Then up and spak the wily nurse, The bairn upon her knee: 'If it be come frae Gil Morrice, It's dear welcome to me.' Compare this with the second verse of _Sir Patrick Spence_: O up and spak an eldern knight, Sat at the king's right knee, &c. The messenger replies to the nurse: 'Ye lied, ye lied, ye filthy nurse, Sae loud I heard ye lie,' &c. Identical with Sir Patrick's answer to the taunt of the Norwegian lords: 'Ye lie, ye lie, ye liars loud, Fu' loud I hear ye lie.' When the youth has been slain by Lord Barnard, the lady explains that he was her son, and exclaims: 'To me nae after days nor nichts Will e'er be saft or kind; I'll fill the air wi' heavy sighs, And greet till I am blind.' How nearly is this the same with the doleful complaint of the wounded knight in _Hardyknute_! 'To me nae after day nor night Can e'er be sweet or fair,' &c. Lord Barnard pours out his contrition to his wife: 'With waefu' wae I hear your plaint, Sair, sair I rue the deed, That e'er this cursed hand of mine Had garred his body bleed.' 'Garred his body bleed' is a quaint and singular expression: it occurs in _Hardyknute_, and nowhere else: 'To lay thee low as horse's hoof, My word I mean to keep:' Syne with the first stroke e'er he strake, He garred his body bleed. Passages and phrases of one poem appear in another from various causes--plagiarism and imitation; and in traditionary lore, it is easy to understand how a number of phrases might be in general use, as part of a common stock. But the parallel passages above noted are confined to a particular group of ballads--they are not to such an extent _beauties_ as to have been produced by either plagiarism or imitation; it is submitted that they thus appear by an overwhelmingly superior likelihood as the result of a common authorship in the various pieces.