The Earl of Errol
No: 231; variant: 231D
- O ERROL'S place is a bonny place,
It stands upon yon plain;
The flowers on it grow red and white,
The apples red and green.
The ranting o 't and the danting o 't,
According as ye ken,
The thing they ca the danting o 't,
Lady Errol lies her lane.
- O Errol's place is a bonny place,
It stands upon yon plain;
But what's the use of Errol's place?
He's no like other men.
- 'As I cam in by yon canal,
And by yon bowling-green,
I might hae pleased the best Carnegy
That ever bore that name.
- 'As sure 's your name is Kate Carnegy,
And mine is Gibbie Hay,
I'll gar your father sell his land,
Your tocher for to pay.'
- 'To gar my father sell his land,
Would it not be a sin,
To give it to a naughtless lord
That couldna get a son?'
- Now she is on to Edinburgh,
For to try the law,
And Errol he has followed her,
His manhood for to shaw.
- Then out it spake her sister,
Whose name was Lady Jane;
'Had I been Lady Errol,' she says,
'Or come of sic a clan,
I would not in the public way
Have sham'd my own gudeman.'
- But Errol got it in his will
To choice a maid himsel,
And he has taen a country-girl,
Came in her milk to sell.
- He took her by the milk-white hand,
And led her up the green,
And twenty times he kissd her there,
Before his lady's een.
- He took her by the milk-white hand,
And led her up the stair;
Says, Thrice three hundred pounds I'll gie
To you to bear an heir.
- He kept her there into a room
Three quarters of a year,
And when the three quarters were out
A braw young son she bear.
- 'Tak hame your daughter, Carnegy,
And put her till a man,
For Errol he cannot please her,
Nor any of his men.'