MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER. 
And lened hys backe to a thorne, 
And sayd, alas! that i was borne! 
je That: were ryche of golde and fe, 
i lt ee ne 
a i myght wedde that lady free ! 
f golde good, or some treasure, 
That i myght wedde that lady floure ! 
Or elles come of so gentyll kynne, 
The ladyes love that i myght wynne! 
Wolde god that i were a kynges sonne, 
That oss love that i myght wonne ! 
Or els so bolde in eche fyght, 
As was syr Lybius that gentell knyght, 
Or els so bolde in chyvalry, 
As vk Gawayne, or syr Guy! 
Or els so doughty of my hande 
As was the gyaunte syr Colbrande! 
And [it] were put in jeoperde, 
f What man shoulde wynne that lady fre, 
Than should no man have her bari, 
The kynges doughter-of Hungry.” 
‘¢ That lady herde his mournyngall 
Ryght under the chambre wall.” 
She tells him to get himself kmghted, 
and go serve in the wars for seven years, 
and then she will marry him. A wicked 
steward overhears this, and accuses him 
to the king, who behaves very well upon 
the occasion, but appoints the steward to 
watch his daughter’s chamber. The 
squire obtains the king’s leave to seek ad- 
~ ventures; he sets out, and returns at night 
to take leave of his lady, but he sees the 
spies behind him. 
#¢ Whan that he came her chambre to, 
Anone, he sayde, your dore undo! 
Undo, he sayde, nowe, tayre lady ! 
J am beset with many a spy. 
Lady, as whyte as whalés bone, 
“There are thyrty agaynst me one. 
Undo thy dore! my worthy wyie, 
Tam besette with many a knyfe. 
533 
Undo your dore! my lady swete, 
I am beset with enemyes great 5 
And, lady, but ye wyll aryse, 
I shall be dead with myne enemyes. * 
Undo thy dore! my frely floure, 
For ye are myne and i am your.” 
‘They attack him and take him pri- 
soner, but not till he has killed the 
steward; they then mangled the steward’s 
face that he might not be known, drest 
his body in the squire’s cloaths and left 
it at the door. The princess embalms 
it, believing it to be her lover’s, keeps it 
by her bed-side, and mourns over it seven 
years, while the squire, by the king’s 
command, is seeking adventures abroad, 
having his promise of his daughter on 
his return, which promise is at length 
faithfully performed. This odd story is 
told in easy verse, and the long enume- 
rations of amusements, and dainties, &c. 
which must have wearied the author’s 
contemporaries, have been found singu 
larly useful to antiquarians. 
The last poem, entitled the Knight of 
Curtesy and the Fair Lady of Faguell, is 
the well-known and shocking history of 
Raoul Sire de Couci and la Dame de Faiel, 
related in four-lined stanzas of eight syl- 
lables and alternate rhyme. This is the 
worst poem in the collection. Like the 
Squire of Low Degree it is printed from 
an unique copy in black letter. 
Such are the contents of these most in- 
teresting volumes. We have noticed 
them at length, because there has rarely, 
if ever, appeared in this country a publi- 
cation so valuable to the antiquary, the 
philologist, and the poet. 
Art. Hil. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Barder : consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, 
collected in ihe South-rn Counties of Scotland; with a few of modern Date, founded on 
local Tradition. ‘Uhree vols. Svo. | Vol. 3. pp. 420. 
_ WE have already given in our pre- 
ecding yolume (p. 635) a tolerably com- 
plete analysis of the two first volumes of 
this very interesting selection; and are 
happy to find, from the early demand 
for a second edition, that the success of 
the work has been proportioned to its 
merit. We had anticipated, with per- 
fect confidence, the aprrobation of those 
who were best able to estimate the difi- 
culties of the subject, and the merit of 
its execution ; but the decisions of fashion 
‘are sometimes so capricious as to disap- 
point the prognostics of the most saga- 
“ious critics. 
The pieces contained in the third vo- 
lume are divided, like those of the two 
former, into the three classes of histori- 
cal ballads, romantic ballads, and mp- 
dern imitations. These we shall consi- 
der in succession. 
The first of the historical might be, 
perhaps, more justly called a romance ; 
because the exploits attributed to Auld 
Maitland and his sons, the heroes of the 
tale, are partly doubtful, partly impro- 
bable, and partly false. Yet the ballad 
was, upon the whole, well worth pre- 
serving, were it only for the singularity 
of its destiny.. Though apparently al- 
luded to by Gawin Douglas, in his 
’ Pulice of Honour, as a popular perform. 
Mm? 
