Minstrelsy of the Scottish border: ballads, collected by sir W. Scott. Repr. of the orig. ed

OF THE

SCOTTISH BORDER:

CONSISTING OF

HISTORICAL AND ROMANTIC BALLADS,

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.,

IN THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES OF SCOTLAND; WITH A FEW OF MODERN
DATE, FOUNDED UPON LOCAL TRADITION.

REPRINT OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

The songs, to savage virtue dear,
That won of yore the public ear,

Ere Polity, sedate and sage,

Had quench'd the fire of feudal rage.-WARTON.

LONDON:

ALEX. MURRAY & SON, 30 QUEEN SQUARE, W.C.

LONDON:

J. AND W. RIDER, PRINTERS,

14, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.

PREFACE.

THE MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER was the first of the publications of Sir Walter Scott. The work issued, in 1802, from the Kelso press; and in 1803 the same printers, Ballantyne, then settled in Edinburgh, brought out a second edition, extended to three volumes Many others have followed, as the text and notes, prose and verse were throughout life improved by the author, and intelligent readers trace in its pages the germs of most of the incidents on which the fame, in verse and prose, of the Waverley publications was founded.

Mr. Motherwell, himself a poet, and editor of "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern, 1827," declared that it was "fortunate for the heroic and legendary song of Scotland that the work was undertaken, and still more fortunate that its execution devolved upon one so well qualified in every respect to do its subject the most ample justice. Long will it live, a noble and interesting monument of his unwearied research, curious and minute learning, genius, and taste. It is truly a patriot's legacy to posterity; and much as it may be now esteemed, it is only in times yet gathering in the bosom of futurity, when the interesting traditions, the chivalrous and romantic legends, the wild superstitions, the tragic songs of Scotland, have wholly failed from the living memory, that this gift can be duly appreciated."