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nas ex propria calamitate pensare didicisset, in "domum intromisit; ipse lectum petit. At mulier, "ne hac quidem benignitate contenta, thori consor"tium obnixe flagitabat, addens it tanti referre, ut, "nisi impetraret, omnino sibi moriendum esset. "Quod ea lege, ne ipsum attingeret, concessum est. "Ideo nec complexu eam dignatus rex avertit sese. "Cum autem prima luce forte oculos ultro citroque "converteret, eximiæ formæ virginem lecto receptam "animadvertit; quæ statim ipsi placere cœpit : cau"sam igitur tam repentinæ mutationis curiosius indaganti, respondit virgo, se unam e subterraneorum "hominum genere diris novercalibus devotam, tam "tetra et execrabili specie, quali primo comparuit, "damnatam, quoad thori cujusdam principis socia "fieret; multos reges hac de re sollicitasse. Jam, "actis pro præstito beneficio gratiis, discessum ma"turans, a rege formæ ejus illecebris capto compri"mitur. Deinde petit, si prolem ex hoc congressu "progigni contigerit, sequente hyeme, eodem anni "tempore, ante fores positam in ædes reciperet, se

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And darkness.cover'd a' the hall,

Where they sat at their meat;
The grey dogs, youling, left their food,
And crept to Henrie's feet.

And louder houl'd the rising wind,

And burst the fast'ned door;
And in there came a griesly ghost,
Stood stamping on the floor.

Her head touch'd the roof-tree of the house;
Her middle ye weel mot span :
Each frighted huntsman fled the ha',
And left the King alane.

Her teeth were a' like tether-stakes,
Her nose like club or mell:
And I ken naething she appear'd to be,
But the fiend that wons in hell.

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That ye're na wellcum tee?"

O ye do slay your gude grey houndes,
And bring them a' to me."-

O when he slew his gude grey houndes,
Wow but his heart was sair!

She's ate them a' up, ane by ane,

Left naething but hide and hair.

"Mair meat, mair meat, ye King Henrie! Mair meat ye gie to me!"

"And what meat's i' this house, ladye, That I hae left to gie?"—

"O ye do fell your gay goss-hawks,

And bring them a' to me.”

O when he fell'd his gay goss-hawks,
Wow but his heart was sair!
She's ate them a' up, bane by bane,
Left naething but feathers bare.

"Some drink, some drink, ye King Henrie !

Some drink ye gie to me!'

"And what drink's i' this house, ladye,

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Tee for to, is the Buchanshire and Gallovidian pronunciation.

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When day was come, and night was gane,
And the sun shone through the ha',
The fairest ladye that e'er was seen,
Lay atween him and the wa'.

"O weel is me!" King Henrie said,

"How lang will this last wi' me?"And out and spak that ladye fair, "E'en till the day ye die.

"For I was witch'd to a ghastly shape, All by my stepdame's skill,

Till I should meet wi' a courteous knight, Wad gie me a' my will."

ANNAN WATER.

NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.

The following verses are the original words of the tune of "Allan Water," by which name the song is mentioned in Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany. The ballad is given from tradition; and it is said that a bridge, over the Annan, was built in consequence of the melancholy catastrophe which it narrates. Two verses are added in this edition, from another copy of the ballad, in which the conclusion proves fortunate. By the Gatehope-Slack, is perhaps meant the Gate-Slack, a pass in Annandale. The Annan, and the Frith of Solway, into which it falls, are the frequent scenes of tragical accidents. The Editor trusts he will be pardoned for inserting the following awfully impressive account of such an event, contained in a letter from Dr. Currie, of Liverpool, by whose

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correspondence, while in the course of preparing these volumes for the press, he has been alike honoured and instructed. After stating that he had some recollection of the ballad which follows, the biographer of Burns proceeds thus:-" I once in my early days heard (for it was night, and I could not see) a traveller drowning; not in the Annan itself, but in the Frith of Solway, close by the mouth of that river. The influx of the tide had unhorsed him, in the night, as he was passing the sands from Cumberland. The west wind blew a tempest, and, according to the common expression, brought in the water three foot a-breast. The traveller got upon a standing net, a little way from the shore. There he lashed himself to the post, shouting for half an hour for assistance-till the tide rose over his head! In the darkness of the night, and amid the pauses of the hurricane, his voice, heard at intervals, was exquisitely mournful. No one could go to his assistance -no one knew where he was-the sound seemed to proceed from the spirit of the waters. But morning rose-the tide had ebbed--and the poor traveller was found lashed to the pole of the net, and bleaching in the wind."

ANNAN WATER.

"Annan water's wading deep,

And my love Annie's wondrous bonny; And I am laith she suld weet her feet, Because I love her best of ony.

"Gar saddle me the bonny black,

Gar saddle sune, and make him ready; For I will down the Gatehope-Slack,

And all to see my honny ladye."

He has loupen on the bonny black,

He stirr'd him wi' the spur right sairly;
But, or he wan the Gatehope-Slack,
I think the steed was wae and weary.

He has loupen on the bonny grey,

He rade the right gate and the ready; I trow he would neither stint nor stay, For he was seeking his bonny ladye. O he has ridden o'er field and fell, Through muir and moss, and mony a mire : His spurs o' steel were sair to bide,

And frae her fore-feet flew the fire. "Now, bonny grey, now play your part!

Gin ye be the steed that wins my deary, Wi' corn and hay ye'se be fed for aye,

And never spur sall make you wearie.”The grey was a mare, and a right good mare; But when she wan the Annan water, She couldna hae ridden a furlong mair,

Wadded-Wagered.

Had a thousand merks been wadded at her.

"O boatman, boatman, put off your boat!

Put off your boat for gowden money!
I cross the drumly stream the night,
Or never mair I see my honey."-

"OI was sworn sae late yestreen,
And not by ae aith, but by many;
And for a' the gowd in fair Scotland,

I dare na take ye through to Annie."The side was stey, and the bottom deep,

Frae bank to brae the water pouring;
And the bonny grey mare did sweat for fear,
For she heard the water kelpy roaring.

O he has pou'd aff his dapperpy coat,
The silver buttons glanced bonny;
The waistcoat bursted aff his breast,
He was sae full of melancholy.

He has ta'en the ford at that stream tail;

from the common burden of Hey Nonny, Nonny, al-
luded to in the song, beginning, “Sigh no more, la-
dyes." The chorus, retained in this edition, is the
most common and popular; but Mrs. Brown's copy'
bears a yet different burden, beginning thus ;—

"There were twa sisters sat in a bour,
Edinborough, Edinborough;
There were twa sisters sat in a bour,
Stirling for aye;

There were twa sisters sat in a bour,

There cam a knight to be their wooer,

Bonny St. Johnston stands upon Tay."

The ballad, being probably very popular, was the subject of a parody, which is to be found in D'Urfey's "Pills to purge Melancholy."

THE CRUEL SISTER.

There were two sisters sat in a bour;

Binnorie, O Binnorie; ◊

I wot he swam both strong and steady,
But the stream was broad, and his strength did fail, There came a knight to be their wooer;

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And he never saw his bonny ladye!

"O wae betide the frush saugh wand!

And wae betide the bush of brier,

It brake into my true love's hand,

4

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie. He courted the eldest with glove and ring,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;

tire.] But he lo'ed the youngest abune a' thing;

When his strength did fail, and his limbs did

"And wae betide ye, Annan Water,

This night that ye are a drumlie river!

For over thee I'll build a bridge,

That ye never more true love may sever."

THE CRUEL SISTER.

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

He courted the eldest with broach and knife,
Binnorie, O Binnorie;

But he lo'ed the youngest abune his life;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

The eldest she was vexed sair,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;
And sore envied her sister fair;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

Binnorie, O Binnorie; "Will ye go and see our father's ships come in?"— By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

She's ta'en her by the lily hand,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;
And led her down to the river strand;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

This ballad differs essentially from that which has The eldest said to the youngest ane, been published in various collections, under the title of Binnorie. It is compiled from a copy in Mrs. Brown's MSS., intermixed with a beautiful fragment, of fourteen verses, transmitted to the Editor by J. C. Walker, Esq. the ingenious historian of the Irish bards. Mr. Walker, at the same time, favoured the Editor with the following note :-"I am indebted to my departed friend, Miss Brook, for the foregoing pathetic fragment. Her account of it was as follows :-This song was transcribed, several years ago, from the memory of an old woman, who The eldest came and pushed her in ; had no recollection of the concluding verses: probably the beginning may also be lost, as it seems to commence abruptly." The first verse and burden of the fragment ran thus :

"O sister, sister, reach thy hand!

Hey ho, my Nanny, 0;

And you shall be heir of all my land,
While the swan swims bonny, O."

The first part of this chorus seems to be corrupted

Query-Cap-a-pee?

• Frush-Brittle; without cohesion of parts.

3 [Mr. Jamieson has printed Mrs. Brown's copy verbatim,

The youngest stude upon a stane,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

She took her by the middle sma',

Binnorie, O Binnorie;
And dash'd her bonny back to the jaw;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

"O sister, sister, reach your hand,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;
And ye shall be heir of half my land."-

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

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"O sister, I'll not reach my hand,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;

And I'll be heir of all your land;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie. "Shame fa' the hand that I should take,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;

It's twin'd me, and my world's make."

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

"O sister, reach me but your glove,

Binnorie, O Binnorie; And sweet William shall be your love.”—

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

"Sink on, nor hope for hand or glove! Binnorie, O Binnorie; And sweet William shall better be my love, By the bonny milldams of Binnorie. "Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair, Binnorie, O Binnorie;

Garr'd me gang maiden evermair."

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie. Sometimes she sunk, and sometimes she swam, Binnorie, O Binnorie;

Until she cam to the miller's dam;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

"O father, father, draw your dam!

Binnorie, O Binnorie;

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Whose sounds would melt a heart of stone;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

The strings he framed of her yellow hair,
Binnorie, O Binnorie;
Whose notes made sad the listening ear;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

He brought it to her father's hall,

Binnorie, O Binnorie; And there was the court assembled all;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

He laid his harp upon a stone,

Binnorie, O Binnorie;

And straight it began to play alone;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie.

"O yonder sits my father, the king,

Binnorie, O Binnorie; And yonder sits my mother, the queen;

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie. "And yonder stands my brother Hugh,

Binnorie, O Binnorie; And by him my William, sweet and true."

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie. But the last tune that the harp play'd then, Binnorie, O Binnorie; Was-"Woe to my sister, false Helen!"

By the bonny milldams of Binnorie

THE QUEEN'S MARIE.

NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.

"In the very time of the General Assembly, there comes to public knowledge a haynous murther, committed in the court; yea, not far from the Queen's lap; for a French woman, that served in the Queen's chamber, had played the whore with the Queen's own apothecary.―The woman conceived and bare a childe, whom, with common consent, the father and mother murthered; yet were the cries of a new-borne childe hearde, searche was made, the childe and the mother were both apprehended, and so were the man and the woman condemned to be hanged in the publicke street of Edinburgh. The punishment was suitable, because the crime was haynous. But yet was not the court purged of whores and whoredoms, which was the fountaine of such enormities; for it was well known that shame hasted marriage betwixt John Sempill, called the Dancer, and Mary Levingston,' sirnamed the Lusty. What bruit the Maries, and the rest of the dancers of the court had, the ballads of that age doe witnesse, which we for modestie's sake omit but this was the common complaint of all godly and wise men, that if they thought such a

whom he had Sir James Semple of Beltrees, his son and heir," etc.; afterwards ambassador to England, for King James VI., in 1599.-CRAWFORD'S History of Renfrew, p. 101.

court could long continue, and if they looked for no better life to come, they would have wished their sonnes and daughters rather to have been brought up with fiddlers and dancers, and to have been exercised with flinging upon a floore, and in the rest that thereof followes, than to have been exercised in the company of the godly, and exercised in virtue, which in that court was hated, and filthenesse not only maintained, but also rewarded: witnesse the Abbey of Abercorne, the Barony of Auchtermuchtie, and divers others, pertaining to the patrimony of the crown, given in heritage to skippers and dancers, and dalliers with dames. This was the beginning of the regiment of Mary, Queen of Scots, and these were the fruits that she brought forth of France.Lord! look on our miseries! and deliver us from the wickedness of this corrupt court!"-KNOX's History of the Reformation, p. 373-4.

Such seems to be the subject of the following ballad, as narrated by the stern apostle of Presbytery. It will readily strike the reader, that the tale has suffered great alterations, as handed down by tradition; the French waiting-woman being changed into Mary Hamilton,' and the Queen's apothecary into Henry Darnley. Yet this is less surprising, when we recollect, that one of the heaviest of the Queen's complaints against her ill-fated husband, was his infidelity, and that even with her personal attendants. I have been enabled to publish the following complete edition of the ballad, by copies from various quarters; that principally used was communicated to me, in the most polite manner, by Mr. Kirkpatricke Sharpe, of Hoddom, to whom I am indebted for many similar favours."

THE QUEEN'S MARIE.

Marie Hamilton's to the kirk gane,

Wi' ribbons in her hair;

The King thought mair o' Marie Hamilton,
Than ony that were there.

Marie Hamilton's to the kirk gane,

Wi' ribbons on her breast;
The King thought mair o' Marie Hamilton,
Than he listen'd to the priest.

Marie Hamilton's to the kirk gane,

Wi' gloves upon her hands;
The King thought mair o' Marie Hamilton,
Than the Queen and a' her lands.

She hadna been about the King's court
A month, but barely one,

Till she was beloved by a' the King's court,
And the King the only man.

She hadna been about the King's court

A month, but barely three,

Till frae the King's court Marie Hamilton,
Marie Hamilton durstna be.

The King is to the Abbey gane,
To pu' the Abbey tree,

To scale the babe frae Marie's heart;
But the thing it wadna be.3

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O she has row'd it in her apron,
And set it on the sea,-

"Gae sink ye, or swim ye, bonny babe,
Ye'se get nae mair o' me."-

Word is to the kitchen gane,

And word is to the ha',
And word is to the noble room,

Amang the ladyes a',

That Marie Hamilton's brought to bed,

And the bonny babe's mist and awa'.
Scarcely had she lain down again,

And scarcely fa'en asleep,

When up then started our gude Queen,4
Just at her bed-feet;

One copy bears, “Mary Miles." A very odd coincidence in | ture, yet not incredible, considering the peculiarities of his chaname, crime, and catastrophe, occurred at the court of Czar racter." Peter the Great. It is thus detailed by the obliging correspondent who recommended it to my notice :

"Miss Hambleton, a maid of honour to the Empress Catherine, had an amour, which, at different times, produced three children. She had always pleaded sickness, but Peter, being suspicious, ordered his physician to attend her, who soon made the discovery. It also appeared, that a sense of shame had triumphed over her humanity, and that the children had been put to death as soon as born. Peter enquired if the father of them was privy to the murder; the lady insisted that he was innocent; for she had always deceived him, by pretending that they were sent to nurse. Justice now called upon the Emperor to punish the offence. The lady was much beloved by the Empress, who pleaded for her; the amour was pardonable, but not the murder. Peter sent her to the castle, and went himself to visit her; and the fact being confessed, he pronounced her sentence with tears; telling her, that his duty as a prince, and God's vice-gerent, called on him for that justice which her crime had rendered indispensably necessary; and that she must therefore prepare for death. He attended her also on the scaffold, where he embraced her with the utmost tenderness, mixed with sorrow; and some say, when the head was struck off, he took it up by the ear, whilst the lips were still trembling, and kissed them; a circumstance of an extraordinary na

[Mr. Kinloch has printed a north country version of this ballad, differing considerably from that in the text. See his Ballads, 1827, p. 252. He also gives a fragment of a third version, viz.—

"My father is the Duke of Argyle,

My mother's a lady gay;

And I, mysell, am a dainty dame,
And the King desired me.

"He shaw'd me up, he shaw'd me down,
He shaw'd me to the ha':

He shaw'd me to the low cellars,
And that was warst of a"."

Mr. Motherwell has also given a west country version of this ballad, under the title of "Mary Hamilton," p. 316; and we shall have occasion to quote some of its variations.-ED.]

3.

["The Prince's bed it was sae saft,
The spices they were sae fine,
That out of it she could not be
While she was scarce fifteen.

"She's gane to the garden gay,
To puo' the savin tree;
But for a' that she could say or do,
The babie it would not die."
MOTHERWELL, p. 347. ]
["Queen Mary cam tripping down the stair,

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