d by a spirit, called _Garlin Bodacher_; that of the baron of
Kinchardin, by _Lamhdearg_[56], or Red-hand, a spectre, one of whose
hands is as red as blood; that of Tullochgorm, by _May Moulach_, a
female figure, whose left hand and arm were covered with hair, who is
also mentioned in _Aubrey's Miscellanies_, pp. 211, 212, as a familiar
attendant upon the elan Grant. These superstitions were so ingrafted
in the popular creed, that the clerical synods and presbyteries were
wont to take cognizance of them[57].

[Footnote 56: The following notice of Lamhdearg occurs in another
account of Strathspey, _apud_ Macfarlane's MSS.:--"There is much talke
of a spirit called _Ly-erg_, who frequents the Glenmore. He appears
with a red hand, in the habit of a souldier, and challenges men to
fight with him; as lately as 1669, he fought with three brothers, one
after another, who immediately died thereafter."]

[Footnote 57: There is current, in some parts of Germany, a fanciful
superstition concerning the _Stille Volke_, or silent people. These
they suppose to be attached to houses of eminence, and to consist of
a number, corresponding to that of the mortal family, each person of
which has thus his representative amongst these domestic spirits. When
the lady of the family has a child, the queen of the silent people
is delivered in the same moment. They endeavour to give warning
when danger approaches the family, assist in warding it off, and
are sometimes seen to weep and wring their hands, before inevitable
calamity.]

Various other superstitions, regarding magicians, spells, prophecies,
&c., will claim our attention in the progress of this work. For the
present, therefore taking the advice of an old Scottish rhymer, let us

"Leave bogles, brownies, gyre carlinges, and ghaists[58]."

[Footnote 58: So generally were these tales of _diablerie_ believed,
that one William Lithgow, a _bon vivant_, who appears to have been
a native, or occasional inhabitant, of Melrose, is celebrated by the
pot-companion who composed his elegy, because

He was good company at jeists.
And wanton when he came to feists,
He scorn'd the converse of great beasts,
O'er a sheep's head;
_He laugh'd at stones about ghaists_;
Blythe Willie's dead!

_Watson's Scotish Poems_, Edin. 1706.]

_Flyting of Polwart and Montgomery_.

The domestic economy of the borderers next engages our attention. That
the revenue of the chieftain should be expen