"There's ane o' them drest in red scarlet, And twa in dainty green; 110 And they hae girdles about their middles Would buy an earldome." Then out and spak the bierdly bride, "Was a' goud to the chin; "Gin she be fine without," she says, 115 "We's be as fine within." Then up it starts him, young Bekie, And the tear was in his e'e: "I'll lay my life it's Burd Isbel, Come o'er the sea to me." 120 O quickly ran he down the stair; And whan he saw 'twas she, He kindly took her in his arms, And kist her tenderlie. "O hae ye forgotten now, young Bekie, 125 The vow ye made to me, When I took you out of prison strang, When ye was condemned to die? "I gae you a steed was good in need, And a saddle o' royal bane; 130 A leash o' hounds o' ae litter; And Hector called ane." It was weel kent what the lady said, That it was nae a lie; For at the first word the lady spak, 135 The hound fell at her knee. "Tak hame, tak hame your daughter dear; A blessing gang her wi'; For I maun marry my Burd Isbel, That's come o'er the sea to me." 140 "Is this the custome o' your house, Or the fashion o' your land, To marry a maid in a May morning, Send her back a maid at e'en?" 3. _Court o' France._ "And first, here to omit the programe of him and his mother, named Rose, whom Polyd. Virgilius falsely nameth to be a Saracen, when indeed she came out of the parts bordering neere to _Normandy_." Fox, _Acts and Monuments_, cited by Motherwell, p. xvi. HYND HORN. Those metrical romances, which in the chivalrous ages, constituted the most refined pastime of a rude nobility, are known in many cases to have been adapted for the entertainment of humbler hearers, by abridgment in the form of ballads. Such was the case with the ancient _gest_ of _King Horn_. Preserved in several MSS., both French and English, in something of its original proportions, an epitome of it has also descended to us through the mouths of the people. An imperfect copy of the following piece was inserted by Cromek in his _Select Scottish Songs_, (London, 1810, vol. ii. p. 204-210.) Better editions have since been furnished by Kinloch, _Ancient Scottish Ballads_, p. 138; Motherwell, _Minstrelsy_, p. 95; and Buchan, _Ballads of the North of Scotland_, ii. 268. Of these, we reprint the last two. All the poems relating to Horn, in French and English, including the Scottish ballads above mentioned, are collected by Michel in a beautiful volume of the Bannatyne Club, _Horn et Rimenhild_, Paris, 1845. From Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, p. 35.