But Lambton's castle still stands by the Wear,
A tall and stately pile;

And Lambton's name is a name of might,
'Mong the mightiest of our isle.
Long may the sun of Prosperity
Upon the Lambtons smile!

[THE WORME OF LAMBTON.- Orme, or Worme, is, in the ancient Norse, the generic name for serpents. The Italian poets, Dante, ('Inferno,' c. 6. 22,) and Ariosto, ('Orlando Furioso,' c. 46, 78, call the infernal serpent of old, il gran verme,' that great worm;' and Milton, ('Paradise Lost,' Bk. ix., 1067,) makes Adam reproach Eve with having given ear to that false worm.' Cowper, (Task,' Bk. vi.,) adopts the same expression :

No foe to man

Lurks in the serpent now; the mother sees,
And smiles to see, her infant's playful hand
Strecht forth to dally with the crested worm.'

Shakespeare, too, ('Cymbeline, Act iii., Sc. 4,) speaks of slander's tongue as 'outvenoming all the worms of Nile.' To these passages, quoted in The Local Historian's Table-book,' may be added the following:-Shakespeare, (Macbeth,' Act iii:, Sc. 4,) There the grown serpent lies: the worm that's fled,' &c. Massinger, ('Parliament of Love,' Act iv., Sc. 2.

The sad father

That sees his son stung by a snake to death,

May with more justice stay his vengeful hand,
And let the worm escape,' &c.

'Piers Plowman,' (iii. 1. Ed. 1561,) speaks of Wyld wormes in woodes;' and in the old ballad of 'Alison Gross,' (Jamieson's Popular Ballads and Songs,' ii. 187, Ed. 1806,) that ugliest witch of the north countrie' turns one who would not be her lemman sae true' into an ugly worm, and gard him toddle about the tree. The word is also used in the same sense in the ballad, entitled The laidly Worm of Spindlestane Heughs.'

St. 27. A crystal well-known at this day by the name of the Worm Well.'

St. 38. Red-Cross Knight. According to a curious entry in an old MS. pedigree, lately in the possession of the family of Middleton, of Offerton, John Lambeton that slewe ye worme was Knight of Rhodes and Lord of Lambeton and Wod Apilton after the dethe of fower brothers, sans esshew malle.'

St. 46. The hill'still called The Worm Hill, a considerable oval-shaped hill, 345 yards in circumference, and 52 in height, about a mile and a half from old Lambton Hall.'

St. 56. All studded oer . . .with razors.' At Lambton Castle is preserved a figure, evidently of considerable antiquity, which represents a knight, armed cap-a pie, his vizor raised, and the back part of his coat of mail closely inlaid with spear blades: with his left hand he holds the head of the worm, and with his right he appears to be drawing his sword out of his throat. The worm is not represented as a reptile, but has ears, legs, and wings.'

St. 88. If popular tradition is to be trusted, this prediction was fulfilled, for it holds that during the period of the curse' none of the Lords of Lambton died in their beds. Be this as it may, nine ascending generations from Henry Lambton, of Lambton, Esq., M.P., (elder brother to the late General Lambton,) would exactly reach Sir John Lambton, Knight of Rhodes. Sir Wm. Lambton, who was Colonel of a regiment of foot in the service of Charles I., was slain at the bloody battle of Marston Moor, and his son William (his eldest son by his second wife) received his death-wound at Wakefield, at the head of a troop of dragoons, in 1643. The fulfilment of the curse was inherent in the ninth of descent, and great anxiety prevailed during his life-time, amongst the hereditary depositaries of the tradition of the county, to know if the curse would hold good to the end. He died in his chariot, crossing the New-Fridge, thus giving the last link to the chain of circumstantial tradition connected with the history of The Worme of Lambton.'-L. H. Table

book.

The Church-Paru Bride.

[This ballad, written by William Carleton, author of Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry,' is founded upon a superstition, of which he gives the following account:-'In the church-yard of Erigle Truagh, in the barony of Truagh, county Monaghan, there is said to be a spirit which appears to persons whose families are there interred. Its appearance, which is generally made in the following manner, is uniformly fatal, being an

796

omen of death to those who are so unhappy as to meet with
it. When a funeral takes place, it watches the person who
remains last in the grave-yard, over whom it possesses a
fascinating influence. If the loiterer be a young man, it
takes the shape of a beautiful female, inspires him with a
charmed passion, and exacts a promise to meet in the church-
yard on a month from that day; this promise is sealed by a
kiss, which communicates a deadly taint to the individual
who receives it. It then disappears, and no sooner does the
young man quit the church-yard, than he remembers the
history of the spectre-which is well known in the parish-
sinks into despair, dies, and is buried in the place of appoint-
menton the day when the promisewas to have been fulfilled.
If,on the contrary, it appears to a female, it assumes the form
of a young man of exceeding elegance and beauty.' Mr.
Carleton then mentions two cases of the kind which have
come within his personal knowledge.' 'It appears,' he adds,
that the spectre does not confine its operations to the
church-yard, as there have been instances mentioned of its
appearance at weddings and dances, where it never failed to
secure its victims by dancing them into pleuritic fevers. I
am unable to say whether this is a strictly local superstition.
In its female shape it somewhat resembles the Elle maids
of Scandinavia."]

HE bride she bound her golden hair—
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And her step was light as the breezy air
When it bends the morning flowers so fair,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

And oh, but her eyes they.danced so bright,
Killeevy, Ŏ Killeevy!

As she longed for the dawn of to-morrow's light,
Her bridal vows of love to plight,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

The bridegroom is come with youthful brow,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

To receive from Eva her virgin vow;
'Why tarries the bride of my bosom now?'

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy?

A cry! a cry!-'twas her maidens spoke,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

'Your bride is asleep-she has not awoke;
And the sleep she sleeps will never be broke,'
By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

Sir Turlough sank down with a heavy moan,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And his cheek became like the marble stone,
'Oh the pulse of my heart is for ever gone!'
By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

The keen is loud, it comes again,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And rises sad from the funeral train,
As in sorrow it winds along the plain,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

And oh, but the plumes of white were fair,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

When they flutterd all mournful in the air,
As rose the hymn of the requiem prayer,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

There is a voice that but one can hear,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And it softly pours, from behind the bier,
Its note of death on Sir Turlough's ear,
By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

The keen is loud, but that voice is low,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And it sings its song of sorrow slow,

And names young Turlough's name with woe,

Now the grave is closed, and the mass is said,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And the bride she sleeps in her lonely bed,
The fairest corpse among the dead,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

The wreaths of virgin-white are laid,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

By virgin hands, o'er the spotless maid;

And the flowers are strewn, but they soon will fade By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

Oh! go

not yet
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

not yet away,

Let us feel that life is near our clay,'

The long departed seem to say,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

But the tramp and the voices of life are gone,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And beneath each cold forgotten stone,
The mouldering dead sleep all alone,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

But who is he who lingereth yet?
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

The fresh green sod with his tears is wet,
And his heart in the bridal grave is set,
By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

Oh, who but Sir Turlough, the young, the brave,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

Should bend him o'er that bridal grave,
And to his death-bound Eva rave,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy..

Weep not-weep not,' said a lady fair,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

Should youth and valour thus despair,
And pour their vows to the empty air?'

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

There's charmed music upon her tongue,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

Such beauty-bright and warm and young-
Was never seen the maids among,

A laughing light, a tender grace,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

Sparkled in beauty around her face,
That grief from mortal heart might chase,
By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

The charm is strong upon Turlough's eye,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

His faithless tears are already dry,
And his yielding heart has ceased to sigh,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

'The maid for whom thy salt tears fall,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

Thy grief or love can ne'er recall;
She rests beneath that grassy pall,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

'My heart it strangely cleaves to thee,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And now that thy plighted love is free,
Give its unbroken pledge to me,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.'

To thee,' the charmed chief replied,
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

'I pledge that love o'er my buried bride;
Oh! come, and in Turlough's hall abide,'

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

Again the funeral voice came o'er
Killeevy, O Killeevy!

The passing breeze, as it wailed before,
And streams of mournful music bore,

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

'If I to thy youthful heart am dear, Killeevy, O Killeevy!

One month from hence thou wilt meet me here, Where lay thy Eva's bridal bier,'

By the bonnie green woods of Killeevy.

He presst her lips as the words were spoken, Killeevy, O Killeevy!

And his banshee's wail-now far and brokenMurmurd Death!'-as he gave the token,