or glen:

But others believed that in bright fairy land
The mighty magician was living--
That newness of life to worn heart and weak hand,
Soft winds and pure waters were giving;
That back to the region of heather and pine
Would he come unimpaired by old age or decline.

Astir was all Scotland! from mountain and moor,
With banner folds streaming in air,
Proud lord and retainer, the wealthy and poor,
Thronged forth in their plaids to the fair;
Steeds, pricked by their riders, loud clattering made,
And, cheered by his clansmen, the bag-piper played.

Gay lassies with snoods from the border and hills
In holyday garb hurried thither,
With eyes like the crystal of rock-shaded rills,
And cheeks like the bells of the heather;
But fairest of all, in that goodly array,
Was the Lily of Bemerside, Margaret Gray.

While Ayr with a gathering host overflowed,
She marked with a look of delight
A white-bearded horseman who gallantly rode
On a mettlesome steed black as night,
And cried, forcing wildly her way through the throng,
"_Oh! master, thy pupil hath mourned for thee long!_"

Then, checking his courser, the brow of the seer
Grew dark, through its locks long and frosted,
And making a sign with his hand to draw near,
Thus the lovely offender accosted--
"By which of thine eyes was thy master descried?"
"With my _left_ I behold thee!" the damsel replied.

One moment he gazed on the beautiful face,
In fondness upturned to his own,
As if anger at length to relenting gave place,
Then fixed grew his visage like stone:--
On the violet lid his cold finger he laid,
And extinguished forever the sight of the maid.

* * * * *

NOTE.

I am indebted to Hugh Cameron, Esquire, of Buffalo, N. Y., for this
strange and strikingly beautiful legend. Mr. C. informs me that it has
long formed a part of the fire-side lore of his own clan; and, from a
remote period, has lived in the memory of Scotland's peasantry.

He expressed surprise that men of antiquarian taste, in compiling
border ballads, and tales of enchantment, had not given "Fair
Margaret" a conspicuous place in their pages; and at his suggestion I
have attempted to clothe the fanciful outlines of the original in the
drapery of English verse.

The Eildon tree referred to in the poem was the