LADY JOHN RUSSELL
the wisest course in such circumstances. He kept out of her way for nearly two months. The result was that on 8th June 1841 they became engaged, and were married on 20th July in the drawing-room at Minto.[1] The Duke of Buccleuch, who had married a first cousin of Lord John, lent them Bowhill for the honeymoon, and there the bride received from her mother a charming Border ballad giving the history of the wooing of the lover who
"Cam' na wi' horses,
He cam' na wi' men,
Like the bauld English knights lang syne;
But he thought that he could fleech
Wi' his bonny Southron speech
And wile awa' this lassie o' mine,"
The lassie, however, told him to go home to his "ain countrie," but the poet continues with sly humour and memories of Duncan Gray in her mind:
"But sairly did she rue
When he thought that she spak' true,
And the tear-drop it blinded her e'e;
But he only loved her 'mair and mair,'
For her spirit it was noble and free;
Oh, lassie dear, relent.
Nor let a heart be rent
That lives but for its country and thee.
······
And did she say him nay?
Oh no, he won the day."
- ↑ The Mintos belonged to the Scottish Presbyterian Church.
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