Begins:This nicht the queen has four Maries,Each fair as she can be;There’s Marie Seton, etc.
Begins:This nicht the queen has four Maries,Each fair as she can be;There’s Marie Seton, etc.
Begins:This nicht the queen has four Maries,Each fair as she can be;There’s Marie Seton, etc.
Begins:
This nicht the queen has four Maries,
Each fair as she can be;
There’s Marie Seton, etc.
31. The bairn’s tyed.
32. And thrown intill.
43. O sink.
After 3:Oh I have born this bonnie wee babeWi mickle toil and pain;Gae hame, gae hame, you bonnie wee babe!For nurse I dare be nane.
After 3:Oh I have born this bonnie wee babeWi mickle toil and pain;Gae hame, gae hame, you bonnie wee babe!For nurse I dare be nane.
After 3:Oh I have born this bonnie wee babeWi mickle toil and pain;Gae hame, gae hame, you bonnie wee babe!For nurse I dare be nane.
After 3:
Oh I have born this bonnie wee babe
Wi mickle toil and pain;
Gae hame, gae hame, you bonnie wee babe!
For nurse I dare be nane.
41. Then down cam Queen Marie.
43. Saying, Marie mild, where is the babe.
51. There was nae babe.
52. There was na babe wi me.
53. o a sair cholic.
After5 (mostly spurious):The queen turned down the blankets fine,Likewise the snae-white sheet,And what she saw caused her many a tear,And made her sair to greet.O cruel mither, said the queen,A fiend possessed thee:But I will hang thee for this deed,My Marie though thou be.After7:And some they mounted the black steed,And some mounted the brown,But Marie mounted her milk-white steed,And rode foremost thro the town.
After5 (mostly spurious):The queen turned down the blankets fine,Likewise the snae-white sheet,And what she saw caused her many a tear,And made her sair to greet.O cruel mither, said the queen,A fiend possessed thee:But I will hang thee for this deed,My Marie though thou be.After7:And some they mounted the black steed,And some mounted the brown,But Marie mounted her milk-white steed,And rode foremost thro the town.
After5 (mostly spurious):The queen turned down the blankets fine,Likewise the snae-white sheet,And what she saw caused her many a tear,And made her sair to greet.
After5 (mostly spurious):
The queen turned down the blankets fine,
Likewise the snae-white sheet,
And what she saw caused her many a tear,
And made her sair to greet.
O cruel mither, said the queen,A fiend possessed thee:But I will hang thee for this deed,My Marie though thou be.
O cruel mither, said the queen,
A fiend possessed thee:
But I will hang thee for this deed,
My Marie though thou be.
After7:And some they mounted the black steed,And some mounted the brown,But Marie mounted her milk-white steed,And rode foremost thro the town.
After7:
And some they mounted the black steed,
And some mounted the brown,
But Marie mounted her milk-white steed,
And rode foremost thro the town.
83. But when.
After12:Yestreen the queen had four Maries,The nicht she’ll hae but three;There was M. S., and M. B.And M. C., and me.
After12:Yestreen the queen had four Maries,The nicht she’ll hae but three;There was M. S., and M. B.And M. C., and me.
After12:Yestreen the queen had four Maries,The nicht she’ll hae but three;There was M. S., and M. B.And M. C., and me.
After12:
Yestreen the queen had four Maries,
The nicht she’ll hae but three;
There was M. S., and M. B.
And M. C., and me.
13wanting.
141. Ye mariners, ye mariners.
143. L[et] not my father and mother wit.
144. The death that I maun dee.
After14:I was my parents’ only hope,They neer had ane but me;They little thought, when I left hame,They should nae mair me see.
After14:I was my parents’ only hope,They neer had ane but me;They little thought, when I left hame,They should nae mair me see.
After14:I was my parents’ only hope,They neer had ane but me;They little thought, when I left hame,They should nae mair me see.
After14:
I was my parents’ only hope,
They neer had ane but me;
They little thought, when I left hame,
They should nae mair me see.
17wanting.
181. there were.
Largely taken froma, 1, 2, 6–12, 15, 16 being literally repeated.
B.
33. us up.
85,6.wrongly:And we’ll ride into Edinburgh town,High hanged thou shalt be.
85,6.wrongly:And we’ll ride into Edinburgh town,High hanged thou shalt be.
85,6.wrongly:And we’ll ride into Edinburgh town,High hanged thou shalt be.
85,6.wrongly:
And we’ll ride into Edinburgh town,
High hanged thou shalt be.
C.
92.Altered fromI’ll put on my brown.Var. between92and93:Nor I’ll no put on my suddling silks,That I wear up and down.
92.Altered fromI’ll put on my brown.Var. between92and93:Nor I’ll no put on my suddling silks,That I wear up and down.
92.Altered fromI’ll put on my brown.Var. between92and93:Nor I’ll no put on my suddling silks,That I wear up and down.
92.Altered fromI’ll put on my brown.Var. between92and93:
Nor I’ll no put on my suddling silks,
That I wear up and down.
up and downaltered fromilka day.
101. wentaltered fromgaed.
131, 141. Oh.
D.
From two reciters, which accounts for the alterations and insertions.
11.Altered fromThere was a lord lived in the north.
21.Altered fromAnd the third.
23.Altered fromthat he.
41. gayadded later.
42.Altered fromAnd pued the saving tree.
43. forinserted later.
44. itinserted later.
73. a fit oinserted later.
74.Altered fromI am just.
9.After 9, Motherwell wroteA stanza wanting,and subsequently added 10, 11.
123.Originally, gold stars.
13.Originally,She did not put on her robes of black,Nor yet her robes of brown,But she put on her yellow gold stars (stays?).14.Originally,And when she came into Edinborugh, (bad reading)And standing at the cross,There she saw all the coblers’ wifes,Sat greeting at the cross.
13.Originally,She did not put on her robes of black,Nor yet her robes of brown,But she put on her yellow gold stars (stays?).14.Originally,And when she came into Edinborugh, (bad reading)And standing at the cross,There she saw all the coblers’ wifes,Sat greeting at the cross.
13.Originally,
13.Originally,
She did not put on her robes of black,Nor yet her robes of brown,But she put on her yellow gold stars (stays?).
She did not put on her robes of black,
Nor yet her robes of brown,
But she put on her yellow gold stars (stays?).
14.Originally,
14.Originally,
And when she came into Edinborugh, (bad reading)And standing at the cross,There she saw all the coblers’ wifes,Sat greeting at the cross.
And when she came into Edinborugh, (bad reading)
And standing at the cross,
There she saw all the coblers’ wifes,
Sat greeting at the cross.
153,4.Originally, For I am come to, etc., Weeded for to be.
A marginal note by Motherwell, opposite the last line, but erased, hasA rich wedding to sie.
161. stairaltered fromclose.
19, 20.Written in the margin, after thosewhich follow.
233,4andAnd, 235,are of later insertion.
E.
For the seven stanzas after15,seeNo 95, II, 346.
F.
3.Mary Beaton & Mary Seaton & Lady LivinstonThree we’ll [orwill] never meetIn queen Mary’s bowerNow Maries tho ye be.
3.Mary Beaton & Mary Seaton & Lady LivinstonThree we’ll [orwill] never meetIn queen Mary’s bowerNow Maries tho ye be.
3.Mary Beaton & Mary Seaton & Lady LivinstonThree we’ll [orwill] never meetIn queen Mary’s bowerNow Maries tho ye be.
3.
Mary Beaton & Mary Seaton & Lady Livinston
Three we’ll [orwill] never meet
In queen Mary’s bower
Now Maries tho ye be.
132. then cryed.
141. had your.
184. pine.
For the six stanzas after18,seeNo 95, II, 346.
G.
11. Oh.
H.
3, 16, 17, 22 are put into smaller type as being evidently spurious.
I. a.
24 is certainly spurious, and reduces the pathos exceedingly.
b.
184. tear.
23.O ye mariners, mariners, mariners,That sail upon the sea,Let not my father nor mother to witThe death that I maun die!
23.O ye mariners, mariners, mariners,That sail upon the sea,Let not my father nor mother to witThe death that I maun die!
23.O ye mariners, mariners, mariners,That sail upon the sea,Let not my father nor mother to witThe death that I maun die!
23.
O ye mariners, mariners, mariners,
That sail upon the sea,
Let not my father nor mother to wit
The death that I maun die!
K.
From Jean Macqueen, Largo,in the MS. “More likely to be Largs, which is on the Clyde, than Largo, on the east coast”:note of Mr J. B. Murdoch.
41. Oh.
6is the last stanza but one in the MS.
L.
9might better be1.
N.
Variations.
13–6.There’s Mary Beaton, an Mary Seaton,An Mary Carmichael, an me;An I mysel, Queen Mary’s maid,Was flower oer a’ the three.
13–6.There’s Mary Beaton, an Mary Seaton,An Mary Carmichael, an me;An I mysel, Queen Mary’s maid,Was flower oer a’ the three.
13–6.There’s Mary Beaton, an Mary Seaton,An Mary Carmichael, an me;An I mysel, Queen Mary’s maid,Was flower oer a’ the three.
13–6.
There’s Mary Beaton, an Mary Seaton,
An Mary Carmichael, an me;
An I mysel, Queen Mary’s maid,
Was flower oer a’ the three.
21. sae jimp.
23. She loved to lie.
32. the savin tree.
33,4.But the little wee babe came to her back,An forward it would be.
33,4.But the little wee babe came to her back,An forward it would be.
33,4.But the little wee babe came to her back,An forward it would be.
33,4.
But the little wee babe came to her back,
An forward it would be.
8is4 in the MS.
O.
“The unfortunate heroine’s name is Mary Moil”: Finlay, p. xix.