Campbell Manuscripts, II, 43.
| 1 |
Four and twenty gay ladies
Were playing at the ba,
And [out] came Lord Barnaby's lady,
The fairest o them a'. |
| 2 |
She coost her eyes on Little Musgrave,
And he on her again;
She coost her eyes on Little Musgrave,
As they twa lovers had been. |
| 3 |
'I have a hall in Mulberry,
It stands baith strong and tight;
If you will go to there with me,
I'll lye with you all night.' |
| 4 |
'To lye with you, madam,' he says,
'Will breed both sturt and strife;
I see by the rings on your fingers
You are Lord Barnaby's wife.' |
| 5 |
'Lord Barnaby's to the hunting gone,
And far out oer the hill,
And he will not return again
Till the evening tide untill.' |
| 6 |
They were not well lain down,
Nor yet well fallen asleep,
Till up started Lord Barnaby's boy,
Just up at their bed-feet. |
| 7 |
She took out a little penknife,
Which hung down low by her gair:
'If you do not my secret keep,
A word ye's neer speak mair.' |
| 8 |
The laddie gae a blythe leer look,
A blythe leer look gave he,
And he's away to Lord Barnaby,
As fast as he can hie.
* * * * * |
| 9 |
'If these tidings binna true,
These tidings ye tell to me,
A gallows-tree I'll gar be made
And hanged ye shall be. |
| 10 |
'But if these tidings are true,
These tidings ye tell me,
The fairest lady in a' my court
I'll gar her marry thee.' |
| 11 |
He's taen out a little horn,
He blew baith loue and sma,
And aye the turning o the tune
'Away, Musgrave, awa!' |
| 12 |
They were not well lain down,
Nor yet well fallen asleep,
Till up started Lord Barnaby,
Just up at their bed-feet. |
| 13 |
'O how like ye my blankets, Musgrave?
And how like ye my sheets?
And how like ye my gay lady,
So sound in your arms that sleeps?' |
| 14 |
'Weel I like your blankets, Sir,
And far better yere sheets;
And better far yere gay lady,
So sound in my arms that sleeps.' |
| 15 |
'Get up, get up, now, Little Musgrave,
And draw to hose and sheen;
It's neer be said in my country
I'd fight a naked man. |
| 16 |
'There is two swords into my house,
And they cost me right dear;
Take you the best, and I the worst,
I'll fight the battle here.' |
| 17 |
The first stroke that Lord Barnaby gave,
It was baith deep and sore;
The next stroke that Lord Barnaby gave,
A word he never spoke more. |
| 18 |
He's taen out a rappier then,
He's struck it in the straw,
And thro and thro his lady's sides
He gard the cauld steel gae. |
| 19 |
'I am not sae wae for Little Musgrave,
As he lys cauld and dead;
But I'm right wae for his lady,
For she'll gae witless wud. |
| 20 |
'I'm not sae wae for my lady,
For she lies cauld and dead;
But I'm right wae for my young son,
Lies sprawling in her blood.' |
| 21 |
First crew the black cock,
And next crew the sparrow;
And what the better was Lord Barnaby?
He was hanged on the morrow. |
