Michael Bruce's Sir James the Rose will be found in another part of this collection. In Caw's Museum (p. 290) is a ballad in the worst possible taste, styled Elfrida and Sir James of Perth, which seems to be a mere disfiguration of Bruce's.
O heard ye o' Sir James the Rose,
The young heir o' Buleighan?
For he has kill'd a gallant squire,
Whase friends are out to tak him.
Now he has gane to the house o' Mar,5
Whar nane might seik to find him;
To see his dear he did repair,
Weining she wold befreind him.
"Whar are ye gaing Sir James," she said,
"O whar awa are ye riding?"10
"I maun be bound to a foreign land,
And now I'm under hiding.
"Whar sall I gae, whar sall I rin,
Whar sall I rin to lay me?
For I ha kill'd a gallant squire,15
And his friends seik to slay me."
"O gae ye down to yon laigh house,
I sall pay there your lawing;
And as I am your leman trew,
I'll meet ye at the dawing."20
He turned him richt and round about,
And rowd him in his brechan:
And laid him doun to tak a sleip,
In the lawlands o' Buleighan.
He was nae weil gane out o' sicht,25
Nor was he past Milstrethen,
Whan four and twenty belted knichts
Cam riding owr the Leathen.