PROUD LADY MARGARET.

VARIOUS versions of this ballad are extant under different names. Mr Buchan's is entitled "The Courteous Knight," and Mr Dixon has printed a copy which he calls "The Bonny Hind Squire." It first appeared in the Border Minstrelsy, in an imperfect form, bearing the name which I have retained; and it was more recently supplemented by Mr Motherwell, who recovered the conclusion.

I am unable to give any explanation of the mysterious allusion to "Pirie's Chair."

TWA

WAS on a night, an evening bright,
When the dew began to fa',

Lady Margaret was walking up and doun,
Looking ower the castle wa'.

She lookit east, she lookit west,

To see what she could spy,

When a gallant knight cam' in her sight,

And to the gate drew nigh.

"God make you safe and free, fair maid,
God make you safe and free!"
"O sae fa' you, ye stranger knight,
What is your will wi' me?"

"It's I am come to this castle,

To seek the love of thee;

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And if you grant me not your love,
All for your sake I'll die."

If

you should die for me, young man,
There's few for you will maen ;

For mony a better has died for me,
Whose graves are growing green."

"O winna ye pity me, fair maid,
O winna ye pity me?

Hae pity for a courteous knight,
Whose love is laid on thee."

"Ye say ye are a courteous knight,
But I misdoubt ye sair;

I think you're but a miller lad,
By the white clothes ye wear.

"But ye maun read my riddle," she said, "And answer me questions three; And but ye read them richt," she said, "Gae stretch you out and die.

"What is the fairest flower, tell me,
That grows on muir or dale?
And what is the bird, the bonnie bird,
Sings next the nightingale ?

And what is the finest thing," she says, “That king or queen can wale ?”

"The primrose is the first flower,
That springs on muir or dale;
The mavis is the sweetest bird
Next to the nightingale ;

And yellow gowd's the finest thing,
That king or queen can wale."

"But what is the little coin," she said, "Wad buy my castle bound? And what's the little boat," she said,

66

66 Can sail the world all round?"

O hey, how mony small pennies
Make thrice three thousand pound?
O hey, how mony small fishes

"Swim a' the salt sea round ?"

"I think ye are my match," she said, "My match, and something mair; You are the first ere got the grant Of love frae my father's heir.

"My father was lord o' nine castles,
My mother lady o' three;

My father was lord o' nine castles,
And there's nane to heir but me,
Unless it be Willie, my ae brother,
But he's far ayont the sea."

"If your father's lord o' nine castles,
Your mother lady o' three;
It's I am Willie, your ae brother,
Was far ayont the sea."

"If ye be my brother Willie," she said,

"As I doubt sair ye be,

This nicht I'll neither eat nor drink,
But gae alang wi' thee."

"Ye've owre ill-washen feet, Margaret,
And owre ill-washen hands,

And owre coarse robes on your body,
Alang wi' me to gang.

"The worms they are my bedfellows, And the cauld clay my sheet,

And the higher that the wind does blaw, The sounder do I sleep.

"My body's buried in Dunfermline,

Sae far ayont the sea;

But day nor night nae rest can I get,

A' for the pride of thee.

"Leave aff your pride, Margaret," he says; “Use it not ony mair,

Or, when ye come where I hae been,
You will repent it sair.

"Cast off, cast off, sister," he says,

"The gowd band frae your croun ; For if you gang where I hae been, You'll wear it laigher doun.

"When you are in the gude kirk set, The gowd pins in your hair,

Ye tak mair delight in your feckless dress, Than in your morning prayer.

"And when ye walk in the kirkyard,
And in your dress are seen,
There is nae lady that sees your face,

But wishes your grave were green.

"You're straight and tall, handsome withal,
But your pride owergangs your wit;
If you do not your ways refrain,
In Pirie's chair you'll sit.

"In Pirie's chair you'll sit, I say,
The lowest seat in hell;

If you do not mend your ways,
It's there that you must dwell!"

Wi' that he vanished frae her sight,
In the twinkling of an eye;
And naething mair the lady saw,

But the gloomy clouds and sky.