—It seems to be a provincial word, according to Forby, and means "an artificial water-course," from A.-S. lodian, haurire; he also adduces the instance I have named, and also a water-course in Fincham, called in old writings "the Lode ditch." It would be interesting to know if it is used elsewhere than in Norfolk, and it may be Suffolk; but, at all events, I should much like to come at the real meaning.
J. N. C.
Ballad quoted by Sir Walter Scott.
—Effie Deans, in the Heart of Mid-Lothian, sings this stanza of a ballad:
"The elfin knight sate on the brae,
The broom grows bonnie, the broom grows fair,
And by there cam' lilting a lady so gay,
And we daurna' gang down to the broom nae mair."
There is a traditional ballad, very similar, of which the following is the only stanza preserved:
"Ae kings dochter said to anither,