Page:Scotish Descriptive Poems - Leyden (1803).djvu/141

 of Reged. His mother being found pregnant, was, according to an ancient law of the Britons, precipitated from the rock of Dunpelder; but having escaped unhurt, she was, like another Danae, exposed at sea, in a small skiff. Being under the particular protection of providence, she arrived safe at Culross, where she was hospitably received by St. Servan, by whom both the mother and child were baptised. According to Joceline, it was not his mother's ring which he recovered from the fish, but that of the adulterous queen Langueth, who entreated the saint, with many professions of penitence, to prevent a discovery of her crime. The passage of Joceline which relates to this law of the Britons, runs thus: "Erat in illo populo barbaro, a diebus antiquis lex promulgata: ut puella in paternis fornicatis (sic) gravida inveniebatur, de supercilio montis altissimi præcipitaretur; corruptor autem illius capite plecteretur: Similiter apud antiquos Saxones, pene usque ad hæc moderna tempora, sancitum durabat, ut quælibet virgo, in paternis sponte deflorata, absque ulla retractatione, viva sepeliretur . The practice of burying such delinquents alive, is thus mentioned in the ancient Romance of Arthur and Merlin. It is curious, that the only method of avoiding this punishment, was by openly professing the vocation of a courtesan: