Pieces of Runic Poetry, 1703, 8vo. Compare the original passage in Giraldus, as given
by Sir John Hawkins, i. 408, and by Dr. Burney, ii. 108, who are both at a loss to
account for this peculiarity, and therefore doubt the fact. The credit of Giraldus, which
hath been attacked by some partial and bigoted antiquaries, the reader will find
defended in that learned and curious work, "Antiquities of Ireland, by Edward
Ledwich, LL.D. &c., of Dublin, 1790," 4to, p. 207, & seqq.
- This line being quoted from memory, and given as old Scottish poetry is now
usually printed (see Note at the end of the Glossary), would have been readily
corrected by the copy published in "Scottish Songs," 1794, 2 vols. 12mo, i. p. 267,
thus (though apparently corrupted from the Scottish idiom),
"Live you upo' the Border?"had not all confidence been destroyed by its being altered in the"Historical
Essay"prefixed to that publication (p. cx.) to
"Ye live upo' the Border,"the better to favour a position, that many of the Pipers "might live upon the border, for
the conveniency of attending fairs, &c., in both kingdoms." But whoever is
acquainted with that part of England, knows that on the English frontier, rude
mountains and barren wastes reach almost across the island, scarcely inhabited by any
but solitary shepherds, many of whom durst not venture into the opposite border on
account of the ancient feuds and subsequent disputes concerning the Debatable Lands,
which separated the boundaries of the two kingdoms, as well as the estates of the two
great families of Percy and Douglas, till these disputes were settled, not many years
since, by arbitration between the present Lord Douglas and the late Duke and Duchess
of Northumberland.