ir,
His lady she was seen,
And thus addressed his servant Gordon,
Where he stood on the green.

22.
'O wae be to you, George Gordon!
An ill death may you die!
So safe and sound as you stand there
And my lord bereaved from me.'

23.
'I bad him loup, I bad him come,
I bad him loup to me;
I'd catch him in my arms two,
A foot I should not flee.

24.
'He threw me the rings from his white fingers,
Which were so long and small,
To give to you, his lady fair,
Where you sat in your hall.'

25.
Sophia Hay, Sophia Hay,
O bonny Sophia was her name,
Her waiting-maid put on her cloaths,
But I wot she tore them off again.

26.
And aft she cried, 'Ohon! alas! alas!
A sair heart's ill to win;
I wan a sair heart when I married him,
And the day it's well return'd again.'

[Annotations:
16.4: 'twin,' part.]

GEORDIE

+The Text+ is from Johnson's _Museum_, communicated by Robert Burns.

+The Story.+--Some editors have identified the hero of the ballad with
George Gordon, fourth earl of Huntly, but upon what grounds it is
difficult to see.

There are two English broadside ballads, of the first and second halves
respectively of the seventeenth century, which are either the originals
of, or copies from, the Scottish ballad, which exists in many variants.
The earlier is concerned with 'the death of a worthy gentleman named
George Stoole,' 'to a delicate Scottish tune,' and the second is called
'The Life and Death of George of Oxford. To a pleasant tune, called Poor
Georgy.' One of the Scottish versions has a burden resembling that of
'George Stoole.'

The 'battle in the north' and Sir Charles Hay are not identified.

GEORDIE

1.
There was a battle in the north,
And nobles there was many,
And they hae killed Sir Charlie Hay,
And they laid the wyte on Geordie.

2.
O he has written a lang letter,
He sent it to his lady:
'Ye maun cum up to Enbrugh town,
To see what word's o' Geordie.'

3.
When first she look'd the letter on,
She was both red and rosy;
But she had na read a word but twa
Till she wallowt like a lily.

4.
'Gar get to me ray gude grey steed;
My menyie a' gae wi' me;
For I shall neither eat nor drink
Till Enbrugh town shall see me.'

5.
And she has mountit her gude grey steed,
Her menyie a' gaed wi' her,
And she did neither eat