This ballad is published from the collation of two copies, obtained from
recitation. It seems to be the rude original, or perhaps a corrupted
and imperfect copy, of _The Child of Elle_, a beautiful legendary tale,
published in the _Reliques of Ancient Poetry_. It is singular, that
this charming ballad should have been translated, or imitated, by the
celebrated Bürger, without acknowledgment of the English original. As
_The Child of Elle_ avowedly received corrections, we may ascribe its
greatest beauties to the poetical taste of the ingenious editor. They
are in the truest stile of Gothic embellishment. We may compare, for
example, the following beautiful verse, with the same idea in an old
romance:
The baron stroked his dark-brown cheek,
And turned his face aside,
To wipe away the starting tear,
He proudly strove to hide!
_Child of Elle._
The heathen Soldan, or Amiral, when about to slay two lovers, relents in
a similar manner:
Weeping, he turned his heued awai,
And his swerde hit fel to grounde.
_Florice and Blauncheflour._