Note 102 — THE BALLAD
Reading edition
It is worth while to quote Gray's praise of this ballad:--"I have got the old Scotch ballad on which 'Douglas' [the well-known tragedy by Home] was founded. It is divine.... Aristotle's best rules are observed in a manner which shows the author never had heard of Aristotle."--Letter to Mason, in 'Works,' ed. Gosse, ii. 316.