desires and dreams.

Of the ballads, The Young Ruthven and The Queen of Spain were
written in competition with the street minstrels of the close of
the sixteenth century. The legend on which The Young Ruthven is
based is well known; The Queen of Spain is the story of the
Florencia, a ship of the Spanish Armada, wrecked in Tobermory Bay,
as it was told to me by a mariner in the Sound of Mull. In Keith
of Craigentolly the family and territorial names of the hero or
villain are purposely altered, so as to avoid injuring
susceptibilities and arousing unavailing regrets.



IN AUGUSTINUM DOBSON--JAM RUDE DONATUM



Dear Poet, now turned out to grass
(Like him who reigned in Babylon),
Forget the seasons overlaid
By business and the Board of Trade:
And sing of old-world lad and lass
As in the summers that are gone.

Back to the golden prime of Anne!
When you ambassador had been,
And brought o'er sea the King again,
Beatrix Esmond in his train,
Ah, happy bard to hold her fan,