Provost's Dochter- J. Beattie (Edin) 1827 Kinloch, Child Ba
[From Kinloch's MS also printed in Ancient Ballads, 1827. The informant J. Beattie was probably from the same place as Miss E. Beattie (Child Bb) who was of Edinburgh and a native of Mearnsshire, I assume J. Beattie is an older relative (mother or father, sister or brother).
R. Matteson 2018]
THE PROVOST’S DOCHTER.
The term Provost does not mean the chief magistrate of a city, but the Provost-marshal; an officer who had the custody of prisoners of war, and other offenders.
THE Provost's dochter went out a walking—
A may’s love whiles is easie won!
She heard a puir prisoner making his meane[1];—
And she was the fair flow'r o' Northumberland.
“Gif onie ladie wad borrow met
Out intof this prison strang,
I wad mak her a ladie o' hie degree,
For I am a gret lord in fair Scotland.”
She has dune[2] her to her father's bed-stock,
A may’s love whiles is easie won!
She has stown the keys o' monie braw[3] lock,
And she has lows'ds him out o' prison strang.
She has dune her to her father's stable,_
A may’s love whiles is easie won!
She has tane out a steed, baith swift and able,
To carry them baith to fair Scotland.
Whan they cam to the Scottish corss[4],
A may’s love whiles is easie won!
“Ye brazen-faced hure[5], licht aff o' my horse;
And go, get ye back to Northumberland.”
Whan they cam to the Scottish muir,
A may’s love whiles is easie won!
“Get aff o' my horse, ye brazen-fac’d hure[6],
So, go, get ye back to Northumberland.”
“O pity on me! O pity! said she,
O! that my love was so easie won;
Have pity on me, as I had upon thee,
Whan I lowe'd[] ye out o' prison strang.”
“O how can I hae pity on thee;
O why was your love sae easie won?
Whan I hae a wife and children three,
Mair worthy than a' in Northumberland.”
“Cook in your kitchen I will be,
O that my love was sae easie won!
And serve your lady maist reverentlie,
For I darna gang back to Northumberland."
“Cook in my kitchen, ye sall not be,
Why was your love so easie won?
For I will hae na sic[] servants as thee,
So, get ye back to Northumberland.”
But laith was he the lassie to tyne,[]—
A may’s love whiles is easie won!
He hired an auld horse, and fee’d an auld man,
To carry her back to Northumberland.
Whan she cam her father afore,
A may’s love whiles is easie won!
She fell at his feet on her knees sae low,
She was the fair flow'r o' Northumberland.
“O dochter, dochter, why was ye bauld,—
O why was your love sae easie won
To be a Scot's hure in your fifteen year auld,
And ye the fair flow'r o' Northumberland.”
Her mother on her sae gentlie smil’d,—
“O that her love was sae easie won!
She's na the first that the Scots hae beguil'd,
And she's still the fair flow'r o' Northumberland.
“She shanna want gowd, she shanna want fee,
Although her love was easie won;
She shanna want gowd, to gain a man wi',
And she'll still be the fair flow'r o' Northumberland.”
__________________
1. moan
2. Dune-gone.
3. Braw—strong.
4 Corss—cross.
5. Lowe’d—freed.
6. Hure—whore.
7. sic--such
8. lose