Skilful weaving this. The lady would not look, however, because Andella, who was about to wed another, had been false to her. Ballad literature is scarcely a record of human constancy. In Ballad-land the percentage of faithless swains, black or white, clown or knight, is a high one. Was the law regarding breach of promise first formulated by a student of ballad lore, I wonder? Whatever else it may have effected, it seems to have put an end to ballad-writing, perhaps because it ended the conditions and circumstances which went to the making of balladeering. Zara's Earrings The intriguing ballad of "Zara's Earrings" bears upon it the stamp of natural folk-song. It may come from a Moorish original, but appearances are often deceptive. In any case it is worth quoting in part. "My earrings, my earrings, they've dropt into the well, And what to say to Muça, I cannot, cannot tell." 'Twas thus Granada's fountain by, spoke Albuharez' daughter. "The well is deep, far down they lie, beneath the cold, blue water. To me did Muça give them when he spake his sad farewell, And what to say when he comes back, alas! I cannot tell." The lady resolves in the end to do the best thing she can--that is, to tell the truth. There is a sequence of romances about this Muça, who seems to have been a Saracen of worth, and the same must be remarked about Celin or Selim, his successor in the collections of Lockhart and Depping. Had Lockhart been well advised, he would have substituted the ringing and patriotic "Las soberbias torres mira," which is certainly difficult of translation, for the very sombre "Lamentation for the Death of Celin," fine though it is. Anything in the nature of a ceremony or a procession seems to have attracted him like a child. But let us have a verse of the first poem. Even should we not know Spanish its music could not fail to haunt and hold us. Las soberbias torres mira Y los lejos las almenas De su patria dulce y cara Celin, que el rey le destierra; Y perdida la esperanza De jamás volver a vella Con suspiros tristes dice: "Del cielo luciente estrella, Granada bella, Mi llanto escucha, y duélate mi pena!" Romantic Ballads We now come to consider the romantic ballads, the third and last section of Lockhart's collection. "The Moor Calaynos" we have already described, and the same applies to "Gayferos" and "Melisendra," its sequel. The ballad which follows these, "Lady Alda's Dream," is alluded to by Lockhart as "one of the most admired of all the Spanish ballads." It is no favourite of mine. I may judge it wrongly, but it seems to me inferior, and I much prefer the stirring "Admiral Guarinos," which treads upon its halting heels with all the impatience of a warlike rhythm to spur it on.