Seven ladies livd in a bower, Hey down and ho down And aye the youngest was the flower. Hey down and ho down #G.# _The stanzas are not divided in Herd._ #H.# _4 is crossed through in the MS., but no reason given._ [94] In his note-book, p. 117, Motherwell writes, with less than his usual discretion: "The ballad of Bothwell, Cospatric, or Gil Brenton, appears to be copied from an account of the birth of Makbeth given by Wintown." The substance of this account is, that Macbeth's mother had a habit of repairing to the woods for wholesome air, and that, during one of her rambles, she fell in with a fair man, really the Devil, who passed the day with her, and got on her a son. "And of that dede in taknyng He gave his lemman thare a ryng, And bad hyr that scho suld kepe that wele, And hald for hys luve that jwele." _Cronykil_, Book VI, ch. xviii, 57-90. [95] Scott says: "Cospatrick, Comes Patricius;" but Cos- (Gos-)patrick is apparently Servant of Patrick, like Gil-patrick (Kil-patrick). Mr Macmath suggests to me that Gil Brenton may have originally been Gil-brandon, which seems very likely. See Notes and Queries, 5th S., x, 443. [96] A fragment in Rancken's 'Några Prof af Folksång,' p. 14 f, belongs not to 'Riddar Olle,' as there said, but to 'Herr Äster och Fröken Sissa,' though the burden is 'Riddar Olof.' Other verses, at p. 16, might belong to either. 'Riddar Ola,' E. Wigström's Folkdiktning, p. 37, No 18, belongs with the Danish 'Guldsmedens Datter,' Grundtvig No 245. [97] The inquiry seems to refer to the morning gift. "Die Morgengabe ist ein Geschenk des Mannes als Zeichen der Liebe (in signum amoris), für die Uebergabe der vollen Schönheit (in honore pulchritudinis) und der Jungfräulichkeit (pretium virginitatis)." Weinhold, Die deutschen Frauen in dem Mittelalter, S. 270. [98] And again, "Is it the saddle, your horse, or your true-love?" almost exactly as in our #B#, #E#, #F#, Grundtvig, 40 #C#, #E#, #F#, Afzelius, 91, Landstad, 45, 52. So the Scottish ballad, 'The Cruel Brother,' #B# 15 f. [99] The auld belly-blind man in 'Earl Richard,' 44^3, 45^1, Kinloch's A. S. Ballads, p. 15, retains the bare name; and Belly Blind, or Billie Blin, is the Scotch name for the game of Blindman's-buff. [100] Gisbertus Voetius, De Miraculis, Disput., II, 1018. Cited also by Schmeller, Bayerisches Wörterbuch, from J. Prætorius's Alectryomantia, p. 3. [101] Merlin, in Layamon, V. 17130 ff (as pointed out by Grundtvig, I, 274), says that his mind is balewise, "mi gæst is bæliwis," and that he is not disposed to gladness, mirth, or good words. 6 WILLIE'S LADY #a.# 'Willie's Lady,' Fraser-Tytler MS. #b.# 'Sweet Willy,' Jamieson-Brown MS., No 15, fol. 33.