AN OLD HOUSE AND A BOOK 243 



which show us the heart of one man who stands out by 

 himself. Such a one was the man who said — 



" I dreamt I pu'd the heather green 

 Wi' my true love on Yarrow." 



And who was that unhappy one who served a king for 

 seven years and only once saw the king's daughter, and 

 that was through a gimlet-hole? Two were plitting on 

 her gown, two putting on her shoes, five were combing 

 down her hair — 



" Her neck and breast was like the snow — 

 Then from the bore I was forced to go." 



Was he the man who made it a common thing to speak 

 in ballads of " combing her yellow hair " ? 



What a poet, too, was he who put that touch into 

 " Bewick and Grahame," where the father throws down 

 his glove as a challenge to his son and the son stoops to 

 pick it up, and says — 



" O father, put on your glove again, 



The wind hath blown it from your hand." 



It is one of the most delicate things, and with it the 

 stanza in the same ballad where the father praises the son 

 for his victory over a friend, but the son, hating the battle 

 which would not have been fought if the fathers had not 

 quarrelled in their wine, says — 



" Father, could ye not drink your wine at home 

 And letten me and my brother be ? " 



And the mind of a poet is to be seen in the whole of 

 some ballads and in every detail, as for example in the 

 three perfect verses — 

 R 2 



