lowing the winding Kirtle to enjoy her
grassy bank, covered with the wild rose and the eglantine; and to roll
playfully along her pebbly bed, unimpeded by the neighbouring trees,
which, as if in amatory dalliance, sent down their straggling lips to
kiss her as she went. The wood bower--in early times a species of rural
retreat in much greater fashion than now-a-days--was, in repetition of
itself, seen rearing its ornamented walls, round which the native
parasite plants were entwined in close embrace in various parts of the
shady retreat. Some of these had been carefully looked to by the lady of
Kirconnel herself, who, anxious to confirm her husband's resolution
against engaging in the wars of the times, left no energy unemployed to
render their residence, not only within the walls of the house, but in
the bowers and gardens, as pleasant to the eye as the fruits of her
heart and mind were delightful to the rational and loving soul of her
appreciating and grateful lord. As Sir Owain says:--

"Fair were her erbers with flowers--
Rose and lili divers colours,
Primrol and parvink;
Mint, feverfoy, and eglantine,
Colimbin, and mo there were,
Than ani man mocht think."

True; the Graces had, as yet, but small influence in Scotland; but the
Genius of Chivalry, a cognate spirit, was busy in effecting a great
revolution in the minds of the inhabitants; and though there was little
to humanise, there was much to elevate and beautify. Traces of this
power might already be seen about the bowers and shades of Kirconnel,
where some rude figures of knights in various positions--one rescuing a
damsel from her enemies--one in the combat at outrance--one striking the
palisades of an armed city--placed, as they were, in the retreats of
peace and domestic happiness by a former warlike possessor of the
property, served the purpose of ornamenting the sequestered walks, and
supplying to the peaceful and happy inhabitants a contrast between the
pursuits of war and the pleasures of home, and home's blessed
enjoyments.

At a little distance from the mansion or castle--for every house, in
those days, had a castellated character--was, and still is, the
burying-ground of Kirconnel; a spot which, from the peculiarity of its
situation, as well as from its own mournful associations, impressed the
mind of the visiter with feelings which startled him, as much from their
novelty as from their intensity. There is a small stone there, t