66

When sinners repent from the spleen, The scourge cast in the fire.

Sae Morton, by fortune,

May get this same reward;
His boasting, nor posting,
I do it not regard.

VII.

Baith him and all their companie,
Tho' England would them fortify,
I care them not a leek ;

For all their great munition,
I am in sure tuition,

This hold it shall me keep.
My realm and prince's libertie,
Therein I shall defend,

When traitors shall be hanged hie,

Or mak' some shameful end.

Assure them, I care * them,

Even as they do deserve ;

Their treason, this season,

It shall not mak' me swerve.

VIII.

"For I hae men and meat eneugh, They knew I am a tailliant tough,

And will be right soon grieved, When they hae tint† as mony teeth, As they did at the siege of Leith, They will be fain to leave it.

*

Then wha, I pray you, shall be boun',
Their tynsal to advance ;
Or give sic composition

As they gat then of France?
Thus syled,t beguiled,

They will but get the glaiks ;
Come they here, thir twa year,
They sall not miss their paiks.§

IX.

"As for my niebours, Edinbruch toun,
What shall be their part, up or doun,
I cannot yet declare ;
But ae thing I mak' manifest,
Gif they me ony thing molest

Their booths shall be made bare.
Gif fire may their buildings sack,
Or bullet beat them doun,
They sall not fail that end to mak',
For steers || made in this toun.
Sae muse them, and chuse them
What part they will ensue ;
Forsake me, or back me,

They sall drink as they brew."

X.

He bade me rise, and muse nae mair,
But pray to God baith late and aire,¶
To save this noble lodge;

* Loss in this passage the word seems to signify ransom. Circumvented.

Be deceived: glaik, means the flash, or reflection of the sun from a mirror, and is metaphorically used to signify illusion.

§ Chastisement.

|| Disturbances.

Early.

Which is, in all prosperitie,
And likewise in adversitie,

Our prince's plain refuge.
Therefore all true men I exhort,
That ye with me accord,

That we all, baith in earn'st and sport, Ask at the living Lord,

That hanged, or manged,*

May ilk man mak' his end,

Wha duly, and truly,

Wad not this house defend.

* Maimed.

THE LAIRD OF DRUM.

FEW families in the north of Scotland can boast of "redder blood" than the Irvines of Drum, who still remain in possession of the estates granted for loyal service to their ancestor by King Robert the Bruce. Inflexible "kingsmen," their names appear in the records of almost every stirring period, from the battle of the Harlaw, when they were represented by, "Gude Sir Alexander Irvine,

The much-renowned Laird of Drum,

Nane in his days was better seen,

When they were semblit all and some,"

down to the great rebellion, when another Alexander received the compliment of excommunication at the hands of the Covenanters on account of his devotion to the cause of Charles I., and was under sentence of death when rescued by the Marquis of Montrose. This latter Alexander is the Laird of Drum celebrated in the following ballad. His first wife was a daughter of the Marquis of Huntly; but in his advanced years he took to himself a second of humble degree, Margaret Coutts by name, an alliance which gave great offence to his kindred, but which seems rather to have gratified the commons, with whom the ballad is still a favourite. Versions are given in the Collections of Messrs Kinloch and Buchan.

HE Laird o' Drum is a-hunting gane,

THE

All in a morning early,

And he did spy a weel-faur'd May,

Was shearing at her barley.

"My bonny May, my weel-faur'd May, O will ye fancy me, O ;

And gae and be the Leddy o' Drum,

And let your shearing a-be, O?"

"It's I winna fancy you,

kind sir,

Nor let my shearing a-be, O;
For I'm ower low to be Leddy Drum,
And your miss I'd scorn to be, O."

"But ye'll cast aff that gown o' grey,
Put on the silk and scarlet;

I'll make a vow, and keep it true,
Ye'll be neither miss nor harlot."

"My father he is a shepherd mean,
Keeps sheep on yonder hill, O,
And ye may gae and speer at him,
For I am at his will, O."

Drum is to her father gane,

Keeping his sheep on yon hill, O— "I am come to marry your ae daughter, If ye'll gie me your good-will, O."

"My dochter can naether read nor write, She ne'er was brocht up at scheel,* 0; But weel can she milk baith cow and ewe, And mak' a kebbuckt weel, O.

"She'll shake your barn, and win your corn, And gang to kiln and mill, O;

* School,-Aberdeen dialect.

+ Cheese,