After which, he adds the following stanza :
I will return wi' speid to bide
Your plaint, and mend your wae;
But private grudge maun neir be quelled,
Before our country's fae.

Mordac thy eild may best be spaird,

The fields of stryfe frae mang,
Convey Sir Knicht to my abode,
And meise his egre pang.

St. XX. XXI. and XXII. These were not in the first edition.

St. XXI. Then furth he drew his trusty glaive,
Quhyle thousands all arround,

Drawn frae their sheaths glanst in the sun.
He spake; and to confirm his words, outflew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty cherubim; the sudden blaze

Far round illumin'd hell

MILTON, Paradise Lost.

St. XXII. To join his king, adoun the hill
In hast his merch he made,

Var.

Quhyle playand pibrochs minstralls meit,
Afore him stately strade.

To join his king adoun the hill,

In haste his strides he bent,

While minstralls play, and pibrochs fine,

Afore him stately went.

DR CLERK'S MS.

St. XXIII. The arrows dart the trie.
Eir faes their dint mote drie.

Var.

PINKERTON,

St. XXXI. Norse ene lyke gray gosehauk's, staird wyld. The boy stared wild, like a gray goss-hawk. Fause Foodrage.-See SCOTT's Minstrelsy, Vol. II. p. 80, with the note on the line.

St. XXXVI. After this, the following lines were inserted in Dr Clerk's MS. :

Now darts flew wavering throw slaw speed,
Scarce could they reach their aim,

Or reached, scarce blood the round point drew,
"Twas all but shot in vain.

Right strengthy arms for-feebled grew,

Sair wrecked wi' that day's toils;

E'en fierce-born minds now langed for peace,

And cursed war's cruel broils.

Yet still war's horn sounded to charge,
Swords clashed, and harness rang;

But safter sae ilk blaster blew,

The hills and dales frae mang.

Nae echo heard in double dints,
Nor the lang-winding horn;
Nae mair she blew out braid as she

Did e'er that summer's morn.

These stanzas, and other variations already quoted, were left in the hand-writing of Dr John Clerk of Edinburgh, the intimate friend of Lord President Forbes, and were communicated by his son to Dr Percy.

*

See Reliques, Vol. II. p. 94,

** The three last stanzas were added in the second edition, in the "Evergreen."

SIR PATRICK SPENS

HACO, king of Norway, after the battle of Largs, retreated with the remains of his fleet to Orkney, where he died. In consequence of the unfortunate issue of his expedition, his son Magnus agreed to a peace, by which the island of Man, and the Hebrides, were ceded to Scotland; and soon after he gave his son Eric in marriage to Margaret, daughter of Alexander III. On the death of the Scottish monarch, in 1286, the crown descended to his grand-daughter Margaret, called the

Maiden of Norway, the only child of this marriage. That princess was detained in Norway till 1290, and died at Orkney on her voyage to Scotland. Mr Scott, the latest editor of this ballad, and by whose exertions great part of it has been recovered, supposes that "the unfortunate voyage of Sir Patrick Spens may really have taken place for the purpose of bringing back the Maid of Norway to her own kingdom; a purpose which was probably defeated by the jealousy of the Norwegians, and the reluctance of King Eric."

The present editor, however, cannot think, that the Ballad, as it is, has a claim to such high antiquity.-Indeed, the mention of hats, and cork-heeled shoon, would lead us to infer, that some stanzas are interpolated, or that its composition is of a comparatively modern date. The interpolation of stanzas must have been no uncommon occurrence, when a poem was