University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Edited by Francis James Child.

expand sectionI. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVII. 
collapse sectionVIII. 
expand section226. 
expand section227. 
expand section228. 
expand section229. 
expand section230. 
expand section231. 
collapse section232. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section233. 
expand section234. 
expand section235. 
expand section236. 
expand section237. 
expand section238. 
expand section239. 
expand section240. 
expand section241. 
expand section242. 
expand section243. 
expand section244. 
expand section245. 
expand section246. 
expand section247. 
expand section248. 
expand section249. 
expand section250. 
expand section251. 
expand section252. 
expand section253. 
expand section254. 
expand section255. 
expand section256. 
expand section257. 
expand section258. 
expand section259. 
expand section260. 
expand section261. 
expand section262. 
expand section263. 
expand section264. 
expand section265. 
expand sectionIX. 



HUGHIE GRAME—H

[_]

“Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No 4, Abbotsford; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.

1

Lairds and lords a hounting gane,
Out-over hills and valleys clear,
And there they met Hughie Grame,
Was riding on the bishop's mare.

2

And they have tied him hand and foot,
And they have carried him to Stirling town;
The lads and lasses there about
Crys, Hughie Grame, you are a lown!

3

‘If I be a lown,’ says he,
‘I am sure my friends has had bad luck;’
We that he jumpted fifteen foot,
With his hands tied behind his back.

4

Out and spoke Laidy Whiteford,
As she sat by the bishop's knee;
‘Four-and-twenty milk-kie I'll give to thee,
If Hughie Grame you will let free.’

5

‘Hold your tongue, my laidy Whiteford,
And of your pleading now lay by;
If fifty Grames were in his coat,
Upon my honour he shall die.’

6

Out and spoke Lord Whiteford,
As he sat by the bishop's knee;
‘Four-and-twenty stots I'll give thee,
If Hughie Grame you will let free.’

7

‘Hold your tongue, my lord Whiteford,
And of your pleading now lay by;
If twenty Grames were in his coat,
Upon my honour he shall die.’

8

‘You may tell to Meg, my wife,
The first time she comes through the mu[ir],
She was the causer of my death,
For with the bishop [she] plaid the whore.

9

‘You may tell to Meg, my wife,
The first time she comes through the town,
She was the causer of my death,
For with the bishop [she] plaid the lown.’

10

He looked oer his left shoulder,
To see what he could spy or see,
And there he spied his old father,
Was weeping bitterly.

11

‘Hold your tongue, my dear father,
And of your weeping now lay by;
They may rub me of my sweet life,
But not from me the heavence high.

12

‘You may give my brother John
The sword that's of the mettle clear,
That he may come the morn at four o clock
To see me pay the bishop's mare.

13

‘You may give my brother James
The sword that's of the mettle brown;
Tell him to come the morn at four o clock
To see his brother Hugh cut down.’

14

Up and spoke his oldest son,
As he sat by his nurse's knee;
‘If ere I come to be a man,
Revenged for my father['s] death I'll be.’