He laughed a laugh of merry scorn:

He turn'd and kiss'd her where she stood.

"If

you are not the heiress born,

And I," said he, "the next in blood

"If you are not the heiress born,
And I," said he, "the lawful heir,
We two will wed to-morrow morn,
And you shall still be Lady Clare."

--

- ALFRED TENNYSON.

17.

LUCY GRAY; OR, SOLITUDE.

OFT I had heard of Lucy Gray:

And, when I crossed the wild,
I chanced to see at break of day
The solitary child.

No mate, no comrade Lucy knew;
She dwelt on a wide moor,

The sweetest thing that ever grew
Beside a human door!

You yet may spy the fawn at play,
The hare upon the green;

But the sweet face of Lucy Gray
Will never more be seen.

"To-night will be a stormy night-
You to the town must go;
And take a lantern, child, to light
Your mother through the snow."

"That, Father! will I gladly do:

'Tis scarcely afternoon —

The minster-clock has just struck two,
And yonder is the moon!"

At this the father raised his hook,
And snapped a faggot-band;

He plied his work; and Lucy took
The lantern in her hand.

Not blither is the mountain roe:
With many a wanton stroke

Her feet disperse the powdery snow,

That rises up like smoke.

The storm came on before its time:
She wandered up and down;

And many a hill did Lucy climb,

But never reached the town.

The wretched parents all that night

Went shouting far and wide;

But there was neither sound nor sight

To serve them for a guide.

At day-break on a hill they stood

That overlooked the moor;

And thence they saw the bridge of wood,

A furlong from their door.

They wept and, turning homeward, cried,

"In heaven we all shall meet!"

When in the snow the mother spied

The print of Lucy's feet.

Then downwards from the steep hill's edge
They tracked the footmarks small;

And through the broken hawthorn hedge,
And by the long stone-wall :

And then an open field they crossed;
The marks were still the same;

They tracked them on, nor ever lost;
And to the bridge they came.

They followed from the snowy bank
Those footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank;

And further there were none!

Yet some maintain that to this day
She is a living child;

That you may see sweet Lucy Gray
Upon the lonesome wild.

O'er rough and smooth she trips along,

And never looks behind;
And sings a solitary song
That whistles in the wind.

NOTES.

No. 1. ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH AND BURIAL.

Robin Hood, a valiant

outlaw, living free and bold in the green forest, and waging frank and open war against sheriff and law, was the most popular of English heroes. "It is he," says an old historian, "whom the common people love so dearly to celebrate in games and comedies, and whose history, sung by fiddlers, interests them more than any other."

Grafton, after having related that Robin Hood “practised robberyes,” etc., adds that "the King beyng greatly offended therewith caused his proclamation to be made that whosoever would bryng him quicke or dead, the King would give him a great summe of money, as by the recordes in the Exchequer is to be seene." But of this promise no man enjoyed any benefit; for as long as he had his bent bow in his hand it was not safe to meddle with the archer good. Time, however, subdued his strength and spirit. Finding the infirmities of old age increase upon him, and “being troubled with a sicknesse, he came to a certain nonry in Yorkshiere called Bircklies, where desiring to be let blood, he was betrayed and bled to death."

Little John. A stalwart fellow, who upon his first meeting with Robin Hood gave him a sound thrashing, and then, being rechristened by him, became one of his staunchest followers. His original name was John Little.

"This infant was called John Little,' quoth he;
'Which name shall be changed anon.

The words we'll transpose, so wherever he goes,
His name shall be called Little John.'"

-Ritson, Robin Hood.

Little John was finally apprehended, and executed on Arbor Hill, Dublin.

1. 9. Kirkley. Bircklies, in Yorkshire.

No. 2. THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL. This ballad, thought by some to be a fragment of a longer one, entitled The Clerk's Twa Sons of Owsenford, was first printed in Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1802. 1. 11. carline. Feminine of the word churl or carl.

1. 17. Martinmas. The feast of St. Martin (November 11th). 1. 20. birk. Birch.

1. 22. sheugh. Shaw, wood, grove.

1. 42. channerin’.

Charcoal.

No. 3. KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT. From Percy's Reliques, "printed from an ancient black-letter copy, to 'The tune of Derry down.'" It seems to have been abridged and modernized about the first of the seventeenth century, from a much older ballad entitled King John and the Bishop.

St. Bittel. St. Botolph.

No. 4. THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY. "This ballad exists in Denmark, and in other European countries. The Scotch have localized it, and point out Blackhouse, on the wild Douglas Burn, a tributary of the Yarrow, as the scene of the tragedy."

No. 5. THE TWA CORBIES.

corbies. Crows.

gowden. Golden.

een.

Eyes.

tane. The one.
theek. Thatch.

An English version contains some additional stanzas, and makes the lady faithful:

No. 6. EDWARD OF THE BLOODY BRAND. Printed with the old Scotch spelling, in Percy's Reliques, where it stated that it was transmitted to the editor by Sir David Dalrymple, Bart., late Lord Hailes." It has also been attributed to Lady Wardlaw.

1. 20. dule you drie. Grief you suffer.

No. 7. BARBARA ALLEN'S CRUELTY. This ballad was first published in the Tea-Table Miscellany, by Allan Ramsey, in 1724. It is republished in Percy's Reliques, with some emendations. That it was in existence long before its publication by Ramsey, is indicated by a reference in Pepys's Diary, January 2, 1665, to "the little Scotch song of Barbary Allen."

"These harmless people had several ways of being good company; for while one played the other would sing some soothing ballad, 'Johnny Armstrong's Last Good-Night,' or 'The Cruelty of Barbara Allen.'" Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield.

No. 8. BURD HELEN. "Adam Fleming, says tradition, loved Helen Irving, or Helen Bell (for this surname is uncertain, as well as the date of the occurrence), daughter of the Laird of Kirconnel in Dumfriesshire.