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

NOTES
ON
LAIRD OF OCHILTREE.
But he pou'd out a ribbonfrae his pouch,
And snooded up her hair p. 161, v. 5.
His conduct would lead us to suppose that he had
rather unsnooded her hair : the snood, or head-lace, be-
ing a fillet of ribbon used as a band for the hair, pro-
perly belonging to unmarried females; and, like the
English garland, was once viewed as an emblem of
purity, though it has now lost that distinguishing cha-
racter, being worn by all classes of women, and indeed,
has become so degraded, as to be usually worn by fe-
males of the worst description. This was not the case
formerly; for so soon as a young woman had " tint
her snood," or, in other words, had lost the title of a
maid, she was no longer permitted to wear that em-