WILLIAM AND MARJORIE.

LADY Marjorie, lady Marjorie,
Sat sewing her silken seam,
And by her came a pale, pale ghost,
Wi' mony a sigh and mane.

"Are ye my father the king," she says,
"Or are ye my brither John?

Or are ye my true love sweet William,
From England newly come?"

"I'm not your father the king," he says,

'No, no, nor your brither John;

But I'm your true love sweet William,
From England that's newly come."

"Have ye brought me any scarlets sae red, Or any of the silks sae fine;

Or have ye brought me any precious things That merchants have for sale."

"I have not brought you any scarlets sae red, No, no, nor the silks sae fine;

But I have brought you my winding-sheet
Ower many a rock and hill.

"Lady Marjorie, lady Marjorie!

For faith and charitie,

Will ye gie to me my faith and troth

་་0

That I gave once to thee?"

your faith and troth I'll not gie to thee, No, no, that will not I,

Until I get ae kiss of your ruby lips,

And in my arms you lye."

"My lips they are sae bitter," he says

My breath it is sae strang;

If you get ae kiss of my ruby lips,

Your days will not be lang.

"The cocks are crawing, Marjorie," he says“The cocks are crawing again;

It's time the Dead should part the QuickMarjorie, I must be gane."

She followed him high,—she followed him low,
Till she came to yon churchyard green;
And there the deep grave opened up,

And young William he lay down.

What three things are these, sweet William,"

she says,

"That stand here at your head?"

"O it's three maidens, Marjorie," he says,

"That I promised once to wed."

What three things are these, sweet William,"

she says,

"That stand close at your side?"

"O it's three babes, Marjorie," he says,

"That these three maidens had."

"What three things are these, sweet William,"

she says,

"That lye close at your feet?"

O it's three hell-hounds, Marjorie," he says,

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That's waiting my soul to keep."

O she took up her white, white hand,

And she struck him on the breast;

Saying "Have there again your faith and troth, And I wish your saul gude rest."

THE BROOM BLOOMS BONNIE AND SAYS IT IS FAIR.

THE revolting nature of the subject of this ballad, might, in the opinion of many readers, have been a sufficient reason for withholding its publication; but, as tales of this kind abound in the traditionary poetry of Scotland, a Collection, like the present, would have been incomplete without at least one solitary specimen. In its details, too, the Editor conceives it to be less abhorrent than either the ballad of Lizie Wan,* or that of the Bonny Hynd; † he also preferred it to the fragment of another ballad, on a similar subject, which, like the present, he obtained from recitation. The fragment being thus :

"Lady Margaret sits in her bow window

Sewing her silken seam ;

She dropt her thimble at her toe,

Her scissors at her heel,

• Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, &c., Edin. 1776,' vol. i. p. 93. ↑ Border Minstrelsy, fifth edition, vol. iii. p. 102.

And she's awa to the merry green wood

To see the leaves grow green;"

and in its principal features bears a strong resemblance to the Bonny Hynd.

With the exception of three verses, which appeared in Johnson's Musical Museum, vol. v. p. 474, under the title of "The broom blooms bonny, the broom blooms fair," the present ballad is for the first time printed. It is evidently a composition of considerable antiquity; and in poetical merit it may stand a comparison with either of the ballads above referred to.

It is talked, it is talked, the warld all over,

The broom blooms bonnie and says it is fair, That the king's dochter gaes wi' child to her brother,

And we'll never gang down to the broom onie mair.

He's ta'en his sister down to her father's deer

park,

The broom blooms bonnie and says it is fair, Wi' his yew-tree bow and arrows fast slung at his back,

And we'll never gang down to the broom onie mair.

"O when that ye hear me gie a loud, loud cry,

The broom blooms bonnie and says it is fair,