English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II

Linenotes have been grouped at the end of each ballad. Linenote anchors have been added to the text which provide a link to the appropriate note.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by Little, Brown and Company, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.



The two following ballads have the same subject, and perhaps had a common original. The Briton Glaskyrion is honourably mentioned as a harper by Chaucer, in company with Chiron, Orion, and Orpheus, ( House of Fame , B. iii. v. 118,) and with the last he is also associated, as Mr. Finlay has pointed out, by Bishop Douglas, in the Palice of Honour . The Scottish writers, says Jamieson, adapting the name to their own meridian, call him Glenkindy, Glenskeenie, &c.
Glasgerion is reprinted from Percy's Reliques , iii. 83.
Glasgerion was a kings owne sonne, And a harper he was goode; He harped in the kings chambere, Where cuppe and caudle stoode,

And soe did hee in the queens chambere,5 Till ladies waxed wood,