This ballad, notwithstanding its present appearance, has a claim to very high antiquity. It has been preserved by tradition; and is, perhaps, the most authentic instance of a long and very old poem, exclusively thus preserved. It is only known to a few old people, upon the sequestered banks of the Ettrick; and is published, as written down from the recitation of the mother of Mr James Hogg, in Ettrick House, who sings, or rather chaunts it, with great animation. She learned the ballad from a blind man, who died at the advanced age of ninety, and is said to have been possessed of much traditionary knowledge. Al though the language of this poem is much modernized, yet many words, which the reciters have retained, without un derstanding tliem, still preserve traces of its antiquity. Such vol. III. Are the words Springals' (corruptly pronounced Sprin' walls), sowies, portcullize, and many other appmpriate terms of war and chivalry, which could never have been introduced by a modern ballad-maker. The incidents are striking and well-managed and they are in strict conformity with the manners of the age, in which they are placed. The editor has, therefore, been induced to illustrate them, at considerable length, by parallel passa ges, from F roissard, and other historians of the period to which the events refer.
