"Fear not, Diana, I good tidings bring, "And unto you glad oracles I sing; "Juno commands your Maries to be married, "And, in all state, to marriage-bed be carried." P. 62. JUPITER. "Five Maries thine; "One Marie now remains of Delia's five, "And she at wedlock o'er shortly will arrive." P. 64. To Mary Fleming, the king's valentyn-- 65. To Mary Beton, queen by lot, the day before the coronation. _Sundry Verses._ The queen's Maries are mentioned in many ballads, and the name seems to have passed into a general denomination for female attendants: Now bear a hand, my Maries a', And busk me brave, and make me fine. _Old Ballad._ FOOTNOTES: [20] The name should be Livingston. "John Semple, son of Robert, Lord Semple, (by Elizabeth Carlisle, a daughter of the Lord Torthorald) was ancestor of the Semples of Beltrees. He was married to Mary, sister to William Livingston, and one of the maids of honour to Queen Mary; by whom he had Sir James Semple of Beltrees, his son and heir," &c.; afterwards ambassador to England, for King James VI. in 1599.--CRAWFORD's _History of Renfrew_, p. 101. [21] One copy bears, "_Mary Miles_." [22] The queen seems to be included in this number. THE BONNY HYND. * * * * * _From Mr_ HERD's _MS., where the following Note is prefixed to it_--"Copied from the mouth of a Milkmaid, 1771, by W. L." * * * * * It was originally the intention of the Editor to have omitted this ballad, on account of the disagreeable nature of the subject. Upon consideration, however, it seemed a fair sample of a certain class of songs and tales, turning upon incidents the most horrible and unnatural, with which the vulgar in Scotland are greatly delighted, and of which they have current amongst them an ample store. Such, indeed, are the subjects of composition in most nations, during the early period of society; when the feelings, rude and callous, can only be affected by the strongest stimuli, and where the mind does not, as in a more refined age, recoil, disgusted, from the means by which interest has been excited. Hence incest, parricide--crimes, in fine, the foulest and most enormous, were the early themes of the Grecian muse. Whether that delicacy, which precludes the modern bard from the choice of such impressive and dreadful themes, be favourable to the higher classes of poetic composition, may perhaps be questioned; but there can be little doubt, that the more important cause of virtue and morality is advanced by this exclusion. The knowledge, that enormities are not without precedent, may promote, and even suggest, them. Hence, the publication of the _Newgate Register_ has been prohibited by the wisdom of the legislature; having been found to encourage those very crimes, of which it recorded the punishment. Hence, too, the wise maxim