ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCOTTISH BALLADS

In the ballad of "Annan Water" (*Border Minstrelsy*, vol. iii.) is the following verse:— "O he has pour'd aff his dapperpy coat, The silver buttons glanced bonny; The waistcoat bursted aff his breast, He was sae full of melancholy." A very unexpected effect of sorrow, but one that does not seem to be unprecedented. "A plague of sighing and grief," says Falstaff. "It blows a man up like a bladder." A remarkable illustration of Falstaff's assertion, and of the Scottish ballad, is to be found in this *Saga of Egil Skallagrimson*. Bodvar, the son of Egil, was wrecked on the coast of Iceland. His b…