i king ton chronicle nec rege nec popllo sed utroque 0 wwv b voi x saturday augtst 30 1828 no ix poetry the evening landscape on lower regions from the west the sua in cloudless glory gazes while in the beecheu shade i rest upon a bank of daisies it is the sabbath of the day which every forest leaf is keeping the hum of life hath died away the passions all are sleeping it seems as conscious nature yields at her creators shrine devotiou there comes no music from the fields no murmur from the ocean a silent joy a holy pride steals on my swelling heart and oer me the visions of my boyhood glide in long review before me one lovely eve at sucb an hour the woods were green the sun was shining and i within this becchen bower upon the bank reclining when up yon path my loved one came in all the pride of vernal brightness with brow of snow and lip of flame and form of fairy lightness 1 4lapday scrapn to y oreaat withecstacy my heart was beating and hers within its joyous nest was throb for throb repeating we roamed about this woodland scene and down the hill and through the meadow tih lowering sombre and serene the evening threw bis shadow and dews unheard were falling round and in the south a star was twinkling and from afar with fitful sound the curfew bell was tiukling i pressed her hand in mine the blush of meek and maiden perturbation came oer her features like the flush which crimsons the carnation and the last he who founded the empire he in whom it terminated the details given of this termination and of the charac ter and conduct of him who endeavoured to avert or delay it arc particularly affect ing and his devotion of himself to the cause of his country when it could no lon ger he preserved and seeking death in the midst of his enemies are worthy of the best ages of greece or rome the breaches which remain in the wall for a considera ble extent near this top kapousi gateand which the turks have never since repaired attest the vigourous resistance made and the utter hopelessness of any further effort tostnptne torrent ofbarbarians that pour ed in through them the body of con stantino was found in one of thera he had placed himself as the last but ineffectual barrier and a magnificent tree is now grow ing out of it to mark as clarke says ile sacred sfot where the last of the palajologi their spirits were subdued and their sistent with the plan of your magazine i fell as this is the side on i caught her gazo it thrilled ray heart- in silence eloquently pleading from her my thoughts could not depart and of nought else were heoding we parted with a fond embrace i stood and gazfed in melancholy even as the pilgrim turns his face to meccas temple holy but ere yon hedgerow from my sight the peri of my hope had banished she waved her hand of lily white and like a spirit vanished three summers since have fled and all my hopes divine and dreams elysian have passed like sunshine from a wall in mockery of vision but fair is nature oh i how fair are all her beauties spread before me the tearful star with dewy hair beams tremulously oer me the shades are darkening oer the dell the nightfog hangs above tho river beloved scenes farewell farewell for ever and for ever liter which the russians threaten to approach constantinople it is highly probable that this is the gate by which they will enter and the very same passage that admitted tho crescent will again admit the cross it is very well known that this is an event which the turks are expecting and their which bis father anticipations of it are not confined to mili tary preparations their great burying- ground lies on the asiatic shore and is in be seen extending its dark cypress grove for a considerable distance in the vicinity of scaler this is perhaps the largest ce metery in the world being one hour or three miles in length and it has increased to its present size in consequence of theex- traordinary predilection the turks of con stantinople entertain for it they are per suaded they will again be compelled to re tire to asia whence they came and they wish their hodies to be laid in a place where christian infidels cannot disturb them the great majority therefore of those who die in constantinople are transported by their friends across the bosphorus and the stair or slip at which they embark is called for this reason meitskelli or the ladder of the dead this impression on their minds is confirmed by ancient prophecies which are current aoiollj them and by o- ther causes equally slight which nevertbe- lesshave a powerful influence on the weak and superstitious fancy of a turk among them is a coincidence of names which is rather curious constantinople was taken and lost at different times by persona who bore the same name the latins under a baldwin obtained possession of it aud un der a baldwin they were again driven out of it the city was rebuilt and made the seat of the greek empire by a constantiue tho son of helena and in the patriarchate courage broken down and the ordinary causes of irritation were powerless to move them whether the discipline of the new corps oo supply the want of this undis ciplined energy in future encounters re mains to be tried had the new system time to organise itself had habit rendered the discipline agreeable to the turkish soldier and practice made him expert no doubt it will have been a renovatiou which would have infused euergy and vigour into a decaying system but the turkish empire seems just now in a perilous state of im becility the old military destroyed the new unorganised their courage subdued their attachment alienated and just at the critical moment threatened with a com bination of force such as they never in their highest state of power had to cn- couuter the present sultan who has ef fected this perilous undertaking in which so many of his predecessors failed is a man not in the prime but still in the vigour of life he succeeded his brother mustapba in the year 1808 and so has been on the rhrono twenty years he is now the onlr survivor i believe of thirty childreu fifteen boys anil fifteen girls left and it is the last of the male race of mohomet of an age fit to reign 9nd it is to this circumstance they ftvi ll w intflfthtftd for his iuviolability mad thei been another of the sacred race old enough to substitute in his place the jauissari would have long since deposed from the literary gazette narrative of v journey from constantinople to england continued- the city of constantinople he goes on tostate is built on a triangular pro- montoryprojoctmg into the sea of mar mora two sides are washed by the sea and the third is that which connects the triangle with the main land and may be called its base these sides were all well fortified with walls which still re main though in several places so dilapi dated as to bo incapable of any defence without great reparation the whole circuit is estimated at more than twelve miles the side washed by the harbour three that washed by sea of marmora four and the base ft p the wall and forti fications five miles extending from sea to sea aud terminating in the seven tow ers the narrative continues to rise in in terest we now arrived at tiie top kapousi r gate of the cannon which was the gite where mahomet entered the devo ted city it is called top kapousi be cause the turks have set over it some large globes of granite such as they use for balls in their immense pieces of ordnance and they have placed them hereto commemo rate the spot where they entered and took possession of this capital of the christian world at some distance in front of this gate is an artificial mound called maltcpe which i assendad the summit commands a magnificent view of this city the sea of marmora and the country for a very great extent all rouud it here it was that ma homet displayed the standard of his prophet and directed the attack on this side the author then expresses his admiration at the resistance offered by the dishearten ed greeks which he imputes to the genius and spirit of one individual aud says that one man was constantiue paueolo- gus tho name of constantiue occurs more frequently than that of any other in the history of the lower empire it was borne by fourteen emperors but they wore all marked by imbecility exeunt the first of a gregory it was taken and the empire of the greeks destroyed under a constan tiue the son of helena and in the patri archate of a gregory the turks obtained possession of it under a mahomet and they arc firmly persuaded they will lose it under a mahomet and that mahomet the present reigning sultan and to complete this chain of names at the time the greek insurrecti on broke out a constantiue was the heir- apparent to the russian throne and a gre gory was the patriarch of constantinople they ranged at the timeone of these omi nous persdtfs and the other has since ab dicated the crown still they are persua ded that events will happen as they are decreed and the fatal combination of ma homet gregory and constantino will yet destroy their power in europe this remarkable prophecy it is not im probable may like mauy others tend to its own fulfilment among a people so super- white the greeks were shot without mercy slitious as the turks we pass a striking him he had two sons one about the age often tu whom their eyes were turned as his succe when he should arrive at competed years and he knew by expe rience il was as easy for them to do this as to say it for both of his predecessors had been strangled one of whom was his own brother his son prematurely died and it was reported that he had been made away with by his own father lest he should be set up in his place it is known how ever that the boy died of the smallpox and that his father has given an extra- ordinarv example to his subjects by having his surviving childreu vaccinated aud so has hewn in one instance at least a dis position to adopt european improvements in tilings not merely military he is moreover a man well versed in oriental literature writes and understands arabic well antl his hatasherifs which he always dictates and sometimes writes with his own hand are admired for their style and compositn he is not a man of a morose or cruel disposition in his own family on the contrary he has several daughters by different mothers to all of whom he is af fectionately attached and in his ordinary intercourse in private life he is urbane and affable his public conduct however has been masked by extraordinary fierceness and unrelenting rigour not only to uajas but to tuks themselves and in this he has shewn an impartial disregard to human life and uot a strict adherauce to human obligatios but whatever his conduct has been o his own subjects to those of o- ther natious he has afforded the most invio lable protection he has discontiuued the barbarous practice o his predecessors in sending ambassadors to the seven towers instead of which whenever they disagree r i i are disposed to depart he affords them every facility aud those of their nation who please to remain are in security dur ing jj frenzied excitement of the populace which took place at the breaking out of the circek insurrection the odium aud pre judice of the turks extended to all christi ans yet the franks were perfectly safe shall send you from time to time a short ac count of the fairies brownies witches kelpies c who still linger amongst our hills and glens as loth to forsake that be loved land wherein they formerly reigned so long with unquestioned dominion the first of my little essays shall be up on the fairies hut i must he permitted to observe that after the detailed and extreme ly interesting memoir on the fairy super stition introduced into the minstrelsy of the scottish ttorder it would be a presumptu ous work of supererogation in your humble correspondent as well as a thankless la bour were he to attempt to give fuller or more explicit account of this most elegaut branch of our national mythology but notwithstanding all the multifarious auec- dotps which the indefatigable industry of lift scott has collected several curious tra ditions have escaped hissearch which tend in some degree to shew thai the opinions of the people of the west concerning tho fairy folk though in general agree ing with those of the romantic borderers yet differ from them iu various particulars according to popular belief q most parts of scotland the fairies are under the domi nion of a queen but in clydesdale at least in the upper ward they have a vng to rule over them who is uo less a personage than thomas tin rhymer who now for many centuries has swayed the elfin seep- j tre with great splendour he obtained the monarchy neither by conquest nor election hut by a transference of the queenly power to which their ancient and legitimate sove reign was compelled by the great love which she bore for true thomas ac cording to an old traditionary ballad an indisputable authority in these matters hut which i cannot at present completely re cover thomas while a young man gade doun to ihecashio wud to pu the roses braw an the bhstoras that hang frae the row an tree as white as the driftit snaw the ouzel an the mavis grey rejoicit iu their saog an thelustie cushat scoupt through the shaw an currooit the trees amang the eerie scaddows o tho aiks fell black oer the skinklan grun as frae a heap o bludereid cluds brast furth the mornin sun he hadnac calidon the halie name that scugs in the evil hour an ihraws a bicld roun sinfu man frae the blasts o fairy power when he was aware of a lady fair come out of a birken bower on rice her rude was redder than rose on cairniecnstle lee her teeth was the dew on the heather hell thediamou stanc hcrec her mantle greener nor the gorse souptdoun alang tbegrun at the turn ohereetbe branches swhtt as inuvt by a whirlwin to tnamas she cam ridiu up wi mickie state an pride an ye maun gang wi me hive thamns ill be your winsome bride an we will lig in the brumic braes or daff iu the birken shaw an tak our fill o droucrie hands the first mounted upon brown hor ses the second upon grey and the last which contained the king and queen with the chief nobles mounted upon horses white as the driit snaw it was in this last com pany that kilmoulie cut so great a figure and i forgot to mention in its proper place that this high dignitary and his charger contrary to all rules of optics appeared to be full as big at a distance as near at hand just before my window and within two or three minutes walk of the door lies a beautiful sloping field called auchreoch where a peasant who died not many years ago had the fortune to witness the magni ficence of a fairy raid i knew the man when i was a boy a steady and sincere christian at the venerable age of ninetwo whose mind was deeply imbued with the superstitions and fmelty observances of his native land with supremo interest have i often listened to the excellent man while he seated on an old highbacked chair with his palsied head which he sup ported by leaning his brow ou a short staff almost bowed down between his knees with age narrated with strong feeling and in the picturesque language of former days many a striking relation of the malignant kelpie the boding wraith the spiteful witch aud the mischievous but elegant fairy in one or two of the following little sto ries i shall pmms 88 ttwa m jomfljilf of the original language iu order to give your scottish readers a specimen of the clydesdale dialect in the aftemunc of a braw hairstday about sunsettiu an as the muue was wad- in up through an eastlan rowk the haill bune saw a wee bit crynitlookin woman nae heicher nor a waterstoup a ki bussit in a gown o the auldest fassou gang dau- nerin through amang the stouks sho cast mony a fang look at the shearers but we neer luit ou that we saw her though o- ny body wadin a moment hae seen that it was something wanearthly the shearers quat rather suner that uichtnor usual an my brither ani taiglit awhile ahinettlan to fetch name a draught o greeu corn to the ky the mune be this was shinan clearly ahune a the ure an ha in buggen the draucht my brither tuk the naig be the head to lead him name whan till our a- raazement we perceived him to be a lash- an wisweat nowthorfleechan norwhip- an could mak him mudge a fit but there he stude quakan litli an limb like the leaf o the lin while we were stannan upo stappaustanes switherin what to do we were surprisit wi the souu of an onken- nable nummero sma bells a tinklc-tink- lan in adoup by cam thousans o milk- white hunds nae bigger nor whittrets an souchau asgin they had beeu a flaucht o dows mony a wcarie company o wee wee gersegreen ridels cam neest stenuanower the lea their graith a jinglau wi silleran their clais skiuklan i the wanyoch mune as though they had heen just ae diamon muckle din aud loud gilraivitch wasta- a round fond of the memory of their belov ed chief attribute this preservation to the interposition of some superior power for they contend that sir william wallace was not only the greatest hero and most disin terested patriot that the world ever saw but also an eminent christian nether auchenleck has always been a peculiar haunt of the fairies and other spiri tual beings the late tenant alexander waddel having in the course of his im provements grubbed up a broom y brae where the fairies were wout to hold their revels mcurred the displeasure of these ir ritable spirits they rade his horses iu the night till they were quite blawn shot his ky an did ua even baud aff himsell for ae nicht as he was sharpan bis saw by the tireeri ben cam an clfshotstane wi unco birr frae the door and dang a tuith outo the saw but nae doubt it was ett- lan to break his arm gif no to do him war skaith at another time as he was felliug some trees he perceived an arm strike at him with a hatchet but the shaft o his aue axe was made o roweotrcesae they could nae harm him there is a deep gleu at nether aiichinlcck called helpsgili wherein a spirit has frequently appeared in the very extraordinary shape ofa cartwheel trudling down the brae it appears always rolling right against the beholder often has the eirie night-travel- ler heen terrified that he would be over turned by this whimsical apparition but after coining houuditig from brae to brae thundering to his very feetall ofa sudden it vanishes and a loud unearthly laugh or as it is expressed in our country dialect an eldritch richcram gaffaw is heard in the bottom ofa ravine but let us return to thomas the rhy mer who appears from the most au thentic accounts to be a- very beneficent prince and to have still a very great regard for the inhabitants of his native land to take delight in promoting their iutcrest and in doing all in his power to release them from the thraldom of superhuman ma licious power a worthy old woman who lived in a small cottage the remains of which were lately discernible on the bauks of the taigillin barn a small streamlet in the parish of lesmahago who bad no other means of support than what she earned by spinning and what she drew from a cow which the neighbouring farmers very kindly allowed her to pasture on the uncultivated braes and by the waysides and hedges was harassed almost to death by loud and unearthly noises so that what with terror and want of sleep she was nearly driven distracted her cow which lowed continually either produced no milk or what she gave was sour as vincger and let her spin over so diligently she could make no progress she had just as much thread when she began as when slic- map ped tibbie knew not what to do her neighbours judging her wtcannie deserted her and she was in the utmost distress an nae man can it kuaw uiahg them gaffawan an lauchan they one day exactly at noon having passed a rade furth in three wheens the first muntit most fearful night and when after much on black ponies the neest on grey an consideration tdie had just determined to syne the last on bounie wee bcastics white flee from the house and all that was iu it as the driftit snaw i could brawlic ob- a gentle tap came to the door and a mild snaw serve the king amang the lave wi the queen on his richt m coalblack kil moulie on his left be this the forccn was tint frae view amang the brumie knows voice inquired if any were within the good woman rose and opened the door hut saw nothing imagining that she 1 ad been mistaken she went and sat down o daiberdillie an we war glowran at the when she again heard the same tap with account of the death of ali pasha aud his enemy unlet and even the destruction of the janissaries though the extermination of that corps must give an aspect to the approaching war very different from auy that has pcccded it suffice it to say that the number of janissaries destroyed on this occasion is variously reported be sides those who perished at the etuieidem barracks and iu the public streets multi tudes were caught aud privately strangled iu the houses where they were found so that none of the large body assembled were supposed to have escaped- all the officers with the exception of a few ol high rank who had joined tliosultans party were known to have perished and the ge nera opinion is that 20010 were sacrificed rn the occasion arubas and other ma chines were employed for several days in dragging down che mangled bodies and casting them into the harbour aud bospho rus here they lay till becoming buoyant by corruption they again rose to the top and were floated into tho sea of marmora where the eddies frequently carried them into still water covering the surface with large pudrid masses in which hosts and ships wore sometimes entangled and delay ed exhibiting in nearly the same place the reality of that which the poet only feigned of the vessel of xerxes impeded by tho hodies of his own soldiers cruentis fluctibus ac tarda per dansa cadavcra prora since the destruction of the janissaries a deadlike tranquillity has resigned at cons tantinople which no cause of excitement can disturb had the public mind been in that sensitive state when the first news of the battle of navarino arrived which dis played itself at tho breaking out of the greek rebellion it is highly probable that the whole of the frank popuiariit would have fallen victims to a popular frcny which no authority could control dut whenever they were met by the mob and notwithstanding a few accidents which oc curred to individuals in the confusion we ncvtr hesitated to walk abroad either iu the mwn or in its vicinity for business or ainocincut though every turk was arm ed villi ayatigan and case of loaded pis tols which he was ready to use on the slightest provocation ou more recent oc- cashnswhere such real cause of complaint and irritation existed il is but justice to the ff resent sultan to saythat his modera tion and good faith have afforded examples whin the best christian nations in europe might be proud to follow popular superstitions of clydesdale- during my infancy it was tho custom at rockings to entertain each other with sto ries of apparitions and unearthly visitati- ous a numerous collection of fairy tales formed part and no iuconsidcrable part of the general amusement aud he was es teemed the most acceptable rocker whose memory was most plentifully stored with such thrilling narratives but a very great change has taken place within these 15 yours the date to which my rccollcctiou reaches the inhabitants of clydesdale for i speak ofthat portion of scotland on ly with which i am most intimately ac quainted in place of meeting aud enter taining each other with the romantic and traditionary lore of cornier times seldom have any merry meetings at all aud when oik docs happen to take place the conver sation even of the very youngest persons pre cut is either about the shortest and su rest way to riches or else consists of pue rile scandal of absent lads and hisses ith cxircinc interest ami delight unified with piercing terror have 1 formerly listeue however every night for weeks mouths to these fearful talcs ami us my memory pretty ivcply iiuheed wish un mytholo gy yf at least my native county il itbecou- as sung by the peasantry thomas rather ungallantly pcrsits in re- refusing to comply with the request of the queen though her elfin majesty presses her suit in terms which i hg not to be compelled to repeat the virtue of thomas is inflexible till at last the princess offers him her haud and along with t her crown with perpetual so vereigntyove fairy land an i will gic to thee hive thamas my han but an my crown an thou shall ring ower fairy lan in joy an grit renown an i will gie to thee hive thamas to live for evermare thine arm sail never feckless grow nor hoary wax thy hair nae cbaueran grief we ever thole nae wastan pine we dree an endless lifes afore thee placed o constant luve an ice these were no doubt alluring offers and the temptation as was to hnve beeu ex pected proved too powerful for the virtue of the poor rhymer who from thencefor ward became king of the fairies huutiug appears all along to have been a favourite amusement of the seeliecuurt and innumerable are the stories which arc told concerning the magnificence and splendour of the royal retinue amidst all the numerous and gorgeous train the sovereign was easily distinguished by his superior stature and majestic demeanour upon his right hand rode her majesty and upon the left kilmoulie a personage of ra ther a suspicious character being according to some accoimtsthc resident envoy from the court of hell while according to others he was a prime noble among the fairies themselves of rather a mischievous dispo sition aud the principle instigator of all their roguish tricks ise bis character or office what it may he was readily known from bra riding a large and powerful black charger while alt the rest of the company in which he ranked were mounted upon very little milkwhite horses the pirv court always rode out in 3 1 have taken the this ancient word for liberty to substitute the unmeaning one u if fn cirtajw nv whitfli occurs in this place t vo wheelit roun his best an rade straucht to whar we war stannan he held his richt han ower us crunan out some fleyfu words as he gade souchan by like tho wind webaith sank to tbegrun wi fricht an i am far mistane gin i did nae hear the eldritch creature gatraw an an lauchan at the pliskie h had playit us whan we cam till onrsells a was gaue thegither an the cart was stannan cowpit up on its bin tramsbutuoaebito the graith waslowsit aff wc set gey an sare lleyit to seek the beast and as we war gaun by a souchen buss iu glenaskie we thocht wesaw some thing white in the buss an heard it gurr gurran like a dog shoran to bite we gade nerrerto see what it was thiukan itmicht he a hown worryan a lamb whau out cam sic a smytrie o wee white dogs as ee neer saw the hale o dumtersie was perfectly curit an the lift rang again wi their gowlan my ainbonnic rey cam by what he could ilee frae daiherdillicwart an stintit nae whill he wan to nether auchenleck whar we fan him i the lone wi the sweat gaun hailau all at his very huves the jags o the spurs was visible in his sides an the puir thing was never its ain wordie mare but frae that dwynit awa an decit upper and nether auchcnlccks are said to have been anciently the property of oue of the ralatives of wallace and to have been so denominated after the possessions of his family in ayrshire at nether au chenleck or as it is usually called nether alllcct there is a very curious relic of an tiquity called wallaces sjus which as tradition reports was made by that match less man while he was staying with his kindred at killbaok and nether auchen leck the styles which are of a very curious and complicated construction and exceedingly strong arc made of oak which having stood for centuries in one ol the smokiest novels in scotland has loug ago become quite saturated with soot and tendered almost incombustible the feet of the nyes are placed ou the ground with the side built firmly into the wall aud though the house has been twice burned down to the ground this venerable relic of wallace has escape unharmed the people srw to the door and a second time she nothing she had no sooner returned again to her scat than the tapping aud inquiry were repeated tibbies pa tience was inexhaustible she went a third time to the door and again seeing nobody she stepped round the corner of her hut to see if any boys bad been playing her a trick nought was there aud cot a little agitated she returned into her house when to her amazement she found the floor occupied hy a tall young man clad in green attended by seven blooming boys dressed in the same ha biliments the youth told her not to be alarmed that being out a hunting he had taken the liberty of calling for a drink to which as he was somewhat hungry he would be much obliged to her if she would add a little bread and cheese for which he would most willingly pay lie apologized for their conduct at the door by saying that his young attendants wished to give her a little surprisebut he should be sorry if it had occasioned her any alarm 1 am vext i cauna gie ye a drink of ocht hut water my bounie bairu but that yes hae clear s the bell for though i hae tholit muckle wearie ill ht has nae luiten them scaithe the siller well she bustled about and set before them excellent bread and cheese the last indeed which she had in the house and taking a white bowl she filled it with crystal water and according to the in variable practice of the scottish peasantry after having wished them good health and gods blessing she took one sip and placed it before them they ate very heartily though still the good womans bread aud cheese appeared to be growing no less which she perceiving after looking for some time she could no longer conti in herself but in great anxiety exclaimed i doubt sirs ye binnae ennuie the eldest smiled and told her uot to be alarm ed that he was indeed no longer a man but thomas the rhymer king of the fai ries and that these were seveu of his pages he further told her that be per fectly knew her situation and what it ws that had long haunted her abode but thi t if she would take his advice she should get quit of all her misluck as well as ol hex