7 He has tossed him up, he has tossed him doun, He has broken his collar-bone; He has tied him to his bridle reins, Bade him carry the tidings home. K Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, xxxi. ‘There’s no a bird in a’ this foreste Will do as meikle for me As dip its wing in the wan water An straik it on my ee-bree.’ L Harris MS., fol. 25 b. But aye at ilka ae mile’s end She fand a cat o clay, An written upon the back o it ‘Tak your son Johnnie Brod away.’ M Froude’s Life of Carlyle, 1795–1875, II, 335, New York, 1882, completed by a communication of Mr Macmath: as sung by Carlyle’s mother. ‘O Busk ye, O busk ye, my three bluidy hounds, O busk ye, and go with me, For there’s seven foresters in yon forest, And them I want to see.’ see And them I want to see * * * * * #A.# ‘The Seven Forsters at Pickeram Side’ _is a title supplied by Percy_. 6^2. I wun _is added by Percy, at the end_. 7^3, 17^3. one water. 15^1. Oh. 19^4. bord words, or bood words. #B# _follows_ #C# _in Fry without a break. Words distinguished by ’ ’ in_ #B#, #C# _are emendations or additions of Fry. 4, 5 come between 12 and 13_. 1^1. braid alow. 10^1. the word. 10^5. would have. 11^2. hearted. 13^3. bows. 4^3. Out-shot. #D.# “There is a West-Country version of this ballad, under the title of Johnie of Cockerslee, differing very little from the present. The variations in the reading I have marked at their respective places.” _Kinloch. Assuming that Kinloch has given all the variations (which include six entire stanzas), the West-Country version is reproduced by combining these readings with so much of the other copy, Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 38, as did not vary._ 15^3. _Kinloch neglected to alter_ Cocklesmuir here. #E.# 6^3. lying _is struck through, probably to improve the metre. Kinloch made two slight changes in printing_. #H.# 5^1. Mony ane. (?) 9^1. Johnnie lap: _probably an error of the copyist_. 9^2, 18^2. wound: _cf._ 20^2. 21^4. bidding. _Dixon has changed_ stane-auld _to_ silly-auld _in 11^1, 12^1, 20^3;_ Cockis _to_ Cockl’s _in 17^4; and has Scotticised the spelling_. #I.# _Motherwell notes a stanza as wanting after 3, some stanzas as wanting after 4, 5._ #J.#