In a storme y was bestadde,

Was y neuyr halfe so sore adrad,
Y thanke hyt god, for so y may,
That euyr y skapyd on lyve away;
My schyp ys drownyd in the fom,
And all my gode ys loste me from;
A gentylman haue y slawe,

I may not abyde the londys lawe; the, as thou louest me dere,

I pray As thou art my trewe weddyd fere,

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In thy chaumber thou woldest kepe me dern. Syr, sche seyde, no man schall me warne: Be stylle, husbonde, sygh not so sore,

He that hathe thy gode may sende the more; Thowe all thy gode be fro the goo,

I wyll neuyr forsake the in thy woo;

Y schall go to the kyng and to the quene,
And knele before them on my kneen,
There to knele and neuyr to cese,
Tyl of the kyng y haue getyn thy pees:
I can bake, brewe, carde and spynne,
My maydenys and y can sylvyr wynne,
Euyr whyll y am thy wyfe,

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Pecys of syluyr, masers of golde;
The marchand stode hyt to be holde:.
He put hyt in a wyde sakk,
And leyde hyt on the hors bakk;
He bad hys chylde go belyue,
And lede thys home to my wyue.
The chylde on hys way ys gon,
The marchande come aftyr anon;
He caste the pakk downe in the flore,
Longe and large, styf and store,
As hyt lay on the grounde,
Hyt was wele worthe cccc pownde:
They on dedyn the mouth aryght,
There they sawe a ryall syght.
Syr, sayde hys wyfe, be the rode,
Where had ye all thys ryall gode?
Dame, he seyde, be goddys are,
Here ys thy penyworth of ware;

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Yf thou thynke hyt not wele besett,

To maynten the a trewe mannys lyfe.
Certen sothe, as y yow say,
All nyght be hys wyfe he lay,
On the morne, as he forthe yede,
He kaste on hym a ryall wede,
And bestrode a full gode stede,
And to hys lemmans hows he yede.
Hys lemman lokyd forthe and on hym see,
As he come rydyng ouyr the lee,
Sche put on hur a garment of palle,
And mett the marchand in the halle,
Twyes or thryes, or euyr he wyste,
Trewly sche had hym kyste.
Syr, sche seyde, be seynt John,

Ye were neuyr halfe so welcome home.
Sche was a schrewe, as haue y hele,
There sche currayed fauell well.
Dame, he seyde, be seynt John,
Zyt ar not we at oon;

Hyt was tolde me beyonde the see,
Thou haste another leman then me,
All the gode that was thyn and myne,
Thou haste geuyn hym, be seynt Martyn.
Syr, as Cryste bryng me fro bale,
Sche lyeth falsely that tolde the that tale;
Hyt was thy wyfe, that olde trate,
That neuyr gode worde by me spake;
Were sche dedd (god lene hyt wolde!)
Of the haue all my wylle y schulde ;
Erly, late, lowde and stylle,
Of the schulde y haue all my wylle:

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And therfore y gyf hyt the frely; Do wyth all what so euyr ye lyste,

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Y pray god that so do we.

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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

the youngest daughter of Mr. Thomas Gordon, professor of philosophy in King's College, Aberdeen; and the circumstances, under which she obtained so much profi

ciency in ballad lore, are thus explained in a letter from

her father to Alexander Fraser Tytler, Esq. :-"An aunt

of my children, Mrs. Farquhar, now dead, who was married to the proprietor of a small estate, near the sources of the Dee, in Braemar, a good old woman, who had spent the best part of her life among flocks and herds, resided, in her later days, in the town of Aberdeen. She was possessed of a most tenacious memory, which retained all the songs she had heard from nurses and country women 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 frequently made by the editor of the Border Minstrelsy," "as containing a curious and valuable collection," from

which he procured "very material assistance," and which

often furnished him with "various readings, and supple

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 romau

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 memory. 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."

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 "popu lar in 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,"

Norse e'en like grey goss-hawk stared wild.

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 the beautiful episode introduced into it-the exchange of the children, upon which the story is made to depend-there appears to be 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

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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 poem, as Horn" is called 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 Horn,' 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 Gilde, cap. 20. Nullus emat lanam, &c., nısı 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."

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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."-

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"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 bis 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 Rex, amice te sa'u'at; albamque hanc avem bene institutam 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."