"Adieu, Dumfries, my proper place,25
But and Carlaverock fair!
Adieu, my castle of the Thrieve,
Wi' a' my buildings there!
Adieu, Lochmaben's gate sae fair,
The Langholm-holm, where birks there be!30
Adieu, my ladye, and only joy!
For, trust me, I may not stay wi' thee.
"Adieu, fair Eskdale, up and down,
Where my puir friends do dwell!
The bangisters will ding them down,35
And will them sair compell.
But I'll avenge their feid mysell,
When I come o'er the sea;
Adieu, my ladye, and only joy!
For I may not stay wi' thee."40
"Lord of the land,"—that ladye said,
"O wad ye go wi' me,
Unto my brother's stately tower,
Where safest ye may be!
There Hamiltons, and Douglas baith,45
Shall rise to succour thee."
"Thanks for thy kindness, fair my dame,
But I may not stay wi' thee."
Then he tuik aff a gay gold ring,
Thereat hang signets three;50
"Hae, tak thee that, mine ain dear thing,
And still hae mind o' me:
But if thou take another lord,
Ere I come ower the sea—
His life is but a three days' lease,55
Though I may not stay wi' thee."
The wind was fair, the ship was clear,
That good lord went away;
And most part of his friends were there,
To give him a fair convey.60
They drank the wine, they didna spair,
Even in that gude lord's sight—
Sae now he's o'er the floods sae gray,
And Lord Maxwell has ta'en his Goodnight.
THE LADS OF WAMPHRAY
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ii. 148.
"The reader will find, prefixed to the foregoing ballad, an account of the noted feud betwixt the families of Maxwell and Johnstone. The following song celebrates the skirmish, in 1593, betwixt the Johnstones and Crichtons, which led to the revival of the ancient quarrel betwixt Johnstone and Maxwell, and finally to the battle of Dryffe Sands, in which