BROWN ADAM.
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, iii. 159.
"There is a copy of this ballad in Mrs. Brown's collection. The editor has seen one, printed on a single sheet. The epithet, "Smith," implies, probably, the sirname, not the profession, of the hero, who seems to have been an outlaw. There is, however, in Mrs. Brown's copy, a verse of little merit, here omitted, alluding to the implements of that occupation." Scott.
O wha wad wish the wind to blaw,
Or the green leaves fa' therewith?
Or wha wad wish a lealer love
Than Brown Adam the Smith?
But they hae banished him, Brown Adam,5
Frae father and frae mother;
And they hae banish'd him, Brown Adam,
Frae sister and frae brother.
And they hae banish'd him, Brown Adam,
The flower o' a' his kin;10
And he's bigged a bour in gude green-wood
Atween his ladye and him.
It fell upon a summer's day,
Brown Adam he thought lang;
And, for to hunt some venison,15
To green-wood he wald gang.