Mrs Crowe, alluding to this story in her "Night Side of Nature," said that she was acquainted with some of the family and several of the friends of the Rev. Henry A., who, she continued, "is still alive, though now an old man; and I can most positively assert that his own conviction with regard to the nature of this appearance has remained ever unshaken. The circumstance made a lasting impression upon his mind, and he never willingly speaks of it; but when he does, it is always with the greatest seriousness, and he never shrinks from avowing his belief that what he saw admits of no other interpretation than the one he then put upon it."
XXIV
CLERK SAUNDERS
"Border Minstrelsy"
Clerk Saunders and May Margaret
Walked owre yon garden green;
And sad and heavy was the love
That fell them twa between.
And thro' the dark, and thro' the mirk,
And thro' the leaves o' green,
He cam that night to Margaret's door,
And tirléd at the pin.
"O wha is that at my bower door,
Sae weel my name does ken?"
"'Tis I, Clerk Saunders, your true love;
You'll open and let me in?"
"But in may come my seven bauld brithers,
Wi' torches burning bright;
They'll say—'We hae but ae sister,
And behold she's wi' a knight!'"
"Ye'll tak my brand I bear in hand,
And wi' the same ye'll lift the pin;
Then ye may swear, and save your aith,
That ye ne'er let Clerk Saunders in.