Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

*' France.
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THE SCOTTISH BORDER. 89
Lord ! look on our miseries ! and deliver us
*'from the ixickedness of this corrupt court .'"
History of the Reformation, p. 373-4.*
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Knox's
Such seems to be the subject of the following ballad,
as narrated by the stem apostle of presbytery. It will
readily strike the reader, that the tale has suffered great
alterations, as handed down by tradition; the French
waiting-woman being changed into Mary Hamilton,t
" A very odd coincidence, in name, crime, and catastrophe, occurred
at the court of Czar Peter the Great. It is thus detailed by
the obliging correspondent who recommended it to my notice :
Miss Hambleton, a maid of honour to the Empress Catherine,
had an amour, which, at different times, produced three children.
She had always pleaded sickness, but Peter, being suspicious, order-
ed his physician to attend her, who soon made tlie discovery. It
also appeared, that a sense of shame had triumphed over her huma-
nity, and that the children had been put to death as soon as born.
Peter enquired if the father of them was privy to the murder : the
lady insisted that he wa? innocent ; for she had always deceived
him, by pretending that they were sent to nurse. Justice now called
upon the Emperor to punish the offence. The lady was much
beloved by the Empress, who pleaded for her ; the amour was par-
donable, but not thz murder, Peter sent her to the castle, and went
himself to visit her ; and the fact being confessed, he pronounced
her sentence with tears ; telling her, that his duty, as a prince, and
God's vicegerent, called on him for that justice which her crime had
rendered indispensibly necessary ; and that she must therefore prepare
for death. He attended her also on the scaffold, where he em-
braced her with the utmost tenderness, mixed with sorrow : and
some say, when the liead was struck off, he took it up by the ear,
whilst the lips were still trembling, and kissed them ; a circumstance
of an extraordinary nature, and yet not incredible, considering the
peculiarities of his character.
One copy bears, " Mary Miles."
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