"Your biggin isna broken, sir, 95 Nor is your towers won; But the fairest lady in a' the land This day for you maun burn." "O saddle to me the black, the black, Or saddle to me the brown; 100 Or saddle to me the swiftest steed That ever rade frae a town." Or he was near a mile awa', She heard his weir-horse sneeze; "Mend up the fire, my fause brother, 105 It's nae come to my knees." O whan he lighted at the yeat, She heard his bridle ring: "Mend up the fire, my fause brother; It's far yet frae my chin. 110 "Mend up the fire to me, brother, Mend up the fire to me; For I see him comin' hard and fast, Will soon men't up for thee. "O gin my hands had been loose, Willy, 115 Sae hard as they are boun', I wadd hae turn'd me frae the gleed, And casten out your young son." "O I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, Your father and your mother; 120 And I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, Your sister and your brother; "And I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, The chief o' a' your kin; And the last bonfire that I come to, 125 Mysell I will cast in." v. 41. See preface to _Clerk Saunders_, p. 319. FAIR JANET. From Sharpe's _Ballad Book_, p. 1. "This ballad, the subject of which appears to have been very popular, is printed as it was sung by an old woman in Perthshire. The air is extremely beautiful." Herd gave an imperfect version of this ballad under the title of _Willie and Annet_, in his _Scottish Songs_, i. 219; repeated after him in Ritson's _Scottish Songs_, and in Johnson's _Museum_. Finlay's copy, improved, but made up of fragments, follows the present, and in the Appendix is _Sweet Willie and Fair Maisry_, from Buchan's collection. We have followed Motherwell by inserting (in brackets) three stanzas from _Willie and Annet_ and _Sweet Willie_, which contribute slightly to complete Sharpe's copy. None of these ballads is satisfactory, though Sharpe's is the best. Touching the relation of _Fair Janet_ to the Danish ballad of _King Waldemar and his Sister_, the reader will please look at the preface to the preceding ballad. "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!" Janet's awa' to her father, 5 As fast as she could hie; "O what's your will wi' me, father? O what's your will wi' me?" "My will wi' you, Fair Janet," he said, "It is both bed and board; 10 Some say that ye lo'e Sweet Willie, But ye maun wed a French lord."