POEMS OLD AND NEW
Adam Fleming, of Kirkpatrick ; that of the other has
escaped tradition, although it has been alleged that he
was a Bell of Blacket-house. The addresses of the
latter were, however, favoured by the friends of the
lady, and the lovers were therefore obliged to meet ir
secret, and by night, in the churchyard of Kirkconnell
a romantic spot surrounded by the river Kirtle,
During one of these private interviews, the jealous anc
despised lover suddenly appeared on the opposite
bank of the stream, and levelled his carbine at the
breast of his rival. Helen threw herself before hei
lover, received in her bosom the bullet, and died in his
arms. A desperate and mortal combat ensued be-
tween Fleming and the murderer, in which the latter
was cut to pieces. The graves of the lovers are still
shown in the churchyard at Kirkconnell."
P. 6, 1. 7. Burd : maid.
1. u. Meikle : much.
Rosabelle.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). Born at Edinburgh and
educated at the High School and Edinburgh Uni-
versity, Scott was trained to the law, and called to the
Bar. From several years' residence in the Border
district in his childhood, and from later visits, he
amassed an enormous collection of ballad material,
much of which he published in " The Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border " (1802). The interest thus fostered in
feudal history found expression in a number of vigorous
narrative poems, such as " The Lady of the Lake '*
and "Marmion." When Byron began to write the same
type of poems, better, as Scott imagined, than himself,
Scott turned to the novel, beginning with " Waverley "
(1814), published anonymously. In 1826 Scott be-
came involved in his publishers* bankruptcy, but,
by his writing, had succeeded in clearing off a great
part of the debt when he died at his country house at
Abbotsford.
Scott is at his best in short poems, where his diffuseness
is restrained by limit of form.
P. 7, 1. 7. Ravensheuch : a large, strong castle, now ruined,
situated between Kirkcaldy and Dysart, on a steep
crag washed by the Firth of Forth.
1. 10. Inch : island.
1. 11. Water-Sprite : a spirit, whose screams were sup-
posed to be an omen of disaster.
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