At Ladykirk the cover lay,
Where, steep and high, a birken brae
Hangs o’er the river Tweed:
Hence many a fox the hounds have driven,
Whose dirtied brush has oft been given,
The foremost horseman’s meed.
This bank, in former days, has been
Sad witness of a different scene;
When Norham’s border castle rang
With England’s war foreboding clang;
When threatened feud was heard to sound
Defiance to the Scottish ground;
When cannon roared from Norham’s wall,
The English border clans to call:
Then flew the fox this brae of birk,
And far from Scottish Ladykirk;
And sought he, much against his will,
The safe retreat of Chiviot hill.