rd attempt, which
was fixed for the 7th or 9th of August 1592; but the King got wind of
the affair, and the two Lairds were seized by the Duke of Lennox and
'committed to ward within Dalkeith.'

The heroine of the ballad was a Danish maid-of-honour to James's Queen;
her name is variously recorded as Margaret Vinstar, Weiksterne,
Twynstoun, or Twinslace. 'Carmichael' was Sir John Carmichael, appointed
captain of the King's guard in 1588.

The ballad stops short at the escape of the lovers by ship. But history
relates that the young couple were befriended by the Queen, who refused
to comply with the King's demand that May Margaret should be dismissed.
Eventually both were received into favour again, though the Laird of
Logie was constantly in political trouble. He died in 1599. (See a paper
by A. Francis Steuart in _The Scots Magazine_ for October 1899, p. 387.)

THE LAIRD O' LOGIE

1.
I will sing, if ye will hearken,
If ye will hearken unto me;
The king has ta'en a poor prisoner,
The wanton laird o' young Logie.

2.
Young Logie's laid in Edinburgh chapel,
Carmichael's the keeper o' the key;
And May Margaret's lamenting sair,
A' for the love of Young Logie.

3.
'Lament, lament na, May Margaret,
And of your weeping let me be,
For ye maun to the king himsell,
To seek the life of Young Logie.'

4.
May Margaret has kilted her green cleiding,
And she has curl'd back her yellow hair;
'If I canna get Young Logie's life,
Farewell to Scotland for evermair!'

5.
When she came before the king,
She knelit lowly on her knee;
'O what's the matter, May Margaret?
And what needs a' this courtesie?'

6.
'A boon, a boon, my noble liege,
A boon, a boon, I beg o' thee!
And the first boon that I come to crave,
Is to grant me the life o' Young Logie.'

7.
'O na, O na, May Margaret,
Forsooth, and so it mauna be;
For a' the gowd o' fair Scotland
Shall not save the life o' Young Logie.'

8.
But she has stown the king's redding-kaim,
Likewise the queen her wedding knife;
And sent the tokens to Carmichael,
To cause Young Logie get his life.

9.
She sent him a purse o' the red gowd,
Another o' the white monie;
She sent him a pistol for each hand,
And bade him shoot when he gat free.

10.
When he came to the Tolbooth stair,
There he let his volley flee;
It made the king in his