Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Scottish ballads

280
Fair Margaret died for pure true love,
Sweit William died for sorrow.
Margaret was buried in the lower chancel,
And William in the higher :
Out of her breast there sprang a rose,
And out of his a brier.
They grew till they grew unto the church-top,
And then they could grow no higher ;
And there they tied in a true lover's knot,
Which made all the people admire.
Then came the clerk of the parish,
As you the truth shall hear,
And by misfortune cut them down,
Or they had now been there.*
MARGARET'S GHOST.
DAVID MALLET.
'TwAS at the silent solemn hour,
When night and morning meet,
* This seems to be the old ballad quoted in Fletcher's Knight of the Burn-
ing Pestle, Acts 2d and 5cl ; although the six lines there preserved are
somewhat different from those in the ballad as it stands at present. The
reader will not wonder at this, when he is informed that this is only given
from a modern printed copy, picked up at a stall. " Its full title is, ' Fair
Margaret's Misfortunes, or Sweet William's frightful dreams on his wed-
ding night, with the sudden deatli and burial of these noble lovers.' The
lines preserved in the play are this disticii :
You are no love for me, Margaret,
I am no love for you.
And the following stanza :
When it was grown to dark midnight.
And all were fast asleep.
In came Margaret's grimly ghost.
And stood at William's feet.