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Sir Walter Scott
The Minstrelsy of
the Scottish Border
Armstrong’s Goodnight |
The following verses are said to have been composed by one of the Armstrongs, executed for the murder of Sir John Carmichael, of Edrom, Warden of the Middle Marches. (See notes on the Raid of the Reidswire.) The tune is popular in Scotland; but whether these are the original words will admit of a doubt.
ARMSTRONG'S GOODNIGHT
This night is my departing night,
For here nae langer must I stay;
There's neither friend nor foe o' mine,
But wishes me away.
What I have done thro' lack of wit,
I never, never can recall;
I hope ye're a' my friends as yet;
Goodnight, and joy be with you all!
* "The music of the most accomplished singer," says Goldsmith, in his Essays, "is dissonance, to what I felt when an old dairy maid sang me into tears with Johnie Armstrong's Last Goodnight." - ED.
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