_Randolph, Earl Murray, was my sire,
Dunbar, Earl March, is thine,_ &c.--P. 185, v. 5.
Both these mighty chiefs were connected with Ettrick Forest, and its
vicinity. Their memory, therefore, lived in the traditions of the
country. Randolph, earl of Murray, the renowned nephew of Robert Bruce,
had a castle at Ha' Guards, in Annandale, and another in Peebles-shire,
on the borders of the forest, the site of which is still called
Randall's Walls. Patrick of Dunbar, earl of March, is said by Henry the
Minstrel, to have retreated to Ettrick Forest, after being defeated by
Wallace.
_And all our wants are well supplied,
From every rich man's store;
Who thankless sins the gifts he gets, &c._--P. 187. v. 3.
To _sin our gifts, or mercies_, means, ungratefully to hold them in
slight esteem. The idea, that the possessions of the wicked are most
obnoxious to the depredations of evil spirits, may be illustrated by the
following tale of a _Buttery Spirit_, extracted from Thomas Heywood:--
An ancient and virtuous monk came to visit his nephew, an inn-keeper,
and, after other discourse, enquired into his circumstances. Mine host
confessed, that, although he practised all the unconscionable tricks of
his trade, he was still miserably poor. The monk shook his head, and
asked to see his buttery, or larder. As they looked into it, he rendered
visible to the astonished host an immense goblin, whose paunch,
and whole appearance, bespoke his being gorged with food, and who,
nevertheless, was gormandizing at the innkeeper's expence, emptying
whole shelves of food, and washing it down with entire hogsheads of
liquor. "To the depredation of this visitor will thy viands be exposed,"
quoth the uncle, "until thou shalt abandon fraud, and false reckonings."
The monk returned in a year. The host having turned over a new leaf, and
given christian measure to his customers, was now a thriving man. When
they again inspected the larder, they saw the same spirit, but woefully
reduced in size, and in vain attempting to reach at the full plates and
bottles, which stood around him; starving, in short, like Tantalus, in
the midst of plenty. Honest Heywood sums up the tale thus:
In this discourse, far be it we should mean
Spirits by meat are fatted made, or lean;
Yet certain 'tis, by God's permission, they
May, over goods extorted, bear like sway.
* * * * *
All such as study fraud, and practise evil,
Do only starve themselves to plumpe the devill.
_Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels,_ p. 577.