Page:Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders.djvu/13

 Rh may carry their traditions with them, they fail to transmit them to their descendants.

Be this however as it may, I continued my researches, noting down carefully every morsel of Folk-Lore that came before me, and my reward has been far beyond my expectations. Besides many histories and sayings more or less noteworthy, I lighted on a treasure of exceeding value, which, through the kindness of my friend the Rev. R. O. Bromfield of Sprouston, I have been enabled to make my own. It was in fact a collection of Border customs, legends, and superstitions put together, about fifty years ago, by a young medical student of the name of Wilkie, residing at Bowden, near Eildon Hall; and this at the desire of Sir Walter Scott, for the purpose of being used by him in a projected work on the subject, which he never carried beyond two short essays on the Border Minstrelsy. Mr. Wilkie appears to have been a favourite and protégé of Sir Walter Scott, who procured him an appointment in India, where the young man died. The collection, although of great interest, was, as I received it, by no means in a fit state for publication. The contents were not arranged, there was a good deal of repetition, and the style was diffuse and wordy.

Meanwhile I had shown my lecture to the accomplished Editor of the Monthly Packet, whose interest in this and kindred subjects is well known, and whose varied and extensive reading renders her opinion peculiarly valuable. She expressed a wish that the lecture should be turned into an article for