Mary Hamilton
No: 173; variant: 173D
- THERE lives a knight into the north,
And he had daughters three;
The ane of them was a barber's wife,
The other a gay ladie.
- And the youngest of them is to Scotland gane,
The queen's Mary to be,
And a' that they could say or do,
Forbidden she woudna be.
- The prince's bed it was sae saft,
The spices they were sae fine,
That out of it she couldna lye
While she was scarse fifteen.
- She's gane to the garden gay
To pu of the savin tree;
But for a' that she could say or do,
The babie it would not die.
- She's rowed it in her handkerchief,
She threw it in the sea;
Says, Sink ye, swim ye, my bonnie babe!
For ye'll get nae mair of me.
- Queen Mary came tripping down the stair,
Wi the gold strings in her hair:
'O whare's the little babie,' she says,
'That I heard greet sae sair?'
- 'O hold your tongue, Queen Mary, my dame,
Let all those words go free!
It was mysell wi a fit o the sair colic,
I was sick just like to die.'
- 'O hold your tongue, Mary Hamilton,
Let all those words go free!
O where is the little babie
That I heard weep by thee?'
- 'I rowed it in my handkerchief,
And threw it in the sea;
I bade it sink, I bade it swim,
It would get nae mair o me.'
- 'O wae be to thee, Marie Hamilton,
And an ill deid may you die!
For if ye had saved the babie's life
It might hae been an honour to thee.
- 'Busk ye, busk ye, Marie Hamilton,
O busk ye to be a bride!
For I am going to Edinburgh toun,
Your gay wedding to bide.
- 'You must not put on your robes of black,
Nor yet your robes of brown;
But you must put on your yellow gold stuffs,
To shine thro Edinburgh town.'
- 'I will not put on my robes of black,
Nor yet my robes of brown;
But I will put on my yellow gold stuffs,
To shine thro Edinburgh town,'
- As she went up the Parliament Close,
A riding on her horse,
There she saw many a cobler's lady,
Sat greeting at the cross.
- 'O what means a' this greeting?
I'm sure its nae for me;
For I'm come this day to Edinburgh town
Weel wedded for to be.'
- When she gaed up the Parliament stair,
She gied loud lauchters three;
But ere that she came down again,
She was condemned to die.
- 'O little did my mother think,
The day she prinned my gown,
That I was to come sae far frae hame
To be hangid in Edinburgh town.
- 'O what'll my poor father think,
As he comes thro the town,
To see the face of his Molly fair
Hanging on the gallows-pin!
- 'Here's a health to the marineres,
That plough the raging main!
Let neither my mother nor father know
But I'm coming hame again!
- 'Here's a health to the sailors,
That sail upon the sea!
Let neither my mother nor father ken
That I came here to die!
- 'Yestreen the queen had four Maries,
This night she'll hae but three;
There was Mary Beaton, and Mary Seaton,
And Mary Carmichael, and me.'
- 'O hald your tongue, Mary Hamilton,
Let all those words go free!
This night eer ye be hanged
Ye shall gang hame wi me.'
- 'O hald your tongue, Queen Mary, my dame,
Let all those words go free!
For since I have come to Edinburgh toun,
It's hanged I shall be,
And it shall neer be said that in your court
I was condemned to die.'