Lord Maxwell’s Last Goodnight is
Child ballad
The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...
195. It is based on the actions of
John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell
John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell ( – 21 May 1613) was a Scottish Catholic nobleman. He escaped from Edinburgh Castle in 1607, and in 1608 shot the Laird of Johnstone. For these crimes, he was executed and his titles were forfeit.
Biography
The n ...
, who killed Sir James Johnstone in 1608 as the culmination of a family feud. He fled to France and was sentenced to death in his absence, returning in secret five years later. He was apprehended and beheaded at Edinburgh on 21 May 1613.
Synopsis
Lady Maxwell asks her husband to come with her into her father's garden. He tells her that he killed the laird Johnstone, who killed his father, and must flee. He bids a tender farewell to her, the rest of his family, and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, and is escorted off to his ship by a great company.
References
Further reading
*Kinsley, James, ed. (1969) ''The Oxford Book of Ballads''. Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 607–10. With an air from the Blaikie MS., p. 19, no. 55 (entitled "The King of Faeries"); text is Child 195A, from George Paton's MS., 1778.
External links
''Lord Maxwell’s Last Goodnight''Historical information
* ''Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight''. In
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
Edited by Francis James Child. Part VII. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston 1890, p. 34 Archive.org
Child Ballads
Scottish folklore
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