In the ancient wynd of Saint Marie.




IX.

THE LEGEND OF MARY LEE.[A]

_(Another Version.)_

[Footnote A: See the strange song of the same name in the
_Scottish Gallovidean Encyclopædia_, from which I borrow
some of the maledictory epithets. Grotesque they may be, but
they are justified by the vocabulary of our old witch-sibyls
used in curses and incantations, as we find in books of
diablerie.]


Though Robert was heir to broad Kildearn,
He had often with gipsies roved,
And from gipsies he came a name to earn,
Which was dear to the maid he loved.
To ladies fair he was Robert St. Clair,
When he met them in companie;
To a certain one, and to her alone,
He was only Robin-a-Ree.[2]

[Footnote 2: Kingly, or royal, in the gipsy tongue.]