When she fell down at Willie's feet,
And up did never rise!

[She 's ta'en her bracelet frae her arm, Her garter frae her knee:

"Gie that, gie that, to my young son ; He'll ne'er his mother see."]

Willie's ta'en the key of his coffer,

And gi'en it to his man;

"Gae hame and tell my mother dear,

My horse he has me slain;

Bid her be kind to my young son,

For father he has nane."

["Gar deal, gar deal the bread,” he cried, “Gar deal, gar deal the wine;

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This day has seen my true love's death, 185 This night shall witness mine."]

The tane was buried in Marie's kirk,
And the tither in Marie's quire :
Out of the tane there grew a birk,

And the tither a bonny brier.

140

LADY MAISRY.

THIS ballad, said to be very popular in Scotland, was taken down from recitation by Jamieson, and is extracted from his collection, vol. i. p. 73. A different copy, from Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 234, is given in the Appendix. Another, styled Young Prince James, may be seen in Buchan's Ballads, vol. i. 103. Bonnie Susie Cleland, Motherwell, p. 221, is still another version.

With Lady Maisry may be compared The Cruel Brother in Erk's Deutscher Liederhort, (Berlin, 1856,) p. 153, p. 155, in Des Knaben Wunderhorn, ii. 272, and in Svenska Folk-Visor, iii. 107; the last is translated in Literature and Romance of Northern Europe, p. 261.

THE young lords o' the north country
Have all a-wooing gane,

To win the love of lady Maisry,

But o' them she wou'd hae nane.

O thae hae sought her, lady Maisry,
Wi' broaches, and wi' rings;

And they hae courted her, lady Maisry,
Wi' a' kin kind of things.

And they hae sought her, lady Maisry,
Frae father and frae mither;

And they hae sought her, lady Maisry,
Frae sister and frae brither.

And they hae follow'd her, lady Maisry,
Thro' chamber, and through ha';
But a' that they could say to her,
Her answer still was "Na."

"O haud your tongues, young men," she said, "And think nae mair on me ;

For I've gi'en my love to an English lord,
Sae think nae mair on me."

Her father's kitchey-boy heard that,

(An ill death mot he die!) And he is in to her brother,

As fast as gang cou'd he.

"O is

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mother weel,

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my father and my
But and my brothers three?

Gin my sister lady Maisry be weel,
There's naething can ail me."

"Your father and your mother is weel,

But and your brothers three; Your sister, lady Maisry's, weel, Sae big wi' bairn is she.”

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"A malison light on the tongue,

Sic tidings tells to me!— But gin it be a lie you tell,

You shall be hanged hie."

He's doen him to his sister's bower,
Wi' mickle dool and care;

And there he saw her, lady Maisry,
Kembing her yellow hair.

"O wha is aucht that bairn," he says,
"That ye sae big are wi'?

And gin ye winna own the truth,
This moment ye sall die."

She's turned her richt and round about,
And the kembe fell frae her han';
A trembling seized her fair bodie,
And her rosy cheek grew wan.

"O pardon me, my brother dear,
And the truth I'll tell to thee;
My bairn it is to Lord William,
And he is betrothed to me."

"O cou'dna ye gotten dukes, or lords, Intill your ain countrie,

That ye drew up wi' an English dog,

To bring this shame on me?

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"But ye maun gi'e up your English lord, Whan your young babe is born;

For, gin ye keep by him an hour langer,
Your life shall be forlorn."

*

"I will gi'e up this English lord,
Till my young babe be born;
But the never a day nor hour langer,
Though my life should be forlorn."

"O whare is a' my merry young men,
Wham I gi'e meat and fee,

To pu' the bracken and the thorn,
To burn this vile whore wi'?"

"O whare will I get a bonny boy,
To help me in my need,

To rin wi' haste to Lord William,
And bid him come wi' speed?"

O out it spak a bonny boy,
Stood by her brother's side;
"It's I wad rin your errand, lady,
O'er a' the warld wide.

"Aft ha'e I run your errands, lady, When blawin baith wind and weet; But now I'll rin your errand, lady,

With saut tears on my cheek."