140 ANTIQUITY OF THE BALLAD OF AULD MAITLAND 



" But 0, she had been a grand singer o' auld sangs and 

 ballads." 



The woman's name being Maitland goes a long way to 

 account for the preservation of this particular ballad ; and 

 family or local associations may account for that of some 

 of the others which Sir Walter retrieved. 



There is a mistake, very natural seeing how excited he 

 was about it, in Sir Walter's account of the first discovery, 

 written to Mr Ellis, which is quoted by Lockhart both in the 

 original and the abridged Life; he says it had been written 

 down from the recitation of an old shepherd by a farmer, 

 who is no doubt his friend William Laidlaw ; though his 

 father was probably still the farmer of Blackhouse. 



Sir Walter's reading off the manuscript as he did, shows 

 how good and how familiar to him Laidlaw's handwriting 

 must have been. While it was almost certain he would go 

 and see the reciter of Auld Maitland himself. 



Many of the better-known of the old ballads were in print 

 in broadside or leaflet shape. As a transition phase of 

 minstrelsy, it is perhaps worth recording that at Dunglass, 

 on the high-road between Dunbar and Berwick, well into 

 the nineteenth century, the maids used to get a ballad for 

 the washing day. 



They sang together as they stood at the tubs, no doubt 

 knowing the tunes well enough ; while, whether they knew 

 the words or not, a printed ballad would keep them from 

 straggling into different versions. 



Sir Walter got the ballad, which he published under (I 

 suppose) its street ballad name of the Douglas Tragedy, from 

 Mrs Hogg ; but he also had it in broadside form ; though 

 it is quite possible he did not tell her so. 



Every now and then one comes upon something uncollected 

 still, perhaps rather modern. The better-known version 

 of the Bonnie honnie hanks, about which there has been 

 some discussion, was, I believe, written down by Lady John 

 Scott from the singing of a boy in St. Andrew Square in 

 Edinburgh, she having heard him from the window of 

 Douglas' Hotel. 



It should perhaps be added that a song or ballad of Auld 

 Maitland being mentioned by one of the Scotch poets does 



