-xlvi.). Stanza lxvi. has
At Otterburn begane this spurne,
Upon a Monnynday;
There was the doughte Douglas slean,
The Perse never went away.
This is a form of Herd's stanza xiv. of the English Otterburn
(lxviii.), made soon after the battle. We see that the ORIGINAL ballad
has protean variants; in time all is mixed in tradition.
Now the curious and interesting point is that Hogg, when he collected
the ballad from two reciters, himself noticed that the Cheviot ballad
had merged, in some way, into the Otterburn ballad, and pointed this
out to Scott. I now publish Hogg's letter to Scott, in which, as
usual, he does not give the year-date: I think it was 1805.
ETTRICK HOUSE, Sept. 10, [?1805].
Dear Sir,--Though I have used all diligence in my power to recover the
old song about which you seemed anxious, I am afraid it will arrive too
late to be of any use. I cannot at this time have Grame and Bewick;
the only person who hath it being absent at a harvest; and as for the
scraps of Otterburn which you have got, THEY SEEM TO HAVE BEEN SOME
CONFUSED JUMBLE MADE BY SOME PERSON WHO HAD LEARNED BOTH THE SONGS YOU
HAVE, {79a} AND IN TIME HAD BEEN STRAITENED TO MAKE ONE OUT OF THEM
BOTH.
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