"There is no dreder in my heart,

Nor do I love a man;

But it is for your long byding
Into the land of Spain."

"Ye'll cast aff your bonny brown gown,

And lay it on a stane;

And I'll tell you, my jelly Janet,

If ever ye loved a man."

She's cast off her bonny brown gown,

And laid it on a stane;

Her belly was big, her twa sides high,
Her colour it was quite gane.

"O is it to a man o' might, Janet?
Or is it till a man that's mean?
Or is it to one of my poor soldiers,
That I've brought hame frae Spain?"

"It's not till a man o' might," she says, "Nor yet to a man that's mean; But it is to Thomas o' Winesberry, That cannot langer len'."

"O where are all my wall-wight men,

That I pay meat and fee;

That will gae for him, true Thomas,

And bring him here to me? For the morn, ere I eat or drink, High hanged shall he be.”

She's turn'd her right and round about,

The tear blindet her e'e;

"If

ye

do any

ill to true Thomas,

Ye'se never get guid o' me."

When Thomas came before the king,
He glanced like the fire;

His hair was like the threads o' gowd,
His eyes like crystal clear.

"It was nae wonder, my daughter, Janet,
Altho' ye loved this man;

If he were a woman, as he is a man,
My bed-fellow he would been.

"O will ye marry my daughter Janet ?

The truth's in your right hand;

Ye'se hae some o' my gowd, and some o' my gear,

And the twalt part o' my land."

"It's I will marry your daughter Janet;

The truth's in my right hand;

I'll hae nane o' your gowd, nor nane o' your gear, I've enough in my own land.

"But I will marry your daughter Janet,

With thirty ploughs and three,

And four an' twenty bonny breast-mills,
All on the water of Dee.

LADY ELSPAT.

Jamieson's Popular Ballads, ii. 191. From the recitation

Mrs. Brown.

"How brent's your brow, my Lady Elspat?
How gouden yellow is your hair?
O' a' the maids o' fair Scotland,

There's nane like Lady Elspat fair."

"Perform your vows, sweet William,” she says,
"The vows which ye ha' made to me;
And at the back o' my mither's castell,
This night I'll surely meet wi' thee."

But wae be to her brother's page,

That heard the words thir twa did say;

He's tald them to her lady mither,
Wha wrought sweet William mickle wae.

For she has ta'en him, sweet William,

And she's gar'd bind him wi' his bow string,

Till the red bluid o' his fair body
Frae ilka nail o' his hand did spring.

O it fell ance upon a time

That the Lord-justice came to town; Out has she ta'en him, sweet William, Brought him before the Lord-justice boun'

"And what is the crime, now,

แ

lady," he says,

"That has by this young man been dane?"

"O he has broken my bonny castell, .

That was weer biggit wi' lime and stane.

"And he has broken my bonny coffers, That was weel bandit wi' aiken ban; And he has stown my rich jewels;

I wot he has stown them every ane."

Then out it spak her Lady Elspat,

As she sat by Lord-justice' knee; "Now ye hae told your tale, mither, I pray, Lord-justice, ye'll now hear me.

"He hasna broken her bonny castell,
That was weel biggit wi' lime and stane;
Nor has he stown her rich jewels,
For I wat she has them every ane.

"But though he was my first true love, And though I had sworn to be his bride, 'Cause he hadna a great estate,

She would this way our loves divide."

Syne out and spak the Lord-justice,
I wat the tear was in his e'e;

"I see nae faut in this young man;

Sae loose his bands, and set him free.

"And tak your love, now, Lady Elspat,
And my best blessin' you baith upon;
For gin he be your first true love,
He is my eldest sister's son.

"There stands a steed in my stable,
Cost me baith gold and white mony;
Ye's get as mickle o' my free land
As he'll ride about in a summer's day."