138 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



village of Earlston, why not lie down and dream of 

 the old times when Thomas the Rhymer was pursuing 

 his liaison with the Queen of Fairyland ; — when 

 " a knight and a lady bright had a true tryst amang 

 the broom/' and the foolish knight fell asleep, and 

 the lady, softly approaching, kissed his lips, and passed 

 away unscathed from the perilous meeting against 

 which her wily nurse had warned her ; — or when the 

 love-passages of the shepherdess and her swain gave 

 the cue to that sweetest of border melodies, " The 

 Broom o' the Cowdenknowes ? '' In the pretty haugh 

 below Earlston are the ruins of True Thomas's tower ; 

 behind, and farther down the river, are the Cowden- 

 knowes and their bonny bonny broom. Whether the 

 prophet had as much honour in his own country in 

 his own time as he had afterwards, who can tell ? — 

 for no one knows when he lived. But there are the 

 remains of his ancient hall of Ercildoune, testifying to 

 the tradition of his existence, although hardfy, like the 

 bricks of Jack Cade's house, " alive to this day" to re- 

 late its particulars. The stream of time was but a 

 burn when Thomas sat its banks, and a deal of Scotch 

 mist is hanging over its recesses and windings. But 

 the legend is a glorious one. And how the green and 

 golden livery of the broom on those knowes is mel- 

 lowed and beautified by that one simple song ! When 

 you get back to the George at Melrose to-night you 

 may find some one to sing it to you. 



" O the broom, the bonny bonny broom, 



The broom o' the Cowdenknowes : 

 I wish I were there with my dear lad, 



With his pipe and my ewes." 



The names of the locality are strung together in a 



