Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns

GILDEROY.
Had not their laws been made so strict,
I ne'er had lost my joy ;
Wi' sorrow ne'er had wat my cheik
For my dear Gilderoy.
Gif Gilderoy had done amiss,
He micht have banish'd been ;
Ah, what sair crnelty is this,
To hang sic handsome men !
To hang the flower o' Scottish land,
Sae sweit and fair a boy !
Nae lady had sae white a hand
As thee, my Gilderoy !
Of Gilderoy sae fear'd they were,
They bound him meikle strong ;
Till Edinburgh they led him there,
And on a gallows hung :
They hung him high abune the rest,
He was sae trim a boy ;
There died the youth whom I loo'd best,
My handsome Gilderoy.
Thus having yielded up his breath,
I bare his corpse away ;
Wi' tears that trickled for his death,
I wash'd his comely clay ;
And sicker in a grave sae deep
I laid the dear-loo'd boy ;
And now for ever maun I weep
My winsome Gilderoy.
The old broadside version of Gilderoy ran thus :
My love he was as brave a man
As ever Scotland bred ;
Descended from a Highland clan,
A kateran to his trade.