The dame she claspit the halye roode,

And dreddour wilde was in her e'e;

And round, and round, and seven times round, And round about the Eildon Tree!

The hunt still near and nearer drew-
Weel mought the matronis heart be wae!
For hard they pressit, an aft they turnit
The little wee hare o' Eildon Brae.

They mouthit her ance, they mouthit her twice,
Loud did she scream thro' fear and dread;
That scream was like ane bairnyis cry
Quhen it is piercit in craddle-bed.

But the dame behelde ane bonny hounde,
White as the newly drifted snaw,

That close beside the leveret kept,
And wore the Elfin grews awa.

Hard did she toil the hare to save,

For the little wee hare was sair foreworne;

And the ghaistly huntsmen gathered on,
With whoop, and whoo, and bugle-horne.

O, but the hounde was hard bestedd!
For round and round they harder press'd

At length beneath the Eildon Tree,
The little we leveret found its rest.

It sprung into the matronis lap,

Wha row'd it in her kirtle gray;

And round, and round, came horse and hound, With snort, and neigh, and howl, and bay.

But the white hound stood close by her side,
And wore them back full powerfullye;
And round, and round, and seven times round,
And round about the Eildon Tree!

They turned the hare within her arms
A cockatrice and adder sterne;
They turned the hare within her arms,
A flittering reide het gand o' airn.

But still within her kirtle row'd,
She sung her hymn and held it fast,
And ere the seven times round was won,
Her child clung to her parent's breast.

"Yeho! Ycho! the Keylan Rowe;"
Away the fairy music sped,
The day is lost, a maid hath wonne,
The babe maun lie amang the dead.

"The bade maun grow as grass has grown,
And live and die, and live anew,

Ycho! Ycho! the Keylan Rowe

Must vanish like the morning dew."

To render the above ballad a little more intelligible, it may be proper to mention that the tale of which it forms a part, is one of sorcery and witchcraft, and that the white hound which strove so hard to save" the little we hare o' Eildon Brae," was none other than Lady Ellen St. Clair of Roslin, who, for reasons known only to Mr Hogg and the Fairies, had been thus transformed. The little wee hare was the babe of a matron in the neighbouring village of Newstead, who had been changed into a hare, that he might afford a night's sport to Keylan and his

men.

LEADER VALE.

THE stream that gives its name to this beautiful vale, rises amid the wilds which form the natural boundary between Lothian and the vale of Tweed; it runs in a southerly direction for upwards of twenty miles, and falls into the Tweed about half way between Melrose and Dryburgh. The Leader is remarkable for the natural beauty of its banks, and still more so for the poetic charm with which ancient minstrel and modern bard have combined to invest them. The early part of its course, however, is no way distinguished for the beauty of its scenery, neither doth it boast any object of historical or classical interest till it reaches the ancient burgh of Lauder, where, between it and that town, stands Thirlstane Castle, an old seat of the Lauderdale family, the original part of which

373.

was a strong tower, built by Edward I., called Lauder fort. Between that fort and the town of Lauder stood the church in which the celebrated conference of Scottish nobles was held that ended in one of the darkest tragedies made mention of in Scottish history-the murder of King James the Third's favourites. Cochrane, the chief, was seized at the church door, and hanged over a neighbouring bridge, the foundations of which are still to be seen about two hundred yards below the castle.

In 1672, the Duke of Lauderdale added a new front and wings to the old fort, removed the church and church-yard to make way for these and other improvements, changed the name to Thirlstane, after a small tower about two miles to the eastward in which the family had formerly resided, and made it the family mansion.

"Thirlstane Castle," says Mr Chambers, " is fitted up and decorated in the best taste of the reign of Charles II., with massive balustrades and cornices, and a profusion of marble chimney-pieces and flowers. It contains a vast quantity of family portraits, including the poetical knight of Mary's time, his son, usually denominated in history Se

LEADER VALE.

cretary Maitland, and the Duke himself, of whom there are no fewer than five paintings."

On leaving Thirlstane the Leader gradually improves in beauty, till, winding among the groves of Carolside, its banks assume a degree of sylvan loveliness which cannot be surpassed, and which they lose not again till the Leader mingles its waters with the Tweed.

The scene around Leaderfoot possesses almost charm that nature can impart every or art heighten. The Tweed, which has been fancifully styled the diamond of Scotland, describes here some of her most graceful windings, while on either side her banks, which rise boldly and abruptly, are softened into the utmost gracefulness of outline by thickets of luxuriant copsewood, and At the groves of the finest forest trees. opening of the vale of Leader, amid its tall ancestral trees, stands the seat of Thomas Tod, Esq., one of the most beautiful residences in the vicinity of Melrose, while on the opposite bank of the Tweed is Ravenswood, a handsome modern castellated building, in the erection of which great taste has been displayed. It was built by the late