plait a wand o' bonny birk,
And lay it on my breast;
And shed a tear upon my grave,
And wish my saul gude rest.

43.
'And fair Margret, and rare Margret,
And Margret o' veritie,
Gin e'er ye love another man,
Ne'er love him as ye did me.'

44.
Then up and crew the milk-white cock,
And up and crew the grey;
The lover vanish'd in the air,
And she gaed weeping away.

[Annotations:
1.2: 'gravel'd green'; probably corrupt: perhaps a green with
gravelled walks.
1.4: 'I wat'; cp. 11.2, 13.2, 15.4, etc.
4.2: 'gin,' altered in the MS. to 'pin.' In either case, it ...
part of the door-latch.
6.2: 'ben,' within.
12.2: 'twain,' separate.
15: Cp. _The Bonny Birdy_, 15.1-4 (First Series, p. 28).
15.2: 'striped,' whetted. See First Series, Introduction,
pp. xlix-l.
16.3: 'well and wellsom,' probably a corruption of 'wae and
waesome,' sad and woful.
20.2: 'thoule,' endure.
22.2: 'lack,' discredit.
22.4: 'dowy,' mournful.
30.3,4: Cp. _The Unquiet Grave_, 5.3,4.
31.1: 'mid-larf,' probably corrupt: changed by Scott to
'midnight.' The meaning is unknown.
35.3: 'shot-window,' a window which opens and shuts. See First
Series, Introduction, p. 1.
40.1: 'meal,' mould, earth.]

YOUNG HUNTING

+The Text+ is given from two copies in Herd's MSS. as collated by Child,
with the exception of two lines, 9.3,4, which are taken from a third and
shorter copy in Herd's MSS., printed by him in the _Scottish Songs_.
Scott's ballad, _Earl Richard_, is described by him as made up from the
above-mentioned copies of Herd, with some trivial alterations adopted
from tradition--a totally inadequate account of wholesale alterations.
Scott also gives a similar ballad in _Lord William_.

+The Story.+--Young Hunting, a king's son, tells a former mistress that
he has a new sweetheart whom he loves thrice as well. The lady conceals
her anger, plies him with wine, and slays him in his drunken sleep. Her
deed unluckily is overseen by a bonny bird, whom she attempts to coax
into captivity, but fails. She dresses Young Hunting for riding, and
throws him into the Clyde. The king his father asks for him. She swears
by corn (see First Series, _Glasgerion_, p. 1) that she has not seen him
since yesterday at noon. The king's divers search for him in vain, until
the bonny bird reminds them of the method of findin