2.

The queen luikt owre the castle-wa', Beheld baith dale and down, And there she saw Young Waters Cum riding to the town.

3.

His footmen they did rin before, His horsemen rade behind; Ane mantel of the burning gowd Did keip him frae the wind.

4.

Gowden-graith'd his horse before, And siller-shod behind; The horse Young Waters rade upon Was fleeter than the wind.

5.

Out then spack a wylie lord, Unto the queen said he: 'O tell me wha 's the fairest face Rides in the company?'

6.

'I've sene lord, and I've sene laird, And knights of high degree, Bot a fairer face than Young Waters Mine eyne did never see.'

7.

Out then spack the jealous king, And an angry man was he: 'O if he had bin twice as fair, You micht have excepted me.'

8.

'You're neither laird nor lord,' she says, 'Bot the king that wears the crown; There is not a knight in fair Scotland Bot to thee maun bow down.'

9.

For a' that she coud do or say, Appeas'd he wad nae bee, Bot for the words which she had said, Young Waters he maun die.

10.

They hae ta'en Young Waters, And put fetters to his feet; They hae ta'en Young Waters, and Thrown him in dungeon deep.

11.

'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, In the wind bot and the weit; Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town Wi' fetters at my feet.

12.

'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, In the wind bot and the rain; Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town Neir to return again.'

13.

They hae ta'en to the heiding-hill His young son in his craddle, And they hae ta'en to the heiding-hill His horse bot and his saddle.

14.

They hae ta'en to heiding-hill His lady fair to see, And for the words the queen had spoke Young Waters he did die.

[Annotations: 1.2: 'round tables,' an unknown game.

4.1: 'graith'd,' harnessed, usually; here perhaps shod.

6.1: 'laird,' a landholder, below the degree of knight.--+Jamieson+.

13.1: 'heiding-hill': _i.e._ heading (beheading) hill. The place of execution was anciently an artificial hillock.--+Percy+.]

BARBARA ALLAN

+The Text+ is from Allan Ramsay's _Tea-Table Miscellany_ (1763). It was not included in the first edition (1724-1727), nor until the ninth edition in 1740, when to the original three volumes there was added a fourth, in which this ballad appeared. There is also a Scotch version, _Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan_. Percy printed both in the _Reliques_, vol. iii.

+The Story+ of Barbara Allan's scorn of her lover and subsequent regret has always been popular. Pepys records of Mrs. Knipp, 'In perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen' (January 2, 1665-6). Goldsmith's words are equally well known: 'The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt when an old dairymaid sung me into tears with _Johnny Armstrong's Last Goodnight_, or _The Cruelty of Barbara Allen_.' The tune is excessively popular: it is given in Chappell's _English Song and Ballad Music_.

BARBARA ALLAN

1.

It was in and about the Martinmas time, When the green leaves were afalling, That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country, Fell in love with Barbara Allan.

2.

He sent his men down through the town, To the place where she was dwelling; 'O haste and come to my master dear, Gin ye be Barbara Allan.'

3.

O hooly, hooly rose she up, To the place where he was lying, And when she drew the curtain by, 'Young man, I think you're dying.'

4.

'O it's I am sick, and very, very sick, And 't is a' for Barbara Allan.'

'O the better for me ye 's never be, Tho' your heart's blood were aspilling.'

5.

'O dinna ye mind, young man,' said she, 'When ye was in the tavern a drinking, That ye made the healths gae round and round, And slighted Barbara Allan?'

6.

He turn'd his face unto the wall, And death was with him dealing; 'Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, And be kind to Barbara Allan.'

7.

And slowly, slowly raise she up, And slowly, slowly left him, And sighing, said, she coud not stay, Since death of life had reft him.

8.

She had not gane a mile but twa, When she heard the dead-bell ringing, And every jow that the dead-bell geid, It cry'd, 'Woe to Barbara Allan!'

9.

'O mother, mother, make my bed, O make it saft and narrow!

Since my love died for me to-day, I'll die for him to-morrow.'

THE GAY GOSHAWK

+The Text+ is from the Jamieson-Brown MS., on which version Scott drew partly for his ballad in the _Minstrelsy_. Mrs. Brown recited the ballad again to William Tytler in 1783, but the result is now lost, with most of the other Tytler-Brown versions.

+The Story.+--One point, the maid's feint of death to escape from her father to her lover, is the subject of a ballad very popular in France; a version entitled _Belle Isambourg_ is printed in a collection called _Airs de Cour_, 1607. Feigning death to escape various threats is a common feature in many European ballads.

It is perhaps needless to remark that no goshawk sings sweetly, much less talks. In Buchan's version (of forty-nine stanzas) the goshawk is exchanged for a parrot.