lad has been known about the English Border for many years,
and I can remember a version of it being sung by my grandmother!"

He also informs us that he has added the last verse but one, in order to
make the "ends of justice" more complete!

P. 232. _The Laird of Roslin's Daughter_:--

"The Laird of Roslin's daughter
Walk'd through the wood her lane;
And by her came Captain Wedderburn,
A servant to the Queen."

This is a wretched version (about half the original length) of a well-known
ballad, entitled "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship." It first appeared _in
print_ in _The New British Songster_, a collection published at Falkirk, in
1785. It was afterwards inserted in Jamieson's _Popular Ballads and Songs_,
1806; Kinloch's _Ancient Ballads_, 1826; Chambers' _Scottish Ballads_,
1829, &c. But hear what Mr. Sheldon has to say, in 1847:--

"This is a fragment of an apparently ancient ballad, related to me by a
lady of Berwick-on-Tweed, who used to sing it in her childhood. I have
given all that she was able to furnish me with. The same lady assures
me that she never remembers having seen it in print [!!], and that she
had learnt if from her nurse, together with the ballad of 'Sir Patrick
Spens,' and several Irish legends, since forgotten."

P. 274. _The Merchant's Garland_:--

"Syr Carnegie's gane owre the sea,
And's plowing thro' the main,
And now must make a lang voyage,
The red gold for to gain."

This is evidently one of those ballads which calls Mr. Sheldon "godfather."
The original ballad, which has been "baptized and remodelled," is called
"The Factor's Garland." It begins in the following homely manner:--

"Behold here's a ditty, 'tis true and no jest
Concerning a young gentleman in the East,
Who by his great gaming came to poverty,
And afterwards went many voyages to sea."

P. 329. _The rare Ballad of Johnnie Faa_:--

"There were seven gipsies in a gang,
They were both brisk and bonny O;
They rode till they came to the Earl of Castle's house,
And here they sang so sweetly O."

This is a very _hobbling_ version (from the recitation of a "gipsy
vagabond") of a ballad frequently reprinted. It first appeared in Ramsay's
_Tea-Table Miscellany_; afterwards in Finlay's and Chambers' Collections.
None of these versions were known to Mr. Sheldon.

I have now extracted enough from the _Minstrelsy of the English Border_ to
show the mode