Volume 3 / Part 1 — BALLAD OF EARL HALDAN'S DAUGHTER

It was Earl Haldan's daughter,

She looked across the sea;

She looked across the water;

And long and loud laughed she:

"The locks of six princesses

Must be my marriage fee,

So hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat!

Who comes a wooing me?"

It was Earl Haldan's daughter,

She walked along the sand;

When she was aware of a knight so fair,

Came sailing to the land.

His sails were all of velvet,

His mast of beaten gold,

And "Hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat!

Who saileth here so bold?"

"The locks of five princesses

I won beyond the sea;

I dipt their golden tresses,

To fringe a cloak for thee.

One handful yet is wanting,

But one of all the tale;

So hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat!

Furl up thy velvet sail!"

He leapt into the water,

That rover young and bold;

He gript Earl Haldan's daughter,

He dipt her locks of gold:

"Go weep, go weep, proud maiden,

The tale is full to-day.

Now hey bonny boat, and ho bonny boat!

Sail Westward ho! away!"

——C. Kingsley.

LORRAINE, LORRAINE, LORRÈE

I.

Are you ready for your steeple-chase, Lorraine,

Lorraine, Lorrèe?

Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum,

Barum, Baree,

You're booked to ride your capping race to-day at Coulterlee,

You're booked to ride Vindictive, for all the world to see,

To keep him straight, to keep him first, and win the run for me.

Barum, Barum," etc.

II.

She clasped her new-born baby, poor Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrèe,

"I cannot ride Vindictive, as any man might see,

And I will not ride Vindictive, with this baby on my knee;

He's killed a boy, he's killed a man, and why must he kill me?"

III.

"Unless you ride Vindictive, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrèe,

Unless you ride Vindictive to-day at Coulterlee,

And land him safe across the brook, and win the blank for me,

It's you may keep your baby, for you'll get no keep from me."

IV.

"That husbands could be cruel," said Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrèe,

"That husbands could be cruel, I have known for seasons three;

But oh! to ride Vindictive while a baby cries for me,

And be killed across a fence at last for all the world to see!"

V.

She mastered young Vindictive—Oh! the gallant lass was she,

And kept him straight and won the race as near as near could be;

But he killed her at the brook against a pollard willow-tree,

Oh! he killed her at the brook, the brute, for all the world to see,

And no one but the baby cried for poor Lorraine, Lorrèe.

——C. Kingsley.