o its circle many of the legends of Arthur.
Will you forgive my connecting the personal memory of having once had
a wild rose gathered for me, in the glen of Thomas the Rhymer, by the
daughter of one of the few remaining Catholic houses of Scotland, with
the pleasure I have in reading to you this following true account
of the origin of the name of St. Cuthbert's birthplace;--the rather
because I owe it to friendship of the same date, with Mr. Cockburn
Muir, of Melrose.

"To those who have eyes to read it," says Mr. Muir, "the name
'Melrose' is written full and fair, on the fair face of all this reach
of the valley. The name is anciently spelt Mailros, and later, Malros,
never Mulros; ('Mul' being the Celtic word taken to mean 'bare'). Ros
is Rose; the forms Meal or Mol imply great quantity or number. Thus
Malros means the place of many roses.

"This is precisely the notable characteristic of the neighbourhood.
The wild rose is indigenous. There is no nook nor cranny, no bank nor
brae, which is not, in the time of roses, ablaze with their exuberant
loveliness. In gardens, the cultured rose is so prolific that it
spreads literally like a weed. But it is worth suggestion that the
word may be of the same stock as the Hebrew _rosh_ (translated ros
by the Septuagint), meaning _chief_, _principal_, while it is also
the name of _some_ flower; but of _which_ flower is now unknown.
Affinities of _rosh_ are not far to seek; Sanskrit, _Raj_(a),
_Ra_(ja)_ni_; Latin, _Rex_, _Reg_(ina)."

I leave it to Professor Max Muller to certify or correct for you the
details of Mr. Cockburn's research,[11]--this main head of it I can
positively confirm, that in old Scotch,--that of Bishop Douglas,--the
word 'Rois' stands alike for King, and Rose.

[Footnote 11: I had not time to quote it fully in the lecture; and in
my ignorance, alike of Keltic and Hebrew, can only submit it here to
the reader's examination. "The ancient Cognizance of the town confirms
this etymology beyond doubt, with customary heraldic precision. The
shield bears a _Rose_; with a _Maul_, as the exact phonetic equivalent
for the expletive. If the herald had needed to express 'bare
promontory,' quite certainly he would have managed it somehow.
Not only this, the Earls of Haddington were first created Earls
of _Melrose_ (1619); and their Shield, quarterly, is charged, for
Melrose, in 2nd and 3rd (fesse wavy between) three _Roses_ gu.

"Beyond this ground of certainty, we m