Part 29 (1/2)
And show some courtesy on this floor, For we shall have another bout, Before we pa.s.s out of this boor.
Thou kindly Scotsman, come thou here; Thy name is Andrew of Fair Scotland; Draw out thy sword that is most clear, Fight for thy king with thy right hand; And aye as long as thou canst stand, Fight for thy king with all thy heart; And then, for to confirm his band, Make all his enemies for to smart.--(_He dances._)
(_Music begins._)
FIGUIR.[68]
”The six stand in rank with their swords reclining on their shoulders.
The Master (St. George) dances, and then strikes the sword of James of Spain, who follows George, then dances, strikes the sword of Dennis, who follows behind James. In like manner the rest--the music playing--swords as before. After the six are brought out of rank, they and the master form a circle, and hold the swords point and hilt. This circle is danced round twice. The whole, headed by the master, pa.s.s under the swords held in a vaulted manner. They jump over the swords. This naturally places the swords across, which they disentangle by pa.s.sing under their right sword. They take up the seven swords, and form a circle, in which they dance round.
”The master runs under the sword opposite, which he jumps over backwards. The others do the same. He then pa.s.ses under the right-hand sword, which the others follow, in which position they dance, until commanded by the master, when they form into a circle, and dance round as before. They then jump over the right-hand sword, by which means their backs are to the circle, and their hands across their backs. They dance round in that form until the master calls 'Loose,' when they pa.s.s under the right sword, and are in a perfect circle.
”The master lays down his sword, and lays hold of the point of James's sword. He then turns himself, James, and the others, into a clew. When so formed, he pa.s.ses under out of the midst of the circle; the others follow; they vault as before. After several other evolutions, they throw themselves into a circle, with their arms across the breast. They afterwards form such figures as to form a s.h.i.+eld of their swords, and the s.h.i.+eld is so compact that the master and his knights dance alternately with this s.h.i.+eld upon their heads. It is then laid down upon the floor. Each knight lays hold of their former points and hilts with their hands across, which disentangle by figuirs directly contrary to those that formed the s.h.i.+eld. This finishes the Ballet.
”EPILOGUE.
Mars does rule, he bends his brows, He makes us all agast;[69]
After the few hours that we stay here, Venus will rule at last.
Farewell, farewell, brave gentles all, That herein do remain, I wish you health and happiness Till we return again. [_Exeunt._”
The ma.n.u.script from which the above was copied was transcribed from _a very old one_, by Mr. William Henderson, Jun., of Papa Stour, in Zetland. Mr. Henderson's copy is not dated, but bears his own signature, and, from various circ.u.mstances, it is known to have been written about the year 1788.
Note VIII., p. 299--THE DWARFIE STONE.
This is one of the wonders of the Orkney Islands, though it has been rather undervalued by their late historian, Mr. Barry. The island of Hoy rises abruptly, starting as it were out of the sea, which is contrary to the gentle and flat character of the other Isles of Orkney. It consists of a mountain, having different eminences or peaks. It is very steep, furrowed with ravines, and placed so as to catch the mists of the Western Ocean, and has a n.o.ble and picturesque effect from all points of view. The highest peak is divided from another eminence, called the Ward-hill, by a long swampy valley full of peat-bogs. Upon the slope of this last hill, and just where the princ.i.p.al mountain of Hoy opens in a hollow swamp, or corrie, lies what is called the Dwarfie Stone. It is a great fragment of sandstone, composing one solid ma.s.s, which has long since been detached from a belt of the same materials, cresting the eminence above the spot where it now lies, and which has slid down till it reached its present situation. The rock is about seven feet high, twenty-two feet long, and seventeen feet broad. The upper end of it is hollowed by iron tools, of which the marks are evident, into a sort of apartment, containing two beds of stone, with a pa.s.sage between them.
The uppermost and largest bed is five feet eight inches long, by two feet broad, which was supposed to be used by the dwarf himself; the lower couch is shorter, and rounded off, instead of being squared at the corners. There is an entrance of about three feet and a half square, and a stone lies before it calculated to fit the opening. A sort of skylight window gives light to the apartment. We can only guess at the purpose of this monument, and different ideas have been suggested. Some have supposed it the work of some travelling mason; but the _cui bono_ would remain to be accounted for. The Rev. Mr. Barry conjectures it to be a hermit's cell; but it displays no symbol of Christianity, and the door opens to the westward. The Orcadian traditions allege the work to be that of a dwarf, to whom they ascribe supernatural powers, and a malevolent disposition, the attributes of that race in Norse mythology.
Whoever inhabited this singular den certainly enjoyed
”Pillow cold, and sheets not warm.”
I observed, that commencing just opposite to the Dwarfie Stone, and extending in a line to the sea-beach, there are a number of small barrows, or cairns, which seem to connect the stone with a very large cairn where we landed. This curious monument may therefore have been intended as a temple of some kind to the Northern Dii Manes, to which the cairns might direct wors.h.i.+ppers.
Note IX., p. 299.--CARBUNCLE ON THE WARD-HILL.
”At the west end of this stone, (_i. e._ the Dwarfie Stone,) stands an exceeding high mountain of a steep ascent, called the Ward-hill of Hoy, near the top of which, in the months of May, June, and July, about midnight, is seen something that s.h.i.+nes and sparkles admirably, and which is often seen a great way off. It hath s.h.i.+ned more brightly before than it does now, and though many have climbed up the hill, and attempted to search for it, yet they could find nothing. The vulgar talk of it as some enchanted carbuncle, but I take it rather to be some water sliding down the face of a smooth rock, which, when the sun, at such a time, s.h.i.+nes upon, the reflection causeth that admirable splendour.”--DR. WALLACE'S _Description of the Islands of Orkney_, 12mo, 1700, p. 52.
FOOTNOTES:
[61] So placed in the old MS.
[62] _Boor_--so spelt, to accord with the vulgar p.r.o.nunciation of the word _bower_.
[63] _Porte_--so spelt in the original. The word is known as indicating a piece of music on the bagpipe, to which ancient instrument, which is of Scandinavian origin, the sword-dance may have been originally composed.
[64] _Stour_, great.