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C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Author Unknown

Adieu for Evermore

  • [Tennyson once quoted to Ruskin this stanza as the most romantic of lyrics; and Ruskin said he knew it well, and that it was among the beet things ever done by anybody.
  • He turned his charger as he spake,
  • Upon the river shore,
  • He gave his bridle-reins a shake
  • Said Adieu for evermore,
  • My love!
  • And adieu for evermore.
  • Scott used it in ‘Rokeby.’ Its original is the old Scotch ballad which follows.]


  • “IT was a’ for our rightful king,

    That we left fair Scotland’s strand,

    It was a’ for our rightful king,

    That we e’er saw Irish land,

    My dear,

    That we e’er saw Irish land.

    “Now all is done that man can do,

    And all is done in vain,

    My love! My native land, adieu!

    For I must cross the main,

    My dear,

    For I must cross the main.”

    He turned him round and right about,

    All on the Irish shore,

    He gave his bridle-reins a shake,

    With “Adieu for evermore,

    My dear!

    Adieu for evermore!

    “The soldier frae the war returns,

    And the marchant frae the main,

    But I hae parted wi’ my love,

    And ne’er to meet again,

    My dear,

    And ne’er to meet again.

    “When the day is gone and night is come,

    And a’ are boun’ to sleep,

    I think on them that’s far awa

    The lee-lang night, and weep,

    My dear,

    The lee-lang night, and weep.”