Chapter II

The long pathetic ballad of _Bewick and Grahame_ is a link between the romantic ballads and the ballads of the Border, _Sir Hugh in the Grime's Downfall_ connecting the Border ballads with the 'historical' ballads. The four splendid 'Armstrong ballads' also are mainly 'historical,' though _Dick o' the Cow_ requires further elucidation. _Kinmont Willie_ is under suspicion of being the work of Sir Walter Scott, who alone of all ballad-editors, perhaps, could have compiled a ballad good enough to deceive posterity. We cannot doubt the excellence of _Kinmont Willie_; but it would be tedious, as well as unprofitable, to collect the hundred details of manner, choice of words, and expression, which discredit the authenticity of the ballad.

_John o' the Side_ has not, I believe, been presented to readers in its present shape before. It is one of the few instances in which the English version of a ballad is better than the Scottish.