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Mary Hamilton

No: 173; variant: 173[W]

  1. There lived a man in the North Countree And he had doghters three; The youngest o them's to Edinbourgh gaen, Ane o the queen's Marys to be.
  2. Queen Mary's bread it was sae white, And her wine it ran sae clear, It shewed her the way to the butler's bed, And I wait she's bought dear.
  3. For Mary's to the garden gaen, To eat o the saven tree, And a' 's to pit her young son back, But back he wad na be.
  4. So Mary's to her chamber gaen, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  5. Queen Mary she came down the stair, And a' her maids afore her: 'Oh, Mary Miles, where is the child That I have heard greet sae sore O?'
  6. 'There is no child with me, madam, There is no child with me; It was only a bit of a cholick I took, And I thought I was gawen to dee.'
  7. So they looked up, and they looked down, And they looked beneath the bed-foot, And there they saw a bonnie boy, Lying weltering in his blood.
  8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 'Since that you have killed your own dear child, The same death you shall dee.'
  9. When Mary came afore the court, A loud laugh laughed she; But when she came to the [gallows-]fit The tear blinded her ee.

  1. 'O wha will comb Queen Mary's heed? Or wha will brade her hair? And wha will lace her middle sae jimp Whan [I] am nae langer there?
  2. 'Yestreen the queen [had] four Maries, The night she'll hae but three; There was Mary Seaten, and Mary Beaten, And Mary Carmichal, and me.

  1. 'I'll not put on my robes of black, Nor yet my robes of brown, But I'll put on a shining braw garb, That will shine thro Edinbourgh town.'

  1. Oh, whan she came to the Cannongate, The Cannongate sae hee, There mony a lord and belted knight Was grieved for her beautee.

  1. And whan she came to [the] Hee Town, The Hee Town sae hee,