Letters on demonology and witchcraft. Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq / by Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
- Walter Scott
- Date:
- 1831
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Letters on demonology and witchcraft. Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq / by Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Source: Wellcome Collection.
158/428
![queen was not long' in placing him upon Tlnntly hank, where the birds ^^•ore singing. She took a tender leave of him, and to ens\ire his reputation, bestowed on him the tongue which cottld not lie. Thomas in vain objected to this inconvenient and involuntary adhesion to vemcity, which uould make him, as he thought, untit for church or for mai'ket, for king’s court or for lady’s l>ower. But all his I'cmonsti’ances wei’e disrega\'de<l by the lady, and Thomas the Rhymer, whenever the discourse turned on the future, gained the cix^dit of a jirophet whether he wotild or not; tor he cotild sav nothing hut what was sure to come to ]>ass. It is plain, that had Thomas been a legislator instead of a poet, we have here the storv of Numa and Egena. Thomas remained several veaiN in his ow n tower near Erceldovine, and enjoyed the fame of his predictions, several of which are current among the countrv peojde to this day. At leng-th, as the prophet was entertaining the l^arl of March in his dwelling, a cry of astonishment ai'ose in the village, on the appeamnce of a hart and hind,* which loft the forest, and, contrary to their shy nature, came quietly onwanls travoraing the village towawls the dwelling of Thomas. The pr(q)het instantly ix)se from the hoanl; and, acknowledging the prodigy as the summons of his fate, he accompanied the hart, and hind into the forast, and though occasionally seen hv indivuluals to whom he has chosen to show himself, has never ag-ain mixed familiarly with mankind. • This Inst cireiimstaricp sooms iniitntrd from a passage in fiia T.it'e of Merlin, hy .Teffrey of Monmouth. See Ellih’s Ancient Romances, vol. i. p. 73.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22029667_0160.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
