"You seem to be no gentleman, "I am no cunning hunter," he said, To seek the love of thee; 2 "If you should die for me, sir knight, "But ye maun read my riddle,” she said, 2 "Now what is the flower, the ae first flower, Springs either on moor or dale? And what is the bird, the bonnie, bonnie bird, Sings on the evening gale ?" "The primrose is the ae first flower, Springs either on moor or dale; And the thistlecock is the bonniest bird, Sings on the evening gale." "But what's the little coin," she said, "Oh hey, how mony small pennies 1 Hanging low. 2 Lament. "I think ye maun be my match," she said, 66 My match, and something mair, You are the first e'er got the grant "My father was lord of nine castles, My father was lord of nine castles, "And round about a' thae castles. "Oh hald your tongue, lady Margret," he said, "For loud I hear you lie ! Your father was lord of nine castles, Your mother was lady of three; Your father was lord of nine castles, "And round about a' thae castles, "I am your brother, Willie," he said, I came to humble your haughty heart, "If ye be my brother Willie," she said, This night I'll neither eat nor drink, But gae alang wi' thee." "Oh hald your tongue, lady Margret," he said, (6 Again I hear you lie ; For ye've unwashen hands, and ye've un washen feet,1 To gae to clay wi' me. 1 "Alluding to the custom of washing and dressing dead bodies."-Scott. "For the wee worms are my bed-fellows, And when the stormy winds do blow, THE WEE WEE MAN. THIS fragment was published by David Herd in the first edition of his collection, 1769. As I was walking all alane, Between the water and the wa', And he was the least that e'er I saw. His legs were scarce a shathmont's length,1 And between his shoulders there was three. He took up a meikle stane, And he flang't as far as I could see; "Oh, wee wee man, but thou be strang! On we lap, and awa' we rade, Till we came to yon bonnie green; And out there came a lady sheen. 1 The fist closed, with the thumb extended, and may be considered a measure of about six inches. Four-and-twenty at her back, And they were a' clad out in green; On we lap, and awa' we rade, Till we came to yon bonnie ha', When we came to the stair foot, CHRISTIE'S WILL. "In the reign of Charles I., when the moss-trooping practices were not entirely discontinued, the tower of Gilnockie, in the parish of Cannoby, was occupied by William Armstrong, called, for distinction sake, Christie's Will, a lineal descendant of the famous John Armstrong, of Gilnockie, executed by James V. The hereditary love of plunder had descended to this person with the family mansion; and, upon some marauding party, he was seized and imprisoned in the tolbooth of Jedburgh. The Earl of Traquair, Lord High Treasurer, happening to visit Jedburgh, and knowing Christie's Will, inquired the cause of his confinement. Will replied, he was imprisoned for stealing two tethers (halters;) but upon being more closely interrogated, acknowledged that there were two delicate colts at the end of them. The joke, such as it was, amused the Earl, who exerted his interest, and succeeded in releasing Christie's Will from bondage. Some time afterwards, a law-suit, of importance to Lord Traquair, was to be decided in the Court of Session; and there was every reason to believe that the judgment would turn upon the voice of the presiding judge, who had a casting-vote, in case of an equal division among his brethren. The opinion of the president was unfavourable to Lord Traquair; and the point was therefore to keep him out of the way when the question should be tried. In this dilemma the Earl had recourse to Christie's Will, who at once offered his service to kidnap the president. Upon due scrutiny, he found it was the judge's practice frequently to take the air on horseback on the sands of Leith, without an attendant. In one of these excursions, Christie's Will, who had long watched his opportunity, ventured to accost the president, and engaged him in conversation. His address and language were so amusing, that he decoyed the president into an unfrequented and furze common, called the Figgate Whins, where, riding suddenly up to him, he pulled him from his horse, muffled him in a large cloak, which he had provided, and rode off with the luckless judge trussed up behind him. crossed the country with great expedition, by paths only known to persons of his description, and deposited his weary and terrified burden in an old castle Will in Annandale, called the Tower of Graham, The judge's horse being found. it was concluded that he had thrown his rider into the sea; his friends went into mourning, and a successor was appointed to his office. Meanwhile the poor president spent a heavy time in the vault of the castle. He was imprisoned and solitary; receiving his food through an aperture in the wall, and never hearing the sound of a human voice, save when a shepherd called his dog by the name of Batty, and when a female domestic called upon Maudge, the cat. These, he concluded, were invocations of spirits; for he held himself to be in the dungeon of a sorcerer. At length, after three months had elapsed, the law-suit was decided in favour of Lord Traquair; and Will was directed to set the president at liberty. Accordingly, he entered the vault at dead of night, seized the president, muffled him once more in the cloak, without speaking a single word, and, using the same mode of transportation, conveyed him to Leith sands, and set down the astonished judge on the very spot where he had taken him up. The joy of his friends, and the less agreeable surprise of his successor, may be easily conceived, when he appeared in court to reclaim his office and honours. All embraced his own persuasion, that he had been spirited away by witchcraft; nor could he himself be convinced to the contrary, until, many years afterwards, happening to travel in Annandale, his ears were saluted once more with the sounds of Maudge and Batty-the only notes which had solaced his long confinement. This led to a discovery of the whole story; but, in these disorderly times, it was only laughed at as a fair ruse de guerre. He "Wild and strange as this tradition may seem, there is little doubt of its foundation in fact. The judge upon whose person this extraordinary stratagem was practised was Sir Alexander Gibson, Lord Durie, collector of the reports, wel known in the Scottish law under the title of 'Durie's Decisions.' was advanced to the station of an ordinary lord of session, 10th July 1621, and died at his own house of Durie, July 1646. Betwixt these periods this whimsical adventure must have happened; a date which corresponds with that of the tradition. "Tradition ascribes to Christie's Will another memorable feat, which seems worthy of being recorded. It is well known that, during the troubles of Charles I., the Earl of Traquair continued unalterably fixed in his attachment to his unfortunate master, in whose service he hazarded his person and impoverished his estate. It was of consequence, it is said, to the king's service, that a certain packet, containing papers of importance, should be transmitted to him from Scotland. But the task was a difficult one, as the parliamentary leaders used their utmost endeavours to prevent any communication betwixt the king and his Scottish friends. Traquair, in this strait, again had recourse to the services of Christie's Will; who undertook the commission, conveyed the papeis safely to his majesty, and received an answer, to be delivered to Lord Traquair. But in the meantime his embassy had taken air, and Cromwell had despatched orders to intercept him at Carlisle. Christie's Will, unconscious of his danger, halted in the town to refresh his horse, and then pursue his journey. But as soon as he began to pass the long, high, and narrow bridge which crosses the Eden at Carlisle, either end of the pass was occupied by a party of parliamentary soldiers, who were lying in wait for him. The Borderer disdained to resign his enterprise even in these desperate circumstances, and, at once forming his resolution, spurred his horse over the parapet. The river was in high flood. Will sunk-the soldiers shouted-he emerged again, and guiding his horse to a steep bank, called the Stanners, or Stanhouse, endeavoured to land, but ineffectually, owing to his heavy horseman's cloak, now drenched in water. Will cut the loop, and the horse, feeling himself disembarrassed, made a desperate exertion, and succeeded in gaining the bank. Our hero set off at full speed, pursued by the troopers, who had for a time stood motionless and in astonishment at his temerity. Will, how ever, was well mounted, and, having got the start, he kept it, menacing with his pistols any pursuer who seemed likely to gain on him-an artifice which succeeded, a though the arms were wet and useless. He was chased to the |