May 10. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



365 



Scott, and to rifle it of the magical volume wliich 

 was accessible only on St. JMichael's night, at the 

 precise moment wbea the rays of the moon should 

 throw the reflexion of the red cross emblazoned in 

 the eastern oriel upon, the wizard's monumental 

 stone, — expecting that the possession of this 

 " Book of Might " would enable her to direct the 

 destiny of her daughter according to the dictates 

 of her own imperious nature.. " Dis aliter visum." 

 Fate and Michael Scott had willed it otherwise. 

 And here I must beg my readers to take notice 

 that this far-famed wizard, Michael Scott, although 

 dead and buried, is supposed still to exert liis in- 

 fluence from the world of spirits as the guardian 

 genius of the house of Buccleuch ; and he had 

 been beforehand with the Ladye of Branksome in 

 providing Henry of Cranstoun with one of his 

 familiar spirits, in the shape of the Goblin Page^ 

 by whose agency alone (however unconscious the 

 subordinate agent may be) a chain of events is 

 linked together which results in the union of the 

 two lovers. After this parenthesis I resume the 

 thread of the narrative. 



Deloraine rides to Melrose in the night, presents 

 himself to tlie Monk of St. Mary's aisle, opens the 

 sepulchre of the wizard, and presumes to take 



" From the cold hand the Mighty Book»" 

 in spite of the ominoits frovm which darkened the 

 countenance of the dead. He remounts hi& steed 

 and wends his way homeward 



" As the dawn of day- 

 Began to brighten Cheviot gray ;" 

 while the aged monk, having performed the last 

 duty allotted to him in his earthly pilgrimage, re- 

 tired to his cell and breathed his last in prayer 

 and penitence before the cross. 



Ere Deloraine co^dd reach his journey's end, he 

 encounters a feudal foeman in tlie person of Lord 

 Cranstoun, attende<l by his Goblin Page, who is 

 here first introduced to the reader. A conflict 

 takes place, and Deloi-aine being struck down 

 wounded and senseless, is left l>y his adversary to 

 the charge of tliis elf, who in stripping off his 

 corslet espied the " Mighty Book." With the 

 curiosity of an im.p he opens the iron-clasped 

 volume by smearing the cover with the blood of 

 the knight, and reads o-ne spell, uiul one alone, hy 

 permission ; for 



" He liad not read another spell. 

 When on liLs cheek a buffet fell. 

 So fierce, it stretched Iiim on the plain 

 Beside the wounded Deloraine. 

 From the grouixd he rose dismayed, 

 And shook his huge and matted head ; 

 One word lie muttered, and no more, 

 ' Man of age, thou sniitest sore 1 ' 

 &c. &c. 

 Now, if you ask who gave the stroke, 

 I cannot tell, so mot 1 thrive — 

 It was not given by man alive." 



But he had read sufficient for the purposes of 

 his mission, and we shall see how he apjalies the 

 knowledge so marvellously acquired. 



By the glamour of this spell he was empowered 

 to make one thing assume the form of aiiother. 



" It had much of glamour might, 

 Gould make a ladye seem a knight; 

 Tlie cobwebs on a dungeon wall. 

 Seem tapestry in a lordly hall," 

 &c. &c. 



The first use he makes of his power is to convey 

 the wounded kniglit, laid across his weary horse^ 

 into Branksome Hall 



" Before the beards of the warders all ; 

 And each did after swear and say, 

 There only passed a wain of hay." 



Having deposited him at the door of the Ladye's 

 bower, he repasses the outer court, and finding 

 the young chief at play, entices him into the 

 woods under the guise to him of a " comi'ade gay."^ 



" Though on the drawbridge, the warders stout. 

 Saw a terrier and a lurcher passing out ;" 



and, leading him far away "o'er bank and fell," 

 well nigh frightens the fair boy to death by resum- 

 ing his own elvish shape. 



" Could he have had his pleasu.re wilde, 

 He had crippled the joints of the noble child; 



&c. &c. 

 But his awful mother he had in dread, 

 And also his power was limited," 



&c. &.C. 



Here let me observe that all this contrivance is 

 essential to the conduct of the narrative ; and if 

 we simply grant the postulate which a legendary 

 minstrel has a right to demand, to wit, the potency 

 of magic spells to effect such delusions (pictoribus 

 atque Poetis Quidlihet audendi semper fuit aqua 

 potestas), all the remainder of the narrative is 

 easy, natural, and probable. This contrivance is 

 necessary, because, in the first place, if it had been, 

 known to the warders that William of Deloraine 

 had been brought into the castle wounded almost 

 unto death, he could not be supposed capable of 

 engaging Kichard Musgrave in single combat two 

 days afterwards ; nor, in the second place, would 

 the young chief have been permitted to stroll out 

 unattended from the gttarded precincts. 



To proceed : the boy thus bewildered in the 

 forest falls into the hands of an English forayer, 

 and is by him conveyed to Lord Dacre, at that 

 time one of the Wardens of the Marches, by whoni 

 he is detained as a hostage, and carried along 

 with the English troops, then advancing towards 

 Branksome under the command of the Lord War- 

 dens in person. 



"(But) though the child was led away. 

 In Branksome still he seemed to stay, 

 For so the Dwarf his part did play." 



