[35] This song was formerly introduced in this work (vol. ii. p. 70) as
the composition of the Ettrick Shepherd. The error is not ours; we found
the song in the latest or posthumous edition of the Shepherd's songs, p.
201 (Blackie, Glasgow), and we had no reason to suspect the
authenticity. We have since ascertained that a copy of the song, having
been handed to the Shepherd by the late Mr Peter Roger, of Peebles,
Hogg, with the view of directing attention to the real author,
introduced it shortly after in his _Noctes Bengerianæ_, in the
"Edinburgh Literary Journal" (vol. i. p. 258). Being included in this
periodical paper, the editor of his posthumous works had assumed that
the song was the Shepherd's own composition. So much for uncertainty as
to the authorship of our best songs!