Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Ballads and songs of Ayrshire > Volume 1

THE BATTLE OF LOUDOIW HILL.
But up bespake his cornet, then,
" Since that it is your honour's will,
Mysel' shall be the foremost man,
That shall gi'e fire on Loudoun Hill.
" At your command I'll lead them on,
But yet wi' nae consent o' me ;
For weel I ken I'll ne'er return,
And mony mae as weel as me."
Then up he drew in battle rank ;
I wat he had a bonnie train !
But the first time that bullets flew,
Ay he lost twenty o' his men.
Then back he came the way he gaed,
I wat right soon and suddenly !
He gave command among his men,
And sent them back, and bade them flee.
Then up came Burly, bauld an' stout,
Wi's little train o' westland men ;
Wha mair than either aince or twice
i
In Edinburgh confined had been. |
They ha'e been up to London sent, I
An' yet they're a' come safely down ; |
Sax troop o' horsemen they ha'e beat, s
And chased them into Glasgow town. ^
The " Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border"— from which the foregoing bal- J
lad is copied — does not say from what source it was obtained ; whether \
from MS. or recitation. The affair to which it refers is well known — I
not only historically, but as interwoven with one of the Author of Waver-
ley's most interesting national fictions. The battle of Loudoun Hill, or
Drumclog, was fought on Sabbath, the 1st of June, 1679— Claverhouse,
with a party of dragoons from Glasgow, having come upon the Cove-