"You got your wale o' se'en sisters, And I got mine o' five; Sae tak ye mine, and I's tak thine, 75 And we nae mair sall strive." "O my woman's the best woman That ever brak world's bread; And your woman's the worst woman That ever drew coat o'er head. 80 "I hae twa swords in ae scabbert, They are baith sharp and clear; Take ye the best, and I the warst, And we'll end the matter here. "But up, and arm thee, young Musgrave, 85 We'll try it han' to han'; It's ne'er be said o' lord Barnaby, He strack at a naked man." The first straik that young Musgrave got, It was baith deep and sair; 90 And down he fell at Barnaby's feet, And word spak never mair. * * * * * * "A grave, a grave!" lord Barnaby cried, "A grave to lay them in; My lady shall lie on the sunny side, 95 Because of her noble kin." But oh, how sorry was that good lord, For a' his angry mood, Whan he beheld his ain young son All welt'ring in his blood! 100 26. For _slack'd_ read _bent_. J. [NOTE.] [In v. 31] the term "_braid_ bow" has been altered by the editor into "_brent_ bow," i. e. _straight_, or _unbent_ bow. In most of the old ballads, where a page is employed as the bearer of a message, we are told, that, "When he came to wan water, He _bent_ his bow and swam;" And "He set his _bent_ bow to his breast, And lightly lap the wa'," &c. The application of the term _bent_, in the latter instance, does not seem correct, and is probably substituted for _brent_. In the establishment of a feudal baron, every thing wore a military aspect; he was a warrior by profession; every man attached to him, particularly those employed about his person, was a soldier; and his little foot-page was very appropriately equipped in the light accoutrements of an archer. His bow, in the old ballad, seems as inseparable from his character as the bow of Cupid or of Apollo, or the caduceus of his celestial prototype Mercury. This bow, which he carried unbent, he seems to have _bent_ when he had occasion to swim, in order that he might the more easily carry it in his teeth, to prevent the string from being injured by getting wet. At other times he availed himself of its length and elasticity in the _brent_, or straight state, and used it (as hunters do a leaping pole) in vaulting over the wall of the outer court of a castle, when his business would not admit of the tedious formality of blowing a horn, or ringing a bell, and holding a long parley with the porter at the gate, before he could gain admission. This, at least, appears to the editor to be the meaning of these passages in the old ballads. JAMIESON. CHILDE MAURICE. See p. 30.