"It is now upwards of forty years since Sir Walter Scott published his _Border Minstrelsy_, and during his 'raids,' as he facetiously termed his excursions of discovery in Liddesdale, Teviotdale, Tyndale, and the Merse, very few ballads of any note or originality could possibly escape his enthusiastic inquiry; for, to his love of ballad literature, he added the patience and research of a genuine antiquary. Yet, no doubt many ballads _did_ escape, and still remain scattered up and down the country side, existing probably in the recollection of many a sun-browned shepherd, or the weather-beaten brains of ancient hinds, or 'eldern' women: or in the well-thumbed and nearly illegible leaves of some old book or pamphlet of songs, snugly resting on the 'pot-head,' or sharing their rest with the 'Great Ha' Bible,' _Scott's Worthies_, or Blind Harry's lines. The parish dominie or pastor of some obscure village, amid the many nooks and corners of the Borders, possesses, no doubt, treasures in the ballad-ware that would have gladdened the heart of a Ritson, a Percy, or a Surtees; in the libraries, too, of many an ancient descendant of a Border family, some black-lettered volume of ballads, doubtlessly slumbers in hallowed and unbroken dust." This reads invitingly; the writer then proceeds:-- "From such sources I have obtained may of the ballads in the present collection. Those to which I have stood godfather, and so baptized and remodelled, I have mostly met with in the 'broad-side' ballads, as they are called." Although the writer here speaks of Ritson and Percy as if he were acquainted with their works, it is very evident that he had not looked into their contents. The name of Evans' _Collection_ had probably never reached him. Alas! we look in vain for the tantalising "pamphlet of songs,"--still, perhaps, snugly resting on the "pot-head," where our author in his "poetical dream" first saw it. The "black-lettered volume of ballads" too, in the library of the "ancient descendant of a Border family," still remains in its dusty repository, untouched by the hand of Frederick Sheldon. In support of the object of this paper I shall now point out "a few" of the errors of _The Minstrelsy of the English Border_. P. 201. _The Fair Flower of Northumberland_:-- "It was a knight in Scotland born, Follow my love, come over the Strand; Was taken prisoner, and left forlorn Even by the good Erle Northumberland." This is a corrupt version of Thomas Deloney's celebrated ballad of "The Ungrateful Knight," printed in the _History of Jack of Newbery_, 1596, and in Ritson's _Ancient Songs_, 1790. A Scottish version may be found in Kinloch's _Ballads_, under the title of the "The Provost's Daughter." Mr. Sheldon knows nothing of this, but says,--