C.K. Sharpe's Letters, ed. Allardyce, I, 180 ff; written
from the recitation of Violet Roddick, a woman living
Hoddam Castle, 1803. Sharpe's Ballad Book, 1823, p. 89.
| 1 |
O Errol it's a bonny place,
It stands in yonder glen;
The lady lost the rights of it
The first night she gaed hame.
A waly and a waly!
According as ye ken,
The thing we ca the ranting o 't,
Our lady lies her lane, O. |
| 2 |
'What need I wash my apron,
Or hing it on yon door?
What need I truce my petticoat?
It hangs even down before.' |
| 3 |
Errol's up to Edinburgh gaen,
That bonny burrows-town;
He has chusit the barber's daughter,
The top of a' that town. |
| 4 |
He has taen her by the milk-white hand,
He has led her through the room,
And twenty times he's kisst her,
Before his lady's een. |
| 5 |
'Look up, look up now, Peggy,
Look up, and think nae shame,
For I'll gie thee five hundred pound,
To buy to thee a gown. |
| 6 |
'Look up, look up, now, Peggy,
Look up, and think nae shame,
For I'll gie thee five hundred pound
To bear to me a son. |
| 7 |
'As thou was Kate Carnegie,
And I Sir Gilbert Hay,
I'll gar your father sell his lands,
Your tocher-gude to pay. |
| 8 |
'Now he may take her back again,
Do wi her what he can,
For Errol canna please her,
Nor ane o a' his men.' |
| 9 |
'Go fetch to me a pint of wine,
Go fill it to the brim,
That I may drink my gude lord's health,
Tho Errol be his name.' |
| 10 |
She has taen the glass into her hand,
She has putten poison in,
She has signd it to her dorty lips,
But neer a drop went in. |
| 11 |
Up then spake a little page,
He was o Errol's kin;
'Now fie upon ye, lady gay,
There's poison there within. |
| 12 |
'It's hold your hand now, Kate,' she says,
'Hold it back again,
For Errol winna drink on 't,
Nor none o a' his men.' |
| 13 |
She has taen the sheets into her arms,
She has thrown them oer the wa:
'Since I maun gae maiden hame again,
Awa, Errol, awa!' |
| 14 |
She's down the back o the garden,
And O as she did murne!
'How can a workman crave his wage,
When he never wrought a turn?' |
