Derwentwater's Farewell - The Corries

Farewell to pleasant Dilston

My father’s ancient seat

A stranger must now call thee his

Which gars my heart to greet;

Farewell each friendly well known face

My heart has held so dear

My tenants now must leave their lands

Or hold their lives in fear

No more along the banks of Tyne

I’ll rove in autumn grey

No more I’ll hear at early dawn

The lav’rocks wake the day;

And who shall deck the hawthorn bower

Where my fond children strayed?

And who, when spring shall bid it flower

Shall sit beneath the shade?

And fare thee well, George Collingwood

Since fate has put us down

If thou and I have lost our lives

Our King has lost his crown;

But when the head that wears the crown

Shall be laid low like mine

Some honest hearts may then lament

For Radcliffe’s fallen line

Farewell, farewell, my lady dear

Ill, ill, thou councell’dst me

I never more may see the babe

That smiles at your knee;

Then fare ye well brave Widdrington

And Foster ever true;

Dear Shaftsbury and Errington

Receive my last adieu

And fare thee well my bonny grey steed

That carried me aye so free

I wish I’d been asleep in my bed

Last time I mounted thee;

The warning bell now bids me cease

My trouble’s nearly oer

Yon sun that rises from the sea

Shall rise on me no more

And when the head that wears a crown

Shall be laid low like mine

Some honest hearts may then lament

For Radcliffe’s fallen line

Farewell to pleasant Dilston hall

My father’s ancient seat

A stranger now must call thee his

Which gars my heart to greet