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Scots Wha Hae - Charles Harvey Weigall  (1794 - 1877)  Scots Wha Hae BY Robert Burns Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led; Welcome to your gory bed,          Or to victory! Now's the day, and now's the hour; See the front o' battle lour; See approach proud Edward's power—          Chains and slavery! Wha will be a traitor knave? Wha can fill a coward's grave! Wha sae base as be a slave?          Let him turn and flee! Wha for Scotland's king and law Freedom's sword will strongly draw, Freeman stand, or freeman fa',          Let him follow me! By oppression's woes and pains! By your sons in servile chains! We will drain our dearest veins,          But they shall be free! Lay the proud usurpers low! Tyrants fall in every foe! Liberty's in every blow!—          Let us do or die! Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots, on the Approach of Spring - by Robert Burns Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Kelvin

The Braes o' Balquhidder by Robert Tannahill Let us go, lassie, go Tae the braes o' Balquhidder Whar the blueberries grow 'Mang the bonnie Hielan' heather Whar the deer and the rae Lichtly bounding thegither Sport the lang summer day On the braes o' Balquhidder I will twin thee a bow'r By the clear silver fountain And I'll cover it o'er Wi' the flooers o' the mountain I will range through the wilds And the deep glens sae dreary And return wi' their spoils Tae the bow'r o' my dearie Let us go, lassie, go Tae the braes o' Balquhidder Whar the blueberries grow 'Mang the bonnie Hielan' heather When the rude wintry win' Idly raves 'roun' oor dwellin' And the roar o' the linn On the nicht breeze is swellin' So merrily we'll sing As the storm rattles o'er us 'Til the dear shielin' ring Wi' the licht liltin' chorus Let us go, lassie, go Tae the braes o' Balquhidder Wha

Lady Nairne (1766-1845) The Land of the Leal The following poem was wrongly attributed to Robert Burns during the lifetime of poet and songwriter  Carolina Oliphant Lady Nairne  as she published her works anonymously. Only after her death did the world learn the full extent of her songwriting and poems, and sadly Scotland does not give her the credit she deserves in regards to her contribution to Scottish culture, with her songs continuing to be covered by modern artists to this day. The Land of the Leal is a deathbed song, where a dying husband says farewell to his wife and awaits his passing into the afterlife, and in joining their daughter who died years before. The Land of the Leal I'm  wearing awa', Jean, Like snaw when it is thaw, Jean; I'm wearing awa', Jean, To the land o' the leal. There's nae sorrow there, Jean, There's neither cauld nor care, Jean, The day is aye fair, Jean, In the land o' the leal. Ye were aye leal and true, Jean,

Lock the Door, Lariston by James Hogg - A ballad of border warfare  Oil painting by W. Nicholson : © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons The Border Reiver in front of the War Memorial in Galashiels. The statue known as the  Reiver  monument was sculpted by Thomas J. Clapperton (1879 - 1962). Lock the Door, Lariston   This is a border ballad published in 1811 by James Hogg, describing a call to arms to Jock Elliot of Lariston and his men to block a raid  into the lands of  Liddesdale  by forces from Northumberland, Teesdale and Cumberland. Jock gathers the Elliot clan of riders along with the followers of Mangerton, Ogilvie, Raeburn, Netherby, and Old Sim of Whitram and repulses the raid at Brechin or Breaken Tower in Liddlesdale, which is identified as the old Elliot stronghold of Prickenhaugh. Between the late 13th century, and up to 1603 the borders were battlegrounds between Scottish and English armies. The dominant powers on the borders were the different clans and

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) Portrait by Thomas Lawrence c.1820 Proud Maisie   is a poem included in Walter Scott’s novel  Heart of Midlothian . Maisie is a young woman who walks into the woods and asks a robin when she is going to be wed. The robin replies that it will happen “when six braw’ gentlemen/Kirkward shall carry ye”. Not understanding the cryptic meaning she asks who is going to make the bridal bed, and the answer is even more grim. According to the Robin, six gentlemen will be her pallbearers, carrying her body to her last resting place the grave, with the glowworm lighting the way and the owl singing the welcome song. Proud Maisie Proud Maisie is in the wood, Walking so early; Sweet Robin sits on the bush, Singing so rarely. "Tell me, thou bonny bird, When shall I marry me?"— "When six braw gentlemen Kirkward shall carry ye." "Who makes the bridal bed, Birdie, say truly?"— "The gray-headed sexton That delves the grave duly. &q

The Death of Douglas at the Battle of Otterburn on 5th August 1388: picture by Sir John Maxwell The Battle of Otterburn took place on August 5, 1388. It was part of a three-pronged assault by Scottish forces against the English. A Scots army sailed across the Irish Sea to attack Carrickfergus, the Duke of Albany raided the western marches towards Carlisle, and James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, attacked Henry Percy in Northumberland. Douglas defeated Percy, but was killed in the battle. The ballad -  The Battle of Otterburn  appears in a manuscript dated circa 1550. The author is unknown.  It was printed on broadsides as both  The Battle of Otterburn  and  The Battle of Otterbourne .  It was later printed in Percy's  Reliques , collections by David Herd (1776) and Walter Scott's  Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border  (1833). The  Child  B allads  are  305  traditional  ballads  from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by  Francis James Chil

The Reel of Tullochgorum Artist Walter Geikie  (1795 - 1837)  Tullochgorum by Rev. John Skinner Come , gi'e's a sang, Montgomery cried, And lay your disputes all aside, What signifies't for folks to chide For what's been done before them? Let Whig and Tory all agree, Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory, Let Whig and Tory all agree, To drop their Whig-mig-morum; Let Whig and Tory all agree, To spend the night in mirth and glee, And cheerfu' sing alang wi' me The reel of Tullochgorum. O, Tullochgorum's my delight, It gars us a' in ane unite, And ony sumph that keeps up spite, In conscience I abhor him. Blythe and merry we's be a', Blythe and merry, blythe and merry, Blythe and merry we's be a'. And mak' a cheerfu' quorum. Blythe and merry we's be a', As lang as we ha'e breath to draw, And dance, till we be like to fa', The reel of Tullochgorum. There needs na' be sae great a phraise, Wi' dringing dull It