"Now live, now live, my dear Ladye, Now live but half an hour, And there's no a leech in a' Scotland But shall be in thy bower." 100 "How can I live, how shall I live? Young Johnstone, do not you see The red, red drops o' my bonny heart's blood Rin trinkling down my knee? "But take thy harp into thy hand, 105 And harp out owre yon plain, And ne'er think mair on thy true love Than if she had never been." He hadna weel been out o' the stable, And on his saddle set, 110 Till four-and-twenty broad arrows Were thrilling in his heart. 15. In the copy obtained by the Editor, the word "ritted" did not occur, instead of which the word "stabbed" was used. The "nut-brown sword" was also changed into "a little small sword." MOTHERWELL. 96. Buchan's version furnishes the necessary explanation of Young Johnstone's apparent cruelty:-- "Ohon, alas, my lady gay, To come sae hastilié! I thought it was my deadly foe, Ye had trysted in to me." YOUNG BENJIE. From the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, iii. 10. _Bondsey and Maisry_, another version of the same story, from Buchan's collection, is given in the Appendix. "In this ballad the reader will find traces of a singular superstition, not yet altogether discredited in the wilder parts of Scotland. The lykewake, or watching a dead body, in itself a melancholy office, is rendered, in the idea of the assistants, more dismally awful, by the mysterious horrors of superstition. In the interval betwixt death and interment, the disembodied spirit is supposed to hover round its mortal habitation, and, if invoked by certain rites, retains the power of communicating, through its organs, the cause of its dissolution. Such inquiries, however, are always dangerous, and never to be resorted to, unless the deceased is suspected to have suffered _foul play_, as it is called. It is the more unsafe to tamper with this charm in an unauthorized manner, because the inhabitants of the infernal regions are, at such periods, peculiarly active. One of the most potent ceremonies in the charm, for causing the dead body to speak, is, setting the door ajar, or half open. On this account, the peasants of Scotland sedulously avoid leaving the door ajar, while a corpse lies in the house. The door must either be left wide open, or quite shut; but the first is always preferred, on account of the exercise of hospitality usual on such occasions. The attendants must be likewise careful never to leave the corpse for a moment alone, or, if it is left alone, to avoid, with a degree of superstitious horror, the first sight of it.