The youngest brother he stepped in,
Took's sister by the hand:

Said, "Here she is, my sister Maisry,

Wi' the hinny draps on her chin.

"O if I were in some bonny ship,
And in some strange countrie,
For to find out some conjurer,
To gar Maisry speak to me!"

20

Then out it speaks an auld woman,
As she was passing by ;

25

"Ask of your sister what you want,

And she will speak to thee.”

"O sister, tell me who is the man,

That did your body win?

30

And who is the wretch, tell me, likewise,

Or will we Bondsey hang?

Or will we set him at our bow end,
Lat arrows at him gang?"

"Ye winna Bondsey head, brothers,
Nor will ye Bondsey hang;
But ye'll take out his twa grey e’en,

Make Bondsey blind to gang.

40

"Ye'll put to the gate a chain o❜ gold,

A rose garland gar make ;

And ye'll put that in Bondsey's head,
A' for your sister's sake."

45

LADY DIAMOND.

From the Percy Society Publications, xvii. 71. The same in Buchan, ii. 206. The ballad is given in Sharpe's Ballad Book, under the title of Dysmal, and by Aytoun, Ballads of Scotland, 2d ed., ii. 173, under that of Lady Daisy. All these names are corruptions of Ghismonda, on whose well-known story (Decamerone, iv. 1, 9) the present is founded. This piece and the next might better have been inserted at p. 347, as

a part of the Appendix to Book III.

THERE was a king, an' a curious king,

An' a king o' royal fame;

He had ae dochter, he had never mair,
Ladye Diamond was her name.

She's fa'en into shame, an' lost her gude name,
An' wrought her parents 'noy ;

An' a' for her layen her luve so low,
On her father's kitchen boy.

Ae nicht as she lay on her bed,

Just thinkin' to get rest,

Up it came her old father,

Just like a wanderin' ghaist.

“Rise up, rise up, ladye Diamond,” he says,

"Rise up, put on your goun;

Rise

up, rise

up, ladye Diamond," he says, "For I fear ye gae too roun'."

"Too roun I gae, yet blame me nae ;
Ye'll cause me na to shame;
For better luve I that bonnie boy

Than a' your weel-bred men."

The king's ca'd up his wa'-wight men,
That he paid meat an' fee:

66

Bring here to me that bonnie boy,
An' we'll smore him right quietlie.”

Up hae they ta'en that bonnie boy,
Put him 'tween twa feather beds
Naethin' was dane, nor naethin' said,
Till that bonnie bonnie boy was dead.

The king's taʼen out a braid braid sword,
An' streak'd it on a strae;

An' thro' an' thro' that bonnie boy's heart
He's gart cauld iron gae.

20

25

30

Out has he ta'en his poor bluidie heart,

Set it in a tasse o' gowd,

And set it before ladye Diamonds face,

35

Said "Fair ladye, behold!'

Up has she ta'en this poor bludie heart,
An' holden it in her han';

"Better luved I that bonnie bonnie boy

Than a' my father's lan"."

Up has she ta'en his poor bludie heart,

An' laid it at her head;

The tears awa' frae her eyne did flee,

An' ere midnicht she was dead.

40

THE WEST COUNTRY DAMOSELS

COMPLAINT.

From Collier's Book of Roxburghe Ballads, p. 202.

After a broadside "printed by P. Brooksby, at the Golden Bull in Westsmith-field, neer the Hospitall Gate." The first ten or twelve stanzas seem to be ancient.

"WHEN will you marry me, William,
And make me your wedded wife?
Or take you your keen bright sword,
And rid me out of my life."

Say you no more then so,

For you shall unto the wild forrest,
And amongst the buck and doe.

"Where thou shalt eat of the hips and haws,
And the roots that are so sweet,

And thou shalt drink of the cold water
That runs underneath your feet.”

5, so then.