the stream, and levelled his carabine at the breast of his rival. Helen
threw herself before her lover, received in her bosom the bullet, and
died in his arms. A desperate and mortal combat ensued between Fleming
and the murderer, in which the latter was cut to pieces. Other accounts
say, that Fleming pursued his enemy to Spain, and slew him in the
streets of Madrid.

[Footnote A: This dispute is owing to the uncertain date of the ballad;
for, although the last proprietors if Kirconnell were Irvings, when
deprived of their possession by Robert Maxwell in 1600, yet Kirconnell
is termed in old chronicles _The Bell's Tower;_ and a stone, with the
arms of that family, has been found among its ruins. Fair Helen's
sirname, therefore, depends upon the period at which she lived, which it
is now impossible to ascertain.]

The ballad, as now published, consists of two parts. The first seems to
be an address, either by Fleming or his rival, to the lady; if, indeed,
it constituted any portion of the original poem. For the editor cannot
help suspecting, that these verses have been the production of a
different and inferior bard, and only adapted to the original measure
and tune. But this suspicion, being unwarranted by any copy he has been
able to procure, he does not venture to do more than intimate his own
opinion. The second part, by far the most beautiful, and which is
unquestionably original, forms the lament of Fleming over the grave of
fair Helen.

The ballad is here given, without alteration or improvement, from the
most accurate copy which could be recovered. The fate of Helen has not,
however, remained unsung by modern bards. A lament, of great poetical
merit, by the learned historian Mr Pinkerton, with several other poems