They marched them to the gallows tree,85
Whilst the Earl stood at the window O;
And aye the smile was on his lip,
As he thocht on the Gipsy laddie O.
There were seven Gipsies in a gang,
They were so brisk and bonny O,90
And they're to be hang'd all in a row,
For the Earl o' Castle's leddy O.
[37]. "Yetholm, on the borders of Northumberland, situated among the recesses of the Cheviots, has ever been the headquarters of the Gipsy tribes. The Faas, (a corruption of Fall, their original designation,) the Youngs, Armstrongs, and Gordons still look up to this straggling village as their city of refuge." Sheldon.
JAMIE DOUGLAS. See p. [135].
From Finlay's Scottish Ballads, ii. 4.
When I fell sick, an' very sick,
An' very sick, just like to die,
A gentleman of good account
He cam on purpose to visit me;
But his blackie whispered in my lord's ear,5
He was owre lang in the room wi' me.
"Gae little page, an' tell your lord,
Gin he will come and dine wi' me,
I'll set him on a chair of gold,
And serve him on my bended knee."10
The little page gaed up the stair,—
"Lord Douglass, dine wi' your ladie:
She'll set ye on a chair of gold,
And serve you on her bended knee."