agreed by all present, that the venison of the roe-deer of Eildon exceeded in quality that of any other part of the kingdom. The king appeared thoug

apprehend that every step he took was on enchanted ground. The hound, Mooly, had slipt into the banquet-hall at the time of vespers, and neither soothing, threatening, nor the lash, would drive her hence. She clung to the king's foot until he took pity on her, and s

a cup full to the brim, which I mean to dedicate to the health of a lady, whom I thi

oth, in the general acceptation of the terms, shall it not be o

lease," said

ion of old Malmsey is to be found among his majesty's stores here deposit

. The king then arose, and lifting his cup on high-"My lords," said he, "I give you the fairest

all around the table. Astonishment was in every look,

ttom," cri

e saw every cup drained, and then brought his slowly and gracefully to his lips, with the intention of emptying it at one draug

animal dead,

of the hall,

let her be hung

aster's feet, as if begging

et us see what the beast means, an

would be provoked to do the like again. But no!-Mooly appeared perfectly satisfied, and suffered her master to drink it off piece-meal. A certain consternation reigned in the royal apartment

and the king appeared as formerly t

t the casual frolic of a pampered animal tend to cast down your majesty's sp

ll do presently

t too in the wine of which I have heard your majes

med the name of Elen of Rosline with rapturous enthusiasm, and again as he put the cup to his lips, Mooly sprung up, snatched the cup fr

ry in this," said the king, "and I w

ce myself. You are, and have always been a visionary, and nothing will ever wean you from it. You make idols of these two animals; they have sometim

he genuine Old Malmsey win

t is the wine that was

ottle. "Drink thou that, Ralpho," said he, "and tel

y, bowed, and drank off t

enuine,

esty; I think it tastes

, some time thereafter, Ralpho, who was bustling about, sat down in a languid and sickly post

matter, Ralph

returned he; "I think I feel as if that wi

s, and in ten minutes he was lyin

y to have a hand in this as any other. Hume charged him boldly to his face with it, and made proffer to abide by the proof; but he pretended to receive the charge only with scorn and derision, as one which no reasonable man could suppose. The king was greatly affected, and, upon the whole, showed r

hought, through fear, than conviction of his innocence; but from an inf

at is unborn. There can be no doubt but that, instigated by some of your majesty's enemies, t

have been so ready in participating of the draught. I will not be

is innocence more str

majesty the set of wine from which he had ordered Ralpho to bring it, and he w

he Border Chiefs, and bring them to his rescue-took his two favourite hounds with h

produced against any one, they succeeded in some degree. New perplexities, however, continued to way-lay him, for he was throughout his w

him on some urgent business. He was introduced, and any one may judge of the king's astonishment, when he saw that it was the identical old ma

and confusion, what seekest tho

favourite hounds came last night to the houses of two widows in Newstead, and have carried off their t

her of them; for these two dogs were locked up with me in my chamber last

nd, that I myself saw the two hounds at liberty this morning at daylight. I sa

at thou hast said," replied the king; "and t

us stranger, if his two white hounds, Mooly and Scratch, were not in hi

aid the king to them. "Say, were the two houn

ertainly out. How it came they knew not,

ng; "if not to deprive your king of life, to deprive

r among men! I demand that these two obnoxious and devouring animals be hung upon a tree, or burnt alive before the sun go down. Then shal

I should be compelled to do this. I will have better testimony; and if I find that these child

should be admitted, and in a moment she stood before him, pale, shrivelled, hagard, and wild, and altogether such a figure as one scarcely can see, or could see, without the impression that she was scarce earthly. Her appearance was that of a lady

ng, and have devoured, or taken away my only daughter, my sole stay and hope in this world, and nothing is left but a part of her garments. These dogs have some power de

liege," said the old stranger; "and you m

opped a low courtesy, and then said, "I crave you pardon, my lord and master.

e; and, by the head that bows to thee!-I swear by non

no regard to it. Bring witnesses to establish

and made enquiry of them who the old dame was, and what was the character that she bore. They informed him that she was a noted witch, and kept the whole

e land should be cleansed of these disturbers of its peace; as for that old stranger, I

rising, she went out silently to discover what it could be, and to her utter astonishment, beheld the king's two hounds, Mooly and Scratch, spring from her daughter's casement, and in a short space a beautiful roe-deer followed them and bounded away to the Eildons: That she hasted to her daughter's apartment, and found that her darling was gone." The stories of the other two were exactly similar to one another, only that the one blamed one hound, and the other the other. It was as follows: "I was lying awake in the morning very early, with my son in my arms, when one of the king's hounds came into my house. I saw it, and wist not how it had got there. A short time after I heard it making a strange scraping and noise in the other end of the house, on which I arose to turn

the bed, or any symptoms of th

could disc

thing carrying in her mouth, or other

t notice that sh

house at the time; any other appeara

a leveret followed her out at the

tized in a Christian

er baptized in a Christi

not answer to

ection that they have wit

d the old stranger, who

e other was brought in, he said,-"This is some infernal combination; they are all of them witches, and their friend

thy of such a monarch

n in this part of my dominions, Do you know any thing of

at present from whence he is.-Pray, sir, are you not he who

; "And were they not the best that

re," sai

elicious above all food ever b

nk I have heard it reported that no one eve

he stranger, "and that

think I divine something of the matter. Tell me, I

d the old man, "on whom kings and priests for ever feed. F

at the stake," said the king; "and

hose of whom there is no hope." Then going near to the first woman who had lost her son, he s

hwith darted away into the air, wrapt in flame; and, as he ascended, he heaved his right hand, and shook his fiery locks at his inquisitors. The old withered beldame yelped forth hysteric gigglings, something between laughing and shrieks-the king fell on his knees, clasped the rood and kissed it-the two women trembled-and even old Rubely counted his beads, and stood for a short space in mute astonishment. He next proposed trying the same experiment with the old witch lady, but she resisted it so furiously, with cursing an

gn and seal, which they had always declined, but that nevertheless he had such an influence over them, that he in a manner led them as he pleased; that at first they took him for a venerab

common with him than to tempt men in the form of a lovely and bewitching woman, by which means he had of late got many of them into his clutches. When the king heard that, he counted his beads with redoubled fervency, and again kissed the rood, for it reminded him of a lovely vision he had seen of late, as well as some things of a former day. The women added, that the stranger had of late complained gri

els and cells at the same instant of time, and the like number of masses said, with all due solemnity; and that then it would be out of the power of all the spirits of the infernal regions-all of the

TNO

pear, that it is a floating fragment of some ancient allegor