Note 247 — 173 MARY HAMILTON

“In this set of the ballad” [D], says Motherwell, “from its direct allusion to the use of the savin tree, a clue is perhaps afforded for tracing how the poor mediciner mentioned by Knox should be implicated in the crime of Mary Hamilton.” Maidment goes further: “The reference to the use of the savin tree in Motherwell induces a strong suspicion that the lover was a mediciner.” Maidment should have remembered that there is a popular pharmacopœia quite independent of the professional. No apothecary prescribes in ‘Tam Lin.’