HEVtEWS — TtlE BALLADS OF SCOTLANB. 315 



ving, as, perhaps, a fragment of wliicli other portions remain, giving 

 shape to the ancient tradition of the escape of James IV. from 

 Elodden, and his accomplished pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in ac- 

 cordance with early vows : 



An' about the mids o' the night' 

 He crap to the field o' the bluid ; 

 Laigh he bowit, an' dour he lookit, 

 But never a worde he spak. 



He turned the dead knight round about, 

 Till the moon shone on his bree ; 

 But his soth was tined with a bluidy gash, 

 Drumbelee grew his ee. 



" tJp and awa, my lither foot-page, 



An Scotland and I maun part ; 



But sweere by the dead, in ilk bluidy shrowd. 



That thou layn my lare i' thy hart. 



" GifFe I were a king, as now I'm nane. 

 lUe battel! wold I prove, — 

 My birdie ladie in Holyroode ; 

 Wae worth the wyt o' luve." 



Sanct Giles sail ring ilk larum belle, 

 "Wauk up the craimes and bowse, 

 Earl Angus has taen him to Floudenne, 



He cut the crosse on his right shoulder 



0' claith o' the bluidy redde, 



An' he's taen his ways to the holy land i 



Whereas Christe was quick and dead. 



The line of distinction cannot always be clearly drawn between 

 the song and the ballad. Many Scottish songs are truly epic, and 

 even dramatic ; while some of the pieces admitted into this critically 

 digested collection are no less genuine lyrics. A further selection 

 from the Scottish Song Book would be welcomed by the most fasti- 

 dious admirer of the epic department of Scottish minstrelsy, in 

 another edition of " The Ballads of Scotland," which we doubt not 

 will be demanded ere long. To give to Scotland a standard edition 

 of the grand, pathetic, and humorous fragments of elder song and 

 tradition, for which she has been so long and justly celebrated, is an 

 ambition worthy of the highest intellect. To this task Professor 



