202 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



plunged and threw his rider, who, kneeling at the 

 feet of his fearful companion, prayed earnestly for 

 mercy. The monk bade him fear nothing, but 

 enter the cavern, on each side of which were horses 

 resembling his own in size and colour. Near these 

 lay soldiers accoutred in ancient armour, and in the 

 chasms of the rock were arms and piles of gold and 

 silver. From one of these the enchanter took the 

 price of the horse in ancient coin, and on the farmer 

 asking the meaning of these subterranean armies, 

 exclaimed : " These are caverned warriors pre- 

 served by the good genius of England, until that 

 eventful day when, distracted by intestine broils, 

 England shall be thrice won and lost between sun- 

 rise and sunset. Then we, awakening from our 

 sleep, shall rise to turn the fate of Britain. This 

 shall be when George, the son of George, shall reign. 

 When the forests of Delamare shall wave their arms 

 over the slaughtered sons of Albion. Then shall the 

 eagle drink the blood of princes from the headless 

 cross (query, corse ?). Now haste thee home, for it is 

 not in thy time these things shall be. A Cestrian 

 shall speak it and be believed." The farmer left the 

 cavern, the iron gates closed, and though often 

 sought for, the place has never again been found.' 1 



Arthur, the King of Faery, has dropped out of 

 these legends in the course of their transmission to 

 modern times, but in another story, told of the 

 Eildon Hills, his sister, the Fata Morgana, still lives 

 and reigns ; for she is no doubt the Faery Queen 

 with whom Thomas Rhymer spent so many years 

 underground ere he returned with the gift of pro- 



1 Timbs's Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales: 

 London, Warne, vol. iii. p. 126. 



