"I'll set my foot in a bottomless ship, I'll set my foot in a bottomless ship, "What wilt thou leave to thy poor wife? Son Davie ! son Davie!" "Grief and sorrow all her life, And she'll never get mair frae me, O.” "What wilt thou leave to thy young son? Son Davie son Davie!" "The weary warld to wander up and down, And he'll never get mair o' me, O." "What wilt thou leave to thy mother dear? Son Davie ! son Davie !" "A fire o' coals to burn her wi' hearty cheer, And she'll never get mair o' me, O.” EDWARD! EDWARD! This has been well called a "terrible ballad." It is here reprinted from Percy's Reliques-somewhat modernised in the spelling, but not otherwise altered from the form in which it was communicated by Lord Hailes, its supposed adapter. "WHY does your brand sae drap wi' blude? "O! I hae killed my hawk sae gude, Mither! mither! O! I hae killed my hawk sae gude "Your hawk's blude was never so red, Edward! Edward! Your hawk's blude was never so red, "O! I hae killed my red roan steed, Mither! mither! O! I hae killed my red roan steed, "Your steed was auld, and ye hae got mair, Edward Edward! Your steed was auld, and ye hae got mair, Some other dule ye drie, O." "O! I hae killed my father dear, Mither mither! O! I hae killed my father dear, Alas, and wae is me, O." "And whatten penance will ye drie for that? Edward Edward! And whatten penance will ye drie for that? My dear son, now tell me, O." "I'll set my feet in yonder boat, Mither! mither! I'll set my feet in yonder boat. "And what will ye do wi' your towers and your ha'? Edward! Edward! And what will ye do wi' your towers and your ha', That were sae fair to see, O?" "I'll let them stand till they doun fa', Mither! mither! I'll let them stand till they doun fa', And what will ye leave to your bairns and your wife? Edward! Edward! And what will ye leave to your bairns and your wife, When ye gang over the sea, O?” "The warld's room, let them beg through life, Mither! mither! The warld's room, let them beg through life, "And what will ye leave to your ain mither dear? Edward! Edward! And what will ye leave to your ain mither dear, My dear son, now tell me, O?" "The curse of hell frae me shall ye bear, Mither! mither! The curse of hell frae me shall ye bear, 66 EDOM O' GORDON. The stronghold of the Gordons was in Berwickshire; and Edom or Adam Gordon, deputy for his brother the Earl of Huntly, in one of his ravaging forays, killed Arthur Forbes, brother to Lord Forbes. Not long afterwards he summoned" the house of Rodes, near Dunse, in Berwickshire, which belonged to Alexander Forbes, then absent from home. The lady refused to surrender, without the sanction of her husband; upon which Adam Gordon set fire to the castle. The lady, together with her children and servants, twenty-seven persons in all, perished in the flames. The facts are related by Spottiswoode in his "History of the Church of Scotland." IT fell about the Martinmas, When the wind blew shrill and cauld, "And what a hauld sall we draw till, We wull gae to the house o' the Rodes, The lady stood on her castle wa', "O see ye not, my merry men a'? * "Hauld:" hold. She weened it had been her luvely lord, It was the traitor Edom o' Gordon, She had nae sooner buskit hirsel, But Edom o' Gordon and his men They had nae sooner supper set, The lady ran up to her tower head, To see if by her fair speechès But whan he saw this lady safe And his look was all aghast. "Come down to me, ye lady gay, Come down, come down to me; This night sall ye lig within mine arms, To-morrow my bride sall be." "I winna come down, ye false Gordon, I winna come down to thee; I winna forsake my ain dear lord, |