Ballad, stone, and interment may all be distinct and separate.
SIR ROLAND
From Motherwell's Minstrelsy. The authenticity of the ballad is
dubious, but, if a forgery, it is a very skilled one for the early
nineteenth century. Poets like Mr. Swinburne, Mr. Rossetti, and
Mrs. Marriot Watson have imitated the genuine popular ballad, but
never so closely as the author of "Sir Roland."
ROSE THE RED AND WHITE LILY
From the Jamieson-Brown MS., originally written out by Mrs. Brown
in 1783: Sir Waiter made changes in The Border Minstrelsy. The
ballad is clearly a composite affair. Robert Chambers regarded
Mrs. Brown as the Mrs. Harris of ballad lore, but Mr. Norval
Clyne's reply was absolutely crushing and satisfactory.
THE BATTLE OF HARLAW
Fought on July 24, 1411. This fight broke the Highland force in
Scotland. The first version is, of course, literary, perhaps a
composition of 1550, or even earlier. The second version is
traditional, and was procured by Aytoun from Lady John Scott,
herself the author of some beautiful songs. But the best ballad on
the Red Harlaw is that placed by Scott in the mouth of Elspeth, in
The Antiquary. This, indeed, is beyond all rivalry the most
splendid modern imitation of the ancient popular Muse.
DICKIE MACPHALION
A great favourite of Scott's, who heard it sung at Miss
Edgeworth's, during his tour in Ireland (1825). One verse recurs
in a Jacobite chant, probably of 1745-1760, but the bibliography of
Jacobite songs is especially obscure.
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