And show some courtesy on this floor, For we shall have another bout, Before we pa.s.s out of this boor.
Thou kindly Scotsman, come thou here; Thy name is Andrew of Fair Scotland; Draw out thy sword that is most clear, Fight for thy king with thy right hand; And aye as long as thou canst stand, Fight for thy king with all thy heart; And then, for to confirm his band, Make all his enemies for to smart.--(_He dances._)
(_Music begins._)
FIGUIR.[68]
"The six stand in rank with their swords reclining on their shoulders.
The Master (St. George) dances, and then strikes the sword of James of Spain, who follows George, then dances, strikes the sword of Dennis, who follows behind James. In like manner the rest--the music playing--swords as before. After the six are brought out of rank, they and the master form a circle, and hold the swords point and hilt. This circle is danced round twice. The whole, headed by the master, pa.s.s under the swords held in a vaulted manner. They jump over the swords. This naturally places the swords across, which they disentangle by pa.s.sing under their right sword. They take up the seven swords, and form a circle, in which they dance round.
"The master runs under the sword opposite, which he jumps over backwards. The others do the same. He then pa.s.ses under the right-hand sword, which the others follow, in which position they dance, until commanded by the master, when they form into a circle, and dance round as before. They then jump over the right-hand sword, by which means their backs are to the circle, and their hands across their backs. They dance round in that form until the master calls "Loose," when they pa.s.s under the right sword, and are in a perfect circle.
"The master lays down his sword, and lays hold of the point of James"s sword. He then turns himself, James, and the others, into a clew. When so formed, he pa.s.ses under out of the midst of the circle; the others follow; they vault as before. After several other evolutions, they throw themselves into a circle, with their arms across the breast. They afterwards form such figures as to form a shield of their swords, and the shield is so compact that the master and his knights dance alternately with this shield upon their heads. It is then laid down upon the floor. Each knight lays hold of their former points and hilts with their hands across, which disentangle by figuirs directly contrary to those that formed the shield. This finishes the Ballet.
"EPILOGUE.
Mars does rule, he bends his brows, He makes us all agast;[69]
After the few hours that we stay here, Venus will rule at last.
Farewell, farewell, brave gentles all, That herein do remain, I wish you health and happiness Till we return again. [_Exeunt._"
The ma.n.u.script from which the above was copied was transcribed from _a very old one_, by Mr. William Henderson, Jun., of Papa Stour, in Zetland. Mr. Henderson"s copy is not dated, but bears his own signature, and, from various circ.u.mstances, it is known to have been written about the year 1788.
Note VIII., p. 299--THE DWARFIE STONE.
This is one of the wonders of the Orkney Islands, though it has been rather undervalued by their late historian, Mr. Barry. The island of Hoy rises abruptly, starting as it were out of the sea, which is contrary to the gentle and flat character of the other Isles of Orkney. It consists of a mountain, having different eminences or peaks. It is very steep, furrowed with ravines, and placed so as to catch the mists of the Western Ocean, and has a n.o.ble and picturesque effect from all points of view. The highest peak is divided from another eminence, called the Ward-hill, by a long swampy valley full of peat-bogs. Upon the slope of this last hill, and just where the princ.i.p.al mountain of Hoy opens in a hollow swamp, or corrie, lies what is called the Dwarfie Stone. It is a great fragment of sandstone, composing one solid ma.s.s, which has long since been detached from a belt of the same materials, cresting the eminence above the spot where it now lies, and which has slid down till it reached its present situation. The rock is about seven feet high, twenty-two feet long, and seventeen feet broad. The upper end of it is hollowed by iron tools, of which the marks are evident, into a sort of apartment, containing two beds of stone, with a pa.s.sage between them.
The uppermost and largest bed is five feet eight inches long, by two feet broad, which was supposed to be used by the dwarf himself; the lower couch is shorter, and rounded off, instead of being squared at the corners. There is an entrance of about three feet and a half square, and a stone lies before it calculated to fit the opening. A sort of skylight window gives light to the apartment. We can only guess at the purpose of this monument, and different ideas have been suggested. Some have supposed it the work of some travelling mason; but the _cui bono_ would remain to be accounted for. The Rev. Mr. Barry conjectures it to be a hermit"s cell; but it displays no symbol of Christianity, and the door opens to the westward. The Orcadian traditions allege the work to be that of a dwarf, to whom they ascribe supernatural powers, and a malevolent disposition, the attributes of that race in Norse mythology.
Whoever inhabited this singular den certainly enjoyed
"Pillow cold, and sheets not warm."
I observed, that commencing just opposite to the Dwarfie Stone, and extending in a line to the sea-beach, there are a number of small barrows, or cairns, which seem to connect the stone with a very large cairn where we landed. This curious monument may therefore have been intended as a temple of some kind to the Northern Dii Manes, to which the cairns might direct worshippers.
Note IX., p. 299.--CARBUNCLE ON THE WARD-HILL.
"At the west end of this stone, (_i. e._ the Dwarfie Stone,) stands an exceeding high mountain of a steep ascent, called the Ward-hill of Hoy, near the top of which, in the months of May, June, and July, about midnight, is seen something that shines and sparkles admirably, and which is often seen a great way off. It hath shined more brightly before than it does now, and though many have climbed up the hill, and attempted to search for it, yet they could find nothing. The vulgar talk of it as some enchanted carbuncle, but I take it rather to be some water sliding down the face of a smooth rock, which, when the sun, at such a time, shines upon, the reflection causeth that admirable splendour."--DR. WALLACE"S _Description of the Islands of Orkney_, 12mo, 1700, p. 52.
FOOTNOTES:
[61] So placed in the old MS.
[62] _Boor_--so spelt, to accord with the vulgar p.r.o.nunciation of the word _bower_.
[63] _Porte_--so spelt in the original. The word is known as indicating a piece of music on the bagpipe, to which ancient instrument, which is of Scandinavian origin, the sword-dance may have been originally composed.
[64] _Stour_, great.
[65] _Muckle tinte_, much loss or harm; so in MS.
[66] Something is evidently amiss or omitted here. David probably exhibited some feat of archery.
[67] _Lout_--to bend or bow down, p.r.o.nounced _loot_, as _doubt_ is _doot_ in Scotland.
[68] _Figuir_--so spelt in MS.
[69] _Agast_--so spelt in MS.
EDITOR"S NOTES.
(_a_) p. xxix. "There came a ghost to Margaret"s door." In some versions of "Clerk Saunders" the lady"s troth is "streeked" on a rod of gla.s.s, and so she and the ghost are freed from their plighted love.
(_b_) p. 15. "Scat, wattle, hawkhen, hagalef." Different kinds of duties exacted in Zetland.
(_c_) p. 18. "Berserkars." Apparently there was a time when these formidable persons were merely champion warriors, a kind of professional soldiery. In the "Raven Song," an old Norse lay, the Valkyrie asks the Raven about Harold Fair Hair"s Bearsarks. "Wolfcoats they call them, that bear b.l.o.o.d.y targets in battle, that redden their spear heads when they come into fight, when they are at work together. The wise king, I trow, will only reward men of high renown among them that smite on the shield." Later, perhaps, the Bearsarks won their evil reputation, as ravening maniacs of battle, given to biting their shields and behaving in an hysterical manner. In such sagas as that of Grettir they are violent bullies, sometimes selling their services. (See Powell and Vigfussen"s "Corpus Boreale," i. 257.)
(_d_) p. 27. Motto. The second verse is not part of the original ballad, which was altered by Allan Ramsay.
(_e_) p. 39. "Bolts and bars in Scotland." There are still places so innocent--in Galloway, at least--that doors and windows may be, and are, left open all night.
(_f_) p. 45. "Deilbelicket." This is the name of an old Scotch dish, of which goose and gooseberries are component parts. The recipe occurs in Gait"s "Ayrshire Legatees."
(_g_) p. 46. "James Guthrie." An account of this martyr of the Covenant will be found in the Editor"s Notes to "Old Mortality."
(_h_) p. 151. "Lucas Jacobson Debes." "Foeroae et Foeroa Reserata. A description of the Isles and inhabitants of Faeroe, Englished by John Sterpin," 12mo, London 1676, Abbotsford Library.
(_i_) p. 173. "Multures--lock, gowpen, and knaveship." Feudal and other dues on corn ground at the laird"s mill.
(_k_) p. 231. "The wilds of Strathnavern." Montrose met his final defeat at Strathoykel, at a steep rounded hill, still called the Rock of Lament. His men were driven into the Kyle, which there is deep and wide.
Montrose fled up the Oykel, into a.s.synt. The Naver flows due north, the Oykel from west to east.
(_l_) p. 234. Sword Dance. Scott can hardly have escaped being familiar with the degradation of this dance as played at Christmas by the Guizards. They are lads who go round acting and dancing in kitchens.
Their songs may be found in Chambers"s "Popular Rhymes of Scotland."
Guizards performed at the Folk-Lore Congress in London 1891.
(_m_) p. 257. "The battue in Ettrick Forest, for the destruction of the foxes." This ceased when the Duke of Buccleugh hunted the district, but foxes are still shot in the inaccessible heights of Meggat Water.
(_n_) p. 261. Sharing the whale. An account of a battle for a stranded whale may be read in the Saga of Grettir, translated by Mr. Morris and Mr. Magnussen.
(_o_) p. 279. For [Greek: Nephelegereta Zeus] read [Greek: Nephelegereta Zeus].
(_p_) p. 299. "That wonderful carbuncle." This must be the origin of Hawthorne"s tale "The Great Carbuncle."
ANDREW LANG.