Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Scottish ballads

360
The sad Matilda saw him fall :
" Oh, spare his life I" she cried ;
" Lord Buchan's daughter begs his life ;
Let her not be denied !"
Her well-known voice the hero heard ;
He raised his death-closed eyes,
And fixed them on the weeping maid,
And weakly thus replies :
" In vain Matilda begs the life,
By death's arrest denied :
My race is run — adieu, ray love" —
Then closed his eyes and died.
The sword, yet warm, from his left side
With frantic hand he drew :
" I come, Sir James the Rose," she cried ;
" I come to follow you !"
She leaned the hilt against the ground,
And bared her snowy breast ;
Then fell upon her lover's face,
And sunk to endless rest.*
* This very beautiful ballad was written upon the story of an old one of
the same name, which is given, as follows, in " Gleanings of Scarce Old
Ballads, Peterhead, 1825."
O heard ye o' Sir James the Rose,
The young heir o' Buleichan,
For he has killed a gallant squire,
Whase friends are out to tak him.
Now he's gane to the house o' Mar,
Whar nane micht seek to find him ;
To see his dear he did repair.
Weening she might befriend him.
" Whar are ye gaun. Sir James ?" she said
•' O wharawa are ye riding ?"
" I maun be bound to a foreign land.
And now I'm under hiding.
Whar sail I gae, whar sail I rin,
W har sail I rin to stay me ?