"In this set of the ballad, from its direct allusion to the use of the Savin-tree, a clue is, perhaps, afforded for tracing how the poor mediciner mentioned by Knox should be implicated in the crime of Mary Hamilton. It may also be noted as a feature in this version of the ballad, which does not occur in any heretofore printed, the unfortunate heroine's proud and indignant spurning at life after her character had been tainted by the infamy of a sentence of condemnation. In another copy of the ballad, also obtained from recitation, this sentiment is, perhaps, still more forcibly expressed; at any rate, it is more appropriate as being addressed to the King. The whole concluding verses of this copy, differing as they somewhat do from the version adopted for a text, it has been thought worth while to preserve. "But bring to me a cup," she says, "A cup bot and a can, And I will drink to all my friends, And they'll drink to me again. Here's to you, all travellers, Who travel by land or sea; Let na wit to my father nor mother The death that I must die. Here's to you, all travellers, That travel on dry land; Let na wit to my father or mother But I am coming hame. O little did my mother think, First time she cradled me, What land I was to travel on, Or what death I would die. O little did my mother think, First time she tied my head, What land I was to tread upon, Or whare I would win my bread. Yestreen Queen Mary had four Maries; This night she'll hae but three; She had Mary Seaton, and Mary Beaton, And Mary Carmichael, and me. Yestreen I wush Queen Mary's feet, And bore her till her bed; This day she's given me my reward, The gallows tree to tread. Cast aff, cast aff my gown," she said, "But let my petticoat be; And tye a napkin on my face, For that gallows I downa see." By and cam the King himsell, Look'd up wi' a pitiful ee: "Come down, come down, Mary Hamilton; This day thou wilt dine with me." "Hold your tongue, my sovereign liege, And let your folly be; An ye had had a mind to save my life, Ye should na hae shamed me here!" "The copy of the ballad from which the above extract is given, begins with this verse: "There were three ladies, they lived in a bower, And O but they were fair; The youngest o' them is to the King's court, To learn some unco lair." "There is another version in which the heroine is named Mary Myles, or Myle; but Myle is probably a corruption of the epithet 'mild,' which occurs in the fragment given in the _North Countrie Garland_." MOTHERWELL. There lived a knight into the North, And he had daughters three: The ane of them was a barber's wife, The other a gay ladie; And the youngest o' them to Scotland is gane 5 The Queen's Mary to be; And for a' that they could say or do, Forbidden she wouldna be.