The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

1 86 The Hiokland Monthly
Cunningham, that the Moss, extending from the meetingplace
just mentioned to the Solway Firth, was once an arm
of the sea, but that a proud swell of the Hallowmas tide
having swept away many of the steeds on which the witches
rode to the Sabbath, the so-called Gyre Carlne, the Mother
of Glamour, was so provoked that, baring her withered arm,
she stretched over the sea her rod of power, and turned its
high waves into a quagmire.
Another class of beings who played an important part
in Border superstition were " the Brownies"—beings sup-
posed to live in trees, or old and ruinous castles, and were
generally attached to old and virtuous families. They
were generous to a degree, sought no reward for their
labours, chiefly consisting in thrashing out of the harvest
during the night, and were offended if tasks were prescribed
for them or presents offered. Of this imaginary existence
Hogg, deeply imbued with a love for whatever was marvellous,
made a striking use in one of his best tales, " The
Brownie of Bodsbeck."
Occupying, however, more fully the inner life of the
Borderers were still higher emotions, the result of pro-
foundly devotional feeling, of a religious nature, the stern
rigid doctrinal teaching in which their lives were formed,
and the memory of the fiery test of faith through which
their ancestors had passed. This is not the place, and it
would take too long to point out the influence of the
Covenanting traditions on the national life, but it is not too
much to say that the men who struggled, to use their own
bold expression, " for Christ's Crown and Covenant," con-
tributed much to secure to succeeding generations freedom
of thought, of speech, and of worship. The remembrance
of this struggle still lies, like a fitful shadow, over the
Borderland. In every county testimony was borne to the
faith of the people. On every lonely moor a spot is still
pointed out where some leader preached to his flock at
the risk of his life, or where some martyr died. Even.
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