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MARY HAMILTON.
From Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 811.
" 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, |
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