"Gilderoy was a bonnie boy,
Had roses to his shoon;[#]
His stockings were of silken soy,
With garters hanging down.
It was, I ween, a comely sight
To see so trim a boy;
He was my jo, and heart's delight,
My handsome Gilderoy.
* * * * *
My Gilderoy and I were born
Both in one town together;
We scant were seven years before
We 'gan to love each other.
Our daddies and our mammies they
Were filled with meikle joy,
To think upon the bridal day
Of me and Gilderoy."
[#] Shoes.
But there intervened the spirit of adventure which had ever been the birthright of all of his surname,
"Oh, that he still had been content
With me to lead his life!
But ah! his manful heart was bent
To stir in deeds of strife;
And he in many a venturous deed
His courage bold would try;
And now this gars[#] my heart to bleed
For my dear Gilderoy."
[#] Makes.
No doubt those who knew Gilderoy personally would have agreed, as was actually said of Rob Roy, that he was a benevolent and humane man "in his way."
"My Gilderoy, both far and near,
Was feared in every town;
And boldly bore away the gear
Of many a Lowland loun,
For man to man durst meet him none,
He was so brave a boy;
At length with numbers he was ta'en,
My winsome Gilderoy."
He was not so fortunate as Rob Roy, who ultimately died peacefully in his bed. Gilderoy had lost the game, and he had to pay the stakes.
"Of Gilderoy so feared they were,
They bound him fast and strong;
To Edinbro' they led him there,
And on a gallows hung.
They hung him high above the rest,
He was so trim a boy;
There died the youth whom I loved best,
My handsome Gilderoy."
Thus perished one of the characteristic products of an age whose standards were so different from ours that we can hardly judge him fairly. He was banned before his birth, a scion of a race so indomitably and innately ferocious that the law attempted to extirpate them, root and branch. The very name of Gregor could be given by no clergyman at baptism, under penalty of deprivation and banishment. Cunning and politic neighbours were not slow to take advantage of the stubborn disposition of the MacGregors, and gradually stripped them of their once extensive lands in Argyle and Perthshire. Gilderoy might well consider that he was "an honester man than stood on any of their shanks," and we may be excused for feeling a very lively sympathy with him, and for echoing in our inmost hearts the exquisitely feminine point of view expressed by the lady composer of the ballad.