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ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH BALLADS. 89 |
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The curse of hell frae me sail ye beir, Sic counseils ye gave to me, 0."
Edward was communicated to Bishop Percy from Scotland by Lord Hailes, and there is some affectation in the ancient spelling, but it is undoubtedly genuine, and, as Professor Child remarks, " as spelling will not make an old ballad, so it will not unmake one."
One of the most famous and best known of the ancient Scottish ballads is that entitled Waly, Waly, gin Love be Bony, or, as it is sometimes called, Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament, which was first published in Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany. It has numerous variants embodying the language of the lament in stories of a more dramatic character, founded on a tradition of the Douglas family, but this has the strength and simplicity of an original: —
O, waly, waly, up the bank,
And waly, waly, down the brae ;
And waly, waly, yon burn-side, Where I and my love wont to gae.
I leaned my back unto an aik, I thought it was a trusty tree ;
But first it bowed, and syne it brak, Sae my true love did lightly me.
O, waly, waly, but love be bony, A little time, while it is new ; |
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