COCKBURN LAW.

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in en masse to Danskein Inn to enjoy themselves, and sometimes procrastinate so long the unhappy moment of going home, that the market-day of the succeeding week would surprise most of them as they sat. They used to bring their grain to Haddington in single sacks, each upon a horse's back; and the cavalcades thus formed, have been known to extend a whole mile along the road.

The less frequented road, about a mile to the eastward of this, pursuing the course of the Whiteadder, comprises a more interesting class of objects than the other, which is comparatively a modern and wild one. It was, as already mentioned, defended by a chain of towers,-John's cleuch, Gamelshiel, Painshiel, Redpath, Harehead, and Cranshaws. The last is one of the very few such buildings which are still kept in repair ; all the rest are in ruins. Cranshaws Castle is the principal object in the small and thinly inhabited parish of the same name, (formerly resorted to for goat-whey,) and seems to be the only house in Lammermuir which answers to the description of Ravenswood in the Author of Waverley's beautiful tragic tale. It belongs to Mr. Watson of Saughton, who occasionally uses it as shooting quar

ters.

Cranshaws Castle has had the luck in its day to be haunted by spirits of different descriptions. But the most remarkable of all was a brownie, who is a supernatural being of a much more eligible nature than any other known in Scotland, on account of his good-will to the household which he chooses to honour with his presence. The brownie of Cranshaws was as industrious as could well have been desired-insomuch that at least the barnsman's office became a perfect sinecure. The brownie both inned the corn and threshed it, and that for several successive seasons. It at length happened, one harvest, that after he had brought the whole victual into the barn, some one remarked that he had not mowed it very well, that is, not piled it up neatly at the end of the barn; whereupon the spirit took such offence, that he threw the whole of it next night over the Raven Craig,

a precipice about two miles off, and the people of the farm had almost the trouble of a second harvest in gathering it up.

From the remains of military works in this neighbourhood, and from the names of many of the localities, this part of Lammermuir appears to have been at some period the theatre of war. A hill called the Twin Law, is said by the people to have got its name from the circumstance of two twin-brothers, who led an army in compact, having here quarrelled, fought, and killed each other. The same authority makes Manslaughter Law the scene of a bloody battle. Indeed, it is the belief of the peasants of Lammermuir, who are a singularly intelligent as well as a most patriarchal race, that their country was the last ground contested by the Scots and Picts. The unfortunate Picts, when nearly exterminated, are said to have chosen for a last refuge, the top of Cockburn-law, a high hill between Cranshaws and Dunse, and the top of which is said to have been rendered greener than its sides by their residence there. The same hill presents a remarkable curiosity in the shape of a rude fortification, which the country people call Etin's or Edin's Hold. It is situated on the north side, a little below the middle of the hill, and consisted when entire of three concentric circles, the innermost forty feet in diameter, the second seven feet from the first, and the third ten feet from the second. The interior space was vacant, but the spaces between the walls were arched over, in such a manner as to form two distinct circular suites of apartments. The building was not cemented by any sort of mortar; but the stones, which were whin, and many of them large, stuck together by means of grooves. A spring of water, that arose a good way farther up the hill, was introduced into the building by a secret pipe, and the overplus was conveyed a little way down, and caused to arise through the ground, in order to deceive an enemy, who might otherwise, in case of a siege, have cut off the supply of this necessary element. The tradition of the people around is, that Edin's Hold was the residence of a giant

ETIN'S HOLD.-ABBEY ST BATHANS.

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-a sort of Cacus, who used to make free with the herds in the neighbourhood, and here, a solitary outlaw, set all his fellow-creatures at defiance. A chasm of some feet in width, formed by the rocks which skirt the course of the Whiteadder, and commonly called the Giant's Step, is shown at the bottom of Cockburn Law, as a pass used by this monstrous being, but which could not be crossed by any man of ordinary legs. Yet it is told, that he could leap this horrible gulf, even when his back was burdened by a bullock that he might be conveying to his hold.

In the north of Cockburn Law, surrounded on all sides by hills, like a jewel set with coarser stones, is the pleasant valley of Abbey St Bathans. The beauty of this sequestered spot was not neglected by the tasteful religious of former times; neither should it be passed over by a modern traveller. Here, on the banks of the Whiteadder, which winds through the centre of the vale, amidst fertile fields and beautiful plantations, are situated the ruins of a Bernardine Abbey, founded in 1170, by a Countess of March, and for which Ada the prioress swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296. The Earl of Wemyss has, upon another part of the stream, a hunting-seat, called the Retreat, which proves highly ornamental to the scene.

The parish of Longformacus occupies the southern debouche of the pass between East Lothian and the Merse, but, with the exception of two fine conical hills, called the Dirrington Laws, which are seen at a great distance, contains no local details of any interest. I introduce it only for the purpose of narrating a story which refers to an inhabitant of the Kirk-town, recently deceased.

John Neale, a blacksmith at Longformacus, was remarkable all his life for strong good sense and wit, debased by great coarseness of manners and indifference to the truths of religion. A man he was, as rough and sturdy as the iron bars he hammered, and one who seemed the last in the world likely to fear any thing, earthly or unearthly. John lived in tolerably good re

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MYSTERIOUS STORY OF JOHN NEALE.

pute for about fifty years, and by dint of industry and frugality, (for he had ever a keen eye to the world,) acquired at length not inconsiderable wealth.

He had a sister, who, having got a bad match, lived in depressed circumstances at Greenlaw. With her he had never been on good terms, nor did he upon any occasion deign to afford her that pecuniary assistance which she might have required at the hands of so opulent a brother. At length, this ill-starred person died, and was at rest from all her troubles; when John, by no means disposed to carry his cruel neglect beyond the grave, willingly attended an invitation to her funeral. Whether this melancholy ceremony, and the reflections excited by it, wrought upon his mind, cannot now be known; but he afterwards made it no secret, that, as he was returning home on horse-back, just as the twilight was beginning to thicken, and when he was passing along a peculiarly dreary part of the road, a flaff of darkness, as he described it, came across him, and for a moment obscured his vision, as if a sensible black object had passed close before his eyes. Confounded, and mortally afraid, he reached home without further misadventure; but the effects of the fright, or the force of an accusing and regretful conscience, were destined to prove fatal to him. He lost all his wonted vivacity, became peevish and moping, spoke no more witty or profane good things, and in the end, fell seriously ill. It was in what the people of Scotland called the back end of the year, that he saw the sight that changed him: he pined all the winter; but he did not live to see the leaves of spring.

Having been gathered to his fathers, his property and business were inherited by his eldest son-a youth, a good deal like himself, and who never but scoffed at the cause of his father's death, as he would have done at any other thing of a similarly serious nature. This person continued to do well in the world for about half a dozen years, when his mortal career terminated under circumstances of terrible mysteriousness. He was expected home one night from Greenlaw, where he had

been attending a fair or market; but the morning came and he did not make his appearance. His wife, in the utmost alarm, then sent some one towards Greenlaw, in order to discover the cause of his detention. By this messenger, the unfortunate young man was found stretched lifeless upon the road, close to the spot where his father had met this strange adventure-his person. quite unviolated, but bearing testimony that he had died in a state of the utmost terror and disorder. His hair was raised quite out of its natural curl and arrangement— his hat and stick were lying at considerable distances from him-his coat and vest were open, his neckcloth half-drawn off-and, what appeared strangest of all, his. drawers off, while his trowsers were still on. There was no mark about his body that could lead to the idea that he had been attacked and deprived of life by a fellow-creature; his mortal agonies, as they had been caused, were also witnessed, only by some power beyond the nature of man, and the circumstances of that dark hour of strife and pain remain, and will probably remain while time endures, an inexplicable mystery.*

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LAUDERDALE.

LAUDERDALE, as already described, is the vale formed by the Leader; a stream arising in the wilds which form a natural boundary between Lothian and the Vale of Tweed, and which, after a southerly course of about twenty miles, falls into the Tweed at a place called Drygrange, two miles below Melrose. This district contains several localities of the highest interest, as Cowdenknowes, Earlstoun, and Lauder, words which no Scotsman can hear without emotion, agreeable or disagreeable. The pleasantness of the banks of the Leader

*The whole affair has taken place since the beginning of the century, and is quite well known to the people of Berwickshire. Many of his relations yet live in Longformacus.