The topography of traditional ballads frequently presents difficulties, both because it is liable to be changed, wholly, or, what is more embarrassing, partially, to suit a locality to which a ballad has been transported, and again because unfamiliar names, when not exchanged, are exposed to corruption. Some of the places, also, have not a dignity which entitles them to notice in gazetteers. The first point, in the case before us, would be to settle the whereabouts of the House of Marr, in the vicinity of which the scene is laid. This I am unable to do. There is a Ballechin in Logierait Parish, Perthshire. There is said to be a Baleichan in Forfarshire.[94] It is not easy to see why the heir of either of these places (Buleighan and the rest may stand for either) should wish to have his body taken to Loch Largon in Invernesshire, if Loch Largon means Loch Laggan, as seems likely.[95] Translated by Knortz, Schottische Balladen, p. 79, after Aytoun. * * * * * 1 O heard ye of Sir James the Rose, The young heir of Buleighen? For he has killd a gallant squire, An ‘s friends are out to take him. 2 Now he’s gone to the House of Marr, Where the nourrice was his leman; To see his dear he did repair, Thinking she would befriend him. 3 ‘Where are you going, Sir James?’ she says, ‘Or where now are you riding?’ ‘O I am bound to a foreign land, For now I’m under hiding. 4 ‘Where shall I go? Where shall I run? Where shall I go to hide me? For I have killd a gallant squire, And they’re seeking to slay me.’ 5 ‘O go ye down to yon ale-house, And I’ll pay there your lawing; And, if I be a woman true, I’ll meet you in the dawing.’ 6 ‘I’ll not go down to yon ale-house, For you to pay my lawing; There’s forty shillings for one supper, I’ll stay in ‘t till the dawing.’ 7 He’s turnd him right and round about And rowd him in his brechan, And he has gone to take a sleep, In the lowlands of Buleighen. 8 He was not well gone out of sight, Nor was he past Milstrethen, Till four and twenty belted knights Came riding oer the Leathen. 9 ‘O have you seen Sir James the Rose, The young heir of Buleighen? For he has killd a gallant squire, And we’re sent out to take him.’ 10 ‘O I have seen Sir James,’ she says, ‘For he past here on Monday; If the steed be swift that he rides on, He’s past the gates of London.’ 11 But as they were going away, Then she calld out behind them; ‘If you do seek Sir James,’ she says, ‘I’ll tell you where you’ll find him. 12 ‘You’ll seek the bank above the mill, In the lowlands of Buleighen, And there you’ll find Sir James the Rose, Lying sleeping in his brechan. 13 ‘You must not wake him out of sleep, Nor yet must you affright him, Till you run a dart quite thro his heart, And thro the body pierce him.’