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

‘O happy, happy is the maid,
That's born of beauty free!
It was my dimpling rosy cheeks
That's been the dule o me;
And wae be to that weirdless wicht,
And a' his witcherie!’

4

Word's gane up and word's gane doun,
An word's gane to the ha,
That Mary Hamilton was wi bairn,
An na body kend to wha.

5

But in and cam the queen hersel,
Wi gowd plait on her hair:
Says, Mary Hamilton, whare is the babe
That I heard greet sae sair?

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6

‘There is na babe within my bouer,
And I hope there neer will be;
But it's me wi a sair and sick colic,
And I'm just like to dee.’

7

But they looked up, they looked down,
Atween the bowsters and the wa,
It's there they got a bonnie lad-bairn,
But its life it was awa.

8

‘Rise up, rise up, Mary Hamilton,
Rise up, and dress ye fine,
For you maun gang to Edinbruch,
And stand afore the nine.

9

‘Ye'll no put on the dowie black,
Nor yet the dowie brown;
But ye'll put on the robes o red,
To sheen thro Edinbruch town.’

10

‘I'll no put on the dowie black,
Nor yet the dowie brown;
But I'll put on the robes o red,
To sheen thro Edinbruch town.’

11

As they gaed thro Edinbruch town,
And down by the Nether-bow,
There war monie a lady fair
Siching and crying, Och how!

12

‘O weep na mair for me, ladies,
Weep na mair for me!
Yestreen I killed my ain bairn,
The day I deserve to dee.

13

‘What need ye hech and how, ladies?
What need ye how for me?
Ye never saw grace at a graceless face,
Queen Mary has nane to gie.’

14

‘Gae forward, gae forward,’ the queen she said,
‘Gae forward, that ye may see;
For the very same words that ye hae said
Sall hang ye on the gallows-tree.’

15

As she gaed up the Tolbooth stairs,
She gied loud lauchters three;
But or ever she cam down again,
She was condemnd to dee.

16

‘O tak example frae me, Maries,
O tak example frae me,
Nor gie your luve to courtly lords,
Nor heed their witchin'ee.

17

‘But wae be to the Queen hersel,
She micht hae pardond me;
But sair she's striven for me to hang
Upon the gallows-tree.

18

‘Yestreen the Queen had four Maries,
The nicht she'll hae but three;
There was Mary Beatoun, Mary Seaton,
And Mary Carmichael, and me.

19

‘Aft hae I set pearls in her hair,
Aft hae I lac'd her gown,
And this is the reward I now get,
To be hangd in Edinbruch town!

20

‘O a' ye mariners, far and near,
That sail ayont the faem,
O dinna let my father and mither ken
But what I am coming hame!

21

‘O a' ye mariners, far and near,
That sail ayont the sea,
Let na my father and mither ken
The death I am to dee!

22

‘Sae, weep na mair for me, ladies,
Weep na mair for me;
The mither that kills her ain bairn
Deserves weel for to dee.’