Produced by David Clarke, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS AND OF SCOTLAND. HISTORICAL, TRADITIONARY, & IMAGINATIVE. WITH A GLOSSARY. REVISED BY ALEXANDER LEIGHTON ONE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS. VOL. XIV. LONDON: WALTER SCOTT. 14 PATERNOSTER SQUARE AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 1885. CONTENTS. THE COVENANTING FAMILY, _(JOHN MACKAY WILSON)_ THE OLD CHRONICLER'S TALES, _(ALEXANDER LEIGHTON)_ THE PRINCE OF SCOTLAND RETRIBUTION, _(ALEXANDER CAMPBELL)_ THE PROFESSOR'S TALES, _(PROFESSOR THOMAS GILLESPIE)_ THE ENTHUSIAST TREES AND BURNS KIRKYARDS POLWARTH ON THE GREEN, _(JOHN MACKAY WILSON)_ THE FESTIVAL, _(JOHN MACKAY WILSON)_ A LEGEND OF HOLYROOD, _(ALEXANDER LEIGHTON)_ THE RESTORED SON, _(OLIVER RICHARDSON)_ THE SKEAN DHU, _(ALEXANDER CAMPBELL)_ THE SEVEN YEARS' DEARTH, _(JOHN HOWELL_) THE ORDER OF THE GARTER. A STORY OF WARK CASTLE, _(JOHN MACKAY WILSON)_ WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS, AND OF SCOTLAND. THE COVENANTING FAMILY. Thirty years ago, there dwelt an old man named Simon Cockburn, who followed the avocations of parish teacher and precentor. Every Saturday afternoon, after he had washed his hands from the labours of the week, he went down to the public-house of the village in which he dwelt, and took his seat by the parlour window or fire (according as it was summer or winter), to read the newspaper, and see, as he said, "what country Bonaparte had conquered _this_ week;" and, as Simon read of some new achievement of "the terrible Corsican," as he called him, he was wont to lay down the newspaper, take off his spectacles, and say unto himself aloud, "But if the chield should come owre to Britain, surely he will never be guilty o' the cruelty and folly o' doing onything to the parish schoolmasters. He owes so much to learning himsel, that he will certainly respect those who impart it to others." But, if a stranger chanced to be in the room when he had glanced over the news, and as he began to warm and wax mighty over his single pint (or mutchkin) bottle of strong ale, Simon's wonted taciturnity gave way to a flow of speech; and seldom had the conversation continued long, when he invariably inquired, "Did ever ye hear o' the saying, by what law the bishops were expelled from Scotland?" The answer being in the negative, he continued--"Weel, it was neither by civil law nor by canon law, but by _Dunse Law_!" "By Dunse Law, old man!" inquired his auditors; "why, what law is that?"