English and Scottish Ballads, Selected and Ed. by F. J. Child

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1858 edition. Excerpt: ...I'll ne'er come hame." When they came to fair London town, Into the courtiers' hall, The lords and knights of fair London town Did him a traitor call. "A traitor! a traitor!" says my lord, "A traitor! how can that be? An it be nae for the keeping five thousand men, To fight for King Jamie. 40 "O all you lords and knights in fair London town, Come out and see me die; O all you lords and knights in fair London town, Be kind to my ladie. "There's fifty pounds in my right pocket, Divide it to the poor; There's other fifty in my left pocket, Divide it from door to door." THE BATTLE OF TRANENT-MUIR, OR OF PRESTON-PANS. Herd's Scottish Songs, i. 166: Ritson's Scotish Songs, ii. 76. This ballad is the work of Adam Skirving, a clever and opulent farmer, father of Archibald Skirving, the portrait painter. It was printed shortly after the battle as a broadside, and next appeared in The Charmer, vol. ii. p. 349, Edinb. 1751. Neither of tnose editions contains the eleventh stanza. The foot-notes commonly attached to the subsequent reprints are found in The Charmer. (Laing in Johnson's Museum, iv. 189.) To Skirving is also attributed with great probability the excellent satirical song of Johnnie Cope, or Cope are you rooking yet. The original words are in Ritson, Scolish Songs, ii. 84: another set at p. 82: a third, with alterations and additions by Burns, in Johnson's Museum, p. 242. Allan Cunningham once heard a peasant boast that he could sing Johnnie Cope with all its nineteen variations. See Appendix. The battle took place on the 22d of September, 1745, between the villages of Tranent and Prestonpans, a few miles from Edinburgh. The king's lieutenant-general, Sir John Cope, was disgracefully...