Aft hae I ridden through Stirling town,
In the wind both and the rain,
But I ne'er rade through Stirling town
Ne'er to return again.
Mary Hamilton describes the tragic fate of an attendant on Queen Mary, brought to the gallows for destroying her own infant. The reflections of the heroine at the last sad moment are expressed in the same rich strain of sentiment as some of the passages of other ballads already quoted, and with remarkable parallelisms in terms:
'O aften hae I dressed my queen,
And put gowd in her hair;
But now I've gotten for my reward
The gallows tree to share.
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