Seven hounds ran by her side, and a horn was hung about her neck. Thomas took her for Mary, the Queen of Heaven, and running towards her,

'Gyff it be als the storye sayes,

He hir mette at Eldone tree,'

knelt down undirnethe that grenwode spraye,' and thus addressed her:

'Lufly Ladye! rewe one mee

Qwene of heuene als thou wele maye.'

To this, that lady milde of thoghte' answered:

'Thomas! late swylke wordes bee;
Qwene of heuene ne am I noghte,
Ffor I tuke neuer so heghe degre,
Bote I ame of ane other countree,
If I be payrelde most of prysse ;
I ryde aftyre this wylde fee,

My raches rynnys at my devyse.'

Thomas is then smitten with an irresistible passion, and notwithstanding the warnings of the Fairy Queen, 'chewys the werre,' and all her beauty is marred.

'Thomas stode upe in that stede,

And he by-helde that lady gaye ;
Hir hare it hange all ouer hir hede,

Hir eghne semede owte, that are were graye.

And alle the riche clothynge was a-waye,

That he by-fore sawe in that stede;

Hir a schanke blake, hir other graye,

And all hir body lyke the lede.'

Terrified by this sudden transformation, Thomas knows not what to do; the Queen bids him take leave of sun and moon 'and als at lefe that growes on tree,' and together they enter under Eildon Hill. For three days they travel

• Whare it was dirke als mydnyght myrke,

And euer the water till his knee.'

Thomas grows faint with hunger, and being led 'in-till a faire herbere' where the nightingales are building their nests and the throstylls sange wolde bafe no reste,' would fain eat of the fruits which hang luxuriantly around him, but is forbidden lest his saule gose to the fyre of helle,' 'ther in payne ay for to

duelle.' At length his companion takes compassion upon him. At her bidding he lays his head down on her knee, and she shews him in the distance the several ways to Paradise, Purgatory, Hell, and her own country. Next, she tells him how to behave when they reach the Castle, bidding him when there to speak to none, and promising:

'I sall saye syttande at the desse

I tuke thi speche by-yonde the see.'

Then resuming her former beauty and gay apparel,

'Scho blewe hir horne, with mayne and mode,

Un-to the castelle scho tuke the waye,

In to the haulle sothely scho went ;

Thomas foloued at hir hande.'

Ladies, bothe faire and gent,' come to meet the Queen, curtesying and kneeling to her, a great feast is prepared, the knights come in, and here for the space of three years and more Thomas dwells amid revel, game, and minstrelsy. Suddenly he is commanded by the Queen to return to the earth. Imagining that he has been in Fairyland but three days, he entreats to be allowed to remain longer, but the Queen is inexorable, giving him as the reason for his departure:

'To morne of helle the foulle fende,
Amange this folke will feche his fee;
And thou arte mekill mane and hende,
I trowe full wele he wolde chese the.'

Having received the Queen's promise that he will never be betrayed by her, Thomas at once goes with her, and is brought again to Eildon Tree. Here the Queen bids him farewell, but before she departs, he begs from her a token that he may say he has spoken with her. The tokens he is supposed to receive in response to this and similar requests are the predictions contained in the remainder of the poem.

Passing now to the Second Fytt, the events predicted in it and their respective dates are as follows:-First, the failure of the Baliol party in the struggle with David Bruce in 1333, and second, the Battle of Halidon Hill in the same year. These are so evidently out of their chronological order as to justify the

remarks which have been based upon them. After them follow: the Battle of Falkirk, 1298; the Battle of Bannockburn, 1314; the death of Bruce, 1329; the invasion of Edward Baliol in 1332; the battle of Dupplin and occupation of Perth, 1332; the the withdrawal of the English to the French wars, 1337; the Coronation of David Bruce, 1342; his invasion of England and capture, 1346; Baliol's invasion of Scotland, 1347; the taxing of Scotland for the ransom of David, 1357; the accession of Robert Stewart, 1370; the invasion of England by Douglas and his death at Otterburne, 1388.

moor.

The predictions of the Third Fytt, are not so easily made out as those of the Second. The first refers to a battle 'that shall be done at Spynkard Cloughe,' but what battle this is, is unknown. Later prophecies, however, quote it as Pinken or Pinkie Cleugh. Next, we have references to a battle to be fought on Pentland Hill, to the taking of a town of great renown, to the withdrawal of the English to the French wars, to a battle betwixt Seton and the Sea, and to the famous battle of GladsIt may be as, Dr. Murray conjectures that the predictions of this Fytt are in reality adaptations of legendary prophecies traditionally preserved from earlier times, and that their origin carries us back to the times of Arthur himself. In more than one Scottish legend Thomas is associated with this famous monarch. 'Tradition relates,' says Leyden in his Scenes of Infancy (II. 173), 'that a shepherd was once conducted into the recesses of Eildon Hills by a venerable personage whom he discovered to be the famous Rymour, and who showed him an immense number of steeds in their caparisons, and at the bridle of each a Knight sleeping in sable armour, with a sword and a bugle-horn at his side. These, he was told, were the hosts of King Arthur, waiting till the appointed return of that monarch from Fairyland.' A similar story is told among the Highlanders. We take the following from the Popular Tales of the West Highlands collected by the late J. F. Campbell, who also assures us that according to old legends the Irish Osin has much in common with Thomas the Rymour. There is a popular saying still current in Islay, which joins true Thomas to a common Celtic British legend. He is supposed to be still living,

enchanted in Dumbuck (Dun-a-mhuic, the swine's hill), near Dumbarton (Dunbreaton, Mount Breaton); and he appears occasionally in search of horses of a peculiar kind and colour. He pays for them when they are brought to the hill; and the vendor sees enchanted steeds and armed men within the rock. It is said:

'Nuair a thig Tomas an riom 's à chuid each

Bidh latha nan creach an Cluaidh.'

'When Thomas of power and his horses shall come,

The day of plunderings will be in Clyde.'

ART. VI.-RECENT ARCHEOLOGY IN EUBOIA.

To the Editor of the Scottish Review.'

SIR,-Some time ago the 'Eẞdouàs newspaper of Athens contained a notice of the return from Euboia of Dr. George Lampakes, Government Inspector of Antiquities. I afterwards received a letter from Dr. Lampakes himself, in which he was good enough to give me a detailed account of some of his proceedings and discoveries. As he permits me to make what use of this letter I choose, I enclose you herewith a translation of the main part of it, prefixing to it a translation of the newspaper article.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

BUTE.

Extract from the 'Epsoμàs newspaper.

The Inspector of Antiquities, the k. George Lampakes, has come back from Eretria and Chalcis. His stay of two months duration has led him to many conclusions which he has communicated to the Society for the study of Christian Archæology, of whose Museum and Archives it is unnecessary to remind our readers that he is the Director.

Among his discoveries in Eretria was that of a life-size marble statue, and of many sepulchral and other inscriptions.

Besides these, of which he has given an exact report to the Government, he bestowed great care and attention upon the subject of monuments of the Christian epoch existing in the districts in question. Among other things of this sort, he found engraved upon a rock about half-an-hour's journey from Chalcis, in iambic verses, a Byzantine inscription recording that the Protospatharios (chief sword-bearer) Theophylaktos had caused the road to be made upon land reclaimed from the sea at his own expense.

In addition to these, he examined and carefully described in writing the medieval citadel and the 'Frankish Towers'; he examined the hermitages built at Basilikon and at the village of Gymnon by the Crusaders* when in Euboia; he copied some curious Latin inscriptions, among which is especially remarkable the epitaph of Peter Lippamano, Venetian Councillor of the Negropont, who died in 1398; he found Frankish coatsof-arms and badges built into different country churches and houses of the peasantry; he examined and wrote a careful description of the existing Monastery of Armas, where he found, among other things, a corporal-cloth consecrated by the persecuted Metropolitan of Athens, Bartholomew.

He made notes of some traditions, and in some of the villages he made unhoped for discoveries of Christian seals and emblems belonging to the earliest periods of the peace of the Church.

Especially rich is the collection of Byzantine architectural ornaments which he found in the oldest hermitages. The greater part of these he immediately made known to the Council of the Christian Archæological Society. The most important work, however, which he performed during his stay was saving from irreparable injury the antient wooden roof of the Basilica of St. Paraskeue at Chalcis. Upon the beams of this roof there are many badges, monograms, and figures of divers extraordinary animals, which are now invisible to the naked eye [from below]. This roof is of the

* This expression seems to be loosely employed to indicate Latin occupation subsequent to 1204.-B.