language, have adopted a dialect indistinguishable from that of the contemporary poets of England; but few of them fail to show, in their happiest characteristics, the influence of the popular poetry which they have learnt with their native tongue. These poets have not made the impression which they might have left on the mass of their countrymen, if they had used the language which is still alone familiar, and is spoken still with much of its living power, in the every-day life of the people. But they probably represent the direction which even the popular poetry of Scotland is to take; and they encourage the hope that, even if it take such a direction, it may continue to draw much of its inspiration from the old Scottish ballads and songs. It will be some time yet, indeed, before these lyrics can cease to be familiar and endeared to the people of Scotland at large; but it will be pleasant to know that, even if they are forgotten by the people, they continue to attract the poets of Scotland away from the hot-house processes of art to the wildings which grow up under the tending of nature alone, deep in the undisturbed glens and along the open mountain-sides of song. And to the historian of literature these lyrics carry an imperishable interest; for to her ballads, more than to any other literary influence, Scotland owes Sir Walter Scott; while without her songs, as Goethe correctly saw, she could never have produced her Burns. INDEX. ABBOT of Unreason, 130. Ae fond Kiss, and then we sever, 62. Alison Gross, 8-12. A Man's a Man for a' that, 125. Apuleius' Golden Ass, 6. Armstrong's Goodnight, 152. Arthurian Romance, 128. Ballad, defined, Introd. xi. Battle of Otterbourne, 142, 152, 177. Billy Blind, 7, 12. Bride of Abydos, Byron's, 62. Brown, Mrs., of Falkland, 8. Bruce, Barbour's, 136. Cauld Kail in Aberdeen, 123, 124. Maggie Lauder, 181, 186. Maitland MS., 184. Moses, Song of, Introd. xii. My Heart's my ain, 69, 74-76. My Wife has taen the Gee, 100. My Wife shall hae her Will, 96. Semples of Beltrees, the, 185, 186. She rose and loot me in, 186. Silva Sermonum Focundissimorum, Sir Oluf and the Elf-king's Daugh- Sir Roland, 16, 24. Sir William Wallace, 139. Tak your auld cloak about ye, 93. Tam o' the Linn, see The Young Tea-table Miscellany, Ramsay's, 186. The Blythesome Bridal, 116-120, The Boatie rows, 88. The Bridegroom grat when the Sun The Carle of Killyburn Braes, 96— The Children in the Wood, 169. The Cooper o' Fife, 96. The Cottar's Sang, 107. The Country Lass, 76. The County Meeting, 120. The Day it daws, 185. The Dowie Dens of Yarrow, 55— The Drowned Lovers, 55. The Earl of Mar's Daughter, 20, 21. The Elfin Knight, 19, 20. The Gloomy Nicht is gathering fast, The Gowans sae gay, 15. The Happy Mother, 107. The Husband who was to mind the The Laidley Worm of Spindleston- The Laird of Cockpen, 77. The Laird o' Warristoun, 106. The Mermaid, 29, 30. The Merman and Marstig's Daugh- ter, 15. The Murning Maiden, 63. The Outlaw Murray, 145. The Spinning Wheel, 106. The Water o Wearie's Well, 14, 15, The Weary Coble o' Cargill, 106. The Widow's Lament, 101-103. The Wowing of Jok and Jynny, 76, 77. The Wyf of Auchtirmuchty, 94. There fure ane Man to the Holt, There sall be Mirth at our Meeting Thomas the Rhymer, 31-35, 151. Tibbie Fowler o' the Glen, 73, 74. Tom Linn, see The Young Tam- Tom Thumb, 18, 19, 35-37. Utgard, 36, 39. |