END OF VOL. VIII
[1] This was a common expression of Leyden's, and, perhaps, was in some degree expressive of his headlong and determined character.
[2] He was also proprietor of Eccles, in Berwickshire, and, according to history, was seized in the town of Berwick; but tradition saith otherwise.
[3] There is, perhaps, no superstition more widely diffused than the belief in the fascination of an evil eye, or a malignant glance; and, I am sorry to say, the absurdity has still its believers.
[4] Each sorcerer was supposed to have his familiar spirit, that accompanied him; but Soulis was said to keep his locked in a chest.
[5] These are the recorded practices which sorcerers resorted to, when they wished to have a glimpse of invisible spirits.
[6] In the account of the trial of Elizabeth Bathgate, wife of Alexander Pae, maltman in Eyemouth, one of the accusations in the indictment against her was, that she had "ane horse-schoe in ane darnet and secriet pairt of your dur, keepit by you thairopoun, as ane devilish meanis and instructions from the devill." But the superstitions of the Borders, which it is necessary to illustrate in these Tales, as exemplifying the character of our forefathers, are more particularly dwelt upon, and their absurdity unmasked, in the Tales entitled, "Betty Bathgate, the Witch of Eyemouth;" "Peggy Stoddart, the Witch of Edlingham;" and "The Laidley Worm of Spindlestone Heugh."
[7] Red-cap is a name given to spirits supposed to haunt castles.
[8] In the proceedings regarding Sir George Maxwell, it is gravely set forth, that the voice of evil spirits is "rough and goustie;" and, to crown all, Lilly, in his "Life and Times," informs us, that they speak Erse; and, adds he, "when they do so, it's like Irishmen, much in the throat!"
[9] If legitimacy could have been proved on the part of the grandmother of Lord Soulis, he certainly was a nearer heir to the crown than either Bruce or Baliol.
[10] When cattle died suddenly, it was believed to be by an arrow-shot—that is, shot or struck down by the invisible dart of a sorcerer.
[11] It is probable that the legend of the "coming wood," referred to in the traditions respecting Lord Soulis, is the same as that from which Shakspere takes Macbeth's charm—
"Till Birnam Wood shall come to Dunsinane."
The circumstances are similar.
[12] Dr. Leyden represents this personage as being "True Thomas, Lord of Ersylton;" but the Rhymer was dead before the time fixed by tradition of the death of Lord Soulis, which took place in the time of Robert the Bruce, who came to the crown in 1308, and the Rhymer was dead before 1299, for in that year his son and heir granted a charter to the convent of Soltra, and in it he describes himself Filius et hæves Thomæ Rymour de Erceldon.
[13] The contract is extant in the charter-chest of the present representative. Neither Harden nor the Flower of Yarrow could write their names.—Ed.
[14] Mary Scott is well known to have been as famous for the cooking of spurs as for her beauty.
[15] Silver whistle, used by the boatswain and his mates.
[16] Breaker—a small cask.
[17] Sailor's term for taking a dram.
[18] Kitchen.
[19] Nautical for "Crapaud"—nickname for the French.
[20] Marines.
[21] Soldiers.
[22] Epaulette.
[23] We understand that another case of human incubation occurred, somewhere about the Crosscauseway or Simon Square, of Edinburgh, in Dr Gregory's time.—Ed.
[24] The reader may be here reminded of the well-known case of the confessor to the French King. He was long under the delusion of being a cock; he tried to fly, perched upon cross rafters, picked minced meat out of a wooden trencher, and crowed regularly every morning.—Ed.