IV. Another churchman, free, 'tis said, And Leuchar's bantam cocks and hens. V. The air, if not the era's come, And crawl once more back to that time When poets had to write their rhyme And break the sluice that dammed the flood Of common sense's honest blood! The foregoing piece of rhyme was written in August 1861, in consequence of several so-called Ministers of the Gospel, some would-be pious Layers, and an embryo M. P. so far forgetting themselves as to try, by preaching and praying, and singing psalms on a Lammas Market day, to evangelize the motley and merry crowd of human beings assembled that day. It was written hastily in the forenoon-printed and circulated, and so far helped to put a stop to the foolish and unseemly breaking of Solomon's golden rule,- that there is a time and place for everything under the sun. THE DEVIL KILLED BY ENLIGHTENMENT. A DREAM. "The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ" (Truth): for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."-Revelation xii. "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand" (Education). And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more."—Ibid. xx. "The fear o' Hell's a hangman's whup To haud the wretch in order."—Burns. Cain "Alas! I scarcely know what it is, And yet I fear it-fear, I know not what!" Lucifer" And I, who know all things, fear nothing; See! what is true knowledge."-Byron. "I say there is no darkness but Ignorance, in which Thou art more puzzled than the Egyptians in their fog." "I say, this house is dark as Ignorance, though Ignorance were as dark as Hell!"-Shakespeare. "And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made."--2 Chronicles xi. 15. "The great Creator to revere Must sure become the creature- Yet ne'er with wits profane to range An Atheist's laugh's a poor exchange "When ranting round in Pleasure's ring Or if she gie a random sting It may be little minded; But when on life we're tempest-driven, A Conscience but a canker, A correspondence fixed wi' Heaven Is sure a noble anchor."-Burns. HAT a dream I dreamt! what a dream of dread! WH Yet I firm believe it true; I dreamt that old Satan at last was dead, Pierced by Enlightenment through. I dreamt that I groped down the aisles of Hell, Where the fiends quaff blood from the Murderer's well, The fountain of Hell's red wave. 1 According to an old legend, there lived on the Borders a jolly horse-couper named Canobie Dick. One moonlight night, when riding over Bowden Moor, on the west side of the Eildon Hills-the scene of Thomas the Rhymer's prophecies-with a pair of horses, he met a venerable-looking man, who bought the horses, and arranged to buy more whenever he chose to bring them. Dick brought horses repeatedly, and always got his money, but complained of dry bargains being unlucky, and proposed to go and get half a mutchkin. "You may go to my dwelling-place, if you will," said the stranger; "but if you lose courage at what you see there you will rue it all your life." Dick laughed, alighted, secured his horse, and followed the stranger up a narrow footpath which led up to the Eildon Hills. He was somewhat startled, however, to observe his conductor enter the hill-side by a deep passage or cavern, of which, though well acquainted with the place, he had never seen before. "You may still return," said his guide, looking ominously back. But Dick scorned to show the white feather, so on they went. They entered a very long range of stables -in every stall stood a coal-black horse, by every horse stood a knight in coal-black armour, with a drawn sword in his hand-but all was silent and still, hoof and limb, as if they had been cut out of marble; a great number of torches lent a gloomy lustre to the hall. They arrived at the upper end, where a sword and a horn lay on an antique table. "He that shall sound that horn and draw that sword," said the stranger, who now intimated that he was the famous Thomas of Hersildoune, "shall, if his heart fail him not, be king over all broad Britain. So speaks the tongue that cannot lie. But it all depends on courage, and much on your taking the sword or the horn first." Dick was disposed to take the sword, but his bold spirit was cowed by the supernatural terrors of the hall, and thought if he unsheathed the sword first it might be construed into defiance. He took the bugle with a trembling hand, and blew a feeble note, but loud enough to produce a terrible answer. Thunder rolled in stunning peals through the immense hall-horses and men started into life. The steeds snorted, stamped, and champed their bits, and tossed their heads; the warriors sprang to their feet, clashed their armour, and brandished their swords. Dick's terror was extreme at seeing the whole army, which had so lately been silent as the grave, all in an uproar and about to rush on him. He dropped the horn, and made a weak attempt to seize the enchanted sword, but a voice pronounced aloud the mysterious words : "Woe to the coward that ever he was born, Who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn." At the same time, a whirlwind of irresistible fury howled through the long hall, and bore the unfortunate horse-jockey clear out of the mouth of the cavern, and hurled him over a steep bank of loose stones, where the shepherds found him next morning, with just breath enough to tell his fearful tale, and then expired. This legend is found in many parts of Scotland and England. The scene is sometimes laid in the Highlands, sometimes in the deep coal mines of Northumberland and Cumberland, which run far beneath the ocean. It is vain to ask what was the origin of the tradition. The choice between the horn and the sword may perhaps include as a moral that it is foolhardy to awaken Danger before we have arms in our hands to resist it. But, with regard to the progress of Truth, it is little matter whether swords are taken or horns blown |