A version of “Binnorie.” The ballad here ends abruptly; doubtless the fiddler made fiddle-strings of the lady’s hair, and a fiddle of her breast-bone, while the instrument probably revealed the cruelty of the sister. Other extant versions are composite or interpolated, so this fragment (Sharpe’s) has been preferred in this place. MARY AMBREE.—p. 160 Taken by Percy from a piece in the Pepys Collection. The girl warrior is a favourite figure in popular romance. Often she slays a treacherous lover, as in _Billy Taylor_. Nothing is known of Mary Ambree as an historical personage; she may be as legendary as fair maiden Lilias, of Liliarid’s Edge, who “fought upon her stumps.” In that case the local name is demonstrably earlier than the mythical Lilias, who fought with such tenacity. ALISON GROSS.—p. 165 Jamieson gave this ballad from a manuscript, altering the spelling in conformity with Scots orthography. Mr. Child prints the manuscript; here Jamieson’s more familiar spelling is retained. The idea of the romance occurs in a Romaic _Märchen_, but, in place of the Queen of Faery, a more beautiful girl than the sorceress (Nereid in Romaic), restores the youth to his true shape. Mr. Child regarded the tale as “one of the numerous wild growths” from _Beauty and the Beast_. It would be more correct to say that _Beauty and the Beast_ is a late, courtly, French adaptation and amplification of the original popular “wild growth” which first appears (in literary form) as _Cupid and Psyche_, in Apuleius. Except for the metamorphosis, however, there is little analogy in this case. The friendly act of the Fairy Queen is without parallel in British Folklore, but Mr. Child points out that the Nereid Queen, in Greece, is still as kind as Thetis of old, not a sepulchral siren, the shadow of the pagan “Fairy Queen Proserpina,” as Campion calls her. THE HEIR OF LYNNE.—p. 167 From Percy’s Folio Manuscript. There is a cognate Greek epigram— Χρυσὸν ἀνὴρ εὗρων ἔλιπε βρόχον αὐτὰρ ὁ χρυσόν Ὅν λίπεν, οὐχ εὑρών, ἥφεν τον εὗρε βρόχον. GORDON OF BRACKLEY.—p. 172 This, though probably not the most authentic, is decidedly the most pleasing version; it is from Mackay’s collection, perhaps from his pen. EDWARD.—p. 175 Percy got this piece from Lord Hailes, with pseudo-antiquated spelling. Mr. Swinburne has published a parallel ballad “From the Finnish.” There are a number of parallel ballads on Cruel Brothers, and Cruel Sisters, such as _Son Davie_, which may be compared. Fratricides and unconscious incests were motives dear to popular poetry. YOUNG BENJIE.—p. 177