1.

Stanza iii. page 55.

_Where, shining through the flowery glade, The mouth of Tyne translucent streams, Within a liliac covert’s shade St Baldred’s shrine romantic gleams._

The church, and the old village of Tyningham stood on the west side of the Tyne, about half a mile below the site of the present village. The latter terminated on the east by the side of an elm tree, and was removed for domestic improvements. The ruins of the church still remain, and consist of two beautiful Saxon arches, which are tastefully shaded with shrubbery, and have a picturesque appearance. This spot is now the cemetery of the noble family of the domain. Within the interior of the church there is a small niche, where three shields are sculptured _in relievo_. Below its arch a detached figure reclines, habited in a close gown, with hands claspt in the attitude of prayer. At the feet of this figure lies the symbolical lamb, originally holding the cross, which is broken away. The old carpenter formerly mentioned, told me that this statue, like that of Prestonkirk, was called St Baudrons. This, however, is evidently the statue of a lady.

2.

Stanza iii. page 55.

_But, Time, alas! with viewless hand, Completes the labours of the Dane, And triumphs o’er the brand._

Anlaf, the Dane, spoiled the church, and burnt the village of Tyningham, in 941, which, Chalmers observes, is a very early notice of the kirk-town of this place.

“The fierce Dane Upon the eastern coast of Lothian landed, Near to that place where the sea-rock immense, Amazing Bass, looks o’er a fertile land.”—_Home’s Douglas._

While the workmen of the Earl of Haddington were, a few years ago, clearing the ruins of the church, they dug a considerable way in search of relics. About five feet below the niche formerly mentioned something like burnt ashes were turned up, but nothing further discovered. If the relics of the saint were, however, spared by the fiery Dane, while in search of plunder, it is not likely they escaped the mania of the early centuries for this precious merchandise, when the tooths, legs, and arms of the saints were enchased in silver, and bartered at a high rate.

3.

Stanza viii. page 58.

_Far, in the blue haze, dimly seen, I view the beacon-beaming isle._

The Isle of May, like the Bass, forms a conspicuous object in the Frith of Forth. David I. founded a monastery on the island, for the monks of Reading, in Yorkshire, to whom it originally belonged, and dedicated his benefaction to all the saints. It was afterwards consecrated to St Adrian, who, along with Glodian, Gaius, (or, as others write, Monanus,) archdeacon of St Andrews, and Bishop Stolbrand, were martyred here by the Danes. It was afterwards purchased by William Lamberton, bishop of St Andrews, from the Abbot of Reading; who, notwithstanding the complaints of King Edward, bestowed it upon the canons regular of his cathedral.—See _Holinshed_. Like Whitekirk, it was of old much frequented by barren women on pilgrimage.

This island was next granted in feu by Charles I. to Cunningham of Burns, for the purpose of erecting a lighthouse for the benefit of mariners. A tower of forty feet was built for that purpose. The first builder was cast away, in a tempest raised by witchcraft, while returning from thence to his house in Fife, for which some unfortunate old women were executed.—See _Keith’s Cat._ p. 238, and _Grose’s Scot. Ant._ vol. i. p. 81.

A lighthouse, upon an improved plan, with revolving burners, has recently been erected.

4.

Stanza x. page 60.

_Proud Bass! amidst the crystal sea, Thou’rt like a fairy-haunted isle._

This picturesque rock rises with a bold and rugged sweep, at least four hundred feet above the surface of the waters, and in the month of July looks like an enchanted island, where web-footed birds come to hold a jubilee. It is situated in the mouth of the Forth, about two miles from the shore, and is inaccessible except by a narrow passage in the west. The base of the rock is computed to be an English mile in circumference. From the depth of the water, extending from thirty to forty fathoms, its entire height may be estimated at six hundred feet. A cavern runs through the rock from east to west, which may be traversed at ebb-tide. It is dark in the centre, where there is a deep pool. While sailing on the south side of the rock, opposite the opening of this cave, it was truly delightful to contemplate its sublime scenery. The rock here appeared piled in tremendous masses, frowning over our heads, and scattered the restless waves as they rose against its rugged summits or washed its everlasting foundations, while myriads of sea birds sat secure and undisturbed on their lofty perches.

Besides the solan geese, which are its principal inhabitants, the Bass contains pasture for at least twenty sheep, celebrated it is said in the annals of gluttony; it has also a small warren of rabbits.

The best season for visiting the Bass is during the incubation of the geese, in the months of June and July. The most propitious time is shortly after sunrise, when the waves are calm, and the greatest variety of birds to be seen. An easterly breeze must be avoided, otherwise the visitor may expect a good ducking if he sails round the north side of the rock.

5.

Stanza x. page 60.

_Alas! we may not mark the spot Where stood the hermit’s holy cell; Its sacred precincts are forgot._

About half way up the rock, a little below the old garden, is the remains of a chapel pretty entire, where the ammunition of the garrison was kept when the island was used as a state-prison for the Covenanters. The niches for the holy fonts show that it must have been built prior to the reformation of the church.

The Bass pays annually twelve geese to the church of North Berwick as part of the minister’s stipend.

6.

Stanza xii. page 61.

_Here oft the boatman rests his oar, While o’er the rock the fowler hung, Like the bold youth of Kilda’s shore, Descends to seek the solan’s young._

The solan are commonly taken in the month of August. This is effected by hoisting the fowler over inaccessible places of the rock, by a rope fastened to a girdle. The young birds are killed by striking them on the head, while the boatmen below are ready to receive them. This perilous employment is often attended with danger from the falling of loose stones. Some years ago one of the fowlers would have been buried under a ton-weight of fragments, had he not had the presence of mind to swing himself under a jutting crag, where he remained in safety till the mass rolled over his head.

7.

Stanza xii. page 62.

_That bird, which on gigantic wing, Like cormorant, delights to soar._

The solan resembles the cormorant and pelican, both in its manner of fishing, by diving from a great height, and the method of securing its prey in a dilatable pouch, of sufficient size to contain four or five herrings. The gannet or solan goose (the _Pelecanus Bassanus_ of Linnæus) was supposed to breed no where in Europe save on the Bass, and the isle of Ailsa in the frith of Clyde; but they are also found on the Stark of Suliskerry, a holm or uninhabited island, a little to the south-west of the Orkney isles, and at St Kilda in the Hebrides.

8.

Stanza xii. page 62.

_Wo to the silvery shoals that lie ’Neath the bright lustre of her eye._

The gannet also resembles the cormorant in its quickness of sight. It has a transparent membrane under the eyelid, with which it covers the whole eye at pleasure, without obscuring the sight, which seems a necessary provision for so weighty a creature, whose method of seizing its prey is by darting down headlong from a height of at least a hundred feet into the water. “They have a crane’s neck, and a strong sharp bill, about the length of one’s middle finger, with which they strike through their prey with such violence, that it often sticks in a board, baited with herring, so as they cannot pull it out again, and are catched by the inhabitants.”—_Journey through Scot._ 1723. Mr Pennant relates a similar story of one of these birds, which, when flying over Penzance, in Cornwall, saw some pilchards lying on a fir plank, upon which, darting down for the purpose of seizing them, it struck its bill through an inch and quarter plank, and was killed on the spot.

_Holinshed_ observes, “Certes, there is nothing in this rock that is not full of admiration and wonder: therein is also great store of solan geese, (not unlike to those which Pliny calleth water eagles, or, as we say, sea herons,) and no where else but in Ailsa and this rock. At their first coming, they gather such great plenty of sticks and boughs together for the building of their nests, that the same do satisfy the keeper of the castle for the yearly maintenance of his fuel. Within the bowels of these geese there is a kind of grease to be had of singular force in medicine, and flaying likewise the skin from their bodies with the fat, they make an oil very profitable for the gout, and many other diseases in the haunches and groins of mankind. In this crag more there growth a herb very pleasant and delicious for sallads, but if it be taken up and planted elsewhere, it either groweth not, or utterly loses its virtues.

“There was some time a stone found here, much like to a water sponge or pumice, hollow on the one side, and of such a nature, that if any salt water had been poured thereunto, and suffered to run through, it would forthwith lose the natural saltness, and become very fresh and pleasant unto the mouth and taste. We hear in these days that this stone is to be seen in Fast Castle, whither it was brought after it had passed many hands for the trial of this matter.”—See _Holinshed’s Chron._ vol. i. introd.

9.

Stanza xii. page 62.

_The puffin, with her crimson bill, Deem’d sacred by the lone Kurile._

This remarkable bird is also a native of the Bass, and commonly goes by the name of the _Tommy Nora_. It is found, however, in greater plenty on the isle of Craig Leith, near North Berwick, where it takes up its abode in the rabbit burrows. When sailing round the rock on the summer evenings, the bird is heard to make a mournful noise, like a person crying _Ah! ha!_ Its voice has been compared to a dumb person attempting to speak, or to the hum of a large spinning-wheel. This humming sound had a very pleasant effect, when, from the top of the Bass, we looked down on the myriads below, and heard it mingled with the chattering of the guillimot or skout, and the screaming of the sea-gulls.

The puffin is most celebrated for its bill, which is large and flat, with its edge upwards, partly ash-coloured and partly red, of a triangular shape, not unlike the coulter of a plough, hence the bird gets the name of _Coulterneb_. The Kamtschadales and Kuriles decorate their necks with the bill, which the priest puts on with an appropriate ceremony. While in possession of this amulet, they consider good fortune will attend them.

10.

Stanza xiii. page 62.

_This rock! where Pictish chiefs held sway, Was patriot’s boast of latter day._

The Bass was an ancient possession of the family of Lauder, who sprung originally from Lauder of that ilk, or Lauder Tower.—_Nisbet’s Heraldry_, vol. i. p. 344. According to Henry the Minstrel, Robert Lauder accompanied Wallace in many of his exploits. This family continued in a lineal descent till the reign of Charles I., when it merged into that of Lauder of Beilmouth. In the aisle of the lairds of the Bass, in the old church of North Berwick, a tombstone bears the following inscription, in Latin Saxon characters:—“_Here lies the good Robert Lauder, the great laird of Congalton and Bass, who died May 1311._”

11.

Stanza xiii. page 63.

_As erst in treason’s gloomy hour, On faction’s billows wildly driven, My holde did shelter Scotia’s flower, When from its parent stem ’twas riven._

The Bass sheltered James, the infant heir of Robert III., in 1405, when it was judged expedient to send the young prince to France, to secure him against the dark intentions of the Duke of Albany. Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, was appointed chief attendant in this voyage, and a ship was ordered to the isle of Bass to receive the young prince; but they had only proceeded to Flamborough-head, when they were captured by the English. Nineteen years elapsed before James saw the end of his captivity. While confined in Windsor Castle he wrote his poem of the _King’s Quair_.

The Bass was the last place that held out for James VII. in Great Britain. It was defended by a gallant officer, David, third son of James Blair of Ardblair, who afterwards went to France to his royal master, where he died.—See _Douglas’ Baronage_, p. 191. After the Revolution a desperate race of pirates got possession of it, who had a large boat, which they hoisted down at pleasure, and committed several piracies. Their boat being at length seized or lost, and not receiving their accustomed supply of provisions from France, they were compelled to surrender.

12.

Stanza xv. page 65.

_Then in the Bass’s dungeons strong Was pouring Babel’s captive song._

The Bass was purchased by the Crown from Sir Alexander Ramsay, soon after the Restoration, 1671, for £4000 Sterling, and converted into a state-prison during the reign of Charles II. and his brother James, where the western Covenanters, called Cameronians, were confined for being in arms against the king.—_Trans. Scot. Ant._—It now belongs to Sir H. D. Hamilton, Bart.

Amidst a multitude of prisoners the most remarkable were, 1. Alexander Peden, of prophetic memory. While Peden was prisoner in the Bass, “one sabbath morning, being about the public worship of God, a young girl, about the age of fourteen years, came to the chamber-door mocking with loud laughter; he said, Poor thing, thou laughest and mockest at the worship of God, but ere long God shall write such a sudden and surprising judgment on thee, that shall stay this laughing, &c. Very shortly after that, as she was walking on the rock, a blast of wind swept her off to the sea, where she was lost.”

Another day, while Peden was walking on the rock, some soldiers passing by, cried, “The devil take him.” He said, “Fy, fy! poor man, thou knowest not what thou art saying; but thou shalt repent that. At which the soldier stood astonished, and went to the guard distracted, crying aloud for Mr Peden, saying, The devil would immediately come and take him away. Mr Peden came, and spoke to and prayed for the soldier, and next morning came to him again, and found him in his right mind, under deep convictions of great guilt. The guard being to change, they commanded him to his arms, but he refused; and said, He would lift no arms against Jesus Christ, his cause, and his people; I have done that too long. The governor threatened him with death to-morrow by ten o’clock. He confidently said, three times, ‘That though he should tear him in pieces, he should never lift arms that way.’ About three days after, the governor put him forth of the garrison, setting him ashore, and he, having a wife and children, took a house in East Lothian, and became a singular Christian.”—See _Biog. Scoticana._

2. Thomas Hogg, minister of Kiltern.—Having contracted a severe dysentery, he petitioned the council for liberation, which Sharpe opposed, declaring that the prisoner was in a capacity to do more hurt in his elbow-chair, than twenty others travelling through the country; and if the justice of God was pursuing him, the clemency of government should not prevent it. Hogg was carried to a low, nasty dungeon, and in a short time recovered. When speaking of the arch-prelate afterwards, he jocularly said, “Commend him to me for a good physician.”—See _Wodrow_,