534 
ance, it is not known to exist either in 
print or in MS; but has been preserved, 
on the banks of the Ettrick, in the me- 
mory of the inhabitants, and was written 
down by the editor from the recitation 
of an old woman. Such an authority 
may perhaps, at first sight, appear sus- 
picious to the poetical antiquary ; yet 
we cannot but agree with Mr. Scott in 
thinking that the internal evidence of the 
poem is conclusive as to its authenticity ; 
not only because the many antiquated 
terms which it contains are no longer 
intelligible in the district where it 1s pre- 
served, but because the structure of the 
fable, the manners, the abruptness. of 
transition, and dramatic character of 
the dialogue, are in the true spirit of our 
old romances. The style is, as might 
be expected, very irregular and unequal, 
but full of ‘animation ; which, together 
with its frequent appeals to the leading 
passions which prevailed in Scotland 
during the 14th and 15th centuries, will 
fully account for its ancient popularity. 
For the attention of the present age it 
will be principally indebted to the ele- 
gant illustrations of the editor, in whose 
notes on this ballad the reader will find 
more curious information and amusing 
particulars on the subject of chivalry, 
than could easily be gleaned from the 
professed histories of that singular insti- 
tution. 
As our limits will not permit us to 
comment on every poem inthe volume, 
we shall pass over the next six articles, 
for the purpose of noticing Christie’s Wiil, 
a personage who exhibited, about the 
middle ot the !7th century, all the cha- 
racteristic qualities of the ancicnt Moss- 
troopers, and whose history well de- 
served to be perpetuated in the minstrelsy 
of his country. The ballad itself indeed 
is not, as the editor confesses, “* of ge- 
nuine and unmixed antiquity, though 
some stanzas are current upon the border 
in a corrupted state ;” for which reason 
we shall abstain from transcribing it, 
and lay before our readers the prose nar- 
rative given by Mr. Scott in his intro- 
duction to the ballad. 
«* In the reign of Charles I., when the 
moss-trooping practices were not entirely 
discontinued, the tower of Gilnockig, in the 
parish of Cannoby, was occupied by William 
Armstrong, called, for distinction’s sake, 
Christies Will, a Vineal descendant of the 
famous John Armstrong, of Gilnockie, exe- 
cuted by James V. The hereditary love of 
plunder had descended ta this person with 
POETRY. 
Aisis ii et : 
the family mansion; and, upon some ma- 
rauding party, he was seized, and imprisoned 
in the tolbooth of Jedburgh. The earl of 
Traquair, lord high treasurer, happeaing to 
visit Jedburgh, and knowing Christie’s Will, 
enquired the cause of his confinement. Will 
replied, he was imprisoned for stealing two 
tethers (halters) ; but, upon being . more 
closely interrogated, acknowledged, there 
were two delicate colts at the end of them. 
The joke, such as it was, amused the earl, 
who exerted his interest, and succeeded in 
releasing Christie’s Will fram bondage. Some 
tinie afterwards, a Jaw-suit, of importance 
to lord Traquair, was to be decided in the 
court of session; and there was every reason. 
to believe that the judgment would turn 
upon the voice of the presiding judge, wha 
has a casting vote, in case of an equal division 
among his brethren. The opinion of the 
president was unfavourable to lord ‘Traquair 5 
and the point was, therefore, to keep him ous 
of the way, when the question should be 
tried. In this dilenima, earl had recourse 
to Christie’s Will; who, at once, offered his 
service, to kidnap the president. Upon due 
scrutiny, he found it was the judge’s prac- 
tice frequently to take the air, on horseback, 
on the sands of Leith, without ap attendant. 
In one of these excursions, Christie's Will, 
who had long watched his opportunity, ven- 
tured to accost the president, and cugage him 
in conversation. His address and Senaviae 
were so amusing, that he decoyed the presi- 
dent’ into an. unfrequented and furzy com- 
mon, called.the Frigate Whins, where, rid- 
ing suddenly up te him, he pulled him from 
his horse,,amuffled him in a large cloak, 
which he had provided,, and rode off, with 
the luckless judge trussed up behind bim. 
Will crossed the country with great expedi- 
tion, by paths, ouly. known -to persons of 
his description, and deposited his weary and 
terrified burden in an old castle, in Annan- 
dale, called the Tower of Graham. The 
judge’s horse being found, it was concluded 
he had thrown his rider into the sea; his 
friends went into mourning, and a successor — 
was appointed to his eflice: Meanwhile, 
the poor president spent a heavy time in the 
vault of the castle, He was imprisoned and 
solitary ; receiving his food through an aper- 
ture in the wall, and never hearing the sound 
of a human voice, save -when a shepherd 
called his dog, by ,the name of Batty, and 
when a female domestic called upon Maudge, 
the cat. These, he concluded, were invoca- 
tions of spirits ; tor he held himself to be in 
the dungeon of a sorcerer. At length, after 
three months had elapsed, the law-suit was 
decided in favour of lord Traquair ; and Will 
was directed to set the president at liberty. 
Accordingly, he entered the vault, at dead-of 
night, seized the president, muffled him: once 
more in the cloak, without speaking a single 
word, and, using the same mode of trans- 
portation, conveyed bim to Leith sands, and 
set down the astonished judge on the very 
