露

Lord Soulis.

The black spae-book from his breast he took,
And turned the leaves with curious hand;
No ropes, did he find, the wizard could bind,
But threefold ropes of sifted sand.

They sifted the sand from the Nine-stane burn,
And shaped the ropes sae curiouslie ;
But the ropes would neither twist nor twine
For Thomas true and his gramarye.

The black spae-book from his breast he took,
And again he turn'd it with his hand;

And he bade each lad of Teviot add

The barley chaff to the sifted sand.

The barley chaff to the sifted sand

They added still by handfuls nine:

But Redcap sly unseen was by,

And the ropes would neither twist nor twine.

And still beside the Nine-stane burn,
Ribbed like the sand at mark of sea,
The ropes that would not twist nor turn
Shaped of the sifted sand you see.

The black spae-book true Thomas he took,
Again its magic leaves he spread;
And he found that to quell the powerful spell,
The wizard must be boiled in lead.*

"The tradition concerning the death of Lord Soulis," writes Sir Walter Scott, "is not without a parallel in the real history of Scotland." Melville, of Glenbure, Sheriff of the Mearns, was detested by the barons of his country. Reiterated complaints of his conduct having been made to James I., the monarch answered, in a moment of unguarded impatience, "Sorrow gin the sheriff were sodden, and supped in broo!" The words were construed literally. The barons prepared la fire and a boiling cauldron into which they plunged the unlucky sheriff.

ORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET. This ballad was first printed in the "Reliques," where it is given "with some corrections from a MS. copy transmitted from Scotland." "It seems to be composed," says Dr. Percy, "not without improvements, out of two English ones, 'Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor,' and 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William." The latter it does not very closely resemble; but between it and the former, there is certainly a general likeness; although not sufficient to warrant the conclusion that the one was even suggested by the other. Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor is given,

"with corrections," from a black letter copy in the Pepys Library, entitled "A Tragical Story on the unfortunate Love of Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor, together with the Downfall of the Brown Girl." "In the same collection," he adds, "may be seen an attempt to modernise this old story, and reduce it to a different measure; a proof of its popularity." We print, from the original, the full title to this ballad :

"The unfortunate Forrester, or Fair Ellinor's Tragedy, shewing how Lord Thomas, once a bold Forrester, fell in love with the Fair Lady Ellinor, but his mother would not suffer him to marry her, but told him of another, that was far richer. Then, the Lord Thomas, not willing to be undutiful to his mother, appoints his wedding day, and invites Fair Ellinor to come to his wedding; who, contrary to her mother's knowledge, came, and having seen his bride, she stabbed herself; which Lord Thomas seeing, took the same dagger, and killed himself. -The Tune is Chevy Chase.'

From the black-letter ballad we select a few stanzas, which the reader may compare with the Scottish composition : —

Lord Thomas he had a sword by his side,

As he walked about the halle;

He cut off his bride's head from her shoulders,
And threw it against the walle!

He set the hilte against the grounde,

And the point against his harte.-
There never three lovers together did meete,
That sooner againe did parte !

The other ballad to which reference is made by Dr. Percy, “Fair Margaret and Sweet William," we shall, hereafter, introduce into this collection. The ballad of "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet," is printed by Jamieson, but with considerable variations; also by Chambers, varied again; and by both under the title of "Sweet Willie and Fair Annie." Mr. Jamieson is of opinion that Percy's copy had been "adjusted, previous to its leaving Scotland, by some one who was more of a scholar than reciters generally are;" and considers that in attempting to give it an antique cast, "it has been deprived of somewhat of that easy facility which is the distinguished characteristic of the traditionary ballad narrative." He accordingly prints a version, where, he contends, "no such experiment has been made;" and which he gives "pure and entire," as taken down by him from the recitation of a lady —Mrs. W. Arrott. This ballad is exceedingly simple, and affecting; and contains some exquisite beauties, of which that of Dr. Percy has been deprived, although, as a whole, less smooth and graceful. We select a few of the stanzas:

Sweet Willie said a word in haste,

And Annie took it ill;

'I winna wed a tocherless maid Against my parents' will.'

There is twa maidens in a bower,

Which o' them sall I bring hame

The nut-browne maid has sheep and cows,
And Fair Annie has nane.'

It's an ye wed the nut-browne maid,
I'll heap gold wi' my hand;
But an ye wed her Fair Annie,
I'll straik it wi' a wand.

And when she came to Mary's Kirk,
And sate down in the deas,
The light that came fra Fair Annie,
Enlightened a' the place.

But up and stands the nut-browne bride,
Just at her father's knee;

O wha is this, my father dear,

That blinks in Willie's e'e?'
O this is Willie's first true love,
Before he loved thee!'

'O whare got ye that water, Annie,
That washes you sae white?'-
'I got it in my mither's wambe

Where ye 'll ne'er get the like.

For ye've been washed in Dunny's well,
And dried on Dunny's dyke;
And a' the water in the sea
Will never wash ye white.'

Willie's taen a rose o' his hat,
Laid it on Annie's lap,-
'The bonniest to the bonniest fa's,
Hae, wear it for my sake.'

'Take up and wear your rose, Willie,
As long as it will last;

For, like your love, its sweetness a'
Will soon be gone and past.'

The catastrophe does not resemble that which occurs in the ballad of "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet," but more nearly that which is recorded in the ballad of "Fair Margaret and Sweet William."