ns a servile imitation, which
might pass unnoticed in a crowd of genuine and better ballads; but it is
one of the most spirited and one of the most thoroughly endowed with
individual character in the whole collection. This guilty composition is
known as "The Death of Featherstonhaugh," and begins thus:--

"Hoot awa', lads, hoot awa';
Ha' ye heard how the Ridleys, and Thirlwalls, and a',
Ha' set upon Albany Featherstonhaugh,
And taken his life at the Dead Man's Haugh?
There was Williemoteswick
And Hardriding Dick,
And Hughie of Hawdon, and Will of the Wa',
I canna tell a', I canna tell a',
And many a mair that the deil may knaw.

The auld man went down, but Nicol his son
Ran awa' afore the fight was begun;
And he run, and he run,
And afore they were done
There was many a Featherston gat sic a stun,
As never was seen since the world begun.
I canna tell a', I canna tell a',
Some got a skelp and some got a claw,
But they gar't the Featherstons haud their jaw.
Some got a hurt, and some got nane,
Some had harness, and some got staen."

This imposture, professing to be taken down from the recitation of a
woman eighty years old, was accompanied with some explanatory notes,
characteristic of the dry antiquary, thus: "Hardriding Dick is not an
epithet referring to horsemanship, but means Richard Ridley of
Hardriding, the seat of another family of that name, which, in the time
of Charles I., was sold on account of expenses incurred by the loyalty
of the proprietor, the immediate ancestor of Sir Matthew Ridley. Will o'
the Wa' seems to be William Ridley of Walltown, so called from its
situation on the great Roman wall. Thirlwall Castle, whence the clan of
Thirlwalls derived their name, is situated on the small river of
Tippell, near the western boundary of Northumberland. It is near the
wall, and takes its name from the rampart having been _thirled_--that
is, pierced or breached--in its vicinity."

In the Life of Surtees, the evidence of the crime is thus dryly set
forth, in following up a statement of the transmission of the
manuscript, and of its publication: "Yet all this was a mere figment of
Surtees's imagination, originating probably in some whim of ascertaining
how far he could identify himself with the stirring times, scenes, and
poetical compositions which his fancy delighted to dwell on. This is
proved by more than o