But 'tis not true, as I've heard tell,
And I do not believe
That when these doughty lovers fell,
_One laughed within her sleeve_.

But I have also heard it said,
And I again it say,
And I would like to see the head
With tongue in't to say nay--
That as these pates lay on the ground
(As there they yet may lie),
_One eye in each cloved head was found
Fixed on that chamber high_.




XX.

THE BALLAD OF GOLDEN COUNSEL.


Come Mary and Martha, Jeanie and Jenny,
And sit down and listen, baith ane and a',
To me, wha may very weel be your grannie,
And aiblins may ken ae thing or twa.

This world is no so sweet and so bonnie
As you in your young hearts may suppose;
There's aloes in it as weel as honey,