As I cam in by Athol’s yetts, I heard a fair maid singing. 1^2. And I wat it weel does set me. 3^2. ye’ll _omitted_. 3^3. drink the lass’ health. 3^4. That’s coming to pay the. (_This stanza occurs in Motherwell’s Note-Book,_ p. 46, _where it is credited to a MS._) _After 3_: He hied him doun to yon change-house, And he drank till the day was dawing, And at ilka pint’s end he drank the lass’ health That was coming to pay for his lawing. 4^1. and aye. 6^2. see gin she war. 6^3. There he saw the duke and a’ his merry men. 6^4. the hill. 7^1. doun _omitted_. 7^3. She buskit: woman’s. 8^2. they war calling. 8^3. Had ye a young man here yestreen. _After 8_: ‘He drank but ae pint, and he paid it or he went, And ye’ve na mair to do wi the lawing.’ They searchit the house a’ round and round, And they spared na the curtains to tear them, While the landlady stood upo the stair-head, Crying, ‘Maid, be busy at your baking!’ They gaed as they cam, and left a’ undone, And left the bonnie maid at her baking. #F. b.# _“Some alterations made from the way it was sung” by the editor’s maternal grandfather._ 4^2. And kindly said, My dearie. 6^3. as you ance had a love for me. 11^4. That were. 12^2. Where shall I gang to hide me. 14^4. Than the. 213 SIR JAMES THE ROSE ‘Sir James the Rose.’ #a.# From a stall-tract of about 1780, Abbotsford library. #b.# Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 321. #c.# Sir James the Rose’s Garland, one of a volume of the like from Heber’s library. #d.# Motherwell’s MS., p. 281; from the recitation of Mrs Gentles, of Paisley. #e.# Herd’s MSS, I, 82. #f.# The same, II, 42. #g.# ‘Sir James the Rose,’ Pinkerton’s Scottish Tragic Ballads, 1781, p. 61. #b#, says Motherwell, “is given as it occurs in early stall-prints, and as it is to be obtained from the recitations of elderly people.” Most of the variations are derived from #d#. #c# may have been printed earlier than #a#, but is astonishingly faulty. #d#, well remembered from print, is what Motherwell meant by “the recitations of elderly people.” #e# was obtained by Herd, probably from recitation, as early as 1776, but must have been learned from print. #f# is #e# with a few missing lines supplied. #g#, says Pinkerton, “is given from a modern edition in one sheet 12mo,” but was beyond question considerably manipulated by the editor. All the important variations are certainly his work. The copy in Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 9, is #g#. Whitelaw, in his Book of Scotish Ballads, p. 39, has combined #b# and #g#. Half a dozen lines preserved by Burns, Cromek’s Select Scotish Songs, II, 196 (see the preface to No 212), seem to belong to this ballad.