The air was sad; but sadder still
It fell on Marmion's ear,
And plain'd as if disgrace and ill,
And shameful death, were near."
&c. &c. &c.

And lastly, when the life of the wounded baron is ebbing forth with his
blood on the field of battle, when--

"The Monk, with unavailing cares
Exhausted all the Church's prayers--
Ever, he said, that, close and near,
A lady's voice was in his ear,
And that the priest he could not hear--
For that she ever sung,
'_In the lost battle, borne down by the flying,_
_Where mingles war's rattle with groans of the dying!_'--
So the notes ring."

I am the more disposed to submit these remarks to your readers, because it
is highly interesting to trace an irresistible tendency in the genius of
this mighty author towards the fulfilment of prophetic legends and visions
of second sight: and not to extend this paper to an inconvenient length, I
purpose to resume the subject in a future number, and collate some other
examples of a similar character from the works of Sir Walter Scott.

I write from the southern slopes of Cheviot, almost within sight of the
Hill of Flodden. During the latter years of the great Border Minstrel, I
had the happiness to rank myself among the number of his friends and
acquaintances, and I revere his memory as much as I prized his friendship.

A BORDERER.

* * * * *

GLOUCESTERSHIRE PROVINCIALISMS.

_To burl, burling; to shunt, &c._--In the report of the evidence regarding
the death of Mrs. Hathway, at Chipping Sodbury, supposed to have been
poisoned by her husband, the following dialectical expression occurs, which
may deserve notice. One of the witnesses stated that he was invited by Mr.
Hathway to go with him into a beer-house in Frampton Cotterell, "and have a
tip," but he declined.

"Mr. H. went in and called for a quart of beer, and then came out
again, and I went in. He told me 'to burl out the beer, as he was in a
hurry;' and I 'burled' out a glass and gave it to him."--_Times_, Feb.
28.

I am not aware that the use of this verb, as a provincialism, has been
noticed; it is not so given by Boucher, Holloway, or Halliwell. In the
Cumberland dialect, a _birler_, or _burler_, is the master of the revels,
who presides over the feast at a Cumberland bidden-wedding, and takes
especial care that the drink be plentifully provided. (_Westmoreland and
Cumberland Dialects_,