gaining him almost mortal adoration, as it saved so many lives. The story may have some foundation in fact. Then the writer commanded the Buckingham, cutter, he made inquiries from the inhabitants, on the shores of the Frith of Forth, and every one told the same tale, which had been handed down from generation to generation. They had all seen the semblance of a man, his head involved in a halo of fire, hovering on the clouds, and treading on the deep, surrounded by fiends-and at his heels the Abbot of Friesland, who Scourged him with a whip of scorpions. At midnight, when there was a tempest, this ærial exhibition took place, but, in calm nights, nothing of the kind was to be seen. Tradition also says, that the man who viewed this scourging, amidst the howlings of the tempest, was a captain of a Danish ship, named Anderdyke, who traded to the port of Leith. He had a mistress on board, whom he wished to get rid of, and, sailing into the port of Leith, he threw her overboard in the dead of the night. The tide drifted her on to the Inchcape rock, where, as it was low water, she found a resting place-and, perceiving the bell-rope, rung it so long, and so loud, that the sound brought a fisherman to her help, who landed her in safety. She then travelled to Leith harbour, and, with fond foolishness, again joined her former paramour, who she did not suspect had been the cause of her immersion in the deep, but a passenger, who had then gone away. When Anderdyke, the Dane, was again passing the bell rock, he once more had his victim plunged into the deep, never to rise again; and, to be sure from all alarm, he hoisted out the boat, and cut down the mast and the bell on the Inchcape rock, observing, with the malignity of a fiend, that Every fool might run on shore, For the Abbot's bell could save no more.' About seven years after this, the same Captain Anderdyke was bound to the port of Leith, when a heavy gale of wind overtook him, and, for several days and nights, the vessel heat about at the mercy of the waves, and no one knew where they were, till, at midnight, when lightning and thunder was flying and pealing, the seamen cried out The Abbot of Friesland! The Inchcape rock! We are all lost!' Anderdyke looked up, and saw, riding on the whirlwind's wing, the old Abbot, who waved his cross, and cried Many a one has struggled and died, Since the Inchcape bell thou sank in the tideFor want of that warning thou shalt die, And thy body beneath the waves shall lie; And those who assisted, all thy crew, Shall, also, give to the devil his due.' After this fatal malediction, the captain and crew fell to prayers. The storm increased. They saw the Inchcape rock, but could not avoid it. The ship was driven impetuously amongst its breakers, and dashed into a thousand pieces. Anderdyke struggled for a short time in the bosom of the billows, but at length sank down, whilst howled in his ears A sound as if, with the Inchcape bell, The devil below was ringing his knell. J. M. PRINTED AND Published BY J. DUNCOMBE, 19 LITTLE QUEEN STREET HOLBORN: Where all Communications (post-paid) for the Editor, are requested to be addressed; also by Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, Paternoster-row; Mac Phun, Glasgow, Sutherland. Edinburgh; and of all other Booksellers and Newsmen. OP AMUSEMENT AND INSTRUCTION, IN History, Science, Literature, the Fine Arts, &c. SIR EDGAR AND HIS FALCON. 'Well flown, brave bird.'-Shakspeare. Or all the pastimes by which the highborn, during the middle ages, sought to enliven the gloom (not unfrequent in time of peace) of the baronial castle, none were so fondly cherished, or so eagerly pursued; none held so high a place in their esteem, or maintained it for so long a period, as the royal (for such was its high designa tion) sporte of hawkynge.' It is singular, too, that no sport has fallen into such complete desuetude. Chess, and draughts, and most, indeed, of the various games that beguiled the monotony of the castle hall, No. 106.-N.S. 6 still amuse the inmates of the modern drawing-room. The athletic sports that delighted our forefathers, have not yet lost their charm. Trials of skill in archery, altho' childish play, compared with those of former days, still draw up together a goodly company,' clad in Lincoln green, (the only characteristic shared in common with the archer-band of yore, whose clothyard shafts flew from the mighty six-feet yew bow); while, year by year, the staghounds are still uncoupled, and the merry greenwood, through the bright days of summer, rings with the shrill bugle of the hunter. Every sport and pastime has remained unaltered, save that, the knowledge of whose quaint and extensive vocabulary formed the most indispensable part of the noble damsel's educationthe sport, into whose mysteries' the proudest noble was honoured to initiate his monarch's son- - that gentle crafte,' whose many fascinations induced the dainty dame, Juliana Berners, prioress of Sopewell, at the birth-time of printing, to lay aside her missal and rosary to indite, with her own fair hand, the Boke of Seynte Alban,' which is now, save to the antiquary, almost unknown. We will, therefore, dear Reader, take you into the mews, and give you some notion of that pastime, which, for more than five centuries, was the most cherished sport of our ancestors. When we remember what of the nobles of the middle ages led them to consider wild fowl as the greatest delicacy; now, it was by hawking alone these could be obtained; and what, perhaps, added the highest zest to this favourite food, was the remembrance that it was altogether beyond the reach of the lower orders. The bold outlaw, in despite of a folio of forest laws written in blood, ranged the greenwood, and, almost before the eyes of the feudal lord, bore off the hart of Greece,' a trophy of his trusty bow, and wellfledged arrow; buthern, pedrich, and plovere,' were beyond his aim; and money to buy, and time and skill to train the falcon, were alike denied him. Hawking thus became, emphatically, the sport of the highborn; and when, subsequently, the various species of hawks were assigned to the various gradations of rank- the gerfalcon for a kingthe falcon-gentle for a prince-the falcon of the rock for a duke-the sacret for a knight-the merlin for a lady-the lanere for a squire'—it became a species of heraldry; and the falcon on the wrist indicated the rank of the noble no less than his armorial bearings. limited sources of amusement our ancestors possessed, and what peculiar charms all out-door sports must have exhibited to the inhabitants of the high-walled, close-pent castle, through whose narrow windows even the bright sunbeam struggled faintly and timidly, it will not appear surprising that a sport And intelligent and attached were which necessarily led them to the these feathered favourites, and cafair open plain, or the still, out-pable of a high degree of educaspread lake, or along the banks of tion. 'Well manned * as a sparthe clear sparkling river, was hailed row-hawk,' was a proverb that ilwith delight. The noble unhooded lustrated to the minds of our anceshis falcon with tenfold glee, as his tors the highest possible docility; proud eye wandered over the wide and many a troubadour, in the songs expause that owned him as its lord; addressed to his lady, bade her reand as the knight ambled beside his mark in the upturned gaze and eager fair lady, ever on the watch to un- glance of her merlin, a transcript loose her merlin when the quarry of his own ever watchful obserwas in sight, and to replace it on vance; and many a lesson of rethe broidered glove, after taking spectful demeanour was read by the prey from its talons, no wonder age to youth from the swift attenhe exulted in a pastime which com- tion with which the falcon obeyed bined the in-door pleasures of con- the call of his master; while the versation with the charms of pure air and bright sunshine. The tastes *The technical term for broke in. delicate shape, brilliant eyes, and graceful carriage of these beautiful birds, furnished the poets of the middle ages with a whole vocabulary of similies as necessary to the due celebration of beauty, as roses and lilies have beer to the rhymesters of later days. As hawks were now exclusively appropriated to high rank, the great est possible care was bestowed on them; and the mews in every castle was an establishment of great extent and charge. The birds were constantly washed; every care was taken to preserve the smooth glossiness of their feathers; great attention was paid to their diet. Charms and spells, consisting of texts of holy writ, were collected in abundance to shield them from every real or imagined danger. The law, too, interposed her protecting arm; the stealing a hawk, or concealing her after proclamation by the sheriff, was felony; and the mere taking her eggs, was punished with the enormous infliction of imprisonment for a year and a day. And gallantly bedecked were these valued birds, when transferred from their perch in the mews, to the broidered glove of lady or noble. The skill of the goldsmith or broiderer was invoked to add to their splendour, though they could not add to their beauty. The hood (mostly drawn over her eyes when the hawk was carried abroad) was of silk knitting, often exquisitely embroidered; the collar to which it was fastened was of the most exquisite goldsmith's work; round each of the legs was a leather ring, termed a bewit, from whence depended two bells, 'of even weight, but in sound, one a semitone below the other.' Indeed, Dame Juliana Berners is very particular on this point. 'Sparrow-hawkes' bells,' says she, in the Boke of Seynte Alban, are chepe now; but for the goshawkes' belles, those from Milane are beste, for they are soundede wythe sylvere.' Beside these ornaments, to secure the bird on the hand, thin leathern straps, termed jesses,' were attached to the legs, while a long silken thread, termed the creance,' was attached to one of the bewits, to hinder her from escaping when she rose into the air. Thus carefully bedecked, the custom of bearing the falcon on wrist was adopted by every one of the privileged classes. Knight and noble never were seen in public without this important distinction. The romaunt writers always represent the Queen of Faerie as appearing with merlin on hand; and to part with his hawks, was considered by our forefathers the greatest sacrifice a gentleman could make:The earliest instance of the hawk being borne on glove, appears in the Bayeux tapestry, where Harold is thus represented. As a general custom, however, it does not appear to have obtained any celebrity until the close of the twelfth century. From that period to the middle of the sixteenth, this custom seems to have continued. Long after this, though no longer borne on hand, on state occasions the falcon remained a favourite; the mews was still an indispensable appendage to the noble's mansion, and hawking a most cherished sport. The last mention of this pastime the writer recollects to have met with, is in Lucy Hutchinson's delightful memoirs, where she represents her husband, during the latter years of the protectorate, as amusing himself with his hawks. But it is time these preliminary remarks should give place to the hero and heroine of the story-Sir Edgar Fitzallerton, and his good hawk, Elinore. It was a gay scene beneath the old grey walls and frowning battlements of Allerton tower that the bright autumn sun opened his eye upon; for Sir Giles Fitzallerton, last Lammas day, standing, with hawk on wrist, before the high altar of Rivaulx Abbey, had made a vow to our lady, that the goodly tower and fair manor of Allerton, the only unentailed portion of his wide domains, should be the possession of that nephew whose hawk flew highest, and best obeyed the call of her master. Many were sorry when they heard of this vow, and wondered wherefore Sir Giles had made it; for of all his nephews, none, save his eldest and next heir, Anthony, stood any chance of success: and though his hawks were celebrated throughout the country, no celebration of good or gentle deeds did their master ever obtain-for a churl and a miser was Anthony Fitzallerton. Father Christopher, too, the portly Abbot of Rivaulx, read Sir Giles a long homily on his rash vow, and denounced, with much vehemence, all sports of the forest and river: but, alas! that homily failed in its effect, when, three days afterwards, the old Knight met the worthy Abbot, ambling gaily along, on his sleek mule, with sparrow-hawk on wrist, as eagerly as a layman in the sports he had so fiercely exclaimed against. As it was now evident the opposition of the conscientious Abbot arose solely from a wish to secure the goodly manor for the henefit of his richly endowed abbey, Sir Giles forthwith gave public intimation of his intention, and invited his neighbours, for many miles round, to witness the sport. Still his domestics thought they could perceive an unwonted gloom on their master's brow, and an angry flush of the cheek, when Anthony's hawks were mentioned, which seemed to indicate he already repented of his rash Vow-but none dared enquire, for Sir Giles was fierce and proud; and, moreover, it was well known, however rash the vow, he would keep it to the strictest letter. It was on the eve of the day appointed for the contest, of which the fair manor of Allerton was to be the prize, that a young knight presented himself at the gate, and prayed admittance to his uncle, Sir Giles Fitzallerton. Who may describe the joy of the 'old Knight, when he recognized, in this young stranger, the son of his favourite brother, and, moreover, that he possessed one of the most beautiful and well-trained hawks that his eye (and it was a well-practised one) ever beheld. The walls of the old tower that evening rung with songs, and laughter, and shouts of merriment-for Sir Giles bade a sumptuous supper be prepared, and caused a ton of malvoise to be broached for those who sat above the salt-cellar, and a barrel of stout ale for those who sat below it, that all might drink, right merrily 1 Success to Sir Edgar Fitzallerton, who had obtained knighthood for his prowess in France, and success to his good hawk, Elinore!' And it was, indeed, a pleasant and goodly scene, while yet the dew-drops hung in thick shower on the branches, and the throstle awakened her matin hymn to see the falconers, in their rich liveries, standing beneath the walls of the old grey tower, each with a falcon hooded on his wrist, and the greyhounds and raches in leash beside him-while the gallant and noble company that came from afar to witness the sport, with waving plumes, and gilded bridles, and jewelled baldrics, and ladies in broidered and pearl-decked hoods, and kirtles of gold sheen gleaming in the upward sunbeams, and eyes that outshone the morning, formed a theme for many a minstrel's lay. Amulet. (To be concluded in our next.) |