Note 143 — 243 JAMES HARRIS (THE DÆMON LOVER)
Reading edition
Carruthers, Abbotsford Notanda, appended to R. Chambers’s Life of Scott, 1871, p. 122.
In the last edition of Sharpe’s Ballad Book (1880), p. 158, we find this note by Scott: “I remember something of another ballad of diablerie. A man sells himself to the fause thief for a term of years, and the devil comes to claim his forfeit. He implores for mercy, or at least reprieve, and, if granted, promises this:
‘And I will show how the lilies grow
On the banks of Italy.’
Satan, being no horticulturist, pays no attention to this proffer.” Scott’s memory seems to have gone quite astray here.