Excerpt from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol. 4 A considerable portion of this eighth number is devoted to texts from Abbotsford. Many Of these were used by Sir walter scott in the compilation of the Minstrelsy Of the Scottish Border; many, again, not less important than the others, did not find a place in that collection. They are now printed either absolutely for the first time, or for the first time without variation from the form in which they were written. All of them, and others which were obtained in season for the Seventh Part, were transcribed with the most conscientious and vigilant care by Mr macmath, who has also identified the handwriting, has searched the numerous volumes Of letters addressed to Sir walter scott for information relating to the contributors and for dates, and has examined the humbler editions Of printed ballads in the Abbotsford library; this without remitting other help. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.