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.’
