74 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 30., July 2G. 'SC. 



REMOTE TRADITIONS THROUGH FEW LINKS. 



(•2"'' S. ii. 29.) 

 The f()lIowin<v extract from Carrick's Life of 

 Sir William Wallace (Whittaker, 1840, p. 29.) 

 gives the information sought for by E. C. : • 



" Having said thus much of tlie dress and equipment 

 of Wallace, the followin": anecdote respecting his strength 

 and personal appearance may not be unacceptable to the 

 reader; it is translated from Hector Boece bj' the learned 

 editor of Morrison's edition of Blind Harry, who thus 

 introduces it: — 'Though this author f Boece) in general 

 is not much to be credited, yet it -would be hard not to 

 believe him in an instance which happened near his own 

 time, and in which, if he had spoken falsely, he could 

 immediately have been detected. The anecdote in an- 

 other respect is curious, as it affords an example of lon- 

 gevity, not unsimilar to that of the Irish Countess of 

 Desmond, who attained a still more advanced age. 



" The date is the year 1430. At that time James I. 

 was in Perth ; and perhaps having heard Henry the 

 3Iinstrel* recite some of Wallace's exploits, found his 

 curiosity excited to visit a noble lad}' of great age, who 

 was able to inform him of many ancient matters. She 

 lived in the castle of Kinnoul, on the opposite side of the 

 river ; and was probably a widow of one of the Lords of 

 Erskine, a branch of whose family continued to be de- 

 nominated from the barony of Kinnoul till about the 

 3'_ear 1440. It was Bocce's manner to relate an event as 

 circumstantially as if he had been one of the parties, and 

 engaged in it. I shall, therefore, give the anecdote in his 

 own manner, by translating his words : — 



" 'In consequence of her extreme old age, she had lost 

 her sight, but alt her other senses were entire; and her 

 body was yet firm and lively. She had seen William 

 Wallace and Robert Bruce, and frequently told parti- 

 culars concerning them. The King, who entertained a 

 love and veneration of greatness, resolved to visit the 

 old lady, that he might hear her describe the manners 

 and strength of the two heroes, who were admired in his 

 time, as they now are in ours. He, therefore, sent a 

 message, acquainting her that he was to come to her 

 next day. She received the message gratefully ; and 

 gave immediate orders to her handmaids to prepare every- 

 thing for his reception in the best manner, particularlj' 

 that they should display her pieces of tapestry ; some of 

 which were uncommonly rich and beautiful. All her ser- 

 vants became busily employed, for their work was in some 

 degree unusual, as she had not for a long time been ac- 

 customed to receive princely visitors. The next day, when 

 told the King was approaching, she went down into the 

 hall of her castle, dressed with as much elegance and finery 

 as her old age and the fashion of the time would permit ; 

 attended by a train of matrons, many of whom were her 

 own descendants, of which number some appeai'ed more 

 altered and disfigured by age than she herself was. One 

 of her matrons having "informed her that the King was 

 entering the hall, she arose from her seat, and advanced 

 to meet him so easily and gracefully, that he doubted of 



* "According to Pinkerton, and other authorities, 

 Henrj' did not finish his work till 1470. It is, therefore, 

 more probable that the curiosity of James was excited b}' 

 the original narrative of Blair ; a book which, from his 

 long captivity in England, he had perhaps heard little 

 about, till his return to Scotland. The rehearsal, there- 

 fore, of the heroic achievements of his illustrious country- 

 man may have produced all the excitement which the 

 editor of the Perth edition supposes, though not made by 

 the Minstrel." 



her being wholly blind. At his desire, she embraced and 

 kissed him. Her attendant assured him that she was 

 wholly blind ; but that, from long custom, she had ac- 

 quired these easy movements. He took her by the hand 

 and sat down, desiring her to sit on the same seat next 

 to him. And then, in a long conference, he interrogated 

 her respecting ancient matters. He was much delighted 

 with her conversation. Among other things, he asked 

 her to tell him what sort of a man William Wallace was? 

 What was his personal figure ? What his courage? And 

 with what degree of strength he was endowed ? He put 

 the same questions to her concerning Bruce. Robert, she 

 said, was a man beautiful, and of a fine appearance. His 

 strength was so great, that he could easily have over- 

 come any mortal man of his time ; but in so far as he 

 excelled other men, he was excelled by Wallace, both in 

 stature and in bodily strength ; for, in wrestling, Wallace 

 could have overthrown two such men as Robert was. 



" ' The King made some inquiries concerning his own 

 immediate parents, and his other ancestors ; and having 

 heard her relate many things, returned to Perth well 

 pleased with the visit he had made.' " — Bofe'th. Hist., 

 i. xvii. 



John I. Dredge. 



ONE GirPORD, 



S. 



A CLERGYMAN. 



(2"'' S. i. 492.) 



"Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound, 

 All at her work the village maiden sings : 

 Nor while she turns the giddy wheel around. 

 Revolves the sad vicissitude of things." 



These lines are quoted by Dr. Samuel Johnson 

 in his Dictionary, under the word " vicissitude ; " 

 they occur in a short poem entitled Contempla- 

 tion*, which was printed in 1753, and its author 

 was Richard GifFord, B.A., of Baliol College, Ox- 

 ford ; Vicar of DuffieW, co. Derby ; Rector of 

 North Ockendon, co. Essex ; and Chaplain to 

 John and George, fourth and sixth Marquises of 

 Tweeddale, to whose family he was related. Ri- 

 chard Gifford was the only surviving son of John 

 Gifford of Tester in Scotland, M.A. of the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, Rector of Mainstone, co. 

 Salop, and chaplain to Charles, third Marquis of 

 Tweeddale. His mother was Elizabeth Wollaston, 

 sister of Richard Wollaston, Receiver-General of 

 Taxes for the county of Salop. She belonged to 

 a branch of the ancient family of Wollaston of 

 Wollaston in Staffordshire. In 1748 the Rev. 

 Richard Gifford published his Bemarhs on Mr. 

 Kennicott's Dissertation on the Ti'ee of Life in 

 Paradise. In 1751 appeared his Dissertation on 

 the Song of Solomon, tvith the original Text, di- 

 vided according to the Metre, and a Poetical Ver- 

 sion. (See Lowndes's Bi'itish Librarian, p. 174. 

 art. 393.) His Ontlines of an Answer to Dr. 

 Priestley s Disquisition relatijtg to Matter and 

 Spirit followed in 1781. Mr. Gifford took upon 

 himself the labour of translating, for Nichols's 



* See vol. V. p. 182. of Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of 

 ttie Eighteenth Centw-y. 



