delinquents alive, is thus mentioned in the ancient Romance of Arthur and Merlin. It is curious, that the only method of avoiding this punishment, was by openly professing the vocation of a courtesan :

In this lond was tho usage,

Whoso dede with man utrage.

Bot it were in wedloc,

In thilke time, men hem tok,
With iuggement, with outenles,
And also quic doluen hes;

Bot sche her knewe for lizt woman,

And comoun hore to alle men ;

Than was it rizt and lawe,

That sche no schuld ben yslawe.

ROMAN WALL.

Perhaps no part of Britain has been the scene of so many sanguinary conflicts as the vicinity of the Roman Wall. The Romans and the Caledonians, the Southern and Northern Britons, the Saxons, the Picts, the Welch, and the Scots, hau all fallen on these fields, before the plains of Falkirk and Bannockburn were whitened with the bones of the more modern English and Scots. "The sore battaile of Camlan," in which Arthur and Modred fell, was probably fought in the same vicinity. The following passage of an old romance, presents a vivid picture of one of these battles in the middles ages:

King Bohort so smot ozan,
O the helme that hoge man,
That he sat astoned uprizt,

&nist whether it was dai or nizt.
-Ichon other so leyd beir,

That it dined into the air;
Also thicke the aruwe schoten,
In sonne bem so doth the moten;
Gauelokes al so thicke flowe,
So gnattes ichil avowe.

Ther was so michel dust riseing,
That sen ther was sonne schineing ¡
The trumpeing and the taburninge,
Dede togider the kniztes flinge.
The kniztes broken her speren,
On thre thai smiten, and to teren;

Kniztes and stedes ther laien abou,
The heuedes of smitten, the guttes out
Neueden, fet, and armes ther
Lav strewed everi wher,

Under stede fet so thicke,

In crowes nest so dothe the sticke;
Sum storuen and sum gras quowe,
The gode steden her guttes drowe,
With blodi sadels in that pres ;-
Of swiche bataile nas no fes.

CLAN-GRAHAM.

The Clan-Graham is equally celebrated in the traditions and songs of the Border and the East coast of Scotland. The achievements of Montrose seem to have been the subject of the popular song of "The Gallant Grahams." Of this song it seems now to be impossible to procure a correct copy; but the following verses are selected from the least corrupted set that I have been able to procure:

THE GALLANT GRAHAMS.

To wear the blue I think it best,
Of a' the colours that I see;

And I'll wear it for the gallant Grahams
That are banished frae their ain countrie.

I'll crown them east, I'll crown them west,
The bravest lads that e'er I saw ;

They bore the gree in frie fighting,

And ne'er were slack their swords to draw.

They wan the day wi' Wallace wight;

They were the lords o' the south countrie;
Cheer up your hearts, brave cavaliers,

Till the gallant Grahams come o'er the sea.

At the Gouk-head, where their camp was set,
They rade the white horse and the gray,
A' glancing in their plated armour,

As the gowd shines in a summer's day.

But woe to Hacket, and Strachan baith,
And ever an ill death may they die,
For they betrayed the gallant Grahams,
That ay were true to Majesty.

Now fare ye weel, sweet Ennerdale,

Baith kith and kin that I could name:
I would sell my silken snood

To see the gallant Grahams come hamo.