[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

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THE BATTLE OF LOUDOIW HILL.
But up bespake his cornet, then,
" Since that it is your honour's will,
Mysel' shall be the foremost man,
That shall gi'e fire on Loudoun Hill.
" At your command I'll lead them on,
But yet wi' nae consent o' me ;
For weel I ken I'll ne'er return,
And mony mae as weel as me."
Then up he drew in battle rank ;
I wat he had a bonnie train !
But the first time that bullets flew,
Ay he lost twenty o' his men.
Then back he came the way he gaed,
I wat right soon and suddenly
He gave command among his men,
And sent them back, and bade them flee.
Then up came Burly, bauld an' stout,
Wi's little train o' westland men ;
Wha mair than either aince or twice
In Edinburgh confined had been.
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They ha'e been up to London sent,
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An' yet they're a' come safely down ;
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Sax troop o' horsemen they ha'e beat,
And chased them into Glasgow town.
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The " Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border"—from which the foregoing bal-
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lad is copied—does not say from what source it was obtained ;
whether
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from MS. or recitation. The affair to which it refers is well known—
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not only historically, but as interwoven with one of the Author of Waverley's
most interesting national fictions. The battle of Loudoun Hill, or
Drumclog, was fought on Sabbath, the 1st of June, 1679—Claverhouse,
with a party of dragoons from Glasgow, having come upon the Cove-