“Come, Wemyss, who modest merit aids; "Come, stately Niddrie, auld and true, 66 King Arthur's grown a common crier, He's heard in Fife and far Cantire,'Fie, lads, behold my crest of fire!'1 Carle, now the King's come!" "Saint Abb roars out, 'I see him pass, Between Tantallon and the Bass!" Calton, get out your keeking-glass, Carle, now the King's come!" The Carline stopp'd; and, sure I am, near the Boroughmuirhead; and, standing thereon, to give three blasts on a horn. 1 [MS.-" Brave Arthur's Seat's a story higher; Saint Abbe is shouting to Kintire,— 'You lion, light up a crest of fire.' " As seen from the west, the ridge of Arthur's Seat bears a marked resemblance to a lion couchant.] But Oman 1 help'd her to a dram.— Cogie, now the King's come! CHORUS. Cogie, now the King's come! I'se be fou', and ye's be toom,2 Cogie, now the King's come! 1 [Mr. Oman, landlord of the Waterloo Hotel.] 2 Empty. CARLE, NOW THE KING'S COME. PART SECOND. A HAWICK gill of mountain dew, Carle, now the King's come! Again I heard her summons swell, It drown'd Saint Giles's jowing bell- "My trusty Provost, tried and tight, Stand forward for the Good Town's right, There's waur than you been made a knight—1 Carle, now the King's come! 1 [The Lord Provost had the agreeable surprise to hear his health proposed, at the civic banquet given to George IV. in the Parliament-House as "Sir William Arbuthnot, Bart."] "My reverend Clergy, look ye say The best of thanksgivings ye ha'e, And warstle for a sunny day 66 Carle, now the King's come! My Doctors, look that you agree, Cure a' the town without a fee; My Lawyers, dinna pike a plea Carle, now the King's come! "Come forth each sturdy Burgher's bairn, "That dints on wood or clanks on airn, That fires the o'en, or winds the pirnCarle, now the King's come! "Come forward with the Blanket Blue,1 Carle, now the King's come! 66 1 [The Blue Blanket is the standard of the incorporated trades of Edinburgh, and is kept by their convener, at whose appearance therewith," observes Maitland, "'tis said, that not only the artificers of Edinburgh are obliged to repair to it, but all the artificers or craftsmen within Scotland are bound to follow it, and fight under the convener of Edinburgh, as aforesaid." According to an old tradition, this standard was used in the Holy Wars by a body of crusading citizens of Edinburgh, and was the first that was planted on the walls of Jerusalem, when that city was stormed by the Christian army under the famous Godfrey. But the real history of it seems to be this: James III., a prince who had virtues which the rude age in which he lived could not ap "Scots downa loup, and rin and rave, "Sir Thomas,1 thunder from your rock,2 66 Melville, bring out your bands of blue, A' Louden lads, baith stout and true, With Elcho, Hope, and Cockburn, tooCarle, now the King's come! 3 "And you, who on yon bluidy braes Compell'd the vanquish'd Despot's praise, preciate, having been detained for nine months in the Castle of Edinburgh by his factious nobles, was relieved by the citizens of Edinburgh, who assaulted the castle and took it by surprise; on which occasion, James presented the citizens with this banner," with a power to display the same in defence of their King, country, and their own rights."-Note to this stanza in the "Account of the King's Visit," &c. 8vo. 1822.] 1 [Sir Thomas Bradford, then Commander of the Forces in Scotland.] 2 Edinburgh Castle. 3 [Lord Melville was Colonel of the Mid-Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry; Sir John Hope of Pinkie, Bart., Major; and Robert Cockburn, Esq., and Lord Elcho, were Captains in the same corps, to which Sir Walter Scott had formerly belonged.] |