Herd ends -
This deed was done at Otterburn,
About the breaking of the day,
Earl Douglas was buried at the bracken bush,
And Percy led captive away.
Manifestly, either the maker of Herd's version knew the English, and
altered at pleasure, or the Englishman knew a Scots version, and
altered at pleasure. The perversion is of ancient standing,
undeniably. But when Scott's original text exhibits the same phenomena
of perversion, in a part of the ballad missing in Herd's brief lay,
Colonel Elliot supposes that NOW the exchanges are by a modern ballad-
forger, shall we say Sir Walter? By Sir Walter they certainly are NOT!
One tiny hint of Scots originality is dubious. In the English, and in
all Scots versions, men "win their hay" at Lammastide. In Scotland the
hay harvest is often much later. But if the English ballad be
NORTHUMBRIAN, little can be made out of that proof of Scottish origin.
If the English version be a southern version (for the minstrel is a
professional), then Lammastide for hay-making is borrowed from the
Scots.
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