THIS ballad was originally published in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," where it is stated to have been "chiefly given" from the MS. of Mrs. Brown, of Falkland. Al

“An ingenious lady," writes Sir Walter Scott, "to

whose taste and memory the world is indebted." She was

though there can be no question that it received many improvements in passing through the hands of the accomplished editor, there can be as little doubt of its antiquity in some ruder state; for Sir Walter Scott and Mr. Motherwell both affirm that it has been “popuin many parts of Scotland ;" and by the former it is asserted, that he had made "strict inquiry into the authenticity of the song," in consequence of a line, in verse 31, strongly resembling one that occurs in the avowedly modern ballad of "Hardyknute,”—

sessed of a most tenacious memory, which retained all the songs she had heard from nurses and countrywomen in that sequestered part of the country. Being naturally fond of my children, when young, she had them much about her, and delighted them with the songs and tales

of chivalry. My youngest daughter, Mrs. Brown, of Falkland, is blessed with as good a memory as her aunt, and has almost the whole of her songs by heart." They were subsequently written down by her nephew, Professor Scott," as his aunt sung them." To this MS. reference is

His doubts were removed by the evidence of a lady of rank (Lady Douglas, of Douglas, sister to the Duke of Buccleuch), who not only recollected the ballad as having amused her infancy, but could repeat many of the verses.

For the leading incident of the poem, and

-"as containing a curious and valuable collection," from which he procured "very material assistance," and which

exchange of the children, upon which the

mentary stanzas," to such as were known on the Borders. Jamieson, also, thus acknowledges his obligations to this lady:-"For the groundwork of this collection, and for the greater and more valuable part of the popular and roman

tic tales which it contains, the public are indebted to Mrs. Brown, of Falkland. Besides the large supply of ballads taken down from her own recitation many years ago, by

Professor Scott, of Aberdeen,-in 1800, I paid an unex

pected visit to Mrs. Brown, at Dysart, where she then happened to be for health, and wrote down, from her un

premeditated repetition, about a dozen pieces more, most of which will be found in my work. Several others,

which I had not time to take down, were afterwards transmitted to me by Mrs. Brown herself, and by her late highly-respectable and worthy husband, the Reverend Dr.

Brown. Every person, who peruses the following sheets, will see how much I owe to Mrs. Brown, and to her ne

phew, my much esteemed friend, Professor Scott; and it rests with me to feel that I owe them much more for the zeal and spirit which they have manifested, than even for

the valuable communications which they have made. As

to the 'authenticity' of the pieces themselves, they are as authentic as traditionary poetry can be expected to be; and their being more entire than most other such pieces

are found to be, may be easily accounted for, from the cir cumstance, that there are few persons of Mrs. Brown's abilities and education who repeat popular ballads from me

mory. She learnt most of them before she was twelve years old, from old women and maid-servants. What she

once learnt she never forgot; and such were her curiosity and industry, that she was not contented with merely knowing the story, according to one way of telling, but studied to acquire all the varieties of the same tale which she could meet with."

no historical authority. At least, Sir Walter Scott has referred to none; and if there had been any, it would not have escaped his search. Yet it is not improbable that some such circumstance did actually occur; the old ballad-makers were seldom mere inventors; and tragedy, with all its attendant events, may be considered as by no means rare or uncommon to a remote age. That its age is "remote" is rendered certain, by the references to King Easter and King Wester; who, it is surmised by Sir Walter Scott, were "petty princes of Northumberland and Westmoreland. From this," he adds, "it may be conjectured, with some degree of plausibility, that the independent kingdoms of the east and west coast were, at an early period, thus denominated, according to the Saxon mode of naming districts from their relative positions, as Essex, Wessex, Sussex."

In the

Complaynt of Scotland," mention is made of an ancient romance, entitled, "How the King of Estmureland married the King's daughter of Westmureland." But Mr. Ritson is of opinion, that-"Estmureland and Westmureland have no sort of relation to

Northumberland and Westmoreland. The former was never called Eastmoreland, nor were there any kings of Westmoreland, unless we admit the authority of an old rhyme, cited by Usher ;

Here the King Westmer

Slew the King Rothinger.

In the old metrical romance of "Kyng Horn," or "Horn Child," we find both Westnesse and Estnesse; and it is somewhat singular, that two places, so called, actually exist in Yorkshire at this day. But "ness," in that quarter, is the name given to an inlet from a river. There is, however, great confusion in this "Horn" is called poem, as king, sometimes of one country, and sometimes of the other. In the French original, Westir is said to have been the old name of Hirland or Ireland; which, occasionally at least, is called Westnesse in the translation, in which Britain is named Sudene; but here, again, it is inconsistent and confused. It is, at any rate," adds the learned antiquary, "highly probable, that the story, cited in the 'Complaynt of Scotland,' was a romance of King Ilorn,' whether prose or verse; and, consequently, that Estmureland and Westmureland should there mean England and Ireland; though it is possible that no other instance can be found of these two names occurring with the same sense."

Of the Scottish origin of this ballad there is internal evidence; and several of the phrases made use of, besides the titles to which we have referred, afford corroborative proof of its antiquity. The term "kevil," used in the third verse,

And they cast kevils them amang,
And kevils them between;
And they cast kevils them amang,
Wha suld gae kill the king,—

Is thus explained by Sir Walter Scott,"Kevils'-lots. Both words originally meant only a portion or share of any thing.-Leges Burgorum, cap. 59, de lot, cut, or kavil. Statua Gildæ, cap. 20. Nullus emat lanam, &'c., nisi fuerit confrater Gildæ, &c. Neque lot neque cavil habeat cum aliquo contratre nostro. In both these laws, 'lot' and 'cavil' signify a share in trade."

75

It sae fell out, at this hunting,
Upon a simmer's day,

That they came by a fair castell,
Stood on a sunny brae.

"O dinna ye see that bonny castell,
Wi' halls and towers sae fair?
Gin ilka man had back his ain,
Of it you suld be heir."-

"How I suld be heir of that castell, In sooth, I canna see ;

For it belangs to Fause Foodrage,

And he is na kin to me."

"O gin ye suld kill him, Fause Foodrage,
You would do but what was right;
For, I wot, he killed your father dear,
Or ever ye saw the light.

90

94

100

105

110

115

"And gin ye suld kill him, Fause Foodrage,
There is no man durst you blame;
For he keeps your mother a prisoner,
And she daurna take ye hame."-

120

"This metaphorical language," says Scott, "was cus tomary among the northern nations. In 925, King Adelstein sent an embassy to Harald Harfager, King of Norway, the chief of which presented that prince with a sword. As it was presented by the point, the Norwegian chief, in receiving it, unwarily laid hold of the hilt. The English ambassador declared, in the name of his master, that he accepted the act as a deed of homage. The Nor wegian prince resolving to circumvent his rival by a simi lar artifice, sent, next summer, an ambassy to Adelstein, the chief of which presented Haco, the son of Harald, to the English prince; and placing him on his knees, made the following declaration :- Haraldus, Normanorum Rez, amice te sa'u'at; albamque hanc avem bene instítutam mittit

Right weel to breast a steed;

And I sall learn your turtle dow

As weel to write and read.

young Haco on his knees, which the Norwegian accepted, in the name of his master, as a declaration of inferiority; according to the proverb, 'Is minor semper habetur, qui alterius filium educat.?”

THIS ballad is the production of Matthew Gregory Lewis; and our principal motive in introducing it into this collection is to supply an example of his compositions, for its merits are not such as to warrant the selection upon other grounds. His writings, although now nearly forgotten, had, at one period, no inconsiderable influence upon the literature of the age; the success that attended his publications induced a host of imitators, and, for awhile, his "school" may be almost said to have formed the taste of the country. But the unnatural will always be the ephemeral; and that which is not based upon Truth, Time will be certain to destroy. With the exception of two or three of his more romantic ballads-" Alonzo the Brave and Fair Imogene," and, perhaps, "Osric the Lion" the poems of Lewis are as completely consigned to oblivion as if they had never been printed; even his vain and useless "Romances," which have passed through numerous editions, are now seldom read; and are republished only by caterers for the meretricious or the vicious. Merit of a particular order he undoubtedly had; public attention is never obtained, even for a season, without it; but his works possessed very little of real value, and the world has lost nothing by the obscurity into which they have sunk. He was "the first to introduce something like the German taste into English fictitious, dramatic, and poetical composition ;" and no less an authority than Sir Walter Scott considers

that he did service to our literature by showing, that "the prevailing taste of Germany might be employed as a formidable auxiliary to renewing the spirit of our own, upon the same system as when medical persons attempt, by the transfusion of blood, to pass into the veins of an aged and exhausted patient, the vivacity of the circulation and liveliness of sensation which distinguish a young subject." It is certain, that at the period in which he "flourished," English literature had become sluggish, inert, and comparatively valueless; while "the realms of Parnassus," more especially, seemed to lie open to the first bold invader, whether he should be a daring usurper, or could show a legitimate title of sovereignty.* Lewis was "born to fortune;" his father held the lucrative appointment of under-secretary at war; and he was himself a member of parliament as soon as his age permitted him to occupy a seat. During a residence in Germany, he had opportunities of indulging his inclination for the marvellous; and he and

* "Lewis was a martinet, if I may so term him, in the

accuracy of rhymes and of numbers; I may add he had a tery of rhyme, or greater command over the melody of verse." **** “His works were admired, and the author became famous, not merely through his own had in some measure taken the public by surprise, by using a style of composition, which, like national melodies, is so congenial to the general taste, that though it palls by being much hackneyed, it has only to be for a

right to be so, for few persons have exhibited more mas

merit, though that was of no mean quality, but because he

short time forgotten in order to recover its original pcpularity."-SIR WALTER SCOTT.

his imitators, towards the close of the last century, absolutely flooded the libraries of Great Britain with their tales of enchantment and diablerie, in poetry and prose. Lewis's publications are the romances of "The Monk," "Feudal Tyrants," and "Romantic Tales;" "Tales of Wonder" and "Tales of Terror," in verse; "The Castle Spectre" and "Adelmorn," romantic dramas; "Venoni," a tragedy; a volume of miscellaneous poetry, and the "Bravo of Venice," a translation from the German. He died in 1818, while on his voyage home from a visit to his patrimonial property in Jamaica. An idle story has been circulated, that his death was occasioned by poison, administered to him by a negro whom he had incautiously acquainted with his intention to emancipate the whole of his slaves at his decease.

His volumes of ballads, "Tales of Wonder" and "Tales of Terror," were comparative failures; to the first, Sir Walter Scott, Southey, Leyden, and others, contributed, and their contributions sufficed to give value to the work. It was published in 1801, "for the author." Lewis, however, was tempted to "drive it out" into two volumes, royal 8vo., which were sold at a high price. "Purchasers murmured at finding this size had been attained by the insertion of some of the best known pieces of the English language, such as Dryden's Theodore and Honoria,' Parnell's 'Hermit,' Lisle's 'Porsenna, King of Russia,' and many other popular poems of old date, and generally known, which ought not in conscience to have made part of a set of tales, written and collected' by a modern author." The consequence was, that the costly and weighty volumes met with little or no public approval. What had been at first received as simple and natural, was now sneered at as puerile and extravagant. "Another objection was," adds Sir Walter Scott, "that my friend Lewis had a high but mistaken opinion of his own powers of humour. The truth was, that though he could throw some gayety into his lighter pieces, after the manner of the French writers, his attempts at what is called pleasantry in English wholly wanted the quality of humour, and were generally failures. But this he would not allow; and the Tales of Wonder' were filled, in a sense, with attempts at comedy, which might be generally accounted abortive."

One important consequence, at least, followed this introduction of a new style into our literature; to his acquaintance with Lewis we are probably indebted for the vast storehouse of wealth bequeathed to us by Sir Walter Scott. "Finding Lewis," he says, "in possession of so much reputation, and conceiving that if I fell behind him in poetical powers, I considerably exceeded him in general information, I suddenly took it into my head to attempt the style of poetry by which he had raised himself to fame;" and, he adds, “out of an accidental acquaintance" with the popular author, which “increased into a sort of intimacy, consequences arose which altered almost all the Scottish balladmaker's future prospects in life." He was first stimulated to the translation of some German ballads; and soon acquired confidence to attempt "the imitation of what he admired." Lewis had, about this period, announced the publication of a work, the title of which sufficiently indicates its character-"Tales of Wonder,"-and to this work Scott readily agreed to contribute. It was published in two volumes, in the year 1801; and contained, among others, the ballads of "Glenfinlas" and the "Eve of Saint John," by Sir Walter-compositions which he can scarcely be said to have afterwards surpassed. The encouragement the young author here met with, led to the collection and subsequent publication of the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," originally printed by James Ballantyne, at Kelso. What "great events from little causes flow!”—possibly if " Monk Lewis" had never existed as a versifier, the genius of Scott might have been directed into some less serviceable channel; for, mainly out of the trivial circumstances here briefly recorded, he "gradually, and almost insensibly, engaged himself in that species of literary employment”-“ modern imitations of the ancient ballad.”

OH! gentle huntsman, softly tread,

And softly wind thy bugle-horn; Nor rudely break the silence shed Around the grave of Agilthorn!

Oh! gentle huntsman, if a tear

E'er dimmed for others' woe thine eyes, Thou'lt surely dew, with drops sincere, The sod where lady Eva lies.