James cam' before the Outlaw kene,
And serv'd him in his ain degree-
'Welcum, James Pringle of Torsonse!
What message frae the king to me?'

'He bids ye mete him at Permanscore,
And bring four in your cumpanie;
Five erles sall gang himsel' befor,
Nae mair in number will he be.

'And, gif you refuse to do that,
(I freely here upgive wi' thee)
He'll cast yon bonnie castle down,
And make a widowe o' that gay ladye.

'He'll loose yon bluidhound borderers,
Wi' fire and sword to follow thee;
There will nevir a Murray, after thysel',
Have land in Ettricke Foreste frie.'

'It stands me hard,' the Outlaw said;
'Judge gif it stands na hard wi' me;
Wha reck not losing of mysel',

But a' my offspring after me.

My merryemen's lives, my widowe's teirsThere lies the pang that pinches me; When I am straught in bluidie eard,

Yon castell will be right dreirie.

'Auld Halliday, young Halliday,
Ye sall be twa to gang wi' me;
Andrew Murray, and Sir James Murray,
We'll be nae mae in cumpanie.'

When that they cam' before the king, They fell befor him on their knee'Grant mercie, mercie, nobil king!

E'en for his sake that dyed on trie.

'Sicken like mercie sall ye have; On gallows ye sall hangit be!'

'Over God's forbode,' quo' the Outlaw then, 'I hope your grace will bettir be! Else, ere you come to Edinburgh port, I trow thin guarded sall ye be:

'Thir landis of Ettricke Foreste feir,
I wan them from the enemie;
Like as I wan them, sae will I keep them,
Contrair a' kingis in Christentie.”

All the nobilis the king about,

Said pitie it were to see him dee'Yet graunt me mercie, sovereign prince! Extend your favour unto me!

'I'll give thee the keys of my castell,
Wi' the blessing o' my gaye ladye,
Gin thou❜lt make me sheriffe of this foreste,
And a' my offspring after me.'

'Wilt thou give me the keys of thy castell,
Wi' the blessing of thy gaye ladye?
I'se make thee sheriffe of Ettricke Foreste,
Surely while upward grows the trie;
If you be not traitour to the king,

Forfaulted sall thou nevir be.'

men?

'But, prince, what sall cum o' my
When I gae back, traitour they'll ca' me;

I had rather lose my life and land,
Ere my merryemen rebuked me.'

'Will your merryemen amend their lives?
And a' their pardons I grant thee-
Now, name thy landis where'er they lie,
And here I render them to thee.'

'Fair Philiphaugh is mine by right,
And Lewinshope still mine shall be;
Newark, Foulshiells, and Tinnies baith,
My bow and arrow purchased me.

'And I have native steads to me,

The Newark Lee and Hangingshaw;
I have mony steads in the foreste shaw,
But them by name I dinna knaw.'

The keys o' the castell he gave the king,
Wi' the blessing o' his feir ladye;
He was made sheriffe of Ettricke Foreste,
Surely while upward grows the trie;
And if he was na traitour to the king,
Forfaulted he suld nevir be.

Wha ever heard, in ony times,
Sicken an outlaw in his degree,
Sic favour get befor a king,

As did the Outlaw Murray of the foreste frie?

['The tradition of Ettrick Forest bears, that the Outlaw was a man of prodigious strength, possessing a baton or club, with which he laid lee (i. e., waste) the country for many miles round; and that he was at length slain by Buccleuch, or some of his clan, at a little mount, covered with fir-trees, adjoining to Newark Castle, and said to have been a part of the garden. A varying tradition bears the place of his death to have been near to the house of the Duke of Buccleuch's game-keeper, beneath the castle; and that the fatal arrow was shot by Scott of Haining, from the ruins of a cottage on the opposite side of the Yarrow. This castle is by the common people supposed to have been the scene of the tale. This is highly improbable, because Newark was always a royal fortress. Indeed, Mr. Plummer remembered the insignia of the unicorns, &c., so often mentioned in the ballad, in existence upon the old tower at Hangingshaw, the seat of the Philiphaugh family. This tower has been demolished for many years. It stood in a romantic and solitary situation on the classical banks of the Yarrow. When the mountains around Hangingshaw were covered with the wild copse which constitutes a Scottish forest, a more secure stronghold for an outlawed baron can hardly be imagined.'

In the verse commencing Fair Philiphaugh,' and the following, the ceremony of feudal investiture is supposed to be gone through, by the Outlaw resigning his possessions into the hands of the king, and receiving them back to be held of him as superior. The lands of Philiphaugh are still possessed by the Outlaw's representative. Hangingshaw and Lewinshope were sold of late years. Newark, Foulshiels, and Tinnies, have long belonged to the family of Buccleuch.-SCOTT.]

[The story of the Wandering Jew is of considerable antiquity. Several persons have at various times assumed the name and character, all but one of whom must of course have been impostors. An account of them may be seen in Calmet, Dictionary of the Bible.' The story that is told in the following ballad,' says Dr Percy, is of one who appeared at Hamburgh in 1547, and pretended he had been a Jewish shoemaker at the time of Christ's crucifixion.' The ballad itself, however, the Dr. thinks to be of later date.' He printed it in his Reliques,' from a black-letter copy in the Pepys Collection. The present version is chiefly that of Percy, compared, however, with, and in some few instances altered according to, two broadsides in the British Museum; one of which has the following title:The Wandering Jew: or, the Shoemaker of Jerusalem. Who lived when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was crucified, and appointed by him to live till his coming again. Tune, The Lady's Fall. Printed by and for W. [illiam] O. [nley], and sold by the Booksellers at Pye Corner and London-Bridge.' At the end of each stanza is the following moral burden:'

Repent therefore, O England!
Repent whilst you have space;
And do not, like this wicked Jew,
Despise God's proffered grace."]

HEN as in fair Jerusalem

Our Saviour Christ did live,

And for the sins of all the world

His own dear life did give;

The wicked Jews with scoffs and scorns

Did dailye him molest,

That never till he left his life,

When they had crown'd his head with thorns, And scourg'd him with disgrace,

In scornful sort they led him forth

Unto his dying place;

Where thousands thousands in the street

Beheld him pass along,

Yet not one gentle heart was there,

That pittyd this his wrong.

Both old and young reviled him,
As in the street he went,

And nought he found but churlish taunts,
By every one's consent :

His owne deare crosse he bore himself,
A burthen far too great,

Which made him in the street to faint,

With blood and water-sweat.

Being weary thus, he sought for rest,
To ease his burthened soul,
Upon a stone; the which a wretch
Did churlishly controul;

And sayd, Away! thou king of Jews,

Thou shalt not rest thee here;

Pass on; thy execution place

Thou seest, now draweth neare.

And thereupon he thrust him thence;
At which our Saviour said,

I sure will rest, but thou shalt walk,
And have no journey stayd.
With that this cursed shoemaker,
For offering Christ this wrong,
Left wife and children, house and all,
And went from thence along.

Where after he had seen the blood
Of Jesus Christ thus shed,
And to the cross his bodye nail'd,
Away with speed he fled,
Without returning back again

Unto his dwelling place,

And wandereth up and down the world,