Note 107 — 305

“The feud betwixt the Outlaw and the Scots may serve to explain the asperity with which the chieftain of that clan is handled in the ballad.” Were it not for these words in Scott’s preface, I should have been inclined to think that this humorous episode came from the hand of the editor of ‘Kinmont Willie.’ It is quite in Scott’s way, and also in contrast with the tone of the rest of the narrative. If the author of the ballad was capable of this smartness, he ought to have been aware that the Outlaw (not to say the king), after all his bluster, cuts a ridiculously tame figure in the conclusion. I now observe that the line ‘Wi fire and sword we’ll follow thee’ is in A a, 522, and nearly the same in c; which suggests that something may have been lost in the MS.