best exemplified by a brief analysis of the first. Walter
Soott published in "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border" a balled entitled "Jamie Telfer of the Fair Dodhead." It relates how Jamie Telfer had his cattle lifted by raiders from England, and how he ran for help, got it from the Scotts of Branxholm, and recovered his cattle. But there is another form of the ballad— the MS. is still in existence, whereas the Scott form is not—in which the rescue is attributed to the Elliots. Lieut.-Colonel Elliot shows that the details of the second are consistent with facts, and that those of the first are not. He also subjects the language of the two to a close examination, and makes out a good case for the theory that it shows the marks of a literary handling. The conclusion is that this handling had for its object the glorification of the Scotts. Colonel Elliot remarks that the genuine ballad never glorifies clans, but always individuals. It is an instructive specimen of criticism. The same may be said of the other papers.
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