J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

RHYMES ON PLACES. 58
that shore of the Firth, the stones are gradually approaching-
the land, and there is no douht will ultimately be beyond
flood-mark. It is the popular belief that they move an inch
nearer to the shore every year. The expected fulfilment of
the prophecy has deprived many an old woman of her
sleep ; and it is a common practice among- the weavers and
bonnet-makers of Dundee to walk out to Invergowrie on
Sunday afternoons, simply to see what prog-ress the Yowes
are making !
PROPHECY REGARDING THE TAY.
St Johnston ere long in the Higlilands will be,
And the salt water scarcely will reach to Dmidee ;
Sea-covered Drumly will then be dry land,
And the Bell Rock as liigh as the Ailsa will stand.
St Johnston is an old name for Perth— St John, to whom
the g-reat church was dedicated, having- been considered as
the patron saint of the burg-h. It is still a familiar appel-
lation for the ' fair city : ' thus, for example, to quote a
common saying — ' The sun and the moon may go wrong ;
but the clock o' St Johnston never goes wrong.' ' A St
Johnston's tippet' was also an elegant equivoque for the
rope used at the gallows. Drumly is the name of a great
sandbank near the opening of the Firth of Tay. The above
rhyme was probably suggested by the appearances which
exist of the space now occupied by the Carse of Gowrie
having formerly been filled by an estuary, giving rise to a
presumption that the sea has receded. Supposing a still
greater recession, the effect would certainly be as stated in
the rhyme. Geologists, however, have been for some time
of opinion that what appear recessions of the sea, have been
brought about, in most instances, by an upheaval of the
land : the sea is now determined to be the steadier element
of the two. Messrs Lyell and Buckland will therefore
deem it probable that, if Drumly is to become dry land,
and Inchcape Rock to take the appearance of Ailsa Craig,
it must be by means of the 'gradually-elevating forces.'