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

a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 183. b. The Borderer's Table Book, VII, 178, communicated by J. H. Dixon; “transcribed from a MS. copy in possession of an antiquarian friend,” collated with a.

1

‘O we were seven brave sisters,
Five of us died wi child,
And nane but you and I, Maisry,
So we'll gae maidens mild.’

2

‘O had your tongue, now Lady Margaret,
Let a' your folly be;
I'll gar you keep your true promise
To the lad ayont the sea.’

3

‘O there is neither lord nor knight
My love shall ever won,
Except it be Lord Darlington,
And here he winna come.’

4

But when the hour o twall was past,
And near the hour o one,
Lord Darlington came to the yetts,
Wi thirty knights and ten.

5

Then he has wedded Lady Margaret,
And brought her oer the sea,
And there was nane that lived on earth
Sae happy as was she.

6

But when nine months were come and gahe
Strong travailling took she,
And nae physician in the land
Could ease her maladie.

7

‘Where will I get a little wee boy,
Will won baith meat and fee,
That will gae on to Seaton's yetts,
Bring my mother to me?’

8

‘O here am I, a little wee boy,
That will won meat and fee,
That will gae on to Seaton's yetts,
And bring your mother to thee.’

9

Then he is on to Seaton's yetts,
As fast as gang could he;
Says, Ye must come to Darlington,
Your daughter for to see.

10

But when she came to Darlington,
Where there was little pride,
The scobbs were in the lady's mouth,
The sharp sheer in her side.

11

Darlington stood on the stair,
And gart the gowd rings flee:
‘My ha's and bowers and a' shall gae waste,
If my bonny love die for me.’

12

‘O had your tongue, Lord Darlington,
Let a' your folly be;
I boor the bird within my sides,
I'll suffer her to die.

13

‘But he that marries my daughter,
I think he is a fool;
If he marries her at Candlemas,
She'll be frae him ere Yule.

14

‘I had seven ance in companie,
This night I go my lane;
And when I come to Clyde's water,
I wish that I may drown.’