Yet that unluckie country still, Hath people given to craftie will. On Whitsun eve it so befell, A posset was made to give the king, Whereof his ladie nurse hard tell, And that it was a poysoned thing: She cryed, and called piteouslie, "Now help, or els the king shall die!" Alas for woe, &c. 15 20 One Browne, that was an English man, Out with his sword, and bestir'd him than, 25 But all the doores were made so fast, He met the bishop coming fast, The sight of Browne made him aghast, Who bad him stoutly staie and stand. With him were two that ranne awa, For feare that Browne would make a fray. "Bishop," quoth Browne, "what hast thou there?' Nothing at all, my friend," sayde he, "But a posset to make the king good cheere." "Is it so?" sayd Browne, " that will I see. First I will have thyself begin, Before thou go any further in; Be it weale or woe, it shall be so, The Bishop sayde, " Browne I doo know, Livings on thee I will bestowe; Let me go on, take thou no care.” 30 35 40 45 "No, no" quoth Browne, "I will not be Happe well or woe, it shall be so, The bishop dranke, and by and by "This was a posset indeed," quoth Brown. As soon as the king got word of this, Alas," he said " unhappie realme, Unhappy fate, and bitter bayne! The king did call his nurse to his grace, And trustie Browne too in like case, He knighted him with gallant geere, As he did showe, to the bishop's woe, Ver. 67. His father was Henry Lord Darnley. His grandfather, the old Earl of Lennox, regent of Scotland, and father of Lord Darnley, was murdered at Stirling, Sep. 5, 1571. When all this treason done and past Tooke not effect of traytery, Another treason at the last, They sought against his majestie; How they might make their kinge away 'Another time' to sell the king Beyonde the seas they had decreede: 85 90 95 The Earle Mourton told the Douglas then, 100 For his godmother1 will not see With any woe; for if it be so, God graunt all subjects may be true, That no such daunger may ensue, To put the prince or state in feare: In wealth or woe, God graunt it be so, 1 Queen Elizabeth. 105 110 XVII. The Bonny Earl of Murray. A SCOTTISH SONG. In December, 1591, Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, had made an attempt to seize on the person of his sovereign, James VI., but beiny disappointed, had retired towards the north. The king unadvisedly gave a commission to George Gordon, Earl of Huntley, to pursue Bothwell and his followers with fire and sword. Huntley, under cover of executing that commission, took occasion to revenge a private quarrel he had against James Stewart, Earl of Murray, a relation of Bothwell's. In the night of Feb. 7, 1592, he beset Murray's house, burnt it to the ground, and slew Murray himself: a young nobleman of the most promising virtues, and the very darling of the people. See Robertson's History. The present Lord Murray hath now in his possession a picture of his ancestor naked and covered with wounds, which had been carried about, according to the custom of that age, in order to inflame the populace to revenge his death. If this picture did not flatter, he well deserved the name of the BONNY EARL, for he is there represented as a tall and comely personage. It is a tradition in the family, that Gordon of Bucky gave him a wound in the face: Murray, half expiring, said You hae spilt a better face than your awin." Upon this, Bucky, pointing his dagger at Huntley's breast, swore, "You shall be as deep as I; and forced him to pierce the poor defenceless body. King James, who took no care to punish the murderers, is said by some to have privately countenanced and abetted them, being stimulated by jealousy for some indiscreet praises which his queen had too lavishly bestowed on this unfortunate youth. See the preface to the ballad. See also Mr. Walpole's Catalogue of Royal Authors, vol. i.p. 42 YE highlands and ye lawlands, Now wae be to thee, Huntley! I bade you bring him wi' you, He was a braw gallant, And he rid at the ring; 5 10 And the bonny Earl of Murray, Oh! he might hae been a king. 1 Castle done here has been thought to mean the Castle of Downe, a seat belonging to the family of Murray. XVIII. Young Waters. A SCOTTISH BALLAD. It has been suggested to the Editor, that this ballad covertly alludes to the indiscreet partiality which Queen Anne of Denmark is said to have shown for the bonny Earl of Murray; and which is supposed to have influenced the fate of that unhappy nobleman. Let the reader judge for himself. The following account of the murder is given by a contemporary writer, and a person of credit,-Sir James Balfour, knight, Lyon King of Arms, whose MS. of the Annals of Scotland is in the Advocates' library at Edinburgh. "The seventh of Febry, this zeire, 1592, the Earle of Murray was cruelly murthered by the Earle of Huntley at his house in Dunibrissel in Fyffe-shyre, and with him Dunbar, sheriffe of Murray. It was given out and publickly talkt, that the Earle of Huntley was only the instrument of perpetrating this facte, to satisfie the King's jealousie of Murray, quhum the Queene, more rashely than wisely, some few days before had commendit in the King's hearing, with too many epithets of a proper and gallant man. The reasons of these surmises proceedit from a proclamatione of the Kings, the 13 of Marche following; inhibiteine the zoung Earle of Murray to persue the Earle of Huntley, for his father's slaughter, in respect he being wardeit [imprisoned] in the castell of |