The long pathetic ballad of _Bewick and Grahame_ is a link between the
romantic ballads and the ballads of the Border, _Sir Hugh in the Grime's
Downfall_ connecting the Border ballads with the 'historical' ballads.
The four splendid 'Armstrong ballads' also are mainly 'historical,'
though _Dick o' the Cow_ requires further elucidation. _Kinmont Willie_
is under suspicion of being the work of Sir Walter Scott, who alone of
all ballad-editors, perhaps, could have compiled a ballad good enough to
deceive posterity. We cannot doubt the excellence of _Kinmont Willie_;
but it would be tedious, as well as unprofitable, to collect the hundred
details of manner, choice of words, and expression, which discredit the
authenticity of the ballad.
_John o' the Side_ has not, I believe, been presented to readers in its
present shape before. It is one of the few instances in which the
English version of a ballad is better than the Scottish.