OHNIE OF BREADISLEE. This is styled by Sir Walter Scott" an ancient Nithsdale ballad," the hero of which appears to have been an outlaw and deer-stealer; probably one of the broken men residing upon the border. It is sometimes said that he possessed the old castle of Morton, in Dumfries-shire, now ruinous :-"Near to this castle there was a park, built by Sir Thomas Randolph, on the face of a very great and high hill; so artificially, that, by the advantage of the hill, all wild beasts, such as deers, harts, and roes, and hares, did easily leap in, but could not get out

again; and if any other cattle, such as cows, sheep, or goats, did voluntarily leap in, or were forced to do it, it is doubted if their owners were permitted to get them out again." But the date of Johnie's history must be very remote, for the scene of his exploits has been reduced from the condition of a deer-forest to that of a cultivated domain from a time" beyond the memory of tradition." There are several versions of the ballad; the one we have selected is that printed by Sir Walter Scott" from the different copies." Mr. Motherwell reprints it, but gives also these fragments of a more ancient composition, entitled "Johnie of Braidisbank :".

Johnie rose up on a May morning,

Called for water to wash his hands; And he's awa' to Braidisbanks,

To ding the dun deer down.

Johnie lookit east, and Johnie lookit west,
And it's lang before the sun';
And there did he spy the dun deer lie,
Beneath a bush of brume.

Johnie shot, and the dun deer lap,

And he's wounded her in the side;

Out then spake his sister's son,

And the neist will lay her pride.'

They 've eaten sae mickle o' the gude venison,
And they've drunken sae muckle o' the blude;
That they've fallen into as sound a sleep,

As gif that they were dead.

It's doun, and it's doun, and it's doun, doun,
And it's doun amang the scroggs;
And there ye 'll espy twa bonny boys lie,
Asleep amang their dogs.

They 've waukened Johnie out o' his sleep,

And he's drawn to him his coat ;

My fingers five save me alive,

And a stout heart fail me not!'

Mr. Motherwell gives also the music to which the old ballad was sung:

And Mr. Motherwell suggests the introduction of the following beautiful stanza (preserved by Mr. Finlay), after the nineteenth stanza in the printed copy. It is, as

Another tradition, according to Motherwell, assigns Braid, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, to have been the scene of the "woful hunting;"-" and," writes Mr. Cunningham, "Breadeslee, near Lochmaben, has been pointed out as the more probable residence of the hero of the song; and the scenery in the neighbourhood, and the traditions of the country, countenance the supposition."