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The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Edited by Francis James Child.

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215

The Bonny Lass of Anglesey

THE BONNY LASS OF ANGLESEY—A

[_]

Herd's MSS, I, 148.

1

Our king he has a secret to tell,
And ay well keepit it must be:
The English lords are coming down
To dance and win the victory.

2

Our king has cry'd a noble cry,
And ay well keepit it must be:
‘Gar saddle ye, and bring to me
The bonny lass of Anglesey.’

3

Up she starts, as white as the milk,
Between him and his company:
What is the thing I hae to ask,
If I sould win the victory?’

4

‘Fifteen ploughs but and a mill
I gie thee till the day thou die,
And the fairest knight in a' my court
To chuse thy husband for to be.’

5

She's taen the fifteen lord[s] by the hand,
Saying, ‘Will ye come dance with me?’
But on the morn at ten o'clock
They gave it oer most shamefully.

6

Up then rais the fifteenth lord —
I wat an angry man was he —
Laid by frae him his belt and sword,
And to the floor gaed manfully.

7

He said, ‘My feet shall be my dead
Before she win the victory;’
But before 't was ten o'clock at night
He gaed it oer as shamefully.