Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/479

 ANONYMOUS

They hae sought it up, they hae sought it down, They hae sought it maist severely,

Till they fand it in the fair plum-tree

That shines on the bowling-green of Airlic.

He hath taken her by the middle sae small,

And O but she grat sairly! And laid her down by the bonnie burn-side,

Till they plundered the castle of Airlie.


 * Gif my gudc lord war here this night,

As he is with King Charlie, Neither you, nor ony ither Scottish lord,

Durst avow to the plundering of Airlie.


 * Gif my gude lord war now at hame,

As he is with his king, There durst nae a Campbell in a' Argyll

Set fit on Airlie green.

'Ten bonnie sons I have borne unto him, The eleventh ne'er saw his daddy;

But though I had an hundcr mair, Td gie them a' to King Charlie ! '

��3 88 The Wife of Usher's Well

VtfERE lived a wife at Usher's well, And a wealthy wife was she; She had three stout and stalwart sons, And sent them o'er the sea.

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