Ancient Scottish ballads, recovered from tradition, and never before ...

Xll
of the ballad poetry of the North, he con-
ceived it would have been improper to ex-
clude any piece, merely because it may have
been previously published in another form; es-
pecially as it showed the state in which tra-
ditionary poetry has been preserved in that
quarter. But, as it was also " the original de-
sign of the Editor," (to use the words of Mr.
Jamieson, while engaged in a similar pursuit,)
" in making this compilation, to select not on-
ly such hitherto unpublished pieces as were
entitled, by their own intrinsic merit, independ-
ent of other considerations, to the notice of the
public; but such also as, by differing material-
ly from the copies already given to the world,
(even when that difference exhibited no exam-
ples of superior excellence,) contributed to il-
lustrate the state of traditionary poetry in ge-
neral, and of ballad poetry in Scotland in par-
ticular; there will be found in this work seve-
ral popular ditties, the stories of which are al-
ready known to the admirers of such things,
although they here appear in a dress entirely