was killed, is called, from his name, William's Cross, upon the ridge of a hill called William Hope, betwixt Tweed and Yarrow. His body, according to Godscroft, was carried to Lindean Church the first night after his death, and thence to Melrose, where he was interred with great pomp, and where his tomb is still shewn.

The moon on the east oriel shone.-Ver. 11, p. 38.

It is impossible to conceive a more beautiful specimen of the lightness and elegance of Gothic architecture, when in its purity, than the eastern window of Melrose abbey. Sir James Hall of Dunglas, bart. has with great ingenuity and plausibility, traced the Gothic order through its various forms, and seemingly eccentric ornaments, to an architectural imitation of wickerwork; of which as we learn from some of the legends, the earliest Christian churches were constructed. In such an edifice, the original of the clustered pillars is traced to a set of round posts, begirt with slender rods of willow, whose loose summits were brought to meet from all quarters, and bound together artificially, so as to produce the frame work of the roof; and the tracery of our gothic windows is displayed in the meeting and interlacing of rods and hoops, affording an inexhaustable variety of beautiful forms of open work. This ingenious sys

tem is ulluded to in the romance.

Sir James Hall's

Essay on Gothic architecture is published in the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions.

They sate them down on a marble stone,

A Scottish monarch slept below.-Ver. 12, p. 39.

A large marble stone, in the chancel of Melrose, is pointed out as the monument of Alexander II. one of the greatest of our early kings; others say, it is the resting place of Waldeve, one of the early abbots, who died in the odour of sanctity.

The wondrous Michael Scot.-Ver. 13, p. 39.

He

Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie flourished during the thirteenth century; and was one of the ambassadors sent to bring the Maid of Norway to Scotland upon the death of Alexander III. By a poetical anachronism, he is here placed in a later era. was a man of much learning, chiefly acquired in foreign countries. He wrote a commentary upon Ar. istotle, printed at Venice in 1496; and several treatises upon natural philosophy, from which he appears to have been addicted to the abstruse studies of judicial astrology, alchymy, physiognomy, and chiromancy. Hence he passed among his contemporaries for a skilful magician, Dempster informs

us, that he remembers to have heard in his youth, that the magic books of Michael Scott were still in existence, but could not be opened without danger, on account of the fiends who were thereby invoked. Dempsteri Historia Ecclesiastica, 1627, lib. xii. p. 495. Lesley characterises Michael Scott as "Singulari philosophiæ, astronomiæ ac medicinæ laude prestans ; dicebatur penitissimos magia recessus indagasse." A personage thus spoken of by biographers and historians, loses little of his mystical fame in vulgar tradition. Accordingly, the memory of Sir Michael Scott survives in many a legend; and in the south of Scotland, any work of great labour and antiquity is ascribed either to the agency of Auld Michael, of Sir Willam Wallace, or of the devil. Tradition varies concerning the place of his burial: some contend for Holme Coltrame, in Cumberland; others for Melrose abbey. But all agree, that his books of magic were interred in his grave, or preserved in the convent where he died. Satchells, wishing to give some authority for his account of the origin of the name of Scott, pretends, that, in 1629, he chanced to be at Burgh, under Bowness, in Cumberland, where a person named Lancelot Scott, shewed him an extract from Michael Scott's works, containing that story.

"He said the book which he gave me,
Was of Sir Michael Scott's historie;
Which historie was never yet read through,
Nor never will, for no man dare it do.
Young scholars have pick'd out something
From the contents, that dare not read within.
He carried me along into the castle then,
And shew'd his written book hanging on an iron pin.
His writing pen did seem to me to be
Of harden'd metal, like steel, or accumie ;
The volume of it did seem so large to me,

As the book of martyrs and Turks historie.
Then in the church he let me see

A stone where Mr. Michael Scott did lie;
I asked at him how that could appear,

Mr. Michael had been dead above five hundred year!

He shewed me none durst bury under that stone, More than he had been dead a few years agone; For Mr. Michael's name does terrify each one. History of the Right honourable name of SCOTT.

Salamanca's cave.- Ver. 13, p. 40.

Spain, from the reliques, doubtless, of Arabian learning and superstition, was accounted a favourite

residence of magicians. Pope Sylvester, who actu ally imported from Spain the use of the Arabian numerals, was supposed to have learned there the magic for which he was stigmatised by the ignorance. of his age. William of Malmesbury, lib. ii. cap. 10. There were public schools, where magic, or rather the sciences supposed to involve its mysteries, were regularly taught, at Toledo, Seville, and Salamanca. In the latter city, they were held in a deep cavern ; the mouth of which was walled up by queen Isabella, wife of king Ferdinand. D'Autun on learned incredulity, p. 45 The celebrated magician Maugis, cousin to Rinaldo of Montalban, called by Ariosto, Malagigi, studied the black art at Toledo, as we learn from L'Historie de Maugis D'Aygremont. He even held a professor's chair in the necromantic university; for so I interpret the passage, “qu'en tous les sept ars d'enchantement, des charmes et conjurations il n'y avoit meilleur maistre que lui; et en tel renom, qu'on le laissoit en chaise, et l'appelloit en maistre Maugis." This Salamancan Domdaniel is said to have been founded by Hercules. If the classic reader inquires where Hercules himself learned magic, he may consult, "Les faicts et processes du noble et vaillant Hercules," where he will learn, that the fable of his aiding Atlas to support the heavens, arose from the said Atlas having taught Hercules, the no