zealous in
ballad-lore. If it had been in one of those accepted as genuine and
poetical I would have remembered the ballad, but my impression is
that it was condemned as a fabrication for this and other
neologies. The _button_ is not a conspicuous item of female attire
as of the male, and Shakespeare has been attacked for the vulgarity
of even making Lear say, 'Prithee, undo this button,' though I
think it fine.

"If the Major is curious in ballad-lore, I can give him abundant
information in it. For the musical item, the best collection I know
is Motherwell's, both for good poetic taste in selection, and the
tunes accompanying some of the contents....--Your affectionate

"J.H. BURTON."

* * * * *

"MORTON, _Wednesday Evening_, _8th May 1879_.

"MY DEAR LOVE,--Looking for the ballad you want, and not finding it
by recollection, I came by accident to the very line--

'When she cam' to her father's land
The tenants a' cam' her to see;
Never a word she could speak to them,
But the buttons aff her claes would flee.'

The ballad is known by the title of The Marchioness of Douglas, but
better known by the--

'O waly, waly, up yon bank,
And waly, waly, doon yon brae.'

It was printed first in Jamieson's collection--1806; again in
Chambers's, p. 150. The 'waly' has been by Cockney critics called
Scotch for 'wail ye.' The word may come from the same etymological
source as 'wail,' but it is a Scots adverb, indicative of the
intensity of sorrow.

"It will be hard to find any one who is my master in ballad-lore
(though other things have of late taken the preponderance). My
services in the cause are certified by Robert Chambers in his
collection, published in 1829--fifty years ago.

"I had then collected several versions from old people in
Aberdeenshire. While writing this it dawns on my recollection that
I lost the bulk of the collection, and that some years ago I got a
letter from America, written by some one publishing Scots ballads,
asking me to help him. Making a search for any remnant of the old
collection, I found one ballad only, and sent it. Then came the odd
conclusion--he had the rest of the collection, as he found by
comparison of handwriting.