Out through the Crichtons Willie he ran,65
And dang them down baith horse and man;
O but the Johnstones were wondrous rude,
When the Biddes-burn ran three days blood!
"Now, sirs, we have done a noble deed,—
We have revenged the Galliard's bleid;70
For every finger of the Galliard's hand,
I vow this day I've kill'd a man."
As they cam in at Evan-head,
At [Ricklaw-holm] they spread abread;
"Drive on, my lads! it will be late;75
We'll hae a pint at [Wamphray gate].
"For where'er I gang, or e'er I ride,
The lads of Wamphray are on my side;
And of a' the lads that I do ken,
A Wamphray lad's the king of men."80
[1-7]. Leverhay, Stefenbiggin, Girth-head, &c., are all situated in the parish of Wamphray.—S.
[51-53]. The Wellpath is a pass by which the Johnstones were retreating to their fastnesses in Annandale. The Biddes-burn, where the skirmish took place betwixt the Johnstones and their pursuers, is a rivulet which takes its course among the mountains on the confines of Nithesdale and Annandale.—S.
[74-76]. Ricklaw-holm is a place upon the Evan-water, which falls into the Annan, below Moffat. Wamphray-gate was in those days an alehouse.—S.