+The Text+ is derived, with trivial alterations, from Herd's MSS. In the
first edition of the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, Scott says the
principal copy he employed was one 'apparently of considerable
antiquity' among the papers of Mrs. Cockburn; he also made use of Herd's
MS. and the Glenriddell MS. In the second edition of the _Minstrelsy_ he
made further additions, including one of three stanzas between 52 and 58
of the present version, which makes reference to an earlier Sir Walter
Scott.
+The Story+ of this Scots outlaw makes tame reading after those which
precede it in this volume. The ballad was inserted at the end of Child's
collection only because he preferred 'to err by including rather than
excluding.' He adds, 'I am convinced that it did not begin its existence
as a popular ballad, and I am not convinced that (as Scott asserts) it
has been for ages a popular song in Selkirkshire.' Nevertheless, it
undoubtedly gained a place in popular tradition; and this, while
entitling it to a place here, renders the elaborate historical
investigation, to which it has been submitted since Child's edition,
a waste of erudition and ingenuity.