DRUMMOND. 89
At this sylvan retreat he entertained King Charles First, on his visit to Edinburgh. Here, also, many years afterwards, he received a different guest, the renowned dramatist, Ben Johnson, who performed a pedestrian journey from London, to pass a few weeks under his roof. Their first interview was beneath the spreading branches of a venerable oak. Drummond advancing to meet him, exclaimed, with the warmth of Scottish hospitality,
" Welcome, welcome, royal Ben :" to which the poet-laureate promptly replied, " Thank ye, thank ye, Hawthornden."
This characteristic greeting and rejoinder, are en graved as the motto of a ring, given me by a loved and now departed friend. What enhances its value, as well as its adaptation, is the insertion, as a signet, of a highly polished Scottish pebble, found at the root of this very oak that sanctioned, by its protecting shade, the meeting of these choice spirits. I wore it on my finger during my visit to this spot. Methought it had a talismanic power, and that the spirit of the poet still lingered among the scenery he so much loved. Its wonderfully romantic character, the wild rocks, the bold river, the secluded walks, the glens, the caves, the historical tree, the curtaining ivy, the musing garden- seats, the eloquent flowers, constituted a charm never to be forgotten.
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