Michael Scott, the Wizard of the North, was a mediæval scientist around whose memory many traditions have gathered. Compare “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” canto 2, stanza 13. The Monk speaks. “In these far climes it was my lot To meet the wondrous Michael Scott; A wizard of such dreaded fame, That when, in Salamanca’s cave, Him listed his magic wand to wave, The bells would ring in Notre Dame! Some of his skill he taught to me, And, warrior, I could say to thee The words that cleft Eildon Hills in three, And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone: But to speak them were a deadly sin; And for having but thought them my heart within, A treble penance must be done.” In the note on this passage Sir Walter says-- “In the South of Scotland any work of great labour or antiquity is ascribed either to the agency of Auld Michael, of Sir William Wallace, or of the devil.” Gilfillan tells an amusing anecdote that-- “when Sir Walter was in Italy he happened to remark to Mr. Cheney that it was mortifying to think how Dante thought none worth sending to hell except Italians, on which Mr. C. remarked that he of all men had no right to make this complaint, as his ancestor Michael is introduced in the ‘Inferno.’ This seemed to delight Scott.” The passage in the “Inferno” occurs in Canto 20-- “Quell’ altro che ne’ fianchi è così poco, Michele Scotto fu, che veramente Delle magiche frode seppe il giuocho.” translated by Cary thus:-- “That other, round the loins So slender of his shape, was Michael Scott, Practised in every slight of magic wile.” Boccaccio also mentions him (Dec. Giorn. VIII., Nov. 9): “It is not long since there was in this city (Florence) a great master in necromancy, who was called Michele Scotto, because he was from Scotland.” Legend has obscured the real fame of Michael Scott. He lived between 1175 and 1234, studied at Oxford, Paris, Palermo, Toledo (where he translated Aristotle from Arabic), and became court physician and astrologer to the Emperor Frederick II. He took Holy Orders, but declined the Pope’s offer of an Irish archbishopric on the ground of not knowing the Irish language. He probably died in Italy, but fable connects his burial with Holme Coltrame in Cumberland, or with Melrose Abbey. It is said that Sir Walter Scott confused him with another Michael Scott, of Balwearie, and that he “more probably belonged to the border country whence all the families of Scot originally came, and where the traditions of his magic power are common” (“Dict. of Nat. Biog.”). The best book on the subject is the “Life and Legend of Michael Scot (1175-1232),” by Rev. J. Wood Brown, M.A., 1897. [_IN PREPARATION_] The Life and Letters of Robert Stephen Hawker Vicar of Morwenstow