Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/86

222 aistent presb) terians of his age; while in his Familiar Letters, published posthumously, he evinces a fervour of feeling and fancy, that, in other circumstances, and otherwise exerted, would have ranked him among the most successful cultivators of literature. Wodrow lias observed, that those who knew him best, were at a loss which to admire, his sublime genius in the school, or his familiar condescensions in the pulpit, where he was one of the most moving and affectionate preachers in his time, or perhaps in any age of the church.

RYMER,, of Ercildon, commonly called Thomas the Rhymer, and otherwise styled Thomas Learmont, was a distinguished person of the thirteenth century. So little is known respecting him, that even his name has become a matter of controversy. How the name of came to be given him, is net known; but in none of the early authorities do we find it; and although it has long been received as the bard's patronymic, it is now, by inquiring antiquaries, considered a misnomer. In a charter granted by his son and heir to the convent of Soltra, he is called Thomas Rymer de Erceldun. Robert de Brunne, Fordun, Barbour, and Winton, call him simply Thomas of Erceldoun, while Henry the minstrel calls him Thomas Rymer.

Erceldoune, cr, according to the modern corruption, Earlstown, is a small village on the right bank of the Leader water, in Berwickshire. At the western extremity of this village, stand, after a lapse of seven centuries, the ruins of the house which Thomas inhabited, called Rhymer's Tower; and in the front wall of the village church, there is a stone with this inscription on it:

The poet must have lived during nearly the whole of the thirteenth century. His romance of "Sir Tristram" is quoted by Gottfried of Strasburg, who flourished about 1230; and it is known he was alive, and in the zenith of his prophetic reputation, in 1286, at the death of Alexander III. He must have been dead, however, before 1299, as that is the date of the charter, in which his son calls himself Filius et hares Thomee Rymour de Erceldon. Henry the minstrel makes him take a part in the adventures of Wallace, in 1296 ; so, if this authority is to be credited, he must have died between that year and 1299.

To this day, the name of Thomas the Rhymer is popularly known in Scotland as a prophet ; and it is only by a late discovery of the MS. of a metrical romance called "Sir Tristram," that he has acquired a less exceptionable claim to remembrance. "The Prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer," were published, in Latin and English, at Edinburgh, in 1615, and have been repeatedly reprinted, copies of them being still to be found among the country people of Scotland. He is mentioned in his prophetic capacity by many of our early writers. Among the most noted of his predictions, is the following, regarding the death of Alexander III., which is thus narrated by Boece, as translated by Ballenden: "It is said, the day afore the kingis dethe, the erle of Marche demandit ane prophet uamit Thomas Rhymour, othenvayis namit Ersiltoun, quhat wedder suld be on the morow. To quhome answerit this Thomas, that on the morow afore none, sail blow the gretist wynd that ever was hard afore in Scotland. On the morow, quhen it was neir noon the lift appering loane, but ony din or tempest, the erle send for this propheit, and reprevit hym that he prognosticat sic wynd to be, and nae apperance thairof. This Thomas maid litel answer, bot said, noun is not yet gane. And incontinent ane man came to the yet, schawing the king was slain. Than said the prophet, yone is the wynd that