first magnitude being call

third magnitude a holm.

ed a land, and one of the 36. Cour'd, recover'd.

THE GHAIST'S WARNING.

TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH KÆMPE VISER, p. 721.

By the permission of Mr. Jamieson, this ballad is added from the same curious Collection. It contains some passages of great pathos.

"Under oè."-The original expression has been preserved here and elsewhere, because no other could be found to supply its place. There is just as much meaning in it in the translation as in the original; but it is a standard Danish ballad phrase; and as such, it is hoped, will be allowed to pass.

2 "Fair."-The Dan. and Swed. ven, væn, or venné, and the Gaël. bàn, in the oblique cases bhân (vân,) is the origin of the Scottish bonny which has so much puzzled all the etymologists.

He's married a may, and he's fessen her hame;
But she was a grim and a laidly dame.

When into the castell court drave she,

The seven bairns stood wi' the tear in their ee.

The bairns they stood wi' dule and doubt;-
She up wi' her foot, and she kick'd them out.
Nor ale nor mead to the bairnies she gave:
"But hunger and hate frae me ye's have."

She took frae them the bowster blae,
And said, "Ye sall ligg i' the bare strae!"
She took frae them the groff wax-light:
Says," Now ye sall ligg i' the mark a' night!"
'Twas lang i' the night, and the bairnies grat:
Their mither she under the mools heard that;

That heard the wife under the eard that lay:
"For sooth maun I to my bairnies gae!

יי !

That wife can stand up at our Lord's knee,
And " May I gang and my bairnies see ?"

See prigged sae sair, and she prigged sae lang,

That be at the last ga'e her leave to gang.

"And thou sall come back when the cock does craw;

For thou nae langer sall bide awa."

Wi' her banes sae stark a bowt she gae ;
She's riven baith wa' and marble gray.'

Whan near to the dwalling she can gang,
The dogs they wow'd till the lift it rang.

Whan she came till the castell yett,
Her eldest dochter stood thereat.

1 The original of this and the following stanza is very fine.

"Hun skod op sinè modigè been,

Der revenedè muur og graa marmorsteen.

Der hun gik igennem den by.

De hunde de tudè saa hojt i sky.”

"Why stand ye here, dear dochter mine? How are sma brithers and sisters thine?"

"For sooth ye're a woman baith fair and fine; But ye are nae dear mither of mine."

"Och! how should I be fine or fair?

My cheek it is pale, and the ground's my lair."

Whan he cam till the chalmer in,
Wi' angry mood she said to him:

"I left you routh o' ale and bread;
My bairnies quail for bunger and need.

"I left ahind me braw bowsters blae;
My bairnies are liggin i' the bare strae.

"I left ye sae mony a groff wax-light;
My bairnies ligg i' the mirk a' night.

"Gin aft I come back to visit thee,
Wae, dowy, and weary thy luck shall be."

Up spak little Kirstin in bed that lay :
"To thy bairnies I'll do the best I may."

Aye when they heard the dog nirr and bell,
Sae ga'e they the bairnies bread and ale.

Aye whan the dog did wow, in haste

They cross'd and sain'd themsells frae the ghaist.

Aye whan the little dog yowl'd, with fear

(And O gin I were young!)

They shook at the thought that the dead was near.
(r the greenwood it lists me to ride.)

19. Sma, small.

8. Bowster, bolster; cushion; 22. Lire, complexion.

bed.

Blae, blue.

Strae, straw.

10. Groff, great; large in girt. Mark, mirk; dark.

11. Lang i' the night, late.

Grat, wept.

Mools, mould; earth.

12. Eard, earth.

Gae, go.

14. Prigged, entreated, ear

nestly and perseveringly.

Gang, go.

23. Cauld, cold.

24. Till, to.

Rin, run.

25. Buskit, dressed.

Kem'd, combed.

Tither, the other.

28. Routh, plenty.

Quail, are quelled; die.
Need, want.

29. Ahind, behind.
Braw, brave; fine.
31. Dowy, sorrowful.

33. Nirr, snarl.

Bell, bark.

54. Sained, blessed; literally, signed with the sign of the cross. Before the introduction of Christianity, Runes

were used in saining, as a spell against the power of enchantment and evil genii. Ghaist, ghost.

NOTE L.

Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak,
Our moonlight circle's screen?

Or who comes here to chase the deer,

Beloved of our Elfin Queen ?-P. 472.

It has been already observed, that fairies, if not positively malevolent, are capricious, and easily offended. They are, like other proprietors of forests, peculiarly jealous of their rights of vert and venison, as appears from the cause of offence taken in the original Danish ballad. This jealousy was also an attribute of the northern Duergar, or dwarfs; to many of whose distinctions the fairies seem to have succeeded, if, indeed, they are not the same class of beings. In the huge metrical record of German chivalry, entitled the Helden-Buch, Sir Hildebrand, and the other heroes of whom it treats, are engaged in one of their most desperate adventures, from a rash violation of the rose-garden of an Elfin, or Dwarf King.

There are yet traces of a belief in this worst and most malicious order of Fairies, among the Border wilds. Dr. Leyden has introduced such a dwarf into his ballad entitled the Cout of Keeldar, and has not forgot his characteristic detestation of the chase.

"The third blast that young Keeldar blew,

Still stood the limber fern,

And a wee man, of swarthy hue,
Upstarted by a cairn.

"His russet weeds were brown as heath,
That clothes the upland fell;