The following very popular ballad has been handed down by tradition in its present imperfect state.  The affecting incident, on which it is founded, is well known.  A lady, of the name of Helen Irving, or Bell,[A] (for this is disputed by the two clans) daughter of the laird of Kirconnell, in Dumfries-shire, and celebrated for her beauty, was beloved by two gentlemen in the neighbourhood.  The name of the favoured suitor was Adam Fleming, of Kirkpatrick; that of the other has escaped tradition; though it has been alleged, that he was a Bell, of Blacket House.  The addresses of the latter were, however, favoured by the friends of the lady, and the lovers were therefore obliged to meet in secret, and by night, in the church-yard of Kirconnell, a romantic spot, surrounded by the river Kirtle.  During one of those private interviews, the jealous and despised lover suddenly appeared on the opposite bank of the stream, and levelled his carabine at the breast of his rival.  Helen threw herself before her lover, received in her bosom the bullet, and died in his arms.  A desperate and mortal combat ensued between Fleming and the murderer, in which the latter was cut to pieces.  Other accounts say, that Fleming pursued his enemy to Spain, and slew him in the streets of Madrid.

[Footnote A:  This dispute is owing to the uncertain date of the ballad; for, although the last proprietors if Kirconnell were Irvings, when deprived of their possession by Robert Maxwell in 1600, yet Kirconnell is termed in old chronicles The Bell’s Tower; and a stone, with the arms of that family, has been found among its ruins.  Fair Helen’s sirname, therefore, depends upon the period at which she lived, which it is now impossible to ascertain.]

The ballad, as now published, consists of two parts.  The first seems to be an address, either by Fleming or his rival, to the lady; if, indeed, it constituted any portion of the original poem.  For the editor cannot help suspecting, that these verses have been the production of a different and inferior bard, and only adapted to the original measure and tune.  But this suspicion, being unwarranted by any copy he has been able to procure, he does not venture to do more than intimate his own opinion.  The second part, by far the most beautiful, and which is unquestionably original, forms the lament of Fleming over the grave of fair Helen.

The ballad is here given, without alteration or improvement, from the most accurate copy which could be recovered.  The fate of Helen has not, however, remained unsung by modern bards.  A lament, of great poetical merit, by the learned historian Mr Pinkerton, with several other poems on this subject, have been printed in various forms.

The grave of the lovers is yet shewn in the church-yard of Kirconnell, near Springkell.  Upon the tomb-stone can still be read—­Hie jacet Adamus Fleming; a cross and sword are sculptured on the stone.  The former is called, by the country people, the gun with which Helen was murdered; and the latter, the avenging sword of her lover. Sit illis terra levis! A heap of stones is raised on the spot where the murder was committed; a token of abhorrence common to most nations.[A]