ruined castle and collegiate chapel. Roslin Castle was the ancient seat of the St. Clairs, or Sinclairs, Altar's pale.-Pale is a noun, and means enclosure. It comes from Latin palus, a stake. The altar was generally railed off from the rest of the church. Every pillar foliage-bound.-See note upon Roslin above. Dead men's mail.—The iron panoply spoken of before. Blazed battlement and pinnet high.-Strictly speaking, a battlement was a military term, applied to a wall raised on a building with openings or embrasures. Battlements, however, were afterwards used in ecclesiastical work, both on parapets and as an ornament on the transoms of windows, &c. Pinnet is the same word as pinnacle, which, in medieval architecture, was a term applied to any ornament, consisting of a body or shaft, terminated by a pyramid or spire, used either interiorly or exteriorly. With candle, with book, and with knell.—An allusion to the rites of burial as practised in the Catholic Church. Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie.-The Barons of Roslin were buried in a vault beneath the chapel floor. They were buried in their armour, without any coffin. The first who was buried in a coffin was in the reign of James the Second of England and Seventh of Scotland. See Scott's note on this passage. EXERCISES. 1. Explain all the allusions in this ballad. 2. Quote and explain all the architectural terms used in it. 3. Analyse the ballad. 4. What ancient customs are referred to? 5. Give the meaning of feat, lay, inch, seer, leads the ball, panoply, sacristy, pale, mail, fate, dirge. 6. Where is Roslin? brig'-an-tine, a light, swift-in-di-rect'-ly, in a round sailing vessel, which was about way. mus'-cu-lar, strong, athletic. used by brigands. dis'-pu-tants, persons engaged in a quarrel or controversy. pre-ten'-sions, claims, demands. BALBOA, a Spanish soldier of fortune, acquired authority over a tract of the Isthmus of Darien, and had married the young and beautiful daughter of the Cacique of Coyba. After a victory obtained over one of the neighbouring monarchs, from whom four thousand ounces of gold and a quantity of golden utensils had been extorted, Balboa ordered one-fifth to be set apart for himself and the rest to be shared among his followers. While the Spaniards were dividing it by weight, a dispute arose among them respecting the fairness of the awards, when the Indian who had given the gold spoke to the disputants as follows: "Why should you quarrel for such a trifle? If gold is to you so precious that you abandon your homes for it, and invade the peaceful lands of others, I will tell you of a region where you may gratify your wishes to the utmost. Beyond those lofty mountains lies a mighty sea, which from their summits may be easily discerned. It is navigated by people who have vessels almost as large as yours, and, like them, furnished with sails and oars. All the streams which flow from these mountains into the sea abound in gold: the kings who reign upon its borders eat and drink out of golden vessels. Gold, in fact, is as common there as iron among you Spaniards." Fired by this discourse, Balboa inquired whether it would be difficult to penetrate to this sea and its golden shores. "The task," the prince replied, "is arduous and dangerous. Powerful caciques will oppose you with their warriors; fierce cannibals will attack you, and devour those whom they kill. To accomplish your enterprise you will require at least a thousand men, armed like those you have with you now." To prove his sincerity, the prince offered to accompany Balboa upon the expedition at the head of his warriors. This was the first intimation received by a European of the splendid expanse of water which was so soon to receive the name of The Pacific. On the 1st September, 1513, Balboa embarked with his followers in a light brigantine and nine canoes, and ascended a stream as far as it was navigable, and after three weeks' journey reached a village lying at the foot of the mountain that commanded the long-wished-for prospect. Only sixty-seven men out of two hundred remained. But Balboa ordered them to halt, that he might himself be alone to enjoy the scene and the first to discover the ocean. He reached the peak, and there the magnificent sight burst upon his view. The water was still at the distance of two days' journey; but there it lay, beyond the intervening space, grand, boundless, and serene. He fell upon his knees and returned thanks to God. He summoned his followers to ascend, and thus addressed them:-"Behold, my friends," he said, "the glorious sight which we have so ardently longed for! By the favour of Christ you will thus become the richest Spaniards that have ever come to the Indies." The priest attached to the expedition chanted that impressive anthem, the Te Deum; and the Spaniards, in whom religious fervour and the thirst for pillage seemed to be mingled in equal proportions, joined in the chorus with heart and voice. Balboa then caused a tall tree to be cut down and fashioned into the form of a cross: this he erected on the spot whence he had first beheld the ocean. A mound of stone was likewise piled up as a monument, and the names of Ferdinand and Juana were carved upon the neighbouring trees. Balboa then set out for the coast, which he soon reached. The tide was far out, and, waiting till it flowed up to the shore, Balboa arose, and, taking a banner representing the Virgin and Child, and bearing the arms of Castile and Leon, he marched knee-deep into the water, and waving the flag, took formal possession of the country. |