"O where will I get a gude sailor,
To take my helm in hand,
Till I get up to the tall top-mast,
To see if I can spy land?".

"O here am I, a sailor gude,
To take the helm in hand,

Till you go up to the tall top-mast,
But I fear you'll ne'er spy land.”.

He hadna gane a step, a step,
A step but barely ane,

When a bout flew out of our goodly ship,

And the salt sea it came in.

Gae, fetch a web o' the silken claith,

Another o' the twine,

And wap them into our ship's side,

And let nae the sea come in."

They fetched a web o' the silken claith,

Another o' the twine,

And they wapp'd them round that gude ship's side,

But still the sea cam in.

O laith, laith, were our gude Scots lords

To weet their cork-heel'd shoon!

But lang or a' the play was play'd,
They wat their hats aboon.

Y

And mony was the feather bed,
That flatter'd' on the faem,
And mony was the gude lord's son,
That never mair cam hame.

The ladyes wrang their fingers white,
The maidens tore their hair,

A' for the sake of their true loves,
For them they'll see nae mair.

O lang, lang may the ladyes sit
Wi' their fans into their hand,
Before they see Sir Patrick Spens
Come sailing to the strand!

And lang, lang may the maidens sit
With their goud kaims in their hair,
A' waiting for their ain dear loves,
For them they'll see nae mair.

O forty miles off Aberdeen,

Tis fifty fathoms deep,

And there lies gude Sir Patrick Spens

Wi' the Scots lords at his feet.

Fluttered, floated.

HE murder of the Earl of Murray, by his hereditary enemy, the Earl of Huntly (February, 1592), was the result of an extensive conspiracy, the details of which may be found in Gregory's "Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland," pp. 245-260; the following is Sir Walter Scott's account of the murder.

Grandfather, pt. 1. ch. xxxiii.

Tales of a

"The Earl of Huntly, head of the powerful family of Gordon, and the man of greatest consequence in the north of Scotland, had chanced to have some feudal differences with the Earl of Murray, son in law of the Regent-earl of the same name, in the course of which, John Gordon, a brother of Gordon of Cluny, was killed by a

shot from Murray's castle of Darnaway. This was enough to make the two families irreconcilable enemies, even if they had been otherwise on friendly terms. Murray was so handsome and personable a man, that he was generally known by the name of the Bonnie Earl of Murray. About 1591-2, an accusation was brought against Murray, for having given some countenance or assistance to Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, in a recent treasonable exploit. James, without recollecting, perhaps, the hostility between the two earls, sent Huntly with a commission to bring the Earl of Murray to his presence. Huntly probably rejoiced in the errand, as giving him an opportunity of avenging himself on his feudal He beset the house of Dunnibirsel, on enemy. the northern side of the Forth, and summoned Murray to surrender. In reply, a gun was fired which mortally wounded one of the Gordons. The assailants proceeded to set fire to the house, when Dunbar, Sheriff of the county of Moray, said to the earl, 'Let us not stay to be burned in the flaming house: I will go out foremost, and the Gordons, taking me for your lordship, will kill me, while you escape in the confusion.' They rushed out among their enemies accordingly, and Dunbar was slain. But his death did not save his friend, as he had generously intended, Murray indeed escaped for the moment, but as he fled towards the rocks by the sea-shore, he

1

was traced by the silken tassels attached to his head-piece, which had taken fire as he broke out from among the flames. By this means the pursuers followed him down amongst the cliffs near the sea, and Gordon of Burkie, who is said to have been the first that overtook him, wounded him mortally. As Murray was gasping in the last agony, Huntly came up, and it is alleged by tradition, that Gordon pointed his dirk against the person of his chief, saying, 'By Heaven, my lord, you shall be as deep in as I,' and so compelled him to wound Murray whilst he was dying. Huntly, with a wavering hand, struck the expiring earl on the face. Thinking of his superior beauty, even in that moment of parting life, Murray stammered out the dying words, 'You have spoiled a better face than your own.""