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THE

WANDERING KNIGHT

OF

Dunstanborough Castle.

BY JAMES SERVICE.

"Return he cannot, nor continue where he is: to shift his being, is to exchange one misery with another; and every day that comes, comes to decay a day's work in him."-Shakspeare.

The Wandering Knight.

THOSE who are fond of pondering on events long since passed away, and of musing on the mendacity and credulity of human nature exhibited through the medium of fabulous story, will find "ample scope and verge enough" for the powers of reflection and fancy in the annals and traditions connected with the venerable ruins of Dunstanborough Castle, whose high and mouldering towers are now "accessible only to the feathered wanderers of air.”

From the remote antiquity and uncertain import of this Legend, it is impossible to decipher its genuine meaning and origin. The doom entailed on the Red Cross Knight for his imbecility of purpose, and want of fortitude, is similar to that inflicted on the Porter of Pontius Pilate for the wanton and insulting cruelty he exercised towards our Saviour, when he was dragged to the judgment-hall. Tradition says that this hard-hearted Jew (his name is supposed to be Hareach, a Hebrew term signifying the prolonged) struck Jesus on the back, exclaiming, "Go faster, Jesus ;" on which Jesus replied, "I am going, but thou shalt tarry till I come." He is destined to live for ever, and at the conclusion of each succeeding century, after a severe fit of illness, he returns to the same state of youth he was in when Jesus suffered,

which was thirty years of age. After the crucifixion,

he left the place of his abode,

And wandered up and down the world,
A runagate most base.

No resting could he find at all,

No ease nor heart's content,

No house, nor home, nor biding place,
But wandering forth he went.

From town to town, in foreign lands,
With grieved conscience still,
Repenting for the heinous guilt
Of his fore-passed ill.

Thus, after some few ages past
Of wandering up and down,
He much again desired to see
Jerusalem's renown.

But finding it all quite destroyed,

He wandered thence with woe;

Our Saviour's words, which he had spoke,
To verify and shew.*

Thus both victims in the catastrophe are depicted as suffering a forlorn and unalterable destiny,—a solitary and hopeless pilgrimage through the lapse of succeeding ages "never ending, still beginning; the same thing over again, and yet still different.".

The incidents in this Legend are nearly the same as given by the late Mr. T. Hastings, Schoolmaster at Dunstan, with the exception of the enchanted sword suddenly changing into a serpent.

Vide "The Wandering Jew," Dr. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

From the similarity of events in Sir Guy and this piece, it is highly probable that Lewis had his information from the same source; for the late honoured teacher was a man to whom, on such subjects, great deference was paid, he being profoundly skilled in local antiquities and legendary lore. This story is still very popular in the vicinage of the Castle, and, when related, is imbued with more or less poetical embellishment and marvellous "conceites" in proportion to the fanciful ideas of the narrator.

The Author of "The Seeker" has been too precipitate in concluding that the horn and sword are only peculiar to Shewin' Shiels. These instruments have always been and still are recognised by all who are acquainted with the Romance. The Author of the "Border Tour" acknowledges the horn and sword, in the felicitous outline he has drawn of the subject in question. He observes that the Castle is a very striking object, and is not less interesting when closely examined. It is situated upon a conical hill, and around its base are scattered stones so numerous and large that it might be imagined a legion of fiends had diverted themselves by pounding a huge rock in pieces. Nor has tradition failed to people the ruins with beings shadowy and terrific. Lewis, whose misdirected genius produced the "Monk," and who, by the publication of his "Tales of Wonder," first brought the high talents of Sir Walter Scott into notice, has commemorated one of these traditions in his tale of "Sir Guy, the Seeker."

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