Mary Hamilton
No: 173; variant: 173E
- 'MY father was the Duke of York,
My mother a lady free,
Mysell a dainty damsell,
Queen Mary sent for me.
- 'Yestreen I washd Queen Mary's feet,
Kam'd down her yellow hair,
And lay a' night in the young man's bed,
And I'll rue t for evermair.
- 'The queen's kale was aye sae het,
Her spice was aye sae fell,
Till they gart me gang to the young man's bed,
And I'd a' the wyte mysell.
- 'I was not in the queen's service
A twelvemonth but barely ane,
Ere I grew as big wi bairn
As ae woman could gang.
- 'But it fell ance upon a day,
Was aye to be it lane,
I did take strong travilling
As ever yet was seen.'
- Ben it came the queen hersell,
Was a' gowd to the hair;
'O where's the bairn, Lady Maisry,
That I heard greeting sair?'
- Ben it came the queen hersell,
Was a' gowd to the chin:
'O where's the bairn, Lady Maisry,
That I heard late yestreen.'
- 'There is no bairn here,' she says,
'Nor never thinks to be;
'Twas but a stoun of sair sickness
That ye heard seizing me.'
- They sought it out, they sought it in,
They sought it but and ben,
But between the bolster and the bed
They got the baby slain.
- 'Come busk ye, busk ye, Lady Maisdry,
Come busk, an go with me;
For I will on to Edinburgh,
And try the verity.'
- She woud not put on the black, the black,
Nor yet wad she the brown,
But the white silk and the red scarlet,
That shin'd frae town to town.
- As she gaed down thro Edinburgh town
The burghers' wives made meen,
That sic a dainty damsel
Sud ever hae died for sin.
- Make never meen for me,' she says,
'Make never meen for me;
Seek never grace frae a graceless face,
For that ye'll never see.'
- As she gaed up the Tolbooth stair,
A light laugh she did gie;
But lang ere she came down again
She was condemned to die.
- 'A' you that are in merchants-ships,
And cross the roaring faem,
Hae nae word to my father and mother,
But that I'm coming hame.
- 'Hold your hands, ye justice o peace,
Hold them a little while!
For yonder comes my father and mother,
That's travelld mony a mile.
- 'Gie me some o your gowd, parents,
Some o your white monie,
To save me frae the head o yon hill,
Yon greenwood gallows-tree.'
- 'Ye'll get nane o our gowd, daughter,
Nor nane o our white monie;
For we hae travelld mony a mile,
This day to see you die.'
- 'Hold your hands, ye justice o peace,
Hold them a little while!
For yonder comes him Warenston,
The father of my chile.
- 'Give me some o your gowd, Warenston,
Some o your white monie,
To save me frae the head o yon hill,
Yon greenwood gallows-tree.'
- 'I bade you nurse my bairn well,
And nurse it carefullie,
And gowd shoud been your hire, Maisry,
And my body your fee.'
- He's taen out a purse o gowd,
Another o white monie,
And he's tauld down ten thousand crowns,
Says, True love, gang wi me.