As on to Embro' town we cam, My guid father he welcomed me; 40 He caused his minstrels meet to sound,-- It was nae music at a' to me. "Now haud your tongue, my daughter dear, Leave off your weeping, let it be; For Jamie's divorcement I'll send over; 45 Far better lord I'll provide for thee." "O haud your tongue, my father dear, And of such talking let me be; For never a man shall come to my arms, Since my lord has sae slighted me." 50 O an' I had ne'er crossed the Tweed, Nor yet been owre the river Dee, I might hae staid at Lord Orgul's gate, Where I wad hae been a gay ladie. The ladies they will cum to town, 55 And they will cum and visit me; But I'll set me down now in the dark, For ochanie! who'll comfort me? An' wae betide ye, black fastness,[L59] Ay, and an ill deid may ye die! 60 Ye was the first and foremost man Wha parted my true lord and me. 59: fastness, printed Fastness by Finlay, is, says Motherwell, merely falsetness, falseness. LAIRD OF BLACKWOOD. See p. 135. Kinloch's _Ancient Scottish Ballads_, p. 60. "I lay sick, and very sick, And I was bad, and like to die, A friend o' mine cam to visit me;-- And Blackwood whisper'd in my lord's ear, That he was owre lang in chamber wi' me. 5 "O what need I dress up my head, Nor what need I kaim doun my hair, Whan my gude lord has forsaken me, And says he will na love me mair! "But O! an my young babe was born, 10 And set upon some nourice knee, And I mysel war dead and gane,-- For a maid again I'll never be."-- "Na mair o' this, my dochter dear, And of your mourning let abee; 15 For a bill of divorce I'll gar write for him, A mair better lord I'll get for thee." "Na mair o' this, my father dear, And of your folly let abee; For I wad na gie ae look o' my lord's face, 20 For a' the lords in the haill countrie. "But I'll cast off my robes o' red, And I'll put on my robes o' blue; And I will travel to some other land, To see gin my love will on me rue. 25 "There sall na wash come on my face, There sall na kaim come on my hair; There sall neither coal nor candle licht Be seen intil my bouer na mair. "O! wae be to thee Blackwood, 30 And an ill death may ye die, For ye've been the haill occasion Of parting my lord and me." THE PROVOST'S DOCHTER. See p. 180. Kinloch's _Ancient Scottish Ballads_, p. 131.