As I was walking all alane,
  I heard twa corbies making a mane;
  The tane unto the t’other say,
  “Where sall we gang and dine to-day?”

  “In behint yon auld fail[A] dyke,
  “I wot there lies a new slain knight;
  “And nae body kens that he lies there,
  “But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair.

  “His hound is to the hunting gane,
  “His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
  “His lady’s ta’en another mate,
  “So we may mak our dinner sweet.

  “Ye’ll sit on his white hause bane,
  “And I’ll pike out his bonny blue een: 
  “Wi’ ae lock o’ his gowden hair,
  “We’ll theek[B] our nest when it grows bare.

  “Mony a one for him makes mane,
  “But nane sall ken whare he is gane: 
  “O’er his white banes, when they are bare,
  “The wind sall blaw for evermair.”

[Footnote A:  Fail—­Turf.]

[Footnote B:  Theek—­Thatch.]

THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY.

The ballad of The Douglas Tragedy is one of the few, to which popular tradition has ascribed complete locality.  The farm of Blackhouse, in Selkirkshire, is said to have been the scene of this melancholy event.  There are the remains of a very ancient tower, adjacent to the farmhouse, in a wild and solitary glen, upon a torrent, named Douglas-burn, which joins the Yarrow, after passing a craggy rock, called the Douglas-craig.  This wild scene, now a part of the Traquair estate, formed one of the most ancient possessions of the renowned family of Douglas; for Sir John Douglas, eldest son of William, the first Lord Douglas, is said to have sat, as baronial lord of Douglas-burn, during his father’s lifetime, in a parliament of Malcolm Canmore, held at Forfar.—­GODSCROFT, Vol.  I. p. 20.  The tower appears to have been square, with a circular turret at one angle, for carrying up the staircase, and for flanking the entrance.  It is said to have derived its name of Blackhouse from the complexion of the lords of Douglas, whose swarthy hue was a family attribute.  But, when the high mountains, by which it is inclosed, were covered with heather, which was the case till of late years, Blackhouse must have also merited its appellation from the appearance of the scenery.

From this ancient tower Lady Margaret is said to have been carried by her lover.  Seven large stones, erected upon the neighbouring heights of Blackhouse, are shown, as marking the spot where the seven brethren were slain; and the Douglas-burn is averred to have been the stream, at which the lovers stopped to drink:  so minute is tradition in ascertaining the scene of a tragical tale, which, considering the rude state of former times, had probably foundation in some real event.