He laid his left palm on an oaken beam;
His right upon her hand:
The lady shrunk, and fainting sunk,
For it scorch'd like a fiery brand.
The sable score, of fingers four,
Remains on that board impress'd;
And for evermore that lady wore
A covering on her wrist.
There is a nun in Dryburgh bower,
Ne'er looks upon the sun:
There is a monk in Melrose tower,
He speaketh word to none.
That nun, who ne'er beholds the day,
That monk, who speaks to none—
That nun was Smaylho'me's Lady gay,
That monk the bold Baron.
NOTES
ON
THE EVE OF ST JOHN.
BATTLE OF ANCRUM MOOR.
Lord Evers, and Sir Brian Latoun, during the year 1544, committed the most dreadful ravages upon the Scottish frontiers, compelling most of the inhabitants, and especially the men of Liddesdale, to take assurance under the king of England. Upon the 17th November, in that year, the sum total of their depredations stood thus, in the bloody ledger of Lord Evers:
| Towns, towers, barnekynes, parish churches, bastille houses, burned and destroyed | 192 |
| Scots slain | 403 |
| Prisoners taken | 816 |
| Nolt (cattle) | 10,386 |
| Sheep | 12,492 |
| Nags and geldings | 1,296 |
| Gayt | 200 |
| Bolls of corn | 850 |
| Insight gear, &c. (furniture) | an incalculable quantity. |