+The Text+ is from the Glenriddell MSS., and is the one on which Sir
Walter Scott based the version given in the _Border Minstrelsy_. Byron
notes in the preface to _Childe Harold_ that 'the good-night in the
beginning of the first canto was suggested by Lord Maxwell's Goodnight
in the Border Minstrelsy.'
+The Story.+--John, ninth Lord Maxwell, killed Sir James Johnstone in
1608; the feud between the families was of long standing (see 3.4),
beginning in 1585. Lord Maxwell fled the country, and was sentenced to
death in his absence. On his return in 1612 he was betrayed by a
kinsman, and beheaded at Edinburgh on May 21, 1613. This was the end of
the feud, which contained cases of treachery and perfidy on both sides.
'Robert of Oarchyardtoun' was Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardton, Lord
Maxwell's cousin.
'Drumlanrig,' 'Cloesburn,' and 'the laird of Lagg' were respectively
named Douglas, Kirkpatrick, and Grierson.
The Maxwells had houses, or custody of houses at Dumfries, Lochmaben,
Langholm, and Thrieve; and Carlaverock Castle is still theirs.
As for Lord Maxwell's 'lady and only joy,' the ballad neglects the fact
that he instituted a process of divorce against her, and that she died,
while it was pending, in 1608, five years before the date of the
'Goodnight.'