And were na my heart light I wad die.
His titty she was baith wylie and slee,
She spy'd me as I came o'er the lee;
And then she ran in and made a loud din :
Believe your ain een, an' ye trow na me.
His bonnet stood ay fu' round on his brow;
His auld ane looks ay as weel as some's new;
But now he lets t wear ony gate it will hing,
And casts himself dowie upon the corn-bing.
And now he gaes dandering about the
dykes,

And a' he dow do is to hund the tykes:
The live-lang night he ne'er steeks his ee;
And were na my heart light I wad die.
Were I young for thee, as I hae been,
We shou'd hae been galloping down on yon
green,

And linking it blythe on the lily-white lee:
And wow gin I were but young for thee!

This, we think, is very good, and corresponds also very beautifully with the idea we have formed of the author's character-at once simple, lively, and tender.

An interesting notice in her daughter's Narrative, along with other circumstances, induces us to entertain a hope that further specimens of her poetical talents may yet be recovered. Lady Murray says," I have now a book of songs of her writing when there, in Holland, many of them interrupted, half writ, some broke off in the middle of a sentence," &c. Such a collection, whether altogether of her own composition or not, would probably afford some valuable additions to the lyric treasures by which Scotland has long been so peculiarly distinguished. And, should the present notice meet the eye of those into whose possession this MS. has most probably fallen, we earnestly hope they

will be induced to inquire after it, and, if still in existence, to favour the public, through some respectable channel, with information as to its contents.

We are enabled to subjoin one unpublished fragment of this description, supposed to be Lady Grizzel's composition from circumstantial evi

dence.

It was lately discovered, in her hand-writing, among a parcel of old letters, and inclosed in one of them, written about the time of her father's forfeiture to her brother Patrick, then serving with Mr Baillie in the Prince of Orange's Guards. The first two of the following stanzas are The others copied from this MS. (in brackets) are subjoined, as an imperfect attempt to complete the song in a similar style, but with a more direct reference to the situation of Lady Grizzel and the family of Polwarth at that disastrous period.

O the ewe-bughting's bonnie, baith e'ening and morn,

When our blythe shepherds play on their bog-reed and horn;

While we're milking they're lilting baith pleasant and clear

But my heart's like to break when I think of my dear!

O the shepherds take pleasure to blow on the horn,

To raise up their flocks o' sheep 'soon i'

the morn;

sole of each foot slowly and deliberately over the flame of a bundle of eight wax-candles, so that the flame was seen rising between her toes, apparently without effect.

Experiment 12.-She applied melted sealing wax to her tongue, and an impression of a seal was taken on it. Experiment 13.-She seemed to dip the points of her fingers repeatedly into melted lead, and put a little of ít each time into her mouth, and she afterwards spit out some lead in the form of thin masses chewed together. Experiment 14.--A considerable quantity of melted lead was poured out on the slab, and she put the soles of her feet upon it repeatedly.

Experiment 15.-She seemed to pour melted lead into her mouth, and afterwards spit out a small chewed piece of lead, which might be about a drachm in weight.

Signora Girardelli is a pleasantlooking woman, above 40 years of age, though, at first sight, she appears younger. She has a good address, and appears desirous that all the spectators should see and be satisfied that she performs what she undertakes. Indeed, in the whole exhibition, the suspicion of juggling or deception is scarcely excited, but, on the contrary, there is such an appearance of fairness, and so much encouragement to close examination is given, that any such suspicion is quickly removed. The experiments are also conducted with great decency, and do not excite any unpleasant feeling in the spectators, as the Signora evinces not the slightest suffering from any of them, but looks always pleased and gratified with her success in producing astonishment or exciting applause. When she had any thing to say to her husband, she spoke in German, but, although she could scarcely expect to be understood by any of the spectators near enough to hear, she only gave directions to her husband to arrange the exhibition, so that every one might be satisfied, and to tell the spectators what she was going to do, or wished them to attend to.

After the exhibition, she was so obliging as to comply with a request to allow some of the spectators to examine her tongue, and came out from behind her skreen, although she had begun to undress. Her tongue was clean, of its natural red colour, and

not apparently changed either by the degree of heat or acid applied to it. On the stage her teeth seemed bad, but this appearance is owing to her upper front teeth being unusually short and small. The parts of her arms and legs subjected to the experiments were in every respect natural, except that they seemed destitute of hair, and there was no remains of any application upon them. She, however, said, that the power of resisting fire and acids was owing to a preparation which she applied to different parts of her body, that these parts alone possessed this property, and that the effects of the application gradually wore off. She also told us that she had repeated the experiments once a day at least, almost regularly, for many years, sometimes three times a-day, and that she never met with any accident, or, if she did burn herself, (perhaps she wished us to understand some of the unprepared parts,) the burn healed in the course of a night. She is evidently a native of Germany, and said that she was the daughter of Odhelius, a celebrated professor of chemistry at Munich, and that she had discovered the secret in his papers and books.

In mentioning these particulars, which were frankly communicated, I trust there is no breach of confidence, nor in the remarks which I am about to make, have I any desire to expose the Signora as an impostor: but, on the contrary, to recommend to all those who have any curiosity to observe natural phenomena, not to lose this opportunity of satisfying themselves as to the extent of her powers, and of reflecting upon the most probable explanation of them. This will be attempted in very different ways by the credulous, the sceptical, the confident, and the cautious. Some at once declare the whole to be imposition, such as is practised by the fireeaters at fairs; a few cannot divest themselves of the impression that she is a preternatural being, and performs miracles; some find no difficulty in accounting for it by some secret application; while others declare their ignorance of any substance capable of producing the effects ascribed to them.

Having thus given a faithful statement of the experiments I witnessed, I shall first state some facts which seem to bear upon the subject, and

then endeavour to explain them upon rational principles.

The power of resisting the action of heat has been claimed or possessed by individuals in all ages. At first it was supposed to be miraculous, and owing to the immediate interposition of the Deity. It has even been admitted in courts of justice, as a conclusive proof of guilt on some occasions, and of innocence or superior sanctity in others. An exceedingly minute and interesting account of the fire ordeal of the Hindoos was given in the Asiatic Researches by the celebrated Governor Hastings.

In the Antigone of Sophocles, the guards accused of neglect by Creon, to prove their innocence, offer to handle hot iron or walk through fire.

Virgil tells us, that the priests of Apollo, who attended the temple on Mount Soracte, had the faculty of walking with naked feet over burning coals, and Varro affirms, that they were rendered insusceptible of the effects of fire only by means of a composition. The priests of the temple of the goddess Feronia were not less dexterous; and Strabo tells us, that this drew every year a great number of curious people to visit and enrich the temple. The city of Thyane had a temple dedicated to Diana Persica, whose priestesses could also tread with impunity on the hottest coals.

In more modern times, Spain had its Saludadores or Santiguadores, who were nothing but impostors, pretending that they were descended from Saint Catherine. To prove their illustrious origin, they shewed on their body the impression of a wheel, called themselves incombustible, and managed fire with great address. Leonard Vair reports, that one of them having been in good earnest, shut up in too hot an oven, was found burnt to a cinder when it was opened.

For a long time the criminal jurisprudence of Europe tolerated, to those who did not carry arms, the trial by fiery or deal as a mode of appealing to God. It was performed in various ways. The first, which was used by the nobles, priests, and other free persons, was the trial by red hot iron. It consisted in carrying a bar of iron about three pounds in weight, heated to a greater or less degree, according to the nature of the accusation, and to a

greater or less distance, according to the sentence; or in putting the hand into a red hot iron gauntlet, or in walking over hot iron bars or ploughshares, from nine to twelve in number. The trial by boiling water consisted in plunging the hand into it to take out a ring suspended at a greater or less depth from the surface.

For the common people, the proof by cold water only was allowed. After some ceremonies, the unfortunate person was thrown into the water with his left hand tied to the right foot, If he sunk he was innocent, if he swam he was guilty. Thus, it appears, that a miracle was required to condemn the poor and to save the rich, but the innocence of the latter was proved by their escaping unhurt, that of the former by their being drowned.

The earliest instance of fire ordeal in Christendom occurred in the fourth century. Simplicius, Bishop of Autun, had married before his promotion, and his wife, unwilling to quit him after his promotion, continued to live with him. The sanctity of Simplicius suffered by the constancy of his wife's affection, and it was rumoured that the Bishop persisted in opposition to the ecclesiastical canons to taste of the sweets of matrimony; upon which his wife, in the presence of a great concourse of people, took up a considerable quantity of burning coals, which she held in her clothes, and applied to her breasts, without the least hurt to her person or her garments, as the legend says, and her example being followed by her husband, with the like success, the multitude admired the miracle, and proclaimed the innocence of the loving pair. A similar trick, as Mosheim terms it, was played by St Brice in the fifth century.

The Empress Maria of Arragon, wife of Otho III. had accused a young Italian Count of having endeavoured to seduce her, and he was put to death; but his widow, with the head of her husband in her hand, demanded to be admitted to the fiery ordeal in order to prove his innocence, and holding, as long as was thought necessary, a red hot bar of iron without being burnt, this miracle was admitted as proof, and the Empress was condemned to be burnt alive.

If the Monkish historians tell the truth, our Queen Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, passed unhurt over nine burning plough-shares.

Another form of trial, attended with greater ceremony, was that undergone by Luitprand, a Milanese priest, who, in 1103, offered to prove the truth of an accusation against his bishop, by walking through a blazing pile of wood. He entered, it is said, through volumes of flame, which divided before him, and came out amid the acclamations of the people. It was remarked, however, that his hand had received some injury from the fire when throwing holy water and incense into the pile, and that his foot was bruised. However, this proof was thought insufficient by the Pope, who acquitted the archbishop. In truth, says Duclos, who has inserted an able essay on Trial by Duel and the Elements, in the 15th Vol. of the Memoirs of the Academie Royale des Inscriptions, if we consider the whole story, diminish the size and brightness of the pile, and increase the injury done to the hand and foot, and regard the sentence of the Pope as directed against a fanatic, the wonder of this pretended miracle will cease.

Aldobrandini, a Florentine monk, in the eleventh century, also walked through the fire, to prove an accusation against his bishop, and hence got the name of Petrus Igneus.

All trials of this kind were condemned by Pope Etienne V. as false and superstitious, and Frederick II. prohibited them as absurd and ridiculous. These facts are now quoted to shew, that, by a little management, the handling of fire has always been practised, and we need not add, that it was done by natural means, and not by any miracle. Indeed, the result of the trial often was contrary to the truth, and those who prescribed it to others had not sufficient confidence in it to entrust their own safety to it. Thetberge, wife of Lothaire, suspected of incest, was allowed to prove her innocence by proxy, and her champion performed successfully the ordeal by boiling water. The queen afterwards confessed her guilt, and the advocates for the ordeal maintained, that the miracle was performed in favour of her guilty majesty, because she had confessed herself before the trial, or, because in taking her oath of

innocence, she substituted an innocent person for the guilty. Hincmar, who wrote in defence of the ordeal, would not allow Gottescalc, condemned by a synod, to have recourse to it to prove his innocence, which shews, that he was not sincere in his doctrine; and in the time of the ri diculous quarrel between the Dominicans and Franciscans, one of the former proposed to prove the sanctity of Jerome Savonarola, by walking through a blazing fire, and a Cordelier made the same offer to prove the contrary; but at the sight of the flames they both ran off. George Logothetus also tells us of a man who refused to submit to the fiery ordeal, saying, he was no charlatan, and when the archbishop pressed him, he sagaciously replied, that he would have no objec tion to take the burning bar, provided he received it from the hands of his eminence. In the time of Andronicus, son of Michael Palaeologus, the clergy of Constantinople were divided about many things. They resolved to submit their disputes to a Judicium Dei, but, instead of subjecting the persons of their leaders to the danger of being burnt, they wisely trusted only their opinions written upon paper or parchment, to the judgment of the flames, which, it was understood, would respect those that were orthodox; but unfortunately both scrolls were reduced to ashes, and the confidence in such appeals received a rude shock.

But while insensibility to the action of fire was held to be a proof of innocence in many instances, in the case of the unfortunate old women suspected of witchcraft, it received an opposite interpretation, and witch-finders carefully looked for insensible spots, a certain proof of connection with his Satanic Majesty.

As the minds of men became more enlightened, the miracle of the resistance of fire was disputed, and it was referred either to imposition or natural causes. Jerome speaks of an impostor, calling himself the Messiah, who held in his mouth straw on fire, and vomited forth flames, and by this means excited the Jews to revolt. He was put to death after the capture of Bettas.

Itinerants have, from time to time, appeared, who have exhibited feats with fire, which have attracted the