I grantit never a traitor's life, And now I'll not begin wi' thee!" "Ye lied, ye lied, now King," he says, T Altho' a King and Prince ye be! For I've luved naething in my life, I weel dare say it, but honesty-- "Save a fat horse, and a fair woman, Twa bonny dogs to kill a deir; But Ingland suld have found me meal and mault,, Gif I had lived this hundred yeir! "She suld have found me meal and mault, And beef and mutton in a' plentie; But never a Scots wyfe could have said, That e'er I skaithed her a puir flee. {201} "To seik het water beneith cauld ice, Surely it is a greit folie-- I have asked grace at a graceless face, But there is nane for my men and me! * "But had I kenn'd ere I cam frae liame, How thou unkind wad'st been to me! 1 wad have keepit the Border side, In spite of all thy force and thee. "Wist England's King that I was ta'en, O gin a blythe man he wad be! For ance I slew his sister's son, And on his breist bane brak a trie." John wore a girdle about his middle, Imbroidered ower wi' burning gold, Bespangled wi' the same metal, Maist beautiful was to behold. There hang nine targats ** at Johnie's hat, And ilk ane worth three hundred pound-- "What wants that knave that a King suld have But the sword of honour and the crown? "O where gat thou these targats, Johnie, That blink sae brawly abune thy brie?" "I gat them in the field fechting, Where, cruel King, thou durst not be. "Had I my horse, and harness gude, And riding as I w ont to be, It suld hae been tauld this hundred yeir, The meeting of my King and me! "God be with thee, Kirsty, my brother, Lang live thou Laird of Mangertoun! Lang may'st thou live on the Border syde Ere thou see thy brother ride up and down! "And God be with thee, Kirsty, my son, Where thou sits on thy nurse's knee! But an' thou live this hundred yeir, Thy father's better thou'lt never be. * This and the three preceding stanzas were among those that Sir Walter Scott most delighted to quote. ** Tassels. {202} "Farewell! my bonny Gilnoek hall,