted, and is scarcely reconcilable to that which holds them amenable to pay a tax to hell, which infers existence as eternal as the fire which is not quenched. The "And whether the King was there or not opinions on the subject of the fairy people here exHe never knew, he never colde, pressed, are such as are entertained in the HighFor never since that doleful day lands, and some remote quarters of the Lowlands, Was British Arthur seen on molde." of Scotland. We know, from the lively and enter- The circumstances attending the disappearance of taining legends published by Mr. Crofton Croker-Merlin would probably be found as imaginative as which, though in most cases told with the wit of those of Arthur's removal, but they cannot be recothe editor and the humour of his country, contain points of curious antiquarian information-that the opinions of the Irish are conformable to the account we have given of the general creed of the Celtic naSadducismus Triumphatus, by Joseph Glanville. Edinburgh, 1700, p. 131. vered; and, what is singular enough, circumstances which originally belonged to the history of this famous bard, said to be the son of the Demon himself, have been transferred to a later poet, and surely See Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy, Sco Percy's Relics of Ancient English Poetry. one of scarce inferior name, Thomas of Erceldoune, is asked at you, and I will account for your silence The legend was supposed to be only preserved by saying I took your speech when I brought you among the inhabitants of his native valleys, but a from middle earth." copy as old as the reign of Henry VII. has been recovered. The story is interesting and beautifully told, and, as one of the oldest fairy legends, may well be quoted in this place. 66 46 Having thus instructed her lover, they journeyed on to the castle, and entering by the kitchen, found themselves in the midst of such a festive scene as might become the mansion of a great feudal lord or Thomas of Erceldoune, in Lauderdale, called the prince. Thirty carcasses of deer were lying on the Rhymer, on account of his producing a poetical ro- massive kitchen board, under the hands of nume mance on the subject of Tristrem and Y seult, which rous cooks, who toiled to cut them up and dress is curious as the earliest specimen of English verse them, while the gigantic greyhounds which had taknown to exist, flourished in the reign of Alexan-ken the spoil lay lapping the blood, and enjoying the der III. of Scotland. Like other men of talent of the sight of the slain game. They came next to the period, Thomas was suspected of magic. He was royal hall, where the king received his loving consaid also to have the gift of prophecy, which was sort without censure or suspicion. Knights and inaccounted for in the following peculiar manner, re- dies, dancing by threes, (reels, perhaps,) occupied ferring entirely to the Elfin superstition. As True the floor of the hall, and Thomas, the fatigues of Thomas (we give him the epithet by anticipation) his journey from the Eildon hills forgotten, went lay on Huntley bank, a place on the descent of the forward and joined in the revelry. After a period, Eildon hills, which raise their triple crest above the however, which seemed to him a very short one, the celebrated monastery of Melrose, he saw a lady so queen spoke with him apart, and bade him prepare extremely beautiful that he imagined it must be the to return to his own country. "Now," said the Virgin Mary herself. Her appointments, however, queen, "how long think you that you have been were those rather of an Amazon or goddess of the here?"-" Certes, fair lady," answered Thomas, woods. Her steed was of the highest beauty and not above these seven days."-"You are deceivspirit, and at his mane hung thirty silver bells and ed," answered the queen, you have been seven nine, which made music to the wind as she paced years in this castle; and it is full time you were along: her saddle was of royal bone, (ivory,) laid gone. Know, Thomas, that the fiend of hell will over with orfeverie, i. e. goldsmith's work: her come to this castle to-morrow to demand his tristirrups, her dress, all corresponded with her ex- bute, and so handsome a man as you will attract treme beauty and the magnificence of her array. his eye. For all the world would I not suffer you The fair huntress had her bow in hand, and her ar- to be betrayed to such a fate; therefore up, and let rows at her belt. She led three greyhounds in a us be going." These terrible news reconciled Tholeash, and three raches, or hounds of scent, followed mas to his departure from Elfin land, and the queen her closely. She rejected and disclaimed the homage was not long in placing him upon Huntly bank, which Thomas desired to pay to her; so that, pass- where the birds were singing. She took a tender ing from one extremity to the other, Thomas be- leave of him, and to ensure his reputation, bestowed came as bold as he had at first been humble. The on him the tongue which could not lie. Thomas lady warns him that he must become her slave, if in vain objected to this inconvenient and involuntahe should prosecute his suit towards her in the man-ry adhesion to veracity, which would make him, as ner he proposes. Before their interview terminates, the appearance of the beautiful lady is changed into that of the most hideous hag in existence; one side is blighted and wasted, as if by palsy; one eye drops from her head; her colour, as clear as the virgin silver, is now of a dun leaden hue. A witch from the spital or almshouse would have been a goddess in comparison to the late beautiful huntress. Hideous as she was, Thomas's irregular desires had placed him under the control of this hag, and when she Thomas remained several years in his own tower bade him take leave of sun, and of the leaf that near Erceldoune, and enjoyed the fame of his pregrew on tree, he felt himself under the necessity of dictions, several of which are current among the obeying her. A cavern received them, in which, fol- country people to this day. At length, as the prolowing his frightful guide, he for three days travelled phet was entertaining the Earl of March in his in darkness, sometimes hearing the booming of a dwelling, a cry of astonishment arose in the village, distant ocean, sometimes walking through rivers of on the appearance of a hart and hind, which left blood, which crossed their subterranean path. At the forest, and, contrary to their shy nature, came length, they emerged into daylight, in a most beau-quietly onward, traversing the village towards the tiful orchard. Thomas, almost fainting for want of food, stretches out his hand towards the goodly fruit which hangs around him, but is forbidden by his conductress, who informs him these are the fatal apples which were the cause of the fall of man. He perceives also that his guide had no sooner entered this mysterious ground, and breathed its magic air, than she was revived in beauty, equipage, and splendour, as fair or fairer than he had first seen her on the mountain. She then commands him to lay his head upon her knee, and proceeds to explain to him the character of the country. "Yonder right-hand path," she says, "conveys the spirits of the bless'd to paradise; yon downward and well-worn way leads sinful souls to the place of everlasting punishment; the third road, by yonder dark brake, conducts to the milder place of pain, from which prayer and mass may release offenders. But see you yet a fourth road, sweeping along the plain to yonder splendid castle? yonder is the road to Elfland, to which we are now bound. The lord of the castle is king of the country, and I am his queen. But, Thomas, I would rather be drawn with wild horses, than he should know what hath passed between you and me. Therefore, when we enter yonder castle, observe strict silence, and answer no question that he thought, unfit for church or for market, for king's court or for lady's bower. But all his remonstrances were disregarded by the lady, and Thomas the Rhymer, whenever the discourse turned on the future, gained the credit of a prophet whether he would or not; for he could say nothing but what was sure to come to pass. It is plain, that had Thomas been a legislator instead of a poet, we have here the story of Numa and Egeria. dwelling of Thomas. The prophet instantly rose from the board; and, acknowledging the prodigy as the summons of his fate, he accompanied the hart and hind into the forest, and though occasionally seen by individuals to whom he has chosen to show himself, has never again mixed familiarly with mankind. Thomas of Erceldoune, during his retirement, has been supposed, from time to time, to be levying forces to take the field in some crisis of his country's fate. The story has often been told, of a daring horse-jockey having sold a black horse to a man of venerable and antique appearance, who appointed the remarkable hillock upon Eildon hills, called the Lucken hare, as the place where, at twelve o'clock at night, he should receive the price. He came, his money was paid in ancient coin, and he was invited by his customer to view his residence. The trader in horses followed his guide in the deepest astonishment through several long ranges of stalls, in each of which a horse stood motionless, while an armed warrior lay equally still at the charger's feet. All these men," said the wizard, in a whisper, * This last circumstance seems imitated from a passage in the Life of Merlin, by Jeffrey of Monmouth. See Ellis's Ancient Re mances, vol. i. p. 73. 1 "will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmoor." Ating. But the money I had received was just double the extremity of this extraordinary depot hung a of what I esteemed it when the woman paid me, sword and a horn, which the prophet pointed out to of which, at this instant, I have several pieces to the horse dealer as containing the means of dissolv-show, consisting of ninepennies, thirteen-penceing the spell. The man in confusion took the horn, halfpennies," &c. and attempted to wind it. The horses instantly started in their stalls, stamped, and shook their bridles, the men arose and clashed their armour, and the mortal, terrified at the tumult he had excited, dropped the horn from his hand. A voice like that of a giant, louder even than the tumult around, pronounced these words: "Wo to the coward that ever he was born, It is a great pity that this horse-dealer, having specimens of the fairy coin, of a quality more permanent than usual, had not favoured us with an account of an impress so valuable to medallists. It is not the less edifying, as we are deprived of the more picturesque parts of the story, to learn that Thomas's payment was as faithful as his prophecies. The beautiful lady who bore the purse must have been undoubtedly the Fairy Queen, whose affection, though like that of his own heroine Yseult, we cannot term it altogether laudable, seems yet to have borne a faithful and firm character. I have dwelt at some length on the story of Thomas the Rhymer, as the oldest tradition of the kind which has reached us in detail, and as pretending to istence, and its date, are established both by history and records; and who, if we consider him as writing in the Anglo-Norman language, was certainly one among the earliest of its versifiers. But the legend is still more curious, from its being the first, and most distinguished instance, of a man alleged to have obtained supernatural knowledge by means of the fairies. That did not draw the sword before he blew the horn 1" A whirlwind expelled the horse-dealer from the cavern, the entrance to which he could never again find. A moral might be perhaps extracted from the legend, namely, that it is best to be armed against danger before bidding it defiance. But it is a circumstance worth notice, that although this edition of the tale is limited to the year 1715, by the very men-show the fate of the first Scottish poet, whose extion of the Sheriffmoor, yet a similar story appears to have been current during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, which is given by Reginald Scott. The narrative is edifying, as peculiarly illustrative of the mode of marring a curious tale in telling it, which was one of the virtues professed by Caius when he hired himself to King Lear. Reginald Scott, incredulous on the subject of witchcraft, seems to have given some weight to the belief of those who thought that the spirits of famous men do, after death, take up some particular habitations near cities, towns, and countries, and act as tutelary and guardian spirits to the places which they loved while in the flesh. Some are, Whence or how this singular community derived their more common popular name, we may say has not as yet been very clearly established. It is the opinion of the learned, that the Persian word Peri, expressing an unearthly being, of a species very similar, will afford the best derivation, if we suppose "But more particularly to illustrate this conjec-it to have reached Europe through the medium of ture," says he, "I could name a person who hath the Arabians, in whose alphabet the letter P does lately appeared thrice since his deccase, at least not exist, so that they pronounce the word Feri insome ghostly being or other that calls itself by the stead of Peri. Still there is something uncertain in name of such a person, who was dead above a hun- this etymology. We hesitate to ascribe, either to dred years ago, and was, in his lifetime, accounted the Persians or the Arabians, the distinguishing as a prophet or predictor, by the assistance of sublu- name of an ideal commonwealth, the notion of which nary spirits; and now, at his appearance, did also they certainly did not contribute to us. give strange predictions respecting famine and plen- therefore, tempted to suppose, that the elves may ty, war and bloodshed, and the end of the world." have obtained their most frequent name from their By the information of the person that had commu- being, par excellence, a fair or comely people, a quanication with him, the last of his appearances was lity which they affected on all occasions; while the in the following manner. "I had been," said he, "to superstition of the Scottish was likely enough to sell a horse at the next market town, but not at- give them a name which might propitiate the vanity taining my price, as I returned home, by the way I for which they deemed the race remarkable; just as met this man, who began to be familiar with me, in other instances, they called the fays men of asking what news, and how affairs moved through peace," "good neighbours," and by other titles of the country? I answered as I thought fit; withal the like import. It must be owned, at the same I told him of my horse, whom he began to cheapen, time, that the words fay and fairy may have been and proceeded with me so far that the price was mere adoptions of the French fee and feerie, though agreed upon. So he turned back with me, and told these terms, on the other side of the channel, have me that if I would go along with him, I should re- reference to a class of spirits corresponding, not to ceive my money. On our way we went, I upon my our fairies, but with the far different Fata of the horse, and he upon another milk-white beast. Af Italians. But this is a question which we willingly ter much travel, I asked him where he dwelt, and leave for the decision of better etymologists than what his name was? He told me that his dwelling ourselves. was a mile off at a place called Farran, of which place I had never heard, though I knew all the country round about. He also told me that he himself was that person of the family of Learmonths,† so much spoken of as a prophet. At which I began to be somewhat fearful, perceiving we were on a road which I never had been on before, which increased my fear and amazement more. Well! on we went till he brought me under ground, I knew not how, into the presence of a beautiful woman, who paid the money without a word speaking. He conducted me out again through a large and long entry, where I saw above six hundred men in armour laid prostrate on the ground, as if asleep. At last I found myself in the open field, by the help of the moonlight, in the very place where I first met him, and made a shift to get home by three in the morn In this the author is in the same ignorance as his namesake Reginald, though having at least as many opportunities of information. In popular tradition, the name of Thomas the Rhymer was always averred to be Learmonth, though he neither uses it himself, nor is described by his son other than Le Rymour. The Learmonths of Dairsie, in Fife, claimed descent from the prophet. LETTER V. Those who dealt in Fortune-telling, Mystical Cures by Charms, and the like, often claimed an Intercourse with Fairy LandHudhart or Hudikin-Pitcairn's Scottish Criminal Trials-Story of Bessie Dunlop and her Adviser-Her Practice of Medicineand of Discovery of Theft-Account of her Familiar, Thome Reid-Trial of Alison Pearson-Account of her Familiar, William Sympson-Trial of the Lady Fowlis, and of Hector Munro, her step-son-Extraordinary Species of Charm used by the latter -Confession of John Stewart, a Juggler, of his Intercourse with the Fairies-Trial and Confession of Isobel Gowdie-Use of Elf-arrow Heads-Parish of Aberfoyle-Mr. Kirke, the Minister of Aberfoyle's Work on Fairy Superstitions-He is himself taken to Fairyland-Dr. Grahame's interesting Work, and his Information on Fairy Superstitions-Story of a Female in East Lothian carried off by the Fairies--Another Instance from Pennant. To return to Thomas the Rhymer, with an account of whose legend I concluded the last letter, it would seem, that the example which it afforded ! Discourse of Devils and Spirits appended to the Discovery of Witchcraft, by Reginald Scott, Esq., book iü. chap. ii. § 19. so powerful in the case of Lord Soulis, and other wizards, to whom the Scots assigned rather more serious influence. The most special account which I have found of the intercourse between fairy land and a female professing to have have some influence in that court, combined with a strong desire to be useful to the distressed of both sexes, occurs in the early part of a work to which I have been exceedingly obliged in the present and other publications. The details of the evidence, which consists chiefly of the unfortu nate woman's own confession, are more full than usual, and comprehend some curious particulars. To spare technical repetitions, I must endeavour to select the principal facts in evidence, in detail, so far as they bear upon the present subject. of obtaining the gift of prescience, and other supernatural powers, by means of the fairy people, became the common apology of those who attempted to cure diseases, to tell fortunes, to revenge injuries, or to engage in traffic with the invisible world, for the purpose of satisfying their own wishes, curiosity, or revenge, or those of others. Those who practised the petty arts of deception in such mystic cases, being naturally desirous to screen their own impostures, were willing to be supposed to derive from the fairies, or from mortals transported to fairy land, the power necessary to effect the displays of art which they pretended to exhibit. A confession of direct communication and league with Satan, though the accused were too frequently compelled by torture to admit and avow such horrors, might, the poor wretches hoped, be avoided, by the avowal On the 8th November, 1576, Elizabeth or Bessie of a less disgusting intercourse with sublunary spi- Dunlop spouse to Andro Jak, in Lyne, in the Barony rits, a race which might be described by negatives, of Dalry, Ayrshire, was accused of sorcery and being neither angels, devils, nor the souls of de- witchcraft, and abuse of the people. Her answers ceased men; nor would it, they might flatter them- to the interrogatories of the judges or prosecutors selves, be considered as any criminal alliance, that ran thus. It being required of her, by what art she they held communion with a race not properly hos- could tell of lost goods, or prophesy the event of illtile to man, and willing, on certain conditions, to be ness? She replied, that of herself she had no knowuseful and friendly to him. Such an intercourse ledge or science of such matters, but that when was certainly far short of the witch's renouncing questions were asked at her concerning such mather salvation, delivering herself personally to the ters, she was in the habit of applying to one Thome devil, and at once ensuring condemnation in this Reid, who died at the battle of Pinkie (10th Septemworld, together with the like doom in the next. ber, 1547) as he himself affirmed, and who resolved Accordingly, the credulous, who, in search of her any questions which she asked at him. This health, knowledge, greatness, or moved by any of person she described as a respectable, elderly-lookthe numberless causes for which men seek to look ing man, gray-bearded, and wearing a gray coat, into futurity, were anxious to obtain superhuman with Lombard sleeves, of the auld fashion. A pair assistance, as well as the numbers who had it in of gray breeches and white stockings gartered above view to dupe such willing clients, became, both the knee, a black bonnet on his head, close behind cheated and cheaters, alike anxious to establish the and plain before, with silken laces drawn through possibility of a harmless process of research into the lips thereof, and a white wand in his hand, comfuturity, for laudable or at least innocent objects, pleted the description of what we may suppose a as healing diseases, and the like; in short, of the respectable-looking man of the province and period. existence of white magic, as it was called, in oppo- Being demanded concerning her first interview with sition to that black art exclusively and directly de- this mysterious Thome Reid, she gave rather an af rived from intercourse with Satan. Some endea- fecting account of the disasters with which she was voured to predict a man's fortune in marriage, or his then afflicted, and a sense of which perhaps aided success in life, by the aspect of the stars; others to conjure up the imaginary counsellor. She was pretended to possess spells, by which they could re- walking between her own house and the yard of duce and compel an elementary spirit to enter with- Monk castle, driving her cows to the common pasin a stone, a looking-glass, or some other local place ture, and making heavy moan with herself, weeping of abode, and confine her there by the power of an bitterly for her cow that was dead, her husband and especial charm, conjuring her to abide and answer child that was sick of the land-ill, (some contathe questions of her master. Of these we shall af-gious sickness of the time,) while she herself was in terward say something; but the species of evasion now under our investigation is that of the fanatics or impostors, who pretended to draw information from the equivocal spirits called fairies; and the number of instances before us is so great as induces us to believe, that the pretence of communicating with Elfland, and not with the actual demon, was the manner in which the persons accused of witchcraft most frequently endeavoured to excuse themselves, or at least to alleviate the charges brought against them of practising sorcery, But the Scottish law did not acquit those who accomplished even praiseworthy actions, such as remarkable cures by mysterious remedies; and the proprietor of a patent medicine, who should in those days have attested his having wrought such miracles as we see sometimes advertised, might perhaps have forfeited his life before he established the reputation of his drop, elixir, or pill. Sometimes the soothsayers, who pretended to act on this information from sublunary spirits, soared to higher matters than the practice of physic, and interfered in the fate of nations. When James the First was murdered at Perth, in 1437, a Highland woman prophesied the course and purpose of the conspiracy, and had she been listened to, it might have been disconcerted. Being asked her source of knowledge, she answered, Hudhart had told her; which might either be the same with Hudikin, a Dutch spirit, somewhat similar to Friar Rush, or Robin Goodfellow, or with the red-capped demon "Hudkin is a very familiar devil, who will do nobody hurt, except he receive injury; but he cannot abide that, nor yet be mocked. He talketh with men friendly, sometimes visibly, some. a very infirm state, having lately borne a child. On this occasion, she met Thome Reid for the first time, who saluted her courteously, which she returned. Sancta Maria, Bessie!" said the apparition; "why must thou make such dole and weeping for any earthly thing?"-"Have I not reason for great sorrow," said she," since our property is going to destruction, my husband is on the point of death, my baby will not live, and I am myself at a weak point? Have I not cause to have a sore heart?" Bessie," answered the spirit, "thou hast displeased God in asking something that thou should not, and I counsel you to amend your fault. I tell thee, thy child shall die ere thou get home; thy two sheep shall also die, but thy husband shall recover, and be as well and feir as ever he was." The good woman was something comforted to hear that her husband was to be spared in such her general calamity, but was rather alarmed to see her ghostly counsellor pass from her, and disappear through a hole in the garden wall, seemingly too narrow to admit of any living person passing through it. Another time he met her at the Thorn of Dawmstarnik, and showed his ultimate purpose, by offering her plenty of every thing if she would but deny Christendom, and the times invisibly. There go as many tales upon this Hudkin in some parts of Germany, as there did in England on Robin Goodfellow."-Discourse concerning Devils, annexed to The Diser very of Witchcraft, by REGINALD SCOTT, book i. chap. xx. The curious collection of Trials, from the Criminal Records of Scotland, now in the course of publication, by Robert Pitcairn Esq., affords so singular a picture of the manners and habits of our ancestors, while yet a semibarbarous people, that it is equally worth the attention of the historian, the antiquary, the philoso pher, and the poet. More minutely pressed upon the subject of her familiar, she said she had never known him while among the living, but was aware that the person so calling himself was one who had, in his lifetime, actually been known in middle earth as Thome Reid, officer to the Laird of Blair, and who died at Pinkie. Of this she was made certain, because he sent her on errands to his son, who had succeeded in his office, and to others, his relatives, whom he named, and commanded them to amend certain trespasses which he had done while alive, furnishing her with sure tokens by which they should know that it was he who had sent her. One of these errands was somewhat remarkable. She was to remind a neighbour of some particular which she was to recall to his memory by the token, that Thome Reid and he had set out together to go to the battle which took place on the Black Saturday; that the person to whom the message was sent, was inclined rather to move in a different direction, but that Thome Reid heartened him to pursue his journey, and brought him to the Kirk of Dalry, where he bought a parcel of figs, and made a present of them to his companion, tying them in his handkerchief; after which they kept company till they came to the field upon the fatal Black Saturday, as the battle of Pin faith she took at the font stone. She answered, I to have flourished indifferently well till it drew the that rather than do that she would be torn at horses evil eye of the law upon her. heels, but that she would be conformable to his advice in less matters. He parted with her in some displeasure. Shortly afterward he appeared in her own house, about noon, which was at the time occupied by her husband and three tailors. But neither Andro Jak nor the three tailors were sensible of the presence of the phantom warrior who was slain at Pinkie; so that without attracting their observation, he led out the goodwife to the end of the house near the kiln. Here he showed her a company of eight women and four men. The women were busked in their plaids, and very seemly. The strangers saluted her, and said, "Welcome, Bessie; wilt thou go with us?" But Bessie was silent, as Thome Reid had previously recommended. After this she saw their lips move, but did not understand what they said; and in a short time they removed from thence, with a hideous ugly howling sound, like that of a hurricane. Thome Reid then acquainted her that these were the good wights (fairies) dwelling in the court of Elfland, who came to invite her to go thither with them. Bessie answered, that before she went that road, it would require some consideration. Thome answered, "Seest thou not me both meat worth, clothes worth, and well enough in person?" and engage she should be easier than ever she was. But, she replied, she dwelt with her hus-kie was long called. band and children, and would not leave them; to which Thome Reid replied, in very ill-humour, that if such were her sentiments, she would get little good of him. Of Thome's other habits, she said that he always behaved with the strictest propriety, only that he pressed her to go to Elfland with him, and took hold of her apron as if to pull her along. Again, she said she had seen him in public places, both in the church-yard at Dalry, and on the street of Edinburgh, where he walked about among other people, and handled goods that were exposed to sale without attracting any notice. She herself did not then speak to him; for it was his command that, upon such occasions, she should never address him, unless he spoke first to her. In his theological opinions, Mr. Reid appeared to lean to the Church of Rome, which, indeed, was most indulgent to the fairy folk. He said that the new law, i. e. the Reformation, was not good, and that the old faith should return again, but not exactly as it had been before. Being questioned why this visionary sage attached himself to her more than to others, the accused person replied, that when she was confined in childbirth of one of her boys, a stout woman came into her hut, and sat down on a bench by her bed, like a mere earthly gossip; that she demanded a drink, and was accommodated accordingly; and thereafter told the invalid that the child should die, but that her husband, who was then ailing, should Although they thus disagreed on the principal object of Thome Reid's visits, Bessie Dunlop affirmed he continued to come to her frequently, and assist her with his counsel; and that if any one consulted her about the ailments of human beings or of cattle, or the recovery of things lost or stolen, she was, by the advice of Thome Reid, always able to answer the querists. She was also taught by her (literally ghostly) adviser, how to watch the operation of the ointments he gave her, and to presage from them the recovery or death of the patient. She said that Thome gave her herbs with his own hand, with which she cured John Jack's bairn and Wilson's of the Townhead. She also was helpful to a waitingwoman of the young Lady Stanlie, daughter of the Lady Johnstone, whose disease, according to the opinion of the infallible Thome Reid, was a cauld blood that came about her heart," and frequently caused her to swoon away. For this Thome mixed a remedy as generous as the Balm of Gilead itself. It was composed of the most potent ale, concocted with spices and a little white sugar, to be drunk every morning before taking food. For these pre-recover. This visit seems to have been previous to scriptions, Bessie Dunlop's fee was a peck of meal and some cheese. The young woman recovered. But the poor old Lady Kilbowie could get no help for her leg, which had been crooked for years; for Thome Reid said the marrow of the limb was perished, and the blood benumbed, so that she would never recover, and if she sought farther assistance, it would be the worse for her. These opinions indicate common sense and prudence at least, whether we consider them as originating with the umquhile Thome Reid, or with the culprit whom he patronised. The judgments given in the case of stolen goods were also well chosen; for though they seldom led to recovering the property, they generally If the delicacy of the reader's imagination be a alleged such satisfactory reasons for its not being little hurt at imagining the elegant Titania in the found, as effectually to cover the credit of the pro- disguise of a stout woman, a heavy burden for a phetess. Thus Hugh Scott's cloak could not be re- clumsy bench, drinking what Christopher Sly turned, because the thieves had gained time to make would have called very sufficient small-beer with a it into a kirtle. James Jamieson and James Baird peasant's wife, the following description of the fairy would, by her advice, have recovered their plough-host may come more near the idea he has formed of irons which had been stolen, had it not been the will of fate that William Dougal, sheriff's officer, one of the parties searching for them, should accept a bribe of three pounds not to find them. In short, although she lost a lace which Thome Reid gave her out of his own hand, which, tied round women in childbirth, had the power of helping their delivery, Bessie Dunlop's profession of a wise woman seems her meeting Thome Reid near Monkcastle garden, for that worthy explained to her that her stout visitant was Queen of Fairies, and that he had since attended her by the express command of that lady, his queen and mistress. This reminds us of the extreme doting attachment which the Queen of the Fairies is represented to have taken for Dapper in the Alchymist. Thome Reid attended her, it would seem, on being summoned thrice, and appeared to her very often within four years. He often requested her to go with him on his return to fairyland, and when she refused, he shook his head, and said she would repent it. that invisible company. Bessie Dunlop declared, that as she went to tether her nag by the side of Restalrig Loch, (Lochend, near the eastern port of Edinburgh,) she heard a tremendous sound of a body of riders rushing past her, with such a noise as if heaven and earth would come together. That the sound swept past her, and seemed to rush into the lake with a hideous rumbling noise. All this while |