Up and spak an eldern knicht, 5 Sat at the kings richt kne: "Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailor, That sails upon the se." The king has written a braid letter, And signd it wi' his hand, 10 And sent it to Sir Patrick Spence, Was walking on the sand. The first line that Sir Patrick red, A loud lauch lauched he: The next line that Sir Patrick red, 15 The teir blinded his ee. "O quha is this has don this deid, This ill deid don to me; To send me out this time o' the zeir, To sail upon the se? 20 "Mak hast, mak haste, my mirry men all, Our guid schip sails the morne." "O say na sae, my master deir, For I feir a deadlie storme. "Late late yestreen I saw the new moone 25 Wi' the auld moone in hir arme; And I feir, I feir, my deir master, That we will com to harme." O our Scots nobles wer richt laith To weet their cork-heild schoone; 30 Bot lang owre a' the play wer playd, Thair hats they swam aboone. O lang, lang, may their ladies sit Wi' thair fans into their hand, Or eir they se Sir Patrick Spence 35 Cum sailing to the land. O lang, lang, may the ladies stand Wi' thair gold kems in their hair, Waiting for thair ain deir lords, For they'll se thame na mair. 40 Have owre, have owre to Aberdour,[L41] It's fiftie fadom deip: And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spence, Wi' the Scots lords at his feit. [2] The palace of Dunfermline was the favorite residence of King Alexander III. 41-44. "It is true that the name of Sir Patrick Spens is not mentioned in history; but I am able to state that tradition has preserved it. In the little island of Papa Stronsay, one of the Orcadian group, lying over against Norway, there is a large grave or tumulus, which has been known to the inhabitants, from time immemorial, as 'The grave of Sir Patrick Spens.' The Scottish ballads were not early current in Orkney, a Scandinavian country; so it is very unlikely that the poem could have originated the name. The people know nothing beyond the traditional appellation of the spot, and they have no legend to tell." Aytoun, _Ballads of Scotland_, i. 2.--This passage is cited simply as a piece of _external_ evidence to the antiquity of the legend of Sir Patrick Spens,--supposing the matter of fact to be well established, and the alleged tradition to be of long standing. SIR PATRICK SPENS. _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, i. 299. In singing, the interjection O is added to the second and fourth lines. The king sits in Dunfermline town, Drinking the blude-red wine: "O whare will I get a skeely skipper To sail this new ship of mine?"