A collection of ancient and modern Scottish ballads, etc

30i
CANTO II. *
But there had been malr blood and skaititj.
Sair harship and great spulie,
And mony a ane had gotten his death
By this unsonsy tooly.
But that the bauld good-wife of Baithj
Arm'd wi' a great kail-gully.
Came bellyflaught, t and loot an aith.
She'd gar them a' be hooly j
Fou fast that day.
* To this Canto Ramsay has the following observations :—
** The King having painted the rustic squabble with an uncommon
spirit, in a most ludicrous manner, in a stanza of
verse the most difficult to keep the sense complete, as he has
done, without being forced to bring the words for crambo's
sake, where they return so frequently ; I have presumed to
imitate his Majesty in continuing the laughable scene. Ambitious
to imitate so great an original, I put a stop to the war,
called a congress, and made them sign a peace, that the world
might have their picture in the more agreeable hours of
drinking, dancing, and singing.—The following Cantos were
written, the one in lTi5, the other in 1718; about 300 years
after the first. Let no worthy poet despair of immortality
good sense will be always the same, in spite of the revolutions
of fashion, and the change of language."
This and the following Canto are given from Ramsay's
Poems, 2 vols. Lond. 1800. The notes, with a few exceptions,
are also taken from the same source
f Came in great haste, as it were flying full upon them
with her arms full spread, as a falcon with expanded wing^
comes sousing upon her prey.
t Desist immediately.
; =