O, Willie has loosed the nine witch-knots, And the kembs of care he has taken out, And he has killed the master kid, And thou, the fellest Hag on mold, JAMIESON. THE DOWIE* DENS OF YARROW. LATE at even, drinking the wine, O stay at hame, my noble lord! O fare ye weel, my lady gay! For I maun gae, though I ne'er return She kissed his cheek, she kaimed his hair, As he gaed up the Tinnes' bank, I wat he gaed with sorrow, Till down in a den he 'spied nine armed men, * Dreary. O come ye here to part your land, I come not here to part my land, On the bonnie banks of Yarrow. If I see all, ye 're nine to ane, And that's an unequal marrow; Yet will I fight, while lasts my brand, On the bonnie banks of Yarrow. Four has he hurt, and five has slain, Till that stubborn knight came him behind, Gae hame, gae hame, good brother John, To come and lift her leafu' lord; He's sleeping sound on Yarrow. Yest'reen I dreamed a doleful dream; O gentle wind! that bloweth south, But in the glen strive armed men, They 've wrought me dool and sorrow; They've slain the comeliest knight they 've slainHe bleeding lies on Yarrow! As she gaed down yon high, high hill, On the dowie banks of Yarrow. She kissed his cheek, she kaimed his hair, Now hold your tongue, my daughter dear! I'll wed ye to a better lord Than him ye lost on Yarrow. O hold your tongue, my father dear! A fairer rose did never bloom Than now lies cropped on Yarrow! JAMIESON. GEORGE BARNWELL. GEORGE LILLO, a jeweller of London, who died in 1739, Æt. 47, a moral and affecting writer, the author of "The Fatal Curiosity," and "Arden of Feversham," wrote a tragedy on this subject, which is sufficiently known. It appeared in 1730: but the following ballad is supposed to be about a hundred years older, and therefore has some claim on the score of antiquity. The events mentioned in both are believed to have actually occurred. ALL youth of fair England, A London lad I was A merchant's 'prentice bound, My name George Barnwell; that did spend My master many a pound. Take heed of harlots then, And their enticing trains; For by that means I have been brought To hang alive in chains. As I upon a day Was walking through the street, About my master's business, A wanton I did meet. |