“ John Major (q.v.) in his Latin History speaks of “one Henry, blind from his birth, who, in the time of my childhood, fashioned a whole book about William Wallace, and therein wrote down in our popular verse—and this was a kind of composition in which he had much skill—all that passed current among the people in his day. ”

“ The poem appears, on the authority of Laing, to have been printed at the press of Chepman & Myllar about 1508, but the fragments which Laing saw are not extant. The first complete edition, now available, was printed by Lekprevik for Henry Charteris in 1570 (Brit. Museum) . It was reprinted by Charteris in 1594 and 1601, and by Andro Hart in 1611 and 1620. At least six other editions appeared in the 17th century. There are many later reprints, including some of William Hamilton of Gilbertfield’s modern Scots version of 1722. ”