"I come not from the shrine of St James the divine,
"Nor bring reliques from over the sea;
"I bring but a curse from our father, the Pope,
"Which for ever will cling to me."
"Now, woeful pilgrim, say not so!
"But kneel thee down by me,
"And shrive thee so clean of thy deadly sin,
"That absolved thou mayst be."
"And who art thou, thou Gray Brother,
"That I should shrive to thee,
"When he, to whom are giv'n the keys of earth and heav'n,
"Has no power to pardon me?"
"O I am sent from a distant clime,
"Five thousand miles away,
"And all to absolve a foul, foul crime,
"Done here 'twixt night and day."
The pilgrim kneel'd him on the sand,
And thus began his saye—
When on his neck an ice-cold hand
Did that Gray Brother laye.
NOTES
ON
THE GRAY BROTHER.
From that fair dome, where suit is paid,
By blast of bugle free.—P. [439]. v. 4.
The barony of Pennycuik, the property of Sir George Clerk, Bart. is held by a singular tenure; the proprietor being bound to sit upon a large rocky fragment, called the Buckstane, and wind three blasts of a horn, when the king shall come to hunt on the Borough Muir, near Edinburgh. Hence, the family have adopted, as their crest, a demi-forester proper, winding a horn, with the motto, Free for a Blast. The beautiful mansion-house of Pennycuik is much admired, both on account of the architecture and surrounding scenery.