A Book of Old Ballads — Complete

Thomas took aff baith cloak and cap, For to salute this gay lady: "O save ye, save ye, fair Queen o Heavn, And ay weel met ye save and see!"

And what wold ye doe with my bryde soe gay, Iff I did sell her thee? More seemelye it is for her fayre bodye To lye by mee then thee.

Gil Morice sate in gude grene wode, He whistled and he sang: O what mean a' the folk comìng, My mother tarries lang. His hair was like the threeds of gold, Drawne frae Minerva's...

The whole of English "low life" (which is much the most exciting part of English life) is in that lyric. It is as vivid as a Rowlandson cartoon. How well we know Mrs. Moore! How...

The pauky auld Carle come ovir the lee Wi' mony good-eens and days to mee, Saying, Good wife, for zour courtesie, Will ze lodge a silly poor man? The night was cauld, the carle...

Were ye twentye shippes, and he but one; I sweare by kirke, and bower, and hall; He wold overcome them everye one, If once his beames they doe downe fall. This is cold comfort,...

The first man that did answer make Was noble Percy hee; Who sayd, Wee list not to declare, Nor shew whose men wee bee: Yet wee will spend our deerest blood, Thy cheefest harts t...

To ride, to runne, to rant, to roare, To alwaye spend and never spare, I wott, an' it were the king himselfe, Of gold and fee he mote be bare.

Quhy dois zour brand sae drop wi' bluid, Edward, Edward? Quhy dois zour brand sae drop wi' bluid? And quhy sae sad gang zee, O? O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid, Mither, mither...

The thanks and acknowledgments of the publishers are due to the following: to Messrs. B. Feldman & Co., 125 Shaftesbury Avenue, W.C. 2, for "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"; to Mr...

They think a murderer's heart would taint Each simple seed they sow. It is not true! God's kindly earth Is kindlier than men know, And the red rose would but blow more red, The...