line 325.  Alexander iii (1240-1286) came to the throne at the age of nine, and proved himself a vigorous and large-hearted king.  He was killed by a fall from his horse, near Kinghorn, Fife, where there is a suitable monument to his memory.  The contemporary lament for his death bewails him as one that ‘Scotland led in love and lee.’  Sir Walter Scott (Introductory Remarks to ‘Border Minstrelsy’) calls him ‘the last Scottish king of the pure Celtic race.’

line 333.  ’A vaulted hall under the ancient castle of Gifford, or Yester (for it bears either name indifferently), the construction of which has, from a very remote period, been ascribed to magic.  The Statistical Account of the Parish of Garvald and Baro, gives the following account of the present state of this castle and apartment:—­“Upon a peninsula, formed by the water of Hopes on the east, and a large rivulet on the west, stands the ancient castle of Yester.  Sir David Dalrymple, in his annals, relates that ’Hugh Gifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there was a capacious cavern, formed by magical art, and called in the country Bo-Hall, i.e.  Hobgoblin Hall.’  A stair of twenty-four steps led down to this apartment, which is a large and spacious hall, with an arched roof; and though it hath stood for so many centuries, and been exposed to the external air for a period of fifty or sixty years, it is still as firm and entire as if it had only stood a few years.  From the floor of this hall, another stair of thirty-six steps leads down to a pit which hath a communication with Hopes-water.  A great part of the walls of this large and ancient castle are still standing.  There is a tradition that the castle of Yester was the last fortification, in this country, that surrendered to General Gray, sent into Scotland by Protector Somerset.”—­ Statistical Account, vol. xiii.  I have only to add, that, in 1737, the Goblin Hall was tenanted by the Marquis of Tweedale’s falconer, as I learn from a poem by Boyse, entitled “Retirement,” written upon visiting Yester.  It is now rendered inaccessible by the fall of the stair.

’Sir David Dalrymple’s authority for the anecdote is in Fordun, whose words are:—­“A.  D. MCCLXVII.  Hugo Giffard de Yester moritur; cujus castrum, vel saltem caveam, et donglonem, arte daemonica antique relationes ferunt fabrifactas:  nam ibidem habetur mirabilis specus subterraneus, opere mirifico constructus, magno terrarum spatio protelatus, qui communiter Bo-hall appellatus est.”  Lib. x. cap. 21.—­Sir David conjectures, that Hugh de Gifford must either have been a very wise man, or a great oppressor.’—­Scott.

Stanza xx. line 354.  ’In 1263, Haco, King of Norway, came into the Frith of Clyde with a powerful armament, and made a descent at Largs, in Ayrshire.  Here he was encountered and defeated, on the 2nd October, by Alexander iii.  Haco retreated to Orkney, where he died soon after this disgrace to his arms.  There are still existing, near the place of battle, many barrows, some of which, having been opened, were found, as usual, to contain bones and urns.’—­Scott.