G
Motherwell’s MS., p. 131.
1
The Earl Aboyne to London has gane,
And all his nobles with him;
For a’ the braw ribbands he wore at his hat,
He has left his lady behind him.
2
She’s called on her little foot-page,
And Jean, her gentlewoman;
Said, Fill to me a full pint of wine,
And I’ll drink it at my lord’s coming.
3
‘You’re welcome, you’re welcome, you’re welcome,’ she says,
‘You’re welcome home from London!’
‘If I be welcome as you now say,
Come kiss me, my bonnie Peggy Irvine.
4
‘Come kiss me, come kiss me, my lady,’ he says,
‘Come kiss me for my coming,
For the morn should hae been my wedding-day,
Had I staid any longer in London.’
5
She turned about with an angry look,
Said, Woe’s me for your coming!
If the morn should hae been your wedding-day,
Go back to your whore in London.
6
He’s called on his little foot-page,
Said, Saddle both sure and swiftly,
And I’l away to the Bogs o the Gay,
And speak wi the Marquis o Huntly.
7
She has called on her little foot-page,
Said, See if he’ll take me with him;
And he shall hae nae mair cumber o me
But mysell and my servant-woman.
8
‘O London streets they are too strait,
They are not for a woman,
And it is too low to ride in coach wi me
With your humble servant-woman.’
9
He had not been at the Bogs o the Gay,
Nor yet his horse was baited,
Till a boy with a letter came to his hand
That his lady was lying streekit.
10
‘O woe! O woe! O woe!’ he says,
‘O woe’s me for my coming!
I had rather lost the Bogs o the Gay
Or I’d lost my bonny Peggy Irvine.
11
‘O woe! O woe! O woe!’ he said,
‘O woe to the Marquis o Huntly,
Gard the Earl of Aboyne prove very unkind
To a good and a dutiful lady!’