Thomas Campbell: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Gilderoy 1

Thomas Campbell

“Gilderoy 1” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Thomas Campbell: Collected Lyrics Text 3 1843 · historical text
Public domainScottish songFolk
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Book of Scottish Song, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

The last, the fatal hour is come,

That bears my love from me:

I hear the dead note of the drum,

I mark the gallows tree!

The bell has toll'd; it shakes my heart;

The trumpet speaks thy name;

And must my Gilderoy depart

To bear a death of shame?

No bosom trembles for thy doom,

No mourner wipes a tear;

The gallows' foot is all thy tomb,

The sledge is all thy bier.

Oh, Gilderoy! bethought we then

So soon, so sad to part,

When first in Roslin's lovely glen

You triumph'd o'er my heart?

Your locks they glitter'd to the sheen,

Your hunter-garb was trim,

And graceful was the ribbon green

That bound your manly limb!

Ah! little thought I to deplore

Those limbs in fetters bound;

Or hear upon the scaffold floor,

The midnight-hammer sound!

Ye cruel, cruel, that combin'd

The guiltless to pursue;

My Gilderoy was ever kind,

He could not injure you!

A long adieu! but where shall fly

Thy widow all forlorn,

When every mean and cruel eye

Regards my woe with scorn?

Yes! they will mock thy widow's tears,

And hate thine orphan boy:

Alas! his infant beauty wears

The form of Gilderoy.

Then will I seek the dreary mound

That wraps thy mouldering clay,

And weep and linger on the ground,

And sigh my heart away.

Credits

Written by Thomas Campbell

Words by Thomas Campbell. Historical text published in The Book of Scottish Song (1843); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Book of Scottish Song (1843), edited by Alexander Whitelaw, “Gilderoy 1”

Every contribution in this 1843 anthology predates modern copyright terms by more than a century; any contributor died at least 130 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide (life+70 terms expired no later than 2020).

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-12. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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