Derwentwater’s Farewell

By Old Ballad

James Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, was an English Catholic nobleman, who was one of the leaders of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. He and Lord Kenmure were executed in London and died, gallantly proclaiming their allegiance to the Stuart cause.

FAREWELL to pleasant Dilston Hall,

My father’s ancient seat;

A stranger now must call thee his,

Which gars my heart to greet.

Farewell each kindly 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 gray;

No more I’ll hear, at early dawn,

The lav’ rocks wake the day;

Then fare thee well, brave Withrington,

And Forster ever true.

Dear Shaftbury and Errington,

Receive my last adieu.

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.

Farewell, farewell, my lady dear,

Ill, ill thou counsell’dst me:

I never more may see the babe

That smiles upon thy knee.

And fare thee well, my bonny grey steed,

That carried me aye so free;

I wish I had been asleep in my bed

The last time I mounted thee.

The warning bell now bids me cease;

My trouble’s nearly o’er;

Yon sun that rises from the sea

Shall rise on me no more.

Albeit that here in London town

It is my fate to die,

O carry me to Northumberland,

In my father’s grave to lie:

There chant my solemn requiem

In Hexham’s holy towers,

And let six maids of fair Tynedale

Scatter my grave with flowers.

And 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 to pleasant Dilston Hall,

My father’s ancient seat;

A stranger now must call thee his,

Which gars my heart to greet.

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