The English and Scottish Popular Ballads :: :: University of Virginia Library

O gleyd Argyll has written to Montrose
To see gin the fields they were fairly,
And to see whether he should stay at hame,
'Or come to plunder bonnie Airly.

2

Then great Montrose has written to Argyll
And that the fields they were fairly,
And not to keep his men at hame,
But to come and plunder bonnie Airly.

3

The lady was looking oer her castle-wa,
She was carrying her courage sae rarely,

And there she spied him gleyd Arguill,
Was coming for to plunder bonnie Airly.

4

‘Wae be to ye, gleyd Argyll!
And are ye there sae rarely?
Ye might hae kept your men at hame,
And not come to plunder bonnie Airly.’

5

‘And wae be to ye, Lady Ogilvie!
And are ye there sae rarely?
Gin ye had bowed when first I bade,
I never wad hae plunderd bonnie Airly.’

6

‘But gin my guid lord had been at hame,
As he is wi Prince Charlie,
There durst not a rebel on a' Scotch ground
Set a foot on the bonnie green of Airly.

7

‘But ye'll tak me by the milk-white hand,
And ye'll lift me up sae rarely,
And ye'll throw me outoure my [ain] castlewa,
Let me neuer see the plundering of Airly.’

8

He's taen her by the milk-white hand,
And he's lifted her up sae rarely,
And he's thrown her outoure her ain castle-wa,
And she neuer saw the plundering of Airly.

9

Now gleyd Argyll he has gane hame,
Awa frae the plundering of Airly,
And there he has met him Captain Ogilvie,
Coming over the mountains sae rarely.

10

‘O wae be to ye, gleyd Argyll!
And are you there sae rarely?
Ye might hae kept your men at hame,
And no gane to plunder bonnie Airly.’

11

‘O wae be to ye, Captain Ogilvie!
And are you there sae rarely?
Gin ye wad hae bowed when first I bade,
I neer wad hae plunderd bonnie Airly.’

12

‘But gin I had my lady gay,
Bot and my sister Mary,
One fig I wad na gie for ye a',
Nor yet for the plundering of Airly.’