Untill a falce Scot came Jonne behinde,
And runn him through the faire boddee.

16.
Saying, 'Fight on, my merry men all,
And see that none of you be taine;
For I will stand by and bleed but awhile,
And then will I come and fight againe.'

17.
Newes then was brought to young Jonne Armestrong
As he stood by his nurse's knee,
Who vowed if ere he live'd for to be a man,
O' the treacherous Scots reveng'd hee'd be.

THE BRAES OF YARROW

+The Text+ was communicated to Percy by Dr. Robertson of Edinburgh, but
it did not appear in the _Reliques_.

In 9.1, 'Then' is doubtless an interpolation, as are the words 'Now
Douglas' in 11.1 But on the whole it is the best text of the fifteen or
twenty variants.

+The Story.+--James Hogg and Sir Walter Scott referred the ballad to two
different sources, the former legendary, and the latter historical. It
has always been very popular in Scotland, and besides the variants there
are in existence several imitations, such as the well-known poem of
William Hamilton, 'Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny bonny bride.' This was
printed in vol. ii. of Percy's _Reliques_.

About half the known variants make the hero and heroine man and wife,
the other half presenting them as unmarried lovers.

THE BRAES OF YARROW

1.
'I dreamed a dreary dream this night,
That fills my heart wi' sorrow;
I dreamed I was pouing the heather green
Upon the braes of Yarrow.

2.
'O true-luve mine, stay still and dine,
As ye ha' done before, O;'
'O I'll be hame by hours nine,
And frae the braes of Yarrow.'

3.
'I dreamed a dreary dream this night,
That fills my heart wi' sorrow;
I dreamed my luve came headless hame,
O frae the braes of Yarrow!

4.
'O true-luve mine, stay still and dine.
As ye ha' done before, O;'
'O I'll be hame by hours nine,
And frae the braes of Yarrow.'

5.
'O are ye going to hawke,' she says,
'As ye ha' done before, O?
Or are ye going to wield your brand,
Upon the braes of Yarrow?'

6.
'O I am not going to hawke,' he says,
'As I have done before, O,
But for to meet your brother John,
Upon the braes of Yarrow.'

7.
As he gaed down yon dowy den,
Sorrow went him before, O;
Nine well-wight men lay waiting him,
Upon the braes of Yarrow.

8.
'I have your sister to my wife,
Ye think me an unmeet marrow!
But yet one foot will