There is nae room at my twa sides,

For a lady to lie and sleep.

“But gae hame, gae hame, now, May Margaret, Gae hame and sew your seam;

For if ye were laid in your weel-made bed,

Your days will nae be lang.”

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145

10

LORD WA'YATES AND AULD INGRAM.

A FRAGMENT. See p. 72.

Jamieson's Popular Ballads, ii. 265.

"From Mr. Herd's MS., transmitted by Mr. Scott.”

LADY MAISERY was a lady fair,

She made her mother's bed:
Auld Ingram was an aged knight,
And her he sought to wed.

"Its I forbid ye, auld Ingram,
For to seek me to spouse;

For Lord Wa'yates, your sister's son,
Has been into my bowers.

"Its I forbid ye, auld Ingram,

For to seek me to wed

For Lord Wa'yates, your sister's son,
Has been into my bed."

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15

20

25

He has brocht to this ladie

The robis of the brown ;

And ever,

"Alas!" says this ladie, "Thae robes will put me down.”

And he has brocht to that ladie

The robis of the red;

And ever, 66
Alas!" says that ladie,
"Thae robes will be my dead."

And he has brocht to that ladie

The chrystal and the laumer; Sae has he brocht to her mither The curches o' the cannel.

Every ane o' her seven brethren
They had a hawk in hand,
And every lady in the place
They got a goud garland.

Every cuik in that kitchen

They got a noble claith ;

A' was blyth at auld Ingram's coming,
But Lady Maisery was wraith.

"Whare will I get a bonny boy,
Wad fain win hose and shoon,
That wad rin on to my Wa'yates,
And quickly come again ?”

"Here am I, a bonny boy,

Wad fain win hose and shoon;

Wha will rin on to your Wa'yates,

And quickly come again.”

30

35

40

"Ye'll bid him, and ye'll pray him baith,

Gin ony prayer may dee,

To Marykirk to come the morn,

My weary wadding to see.”

Lord Wa'yates lay o'er his castle wa',

Beheld baith dale and down;

And he beheld a bonny boy

Come running to the town.

"What news, what news, ye bonny boy? What news hae ye to me?

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50

?"

"Your ladie's faulds are neither brunt,

55

Nor is your Maisery lichter yet

Nor are her towers won;

O' a dear dochter or son:

"But she bids you, and she prays you baith,

Gin ony prayer can dee,

To Mary Kirk to come the morn,

Her weary wadding to see.”

He dang the buird up wi' his fit,

Sae did he wi' his knee

The silver cup, that was upon't,

I' the fire he gar'd it flee :

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65

"O whatten a lord in a' Scotland Dare marry my Maisery?

"O it is but a feeble thocht,

To tell the tane and nae the tither;

70

O it is but a feeble thocht

To tell it's your ain mither's brither."

"Its I will send to that wadding,

And I will follow syne,

The fitches o' the fallow deer,

And the gammons o' the swine;

And the nine hides o' the noble cow

'Twas slain in season time.

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And till the kirk she wadna gae,

Nor tillt she wadna ride,

Till four-and-twenty men she gat her before,

And twenty on ilka side,

And four-and-twenty milk white dows,

To flee aboon her head.

A loud lauchter gae Lord Wa'yates,

'Mang the mids o' his men ;

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