Minstrelsy of the Scottish border, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 338 pages of information about Minstrelsy of the Scottish border, Volume 1.

Minstrelsy of the Scottish border, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 338 pages of information about Minstrelsy of the Scottish border, Volume 1.

  And Selden is a Galliard by himself. 
  And wel might be; there’s more divines in him. 
  Than in all this their Jewish Sanhedrim.

Skelton, in his railing poem against James IV., terms him Sir Skyr Galyard.]

THE LADS OF WAMPHRAY.

  ’Twixt Girth-head and the Langwood end,
  Lived the Galliard, and the Galliard’s men;
  But and the lads of Leverhay,
  That drove the Crichtons’ gear away.

  It is the lads of Lethenha’,
  The greatest rogues amang them a’: 
  But and the lads of Stefenbiggin,
  They broke the house in at the rigging.

  The lads of Fingland, and Hellbeck-hill,
  They were never for good, but aye for ill;
  ’Twixt the Staywood-bush and Langside-hill,
  They stealed the broked cow and the branded bull.

  It is the lads of the Girth-head,
  The deil’s in them for pride and greed;
  For the Galliard, and the gay Galliard’s men,
  They ne’er saw a horse but they made it their ain.

  The Galliard to Nithside is gane,
  To steal Sim Crichton’s winsome dun;
  The Galliard is unto the stable gane,
  But instead of the dun, the blind he has ta’en.

  “Now Simmy, Simmy of the Side,
  Come out and see a Johnstone ride! 
  Here’s the bonniest horse in a’ Nithside,
  And a gentle Johnstone aboon his hide.”

  Simmy Crichton’s mounted then,
  And Crichtons has raised mony a ane;
  The Galliard trowed his horse had been wight,
  But the Crichtons beat him out o’ sight.

  As soon as the Galliard the Crichton saw,
  Behind the saugh-bush he did draw;
  And there the Crichtons the Galliard hae ta’en,
  And nane wi’ him but Willie alane.

  “O Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang,
  And I’ll nevir mair do a Crichton wrang! 
  O Simmy, Simmy, now let me be,
  And a peck o’ gowd I’ll give to thee!

  O Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang,
  And my wife shall heap it with her hand.” 
  But the Crichtons wad na let the Galliard be,
  But they hanged him hie upon a tree.

  O think then Willie he was right wae,
  When he saw his uncle guided sae;
  “But if ever I live Wamphray to see,
  My uncle’s death avenged shall be!”

  Back to Wamphray he is gane,
  And riders has raised mony a ane;
  Saying—­“My lads, if ye’ll be true,
  Ye shall a’ be clad in the noble blue.”

  Back to Nithisdale they have gane,
  And awa’ the Crichtons’ nowt hae ta’en;
  But when they cam to the Wellpath-head,
  The Crichtons bade them ’light and lead.

  And when they cam to the Biddes burn,
  The Crichtons bade them stand and turn;
  And when they cam to the Biddess strand,
  The Crichtons they were hard at hand.

  But when they cam to the Biddes law,
  The Johnstones bade them stand and draw;
  “We’ve done nae ill, we’ll thole nae wrang,
  “But back to Wamphray we will gang,”

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Minstrelsy of the Scottish border, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.