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64 THE CLERK'S TWA SONS 0' OW8ENFORD.
The natural desire of men to hear more of characters in whom they have become strongly interested, has frequently stimulated the attempt to continue successful fictions, and such supplements are proverbially unfortunate. A ballad-singer would have powerful inducements to gratify this passion of his audience, and he could most economically efiect the object by stringing two ballads together. When a tale ended tragically, the sequel must of necessity be a ghost-story, and we have already had, in Clerk Saunders, an instance of this combination. Mr. Chambers has furnished the best possible reasons for believing that the same process has taken place in the case of the present ballad, and that the two parts, (which occur separately,) having originally had no connection, were arbitrarily united, to suit the purposes of some unscrupulous rhap-sodist. |
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PART FIRST.
0 I will sing to you a sang,
Will grieve your heart full sair ; How the Clerk's twa sons o' Owsenford
Have to learn some unco lear.
They hadna been in fair Parish 5
A twelvemonth and a day, Till the Clerk's twa sons fell deep in love
Wi' the Mayor's dauchters twae.
And aye as the twa clerks sat and wrote, The ladies sewed and sang; io |
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