Or Saint John of Beverley?"
Nor bring relics from over the sea;
I bring but a curse from our father, the Pope,
Which for ever will cling to me."
But kneel thee down by me,
And shrive thee so clean of thy deadly sin,
That absolvèd thou mayst be."
That I should shrive to thee,
When he, to whom are given the keys of earth and heaven,
Has no power to pardon me?"
Five thousand miles away,
And all to absolve a foul, foul crime,
Done here 'twixt night and day."
And thus began his saye—
When on his neck an ice-cold hand
Did that Grey Brother laye.
*****
THOMAS THE RHYMER.
IN THREE PARTS.
Few personages are so renowned in tradition as Thomas of Ercildoune, known by the appellation of The Rhymer. Uniting, or supposing to unite, in his person, the powers of poetical composition and of vaticination, his memory, even after the lapse of five hundred years, is regarded with veneration by his countrymen. To give anything like a certain history of this remarkable man would be indeed difficult; but the curious may derive some satisfaction from the particulars here brought together.
It is agreed on all hands, that the residence, and probably the birthplace, of this ancient bard, was Ercildoune, a village situated upon the Leader, two miles above its junction with the Tweed. The ruins of an ancient tower are still pointed out as the Rhymer's castle. The uniform tradition bears, that his surname was Lermont, or Learmont; and that the appellation of The Rhymer a conferred upon him in conse-
