72 
I’ve heard them lilting, at the ewe milking, 
Lasses a’ lilting before the dawn of day ; 
But now they are moaning, in ilka green loaning, 
The flowers of the forest are a’ wede awae. 
At bughts in the morning, nae blithe lads are scorning, 
Lasses are lonely, and dowie, and wae— 
Nae daffing, nae gabbing, but sighing and. sabbing— 
Ilk ane lifts her leglin and hies her away. 
In har’st at the shearing, nae youths now are jeering, 
Bandsters are runkled, and lyart, and gray ;' 
At fair or at preaching, nae wooing, nae fleetching, 
The flowers o’ the forest are a’ wede awae. 
At e’en, in the gloaming, nae younkers are roaming 
Bout stacks with the lasses at bogle to play ; 
But ilk maid sits dreary, lamenting her deary, 
The flowers o’ the forest are weded away. 
Dool and wae for the order, sent our lads to the border, 
The English for ance by guile wan the day ; 
The flowers 0’ the forest, that fought aye the foremost, 
The prime of our Jand are cauld in the clay. 
We'll hear nae mair lilting at the ewe milking, 
Women and bairns are heartless and wae, 
Sighing and moaning in ilka green loaning, 
The flowers o’ the forest are a’ wede away. 
The feudal wars of the borders raged almost incessantly, 
irrespective of national affairs. The feudal lords never stopped 
to inquire who sat upon the throne of England or Scotland. The 
question with them was—is there any insult or defeat to avenge? 
any family quarrel to adjust? any dispute to settle? Great 
questions of state, matters of royal prerogative, had little weight 
with them. The vendetta of Corsica were not more implacable 
than they. 
The clans of the borders were mostly the following: On the 
north, the Armstrongs, Maxwells, Kerrs, Johnstons, Scotts, Turn- 
bulls, Rutherfords, Jardines, and Elliotts; on the south, the 
Graemes and Storys of Esk and Solway, the Fosters and Fenwicks 
