Notes and Queries, Number 72, March 15, 1851 | Page 4

following notice of this passage, which is
printed as a note in the last edition of Scott's Poems in 1833:--
"A corpse is afterwards conveyed, as that of Marmion, to the cathedral
of Lichfield, where a magnificent tomb is erected to his memory, &c.
&c.; but, by an admirably imagined act of poetical justice, we are
informed that a peasant's body was placed beneath that costly
monument, while the haughty Baron himself was buried like a vulgar
corpse on the spot where he died."
Had the reviewer attempted to penetrate a little deeper into the
workings of the author's mind, he would have seen in this circumstance
much more than "an admirably imagined act of poetical {204} justice."
He would have perceived in it the ultimate and literal fulfilment of the
whole penalty foreshadowed to the delinquent baron in the two
concluding stanzas of that beautiful and touching song sung by
Fitz-Eustace in the Hostelrie of Gifford in the third canto of the poem,
which I here transcribe:
"Where shall the traitor rest, He the deceiver, Who could win maiden's

breast, Ruin, and leave her? In the lost battle Borne down by the flying,
Where mingles war's rattle, With groans of the dying-- There shall he
be lying. Her wing shall the eagle flap O'er the false-hearted, His warm
blood the wolf shall lap Ere life be parted. Shame and dishonour sit By
his grave ever; Blessing shall hallow it, Never, O never!"
Then follows the effect produced upon the conscience of the "Traitor,"
described in these powerful lines:--
"It ceased. the melancholy sound; And silence sunk on all around. The
air was sad; but sadder still It fell on Marmion's ear, And plain'd as if
disgrace and ill, And shameful death, were near." &c. &c. &c.
And lastly, when the life of the wounded baron is ebbing forth with his
blood on the field of battle, when--
"The Monk, with unavailing cares Exhausted all the Church's prayers--
Ever, he said, that, close and near, A lady's voice was in his ear, And
that the priest he could not hear-- For that she ever sung, 'In the lost
battle, borne down by the flying, Where mingles war's rattle with
groans of the dying!'-- So the notes ring."
I am the more disposed to submit these remarks to your readers,
because it is highly interesting to trace an irresistible tendency in the
genius of this mighty author towards the fulfilment of prophetic
legends and visions of second sight: and not to extend this paper to an
inconvenient length, I purpose to resume the subject in a future number,
and collate some other examples of a similar character from the works
of Sir Walter Scott.
I write from the southern slopes of Cheviot, almost within sight of the
Hill of Flodden. During the latter years of the great Border Minstrel, I
had the happiness to rank myself among the number of his friends and
acquaintances, and I revere his memory as much as I prized his
friendship.
A BORDERER.

* * * * *
GLOUCESTERSHIRE PROVINCIALISMS.
To burl, burling; to shunt, &c.--In the report of the evidence regarding
the death of Mrs. Hathway, at Chipping Sodbury, supposed to have
been poisoned by her husband, the following dialectical expression
occurs, which may deserve notice. One of the witnesses stated that he
was invited by Mr. Hathway to go with him into a beer-house in
Frampton Cotterell, "and have a tip," but he declined.
"Mr. H. went in and called for a quart of beer, and then came out again,
and I went in. He told me 'to burl out the beer, as he was in a hurry;'
and I 'burled' out a glass and gave it to him."--Times, Feb. 28.
I am not aware that the use of this verb, as a provincialism, has been
noticed; it is not so given by Boucher, Holloway, or Halliwell. In the
Cumberland dialect, a birler, or burler, is the master of the revels, who
presides over the feast at a Cumberland bidden-wedding, and takes
especial care that the drink be plentifully provided. (Westmoreland and
Cumberland Dialects, London, 1839.)
Boucher and Jamieson have collected much regarding the obsolete use
of the verb to birle, to carouse, to pour out liquor. See also Mr. Dyce's
notes on Elynour Rummyng, v. 269. (Skelton's Works, vol. ii. p. 167.). It
is a good old Anglo-Saxon word--byrlian, propinare, haurire. In the
Wycliffite versions it occurs repeatedly, signifying to give to drink. See
the Glossary to the valuable edition lately completed by Sir F. Madden
and Mr. Forshall.
In the Promptorium Parvulorum, vol i. p. 51., we find--
"Bryllare of drynke, or schenkare: Bryllyn, or schenk drynke, propino:
Bryllynge of drynke," &c.
Whilst on the subject of dialectical expressions, I would mention an
obsolete