_Jamieson, Popular Ballads and Songs, I, 48, says that he gives his text verbatim as it was taken from the recitation of the lady in Fifeshire (Mrs Brown), to whom both he and Scott were so much indebted. That this is not to be understood with absolute strictness will appear from the variations which are subjoined. Jamieson adds that he had received another copy from Mrs Arrott of Aberbrothick, "~but as it furnished no readings by which the text could have been materially improved~," it was not used. Both Jamieson and Scott substitute the "~Binnorie~" burden, "~the most common and popular~," says Scott, for the one given by Mrs Brown, with which Mrs Arrott's agreed. It may be added that Jamieson's interpolations are stanzas 20, 21, 27, etc., and not, as he says (I, 49), 19, 20, 27, etc. These interpolations also occur as such in the manuscript._ 1^1. sisters livd. 2^2. aboon. 3^2. he loved. 4^2. and sair envied. 5^1. Intill her bower she coudna. 5^2. maistly brast. 11^2. mak ye. 14^2. me o. 16^1. _omits ~an~._ 16^2. came to the mouth o yon mill-dam. 18^2. There's. 20^2. that was. 22^2. that were. 26^1. it did. 27^1. it playd seen. 28^1. thirden tune that it. _A copy in Motherwell's MS., p. 239, is derived from Jamieson's printed edition. It omits the interpolated stanzas, and makes a few very slight changes._ #C.# _Scott's account of his edition is as follows (II, 143, later ed., III, 287)_: "It is compiled from a copy in Mrs Brown's MS., intermixed with a beautiful fragment, of fourteen verses, transmitted to the editor by J.C. Walker, Esq., the ingenious historian of the Irish bards. Mr Walker, at the same time, favored the editor with the following note: 'I am indebted to my departed friend, Miss Brooke, for the foregoing pathetic fragment. Her account of it was as follows: This song was transcribed, several years ago, from the memory of an old woman, who had no recollection of the concluding verses; probably the beginning may also be lost, as it seems to commence abruptly.' The first verse and burden of the fragment run thus: "'O sister, sister, reach thy hand! Hey ho, my Nanny, O And you shall be heir of all my land. While the swan swims bonny, O'" _Out of this stanza, or the corresponding one in Mrs Brown's copy, Scott seems to have made his 9, 10._ #E.# "My mother used to sing this song." Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. of 1880, note, p. 129. #F.# 2^2. An wooer. #G.# 2^1. _~strand~, with ~sand~ written above: ~sand~ in 3^1._ #I.#