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

NOTE
LAIRD OF BLACKWOOD.
And Blackwood whisper d in my loirfs ear— p. 57 v. 1
In Mr. Finlay's copy, this line runs
But his blackie whisper d in my lord's ear;
and in a note upon this line he says, " One copy bears
black-bird, and in another a fause bird. The blackie
or black servant, seems however, the most likely agent
of the three." There seems to be no good reason for
this supposition, even admitting that negroes were
used in Scotland, as attendants on the great, so early
as the period assigned by Mr. Finlay, for the date of
the ballad. May it not rather be presumed, that blackie
is merely the familiar abbreviation of Blackwood; for
it is a common practice in Scotland, to call proprietors
by the name of their estates, which is often familiarly
.