FIELD MEETINGS. 231 
the policies, of which it virtually forms part. Two heavy oblong 
slabs, raised on short supports, and lichen-grey, cover the tombs 
of Helen Irving and the lover whom she died to save. Not 
within living memory has any inscription been legible on the 
former ; and from the latter has now practically disappeared what 
Wordsworth in his ballad calls “ its lone hic jacet,’’ although but 
a few years ago we were able to decipher quite distinctly the 
lettering, “ Hic jacet Adam Fleming.’’ The figure of a sword, 
extending almost the full length of the stone, is still quite legibly 
outlined, and another device beside it, which may have been 
intended for a cross, is more faintly seen. ‘The story is a familiar 
one. Of two suitors the lady preferred Fleming (probably one of 
the Flemings of Redhall). Bell, inflamed by jealousy and dis- 
appointment, concealed himself on the opposite bank while the 
lovers strolled by the side of the Kirtle; then emerged from 
behind a tree and aimed a shot at his successful rival. Observing 
his murderous intent, the lady stepped before her lover, and 
received in her own bosom the bullet which was aimed at his. 
Swift vengeance was wrecked on her slayer by Fleming, who 
then fled the country and sought the balm of forgetfulness in 
foreign wars, but brought back to his mistress’s grave a broken 
heart to be laid beside her. The romantic incident, which is 
traditionally assigned to the time of Mary Queen of Scots, has 
been the theme of many minstrels. We reproduce below the old 
form of the popular ballad, the authorship of which is ascribed 
to W. S. Irving, a native of Hoddom, who came to a tragic end 
by his own hand in Edinburgh. Sir Walter Scott, in his 
“Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,’’ mentions a doubt whether 
Helen was not of the same family as her “ undoer,’’ but there 
seems no reason to set aside the tradition that she was an Irving, 
of the family which possessed the estate of Kirkconnel until 
shortly after the year 1600, when it passed into the hands of the 
Maxwells. Several Irvings of Kirkconnel are commemorated in 
a burial plot adjoining her grave, which closely neighbours the 
roofless walls of the tiny church. Outside the burial ground is 
set up a large cross of coarse-grained sandstone, hewn out of a 
single block. This is understood to mark either the spot on 
which the tragedy was enacted, or to which Fleming carried the 
heroine when he saw her wounded. One of the arms of the cross 
has been partly broken, On each arm there is a sunken space, 
