And ere another day is gone,
My winding-sheet prepare,50
And bury me in the green churchyard
Where the flowers are bloomin' fair.
Lay my Bible at my head,
My testament at my feet;
The earth and worms shall be my bed,55
Till Christ and I shall meet.
SIR PATRICK SPENS. See p. [147].
From Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, i. 1.
The King sits in Dunfermline town,
A-drinking at the wine;
Says, "Where will I get a good skipper
Will sail the saut seas fine?"
Out it speaks an eldren knight5
Amang the companie,—
"Young Patrick Spens is the best skipper
That ever sail'd the sea."
The king he wrote a braid letter,
And seal'd it wi' his ring;10
Says, "Ye'll gi'e that to Patrick Spens:
See if ye can him find."