HEATHER ALE. 



on me.' The king condemned the veteran savage to 

 life; and tradition further relates, that his life, as 

 the punishment of his crime, was prolonged far be- 

 yond the ordinary term of mortal existence. When 

 some ages had passed, and the ancient Pict was blind 

 and bed-rid, he overheard some young men vaunting 

 of their feats of strength. He desired to feel the wrist 

 of one of them, in order to compare the strength of 

 modern men with those of the times which were only 

 talked of as a fable. They reached to him a bar of 

 iron, which he broke between his hands, saying, 'You 

 are not feeble, but you cannot be compared to the men 

 of ancient times.' " 



In a series of articles on the "Chronicles of Scot- 

 tish Counties," appearing in "All the Year Round," 

 occurs the following: "The last stand of the Picts 

 was made, so tradition says, at Cockburn Law, be- 

 tween Cranshaw Castle and Dunse, and here the rem- 

 nants of an ancient race fought their last fight and 

 were slaughtered, all but two, as old tradition says, 

 an old man and his son, who were saved, it seems, for 

 a purpose. 



"Now, to turn the heather bells to good advan- 

 tage must have seemed a grand invention to a Scot, 

 seeing so noble a harvest was growing all round. 



' A wide domain 



And rich the soil, had purple heath been grain' ; 



or, according to an older rhyme anent the possessions 

 of Bold Buccleuch: 



101 



