+The Text+ of this popular and excellent ballad is given from the
Jamieson-Brown MS. It was copied, with wilful alterations, into Scott's
Abbotsford MS. called _Scottish Songs_. Professor Child prints sixteen
variants of the ballad, nearly all from manuscripts.
+The Story+ of the duel with the Italian is given with more detail in
other versions. In two ballads from Motherwell's MS., where 'the
Italian' becomes 'the Tailliant' or 'the Talliant,' the champion jumps
over Johney's head, and descends on the point of Johney's sword. This
exploit is paralleled in a Breton ballad, where the Seigneur Les Aubrays
of St. Brieux is ordered by the French king to combat his wild Moor, who
leaps in the air and is received on the sword of his antagonist. Again,
in Scottish tradition, James Macgill, having killed Sir Robert Balfour
about 1679, went to London to procure his pardon, which Charles +II.+
offered him on the condition of fighting an Italian gladiator. The
Italian leaped once over James Macgill, but in attempting to repeat this
manoeuvre was spitted by his opponent, who thereby procured not only his
pardon, but also knighthood.