He shaw'd me up, he shaw'd me doun,
He shaw'd me to the ha',
He shaw'd me to the low cellars,
And that was warst of a'.
In one of Motherwell's copies, and in Buchan's, the heroine calls herself daughter of the Duke of York.
"Whan I was a babe, and a very little babe,
And stood at my mither's knee,
Nae witch nor warlock did unfauld
The death I was to dree.
"But my mither was a proud woman,5
A proud woman and a bauld;
And she hired me to Queen Mary's bouer
When scarce eleven years auld.
"O happy, happy, is the maid,
That's born of beauty free!10
It was my dimpling rosy cheeks
That's been the dule o' me;
And wae be to that weirdless wicht,
And a' his witcherie."
Word's gane up and word's gane doun,15
And word's gane to the ha',
That Mary Hamilton was wi' bairn,
And na body ken'd to wha.
But in and cam the Queen hersel,
Wi' gowd plait on her hair;—20
Says, "Mary Hamilton, whare is the babe
That I heard greet sae sair?"
"There is na babe within my bouer,
And I hope there ne'er will be;
But it's me wi' a sair and sick colic,25
And I'm just like to dee."
But they looked up, they looked down,
Atween the bowsters and the wa',
It's there they got a bonnie lad-bairn,
But it's life it was awa'.30