29. Ye shal not nede further to drede; I wyl not disparage You, (God defende!) syth you descend Of so grete a lynage. Now understonde; to Westmerlande, Whiche is my herytage, I wyl you brynge; and wyth a rynge, By wey of maryage I wyl you take, and lady make, As shortly as I can: Thus haue ye wone an erles son And not a banysshyd man. 30. Here may ye see, that wymen be In loue, meke, kinde, and stable; Late neuer man repreue them than, Or calle them variable; But rather prey God that we may To them be comfortable; Whiche somtyme prouyth suche as loueth, Yf they be charitable. For sith men wolde that wymen sholde Be meke to them echeon, Moche more ought they to God obey, And serue but Hym alone. [Annotations: 1.1: ‘among,’ from time to time. 1.5: ‘neuer a dele,’ not at all. 3.4: ‘they’ = the. ‘in fere,’ in company. ‘and fere’ (= fear) is usually printed. 5.1: ‘do,’ done. 5.5: ‘ton,’ one. 5.10: _i.e._ I know no other advice. 6.4: ‘derked,’ darkened. 6.7: ‘wheder,’ whither. 7.2: ‘distrayne,’ affect. 7.5: ‘aslake,’ abate. 10.9: ‘thoo,’ those. 11.3: ‘renne,’ run. 11.6: A later edition of the _Chronicle_ reads-- ‘A bowe, redy to drawe.’ 13.6: ‘rescous,’ rescue. Another edition has ‘socurs.’ 15.7: ‘abowe,’ above; ‘roue,’ roof. 18.7: ‘hele,’ health. 19.3: ‘here,’ hair; ‘ere,’ ear. 19.9: ‘And,’ If. 20.7: ‘ensue,’ follow. 22.2: The type is broken in the 1502 edition, which reads ‘to say be....’ 23.6: ‘yede,’ went. 25.3: ‘purueid (= purveyed) me,’ provided myself. 26.9: ‘moo’ = mo, _i.e._ more. 30.10: ‘echeon,’ each one.] FAIR JANET +The Text.+--Of seven or eight variants of this ballad, only three preserve the full form of the story. On the whole, the one here given--from Sharp’s _Ballad Book_, as sung by an old woman in Perthshire--is the best, as the other two--from Herd’s _Scots Songs_, and the Kinloch MSS.--are slightly contaminated by extraneous matter. +The Story+ is a simple ballad-tale of ‘true-love twinned’; but the episode of the dancing forms a link with a number of German and Scandinavian ballads, in which compulsory dancing and horse-riding is made a test of the guilt of an accused maiden. In the Scotch ballad the horse-riding has shrunk almost to nothing, and the dancing is not compulsory. The resemblance is faint, and the barbarities of the Continental versions are happily wanting in our ballad. FAIR JANET 1. ‘Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, Ye maun gang to him soon; Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, In case that his days are dune.’ 2. Janet’s awa’ to her father, As fast as she could hie: ‘O what’s your will wi’ me, father? O what’s your will wi’ me?’ 3. ‘My will wi’ you, Fair Janet,’ he said, ‘It is both bed and board; Some say that ye lo’e Sweet Willie, But ye maun wed a French lord.’