I cannot remember the last line--on some particular height; HEIGHT
is the rhyme, I am sure; but I cannot hit upon the preceding
word.'

'Confound your memory,' muttered Glossin, 'you remember by far too
much of it!'

'There are other rhymes connected with these early recollections,'
continued the young man. 'Pray, sir, is there any song current in
this part of the world respecting a daughter of the King of the
Isle of Man eloping with a Scottish knight?'

'I am the worst person in the world to consult upon legendary
antiquities,' answered Glossin.

'I could sing such a ballad,' said Bertram, 'from one end to
another when I was a boy. You must know I left Scotland, which is
my native country, very young, and those who brought me up
discouraged all my attempts to preserve recollection of my native
land, on account, I believe, of a boyish wish which I had to
escape from their charge.'

'Very natural,' said Glossin, but speaking as if his utmost
efforts were unable to unseal his lips beyond the width of a
quarter of an inch, so that his whole utterance was a kind of
compressed muttering, very different from the round, bold,
bullying voice with which he usually spoke. Indeed, his appearance
and demeanour during all this conversation seemed to diminish even
his strength and stature; so that he appeared to wither into the