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

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Edited by Francis James Child.

Part I.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

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Earl of Aboyne

THE EARL OF ABOYNE—E

[_]

Harris MS., fol. 21 b; from the recitation of Mrs Harris.

1

‘My maidens fair, yoursels prepare.’

2

You may weel knaw by her hair, wi the diamonds sae rare,
That the Earl of Aboyne was comin.

3

‘My minstrels all, be at my call,
Haud a' your rooms a ringin,
[OMITTED]
For the Earl of Aboyne is comin.’

4

‘Tomorrow soud hae been my bonnie waddinday,
If I had staid in London.’

5

She turned her aboot wi an angry look,
An sic an angry woman!
‘Gin tomorrow soud hae been your bonnie waddin-day,
Gae back to your miss in Lunnon.’

6

For mony a day an year that lady lived in care,
An doctors wi her dealin,
Till just in a crack her very heart did brak,
An her letters went on to Lunnon.

7

There waur four-an-twenty o the noblest lords
That Lonnon could aford him,
A' clead in black frae the saidle to the hat,
To convey the corpse o Peggy Ewan.

8

‘I'd rather hae lost a' the lands o Aboyne
Than lost my pretty Peggy Ewan.’