VIII.
When twenty long years had come and gone,
He was laden with Spanish golden prey;
And he yearned and sighed for his native home,
Then turned his prow for the rolling Tay;
And he has bought all, for a handsome fee,
On its bonnie banks where the trees are tall--
The lordly lands of old Murie,[A]
Where he built for himself a noble hall;
And long, long down till a recent time,
There dwelt the Yeaman's honoured line.
[Footnote A: This tradition has always been in the Yeaman
family, and very likely to be true, for the reason that an
origin not gratifying to the pride of an old house would not
have been accepted on the dubious authority of hearsay.]
XV.
THE BALLAD OF BALLOGIE'S DAUGHTERS.
There were four fair maids in Ballogie Hall,
Not all so sweet as honey;
But Lillyfair was the flower of them all--
So gentle, so kind, and so bonnie.
And why was it that Ballogie's dame
Was so fond of her Lillyfair?
It was not by reason she bore her name,
Nor yet for her love and care.
It was that she long had cherished a dream
Of a face which she once held dear,
Ere yet she had bent to Ballogie's claim,
Whom she married through force and fear.
That image unsought--all by fancy wrought--
Had been fixed upon Lillyfair,
And to her had gi'en her bonnie blue een,
As well as her golden hair.
Pages:
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115