is knee;

24.
Said, 'Have thou here, thou heir of Linne,
Forty pence I will lend thee;
Some time a good fellow thou hast been;
And other forty if need be.'

25.
They drunken wine that was so clear,
And every man they made merry;
And then bespake him John o' the Scales,
Unto the lord of Linne said he;

26.
Said, 'How dost thou, heir of Linne,
Since I did buy thy lands of thee?
I will sell it to thee twenty pound better cheap
Nor ever I did buy it of thee.'

27.
'I draw you to record, lordes all;'
With that he cast him a God's penny;
Then he took to his bags of bread,
And they were full of the gold so red.

28.
He told him the gold then over the board,
It wanted never a broad penny.
'That gold is thine, the land is mine,
And heir of Linne again I will be.'

29.
'Now welladay!' said John o' the Scales' wife,
'Welladay, and woe is me!
Yesterday I was the lady of Linne,
And now I am but John o' the Scales' wife!'

30.
Says 'Have thou here, thou good fellow,
Forty pence thou did lend me,
Forty pence thou did lend me,
And forty pound I will give thee.

31.
'I'll make thee keeper of my forest,
Both of the wild deer and the tame,'
... ... ...
... ... ...

32.
But then bespake the heir of Linne,
These were the words, and thus said he,
'Christ's curse light upon my crown,
If e'er my land stand in any jeopardy!'

[Annotations:
2.3,4: Interchanged in manuscript.
2.4: 'blin,' stop.
5.1: Deficient in manuscript.
5.4: 'God's penny,' an earnest-penny, to clinch a bargain.
11.3: 'read,' advice.
13.1: 'fere,' companion.
14.2: 'irk with,' weary of.
16.2: 'unbethought him,' bethought himself. See _Old Robin of
Portingale_, 5.3 (First Series, p. 14).
18.4:'in fere,' together.
19.4: ? 'gold and fee.' Cp. 27.4
20.4: Ritson said 'speer' was a hole in the wall of a house, through
which the family received and answered the inquiries of strangers.
This is apparently a mere conjecture.
22.3: 'shot,' reckoning. Cp. 'pay the shot.'
27.4: See 19.4 and note.]

EARL BOTHWELL

+The Text+ is from the Percy Folio, the spelling being modernised. Percy
printed it (with alterations) in the _Reliques_.

+The Story+ of the ballad represents that Darnley was murdered by way of
revenge for his participation in the murder of Riccio; that