o man dared
speak a word to him. And thus it is said that Egil was clad when he
laid Bodvar in the tomb. His hose were bound fast about his legs,
and he had on a red linen kirtle, narrow above, and tied with
strings at the sides. And men say that his body swelled so greatly
that his kirtle burst from off him, and so did his hose."--P. 602.

It is well known that the subjects of many ballads are common to
Scotland, and to the countries of Northern Europe. Thus, the fine old
"Douglas Tragedy," the scene of which is pointed out at Blackhouse
Tower, on the Yarrow, is equally localised in Denmark:

"Seven large stones," says Sir Walter, "erected upon the
neighbouring heights of Blackhouse, are shown as marking the spot
where the seven brethren were slain; and the Douglas Burn is avowed
to have been the stream at which the lovers stopped to drink; so
minute is tradition in ascertaining, the scene of a tragical tale,
which, considering, the rude state of former times, had probably
foundation in some real event."

The corresponding Danish ballad, however, that of "Ribolt and Guldborg,"
which has been translated by Mr. Jamieson, is not less minute in
pointing out the scene of action. The origin of ballads, which are thus
widely spread, must probably be sought in very high antiquity; and we
cannot wonder if we find them undergoing considerable {506} change in
the passage from one country to another. At least the "Douglas Tragedy"
betrays one very singular mark of having lost something of the original.

In "Ribolt and Guldborg," when the lady's brothers have all but
overtaken the fugitives, the knight addresses her thus:

"Light down, Guldborg, my lady dear,
And hald our steeds lay the renyes here.
And e'en sae be that ye see me fa'
Be sure that ye never upon me ca';
And e'en sae be that ye see me bleed,
Be sure that ye name na' me till dead."

Ribolt kills her father and her two eldest brothers, and then Guldborg
can no longer restrain herself:

"Hald, hald, my Ribolt, dearest mine,
Now belt thy brand, for its 'mair nor time.
My youngest brother ye spare, O spare,
To my mither the dowie news to bear."

But she has broken her lover's mysterious caution, and he is mortally
wounded in consequence:

"When Ribolt's name she named that stound,
'Twas then that he gat his deadly wound."

In the Scottish ballad, no such c