He's ta'en out his trusty brand,
And straikt it on the strae,
And through and through Clerk Saunders' side
He's gart it come and gae. [ [24]
Sweet William's Ghost, a fine superstitious ballad, first published in Ramsay's Tea-table Miscellany, 1724, is important as the earliest printed of all the Scottish ballads after the admittedly modern Hardyknute:
There came a ghost to Margaret's door,
With many a grievous groan;
And aye he tirled at the pin,
But answer made she none.
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