Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

MAR
331
MAR
advance of the King's ' full 5,000 men,' in one of the
expeditions of the Jameses to make war on the
rievers." Sir Walter Scott, in his Introduction to
the second canto of * Marmion,' has given a most
faithful and graphic description of this loch, which
our readers will thank us for transferring to our
pages: —
" Oft in my mind such thoughts awake
By.lnoe St. Mary's silent lake.
Thou kuow'atit well,— nor fen, nor sedge,
Pollute the pure lake's crystal edge ;
Abrupt and sheer, the mountains sink
At once upon the level brink ;
And just a trace of silver sand
Marks where the water meets the land.
Far in the mirror, bright and blue,
Each hill's huge outline you may view ;
Shaggy with heath, but lonely bare,
Nor tree, nor bush, nor brake is there,
Save where, of land, yon slender line
Bears thwart the lake the scattered pine.
Nor thicket, dell, nor copse you spy
Where living thing concealed might lie ;
Nor point, retiring, hides a dell,
Where swain, or woodman loue, might dwell ;
There^e nothing left to Fancy's guess, —
You see that all is loneliness ;
And silence aids, — though the steep hills
Send to the lake a thousand rills,
In summer-tide so soft they weep,
The sound but lulls the ear asleep ;
Your horse's hoof-tread sounds too rude—
So stilly is the solitude!"
The whole of the scenery from Peebles to Inner-
leithen — -the famed St. Ronan's — is rich in wood and
dale, and highly cultivated. On leaving St. Ronan's
for St. Mary's loch, and crossing the Tweed, we
pass the stately and ancient house of Traquair.
After which, and after passing * the Bush aboou
Traquair,' well-known in Scottish song, and the
parish-church on the right, the traveller plunges
amongst the meuntains, and soon finds himself in a
wild pass of about 5 miles in length. On emerging
from this, the lonely Yarrow all at once bursts on his
view; and here for a time nothing is seen but moun-
tains covered with sheep, and the cottage, long asso-
ciated with the name and writings of the Ettrick
Shepherd, which stands at a short distance east of
the lake, and which, more than any other feature in
the landscape, will hereafter make St. Mary's loch
an object of interest — of enthusiasm to all lovers of
poetry. Almost every mountain and stream in * the
Forest' have been hallowed by the genius of the
hard, who
" Found in youth a harp among the hills,
Dropt by the Elfin- people ; and whilst the moon
Entranced hung o'er still St. Mary's loch,
Harped by that charmed water, so that the swan
Came floating onwards through the water-blue, —
A dreamlike creature listening to a dream.;
And the Queen of the Fairies rising silently
Through the pure mist, stood at the shepherd's feet,
And half-forgot her own green paradise,
Far in the bosom of the hill, — so wild.'
So sweet! so sad.' flowed forth that shepherd's lay."
At the north end of the loch stands the ruined tower
of Drthopei* which see.
Opposite the farm of JDryhope, on -the other side of
the lake, is the farm-steading of Eowerhope; and,
* Dick of Dryhope was a well-known freebooter in the 16th
century j and his name was pretty familiar to the Commission-
ers for settling differences between the Scotch and English
marches. At one of these meetings the warden of Bewcastle
complained, that in July, L586, the Laird's Jock— a worthy of
whom some further notice will be found in our article Man-
<itUTON — Dick of Dry up and their complices, had taken, by open
force, 100 kine and oxen from the Drysykes of Bewcastle. And
Andrew Rootledge of the Nook, complained upnu the same
individuals for 400 kine and oxen stolen, besides burning his
house, corn, and ' insicht.' On both these charges Dick and
feis friends were. ' fouled' for not appearing. The tower of
Dryhope, however, of which the ruins remain, was not the re-
sidence of Dicky. His residence, now called ' The Auld Wa 1 ^ 1
is far up the Hope, in one of the strongest places lor the resi-
dence of an old border-chieftain that can well be imagined. Un-
less they had been assisted by a traitor-guide, Dicky might have
-defied all the troopers of England to have found kin out.
behind it, the lofty and precipitate Bowerhope-law,
of which the bard of Ettrick, contemplating its mass
in..\vinter, has sung, —
" But winter's deadly hues shall fade
On moorland bald and mountain shaw,
And soon the rainbow's lovely shade.
Sleep on the breast of Bowerhope-law."
At the head of the lake, and directly over the old
tower, are the braes or four hills of Chapelhope,
the rugged and broken outskirts of which are cele-
brated as the last retreat of the persecuted Cove-
nanters. More distant, and peeping over these, is
the top of Carrifrangans, a dreadful precipice in
Moffatdale. Towering above Carrifrangans, though
not so distant, is the pointed summit of the White
Coomb [which see], the highest mountain in the
south of Scotland. On the same side is a hill called
the Braken-law. Here the river Meggat joins the
lake after flowing through Meggatdale, a wild dis-
trict, and the principal hunting-scene of the royal
Stuarts in this part of the country. At the foot of
the Braken-law is seen, though indistinctly, the
ruined chapel and burial-place of St. Mary's, from
which the lake derives its name. This, also, the
poet's pen has rendered a classic spot. In this lonely
place the bones of many an outlaw mingle with the
dust; and here the shepherd of the present day still
finds his last resting-place.
" For though in feudal strife a foe
Hath laid our Lady's chapel low,
Yet still beneath the hallowed soil,
The peasant rests him from his toil ;
And, dying, bids his bones be laid
Where erst his simple fathers prayed."
This ancient chapel is the subject of many tradi-
tions, and of a variety of ballads and poetry of an-
cient and modern date.
f St. Mary's loch lies shimmering still,
But St. Mary's kirk-bell'* lang dune ringing!
There's naething now but the grave-statie hill
To tell o' a' their loud psalm-singing I"
Among the ballads, that of ' the Douglas tragedy ' has
been rendered familiar to the reading world by Sir
Walter Scott in the ' Border Minstrelsy.' The Lord
William and Lady- Margaret of that ancient ditty,
were buried in the chapel.
*' Lord William was buried in St. Mary's kirk,
Lady Margaret in Mary's -quire ;
Out o' the lady's grave grew a bonny red rose,
And outo' the knight's a brier.
** And they twa met, and they twa plat,
And fain they wad be near ;
And a' the world might ken right wee!,
They were twa lovers dear.
'* But by and rade the Black Douglas,
And wow but he was rough !
For he pulled up the bonny brier
Andflang'diu St. Mary's loch."
An ancient and very popular tradition has also given
the ground-work of Mr. Hogg's ballad of ■ Mess
John;' and the chapel is the scene of the principal
incident in his ballad of ' Mary Scott.' Here the
daughter of stern Tushilawis supposed, by, the poet,
to have been brought for interment; here she awaked
from that sleep which appeared to all the sleep of
death; and here was married to her lover, Pringle,
Lord of Torwoodlee.
MARY3URGH, a considerable village in the par-
ish of Kihnalie, Inverness-shire. It stands at the
mouth of the rivers Lochy and Nevis, on the east
side of Loch-Eil, at a point where that long inden-
tation of the sea suddenly bends toward the west-
north-west, and 1£ mile south of where it is entered
by the Caledonian canal. It is 17 miles east of
Strontian, 29^ south-west of Fort- Augustus, and
74 north of Inverary. Owing to its being situated
in the immediate vicinity of Fort- William, it very