E
Harris MS., fol. 21 b; from the recitation of Mrs Harris.
1
‘My maidens fair, yoursels prepare.’
2
You may weel knaw by her hair, wi the diamonds sae rare,
That the Earl of Aboyne was comin.
3
‘My minstrels all, be at my call,
Haud a’ your rooms a ringin,
. . . . . . .
For the Earl of Aboyne is comin.’
4
‘Tomorrow soud hae been my bonnie waddin-day,
If I had staid in London.’
5
She turned her aboot wi an angry look,
An sic an angry woman!
‘Gin tomorrow soud hae been your bonnie waddin-day,
Gae back to your miss in Lunnon.’
6
For mony a day an year that lady lived in care,
An doctors wi her dealin,
Till just in a crack her very heart did brak,
An her letters went on to Lunnon.
7
There waur four-an-twenty o the noblest lords
That Lonnon could aford him,
A’ clead in black frae the saidle to the hat,
To convey the corpse o Peggy Ewan.
8
‘I’d rather hae lost a’ the lands o Aboyne
Than lost my pretty Peggy Ewan.’