| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | August 18 | | Kilmarnock’s Lament | | Old Ballad |
| | | | A Scotch nobleman, who was executed on August 18, 1746, for his part in the Jacobite rebellion of that year. |
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FAREWELL to my Eppie, | |
| My wish be wi’ Eppie, | |
| Too soon will my Eppie receive my adieu: | |
| My sentence is past, | |
| To-morrow’s my last, | 5 |
| And I’ll never win hame to my Eppie I trow. | |
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| Oh Eppie my dearest, | |
| Oh Eppie my fairest, | |
| Sae mony sweet days I hae spent wi’ you; | |
| Now cauld are my hands | 10 |
| In these iron bands, | |
| And I’ll never mair stretch them, dear Eppie, to you. | |
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| But though I maun die, | |
| I boldly defy | |
| My foes to declare that my crime I do rue; | 15 |
| Nor need my proud kin | |
| Be ashamed of my sin, | |
| But sad is the heart of my Eppie, I trow. | |
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| Good angels be keeping | |
| Her while she is sleeping, | 20 |
| Lest dreams should present my sad fate to her view; | |
| And when I am dead, | |
| Support her widowed head, | |
| For sad will the heart o’ my Eppie be now. | | | |
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