The first notice in print of this precious specimen of the unspoiled traditional ballad is in Ritson's Scotish Song, 1794, i, xxxvi, note 25. Before this, 1780, a lady of Carlisle had sent a copy to Percy (A). Scott, 1802, was the first to publish the ballad, selecting "the stanzas of greatest merit" from several copies which were in his hands.
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