Then wake (for well thou can’st) that wond’rous lay,
  How, while around the thoughtless matrons sleep,
  Soft o’er the floor the treacherous fairies creep,
  And bear the smiling infant far away: 
  How starts the nurse, when, for her lovely child,
  She sees at dawn a gaping idiot stare! 
  O snatch the innocent from demons vilde,
  And save the parents fond from fell despair! 
  In a deep cave the trusty menials wait,
  When from their hilly dens, at midnight’s hour,
  Forth rush the airy elves in mimic state,
  And o’er the moon-light heath with swiftness scour: 
  In glittering arms the little horsemen shine;
  Last, on a milk-white steed, with targe of gold,
  A fay of might appears, whose arms entwine
  The lost, lamented child! the shepherds bold[75]
  The unconscious infant tear from his unhallowed hold.

[Footnote 75:  For an account of the Fairy superstition, see Introduction to the Tale of Tamlane.]

MINSTRELSY
OF THE
SCOTTISH BORDER.

PART FIRST.

* * * * *

HISTORICAL BALLADS.

SIR PATRICK SPENS.

* * * * *

One edition of the present ballad is well known; having appeared in the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, and having been inserted in almost every subsequent collection of Scottish songs.  But it seems to have occurred to no editor, that a more complete copy of the song might be procured.  That, with which the public is now presented, is taken from two MS. copies,[76] collated with several verses recited by the editor’s friend, Robert Hamilton, Esq. advocate, being the 16th, and the four which follow.  But, even with the assistance of the common copy, the ballad seems still to be a fragment.  The cause of Sir Patrick Spens’ voyage is, however, pointed out distinctly; and it shews, that the song has claim to high antiquity, as referring to a very remote period in Scottish history.

[Footnote 76:  That the public might possess this carious fragment as entire as possible, the editor gave one of these copies, which seems the most perfect, to Mr. Robert Jamieson, to be inserted in his Collection.]

Alexander III. of Scotland died in 1285; and, for the misfortune of his country, as well as his own, he had been bereaved of all his children before his decease.  The crown of Scotland descended upon his grand-daughter, Margaret, termed, by our historians, the Maid of Norway.  She was the only offspring of a marriage betwixt Eric, king of Norway, and Margaret, daughter of Alexander III.  The kingdom had been secured to her by the parliament of Scotland, held at Scone, the year preceding her grandfather’s death.  The regency of Scotland entered into a congress with the ministers of the king of Norway and