298 REVIEWS — THE BALLADS OP SCOTLAND. 



Otterburn " to set against it, opening with as rough and picturesque 

 a vigor as old " Chevy Chace :" — 



It fell about the Lammas tide, 



When Muirmen win their hay, * 



That the doughty Earl o' Douglas rade 

 Into England to fetch a prey. 



And he has ta'eii the Lindsays light, 



"With them the Gordons gay ; 

 But the Jardines wouldna with him ride, 



And they rue it to this day. 



The diverse Scottish and English variations of the same ballad are' 

 exceedingly curious, and frequently of great ihterest and value to the 

 historian ; but besides these, originating in the same national pride 

 and rivalry which finds its modern expression in bulletins and pro- 

 fessed histories, — like the French and English versions of "Waterloo, 

 — we have another set of ballad variations originating in an ancient 

 literary piracy, somewhat akin to that black-mail levied by the 

 modern American publisher on the English poet. After describing 

 this species of " poetical foray," as practised between the minstrels 

 of one district and another, Professor Aytoun thus proceeds in his 

 discriminating introductory remarks : — 



" Still more was larceny practised when the story was of foreign 

 framing, — in other words, when it belonged to England. To make 

 spoil of an English ditty was accounted perfectly fair; but the mere 

 act of conveyance and appropriation did not suffice. It was necessary 

 to recast the ballad in the Scottish dialect, and to give it a new 

 locality, and sometimes names, so as to render it more agreable to a 

 northern audience ; and while engaged in the work of reconstruction 

 the minstrel, as a matter of course, would give full scope to his 

 ingenuity, and would use every means in his power to render the 

 disguise effectual. Nor was this a one-sided practise only ; for the 

 English minstrels were in the habit of helping themselves freely from 

 the stores of Scottish poesy. I have no doubt that several of the 

 ballads included in the following series were originally English — in 

 particular I would specify ' Lord Buchan,' ' Earl Eichard,' and ' The 

 Border Widow's Lament.' As a set-ofl" to these, I think we may 

 fairly consider the following ballads, which are current in England, 

 * The Three Knights,' ' The Outlandish Knight,' and ' The West 



