version is in Peter Buchan's "Ancient Ballads of the North."

"Kemp Owyne" is here given from Buchan's "Ballads of the North of
Scotland." Here also Professor F. J. Child has pointed to many
Icelandic, Danish, and German analogies. Allied to "Kemp Owyne" is
the modern ballad of "The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs," written
before 1778 by the Rev. Mr. Lamb of Norham; but the "Laily Worm and
the Machrel of the Sea" is an older cousin to "Kemp Owyne."

"O'er the Water to Charlie" is given by Buchan as the original form of
this one of the many songs made when Prince Charles Edward made his
attempt in 1745-6. The songs worked scraps of lively old tunes, with
some old words of ballad, into declaration of goodwill to the
Pretender.

"Admiral Hosier's Ghost" was written by Richard Glover in 174O to
rouse national feeling. Vice-Admiral Vernon with only six men-of-war
had taken the town of Portobello, and levelled its fortifications.
The place has so dangerous a climate that it is now almost deserted.
Admiral Hosier in 1726 had been, in the same port, with twenty ships,
restrained from attack, while he and his men were dying of fever. He
was to blockade the Spanish ports in the West Indies and capture any
Spanish galleons that came out. He left Porto Bello for Carthagena,
where he cruised about while his men were being swept away by disease.
His ships were made powerless through death of his best officers and
men. He himself at last died, it was said, of a broken heart. Dyer's
ballad pointed the contrast as a reproach to the Government for
half-hearted support of the war, and was meant for suggestion of the
success that would reward vigorous action.