WHISTLING. 257 



" Only a little hour ago, 

 I was whistling to St. Antonio 

 For a capful of wind to fill our sail, 

 And, instead of a breeze, he has sent a gale." 



Sir Walter Scott, too (" Rokeby," ii, 11), says : 



" "What gales are sold on Lapland's shore ! 

 How whistle rash bids tempests roar ! " 



Among the numerous anecdotes connected with whistling, it may 

 be remembered that in the train of Anne of Denmark, when she went 

 to Scotland with James VI, was a gigantic Dane of matchless drinking 

 capacity. He possessed an ebony whistle which, at the beginning of a 

 drinking-bout, he would lay on the table, and whoever was last able 

 to blow it was by general consent considered to be the " champion of 

 the whistle." It happened, however, that during his stay in Scotland 

 the Dane was defeated by Sir Robert Laurie, of Maxwelton, who, after 

 three days and three nights of hard drinking, left the Dane under the 

 table, and " blew on the whistle his requiem shrill." The whistle re- 

 mained in the family seven years, when it was won by Sir Walter 

 Laurie, son of Sir Robert. The last person who carried it off was Alex- 

 ander Ferguson, of Craig-darroch, son of " Annie Laurie," so well 

 known. Burns has immortalized the subject in a poem entitled " The 

 Whistle," from which we quote the following stanzas : 



"I sing of a whistle, a whistle of a worth, 

 I sing of a whistle, the pride of the North, 

 Was brought to the court of our good Scottish king, 

 And long with this whistle all Scotland shall ring. 

 Old Loda, still rueing the arm of Fingal, 

 The god of the bottle sends down from his hall ; 

 ' This whistle's your challenge to Scotland get o'er, 

 And drink them to hell, sir, or ne'er see me more ! ' " etc. 



The Russians in the Ukraine tell a queer story about a whistling 

 robber of olden times, who evidently was a person of gigantic pro- 

 portions, for he was in the habit of sitting on nine oak-trees at once. 

 One of the nicknames given to him was " Nightingale," on account 

 of his extraordinary whistling powers. Should an unwary traveler 

 come across his path, he would whistle so melodiously that his victim 

 would quickly faint away, whereupon he stepped forward and killed 

 him outright. At last, however, a well-known hero, by name Ilja 

 Marometz, determined to subdue the robber, and, having shot him 

 with an arrow, took him prisoner, carrying him off to the court of the 

 Grand Prince Vladimir. Even there he proved dangerous, for when 

 the grand prince, merely from curiosity, commanded him to whistle, 

 the grand princess and all the royal children being present, the man 

 commenced whistling in such an overpowering manner that soon Vladi- 

 mir with his whole family would inevitably have been dead had not 



TOL. XXIII. 17 



