146 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



here in 1775, of peasant parentage; and but that his 

 career was cut short by untimely death, there is every 

 reason to believe that he would have made for himself 

 an eminent name. His parents were ambitious that 

 he should " wag his pow in a poopit," and so, his parish- 

 school curriculum over, he went to Edinburgh Univer- 

 sity, and even became a probationer of the Church. But 

 he had other longings after literature and science, and 

 it was while he was poring over old books, perched 

 on a libraiy-ladder, that he was discovered by a friend 

 of Walter Scott to have an extraordinary amount of 

 border and ballad lore. Scott was preparing the Min- 

 strdsy of the Scottish Borders^ and Leyden on being 

 introduced to him immediately became his friend and 

 zealous coadjutor. He undoubtedly rendered great help 

 in the work, besides contributing several original bal- 

 lads and the beautiful poem upon Flodden field. In a 

 letter, ^a-itten in 1800, Scott relates — " An interesting 

 fragment had been obtained of an ancient historical 

 ballad ; but the remainder, to the great disturbance of 

 the editor and his coadjutor, was not to be recovered. 

 Two days afterwards, while the editor was sitting 

 with some company after dinner,' a sound was heard 

 at a distance like that of the whistling of a tempest 

 through the torn rigging of the vessel which scuds 

 before it. The sounds increased as they approached 

 more near ; and Leyden (to the great astonishment of 

 such of the guests as did not know him) burst into the 

 room, chaunting the desiderated ballad with the most 

 enthusiatic gestures, and all the energy of what he used 

 to call the saw-tones of his voice. It turned out that 

 he had walked between forty and fifty miles and back 



