REVIEWS THE BALLADS OF SCOTLAND. 303 



*' But plait a wand o' the bonnie birk, 



And laj it on my breast ; 

 And gae ye hame, May Margaret, 



And wish my saul gude rest." 



Of a different and more elevated character, yet marked bj the 

 same genuine simplicity, is the allegorical ballad of " The bluidy 

 Sark," written by Eobert Henryson, in the fifteenth century. The 

 plot of this ancient ballad is in the style of medieval romance, and 

 represents the rescue of a royal maiden from the dungeon of a foul 

 giant ; but the prince who rescues her perishes in the encounter, and 

 she ever after preserves his " bluidy sark " as the memorial of her 

 faithful knight. The ballad thus concludes : — 



So well the ladye loved the knight, 



That no man would she take ; 

 So should we do our God of might, 



That did all for us make : 

 Who fullyly to death was dight, 



For sinful manis sake ; 

 So should we do, both day and night, 



"With prayers to Him make. 



There then follows a " Moralitas " or interpretation of the allegory, 

 of which one stanza will suflSce : — 



The soul is Godis daughter dear, 



And eke His handywark. 

 That was betrayed by Lucifer, 



Who sits in hell full mirk ; 

 Borrow'd by Christ his angel clear, 



Hain'd men 1 will ye not heark ? 

 For his love that bought us dear, 



Think on the Bluidy Sark ! 



The curious old ditty " Allan-a-maut," presents us with a more 

 popular phaze of allegory ; while '"Jamie Telfer o' the fair Dodhead," 

 " Kinmont Willie," " Dick o' the Cow," and other rough spirited 

 ballads of the old Border riders illustrate another aspect of the 

 minstrel muse, and are full of life and vigour. A tragic tenderness 

 mingles with the bold epic narrative of '* Johnie Armstrong," the 

 Eorder freebooter, hanged by James V. in 1528, under circumstances 

 little consonant to the ideas of right and wrong among the Scottish, 

 borderers of the sixteenth century. Johnie Armstrong in vain sought 

 to win the royal favour by offers of duty and service, such as abun- 



