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was persevering to my own destruction, în serving the royal familie faithfully, though obstinately, after so great a share of depression, and after they had been pleased to doom me and my familie to starve." MS. Memoirs of John, Master of St. Clair,

Kings of the main, their leaders brave,
Their barks, the dragons of the wave.-

Verse 22, p. 140.

The chiefs of the Vikingr, or Scandinavian pirates assumed the title of Sakonungr, or Sea-kings. Ships, in the inflated language of the Scalds are often terme ed the serpents of the ocean.

Of that sea-snake, tremendous curled,

Whose monstrous circle girds the world.

Verse 22, p. 140.

The jormungandr, or snake of the ocean, whose folds surround the earth, is one of the wildest fictions of the Edda. It was very nearly caught by the god Thor, who went to fish for it with a hook baited with a bull's head. In the battle betwixt the evil dæmons and the divinities of Odin, which is to precede the Ragnarockr, or Twilight of the Gods, thie snake is to act a conspicuous part.

Of those dread maids, whose hideous yell,

Maddens the battle's bloody swell.-Ver. 22, p. 140. These were the Valkyriur, or Selecters of the

Slain, despatched by Odin from Valhalla, to choose those who were to die, and to distribute the contest. They are well known to the English reader as Gray's Fatal Sisters.

Ransacked the graves of warriors old,

Their faulchions wrenched from corpses' hold.

Verse 22, p. 140.

The northern warriors were usually entombed with their arms, and their other treasures. Thus Angantyr, before commencing the duel in which he was slain, stipulated, that if he fell, his sword Tirfyng should be buried with him. His daughter, Hervor, afterwards took it from his tomb. The dialogue which passed betwixt her and Angantyr's spirit on this occasion has been often translated. The whole history may be found in the Hervarar-Saga. Indeed the ghosts of the northern warriors were not wont tamely to suffer their tombs to be plundered; and hence the mortal heroes had an additional temptation to attempt such adventures; for they held nothing more worthy of their valour than to encounter supernatural beings. BARTHOLINUS De causis contemp tae a Danis mortis, lib. i, cap. 2, 9, 10, 13.

Rosabelle-Ver. 23, p. 141.

This was a family name in the house of St.

Clair. Henry St. Clair, the second of the line, married Rosabelle, fourth daugther of the earl of Stratherne.

Castle Ravensheuch.-Ver. 23, p. 141.

A large and strong castle, now ruinous, situated between Kirkaldy and Dysart, on a steep craig, washed by the Firth of Forth. It was conferred on

Sir William St. Clair, as a slight compensation for the earldom of Orkney, by a charter of king James III. dated in 1471, and is now the property of Sir James St. Clair Erskine, representative of the family. It was long a principal residence of the Barons of Roslin.

Seemed all on fire that chapel proud,
Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffined lie;
Each baron, for a sable shroud,
Sheathed in his iron panoply.-

Verse 23, p. 143.

The beautiful chapel of Rosline is still in tolerable preservation. It was founded in 1446 by Wil. liam St. Clair, prince of Orkney, duke of Oldenbourgh, earl of Cathness and Stratherne, lord St. Clair, lord Niddesdale, lord Admiral of the Scottish seas, lord chief justice of Scotland, lord warden of the three marches, baron of Roslin, Pentland, Pent

landmoor, &c. knight of the cockle and of the garter, (as is affirmed,) high chancellor, chamberlain, and lieutenant of Scotland. This lofty person, whose titles, says Godscroft, might weary a Spaniard, built the castle of Roslin, where he resided in princely splendor, and founded the chappel, which is in the most rich and florid stile of Gothic architecture Among the profuse carving on the pillars and but tresses, the rose is frequently introduced in allusion to the name, with which, however, the flower has no connection; the etymology being Rosslinnhe, the promontory of the lin or waterfall. The chapel is said to appear on fire previous to the death of any of his descendants. This superstition, noticed by Sle zer in his Theatrum Scotiae, and alluded to in the text, is probably of Norwegian derivation, and may have been imported by the earls of Orkney into their Lothian domains. The tomb-fires of the north are mentioned in most of the Sagas.

The barons of Roslin were buried in a vault beneath the chapel floor. The manner of their interment is thus described by father Hay, in the MS. history already quoted.

"Sir William Sinclair, the father, was a lewd man. He kept a miller's daughter, with whom it is alledged he went to Ireland; yet I think the cause of his retreat was rather occasioned by the Presbyte

rians, who vexed him sadly, because of his religion being Roman Catholic. His son, Sir William, died during the troubles, and was interred in the chapel of Roslin the very same day that the battle of Dunbar was fought. When my good father was buried his (i. e. Sir William's) corpse seemed to be entire at the opening of the cave; but when they came to touch his body, it fell into dust. He was lying in his armour, with a red velvet cap on his head, on a flat stone; nothing was spoiled except a small piece of the white furring, that went round the cap, and answered to the hinder part of the head. All his pre decessors were buried after the same manner, in their armour : late Rosline, my good-father was the first that was buried in a coffin, against the senti ments of king James the seventh, who was then in Scotland, and several other persons well versed in antiquity, to whom my mother would not hearken, thinking it beggarly to be buried after that manner. The great expenses she was at in burying her husband, occasioned the sumptuary acts which were made in the following parliaments."

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............. Gylbin come !"-Ver. 27, p. 145.

See the story of Gilpin Horner, p. 210.

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