Page:The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Scott (1805).djvu/230

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ror, fled up into the tower, tore open the boards of a window, leapt down fifteen feet in height, and continued his flight up the river. Looking back to Gask, he discovered the tower on fire, and the form of Fawdoun upon the battlements, dilated to immense size, and holding in his hand a blazing rafter. The Minstrel concludes,

Trust right wele, that all this be sooth indeed,
Supposing it be no point of the creed.
The Wallace, Book fifth.

Mr Ellis has extracted this tale as a sample of Henry's poetry. Specimens of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 351.

Dimly he viewed the Moat-hill's mound.—St. XXV. p. 25.

This is a round artificial mount near Hawick, which, from its name (Mot Ang. Sax. Concilium Conventus), was probably anciently used as a place for assembling a national council of the adjacent tribe. There are many such mounds in Scotland, and they are sometimes, but rarely, of a square form.

Beneath the tower of Hazeldean.—St. XXV. p. 25.

The estate of Hazeldean, corruptly Hassendean, belonged formerly to a family of Scotts thus commemorated by Satchells.

"Hassenden came without a call,
The ancientest house among them all."

On Minto-crags the moon-beams glint.—St. XXVII. p. 26.

A romantic assemblage of cliffs, which rise suddenly above the vale of Teviot, in the immediate vicinity of the family-seat, from which Lord Minto takes his title. A small plat-