c
THE
ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH
EDITED BY
FRANCIS JAMES CHILD
VIIlJ
BOSTON
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
NEW YORK: 11 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET
KttorrstDf |Bre00 t CambriDgr
LONDON: HENRY STKVENS & SON, 39 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W. C.
One iCboitfanO tf oplM PrinoO.
Copyright, 1892, by F. J. CHUJJ.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. 8. A.
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
ADVERTISEMENT
A CONSIDERABLE portion of this eighth number is devoted to texts from Abbotsford.
Many of these were used by Sir WALTER SCOTT in the compilation of the Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border ; many, again, not less important than the others, did not find a place in that
collection. They are now printed either absolutely for the first time, or for the first time
without variation from the form in which they were written. All of them, and others which
were obtained in season for the Seventh Part, were transcribed with the most conscientious
and vigilant care by Mr MACMATH, who has also identified the handwriting, has searched the
numerous volumes of letters addressed to Sir WALTER SCOTT for information relating to the
contributors and for dates, and has examined the humbler editions of printed ballads in the
Abbotsford library ; this without remitting other help.
Very cordial thanks are offered, for texts or information, or for both, to the Rev. S. BAR-
ING-GOULD, the Rev. W. FORBES-LEITH, Mr ANDREW LANG, Dr GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL,
Mr P. Z. ROUND, Dr F. J. FURNIVALL, Mr JAMES BARCLAY MURDOCH, Dr GIUSEPPE
PITRE, of Palermo, Mr WILLIAM WALKER, of Aberdeen, Mr DAVID MACRITCHIE, of Edin
burgh, Mr JAMES GIBB, of Joppa, Mr JAMES RAINE, of York, Rev. WILLIAM LESLIE
CHRISTIE, of London, Mrs MARY THOMSON, of Fochabers, and Mr GEORGE M. RICHARDSON,
late of Harvard College ; for notes on Slavic popular literature, to Mr JOHN KAREOWICZ,
of Warsaw, and Professor WILHELM WOLLNER; and for miscellaneous notes, to my col
league, Professor G. L. KITTREDGE.
So far as can be foreseen, one part more will bring this book to a close ; it is therefore
timely to say again that I shall be glad of any kind of assistance that will make it less
imperfect, whether in the way of supplying omissions or of correcting errors, great or small.
F. J. CHILD.
FEBRUARY, 1892.
CONTENTS
ttm
226. LIZIE LINDSAY 255
227. BONNY LIZIE BAILLIE 266
228. GLASGOW PEGGIE 270
229. EARL CRAWFORD 276
230. THE SLAUGHTER OF THE LAIRD OF MELLERSTAIN 281
231. THE EARL OF ERROL 282
232. RICHIE STORY 291
233. ANDREW LAMMIE 300
234. CHARLIE MACPHERSON 308
235. THE EARL OF ABOYNE 311
236. THE LAIRD o DRUM 322
237. THE DUKE OF GORDON'S DAUGHTER 332
238. GLENLOGIE, OR, JEAN o BETHELNIE 338
239. LORD SALTOUN AND AUCHANACHIE 347
240. THE RANTIN LADDIE 351
241. THE BARON o LEYS . 355
242. THE COBLE o CARGILL 358
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE D^IMON LOVER) 360
244. JAMES HATLEY .,,*, . 370
245. YOUNG ALLAN 375
246. REDESDALE AND WISE WILLIAM 383
247. LADY ELSPAT 387
248. THE GREY COCK, OR, SAW YOU MY FATHER? 389
249. AULD MATRONS 391
250. HENRY MARTYN 393
251. LANG JOHNNY MORE 396
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY 400
253. THOMAS o YONDERDALE 409
254. LORD WILLIAM, OR, LORD LUNDY 411
255. WILLIE'S FATAL VISIT . 415
256. ALISON AND WILLIE 416
257. BURD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK 417
258. BROUGHTY WA'S 423
259. LORD THOMAS STUART . 425
260. LORD THOMAS AND LADY MARGARET 426
261. LADY ISABEL 429
262. LORD LIVINGSTON 431
263. THE NEW-SLAIN KNIGHT 434
264. THE WHITE FISHER .435
265. THE KNIGHT'S GHOST 437
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS ..... ..... . 439
226
LIZIE LINDSAY
A. ' Lizie Lindsay.' a. Jamieson-Brown MS., Appen- E. < Bonny Lizie Lindsay,' Buchan's Ballads of the
dix, p. ii. b. Jamieson's Popular Ballads. II, 149. North of Scotland, II, 102.
B. Donald of the Isles,' Kinloch MSS, I, 237. Ay- F. 'Lizzie Lindsay,' Whitelaw's Book of Scottish Bal-
toun's Ballads of Scotland, 1859, I, 277. lads, p. 51.
C. Donald of the Isles,' Kinloch MSS, I, 253.
D. ' Lizzy Lindsay,' from a Note-Book of Dr Joseph
Robertson, January, 1830, No 6.
G. ' Leezie Lindsay,' Notes and Queries, Third Series,
I, 463.
OP A a Professor Robert Scott says, in the
letter in which it was enclosed: "You will
find above, all I have been able to procure in
order to replace the lost fragment of ' Lizie
Lindsay.' I believe it is not so correct or so
complete as what was formerly sent, but there
are materials enough to operate upon, and by
forcing the memory of the recorder more harm
than good might have been done." Jamieson
says of b : " Transmitted to the editor by Pro
fessor Scott of Aberdeen, as it was taken down
from the recitation of an old woman.* It is
very popular in the northeast of Scotland, and
was familiar to the editor in his early youth ;
and from the imperfect recollection which he
still retains of it he has corrected the text in
two or three unimportant passages."
There is nothing to show whether the lost
copy was recovered, unless it be the fact that
Jamieson prints about twice as many stanzas
as there are in a. But Jamieson was not al
ways precise in the account he gave of the
changes he made in his texts.
In his preface to B, Kinloch remarks that
the ballad is very popular in the North, " and
few milk-maids in that quarter but can chaunt
it, to a very pleasant tune. Lizie Lindsay,"
he adds, "according to "the tradition of
Mearnsshire, is said to have been a daughter
* " Leezie Lindsay from a maid-servant in Aberdeen, taken
down by Professor Scott : " Jamieson to Scott, November,
of Lindsay of Edzell ; but I have searched in
vain for genealogical confirmation of the tra
dition." Kinloch gave Aytoun a copy of this
version, changing a few phrases, and inserting
st. 20 of C.
The following stanza, printed as No 434 of
the Musical Museum, was sent with the air to
Johnson by Burns, who intended to commu
nicate something more. (Museum, 1853, IV,
382):
Will ye go to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay ?
Will ye go to the Highlands wi me ?
Will ye go to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay,
My pride and my darling to be ?
Robert Allan added three stanzas to this,
Smith's Scotish Minstrel, II, 100, and again,
p. 101 of the same, others (in which Lizie
Lindsay is, without authority, made ' a puir
lassie'). The second stanza of the second
" set " is traditional (cf. B 8, C 6, D 6, B 8) :
To gang to the Hielands wi you, sir,
I dinna ken how that may be,
For I ken nae the road I am gaeing,
Nor yet wha I 'm gaun wi.
Donald MacDonald, heir of Kingcausie,
wishes to go to Edinburgh for a wife (or to
get Lizie Lindsay for his wife). His mother
1804, Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott, I, No 117, Ab-
botsford.
VOL. IV.
33
256
226. LIZIE LINDSAY
consents, on condition that he shall use no
flattery, and shall ' court her in great pov
erty' (policy, D). He sees many bonny
young ladies at Edinburgh, but Lizie Lind
say is above compare with others. He pre
sents himself to her in simple Highland garb ;
what he can offer is a diet of curds and whey
and a bed of green rushes (bracken). Lizie
would like to know where she would be going,
and with whom. His father is an old shep
herd (couper, souter), his mother an old dey,
and his name is Donald MacDonald. Li-
zie's father and mother threaten to have him
hanged, which daunts him not in the least.
Her maid warmly seconds the suit. Lizie
packs up her clothes and sets forth with Don
ald to foot the steep and dirty ways ; she
wishes herself back in Edinburgh. They
come at last to a shieling, where a woman
welcomes Sir Donald; he bids her call him
Donald her son, and orders a supper of curds
and whey, and a bed of green rushes. Li
zie, * weary with travel,' lies late in the
morning, and is roused as if to help at the
milking ; this makes her repine again. But
Donald takes her out of the hut and shows
her Kingcausie, where she is to be lady.
Kingcausie is some seven miles from Aber
deen, on the south side of the Dee.
Ballads of this description are peculiarly
liable to interpolation and debasement, and
there are two passages, each occurring in sev
eral versions, which we may, without strain
ing, set down to some plebeian improver.
In B 10, D 10, B 19, Lizie Lindsay, not
quite ready to go with Donald, makes him an
offer of five or ten guineas if he will stay long
enough for her to take his picture, ' to keep
her from thinking long.' In P 11 Donald
makes the same offer for her picture. In E 10,
P 6, Lizie tells Donald, who has asked where
she lives, that if he will call at the Canon-
gate Port, she will drink a bottle of sherry
with him, and in the next stanza she is as
good as her word. This convivial way of the
young ladies of Edinburgh is, owing to an
injury to the text, not perceptible in D 14,
where Donald seems to be inviting Lizie's
mother to bring a bottle of sherry with her in
case she should call on him at the Canongate
Port.
A b is translated by Grundtvig, Engelske
og skotske Folkeviser, p. 122 ; by Rosa War
rens, Schottische Volkslieder der Vorzeit, p.
125, with deficient verses supplied from P.
Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, p.
158, translates Allingham's ballad.
a. Jamieson-Brown MS., Appendix, p. ii, as sent Jamie-
son by Professor Scott of Aberdeen, June 9, 1805. b. Jam-
ieson's Popular Ballads, 1806, II, 149, "transmitted to the
editor by Professor Scott of Aberdeen, as it was taken down
from the recitation of an old woman," but "corrected"
from Jamieson's recollection in two or three passages.
1 Our it spake Lizee Linzee,
The tear blinket in her ee ;
How can I leave father and mother,
Along with young Donald to gae !
2 Out spoke Lizee's young handmaid,
A bonny young lassie was she ;
Said, Were I heress to a kingdom,
Along with young Donald I 'd ga.
3 ' O say ye so to me, Nelly ?
say ye so to me.?
Must I leave Edinburgh city,
To the high Highland to gae ? '
4 Out spoke Lizie's own mother,
A good old lady was she ;
If you speak such a word to iny dochter.
1 '11 gar hang [you] hi.
6 ' Keep well your dochter from me, madam.
Keep well your dochter fa me ;
For I care as little for your dochter
As ye can care for me.'
226. LIZIE LINDSAY
257
6 The road grew wetty and dubby,
And Lizee began to think lang ;
Said, I wish had staid with my mother,
And nae wi young Donald had gane.
7 ' You 'r welcome hame, Sir Donald,
You 'r thrice welcome to me ;
You 'r welcome hame, Sir Donald,
And your young lady you wi.'
o . . . . . . . .
' Ye call na me Sir Donald,
But ca me Donald your son.*
9 ' Rise up, Lizee Linzee,
You [have] lain too long in the day ;
Ye might have helped my mother
To milch her goats and her kie.'
10 Out it spake Lizee Linzee,
The tear blinket in her eye ;
' The ladys of Edinbwrg'A city,
They neither milch goats nor kie/
Kinloch MSS, I, 237, from Miss Catherine Seattle,
Mearusshire.
1 IT 's of a young lord o the Hielands,
A bonnie braw castle had he,
And he says to his lady mither,
' My boon ye will grant to me :
Sail I gae to Edinbruch city,
And fesh hame a lady wi me ? '
2 * Ye may gae to Edinbruch city,
And fesh hame a lady wi thee,
But see that ye bring her but flattrie,
And court her in grit povertie.'
3 ' My coat, mither, sail be o the plaiden,
A tartan kilt oure my knee,
Wi hosens and brogues and the bonnet ;
I '11 court her wi nae flattrie.'
4 Whan he cam to Edinbruch city,
He playd at the ring and the ba,
And saw monie a bonnie young ladie,
But Lizie Lindsay was first o them a'.
5 Syne, dressd in his Hieland grey plaiden,
His bonnet abune his ee-bree,
He called on fair Lizie Lindsay ;
Says, Lizie, will ye fancy me ?
6 ' And gae to the Hielands, my lassie,
And gae, gae wi me ?
O gae to the Hielands, Lizie Lindsay,
I '11 feed ye on curds and green whey.
7 ' And ye 'se get a bed o green bracken,
My plaidie will hap thee and me ;
Ye 'se lie in my arms, bonnie Lizie,
If ye '11 gae to the Hielands wi me.'
8 ' how can I gae to the Hielands,
Or how can I gae wi thee,
Whan I dinna ken whare I 'm gaing,
Nor wha I hae to gae wi ? '
9 ' My father, he is an auld shepherd,
My mither, she is an auld dey ;
My name it is Donald Macdonald,
My name I '11 never deny.'
10 ' O Donald, I '11 gie ye five guineas
To sit ae hour in my room,
Till I tak aff your ruddy picture ;
Whan I hae 't, I '11 never think lang.'
11 ' I dinna care for your five guineas ;
It 's ye that 's the jewel to me ;
I 've plenty o kye in the Hielands,
To feed ye wi curds and green whey.
12 ' And ye 'se get a bonnie blue plaidie,
Wi red and green strips thro it a' ;
And I '11 be the lord o your dwalling,
And that 's the best picture ava.
13 ' And I am laird o a' my possessions ;
The king canna boast o na mair ;
And ye 'se hae my true heart in keeping,
There '11 be na ither een hae a share.
14 * Sae gae to the Hielands, my lassie,
O gae awa happy wi me ;
O gae to the Hielands, Lizie Lindsay,
And hird the wee lammies wi me.'
258
226. LIZIE LINDSAY
15 ' O how can I gae wi a stranger,
Oure hills and oure glens frae my hame ? '
' I tell ye I am Donald Macdonald ;
I '11 ever be proud o my name.'
16 Doun cam Lizie Lindsay's ain father,
A knicht o a noble degree ;
Says, If ye do steal my dear daughter,
It 's hangit ye quickly sail be.
17 On his heel he turnd round wi a bouncie.
And a licht lauch he did gie :
' There 's nae law in Edinbruch city
This day that can dare to hang me.'
18 Then up bespak Lizie's best woman,
And a bonnie young lass was she ;
' Had I but a mark in my pouchie,
It 's Donald that I wad gae wi.'
19 ' O Helen, wad ye leave your coffer,
And a' your silk kirtles sae braw,
And gang wi a bare-houghd puir laddie,
And leave father, mither, and a' ?
20 ' But I think he 's a witch or a warlock,
Or something o that fell degree,
For I '11 gae awa wi young Donald,
Whatever my fortune may be.'
21 Then Lizie laid doun her silk mantle,
And put on her waiting-maid's goun,
And aff and awa to the Hielands
She 's gane wi this young shepherd loun.
22 Thro glens and oure mountains they wanderd,
Till Lizie had scantlie a shoe ;
' Alas and ohone ! ' says fair Lizie,
' Sad was the first day I saw you !
I wish I war in Edinbruch city ;
Fu sair, sair this pastime I rue.'
23 ' baud your tongue now, bonnie Lizie,
For yonder 's the shieling, my hame ;
And there 's my guid auld honest mither,
That 's coming to meet ye her lane.'
24 ' O ye 're welcome, ye 're welcome, Sir Donald,
Ye 're welcome hame to your ain.'
' ca me na young Sir Donald,
But ca me Donald my son ; '
And this they hae spoken in Erse,
That Lizie micht not understand.
25 The day being weetie and d aggie,
They lay till 't was lang o the day :
' Win up, win up, bonnie Lizie,
And help at the milking the kye.'
26 O slowly raise up Lizie Lindsay,
The saut tear blindit her ee :
' O, war I in Edinbruch city,
The Hielands shoud never see me ! '
27 He led her up to a hie mountain
And bade her look out far and wide :
' I 'in lord o thae isles and thae mountains,
And ye 're now my beautiful bride.
28 ' Sae rue na ye 've come to the Hielands,
Sae rue na ye 've come aff wi me,
For ye 're great Macdonald's braw lady,
And will be to the dav that ye dee.'
O
Kinloch MSS, 1, 253 ; from the recitation of Mrs Bouchart,
of Dundee.
1 WHAT wad ye gie to me, mither,
What wad ye gie to me,
If I wad gae to Edinbruch city
And bring hame Lizie Lindsey to thee ? '
2 ' Meikle wad I gie to thee, Donald,
Meikle wad I gie to thee,
If ye wad gang to Edinbruch city
And court her as in povertie.'
fy Whan he cam to Edinbruch city,
And there a while to resort,
He called on fair Lizie Lindsey,
Wha lived at the Canongate-Port.
4 ' Will ye gang to the Hielands, Lizie Lindsey ?
Will ye gae to the Hielands wi me ?
And I will gie ye a cup o the curds,
Likewise a cup of green whey.
6 ' And I will gie ye a bed o green threshes,
Likewise a happing o grey,
226. LIZIE LINDSAY
259
If ye will gae to the Hielands, Lizie Lindsey,
If ye '11 gae to the Hielands wi me.'
6 ' How can I gang ? ' says Lizie Lindsey,
' How can I gang wi thee ?
I dinna ken whare I am gaing,
Nor wha I am gaing wi.'
7 ' My father is a cowper o cattle,
My mither is an auld dey ;
My name is Donald Macdonald,
My name I '11 never deny.'
8 Doun cam Lizie Lindsey's father,
A revrend auld gentleman was he :
' If ye steal awa my dochter,
Hie hanged ye sail be.'
9 He turned him round on his heel
And [a] licht lauch gied he :
' There is na law in a' Edinbruch city
This day that can hang me.'
10 It 's doun cam Lizie's hand-maid,
A bonnie young lass was she :
' If I had ae crown in a' the warld,
Awa wi that fellow I 'd gae.'
11 ' Do ye say sae to me, Nelly ?
Do ye say sae to me ?
Wad ye leave your father and mither,
And awa wi that fellow wad gae ? '
12 She has kilted her coats o green silk
A little below her knee,
And she 's awa to the Hielands wi Donald,
To bear him companie.
13 And whan they cam to the vallies
The hie hills war coverd wi snow,
Which caused monie a saut tear
From Lizie's een to flow.
14 ' O, gin I war in Edinbruch city,
And safe in my ain countrie,
O, gin I war in Edinbruch city,
The Hielands shoud never see me.'
15 ' haud your tongue, Lizie Lindsey,
Na mair o that let me see ;
I '11 tak ye back to Edinbruch city,
And safe to your ain countrie.'
16 ' Though I war in Edinbruch city,
And safe in my ain countrie,
Though I war in Edinbruch city,
wha wad care for me ! '
17 Whan they cam to the shiels o Kilcushneuch,
Out there cam an auld dey :
' Ye 're welcome here, Sir Donald,
You and your lady gay.'
18 ' Ca me na mair Sir Donald,
But ca me Donald your son,
And I '11 ca ye my auld mither,
Till the lang winter nicht is begun.'
19 ' A' this was spoken in Erse,
That Lizie micht na ken ;
A' this was spoken in Erse,
And syne the broad English began.
20 ' Ye '11 gae and mak to our supper
A cup o the curds and whey,
And ye '11 mak a bed o green threshes,
Likewise a happing o grey.'
21 ( Won up, won up, Lizie Lindsey,
Ye 've lain oure lang in the day ;
Ye micht hae been helping my mither
To milk the ewes and the kye.'
22 Then up got Lizie Lindsey,
And the tear blindit her ee :
' O, gin I war in Edinbruch city,
The Hielands shoud never see me ! '
23 ' Won up, won up, Lizie Lindsey,
A fairer sicht ye hae to see ;
Do ye see yon bonnie braw castle ?
Lady o it ye will be.'
litJO
226. LIZIE LINDSAY
From a Note-Book of Joseph Robertson, January, 1830,
No. 6 ; derived from John Hill Barton.
1 THERE dwalt a lass in the South Countrie,
Lizzy Lindsay called by name,
And many a laird and lord sought her,
Bat none o them a* could her gain.
2 Out spoke the heir o Kinkawsie,
An down to his fader spoke he ;
' Fat would ye think o me, fadther,
Fat would ye think o me,
To go to Edinburgh city,
Bring hame Lizzy Lindsay wi me ? '
3 Out and spoke his auld modther,
An auld revrend lady was she ;
' Court her wi nae fause flatterie,
But in great policie.'
4 He was nae in Edinbruch citie
But a twalmont an a day,
When a' the young lairds an the ladies
Went forth to sport an play :
There was iane like Lizzy Lindsay,
She was baith gallan an gay.
6 ' Will ye go to the Hielans, Lizzy Linsay ?
Will ye go to the Hielans wi me ?
If ye '11 go to the Hielans, Lizz[y] Linsay,
I '11 gar ye get crouds an green whey.'
6 ' How can I go to the Hielans ?
Or hoo will I go with thee ?
I dinna ken whaar I 'm going,
Or fa 't is I would go wi.'
7 ' My fadther he is an auld couper,
My modther a brave auld dey ;
If ye '11 go to the Hielandfs], Lizzy Linsay,
I '11 gar ye get cruds and green whey.'
8 Out it spoke Lizzy's best maiden,
A wat a fine creature was she ;
' Tho I were born heir till a crown,
It ' young Donald that I would go wi'
9 Oh say ye sae to me, Nelly ?
Oh say ye sae to me ?
Will I cast off my fine gowns and laces,
An gae to the Highlans him wi ? '
10 She 's pntten her hand in her pocket,
She 's taen out ten guineas roun :
' And that wad I gie to thee, Donald,
To stay but ae hour i my room,
Till I get your fair pictur painted,
To baud me unthought lang.'
11 'I care as little for your guineas
As you can care for mine ;
But gin that ye like my fair face,
Then gae wi me, if that ye incline.'
12 Out it spak Lizzy's auld mither,
I wite a fine lady was she ;
' Gin I hear you speak sae to my daughter,
I vow I 'se cause them hang thee.'
13 He turned about on his heel,
And a loud, loud laughter gae he :
' They are not in Edinburgh city,
I trow, that dare hang me.
14 ' But an ye come to the Canongate-Port
An there ye '11 be sure to see me
Bring wi ye a bottle of sherry,
1 11 bear you good company.'
15 They sought all Edinboro citie,
They sought it roun an roun,
Thinkin to fin Lizzy Lindsay,
But awa to the Highlans she 's gane.,
16 Whan they came to the shielin,
Out bespoke the ould dye ;
* You 're welcome home, Sir Donald,
Lang hae we been thinkin for thee.'
17 ' Ye '11 call me nae mair Sir Donald,
Ye '11 call me nae sic thing ;
But ye 'se be my auld mither,
And I 'se be Donald your sin.
18 ' Ye '11 mak for us a supper,
A supper o cruds and green whey,
And likewise a bed o green rashes,
For Lizzy and I to ly.'
19 She 's made for them a supper,
A supper o cruds and why,
And likewise a bed o green rashes,
For Lizzy an him to ly.
226. LIZIB LINDSAY
261
20 But Donald rose up i the mornin,
The rest o his glens to spy ;
It was to look for his goats,
His goats, his yows, an his kye.
21 But Lizzy, beein wearied wi travel,
She lay till 't was lang i the day :
' Get up, get up, Lizzy Linsay,
What maks you sae lang for to ly ?
You had better been helping my mither
To milk her yews and her kye.'
22 But Lizzy drew till her her stockins,
The tears fell down on her eye :
' I wish I were at Edinboro city,
I can neither milk yews nor kye.'
23 ' Oh hold your tongue, Lizzy Linsay,
Your weepin I mustna be wi ;
I '11 sen you hame to your mither,
In the greatest o safety.'
24 But he has tane her by the han,
And has shewn her the straight way to go :
' An dont you see bonny Kincawsie,
Wher you and I is to ly ? '
25 Out then comes his old mither,
An twenty brave knichts her wi :
' Y 'er welcome home, Sir Donald,
Lang hae we been thinkin for thee.'
26 Out then comes his old father,
An twenty brave ladies him wi :
' You 'r welcome home, Sir Donald,
An that fair creature you wi.'
27 He 's taken her by the han,
An he 's shewn her the straight way in :
* An ye 'se be Lady Kincawsie,
An ye 'se hae Donal, my sin.'
E
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 102.
1 IN Edinburgh lived a lady,
Was ca'd Lizie Lindsay by name,
Was courted by mony fine suitors,
And mony rich person of fame :
Tho lords o renown had her courted,
Yet none her favour could gain.
2 Then spake the young laird o Kingcaussie,
And a bonny young boy was he ;
' Then let me a year to the city,
I '11 come, and that lady wi me.'
3 Then spake the auld laird o Kingcaussie,
A canty auld mannie was he ;
' What think ye by our little Donald,
Sae proudly and crously cracks he ?
4 ' But he 's win a year to the city,
If that I be a living man ;
And what he can mak o this lady,
We shall lat him do as he can.'
5 He 's stript aff his fine costly robes,
And put on the single liverie ;
With no equipage nor attendance,
To Edinburgh city went he.
6 Now there was a ball in the city,
A ball o great mirth and great fame ;
And fa danced wi Donald that day
But bonny Lizie Lindsay on the green !
7 ' Will ye gang to the Hielands, bonny Lizie ?
Will ye gang to the Hielands wi me ?
Will ye leave the South Country ladies,
And gang to the Hielands wi me ? '
8 The lady she turned about,
And answered him courteouslie ;
' I 'd like to ken faer I am gaun first,
And fa I am gaun to gang wi.'
9 ' O Lizie, ae favour I '11 ask you,
This favour I pray not deny ;
Ye '11 tell me your place o abode,
And your nearest o kindred do stay.'
10 ' Ye '11 call at the Canogate-Port,
At the Canogate-Port call ye ;
I '11 gie you a bottle o wine,
And I '11 bear you my companie.'
226. LIZIB LINDSAY
11 Syne he called at the Canogate-Port,
At the Canogate-Port calld he ;
She gae him a bottle o wine,
And she gae him her companie.
12 ' Will ye gang to the Hielands, bonny Lizie ?
Will ye gang to the Hielands wi me ?
Will ye leave the South Country ladies,
And gang to the Hielands wi me ? '
13 Then out spake Lizie's auld mither,
For a very auld lady was she ;
* If ye cast ony creed on my dochter,
High hanged I '11 cause you to be.'
14 ' O keep hame your dochter, auld woman,
And latna her gang wi me ;
I can cast nae mair creed on your dochter,
Nae mair than she can on me.'
15 ' Now, young man, ae question I '11 ask you,
Sin ye mean to honour us sae ;
Ye '11 tell me how braid your lands lie,
Your name, and faer ye hae to gae.'
16 ' My father he is an auld soutter,
My mither she is an auld dey,
And I 'm but a puir broken trooper,
My kindred I winna deny.
17 ' Yet I 'm nae a man o great honour,
Nor am I a man o great fame ;
My name it is Donald M'Donald,
I '11 tell it, and winna think shame.
18 ' Will ye gang to the Hielands, bonny Lizie ?
Will ye gang to the Hielands wi me ?
Will ye leave the South Country ladies,
And gang to the Hielands wi me ? '
19 ' O Donald, I '11 gie you ten guineas,
If ye woud but stay in my room
Until that I draw your fair picture,
To look on it fan I think lang.'
20 ' No, I carena mair for your guineas,
Nae mair than ye care for mine ;
But if that ye love my ain person,
Gae wi me, maid, if ye incline.'
21 Then out spake Lizie's bower-woman,
And a bonny young lassie was she ;
Tho I was born heir to a crown,
Young Donald, I woud gang him wi.
22 Up raise then the bonny young lady,
And drew till her stockings and sheen,
And packd up her claise in fine bundles,
And awa wi young Donald she 's gane.
23 The roads they were rocky and knabby,
The mountains were baith strait and stay ;
When Lizie grew wearied wi travel,
For she 'd travelld a very lang way.
24 ' turn again, bonny Lizie Lindsay,
O turn again,' said he ;
' We 're but ae day's journey frae town,
turn, and I '11 turn wi thee.'
25 Out speaks the bonny young lady,
Till the saut tear blinded her ee ;
Altho I 'd return to the city,
There 's nae person woud care for me.
26 When they came near the end o their journey,
To the house o their father's milk-dey,
He said, Stay still there, Lizie Lindsay,
Till I tell my mither o thee.
27 When he came into the shielen,
She hailed him courteouslie ;
Said, Ye 're welcome hame, Sir Donald,
There 's been mony ane calling for thee.
28 ' O ca me nae mair, Sir Donald,
But Donald M'Donald your son ;
We '11 carry the joke a bit farther,
There 's a bonny young lady to come.'
29 When Lizie came into the shielen,
She lookd as if she 'd been a feel ;
She sawna a seat to sit down on,
But only some sunks o green feall.
30 * Now make us a supper, dear mither,
The best o your cruds and green whey ;
And make us a bed o green rashes,
And covert wi huddins sae grey.'
31 But Lizie being wearied wi travel,
She lay till 't was up i the day :
*Ye might hae been up an hour seener,
To milk baith the ewes and the kye.'
32 Out then speaks the bonny young lady,
Whan the saut tear drapt frae her eye ;
I wish that I had bidden at hame,
1 can neither milk ewes nor kye.
226. LIZIB LINDSAY
263
33 ' I wish that I had bidden at hame,
The Hielands I never had seen,
Altho I love Donald M' Donald,
The laddie wi blythe blinking een.'
34 ' Win up, win up, O bonny Lizie,
And dress in the silks sae gay ;
I '11 show you the yetts o Kingcaussie,
Whare I 've playd me mony a day.'
35 Up raise the bonny young lady,
And drest in the silks sae fine,
And into young Donald's arms
Awa to Kingcaussie she 's gane.
36 Forth came the auld laird o Kingcaussie,
And hailed her courteouslie ;
Says, Ye 're welcome, bonny Lizie Lindsay,
Ye 're welcome hame to me.
37 ' Tho lords o renown hae you courted,
Young Donald your favour has won ;
Ye 'se get a' the lands o Kingcaussie,
And Donald M'Donald, my son.'
Whitelaw's Book of Scottish Ballads, p. 51, "from the
recitation of a lady in Glasgow."
1 THERE was a braw ball in Edinburgh,
And mony braw ladies were there,
But nae ane at a' the assembly
Could wi Lizzie Lindsay compare.
2 In cam the young laird o Kincassie,
An a bonnie young laddie was he :
' Will ye lea yere ain kintra, Lizzie,
An gang to the Hielands wi me? '
3 She turned her roun on her heel,
An a very loud laughter gaed she :
' I wad like to ken whar I was ganging,
And wha I was gaun to gang wi.'
4 ' My name is young Donald M'Donald,
My name I will never deny ;
My father he is an auld shepherd,
Sae weel as he can herd the kye !
5 ' My father he is an auld shepherd,
My mother she is an auld dame ;
If ye '11 gang to the Hielands, bonnie Lizzie,
Ye 's neither want curds nor cream.'
6 ' If ye '11 call at the Canongate-Port,
At the Canongate-Port call on me,
I '11 give you a bottle o sherry,
And bear you companie.'
7 He ca'd at the Canongate-Port,
At the Canongate-Port called he ;
VOL. iv. 34
She drank wi him a bottle o sherry,
And bore him guid companie.
8 ' Will ye go to the Hielands, bonnie Lizzie ?
Will ye go to the Hielands wi me ?
If ye '11 go to the Hielands, bonnie Lizzie,
Ye shall not want curds nor green whey.'
9 In there cam her auld mither,
A jolly auld lady was she :
' I wad like to ken whar she was ganging,
And wha she was gaun to gang wi.'
10 ' My name is young Donald M'Donald,
My name I will never deny ;
My father he is an auld shepherd,
Sae weel as he can herd the kye !
11 ' O but I would give you ten guineas
To have her one hour in a room,
To get her fair body a picture,
To keep me from thinking long.'
12 ' O I value not your ten guineas,
As little as you value mine ;
But if that you covet my daughter,
Take her with you, if you do incline.'
13 ' Pack up my silks and my satins,
And pack up my hose and my shoon,
And likewise my clothes in small bundles,
And away wi young Donald I '11 gang.'
14 They packd up her silks and her satins,
They packd up her hose and her shoon,
264
226. LIZLE LINDSAY
And likewise her clothes in small bandies,
And away with young Donald she 's gane.
15 When that they cam to the Hielands,
The braes they were baith lang and stey ;
Bonnie Lizzie was wearied wi ganging,
She had travelld a lang summer day.
16 ' O are we near hame, Sir Donald ?
O are we near hame, I pray ? '
* We 're no near hame, bonnie Lizzie,
Nor yet the half o the way.'
17 They cam to a homely poor cottage,
An auld man was standing by:
* Ye 're welcome hame, Sir Donald,
Ye 've been sae lang away.'
18 ' O call me no more Sir Donald,
But call me young Donald your son,
For I have a bonnie young lady
Behind me for to come in.'
19 ' Come in, come in, bonnie Lizzie,
Come in, come in,' said he ;
' Although jbhat our cottage be little,
Perhaps the better we '11 gree.
20 ' O make us a supper, dear mother,
And make it of curds an green whey ;
And make us a bed o green rushes,
And cover it oer wi green hay.'
21 ' Rise up, rise up, bonnie Lizzie,
Why lie ye so long in the day ?
Ye might hae been helping my mother
To make the curds and green whey.'
22 ' O haud your tongue, Sir Donald,
haud your tongue, I pray ;
I wish I had neer left my mother ;
1 can neither make curds nor whey.'
23 ' Rise up, rise up, bonnie Lizzie,
And put on your satins so fine,
For we maun to be at Kincassie
Before that the clock strikes nine.'
24 But when they came to Kincassie
The porter was standing by :
' Ye 're welcome home, Sir Donald,
Ye 've been so long away.'
25 It 's down then came his auld mither,
With all the keys in her hand,
Saying, Take you these, bonnie Lizzie,
All under them 's at your command.
Notes and Queries, Third Series, I, 463; "from recita
tion, September, 1828."
1 ' WILL you go to the Highlands wi me, Leezie ?
Will you go to the Highlands wi me ?
Will you go to the Highlands wi me, Leezie ?
And you shall have curds and green whey.'
2 Then up spoke Leezie's mother,
A gallant old lady was she ;
* If you talk so to my daughter,
High hanged I '11 gar you be.'
3 And then she changed her coaties,
And then she changed them to green,
And then she changed her coaties,
Young Donald to gang wL
4 But the roads grew broad and broad,
And the mountains grew high and high,
Which caused many a tear
To fall from Leezie's eye.
5 But the roads grew broad and broad,
And the mountains grew high and high,
Till they came to the glens of Glen Koustie,
And out there came an old die.
6 ' You 're welcome here, Sir Donald,
And your fair ladie,
4 O call not me Sir Donald,
But call me Donald your son,
And I will call you mother,
Till this long night be done.'
226. LIZIE LINDSAY
265
8 These words were spoken in Gaelic,
And Leezie did not them ken ;
These words were spoken in Gaelic,
And then plain English began.
9 ' O make her a supper, mother,
O make her a supper wi me ;
O make her a supper, mother,
Of curds and green whey.'
10 ' You must get up, Leezie Lindsay,
You must get up, Leezie Lindsay,
For it is far in the day.'
11 And then they went out together,
And a braw new bigging saw she,
And out cam Lord Macdonald,
And his gay companie.
12 ' You 're welcome here, Leezie Lindsay,
The flower of a' your kin,
And you shall be Lady Macdonald,
Since you have got Donald, my son.'
A. a. Written in stanzas of two long lines.
3 a . Oh.
b. a and b correspond nearly as follows :
a. 4, 5, 2, 3 1 - 2 , 8 8 ' 4 , 7, 9 1 - 2 , 9 8 - 4 , 10.
b. 2, 3, 4, 5 1 - 2 , 13 8 ' 4 , 14, 16 8 - 4 , 17 8 - 4 , 18.
1 ' Will ye go to the Highlands, Lizie Lindsay ?
Will ye go to the Highlands wi me ?
Will ye go to the Highlands, Lizie Lindsay,
And dine on fresh cruds and green whey ? '
2 Then out spak Lizie's mother,
A good old lady was she ;
Gin ye say sic a word to my daughter,
I '11 gar ye be hanged high.
3 * Keep weel your daughter frae me, madam ;
Keep weel your daughter frae me ;
I care as little for your daughter
As ye can care for me.'
4 Then out spak Lizie's ain maiden,
A bonny young lassie was she ;
Says, Were I the heir to a kingdom,
Awa wi young Donald I 'd be.
5 ' O say you sae to me, Nelly ?
And does my Nelly say sae ?
Maun I leave my father and mother,
Awa wi young Donald to gae ? '
6 And Lizie 's taen till her her stockings,
And Lizie 's taen till her her shoen,
And kilted up her green claithing,
And awa wi young Donald she 's gane.
7 The road it was lang and weary ;
The braes they were ill to climb ;
Bonny Lizie was weary wi travelling,
And a fit furder coudna win.
8 And sair, sair, did she sigh,
And the saut tear blin'd her ee :
' Gin this be the pleasures o looing,
They never will do wi me ! '
9 ' Now baud your tongue, bonny Lizie,
Ye never shall rue for me ;
Gie me but your love for my love,
It is a' that your tocher will be.
10 ' And haud your tongue, bonny Lizie,
Altho that the gait seem lang,
And you 's hae the wale o good living
Whan to Kincawsen we gang.
11 ' There my father he is an auld cobler,
My mother she is an auld dey,
And we '11 sleep on a bed o green rashes,
And dine on fresh cruds and green whey.'
12
* You 're welcome hame, Sir Donald,
You 're welcome hame to me.'
13 ' ca me nae mair Sir Donald ;
There 's a bonny young lady to come ;
Sae ca me nae mair Sir Donald,
But ae spring Donald your son.'
266
227. BONNY LIZIE BAILLIE
14 ' Te 're welcome hame, young Donald,
Ye 're welcome hame to me ;
Ye 're welcome hame, young Donald,
And your bonny young lady wi ye.'
15 She 's made them a bed of green rashes,
Weel coverd wi hooding o grey ;
Bonny Lizie was weary wi travelling,
And lay till 't was lang o the day.
16 ' The sun looks in oer the hill-head,
And the laverock is liltin gay ;
Get up, get up, bonny Lizie,
You 've lain till it '& lang o the day.
17 ' You might hae been out at the shealin,
Instead o sae lang to lye,
And up and helping my mother
To milk baith her gaits and kye.'
18 Then out spak Lizie Lindsay,
The tear blindit her eye ;
4 The ladies o Edinburgh city,
They neither milk gaits nor kye.'
19 Then up spak young Sir Donald,
20 ' For I am the laird o Kincawsyn,
And you are the lady free,
And
D. 9 1 . nay (not) sae, not struck out. 25*. wi.
E. 29. In a much altered chap-book copy, printed
by J. Morren, Edinburgh, we have :
When they came to the braes o Kinkassie,
Young Lizie began for to fail ;
There was not a seat in the house
But what was made of the green fell.
F. 16 1 , 22 1 . The Sir is an anticipation.
Q. 7 1 , 9 1 -'. Oh.
227
BONNY LIZIE BAILLIE
a. ' Bonny Lizie Balie, A New Song very much in Re
quest,' Lai ng broadsides, No 46 ; no date or place.
b. ' Bonny Lizzie Bailie,' Maidment's Scotish Bal
lads and Songs, 1859, p. 13. c. 'My bonny Lizzie
Baillie,' Johnson's Museum, ed. 1853, IV, *451.
d. Lizae Baillie,' Herd's MSS, I, 101, and, in
part, II, 121. e. 'Lizie Baillie,' Campbell MSS,
I, 98. f. ' Lizzie Bailie,' Smith's Scotish Minstrel,
IV, 90. g. ' Lizie Baillie,' Buchan's Ballads of tbe
North of Scotland, II, 173.
a, from the collection of broadsides made
by David Laing, now in the possession of
Lord Rosebery, may probably have been
printed at the beginning of the last century,
at Edinburgh, b was taken "from a toler
ably old copy printed at Glasgow." Excepting
the lack of two stanzas, the variations from a
are mostly of slight consequence; two or
three are for the better, c (only the begin
ning, stanzas 1 4 1 ) was communicated by
C. K. Sharpe, from a " MS. copy of some an
tiquity." d-g are of no authority, d, e are
fragmentary stanzas, misremembered if not
corrupted, f has ten stanzas, eight of which
(some with a word or two changed) are from
d. g is a washy rifacimento.
d is printed in Herd's Ancient and Modern
Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 3. The copy in
Johnson's Museum, No 456, p. 469, is d with
out tbe first stanza.
Stanzas 19-21 of a, b, and their representa
tives in d, e, recall * The Gypsy Laddie.'
227. BONNY LIZIB BAILLIE
267
Lizzie Baillie, of Castle Gary, Stirlingshire,
while paying a visit to a sister at Gartartan,
Perthshire, makes an excursion to Inchma-
home, an island in Loch Menteith. Here she
meets Duncan Graham, who, against the op
position of her parents, persuades her to pre
fer a Highland husband to any Lowland or
English match.
"The heroine of this song," says Sharpe,
" was a daughter of Baillie of Castle Carey,
and sister, as it is said, to the wife of Macfar-
lane of Gartartan." The Baillies, as Maid-
ment has shown, acquired Castle Gary " at a
comparatively recent date," and that editor
must be nearly, or quite, right in declaring the
ballad to be not older than the commencement
of the last century. Buchan has a bit of
pseudo-history anent Lizie Baillie in his notes,
at II, 326.
The story is told in a somewhat disorderly
way even in a, and we may believe that we
have not attained the original yet, though this
copy is much older than any that has appeared
in previous collections.
1 IT fell about the Lambmass tide,
When the leaves were fresh and green,
Lizie Bailie is to Gartartain [gane],
To see her sister Jean.
2 She had not been in Gartartain
Even but a little while
Till luck and fortune happend her,
And sbe went to the Isle.
3 And when she went into the Isle
She met with Duncan Grahame ;
So bravely as he courted her !
And he convoyd her hame.
4 ' My bonny Lizie Bailie,
I '11 row thee in my pladie,
If thou will go along with me
And be my Highland lady.'
5 ' If I would go along with thee,
I think I were not wise ;
For I cannot milk cow nor ewe,
Nor yet can I speak Erse.'
6 ' Hold thy tongue, bonny Lizie Bailie,
And hold thy tongue,' said he ;
' For any thing that thou does lack,
My dear, I '11 learn thee.'
7 She would not have a Lowland laird,
He wears the high-heeld shoes ;
She will marry Duncan Grahame,
For Duncan wears bis trews.
8 She would not have a gentleman,
A farmer in Kilsyth,
But she would have the Highland man,
He lives into Monteith.
9 She would not have the Lowland man,
Nor yet the English laddie,
But she would have the Highland man,
To row her in his pladie.
10 He took her by the milk-white hand,
And he convoyed her hame,
And still she thought, both night and day,
On bonny Duncan Grahame.
11 ' O bonny Duncan Grahame,
Why should ye me miscarry ?
For, if you have a love for me,
We '11 meet a[t] Castle Carry.
12 ' As I came in by Dennie bridge,
And by the holland-bush,
My mother took from me my cloaths,
My rings, ay and my purse.
13 ' Hold your tongue, my mother dear,
For that I do not care ;
For I will go with Duncan Grahame
Tho I should ner get mair.
14 ' For first when I met Duncan Grabame
I met with meikle joy,
And many pretty Highland men
Was there at my convoy.'
268
227. BONNY LIZIE BAILLIE
15 And now he is gone through the muir,
And she is through the glen :
* O bonny Lizie Bailie,
When will we meet again ! '
16 Shame light on these logerheads
That lives in Castle Carry,
That let away the honny hiss
The Highland man to marry !
17 ' O bonny Lizie, stay at home !
Thy mother cannot want thee ;
For any thing that thou does hick,
My dear, I '11 cause get thee.'
18 ' I would not give my Duncan Grahame
For all my father's land,
Although he had three lairdships more,
And all at my command.'
19 And she 's cast off her silken gowns,
That she weard in the Lowland,
And she 's up to the Highland hills,
To wear [the] gowns of tartain.
20 And she 's cast off her high-heeld shoes,
Was made of the gilded leather,
And she 's up to Gillecrankie,
To go among the heather.
21 And she 's cast off her high-heeld shoes,
And put on a pair of laigh ones,
And she 's away with Duncan Grahame,
To go among the brachans.
22 ' O my bonny Lizie Bailie,
Thy mother cannot want thee ;
And if thou go with Duncan Grahame
Thou '11 be a GUliecrankie.'
23 ' Hold your tongue, my mother dear,
And folly let thee be ;
Should not I fancie Duncan Grahame
When Duncan fancies me ?
24 ' Hold your tongue, my father dear,
And folly let thee be ;
For I will go with Duncan Grahame
Fore all the men I see.'
25 ' Who is it that 's done this turn ?
Who has done this deed ? '
' A minister it 's, father,' she says,
' Lives at the Rughburn bridge.'
26 * A minister, daughter ? ' he says,
' A minister for mister ! '
' O hold your tongue, my father dear,
He married first my sister.'
27 ' O fare you well, my daughter dear,
So dearly as I lovd thee !
Since thou wilt go to Duncan Grahame,
My bonny Lizie Bailie.'
28 ' O fare you well, my father dear,
Also my sister Betty ;
O fare you well, my mother dear,
I leave you all compleatly.'
a. 3*. conveyd ; cf. 10 2 .
17*. Suspicious. I '11 surely grant thee in b,
which preserves the rhyme, and is otherwise
preferable.
20', b avoids Gillecrankie here by reading
to the Highland hills, and lacks 22. .
23 s , 24 a . Hardly possible. In 23 a b has,
With your folly let me be.
27 1 . fair ye : cf. 28 1 - 8 .
b. I 1 , upon the. I 8 , gane. 2 1 . been long at
2*. to her. 3 4 . convoyd. 4*. wilt.
6 1 . I should : with you. 5 2 . They 'd think.
5*. can neither. 6 8 . dost 6*. I will teach.
7*. That wears. 7*. But she would.
7*. he wears trews. 8*. have a.
8 4 . That lives. II 2 . you. 11*. at.
14 8 . mony a : Highlandman. 15 1 . now she.
15 2 . And he. 15 8 . O my. 17 8 . dost want.
17*. I '11 surely grant thee : better.
19 1 . Now she 's : gown. 19 3 . wore : Lowlands.
19 4 . the gowns. 20 2 . oiled for the gilded.
20 8 . to the Highland hills. 20 4 , 21 4 . gang.
21 2 . And wanting. 22. Wanting.
23 2 . With your folly let me be.
23 4 . 'Fore all the men I see.
24 (or, 23* 24 1 ' 8 ). Wanting. 25 1 . that has.
25 2 . Or who hath. 25 4 . Red Burn.
27 1 . So/orO. 27 s . love. 27 8 . go with.
227. BONNY LIZIE BAILLIE
269
27*. Thou 'It get no gear from me.
o. Only 1-4 1 given.
I 1 . It was in and about the Martinmass.
Absurd. Lammas, even, is late enough
for leaves to be fresh and green ; in fact
both are verbiage.
1 8 . gane. 2 1 . She was nae in.
2 s . Even wanting. 2 8 . When luck.
2 4 . she gaed.
3 1 . When she gaed to the bonny Isle,
d. 11 stanzas : I 8 ' 4 , 3 2 - 4 ; 4 ; 5, in two forms,
one struck out; 6 (?), 20, 19, 9, 11 (?),
12, 18, 16.
5. ' I am sure they wad nae ca me wise,
Gin I wad gang wi you, sir,
For I can neither card nor spin,
Nor yet milk ewe nor cow, sir.'
6. * My bonie Liza Baillie,
Let nane o these things daunt ye ;
Ye '11 hae nae need to card or spin,
Your mither weel can want ye.'
9. She wad nae hae a Lawland laird,
Nor be an English ladie,
But she wad gang wi Duncan Grame,
And row her in his plaidie.
11. (?) She was nae ten miles frae the town
When she began to weary ;
She often looked back and said,
' Farewell to Castlecarry ! '
12. The first place I saw my Duncan Grame
Was near yon holland-bush ;
My father took frae me my rings,
My rings but and my purse.
19. And she 's cast aff her bonie goun,
Made o the silk and sattin,
And she 's put on a tartan plaid,
To row amang the bracken. (21 4 .)
20. Now she 's cast au" her bonie shoon,
Made o the gilded leather,
And she 's put on her Highland brogues,
To skip amang the heather.
This is enough to show the quality of d. It
has been extensively corrupted. 11 is out
of character, and suggested by ' Lizie
Lindsay.'
e. Stanzas 4, 5, 17, 20, 19, 9, only.
5. ' If I wad gang alang wi you
They wadna ca me wise, sir ;
For I can neither card nor spin,
Nor yet can I speak Erse, sir.'
9. She wadna hae a Lawland laird,
Nor be a English lady,
But she 's awa wi Duncan Grahame
He 's rowd her in his plaidy.
17. ' My bonny Lizie Baillie,
Your minny canna want you ;
Sae let the trooper gang his lane,
And carry his ain portmanteau.'
19. Nearly as in d. A' wrought wi gowd an
satin : To sport amang.
20. Nearly as in d. Spanish leather.
17 M is not intelligible, and may have slipped
in from some " Trooper" ballad.
f. 10 stanzas, edited from some copy of d. f
3-9, 10 = d 2-8, 12, nearly.
I 1 . Lammas time. I 2 , trees were.
1 8 . L. B. gaed to Garter town.
2, 3. She 'd no been lang in Garter town
Till she met wi Duncan Graham,
Wha kindly there saluted her,
And wad convoy her hame.
4 2 . Ye 's hae a tartan plaidie.
9 8 . wad gang wi Duncan Graham.
9 4 . And wear a tartan plaidie.
19 1 . her lowland braws.
19 8 . put on the worset gown.
19 4 . To skip amang the breckin.
g. 14 stanzas.
2. She meant to go unto that place
To stay a little while ;
But mark what fortune her befell
When she went to the Isle.
It fell out upon a day,
Sheep-shearing at an end,
Lizie Baillie she walkd out,
To see a distant friend.
3. But going down in a low glen
She met wi Duncan Graeme,
270
238. GLASGOW PEGGIE
Who courted her along the way,
Likewise convoyed her hame.
The whole ballad is treated with the like
freedom and feebleness.
22. O stay at hame,' her father said,
' Your mither cannot want thee ;
And gin ye gang awa this night
We '11 hae a Killycrankie.'
Killycrankie for a row : a droll emendation of
a, and the only spirited line in the piece.
228
GLASGOW PEGGIE
A. ' Glasgow Peggie,' Sharpe'a Ballad Book, p. 40.
B. a. ' Glasgow Peggy,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish
Ballads, p. 174. b. Kinloch MSS, VII, 259. c. ' Glas
gow Peggie,' Aytoun's Ballads of Scotland, 1859,
II, 230.
C. a. ' Galla Water,' ' Bonny Peggy,' Motherwell's
MS., p. 89. b. ' Glasgow Peggie,' " Scotch Ballads,
Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 116, and
Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 137, one stanza.
D. ' Donald of the Isles,' Buchan's Ballads of the
North of Scotland, II, 155.
E. ' Glasgow Peggy,' Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs,
I, 70.
F. ' The Young Maclean,' Alexander Laing's MS., p. 5.
"COMMON in stalls," says Motherwell,
" under this title [' Glasgow Peggie '], or that
of the 'Earl of Hume,' or 'The Banks of
Omey : ' " Minstrelsy, p. xciii, note 133. In
his MS., p. 90, the stall-copy is said to be bet
ter than the imperfect C a.
A young Highlander comes to Glasgow and
is smitten with bonnie Peggie. Her father
says the Highlander may steal cow or ewe, but
not Peggie ; and her mother asks in disgust
whether her daughter, so long the object of
her care, would end with going off in such
company. For all that, Peggie goes. The
Earl of Argyle, or the Earl of Hume, or the
young Earl of Hume, takes this much to
heart. The pair ride to a low glen in the
north country, and lie down on the grass.
The Lowland lass has some compunctions,
stimulated by the lack of the good beds at
home. The captivating Highlander reassures
her. He has the same comforts which she
misses ; they are his, and will soon be hers.
He points out a fine castle which is his too,
and he himself is Donald, Earl of Skye, and
she will be a lady. B and E, to make the
contrast of her two homes the greater, main
tain that, despite her regrets for the comforts
of her father's mansion, all that Peggie left
was a wee cot-house and a wee kail-yairdie.
In the fragment F, Maclean replaces Mac-
donald.
228. GLASGOW PEGGIE
271
Sharpe's Ballad Book, No XV, p. 40.
1 ' As I cam in by Glasgow town,
The Highland troops were a' before me,
And the bonniest lass that eer I saw,
She lives in Glasgow, they ca her Peggie.
2 ' I wad gie my bonnie black horse,
So wad I my gude grey naigie,
If I were twa hundred miles in the north,
And nane wi me but my bonnie Peggie.'
3 Up then spak her father dear,
Dear wow ! but he was wondrous sorrie ;
' Weel may ye steal a cow or a yowe,
But ye dare nae steal my bonnie Peggie.'
4 Up then spak her mother dear,
Dear wow ! but she spak wondrous sorrie ;
Now since I have brought ye up this length,
Wad ye gang awa wi a Highland fellow ? '
5 He set her on his bonnie black horse,
He set himsel on his gude gray naigie,
And they have ridden oer hills and dales,
And he 's awa wi his bonnie Peggie.
6 They have ridden oer hills and dales,
They have ridden oer mountains many,
Until they cam to a low, low glen,
And there he 's lain down wi his bonnie
Peggie.
7 Up then spak the Earl of Argyle,
Dear wow ! but he spak wondrous Tsorrie ;
' The bonniest lass in a' Scotland
Is off and awa wi a Highland fellow ! '
I
8 Their bed was of the bonnie green grass,
Their blankets war o the hay sae bonnie ;
He folded his philabeg below her head,
And he 's lain down wi his bonnie Peggie.
9 Up then spak the bonny Lowland lass,
And wow ! but she spak wondrous sorrie ;
' I 'se warrant my mither wad hae a gay sair
heart
To see me lien here wi you, my Willie.'
10 ' In my father's house there 's feather-beds,
Feather-beds, and blankets mony ;
They 're a' mine, and they '11 sune be thine,
And what needs your mither be sae sorrie,
Peggie ?
11 ' Dinna you see yon nine score o kye,
Feeding on yon hill sae bonnie ?
They 're a' mine, and they '11 sune be thine,
And what needs your mither be sorrie,
Peggie ?
12 ' Dinna ye see yon nine score o sheep,
Feeding on yon brae sae bonnie ?
They 're a' mine, and they '11 sune be thine,
And what needs your mither be sorrie for
ye?
13 ' Dinna ye see yon bonnie white house,
Shining on yon brae sae bonnie ?
And I am the Earl of the Isle of Skye,
And surely my Peggie will be ca'd a lady.'
B
a. Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 174; from reci
tation, b. Kinloch MSS, VII, 259 ; " from Mrs K.'s recita
tion." c. Aytoun's Ballads of Scotland, 1859, II, 230.
1 THE Lawland lads think they are fine,
But the Hieland lads are brisk and gaucy,
And they are awa, near Glasgow toun,
To steal awa a bonnie lassie.
2 * I wad gie my gude brown steed,
And sae wad I my gude grey naigie,
VOL. iv. 35
That I war fifty miles frae the toun,
And nane wi me but my bonnie Peggy.'
3 But up then spak the auld gudman,
And vow ! but he spak wondrous saucie ;
' Ye may steal awa our cows and ewes,
But ye sanna get our bonnie lassie.'
4 ' I have got cows and ewes anew,
I 've got gowd and gear already ;
Sae I dinna want your cows nor ewes,
But I will hae your bonnie Peggy.'
272
228. GLASGOW PEGGIE
5 * I '11 follow you oure moss and muir,
I '11 follow you oure mountains many,
I '11 follow you through frost and snaw,
I '11 stay na lunger wi my daddie.'
6 He set her on a gude brown steed,
Himself upon a gude grey naigie ;
They 're oure hills, and oure dales,
And he 's awa wi his bonnie Peggy.
7 As they rade out by Glasgow toun,
And doun by the hills o Achildounie,
There they met the Earl of Hume,
And his auld son, riding bonnie.
8 Out bespak the Earl of Hume,
And O ! but he spak wondrous sorry ;
' The bonniest lass about a' Glasgow toun
This day is awa wi a Hieland laddie ! '
9 As they rade bye auld Drymen toun,
The lasses leuch and lookit saucy,
That the bonniest lass they ever saw
Sud be riding awa wi a Hieland laddie.
10 They rode on through moss and muir,
And so did they owre mountains many,
Until that they cam to yonder glen,
And she 's lain doun wi her Hieland laddie.
11 Gude green hay was Peggy's bed,
And brakens war her blankets bonnie,
Wi his tartan plaid aneath her head ;
And she 's lain doun wi her Hieland laddie.
12 ' There 's beds and bowsters in my father's
house,
There 's sheets and blankets, and a' thing
ready,
And wadna they be angry wi me,
To see me lie sae wi a Hieland laddie ! '
13 ' Tho there 's beds and beddin in your father's
house,
Sheets and blankets, and a' made ready,
Yet why sud they be angry wi thee,
Though I be but a Hieland laddie ?
14 ' It 's I hae fifty acres of land,
It 's a' plowd and sawn already ;
I am Donald, the Lord of Skye,
And why sud na Peggy be calld a lady ?
15 ' I hae fifty gude milk kye,
A' tied to the staws already ;
I am Donald, the Lord of Skye,
And why sud na Peggy be calld a lady ?
16 ' See ye no a' yon castles and towrs ?
The sun sheens owre them a sae bonnie ;
I am Donald, the Lord of Skye,
I think I '11 mak ye as blythe as onie.'
17 A' that Peggy left behind
Was a cot-house and a wee kail-yardie ;
Now I think she is better by far
Than tho she had got a Lawland lairdie.
a. Motherwell's MS., p. 89 ; from recitation, b. " Scotch
Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 116, and
Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 137, the last stanza.
1 * HE set her on his bonnie black horse,
He set himsel on his good gray naigie ;
He has ridden over hills, he has ridden over
dales,
And he 's quite awa wi my bonny Peggy.
2 ' Her brow it is brent and her middle it is jimp,
Her arms are long and her fingers slender ;
One sight of her eyes makes my very heart
rejoice,
And wae's my heart that we should sun
der!'
3 His sheets were of the good green hay,
His blankets were of the brackens bonnie ;
He 's laid his trews beneath her head,
And she 's lain down wi her Highland lad
die.
4 ' I am my mother's ae daughter,
And she had nae mair unto my daddie,
228. GLASGOW PEGGIE
273
And this night she would have a sore, sore
heart
For to see me lye down with a Highland
laddie.'
5 ' Ye are your mother's ae daughter,
And she had nae mae unto your daddie ;
This night she need not have a sore, sore heart
For to see you lie down with a Highland
laddie.
6 ' I have four-and-twenty acres of land,
It is ploughed, it is sown, and is always
ready,
And you shall have servants at your command ;
And why should you slight a Highland lad
die?
7 ' I have four-and-twenty good milk-kye,
They are feeding on yon meadow bonnie ;
Besides, I have both lambs and ewes,
Going low in the haughs o Galla water.
8 ' My house it stands on yon hill-side,
My broadsword, durk, and bow is ready,
And you shall have servants at your command ;
And why may not Peggy be called a lady ? '
Buchan'a Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 155.
1 A BONNY laddie brisk and gay,
A handsome youth sae brisk and gaddie,
And he is on to Glasgow town,
To steal awa his bonny Peggy.
2 When he came into Glasgow town,
Upon her father's green sae steady,
4 Come forth, come forth, old man,' he says,
f For I am come for bonny Peggy.'
3 Out it spake her father then ;
' Begone from me, ye Highland laddie ;
There 's nane in a' the West Country
Dare steal from me my bonny Peggy.'
4 ' I 've ten young men all at my back,
That ance to me were baith true and steady ;
If ance I call, they '11 soon be nigh,
And bring to me my bonny Peggy.'
5 Out it spake her mother then,
Dear ! but she spake wondrous saucy ;
Says, Ye may steal my cow or ewe,
But I '11 keep sight o my ain lassie.
6 ' Hold your tongue, old woman,' he says,
' Ye think your wit it is f u ready ;
For cow nor ewe I ever stole,
But I will steal your bonny Peggy.'
7 Then all his men they boldly came,
That was to him baith true and steady,
And thro the ha they quickly went,
And forth they carried bonny Peggy.
8 Her father gae mony shout and cry,
Her mother cursed the Highland laddie ;
But he heard them as he heard them not,
But fixd his eye on bonny Peggy.
9 He set her on his milk-white steed,
And he him sell on his grey naigie ;
Still along the way they rode,
And he 's awa wi bonny Peggy.
10 Says, I wad gie baith cow and ewe,
And sae woud I this tartan plaidie,
That I was far into the north,
And alang wi me my bonny Peggy.
11 As they rode down" yon pleasant glen,
For trees and brambles were right mony,
There they met the Earl o Hume,
And his young son, were riding bonny.
12 Then out it spake the young Earl Hume,
Dear ! but he spake wondrous gaudie ;
' I 'm wae to see sae fair a dame
Riding alang wi a Highland laddie.'
13 ' Hold your tongue, ye young Earl Hume,
O dear ! but ye do speak right gaudie ;
There 's nae a lord in a' the south
Dare eer compete wi a Highland laddie.'
14 Then he rade five miles thro the north,
Thro mony hills sae rough and scroggie,
274
228. GLASGOW PEGGIE
Till they came down to a low glen,
And he lay down wi bonny Peggy.
15 Then he inclosed her in his arms,
And rowd her in his tartan plaidie :
* There are blankets and sheets in my father's
house,
How have I lien down wi a Highland lad
die!'
16 Says he, There are sheep in my father's fauld,
And every year their wool is ready ;
By the same our debts we pay,
Altho I be but a Highland laddie.
17 ' There are fifty cows in my father's byre,
That all are tyed to the stakes and ready ;
Five thousand pounds I hae ilk year,
Altho I be but a Highland laddie.
18 ' My father has fifty well shod horse,
Besides your steed and my grey naigie ;
I 'in Donald o the Isle o Sky,
Why may not you be ca'd a lady ?
19 ' See ye not yon fine castle,
On yonder hill that stands sae gaudie ?
And there we '11 win this very night,
Where ye '11 enjoy your Highland laddie.'
E
Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 70, as sang bj an
old woman living near Keith, Banfbhire.
1 THE Hielan lads sae brisk and braw,
The Hielan lads sae brisk and gaudie,
Hae gane'awa to Glasgow town,
To steal awa the bonny Peggy.
2 As they cam on to Glasgow town,
And passd the banks and braes sae bonny,
There they espied the weel-faurd may,
And she said to them her name was Peggy.
3 Their chief did meet her father soon,
And O ! but he was wondrous angry ;
Says, Ye may steal my owsen and kye,
But ye maunna steal my bonnie Peggy.
4 ' baud your tongue, ye gude auld man,
For I 've got cows and ewes already ;
I come na to steal your owsen and kye,
But I will steal your bonny Peggy.'
6 He set her on a milk-white steed,
And he himsel rode a gude grey naigie,
And they are on mony miles to the north,
And nane wi them but the bonny Peggy.
6 ' I hae fifty acres o gude red Ian,
And a' weel ploughd and sawn already,
And why should your father be angry wi me,
And ca me naething but a Hielan laddie ?
7 ' I hae twenty weel mounted steeds,
Black and brown and grey, already ;
And ilk ane o them is tended by a groom,
Altho I be but a Hielan laddie.
8 ' I hae now ten thousand sheep,
A' feeding on yon braes sae bonny,
And ilka hundred a shepherd has,
Altho I be but a Hielan laddie.
9 ' I hae a castle on yonder hill,
It 's a' set roun wi windows many ;
I 'm Lord M'Donald o the whole Isle of Skye ;
And why shouldna Peggy be ca'd my Lady ? '
10 Now a' that Peggy had before
Was a wee cot-house and a little kail-yairdie,
But now she is lady o the whole Isle of Skye,
And now bonny Peggy is ca'd my Lady.
228. GLASGOW PEGGIE
275
Alexander Laing's MS., 1829, p. 5.
THE young Maclean is brisk an bauld,
The young Maclean is rash an ready,
An he is to the Lowlands gane,
To steal awa a bonnie ladye.
2 Out an spak her auld father,
An ! but he spak wondrous angry ;
' Ye may steal my cows an ewes,
But ye shall not steal my dochter Peggie.'
3 ' O hand your tongue, ye gude auld man,
For I hae gear enough already ;
I cum na for your cows an ewes,
But I cum for your dochter Peggie.'
4 He set her on a milk-white steed,
Himsel upon a gude gray naggie,
An they are to the Highlands gane,
The young Maclean an his bonnie ladye.
B. b. Stanzas 7, 3, 12 2 , 6, 4.
3. And then out and spak her father dear,
And oh ! but he was wondrous angrie :
' It 's ye may steal my cows and ews,
But ye maunna steal my bonnie Peggy.'
4. ' Hold your tongue, you silly auld man,
For ye 've said eneuch already ;
I '11 neither steal your cows nor ews,
But I wat I '11 steal your bonnie Peggy.'
6 1 . He 's mounted her on a milk-white.
6 8 . are ouer hill and they 're ouer dale.
6 4 . he 's clean awa. 7 1 . As I cam in by.
7 8 . I met. 7 4 . son, war.
12 2 . Feather beds and bowsters many. (A,
10. 2 )
o. " I have carefully collated these [KinlocKs
copy, B a, and Sharpens, A] with another
copy, giving, for the most part, the pref
erence to the version of Mr Kinloch."
Readings (quite unimportant) which do
not occur in B a, A :
I 8 , they hae come doun to Glasgow toun.
2 1 . O I. 2 8 . were a hundred. 4 s . or.
After*, cf. A4 1 ' 2 :
But up then spak the auld gudewife,
And wow ! but she lookd wondrous yellow.
5 1 ' 8 . follow him. 5*. I '11 bide. 7 l . out frae.
7 a . And by the side o Antermony.
7 4 . Wi him his. 8 2 . sadly for sorry.
10 1 . It's they. II 4 . withe.
12 1 . There 's mair than ae bed in.
16 2 . on them. 16". It 'si.
C. b. 8. In a letter of John Hamilton's to Sir
W. Scott, dated August 17, 1803 (" Scotch
Ballads" etc., No 116), this stanza is given
thus :
My palace stands on yon burn-brae,
My bow is bent an arrows ready ;
My name is Donald, in the Isle of Sky,
Although I be but a Highland laddie.
Scott probably trusted to his memory when
making the following note to a, printed in
Sharpens Ballad Book, ed. 1880 :
' I have a dirk and a gude claymore,
My bow is bent and my arrow ready ;
My castle stands in the Isle of Skye,
Although I am but a Highland laddie.'
" The above stanza, which I got from the late
Mr Hamilton, music-seller in Edinburgh,
seems to belong to ' Glasgow Peggie.' "
276
229. EAKL CRAWFORD
229
EARL CRAWFORD
A. a. 'Earl Crawford,' Christie's Traditional Ballad
Airs, I, 290, from recitation, b. From recitation.
B. Earl Crawford,' Bdchan's Ballads of the North of
Scotland, I, 61. Abridged, in Christie's Traditional
Ballad Airs, I, 68.
A. ONE of seven handsome sisters makes a
great match with the Earl of Crawford. In a
fit of jealousy at the fondness which he shows
his young son, Ladie Lillie addresses to her
husband a quip on that head, to which the
earl replies in the same tone. But the matter
does not end there. The earl sets his wife on
a horse, with her son, and sends her home to
her father at Stobhall, never to enter his gates
again. Her father is surprised that she should
come without* notice or attendants ; she tells
him that a word from her merry mouth has
parted her and her lord. The father offers to
make a better match for her ; she would not
give a kiss of Crawford's for all her father's
gold. She sends a messenger to the earl to
see whether he retains affection for her ; word
is brought back that she is to stay with her
father and never enter Crawford's gates again.
Her heart breaks. Her father puts on black,
rides to Crawford's, and finds the earl just
setting forth with a party to bring Lady Lil
lie home. Upon learning that his wife is
dead, the earl declares that the sun shall nev
ermore shine on him.
B. Lady Crawford rides to her husband's
castle in person to see if the earl will pity her.
He shuts his gates and steeks his doors, and
will neither come down to speak with her him
self nor send his man. She retires weeping.
The earl in turn now goes to the castle where
his lady is lying, to see if she will pity him.
She shuts the gates and steeks the doors,
and will neither come down to speak with him
nor send her waiting-maid. Not the less she
takes to her bed, both she and Crawford die
before morning, and both are buried in one
tomb.
The late Earl of Crawford recognized an
agreement with fact in some of the details of
this story : Christie, I, 289. David, eleventh
earl of Crawford, who succeeded his father in
1574, married Lilias Drummond, daughter of
David, second Lord Drummond, the Laird of
Stobhall. This was considered so great a
match for the lady that a tocher was given
with her " far beyond what was customary in
those times, to wit, ten thousand merks." Al
though the peerages mention no children by
this marriage, there is evidence that Earl Da
vid had by Lilias " an only child, David, who
died in infancy." "These collateral veri
ties" seemed to Earl Crawford " to found a
presumption in favor of the truth of the main
incident of the ballad." Crawford did not
live at Crawford Castle, as the ballad has it.
" That place had ceased to be the family resi
dence for a long while. Earl David lived at
Finhaven Castle, in Angus ; not too far from
Stobhall to be in keeping with the riding to
and fro recorded in the ballad."
The first lines of the ballad are probably
borrowed from ' Gil Brenton : ' see No 5, A
43, B 34, C 1, D 1, H 1, 2. A 11, 12, B 15, 16,
is a common-place : see most of the versions of
* Jamie Douglas,' No 204, and of ' The Braes
o Yarrow,' No 214, and * Clerk Saunders,' No
69, E 15, G 27.
B is translated by Gerhard, p. 108.
229. EARL CRAWFORD
277
a. Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 290, as taken
down 1867-73, from the recitation of Mrs Mary Robertson,
wife of James Robertson, shoemaker, Bogmoor, near Focha-
bers. b. Obtained by Mr Macmath, March 25, 1890, from
the daughter of Mrs Robertson, Mrs Mary Thomson, wife of
James Thomson, gardener at Gordon Castle gardens, Foch-
abers.
1 O WE were sisters, sisters seven,
We were a comely crew to see,
And some got lairds, and some got lords,
And some got knichts o hie degree ;
And I mysel got the Earl o Crawford,
And wasna that a great match for me !
2 It was at fifteen that I was married,
And at sixteen I had a son ;
And wasna that an age ower tender
For a lady to hae her first-born !
And wasna, etc.
3 But it fell ance upon a day
I gaed into the garden green,
And naebody was therein walking
But Earl Crawford and his young son.
4 ' I wonder at you, ye Earl Crawford,
I wonder at you wi your young son ;
Ye daut your young son mair than your Lillie ;
[I 'm sure you got na him your lane.']
5 [He turned about upon his heel,
I wite an angry man was he ;
Says, If I got nae my young son my lane,
Bring me here the one that helpet me.]
6 [' O hold your tongue, my Earl Crawford,
And a' my folly lat it be ;
There was nane at the gettin o oor son,
Nae body only but you and me.']
7 He set her on a milk-white steed,
Her little young son her before ;
Says, Ye maun gae to bonny Stobha,
For ye will enter my yates no more.
8 When she cam to her father's bowers,
She lichtit low down on the stane,
And wha sae ready as her auld father
To welcome Lady Lillie in ?
9 ' O how 's a' wi you, my daughter Lillie,
That ye come here sae hastilie ?
And how 's a' wi' the Earl o Crawford,
That he didna send a boy wi thee ? '
10 ' haud your tongue now, my old father,
And ye '11 lat a' your folly be ;
For ae word that my merry mou spak
Has parted my good lord and me.'
11 '0 haud your tongue, my daughter Lillie,
And a' your follies lat them be ;
I '11 double your portion ten times ower,
And a better match I '11 get for thee.'
12 ' O haud your tongue now, my old father,
And a' your folly lat it be ;
I wouldna gie ae kiss o Crawford
For a' the goud that ye can gie.
13 ' Whare will I get a bonny boy,
That's willin to win meat and fee,
Wha will gae on to Earl Crawford
An see an 's heart be fawn to me ? '
14 When he cam to the yates o Crawford,
They were a' sitting down to dine :
' How comes it now, ye Earl Crawford,
Ye arena takin Lady Lillie hame ? '
15 ' Ye may gae tell her Lady Lillie,
And ye maun neither lee nor len,
She may stay in her father's bowers,
For she '11 not enter my yates again.'
16 When he cam back to her father's yates,
He lichtit low down on his knee :
' What news, what news, my bonny boy ?
What news, what news hae ye to me ? '
17 ' I 'm bidden tell you. Lady Lillie
I 'm bidden neither to lee nor len
She may stay in her father's bowers,
For she '11 not enter my yates again.'
18 She stretched out her lily hand,
Says, ' Adieu, adieu to ane and a !
Adieu, adieu to Earl Crawford ! '
Wi that her sair heart brak in twa.
19 Then dowie, dowie her father raise up,
And dowie, dowie the black put on,
278
220. EARL CRAWFORD
And dowie, dowie he mounted the brown,
And dowie, dowie sat thereon.
20 And dowie rade to the yates o Crawford,
And when to Crawford's yates he came,
They were a* dressd in the robes o scarlet,
Just gaun to tak Lady Lillie hame.
21 ' Ye may cast aff your robes o scarlet
I wyte they set you wondrous weel
And now put on the black sae dowie,
And come and bury your Lady Lill.'
22 He took bis hat into his hand,
And laid it low down by his knee :
* An it be true that Lillie 's dead,
The sun shall nae mair shine on me.'
B
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 61.
1 O WE were seven bonny sisters,
As fair women as fair could be,
And some got lairds, and some got lords,
And some got knights o high degree :
When I was married to Earl Crawford,
This was the fate befell to me.
2 When we had been married for some time,
We walked in our garden green,
And aye he clappd his young son's head,
And aye he made sae much o him.
3 I turnd me right and round about,
And aye the blythe blink in my ee :
' Ye think as much o your young son
As ye do o my fair body.
4 ' What need ye clap your young son's head ?
What need ye make so much o him ?
What need ye clap your young son's head ?
I 'in sure ye gotna him your lane.'
5 ' O if I gotna him my lane,
Show here the man that helped me ;
And for these words your ain mouth spoke
Heir o my land he neer shall be.'
6 He calld upon his stable-groom
To come to him right speedilie :
' Gae saddle a steed to Lady Crawford,
Be sure ye do it hastilie.
7 ' His bridle gilt wi gude red gowd,
That it may glitter in her ee ;
And send her on to bonny Stobha,
All her relations for to see.'
8 Her mother lay oer the castle wa,
And she beheld baith dale and down,
And she beheld her Lady Crawford,
As she came riding to the town.
9 ' Come here, come here, my husband dear,
This day ye see not what I see ;
For here there comes her Lady Crawford,
Riding alane upon the lee.'
10 When she came to her father's yates,
She tirled gently at the pin :
4 If ye sleep, awake, my mother dear,
Ye '11 rise lat Lady Crawford in.'
11 ' What news, what news, ye Lady Crawford,
That ye come here so hastilie ? '
' Bad news, bad news, my mother dear,
For my gude lord 's forsaken me.'
12 ' O wae 's me for you, Lady Crawford,
This is a dowie tale to me ;
Alas ! you were too young married
To thole sic cross and misery.'
13 ' O had your tongue, my mother dear,
And ye '11 lat a' your folly be ;
It was a word my merry mouth spake
That sinderd my gude lord and me.'
14 Out it spake her brither then,
Aye as he stept ben the floor :
' My sister Lillie was but eighteen years
When Earl Crawford ca'ed her a whore.
229. EARL CRAWFORD
279
15 ' But had your tongue, my sister dear,
And ye '11 lat a' your mourning bee ;
I '11 wed you to as fine a knight,
That is nine times as rich as hee.'
16 ' had your tongue, my brither dear,
And ye '11 lat a' your folly bee ;
I 'd rather yae kiss o Crawford's mouth
Than a' his gowd and white monie.
17 ' But saddle to me my riding-steed,
And see him saddled speedilie,
And I will on to Earl Crawford's,
And see if he will pity me.'
18 Earl Crawford lay o'er castle wa,
And he beheld baith dale and down,
And he beheld her Lady Crawford,
As she came riding to the town.
19 He called ane o his livery men
To come to him right speedilie :
' Gae shut my yates, gae steek my doors,
Keep Lady Crawford out frae me.'
20 When she came to Earl Crawford's yates,
She tirled gently at the pin :
' O sleep ye, wake ye, Earl Crawford,
Ye '11 open, lat Lady Crawford in.
21 * Come down, come down, O Earl Crawford,
And speak some comfort unto me ;
And if ye winna come yoursell,
Ye '11 send your gentleman to me.'
22 ' Indeed I winna come mysell,
Nor send my gentleman to thee ;
For I tauld you when we did part
Nae mair my spouse ye 'd ever bee.'
23 She laid her mouth then to the yates,
And aye the tears drapt frae her ee ;
Says, Fare ye well, Earl Crawford's yates,
You again I '11 nae mair see.
24 Earl Crawford calld on his stable-groom
To come to him right speedilie,
And sae did he his waiting-man,
That did attend his fair bodie.
25 ' Ye will gae saddle for me my steed,
And see and saddle him speedilie,
And I '11 gang to the Lady Crawford,
And see if she will pity me.'
26 Lady Crawford lay oer castle-wa,
And she beheld baith dale and down,
And she beheld him Earl Crawford,
As he came riding to the town.
27 Then she has calld ane o her maids
To come to her right speedilie :
' Gae shut my yates, gae steek my doors,
Keep Earl Crawford out frae me.'
28 When he came to Lady Crawford's yates,
He tirled gently at the pin :
' Sleep ye, wake ye, Lady Crawford,
Ye '11 rise and lat Earl Crawford in.
29 ' Come down, come down, O Lady Crawford,
Come down, come down, and speak wi me ;
And gin ye winna come yoursell,
Ye '11 send your waiting-maid to me.'
30 ' Indeed I winna come mysell,
Nor send my waiting-maid to thee ;
Sae take your ain words hame again
At Crawford castle ye tauld me.
31 ' O mother dear, gae make my bed,
And ye will make it saft and soun,
And turn my face unto the west,
That I nae mair may see the sun.'
32 Her mother she did make her bed,
And she did make it saft and soun ;
True were the words fair Lillie spake,
Her lovely eyes neer saw the sun.
33 The Earl Crawford mounted his steed,
Wi sorrows great he did ride hame ;
But ere the morning sun appeard
This fine lord was dead and gane.
34 Then on ae night this couple died,
And baith were buried in ae tomb :
Let this a warning be to all,
Their pride may not bring them low down.
VOL. IV.
36
280
229. EARL CRAWFORD
A. a. 4 4 , 5, 6. Omitted; supplied from \>. Dean
Christie notes that the lines omitted will
be found in a copy which, with other
things of the kind, he had destined for
use in this collection. Unfortunately, and
quite unaccountably, these pieces never
came to hand.
19*. put on the black.
b. Of b, which was obtained some twenty years
after a was written down, Mrs Thomson
say3 : Enclosed is the whole of the ballad,
as I had it from my mother. . . . She
never sang those two verses to us [5, 6].
She only repeated them to me when Dean
Christie wanted the ballad. We may,
perhaps, infer from these last words that
the ballad was originally taken down by
the daughter from her mother's recita
tion, and not by Dean Christie. It is to
be observed that the mother was still living
in 1890, but when b was committed to
paper is not said.
a 8 s - 4 , 9 1 - 2 , are wanting in b ; b has a stanza,
an inevitable one, which a lacks, in an
swer to 13.
I 1 . It 's we were sisters and.
I 8 . Some got dukes. I 4 , got men.
I 6 . But I : Earl Crawford. I 9 , a meet.
2 1 . Fifteen years that.
2 a . And sixteen years I.
2*. that a tender age.
3 a . We were walking in yon.
3*. There was nae body walking there.
3 4 . But the earl himself and. 4 1 . you, Earl.
4*. You mak sae much o your.
4*. I wonder at you, Earl Crawford.
4 4 , 5, 6. Inserted in a.
7 8 . little son he set her.
7 s . gee on to your father's bowers.
8 2 . down on her knee. 8 s * 4 , 9 1 * 2 , wanting.
9*. Hoo 's a', hoo 's a. 9 4 . thee wi.
10 1 . now wanting. 10 s . And a' my folly lat it.
10*. For one : mouth. II 1 . my Lady.
11 s . And I '11 lat a' your folly.
11*. portion oer again.
II 4 . I '11 provide for.
12 1 . now wanting.
12 2 . And speak nae mair o this to me.
12*. For I wad nae. 12 4 . ye could.
13*. That will: Crawford's.
13 4 . see gin 's hairt be faen tae.
After 13 :
4 O here am I, a bonny boy,
That 's willin to win meat and fee,
That will go on to Earl Crawford's,
And see an 's hairt be faen to thee.'
14 1 .
14 s .
14*.
14 4 .
15 1 .
15*.
16 1 .
17 1 .
17*.
17 4 .
18".
18 4 .
19 1 .
19 2 .
19 8 .
20 1 .
20 2 .
20*.
21 1 .
21 8 .
22 1 .
22 8 .
22 4 .
to Earl Crawford's gates.
He lighted low down on a static.
Says, I wonder at you, E. C.
You 'r nae gaun to tak.
tell to Lady. 15 s . Ye may neither.
stay weel in. 15 4 . she '11 never.
came to her father's bowers.
tell to Lady.
You 'r bidden stay well in your.
For yu '11 never enter his. 18 1 . lily-white.
to the Earl himsell.
And wi that her bonny hairt did brack.
Dowie, dowie raise up her father.
And wanting : the black put on.
And wanting : his steed he mounted.
When he came to Earl Crawford's gates.
They were all going to dine.
And were all drest in robes of white.
He says, You may put aff the robes o
white.
And ye '11 put on the dowie black.
Earl Crawford took his hat in 's hand.
Says, If this be true that L[ady] L[illie 's].
sin shall never, shine.
230. THE SLAUGHTER OF THE LAIRD OF MELLERSTAIK
281
230
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE LAIRD OF MELLERSTAIN
In a folio volume with the title " Miscellanies," the last piece in the volume, Abbotsford.
BIRREL'S Diary has this entry under date
of January 3, 1603 : " The 3 of Januar Johne
Hai[t]lie of Millstanes slaine at the Salt Tron
be Williame Home hes guidfather. This Wil
liam of Ball[int]a wes of the hous of Cow-
denknowis." P. 57. In a proclamation of the
Privy Council against reset of criminals, 20th
January, 1603, the list of cases begins with
"the reset of the persons who lately most
shamefully and barbarously slew the Laird of
Mellestanes." Register, VI, 525 f. There is
nothing to show that these persons were ever
brought to justice, and the efforts made by
the public authorities to stop hostilities be
tween the families concerned were, as usual,
not readily successful. April 28, 1608, the
parties to the " feud between James Haitlie,
now of Mellirstanes [son of John], and Mr
James Home of Eccles, on account of the
slaughter of John Haitlie of Mellirstanes,"
are ordered to appear before the Council on
the 12th of May following, to be reconciled
and to chop hands together. Register, VIII,
81 f.
An entry of the 4th of December, 1599,
censures Sir George Home, sheriff of Berwick,
for not proceeding against " William Home,
younger, called of Coldenknowis and now of
Ballinta, who slew within the said shire Mr
Alexander Dicksoun," and was denounced
therefor 29th December, 1596. This William
we may presume to have been the undegen-
erate son of the William whom Birrel calls
Mellerstain's " guidfather." Register, VI, 57.
The lady of st. 1 was Marion Lumsden
(otherwise Mariot, Margaret), " Lady Mellir
stanes," "relicta Joannis Haitlie de Meller-
stanes." Register P. C., VIII, 101, 366, Reg
ister of the Great Seal, VI, 722. Mellerstain
stands on a rising ground near the right bank
of the Eden, I 2 . Cowdenknows in 3 1 may
have been Sir John Home of Cowdenknows,
named as one of the curators of James Hait
lie (a minor in 1607). Earlstoun is not deter
minate. Bemerside is an alternative reading
for Earlstoun. The laird of Bemerside at the
date of the slaughter was the turbulent James
Haig. The lady in st. 4 is looking in several
directions for the arrival of her husband's
body. (I have not found Fieldiesha and
Yirdandstane.) The Salt Tron is a locality
of much note in the history of Edinburgh :
see Wilson's Memorials, p. 249.
This fragment appears to have come into
Sir Walter Scott's hands through Mr W. Yel-
lowlees, who filled out two of the defective
stanzas, and appended some remarks under
the date of 29th October, 1828.*
As they came in by the Eden side,
They heard a lady lamenting sair,
Bewailing the time she was a bride.
A stately youth of blude and lane,
John Hately, the laird of Mellerstain.
3 ' Cowdenknows, had ye nae lack ?
And Earlstoun, had ye nae shame ?
* It would have come in earlier (as No 1 95), had it been
discovered in time.
282
231. THE EARL OP ERROL
Te took him away beside my back,
But ye never saw to bring him hame.'
4 And she has lookit to Fieldiesha,
So has she through Yirdandstane ;
She lookit to Earlstoun, and she saw the Fans,
But he 's coming hame by West Gordon.
5 And she staggerd and she stood,
wude ;
How can I keep in my wits,
When I look on my husband's blood ? '
7 ' Had we been men as we are women,
And been at his back when he was slain,
It should a been tauld for mony a lang year,
The slaughter o the laird of Mellerstain.'
3 s E** 1 * 01111 had
John iiatCiy. O . Bcmcnide "*
Between 3 and 4 are two half stanzas which
belong to < James Hatley,' No. 241, and are
there given.
4 l . Fieldiesha.
4 9 . yird and stane.
231
THE EARL OF ERROL
A. a. ' Kate Carnegie,' Campbell MSS, II, 94. b. The
Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany, June,
1803, p. 458.
B. Skene MS., p. 113.
C. ' The Countess of Erroll,' Buchan's Ballads of the
North of Scotland, II, 1 76.
D. a. < Lord and Lady Errol,' Buchan's Gleanings,
p. 158. b. ' Birol's Place,' Maidment's North Coun-
trie Garland, p. 31. c. 'Earl of Errol,' Kinloch's
Ballad Book, p. 31.
E. Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe,
edited by Alexander Allardyce, I, 180 ; Sharpe's
Ballad Book, p. 89, No. 31.
P. ' The Earl of Erroll,' Kinloch MSS, III, 133.
SIR GILBERT HAY, tenth Earl of Enrol,
was married to Lady Catherine Carnegy,
younger daughter of James, second Earl of
Southesk, January 7, 1658, and had no chil
dren by her. He died in 1674. The ballad,
says the person who communicated A b to the
Edinburgh Miscellany, was " founded, it would
seem, on some attempt to withhold from the
Earl of Errol his consort's portion." It will
be observed that the father proposes a beguil
ing to his daughter, and that she is ready to
assent, in A, 12, 13.
It appears from a letter cited by Sharpe
in his Ballad Book that the matters treated
in the ballad were agitating, and had even
" come to public hearing," in February, 1659.
Sir John Hay of Killour, as the nearest
male heir, became the eleventh Earl of Errol.
His wife was Lady Anne Drummond, only
daughter of James, third Earl of Perth, so
231. THE EARL OF EKKOL
283
that the Earl of Perth might seem to have
an interest in this affair of ErroFs. She, how
ever, was not born till January, 1656. Perth
is actually made the other party in legal pro
ceedings in A a 1, but in A b seems to es
pouse Errol's side.
Carnegy's other daughter, who in most of
the versions censures her sister's conduct,
is called Jean in A 5, D a 7, P 10, Anne
in D b c. These are stock ballad-names, and
we need not suppose that Anne comes from
Lady Anne Drummond. The older daugh
ter's name was Elizabeth.
Errol is in the Carse of Gowrie, a tract
noted for its fertility ; which accounts for B 2,
D a 1, D c 1, F 2.
E, F go the length of imputing to Lady
Errol an attempt to poison her husband with
wine which she offers him. A page, of Er
rol's kin, exposes her in B ; in F Errol
gives the drink to a greyhound, and the dog
bursts.
The last stanza of A b, C, D c has refer
ence to " the ancient separate maintenance of
a lady dissatisfied with or apart from her hus
band." (Edinburgh Magazine, as above.)
E is introduced in Sharpe's letter by some
pages of mild pleasantry in the form of a
preface to " a specimen of the fourth volume
of the Border Minstrelsy, speedily to be pub
lished."
a. Campbell MSS., II, 94. b. The Edinburgh Magazine,
or Literary Miscellany, June, 1803, p. 458.
1 THERE was a jury sat at Perth,
In the merry month of May,
Betwixt the noble Duke of Perth
But and Sir Gilbert Hay.
2 My lord Ringside has two daughters,
They are proper, straight and tall ;
But my lord Carnegie he has two
That far excells them all.
3 Then Errol he has dressd him,
As very well he could ;
I 'm sure there was not one cloth-yard
But what was trimmd with gold.
4 ' Ane asking, ane asking, my lord Carnegie,
Ane asking I 've to thee ;
I 'in come to court your daughter Jean,
My wedded wife to be.'
5 ' My daughter Jean was wed yestreen,
To one of high degree,
But where Jean got one guinea of gold
With Kate I '11 give thee three.
6 ' Full fifteen hundred pounds
Had Jean Carnegie,
But three fifteen hundred pounds
With Kate I '11 gie to thee.'
7 Then Errol he has wed her,
And fairly brought her hame ;
There was nae peace between them twa
Till they sundered oer again.
8 When bells were rung, and mess was sung,
And a' man bound to bed,
The Earl of Errol and his countess
In one chamber was laid.
9 Early in the morning
My lord Carnegie rose,
The Earl of Errol and his countess,
And they Ve put on their clothes.
10 Up spake my lord Carnegie ;
' Kate, is your toucher won ? '
' Ye may ask the Earl of Errol,
If he be your good-son.
11 ' What need I wash my petticoat
And hing it on a pin ?
For I am as leal a maid yet
As yestreen when I lay down.
12 ' What need I wash my apron
And hing it on the door ?
It 's baith side and wide enough,
Hangs even down before.'
13 Up spake my lord Carnegie ;
O Kate, what do ye think ?
281
231. THE EARL OF ERROL
We '11 beguile the Earl of Errol
As lang as he 's in drink.'
14 O what will ye beguile him wi ?
Or what will ye do than ?
I '11 swear before a justice-court
That he 's no a sufficient man.'
15 Then Errol he cam down the stair,
As bold as oney rae :
' Go saddle to me my Irish coach,
To Edinbro I '11 go.'
16 When he came to Edinbro,
He lighted on the green ;
There were four-and-twenty maidens
A' dancing in a ring.
17 There were four-and-twenty maidens
A' dancing in a row ;
The fatest and the fairest
To bed wi him must go.
18 He 's taen his Peggy by the hand,
And he led her thro the green,
And twenty times he kissd her there,
Before his ain wife's een.
19 He 's taen his Peggy by the hand,
And he 's led her thro the hall,
And twenty times he 's kissd her there,
Before his nobles all.
20 ' Look up, look up, my Peggy lass,
Look up, and think nae shame ;
Ten hundred pounds I '11 gie to you
To bear to me a son.'
21 He 's keepit his Peggy in his room
Three quarter of a year,
And just at the nine months' end
She a son to him did bear.
22 ' Now if ye be Kate Carnegie,
And I Sir Gilbert Hay,
I '11 make your father sell his lands
Your toucher for to pay.'
23 ' To make my father sell his lands,
It wad be a great sin,
To toucher oney John Sheephead
That canna toucher win.'
24 ' Now hold your tongue, ye whorish bitch,
Sae loud as I hear ye lie !
For yonder sits Lord Errol's son,
Upon his mother's knee ;
For yonder sits Lord Errol's son,
Altho he 's no by thee.'
25 ' You may take hame your daughter Kate,
And set her on the glen ;
For Errol canna please her,
Nor nane o Errol's men ;
For Errol canna please her,
Nor twenty of his men.'
26 The ranting and the roving,
The thing we a' do ken,
The lady lost her right that night,
The first night she lay down ;
And the thing we ca the ranting o 't,
The lady lies her lane.
B
Skene MS., p. 113 ; taken down from recitation in tho
north of Scotland, 1802-3.
1 EARELL is a bonny place,
It stands upon yon plain ;
The greatest faut about the place
Earell 's no a man.
What ye ca the danting o 't,
According as ye ken,
For the pearting . . .
Lady Earell lyes her lane.
2 Earell is a bonny place,
It stands upon yon plain ;
The roses they graw red an white,
An apples they graw green.
3 ' What need I my apron wash
An hing upon yon pin ?
For lang will I gae out an in
Or I hear my bairnie's din.
4 ' What need I my apron wash
An hing upo yon door ?
231. THE EARL OF EBBOL
285
For side and wide is my petticoat,
An even down afore.
5 ; But I will lace my stays again,
My middle jimp an sma ;
I '1 gae a' my days a maiden.
[Awa], Earell, awa ! '
6 It fell ance upon a day Lord Earell
Went to hunt him lane,
7 He was na a mile fra the town,
Nor yet sae far awa,
Till his lady is on to Edinburgh,
To try hir all the law.
8 Little did Lord Earell think,
Whan he sat down to dine,
That his lady was on to Edinburgh,
Nor what was in her mind.
9 Till his best servant came
For to lat him ken
10 She was na in at the toun-end,
Nor yet sae far awa,
Till Earell was at her back,
His gaudy locks to sha.
11 She was na in at the loan-head,
Nor just at the end,
Till Earell he was at her back,
Her errand for to ken.
12 ' As lang as they ca ye Kate Carnegie,
An me Sir Gilbert Hay,
I 's gar yer father sell Kinaird,
Yer tocher for to pay.'
13 ' For to gar my father sell Kinnaird,
It wad be a sin,
To gee it to ony naughty knight
That a tocher canna win.'
14 Out spak the first lord,
The best amang them a' ;
'I never seed a lady come
Wi sick matters to the law.'
15 Out spak the neest lord,
The best o the town ;
* Ye get fifteen well-fared maids,
An put them in a roun,
An Earell in the midst o them,
An lat him chuse out ane.'
16 They ha gotten fifteen well-fared maids,
An pit them in a roun,
An Earell in the mids o them,
An bad him chuse out ane.
17 He viewed them a' intill a raw,
Even up an down,
An he has chosen a well-fared may,
An Meggie was her name.
18 He took her by the hand,
Afore the nobles a',
An twenty times he kissed her mou,
An led her thro the ha.
19 ' Look up, Megie, look up, Megie,
[Look up,] an think na shame ;
As lang as ye see my gaudy locks,
Lady Earell 's be yer name.'
20 There were fifteen noblemen,
An as mony ladies gay,
To see Earell proven a man
21 ' Ye tak this well-fared may,
And keep her three roun raiths o a year,
An even at the three raiths' end
I sail draw near.'
22 They hae taen that well-fared may,
An keepd her three roun raiths o a year,
And even at the three raiths' end
Earell's son she bare.
23 The gentlemen they ga a shout,
The ladies ga a caa,
Fair mat fa him Earell !
But ran to his lady.
24 He was na in at the town-head,
Nor just at the end,
Till the letters they were waiting him
That Earell had a son.
2SG
231. THE EARL OF ERROL
26 ' Look up, Meggie, look up, Meggie,
[Look up, J an think na shame ;
As lang as ye see my bra black bat,
Lady Earell 's be yer name.
26 ' I will gie my Meggie a mill,
But an a piece o land,
To foster my young son.
27 ' Faur is a' my merry men a',
That I pay meat an gaire,
To convey my Meggy hame.
28
Even in Lord Earell's coach
They conveyed the lassie hame.
29 Take hame yer daughter, Lord Kinnaird,
An take her to the glen,
For Earell canna pleas her,
Earell nor a' his men.'
30 Had I ben Lady Earell,
Of sic a bonny place,
I wad na gaen to Edinburgh
My husband to disgrace.'
O
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 176.
1 EKKULL it 's a bonny place,
It stands upon a plain ;
A bad report this ladie 's raisd,
That Erroll is nae a man.
2 But it fell ance upon a day
Lord Erroll went frae hame,
And he is on to the hunting gane,
Single man alane.
3 But he hadna been frae the town
A mile but barely twa,
Till his lady is on to Edinburgh,
To gain him at the law.
4 O Erroll he kent little o that
Till he sat down to dine,
And as he was at dinner set
His servant loot him ken.
5 ' Now saddle to me the black, the black,
Go saddle to me the brown,
And I will on to Edinburgh,
Her errands there to ken.'
6 She wasna well thro Aberdeen,
Nor passd the well o Spa,
Till Erroll he was after her,
The verity to shaw.
7 She wasna well in Edinburgh,
Nor even thro the town,
Till Erroll he was after her,
Her errands there to ken.
8 When he came to the court-house,
And lighted on the green,
This lord was there in time enough
To hear her thus compleen :
9 ' What needs me wash my apron,
Or drie 't upon a door ?
What needs I eek my petticoat,
Hings even down afore ?
10 ' What needs me wash my apron,
Or hing it upon a pin ?
For lang will I gang but and ben
Or I hear my young son's din.'
11 ' They ca you Elate Carnegie,' he says,
' And my name 's Gilbert Hay ;
I '11 gar your father sell his land,
Your tocher down to pay.'
12 ' To gar my father sell his land
For that would be a sin,
To such a noughtless heir as you,
That canno get a son.'
13 Then out it speaks him Lord Brechen,
The best an lord ava ;
' I never saw a lady come
Wi sic matters to the law.'
14 Then out it speaks another lord,
The best in a' the town ;
231. THE EARL OF ERROL
287
* Ye '11 wyle out fif eteen maidens bright
Before Lord Erroll come : '
And he has chosen a tapster lass,
And Meggie was her name.
15 They kept up this fair maiden
Three quarters of a year,
And then at that three quarters' end
A young son she did bear.
16 They hae gien to Meggie then
Five ploughs but and a mill,
And they hae gien her five hundred pounds,
For to bring up her chill.
17 There was no lord in Edinburgh
But to Meggie gae a ring ;
And there was na a boy in a' the town
But on Katie had a sang.
18 ' Kinnaird, take hame your daughter,
And set her to the glen,
For Erroll canna pleasure her,
Nor nane o Erroll's men.'
19 Seven years on Erroll's table
There stand clean dish and speen,
And every day the bell is rung,
Cries, Lady, come and dine.
a. Buchan's Gleanings, p. 158. b. Maidment's North
Countrie Garland, p. 31. c. Kinloch's Ballad Book, p. 31.
1 O ERROL'S place is a bonny place,
It stands upon yon plain ;
The flowers on it grow red and white,
The apples red and green.
The ranting o 't and the danting o 't,
According as ye ken,
The thing they ca the danting o 't,
Lady Errol lies her lane.
2 O Errol's place is a bonny place,
It stands upon yon plain ;
But what 's the use of Errol's place ?
He 's no like other men.
3 ' As I cam in by yon canal,
And by yon bowling-green,
I might hae pleased the best Carnegy
That ever bore that name.
4 ' As sure 's your name is Kate Carnegy,
And mine is Gibbie Hay,
I '11 gar your father sell his land,
Your tocher for to pay.'
5 ' To gar my father sell his land,
Would it not be a sin,
To give it to a naughtless lord
That couldna get a son ? '
6 Now she is on to Edinburgh,
For to try the law,
VOL. iv. 37
And Errol he has followed her,
His manhood for to shaw.
7 Then out it spake her sister,
Whose name was Lady Jane ;
' Had I been Lady Errol,' she says,
' Or come of sic a clan,
I would not in this public way
Have sham'd my own gudeman.'
8 But Errol got it in his will
To choice a maid himsel,
And he has taen a country-girl,
Came in her milk to sell.
9 He took her by the milk-white hand,
And led her up the green,
And twenty times he kissd her there,
Before his lady's een.
10 He took her by the milk-white hand,
And led her up the stair ;
Says, Thrice three hundred pounds I '11 gie
To you to bear an heir.
11 He kept her there into a room
Three quarters of a year,
And when the three quarters were out
A braw young son she bear.
12 ' Tak hame your daughter, Carnegy,
And put her till a man,
For Errol he cannot please her,
Nor any of his men.'
uss
23L THE EABL OF ERROL
E
C. K. Sharpe'B Letters, ed. Allardyce, I, 180 ff ; written
down from the recitation of Violet Roddick, a womau living
near Hoddam Castle, 1803. Sharpe's Ballad Book, 1823,
p. 89.
1 O ERROL it 's a bonny place,
It stands in yonder glen ;
The lady lost the rights of it
The first night she gaed hame.
A waly and a waly !
According as ye ken,
The thing we ca the ranting o 't,
Our lady lies her lane, O.
2 ' What need I wash my apron,
Or hing it on yon door ?
What need I truce my petticoat ?
It hangs even down before.'
3 Errol 's up to Edinburgh gaen,
That bonny burrows-town ;
He has chusit the barber's daughter,
The top of a' that town.
i
4 He has taen her by the milk-white hand,
He has led her through the room,
And twenty times he 's kisst her,
Before his lady's een.
5 ' Look up, look up now, Peggy,
Look up, and think nae shame,
For I '11 gie thee five hundred pound,
To buy to thee a gown.
6 ' Look up, look up, now, Peggy,
Look up, and think nae shame,
For I '11 gie thee five hundred pound
To bear to me a son.
7 As thou was Kate Carnegie,
And I Sir Gilbert Hay,
I '11 gar your father sell his lands,
Your tocher-gude to pay.
8 ' Now he may take her back again,
Do wi her what he can,
For Errol canna please her,
Nor ane o a' his men.'
9 ' Go fetch to me a pint of wine,
Go fill it to the brim,
That I may drink my gude lord's health,
Tho Errol be his name.'
10 She has taen the glass into her hand,
She has putten poison in,
She has signd it to her dorty lips,
But neer a drop went in.
11 Up then spake a little page,
He was o Errol's kin ;
' Now fie upon ye, lady gay,
There 's poison there within.
12 ' It 's hold your hand now, Kate,' he says,
' Hold it back again,
For Errol winna drink on 't,
Nor none o a' his men.'
13 She has taen the sheets into her arms,
She has thrown them oer the wa :
* Since I maun gae maiden hame again,
Awa, Errol, awa ! '
14 She 's down the back o the garden,
And O as she did murne !
* How can a workman crave his wage,
When he never wrought a turn ? '
Kinloch MSS, III, 133.
1 O ERROLL is a bonny place,
And stands upon yon plane,
But the lady lost the rights o it
Yestreen or she came hame.
2 Erroll is a bonny place,
And lyes forenent the sun,
And the apples they grow red and white,
And peers o bonny green.
3 ' I nedna wash my apron,
Nor hing it on the door ;
But I may tuck my petticoat,
Hangs even down before.
4 'Oh, Erroll, Erroll,
Oh, Erroll if ye ken,
231. THE EARL OF ERROL
289
Why should I love Erroll,
Or any of his men ? '
5 She 's turned her right and round about,
Poured out a glass o wine ;
Says, I will drink to my true love,
He '11 drink to me again.
6 O Erroll stud into the fleer,
He was an angry man :
' See here it is a good gray-hun,
We '11 try what is the run.'
7 Then Erroll stud into the fleer,
Steered neither ee nor bree,
Till that he saw his good gray-hun
Was burst and going free.
8 ' But ye are Kate Carnegie,' he said,
' And I am Sir Gilbert Hay ;
I 'se gar your father sell Kinnaird,
Your tocher-good to pay.'
9 Now she is on to Edinburgh,
A' for to use the law,
And brave Erroll has followed her,
His yellow locks to sheu.
10 Out and spak her sister Jean,
And an angry woman was she ;
* If I were lady of Erroll,
And bed as fair a face,
I would no go to Edinburgh,
My good lord to disgrace.'
A. a. 23 4 . toucher one.
26. May have been a burden.
b. Ballad of Gilbert, Earl of Errol, and Lady Cath
erine Carnegie.
13 Up spake Lord Carnegie,
' O Kate, what do you think ?
We '11 beguile the Earl of Errol,
As long as he 's in drink/
14 ' O what need you beguile him ?
Or what would you do than ?
For I can easy vow and testify
Lord Errol 's not a man.
12 ' You need not wash my petticoat
And hang it at the door ;
For it 's baith side and wide enough,
And hangs even down before.
11 ' You need not wash my apron
And hang it on a pin ;
For I 'm as leil a maiden
As first when I went in.'
15 Down came the Earl of Errol,
As swift as any roe :
' Come harness me my Irish coach,
To Edinburgh I go. '
16 And when he came to Edinburgh,
A ganging through the green,
Full four-and-twenty maidens
A' dancing there were seen.
1 7 And there were fifteen maidens
All dancing in a row,
And the fairest and the fattest
To prove that she must go.
18 He 's taen bis Peggy by the hand,
And led her through the green,
And twenty times be 's kissed her,
Before bis lady's een.
19 He 's taen his Peggy by the hand,
And led her through the hall,
And twenty times he 's kissed her,
Before the nobles all.
He 's taen his Peggy by the hand,
And led her to a room,
And gave her a cup of claret wine,
And syne a bed of down.
20 1>a Stand up, stand up, my Peggy,
Stand up, and tbink na shame,
Na hide your face within your hand,
On me be all the blame.
' For you shall have a thousand pounds
As soon as it is won,
20 3 - 4 And you shall have ten thousand pounds
If you bear to me a son.'
21 He kept his Peggy in a room
Full nine months and a day,
And at the very nine months' end
She bore a son so gay.
290
231. THE EARL OF ERROL
As they were all at dinner sat,
And merrily went the can,
Up spake the noble Earl of Perth,
' Kate, what ails you at your man? '
' Oh, all the lands and earldom
Are now to ruin gone,
For I can easy TOW and testify
He '11 never get a son.'
24 1 -* Ye lie, ye lie, you filthy jade,
So loud I hear you lie I
For there sits Lord Enrol 's son,
Upon his mither's knee.'
22 * As you are Kate Carnegie
And I Sir Gilbert Hay,
I '11 gar your father sell his land
Your tocher for to pay.'
23 ' To gar my father sell his land
I 'm sure would be a sin,
For to tocher any John Sheephead
Who could neer a tocher win.'
25 1 " 1 ' You may take Lame your daughter Kate,
And set her in a glen,
For Lord Errol cannot please her,
Nor none*of Errol's men.
* You may provide a knife and fork,
A trencher and a spoon,
A little boy to call her,
Come to your dinner, dame ;
A little boy to call her
Till seven years are done.'
B. Written in long lines, without division into
stanzas ; carelessly and in a bad hand, like
other transcripts by Skene. The frequent
gaps (of which only one is indicated, 5 4 )
make the division here adopted doubtful in
some cases.
The burden is given at the end only, and is
badly corrupted. 1. the Darton all. 3.
Pearting ?
7*. hir all. Corrupted ? hir, or him, at ?
10 1 . tour end : see 24 W . 15 8 , 16. Earl.
20 s . gay ladies.
23*. Corrupted ? some malediction on the
lady ? 27 2 . gaire is, I suppose, gear.
D. b. Burden. 1. The wally o 't, the wally o 't
3. the ranting o 't. 4. Our lady lies alane.
I 8 , at it. 3 1 . It 's I.
4 1 As sure as you 're Jean. 4*. And I am.
4*. I '11 cause. 5 1 . To cause.
5 s . I think would be.
5*. give to such a rogue as you.
5*. Who never could it win.
6 1 . So he mast go. 6 s . Amang the nobles a'.
6 s . And there before good witnesses.
7*. was called Miss Anne.
9 s . she says wanting.
8-12 A servant girl there was found out,
On whom to show his skill ;
He gave to her a hundred pounds,
To purchase her good- will.
And still he cried, Look up, Peggy,
Look up, and think no shame,
And you shall have your hundred pounds
Before I lay you down.
Now he has lain him down wi her,
A hundred pounds in pawn,
And all the noblemen cried out
That Errol is a man.
*Tak hame your daughter,' Errol said,
' And tak her to a glen,
For Errol canna pleasure her,
Nor can no other man.'
o. Burden. 1. And the. 3. And the thing we.
4. Is, Errol 's na a man.
I 1 , 2 1 . O Errol is.
1 3 . Into the simmer time.
I 8 . The apples they grow.
1 4 . And the pears they grow green.
3*. bore the.
4 1 . Tho your name be Dame Cathrine Car
negie. 4 a . mine Sir Gilbert.
4 8 . sell Kinnaird. 4*. tocher glide to.
6 1 . If ye gar my father sell Kinnaird.
5 2 . 'T will be a crying.
5H To tocher onie weary dwrf, That canna
tocher win. 6 1 . .The lady is. 6 s . A' for.
O 4 . His ainsell. 7 1 . O up bespak.
7 s . Lady Ann. 7 8 . she says wanting.
After 7, two stanzas which are clearly a spu
rious interpolation.
8 1 . Errol has got (But wanting).
S 8 . has chosen a weel-faurd may.
8*. Come. After 8 (= 10) :
' Look up, look up, my weel-faurd may,
Look up, and think na shame ;
I '11 gie to t In T five hundred merk
To bear to me a son.'
232. RICHIE STORY
291
9 1 . He 's tane the lassie by the han.
9 8 . there wanting. 9 4 . Afore.
After 9 ':
When they war laid in the proof-bed,
And a' the lords looking on,
Then a' the fifteen vowd and swore
That Errol was a man.
II 1 . But they hae keepit this lassie.
II 8 . And at the end o nine lang months.
II 4 . A son to him she bare.
After 11 :
And there was three thairbut, thairbut,
And there was three thairben,
And three looking oure the window hie,
Crying, Errol 's provd a man !
And whan the word gaed thro the toun,
The sentry gied a cry,
* O fair befa you, Errol, now !
For ye hae won the day.'
' O I '11 tak off my robes o silk,
And fling them oure the wa,
And 1 11 gae maiden hame again,
Awa, Errol, awa ! '
12 1 . Sir Carnegie. 12 2 . till the glen.
12 8 , he wanting. 12 4 . nane o Errol's.
(12 is found in Kinloch's MSS, VII, 95,
with Sir Carnegie beginning the line.)
After 12 :
And ilka day her plate was laid,
Bot an a siller spune,
And three times cried oure Errol's yett,
* Lady Errol, come and dine.'
Kinloch gives the following as a variant. It
is found in Kinloch' s MSS, VII, 95 :
Seven years the trencher sat,
And seven years the spune ;
Seven years the servant cried,
' Lady Errol, come and dine.'
Burden, at the end. 3. ye ca.
4. Lady Errol lies her leen.
E. Sharpe made these changes in his Ballad
Book:
3 4 . the toss. 4 2 . He 's led her oer the green.
4 8 . he kist. 7 1 . Your name is. 7 2 . And I 'm.
12 s . shall not.
P. I 1 , 2 1 , 6 1 . Oh.
232
RICHIE STORY
A. 'Ritchie Storie,' MotherwelPs MS., p. 426.
B. Skene MS., p. 96.
P. a. 'Richie Storie,' Sharpe's Ballad Book, 1823, p.
95. b. ' Richie Storrie,' Nimmo, Songs and Ballads
of Clydesdale, 1882, p. 211.
C. a. ' Richie Story,' "Scotch Ballads, Materials for G. a. 'Richard Stony,' Kinloch MSS, I, 203. b.
Border Minstrelsy," No 65, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, 'Richie Tory,' Gibb MS., p. 77. c. 'Ritchie's
1813-15, p. 53, Abbotsford. b. 'Ritchie's Tory Lady,' Murison MS., p. 82. d. 'Richie's Lady,'
Laddie,' Campbell MSS, II, 116. Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 72. e. Kin
loch MSS, VII, 263, a fragment, f. ' The Earl of
D. 'Richy Story,' the late Mr Robert White's papers. Winton's Daughter,' Buchan's MSS, I, 87.
E. 'Richard Storie,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for H. The Scots Magazine, 1803, LXV, 253, one stanza.
Border Minstrelsy," No 76, Abbotsford.
232. RICHIE STORY
THE youngest (eldest, A) and fairest of the
daughters of the Earl of Wigton, A, P (bon
niest of his sisters, E), has fallen in love with
her footman, Richie Story (Tory). Richie
brings her a letter from a nobleman who de
sires to be her suitor ; the Earl of Hume, A,
B, F, G a, d, e; the Earl of Hume's son, D ;
the Earl of Aboyne, B ; of Cumbernauld, Q b ;
of Mohun, Q o ; of Wemyss, G f and a vari
ant of B ; the Earls of Hume and Skimmerjim,
Skimmerham (Kimmerghame), C. The lady
has made a vow, and will keep it, to marry
none but Richie. Richie deprecates ; he has
nothing to maintain her with ; she is ready to
descend to the lowest fortune. (In several
versions she has enough of her own. Hunten
Tour and Tillebarn and the House of Athol
are hers, B ; Musselburgh, C ; the House of
Athol and Taranadie, Q d; Blair-in-Athol
and Dunkeld, H.) Asked by her sister, by
Richie, or by some one else, whether she is
not sorry to have left Curabernauld (Castle
Norry, G f) to follow a footman, she answers
that there 'is no reason, she has her heart's
desire and the lot that was ordained her. As
she goes up the Parliament close, rides
through Edinburgh town, Glasgow city (Lon
don city, C b, absurdly), she is greeted by
many a lord, but few or none of them thought
she was a footman's lady. Arrived at the
domicile of the Storys, her good-mother bids
her, gars her, kilt up her coats and muck the
byres with Richie.
F, G, are not satisfied with this conclusion.
The footman is really a lover in disguise, the
Earl of Hume or of Cumbernauld, F, G a b.
(G b 2 spoils the plot by making the Earl
of Hume write to the lady that he will be her
footman-laddie.) Four-and-twenty gentlemen
welcome the bride at Ritchie's gates, or else
where, and she blesses the day that she was
Richie's lady. This is incontestably a later
invention.
G f, which is otherwise embellished, goes a
good step beyond G a-e. Richie is an English
man and takes the lady to London. ' Madam '
has left her kindred to gang with a servant ;
he has ' left the sceptre and the crown ' her
servant for to be ; little she knew that her
waiting-man was England's royal king.
" Li 1 lias Fleming, second daughter of John,
Earl of Wigton by his wife Jane Drummond
(a daughter of the Earl of Perth), did elope
with and marry one of her father's servants,
named Richard Storry. In 1673, she, with
consent of her husband, resigned her portion,
consisting of the five-merk land of Smythson,
etc., in the barony of Lenzie, into the hands
of her brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Fleming.
The Fleming family afterwards procured for
Richie a situation in the Custom-House." So
Hunter, Biggar and the House of Fleming,
p. 555, and, in part, Douglas's Peerage, where,
however, Lady Lillias is said to have married
Richard Storry, "Esq.:" ed. Wood, II, 616.
Douglas notes that "John, third Earl of
Wigton, . . . had a charter of the lordship of
Cumbernauld, 1st February, 1634." This
place (Comarnad, Campernadie, etc., B, D,
G a, c, d) is in Dumbartonshire. In F 11 it
is attributed to the young Earl of Hume, and
the disguised lover is the Earl of Cumber
nauld in G b.
The lady, ready for any extremity, says in
F 6 that she will lie ayont a dyke (on the
other side of a wall), in B 6 sit below the
dyke, in D 5 sit aneath the duke, and that she
will be at Richie's command at all times. This
matter was not understood by the reciter of
B, and in B 7 the lady is made to say, We will
go to sea, I '11 sit upon the deck (and be your
servant, as in the other cases). In A the diffi
culty, such as it is, seems to have been evaded,
and we read, 6, I '11 live whereer you please
(and be ready at your call late or early).
For the relation of this ballad to ' Hunting-
tower ' and * The Duke of Athol,' see an ap
pendix.
232. RICHIE STORY
293
MotherwelTs MS., p. 426 ; from the recitation of Mrs ,
of Kilbarchan, January 3, 1826.
1 THE Earl of Wigton had three daughters,
Oh and a waly, but they were unco bonnie !
The eldest of them had the far brawest house,
But she 's fallen in love with her footman-
laddie.
2 As she was a walking doun by yon river-side,
Oh and a wally, but she was unco bonnie !
There she espied her own footman,
With ribbons hanging over his shoulders sae
bonnie.
3 * Here 's a letter to you, madame,
Here 's a letter to you, madame ;
The Earl of Hume is waiting on,
And he has his service to you, madame.'
4 ' I '11 have none of his service,' says she,
' I '11 have none of his service,' says she,
' For I 've made a vow, and I '11 keep it true,
That I '11 marry none but you, Ritchie.'
5 ' O say not so again, madame,
O say not so again, madame ;
For I have neither lands nor rents
For to keep you on, madam.'
6 ' I '11 live where eer you please, Ritchie,
I '11 live where eer you please, [Ritchie,]
And I '11 be ready at your ca',
Either late or early, Ritchie.'
7 As they went in by Stirling toun,
O and a wally, but she was unco bonnie !
A' her silks were sailing on the ground,
But few of them knew of Ritchie Story.
8 As they went in by the Parliament Close,
O and a wally, but she was unco bonnie !
All the nobles took her by the hand,
But few of them knew she was Ritchie's lady.
9 As they came in by her goodmother's yetts,
O and a wally, but she was unco bonnie !
Her goodmother bade her kilt her coats,
And muck the byre with Ritchie Storie.
10 ' Oh, may not ye be sorry, madame,
Oh, may not ye be sorry, madame,
To leave a' your lands at bonnie Cumbernaud,
And follow home your footman-laddie ? '
11 ' What need I be sorry ? ' says she,
' What need I be sorry ? ' says she,
' For I 've gotten my lot and my heart's desire,
And what Providence has ordered for me.'
B
Skene MS., p. 96 ; taken down in the north of Scotland,
1802-3.
1 COMARNAD is a very bonny place,
And there is ladies three, madam,
But the fairest and rairest o them a'
Has married Richard Storry.
2 ' O here is a letter to ye, madam,
Here is a letter to ye, madam ;
The Earle of Hume, that gallant knight,
Has fallen in love wi ye, madam.'
3 ' There is a letter to ye, madam,
[There is a letter to ye, madam ;]
That gallant knight, the Earl of Hume,
Desires to be yer servan true, madam.
4 * I '11 hae nane o his letters, Richard,
I '11 hae nane o his letters, [Richard ;]
I hae voued, and will keep it true,
I '11 marry nane but ye, Richie.'
5 ' Say ne sae to me, lady,
Say ne sae to me, [lady,]
For I hae neither lands nor rents
To mentain ye, lady.'
6 ' Hunten Tour and Tillebarn,
The House o Athol is mine, Richie,
An ye sal hae them a'
Whan ere ye incline, Richie.
7 ' For we will gae to sea, Richie,
I '11 sit upon the deck, Richie,
And be your servant ere and late,
At any hour ye like, [Richie.*]
li'.M
232. RICHIE STORY
8 O manna ye be sad, sister,
An maun ye be sae sorry,
To leave the house o bonny Comarnad,
An follow Richard Storry ? '
9 ' O what neads I be sad, sister,
An how can I be sorry ?
A bonny lad is my delit,
And my lot has been laid afore me.'
10 As she went up the Parliament Close,
Wi her laced shoon so fine,
Many ane bad the lady good day,
But few thought o Richard's lady.
11 As she gaed up the Parliament Close,
Wi her laced shoon so fine,
Mony ane hailed that gay lady,
But few hailed Richard Storry.
a. " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
65, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, 1813-15, p. 53, from the singing
or recitation of Miss Euphemia Hislope. b. Campbell MSS,
II, 116.
1 THERE are three white hens i the green, madam,
There are three white hens i the green,
madam,
But Richie Story he 's comd by,
And he 's stollen away the fairest of them.
4
2 O are 'int ye now sad, sister,
are 'in[t] ye now sad, sister,
To leave your bowers and your bony Skimmer-
know,
And follow the lad they call Richie Story ? '
3 ' O say not that again, sister,
O say not that again, sister,
For he is the lad that I love best,
And he is the lot that has fallen to me.'
4 ' O there 's a letter to thee, madam,
O there 's a letter to thee, madam ;
The Earl of Hume and Skimmerjim,
For to be sweethearts to thee, madam.'
5 ' But I '11 hae none of them, Richie,
But I '11 hae none of them, Richie,
For I have made a vow, and I '11 keep it true,
I '11 have none but Ric[h]ie Story.'
6 ' O say not that again, madam,
O say not that again, madam,
For the Earl of Hume and Skimmerjim,
They are men of high renown.'
7 ' Musslebury 's mine, Richie,
Musslebury 's mine, Richie,
And a' that 's mine it shall be thine,
If you will marry me, Richie.'
8 As she went up through Glasgow city,
Her gold watch was shining pretty ;
Many [a] lord bade her good day,
But none thought she was a footman's lady.
9 As she went up through London city,
There she met her scolding minny :
* Cast off your silks and kilt your coats,
And muck the byre wi Richie Story.'
10 ' Hold your tongue, my scolding minnie,
Hold your tongue, my scolding minnie ;
For I '11 cast of my silks and kilt my coats,
And muck the byres wi Richie Story.'
The late Mr Robert White's papers.
1 As I came in by Thirlwirl Bridge,
A coming f rae the land of fair Camernadie,
There I met my ain true love,
Wi ribbons at her shoulders many.
' Here is a letter to you, madam ;
[Here is a letter to you, madam ;]
The Earl of Hume's eldest son
Sent this letter to you, madam.
' I '11 have none of his [letters], Richy,
I '11 have none of his letters, Richy ;
232. RICHIE STORY
295
I made a vow, and I '11 keep it true,
I '11 wed wi nane but you. Richy.'
4 ' Say not so again, madam,
Say not so again, madam ;
I have neither lands nor rents
To maintain you on, madam.'
5 * I '11 sit aneath the duke, Richy,
I '11 sit aneath the duke, Richy ;
I '11 sit on hand, at your command
At ony time ye like, Richy.'
6 As they came in by Thirlewirle bridge,
A coming frae fair Cummernadie,
She brak the ribbons that tied her shoon
Wi following after the footman-laddie.
7 ' O but ye be sad, sister,
O but ye be sad and sorry,
To leave the lands o bonnie Cummernad,
To gang alang wi a footman-laddie ! '
8 { How can I be sad, sister ?
How can I be sad or sorry ?
I have gotten my heart's delight ;
And what can ye get mair ? ' says she.
9 To the house-end Richy brought his lady,
To the house-end Richy brought his lady ;
Her mother-in-law gart her kilt her coats,
And muck the byre wi Richy Story.
E
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 76,
Abbotsford.
1 THE Earl of Wigton has seven sisters,
And O but they be wondrous bonnie !
And the bonniest lass amang them a'
Has fallen in love wi Richie Storie.
2 As I came down by yon river-side,
And down by the banks of Eache bonnie,
There I met my own true-love,
Wi ribbons on her shoulders bonnie.
3 ' Here is a letter for you, madam,
Here is a letter for you, madam ;
The Earl of Aboyne has a noble design
To be a suitor to you, madam.'
4 ' I '11 hae nane of his letters, Richie,
I '11 hae nane of his letters, Richie,
For I 've made a vow, and I '11 keep it true,
That I '11 hae nane but you, Richie.'
5 * Take your word again, madam,
Take your word again, madam,
For I have neither land nor rents
For to mentain you on, madam.'
6 ' I '11 sit below the dyke, Richie,
I '11 sit below the dyke, Richie,
And I will be at your command
At ony time you like, Richie.
7 ' Ribbons you shall wear, Richie,
Ribbons you shall wear, Richie,
A cambric band about your neck,
And vow but ye '11 be braw, Richie ! '
8 As they came in by the West Port,
The naps of gold were bobbing bonnie ;
Many a one bade this lady gude-day,
But neer a one to Richie Storie.
9 As they came up the Parliament Close,
Naps of gold were bobbing bonnie ;
Many a gentleman lifted his cap,
But few kennd she was Richie's lady.
10
And ay methinks we '11 drink the night
In Cambernauld sae bonnie.
11 ' It 's are not you sick, sister,
Are not you very sorrie,
To leave the lands of bonnie Cambernauld,
And run awae wi Richie Storie ? '
12 ' Why should I be sick, sister,
why should I be any sorrie,
When I hae gotten my heart's delight ?
1 hae gotten the lot was laid afore me.'
Li'.H)
232 1UCHIK STOKY
P
a. Sharpe's Ballad Book, p. 95, 1823. b. Nimmo, Songs
uud Ballads of Clydesdale, p. 211, 1882.
1 THE Erie o Wigton had three daughters,
braw wallie, but they were bonnie !
The youngest o them, and the bonniest too,
Has fallen in love \vi Richie Storie.
2 ' Here 's a letter for ye, madame,
Here 's a letter for ye, madame ;
The Erie o Home wad fain presume
To be a suitor to ye, madame.'
3 ' I '1 hae nane o your letters, Richie ;
1 '1 hae nane o your letters, Richie ;
For I 've made a vow, and I '11 keep it true,
That I '1 have none but you, Richie.'
4 ' O do not say so, madame ;
O do not say so, madame ;
For I have neither land nor rent,
For to maintain you o, madame.
5 ' Ribands ye maun wear, madame,
Ribands ye maun wear, madame ;
With the bands about your neck
the goud that shines sae clear, madame.'
6 ' 1 1 lie ayont a dyke, Richie,
1 '1 lie ayont a dyke, Richie ;
And I '1 be aye at your command
And bidding, whan ye like, Richie.'
7 O he 's gane on the braid, braid road,
And she 's gane through the broom sae bon
nie,
Her silken robes down to her heels,
And she 's awa wi Richie Storie.
8 This lady gade up the Parliament stair,
Wi pendles in her lugs sae bonnie ;
Mony a lord lifted his hat,
But little did they ken she was Richie's lady.
9 Up then spak the Erie o Home's lady ;
' Was na ye richt sorrie, Annie,
To leave the lands o bonnie Cumbernauld
And follow Richie Storie, Annie ? '
10 ' O what need I be some, madame ?
O what need I be sorrie, madame ?
For I 've got them that I like best,
And war ordained for me, madame.'
11 ' Cumbernauld is mine, Annie,
Cumbernauld is mine, Annie ;
And a' that 's mine, it shall be thine,
As we sit at the wine, Annie.'
a. Kinloch MSS, I, 203, from Alexander Kinnear, of
Stonehaven. b. Gibb MS., p. 77; from Mrs Gibb, senior, c.
Murison MS., p. 82. d. Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs,
I, 72, from the recitation of a native of Buchan. e. Kin-
loch MSS, VII, 263 (a fragment), f. Buchan's MSS, I, 87.
1 THERE were five ladies lived in a bouer,
Lived in a bouer at Cumbernaldie ;
The fairest and youngest o them a'
Has fa'n in love wi her footman-laddie.
2 ' Here is a letter to you, ladye,
Here is a letter to you, ladye ;
The Earl o Hume lias written doun
That he will be your footman-laddie.'
3 ' I want nane o his service, Ritchie,
I want nane o his service, Ritchie ;
For I 've made a vow, and I '11 keep it true.
That I '11 wed nane but thee, Ritchie.'
4 ' O that canna be, ladye,
O that canna be, ladye ;
For I 've neither house nor land,
Nor ought suiting ye, ladye.'
5 ' Livd ye on yonder hill, Ritchie,
Livd ye on yonder hill, Ritchie,
There 's my hand, I 'm at your command,
Marry me whan ye will, Ritchie ! '
6 This boy he went to his bed,
It was a' to try this fair ladye ;
But she went up the stair to him :
4 Ye maun leave your comrades, Ritchie.
232. RICHIE STORY
297
7 ' To the Borders we inaun gang, Ritchie,
To the Borders we maun gang, Ritchie,
For an my auld father he get word,
It 's you he will cause hang, Ritchie.'
8 ' To the Borders we '11 na gang, ladye,
To the Borders we '11 na gang, ladye ;
For altho your auld father got word,
It 's me he dare na hang, ladye.'
9 As they passed by her mither's bouer,
O but her sisters they were sorry !
They bade her tak aff the robes o silk,
And muck the byres wi Ritchie Storry.
10 Whan they cam to yon hie hill,
Dear vow, but the lady she was sorry !
She looked oure her left showther
' O an I war in bonny Cumbernaldie ! '
11 ' O are na ye sorry now, ladye,
O are na ye sorry now, ladye,
For to forsake the Earl o Hume,
And follow me, your footman-laddie ? '
12 ' How could I be sorry, Ritchie,
How could I be sorry, Ritchie ?
Such a gudely man as you,
And the lot that lies afore me, Ritchie.'
13 As they rode up through Edinburgh toun,
Her gowd watch hang doun sae gaudie ;
Monie a lord made her a bow,
But nane o them thoucht she was Ritchie's
ladye.
14 Whan they cam to Ritchie's yetts,
Dear vow, but the music playd bonnie !
There were four-and-twenty gay ladies
To welcome hame Richard Storry's ladye.
15 He called for a priest wi speed,
A priest wi speed was soon ready,
And she was na married to the Earl of Hume,
But she blesses the day she got Richard
Storry.
16 A coach and six they did prepare,
A coach and six they did mak ready,
A coach and six they did prepare,
And she blesses the day made her Ritchie's
lady.
The Scots Magazine, LXV, 253, 1803, James Hogg.
Blair-in-Athol's mine, Ritchie,
Blair-in-Athol's mine, Ritchie,
And bonny Dunkeld, where I do dwell,
And these shall a' be thine, Ritchie.
A. 6 1 . Oh. 7 4 . Ritchie's story.
B. 7 4 . ye lake, or take. 8 2 . manna ye be sorry ?
9 2 . An who.
C. a. The air is said in the MS. to be beautiful
and very plaintive.
5 1>2 . madam instead of Richie. Richie in b.
6 8 . Skimmerjim is glossed in the margin Kim-
merghame.
8 1 . Written twice. 8 s . hining. shining in b.
b. 2 1 - 2 , 3 1 ' 2 , 4 1 ' 2 , 5 1 ' 2 , 6 1 ' 2 , are written in one line.
10 2 . is indicated by &c. I 1 ' 2 . There 's.
I 8 . And Richies tory he 's come by.
2 1 * 2 . O care ye not sad. 2 s . Skimmer knowes.
2 4 . And go wi the lad they ca Richies tory.
3 1 ' 2 . not so again.
4 1>2 . O wanting. 4 2 . madam wanting.
4 8 . For the : Skimmerham.
4 4 . They will be : to you.
5 1 ' 2 . Richie, for madam of a.
5*. none but thee, Richie. 6. Wanting.
298
232. RICHIE STORY
7 s . Richie wanting. 8 1 . London city.
8 2 . shining. 8*. Many a.
8 4 . But few thought her a.
9 s . mammy. 9*. Richies Tony.
10 1 - 2 . Now hold : mammy.
10*. and cast (wrongly).
10 4 . And I '11 muck the byre wi Richies Torry.
D. I 4 . At his ? The ribbons seem more likely to
belong to the footman : see A 2, G f 1. But
compare E 2, G d, after 1.
E. I 4 . Var. : wi her brother's foot-boy.
2". On his ? 3 8 . Var. : Earl Wemyss.
11*. Marginal note : Lady Hume, whose son
was suitor to the runnaway lady.
P. b. Evidently furbished, and therefore not col
lated. After 6 is inserted this stanza, cor
responding to 11 :
Fair Powmoodie is mine, dear Richie,
And goud and pearlins too ;
Gin ye '11 consent to be mine, dear Richie,
I will gie them a' to you.
G. Trivial variations are not noticed.
a, 15H It is certain from 16 and from other
copies t of G that she was married to the Earl
of Hume, but I have let the text stand as
delivered.
b. Stanzas 1, 9 s - 4 , 2, 7, 8, 10-14, 15 3 - 4 (?), 16 :
four marked as wanting.
I 1 * 2 . Theres seven bonny ladies in yonder ha
(twice).
1*. The youngest an bonniest amon.
2^*. It 's from the Earl o Cumbernauld, An
he is seekin you, lady.
7 1 . we will go, Richie. 7 2 . go, laddie.
9 8 . Ye '11 cast aff your gowns o silk.
9 4 . wi your Richie Tory.
10 1>2 . As they gaed down by yon bonny water
side, O but the sma birds they sang bonnie !
11 s . sorry, lassie.
II 8 . To leave the Earl o Cumbernauld.
12 a . sorry, laddie.
12 8 - 4 . The thing that 's afore us we maun en
dure, So what need I be sorry, laddie ?
13 1 * 2 . As they gaed down by yon bonny water
side, O but her gold watch it hung bonny !
13*. a ane gaed her a low bow.
13 4 . But few kent she.
14 1>2 . As she gaed doun by yon bonny ha-
house, Oh but the pibrochs they sang bonny !
14*. f. an t belted knichts.
15 8 - 4 . Says, I 'm the Earl o Cumbernauld, That
for your sake was a footman-laddie.
16 8 - 4 . Now she rides in her coach-an-six, An
blesses the day she saw Richie Tory.
o. 11 stanzas : 1, 6-9, 13, 10, 14, 16, and 11,
12 as a " chorus " to each of the others.
I 1 **. Seven sisters in yonder ha, Seven sisters
in Campernadie.
6 1 " 3 . Ritchie he went up the stair, Thinking for
to meet his lady; But sae quick as she
turned round.
7 1 - 8 . we will go. 8 1 - 2 . I '11 nae go.
9 1 . they rode up by her sisters' bowers.
9 s . Says, Te mann tak aff the goons.
9 4 . byres, nor wi Ritchie tarry.
10 2 . lady grew unco weary.
10 4 . were back at Campernadie.
II 8 . the yerl o Mohnn.
II 4 . And wed wi me but.
12 3 - 4 . What is before me must nae I endure ?
An why should I be sorry, Ritchie ?
13 3 . O but her gowd it was shinin bonnie !
13 8 . Monie ane gae her a low bow.
13 4 . But few o.
14 1 . As they rode doon by yonder glen.
14 2 . the organs they.
143,4 Four-an-twenty gentlemen Cam a*.
16 8 . An now she rides in her coach-an-six.
d. 16 stanzas : 1 ; a stanza corresponding to
A 2, D 1, 2-9, 13, 10-12, 14, 16.
I 1 - 2 . There were ladies in yon ha, Seven ladies
in Cumberoaudie. After 1 : He gaed down
the garden green, In amang the birks sae
bonnie, And there he saw his lady gay, Wi
ribbons on her shoulders mony.
2 3 '*. With Earl Hume's humble desire Your
servant for to be.
3 1 . I '11 hae nane o his letters.
3*. Nane from Earl Hume.
3 M . But 111 hae him that I like best, And
I '11 hae nane but you, Richie.
4 1>2 . Say na that to me. 4 8 . lands nor rents.
4 4 . For to maintain you wi.
5 1 * 2 . Say na that again, Richie.
5 s * 4 . The House o Athole it is mine, Taranadie
shall be thine, Richie.
6 1>2 . He gaed from the garden green, Think
ing he would shun his lady.
6 8 . But quickly she followed after him.
7*. I '11 gae to them wi thee, Richie.
8 1 - 2 . To the Borders we will gae, We will to
them gang, lady.
9 1 . rode by her sister's bowers.
9 4 . And gang and beg wi her Richard Storie :
editorial nicety.
232. RICHIE STORY
299
10 a . she grew wondrous weary.
12 3 - 4 . When I get him that I like best, And
what is laid before me, Richie.
13 1 . rode thro yon burrow-town.
14 1 . As they rode by yon bonny House.
14 3>4 . And four-and-twenty gallant knichts
Came.
16*. And now she rides in her coach-and-four.
Christie touched up his text here and there.
e. II 3 ' 4 , 12, 14, 16 3 - 4 . Wanting.
12 4 . What wad make me sorry ?
14 1 . yonder gates. 14 3 . playd pretty.
14 s . four-and-twenty noble knichts.
14 4 . welcome in Ritchie Torry's lady.
16 3>4 . Now she rides in her coach-and-six, She
blesses the day she got Ritchie Torry.
f. 18 stanzas. Much manipulated, and not
entitled to confidence.
1. As I came in yon bonny burn-side,
And down below the bloom sae bonny,
There I espied a handsome lad,
Wi ribbons on his shoulders mony.
7/.A2.)
2 31 *. Here 's a letter frae the Earl o Wemyss,
That he 's in suit o thee, madam.
11. Out it speaks her mother then ;
O daughter, may not you be sorry
To gang alang wi a servant-man,
And lose the rights o Castle Norry ?
12 3>4 . I 'm sure I 've chosen a bonny lad, The
lot has just been laid afore me.
14. When they gaed through the Parliament
Closs,
The silver loops hang down sae bonny ;
Then four-and-twenty noble lords
Came hat in hand to Richard Stony.
APPENDIX
AYTOUN, II, 239, says of ' Richie Storie,' The
words, recast in a romantic form and applied to a
more interesting subject, have been set to music by
a noble lady, and are now very popular under the
title of ' Huntingtower.' The history of ' Hunting-
tower ' is not so well known as might be expected.
I have not been able to ascertain the authorship or
the date of its first appearance (which was very
probably in society rather than in print). ' Richie
Storie ' is not carried by our texts further back than
1802-3 (B, H). Kinloch published in 1827 a bal
lad from recitation, ' The Duke of Athol,' which is
' Huntingtower ' passed through the popular mouth ;
for ' Huntingtower ' became, and has continued to
be, a favorite with the people. Christie, Traditional
Ballad Airs, I, 166, says that he had often heard
' The Duke of Athol ' in his early years, and he
gives eight stanzas which do not differ remarkably
from Kinloch's ballad.
The marks of the derivation of ' Huntingtower '
are the terminations of lines 1, 2, 4 of each stanza,
and substantial agreements in the last two stanzas
with A, B, B, 5, D, F, G-, 4, and with B 6, C 7,
H, respectively. The name Huntingtower occurs
only in B 6 of 'Richie Storie.' The author of
' Huntingtower ' was no doubt possessed of a ver
sion of ' Richie Storie ' which had its own pecu
liarities.
' Huntingtower ' is too well known to require cit
ing. It has been often printed ; as, for example,
in Mr G. F. Graham's Popular Songs of Scotland,
revised by J. Muir Wood, Balmoral Edition, Glas
gow, 1887, p. 152; The Songs of Scotland, the
words revised by Dr Charles Mackay, p. 5, London,
Boosey & Co. (Altered by the Baroness Nairne,
and very little left of it, Life and Songs of the Bar
oness Nairne, edited by the Rev. Charles Rogers,
1872, p. 177.) The pleasing air strongly resem
bles, says Mr Wood, one in D'Urfey's Pills to
Purge Melancholy, V, 42, ed. 1719.
' The Duke of Athol ' may be given for the in
terest it has as a popular rifacimento.
THE DUKE OF ATHOL
" Taken down from the recitation of an idiot boy in Wi-
shaw ; " Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 1 70.
1 ' I AM gaing awa, Jeanie,
I am gaing awa ;
I am gaing ayont the saut seas,
I 'm gaing sae far awa.'
300
233. ANDREW LAMM IK
2 What will ye buy to me, Jamie ?
What will ye buy to me ? '
* I '11 buy to you a silken plaid,
And send it wi vanitie.'
3 ' That 's na love at a', Jamie,
That 's na love at a' ;
All I want is love for love,
And that 's the best ava.
4 ' Whan will ye marry me, Jamie V
Whan will ye marry me?
Will ye tak me to your countrie,
Or will ye marry me ? '
5 ' How can I marry thee, Jeanie ?
How can I marry thee,
Whan I 've a wife and bairns three ?
Twa wad na weill agree.'
6 ' Wae be to your fause tongue, Jamie,
Wae be to your fause tongue ;
Ye promised for to marry me,
And has a wife at hame !
7 ' But if your wife wad dee, Jamie,
And sae your bairns three,
Wad ye tak me to your countrie,
Or wad ye marry me ?
8 ' But sin they 're all alive, Jamie,
But sin they 're all alive,
We '11 tak a glass in ilka hand,
And drink, Weill may they thrive ! '
9 'If my wife wad dee, Jeanie,
And sae my bairns three,
I wad tak ye to my ain countrie,
And married we wad be.'
10 ' O an your head war sair, Jamie,
an your head war sair,
I 'd tak the napkin frae my neck
And tie doun your yellow hair.'
11 'I hae na wife at a', Jeanie,
1 hae na wife at a' ;
I hae neither wife nor bairns three ;
I said it to try thee.'
12 ' Licht are ye to loup, Jamie,
Licht are ye to loup ;
Licht are ye to loup the dyke,
Whan I maun wale a slap.'
13 ' Licht am I to loup, Jeanie,
Licht am I to loup ;
But the hiest dyke that we come to
I '11 turn and tak you up.
14 ' Blair in Athol is mine, Jeanie,
Blair in Athol is mine ;
Bonnie Dunkel is whare I dwell,
And the boats o Garry 's mine.
15 ' Huntingtower is mine, Jeanie,
Huntingtower is mine,
Huntingtower, and bonnie Belford,
And a' Balquhither 's mine.'
233
ANDREW LAMMIE
A. The Trumpeter of Fyvie,' Jamieson's Popular C. a. ' Andrew Lammie,." Buchan's Gleanings, p. 98,
Ballads, I, 126, 1806. 1825 ; Laing's Thistle of Scotland, p. 55, 1823.
b. Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 239.
B. 'Tifty's Nanny,' Jamieson's Popular Ballads, II,
382, from a stall-copy.
JAMIESON, in his preface, 1806, says that
this ballad was current in the Border coun
ties within a few years, and that A was taken
down by Leyden from the recitation of a young
lady who learned it in Teviotdale. Writ
ing to Scott, in November, 1804, of such bal
lads as he had already prepared for the press,
he says, " Trumpeter of Fyvie, from tradition,
furnished by Mr Leyden, and collated with a
stall-copy " (probably B) : Letters addressed
to Sir Walter Scott, Abbotsford, I, No. 117.
Buchan, in the notes to his Gleanings, 1825,
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
301
p. 197, says of C a : " This is one of the great
est favorites of the people in Aberdeenshire
that I know. I took it first down from the
memory of a very old woman, and afterwards
published thirty thousand copies of it. There
are two versions, an old and a new ; but, al
though I have both, I prefer this one, the
younger of the two, having been composed
and acted in the year 1674." Laing, who re
prints A in his Thistle of Scotland, p. 63, calls
that the " old way of Andrew Lammie."
Motherwell, 1827, reprints " a stall-copy pub
lished at Glasgow several years ago, collated
with a recited copy which has furnished one
or two verbal improvements : " C b. There
are a great many variations from C a, of which
precisely one or two are verbal improvements.
But Motherwell also gives six stanzas which
are not in a. His copy is repeated in The
Ballad Minstrelsy of Scotland, Glasgow, 1871,
and there the editor says that in a chap-book
printed by J. and M. Robertson, Saltmarket,
Glasgow, 1808, "Andrew Lammie is given
with only a few slight verbal differences be
tween it and the copy here printed." Such
stall-copies as I have seen are late, and are
reprints of C a or of C b. Motherwell as
sures us that the ballad as he has given it
" agrees with any recited copy which the Ed
itor has hitherto met with in the West Coun-
try."
A professed edition, "most carefully col
lated with all previous editions," was pub
lished at Peterhead, 1872 : " Mill o Tifty's
Annie, A Buchan Ballad, with Introduc
tion," etc. This is attributed to the Rev. Dr
John Muir of Aberdeen. 'Mill o Tiftie's
Annie ' in Christie, I, 48 " is epitomized from
traditional copies ; " that is to say, it is taken
from Motherwell, with a trifling change here
and there. A copy given in Smith's New
History of Aberdeenshire is compounded of
A, B, and a couple of lines from C b.
Annie, daughter to a well-to-do miller, loses
her heart to a handsome trumpeter in the ser-
* " Ib is a received superstition in Scotland," says Moth
erwell, " that when friends or lovers part at a bridge they
shall never again meet." Surely, lovers who were of this
way of thinking would not appoint a bridge for a meeting.
vice of Lord Fy vie. Her father will not hear
of such a match. (Annie has five thousand
marks, and the man not a penny, A 11.) The
trumpeter is obliged to go to Edinburgh for a
time, and Annie appoints him a tryst at a
bridge. He will buy her her wedding-gear
while he is away, and marry her when he
comes back. Annie knows that she shall be
dead ere he returns, and bids him an everlast
ing adieu.* The trumpeter goes to the top of
the castle and blows a blast which is heard at
his love's house. Her father beats her, her
mother beats her ; her brother beats her and
breaks her back. Lord Fyvie is passing on one
of these occasions, comes in, and urges Mill of
Tiftie to yield to his daughter's inclinations.
The father is immovable ; she must marry
higher than with a trumpeter. Annie is put
to bed, with her face towards Fyvie, and dies
of a broken heart and of the cruel treatment
which she has undergone.
This is a homely ditty ,f but the gentleness
and fidelity of Annie under the brutal be
havior of her family are genuinely pathetic,
and justify the remarkable popularity which
the ballad has enjoyed in the north of Scot
land. In those parts the story has been
played as well as sung. " The ballad used in
former times to be presented in a dramatic
shape at rustic meetings in Aberdeenshire,"
says Chambers (Scottish Ballads, p. 143);
perhaps misinterpreting and expanding the
enunciation made by Buchan and in the title
of some stall-copies that " this tragedy was
acted in the year 1674," which may rather
refer to the date of the story. But however
it may have been in former times, two rival
companies in Aberdeenshire were performing
plays founded on the ballad in 1887-8.$
" Bonny Andrew Lammie " was a well-
known personage at the beginning of the last
century, for, as Jamieson has pointed out, he
is mentioned in a way that implies this by
Allan Ramsay, in the second of his two cantos
in continuation of Christ's Kirk on the Green,
t But not homely enough while C 2, 42 are retained.
The mystical verses with which A and B begin are also not
quite artless.
J The Scotsman newspaper, November 16, 1888.
302
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
written, as Ramsay says, in 1718. (Poems,
London, 1731, 1, 76, v. 70.)
Mill of Tiftie is, or was, a farm-house on
the side of a glen about half a mile northeast
of the castle of Fyvie, and in view of its tur
rets (on one of which there now stands a
figure of the Trumpeter sounding towards
Tiftie). The mill proper, now a ruin, was in
the bottom of the glen, and gave its name to
the house. The bridge of Sleugh, otherwise
Skeugh, etc., was in the hollow between Tif
tie and the castle.*
Annie was Agnes Smith, Nannie being
among her people an affectionate form for
Agnes. There is reason to believe that she
may have been daughter of a William Smith
who is known to have been a brother or near
kinsman of the laird of Inveramsay, a person
of some local consequence.! An inscription
on her gravestone makes Agnes Smith to have
died January 19, 1673.$
" Some years subsequent to the melancholy
fate of poor Tifty's Nanny," says Jamieson,
II, 387, citing the current tradition of Fyvie,
" her sad story being mentioned and the bal
lad sung in a company in Edinburgh when
[Andrew Lammie] was present, he remained
silent and motionless, till he was discovered
by a groan suddenly bursting from him and
several of the buttons flying from his waist
coat" The peasants of Fyvie, Jamieson con
tinues, " borrowed this striking characteristic
of excessive grief " neither from the Laocoon
group nor from Shakspere's King Lear, but
from nature. The anecdote, and the comment
too, is apt to be repeated by editors of ' An
drew Lammie.' That "affecting image of
overpowering grief," as Chambers calls it, the
flying off of the buttons (or the bursting of a
waistcoat), we have had several times already,
though in no ballad (or version) of much
note: see II, 118, D 17, 186, C 15, 308, 4;
IV, 101, I 15, 185, 11. It must be owned to
be a stroke that does not well bear iteration.
Mrs. Littlewit in * Bartholomew Fair ' has a
tedious life with her Puritan, she says : " he
breaks his buttons and cracks seams at every
saying he sobs out." Ben Jonson has taken
out one of the best things in our tragedy and
put it into his comedy.
The air to which this ballad was usually,
sung, Jamieson informs us, was " of that class
which in Teviotdale they term a northern
drawl ; and a Perthshire set of it, but two
notes lower than it is commonly sung, is to be
found in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum
[No. 175, p. 183], to the song 'How long
and dreary is the night.' "
C b is translated by Wolff, Hausschatz,
p. 199, Halle der Volker, I, 65.
Jamieson 's Popular Ballads, 1, 126 ; " taken down by Dr
Leyden from the recitation of a young lady, Miss llobson,
of Edinburgh, who learned it in Teviotdale."
1 ' AT Fyvie's yetts there grows a flower,
It grows baith braid and bonny ;
There 's a daisie in the midst o it,
And it 's ca'd by Andrew Lammie.
2 * O gin that flower war in my breast,
For the love I bear the laddie !
Buchan, by the Rev. John B. Pratt, 3d ed., 1870, p.
324 f.
t An Aberdeen newspaper of April, 1885, from which I
have a cutting.
J Buchan gives the year as 1631, and is followed by
Chambers and Aytoun. The original tombstone having bc-
I wad kiss it, and I wad clap it,
And daut it for Andrew Lammie.
3 * The first time me and my love met
Was in the woods of Fyvie ;
He kissed my lips five thousand times,
And ay he ca'd me bonny,
And a' the answer he gat frae me,
Was, My bonny Andrew Lammie ! '
4 ' Love, I maun gang to Edinburgh ;
Love, I maun gang and leave thee ! '
come " decayed," Mr Gordon of Fyvie had it replaced in
1 845 with " a f ac-eimile in every respect." A headstone in
the form of a cross of polished granite was added in 1869,
by public subscription. (New Statistical Account of Scot
land, XII, 325 ; Mill o Tifty's Annie, Peterhead, 1872,
p. 4.)
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
303
' I sighed right sair, and said nae mair
But, O gin I were wi ye ! '
5 ' But true and trusty will I be,
As I am Andrew Lammie ;
I '11 never kiss a woman's mouth
Till I come back and see thee.'
6 ' And true and trusty will I be,
As I am Tiftie's Annie ;
I '11 never kiss a man again
Till ye come back and see me.'
7 Syne he 's come back frae Edinburgh
To the bonny hows o Fyvie,
And ay his face to the nor-east,
To look for Tiftie's Annie.
8 ' I hae a love in Edinburgh,
Sae hae I intill Leith, man ;
I hae a love intill Montrose,
Sae hae I in Dalkeith, man.
9 ' And east and west, whereer I go,
My love she 's always wi me ;
For east and west, whereer I go,
My love she dwells in Fyvie.
10 ' My love possesses a' my heart,
Nae pen can eer indite her ;
She 's ay sae stately as she goes
That I see nae mae like her.
11 ' But Tiftie winna gie consent
His dochter me to marry,
Because she has five thousand marks,
And I have not a penny.
12 ' Love pines away, love dwines away,
Love, love decays the body ;
For love o thee, oh I must die ;
Adieu, my bonny Annie ! '
13 Her mither raise out o her bed,
And ca'd on baith her women :
* What ails ye, Annie, my dochter dear ?
O Annie, was ye dreamin ?
14 ' What dule disturbd my dochter's sleep ?
O tell to me, my Annie ! '
She sighed right sair, and said nae mair
But, O for Andrew Lammie !
voi* iv. 39
15 Her father beat her cruellie,
Sae also did her mother ;
Her sisters sair did scoff at her ;
But wae betide her brother !
16 Her brother beat her cruellie,
Till his straiks they werena canny ;
He brak her back, and he beat her sides,
For the sake o Andrew Lammie.
17 ' O fie, O fie, my brother dear !
The gentlemen '11 shame ye ;
The Laird o Fyvie he 's gaun by,
And he '11 come in and see me.
18 ' And he 11 kiss me, and he '11 clap me,
And he will speer what ails me ;
And I will answer him again,
It 's a' for Andrew Lammie.'
19 Her sisters they stood in the door,
Sair grievd her wi their folly :
' O sister dear, come to the door,
Your cow is lowin on you.'
20 ' O fie, O fie, my sister dear !
Grieve me not wi your folly ;
I 'd rather hear the trumpet sound
Than a' the kye o Fyvie.
21 ' Love pines away, love dwines away,
Love, love decays the body ;
For love o thee now I maun die ;
Adieu to Andrew Lammie ! '
22 But Tiftie 's wrote a braid letter,
And sent it into Fyvie,
Saying his daughter was bewitchd
By bonny Andrew Lammie.
23 ' Now, Tiftie, ye maun gie consent,
And lat the lassie marry ; '
' I '11 never, never gie consent
To the trumpeter of Fyvie.'
24 When Fyvie looked the letter on,
He was baith sad and sorry :
Says, The bonniest lass o the country-side
Has died for Andrew Lammie.
25 O Andrew 's gane to the house-top
O the bonny house o Fyvie,
304
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
He 's blawn his horn baith loud and shill
Oer the lawland leas o Fy vie.
26 ' Mony a time hae I walkd a' night,
And never yet was weary ;
But now I may walk wae my lane,
For I '11 never see my deary.
27 ' Love pines away, love dwines away,
Love, love decays the body ;
For the love o thee now I maun die ;
I come, my bonny Annie 1 '
B
Jamieson's Popular Ballads, 11,382; "from a stall copy,
procured from Scotland."
1 ' THERE springs a rose in Fyvie's yard,
And O but it springs bonny I
There 's a daisy in the middle of it,
Its name is Andrew Lammie.
2 * I wish the rose were hi my breast,
For the love I bear the daisy ;
So blyth and merry as I would be,
And kiss my Andrew Lammie.
3 ' The first time I and my love met
Was in the wood of Fyvie ;
He kissed and he dawted me,
Calld me his bonny Annie.
4 ' Wi apples sweet he did me treat,
Which stole my heart so canny,
And ay sinsyne himself was kind,
My bonny Andrew Lammie.'
5 ' But I am going to Edinburgh,
My love, I 'm going to leave thee ; '
She sighd full sore, and said no more,
' I wish I were but wi you.'
6 ' I will buy thee a wedding-gown,
My love, I '11 buy it bonny ; '
* But I '11 be dead or ye come back,
My bonny Andrew Lammie.'
7 ' I will buy you brave bridal shoes,
My love, I '11 buy them bonny ; '
' But I '11 be dead or ye come back,
My bonny Andrew Lammie.'
8 ' If you '11 be true and trusty too,
As I am Andrew Lammie,
That you will neer kiss lad nor lown
Till I return to Fyvie.'
9 ' I shall be true and trusty too,
As my name 's Tifty's Nanny,
That I '11 kiss neither lad nor lown
Till you return to Fyvie.'
10 * Love pines awa, love dwines awa,
Love pines awa my body ;
And love 's crept in at my bed-foot,
And taen possession o me.
11 ' My father drags me by the hair,
My mother sore does scold me ;
And they would give one hundred merks
To any one to wed me.
12 ' My sister stands at her bower-door,
And she full sore does mock me,
And when she hears the trumpet sound,
" Your cow is lowing, Nanny ! "
13 * O be still, my sister Jane,
And leave off all your folly ;
For I 'd rather hear that cow low
Than all the kye in Fyvie.
14 ' My father locks the door at night,
Lays up the keys fu canny,
And when he hears the trumpet sound,
" Your cow is lowing, Nanny ! "
15 ' O hold your tongue, my father dear,
And let be a' your folly ;
For I would rather hear that cow
Than all the kye in Fyvie.'
16 ' If you ding me, I will greet,
And gentlemen will hear me ;
Laird Fyvie will be coming by,
And he '11 come in and see me.'
17 ' Yea, I will ding you though ye greet
And gentlemen should hear you ;
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
305
Though Laird Fyvie were coming by,
And did come in and see you.'
18 So they dang her, and she grat,
And gentlemen did hear her,
And Fyvie he was coming by,
And did come in to see her.
19 ' Mill of Tif ty, give consent,
And let your daughter marry ;
If she were full of as high blood
As she is full of beauty,
I would take her to myself,
And make her my own lady.'
20 ' Fyvie lands ly broad and wide,
And O but they ly bonny !
But I would not give my own true-love
For all the lands in Fyvie.
21 * But make my bed, and lay me down,
And turn my face to Fyvie,
That I may see before I die
My bonny Andrew Lammie.'
22 They made her bed, and laid her down,
And turnd her face to Fyvie ;
She gave a groan, and died or morn,
So neer saw Andrew Lammie.
23 Her father sorely did lament
The loss of his dear Nannie,
And wishd that he had gien consent
To wed with Andrew Lammie.
24 But ah ! alas ! it was too late,
For he could not recall her ;
Through time unhappy is his fate,
Because he did controul her.
25 You parents grave who children have,
In crushing them be canny,
Lest for their part they break their heart,
As did young Tifty's Nanny.
O
a. Buchan's Gleanings, p. 98; taken down "from the
memory of a very old woman " (p. 197). b. Motherwell's
Minstrelsy, p. 239 ; a stall copy collated with a recited copy.
1 AT Mill of Tifty lived a man,
In the neighbourhood of Fyvie ;
He had a luvely daughter fair,
Was called bonny Annie.
2 Her bloom was like the springing flower
That hails the rosy morning,
With innocence and graceful inein
Her beautous form adorning.
3 Lord Fyvie had a trumpeter
Whose name was Andrew Lammie ;
He had the art to gain the heart
Of Mill of Tifty's Annie.
4 Proper he was, both young and gay,
His like was not in Fyvie,
Nor was ane there that could compare
With this same Andrew Lammie.
5 Lord Fyvie he rode by the door
Where live'd Tifty's Annie ;
His trumpeter rode him before,
Even this same Andrew Lammie.
6 Her mother called her. to the door :
' Come here to me, my Annie :
Did eer you see a prettier man
Than the trumpeter of Fyvie ? '
7 Nothing she said, but sighing sore,
Alas for bonnie Annie !
She durst not own her heart was won
By the trumpeter of Fyvie.
8 At night when all went to their bed,
All slept full soon but Annie ;
Love so oppresst her tender breast,
Thinking on Andrew Lammie.
9 f Love comes in at my bed-side,
And love lies down beyond me ;
Love has possest my tender breast,
And love will waste my body.
10 ' The first time me and my love met
Was in the woods of Fyvie ;
His lovely form and speech so soft
Soon gaind the heart of Annie.
;JUG
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
11 He called me mistress ; I said, No,
I 'm Tifty's bonny Annie ;
With apples sweet he did me treat,
And kisses soft and mony.
12 ' It 's up and down in Tifty's den,
Where the burn runs clear and bonny,
I 've often gane to meet my love,
My bonny Andrew Lammie.'
13 But now alas ! her father heard
That the trumpeter of Fyvie
Had had the art to gain the heart
Of Mill of Tifty's Annie.
14 Her father soon a letter wrote,
And sent it on to Fyvie,
To tell his daughter was bewitchd
By his servant, Andrew Lammie.
15 Then up the stair his trumpeter
He called soon and shortly :
' Pray tell me soon what 's this you 've done
To Tifty's bonny Annie.'
16 ' Woe be to Mill of Tifty's pride,
For it has ruined many ;
They '11 not have 't said that she should wed
The trumpeter of Fyvie.
17 ' In wicked art I had no part,
Nor therein am I canny ;
True love alone the heart has won
Of Tifty's bonny Annie.
18 ' Where will I find a boy so kind
That will carry a letter canny,
Who will run to Tifty's town,
Give it to my love Annie ?
19 ' Tifty he has daughters three
Who all are wonderous bonny ;
But ye '11 ken her oer a' the rest ;
Give that to bonny Annie.
20 ' It 's up and down in Tifty's den,
Where the burn runs clear and bonny,
There wilt thou come and I '11 attend ;
My love, I long to see thee.
21 ' Thou mayst come to the brig of Slugh,
And there I '11 come and meet thee ;
It 's there we will renew our love,
Before I go and leave you.
22 ' My love, I go to Edinburgh town,
And for a while must leave thee ; '
She sighed sore, and said no more
But ' I wish that I were with you ! '
23 ' I '11 buy to thee a bridal gown,
My love, I '11 buy it bonny ; '
' But I '11 be dead ere ye come back
To see your bonny Annie.'
24 ' If ye '11 be true and constant too,
As I am Andrew Lammie,
I shall thee wed when I come back
To see the lands of Fyvie.'
25 ' I will be true and constant too
To thee, my Andrew Lammie,
But my bridal bed or then '11 be made
In the green church-yard of Fyvie.'
26 ' The time is gone, and now comes on
My dear, that I must leave thee ;
If longer here I should appear,
Mill of Tifty he would see me.'
27 ' I now for ever bid adieu
To thee, my Andrew Lammie ;
Or ye come back I will be laid
In the green church-yard of Fyvie.'
28 He hied him to the head of the house,
To the house-top of Fyvie,
He blew bis trumpet loud and shrill,
It was heard at Mill of Tifty.
29 Her father lockd the door at night,
Laid by the keys fu canny,
And when he heard the trumpet sound
Said, Your cow is lowing, Annie.
30 ' My father dear, I pray forbear,
And reproach not your Annie ;
I 'd rather hear that cow to low
Than all the kye in Fyvie.
31 ' I would not for my braw new gown,
And all your gifts so many,
That it was told in Fyvie land
How cruel ye are to Annie.
233. ANDREW LAMMIE
S07
32 ' But if ye strike me I will cry,
And gentlemen will hear me ;
Lord Fyvie will be riding by,
And he '11 come in and see me.'
33 At the same time the lord came in ;
He said, What ails thee Annie ?
' It 's all for love now I must die,
For bonny Andrew Lammie.'
34 ' Pray, Mill of Tif ty, give consent,
And let your daughter marry ; '
' It will be with some higher match
Than the trumpeter of Fyvie.'
35 ' If she were come of as high a kind
As she 's advanced in beauty,
I would take her unto myself,
And make her my own lady.'
36 ' Fyvie lands are far and wide,
And they are wonderous bonny ;
But I would not leave my own true-love
For all the lands in Fyvie.'
37 Her father struck her wonderous sore,
As also did her mother ;
Her sisters also did her scorn,
But woe be to her brother !
38 Her brother struck her wonderous sore,
With cruel strokes and many ;
He broke her back in the hall-door,
For liking Andrew Lammie.
39 ' Alas ! my father and my mother dear,
Why so cruel to your Annie ?
My heart was broken first by love,
My brother has broke my body.
40 ' mother dear, make me my bed,
And lay my face to Fyvie ;
Thus will I lie, and thus will die
For my dear Andrew Lammie.
41 ' Ye neighbours hear, baith far and near,
And pity Tifty's Annie,
Who dies for love of one poor lad,
For bonny Andrew Lammie.
42 ' No kind of vice eer staind my life,
Or hurt my virgin honour ;
My youthful heart was won by love,
But death will me exoner.'
43 Her mother than she made her bed,
And laid her face to Fyvie ;
Her tender heart it soon did break,
And never saw Andrew Lammie.
44 Lord Fyvie he did wring his hands,
Said, Alas for Tifty's Annie !
The fairest flower 's cut down by love
That ever sprang in Fyvie.
45 ' Woe be to Mill of Tifty's pride !
He might have let them marry ;
I should have given them both to live
Into the lands of Fyvie.'
46 Her father sorely now laments
The loss of his dear Annie,
And wishes he had given consent
To wed with Andrew Lammie.
47 When Andrew home frae Edinburgh came,
With muckle grief and sorrow,
' My love is dead for me to-day,
I '11 die for her to-morrow.
48 < Now I will run to Tifty's den,
Where the burn runs clear and bonny ;
With tears I '11 view the brig of Slugh,
Where I parted from my Annie.
49 ' Then will I speed to the green kirk-yard,
To the green kirk-yard of Fyvie,
With tears I '11 water my love's grave,
Till I follow Tifty's Annie.'
C. a. 9 8 . Love so oppressd : b, has possessd.
II 4 . mony : b, many.
44 8 . flower: b, flower's.
47 l . home : b, hame.
48 2 . For perhaps Aberdonian for Where : b,
Where.
b. Insignificant variations will not be noted.
7 1 . She sighed sore, but said no more.
308
234. CHARLIE MAC PHERSON
8 2 . Sound for soon (soun ?).
9 s . Love has possessd. II 4 . many.
13*. Of Tiftie's bonny Annie. After 14 :
When Lord Fy vie had this letter read,
O dear ! hut he was sorry :
The bonniest lass in Fyvie's land
Is bewitched by Andrew Launuie.'
16, 17 are 17, 16. 16 1 . Woe betide Mill.
16 8 . He '11 no hae 't. After 18 :
' Here you shall find a boy so kind
Who '11 carry a letter canny,
Who will run on to Tiftie's town,
And gie 't to thy love Annie.'
19. a' the lave.
20H and meet thy love, Thy bonny Andrew
Lammie.
21. ' When wilt thou come, and I '11 attend ?
My love, I long to see thee : '
' Thou may st come to the bridge of Sleugh,
And there I '11 come and meet thee.'
f
24*. As my name 's. 26 1 . Our time.
28". schill. 30*. Than hae a' the kine.
35*. she 's adorned with.
After 43:
36 1 . are fair.
But the word soon went up and down,
Through all the lands of Fyvie,
That she was dead and buried,
Even Tiftie's bonny Annie.
44*. flower's.
After 46 :
46 1 . O woe betide Mill.
Her mother grieves both air and late,
Her sisters, cause they scornd her ;
Surely her brother doth mourn and grieve
For the cruel usage he 'd givn her.
But now alas ! it was too late,
For they could not recal her ;
Through life unhappy is their fate
Because they did controul her.
47 1 . hame. 47 8 . love has died. 48 2 . Where.
48 4 . parted last with Annie. After 49 :
Ye parents grave who children have,
In crushing them be canny,
Lest when too late you do repent ;
Remember Tiftie's Annie.
234
CHARLIE MAC PHERSON
A. < Charlie MacPherson,' Harris MS., fol. 23 b.
B. Charlie M'Pherson,' Buchan's Ballads of the North
of Scotland, I, 85.
CHARLIE MACPHERSON comes to Kinaldie
with a large party of men from the West Isle
to take away Helen, whom he has long
courted, A 1, 4. Helen's mother is obliged
to admit them. When her daughter is asked
for, MacPherson is told that she has gone to
Whitehouse, to marry auld Gairn, A 5 (Dal-
gairn, B 12). The party go on to White-
house, where indeed they find Helen, and ev
erybody there calling her bride. We expect
a collision, and judging by A 8 there was one,
with the bride wishing well to the assailants.
But in B (where there is no hint that Helen
favors her irregular suitor), MacPherson com
ports himself very mildly, and only wishes, as
he goes off, that his heavy heart may light on
Whitehouse of Croniar.
The ballad was known to Mrs Brown of
234. CHARLIE MACPHERSON
309
Falkland.* She gives it the title of 'The
Carrying-off of the Heiress of Kinady,' from
which it is warrantable to conclude that Mac-
Pherson was so far successful.
There are several Kinaldies and more than
one Whitehouse. The Kinaldie which we
have to do with here is a small place in the
parish of Logie-Coldstone, Cromar. Milton
of Whitehouse is about a mile to the south of
Kinaldie, and seems to be the place intended
by Whitehouse o Cromar, B 18, 20. Brae-
mar, A 7 1 , should then be Cromar.
Harris MS., fol. 23 b ; from Mrs Harris's singing.
1 CHARLIE MACPHERSON, that braw Hieland
lad[die],
On Valentine's even cam doun to Kinaltie,
Courtit Burd Hellen, baith wakin an sleepin :
* Oh, fair fa them has my love in keepin ! '
2 Charlie MacPherson cam doun the dykeside,
Baith Milton an Muirton an a' bein his guide ;
Baith Milton an Muirton an auld Water Nairn,
A' gaed wi him, for to be his warn.
3 Whan he cam to the hoose o Kinaltie,
' Open your yetts, mistress, an lat us come in !
Open your yetts, mistress, an lat us come in !
For here's a commission come frae your gude-
son.
4 ' Madam,' says Charlie, ' whare [i]s your doch-
ter?
Mony time have I come to Kinatie an soclit
her;
Noo maun she goe wi me mony a mile,
Because I 've brocbt mony men frae the West
Isle.'
5 ' As for my dochter, she has gane abroad,
You '11 no get her for her tocher gude ;
She 's on to Whitehouse, to marry auld Gairn :
Oh, fair fa them that wait on my bairn ! '
6 Charlie MacPherson gaed up the dykeside,
Baith Muirtoun an Milton an a' bein his guide ;
Baith Muirton an Milton an auld Water Nairn,
A' gaed wi him, for to be his warn.
7 Whan he cam to the hoose in Braemar,
Sae weel as he kent that his Nellie was there !
An Nellie was sittin upon the bed-side,
An every one there was ca'ing her, bride.
8 The canles gaed oot, they waurna weel licht,
Swords an spears they glancet fou bricht ;
Sae laith as she was her true-love to beguile,
Because he brocht mony men frae the West
Isle.
* "I have lately, by rummaging in a by-corner of my
memory, found some Aberdeenshire ballads which totally
escaped me before. They are of a different class from those
I sent you, not near so ancient, but may be about a century
ago. I cannot boast much of their poetical merits, but the
family incidents upon which they are founded, the local
allusions which they contain, may perhaps render them curi
ous and not uninteresting to many people. They are as
follows : 1st, ' The Baron of Braichly ' [No 203] ; 2d, ' The
Lass of Philorth [No 239 ?] ; ' 3d, ' The Tryal of the Laird
of Gycht ' [No 209] ; 4th, ' The Death of the Countess of
Aboyne' [No 235] ; 5[th], 'The Carrying-off of the Heir-
ess of Kinady/ All these I can recollect pretty exactly.
I never saw any of them either in print or manuscript, but
have kept them entirely from hearing them sung when a
child." Letter to Alexander Eraser Tytler, December 23,
1800.
'Charlie MacPherson' should have been put with Nos
221-5.
310 334. CHARLIE MAC PHERSON
B 10 ' Now she 's gae wi me for mony a mile,
~ . , T, ii j * Before that I return unto the West Isle.'
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 85.
1 CHABLLE M'PHERSON, that brisk Highland 11 < My daughter 's not at home, she is gone
laddie, abroad ;
At Valentine even he came to Kinadie : Ye darena now steal her, her tocher is guid.
2 To court her Burd Helen, baith waking and 12 ' My daughter 's in Whitehouse, wi Mistress
sleeping ; Dalgairn ;
Joy be wi them that has her a keeping ! Joy be wi them that waits on my bairn ! '
3 Auldtown and Muirtown, likewise Billy Beg, 13 The swords an the targe that hang about
All gaed wi Charlie, for to be his guide. Charlie,
They had sic a glitter, and set him sae rarelie!
4 Jamie M'Robbie, likewise Wattie Nairn,
All gaed wi Charlie, for to be his warran. 14 They had sic a glitter, and kiest sic a glamour.
They showed mair light than they had in the
5 When they came to Kinadie, they knockd at chamour.
the door ;
When nae ane woud answer, they gaed a loud 15 To Whitehouse he went, and when he came
roar. there
Eight sair was his heart when he went up the
6 ' Ye '11 open the door, mistress, and lat us come stair.
in;
For tidings we 've brought frae your appearant 16 Burd Helen was sitting by Thomas' bed-side,
guid-son.' And all in the house were addressing her, bride.
7 For to defend them, she was not able ; 17 ' O farewell now, Helen, I '11 bid you adieu ;
They bangd up the stair, sat down at the table. Is this a' the comfort I 'm getting frae you ?
8 ' Ye '11 eat and drink, gentlemen, and eat at 18 ' It was never my intention ye shoud be the
your leisure ; waur ;
Nae thing 's disturb you, take what 's your My heavy heart light on Whitehouse o Cromar !
pleasure.'
19 ' For you I hae travelled full mony lang mile,
9 ' O madam,' said he, ' I 'm come for your Awa to Kinadie, far frae the West Isle.
daughter ;
Lang hae I come to Kinadie and there sought 20 ' But now ye are married, and I am the waur ;
her. My heavy heart light on Whitehouse o Cro
mar ! '
A. Air, Whilk o ye lasses. B. Printed in stanzas of four short lines.
235. THE EAKL OF ABOYNE
311
235
THE EARL OF ABOYNE
A. The Earl of Aboyne,' Kinloch MSS, V, 351. H. ' Bonny Peggy Irvine,' Campbell MSS, II, 105.
B. The Earl of Aboyne.' a. Buchan's Gleanings, I. ' Earl of Aboyne,' or, ' Bonny Peggy Irvine,' Moth-
p. 71. b. Gibb MS., p. 29, No 5. erwell's MS., p. 128.
C. Skene MS., p. 58. J. 'Earl of Aboyne,' or, 'Bonny Peggy Irvine,' Moth-
erwell's MS., p. 135.
D. ' The Earl o Boyn,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for
Border Minstrelsy," No 17, Abbotsford. K. From the recitation of Miss Fanny Walker, two
stanzas.
E. ' Earl of Aboyne,' Harris MS., fol. 21 b.
L. ' Earl of Aboyne,' Motherwell's Note-Book, p. 54,
P. 'The Earl of Aboyne,' MotherwelPs MS., p. 635. one stanza.
G. Motherwell's MS., p. 131.
THE copy in The New Deeside Guide, by
James Brown [Joseph Robertson], Aber
deen, 1832, p. 26, is B a with a few editorial
changes. It is repeated in The Deeside
Guide, Aberdeen, 1889, with slight variations.
The copy in Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs,
I, 22, is " given from the way the editor has
heard it sung, assisted by Mr Buchan's copy
in his Gleanings ; " in fact, it is B a with un
important variations, which must be treated
as arbitrary. Smith's New History of Aber-
deenshire, I, 207, repeats Aytoun, nearly, and
Aytoun, II, 309, 1859, B a, nearly.
None of the versions here given go beyond
1800. Mrs Brown of Falkland, in an un-
printed letter to Alexander Fraser Tytler,
December 23, 1800, offers him * The Death of
the Countess of Aboyne,' which she had heard
sung when a child : see p. 309, note.
A-I. The Earl of Aboyne (who is kind but
careless, B) goes to London without his wife,
and stays overlong. Information comes by
letter that he has married there, B, or that he
is in love with another woman, D. Word is
brought that he is on his way home, and very '
near. His lady orders stable - grooms, min
strels, cooks, housemaids, to bestir themselves,
VOL. IV. 40
A-B, I, K, makes a handsome toilet, A, B,
D, E, P, and calls for wine to drink his
health, B, C, D, G. She conies down to the
close to take him from his horse, B, C, D, P,
and bids him thrice welcome. " Kiss me then
for my coming," says the earl, and surprises
his wife, and all of us, by adding that the mor
row would have been his wedding-day, if he
had stayed in London. The lady gives him an
angry and disdainful answer. This he resents,
and orders his men to mount again ; he will
go first to the Bog of Gight to see the Mar
quis of Huntly, and then return to London.
The lady attempts, through a servant, to get
permission to accompany him, but is repulsed,
A, B, C, D (misplaced in G). According
to A, C, D 24, P, the countess languished for
about a twelvemonth, and then died of a bro
ken heart ; but D 25, G, H, make her death
ensue before or shortly after the earl's arrival
at the Bog o Gight. Aboyne is very much
distressed at the tidings ; he would rather
have lost all his lands than Margaret Irvine,
C, D, E, G, H. He goes to the burial with a
train of gentlemen, all in black from the hose
to the hat, A, C (horse to the hat, B, E, F).
J. No Earl of Aboyne ever married an Ir-
312
235. THE EARL OP ABOYNE
vine, and no Earl of Aboyne would have med
itated open bigamy, and have informed his
wife while receiving her welcome home how
near he had come to perpetrating the same.
The historical difficulty and the practical ab
surdity are removed by assuming that J alone
has preserved (or restored) the true and ori
ginal story, and that all the other copies, be
ginning with Mrs Brown's, which calls the
lady the Countess of Aboyne, have gone
wrong. In J, Peggy Irvine is only Aboyne's
love, I 8 , and Aboyne is her true lover, 8 8 .
Aboyne was careless and kind, and kind to
every woman, and Aboyne staid over long in
London, A, and the ladies they did invite him,
H. Under these circumstances, some Aboyne
may have been on the brink of deserting a
Peggy Irvine to whom he was engaged.
Aboyne is Boyn, D, Boon, H ; Irvine is
Harboun, Harvey, D, Ewan, B, K; Bog o
Gight is Bogs o the Geich, D, Bogs o the
Gay, Q, Bughts o the Gight, H, Bog o Keith,
J. The Bog o Gight is made Aboyne's prop
erty in D, Q-, H. The Marquis of Huntly is
blamed by Aboyne for inciting him to unkind-
ness, D 28, G 11.
Kinloch MSS, V, 351 ; in the handwriting of John Hill
Burton.
1 THE Earl of Aboyne he 's courteous and kind,
He 's lynd to every woman,
And the Earl of Aboyne he 's courteous and
kind,
But he stays ower lang in London.
2 The ladie she stood on her stair-head,
Beholding his grooms a coming ;
She knew by their livery and raiment so rare
That their last voyage was from London.
3 ' My groms all, ye '11 be well in call,
Hold all the stables shining ;
With a bretther o degs ye '11 clear up my nags,
Sin my gude Lord Aboyne is a coining.
4 ' My minstrels all, be well in call,
Hold all my galleries ringing ;
With music springs ye '11 try well your strings,
Sin my gude lord 's a coming.
5 ' My cooks all, be well in call,
Wi pots and spits well ranked ;
And nothing shall ye want that ye call for,
Sin my gude Lord Aboyne 's a coming.
6 ' My chamber-maids, ye '11 dress up my beds,
Hold all my rooms in shining ;
With Dantzic waters ye '11 sprinkle my walls,
Sin my good lord 's a coming.'
7 Her shoes was of the small cordain,
Her stockings silken twisting ;
Cambrick so clear was the pretty lady's smock.
And her stays o the braided sattin.
8 Her coat was of the white sarsenent,
Set out wi silver quiltin.
And her gown was o the silk damask,
Set about wi red gold waiting.
9 Her hair was like the threads of gold,
Wi the silk and sarsanet shining,
Wi her fingers sae white, and the gold rings
sae grite,
To welcome her lord from London.
10 Sae stately she steppit down the stair,
And walkit to meet him coming ;
Said, O ye 'r welcome, my bonny lord,
Ye 'r thrice welcome home from London !
11 * If this be so that ye let me know,
Ye '11 come kiss me for my coming,
For the morn should hae been my bonny wed
ding-day
Had I stayed the night in London.'
12 Then she turned her about wi an angry look,
O for such an a sorry woman !
' If this be so that ye let me know,
Gang kiss your ladies in London.'
13 Then he looked ower his left shoulder
To the worthie companie wi him ;
235. THE EARL OP ABOYNE
313
Says he, Isna this an unworthy welcome
The we 've got, comin from London !
14 ' Get yer horse in call, my nobles all,
And I 'm sorry for yer coming,
But we '11 horse, and awa to the bonny
Gight,
And then we '11 go on to London.'
15 ' If this be Thomas, as they call you,
You '11 see if he '11 hae me with him ;
And nothing shall he be troubled with me
But myself and my waiting-woman.'
16 ' I 've asked it already, lady,' he says,
' And your humble servant, madam ;
But one single mile he winna lat you ride
Wi his company and him to London.'
17 A year and mare she lived in care,
And doctors wi her dealin,
And with a crack her sweet heart brack,
And the letters is on to London.
18 When the letters he got, they were all sealed
in black,
And he fell in a grievous weeping ;
He said, She is dead whom I loved best
If I had but her heart in keepin.
19 Then fifteen o the finest lords
That London could afford him,
From their hose to their hat, they were all
clad in black,
For the sake of her corpse, Margaret Irvine.
20 The furder he gaed, the sorer he wept,
Come keping her corpse, Margaret Irvine,
Until that he came to the yetts of Aboyne,
Where the corpse of his lady was lying.
B
a. Buchan's Gleanings, p. 71, 1825. b. Gibb MS., p. 29,
No 5, 1882, as learned by Mrs Gibb, senior, "fifty years
ago," in Strachan, Kincardineshire.
1 THE Earl o Aboyne to old England 's gone,
An a his nobles wi him ;
Sair was the heart his fair lady had
Because she wanna wi him.
2 As she was a walking in her garden green,
Amang her gentlewomen,
Sad was the letter that came to her,
Her lord was wed in Lunan.
3 ' Is this true, my Jean,' she says,
' My lord is wed in Lunan ? '
' no, O no, my lady gay,
For the Lord o Aboyne is comin.'
4 When she was looking oer her castell-wa,
She spied twa boys comin :
' What news, what news, my bonny boys ?
What news hae ye frae Lunan ? '
5 ' Good news, good news, my lady gay,
The Lord o Aboyne is comin ;
He 's scarcely twa miles frae the place,
Ye '11 hear his bridles ringin.'
6 ' O my grooms all, be well on call,
An hae your stables shinin ;
Of corn an hay spare nane this day,
Sin the Lord o Aboyne is comin.
7 ' My minstrels all, be well on call,
And set your harps a tunin,
Wi the finest springs, spare not the strings,
Sin the Lord o Aboyne is comin.
8 ' My cooks all, be well on call,
An had your spits a runnin,
Wi the best o roast, an spare nae cost,
Sin the Lord o Aboyne is comin.
9 ' My maids all, be well on call,
An hae your flours a shinin ;
Cover oer the stair wi herbs sweet an fair,
Cover the flours wi linen,
An dress my bodie in the finest array,
Sin the Lord o Aboyne is comin.'
10 Her gown was o the guid green silk,
Fastned wi red silk trimmin ;
Her apron was o the guid black gaze,
Her hood o the finest linen.
11 Sae stately she stept down the stair,
To look gin he was comin ;
314
235. THE EARL OP ABOYNE
She called on Kate, her chamer-maid,
An Jean, her gentlewoman,
To bring her a bottle of the best wine,
To drink his health that 's corain.
12 She 's gaen to the close, taen him frae 's horse,
Says, You 'r thrice welcome fra Lunan !
'If I be as welcome hauf as ye say,
Come kiss me for my comin,
For tomorrow should been my wedding-day
Gin I 'de staid on langer in Lunan.'
13 She turned about wi a disdainful look
To Jean, her gentlewoman :
' If tomorrow should been your wedding-day,
Go kiss your whores in Lunan.'
14 ' O my nobles all, now turn your steeds,
I 'm sorry for my comin ;
For the night we '11 alight at the bonny
Gight,
Tomorrow tak horse for Lunan.'
15 ' O Thomas, my man, gae after him,
An spier gin I '11 win wi him ; '
' Yes, madam, I hae pleaded for thee,
But a mile ye winna win wi him.'
16 Here and there she ran in care,
An doctors wi her dealin ;
But in a crak her bonny heart brak,
And letters gaed to Lunan.
17 When he saw the letter sealed wi black,
He fell on 's horse a weeping :
' If she be dead that I love best,
She has my heart a keepin.
18 ' My nobles all, ye '11 turn your steeds,
That comely face [I] may see then ;
Frae the horse to the hat, a' must be black,
And mourn for bonny Peggy Irvine.'
19 When they came near to the place,
They heard the dead-bell knellin,
And aye the turnin o the bell
Said, Come bury bonny Peggy Irvine.
Skene MS., p. 58 ; taken down in the North of Scotland,
1802-3.
1 THE Earl of Aboyne he 's careless an kin,
An he is new come frae London ;
He sent his man him before,
To tell o his hame-comin.
2 First she called on her chamberline,
Sin on Jeanie, her gentlewoman :
' Bring me a glass o the best claret win,
To drink my good lord's well-hame-comin.
3 ' My servants all, be ready at a call.
For the Lord of Aboyne is comin
4 ' My cooks all, be ready at a call
Wi the very best of meat,
For the Lord of Aboyne is comin.
5 ' My maids all, be ready at a call,
The rooms I 've the best all to be dressd,
For the Lord of Aboyn is comin.'
6 She did her to the closs to take him fra his
horse,
An she welcomed him frae London :
'Ye'r welcome, my good lord, frae Lon
don!'
7 ' An I be sae welcome, he says,
' Ye '11 kiss me for my comin,
For the morn sud hae bin my weddin-day
Gif I had staid in London.'
8 She turned her about wi a disdainfull look,
Dear, she was a pretty woman !
' Gif the morn shud hae bin yer weddin-day,
Ye may kiss your whores in London.'
9 .
235. THE EARL OP ABOYNE
315
' So I shall, madam, an ye 's hae na mare to
sey,
For I '11 dine wi the Marquis of Huntley.'
10 She did her to his servant-man,
I wat they caed him Peter Gordon :
' Ye will ask my good lord if he will let me
Wi him a single mile to ride [to London].'
11 ' Ye need not, madam,
I have asked him already ;
He will not let ye a single mile ride,
For he is to dine with the Marquis o Huntly.'
12 She called on her chamber-maid,
Sin on Jean, her gentlewoman :
' Ge make my bed, an tye up my head,
Woe 's me for his hame-comin ! '
13 She lived a year and day, wi mickle grief and
wae,
The doctors were wi her dealin ;
Within a crack, her heart it brack,
An the letters they went to London.
14 He gae the table wi his foot,
An koupd it wi his knee,
Gared silver cup an easer dish
In flinders flee.
15 . . ;.'...
' I wad I had lost a' the lands o Aboyne
Or I had lost bonny Margat Irvine.'
16 He called on his best serving-man,
I wat the caed him Peter Gordon :
' Gae get our horses saddled wi speed,
Woe 's me for our hame-comin !
17 . . . ...
' For we will a' be in black, f ra the hose to
the hat,
Woe 's me for bonny Margat Irvine !
18 ' We must to the North, to bury her corps,
Alas for our hame-comin !
I rather I had lost a' the lands o Aboyne
Or I had lost bonny Margat Irvine.'
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
1 7 ; in the handwriting of Kichard Heber.
1 THE guid Earl o Boyn 's awa to Lonon gone,
An a' his gallan grooms wie him,
But, for a' the ribbons that hing at her hat,
He has left his fair lady behind him.
2 He had not been in London toun
A month but barely one, O,
Till the letters an the senes they came to her
hand
That he was in love with another woman.
3 ' O what think ye o this, my bonny boy ? ' she
says,
' What think ye o my lord at London ?
What think ye o this, my bonny boy ? ' she
says,
' He 's in love wie another woman.'
4 That lady lookd out at her closet-window,
An saw the gallan grooms coming ;
'What think ye o this, my bonny boy?' she
says,
' For yonder the gallan grooms coming.'
5 Stately, stately steppit she doun
To welcome the gallan grooms from London :
' Ye 're welcome, ye 're welcome, gallan grooms
a';
Is the guid Earl o Boyn a coming ?
6 ' What news, what news, my gallan grooms a' ?
What news have ye from London ?
What news, what news, my gallan grooms a' ?
Is the guid Earl o Boyn a-coming ? '
7 ' No news, no news,' said they gallan grooms a',
' No news hae we from London ;
No news, no news,' said the gallan grooms a',
' But the guid Earl o Boyn 's a coming,
An he 's not two miles from the palace-gates,
An he 's fast coming hame from London.'
8 ' Ye stable-grooms a', be ready at the ca,
An have a' your stables in shening,
316
235. THE EARL OF ABOYNE
An sprinkle them over wie some costly water,
Since the guid Earl o Boyn 's a coming.
9 ' Ye pretty cooks a', be ready at the ca,
An have a' your spits in turning,
An see that ye spare neither cost nor pains,
Since the guid Earl o Boyn 's a coming.
10 ' Ye servant-maids, ye '11 trim up the beds,
An wipe a' the rooms oer wie linnen,
An put a double daisy at every stair-head,
Since the guid Earl o Boyn 's a coming.
11 ' Ye '11 call to me my chambermaid,
An Jean, my gentlewoman,
An they '11 dress me in some fine array,
Since the good Earl o Boyn 's a coming.'
12 Her stockens were o the good fine silk,
An her shirt it was o the camric,
An her goun it was a' giltit oer,
An she was a' hung oer wie rubbies.
13 That lady lookd out at her closet-window,
An she thought she saw him coming :
' Go fetch'to me some fine Spanish wine,
That I may drink his health that 's a com
ing.'
14 Stately, stately steppit she doun
To welcome her lord from London,
An as she walked through the close
She 's peed him from his horse.
15 ' Ye 're welcome, ye 're welcome, my dearest
dear,
Ye 're three times welcome from London ! '
4 If I be as welcome as ye say,
Ye '11 kiss me for my coming ;
Come kiss me, come kiss me, my dearest dear,
Come kiss me, my bonny Peggy Harboun.'
16 O she threw her arms aroun his neck,
To kiss him for his coming :
* If I had stayed another day,
I 'd been in love wie another woman. '
17 She turned her about wie a very stingy look,
She was as sorry as any woman ;
She threw a napkin outroure her face,
Says, Gang kiss your whore at London.
18 ' Ye '11 mount an go, my gallan grooms a',
Ye '11 mount and back again to London ;
Had I known this to be the answer my Meg
gy 's gein me,
I had stayed some longer at London.'
19 ' Go, Jack, my livery boy,' she says,
' Go ask if he '11 take me wie him ;
An he shall hae nae cumre o me
But mysel an my waiting-woman.'
20 ' O the laus o London the 're very severe,
They are not for a woman ;
An ye are too low in coach for to ride,
I 'in your humble servant, madam.
21 ' My friends they were a' angry at me
For marrying ane o the house o Harvey ;
And ye are too low in coach for to ride,
I 'm your humble servant, lady.
22 ' Go saddle for me my steeds,' he says,
' Go saddle them soon and softly,
For I maun awa to the Bogs o the Geich,
An speak wi the Marquess o Huntly.'
23 The guid Earl o Boyn 's awa to London gone,
An a' his gallan gro[o]ms wie him ;
But his lady fair he 's left behind
Both a sick an a sorry woman.
24 O many were the letters she after him did
send,
A' the way back again to London,
An in less than a twelvemonth her heart it did
break,
For the loss o her lord at London.
25 He was not won well to the Bogs o the Geich,
Nor his horses scarcely batit,
Till the letters and the senes they came to his
hand
That his lady was newly strickit.
26 ' is she dead ? or is she sick ?
O woe 's me for my coming !
I 'd rather a lost a' the Bogs o the Geich
Or I 'd lost my bonny Peggy Harboun.'
27 He took the table wi his foot,
Made a' the room to tremble :
' I 'd rather a lost a' the Bogs o the Geich
Or I 'd lost my bonny Peggy Harboun.
28 ' Oh an alas ! an O woe 's me !
An wo to the Marquess o Huntly,
235. THE EARL OF ABOYNE
317
Wha causd the Earl o Boyn prove sae very 29 There were fifteen o the bravest gentlemen,
unkin An the bravest o the lords o London,
To a true an a beautifu lady ! ' They went a' to attend her burial-day,
But the Earl o Boyn could not go wi them.
E
Harris MS., fol. 21 b ; from the recitation of Mrs Harris.
1 * MY maidens fair, yoursels prepare.'
2 You may weel knaw by her hair, wi the dia
monds sae rare,
That the Earl of Aboyne was comin.
3 ' My minstrels all, be at my call,
Haud a' your rooms a ringin,
For the Earl of Aboyne is comin.'
4 ' Tomorrow soud hae been my bonnie waddin-
day,
If I had staid in London.'
5 She turned her aboot wi an angry look,
An sic an angry woman !
'Gin tomorrow soud hae been your bonnie
waddin-day,
Gae back to your miss in Lunnon.'
6 For mony a day an year that lady lived in care,
An doctors wi her dealin,
Till just in a crack her 'very heart did brak,
An her letters went on to Lunnon.
7 There waur f our-an-twenty o the noblest lords
That Lonnon could aford him,
A' dead in black frae the saidle to the hat,
To convey the corpse o Peggy Ewan.
8 ' I 'd rather hae lost a' the lands o Aboyne
Than lost my pretty Peggy Ewan.'
MotherwelPs MS., p. 635 ; "from the recitation of Marga
ret Black, wife of Archie Black, sailor in Ayr, a native of
Aberdeenshire."
1 THE Earl of Aboyne is to London gane,
And a' his nobles with him ;
He 's left his lady him behin,
He 's awa, to remain in Lundon.
2 She 's called upon her waiting-maid
To busk her in her claithin ;
Her sark was o cambrick very fine,
And her bodice was the red buckskin.
3 Her stockings were o silk sae fine,
And her shoon o the fine cordan ;
Her coat was o the guid green silk,
Turnit up wi a siller warden.
4 Her goun was also o the silk,
Turned up wi a siller warden,
And stately tripped she doun the stair,
As she saw her gude lord comin.
5 She gaed thro the close and grippit his horse,
Saying, Ye 're welcome hame frae London !
f Gin that be true, come kiss me now,
Come kiss me for my coming.
6 ' For blythe and cantie may ye be,
And thank me for my comin,
For the morn would hae been my wedding-day
Had I remained in London.'
7 She turnd her richt and round about,
She was a waef u woman :
'Gin the morn would hae been your weddin-day,
Gae kiss your whores in London.'
8 He turned him richt and round about,
He was sorry for his comin :
' Loup on your steeds, ye nobles a',
The morn we '11 dine in London.'
318
235. THE EARL OP ABOYNE
9 She lived a year in meikle wac,
And the doctors dealin wi her ;
At lang and last her heart it brast
And the letters gade to London.
10 And when he saw the seals o black,
He fell in a deadly weeping ;
He said, She 's dead whom I loed 1 cst,
And she had my heart in keeping.
11 ' Loup on your steeds, ye nobles a',
I 'm sorry for our comin ;
Frae our horse to our hat, we '11 gae in black,
And we '11 murn for Peggy Irwine.'
12 They rade on but stap or stay
Till they came to her father's garden,
Whare fifty o the bravest lords
Were convoying Peggy Irwine.
G
Motherwell's MS., p. 131.
1 THE Earl Aboyne to London has gane,
And all his nobles with him ;
For a' the braw ribbands he wore at his hat,
He has left his lady behind him.
2 She 's called on her little foot-page,
And Jean, her gentlewoman ;
Said, Fill to me a full pint of wine,
And 1*11 drink it at my lord's coming.
3 ' You 're welcome, you 're welcome, you 're wel
come,' she says,
' You 're welcome home from London ! '
'If I be welcome as you now say,
Come kiss me, my bonnie Peggy Irvine.
4 Come kiss me, come kiss me, my lady,' he
says,
1 Come kiss me for my coming,
For the morn should hae been my wedding-day,
Had I staid any longer in London.'
5 She turned about with an angry look,
Said, Woe 's me for your coming I
If the morn should hae been your wedding-
day,
Go back to your whore in London.
6 He 's called on his little foot-page,
Said, Saddle both sure and swiftly,
And I '1 away to the Bogs o the Gay,
And speak wi the Marquis o Huntly.
7 She has called on her little foot-page,
Said, See if he '11 take me with him ;
And he shall hae nae mair cumber o me
But nysell and my servant-woman.
8 ' O London streets they are too strait,
They are not for a woman,
And it is too low to ride in coach wi me
With your humble servant-woman.'
9 He had not been at the Bogs o the Gay,
Nor yet his horse was baited,
Till a boy with a letter came to his hand
That his lady was lying streekit.
10 ' O woe ! O woe ! O woe ! ' he says,
' O woe 's me for my coming !
I had rather lost the Bogs o the Gay
Or I 'd lost my bonny Peggy Irvine.
11 ' O woe ! O woe ! O woe ! * he said,
*O woe to the "Marquis o Huntly,
Gard the Earl of Aboyne prove very unkind
To a good and a dutiful lady ! '
Campbell M8S, II, 105.
1 THE Earl of Boon 's to London gone,
And all his merry men with him ;
For a' the ribbonds hang at his horse's main.
He has left his lady behind him.
2 He had not been a night in town,
Nor a day into the city,
235. THE EARL OP ABOYNE
319
Until that the letters they came to him,
And the ladies they did invite him.
3 His lady has lookit oer her left shoulder,
To see if she saw him coming,
And then she saw her ain good lord,
Just newly come from London.
4 ' Come kiss me, my dear, come kiss me,' he
said,
' Come kiss me for my coming,
For if I had staid another day in town
Tomorrow I would hae been married in Lun-
non.'
5 She turned about wi a very saucy look,
As saucy as eer did a woman ;
Says, If a' be true that I 've heard of you,
You may go back and kiss your whores in
Lunnon.
6 ' Go call on Jack, my waiting-man,' he said,
* Go saddle and make him ready ;
For I maun away to the Bughts o Gight,
To speak to. the Marquess of Huntly.'
7 He had not been at the Bughts of the Gight,
Nor the horses yet weel bated,
Until that the letters came ta him
That his lady was newly streeket.
8 ' Wae 's me, my dear ! wae 's me ! ' he said,
* It waes me for my coming ;
For I wad rather lost a' the Bughts o the
Gight
Or I had lost my bonny Peggy Irvine/
Mother-well's MS., p. 128.
1 THE Earl of Aboyne to London has gone,
And all his nobles with him ;
For all the braw ribbands he wore at his hat,
He has left his lady behind him.
2 She has to her high castle gane,
To see if she saw him coming ;
And who did she spy but her own servant Jack,
Coming riding home again from London.
3 'What news, what news, my own servant
Jack?
What news have you got from London ? '
' Good news, good news, my lady,' he says,
' For the Earl of Aboyne he is coming.'
4 She has to her kitchen-maid gane :
' Set your pots and your pans all a boiling ;
Have every thing fine for gentry to dine,
For the Earl of Aboyne he is coming.
5 ' Stable-grooms all, pray be well employed,
Set your stable-bells all a ringing ;
Let your hecks be overlaid with the finest of
good hay,
For the Earl of Aboyne he is coming.'
6 She has to her low gates gane,
To see if she saw him coming,
And long seven miles before they came to town
She heard their bridles ringing.
7 ' Come kiss me, come kiss me, madam,' he says,
' Come kiss me for my coming,
For the morn should hae been my wedding-day
Had I staid any longer in London.'
8 She 's turned about with an angry look,
Says, Woe 's me for thy coming !
If the morn should hae been your wedding-day,
Go back and kiss your whores in London.
9 They 've turned their horses' heads around,
Their faces all for London ;
With their hands to their hats they all rode off,
And they 're all away to London.
VOL. rv.
41
235. THE KARL OF ABOYNE
Motherwell's MS., p. 135 ; from the recitation of Widow
Nicol, of Paisley.
1 THE Earl of Aboyne has up to London gone,
And all his nobles with him,
And three broad letters he sent into his love
He would wed another woman in London.
2 She has turned the honey month about,
To see if he was coming,
And lang three miles ere he came to the town
She heard his bridle ringing.
3 She 's went down unto the close and she 's taen
him from his horse,
Says, Ye 're welcome home from London !
'If I be as welcome, dear Peggy, as you say,
Come kiss me for my coming.
4 ' Come kiss me, come kiss me, dear Peggy,' he
said,
' Come kiss me for my coming,
For tomorrow should have been my wedding-
day
Had 'I tarried anyjonger in London.'
5 She has turned herself round about,
And she was an angry woman :
* If tomorrow should have been your wedding-
day,
Tou may kiss with your sweethearts in Lon
don.'
6 ' Go saddle me my steed,' he said,
' Saddle and make him ready ;
For I must away to the bonny Bog of Keith,
For to visit the Marquis of Huntley.'
7 ' Go ask him, go ask, dear Thomas,' she said,
' Go ask if he '11 take me with him ; '
1 1 've asked him once, and I '11 ask him no
more,
For ye '11 never ride a mile in his company.'
8 ' Go make to me my bed,' she said,
' Make it soft and narrow ;
For since my true lover has slighted me so,
I will die for him ere morrow.'
9 She has called her waiting-man,
And Jean her gentlewoman :
' Go bring to me a glass of red wine,
For I 'm as sick as any woman.'
10 The bed it was not made nor well laid down,
Nor yet the curtains drawn on,
Till stays and gown and all did burst,
And it 's alace for bonny Peggy Irvine !
11 The Earl of Aboyne was not at the Bog of
Keith,
Nor met wi the Marquis of Huntley,
Till three broad letters were sent after him
That his pretty Peggy Irvine had left him.
12 He gave such a rap on the table where he sat
It made all the room for to tremble :
'I would rather I had lost all the rents of
Aboyne
Than have lost my pretty Peggy Irvine.'
Communicated by Mr Alexander Laing ; from the recita
tion of Miss Fanny Walker, of Mount Pleasant, near New-
burgh-on-Tay.
1 THE Earl o Aboyne is awa to Lunnon ganc,
An he 's taen Joannan wi him,
An it ill be Yule ere he come again ;
But he micht hae taen his bonnie Peggie
Ewan.
2 Cook-maidens all, be ready at my call,
Hae a' your pats an pans a-reekin ;
For the finest o flowrs, gae through your
bowrs,
For the Earl o Aboyne 's a comin.
235. THE EARL OF ABOYNE
L
Motherwell's Note-Book, p. 54. " An old woman (native
of Baufahire) sings ' The Earl of Aboyne,' beginning : "
THE Lord Aboyn 's to London gone,
And his hail court wi him ;
Better he had staid at hame,
Or taen his lady wi him.
321
A. 3*. Perhaps bretlher a : not understood by me
in either case, clear may be clean.
20 2 . keping. Glossed "meeting" in a note,
but the line is not intelligible to me, and
does not seem to be consistent with what fol
lows.
B. a. 9 8 . herbs sweet air. Robertson, New Deeside
Guide, prints herbs sweet an fair.
12 6 . Robertson prints ony langer.
b. 1. The Earl o Aboyne he 's courteous an kind,
He 's kind to every woman,
An he has left the castle o Aboyne
An gane to dwell in Lunan ;
An sair was the heart his lady had,
Because she wan na wi him.
2. As she was walking in her garden green,
Alang wi her gentlewoman,
There was a letter brocht to her
That her lord was wed in London.
3. Wanting. 4 a . saw twa bonny boys.
4*. bring ye. 5 1 . ye lady.
5 2 . For the Earl o. 5 s '*. Wanting.
6 1 . all wanting. 6 4 , 8 4 , 9 e . Earl for Lord.
7, 8 2 - 3 , O 2 - 5 , 10, II 1 - 2 . Wanting.
9 1 . maidens.
II 5 . Gae bring me a pint o the gude red wine.
12 a . Says, Ye 're welcome hame.
12 8 . welcome, he cried, as.
12 6 . wad hae been. 12 6 . only langer.
13 1 . her about wi a scornfu.
13 8 . suld hae been his.
13 4 . He may kiss his miss in.
14 1 . My merry men a'.
14 2 . I 'm wae at heart for.
14". The nicht we '11 licht.
14 4 . An the morn tak.
15, 16 1 - 2 , 17 4 , 18 2 . Wanting.
18 1 . My merry men a' now turn.
19 1 . near to bonny Aboyne. 19 8 . the tollin.
a may have been derived from a printed copy,
and b learned from the same.
C. The latter half of the Skene MS. is very care
lessly copied. Here, as in other places,
stanzas are not separated, lines are improp
erly divided, and there are omissions which
are in no way indicated.
1*. man hin | Before to, etc.
D. 4 4 . yonder 's ? But yonder may = yonder are.
14 4 . She speed.
G. 7, 8 are 2, 3 in the MS.
H. 7 4 . streeket. MS., perhaps, struket.
I. I 1 , 3 4 . of is of later insertion.
6 s . came hame, originally ; hame is erased
and to town written above.
J. 2 1 . / do not understand turned the honey month.
3 1 . taen from him.
3 8 . as you say : originally written he says.
7 1 . him struck out after the second ask.
322
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
236
THE LAIRD O DRUM
A. a. Kinloch MSS, V, 9. b. ' Laird of Drum,' Kin-
loch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 199.
101 ; Dixon, Scottish Traditional Versions of An
cient Ballads, p. 53, Percy Society, vol. xvii. o. The
New Deeside Guide, by James Brown, [1832,] p. 11.
d. Gibb MS., p. 21.
B. ' The Laird of Doune ' [miswritten for Drum],
Skene MS., p. 78.
E. The Laird of Drum,' MS., inserted in Dr Joseph
C. MS. copy formerly in the possession of Sir Walter Robertson's interleaved copy of The New Deeside
Scott.
Guide, Aberdeen [1832].
D. a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, H, F. a. ' The Ladye o the Drum,' Loudon MS., p. 7. b.
194. b. 'The Laird of Drum,' Buchan's MSS, II, The Laird o the Drum,' Macmath MS., p. 13.
FIRST taken into a collection by Kinloch,
1827, who remarks that the ballad had been
printed as a broadside in the North, and was
extremely popular. B, the oldest version
that has been recovered, was written down in
1802-3. There are verbal agreements between
B, especially, and a fragment in Herd's MSS
(I, 55, II, 187, Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776,
II, 6), and there has been borrowing from one
side or the other. Herd's fragment belongs
to a ballad of a shepherd's daughter and an
earl which is preserved in two copies in Moth-
erwell's MS. (I, 37, 252). No 397 of The
Musical Museum, communicated to Johnson,
says Stenhouse, by Burns, [1792,] and proba
bly in a large measure his work, begins with
stanzas which may have been suggested by
the ballad before us or by the other. See an
appendix.
The copy in Christie, I, 24, was epitomized
from A b, with some alterations. That in
The Deeside Guide, 1889, p. 17, is Aytoun's,
compounded of A b and D a.
Alexander Irvine, the young laird of Drum,
says Spalding, was married to the lady Mary
* Epitaphs and Inscriptions ... in the North East of
Scotland, by Andrew Jervise, 1875, 1, 17. (W. Macmath.)
t The House of Dram is a well-known mansion in Liber-
Gordon on December 7, 1643 : Memorials of
the Trubles in Scotland, etc., II, 296. Lady
Mary Gordon was fourth daughter to George
the second Marquis of Huntly, and niece to
the Marquis of Argyll. The Laird of Drum
suffered extremely in his worldly fortunes
through his fidelity to the cause of the Stu
arts. This would have been a natural reason
for his declining a peerage offered him at the
Restoration, and for his marrying, the second
time, to win and not to spend. He took for
his second wife Margaret Coutts (A 9), " a
woman of inferior birth and manners, which
step gave great offence to his relations." (Kin
loch.) He died in 1687. After the death of
Irvine of Drum, Margaret Coutts married Ir
vine of Cults. She died in 1710, at the age
of only forty-five.*
Drum is ten miles west of Aberdeen.f
For the commonplace in A a 3, B 8, C 5,
etc., see II, 181 b.
Knortz, Lieder und Romanzen Alt-Eng-
lands, No 29, p. 105, translates Allingham's
ballad.
ton, near Edinburgh, and there is a note to F a importing
(wrongly) that the ballad refers to this place.
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
323
a. Kinloch MSS, V, 9, in the handwriting of James Beat-
tie, b. Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 199 ; " from
recitation."
1 O IT fell out upon a day,
When Drums was going to ride, O
And there he met with a well-far'd may,
Keeping her flocks on yon side. O
2 ' O fair may, O rare may,
Can not you fancy me ?
Of a' the lasses here about
I like nane so well as thee.'
3 ' Set your love on another, kind sir,
Set it not on me,
For I 'm not fit to be your bride,
And your whore I '11 never be.'
4 Drums is to her father gane,
Keeping his flocks on yon hill,
And he has gotten his consent,
And the maid was at his will.
5 ' My daughter can neither read nor write,
She was neer brought up at school ;
But well can she milk cow and ewe,
And make a kebbuck well.
6 ' She '11 winn in your barn at bear-seed time,
Cast out your muck at Yule ;
She '11 saddle your steed in time o need,
Draw aff your boots hersell.'
7 ' Have not I no clergymen ?
Pay I no clergy fee ?
I '11 school her as I think fit,
And as I think fit to be.'
8 Drums is to the Highlands gane
For to be made ready,
And a' the gentry thereabout
Says, Yonder comes Drums and his lady.
9 ' Peggy Coutts is a very bonnie bride,
And Drums is a wealthy laddie ;
But Drums might hae chosen a higher match
Than any shepherd's daughter.'
10 Then up bespake his brother John,
Says, Brother you 've done us wrong ;
You 've married ane below our degree,
A stain to a' our kin.
11 ' Hold your tongue, my brother John,
I have done you no wrong ;
For I 've married ane to wirk and win,
And ye 've married ane to spend.
12 ' The last time that I had a wife,
She was above my degree ;
I durst not come in her presence
But with my hat on my knee.'
13 There was four-and-twenty gentlemen
Stood at the yetts o Drum ;
There was na ane amang them a'
That welcomd his lady in.
14 He 's taen her by the milk-white hand
And led her in himsell,
And in thro ha's and in thro bowers,
' And you 're welcome, Lady o Drum.'
15 Thrice he kissd her cherry cheek,
And thrice her cherry chin,
And twenty times her comely mouth,
' And you 're welcome, Lady o Drum.'
16 ' Ye shall be cook in my kitchen,
Butler in my ha ;
Ye shall be lady at my command
When I ride far awa.'
17 ' But what will I do when auld Drum dies,
When auld Drum dies and leaves me ?
Then I '11 tak back my word again,
And the Coutts will come and see me.'
324
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
B
Skene MS., p. 78 ; taken down from recitation in the north
of Scotland, 1802-3.
1 THEKE was a knight, [an a gallant knight,]
An a gallant knight was he,
An he 's f aen in love
Wi his shepherd's daghterie.
He could neither gang nor ride,
He fell so deep in her fancy,
Till his nose began to bleed.
3 ' Bonny may, an bra may,
Canna ye on me rue ?
By a' the maid[s] I ever saw,
There is nane I loo by you.'
4 ' Ye 'r a shepherd's ae dagbter,
An I 'm a barren's son ;
An what pleasure I wad hae
To see ye gae out an in ! '
5 ' I 'm a shepherd's ae dochter,
An ye 'r a barren's son ;
An there is nae pleasure I could ha
To see ye gae out or in.
6 .......
' For I wadna gie the fancy of my bonny love
For na love nor favour o you.'
7 ' Bonny may, an bra may,
Canna ye on me rue ?
By a' the maids I ever saw
There is nane I loo by you.'
8 ' Lay na yer fancy, sir, on me,' she says,
' Lay na yer fancy on me ;
For I 'm our low to be yer bride,
An yer quine I '11 never be.
9 * For I will wear nane o yer silks,
Nor nane o yer scarlet claes ;
For the hue o the whin shall be my gown,
An I will gae as I pleas.'
10
* Ye 'r na our laigh to be my bride,
An my quine ye 's never be.
11 * Bonny may, and bra may,
Winna ye on me rue ?
By a' the maids I ever see,
There 's nane I loo but you.'
12 * Gin ye ha f aen so deep in my fancy
Ye can neither gan[g] nor ride,
Gae tak me to the middle o the ring,
An bring me guid companie.'
13 He has taen her by the milk-white hand
And led her thro haas an bowers :
* Ye 'r the choice of my heart,
An a' I hae is yours.'
14 He took her by the milk-white hand
And led her out and in :
' Ye 'r the choice o my heart,
My dear, ye 'r welcome in.'
15 Out spake his brither John,
' Brither, ye ha done great wrong ;
Ye hae married a wife this night
Disdained by a' yer kin.'
16 ' Hold yer tong, my brither John,
For I hae don na wrong ;
For I ha married a wife to . . . ,
An ye ha ane to spend.'
From a MS. copy formerly in possession of Sir Walter
Scott ; communicated by the Rev. W. Forbes-Leith, through
Mr Macmath.
1 THERE was a shepherd's daughter
Sheering at the bear,
And by cam the Laird o Drum,
On an evening clear.
2 4 O will ye fancy me, fair maid ?
O will ye fancy me ?
O will ye fancy me, fair maid,
An lat the sheering be ? '
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
325
3 ' O say na sae again, kind sir,
say na sae again ;
I 'm owr low to be your bride,
Ye 'r born owr high a man.'
4 Said, Fair maid, O rare maid,
Will ye on me rue ?
Aiming a' the lasses o the land
1 fancy nane but you.
5 ' Lay your love on another,' she said,
' And lay it not on me,
For I 'm owr low to be your bride,
Your miss I '11 never be.
6 ' Yonder is my father dear,
Wi hogs upon yon hill ;
Gif ye get but his consent,
I shall be at your will.'
7 He 's taen him to her father dear,
Keeps hogs upon yon hill,
An he has gotten his consent,
The may was at his will.
8 ' My daughter canna read or write,
She never was at school ;
Weel can she milk cow and ewe,
An serve your house f u weel.
9 * Weel can she shack your barns
An gae to mill an kill,
Saddle your steed in time o need,
And draw your boots hirsel.
10 ' She canna wear your silk sae fine,
Nor yet your silver clear ;
The hue o the ewe man be her weed,
Altho she was your dear.'
11 He 'a wedded the shepherd's daughter,
An he has taen her hame ;
He 's wedded the shepherd's daughter,
An led her on to Drum.
12 There were four an twenty bold barons
Stood at the yet o Drum ;
There was na ane amang them a'
That welcomd his lady hame.
13 Out then spak his brother dear,
Says, Ye 'v done mickel wrong ;
Ye 'v wedded a mean woman,
The lack o a' our kin.
14 ' I never did thee wrong, brother,
I never did thee wrong ;
I 've wedded a woman to work an win,
An ye hae ane to spen.
15 * The last woman I wedded
Was aboon my degree ;
I could na sit in her presence
But wi hat upon my knee.'
16 He 's taen her by the milk-white hand
An led her but an ben,
An in the ha, amang them a',
He 's hailed her Lady Drum.
17 * Now I 've wedded the shepherd's daughter,
An I hae brought her hame,
In the ha, amang ye a',
She is welcome hame to Drum.'
a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 194.
b. Buchan's MSS, II, 101. c. The New Deeside Guide, by
James Brown [Joseph Robertson], [1832], p. 11. d. Gibb
MS., p. 21, No 4, from the recitation of a schoolfellow at
Auchinblae, Kincardineshire, about 1851.
1 THE laird o Drum is a hunting gane,
All in a morning early,
And he did spy a well-far'd may,
Was shearing at her barley.
2 * O will ye fancy me, fair may,
And let your shearing be, O
And gang and be the lady o Drum ?
O will ye fancy me ? ' O
3 ' I winna fancy you,' she says,
' Nor let my shearing be ;
For I 'm ower low to be Lady Drum,
And your miss I 'd scorn to be.'
4 ' But ye '11 cast aff that gown o grey,
Put on the silk and scarlet ;
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
I '11 make a vow, and keep it true,
You '11 neither be miss nor harlot/
5 ' Then dee you to my father dear,
Keeps sheep on yonder hill ;
To ony thing he bids me do
I 'm always at his will.'
6 He has gane to her father dear,
Keeps sheep on yonder hill :
* I 'm come V> marry your ae daughter,
If ye '11 gie me your gude will.'
7 ' She '11 shake your barn, and winna your corn,
And gang to mill and kill ;
In time of need she '11 saddle your steed ;
And I '11 draw your boots myselL'
8 ' O wha will bake my bridal bread,
And wha will brew my ale,
And wha will welcome my lady hame,
It 's nuiir than I can tell.'
9 Four an twenty gentle knights
Gied in at the yetts o Drum ;
But nae ;r man lifted his hat
Whan the lady o Drum came in.
10 But he has taen her by the hand,
And led her but and ben ;
Says, You 'r welcome hame, my lady Drum,
For this is your ain land.
11 For he has taen her by the hand,
And led her thro the ha ;
Says, You *r welcome hame, my lady Drum,
To your bowers ane and a'.
12 Then he ['s] stript her o the robes o grey,
Drest her in the robes o gold,
And taen her father frae the sheep-keeping,
Made him a bailie bold.
13 She wasna forty weeks his wife
Till she brought hame a son ;
She was as well a loved lady
As ever was in Drum.
14 Out it speaks his brother dear,
Says, You 've dune us great wrang ;
You 've married a wife below your degree,
She 'a a mock to all our kin.
15 Out then spake the Laird of Drum,
Says, I 've dune you nae wrang ;
I 've married a wife to win my bread,
You 've married ane to spend.
16 ' For the last time that I was married,
She was far abeen my degree ;
She wadna gang to the bonny yetts o Drum
But the pearlin abeen her ee,
And I durstna gang in the room where she was
But my hat below my knee.'
17 When they had eaten and well drunken,
And all men bound for bed,
The Laird o Drum and his lady gay
In ae bed they were laid.
18 ' Gin ye had been o high renown,
As ye are o low degree,
We might hae baith gane down the streets
Amang gude companie.'
19 ' I tauld you ere we were wed
You were far abeen my degree ;
But now I 'm married, in your bed laid,
And just as gude as ye.
20 * Gin ye were dead, and I were dead,
And baith in grave had lain,
Ere seven years were at an end,
They 'd not ken your dust frae mine.'
E
From Dr Joseph Robertson's interleaved and annotated
copy of The New Deeside Guide, [nominally] by James
Brown [but written by Joseph Robertson], Aberdeen [1832] ;
inserted at p. 12.
1 THE Laird of Drum is a wooing gane,
All in a morning early,
And there he spied a weel-f ar'd may,
She was shearing at her barley.
2 ' Will you fancy me, my bonny may,
And will you fancy me ? O
And will you come and be Lady Drum,
And let your shearing a be ? ' O
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
327
3 ' It 's I winna fancy you, kind sir,
I winna fancy thee ;
For I 'm too low to be lady o Drum,
And your whore I would scorn to be.'
4 ' Ye '11 cast aff the robes of gray,
And put on the silk and the scarlet,
And here to you I '11 make a vow
Ye 'se neither be whore nor harlot.'
5 ' I winna cast aff the robes o gray,
To put on the silk and the scarlet,
But I '11 wear the colour of the ewe,
For they set me better than a' that.
6 ' But ye '11 do you doun to my father dear,
Keeping sheep on yonder hill,
And the first ae thing that he bids me I '11 do,
For I wirk aye at his will.'
7 He 's done him doun to her father dear,
Keeping sheep on yonder hill :
* Ye hae a pretty creature for your daughter ;
Dear me ! but I like her well.'
8 * It 's she can neither read nor write,
She was never brought up at the squeel ;
She canna wash your china cups,
Nor yet mak a dish o tea.
9 ' But well can she do a' ither thing,
For I learnt the girly mysell ;
She '11 fill in your barn, and winnow your corn,
She '11 gang to your kill and your mill,
And, time o need, she '11 saddle your steed,
And draw your boots hersell.'
10 ' Wha will bake my bridal bread,
And wha will brew my ale ?
Wha will welcome my lady in ?
For it 's more than I can tell.'
11 There was four-and-twenty gentlemen
Stood a' in the yetts o Drum,
But there was nane o them lifted their hats
To welcome the young lady in.
12 But up spake his ae brither,
Says, Brither, ye hae done wrang ;
Ye have married a wife this day
A lauch to a' our kin.
13 ' I 've married ane to win my bread,
But ye married ane to spend ;
But as lang 's I 'm able to walk to the yetts o
Drum
On me she may depend.
14 < The last lady that I did wed
Was far above my command ;
I durst not enter the bower where she was
But my hat low in my hand.'
15 When bells were rung, and mass was sung,
And a' man bound for bed,
The Laird o Drum and the shepherd's dother
In one bed they were laid.
16 ' If ye were come o noble bleed
An were as high as me,
We could gang to the yetts o Drum
Amangst gueed companie.'
17 ' I tald you ere we was wed
I was oer low for thee,
But now we are wedd and in ae bed laid,
And you must be content wi me.
18 ' For an ye were dead, an I were dead,
And laid in the dust low down,
When we were baith turnd up again
Wha could ken your mould f rae mine ? '
F
a. Manuscript of David Louden, Morham, Haddington,
p. 7, 1873 ; from Mrs Dickson, Rentonhall, derived from her
great-grandmother, b. Macmath MS., p. 13 ; from Mr
William Traquair, S. S. C., Edinburgh, obtained originally
in Perthshire.
1 l OH, will ye fancy me, fair maid ?
Oh, will ye fancy me ? O
VOL. iv. 42
Or will ye go to be ladye o the Drum,
An let a' your shearin abe ? O
An let a' your shearin abe ? O
An let a' your shearin abe ? ' O
1 1 can neither read nor write,
Nor neer been brocht up at schule ;
But I can do all other things,
An keep a hoose richt weel.
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
3 ( My f aither he 's a puir shepherd-man,
Herds his hogs on yonder hill ;
Gin ye will go get his consent,
Then I '11 be at your call.'
4 He has gone to her father,
That herds hogs on yonder hill ;
He said, ' You 've got a pretty daughter,
I M fain tak her to my seL'
5 ' She can neither read nor write,
Was neer brocht up at schule ;
But she can do all other things,
An I learnt aye the lassie my sel.
6 ' She '11 milk your cows, she '11 carry your corn,
She '11 gang to the mill or the kiln ;
She '11 saddle your steed at any time of need,
And she '11 brush up your boots hersel.'
7 ' It 's who will bake my bridal bread ?
Or who will brew my ale ?
Or who will welcome this bonnie lassie in ?
For it 's more than I can tell.'
8 There 's f6ur-and-twenty gentlemen
Stand doun at the gate o the Drum ;
Not one of them all would take off his hat
For to welcome the bonnie lassie in.
9 .
' Oh, brother, you 've married a wife this day
A disgrace to all our kin.'
10 ' Oh, brother, I 've married a wife to win,
And ye 've got one to spen,
And as long as the bonnie lassie walks out and
in
She shall aye be the ladye o the Drum.'
11 When all was done, and no bells rung,
And all men bound for their bed,
The laird and the shepherd's bonnie daughter
In one bed they were laid.
12 ' Though I 'm not of as noble blood,
Nor yet of as high degree,
Now I lie locked in your arms two,
And you must be contented wi me.
13 ' If you were dead, and I were dead,
And baith laid in one grave,
If we were baith to be raised up again,
Wha would ken your dust frae mine ?
A. a. 1*. wellfar'd May. 2 1 . fair May : rare May. 3.
2*. as thee May.
17. This stanza looks like a spurious addition.
b. Kinloch has taken fourteen of the seventeen
stanzas of a (all but 1, 2, 17) into his
printed copy, with a change of a word here
and there (not here noticed), as was his
way. The remaining ten stanzas must be
from recitation, if Kinloch is to be under
stood strictly.
1. The laird o Drum is a- wooing gane ;
It was on a morning early ;
And he has fawn in wi a bonnie may,
A-shearing at her barley.
2. ' My bonnie may, my weel-f aurd may,
O will ye fancy me, O
And gae and be the lady o Drum,
And lat your shearing abee ? ' O
It 's I canna fancy thee, kind sir,
I winna fancy thee ;
I winna gae and be lady o Drum,
And lat my shearing abee.'
ifter 3. ' My father he is a shepherd mean,
Keeps sheep on yonder hill,
And ye may gae and spier at him,
For I am at his will.
4. Drum: and always.
After!:
I 1 '11 learn your lassie to read and write,
And I '11 put her to the scheel ;
She '11 neither need to saddle my steed,
Nor draw aff my boots hersell.
' But wha will bake my bridal bread,
Or brew my bridal ale,
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
329
And wha will welcome my bonnie bride,
Is nuiir than I can tell.'
10 4 . lake for stain, and so entered in pencil in
the MS,
After 12 :
* The first wife that I did wed,
She was far abeen my degree ;
She wadna hae walkd to the yetts o Drum
But the pearls abeen her bree.
* But an she was adord for as much gold
As Peggie 's for beautie,
She micht walk to the yetts o Drum
Amang gueed companie.'
16 3 . in my command, a plausible reading.
After 16 :
4 But I told ye afore we war wed
I was owre low for thee ;
But now we are wed, and in ae bed laid,
And ye maun be content wi me.
* For an I war dead, and ye war dead,
And baith in ae grave laid,
And ye and I war tane up again,
Wha could distan your mouls f rae mine ? '
O is added to the second and fourth lines ex
cept when the rhyme is in two syllables, as
in 1.
B. Title. The Laird o Doune. So written twice :
at p. 75 by anticipation, again at p. 78.
I 4 , daightene ( i undotted) : daghter he ?
3 1 . May : and always. 4 4 , 11*. May added,
for singing.
6 4 . Sir added for singing.
No division into stanzas, and no indication of
gaps. The deficiency at the end of 16 8 is
noted by . . .
D. a. O is added (for singing} to the second and
fourth verse of every stanza except 1, 4,
which have two-syllable rhyme.
19 is by mistake printed twice.
b. O added -as in a.
2 1 . me, bonny lassie.
2 8 . O will ye fancy me, bonny lassie.
2 4 . And lat your shearing be.
3 4 , 4 4 . whore for miss. 4 1 . ye cast.
7 4 . And wanting.
12, 13. Wanting.
16 2>4 , 19 2 . above for abeen. 16 6 . durst not.
17 2 . all man. 19. Repeated, as in a.
20 2 . in your grave : lien.
Dixon made changes in printing this copy.
c. is not added as in a. I 8 , he has spied.
2 1 . you. 3 8 . lady o. 5 1 . go you.
7 1 . whin. 7 a . mill or. 9 4 . Drum was come.
10 4 . is a' your ain. 12 a . in robes.
14 4 . all your.
19 1 . you weel ere.
20. Gin we were dead, and in grave laid,
And then taen up again,
I doubt they would look wi a gay clear ee
That would ken your dust frae mine.
In Robertson's annotated and interleaved copy,
besides some readings from E, there are
noted in the margin the following :
7 2 . to your mill and your kill.
9 3 . But there was nae ane did lift.
17 8 . and the herd's dochter.
19 l . you before that we. This stanza twice,
as in a.
20 as in a.
d. O is not added as in a, b. I 2 . Upon a.
I 8 , he has spied. 2 2 . will you fancy me.
2 4 . An let your shearin abee.
3 1 . said. 3 2 . abee.
3 8 . For wanting. I 'm far ower : lady o.
3 4 . your whore I winna. 4, 5. Wanting.
6 1 . her auld faither. 6 2 . Kept sheep upon the.
6 s . Wanting.
6 4 . That the may was at his will.
7. But my daughter can neither read nor write,
She was never at the schule ;
But she '11 saddle your steed in time of need,
An draw aff your boots hersel.
8 8 . my bonny bride. 8 4 . Is more.
9 1 . gentlemen. 9 2 . Stood at.
9 8 . There was na ane that lifted.
9 4 . Drum was come. 10 s . lady o.
10 4 . is a' your ain. 11-13. Wanting.
14 1 . Out an spake his brither John.
14 4 . a' your. 15 1 . Out an.
15 s . to save my gear.
16 1 . the first tune I had a wife.
16 M . I durstna, etc., 5>6 come before 3> *.
17 2 . to bed. 17 8 . an the weel-faured may.
19 l . afore we. 19 s . we are : in ae.
19 4 . An I 'm : as thee. 20 2 . in ae grave lain.
330
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
20*. were come an gane.
20*. Wha could ken your mools.
E. O /'.> appended, as in D a, b, except in 1, 4, 5.
F. a. " Mrs Dickson says her mother used to say
she has heard her (her mother's) grand
mother sing the following ballad with great
glee. Air, Boyne Water."
9 s - 4 , 10 are given as one stanza, the last two
lines " instead of repeat."
O is appended throughout.
b. Variations given only in part.
is appended as in D, B.
Begins :
The laird o the Drum a hunting went,
One morning very early,
And there he spied a bonny, bonny may,
A shearing at the barley.
1. ' And could ye fancy a gentleman ?
An wad ye married be ? O
Or wad ye be the lady o the Drum ?
I pray ye tell to me.'
' I could, etc.
And I wad, etc.
But for to be the lady o the Drum,
It 's by far too high for me.'
2. Wanting. 3*, 4 2 . Feeding sheep.
3*. I'm entirely at his will. (Good prose:
cf. 5.)
4 s - 4 . It 's I am in love wi your daughter, And
I'll.
5*. But for all other things she '11 do very well.
6 1>a . Wanting. 1. Wanting.
8 3 . Stood all at.
8 s . And nane o them would put their hand to
their hat.
9. ' O brother, you 've married a wife the day,
And you have done much ill ;
brother you 've married a wife today
A scorn to a' your kin.'
10 1 - 2 . I 've got a wife to win my bread, And
you 've got ane to spend it.
10 M . Wanting.
After 10:
The first wife that I married,
She was far above my degree ;
1 durst na enter the room she was in
But wi hat below my knee.
11-13. Wanting.
APPENDIX
Herd's MSS, 1, 55, II, 187 ; Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 6.
1 ' O MY bonie, bonie may,
Will ye not rue upon me?
A sound, sound sleep I '11 never get
Untill I lie ayon thee.
2 ' I '11 gie ye four-and-twenty good milk-kye,
Wer a' caft in ae year, may,
And a bonie bull to gang them by,
That blude red is his hair, may.'
8 ' I hae nae houses, I hae nae land,
I hae nae gowd or fee, sir ;
I am oer low to be your bryde,
Your loon I '11 never be, sir. '
Motherwell's MS., p. 37 ; from the recitation of Thomas
Risk, smith, learned by him in his youth at St Ninian's,
Stirlingshire.
1 MONTROSE he had a poor shepherd,
And a poor shepherd was he ;
He had as fan* a daughter
As ever you could see,
And an earl has fallen in love wi her,
And his bride now she must be.
2 The earl he came to the shepherd's door,
And he tirled at the pin ;
Slowly rose the fair maid
For to let the earl in.
8 Good day, good day, fair maid,' he says;
' Good day, good day,' said she ;
' Good day unto thee, noble sir,
What is thy will with me ? '
4 * I 'm so possessed with love to thee,
That I cannot gang nor stand
Till you go unto yonder church,
To give me thy right hand.'
236. THE LAIRD O DRUM
331
5 ' Oh, no, oh no,' the fair maid says,
' Oh that can never be ;
For thou art a lord of good estate,
And I but of mean degree.
6 Oh no, oh no,' the fair maid says,
' Thou 'rt rich and I am poor ;
And I am owre mean to be thy wife,
Too good to be thy whore.
7 * I can shape, and I can sew,
And cows and yowes can milk,
But I was neer brought up in a lady's room,
To sew satin nor silk.
8 ' And if you had your will of me
Ye wud me soon forget ;
Ye wad gar turn me doun your stairs
And bar on me your yett.'
9 ' Oh no, oh no,' the earl says,
' For so shall never be ;
For this night or I eat or drink
My honoured bride you shall be.'
10 ' My father he 's a poor shepherd,
He 's herding on yon hill ;
You may go to my old father,
And ask at him his will.'
11 The earl he went to the poor shepherd,
Who was herding on the lea ;
' Good day, good day, shepherd,' he says;
' Good day, good day,' said he,
Good day unto your honour, sir ;
What is your will with me ? '
12 ' Oh you have a fair daughter ;
Will ye give her to me,
Silk and satin she shall wear,
And, shepherd, so shall ye.'
13 ' It 's true I have a fair daughter,
But I '11 not give her to thee ;
For thou art a lord of good estate,
And she but of mean degree.
14 ' The reason is, thou art too rich,
And my daughter is too poor ;
She is ower mean to be thy wife,
Too good to be thy whoore.
15 ' She can shape, etc. (as verse 7).
16 * And if you had your will of her, etc. (8).
1 7 ' Oh no, oh no,' the earl says, etc. (9).
18 The earl he to the fair maid again,
Who was spinning at her wheel ;
She had but one petticoat on her,
But oh she set it weel !
19 ' Cast off, cast off that petticoat
That you were wont to wear,
And put on a gown of the satin silk,
With a garland in your hair.'
20 She cast off the petticoat
That she was wont to wear,
And she put on a gown of the satin silk,
With a garland in her hair.
21 Many, many was there that night
To bear them company ;
And she is the earl's wife,
She 's thrice fairer than he.
Motherwell's MS., p. 252; from the recitation of Mrs
Crum, Dumbarton, 7 April, 1825.
1 ' O FAIR maid and true maid,
Will ye not on me rue, maid ?
Here 's my hand, my heart's command,
I '11 come and go by you, maid.
2 ' I 've four-and-twenty good milk-kye,
A' calved in a[e] year, maid,
And a bonnie bill to eisin them,
Just as red as your hair, maid.'
3 ' Your kye go as far in my heart
As they go in my heel, sir ;
And, altho I be but a shepherd's dochter,
I love my body weel, sir.
4 ' I love my body weel, sir,
And my maidenhead far better ;
And I '11 keep it to marry me,
Because I 'm scarse o tocher.'
5 This knicht he turned his bridle about,
While the tear stood in his ee ;
And he 's awa to her father gane,
As fast as he could dree.
6 ' Gude een, gude een, you gude auld man,'
' Gude een, you earl's knicht, sir; '
* But you have a fair dochter,' he says,
' Will you grant her to me, sir ?
O silks and satins she shall wear,
Indeed and so shall ye, sir.'
7 ' I have a fair dochter,' he says,
' She 's fair of blood and bane, sir;
But an ye had your will o her
Ye wud leave her alane, sir.'
8 ' Ye would steek her not your chamber-doors,
And bar her at your yett, sir ;
332
237. THE DUKE OP GORDON'S DAUGHTER
And an ye had your will o her
Ye wud her soon forget, sir.'
9 This knicht he turned his bridle about,
While the tear stood in his ee,
And he 's awa to this fair maid gane,
As fast as he could drie.
10 ' O fair maid and true maid,
Will ye not on me rue, maid ?
Here 's my hand, my heart's command,
I '11 couae and go by you, maid.
1 1 ' Cast aff, cast aff your gay black gowns,
Put on your gowns of silk, maid ;
Cast aff, cast aff your gay black snoods,
Put the garlands on your hair, maid.'
12 ' It 's I can bake, and I can brew,
And good kye can I milk, sir ;
But I was neer born in the time o the year
To wear the gowns o silk, sir.
13 ' Yestreen I was a shepherd's dochter,
Whistling my hogs to the hill ;
But the nicht I am an earl's lady,
I may wear what I will.'
Johnson's Museum, No 397, p. 410.
As I went out ae May morning,
A May morning it chanc'd to be,
There I was aware of a weelfar'd maid,
Cam linkin oer the lea to me.
but she was a weelfar'd maid,
The bonniest lass that 's under the sun ;
1 spier'd gin she could fancy me,
But her answer was, I am too young.
' To be your bride I am too young,
To be your loun wad shame my kin ;
So therefore, pray, young man, begone,
For you never, never shall my favour win.'
237
THE DUKE OF GORDON'S DAUGHTER
a. 'The Duke of Gordon's Daughter,' The Duke of
Gordon's Garland, Percy Papers, and another edi
tion in a volume of garlands formerly in Heber's
library, b. ' The Duke of Gordon's Daughters,' a
stall-copy, printed for John Sinclair, Dumfries, c.
' The Duke of Gordon's Daughters,' Stirling, printed
by M. Randall, d. < The Duke of Gordon's Three
Daughters,' Peterhead, printed by P. Buchan. e.
' The Duke of Gordon's Three Daughters,' Kinloch
MSS, 1, 125. f. The Duke o Gordon's Daughters,'
Murison MS., p. 90, Aberdeenshire. g. ' The Duke
o Gordon's Daughter,' Gibb MS., p. 13, No 3, from
the recitation of Mrs Gibb, senior, h. ' The Duke
of Gordon's Three Daughters,' Macmath MS., p. 31,
a fragment recited by Mrs Macmath, senior, in 1874,
and learned by her fifty years before.
A COPY of a was reprinted by Ritson, Scot-
ish Songs, 1794, II, 169. (There are three
slight variations in Ritson, two of which are
misprints.) Fifteen stanzas are given from
Ritson in Johnson's Musical Museum, ' The
Duke of Gordon has three daughters,' No 419,
p. 431, 1797 (with a single variation and the
correction of a misprint). Smith's Scotish
Minstrel, IV, 98, repeats the stanzas in the
Museum, inserting a few words to fill out
lines for singing. Christie, Traditional Ballad
Airs, I, 2, has made up a ballad from three
"traditional" copies. A fragment of four
stanzas in Notes and Queries, Second Series,
VII, 418, requires no notice.
Burns gave the first stanza as follows (Cro-
mek's Reliques, p. 229, ed, 1817; Cromek's
Select Scotish Songs, I, 86, 1810) :
The lord o Gordon had three dochters,
Mary, Marget, and Jean ;
They wad na stay at bonie Castle Gordon,
But awa to Aberdeen.
The first sister's name is given as Mary in
e also.
It is very likely that the recited copies were
237. THE DUKE OP GORDON'S DAUGHTER
333
originally learned from print, e and g have
two stanzas which do not appear in a-d, but
these may occur in some other stall-copy,
or have been borrowed from some other bal
lad.
Ritson pointed out that George Gordon, the
fourth Earl of Huntly, killed at Corrichie in
1562, had three daughters, named Elizabeth,
Margaret, and Jean, and that Jean, the young
est, married Alexander Ogilvie, Laird of
Boyne. These facts, however, can have no
relevancy to this ballad. Ogilvie was Lady
Jean Gordon's third husband, and at the death
of the second, in 1594, she was in her fiftieth
year, or near to that. Her marriage with the
Laird of Boyne was " for the utility and profit
of her children," of which she had a full
quiver.*
Jean, one of the three daughters of the Duke
of Gordon (there was no Duke of Gordon be
fore 1684, but that is early enough for our
ballad), falls in love with Captain Ogilvie at
Aberdeen. Her father threatens to have the
captain hanged, and writes to the king to ask
that favor. The king refuses to hang Ogilvie,
but reduces him to the ranks, makes him a
' single ' man. The pair lead a wandering life
for three years, and are blessed with as many
children. At the end of that time they jour
ney afoot to the Highland hills, and present
themselves at Castle Gordon in great destitu
tion. Lady Jean is welcomed ; the duke will
have nothing to do with Ogilvie. Ogilvie
goes over seas as a private soldier, but is soon
after sent for as heir to the earldom of North
umberland. The duke is now eager to open
Castle Gordon to the Captain. Ogilvie wants
nothing there but Jean Gordon, whom, with
her three children, he takes to Northumber
land to enjoy his inheritance.
Nothing in the story of the ballad is known
to have even a shadow of foundation in fact.
1 THE Duke of Gordon has three daughters,
Elizabeth, Margaret, and Jean ;
They would not stay in bonny Castle Gordon,
But they would go to bonny Aberdeen.
2 They had not been in Aberdeen
A twelvemonth and a day
Till Lady Jean fell in love with Captain Ogilvie,
And away with him she would gae.
3 Word came to the Duke of Gordon,
In the chamber where he lay,
Lady Jean has fell in love with Captain Ogilvie,
And away with him she would gae.
4 * Go saddle me the black horse,
And you '11 ride on the grey,
And I will ride to bonny Aberdeen,
Where I have been many a day.'
5 They were not a mile from Aberdeen,
A mile but only three,
Till he met with his two daughters walking,
But away was Lady Jean.
* Lady Jean Gordon was divorced from the Earl of Both-
well in 1567, "being then twenty years of age," says Sir
Robert Gordon. His continuator puts her death at 1629,
6 ' Where is your sister, maidens ?
Where is your sister now ?
Where is your sister, maidens,
That she is not walking with you ? '
7 ' O pardon us, honoured father,
O pardon us,' they did say ;
' Lady Jean is with Captain Ogilvie,
And away with him she will gae.'
8 When he came to Aberdeen,
And down upon the green,
There did he see Captain Ogilvie,
Training up his men.
9 ' O wo to you, Captain Ogilvie,
And an ill death thou shalt die ;
For taking to thee my daughter,
Hanged thou shalt be.'
10 Duke Gordon has wrote a broad letter,
And sent it to the king,
To cause hang Captain Ogilvie
If ever he hanged a man.
in her eighty-fourth year. Genealogy of the Earls of Suth
erland, pp. 143, 145, 169, 469.
334
237. THE DUKE OP GORDON'S DAUGHTER
11 ' I will not hang Captain Ogilvie,
For no lord that I see ;
But I '11 cause him to put off the lace and scarlet,
And put on the single livery/
12 Word came to Captain Ogilvie,
In the chamber where he lay,
To cast off the gold lace and scarlet,
And put on the single livery.
13 ' If this be for bonny Jeany Gordon,
This pennance I '11 take wi ;
If this be for bonny Jeany Gordon,
All this I will dree.'
14 Lady Jean had not been married,
Not a year but three,
Till she had a babe in every arm,
Another upon her knee.
15 ' O but I 'm weary of wandering !
O but my fortune is bad !
It sets not the Duke of Gordon's daughter
To follow a soldier-lad.
16 ' O but I *m weary of wandering !
O but I think lang !
It sets not the Duke of Gordon's daughter
To follow a single man.'
17 When they came to the Highland hills,
Cold was the frost and snow ;
Lady Jean's shoes they were all torn,
No farther could she go.
18 ' wo to the hills and the mountains !
Wo to the wind and the rain !
My feet is sore with going barefoot,
No further am I able to gang.
19 ' Wo to the hills and the mountains !
Wo to the frost and the snow !
My feet is sore with going barefoot,
No farther am I able for to go.
20 ' O if I were at the glens of Foudlen,
Where hunting I have been,
I would find the way to bonny Castle Gordon,
Without either stockings or shoon.'
21 When she came to Castle Gordon,
And down upon the green,
The porter gave out a loud shout,
* O yonder comes Lady Jean ! '
22 ' O you are welcome, bonny Jeany Gordon,
You are dear welcome to me ;
You are welcome, dear Jeany Gordon,
But away with your Captain Ogilvie.'
23 Now over seas went the captain,
As a soldier under command ;
A message soon followed after
To come and heir his brother's land.
24 ' Come home, you pretty Captain Ogilvie,
And heir your brother's land ;
Come home, ye pretty Captain Ogilvie,
Be Earl of Northumberland.'
25 ' O what does this mean ? ' says the captain
' Where 's my brother's children three ? '
' They are dead and buried,
And the lands they are ready for thee.'
26 ' Then hoist up your sails, brave captain,
Let 's be jovial and free ;
I '11 to Northumberland and heir my estate,
Then my dear Jeany I '11 see.'
27 He soon came to Castle Gordon,
And down upon the green ;
The porter gave out with a loud shout,
' Here comes Captain Ogilvie ! '
28 ' You 're welcome, pretty Captain Ogilvie,
Your fortune 's advanced I hear ;
No stranger can come unto my gates
That I do love so dear.'
29 ' Sir, the last time I was at your gates,
You would not let me in ;
I 'm come for my 'wife and children,
No friendship else I claim.'
30 ' Come in, pretty Captain Ogilvie,
And drink of the beer and the wine ;
And thou shalt have gold and silver
To count till the clock strike nine.'
31 ' I '11 have none of your gold or silver,
Nor none of your white-money ;
But I '11 have bonny Jeany Gordon,
And she shall go now with me.'
237. THE DUKE OF GORDON'S DAUGHTER
335
32 Then she came tripping down the stair,
With the tear into her eye ;
One babe was at her foot,
Another upon her knee.
33 ' You 're welcome, bonny Jeany Gordon,
With my young family ;
Mount and go to Northumberland,
There a countess thou shall be.'
a. The Duke of Gordon's Garland, composed
of several excellent New Songs. I. The
Duke of Gordon's Daughter. II. A new
song calld Newcastle Ale. Licensed and
enterd according to order.
Heber's copy differs in a few places from Per
cy's, and generally for the worse.
4 2 . on wanting. 7 4 . she woud.
10 8 . cause wanting. 13*. will not.
16 2 . think it. 18 2 . and rain. 24 8 . you.
24 4 . And be. 32 2 . tears in her eyes.
Ritson's. 9 8 . wants thee. 13 s . wants for.
31 1 . gold and.
b. Two copies, one in the British Museum, 1078.
i. 20 (7), Printed at the St. Michael Press,
by C. M'Lachlan, Dumfries, dated in the
catalogue 1785 ?
c. British Museum, 11621. b. 12 (28), dated
1810?
A beautiful old song, entitled the Duke of Gor
don's three Daughters. To which is added
The Challenge. Stirling: Printed by M.
Randall.
d. British Museum, 1078. k. 4 (5), dated 1820 ?
The Duke of Gordon's Three Daughters.
To which is added Mrs Burns Lament for
Burns. Peterhead : Printed by P. Buchan.
b, o, d. I 1 , had. I 8 , stay at. I 4 , they went to.
2 1 . in bonny. 2 8 . Till Jean.
2*. b. him went she. O, d. And from him
she would not stay.
3 1 . come.
3 3 - 4 . How Lady Jean fell in love with a cap
tain, And from him she would not stay.
4 1 . to me : horse, he cry'd.
4 a . My servant shall ride on. 4*. will go.
4 4 . Forthwith to bring her away.
5 2 . only one. 5 8 . walking wanting.
6 1 ' 3 . O where. 6 4 . c, d. not along with.
7 1 . b. us, they did say.
7 4 . And from him she would (c, d, will) not
stay.
8 1 . to bonny.
8 4 . b. A training of. C, d. A training his
gallant.
VOL. iv. 43
9 1 . woe be to thee.
9 4 . High hanged, b. shalt thou.
10 1 . b. The Duke he wrote, c, d. The D. of
G. wrote a letter.
10 2 . b. he sent. 10 8 . Desiring him to hang.
10 4 . b. eer he causd hang any. c, d. For
marrying his daughter Jean.
11 1 . b. O no I. O, d. Said the king, I '11 not.
11 2 . b. For any (o, d, all the) offence that.
II 8 . him put off the scarlet. 12 1 . Now word.
12 8 . To strip off. 13 1 - 3 . b. Jean.
13 s . c, d. for my true-love.
13 4 . this and more I '11.
14 2 . c, d. Not wanting, b, c, d. but only.
14 4 . And another.
15 1 . b. weary, weary wandering, c, d. weary
wandering.
16. O hold thy tongue, bonny Jean Gordon,
O hold your tongue, my lamb!
(c, d. thy)
For once I was a noble captain,
Now for thy sake a single man.
17 1 . b. O high is the hills and the mountains,
o, d. high were : and mountains.
17 2 . b. and the. 18, 19. Wanting.
20 1 . b. was in. C, d. were in.
20 8 . I could go. b. Jean for Castle, wrongly.
19-21 of b are displaced, and come after b
26 : or, 23-27 of a follow a 20, and then
come this stanza (not in a) and a 21, 22.
After 20. b:
hold thy tongue, bonny Jean (c, d. your)
Gordon,
hold your tongue, my dow !
1 Ve but one half-crown in the world,
1 '11 buy hose and shoon (c, d. And I '11)
to you.
21 1 . b. Then, wrongly, b, c, d. to bonny.
21 2 . And coming over the green.
21 8 . b. porter cried out with a cry. c, d.
called out very loudly.
336
237. THE DUKE OF GORDON'S DAUGHTER
21 4 . b. O wanting, b, c, d. comes our.
22 1 . b. O wanting, b, o, d. Jean.
22 3 . b. dearly, c, d. Her father he did say.
22 8 . Thou art : Jean. 22*. Captain wanting.
23 1 . over the. 23*. But a messenger.
23 4 . Which caused a countermand.
24 1 . b. home now pretty, o, d. home now
brave. 24 2 . To enjoy your.
24 8 . b. home now pretty, o, d. O come home
gallant.
24 4 . You 'r the heir of.
25 l . o, d. O wanting. 25*. O they. b. are all.
25 4 . The lands, b. all ready. 26 a . And let's.
26*. I '11 go home and have my.
26 4 . And then. 27 1 . bonny Castle.
27 2 . b. And then at the gate stood he. c, d.
he stood, wrongly.
27'. b. porter cry'd out. c, d. cry'd with a
loud voice.
27 4 . c, d. O here. b. comes the.
28 1 . c, d. O you 're welcome now, Captain.
28 8 . b. come to. c, d. come within.
29 1 . b. at wrongly omitted, b, c, d. gate.
29". c, d. Now I 'm. 30, 31. Wanting.
32 1 . c, d. Then Jean came.
32 2 . c, cL The salt tear in.
32 8 . babe she had at every foot.
32*. c, d. And one in her arms did ly.
33. b. You 're welcome, bonny Jean Gordon,
You are dearly welcome to me ;
You 're welcome, bonny Jeany Gordon,
Countess of Cumberland to be.
c, d. The Captain took her straight in his arms,
O a happy man was he !
Saying, Welcome, etc., as in b.
33 4 . c, d. Northumberland. After 33. b.
So the captain came off (c, d. The captain)
with his lady,
And also his sweet babes three ;
(c, d. And his lovely babies three)
Saying, I 'm as good blood by descent,
Tho the great Duke o Gordon you be.
e h are but partially collated.
e. I 1 , had. 1 s . Lady Mary, Margret, and Jean.
I 4 , they wadna bide.
7*. From him she will not stay.
8. Wanting. 9 4 . Hie liangit shalt thou be.
10* Desiring to hang.
10 4 . For marrying his dochter Jean.
II 2 . For a' the offence I see.
11 s . gar him throw aff his broad scarlet.
13 4 . A' this and mair I '11 dree.
14 2 . A year but only three.
15 1 . weary wandering. 16. As in b, c, d.
IT 1 . High war the hills and the mountains.
18, 19. Wanting.
20. I could ga. After 20:
* O an I war at bonnie Castle Gordon,
O an I war at bonnie Castle Gordon,
There I 'd get hose and sheen.'
' Though ye war at bonnie Castle Gordon,
And standing on the green,
Your father is sae hard-hearted a man
He wad na lat you in.'
' If I war at bonnie Castle Gordon,
And standing on the green,
My mither 's a tender-hearted woman,
She wad rise and lat me in.'
Then : O baud your tongue I '11 buy hose
and sheen to you, as in b, c, d.
22 4 . awa wi your Ogilvie.
23 8 . But a messenger.
23 4 . Which causd a countermand.
24 4 . Ye 're the heir of.
26 8 . I '11 gae hame and heir my estate.
After 26 :
' Then hoist up your sail,' said the Captain,
' And we '11 gae oure the sea,
And I '11 gae to bonnie Castle Gordon,
There my dear Jeanie to see.'
27*. And whan in sicht cam he.
Between 28, 29 :'
' The last time I cam to your yetts
Ye wadna let me in,
But now I 'm again at your yetts,
And in I will not gang.'
30, 31. Wanting.
32 2 . Wi the saut tear in her ee.
32*. A babe she held in every arm.
32 4 . Anither gaun at her knee.
33. As in o, d, and a concluding stanza as
in b, o, d.
237. THE DUKE OF GORDON'S DAUGHTER
337
f. I 1 , had. 2 3 . Months but barely three.
2 4 , 3 4 , 7 4 . fae him she winna stay.
3 1 . Word 's come. 6 2 . sister Jean.
6 4 . ye are walkin alane. 9 4 . High hange'd.
10*. If ever he hange'd ane.
13H A' this I '11 dee an mair.
14. Wanting. 15 1 . weary wanrin.
15 4 . a single sodger lad. 16. As in b, c, d.
18, 19. Wanting.
20 2 . Fa monie merry day I hae been.
After 20 a stanza as in b, c, d, and then this
silly one :
' O they would be bad stockins,
they would be worse sheen,
O they would be bad stockins
Ye 'd get for half a crown.'
21 1 . they cam to bonnie Aberdeen.
22*. awa wi your Ogilvie.
23 s . But a messenger.
23*. Which proved a counterman.
24 4 . You 're the heir o. 26, 30, 31. Wanting.
32 s . Wi the saut tear in her ee.
32 3 . She had a babe in ilka airm.
32 4 . An a third whar nane could see.
33 2 . Ye 're welcome, thrice welcome to me.
33 8>4 . Ye 're welcome, bonnie Jeannie Gordon,
Countess o Northumberlan to be.
g. I 1 , had. 2 2 . A month but only one.
3*. from him she wald not stay.
4 2 . My servant shall ride on.
4 4 . An forthwith bring her away.
5 s . only one. 6 4 . she 's not along with you.
7 4 . from him she will not stay.
8 4 . Training his gallant men.
9 4 . It 's high hangit ye sail.
10 s . It was to hang.
10 4 . For marrying his daughter Jean.
II 2 . For all the offence I can see.
II 4 . 12 4 . Put on but the.
13. ' A' this I will do for your sake, Jeanie Gor
don,
A' this I will do for thee ;
1 will cast aff the gold lace an scarlet,
Put on but the single livery.'
14 2 . Ae year but only three.
15 4 . a single soldier-lad.
16. ' O haud your tongue, Jeannie Gordon,
An dinna ye lichtlie me ;
I was tane frae a captain's commission
An made low for lyin wi thee.'
(17 as 15.) 17 1 . High were the hills an the
mountains.
18, 19. Wanting. Before 20 :
' Haud your tongue, Jeannie Gordon,
Ye needna gloom on me ;
I hae but ae half-crown in the warld,
I '11 buy stockings an shoon to thee.'
20 1 . If I were in the bonny glens o Ourdlie.
20 2 . Where mony bonny days I hae been.
After 20 :
' If ye were at bonny Castle Gordon,
An lichtit on the green,
Your faither is a hard-hearted man,
He wald na let you in.'
' If I were at bonny Castle Gordon,
An lichtit on the green,
My mother 's a good-hearted woman,
She wald open an lat me in.'
22. The Duke o Gordon cam trippin doun
stairs
Wi the saut tear in his ee : (cf. 32 2 )
* Ye 're welcome here, Jeannie Gordon,
Wi a' your young family, (cf. 33 2 )
Ye 're welcome here, Jeannie Gordon,
But awa wiyour Ogilvie.'
23 1>2 . The Captain took ship an sailed, He
sailed from the land.
23 8 . But a messenger.
23 4 . Which caused a countermand.
24 1>8 . Come back, come back, C. O.
24 4 . You are earl. 25. Wanting.
26 s . I will gae hame an.
27 2 . An lichtit on the green.
27 4 . Says, Here's Captain Ogilvie again.
After 27 :
The Duke o Gordon cam trippin doun stairs,
Wi his hat into his hand :
' Ye 're welcome hame, Captain Ogilvie,
The heir o Northumberland.'
After 28 :
' Put up your hat, Duke o Gordon,
An do not let it fa ;
338
238. GLENLOOIE, OR, JEAN O BETHELNIE
It never set the noble Duke o Gordon
To bow to a single soldier-lad.'
29 4 . No ither favour I claim.
30, 31. Wanting.
32 2 . the saut tear in her ee.
32 M . You're welcome name, Captain Ogilvie,
You 're dearly welcome to me.
33. Wanting. After 33 : The Captain went
aff with his lady, nearly as in b e.
The order of stanzas is deranged. Some of
the variations are clearly misremembrances.
h. Nine stanzas only. I 1 , had.
I 4 , wud awa.
2 2 . A month but barely twa.
'_". from him she wudna stay.
3 4 . from him she will not stay.
11 s . For any offence that
15 1 . weary, weary wanderin.
After 15 : Had yer tongue I '11 buy hose
and shoon for you, Had yer tongue For
your sake I 'm a single man.
22 4 . awa wi your Ogilvie.
Christie's ballad has many of the readings of
a, and a few of the editor's. Of " two
verses, as sung in the counties of Banff and
Moray, hitherto unpublished," one is in
all copies except a ; the other is the inept
stanza (see f ) :
' Oh, coarse, coarse would be the stockings.
And coarser would be the shoon,
Oh, coarse, coarse would they baith be,
You would buy for ae siller crown.'
238
GLENLOGIE, OR, JEAN O BETHELNIE
A. Skcne MS., p. 13.
B. ' Glenlogie,' Sharpe's Ballad Book, 1823, p. 37.
C. Glenlogie,' Gibb MS., No 6, p. 33.
P. ' Jean o Bethelnie,' Percy Papers, communicated
by R. Lambe, 1768.
D. ' There waur aucht an forty nobles,' Harris MS.,
foL 17.
E. a. 'Jean o Bethelnie's Love for Sir G. Gordon,'
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 188.
b. Bonnie Jean o Bethelnie,' Christie's Traditional
Ballad Airs, I, 54.
G. ' Glenlogie,' Alexander Laing's MS., p. 8.
H. Glenlogie,' Kinloch MSS, V, 431.
I. a. " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrel
sy," No 77, Abbotsford. b. Glenogie,' Smith's
Scotish Minstrel, IV, 78, 1822.
4 GLENLOGIE,' in Chambers' Popular
Rhymes of Scotland, 1826, p. 200, is a repeti
tion of B. P, the copy earliest taken down, is
not pure and unvarnished tradition. The re
constructed copy in the Ballad Minstrelsy of
Scotland, Glasgow, 1871, p. 506, was " based
on a MS. version communicated to Mr
Buchan in a letter from Mr Alexander Laing,
dated Brechin, April 9th, 1829, and there
given by him as taken down from the reci
tation of the amiable daughter of a clergy
man in the North." Q, from Laing's MS.,
may be supposed to be the ballad sent to
Buchan by Laing. I b has been touched up
by one of " that parliament of gentle ladies,"
in Motherwell's phrase, who had charge
of the literary part of Smith's Scotish Min
strel.
Jean of Bethelnie, A, C, E, P, Jean Mel
ville, B, D, G, of the age of fifteen or sixteen,
scarce seventeen, G, falls in love at sight with
Glenlogie (Earl Ogie, P, Glenogie, I b),
and opens her mind to him. Glenlogie,
though much flattered, is obliged to say that
238. GLENLOGIE, OR, JEAN O BETHELNIE
339
he is already promised.* Jean takes to her
bed, determined to die. Her father (mother,
Af), as all too frequently happens at such
conjunctures, proposes the miserable comfort
of another and a better match, and, as usual,
is told to hold his tongue. The chaplain of
the family (the father himself is a king's chap
lain in F) takes the business in hand, and
writes a broad, long, and well-penned letter
to Glenlogie, setting forth the desperate con
dition of the girl. Glenlogie is so much af
fected that he rides to Bethelnie with all
haste and presents himself to Jean as her
bridegroom, although promised awa.
The young lady is Jean Gordon in C. H
has changed Bethelnie to Belhelvie, another
Aberdeenshire town. I has Glenfeldy for
Bethelnie.
Gerhard, p, 103, has translated B a ;
Knortz, Schottische Balladen, p. 15, Aytoun's
copy, that is, B.
Skene MS., p. 13 ; taken down from recitation in the
north of Scotland, 1802-3.
1 FOUR an twenty noblemen they rode thro
Banchory fair,
But bonnie Glenlogie was flower [of a'] that
was there.
2 Four and twenty noblemen rode from Ban
chory ha,
But bonnie Glenlogie he was flower of them a'.
3 ' O bonnie Glenlogie, be constant and kind,
An, bonnie Glenlogie, I '11 tell you my mind.
4 . . . . so frank and so free,
. and I get na Glenlogie, I '11 die.'
5 ' O bonnie Jeanie, your portion 's but sma
To lay your love on me, that 's promist awa.'
6 Her cherry cheeks grew pale an wan ; with
the tear in her ee,
' Gin I get na Glenlogie, I surely will die.'
7 Ben came her father, steps to her bowr :
1 Dear Jeanie, you 'r acting the part of a
[whore],
8 ' You 're seeking ane that cares na for thee ;
Ye 's get Lord William, let Glenlogie be.'
* There is, to tell the whole truth, an allusion in A, H to
Jean's portion, or tocher, as not being sufficient to justify
the breaking of a previous engagement. One would wish
to think that ' portion ' in A 5 is a corruption of ' fortune,'
and that what is meant is that her luck is hard. But tocher
in H 3 is not easily disposed of.
9 ' O had you still, father, let your folly be ;
Gin I get na Glenlogie, I surely will die.'
10 Ben came her mother, steps on the floor :
'Dear daughter Jeanie, you 're acting the
[whore],
11 ' Seeking of ane that cares na for thee ;
For ye '11 get Lord William, let Glenlogie
be.'
12 ' O had your tongue, mother, and let me be ;
An I get na Glenlogie, I surely will die.'
13 O ben came her father's chaplain, a man of
great skill,
And he has written a broad letter, and he has
pennd it well.
14 H 'as pennd it well, an sent it awa
To bonnie Glenlogie, the flower of them a'.
15 When he got the letter, his tears did down
fa
' She 's laid her love on me, that was promist
awa.'
16 He calld on his servant wi speed, and bade
him saddle his horses, and bridle them
a':
' For she has laid her love on me, altho I was
promist awa.'
t The gross and uncalled-for language of father and mo
ther in A 7, 10, has slipped in by a mere trick of memory,
I am convinced, from 'Lady Maisry,' No 65, B, C. See
again the ballad which follows this.
340
238. GLENLOGIE, OB, JEAN O BETHELNIE
17 The horses were saddled wi speed, but ere 19 'Cheer up, bonnie Jeannie, ye are flowr o
they came he was four mile awa, them a' ;
To Jean of Bethelny, the flowr of them a'. I have laid my love on you, altho I was prom-
ist awa.'
18 But when he came to her bowr she was pale
and wan, 20 Her beauty was charming, her tocher down
But she grew red and ruddy when Glenlogie tauld ;
came in. Bonnie Jean of Bethelny was scarce fifteen
year auld.
B
Sharpe's Ballad Book, p. 37, 1823.
1 FOUR and twenty nobles sits in the king's ha,
Bonnie Glenlogie is the flower among them a*.
2 In came Lady Jean, skipping on the floor,
And she has chosen Glenlogie 'mong a' that
was there.
3 She turned to his footman, and thus she did
say:
Oh, what is his name ? and where does he
stay?
4 ' His name is Glenlogie, when he is from
home ;
He is of the gay Gordons, his name it is John.'
5 ' Glenlogie, Glenlogie, an you will prove kind,
My love is laid on you ; I am telling my
mind.'
6 He turned about lightly, as the Gordons does
a':
' I thank you, Lady Jean, my loves is promised
awa.
7 She called on her maidens her bed for to
make,
Her rings and her jewels all from her to take.
8 In came Jeanie's father, a wae man was he ;
Says, I '11 wed you to Drumf endrich, he has
mair gold than he.
9 Her father's own chaplain, being a man of
great skill,
He wrote him a letter, and indited it well.
10 The first lines he looked at, a light laugh
laughed he ;
But ere he read through it the tears blinded
his ee.
11 Oh, pale and wan looked she when Glenlogie
cam in,
But even rosy grew she when Glenlogie sat
down.
12 'Turn round, Jeanie Melville, turn round to
this side,
And I '11 be the bridegroom, and you '11 be the
bride/
13 Oh, 't was a merry wedding, and the portion
down told,
Of bonnie Jeanie Melville, who was scarce six
teen years old.
Gibb MS., No 6, p. 33, from the recitation of Mrs Gibb,
senior; traced to Mrs E. Lindsay, about 1800.
1 THERE was three score o nobles sat at the king's
dine,
An bonny Glenlogie was flower o thrice nine.
2 . . . . cam trippin downstair,
An she fancied Glenlogie ower a' that was
there.
238. GLENLOGIE, OB, JEAN O BETHELNIE
341
3 She called on the footman that ran by his side,
Says, What is that man's name, an where does
he bide ?
4 'His name is Glenlogie when he goes from
home.
But he 's of the great Gordons, an his name is
Lord John.'
5 ' Glenlogie ! Glenlogie ! Glenlogie ! ' said she,
' An for bonnie Glenlogie I surely will die.'
6 She called on her maidens to make her her
bed,
8 Then up spake his father, Let it never be
said
That such a fine lady should die for your
sake.
9 'Go saddle my black horse, go saddle him
soon,
Till I go to Bethelnie, to see Lady Jean.'
10 When he got to Bethelnie, there was naebody
there
But was weeping an wailing an tearing their
hair.
********
7 When Glenlogie got the letter, amang noble
men,
' Dear me,' said Glenlogie, ' what does young
women mean ! '
11 'Turn round, Jeanie Gordon, turn round to
this side ;
I '11 be the bridegroom, an ye 's be the bride.'
Harris MS., fol. 17 ; learned from Mrs Harris before 1832.
1 THERE waur aucht an forty nobles rade to the
king's ha,
But bonnie Glenlogie was the flour o them a'.
2 There waur aucht an forty nobles rade to the
king's dine,
But bonnie Glenlogie was the flour o thrice
nine.
3 Bonnie Jeanie Melville cam trippin doun the
stair,
An whan she saw Glenlogie her hairt it grew
sair.
4 .
' He 's of the gay Gordons, his name it is
John.'
5 ' Oh, Logic ! Oh, Logic ! Oh, Logic ! ' said
she,
' If I get na Glenlogie, I surely will dee.'
6 He turned him aboot, as the Gordons do a',
Says, I thank you, Lady Jeanie, but I 'm
promised awa.
7 She called on her maidens her hands for to
take,
An the rings from her fingers she did them a'
break.
8 ' Oh, what is my lineage, or what is my make.
That such a fine lady suld dee for my sake ? '
9 Such a pretty wedding, as I have been told,
An bonnie Jeanie Melville was scarce sixteen
years old.
342
238. GLENLOGIE, OB, JEAN O BETHELNIE
E
a. n uc h.-in's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 188.
b. Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, 1, 54.
1 THERE were four-and-twenty ladies dined i the
Queen's ha,
And Jean o Bethelnie was the flower o them a*.
2 Four-and-twenty gentlemen rode thro Ban-
chory fair,
But bonny Glenlogie was the flower that was
there.
3 Toung Jean at a window she chanced to sit
nigh,
And upon Glenlogie she fixed an eye.
4 She calld on his best man, unto him did say,
what is that knight's name ? or where does
he stay ?
5 He 's of the noble Gordons, of great birth
and fame ;
He stays at Glenlogie, Sir George is his name.'
6 Then shef wrote a broad letter, and wrote it in
haste ;
To send to Glenlogie, she thought it was best
7 Says, O brave Glenlogie, unto me be kind ;
1 've laid my love on you, and told you my
mind.
8 Then reading the letter, as he stood on the
green,
Says, I leave you to judge, sirs ; what does
women mean ?
9 Then turnd about sprightly, as the Gordons
do a' :
' Lay not your love on me, I 'm promisd awa.'
10 When she heard this answer, her heart was
like to break,
That she laid her love on him, and him so
ungrate.
11 Then she calld on her maidens to lay her to bed,
And take her fine jewels and lay them aside.
12 * My seals and my signets, no more shall I
crave ;
But linen and trappin, a chest and a grave.'
13 Her father stood by her, possessed with fear
To see his dear daughter possessed with care.
14 Says, Hold your tongue, Jeannie, let all your
folly be ;
I '11 wed you to Duinf cdliue, he is better than
he.
15 ' O hold your tongue, father, and let me alanc ;
If I getna Glenlogie, I '11 never have ane.
16 * His bonny jimp middle, his black rolling eye,
If I getna Glenlogie, I 'm sure I shall die.'
17 But her father's old chaplain, a man of great
skill,
He wrote a broad letter, and penned it well.
18 Saying, O brave Glenlogie, why must it be
so?
A maid's love laid on you, shall she die in her
woe?
19 Then reading the letter, his heart was like to
break
That such a leal virgin should die for his
sake.
20 Then he calld on his footman, and likewise his
groom,
Says, Get my horse saddled and bridled soon.
21 Before the horse was saddled and brought to
the yate,
Bonnie Glenlogie was five miles on foot.
22 When he came to Bethelnie, he saw nothing
there
But weeping and wailing, vexation and care.
23 Then out spake her father, with the tear in his
ee,
You 're welcome, Glenlogie, you 're welcome
to me.
24 ' If ye make me welcome, as welcome 's ye
say,
Ye 11 show me the chamber where Jeannie
does lay.'
25 Then one o her maidens took him by the hand,
To show him the chamber where Jeannie lay
in.
238. GLENLOGIE, OR, JEAN O BETHELNIE
343
26 Before that she saw him, she was pale and 28 When Jeannie was married, her tocher down
wan ; tauld,
But when she did see him, she grew ruddy Bonny Jean o Bethelnie was fifteen years
again. auld.
27 ' O turn, bonny Jeannie, turn you to your side ;
For I '11 be the bridegroom, and ye '11 be the
bride.'
F
Communicated to Percy by Robert Lambe, of Norham,
August 17, 1768; dated April, 1768.
1 FOURSCORE nobles ride in the king's court,
And bonny Earl Ogie 's the flower of the
rout;
Fourscore lean oer the castle-wa,
But Jean of Bethelnie 's the flower of em a'.
2 She writ a broad letter, and pennd it fou lang,
And sent it Earl Ogie as fast as 't can gang :
' Bonny Earl Ogie, be courteous and kind ;
I 've laid my love on thee ; maun I die in my
prime ? '
3 ' O pox on thee, Jenny, for being sae slaw !
Bonny Earl Ogie is promisd awa : '
This letter was like to mak her heart break,
For revealing her mind to a man so ingrate.
4 ' Come here, all my handmaids, O do this with
speed,
Take my gowns and my passments, and lay
me to bed ;
Lay me to my bed, it is all that I crave ;
Wi my sark in my coffin, lay me in my grave.'
5 Her father beheld her with heart full of grief)
And spoke these words to her, to gi her relief :
Hawd your tongue, Jenny, your mourning
let be,
You shall have Drumfinely, who 's as good as
he.
6 ' Haud your tongue, father, your words make
me sad ;
If I get not Earl Ogie, I still shall be bad ;
With his bonny streight body, and black roll
ing eee,
If I get not Earl Ogie, for him I mun dee.'
44
7 Her father, king's chaplain, and one of great
skill,
Did write a broad letter, and pennd it fou weel ;
He as writ a broad letter, and pennd it fou lang,
And sent it Earl Ogie as fast as 't can gang.
8 ' Bonny Earl Ogie. be courteous and kind ;
My daughter loves you ; must she die in her
prime ? '
When he read the first lines, a loud laugh gave
he ;
But or he redd the middle, the tear filld his ee.
9 ' Come here, all my footmen, and also my
groom,
Go saddle my horses, and saddle them soon : '
They were not weel saddled and set on the
green
Or bonny Earl Ogie was twa mile his lain.
10 When he came to Bethelnie, he nothing saw
there
But mourning and weeping, lamentation and
care:
* O you that 's her handmaid, take me by the
hand,
Lead me to the chamber that Jenny lies in.'
11 When thither he came, she was pale and half
dead;
As soon as she saw him, her cheeks they grew
red:
' Come, turn thee, my Jenny, come, turn on
thy side,
I '11 be the bridegroom, you shall be the bride.'
12 Her spirit revived to hear him say sae,
And thus ended luckily all her great wae ;
Then streight were they married, with joy most
profound,
And Jean of Bethelnie was sav'd from the
ground.
344
238. GLENLOGIE, OR, JEAN O BETHELNIB
Alexander Laing's MS., "Ancient Ballads and Songs,
etc., etc., from the Recitation of Old People," p. 8, 1829.
1 THERE was mony a braw noble cum to our
king's ha,
But the bonnie Glenlogie was the flower o
them a' ;
An the young ladye Jeanye, sae gude an sae
fair,
She fancyd Glenlogie aboon a' that were there.
2 She speered at his footman that rode by his
side
His name an his surname an whare he did
bide :
' He bides a[t] Glenlogie whan he is at hame,
He is of the gay Gordons, an John is his name.'
3 ' Oh, Logie, Glenlogie, I '11 tell you my mind ;
My luve is laid on you, O wad ye prove kind ! '
He turned him about, as the Gordons do a',
I thank [you], fair ladye, but I 'm promised
awa.'
M
4 She called on her maidens her hands for to
take,
An the rings on her fingers she did them a'
break :
' Oh, Logie, Glenlogie ! Oh, Logie ! ' said she,
' Gin I get na Glenlogie, I 'm sure I will die.'
5 ' O hold your tongue, daughter, an weep na sae
sair,
For ye '11 get Drumfindlay, his father's young
heir.'
' O hold your tongue, father, an let me alane,
Gin I get na Glenlogie, I winna hae ane.'
6 Her father wrote a broad letter wi speed,
And ordered his footman to run and ride ;
He wrote a broad letter, he wrote it wi skill,
An sent it to Glenlogie, who had dune her the
m.
7 The first line that he read, a light laugh gae he ;
The next line that he read, the tear filld his
ee:
O what a man am I, an hae I a maik,
That such a fine ladye shoud die for my sake ?
8 ' Ye '11 saddle my horse, an ye '11 saddle him
snne,
An, when he is saddled, bring him to the
green : '
His horse was na saddled an brocht to the
green,
When Glenlogie was on the road three miles
his lane.
9 When he came to her father's, he saw nae thing
there
But weeping an wailing an sobbing fn sair :
O pale an wan was she when Logie gaed in,
But red an ruddie grew she when Logie gaed
ben.
10 ' O turn, Ladye Jeany, turn ye to your side,
For I '11 be the bridegroom, an ye '11 be the
bride : '
It was a blythe wedding as ever I 've seen,
An bonny Jeany Melville was scarce seven
teen.
Kinloch MSS, V, 431 ; in Kinloch's hand.
1 Six and six nobles gaed to Belhelvie fair,
But bonnie Glenlogie was flowr o a' there ;
Bonnie Jean o Behelvie gaed tripping doun
the stair,
And fancied Glenlogie afore a' that was there.
2 She said to his serving-man, as he stood aside,
O what is that man's name, and whare does
he bide ?
' They call him Glenlogie whan he goes frae
home,
But he 's come o the grand Gordons, and [h]is
name is Lord John.'
3 ' Glenlogie, Glenlogie, be constant and kind ;
I 've laid my love on you, I '11 tell you my
mind : '
' O wae 's me heart, Jeanie, your tocher 's cure
sma;
Lay na your love on me, for I'm promised
awa.'
238. GLENLOGIE, OB, JEAN O BETHELNIE
345
4 She called for the servant to show her a room,
Likewise for a handmaid to mak her bed
doun ;
Wi that Jeanie's father cam stepping on the
floor,
Says, What is the matter my dochter lies here ?
5 ' Forgie, honourd father, my folly,' said she,
' But for the sake o Glenlogie your dochter will
dee:'
' O cheer up, my dochter, for I '11 gie ye my
hand
That ye 'se get young Glenf orbar, w' an earl
dom of land.
6 ' O cheer up, my dochter, turn ance frae the
wa,
And ye '11 get Glenf orbar, the flowr o them a' : '
* I wad rather tak Glenlogie wi his staff in his
hand
Afore I wad tak Glenforbar wi an earldom of
land.'
7 Jeanie's father was a scholar, and a man o
grit wit,
And he wrote him a letter, he thought it was
fit.
8 When Glenlogie gat the letter, he was amang
nobles a',
he lute his hat fa :
*I wonder i the warld what women see at
me,
For bonnie Jean o Belhelvie is a dying for
me: '
9 He calld for his servant to saddle his steed,
wi speed ;
The horse was na saddled, but out on the
green,
Till bonnie Glenlogie was some miles him
leen.
10 Whan he cam to Belhelvie, he rade round
about,
And he saw Jeanie's father at a window look
out.
11 Bonnie Jean o Belhevie lay pale and wan,
But red and ruddy grew she when Glenlogie
cam in :
( Lie yont, bonnie Jeanie, and let me lie down,
For ye 'se be bride, and I 'se be bridegroom.'
a. " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border-Minstrelsy,"
No. 77. Written down from the recitation of Mrs Graham,
of Inchbrakie, by Mrs Steuart, of Dalguise, and given, Sep
tember, 1802, to Mr Robert Carlyle, by whom it was com
municated to Sir Walter Scott, b. Smith's Scotish Min
strel, IV, 78 (of the second edition).
1 ' THERE 's fifty young nobles rides up the
king's hall
And bonny Glenlogie 's the flower of them
all;
Wi his milk - white steed, and his black roll
ing ee,
If I get na Glenlogie, it 's certain I '11 die.
2 ( Where will I get a bonny boy, to win hose
and shoon,
To go to Glenlogie and bid Logie come ? '
' Here am I a pretty boy, to win baith hose
and shoon,
To go to Glenlogie and bid Logie come.'
3 When he came to Glenlogie, it was ' wash and
go dine : '
' Come in, my pretty boy, wash and go dine : '
'It was no my father's fashion, and I hope
it '11 no be mine,
To run a lady's hasty errand, then to go dine.
4 ' Here take this letter, Glenlogie,' said he.
The first ane line that he read, a low smile
gave he ;
The next ane line that he read, the tear blinded
his ee ;
But the next line that he read he garrd the
table flee.
5 ' O saddle to me the black horse, saddle to me
the brown,
Saddle to me the swiftest horse that eer rode
frae the town : '
But lang or the horses could be brought to the
green
Bonie Glenlogie was twa mile his lean.
238. GLENLOGIE, OR, JEAN O BETHELNIE
6 When he came to Glenfeldy's gates, little mirth
was there,
Bonie Jean's mother was tearing her hair :
' You 're welcome, Glenlogie, you 're welcome
to me,
You 're welcome, Glenlogie, your Jeanie to see.'
7 O pale and wan was she when Logie came in,
But red and rosy grew she wheneer he sat
down :
' O turn you, bonie Jeanie, O turn you to me,
For, if you '11 be the bride, the bridegroom I
will be.'
A. Not divided into stanzas.
6 1 . your portion 's. Qy, your fortune 's ?
(your luck is small).
;"-. I am promist awa, I 'in promist awa, to
lay your love on me that 's promist awa.
6*. Gin I get na Glenlogie, I surely will die,
I surely will die.
7 1 . fathers.
9 1 . your still, which may possibly be meant.
10 1 . mothers steps.
19. Cheer up bonnie Jeannie
I have laid my love on you
Ye are flowr o them a'
I have laid my love on you
Altho I was promist awa.
C. Written in stanzas of four short lines.
D. Written, as far as the imperfect text would
allow, in stanzas of eight short lines.
E. In stanzas of four short lines.
b. " Epitomized from Buchan's Ballads, with a
few alterations from the way the Editor has
heard it sung."
I 3 . Bonnie Jean : was flower.
2 1 . There were four-and-twenty nobles.
2 2 . And bonnie : was flower o them there.
3 1 . Bonnie Jean.
3 2 . And on young G. : her eye.
4 1 . and to him. 6 2 . for she. 7 1 . And says.
9 1 . Then he. 10 1 . heard his. 10 s . she 'd.
28 1 . and her tocher was tauld.
H. 7-11 are in couplets in the MS.
I. b. Glenogie for Glenlogie.
I 1 . Threescore o nobles rade. I 2 . But.
1*. his bonny black.
I 4 . Glenogie, dear mither, Glenogie for me !
After I:
* O had your tongue, dochter, ye '11 get better
than he.'
' O say nae sae, mither, for that canna be ;
Tho Drumlie is richer, and greater than he,
Yet, if I maun tak him, I '11 certainly dee.'
2 2>4 . Will gae : and cum shune again.
2 8 . O here : a bonny : win hose. 3 1 . he gaed.
3 s . 'T was wash ye, my.
O 't was neer : and it neer shall.
To gar : wait till I dine.
4 1 . But there is, Glenogie, a letter to thee.
4 2 . first line. 4 8 . next line. 4 4 . the last.
6 1 . Gar saddle the : gae saddle the.
5 2 . Gar saddle the swiftest steed eer rade frae a.
5 8 . ere the horse was drawn and brought.
5*. O bonny. 6 1 . door for gates.
6 8 . (end) welcome, said she.
7 1 . O wanting : Glenogie gaed ben.
7 M . An editorial improvement:
She turned awa her head, but the smile was in
her ee :
'O binna feared, mither, I '11 may be no dee.'
3 8 .
3 4 .
239. LORD SALTOUN AND AUCHANACHIE
347
239
LORD SALTOUN AND AUCHANACHIE
A. ' Lord Salton and Auchanachie.' a. Buchan's Bal
lads of the North of Scotland, II, 133. b. Maid-
ment's North Countrie Garland, p. 10 ; Buchan's
Gleanings, p. 161.
B. a. Young Annochie,' Murison MS., p. 76. b. ' Lord
Saltoun and Annachie,' Christie's Traditional Ballad
Airs, I, 10.
A. JEANIE GORDON loves Auchanachie,
who is bonny and braw, but she is forced by
her father to wed Saltoun, who is bowed in
the back and thrawin in the knee ; and all
for Saltoun's lands. Jeanie refuses to be bed
ded ; her maidens, at her father's order, loose
off her gown (they cut her gown and stays) ;
she falls in a swoon and dies. Auchanachie
comes home from the sea the same day, learns
what has happened, asks to be taken to the
chamber where Jeanie lies, kisses her cold lips,
and dies.
In B we have Gordon of Annachie in Bu-
chan, instead of Gordon of Auchanachie in
Strathbogie as in A. Christie, on very slight
grounds, suggests that one Garden of Anna
chie was the proper hero : I, 287, 294.
There can hardly be a doubt that this ballad
is Mrs Brown of Falkland's ' Lass o Philorth '
(see note, p. 309). Philorth is the seat of the
Frasers of Saltoun, near Fraserburgh, in the
extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire.
As to A a 2 1 ' 2 , b 1, B 2 1 ' 2 , see note f to the
preceding ballad, p. 339.
a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 133,
1828. b. Maidment's North Countrie Garland, p. 10, 1824 ;
Buchan's Gleanings, p. 161, 1825.
1 ' AUCHANACHIE GORDON is bonny and braw,
He would tempt any woman that ever he saw ;
He would tempt any woman, so has he tempted
me,
And I '11 die if I getna my love Auchanachie.'
2 In came her father, tripping on the floor,
Says, Jeanie, ye 're trying the tricks o a
whore ;
Ye 're caring for them that cares little for thee ;
Ye must marry Salton, leave Auchanachie.
3 ' Auchanachie Gordon, he is but a man ;
Altho he be pretty, where lies his free land ?
Salton's lands they lie broad, his towers they
stand hie,
Ye must marry Salton, leave Auchanachie.
4 .
' Salton will gar you wear silk gowns fring'd to
thy knee,
But ye '11 never wear that wi your love Au
chanachie.'
5 'Wi Auchanachie Gordon I would beg my
bread
Before that wi Salton I 'd wear gowd on my
head,
Wear gowd on my head, or gowns fring'd to
the knee ;
And I '11 die if I getna my love Auchanachie.
348
239. LORD SALTOUN AND AUCHANACHIE
6 ' O Salton 's [a] valley lies low by the sea,
He 's bowed on the back, and thrawin on the
knee;'
7 ' O Salton 's a valley lies low by the sea ;
Though he 's bowed on the back and thrawin
on the knee,
Though he 's bowed on the back and thrawin
on the knee,
The bonny rigs of Salton they 're nae thrawin
tee.'
8 ' you that are my parents to church may me
bring,
But unto young Salton I '11 never bear a son ;
For son or for daughter, I '11 ne'er bow my
knee,
And I '11 die if I getna my love Auclianachie.'
9 When Jeanie was married, from church was
brought hame,
When she wi her maidens sae merry shoud hae
been.
When she wi her maidens sae merry shoud hae
been,
She 's called for a chamber, to weep there her
lane.
10 ' Come to your bed, Jeanie, my honey and my
sweet,
For to stile you mistress I do not think it
meet : '
' Mistress or Jeanie, it is a' ane to me,
It 's in your bed, Salton, I never will be.'
11 Then out spake her father, he spake wi re
nown ;
Some of you that are maidens, ye '11 loose aff
her gown ;
Some of you that are maidens, ye '11 loose aff
her gown,
And I '11 mend the marriage wi ten thousand
crowns.
12 Then ane of her maidens they loosed aff her
gown,
But bonny Jeanie Gordon she fell in a swoon ;
She fell in a swoon low down by their knee ;
Says, Look on, I die for my love Auchana-
chie!
13 That very same day Miss Jeanie did die,
And hame came Auchanachie, hame frae the
sea;
Her father and mither welcomd him at the
gate;
He said, Where 's Miss Jeanie, that she 's nae
here yet ?
14 Then forth came her maidens, all wringing
their hands,
Saying, Alas for your staying sae lang frae the
land!
Sae lang frae the land, and sae lang on the
fleed!
They Ve wedded your Jeanie, and now she is
dead.
15 * Some of you, her maidens, take me by the
hand,
And show me the chamber Miss Jeanie died
in;'
He kissd her cold lips, which were colder than
stane,
And he died in the chamber that Jeanie died
in.
B
a. Murison MS., p. 76. b. Christie's Traditional Ballad
Airs, I, 10.
1 ' BUCHAN, it 's bonnie, an there lies my love,
My heart is fixt on him, it winna remove ;
It winna remove for a* at I can dee,
An I never will forsake him Young Aimochie.'
2 Her father cam trippin, cam trippin ben the
floor,
Says, Jeannie, ye hae but the tricks o a whore ;
Ye care little for the man that cares muckle
for thee,
But I '11 cause you marry Saltoun, let Annochie
be.
239. LORD SALTOUN AND AUCHANACHIB
349
3 ' Ye may marry me to Saltoun before that I
go home,
But it is to Lord Saltoun I '11 never bear a
son;
A son nor a daughter I '11 never bear to he,
An I never will forsake him Young Annochie.'
4 ' All you that is her maidens, ye '11 tak her by
the ban,
An I will inheft her o five thousan poun ;
She '11 wear silk to her heel and gowd to her
knee,
An I '11 cause her to forsake him Young Anno
chie.'
5 ' All you that is my maidens winna tak me by
the ban,
I winna be inhefted o five thousan poun ;
I '11 nae wear silk to my heal nor wear gowd
to my knee,
An I never will forsake him Young Annochie.'
6 ' All you that is her maidens, ye '11 show her
to her bed ;
The blankets they are ready, the sheets are
comely spread ;
She shall lie in my airms till twelve o the day,
An I '11 cause her to forsake him Young Anno
chie.'
7 ' All you that is my maidens winna show me
to my bed,
Tho the blankets they be ready, the sheets be
comely spread ;
I '11 nae lie in your airms till twelve o the day,
An I never will forsake him Young Annochie.'
8 It 's that day they wedded her, an that day
she died,
An that day Young Annochie cam in on the
tide;
9 Her maidens did meet him, a' wringin their
bans,
Sayin, It 's a' for your stayin so long on the
sans !
They Ve wedded your Jeannie, an now she is
dead,
An it 's a' for your stayin sae long on the
fleed.
10 ' All you that is her maidens ye '11 tak me by
the ban,
Ye '11 show me the bower that Jeannie lies in : '
He kissed her cold lips, they were both white
an red,
And for bonnie Jeannie Gordon Young Anno
chie died.
A, a. 4-6 are disarranged, and an attempt has
been made at a better grouping. 4 3 ' 4 , 5 1 ' 2 ,
are 4 ; 5 3 ' 4 are 5 1 ' 2 ; 6 1 ' 2 are 5 3>4 .
14 2 . The reading of b is better : on the sands.
14 8 . frae the fleed : b reads, rightly, on the
flood (fleed).
b. Printed by Maidment in stanzas of four
short lines ; by Buchan, in long lines, not
properly grouped.
1 Ben came her father, skipping on the floor,
Said, Jeanie, you 're trying the tricks of a
whore.
2 ' You 're caring for him that cares not for
thee ;
And I pray you take Salton, let Auchana-
cliie be.'
3 'I will not have Salton, it lies low by the
sea;
He is bowed in the back, he 's thrawen in
the knee ;
And I '11 die if I get not my brave Auchan-
achie.'
4 * I am bowed in the back, lassie, as ye see,
But the bonny lands of Salton are no crooked
tee.'
5 And when she was married she would not
lie down,
But they took out a knife, and cuttit her
gown.
6 Likewise of her stays the lacing in three ;
And now she lies dead for her Auchanachie.
350
239. LOUD SALTOUN AND AUCHANACHIB
7 Out comes her bower-woman, wringing her
hands,
Says, Alas for the staying so long on the
sands 1
8 ' Alas for the staying so long on the flood !
For Jeanie was married, and now she is
dead.'
B. a. 8, 9 are written together.
9 4 , on the sans : ef. A a 14 1 , b 8 1 , B b.
b. Some trivial variations are not noticed.
Printed in six stanzas of eight long lines.
I 1 , lives.
1*. Oh, never will I forget my love Annachie.
After 1 :
' For Annachie Gordon is bonnie and braw,
He 'd entice any woman that ever him saw ;
He 'd entice any woman, and sae he has done
me,
And I '11 die if I getna my love Annachie.'
2 1 * 2 . As in A a. 2 8 . care meikle : cares little.
2 4 . Saltoun and leave Annachie.
After 2 :
' For Annachie Gordon is nothing but a man ;
Although he be brave, he has little free Ian ;
His towns a' lie waste, and his lands a' lie lea,
And I '11 cause you marry Saltoun, let Anna
chie be.'
3 1 . wed me : before he goes home.
3 a . neer hae.
S 3 - 4 . ' A son or a daughter, it 's a' ane to me,
For I'll cause you marry Saltoun and
leave Annachie.'
After 3:
He wed her to Saltoun before he gaed home,
But unto Lord Saltoun she neer had a son ;
For, instead of being merry her maidens
among,
She gaed to her bower and wept there alone.
4 1 . Some of you her.
4 2 . infeft her in houses and land.
4 8 . shall wear silk and satin, wi red goud.
4*. to forget him the.
5 ''-'. Oh you, my maidens, you shall not take
my hand,
Nor will I be infefted in houses and hind.
6 8 . Nor will I wear silk nor red goud.
5 4 . For never will I forget my love A.
After 5:
' Wi Annachie Gordon I would beg my bread
Before wi Lord Saltoun I would wear goud
red;
For he 's bowd on the back and he 's thrawn
hi the knee : '
4 But the bonnie rigs o Saltoun are nae thrawn
tee.'
6, 7. Wanting.
8. The day she was married, that same day
she died,
While Annachie Gordon was waiting for
the tide ;
He waited for the tide to tak him oer the
fieed,
But he little thought his Jeanie Gordon was
deed.
9 1 . Then out cam her maidens.
9 2 . Wae for : frae the. 9 8 . hae married.
9 4 . Oh, wae for : on the fleed.
10 1 . Some of yon her maidens : me ben.
10 s . the chamber where.
10 8 . were colder than clay.
10*. And he died in the chamber where his
Jeanie lay.
240. THE RANTIN LADDIE
351
A. a. 'The Rantin Laddie,' Johnson's Museum, No C. ' The Rantin Laddie,' Laing's Thistle of Scotland,
462, p. 474. b. 'Lord Aboyne,' Buchan's Ballads of p. 7.
the North of Scotland, II, 66.
D. ' Bonnie Rantin Laddie,' Murison MS., p. 74.
B. ' The Rantin Laddie,' Skene MS., p. 55.
' LORD ABOYNE,' in Smith's Scotish Min
strel, IV, 6, is mostly A a ; a few verses are
from A b.
A young woman (Maggie in B) has played
cards and dice with a rantin laddie till she
has won a bastard baby. Slighted now by all
her friends, she sends a letter to the rantin
laddie, who is the Earl of Aboyne, to inform
him of her uncomfortable circumstances. The
Earl of Aboyne, struck with pity and indig
nation, sets out at once with five hundred
men, A, C, or a select company of gentlemen
and ladies, B, D, and brings her home as his
wife.
C 24 is perhaps derived from ' Geordie,'
but may be regarded as a commonplace.
a. Johnson's Musical Museum, No 462, p. 474, communi
cated by Robert Burns ; 1797. b. Buchan's Ballads of the
North of Scotland, II, 66, 1828.
1 ' AFTEN hae I playd at the cards and the dice,
For the love of a bonie rantin laddie,
But now I maun sit in my father's kitchen-
neuk
And balow a bastard babie.
2 ' For my father he will not me own,
And my mother she neglects me,
And a' my friends hae lightlyed me,
And their servants they do slight me.
3 * But had I a servant at my command,
As aft times I 've had many,
That wad rin wi a letter to bonie Glenswood,
Wi a letter to -my rantin laddie ! '
4 l O is he either a laird or a lord,
Or is he but a cadie,
That ye do him ca sae aften by name
Your bonie, bonie rantin laddie ? '
VOL. iv. 45
5 ' Indeed he is baith a laird and a lord,
And he never was a cadie,
But he is the Earl o bonie Aboyne,
And he is my rantin laddie.'
6 ' O ye 'se get a servant at your command,
As aft times ye 've had many,
That sail rin wi a letter to bonie Glenswood,
A letter to your rantin laddie.'
7 When Lord Aboyne did the letter get,
but he blinket bonie !
But or he had read three lines of it
1 think his heart was sorry.
8 ' O wha is [this] daur be sae bauld
Sae cruelly to use my lassie ?
' For her father he will not her know,
And her mother she does slight her,
And a' her friends hae lightlied her,
And their servants they neglect her.
352
240. THE RANTIN LADDIE
10 ' Go raise to me mjr five hundred men,
Make haste and make them ready,
With a milk-white steed under every ane,
For to bring hame my lady.'
11 As they cam in thro Buchanshire,
They were a company bonie,
With a gude claymor in every hand,
And O but they shin'd bonie !
B
Skene MS., p. 55 ; taken down in the North of Scotland,
1802-3.
1 OFT have I playd at the cards an the dyce,
The war so very enticin ;
But this is a sad an a sorrowfu seat,
To see my apron risin.
2 ' Oft hae I playd at the cards an the dice
For love of my [rantin] laddie ;
But now I man sit in my father's kitchie-nouk,
A rokkin o my baby.
3 ' But gin I had ane o my father's servans,
For he has so mony,
That wad gae to the wood o Glentanner,
Wi a letter to the rantin laddie ! '
4 ' Here am I, ane o your father's servans,
For he has sae mony,
That will gae to the wood o Glentanner,
Wi a letter to the rantin laddie.'
5 ' Fan ye gae to Aboyne,
To the woods o Glentanner sae bonny,
Wi your hat in your hand gie a bow to the
ground,
In the presence o the rantin laddie.'
6 Fan he gaed to Aboyne,
To the woods o Glentanner sae bonny,
Wi his hat in his hand he gied a bow to the
ground,
In the presence of the rantin laddie.
7 Fan he looked the letter on
Sae loud as he was laughin !
But or he read it to an end
The tears they cam down rappin.
8 ' O f a is this or fa is that
Has been so ill to my Maggie ?
9 ' But ye gett f our-and-twenty milk white steeds,
Wi an car .....
An as mony gay ladies to ride them on,
To gae an. bring hame my Maggie.
10 * Ye get four-an-twenty bonny brown steeds,
Wi an car o an ome,
An as mony knights to ride them on,
To gae an bring hame my Maggie.'
11 Ye lasses a', far ever ye be,
An ye match wi ony o our Deeside laddies,
Ye '11 happy be, ye '1 happy be,
For they are frank an kind.
O
Laing's Thistle of Scotland, p. 7, 1823.
1 ' AFT hae I playd at cards and dice
For the love o a bonny rantin laddie,
But now I maun sit i my father's kitchen-nook,
And sing, Hush, balow, my baby.
2 ' If I had been wise, and had taen advice,
And dane as my bonny love bade me,
I would hae been married at Martinmass,
And been wi my rantin laddie.
3 ' But I was na wise, I took nae advice,
Did not as my bonny love bade me,
And now I maun sit by mysel i the nook,
And rock my bastard baby.
4 ' If I had horse at my command,
As often I had many,
240. THE RANTIN LADDIE
353
I would ride on to the Castle o Aboyne,
Wi a letter to my rantin laddie.'
5 Down the stair her father came,
And looked proud and saucy :
' Who is the man, and what is his name,
That ye ca your rantin laddie ?
6 ' Is he a lord, or is he a laird ?
Or is Jie but a caddie ?
Or is it the young Earl o Aboyne
That ye ca your rantin laddie ? '
7 ' He is a young and noble lord,
He never was a caddie ;
It is the noble Earl o Aboyne
That I ca my rantin laddie.'
8 * Ye shall hae a horse at your command,
As ye had often many,
To go to the Castle o Aboyne,
Wi a letter to your rantin laddie.
9 ' Where will I get a little page,
Where will I get a caddie,
That will run quick to bonny Aboyne,
Wi this letter to my rantin laddie ? '
10 Then out spoke the young scullion-boy,
Said, Here am I, a caddie ',
I will run on to bonny Aboyne,
Wi the letter to your rantin laddie.
11 ' Now when ye come to bonny Deeside,
Where woods are green and bonny,
There will ye see the Earl o Aboyne,
Among the bushes mony.
12 ' And when ye come to the lands o Aboyne,
Where all around is bonny,
Ye '11 take your hat into your hand,
Gie this letter to my rantiu laddie.'
13 When he came near the banks of Dee,
The birks were blooming bonny,
And there he saw the Earl o Aboyne,
Among the bushes mony.
14 ' Where are ye going, my bonny boy ?
Where are ye going, my caddie ? '
' I am going to the Castle o Aboyne,
Wi a letter to the rantin laddie.'
15 ' See yonder is the castle then,
My young and handsome caddie,
And I myself am the Earl o Aboyne,
Tho they ca me the rantin laddie.'
16 ' O pardon, my lord, if I 've done wrong ;
Forgive a simple caddie ;
O pardon, pardon, Earl o Aboyne,
I said but what she bade me.'
17 ' Ye have done no wrong, my bonny boy,
Ye 've done no wrong, my caddie ; '
Wi hat in hand he bowed low,
Gave the letter to the rantin laddie.
18 When young Aboyne looked the letter on,
O but he blinkit bonny !
But ere he read four lines on end
The tears came trickling mony.
19 * My father will no pity shew,
My mother still does slight me,
And a' my friends have turnd from me,
And servants disrespect me.'
20 ' Who are they dare be so bold
To cruelly use my lassie ?
But I '11 take her to bonny Aboyne,
Where oft she did caress me.
21 ' Go raise to me five hundred men,
Be quick and make them ready ;
Each on a steed, to haste their speed,
To carry home my lady.'
22 As they rode on thro Buchanshire,
The company were many,
Wi a good claymore in every hand,
That glanced wondrous bonny.
23 When he came to her father's gate,
He called for his lady :
* Come down, come down, my bonny maid ;
And speak wi your rantin laddie.'
24 When she was set on high horseback,
Rowd in the Highland plaidie,
The bird i the bush sang not so sweet
As sung this bonny lady.
25 As they rode on thro Buchanshire,
He cried, Each Lowland lassie,
240. THE RAN TIN LADDIE
Lay your love on some lowland lown,
And soon will he prove fause t' ye.
26 ' But take my advice, and make your choice
Of some young Highland laddie,
Wi bonnet and plaid, whose heart is staid,
And he will not beguile ye.'
27 As they rode on thro Garioch land,
He rode up in a fury,
And cried, Fall back, each saucy dame,
Let the Countess of Aboyue before ye.
Murison MS., p. 74 ; Aberdeenshirc.
1 ' AFT hae I played at the cards and the dice,
It was a' for the sake o my laddie,
But noo I sit i my father's kitchie-neuk,
Singing ba to a bonnie bastard babbie.
2 ' Whar will I get a bonnie boy sae kin
As will carry a letter cannie,
That will rin on to the gates o the Boyne,
Gie the letter to my rantin laddie ? '
3 ' Here am I, a bonnie boy sae kin,
As will carry a letter cannie,
That will rin on to the gates o the Boyne,
Gie the letter to your rantin laddie.'
4 ' When ye come to the gates o the Boyne,
An low doon on yon cassie,
Ye '11 tak aff your hat an ye '11 mak a low bow,
Gie the letter to my rantin laddie.'
6 ' When ye come to the gates o the Boyne,
Ye '11 see lords an nobles monie ;
But ye '11 ken him among them a',
He 's my bonnie, bonnie rantin laddie.'
6 ' Is your bonnie love a laird or a lord,
Or is he a cadie,
That ye call him so very often by name
Your bonnie rantin laddie ? '
7 ' My love 's neither a laird nor a lord,
Nor is he a cadie,
But he is yerl o a' the Boyne,
An he is my bonnie rantin laddie.'
8 When he read a line or two,
He smiled eer sae bonnie ;
But lang ere he cam to the end
The tears cam trinklin monie.
9 ' Whar will I find fifty noble lords,
An as monie gay ladies,
*******
A. a. 1*. below. 4 1 . Oh.
8 M . The gap should be filled, says Stenhouse,
Musical Museum, IV, 405, with tJiese lines :
As to gar her sit in [her] father's kitchen-neuk
And balow a bastard babie.
b. 1, 2.
' Aft hae I played at the ring and the ba,
And lang was a rantin lassie,
But now my father does me forsake,
And my friends they all do neglect me.'
3 1 . But gin I had servants.
3 2 . As I hae had right mony.
3 8 . For to send awa to Glentanner's yetts.
4 1 . O is your true-love a laird or lord.
4 J . he a Highland caddie.
4 8 . That ye sae aften call him by name.
6 1 . My true-love he 's baith laird and lord.
5 2 . Do ye think I hae married a caddie ?
5*. O he is the noble earl o Aboyne.
5*. he 's my bonnie rantin.
6 1 . ye 'se hae servants.
6 2 . As ye hae had right mony.
6 8 . For to send awa to Glentanner's yetts.
6 4 . Wi a. 7 1 . Aboyne the letter got.
7 s . Wow but.
241. THE BARON O LEYS
355
7*. But ere three lines o it he read.
7 4 . O but his.
8 1>2 . His face it reddened like a flame, He
grasped his sword sae massy.
8 s = 8 1 . O wha is this, etc.
8 4 = 8 2 . Sae cruel to, etc.
9. Wanting.
10 1 . Gae saddle to me five.
10 2 . Gae saddle and.
10 4 . For I 'm gaing to. .
11. And when they came to auld Fedderate
He found her waiting ready,
And he brought her to Castle Aboyne,
And now she 's his ain dear lady.
B. 9 1 . he gett. 10 1 . He gat.
D. There is an initial stanza which, it seems to
me, cannot have belonged originally to this
ballad :
* My father he feet me far, far away,
He feet me in Kirkcaldy ;
1 He feet me till an auld widow-wife,
But she had a bonnie rantin laddie.'
241
THE BARON O LEYS
A. Skene MS., p. 20.
B. 'Laird o Leys,' Kinloch's Ballad Book, p. 74.
C. The Baron o Leys,' Buchan's Ballads of the North
of Scotland, II, 144.
* THE Baron o Leys,' in The New Deeside
Guide by James Brown [= Joseph Robert
son], Aberdeen [1832], p. 15, and The Dee-
side Guide, Aberdeen, 1889, p. 23, is C. C
4-11 seems to be an interpolation by a later
hand.
" Part of this ballad," says Buchan, II, 322,
" by ballad-mongers has been confused with
the ballad of ' The Earl of Aboyne ' [No 240,
A b], called in some instances 'The Rant
ing Laddie.' ' : Laing, Thistle of Scotland,
p. 11, appears to have confounded it with
' The Earl of Aboyne ' proper. He gives this
stanza :
' Some ca me that and some ca me this,
And The Baron o Leys they ca me,
But when I am on bonny Deeside
They ca me The Rantin Laddie.'
Herd's MSS, I, 233, II, fol. 71, give the two
following stanzas under the title ' The Linkin
Ladie : '
' Wae 's me that eer I made your bed !
Wae 's me that eer I saw ye !
For now I 've lost my maidenhead,
And I ken na how they ca ye.'
1 My name is well kent in my ain country,
They ca me The Linking Ladie ;
If ye had not been as willing as I,
Shame fa them wad eer hae bade ye ! '
' The Linkin Ladie,' judging from this frag
ment (as it may be supposed to be), was much
of a fashion with the ballad which we are
engaged with, and may have been an ear
lier form of it. Sir Walter Scott, who cites
these verses from memory (Sharpe's Ballad
Book, ed. 1880, p. 162), says that the hero
of them was a brother of the celebrated
[Thomas] Boston, author of 'The Fourfold
State.'
' The Baron o Leys ' relates, or purports to
relate, to an escapade of one of the Burnetts
300
241. THE BARON O LEYS
of Leys, Kiucardineshire, Alexander, A, B,
George, C. A woman who is with child by
him gives him his choice of marriage, death,
or the payment of ten thousand crowns. He
is a married man; his wife is ready to sell
everything, to her silk gowns, to release her
husband from his awkward position.
Skeno MS., p. 20 ; taken down in the north of Scotland,
1802-3.
1 THE Laird of Leys is on to Edinbrugh,
To shaw a fit o his f ollie ;
He drest himsel in the crimson-brown,
An he provd a rantin laddie.
2 Ben came a weel-faird lass,
Says, Laddie, how do they ca ye ?
* They ca me this, an they ca me that,
Ye wudna ken fat they ca me ;
But whan I 'in at home on bonnie Dccside
They ca me The Rantin Laddie.'
3 They sdhight her up, they sought her down,
They sought her in the parlour j
She coudna be got but whar she was,
In the bed wi The Rantin Laddie.
4 ' Tell me, tell me, Baron of Leys,
Ye tell me how they ca ye !
Your gentle blood moves in my side,
An I dinna ken how they ca ye.'
5 They ca me this, an they ca me that,
Ye couldna ken how they ca me ;
But whan I 'in at home on bonnie Deeside
Tbey ca me The Rantin Laddie.'
6 * Tell me, tell me, Baron of Leys,
Ye tell me how they ca ye !
Your gentle blood moves in my side,
An I dinna ken how to ca ye.'
7 ' Baron of Leys, it is my stile,
Alexander Burnett tbey ca me ;
Whan I 'm at hame on bonnie Deeside
My name is The Rantin Laddie.'
8 ' Gin your name be Alexander Burnett,
Alas that ever I saw ye !
For ye hae a wife and bairns at hame,
An alas for lyin sae near ye !
9 ' But I 'se gar ye be headit or hangt,
Or marry me the morn,
Or else pay down ten thousand crowns
For giein o me the scorn.'
10 ' For my head, I canna want ;
I love my lady dearly ;
But some o my lands I maun lose in the case.
Alas for lyin sae near ye ! '
11 Word has gane to the Lady of Leys
That the laird he had a bairn ;
The warst word she said to that was,
' I wish I had it in my arms.
12 ' For I will sell my jointure-lands
I am broken an I 'm sorry
An I '11 sell a', to my silk gowns,
An get hame my rantin laddie.'
Einloch's Ballad Book, p. 74, 1827.
1 THE Laird o Leys is to London gane ;
He was baith full and gawdie ;
For he shod his steed wi siller guid,
And he 's playd the ranting laddie.
2 He hadna been in fair London
A twahnonth and a quarter,
Till he met wi a weel-faurd may,
Wha wishd to know how they ca'd him.
3 ' They ca me this, and they ca me that,
And they 're easy how they 've ca'd me ;
241. THE BARON O LEYS
357
But whan I 'm at hame on bonnie Deeside
They ca me The Ranting Laddie.'
4 ' Awa wi your jesting, sir,' she said,
' I trow you 're a ranting laddie ;
But something swells atween my sides,
And I maun ken how they ca thee.'
5 ' They ca me this, and they ca me that,
And they 're easy how they ca me ;
The Baron o Leys my title is,
And Sandy Burnet they ca me.'
6 ' Tell down, tell down ten thousand crowns,
Or ye maun marry me the morn ;
Or headit or hangit ye sail be,
For ye sanna gie me the scorn.'
7 ' My head 's the thing I canna weel want ;
My lady she loves me dearlie ;
Nor yet hae I means ye to maintain ;
Alas for the lying sae near thee ! '
8 But word 's gane doun to the Lady o Leys
That the Baron had got a babie :
' The waurst o news ! ' my lady she said,
1 1 wish I had hame my laddie.
9 ' But I '11 sell aff my jointure-house,
Tho na mair I sud be a ladie ;
I '11 sell a' to my silken goun,
And bring hame my rantin laddie.'
10 So she is on to London gane,
And she paid the money on the morn ;
She paid it doun and brought him hame,
And gieu them a' the scorn.
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 144.
1 THE Baron o Leys to France is gane,
The fashion and tongue to learn,
But hadna been there a month or twa
Till he gat a lady wi bairn.
2 But it fell ance upon a day
The lady mournd f u sairlie ;
Says, Who 's the man has me betrayed ?
It gars me wonder and fairlie.
3 Then to the fields to him she went,
Saying, Tell me what they ca thee ;
Or else I '11 mourn and rue the day,
Crying, alas that ever I saw thee !
4 ' Some ca's me this, some ca's me that,
I carena fat befa me ;
For when I 'm at the schools o France
An awkward fellow they ca me.'
5 ' Wae 's me now, ye awkward fellow,
And alas that ever I saw thee !
Wi you I 'm in love, sick, sick in love,
And I kenna well fat they ca thee.'
6 ' Some ca's me this, some ca's me that,
What name does best befa me ;
For when I walk in Edinburgh streets
The Curling Buckle they ca me.'
7 ' O wae 's ine now, O Curling Buckle,
And alas that ever I saw thee !
For I 'm in love, sick, sick in love,
And I kenna well fat they ca thee.'
8 ' Some ca's me this, some ca's me that,
Whatever name best befa's me ;
But when I 'm in Scotland's king's high court
Clatter the Speens they ca me.'
9 ' O wae 's me now, O Clatter the Speens,
And alas that ever I saw thee !
For I 'm in love, sick, sick in love,
And I kenna well fat to ca thee.'
10 ' Some ca's me this, some ca's me that,
I carena what they ca me ;
But when wi the Earl o Murray I ride
It 'a Scour the Brass they ca me.'
11 ' O wae 's me now, O Scour the Brass,
And alas that ever I saw thee !
S58
242. TUB COBLE O CARGILL
For I 'in in love, sick, sick in love,
And I kenna well fat to ca thee.'
12 ' Some ca's me this, some ca's me that,
Whatever name best befa's me ;
But when I walk thro Saint Johnstone's town
George Burnett they ca me.'
13 ' O wae 's me, O wae 's me, George Burnett,
And alas that ever I saw thee !
For I 'm in love, sick, sick in love,
And I kenna well fat to ca thee.'
14 ' Some ca's me this, some ca's me that,
Whatever name best befa's me ;
But when I am on bonny Dee side
The Baron o Leys they ca me.'
15 ' O weal is me now, O Baron o Leys,
This day that ever I saw thee !
There 's gentle blood within my sides,
And now [I] ken fat they ca thee.
16 ' But ye '11 pay down ten thousand crowns,
Or marry me the morn ;
Else 1*11 cause you be headed or hangd
For gieing me the scorn.'
17 ' My head is a thing I cannot well want ;
My lady loves me sae dearly ;
But I '11 deal the gold right liberally
For lying ae night sae near thee.'
18 When word had gane to the Lady o Leys
The baron had gotten a bairn,
She clapped her hands, and this did say,
' I wish he were in my arms !
19 ' O weal is me now, O Baron o Leys,
For ye hae pleased me sairly ;
Frae our house is banishd the vile reproach
That disturbed us late and early.'
20 When she looked ower her castle-wa,
To view the woods sae rarely,
There she spied the Baron o Leys
Ride on his steed sae rarely.
21 Then forth she went her baron to meet,
Says, Ye 're welcome to me, fairly !
Ye 'se hae spice-cakes, and seed-cakes sweet,
And claret to drink sae rarely.
C. 19 M . Frae her house she banishd the vile re
proach That disturbs us. The Deeside
Guide has nearly the reading here substi
tuted, and some correction is necessary.
T/te reference seems to be to childlessness.
In A 8 the baron is said to have bairns.
242
THE COBLE O CARGILL
1 The Coble o Cargill,' Motherwell's MS., p. 80 ; The
Weary Coble o Cargill,' MotherwelPs Minstrelsy,
p. 230. Communicated to Motherwell by William
George, tenant in Cambus Michael, Perthshire, who
took it from the recitation of an old woman.
STOBHALL is on the left bank of the Tay,
eight miles above Perth, in Cargill parish, and
Cargill is a little further up. Balathy is op
posite Cargill, and Kercock is higher up the
river on the right bank. The local tradition,
as given by Motherwell in his manuscript and
his book, is that the butler of Stobhall had a
leman both at Kercock and at Balathy. Upon
243. THE COBLE O CARGILL
359
an occasion when the butler had gone to Ker-
cock, the lass of Balathy scuttled the coble,
which he had left below, " and waited his re
turn, deeming that her suspicions of his infidel
ity would be well founded if he took the boat
without visiting her in passing." The butler
took the boat without stopping at Balathy,
and in her sight the weary coble sank. Local
tradition in such cases seldom means more
than a theory which people have formed to
explain a preexisting ballad. The jealousy
of the lass of Balathy has, in the ballad,
passed the point at which confirmation would
be waited for. She has many a time watched
late for her chance to bore the coble, and
she bores it ' wi gude will.'
St. 14 is a common-place which has been
already several times noted.
The Rev. William Marshall's Historic
Scenes in Perthshire, Edinburgh, 1879, p. 246,
gives us a "modern" version of this ballad;
that is, one written over in magazine style.
This is repeated in Robert Ford's Auld Scots
Ballants, 1889, p. 152. The Perthshire Anti
quarian Miscellany, by Robert S. Fittis, Perth,
1875, p. 466, cites some stanzas from another
ballad, composed by one James Beattie, jour
neyman-mason, but represented as having
been taken down verbatim from the mouth of
an old man. In these pieces the lass of Bala
thy has the name Jean, Jeanie Low (Low or
Gow, according to Ford, p. 149).*
1 DAVID DKUMMOND'S destime,
Gude man o appearance o Cargill ;
I wat his blude rins in the flude,
Sae sair against his parents' will.
2 She was the lass o Balathy toun,
And he the butler o Stobhall,
And mony a time she wauked late
To bore the coble o Cargill.
3 His bed was made in Kercock ha,
Of gude clean sheets and of [the] hay ;
He vradna rest ae nicht therein,
But on the prude waters he wud gae.
4 His bed was made in Balathy toun,
Of the clean sheets and of the strae ;
But I wat it was far better made
Into the bottom o bonnie Tay.
5 She bored the coble in seven pairts,
I wat her heart might hae been f u sair ;
For there she got the bonnie lad lost
Wi the curly locks and the yellow hair.
6 He put his foot into the boat,
He little thocht o ony ill ;
But before that he was mid-waters,
The weary coble began to fill.
7 ' Woe be to the lass o Balathy toun,
I wat an ill death may she die !
For she bored the coble in seven pairts,
And let the waters perish me.
8 ' Oh, help, oh help, I can get nane,
Nae help o man can to me come ! '
This was about his dying words,
When he was choaked up to the chin.
9 ' Gae tell my father and my mother
It was naebody did me this ill ;
I was a-going my ain errands,
Lost at the coble o bonnie Cargill.'
10 She bored the boat in seven pairts,
I wat she bored it wi gude will ;
And there they got the bonnie lad's corpse,
In the kirk-shot o bonnie Cargill.
11 Oh a' the keys o bonnie Stobha
I wat they at bis belt did hing ;
But a' the keys of bonnie Stobha
They now ly low into the stream.
12 A braver page into his age
Neer set a foot upon the plain ;
His father to his mother said,
' Oh, sae soon as we 've wanted him !
* I owe the knowledge of Marshall's and Fittis's publications to Mr Macmath.
VOL. IV.
4G
360
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
13 I wat they had mair luve than this
When they were young and at the scale ;
But for his sake she wauked late,
And bored the coble o bonnie Cargill.'
14 ' There 's neer a clean sark gae on my back,
Nor yet a karae gae in my hair ;
There 's neither coal nor candle-licht
Shall shine in my bouir for evir mair.
15 ' At kirk nor market I 'se neer be at,
Nor yet a blythe blink in my ee ;
There 's neer a ane shall say to anither,
That 's the lassie gard the young man die.
16 ' Between the yates o bonnie Stobha
And the kirk-style o bonnie Cargill,
There is mony a man and mother's son
That was at my love's burial.'
14 2 . Not yet.
243
JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
A. A Warning for Married Women, being an exam
ple of Mrs Jane Reynolds (a West-country woman),
born near Plymouth, who, having plighted her troth
to a Seaman, was afterwards married to a Carpenter,
and at last carried away by a Spirit, the manner
how shall presently be recited. To a West-country
tune called The Fair Maid of Bristol,' 'Bateman,'
or John True.' Pepys Ballads, IV, 101.
B. 'The Distressed Ship- Carpenter,' The Rambler's
Garland, 1785 (?), British Museum, 11621, c. 4 (57).
C. 'James 1 lorries,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of
Scotland, I, 214.
D. The Carpenter's Wife,' Kinloch MSS, I, 297.
E. ' The Daemon Lover,' Motherwell's MS., p. 97.
P. 'The Daemon Lover,' Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 427,
1812.
G. 'The Daemon Lover,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p.
93.
H. ' The Banks of Italy,' Christie, Traditional Ballad
Airs, I, 138, two stanzas.
THE Pepys copy was printed for Thack
eray and Passenger. Others are : Crawford,
No 1114, Printed for A. Melbourne], W.
O[nley], and T. Thackeray ; Ewing, 377, for
Coles, Vere, and Gilbertson ; the same, 378,
by and for W. O[nley]. No 71 in Thack
eray's List, printed 1685. A later copy in the
Douce ballads, II, fol. 249 b, Bodleian Li
brary, printed by Thomas Norris at the Look-
* Carruthers, Abboteford Notanda, appended to R. Cham-
bers's Life of Scott, 1871, p. 122.
In the last edition of Sharpe's Ballad Book (1880), p.
ing-Glass on London Bridge. Another, with
out publisher's name, in the Roxburghe col
lection, I, 502 ; Ballad Society, III, 200.
' The Daemon Lover ' was first published
in Scott's Minstrelsy, 5th edition, 1812 (F).
William Laidlaw, who furnished the copy,
inserted four stanzas of his own (6, 12, 17,
18, here omitted).* Motherwell, in 1827,
had not been able to get more than nine
158, we find this note by Scott: "I remember something
of another ballad of diablerie. A man sells himself to the
fause thief for a term of year?, and the devil comes to claim
243. JAMBS HAKBIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
361
stanzas (G), but afterwards secured a version
of twice as many (B). Kinloch says of D,
"My reciter, and others to whom I applied,
assured me that they had never heard any
more of it than what is given here." Buchan,
I, 313, referring to Motherwell's fragment
(G), is "happy to say . . . there is still a
perfect copy of this curious and scarce legend
in existence, which is now for the first time
given to the public " (C).
An Americanized version of this ballad
was printed not very long ago at Philadel
phia, under the title of ' The House-Carpen
ter.' I have been able to secure only two
stanzas, which were cited in Graham's Illus
trated Magazine, September, 1858 :
' I might have married the king's daughter dear ; '
' You might have married her,' cried she,
' For I am married to a house-carpenter,
And a fine young man is he.'
' Oh dry up your tears, my own true love,
And cease your weeping,' cried he,
' For soon you '11 see your own happy home,
On the banks of old Tennessee.'
B-H have for their basis the broadside A :
the substance of the story is repeated, with
traditional modifications. Two or three stan
zas of A are of the popular description, but
it does not seem necessary to posit a tradition
behind A. The correspondences of the sev
eral versions are as follows :
A 18 1 ' 2 , C 2.
A 18 8 ' 4 , 19, B 1, D 1, E 1, 2 1 - 2 , P 1.
A 20, C 3, D 2, E 2 3 - 4 , P 2.
A 21, B 4 1 - 2 , 3 3 ' 4 , C 6 1 , 12 3 - 4 , D 3.
A 22, B 2, C 4 3 ' 4 , 5 1 - 2 , B 3, P 4.
A 23, C 7.
A 24, B 5, C 8, B 5 1 ' 2 , P 6.
A 25, B 6, C 9, P 7, G 1.
A 26, B 8, C 10, F 9 3 ' 4 .
A 28, B 11.
A 30, B 12.
his forfeit. He implores for mercy, or at least reprieve, and,
if granted, promises this :
' And I will show how the lilies grow
On the banks of Italy.'
Satan, being no horticulturist, pays no attention to this
B 3 1 - 2 , B 4 1 ' 2 , P 5 1 ' 2 .
B 7, C 13, B 6 4 , G 2, H 1.
B 9, 10, C 14, 17, D 5, E 12, 13, G 5.
B 12, C 23.
B 13, C 24.
C 3, D 2, E 2, P 2.
C 11, E 7, F 8, H 2.
C 16, D 6, E 16, F 12, G 6.
C 21, D 8.
D 1, E 1, F 1.
D 7, E 10, P 10, G 8.
E 11, P 11, G 7.
E 14, P 13.
E 15, P 14.
E 18, F 15.
F 9 2 , G 4H
It will be observed that each of the ver
sions B-F adds something which is taken up
by a successor or successors. The arrange
ment of E and P, of E especially, is objection
able.
A. Jane Reynolds and James Harris, a sea
man, had exchanged vows of marriage. The
young man was pressed as a sailor, and after
three years was reported as dead ; the young
woman married a ship-carpenter, and they
lived together happily for four years, and had
children. One night when the carpenter was
absent from home, a spirit rapped at the win
dow and announced himself as James Harris,
come after an absence of seven years* to
claim the woman for his wife. She explained
the state of things, but upon obtaining as
surance that her long-lost lover had the means
to support her seven ships upon the sea
consented to go with him, for he was really
much like unto a man. * The woman-kind '
was seen no more after that ; the carpenter
hanged himself.
The carpenter is preserved in B-E, and
proffer,
here.
Scott's memory seems to have gone quite astray
* Why the ghost should wait four years, and what is
meant in st. 18 by his travelling seven years, it is not easy
to understand. The author would probably take up the im
pregnable position that he was simply relating the facts as
they occurred.
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
even his name in C. He swoons in B, and
runs distracted in C, when he learns what has
become of his wife ; the other versions take
no notice of him after the elopement. B-F
all begin with the return of the long-absent
lover. The ship (as it is to have in A 26) has
silken sails and gold masts, or the like, C 10,
F 9 3 - 4 (ef. B 8, Q 1) ; but there are no visible
mariners, F 9 1 * 2 , Q 4 M . The pair have been
only a short time afloat when the woman be
gins to weep for son, husband, or both, B 9,
10, C 14, D 5, E 12, 13, Q 5. The seaman
(as it will be convenient to call him) tells her
to hold her tongue, he will show her how the
lilies grow on the banks of Italy, C 16, D 6
(cf. B 16, 17), F 12, and, in a different con
nection, Q 6. The seaman's countenance
grows grim, and the sea gurly, D 7, B 10,
F 10, Q 8. He will let her see the fishes
swim, where the lilies grow, in the bottom of
the sea, C 21, D 8 (<?/. B 16, 17). She dis
cerns that the seaman has a cloven foot, B 11,
F 11, Q 7. She asks, What is yon bright
hill ? It is* the hill of heaven, where she will
never be. What is yon dark hill ? It is the
hill of hell, where they two shall be : B 14,
15, F 13, 14. The seaman reaches his hand
to the topmast, strikes the sails, and the ship
drowns, C 22 ; takes the woman up to the top
mast and sinks the ship in a flash of fire, E 18 ;
strikes the topmast with his hand, the fore
mast with his knee, and sinks the ship, F 15.
In E 9 he throws the woman into the main, and
five-and-twenty hundred ships are wrecked ;
in Q 9 the little ship runs round about and
never is seen more.
In A the revenant is characterized as a
spirit ; in B, which is even tamer than A, he
is called the mariner, and is drowned with the
woman ; in C he expressly says to the woman,
I brought you away to punish you for break
ing your vows to me. This explicitness may
be prosaic, but it seems to me regrettable that
the conception was not maintained. To ex
plain the eery personality and proceedings of
the ship-master, E-Q-, with a sort of vulgar
rationalism, turn him into the devil, and as
he is still represented in B, F (Q being de
fective at the beginning) as returning to seek
the fulfilment of old vows, he there figures as
a " dsBmon lover." D (probably by the fortu
nate accident of being a fragment) leaves us
to put our own construction upon the weird
seaman ; and, though it retains the homely
ship-carpenter, is on the whole the most satis
factory of all the versions.*
Scott's ballad is translated by Talvj, Ver-
such, etc., p. 558 ; by Gerhard, p. 84 ; and by
Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder, No 14,
p. 61 (after Aytoun, who repeats Scott, omit
ting one of Laidlaw's stanzas). Knortz, Lie-
der und Romanzen Alt - Englands, p. 192,
translates Allingham's ballad.
Pepys Ballads, IV, 101 ; from a copy in Percy's papers.
1 THERE dwelt a fair maid in the West,
Of worthy birth and fame,
Neer unto Plimouth, stately town,
Jane Reynolds was her name.
2 This damsel dearly was belovd
By many a proper youth,
And what of her is to be said
Is known for very truth.
3 Among the rest a seaman brave
Unto her a wooing came ;
A comely proper youth he was,
James Harris calld by name.
4 The maid and young man was agreed,
As time did them allow,
And to each other secretly
They made a solemn vow,
5 That they would ever faithfull be
Whilst Heaven afforded life ;
He was to be her husband kind,
And she his faithfull wife.
6 A day appointed was also
When they was to be married ;
But before these things were brought to pass
Matters were strangely carried.
* We must not be critical abont copies which have been
patched by tradition, but P 3 is singularly oat of place for
a " daemon lover."
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
363
7 All you that f aithf ull lovers be
Give ear and hearken well,
And what of them became at last
I will directly tell.
8 The young man he was prest to sea,
And forced was to go ;
His sweet-heart she must stay behind,
Whether she would or no.
9 And after he was from her gone
She three years for him staid,
Expecting of his comeing home,
And kept herself a maid.
10 At last news came that he was dead
Within a forraign land,
And how that he was buried
She well did understand,
11 For whose sweet sake the maiden she
Lamented many a day,
And never was she' known at all
The wanton for to play.
12 A carpenter that livd hard by,
When he heard of the same,
Like as the other had done before,
To her a wooing came.
13 But when that he had gained her love
They married were with speed,
And four years space, being man and wife,
They loveingly agreed.
14 Three pritty children in this time
This loving couple had,
Which made their father's heart rejoyce,
And mother wondrous glad.
15 But as occasion servd, one time
The good man took his way
Some three days journey from his home,
Intending not to stay.
16 But, whilst that he was gone away,
A spirit in the night
Came to the window of his wife,
And did her sorely fright.
1 7 Which spirit spake like to a man,
And unto her did say,
' My dear and onely love,' quoth he,
' Prepare and come away.
18 ' James Harris is my name,' quoth he,
' Whom thou didst love so dear,
And I have traveld for thy sake
At least this seven year.
1 9 ' And now I am returnd again,
To take thee to my wife,
And thou with me shalt go to sea,
To end all further strife.'
20 ' O tempt me not, sweet James,' quoth she,
' With thee away to go ;
If I should leave my children small,
Alas ! what would they do ?
21 ' My husband is a carpenter,
A carpenter of great fame ;
I would not for five hundred pounds
That he should know the same.'
22 'I might have had a king's daughter,
And she would have married me;
But I forsook her golden crown,
And for the love of thee.
23 ' Therefore, if thou 'It thy husband forsake,
And thy children three also,
I will forgive the[e] what is past,
If thou wilt with me go.'
24 ' If I forsake my husband and
My little children three,
What means hast thou to bring me to,
If I should go with thee ? '
25 ' I have seven ships upon the sea ;
When they are come to land,
Both marriners and marchandize
Shall be at thy command.
26 ' The ship wherein my love shall sail
Is glorious to behold ;
The sails shall be of finest silk,
And the mast of shining gold.'
27 When he had told her these fair tales,
To love him she began,
Because he was in human shape,
Much like unto a man.
28 And so together away they went
From off the English shore,
And since that time the woman-kind
Was never seen no more.
29 But when her husband he come home
And found his wife was gone,
And left her three sweet pretty babes
Within the house alone,
30 He beat his breast, he tore his hair,
The tears fell from his eyes,
And in the open streets he run
With heavy doleful cries.
;;r>4
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE D^MON LOVER)
31 And in this sad distracted case
He hangd himself for woe
Upon a tree near to the place ;
The truth of all is so.
32 The children now are fatherless,
And left without a guide,
But yet no doubt the heavenly powers
Will for them well provide.
B
The Rambler's Garland, British Museum, 11621, c. 4
(57). 1785(?)
1 ' WELL met, well met, my own true love,
Long time I have been seeking thee ;
I am lately come from the salt sea,
And all for the sake, love, of thee.
2 ' I might have had a king's daughter,
And fain she would have married me ;
But I 've forsaken all her crowns of gold,
And all for the sake, love, of thee.'
3 * If you might have had a king's daughter,
I think you much to blame ;
I would not for five hundred pounds
That<ny husband should hear the same.
4 ' For my husband is a carpenter,
And a young ship-carpenter is he,
And by him I have a little son,
Or else, love, I 'd go along with thee.
5 * But if I should leave my husband dear,
Likewise my little son also,
What have you to maintain me withal,
If I along with you should go ? '
6 ' I have seven ships upon the seas,
And one of them brought me to land,
And seventeen mariners to wait on thee,
For to be, love, at your command.
7 ' A pair of slippers thou shalt have,
They shall be made of beaten gold,
Nay and be lin'd with velvet soft,
For to keep thy feet from cold.
8 ' A gilded boat thou then shall have,
The oars shall gilded be also,
And mariners to row the[e] along,
For to keep thee from thy overthrow.'
9 They had not been long upon the sea
Before that she began to weep :
' What, weep you for my gold ? ' he said,
* Or do you weep for my fee ?
10 Or do you weep for some other young man
That you love much better than me ? '
' No, I do weep for my little son,
That should have come along with me.'
11 She had not been upon the seas
Passing days three or four
But the mariner and she were drowned,
And never were heard of more.
12 When tidings to old England came
The ship-carpenter's wife was drownd,
He wrung his hands and tore his hair,
And grievously fell in a swoon.
13 ' Oh cursed be those mariners !
For they do lead a wicked life ;
They mind me, a ship-carpenter,
By deluding away my wife.'
o
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 214.
1 ' O ABE ye my father ? Or are ye my mother ?
Or are ye my brother John ?
Or are ye James Herries, my first true-love,
Come back to Scotland again ? '
2 * I am not your father, I am not your mother,
Nor am I your brother John ;
But I 'm James Herries, your first true-love,
Come back to Scotland again.'
3 ' Awa, awa, ye former lovers,
Had far awa frae me !
243. JAMBS HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
365
For now I am another man's wife
Ye '11 neer see joy o me.'
4 ' Had I kent that ere I came here,
I neer had come to thee ;
For I might hae married the king's daughter,
Sae fain she woud had me.
5 ' I despised the crown o gold,
The yellow silk also,
And I am come to my true-love,
But with me she '11 not go.'
6 ' My husband he is a carpenter,
Makes his bread on dry land,
And I hae born him a young son ;
Wi you I will not gang.'
7 ' You must forsake your dear husband,
Your little young son also,
Wi me to sail the raging seas,
Where the stormy winds do blow.'
8 ' O what hae you to keep me wi,
If I should with you go,
If I 'd forsake my dear husband,
My little young son also ? '
9 ' See ye not yon seven pretty ships ?
The eighth brought me to land,
With merchandize and mariners,
And wealth in every hand.'
10 She turnd her round upon the shore
Her love's ships to behold ;
Their topmasts and their mainyards
Were coverd oer wi gold.
11 Then she 's gane to her little young son,
And kissd him cheek and chin ;
Sae has she to her sleeping husband,
And dune the same to him.
12 ' O sleep ye, wake ye, my husband ?
I wish ye wake in time !
I woudna for ten thousand pounds
This night ye knew my mind.'
13 She 's drawn the slippers on her feet,
Were coverd oer wi gold,
Well lined within wi velvet fine,
To had her frae the cold.
14 She hadna sailed upon the sea
A league but barely three
Till she minded on her dear husband,
Her little young son tee.
15 ' O gin I were at land again,
At land where I woud be,
The woman neer shoud bear the son
Shoud gar me sail the sea.'
16 * O hold your tongue, my sprightly flower,
Let a' your mourning be ;
I '11 show you how the lilies grow
On the banks o Italy.'
17 She hadna sailed on the sea
A day but barely ane
Till the thoughts o grief came in her mind,
And she langd for to be hame.
18 ' O gentle death, come cut my breath,
I may be dead ere morn !
I may be buried in Scottish ground,
Where I was bred and born ! '
19 ' O hold your tongue, my lily leesome thing,
Let a' your mourning be ;
But for a while we '11 stay at Rose Isle,
Then see a far countrie.
20 ' Ye 'se neer be buried in Scottish ground,
Nor land ye 's nae mair see ;
I brought you away to punish you
For the breaking your vows to me.
21 ' I said ye shoud see the lilies grow
On the banks o Italy ;
But I '11 let you see the fishes swim,
In the bottom o the sea.'
22 He reached his hand to the topmast,
Made a' the sails gae down,
And in the twinkling o an ee
Baith ship and crew did drown.
23 The fatal flight o this wretched maid
Did reach her ain countrie ;
Her husband then distracted ran,
And this lament made he :
24 ' O wae be to the ship, the ship,
And wae be to the sea,
866
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
And wae be to the mariners
Took Jeanie Douglas frae me !
25 O bonny, bonny was my love,
A pleasure to behold ;
The very hair o my love's head
Was like the threads o gold.
26
' O bonny was her cheek, her cheek,
And bonny was her chin,
And bonny was the bride she was,
The day she was made mine ! '
Kinloch MSS, I, 297 ; from the recitation of T. Kinnear,
Stonehaven.
1 ' O WHABE hae ye been, my dearest dear,
These seven lang years and more ? *
' O I am come to seek my former vows,
That ye pxomisd me before.'
2 ' Awa wi your former vows,' she says,
' Or else ye will breed strife ;
Awa wi your former vows,' she says,
' For I 'm become a wife.
3 ' I am married to a ship-carpenter,
A ship-carpenter he 's bound ;
I waclna he kend my mind this nicht
For twice five hundred pound.'
5 She had na sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely twa,
Till she did mind on the husband she left,
And her wee young son alsua.
6 ' O baud your tongue, my dearest dear,
Let all your follies abee ;
I 'D show whare the white lillies grow,
On the banks of Italic.'
7 She had na sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely three,
Till grim, grim grew his countenance,
And gurly grew the sea.
8 ' O haud your tongue, my dearest dear,
Let all your follies abee ;
I '11 show whare the white lillies grow,
In the bottom of the sea.'
4 She has put her foot on gude ship-board,
And on ship-board she 's gane,
And the veil that hung oure her face
Was a' wi gowd begane.
9 He 's tane her by the milk-white hand,
And he 's thrown her in the main ;
And full five-and-twenty hundred ships
Ferishd all on the coast of Spain.
E
Motherwell's MS., p. 97.
1 ' WHERE have you been, my long lost lover,
This seven long years and more ? '
' I 've been seeking gold for thee, my love,
And riches of great store.
2 < Now I 'm come for the vows you promised me,
You promised me long ago ; '
* My former vows you must forgive,
For I 'm a wedded wife.'
3 * I might have been married to a king's daugh
ter,
Far, far ayont the sea ;
But I refused the crown of gold,
And it 's all for the love of thee.'
4 * If you might have married a king's daughter,
Yourself you have to blame ;
For I 'm married to a ship's-carpenter,
And to him I have a son.
6 ' Have you any place to put me in,
If I with you should gang ? '
* I 've seven brave ships upon the sea,
All laden to the brim.
6 * I '11 build my love a bridge of steel,
All for to help her oer ;
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE D^MON LOVER)
367
Likewise webs of silk down by her side,
To keep my love from the cold.'
7 She took her eldest son into her arms,
And sweetly did him kiss :
' My blessing go with you, and your father too,
For little does he know of this.'
8 As they were walking up the street,
Most beautiful for to behold,
He cast a glamour oer her face,
And it shone like the brightest gold.
9 As they were walking along the sea-side,
Where his gallant ship lay in,
So ready was the chair of gold
To welcome this lady in.
10 They had not sailed a league, a league,
A league but scarsely three,
Till altered grew his countenance,
And raging grew the sea.
11 When they came to yon sea-side,
She set her down to rest ;
It 's then she spied his cloven foot,
Most bitterly she wept.
12 ' is it for gold that you do weep ?
Or is it for fear ?
Or is it for the man you left behind
When that you did come here ? '
13 ' It is not for gold that I do weep,
O no, nor yet for fear ;
But it is for the man I left behind
When that I did come here.
14 ' O what a bright, bright hill is yon,
That shines so clear to see ? '
* O it is the hill of heaven,' he said,
' Where you shall never be.'
15 ' O what a black, dark hill is yon,
That looks so dark to me ? '
'O it is the hill of hell,' he said,
' Where you and I shall be.
16 ' Would you wish to see the fishes swim
In the bottom of the sea,
Or wish to see the leaves grow green
On the banks of Italy ? '
17 ' I hope I '11 never see the fishes swim
On the bottom of the sea,
But I hope to see the leaves grow green
On the banks of Italy.'
18 He took her up to the topmast high,
To see what she could see ;
He sunk the ship in a flash of fire,
To the bottom of the sea.
F
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, fifth edition, 1812, II,
427 ; taken down from the recitation of Walter Grieve by
William Laidlaw.
1 ' O WHERE have you been, my long, long love,
This long seven years and mair ? '
* O I 'm come to seek my former vows
Ye granted me before.'
2 ' O hold your tongue of your former vows,
For they will breed sad strife ;
O hold your tongue of your former vows,
For I am become a wife.'
3 He turned him right and round about,
And the tear blinded his ee :
VOL. iv. 47
' I wad never hae trodden on Irish ground,
If it had not been for thee.
4 ' I might hae had a king's daughter,
Far, far beyond the sea ;
I might have had a king's daughter,
Had it not been for love o thee.'
5 ' If ye might have had a king's daughter,
Yer sel ye had to blame ;
Ye might have taken the king's daughter,
For ye kend that I was nane.
6 ' If I was to leave my husband dear,
And my two babes also,
O what have you to take me to,
If with you I should go ? '
368
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
7 ' I hae seven ships upon the sea
The eighth brought me to land
With four-and-twenty bold mariners,
And music on every hand.'
8 She has taken up her two little babes,
Kissd them baith cheek and chin :
* O fair ye weel, my ain two babes,
For I '11 never see you again.'
9 She set her foot upon the ship,
No mariners could she behold ;
But the sails were o the taffetie,
And the masts o the beaten gold.
10 She had not sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely three,
When dismal grew his countenance,
And drumlie grew his ee.
11 They had not saild a league, a league,
A league but barely three,
Until she espied his cloven foot,
And she wept right bitterlie.
12 ' O hold your tongue of your weeping,' says he,
* Of your weeping now let me be ;
I will shew you how the lilies grow
On the banks of Italy.'
13 O what hills are yon, yon pleasant hills,
That the sun shines sweetly on ? '
'() yon are the hills of heaven,' he said,
' Where you will never win.'
14 ' O whaten a mountain is yon,' she said,
' All so dreary wi frost and snow ? '
* O yon is the mountain of hell,' he cried,
4 Where you and I will go.'
15 He strack the tap-mast wi his hand,
The fore-mast wi his knee,
And he brake that gallant ship in twain,
And sank her in the sea.
G
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 93.
1 ' I HAVE seven ships upon the sea,
Laden with the finest gold,
And mariners to wait us upon ;
All these you may behold.
2 ' And I have shoes for my love's feet,
Beaten of the purest gold,
And lined wi the velvet soft,
To keep my love's feet from the cold.
3 ' O how do you love the ship ? ' he said,
' Or how do you love the sea ?
And how do you love the bold mariners
That wait upon thee and me ? '
4: * O I do love the ship,' she said,
1 And I do love the sea ;
But woe be to the dim mariners,
That nowhere I can see ! '
5 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but one,
When she began to weep and mourn,
And to think on her little wee son.
6 ' O hold your tongue, my dear,' he said,
' And let all your weeping abee,
For I '11 soon show to you how the lilies grow
On the banks of Italy.'
7 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but two,
Until she espied his cloven foot,
From his gay robes sticking thro,
8 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but three,
When dark, dark, grew his eerie looks,
And raging grew the sea.
9 They had not sailed a mile awa,
Never a mile but four,
When the little wee ship ran round about,
And never was seen more.
!
243. JAMES HARRIS (THE DAEMON LOVER)
369
Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 138 ; taken down by
the editor's father from the singing of an aged relative.
1 HE 's given her a pair of shoes,
To hold her frae the cold ;
The one side of them was velvaret,
And the other beaten gold.
2 Up she has taen her little wee son,
And given him kisses three ;
Says, Fare ye weel, my little wee son,
I 'm gaun to sail the sea.
B. The Rambler's Garland, composed of some De
lightful New Songs. There are four : the
third is The distressed Ship Carpenter.
"1785?"
I 1 , my my own.
E. 3 2 . Originally, Had it not been for love of
thee.
10 8 . In the margin, Till grim, grim grew.
II 4 . Och hone under the line.
14 1 . Altered to, O whatena.
15 1 . Altered to, O whatena dark. ( The ori
ginal readings are likely to have been the
traditional ones.)
17 8 . sea.
P. In a letter to Scott, January 3, 1803, Laid-
law gives some account of the ballad sung
by Walter Grieve, and cites some verses
from recollection, which, not unnaturally,
differ from what he afterwards took down
in writing.
" He likewise sung part of a very beautiful bal
lad which I think you will not have seen. As
a punishment for her inconstancy, the Devil
is supposed to come and entice a young
woman from her husband, in the form of
her former lover. The tune is very solemn
and melancholy, and the effect is mixed with
a considerable proportion of horror. I re
member but very few verses. He prevails
upon her to go abroad [aboard ?] to hear his
musicians, after upbraiding her
' I might hae marrit a king's daughter, but
I mindit my love for thee. 5
" The description of her setting her child on
the nurse's knee and bidding him farewell
is waesome, but I have forgot it."
She set her foot into the ship, to hear the
music play ;
The masts war o the beaten goud, and the
sails o the silk sae gay.
They hadna saild a league thrae land, a
league but barely three,
Till drearie grew his countenance, and drum-
lie grew his ee.
They hadna saild another league, another
league but three,
Till she beheld his cloven fit, and she wept
most bitterlie.
' O had yer tongue, my love,' he said, ' why
weep ye sae mournf ulie ?
We 're gaun to see how the lillies do grow
on the banks o fair Italic.'
' What hills are yon, yon pleasant hills, where
the sun shines [a wafer here]
* O yon 's the hills of heaven,' he said,
' where you will never win ! ' '
Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott, Vol.
/, No 78, Abbotsford.
370
244. JAMES HATLEY
244
JAMES HATLEY
A. a. " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Min- B. ' James Hately,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for
strelsy," No 35, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 6, Ab- Border Minstrelsy," No 39, MS. of Thomas Wilkie,
botsford. b. 'James Hatley,' Campbell MSS, II, p. 18. The same, transcribed by Thomas Wilkie,
289. c. James Hatelie,' R. Chambers, The Roman- " Scotch Ballads," etc., No 79, Abbotsford.
tic Scottish Ballads, their Epoch and Authorship,
p. 37. C. 'Jamie O'Lee,' Mother-well's MS., p. 654.
A. 'Sin FENWICK' steals the king's jew
els and lays the blame on James Hatley, who
is condemned to death. The king's daughter
steals the prison-keys from under her father's
head and pays a visit to Hatley, who assures
her of his innocence, and tells her that Fen wick
is the man. [b, the king is angry, and says
that for stealing his jewels Hatley shall die
' over the barriers : ' so B.] The princess goes
to her father and begs the life of Hatley, and
her boon is granted without demur. She asks
one thing more, that Fen wick and Hatley may
try their verity at the sword, and this is un
hesitatingly conceded. Hatley is but fifteen
years old (he is seventeen b, eighteen c, fif
teen again C), and Fenwick is thirty-three ;
nevertheless, Fenwick gets three wounds. An
English lord intermits : he would have given
all his estates rather than Hatley should es
cape ; a Scots lord replies that he would have
fought to the knees in blood before Hatley
should have been hanged. (The Scots lord is
wanting in b ; the passage is likely to be bor
rowed from ' Geordie,' No 209.) The king's
eldest son asks Hatley to dine, and makes
him his captain by land and sea ; * the king's
daughter invites him to dine, and announces
that she has made a vow to marry no other
man.
B. Hatley, accused of stealing the king's
jewels, goes to the little prince and asks what
he will do for his page ; the prince goes to his
father and asks what he will do for the page.
* Justifying Thackeray's ' Little Billee.'
The king says that Hatley has stolen his jew
els, so a Norland lord has informed him, and
Hatley must die 'over the barriers.' The
prince offers to fight any man who lays the
blame on Hatley. Fenwick maintains that
Hatley is the thief. The prince gives Fenwick
two or three mortal wounds ; Fenwick ham).;
him the key of his coffer, and in the coffer
the jewels will be found. The king invests
Hatley with Fenwick's lands.
C. A false knight, Phenix, steals the queen's
jewels, and leaves the blame on Jamie O'Lee.
The king sends for his son and tells him that
Jamie has been accused of the theft by an
English lord, and shall be banished from Scot
land. The prince demands a man to fight
with Jamie on this charge, and false Phenix
offers himself. ^ The prince at first objects, for
Jamie is but fifteen years old, whereas Phenix
is of course thirty-three ; however, he tells
Jamie that he must fight or be banished from
England (8, compare 14). Jamie protests his
innocence. He fights with Phenix and receives
the first wound, then runs Phenix through the
body ; Phenix owns his guilt. The king tells
Jamie to come home with him ; every knight
in the court shall be at his command. The
queen bids Jamie come home with her; he
shall have a new livery every month. The
prince invites Jamie to come home with him ;
all his lands in Scotland shall be at Jamie's
command. Jamie thanks king, queen, and
nobility ; he has been a prince's page all his
life, and a prince's page he still will be.
244. JAMES HATLEY
371
Lines representing B 12 3 ' 4 , C 17 3 ' 4 , have
been interpolated into the fragment of ' The
Slaughter of the Laird of Mellerstain,' No
230:
They wad take the lands frae fause Fenwick,
And give them to James Hately.
There is no a month in a' the year
But change'd should his claithing be.
a. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,"
No 35, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 6, Abbotsford ; "from
Betty Hoyl, who learned it from her mother," Gattonside.
b. Campbell MSS, II, 289. c. R. Chambers, The Roman
tic Scottish Ballads, etc., 1859, p. 37 ; "taken down many
years ago from the singing of an old man in the south of
Scotland."
1 IT happened once upon a time,
When the king he was from home,
Sir Fenwick he has stolen his jewels,
And laid the blame on James Hatley.
2 James Hatley was in prison strong,
A wait he was condemned to die ;
There was not one in all the court
To speak one word for James Hatley.
3 No one but the king's daughter,
A wait she loved him tenderlie ;
She 's stolen the keys from her father's head,
And gaed and conversed wi James Hatley,
4 * Come, tell to me now, James,' she said,
' Come, tell to me if thou hast them stolen,
And I '11 make a vow, and I '11 keep it true,
Ye shall never be the worse of me.'
5 ' I have not stolen them, lady,' he said,
' Nor as little it was intended by me ;
Sir Fenwick he has stolen them himself 5
A wait he has laid the blame on me.'
6
' One asking, one asking, father dear,
One asking, one asking grant to me,
For I never asked one in my life ;
I am sure you cannot but grant it to me.'
7 ' Weel ask it, weel ask it, daughter dear,
Ask it, and it granted shall be ;
If it should be my hole estate,
Naesaid, naesaid, it shall not be.'
8 ' I want none of your gold, father,
And I want none of your fee ;
All that I ask, father dear,
It is the life of James Hatley.'
9 ' Weel ask it, weel ask it, daughter dear,
Weel ask it, and it answered shall be ;
For I '11 make a vow, and I '11 keep it true,
James Hatley shall never hange'd be.'
10 ' Another asking, father dear,
Another asking grant to me ;
Let Fenwick and Hatley go [to] the sword,
And let them try their verity.'
11 ' 'T is weel asked, daughter dear,
'T is weel asked, and it granted shall be ;
For eer the morn or twelve o'clock
They both at the point of the sword shall be.'
12 James Hatley was fifteen years old,
Sir Fenwick he was thirty three ;
But James lap about, and he struck about,
Till he 's gaen Sir Fenwick wounds three.
13 ' Hold up, hold up, James Hatley,' he cry'd,
' And let my breath go out and in ;
For I have stolen them myself,
More shame and disgrace it is to me.'
14 Up and spake an English lord,
And O but he spake haughtily !
'I would reather given my whole estates
Before ye had not hanged James Hatley.'
15 But up and spake a Scottish lord,
And O but he spake boldly !
' I would reather hae f oughten among blood to
the knees
Before ye had hanged James Hatley.'
372
244. JAMES HATLEY
16 Up and spake the king's eldest son,
4 Come hame, James Hatley, and dine wi
me;
For I 've made a vow, I '11 keep it true,
Ye 'B be my captain by land and by sea.'
17 Up and spake the king's daughter,
' Come home, James Hatley, and dine wi
me;
For I 've made a vow, I '11 keep it true,
I '11 never marry a man but thee.'
B
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
39, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 18, "as sung by Chirsty
Robertson, Dunse." The same, transcribed by Thomas
Wilkie, " Scotch Ballads," etc., No 79. Abbotsford.
1 IT happened once upon a time,
When the king he was from home,
False Fennick he has stolen his jewels,
And laid the blame on James Hately.
2 The day was sett ....
And the wind blew shill oer the lea ;
There was not one in all the court
To speak a word for James Hately.
4
3 James is to the prince's chamber gone,
And he 's bowd low down on his knee :
'What will ye do for me, my little pretty
prince ?
O what will ye do for your page, James
Hately?'
4 .
' And I will away to my father, the king,
And see if your life can saved be.'
5 The prince he 's to his father gone,
And he 's bowed low down on his knee :
* What will ye do for me, my father ?
O what will ye do for my page, James
Hately?'
6 ' James Hately has my jewels stolen,
A Norland lord hath told it to me ;
James Hately has my jewels stolen,
And oer the ban-as he maun die.'
7 The prince he drew his little brown sword
It was made of the metal so free
And he swore he would fight them man by
man
That would lay the blame on James Hately.
8 Up then spoke the false Fennick,
And an ill-spoken man was he ;
' James Hately has the king's jewels stolen,
9 The prince he drew his little brown sword
It was made of the metal so free
And he 's thrust it in false Fennick's side,
And given him death-wounds two or three.
10 ' O hold your hand, my little pretty prince,
And let my breath go out and in,
For spilling of my noble blood
And shaming of my noble kin.
11 * O hold your hand, my little pretty prince,
And let my breath go out and in,
And there 's the key of my coffer,
And you '11 find the king's jewels lying
therein.'
12 * If this be true,' the king he said, .
' If this be true ye tell to me,
I will take your lands, false Fennick,' he said,
' And give them all to James Hately.'
244. JAMES HATLBY
373
Motherwell's MS., p. 654 ; " from the recitation of the
wife of Charles Drain, sow-gelder, etc., Kilmarnock."
1 THERE was a fause knicht in the court,
And he was fu o treacherie,
And he staw the queen's jewels in the nicht,
And left the wyte on Jamie O'Lee.
2 The king he wrate a braid letter,
And sealed it richt tenderlie,
And he sent it to his only son,
To come and speak to him speedilie.
3 When he cam afore the king,
He kneeled low down on his knee :
' What is your will, my sovereign leige ?
What is your will ? cum tell to me.'
4 ' Jamie O'Lee has my jewels stown,
As the English lord tells unto me,
And out o Scotland he shall be sent,
And sent awa to Germanie.'
5 ' O no, O no,' then said the prince,
' Sic things as that can never be ;
But get me a man that will take on hand
The morn to fecht young Jamie O'Lee.'
6 Syne out and spak the fause Phenix,
And oh, he spak richt spitefullie ;
' I am the man will tak on han
To fecht and conquer Jamie O'Lee.'
7 ' Oh no, oh no,' syne said the prinqe,
' Sic things as that can never bee,
For Jamie O'Lee 's no fifteen years auld,
And ye, fause Phenix, are thretty three.'
8 The prince he mounted then wi speed,
He 's aff wi tidings to Jamie O'Lee,
Saying, The morn's morning ye maun fecht,
Or out o England banisht bee.
9 When Jamie O'Lee the tidings heard,
Fast the saut tear blindit his ee ;
' I 'm saikless o thae jewels,' he said,
' As the bairn that sits on the nourice knee.'
10 Then Phenix munted a scaffold hie,
A' for to shaw his veritie ;
Whilk gart the nobles a' to cry
' A dead man are ye, Jamie O'Lee ! '
11 The first straik the fause Phenix gied,
He gart the blude rin speedilie ;
It gart the prince's heart to ache,
And cry, Oh, alace for my Jamie O'Lee !
12 Jamie O'Lee he stepped back,
Waiting for opportunitie,
And wi his sword baith lang and sharp
He ran it thro Phenix fause bodie.
13 ' O haud your hand, Jamie O'Lee,' he said,
' And let the breath remain in me,
And skail nae mair o my noble blude,
'T is a great disgrace to my loyaltie.'
14 ' Confess, confess, ye fause Phenix,
Confess your faults this day to me ;
Were there nae mair men in a' England,
My ain twa hands your death suld be.'
15 ' Ye were sae great wi king and queen,
I thocht I wuld hae banisht thee,'
And I staw the queen's jewels in the nicht,
And left the wyte on Jamie O'Lee.'
16 Syne out and spak the king himsell,
Saying, Jamie O'Lee, come hame wi me,
And there 's no a knicht in a' my court
But what at your command sail be.
17 Syne out and spak the queen hersell,
Saying, Jamie O'Lee, come hame wi me,
And there 's no a month in a' the year
But changed and brothered ye sail be.
18 Syne out and spak the prince himsell,
Saying, Jamie O'Lee, come hame wi me ;
I hae free lands in a' Scotland,
And at your command they a' sail be.
19 ' I thank ye, king, and I thank ye, queen,
I thank ye a', nobilitie,
But a prince's page I was a' my life,
And a prince's page I yet will be.'
20 The king gied him a silk waistcoat,
And it was lined wi the taffetie,
Wi a band o gowd around his neck,
And a prince's page he seems to be.
374
244. JAMES HATLEY
A. a. I 1 , day 'written over time.
I 2 , from home was he?
2 a , 3 2 , 5 4 . Await.
4 s . The -ee rhyme may be restored by trans
posing Come tell to me, as in c (or adding
said she). 7 4 . Nae said, nae said.
13 2 -13 8 . Two half-stanzas are wanting here :
see b, o. 16 follows 17, but see b, c.
b. l a . king was from home hut lately.
I 8 . That Sir. 2. was laid. 2 a , 3 2 , 5 4 . I wat.
2 s . And there 's not a man in.
2 4 . Wad speak. 3 1 . king's fair.
3*. And went in and. 4 2 . if you have.
4*. vow, I '11. 5 s . was it 5*. And I wat he 's.
After 5 :
Up then spak the king himsel,
And an angry man I wot was he :
' For stealin o my jewels rare,
Hatlie shall oer the harriers die.'
6 1 ' 2 . A hoon, a boon, O.
6 8 . askit a boon before.
6*. And I 'm sure that you will grant it me.
7 1 . O ask it, ask it.
7 8 . And gin it be the half o my estate.
7*. Granted sal it be to thee.
8. ' O grant me this favour, father dear,
O grant this favour unto me,
For I never asked favour before ;
O spare the life of James Hatlie ! '
9. Wanting.
10 8 . Let Hatley and Fenwick go to.
II 1 . Well asked, well asked. II 2 . Well asked.
II 8 . Before the morn at.
12 1 . he was seventeen.
12 8 . But wanting : strak. 12*. gien.
13 1 . he said. Between 13 8 and 13 8 :
* For this is spillin of noble blude,
And shamein of my noble kin.
' Hold up, hold up,' Sir Fenwick he said,
' Hold up, and ye sal justified be ; '
13 8 . stolen the jewels myself.
14 1 . Up then spake a southern.
14 8 . rather have given the half o my land.
14*. Before James Hatlie should not hanged
be. 15. Wanting.
16, 17. The son speaks before the daughter.
16 1 , 17 1 . Up then.
16 8 . For from this hour receive this dower.
16 4 . Ye sal be.
17 3 ' 4 . For ere the sun gae down this night,'0
there 's my hand, I '11 marry thee.
O. I 1 . It fell upon a certain day.
I 2 , from home he chanced to be.
I 8 . The king's jewels they were stolen all.
I 4 . And they.
'_". And he is into prison cast
2 s . And I wat he is.
2 8 . For there was not a man. 2 4 . speak a.
3. But the king's eldest daughter she loved
him well,
But known her love it might not be ;
And she has stolen the prison-keys,
And gane in and discoursed wi James
Hatelie.
4 1 . Oh, did you steal them, James.
4 a . Oh, did not you steal them ? come tell to
me.
4 8 . For I '11. 4 4 . You 's.
5 1 . I did not steal them, James.
5 2 . And neither was it.
5 8 . For the English they stole them themselves.
5 4 . And I wat they 've.
6 1 - 2 . Now she has hame to her father gane,
And bowed her low down on her knee ;
' I ask, I ask, I ask, father,' she said,
1 1 ask, I ask a boon of thee.'
6 8 . For wanting.
6 4 . And one of them you must grant to me.
7 1>2 . Ask on, ask on, daughter, he said, And
aye weel answered ye shall be.
7 8 . For if it were my whole.
7 4 . you shall.
8 1 . I ask. 8 a . As little of your white monie.
8 8 . But all the asken that I do ask.
9 1 . Ask on, ask on, daughter, he said.
9*. And aye weel answered ye.
9 8 . and keep.
9 4 . shall not
10 1 . asken I ask, father : dear wanting.
10 2 . asken I ask of thee. 10 8 . go to.
II 1 * 2 . Ask on, ask on, daughter, he said, And
aye weel answered you shall be.
II 8 . For before the morn at.
12 1 . eighteen years of age.
245. YOUNG ALLAN
375
12 2 . False F. was thirty years and three.
12 8 . He lap : strack.
12 4 . And he gave false F.
13 1 . Oh, hold your hand, J. H., he said.
Between 13 2 and 13 8 :
1 Were it not for the spilling of my noble
blood,
And the shaming of my noble kin.
'Oh, hold your hand, James Hatelie,' he
said,
' Oh, hold your hand, and let me be.'
13. For I 'm the man that stole the jewels.
13*. And a : it was. 14 1 . Then up bespoke.
14 3 . I wat but he.
14 s . rather have lost all my lands.
14 4 . they had.
15 1 . Then up bespoke a good Scotch.
15 2 . I wat a good Scotch lord was he.
15*. to the knees in blood. 15*. Than they.
16, 17. The son speaks before the daughter.
16 1 , 17 1 . Then up bespoke. 16 2 , 17 2 . Come in.
16 8 , 17 8 . I '11 make : and I '11.
16 8 . You 'se : and sea. 17 1 . king's eldest.
B. The copy transcribed by Wilkie has been edited
a little. 2 1>2 , originally written in one line,
are rightly divided as here ; 2 3 - 4 are made
the concluding half of another stanza.
2*. Would speak one. 3 1 . James he.
3 4 . omitted. 4 8 . And omitted.
5 1 . prince is : father's chamber. 6 2 . to omitted.
9 2 . That hung low down by his knee.
9 8 . it wanting. 9 4 . Then gave him.
11 is put before 10, and 10 1>2 omitted.
II 4 . king's laying (careless copying).
12 8 . false omitted.
Wilkie notes (No 39) that he had " heard this
sung also by a shepherd on Soltra hill," but
it is not likely that these variations were de
rived from the shepherd.
C. 9 1 . When Johnie. 14 8 . War for Were origi
nally. 17 4 . brothered in the MS.
245
YOUNG ALLAN
A. Skene MS., p. 33.
B. 'Young Allan,' Buchan's MSS, II, 182.
C. ' Young Allan,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of
Scotland, II, 11.
D. ' Young Allan,' Murison MS., p. 117.
B. Earl Patrick,' Kinloch MSS, V, 395.
THE copy in Christie's Traditional Ballad
Airs, I, 252, is abridged from C, with half a
dozen arbitrary and insignificant changes.
Skippers (lords) of Lothain, A, of Scars-
burgh, C, of Aberdeen, D, are bragging over
their drink : some, absurdly enough, of their
hawks and hounds, A-C, some of their ladies,
young Allan of his ship, which will outsail all
* Five are named in C 3, 4, but that is too many to allow.
Probably two versions may have been combined here. B
has only the three mentioned in C 4 ; the three of A 3 are
repeated in A 9 ; and there are three only in E 7-9. The
VOL. IV. 48
others but three.* A boy in A, C, says that
his master has a boat (it is a coal-carrier in
C) which will take the wind from him. A
wager is laid, A, B, C. All the rest go to
drinking, ' to the tows,' but Allan to his pray
ers, C 8. They sail ; there is a terrible
storm, in the course of which the three com
petitors are ' rent in nine,' A 9, or two of them
Black Burgess of C 3 occurs in A 3, and 'the smack
calld (caud) Twine ' of C 3 looks like a corruption of ' the
small (sma') Cordvine.'
376
245. YOUNG ALLAN
sink, and the topmast of the third 'gaes in
nine,' B 7-9.
In A they have sailed only a few leagues,
when Allan's ship is so racked by the storm
that they see water through her sides. At
this point, especially in A, Allan's seamanship
appears to very little advantage ; he is more
of a fair-weather yachtsman than of a skeely
skipper. If he could get a bonny boy to take
the helm and bring the ship in safe, the boy
should have a liberal share of his gold and
land, and a daughter Ann besides, whom one
is surprised that Young Allan should have to
offer. In A and D the bonny boy evidently
takes command of the ship, although in A 18
the sailors ascribe their safety, under God, to
their good master. The ballad indeed suffers
almost as grievously as the comely cog.
In B-B Allan calls for a bonny boy to take
the helm while he goes to the masthead to
look for land. In D he makes the same prom
ises as in A, but the bonny boy cares only for
Ann. In B, C the bonny boy suggests that
Allan shoula waken his drunken men, for
whom good thick shoes had been bought,
though none had been given him. But in all
the boy takes the helm, and in fact keeps it
till the ship is in. Allan, at the masthead, can
see neither day nor landmark ; many feather-
beds are floating on the water, B, C. The
boy calls his master down ; the sea can be
seen through the ship's sides, B-E.
Orders are given, by the boy or by Allan
(by the boy certainly in D, and by Allan in
B), to take feather-beds and canvas and lay,
busk, or wrap the ship round ; pitch and tar
are also recommended in B, C. This done,
Allan addresses the ship : Spring up, and gold
shall be your hire, A ; Haste to dry land, and
every nail that is in you shall be a gold pin, B ;
For every iron nail in you, of gold there shall
be ten, C ; in D, indirectly, Where she wants
an iron nail drive in a silver pin, and where
* In a note at the end of I] (which he regarded as a va
riety of ' Sir Patrick Spens '), Burton says : " There appears
to be still lurking in some part of Aberdeenshire a totally
different version of this ballad, connected with the localities
of the North [that is, not with Dunfermline, with which
' Young Allan ' has no concern, or with Linn or Lee, which
are in Outopia]. A person who remembered haviiig heard
she wants an oaken bolt beat in the gold, and
the like in E. When the ship hears this, she
springs from the water like sparks from the
fire, A-C.
The first shore they come to is Troup, B,
Howdoloot, C, Linn, D, B. The ship is kept off
with cannon, B, C, with spears and bayonets,
D ; is towed in (wrongly), B. The next shore
they come to is Lee, B, E, Howdilee, C, want
ing in D ; ' they bare her to the sea,' C, * they
turned their ship about,' D, the ship is towed
in (wrongly), B, B. The third shore they
come to is Lin, B, Howdilin, C, Aberdeen,
D ; the ship is towed in (welcomed), with
drums beating and pipes playing, B, C, D.
Allan calls for the bonny boy that brought
the ship safe in, that took the helm in hand,
and offers him gold, land, and his daughter ;
the boy rejects gold and land, and takes the
daughter, A, D ; Allan makes over to the boy
his comely cog and gives him his daughter, B ;
gives him his daughter, C.
Five-and-forty ships, A, three-and-fifty, C,
one-and-twenty, E, went to sea, and only one
came back.*
This ballad is mixed with that of ' Sir Pat
rick Spens,' No 58, II, 21 ff. E 1-6 belong
entirely to No 58, and K 6-10, M 1, 3, of No
58 belong to 'Young Allan.' The bonny boy
is found in 58, B, C, E, Q, I, J ; the floating
feather-beds occur in B-H, J, O, R ; the
sea is seen through the ship in 58, C 15, I
21 ; cloth is wapped into the ship's side to
keep out water, H 19, 20 ; feather-beds and
canvas (and pitch) are used as here in I 22,
23.
By far the most interesting feature in this
ballad is Allan's addressing his ship and the
ship's intelligent behavior, A 16, 17, B 12-15,
C 21-22. FriSjjjdf's ship ElliSa understood
and obeyed the speech of its master: For-
naldar Sogur, II, 79, 443 (cited by Bugge).
Ranild's ship came to him when he blew his
it said that it ends happily, with the mariners drinking the
bluid-red wine at Aberdeen. It mentions Bennachie, or the
Hill of Mist, a celebrated hill in Aberdeen shire, which is
seen far out at sea, and seems to have guided the gallant
mariner to the shore." All the copies "end happily" BO
far as Young Allan is concerned, and this is all that we are
supposed to care for.
245. YOUNG ALLAN
377
horn : * Svend Ranild,' Grundtvig, No 28, I,
367 (translated by Prior, I, 286). In another
Danish ballad, and one of the best, the Ox
when sailed by St Olav, responds to his com
mands as if fully endowed with consciousness ;
he thwacks it in the side and over the eye, and
it goes faster and faster ; but it is animate
only for the nonce : * Hellig-Olavs Vaeddefart,'
Grundtvig, No 50, II, 134, Prior, I, 356.
The Phaeacian ships have neither helmsman
nor helm, and know men's minds and the way
to all cities : Odyssey, viii, 557 ff. There is a
magical self-moving ship in Marie de France's
Guigemar, and elsewhere.
Skene MS., p. 33 ; taken down in the north of Scotland,
1802-3.
1 A' THE skippers of bonny Lothain,
As they sat at the wine,
There fell a reesin them amang,
An it was in unhappy time.
2 Some o them reesd their hawks,
An some o them their hounds,
An some o them their ladies gay,
Trod neatly on the ground ;
Young Allan he reesd his comely cog,
That lay upon the strand.
3 ' I hae as good a ship this day
As ever sailed our seas,
Except it be the Burges Black,
But an the Small Cordvine,
The Comely Cog of Dornisdale ;
We 's lay that three bye in time.'
4 Out spak there a little boy,
Just at Young Allan's knee :
* Ye lie, ye lie, Young Allan,
Sae loud 's I hear ye lie.
5 ' For my master has a little boat
Will sail thrice as well as thine ;
For she '11 gang in at your foremast,
An gae out your fore-lee,
An nine times in a winter night
She '11 tak the wind frae thee.'
6 ' O what will ye wad, ye Young Allan ?
Or what will ye wad wi me ? '
' I '11 wad my head against your land
Till I get more monnie.'
7 They had na saild a league,
A league but barely three,
But through an thro the bonny ship
They saw the green wall sea.
8 They had na saild a league,
A league but barely five,
But through an thro their bonny ship
They saw the green well wave.
9 He gaed up to the topmast,
To see what he coud see,
And there he saw the Burgess Black,
But an the Small Cordvine,
The Comely Cog of Dornisdale ;
The three was rent in nine.
10 Young Allan grat an wrang his hands,
An he kent na what to dee :
i The win is loud, and the waves are proud,
An we '11 a' sink in the sea.
11 ' But gin I coud get a bonny boy
Wad tak my helm in ban,
That would steer my bonny ship,
An bring her safe to land,
12 ' He shoud get the twa part o my goud,
Tbe third part o my land,
An gin we win safe to shore
He shoud get my dochter Ann.'
13 ' O here am I, a bonny boy
That will tak your helm in ban,
An will steer your bonny ship
An bring her safe to Ian.
14 ' Ye tak f our-an-twenty feather-beds
An lay the bonny ship round,
An as much of the good canvas
As mak her hale an soun.'
15 They took four-an-twenty feather-beds
An laid the bonny ship roun,
378
245. YOUNG ALLAN
An as much o the good canvas
As made her hale an soun.
16 ' Spring up, spring up, my bonny ship,
An goud sail be your hire ! '
Whan the bonny ship heard o that,
That goud shoud be her hire,
She sprang as fast frae the sat water
As sparks do frae the fire.
17 ' Spring up, spring up, my bonny ship,
And goud sail be your fee ! '
Whan the bonny ship heard o that,
That goud shoud be her fee,
She sprang as fast frae the sat water
As the leaf does frae the tree.
18 The sailors stan on the shore-side,
Wi their auld baucheld sheen :
* Thanks to God an our guid master
That ever we came safe to land ! '
19 ' Whar is the bonny boy
That took my helm in ban,
That steerd my bonny ship,
An brought her safe to Ian ?
20 ' He 's get the twa part o my goud,
The third part o my Ian,
An, since we 're come safe to shore,
He 's get my dochter Ann.'
21 ' O here am I, the bonny boy
That took your helm in ban,
That steered your bonny ship,
An brought her safe to Ian.
22 ' I winna hae the twa part o your goud,
Nor the third part o your Ian,
But, since we hae win safe to shore,
I '11 wed your dochter Ann.'
23 Forty ships went to the sea,
Forty ships and five,
An there never came ane o a' back,
But Young Allan, alive.
B
Bnchan's MSS, II, 182.
1 THERE were four-an-twenty sailors bold
Sat drinking at the wine ;
There fell a rousing them among,
In an unseally time.
2 Some there reasd their hawk, their hawk,
And some there reasd their hound,
But Young Allan reasd his comely cog,
As she floats on the feam.
3 ' There 's not a ship amang you a'
Will sail alang wi me,
But the comely cog o Heckland Hawk,
And Flower o Germanie,
And the Black Snake o Leve London ;
They are all gane frae me.'
4 The wager was a gude wager,
Of fifty tuns of wine,
And as much o the gude black silk
As cleathd their lemans fine.
5 At midnight dark the wind up stark,
The seas began to rout ;
Young Allan and his bonny new ship
Gaed three times witherlins about.
6 ' O f aer will I get a bonny boy
Will take my helm in hand
Ere I gang up to the tapmast-head
To look for some dry land ? '
7 * O waken, waken your drunken men,
As they lie drunk wi wine ;
For when ye came thro Edinburgh town
Ye bought them shoes o ben.
8 ' There was no shoe made for my feet,
Nor gluve made for my hand ;
But nevertheless, my dear master,
I '11 take your helm in hand
Till ye gae to the topmast head
And look for some dry land.'
9 ' I cannot see no day, no day,
Nor no meathe can I ken ;
245. YOUNG ALLAN
379
But mony a bonny feather-bed
Lies floating on the faem.'
10 'Come down, come down, my dear master,
You see not what I see ;
Through an through your bonny new ship
Comes in the green haw sea.'
11 * Take fifty ells o the canvas broad
And wrap it in a' roun,
And as much o good pich an tar
Make her go hale an soun.
12 l Sail on, sail on, my bonny ship,
And haste ye to dry Ian,
And every nail that is in you
Shall be a gay gold pin.
13 ' Sail on, sail on, my bonny ship,
And hae me to some Ian,
And a firlot full o guineas red
Will be dealt at the lan's end.'
14 The ship she hearkend to their voice
And listend to their leed,
And she gaed thro the green haw sea
Like fire out o a gleed.
15 When the ship got word o that,
Goud was to be her beat,
She 's flowen thro the stormy seas
Like sparks out o a weet.
16 The first an shore that they came till,
It was the shore o Troup ;
Wi cannons an great shooting there,
They held Young Allan out.
17 The next an shore that they came till,
It was the shore o Lee ;
Wi piping an sweet singing there,
They towed Young Allan tee.
18 The next an shore that they came till,
It was the shore o Lin ;
Wi drums beating and pipers playing,
They towed Young Allan in,
And Allan's lady she was there,
To welcome Allan hame.
19 ' O faer is my little boy,' he said,
' That I brought oer the sea ? '
' I 'm coming, master, running, master,
At your command shall be.'
20 ' O take to you my comely cog,
And wed my daughter free,
And a' for this ae night's wark
That ye did wake wi me.'
O
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 11.
1 ALL the skippers o Scarsburgh
Sat drinking at the wine ;
There fell a rousing them amang,
On an unseally time.
2 Some there rousd their hawk, their hawk,
And some there rousd their hound,
But Young Allan rousd his comely cog,
As she stood on dry ground.
3 ' There 's nae a ship in Scarsburgh
Will sail the seas wi mine,
Except it be the Burgess Black,
Or than the smack calld Twine.
4 * There 's nae a ship amang you a'
Will sail alang wi me,
But the comely cog o Hecklandhawk,
And Flower o Yermanie,
And the Black Snake o Leve London ;
They are a' gane frae me.'
5 Out it speaks a little wee boy
Stood by Young Allan's knee ;
* My master has a coal-carrier
Will take the wind frae thee.
6 ' She will gae out under the leaf,
Come in under the lee,
And nine times in a winter night
She '11 turn the wind wi thee.'
380
245. YOUNG ALLAN
7 When they had wagerd them amang
Full fifty tuns o wine,
Besides as mickle gude black silk
As clathe their lemans fine,
8 When all the rest went to the tows,
All the whole night to stay,
Young Allan he went to his bower,
There with his God to pray.
9 * There shall nae man gang to my ship
Till I say mass and dine,
And take my leave o my lady ;
Gae to my bonny ship syne.'
10 Then they saild east on Saturday,
On Sunday sailed west ;
Likewise they sailed on Mononday
Till twelve, when they did rest.
11 At midnight dark the wind up stark,
And seas began to rout,
Till Allan and his bonny new ship
Gaed three times witherlands about.
12 * O,' sighing says the Young Allan,
' I fear a deadly storm ;
For mony a heaving sinking sea
Strikes sair on my ship's stern.
13 ' Where will I get a little wee boy
Will take my helm in hand
Till I gang up to my tapmast
And see for some dry land ? '
14 * O waken, waken your drunken men,
As they lye drunk wi wine ;
For when ye came thro Edinbro town
Ye bought them sheen o ben.
15 * There was nae shoe made for my foot,
Nor gluve made for my hand ;
But nevertheless, my dear master,
I '11 take your helm in hand
Till ye gang to the tall tapmast
And look for some dry land.
16 ' And here am I, a little wee boy
Will take your helm in han
Till ye gang up to your tapmast,
But, master, stay not lang.'
17 * I cannot see nae day, nae day,
Nor nae meathe can I ken ;
But mony a bonny feather-bed
Lyes floating on the faem,
And the comely cog o Normanshore,
She never will gang hame.'
18 The comely cog o Nicklingame
Came sailing by his hand ;
Says, Gae down, gae down, ye gude skipper,
Your ship sails on the sand.
19 ' Come down, come down, my gude master,
Ye see not what I see ;
For thro and thro our comely cog
I see the green haw sea.'
20 ' Take fifty ells o gude canvas
And wrap the ship a' round ;
And pick her weell, and spare her not,
And make her hale and sound.
21 ' If ye will sail, my bonny ship,
Till we come to dry land,
For ilka iron nail in you,
Of gowd there shall be ten.'
22 The ship she listend all the while,
And, hearing of her hire,
She flew as swift threw the saut sea
As sparks do frae the fire.
23 The first an shore that they came till,
They ca'd it Howdoloot ;
Wi drums beating and cannons shouting,
They held our gude ship out.
24 The next an shore that they came till,
They ca'd it Howdilee ;
Wi drums beating and fifes playing,
They bare her to .the sea.
25 The third an shore that they came till,
They ca'd it Howdilin ;
Wi drums beating and pipes playing,
They towd our gude ship in.
26 The sailors walkd upon the shore,
Wi their auld baucheld sheen,
And thanked God and their Lady,
That brought them safe again.
245. YOUNG ALLAN
381
27 ' For we went out o Scarsburgh
Wi fifty ships and three ;
But nane o them came back again
But Young Allan, ye see.'
28 ' Come down, come down, my little wee boy,
Till I pay you your fee ;
I hae but only ae daughter,
And wedded to her ye 'se be.'
Murison MS., p. 117; learned by Mrs Murison from her
mother, Old Deer, Aberdeeushire.
1 THERE was three lords sat drinkin wine
In bonnie Aberdeen, [O]
2 Some o them talked o their merchandise,
An some o their ladies fine, [0]
But Young Allan he talked o his bonnie ship,
That cost him mony a poun.
3 ' Whar will I get a bonnie wee boy
That '11 tak my helm in han, O
Till I gang up to my high topmast
An look oot for some dry Ian ?
4 ' He '11 get half o my gowd, an half o my gear,
An the third pairt o my Ian,
An gin he row me safe on shore
He shall hae my daughter Ann.'
5 ' O here am I, a bonny wee boy
That '11 tak your helm in han
Till ye gang up to your high topmast
An look oot for some dry Ian.
6 ' I '11 nae seek your gowd, nor I '11 nae seek
your gear,
Nor the third pairt o your Ian,
But gin I row you safe to shore
I shall hae your daughter Ann.
7 * Come doon, come doon, Young Allan,' he
cries,
* Ye see nae what I see ;
For through an through your bounie ship-side
An I see the open sea.
8 ' Ye '11 tak twenty-four o your feather-beds,
Ye '11 busk your bonnie ship roon,
An as much o the guid canvas-claith
As gar her gang hale an soun.
9 ' An whar ye want an iron bolt
Ye '11 ca a siller pin,
An whar ye want an oaken bolt
Ye '11 beat the yellow gold in.'
10 He 's taen twenty-four o his feather-beds
An buskit 's bonnie ship roon,
An as much o the guid canvas-claith
As gar her gang hale an soun.
11 An whar he 's wantit an iron bolt
He 's ca'd a siller pin,
An whar he 's wantit an oaken bolt
He 's beat the yellow gold in.
12 The firstan shore that they cam till,
It was the shore o Linn ;
They held their spears an beenits oot,
An they wouldna lat Allan in.
13 The neistan shore that they cam till
It was the shore o . . . ;
An they turned their ship aboot.
14 But the neistan shore that they cam till,
'T was bonnie Aberdeen ;
The fifes an drums they a' did play,
To welcome Allan in.
15 ' O where is he, the bonnie wee boy
That took my helm in han
Till I gied up to my high topmast
An lookd oot for some dry Ian ?
16 * He 's get half o my gowd, an half o my
gear,
An the third pairt o my Ian,
An since he 's rowt me safe to shore
He sail hae my daughter Ann.'
382
245. YOUNG ALLAN
17 ' O here am I, the bonnie wee boy
That took your helm in han
Till ye gied up to your high topmast
An lookd oot for some dry Ian.
18 ' I '11 nae seek half o your good, nor half o your
gear,
Nor the third pairt o your Ian,
But since I 've rowt you safe to shore
I sail hae your daughter Ann.'
E
Kinloch MSS, V, 395 ; in the handwriting of John Hill
Burton, when a youth.
1 THE king he sits in Dumfermline,
Birlin at the wine,
And callin for the best skipper
That ever sailed the faem.
2 Then out it spak a bonny boy,
Sat at the king's right knee ;
' Earl Patrick is the best skipper
That ever sailed the sea.'
3 The king he wrote a braed letter,
And sealed it wi his ring,
And sent it to Earl Patrick,
' Oh wha is this, or wha is that,
Has tald the king o me ?
For I was niver a gude mariner,
And niver sailed the sea.
5 * Ye '11 eat and drink, my merry young men,
The red wine you amang,
For blaw it wind, or blaw it sleet,
Our ship maun sail the morn.
6 ' Late yestreen I saw the new meen
Wi the auld meen in hir arm,'
And sichand said him Earl Patrick,
'I fear a deadly storm.'
7 They sailed up, sae did they down,
Thro mony a stormy stream,
Till they saw the Dam o Micklengaem,
When she sank amang the faem.
8 They sailed up, sae did they down,
Thro many a stormy stream,
Till they saw the Duke o Normandy,
And she sank among the faem.
9 They sailed up, sae did they down,
Thro many a stormy stream,
Till they saw the Black Shater o Leve London,
And her topmast gaed in nine.
10 ' Where will I get a bonny boy
That will tack my helm in hand
Till I gang up to my topmast,
And spy for some dry land ? '
11 ' Now here am I, a bonny boy
Will tack yer helm in hand
Till ye go up to your topmast
But I fear ye '11 never see land.'
12 ' Cum down, cum down, my gude master,
Ye see not what I see,
For through and through yer bonny ship
I see the raging sea.'
13 ' Ye '11 tak f our-and-twenty f ether-beds
And lay my bonny ship roun,
And as muckle o the fine canvas
As make her haill and soun.
14 ' And where she wants an iron nail
O silver she 's hae three,
And where she wants a timmer-pin
We '11 rap the red goud in.'
15 The firsten shore that they cam till,
They cad it shore the Linn ;
Wi heart and hand and good command,
They towed their bonny ship in.
16 The nexten shore that they came till,
They caad it shore the Lee ;
With heart and hand and good command,
They towed the bonny ship tee.
17 There was twenty ships gaed to the sea,
Twenty ships and ane,
And there was na ane came back again
But Earl Patrick alane.
246. REDESDALE AND WISE WILLIAM
383
A. 18 s . ill buckled corruptly for the auld baucheld
o/C 26 (baucheld = down at the heels).
B. 2 2 . hind.
3 6 . snakes o Leveland den ; and snakes o Leve-
landen, C 4 5 . / have not found snake, for
ship, in late English, but the A. S. snacc =
Icelandic snekkja, a fast ship, may well
have come down. For Leve London see
B9 8 .
II 4 . We should perhaps read As make ; cf.
A14 4 , D8 4 .
C. 4 6 . black snakes o Levelanden.
D. After 2. " A long, long gap, that I have got
nobody to fill up. I learned it from my
mother, but she has quite forgotten it."
9 1 . whar he.
13 8 . Remark : " Not let land here either."
17 8 . to yon, or you.
O is added at the end of every second line.
E. 6 8 . sichand.
9 8 . shater. Cf. B 3 6 , C 4 6 , where the texts
have snakes (corrected here to snake). The
writer of B had begun the word with some
thing different from sh, but with what I
cannot make out.
II 4 . feear. 14 1 . when or wher.
246
REDESDALE AND WISE WILLIAM
A. ' Reedisdale and Wise William,' Buchan's Ballads B. Roudesdales,' Harris MS., fol. 14 b.
of the North of Scotland, II, 70 ; Mother-well's MS.,
p. 452 ; Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 298. C. Kinloch MSS, V, 423, two stanzas.
REDESDALE boasts to William that he can
win any woman with a blink of his eye. Wil
liam has a sister who, he maintains, is not to
be had so easily. A wager is laid, William's
head against Redesdale's lands. William is
shut up to prevent his warning his sister, but
sends her a letter by a carrier-bird. Redesdale
rides to the maiden's bower, and, seeing her
at the window, tries to induce her to come
down by a series of offers of silk-gowns, jew
els, etc. His offers proving bootless, he threat
ens to fire the house, and does so. The maid
and her women don wet mantles and pass the
reek and flame unhurt. She sends word to
her brother, who claims Redesdale's lands.
A 1, 2, 5 are substantially a repetition of
No 245, A 1, 2 1 ' 4 , 6, etc.. The sharp shower
in B 16-18, which puts out, and does not put
out, the fire, is an inept interpolation.
This ballad may be an offshoot from a
widely spread story which is tediously told
further on in * Twa Knights.'
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 70 ; writ
ten down from memory by Mr Nicol, Strichen, as learned
in his earlier years from old people.
VOL. iv. 49
1 WHEN Reedisdale and Wise William
Were drinking at the wine,
There fell a roosing them amang,
On an unruly time.
384
246. REDESDALE AND WISE WILLIAM
2 For some o them hae roosd their hawks,
And other some their hounds,
And other some their ladies fair,
And their bowers whare they walkd in.
3 When out it spake him Reedisdale,
And a rash word spake he ;
Says, There is not a lady fair,
In bower wherever she be,
But I could aye her favour win
Wi ae blink o my ee.
4 Then out it spake him Wise William,
And a rash word spake he ;
Says, I have a sister of my own,
In bower where ever she be,
And ye will not her favour win
With three blinks of your ee.
/
5 ' What will ye wager, Wise William ?
My lands I '11 wad with thee ; '
' I '11 wad my head against your land,
Till I get more monie.'
6 Then Reedisdale took Wise William,
Laid him in prison strang,
That he might neither gang nor ride,
Nor ae word to her send.
7 But he has written a braid letter,
Between the night and day,
And sent it to his own sister
By dun feather and gray.
8 When she had read Wise William's letter,
She smiled and she leugh ;
Said, Very well, my dear brother,
Of this I have eneuch.
9 She looked out at her west window
To see what she could see,
And there she spied him Reedisdale
Come riding ower the lea.
10 Says, Come to me, my maidens all,
Come hitherward to me ;
For here it comes him Reedisdale,
Who comes a-courting me.
11 ' Come down, come down, my lady fair,
A sight of you give me ; '
4 Go from my yetts now, Reedisdale,
For me you will not see.'
12 ' Come down, come down, my lady fair,
A sight of you give me ;
And bonny are the gowns of silk
That I will give to thee.'
13 ' If you have bonny gowns of silk,
mine is bonny tee ;
Go from my yetts now, Reedisdale,
For me you shall not see.'
14 ' Come down, come down, my lady fair,
A sight of you I '11 see ;
And bonny jewels, brooches and rings
1 will give unto thee.'
15 ' If you have bonny brooches and rings,
O mine are bonny tee ;
Go from my yetts now, Reedisdale,
For me you shall not see.'
16 ' Come down, come down, my lady fair,
One sight of you I '11 see ;
And bonny are the ha's and bowers
That I will give to thee.'
17 ' If you have bonny ha's and bowers,
O mine are bonny tee ;
Go from my yetts now, Reedisdale,
For me you shall not see.'
18 ' Come down, come down, my lady fair,
A sight of you I '11 see ;
And bonny are my lands so broad
That I will give to thee.'
19 ' If you have bonny lands so broad,
mine are bonny tee ;
Go from my yetts now, Reedisdale,
For me ye will not see.'
20 ' Come down, come down, my lady fair,
A sight of you I '11 see ;
And bonny are the bags of gold
That I will give to thee.'
21 ' If you have bonny bags of gold,
1 have bags of the same ;
Go from my yetts now, Reedisdale,
For down I will not come.'
22 ' Come down, come down, my lady fair,
One sight of you I '11 see ;
246. REDESDALB AND WISE WILLIAM
385
Or else I '11 set your house on fire,
If better cannot be.'
23 Then he has set the house on fire,
And all the rest it tuke ;
He turned his wight horse head about,
Said, Alas, they '11 ne'er get out !
24 * Look out, look out, my maidens fair,
And see what I do see,
How Reedisdale has fired our house,
And now rides oer the lea.
25 ' Come hitherwards, my maidens fair,
Come hither unto me ;
For thro this reek, and thro this smeek,
O thro it we must be ! '
26 They took wet mantles them about,
Their coffers by the band,
And thro the reek, and thro the flame,
Alive they all have wan.
27 When they had got out thro the fire,
And able all to stand,
She sent a maid to Wise William,
To bruik Reedisdale's land.
28 ' Your lands is mine now, Reedisdale,
For I have won them free ; '
' If there is a gude woman in the world,
Your one sister is she.'
B
Harris MS., fol. 14 b ; from Mrs Harris.
1 ROUDESDALES an Clerk William
Sat birlin at the wine,
An a' the talk was them atween
Was aboot the ladies fine, fine,
Was aboot the ladies fine.
2 Says Roudesdales to Clerk William,
I '11 wad my lands wi thee,
I '11 wad my lands against thy head,
An that is what I '11 dee,
3 ' That there 's no a leddy in a' the land,
That 's fair, baith ee an bree,
That I winna wed withoot courtin,
Wi ae blink o my ee/
4 Says William, I 've an ae sister,
She 's fair, baith ee an bree ;
An you '11 no wed her withoot courtin,
Wi ae blink o your ee.'
5 He has wrote a broad letter,
Between the nicht an the day,
An sent it to his ae sister
Wi the white feather an the gray.
6 The firsten line she luekit on,
A licht lauchter gae she ;
But eer she read it to the end
The tear blindit her ee.
7 ' Oh wae betide my ae brither,
Wald wad his head for me,
8 Roudesdales to her bour has gane,
An rade it round aboot,
An there he saw that fair ladie,
At a window lookin oot.
9 * Come doon, come doon, you fair ladie,
Ae sicht o you to see j
For the rings are o the goud sae ried
That I will gie to thee.'
10 l If yours are o the goud sae ried,
Mine 's o the silver clear ;
So get you gone, you Roudesdales,
For you sail no be here.'
11 ' Come doon, come doon, you lady fair,
Ae sicht o you to see ;
For the gouns are o the silk sae fine
That I will gie to thee.'
12 ' If yours are o the silk sae fine,
Mine 's o the bonnie broun ;
386
246. REDESDALE AND WISE WILLIAM
Sa get you gone, you Roudesdales,
For I will no come doon.'
13 ' Come doon, come doon, you ladie fair,
Ae sicht o you to see ;
For the steeds are o the milk sae white
That I will gie to thee.'
14 ' If yours are o the milk sae white,
Mine 's o the honnie broun ;
Sae get you gone, you Roudesdales,
For I will no come doon.'
15 ' Come doon, come doon, you ladie fair,
Ae sicht o you to see ;
Or I will set your bour on fire
Atween your nurse an thee/
16 ' You may set my bowr on fire,
As I doubt na you will dee,
But there '11 come a sharp shour f rue the
wast
Will slocken 't speedilie.'
17 He has set her bour on fire,
An quickly it did flame ;
But there cam a sharp shour frae the wast
That put it oot again.
18 Oot amang the fire an smoke
That bonnie lady cam,
Wi as muckle goud aboon her bree
As wald bocht an earldom.
19 ' Oh wae betide you, ill woman,
An ill, ill died may you dee !
For ye hae won your brither's head,
An I go landless free.'
Kinloch MSS, V, 423.
REDESDALE and Clerk William
Sat drinking at the wine ;
They hae fawn a wagering them atween
At a wanhappy time.
2 ' What wfll ye wad,' says Redesdale,
4 O what will ye wad wi me
That there 's na a lady in a' the land
But I wad win wi ae blink o my ee ? '
A. There are some very trivial variations from
Buchan's text in MotherwelVs copies ;
mostly is, with a plural subject, Scottice,
for are. MotherweU received the ballad
B.
from Buchan, and was much in the way
of making small betterments.
Air, ' Johnnie Brod.' 4 4 . o her.
5 2 . Perhaps necht. 6 2 . Perhaps leiht.
247. LADY ELSPAT
387
247
LADY ELSPAT
Lady Elspat.' a. Jamieson-Brown MS., p. 19.
Printed in Jamieson's Popular Ballads, II, 191. b.
" Scottish Songs," MS., fol. 30, Abbotsford Library,
N. 3, in the handwriting of Walter Scott, about 1795.
THIS ballad was No 10 of the fifteen of Mrs
Brown's which were obtained by William
Tytler from Professor Thomas Gordon in
1783 : Anderson to Percy, December 29, 1800,
in Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 177, where the
first stanza (of twelve) is cited. These tran
scripts were accompanied with the airs. In b,
which is now ascertained to be in the hand
writing of Walter Scott,* there is a mawkish
stanza after 4, and another after 9, which do
not occur in a, and many verbal variations.
These two stanzas are not likely to have been
inserted by Scott, for, so far as we know, the
ballad has been preserved only by Mrs Brown.
As for the other variations, we are not in a
condition to say which are Mrs Brown's, which
Scott's.
An appointment for an elopement made by
Lady Elspat with Sweet William is revealed
to her mother by an eavesdropping page.
William is bound with his own bow-string
and brought before the Lord Justice. The
mother accuses him of stealing her jewels;
Lady Elspat denies this, and says that his only
crime is too small an estate. The judge sees
no fault in the young man (whom he discov
ers to be his sister's son !), hands him over to
Lady Elspat, and promises the pair as much
land as a valuable horse of his can ride about
in a summer's day.
Truly not impressive in story or style, and
very fit to have been forgotten by Mrs Brown.
Translated from Jamieson by Grundtvig,
Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 196, No
30 ; by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volks-
lieder, p. 118, No 26 ; by Lodve-Veimars, p.
337.
1 ' How brent 's your brow, my Lady Elspat !
How golden yallow is your hair !
Of all the maids of fair Scotland,
There 's nane like Lady Elspat fair.'
2 ' Perform your vows, Sweet William,' she says,
' The vows which ye ha made to me,
An at the back o my mother's castle
This night I '11 surely meet wi thee.'
* Mr Macmath informs me that all the traditional pieces
in " Scottish Songs " are in the hand of Scott, of about
1795. At folio 11 (the top part of which has been torn
away), Scott says : "These ballads are all in the Northern
dialect, but I recollect several of them as recited in the south
of Scotland divested of their Norlandisms, and also varying
3 But wae be to her brother's page,
Who heard the words this twa did say !
He 's told them to her lady mother,
Who wrought Sweet William mieckle wae.
4 For she has taen him Sweet William,
An she 's gard bind him wi his bow-string
Till the red bluide o his fair body
Frae ilka nail o his hand did spring.
considerably in other respects. In a few instances where
my memory served me, I have adopted either additional
verses or better readings than those in Mr Tytler's collec
tion. Such variations can excite no reasonable surprise in
any species of composition which owes preservation to oral
tradition only."
388
247. LADY ELSPAT
5 O it fell once upon a time
That the Lord Justice came to town ;
Out has she taen him Sweet William,
Brought him before Lord Justice houn.
6 ' An what is the crime, now, madame,' he says,
4 Has been committed by this young man ? '
' O he has broken my bonny castel,
That was well biggit wi lime an stane.
7 ' An he has broken my bonny coffers,
That was well banded wi aiken ban,
An he has stoln my rich jewels ;
I wot he has them every one.'
8 Then out it spake her Lady Elspat,
As she sat by Lord Justice knee ;
' Now ye hae taul your tale, mother,
I pray, Lord Justice, you '1 now hear me.
9 ' He has na broken her bonny castel,
That was well biggit wi lime an stane,
Nor has he stoln her rich jewels,
For I wot she has them every one.
10 ' But tho he was my first true love,
An tho I had sworn to be his bride,
Cause he had not a great estate,
She would this way our loves divide.'
11 An out it spake the Lord Justice,
I wot the tear was in his ee ;
' I see nae fault in this young man,
Sae loose his bans, an set him free.
12 ' Take back your love, now, Lady Elspat,
An my best blessing you baith upon !
For gin he be your first true love,
He is my eldest sister's son.
13 ' There is a steed in my stable
Cost me baith gold and white money ;
Ye 's get as mieckle o my free Ian '
As he '11 ride about in a summer's day.'
a. 3 1 . to our. 5 8 . has he.
b. I 8 , maids in. 2 1 . said.
3 1>2 . And this beheard her mother's foot-page,
Who listed the words thae twa.
3*. He tauld them ower to.
4 s . Gart bind : his am. 4*. hands.
After 4:
They threw him into dungeon-keep ;
Full little he reckd the pain ;
But sair he mournd each springing hope
That was blasted a' sae sune.
5 1 . fell out. 5 2 . That wanting.
5*. And they hae.
5*. him to thole a deadly doom.
6 M . For gin I judge frae his gentle look I
think he is where he should na stand.
7. ' Yet has he broken my highest towr,
Was bigged strong wi stane and lime,
And stolen forth my rich jewels
Frae my coffer bound wi aiken beam.'
8 1 . out and spak sweet.
8'-. sat near hir mother's.
8 8 . hae ye tauld.
8*. Justice, hear you.
9 1>2 . has not broken her highest towr, Was
bigged strong wi stane and lime.
9*. ane. After 9 :
* Yet has he stolen a dearer pledge,
Not frae my mother, but frae me ;
For he has stolen a virgin's heart
Should have waited for ane o high degree.'
10 1 . first fair.
II 1 . Then out and spake the good.
11*. nae harm.
II 4 . his hands.
12 1 . love, sweet Lady.
12. first fair.
13. Wanting, and probably also in W. Tyt-
ler's copy.
248. THE GREY COCK, OR, SAW YOU MY FATHER?
389
248
THE GREY COCK, OR, SAW YOU MY FATHER ?
a. ' The Grey Cock,' Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots ' Saw you my father?' Chappell's Popular Music,
Songs, 1769, p. 324; Herd's MSS, I, 4 ; Herd's An- p. 731.
cient and Modern Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 208. b.
STANZAS 1, 4, 6, 7, are printed in Herd,
1769 ; the three others are among the " Ad
ditions to songs in the former volume" [of
1769], at the beginning of the first volume of
the MS. ; the whole is given in Herd, 1776.
Repeated from Herd, 1776 (with a change
or two) in Pinkerton's Select Scotish Ballads
II, 155, 1783, and in Johnson's Museum, p.
77, No 76, 1787, ' O saw ye my father ? '
Stenhouse had not found the verses in any col
lection prior to that of Herd, but asserts that
the song had been " a great favorite in Scot
land for a long time past " (1820, Museum,
ed. 1853, IV, 81).
" This song," says Chappell, " is printed on
broadsides, with the tune, and in Vocal Music,
or the Songster's Companion, II, 36, second
edition, 1772. This collection was printed by
Robert Horsfield, in Ludgate Street, and prob
ably the words and music will also be found in
the first edition, which I have not seen." The
words, he adds, are in several " Songsters."
Three stanzas from recitation, wrongly at
tached to The Broomfield Hill,' No 43, B,
have 'been given at p. 399 of the first volume
of this collection. Much of the ballad has
been adopted into ' Willie's Fatal Visit,'
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II,
259, the two concluding stanzas with little
change. These two stanzas are given by a cor
respondent * of Notes and Queries, First Se
ries, XII, 227, as heard by him in the nursery
about 1787. They have been made the kernel
* ' C,' safely to be identified with John Wilson Croker,
says Colonel W. F. Prideaux, who, in Notes and Queries, VI,
xii, 223, has brought together most of the matter pertaining
of a song by Allan Cunningham, impudently
put forward as " the precious relique of the
original," Cromek, Remains of Nithsdale and
Galloway Song, 1810, p. 72.
The injunction to the cock is found in
4 The Swain's Resolve,' Lyle's Ancient Bal
lads and Songs, 1827, p. 142 :
She cries to the cock, saying, Thou must not crow
Until that the day be worn,
And thy wings shall be made of the silvery gray,
And thy voice of the silver horn.
It is also cited in Graves's Irish Songs and
Ballads, London, 1882, p. 249, No 50, as oc
curring " in a ballad descriptive of the visit of
a lover's ghost to his betrothed," in which the
woman, to protract the interview, says:
* O my pretty cock, O my handsome cock,
I pray you do not crow before day,
And your comb shall be made of the very beaten
gold,
And your wings of the silver so gray.'
The cock is remiss or unfaithful, again, in a
little ballad picked up by Burns in Nithsdale,
' A Waukrife Minnie,' Cromek, Select Scot
ish Songs, 1810, II, 116 (of which another
version is furnished by Lyle, p. 155, * The
Wakerife Mammy ') :
O weary fa the waukrife cock,
And the foumart lay his crawin !
He waukend the auld wife frae her sleep
A wee blink or the dawin.
to this ballad. If Colonel Prideaux's supposition is well
founded, ' The Grey Cock ' was known in Ireland in the last
century.
390
248. THE GREY COCK, OB, SAW YOU MY FATHER?
The first stanza of * The Grey Cock ' seems
to have been suggested by 'Sweet William's
Ghost ' (of which the Irish ballad noted by
Graves may have been a variety), as again
is the case in Buchan's * James Herries.' The
fantastic reward promised the cock in stanza
6 is an imitation, or a corruption, of the bribe
to the parrot in No 4, D 23, E 15, F 10, or in
No 68, A 10, B 13, C 14, etc.
Of the same general description is ' Le
Chant de 1'Alouette,' Victor Smith, Chansons
de Velay, etc., Romania, VII, 56 (see further
note 6 of Smith) ; ' Le Rendez-vous,' Me"lu-
sine, I, 285 fL, Rolland, Recueil, etc., IV, 43,
No 196. Again, * La Rondinella,' Kopisch,
Agrumi, p. 80, 1837 ; ' La Visita,' Wolf,
Volkslieder aus Venetien, p. 8 ; 4 La Rondine
importuna,' Ferraro, C. p. monferrini, p. 75,
No 54 ; * II Furto amoroso ' Gianandrea, C.
p. marchigiani, p. 274 ; * La Rondinella,'
Archivio, VII, 401, No 6. The treacher
ous or troublesome bird is in French the
lark, in one case the cock; in Italian the
swallow.
This piece is a variety of the aube (concern
ing which species see Jeanroy, Les Origines
de la Poe'sie lyrique en France, the third chap
ter), but is none the less quite modern.
1 ' O SAW ye my father ? or saw ye my mother ?
Or saw ye my true-love John ? '
' I saw not your father, I saw not your mother,
But I saw your true-love John.
2 k It 's now ten at night, and the stars gie nae
hght,
And the bells they ring ding, dang ;
He 's met wi some delay that causeth him to
But he will be here ere lang.'
3 The surly auld carl did naething hut snarl,
And Johny's face it grew red ;
Yet, tho he often sighd, he neer a word re
plied
Till all were asleep in bed.
4 Up Johny rose, and to the door he goes,
And gently tirled the pin ;
The lassie taking tent unto the door she went,
And she opend and let him in.
5 ' And are ye come at last ? and do I hold ye
fast?
And is my Johny true ? '
' I hae nae time to tell, hut sac lang 's I like
mysell
Sae lang will I love you.'
6 ' Flee, flee up, my bonny grey cock,
And craw whan it is day ;
Your neck shall be like the bonny beaten gold,
And your wings of the silver grey.'
7 The cock prov'd false, and untrue he was,
For he crew an hour oer soon ;
The lassie thought it day when she sent her
love away,
And it was but a blink of the moon
a. 4 1 . MS. Then up. 5 4 . Ed. 1776, sail I.
b. I 1 . Saw you my father ? Saw you my mother.
I 2 . Saw you.
I 8 - 4 . He told his only dear that he soon would
be here, But he to another is gone.
2 1>2 = 1H
2 s . has met with . . . which has caused.
2 4 . here anon. 3. Wanting.
4 1 . Then John he up arose.
4 s . And he twirld, he twirld at.
4 s . lassie took the hint and to the.
4 4 . she let her true love in. 5. Wanting.
6 1 . Fly up, fly up.
6*. Your breast shall be of the beaming gold.
7 1 . cock he. 7 a . crowd an hour too soon.
7*. day, so she. 7 4 . it prov'd but the.
Notes and Queries, I, xii, 227 : 6 2 . But crow
not until it be day.
6 8 . And your breast shall be made of the bur-
nishd gold.
249. AULD MATRONS
391
Auld Matrons,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 238 ; Motherwell's MS., p. 585, with the title
' Love Annie.'
WILLIE tirls at Annie's bower-door and is
admitted. After the exchange of familiar for
mulas, Willie expresses apprehension of " Ma
trons," an old woman who is sitting by the
kitchen-fire. Annie says there is no occasion
to mind the old woman ; she has not walked
for seven years. But while the lovers are occu
pied with endearments the old woman makes
speed to the sheriff, and informs him that Wil
lie is with his daughter. The sheriff, guided
by Matrons, goes to the bower, with men in
mail. Annie hears the bridles ring, and wak
ens Willie. There is shooting of arrows and
fire is set to the bower (cf. st. 17 and st. 33
of No 116). Willie maintains himself with
spirit, but is so hard pressed that he is fain
to blow his horn for his brother John, who is
lying in Ringlewood. John wounds fifty and
fifteen with his first shot, and with the next
strikes out the sheriff's eyes. The sheriff or
ders a retreat, and threatens, very illogically,
to burn the old woman.
This piece was made by some one who had
acquaintance with the first fit of ' Adam
Bell.' The anonymous ' old wife ' becomes
' auld Matrons ; ' Inglewood, Ringlewood.
The conclusion is in imitation of the rescues
in Robin Hood ballads. Stanzas 2-5 are
hacknied commonplaces.
It is not considerate of Willie to take a
foot-groom with him when he goes to pass a
night at the bower of an unprovided seam
stress, though the seamstress be a gentle
woman and the daughter of a sheriff. Wil
liam of Cloudesly did not so. That the
sheriff's unmarried daughter should be living
apart from her father is unusual, but a sepa
rate establishment was probably a necessity in
Kelso for a gentlewoman who had ' her living
by the seam.'
1 MY love she is a gentlewoman,
Has her living by the seam ;
I kenna how she is provided
This night for me and my foot-groom.
2 He is gane to Annie's bower-door,
And gently tirled at the pin :
' Ye sleep, ye wake, my love Annie,
Ye '11 rise and lat your true-love in.'
3 Wi her white fingers lang and sma
She gently lifted up the pin ;
Wi her arms lang and bent
She kindly caught sweet Willie in.
VOL. iv. 50
4 ' O will ye go to cards or dice ?
Or will ye go to play ?
Or will ye go to a well made bed,
And sleep a while till day ? '
5 ' I winna gang to cards nor dice,
Nor yet will I to play ;
But I will gang to a well made bed,
And sleep a while till day.
6 ' My love Annie, my dear Annie,
I would be at your desire ;
But wae mat fa the auld Matrons,
As she sits by the kitchen fire ! '
249. AULD MATRONS
7 ' Keep up your heart, Willie,' she said,
Keep up your heart, dinna fear ;
It 's seven years, and some guid mair,
Sin her foot did file the Hear.'
8 They hadna kissd nor love clapped,
As lovers when they meet,
Till up it raise the auld Matrons,
Sae well 's she spread her feet.
9 O wae mat fa the auld Matrons,
Sae clever 's she took the gate !
And she 's gaen ower yon lang, lang hill,
Knockd at the sheriff's yate.
10 ' Ye sleep, ye wake, my lord ? ' she said ;
' Are ye not your bower within ?
There 's a knight in bed wi your daughter,
I fear she 's gotten wrang.'
11 ' Ye '11 do ye down thro Kelso town,
Waken my wall-wight men ;
And gin ye hae your wark well dune
I '11 be there at command.'
12 She 's done her down thro Kelso town,
Wakend his wall-wight men ;
But gin she had her wark well done
He was there at command.
13 He had his horse wi corn fodderd,
His men armd in mail ;
He gae the Matrons half a merk
To show them ower the hill.
14 Willie sleepd, but Annie waked
Till she heard their bridles ring ;
Then tapped on her love's shoulder,
And said, Ye 've sleepit lang.
15 ' O save me, save me, my blessd lady,
Till I 've on my shooting-gear ;
I dinna fear the king himsell,
Tho he an 's men were here.'
16 Then they shot in, and Willie out,
The arrows graz'd his brow ;
The maid she wept and tore her hair,
Says, This can never do.
17 Then they shot in, and he shot out,
The bow brunt Willie's hand ;
But aye he kissd her ruby lips,
Said, My dear, thinkna lang.
18 He set his horn to his mouth,
And has blawn loud and shrill,
And he 's calld on his brother John,
In Ringlewood he lay still.
19 The first an shot that Lord John shot,
He wound fifty and fifteen ;
The next an shot that Lord John shot,
He ca'd out the sheriff's een.
20 ' O some o you lend me an arm,
Some o you lend me twa ;
And they that came for strife this day,
Take horse, ride fast awa.
21 ' But wae mat fa yon, auld Matrons,
An ill death mat ye die !
I '11 burn you on yon high hill-head,
Blaw your ashes in the sea.'
2*. Ye sleep ye, wake ye : cf. 10 1 .
21 2 . All ill.
21. And burn. Motherwell, I '11.
250. HENRY MARTYN
393
250
HENRY MARTYN
A. a, b. ' Henry Martyn ; ' taken down from recitation, C. ' Robin Hood,' Motherwell's MS., p. 660.
by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould.
D. [' Andrew Bodee '], from New Hampshire, U. S. A.,
B. a. A broadside, Catnach, Seven Dials, b. ' Henry communicated by Mr George M. Richardson ; two
Martin,''Kidson, Traditional Tunes, p. 31. c. The stanzas.
same, p. 30.
A COPY edited from A, B a, with the addi
tion of one stanza for a " snapper," is printed
in Baring-Gould and Sheppard's Songs and
Ballads of the West, No 53. Four traditional
versions were obtained by Mr Baring-Gould.
Three brothers in Scotland cast lots to de
termine which of them shall rob on the sea
to maintain them. The lot falls on the young
est, Henry Martyn, A, B ; Robin Hood, C ;
Andrew Bodee, D. The pirate meets and
stops an English ship the very first day (third,
A b ; fifth, B, C). There is a brisk fight, and
the English ship is sunk by shot, A, B. She
is plundered and then scuttled, C. In A a,
Henry Martyn gets a deep wound and falls
by the mast.
The ballad must have sprung from the ashes
of ; Andrew Barton,' of which name Henry
Martyn would be no extraordinary corruption.
Only one copy, A a, preserves the trait of
Barton's death, an incident not quite in keep
ing with the rest of the story of the new bal
lad.
Robin Hood, C, is always at the service of
any ballad-monger who wants a name for his
hero. But it will be remembered that he is
credited with taking a French ship in ' The
Noble Fisherman,' No 148, and that is enough
to explain his appearance here. ' Andrew
Bodee ' may just conceivably be a corruption
of Andrew Wood, who displaces Patrick
Spens in two versions of No 58 (A b, D).
Mother well knew of a copy in which the hero
was called Roberton : MS., p. 660.
Taken down by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, a. From Mat
thew Baker, an old cripple, Lew Down, Devon, b. From
Roger Luxton, an old man at Halwell, North Devon.
1 IN merry Scotland, in merry Scotland
There lived brothers three ;
They all did cast lots which of them should go
A robbing upon the salt sea,
2 The lot it fell on Henry Martyn,
The youngest of the three ;
That he should go rob on the salt, salt sea,
To maintain his brothers and he.
3 He had not a sailed a long winter's night,
Nor yet a short winter's day,
Before that he met with a lofty old ship,
Come sailing along that way.
4 O when she came by Henry Martyn,
' I prithee now, let us go ! '
* O no ! God wot, that, that will I not,
O that will I never do.
5 ' Stand off ! stand off ! ' said Henry Martyn,
' For you shall not pass by me ;
For I am a robber all on the salt seas,
To maintain us brothers three.
394
250 HENRY MARTYN
6 ' How far, how far,' cries Henry Martyn,
' How far do you make it ? ' said he ;
4 For I am a robber all on the salt seas,
To maintain us brothers three.'
7 For three long hours they merrily fought,
For hours they fought full three ;
At last a deep wound got Henry Martyn,
And down by the mast fell he.
8 'T was broadside to a broadside then,
And a rain and hail of blows,
But the salt sea ran in, ran in, ran in,
To the bottom then she goes.
9 Bad news, bad news for old England,
Bad news has come to the town,
For a rich merchant's vessel is cast away,
And all her brave seamen drown.
10 Bad news, bad news through London street,
Bad news has come to the king,
For all the brave lives of the mariners lost,
That are sunk in the watery main.
B
a. A broadside, Catnach, Seven Dials, b. Kidson, Tra
ditional Tunes, p. 31, 1891 ; from fishermen at Flamborough,
Yorkshire, c. Kidson, etc., p. 30 ; " sung by a very old
woman . . . about ninety years ago."
1 THERE was three brothers in merry Scotland,
In merry Scotland there were three,
And each of these brothers they did cast lots,
To<ee which should rob the salt sea.
2 Then this lot did fall on young Henry Martyn,
The youngest of these brothers three,
So now he 's turnd robber all on the salt seas,
To maintain his two brothers and he.
3 He had not saild one long winter's night,
One cold winter's night before day,
Before he espied a rich merchant-ship,
Come bearing straight down that way.
4 ' Who are you ? Who are you ? ' said Henry
Martyn,
' Or how durst thou come so nigh ? '
' I 'm a rich merchant-ship for old England
bound,
If you please, will you let me pass by.'
5 ' O no ! O no ! ' cried Henry Martyn,
* O no ! that never can be,
Since I have turnd robber all on the salt seas,
To maintain my two brothers and me.
6 ' Now lower your topsails, you alderman bold,
Come lower them under my lee ; '
Saying, ' I am resolved to pirate you here,
To maintain my two brothers and me.'
7 Then broadside to broadside to battle they
went
For two or three hours or more ;
At last Henry Martyn gave her a death-wound,
And down to the bottom went she.
8 Bad news, bad news to England has come,
Bad news I will tell to you all,
'T was a rich merchant-ship to England was
bound,
And most of her merry men drownd.
Motherwell's MS., p. 660 ; from the recitation of Alexan
der Macdonald, coal-heaver, Barkip, parish of Dairy, Ayr ;
a song of his mother's, a native of Ireland.
1 THERE were three brothers in bonnie Scotland,
In bonnie Scotland lived they,
And they cuist kevels themsells amang,
Wha sould gae rob upon the salt sea.
2 The lot it fell upon bold Robin Hood,
The youngest brither of the hale three :
' O, I sail gae rob upon the salt sea,
And it 's all to mauntain my two brothers
and me.'
250. HENRY MARTYN
395
3 They hadna sailed a lang winter night,
A lang winter night scarselie,
Till they were aware of a tall, tall ship,
Coming sailin down under the lee.
4 ' O where are you bound for, my bonnie ship ? '
Bold Robin Hood he did cry ;
' O I 'm a bold merchantman, for London
bound,
And I pray you, good sir, let us by.'
5 'O no ! O no ! ' said bold Robin Hood,
1 no such thing may be ;
For I will gae in and plunder your ship,
And your fair bodies I '11 drown in the sea.'
6 O he has gone in and plundered their ship,
And holes in her bottom bored three ;
The water came in so thick and so fast-
That down, down to the bottom gade she.
7 Bad news, bad news to old England is gone,
Bad news to our king, old Henrie,
That his merchant-goods were taken on board,
And thirty-five seamen drownd in the sea.
Communicated by Mr George M. Richardson, as learned
by a lady in northern New Hampshire more than fifty years
ago from an aged aunt.
1 THREE loving brothers in Scotland dwelt,
Three loving brothers were they,
And they cast lots to see which of the three
Should go robbing all oer the salt sea, salt
sea,
Should go robbing all oer the salt sea.
2 The lot it f ell to Andrew Bodee,
The youngest of the three,
That he should leave the other two,
And go robbing all oer the salt sea.
A. b. 3 1 . a sailed three winter's nights.
3 2 . When a little before the day.
3 8 . He spied the king his gay gallant ship.
4. Wanting.
6. < Stand off ! Stand off ! ' the captain he
cried,
' The life-guards they are aboard ;
My cannons are loaden with powder and
shot,
And every man hath a sword.'
7. They merrily fought for three long hours,
They fought for hours full three,
And many a blow dealt many a wound,
As they fought on the salt, salt sea.
8. 'T was a broadside to a broadside then,
And at it the which should win ;
A shot in the gallant ship bored a hole,
And then did the water rush in.
9. Wanting. 10 8 . of the life-guards.
10 4 . O the tidings be sad that I bring.
B. b.
1 In Scotland there lived three brothers of
late,
In Scotland there lived brothers three ;
Now the youngest cast lots with the other
two,
Which should go rob on the salt sea.
2 The lot it did fall to bold Henry Martin,
The youngest of all the three,
And he had to turn robber all on the salt
seas,
To maintain his two brothers and he.
3 He had not been sailing past a long winter's
night,
Past a long winter's night before day,
Before he espied a lofty fine ship
Come sailing all on the salt sea.
4 ' O where are you bound for ? ' cried Henry
Martin,
* O where are you bound for ? ' cried he ;
396
251. LANG JOHNNY MOKE
' I 'm a rich-loaded ship bound for fair Eng
land,
I pray you to let me pass free.'
5 ' O no ! O no ! ' cried Henry Martin,
' O no ! that can never he,
Since I have turned robber all on the salt
sea,
To maintain my two brothers and me.
6 ' Heave down your main tack, likewise your
main tie,
And lig yourself under my lee ;
For your rich glowing gold I will take it
away,
And your fair bodies drown in the salt
sea.'
7 Then broadside to broadside they merrily
fought,
For fully two hours or three,
When by chance Henry Martin gave her a
broadside,
And right down to the bottom went she.
8 Bad tiews, bad news unto old England,
Bad news I tell unto thee ;
For your rich glowing gold is all wasted
away,
And your mariners are drownd in the
salt sea.
o. 1 There lived three brothers in merry Scot
land,
In merry Scotland lived brothers three,
And they did cast lots which should rob on
the sea,
To maintain his two brothers and he.
2 And the lot it did light on Henry Mart in,
The youngest of all the brothers three,
And he went a roaming on the salt sea,
To maintain his two brothers and he.
3 And when they had sailed five days and
more
On a rich merchant-ship coming down they
then bore,
As he went a roaming on the salt sea,
To maintain his two brothers and he.
4 The rich merchant-ship got wounded by he,
And right down to the bottom of the salt sea
went she,
As he went a roaming on the salt sea,
To maintain his two brothers and he.
B. o. I 2 , three brothers.
C. I 4 , sould may possibly be wuld.
2, 4 1 , 6 1 . Oh.
251
LANG JOHNNY MORE
Lang Johnny Moir,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 248.
<LANG JOHNNY MORE,' Christie's Tradi
tional Ballad Airs, I, 44, is epitomized from
Bucban, " with a few alterations from the way
the editor has heard it sung." The variations
are absolutely of no account, as in other cases
in which Christie has used this phrase.
Johnny More, a youth fourteen feet tall
and three yards round the waist, goes to Lon
don to bear the king's banner. He falls in
love with the king's daughter, and she with
him, and the king locks the lady up in her
chamber and swears that he will hang the
Scot. Johnny laughs at the hanging; but
the English give him laudanum, and when he
wakes he finds his jaws and hands in iron
bands and his feet in fetters. He sends a boy
251. LANG JOHNNY MORE
397
with a letter asking his uncle to come to his
aid, and to bring with him Jock o Noth.
These champions, ' twa grizly ghosts to see,'
have three feet between their brows and three
yards between their shoulders. Coming to Lon
don they find the gates locked, because, as they
learn from a keeper, a Scot is to be hanged
that morn. The keeper declining to open
the gates, Jock o Noth drives in three yards
of the wall with his foot. Johnny More is
standing with the rope round his neck, ready
to be turned off. Though the portentous pair
have a giant's strength, they are quite too su
perior to use it like a giant ; they tell Johnny
that there is no help for him if he has been
guilty of a heinous crime. Learning that his
only crime is loving a gay lady, they require
that his sword shall be given back to him,
then go before the king and demand the lady ;
they have come to her wedding. Take her,
says the king. I never thought to see such
men. Jock of Noth could have brought a
man thrice three times bigger, if he had
supposed that his own size would cause such
astonishment. Any way, says the craven
king, the boy that took the message shall be
hanged. In that case, replies Jock, we shall
attend the burial and see that you get your
reward. The king yields everything. Johnny
More calls for a priest to join him and his
love ; the king for a clerk to seal the tocher.
Johnny is rich, and spurns tocher. Auld
Johnny More, Young Johnny More, Jock o
Noth and the boy go off with the lady.
This ballad has been referred to under No
99, II, 378, as perhaps an imitation, and in fact
almost a parody, of ' Johnie Scot.' In No 99
John is the little Scot ; here he is the muckle
Scot, stanza 6 (Gaelic mor = big), and his
helpmates, as well as he, are of gigantic size.
Excepting in this and one other particular,
the stories are materially the same. In both
Johnie goes to England to bear the king's
banner ; a love-affair ensues between him and
the king's daughter ; the king puts his daugh
ter into confinement, and threatens to hang
Johnie, but in the end is constrained to give
him his daughter ; Johnie calls for a priest to
marry him and the princess, the king calls for
a clerk to arrange the tocher ; Johnie refuses
tocher, and goes off with his love or bride.
In No 99 Johnie, who has escaped, comes
to the rescue of the princess with a redoubta
ble force ; in this ballad Johnie is made pris
oner, and sends for his uncle and another giant
to come to his help. Their monstrous dimen
sions make them, for ballad-purposes, fairly
equivalent to the five hundred men who ac
company Johnie in No 99.
Some versions of No 99, as already re
marked, have borrowed features from this
ballad. Auld Johnie and Jock o Noth are
presented here, stanza 21, as twa grizly
ghosts to see, and their brows are three feet
apart, their shoulders three yards ; and so with
the champion in A, H, L, of No 99.
Quite curiously, the hero of the Breton
ballad which resembles ' Johnie Scot ' is
described as a giant (we must suppose on
traditionary authority) in the title of two
copies.
Auchindoir and Rhynie (parishes) are in
the west of Aberdeenshire, north of the Don.
Noth is a considerable hill in the latter.
1 THERE lives a man in Rynie's land,
Anither in Auchindore,
The bravest lad amo them a'
Was lang Johnny Moir.
2 Young Johnny was an airy blade,
Fu sturdy, stout, and strang ;
The sword that hang by Johnny's side
Was just full ten feet lang.
3 Young Johnny was a clever youth,
Fu sturdy, stout, and wight,
Just full three yards around the waist,
And fourteen feet in bight.
4 But if a' be true they tell me now,
And a' be true I hear,
Young Johnny 's on to Lundan gane,
The king's banner to bear.
398
251. LANG JOHNNY MORE
5 He hadna been in fair Lundan
But twalmonths twa or three
Till the fairest lady in a' Lundan
Fell in love wi young Johnny.
6 This news did sound thro Lundan town,
Till it came to the king
That the muckle Scot had fa'in in love
Wi his daughter, Lady Jean.
7 Whan the king got word o that,
A solemn oath sware he,
This weighty Scot sail strait a rope,
And hanged he shall he.
8 When Johnny heard the sentence past,
A light laugh then gae he :
' While I hae strength to wield my blade,
Ye darena a' hang me.'
9 The English dogs were cunning rogues ;
About him they did creep,
And gae him draps o lodomy
That laid him fast asleep.
10 Whan Johnny wakend frae his sleep
A sorry heart had he ;
His jaws and hands in iron bands,
His feet in fetters three.
11 ' O whar will I get a little wee boy
Will work for meat and fee,
That will rin on to my uncle,
At the foot of Benachie ? '
12 ' Here am I, a little wee boy
Will work for meat and fee,
That will rin on to your uncle,
At the foot of Benachie.'
13 ' Whan ye come whar grass grows green,
Slack your shoes and rin ;
And whan ye come whar water 's strong,
Ye '11 bend your bow and swim.
14 ' And whan ye come to Benachie
Ye '11 neither chap nor ca ;
Sae well 's ye '11 ken auld Johnny there,
Three feet abeen them a'.
15 ' Ye '11 gie to him this braid letter,
Scald wi my faith and troth,
And ye '11 bid him bring alang wi him
The body Jock o Noth.'
16 Whan he came whar grass grew green,
He slackt his shoes and ran ;
And whan he came whar water 's strong
He bent his bow and swam.
17 And whan he came to Benachie
Did neither chap nor ca ;
Sae well 's he kent auld Johnny there.
Three feet abeen them a'.
18 ' What news, what news, my little wee boy ?
Ye never were here before ; '
' Nae news, nae news, but a letter from
Your nephew, Johnny Moir.
19 ' Ye '11 take here this braid letter,
Seald wi his faith and troth,
And ye 're bidden bring alang wi you
The body Jock o Noth.'
20 Benachie lyes very low,
The tap o Noth lyes high ;
For a' the distance that 's between,
He heard auld Johnny cry.
21 WTian on the plain these champions met,
Twa grizly ghosts to see,
There were three feet between their brows,
And shoulders were yards three.
22 These men they ran ower hills and dales,
And ower mountains high,
Till they came on to Lundan town,
At the dawn o the third day.
23 And whan they came to Lundan town
The yetts were lockit wi bands,
And wha were there but a trumpeter,
Wi trumpet in his hands ?
24 ' What is the matter, ye keepers all ?
Or what 's the matter within
That the drums do beat and bells do ring,
And make sic dolef u din ? '
25 ' There 's naething the matter,' the keeper said,
1 There 's naething the matter to thee,
But a weighty Scot to strait the rope,
And the morn he maun die.'
26 ' O open the yetts, ye proud keepers,
Ye '11 open without delay ; '
The trembling keeper, smiling, said,
' O I hae not the key.'
251. LANG JOHNNY MORE
399
27 ' Ye '11 open the yetts, ye proud keepers,
Ye '11 open without delay,
Or here is a body at my back
Frae Scotland has brought the key.'
28 ' Ye '11 open the yetts,' says Jock o Noth,
' Ye '11 open them at my call ; '
Then wi his foot he has drove in
Three yards braid o the wall.
29 As they gaed in by Drury Lane,
And down by the town's hall,
And there they saw young Johnny Moir
Stand on their English wall.
30 ' Ye 're welcome here, my uncle dear,
Ye 're welcome unto me ;
Ye '11 loose the knot, and slack the rope,
And set me frae the tree.'
31 ' Is it for murder, or for theft ?
Or is it for robberie ?
If it is for ony heinous crime,
There 's nae remeid for thee.'
32 * It 's nae for murder, nor for theft,
Nor yet for robberie ;
A' is for the loving a gay lady
They 're gaun to gar me die.'
33 ' O whar 's thy sword,' says Jock o Noth,
' Ye brought frae Scotland wi thee ?
I never saw a Scotsman yet
But coud wield a sword or tree.'
34 ' A pox upo their lodomy,
On me had sic a sway
Four o their men, the bravest four,
They bore my blade away.'
35 ' Bring back his blade,' says Jock o Noth,
* And freely to him it gie,
Or I hae sworn a black Scot's oath
I '11 gar five million die.
36 ' Now whar 's the lady ? ' says Jock o Noth,
' Sae fain I woud her see ;'
' She 's lockd up in her ain chamber,
The king he keeps the key.'
37 So they hae gane before the king,
With courage bauld and free ;
Their armour bright cast sic a light
That almost dim'd his ee.
38 O whar 's the lady ? ' says Jock o Noth,
' Sae fain as I woud her see ;
For we are come to her wedding,
Frae the foot o Benachie.'
39 ' O take the lady,' said the king,
' Ye welcome are for me ;
I never thought to see sic men,
Frae the foot o Benachie.'
40 f If I had kend,' said Jock o Noth,
' Ye 'd wonderd sae muckle at me,
I woud hae brought ane larger far
By sizes three times three.
41 ' Likewise if I had thought I 'd been
Sic a great fright to thee,
I 'd brought Sir John o Erskine Park ;
He 's thretty feet and three.'
42 ' Wae to the little boy,' said the king,
' Brought tidings unto thee !
Let all England say what they will,
High hanged shall he be.'
43 ' O if ye hang the little wee boy
Brought tidings unto me,
We shall attend his burial,
And rewarded ye shall be.'
44 ' O take the lady,' said the king,
' And the boy shall be free ; '
' A priest, a priest,' then Johnny cried,
' To join my love and me.'
45 ' A clerk, a clerk,' the king replied,
' To seal her tocher wi thee ; '
Out it speaks auld Johnny then,
These words pronounced he :
46 ' I want nae lands and rents at hame,
I '11 ask nae gowd frae thee ;
I am possessd o riches great,
Hae fifty ploughs and three ;
Likewise fa's heir to ane estate
At the foot o Benachie.
47 ' Hae ye ony masons in this place,
Or ony at your call,
VOL. rv.
51
400
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
That ye may now send some o them
To build your broken wall ? '
48 ' Yes, there are masons in this place,
And plenty at my Y:all ;
But ye may gang frae whence ye came,
Never mind my broken wall.'
49 They 've taen the lady by the hand
And set her prison-free ;
Wi drums beating, and fifes playing,
They spent the night wi glee.
60 Now auld Johnny Moir, and young Johnny
Moir,
And Jock o Noth, a' three,
The English lady, and little wee boy,
Went a' to Benachie.
27 4 . hae.
252
THE KITCHIE-BOY
A. Skene MS., p. 89.
D. The Kitchie-Boy,' Harris MS., fol. 21.
B. 'Earl Richard's Daughter,' Buchan's Ballads of E. WUlie, the Kitchie-Boy,' Joseph Robertson's Note-
the North of Scotland, I, 145. Book, Adversaria,' p. 88.
C. Bonny Foot - Boy,' Alexander Fraser Ty tier's
Brown MS., No 7.
A LADY of birth falls in love with her fa
ther's kitchen-boy (foot-boy, C). She makes
her passion known to him. He begs for se
crecy, for her father would hang him; this
is quite too likely, and she would be sent to
a nunnery. The danger quickens her wits :
she will send him off in a fine ship, and he
can come back 'like some earl or baron's
son ' and marry her (C). Being well pro
vided with gold, her mother's legacy, she has
no difficulty in carrying out her plan ; a very
noble ship is provided, and she gives Willie
(B, C, E) a ring to mind him of her. She
warns him, C 8, E 13, that there are pressing
reasons why he should not stay away very
long. After a voyage of from three weeks to
twelve months, Willie lands at London, A, E ;
in Spain, B, C, D. A lady, looking over her
castle- wall, sees the ship coming in, and goes
down to the shore with her maries to invite
the master to dine. The master excuses him
self ; she asks him if he can fancy her ; the
woman he loves is far over the sea ; the fair
est woman in Scotland would break her heart
if he should not return to her. The Spanish
(or English) lady offers him a rich ring, to
wear for her sake ; he has a ring on his finger
which is far dearer than any she could give
him. He sails homeward ; the lady's father
sees the ship coming in, and is as much im
pressed as his daughter could desire ; he
thinks some man of mark must be aboard,
and tells his daughter to busk herself, for he
means to ask the squire or lord to dine ; he
would give all his rents to have this same
marry his daughter. Willie blackens or paints
or masks or veils his face, and goes with the
father to the castle. He asks the lady if she
can fancy him ; her father asks her if she will
marry this lord, C. The man is far over sea
252. THE KITCHIB-BOY
401
that shall have her love, she replies. Willie
hands her the ring which she had given him.
Gat ye that by sea ? or gat ye that by land ?
or gat ye it on the Spanish coast upon a dead
man's hand ? He gat it on a drowned man's
hand. Alas ! she cries, my true-love Willie !
Upon this, Willie reveals himself. The father
calls for a priest, little knowing that this lord
was his own kitchen-boy.
The ballad is a modern " adaptation " of
' King Horn,' No 17, from which A 33, 34,
B 47, D 7, 8, are taken outright. In the par
ticular of the hero's having his choice of two
women it is more like the gest of * King
Horn,' or 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rim-
nild ; ' but an independent invention of the
Spanish lady is not beyond the humble ability
of the composer of ' The Kitchie-Boy.'
Skene MS., p. 89 ; taken down in the north of Scotland,
1802-3.
1 THERE was a lady fair,
An een a lady of birth an fame,
She eyed her father's kitchen-boy,
The greater was her shame.
2 She could never her love reveal,
Nor to him talk,
But in the forest wide an brade,
Where they were wont to walk.
3 It fell ance upon a day
Her father gaed frae home,
And she sent for the kitchen-boy
To her own room.
4 ' Canna ye fancy me, Willie ?
Canna ye fancy me ?
By a' the lords I ever saw
There is nane I loo but ye.'
5 ' latna this be kent, lady,
latna this be . . . ,
For gin yer father got word of this
1 vou he 'd gar me die.'
6 ' Yer life shall no be taen, Willie,
Yer life sal na be taen ;
I wad er loss my ain heart's blood
Or thy body gat wrang.'
7 Wi her monny fair speeches
She made the boy bold,
Till he began to kiss an clap,
An on her sine lay hold.
8 They hadna kissed an love claped,
As lovers whan they meet,
9 ' The master-cook he will on me call,
An answered he man be ;
An it wer kent I war in bower wi thee,
I fear they wad gar me die.'
10 ' The master-cook may on ye call,
But answerd he will never be,
11 ' For I hae three coffers fu o goud,
Yer eyen did never see,
An I will build a bonny ship for my love,
An set her to the sea,
And sail she east or sail she wast
The ship sal be fair to see.'
12 She has built a bonny ship,
And set her to the sea ;
The topmasts war o the red goud,
The sails of tafetie.
13 She gae him a gay goud ring,
To mind him on a gay lady
That ance bear love to him.
14 The day was fair, the ship was rare,
Whan that swain set to sea ;
Whan that day twal-moth came and
At London landed he.
402
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
15 A lady looked our the castle-wa,
Beheld the day gae down,
And she beheld that bonny ship
Come hailing to the town.
16 Come here, come here, my maries a',
Ye see na what I see ;
The bonniest ship is come to land
Yer eyes did ever see.
17 ' Gae busk ye, busk ye, my maries a',
Busk ye unco fine,
Till I. gae down to yon shore-side,
To invite yon squar to dine.
18 ' O ye come up, gay young squar,
An take wi me a dine ;
Ye sal eat o the guid white loaf,
An drink the claret wine.'
19 ' I thank ye for yer bread,
I thank ye for yer wine,
I thank ye for yer courticie,
But indeed I hanna time.'
20 ' Canna*ye fancy me ? ' she says,
' Canna ye fancy me ?
O a' the lords an lairds I see
There 's nane I fancy but ye.'
21 ' The 'r far awa fra me,' he says,
' The 'r clean ayont the sea,
That has my heart in hand,
An my love ae sal be.'
22 ' Here is a guid goud ring,
It will mind ye on a gay lady
That ance bare love to ye.'
23 I ha a ring on my finger
I loe thrice as well as thine,
Tho yours were o the guid red goud
An mine but simple tin.'
24 The day was fair, the ship was rare,
Whan that squar set to sea ;
Whan that day twal-month came an gaed,
At hame again landed he.
An he beheld that bonny ship
Come hailing to the town.
26 ' Come here, my daughter,
Ye see na what I see ;
The bonniest ship is come to land
My eyes did ever see.
27 ' Gae busk ye, my dochter,
G[a]e busk ye unco fine,
An I '11 gae down to yon shore-side,
To invite the squar to dine ;
I wad gie a' my rents
To hae ye married to him.'
28 ' The 'r far awa frae me,' she says,
' Far ayont the sea,
That has my heart in hand
An my love ai sal be.'
29 ' O will ye come, ye gay bine squar,
An take wi me a dine ?
Ye sal eat o the guid white bread,
And drink the claret wine.'
30 ' I thank ye for yer bread,
I thank ye for yer wine,
I thank ye for yer courticie,
For indeed I hanna grait time.
31 ' O canna ye fancy me ? ' he says,
' O canna ye fancy me ?
O a' the ladys I eer did see
There 's nane I loo by ye.'
32
A 1 Id C O 1UU1C JL lUtl J V V f.
' They are far awa fra me,' she says,
' The 'r far ayont the sea,
That has my heart in hand,
An my love ay sail be.'
33 ' Here it is, a gay goud ring,
It will mind ye on a gay bin chil
That ance bare love to ye.'
34 ' O gat ye that ring on the sea sailing ?
Or gat ye it on the land ?
O gat ye it on the shore laying,
On a drowned man's hand ? '
25 The lady's father looked our castle-wa,
To see the day gae down,
35 ( I got na it on the sea sailing,
I got na it on the land,
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
403
But I got it on the shore lying,
On a drowned man's hand.
36 ' bonny was his cheek,
An lovely was his face ! '
' Alias ! ' says she, ' it is my true-love Willie,'
37 He turned him round about,
An sweetly could he smile ;
She turned her round, says, My love Willie,
How could ye me beguile ?
38 ' A priest ! a priest ! ' the old man cries,
' An lat this twa married be : '
Little did the old man kin
It was his ain kitchen-boy.
B
Bachan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 145.
1 EARL RICHARD had but ae daughter,
A maid o birth and fame ;
She loved her father's kitchen-boy,
The greater was her shame.
2 But she could neer her true-love see,
Nor with him could she talk,
In towns where she had wont to go,
Nor fields where she could walk.
3 But it fell ance upon a day
Her father went from home ;
She 's calld upon the kitchen boy
To come and clean her room.
4 Come sit ye down by me, Willie,
Come sit ye down by me ;
There 's nae a lord in a' the north
That I can love but thee.'
5 ' Let never the like be heard, lady,
Nor let it ever be ;
For if your father get word o this
He will gar hang me hie.'
6 ' O ye shall neer be hangd, Willie,
Your blude shall neer be drawn ;
I '11 lay my life in pledge o thine
Your body 's neer get wrang.'
7 ' Excuse me now, my comely dame,
No langer here I '11 stay ;
You know my time is near expir'd,
And now I must away.
8 ' The master-cook will on me call,
And answered he must be ;
If I am found in bower with thee,
Great anger will there be.'
9 The master-cook will on you call,
But shall not answerd be ;
I '11 put you in a higher place
Than any cook's degree.
10 ' I have a coffer full of gold,
Another of white monie,
And I will build a bonny ship,
And set my love to sea.
11 ' Silk shall be your sailing-clothes,
Gold yellow is your hair,
As white like milk are your twa hands,
Your body neat and fair/
12 This lady, with her fair speeches,
She made the boy grow bold,
And he began to kiss and clap,
And on his love lay hold.
13 And she has built a bonny ship,
Set her love to the sea,
Seven score o brisk young men
To bear him companie.
14 Then she 's taen out a gay gold ring,
To him she did it gie :
' This will mind you on the ladie, Willie,
That 's laid her love on thee.'
15 Then he 's taen out a piece of gold,
And he brake it in two :
' All I have in the world, my dame,
For love I give to you.'
16 Now he is to his bonny ship,
And merrily taen the sea ;
The lady lay oer castle-wa,
The tear blinded her ee.
1 7 They had not saild upon the sea
A week but barely three
When came a prosperous gale of wind,
On Spain's coast landed he.
18 A lady lay oer castle-wa,
Beholding dale and down,
404
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
And she beheld the bonny ship
Come nailing to the town.
19 'Come here, come here, my maries a',
Ye see not what I see ;
For here I see the bonniest ship
That ever saild the sea.
20 In her there is the bravest squire
That eer my eyes did see ;
All clad in silk and rich attire,
And comely, comely 'a he.
21 ' O busk, O busk, my maries all,
busk and make ye fine ;
And we will on to yon shore-side,
Invite yon squire to dine.
22 ' Will ye come up to my castle
Wi me and take your dine ?
And ye shall eat the gude white bread,
And drink the claret wine.'
23 ' I thank you for your bread, lady,
1 thank you for your wine ;
I thank you for your kind offer,
But now I have not time.'
24 ' I would gie all my land,' she says,
' Your gay bride were I she ;
And then to live on a small portion
Contented I would be.'
25 ' She 's far awa frae me, lady,
She 's far awa frae me
That has my heart a-keeping fast,
And my love still she '11 be.'
26 ' But ladies they are unconstant,
When their loves go to sea,
And she '11 be wed ere ye gae back ;
My love, pray stay wi me.'
27 If she be wed ere I go back,
And prove sae false to me,
I shall live single all my life ;
I '11 neer wed one but she.'
28 Then she 's taen out a gay gold ring,
And gae him presentlie :
* 'T will mind you on the lady, young man,
That laid her love on thee.'
29 The ring that 's on my mid-finger
Is far dearer to me,
Tho yours were o the gude red gold,
And mine the metal free.'
30 He viewd them all, baith neat and small,
As they stood on the shore,
Then hoist the mainsail to the wind,
Adieu, for evermore !
31 He had not saild upon the sea
A week but barely three
Until there came a prosperous gale,
In Scotland landed he.
32 But he put paint upon his face,
And oil upon his hair,
Likewise a mask above his brow,
Which did disguise him sair.
33 Earl Richard lay oer castle-wa,
Beholding dale and down,
And he beheld the bonny ship
Come sailing to the town.
34 ' Come here, come here, my daughter dear,
Ye see not what I see ;
For here I see the bonniest ship
That ever saild the sea.
35 ' In her there is the bravest squire
That eer my eyes did see ;
O busk, O busk, my daughter dear,
Come here, come here, to me.
36 ' O busk, O busk, my daughter dear,
O busk, and make ye fine,
And we will on to the shore-side,
Invite yon squire to dine.'
37 He 's far awa frae me, father,
He 's far awa frae me
Who has the keeping o my heart,
And I '11 wed nane but he.'
38 ' Whoever has your heart in hand,
Yon lad 's the match for thee,
And he shall come to my castle
This day and dine wi me.
89 ' Will ye come up to my castle
With me and take your dine ?
And ye shall eat the gude white bread,
And drink the claret wine.'
40 ' Yes, I'll come up to your castle
With you and take my dine,
For I would give my bonny ship
Were your fair daughter mine.'
41 ' I would give all my lands,' he said,
' That your bride she would be ;
Then to live on a small portion
Contented would I be.'
42 As they gaed up from yon sea-strand
And down the bowling-green,
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
405
He drew the mask out-oer his face,
For fear he should be seen.
43 He 's done him down from bower to bower.
Likewise from bower to ha,
And there he saw that lady gay,
The flower out-oer them a'.
44 He 's taen her in his arms twa,
And haild her courteouslie :
' Excuse me, sir, there 's no strange man
Such freedom use with me.'
45 Her father turnd him round about,
A light laugh then gave he :
' Stay, I '11 retire a little while,
Perhaps you may agree.'
46 Now Willie 's taen a gay gold ring,
And gave her presentlie ;
Says, Take ye that, ye lady fan*,
A love-token from me.
47 ' O got ye 't on the sea sailing?
Or got ye 't on the sand ?
Or got ye 't on the coast of Spain,
Upon a dead man's hand? '
48 ' Fine silk it was his sailing-clothes,
Gold yellow was his hair ;
It would hae made a hale heart bleed
To see him lying there.
49 ' He was not dead as I passd by,
But no remeid could be ;
He gave me this token to bear
Unto a fair ladie.
50 ' And by the marks he has descryvd
I 'm sure that you are she ;
So take this token of free will,
For him you '11 never see.'
51 In sorrow she tore her mantle,
With care she tore her hair :
' Now since I 've lost my own true-love,
I '11 neer love young men mair.'
52 He drew the mask from off his face,
The lady sweetly smiled :
' Awa, awa, ye fause Willie !
How have you me beguiled ? '
53 Earl Richard he went thro the ha,
The wine-glass in his hand,
But little thought his kitchen-boy
Was heir oer a' his land.
54 But this she kept within her heart,
And never told to one
Until nine months they were expir'd,
That her young son came home.
55 She told it to her father dear ;
He said, Daughter, well won ;
You 've married for love, not for gold,
Your joys will neer be done.
O
Alexander Fraser Tytler's Brown MS., No 7.
1 O THERE was a ladie, a noble ladie,
She was a ladie of birth and fame,
But she fell in love wi her father's foot-boy,
I wis she was the mair to blame.
2 A word of him she neer could get
Till her father was a hunting gone ;
Then she calld on the bonny foot-boy
To speak wi her in her bower alone.
3 Says, Ye ken you are my love, Willie,
And that I am a ladie free,
And there 's nae thing ye can ask, Willie,
But at your bidding I maun be.
4 O the loving looks that ladie gave
Soon made the bonny boy grow bold,
And the loving words that ladie spake
As soon on them he did lay hold.
5 She has taen a ring frae her white finger,
And unto him she did it gie ;
Says, Wear this token for my sake,
And keep it till the day you die.
6 ' But shoud my father get word of this
I fear we baith will have cause to rue,
For to some nunnery I shoud be sent,
And I fear, my love, he would ruin you.
7 ' But here is a coffer of the good red
I wot my mother left it to me ;
And wi it you '11 buy a bonny ship,
And ye maun sail the raging sea ;
Then like some earl or baron's son
You can come back and marrie me.
406
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
8 ' But stay not lang awa, Willie,
O stay not lang across the fame,
For fear your ladie shoud lighter be,
Or your young son shoud want a name.'
9 He had not been o the sea sailling
But till three months were come and gane,
Till he has landed his bonny ship ;
It was upon the coast of Spain.
10 There was a ladie of high degree
That saw him walking up and down ;
She fell in love wi sweet Willie,
But she wist no how to make it known.
11 She has calld up her maries a',
Says, Hearken well to what I say ;
There is a young man in yon ship
That has been my love this many a day.
12 ' Now bear a hand, my maries a',
And busk me brave and make me fine,
And go wi me to yon shore-side
To invite that noble youth to dine.'
13 O they have buskit that ladie gay
In velvet pall and jewels rare ;
A poor man might have been made rich
Wi half the pearles they pat in her hair.
14 Her mantle was of gowd sae red,
It glaned as far as ane coud see ;
Sweet Willie thought she had been the queen,
And bowd full low and bent his knee.
15 She 's gard her maries step aside,
And on sweet Willie sae did smile ;
She thought that man was not on earth
But of his heart she could beguile.
16 Says, Ye maun leave your bonny ship
And go this day wi me and dine,
And you shall eat the baken meat,
And you shall drink the Spanish wine.
1 7 ' I canna leave my bonny ship,
Nor go this day to dine wi thee,
For a' my sails are ready bent
To bear me back to my ain countrie.'
18 ' O gin you 'd forsake your bonny ship
And wed a ladie of this countrie,
I would make you lord of a' this town,
And towns and castles twa or three.'
19 ' Should I wed a ladie of this countrie,
In sooth I woud be sair to blame,
For the fairest ladie in fair Scotland
Woud break her heart gin I gaed na hamc.'
20 That ladie may choose another lord,
And you another love may choose ;
There is not a lord in this countrie
That such a proffer could refuse.'
21 ' O ladie, shoud I your proffer take,
You 'd soon yoursell have cause to rue,
For the man that his first love forsakes
Woud to a seccond neer prove true.'
22 She has taen a ring frae her white finger,
It might have been a prince's fee ;
Says, Wear this token for my sake,
And give me that which now I see.
23 Take back your token, ye ladie fair ;
This ring you see on my right hand
Was gien me by my ain true-love,
Before I left my native land.
24 ' And tho yours woud buy it nine times oer
I far more dearly prize my ain ;
Nor woud I make the niffer,' he says,
' For a' the gowd that is in Spain.'
25 The ladie turnd her head away
To dry the sat tears frae her eyne ;
She naething more to him did say
But, I wish your face I neer had seen !
26 He has set his foot on good ship-board,
The ladie waved her milk-white hand,
The wind sprang up and filld his sails,
And he quickly left the Spanish land.
27 He soon came back to his native strand,
He langd his ain true-love to see ;
Her father saw him come to land,
And took him some great lord to be.
28 Says, Will ye leave your bonny ship
And come wi me this day to dine?
And you shall eat the baken meat,
And you shall drink the claret wine.
29 O I will leave my bonny ship,
And gladly go wi you to dine,
And I woud gie thrice three thousand pounds
That your fair daughter were but mine.'
30 ' O gin ye will part wi your bonny ship
And wed a ladie of this countrie,
I will gie you my ae daughter,
Gin she '11 consent your bride to be.'
31 O he has blaket his bonny face
And closs tuckd up his yellow hair ;
His true-love met them at the yate,
But she little thought her love was there.
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
407
32 ' O will you marrie this lord, daughter,
That I 've brought hame to dine wi me?
You shall be heir of a' my lands,
Gin you '11 consent his bride to be.'
33 She looked oer her left shoulder,
I wot the tears stood in her eye ;
Says, The man is on the sea sailling
That fair wedding shall get of me.
34 Then Willie has washd his bonny face,
And he 's kaimd down his yellow hair ;
He took his true-love in his arms,
And kindly has he kissd her there.
35 She 's looked in his bonny face,
And thro her tears did sweetly smile,
Then sayd, Awa, awa, Willie !
How could you thus your love beguile?
36 She kept the secret in her breast,
Full seven years she 's kept the same,
Till it fell out at a christning-feast,
And then of it she made good game.
37 And her father laughd aboon the rest,
And said, My daughter, you 'r nae to blame ;
For you 've married for love, and no for land,
So a' my gowd is yours to claim.
Harris MS., fol. 21 ; from the recitation of Mrs Harris
and others.
1 THERE lived a lady in the north
O muckle birth an fame ;
She 's faun in love wi her kitchie-boy,
The greater was her shame.
2 ' Maister cook, he will cry oot,
An answered he maun be ; '
3 ' I hae a coffer o ried gowd
My mither left to me,
An I will build a bonnie ship,
And send her ower the sea,
An you '11 come hame like lord or squire,
An answered you maun be.'
4 She has biggit a bonnie ship,
Sent her across the main,
An in less than sax months an a day
That ship cam back again.
5 ' Go dress, go dress, my dochter Janet,
Go dress, an mak you fine,
An we '11 go doun to yon shore-side
An bid yon lords to dine.'
6 He 's pued the black mask ower his face,
Kaimed doun his yellow hair,
A* no to lat her father ken
That ere he had been there.
7 ' Oh, got you that by sea sailin ?
Or got you that by land ?
Or got you that on Spanish coast,
Upon a died man's hand ? '
8 ' I got na that by sea sailin,
I got na that by land ;
But I got that on Spanish coast,
Upon a died man's hand.'
9 He 's pued the black mask aff his face,
Threw back his yellow hair,
10 ' A priest, a priest,' the lady she cried,
' To marry my love an me ; '
' A clerk, a clerk,' her father cried,
' To sign her tocher free.'
E
Joseph Robertson's Note-Book " Adversaria," p. 88 ; from
tradition.
1 AND she has built a lofty ship,
And set her to the main ;
The masts o her were o gude reed gowd,
And the sails o silver clear.
* * # #
VOL. IT. 52
408
252. THE KITCHIE-BOY
2 ' Ye winna bide three months awa
When ye '11 return again,
In case your lady lichter be,
And your baby want the name.'
3 But the wind blew high,
The mariners they did land at Lundin soon.
4 A lady sat on the castell-wa,
Beheld baith dale and down,
And there she saw this lofty ship,
Comin sailin in the Downs.
5 ' Look out, look out, my maidens a',
Ye seena what I see ;
For I do see as bonny a ship
As ever sailed the sea,
And the master o her 's the bonniest boy
That ever my eyes did see.'
6 She 's taen her man tell her about,
Her cane i n t ill her han,
And she 's away to the shore-side,
Till invite the square to dine.
7 ' O will ye come to our castcll ?
Or will ye sup or dine? '
' O excuse me, madam,' he said,
' For Lhac but little time.'
8 The wind blew high,
The mariners they did land at home again.
9 The old man sat in the castell-wa,
Beholding dale and down,
And there he spied this goodly ship
Come sailin to the town.
10 ' Look out, look out, my dauchter dear,
Ye see not what I see ;
For I do see as bonny a ship
As ever sailed the sea.
11 ' And the master o her 's the bonniest boy
That my eyes did ever see,
And if I were a woman as I 'm a man
My husband he should be.'
12 ' Haud far awa frae me, fader, '
Haud far awa frae me,
For I never had a lad but ane,
And he 's far awa at sea.
13 ' There is a love-token atween us twa,
It '11 be mair ere it be less,
An aye the langer he bides awa
It will the mair encreass.'
14 He 's taen his mantell him about,
His cane intil his hand,
And he 's awa to the shore-side,
To invite the square to dine.
15 ' O will ye come to our castle?
Or will ye sup or dine ? '
' Indeed I will, kind sir,' he said,
Tho I 've but little time.'
16 The lady sat on castle- wa,
Beholding dale and down,
But he 's put his veil upon his face,
That she might not him ken.
A. Written in long couplets. 8 1 . hadne.
22 4 ,32 4 . ancehane? Cf. 3 4 .
23 s . I lee. 35 2 . got no.
B. II 2 . yellow in.
C. 14 3 . glaned. Giant, glent is probably intended.
Glancd is less likely.
20*. could. MS. possibly would.
B. Before 1 : " A lady falls in love with her fa
ther's kitchie-boy when her father is absent,
and to conceal him from him procures a
ship and puts him to sea. Her father thinks
he has run away."
After 7 : She kills herself.
After 16: Continued on page : but not
continued.
253. THOMAS O YONDERDALE
409
253
THOMAS O YONDERDALE
a. Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 221. b. Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 96.
b IS epitomized from a, with a few varia
tions, mostly very trifling, as Christie had
heard the ballad sung.
Thomas of Yonderdale gains Lady Mais-
ry's love and has a son by her. Overhearing
some reproachful words one day as he passes
her bower, he is touched, and promises to
marry her after returning from a voyage, but
while he is in a strange country wooes another
woman. He dreams that Maisry stands by
his bed upbraiding him for his inconstancy,
and sends a boy to her to bring her to his
wedding. Maisry comes, arrayed, as she had
been directed, in noble style. The bride asks
the boy who she may be, and is told that she
is Thomas's first love. Maisry asks Thomas
why she was sent for : she is to be his wife.
The nominal bride asks his will : she is to go
home, with the comfort of being sent back in
a coach, whereas she came on a hired horse !
This ill-used, but not diffident, young woman
proposes that Thomas shall give two thirds of
his lands to his brother and make him marry
her. Thomas refuses to divide his lands for
any woman, and has no power over his brother.
According to b, the discarded bride asks only
a modest third of Thomas's lands for the
brother ; Thomas promises to give a third to
her, but disclaims, as in a, his competency to
arrange a marriage for his brother.
This looks like a recent piece, fabricated,
with a certain amount of cheap mortar, from
recollections of Fair Annie,' No 62, ' Lord
Thomas and Fair Annet,' No 73, and * Young
Beichan,' No 53.
1 LADY MAISRY lives intill a bower,
She never wore but what she would ;
Her gowns were o the silks sae fine,
Her coats stood up wi bolts o gold.
2 Mony a knight there courted her,
And gentlemen o high degree,
But it was Thomas o Yonderdale
That gaind the love o this ladie.
3 Now he has hunted her till her bower,
Baith late at night and the mid day,
But when he stole her virgin rose
Nae mair this maid he would come nig
4 But it fell ance upon a time
Thomas her bower he walked by ;
There he saw her Lady Maisry,
Nursing her young son on her knee.
5 * O seal on you, my bonny babe,
And lang may ye my comfort be !
Your father passes by our bower,
And now minds neither you nor me.'
6 Now when Thomas heard her speak,
The saut tear trinkled frae his ee ;
To Lady Maisry's bower he went,
Says, Now I 'm come to comfort thee.
7 ' Is this the promise ye did make
Last when I was in your companie ?
You said before nine months were gane
Your wedded wife that I should be.'
410
253. THOMAS O YONDERDALE
8 ' If Saturday be a bonny day,
Then, my love, I maun sail the sea ;
But if I live for to return,
then, my love, I '11 marry thee.'
9 I wish Saturday a stormy day,
High and stormy be the sea,
Ships may not sail, nor boats row,
But gar true Thomas stay wi me.'
10 Saturday was a bonny day,
Fair and leesome blew the wind ;
Ships did sail, and boats did row,
Which had true Thomas to unco ground.
11 He hadna been on unco ground
A month, a month but barely three,
Till he has courted anither maid,
And quite forgotten Lady Maisry.
12 Ae night as he lay on his bed,
In a dreary dream dreamed he
That Maisry stood by his bedside,
Upbraiding him for 's inconstancie.
13 He 's calld upon his little boy,
Says, Bring me candle, that I see ;
And ye maun gang this night, [my] boy,
Wi a letter to a gay ladie.
14 ' It is my duty you to serve,
And bring you coal and candle-light,
And I would rin your errand, master,
If 't were to Lady Maisry bright.
15 ' Tho my legs were sair I coudna gang,
Tho the night were dark I coudna see,
Tho I should creep on hands and feet,
1 woud gae to Lady Maisry.'
16 ' Win up, win up, my bonny boy,
And at my bidding for to be ;
For ye maun quickly my errand rin,
For it is to Lady Maisry.
17 ' Ye '11 bid her dress in the gowns o silk,
Likewise in the coats o cramasie ;
Ye '11 bid her come alang wi you,
True Thomas's wedding for to see.
18 ' Ye '11 bid her shoe her steed before,
And a' gowd graithing him behind ;
On ilka tip o her horse mane,
Twa bonny bells to loudly ring.
19 And on the tor o her saddle
A courtly bird to sweetly sing;
Her bridle-reins o silver fine,
And stirrups by her side to hing.'
20 She dressd her in the finest silk,
Her coats were o the cramasie,
And she 's awa to unco land,
True Thomas's wedding for to see.
21 At ilka tippet o her horse mane,
Twa bonny bells did loudly ring,
And on the tor o her saddle
A courtly bird did sweetly sing.
22 The bells they rang, the bird he sang,
As they rode in yon pleasant plain ;
Then soon she met true Thomas's bride,
Wi a' her maidens and young men.
23 The bride she garned round about,
' I wonder,' said she, ' who this may be ?
It surely is our Scottish queen,
Come here our wedding for to see.'
24 Out it speaks true Thomas's boy,
' She maunna lift her head sae hie ;
But it 's true Thomas's first love,
Come here your wedding for to see.'
25 Then out bespake true Thomas's bride,
I wyte the tear did blind her ee ;
If this be Thomas's first true-love,
I 'm sair afraid he '11 neer hae me.
26 Then in it came her Lady Maisry,
And aye as she trips in the fleer,
4 What is your will, Thomas ? ' she said,
' This day, ye know, ye calld me here. 3
27 * Come hither by 'me, ye lily flower,
Come hither and set ye down by me,
For ye 're the ane I 've call'd upon,
And ye my wedded wife maun be.'
28 Then in it came true Thomas's bride,
And aye as she trippd on the stane,
' What is your will, Thomas ? ' she said,
' This day, ye know, ye calld me hame.'
29 ' Ye hae come on hired horseback,
But ye 'se gae hame in coach sae free ;
For here 's the flower into my bower
I mean my wedded wife shall be.'
254. LORD WILLIAM, OR, LORD LUNDY
411
30 ' O ye will break your lands, Thomas,
And part them in divisions three ;
Gie twa o them to your ae brother,
And cause your brother marry me.'
31 ' I winna break my lands,' he said,
' For ony woman that I see ;
My brother 's a knight o wealth and might,
He '11 wed nane but he will for me.'
b. I 4 . And a' stood. 2 1 . And mony knight.
2 4 . this gay. 8 8 . return again.
10 1 . And Saturday. 10*. took true.
13 2 . I may see. 13*. my boy.
16 2 . ye maun be. 24*. ain first.
30 s . Gie ane.
31. ' O I will break my lands,' he said,
' And ae third will I gie to thee ;
But my brother 's ane o wealth and might,
And he '11 wed nane but he will for me.'
254
LORD WILLIAM, OR, LORD LUNDY
A. Motherwell's MS., p. 361. Sweet William,' C. 'Lord William,' Buchan's MSS, II, 126; Dixon,
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 307. Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads,
p. 57, Percy Society, vol. xvii.
B. 'Lord Lundy,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of
Scotland, II, 57.
SWEET WILLIAM (Lord William's son, or
Lord William) and the Baillie's daughter
(Lord Lundy's daughter) have been lovers:
they have in fact been over-sea together, learn
ing " some unco lair." The young woman's
father recalls her from her studies abroad, and
requires her to marry a Southland lord (the
young prince of England). She will submit
to her father's will, though she had rather die.
In A she sends a letter to William by a bird.
The minister has begun the marriage-service,
when the lover enters the church with a party
of armed men and bids the bridegroom stand
back ; the bride shall join with him. The
father fumes ; would shoot William if he had
a pistol, A ; will give his daughter no dowry,
B. William of course cares not the least
for dowry ; he has what he wants. He tells
his ' foremost man ' to lift his bride on her
horse, and sends commendations to her mo
ther.
A 4, B 10, 11, C 6, 7, may be borrowed
from ' Fair Janet,' No 64, G 1, 2, II, 110.
Motherwell's MS., p. 361 ; from the recitation of Agnes
Lyle, an old woman of Kilbarchan.
1 SWEET WILLIAM 's gone over seas,
Some unco lair to learn,
And our gude Bailie's ae dochter
Is awa to learn the same.
2 In one broad buke they learned baith,
In one broad bed they lay ;
412
254. LORD WILLIAM, OB, LORD LUNDY
But when her father came to know
He gart her come away.
3 ' It 's you must marry that Southland lord,
His lady for to be ;
It 's ye maun marry that Southland lord,
Or nocht ye '11 get frae me.'
4 ' I must marry that Southland lord,
Father, an it be your will ;
But I rather it were my burial-day,
My grave for to fill.'
5 She walked up, she walked down,
Had none to make her moan,
Nothing but the pretty bird
Sat on the causey-stone.
6 ' If thou could speak, wee bird,' she says,
' As weell as thou can flee,
I would write a long letter
To Will ayont the sea.'
7 ' What thou wants wi Will,' it says,
' Thou '11 seal it with thy ring,
Tak a thread o silk and anither o twine,
About my neck will hing.'
8 What she wanted wi Willie
She sealed it wi a ring,
Took a thread of silk, another o twine,
About its neck did hing.
9 This bird flew high, this bird flew low,
This bird flew owre the sea,
Until it entered the same room
Wherein was Sweet Willie.
10 This bird flew high, this bird flew low,
Poor bird, it was mistaen !
It let the letter fa on Baldie's breist,
Instead of Sweet William.
11 ' Here 's a letter, William,' he says,
' I 'm sure it 's not to me ;
And gin the morn gin twelve o'clock
Your love shall married be.'
12 ' Come saddle to me my horse,' he said,
' The brown and a' that 's speedie,
And I '11 awa to Old England,
To bring home my ladie.'
13 Awa he gaed, awa he rade,
Awa wi mickle speed ;
He lichtit at every twa miles' end,
Lichtit and changed his steed.
14 When she entered the church-style,
The tear was in her ee ;
But when she entered the church-door
A blythe sicht did she see.
15 ' O hold your hand, you minister,
Hold it a little wee,
Till I speak wi the bonnie bride,
For she 's a friend to me.
16 ' Stand off, stand off, you braw bridegroom,
Stand off a little wee ;
Stand off, stand off, you braw bridegroom,
For the bride shall join wi me.'
17 Up and spak the bride's father,
And an angry man was he ;
' If I had pistol, powther and lead,
And all at my command,
I would shoot thee stiff and dead
In the place where thou dost stand.'
18 Up and spoke then Sweet William,
And a blithe blink from his ee ;
' If ye neer be shot till I shoot you,
Ye 'se neer be shot for me.
19 ' Come out, come out, my foremost man,
And lift my lady on ;
Commend me all to my good-mother,
At night when ye gang home.'
B
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 57.
1 LORD WILLIAM has but ae dear son,
In this world had nae mair ;
Lord Lundie had but ae daughter,
And he will hae nane but her.
2 They dressed up in maids' array,
And passd for sisters fair ;
254. LORD WILLIAM, OB, LORD LUNDY
413
With ae consent gaed ower the sea,
For to seek after lear.
3 They baith did eat at ae braid board,
In ae bed baith did lye ;
When Lord Lundie got word o that,
He 's taen her soon away.
4 When Lord Lundie got word of that,
An angry man was he ;
He wrote his daughter on great haste
To return right speedilie.
5 When she looked the letter upon,
A light laugh then gae she ;
But ere she read it till an end
The tear blinded her ee.
6 ' Bad news, bad news, my love Willie,
Bad news is come to me ;
My father 's written a braid letter,
Bids me gae speedilie.
7 ' Set trysts, set trysts, my love Willie,
Set trysts, I pray, wi me ;
Set trysts, set trysts, my love Willie,
When will our wedding be.'
8 ' On Wednesday, on Wednesday,
The first that ever ye see ;
On Wednesday at twelve o'clock,
My dear, I '11 meet wi thee.'
9 When she came to her father's ha,
He hailed her courteouslie ;
Says, I '11 forgie offences past,
If now ye '11 answer me.
10 ' Will ye marry yon young prince,
Queen of England to be ?
Or will you marry Lord William's son,
Be loved by nane but he ? '
11 ' I will marry yon young prince,
Father, if it be your will ;
But I woud rather I were dead and gane,
My grave I woud win till.'
12 When she was in her saddle set,
She skyred like the fire,
To go her bridegroom for to meet,
For whom she 'd nae desire.
13 On every tippet o her horse mane
There hang a siller bell,
And whether the wind blew east or west
They gae a sundry knell.
14 And when she came to Mary's kirk
She skyred like the fire ;
There her young bridegroom she did meet,
For whom she 'd nae desire.
15 She looked ower her left shoulder,
The tear blinded her ee ;
But looking ower her right shoulder,
A blythe sight then saw she.
16 There she saw Lord William's son,
And mony a man him wi,
Wi targes braid and glittering spears
All marching ower the lee.
17 The minister looked on a book
Her marriage to begin :
' If there is naething to be said,
These two may join in ane.'
18 ' O huly, huly, sir,' she said,
' O stay a little wee ;
I hae a friend to welcome yet
That 's been a dear friend to me.'
19 O then the parson he spake out,
A wise word then spake he ;
' You might hae had your friends welcomd
Before ye 'd come to me.'
20 Then in it came the bride's first love,
And mony a man him wi :
' Stand back, stand back, ye jelly bridegroom,
Bride, ye maun join wi me.'
21 Then out it speaks him Lord Lundie,
An angry man was he ;
' Lord William's son will hae my daughter
Without leave askd of me.
22 ' But since it 's sae that she will gang,
And proved sae fause to thee,
I '11 make a vow, and keep it true,
Nae portion shall I gie.'
23 Then out it speaks the bride's first love,
And [a] light laugh then gae he;
414
254. LORD WILLIAM, OR, LORD LUNDY
' P've got the best portion now, my lord,
That ye can gie to me.
24 ' Your gude red gold I value not,
Nor yet your white monie ;
I hae her by the hand this day
That 's far dearer to me.
25 ' So gie the prince a coffer o gold
When he gaes to his bed,
And bid him clap his coffer o gold,
And I '11 clap my bonny bride.'
Buchan's MSS, II, 126.
1 LORD WILLIAM has gane oer the sea
For to seek after lear ;
Lord Lundie had but ae daughter,
And he 'd wed nane but her.
2 Upon a book they both did read,
And in ae bed did ly :
' But if my father get word of this,
1 11 soon be taen away.'
3 ' Your father 's gotten word of this,
Soon married then ye '11 be ;
Set trysts, set trysts wi me, Janet,
Set trysts, set trysts wi me .
4 ' Set trysts, set trysts wi me, Janet,
When your wedding-day 's to be ;
' On Saturday, the first that comes,
Must be my wedding-day.'
5 * Bad news, bad news is come, Janet,
Bad news is come to me ;
Your father 's gotten word of this,
Soon married then ye '11 be.'
6 ' O will ye marry the young prince, daughter,
The queen of England to be ?
Or will ye marry Lord William,
And die immediately ? '
7 ' O I will marry the young prince, father,
Because it is your will ;
But I wish it was my burial-day,
For my grave I could gang till.'
8 When they gaed in into the kirk,
And ae seat they sat in,
The minister took up the book,
The marriage to begin.
9 ' Lay down the book, O dear, kind sir,
And wait a little wee ;
I have a lady to welcome yet,
She 's been a good friend to me.'
10 Out then spake the minister,
An angry man was he ;
' You might have had your ladies welcomd
Before ye came to me.'
11 She looked oer her left shoulder,
And tears did Mind her ee ;
But she looked oer her right shoulder,
And a blythe sight saw she,
For in there came him Lord William,
And his valiant company.
12 And in there came him Lord William,
His armour shining clear,
And in it came him Lord William,
And many glittering spear.
13 ' Stand by, stand by, ye bonny bridegroom,
Stand by, stand by,' said he ;
' Stand by, stand by, ye bonny bridegroom,
Bride, ye maun join wi me.
14 ' Let the young prince clap his coffer of gold
When he gangs to his bed ;
Let the young prince clap his coffer of gold,
But I '11 clap my bonny bride.'
15 Out it spake him Lord Lundie,
And an angry man was he ;
' My daughter will marry him Lord William,
It seems, in spite of me.'
A, C. MotherweU and Dixon have made a few slight changes.
255. WILLIE'S FATAL VISIT
415
255
WILLIE'S FATAL VISIT
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 259.
A MAID, Meggie, inquires after her lover,
Willie, and is told that he will be with her
at night. Willie tirls the pin and is admit
ted. He is given the option of cards, wine,
or bed, and chooses the bed, a too familiar
commonplace in Buchan's ballads. Meggie
charges the cock not to crow till day, but the
cock crows an hour too soon. Willie dons his
clothes, and in a dowie den encounters a griev
ous ghost, which, wan and weary though it be,
smiles upon him ; smiles, we may suppose, to
have caught him. Willie has travelled this
road often, and never uttered a prayer for
safety; but he will never travel that road
again. The ghost tears him to pieces, and
hangs a bit < on every seat ' of Mary's kirk,
the head right over Meggie's pew ! Meggie
rives her yellow hair.
The first half of this piece is a medley of
'Sweet William's Ghost,' 'Clerk Saunders,'
and ' The Grey Cock.' For I 3 * 6 , 2, compare No
77, A, B, 2, 3, No 248, 1 ; for 5-8, No 69, F
3-6, No 70, B 2, 4 ; for 9, 10, No 248, 6, 7.
13 is caught, or taken, from ' Clyde's Water,'
No 216, A 7.
Stanzas 15-17, wherever they came from, are
too good for the setting : nothing so spirited,
word or deed, could have been looked for from
a ghost wan, weary, and smiling.
1 'T WAS on an evening fair I went to take the
air,
I heard a maid making her moan ;
Said, Saw ye my father ? Or saw ye my mother ?
Or saw ye my brother John ?
Or saw ye the lad that I love best,
. And his name it is Sweet William ?
2 * I saw not your father, I saw not your mother,
Nor saw I your brother John ;
But I saw the lad that ye love best,
And his name it is Sweet William.'
3 ' O was my love riding ? or was he running ?
Or was he walking alone ?
Or says he that he will be here this night ?
O dear, but he tarries long ! '
4 ' Your love was not riding, nor yet was he run
ning,
But fast was he walking alone ;
VOL. iv. 53
He says that he will be here this night to thee,
And forbids you to think long.'
5 Then Willie he has gane to his love's door,
And gently tirled the pin :
1 O sleep ye, wake ye, my bonny Meggie,
Ye '11 rise, lat your true love in.'
6 The lassie being swack ran to the door fu
snack,
And gently she lifted the pin,
Then into her arms sae large and sae lang
She embraced her bonny love in.
7 ' O will ye gang to the cards or the dice,
Or to a table o wine ?
Or will ye gang to a well-made bed,
Well coverd wi blankets fine ? '
8 ' O I winna gang to the cards nor the dice,
Nor yet to a table o wine ;
416
256. ALISON AND WILLIE
But I '11 rather gang to a well-made bed,
Well coverd wi blankets fine.'
9 ' My braw little cock, sits on the house tap,
Ye 11 craw not till it be day,
And your kaine shall be o the gude red gowd,
And your wings o the siller grey.'
10 The cock being fause untrue he was,
And he crew an hour ower seen ;
They thought it was the gude day-light,
But it was but the light o the meen.
11 ' Ohon, alas ! ' says bonny Meggie then,
' This night we hae sleeped ower lang ! '
' O what is the matter ? ' then Willie replied,
' The faster then I must gang.'
12 Then Sweet Willie raise, and put on his claise,
And drew till him stockings and sheen,
And took by his side his berry-brown sword,
And ower yon lang hill he 's gane.
13 As he gaed ower yon high, high hill,
And down yon dowie den,
Great and grievous was the ghost he saw,
Would fear ten thousand men.
14 As he gaed in by Mary kirk,
And in by Mary stile,
Wan and weary was the ghost
Upon sweet Willie did smile.
15 * Aft hae ye travelld this road, Willie,
Aft hae ye travelld in sin ;
Ye neer said sae muckle for your saul
As My Maker bring me hame !
16 * Aft hae ye travelld this road, Willie,
Your bonny love to see ;
But ye '11 never travel this road again
Till ye leave a token wi me.'
17 Then she has taen him Sweet Willie,
Riven him f rae gair to gair,
And on ilka seat o Mary's kirk
O Willie she hang a share ;
Even abeen his love Meggie's dice,
Hang 's head and yellow hair.
18 His father made moan, his mother made moan,
But Meggie made muckle mair ;
His father made moan, his mother made moan.
But Meggie reave her yellow hair.
256
ALISON AND WILLIE
A. My luve she lives in Lincolnshire,' Harris MS. , fol. 18 b ; Mrs Harris, b. Alison ' Buchan's MSS., I, 231.
ALISON gaily invites Willie to her wedding ;
he will not come unless to be the bridegroom,
with her for bride. That day you will never
see, says Alison ; once on your horse, you will
have no more mind of me than if I were dead.
with the pains of love ; he dies by the way,
and is left to the birds. A letter stops the
wedding, and breaks Alison's heart.
Stanza 7 must be left to those who can in-
Willie rides slowly away, and his heart breaks terpret Thomas of Erceldoune's prophecies.
1 ' MY luve she lives in Lincolnshire,
I wat she 's neither black nor broun,
But her hair is like the.thread o gowd,
Aye an it waur weel k aimed doun.'
2 She 's pued the black mask owre her face.
An blinkit gaily wi her ee :
' will you to my weddin come,
An will you bear me gude companie ? '
257. BUBD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
417
3 ' I winna to your weddin come,
Nor [will] I bear you gude companie,
Unless you be the bride yoursell,
An me the bridegroom to be.'
4 ' For me to be the bride mysel,
An you the bonnie bridegroom to be
Cheer up your heart, Sweet Willie,' she said,
' For that 's the day you '11 never see.
5 ' Gin you waur on your saiddle set,
An gaily ridin on the way,
You '11 hae nae mair mind o Alison
Than she waur dead an laid in clay.'
6 When he was on his saiddle set,
An slowly ridin on the way,
He had mair mind o Alison
Than he had o the licht o day.
7 He saw a hart draw near a hare,
An aye that hare drew near a toun,
An that same hart did get a hare,
But the gentle knicht got neer a toun.
8 He leant him owre his saiddle-bow,
An his heart did brak in pieces three ;
Wi sighen said him Sweet Willie,
' The pains o luve hae taen hald o me.'
There cam a white horse an a letter,
That stopped the weddin speidilie.
10 She leant her back on her bed-side,
An her heart did brak in pieces three ;
She was buried an bemoaned,
But the birds waur Willie's companie.
a. 2 8 . Oh. 10 8 . He was.
b. But wanting : threads.
2 1 . She pu'd : mask aff. 2 2 . blinked blythely.
2 8 . Says, Will ye. 2 4 . Or : gude wanting.
3 s . Nor will ; gude wanting.
3 4 . the bonny bridegroom be.
4 2 . to wanting. 4 s . Sweet wanting.
5 2 . And merry. 5 8 . Ye '11 mind nae mair o.
5 4 . When. 6 2 . An weary.
7 1 . He spied : draw till. 7 2 . aye the.
7 8 . An wanting. 8 1 . leand his back to his.
8 8 . said that sweet. 8 4 . luve 's taen.
9 1 ' 2 . Their wedding-day it was well set, And a'
their friends invited there. 9 8 . While came.
9 4 . wedding in prepare.
Before 10 1 : She said, If Willie he be dead, A
wedded wife I '11 never be.
10 1 . Then leand her back to her bed-stock.
10 2 . Her heart in pieces broke in three.
10 s . then was.
257
BURD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
A. 'Burd Bell,' Kinloch MSS, I, 211.
B. 'Burd Isbel and Sir Patrick,' Buchan's Ballads of
the North of Scotland, I, 76.
C. ' Earl Patrick and Burd Isabel,' MotherwelPs MS.,
p. 440.
CHRISTIE, Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 34, nearly eighty, and whose father was a noted
I, 42, says that an old woman in Buckie, En- ballad-singer, sang him words which, so far
zie, Banff, who died in 1866 at the age of as he could remember, were like those of B.
418
257. BURD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
A. Unmarried Burd Isabel bears a son to
Earl Patrick. He has passed his word to
make her his wife in case the expected bairn
should be a boy, but his mother objects. He
now promises to bring her home after the de
mise of his parents, and in the mean while
builds her a gold and silver bower (which for a
reason inscrutable is ' strawn round wi sand ').
Father and mother die ; Patrick takes no step
to fulfil his engagement, and Isabel asks why.
Patrick wishes that a hundred evils may enter
him, and he ' fa oure the brim,' if ever he mar
ries another ; nevertheless he weds a duke's
daughter. His bride has a fancy to see his
son, and Patrick sends his aunt (or his grand-
aunt, or his great-grand-aunt) to fetch the
boy. Isabel dares any woman to take the
bairn away. Patrick comes in person. Isa
bel repeats the words she had used to his aunt,
and reminds him of the curse which he had
conditionally wished himself at their last in
terview. The perjured man turns to go
away, the hundred evils enter him, and he
falls ' oure the brim.'
B has nearly the same story with additional
circumstances. Patrick wishes that eleven
devils may attend his last day should he wed
another woman. When he goes to inquire
how Isabel came to refuse the request he had
made through his aunt, he takes the opportu
nity to make over to her child the third part
of his land. She has two clerks, her cousins,
at her call, who see to the legal formalities
pertaining to this transfer ; she commits the
boy to one of these, and herself goes to an unco
land to drive love out of her mind. We hear
of nothing worse happening to Earl Patrick
for selling his precious soul than his never
getting further ben the church than the door.
C is a variety of B, but not half so long.
Whether B has added or C omitted, no reader
will much concern himself to know.
St. 7 (nearly) occurs in No 92, B 17, II,
313, and something similar in various ballads.
Kinloch MSS, I, 211 ; "obtained in the North Country,
from the recitation of Mrs Charles."
1 THERE is a stane in yon water,
It 's lang or it grow green ;
It 's a maid that maks her ain fortune,
It '11 never end its leen.
2 Bard Bell was na full fyf teen
Till to service she did gae ;
Burd Bell was na full sixteen
Till big wi bairn was scho.
3 ' Burd Bell she is a gude woman,
She bides at hame wi me ;
She never seeks to gang to church,
But bides at hame wi me.'
4 It fell ance upon a day
She fell in travail-pain ;
He is gane to the stair-head
Some ladies to call in.
5 ' O gin ye hae a lass-bairn, Burd Bell,
A lass-bairn though it be,
Twenty ploughs bot and a mill
Will mak ye lady free.
6 ' But gin ye hae a son, Burd Bell p
Ye 'se be my wedded wife,
7 The knichts they knack their white fingers,
The ladies sat and sang,
T was a' to cheer bonnie Burd Bell,
She was far sunk in pain.
8 Earl Patrick is to his mither gane,
As fast as he could hie :
' An askin, an askin, dear mither,
An askin I want frae thee.
257. BURD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
419
9 ' Burd Bell has born to me a son ;
What sail I do her wi ? '
' Gie her what ye like, Patrick,
Mak na her your ladie.'
10 He has gane to bonnie Burd Bell,
Hir heart was pressd wi care :
11 ' My father will dee, bonnie Burd Bell,
My mither will do the same,
And whan ye hear that they are gane
It 's then I '11 bring ye hame.'
12 Earl Patrick 's bigget to her a hour,
And strawn it round wi sand ;
He coverd it wi silver on the outside,
Wi the red gowd within.
13 It happened ance upon a day
She was kaiming his yellow hair,
14 * Your father is dead, Earl Patrick,
Your mither is the same ;
And what is the reason, Earl Patrick,
Ye winna tak me hame ? '
15 ' I 've bigget to you a bonnie hour,
I 've strawn it round wi sand ;
I 've coverd it wi silver on the outside,
Wi gude red gowd within.
16 ' If eer I marry anither woman,
Or bring anither hame,
I wish a hundred evils may enter me,
And may I fa oure the brim ! '
17 It was na very lang after this
That a duke's dochter he 's wed,
Wi a waggon f u of gowd
18 Burd Bell lookit oure her castle-wa,
And spied baith dale and down,
And there she saw Earl Patrick's aunt
Come riding to the town.
19 ' What want ye here, Earl Patrick's aunt?
What want ye here wi me ? '
' I want Earl Patrick's bonnie young son ;
His bride fain wad him see.'
20 ' I wad like to see that woman or man,
Of high or low degree,
That wad tak the bairn frae my foot
That I ance for bowd my knee.'
21 ' Burd Bell, she 's the bauldest woman
That ever I did see : '
' It 's I '11 gang to bonnie Burd Bell,
She was never bauld to me.'
22 Burd Bell lookit oure her castle-wa,
Behauding brave dale and down,
And there she spied him Earl Patrick
Slowly riding to the town.
23 ' What said ye to my great-grand-aunt
24 ' I said nathing to your great-grand-aunt
But I will say to thee :
I wad like to see the woman or man,
Of high or low degree,
That wad tak the bairn frae my foot
I ance for bowd my knee.
25 ( O dinna ye mind, Earl Patrick,
The vows ye made to me,
That a hundred evils wad enter you
If ye provd fause to me ? '
26 He 's turnd him richt and round about,
His horse head to the wind,
The hundred evils enterd him,
And he fell oure the brim.
420
257. BURD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
B
Buchan's Ballads of tbe North of Scotland, I, 76.
1 TAKE warning, a' ye young women,
Of low station or hie,
Lay never your love upon a man
Above your ain degree.
2 Thus I speak by Burd Isbel ;
She was a maid sae fair,
She laid her love on Sir Patrick,
She '11 rue it for evermair.
3 And likewise, a' ye sprightly youths,
Of low station or hie,
Lay never your love upon a maid
Below your ain degree.
4 And thus I speak by Sir Patrick,
Who was a knight sae rare ;
He 's laid his love on Burd Isbel,
He '11 rue it for evermair.
5 Burd Isbel was but ten years auld,
To*ervice she has gane ;
And Burd Isbel was but fifeteen
Whan her young son came hame.
6 It fell ance upon a day
Strong travelling took she ;
None there was her bower within
But Sir Patrick and she.
7 * This is a wark now, Sir Patrick,
That we twa neer will end ;
Ye '11 do you to the outer court
And call some women in.'
8 He 's done him to the outer court,
And stately there did stand ;
Eleven ladies he 's calld in,
Wi ae shake o his hand.
9 ' Be favourable to Burd Isbel,
Deal favourable if ye may ;
Her kirking and her fair wedding
Shall baith stand on ae day.
10 ' Deal favourable to Burd Isbel,
Whom I love as my life ;
Ere this day month be come and gane,
She 's be my wedded wife.'
11 Then he is on to his father,
Fell low down on his knee ;
Says, Will I marry Burd Isbel ?
She 's born a son to me.
12 ' O marry, marry Burd Isbel,
Or use her as ye like ;
Ye '11 gar her wear the silks sae red
And sae may ye the white.
O woud ye marry Burd Isbel,
Make her your heart's delight ?
13 ' You want not lands nor rents, Patrick,
You know your fortune 's free ;
But ere you 'd marry Burd Isbel
I 'd rather bury thee.
14 Ye '11 build a bower for Burd Isbel,
And set it round wi sand ;
Make as much mirth in Isbel's bower
As ony in a' the land.'
15 Then he is to his mother gane,
Fell low down on his knee :
* O shall I marry Burd Isbel ?
She 's born a son to me.'
16 ' O marry, marry Burd Isbel,
Or use her as ye like ;
Ye '11 gar her wear the silks sae red,
And sae may ye the white.
O would ye marry Burd Isbel,
Make her wi me alike ?
17 * You want not lands and rents, Patrick,
You know your fortune 's free ;
But ere you marry Burd Isbel
I 'd rather bury thee.
18 ' Ye '11 build a bower to Burd Isbel,
And set it round wi glass ;
Make as much mirth in Isbel's bower
As ony in a' the place.'
19 He 's done him down thro ha, thro ha,
Sae has he in thro bower ;
The tears ran frae his twa grey eyes,
And loot them fast down pour.
20 ' My father and my mother baith
To age are coming on ;
When they are dead and buried baith,
Burd Isbel I '11 bring home.'
257. BUKD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
421
21 The words that passd atween these twa
Ought never to be spoken ;
The vows that passd atween these twa
Ought never to be broken.
22 Says he, If I another court,
Or wed another wife,
May eleven devils me attend
At the end-day o my life.
23 But his father he soon did die,
His mother nae lang behind ;
But Sir Patrick of Burd Isbel
He now had little mind.
24 It fell ance upon a day,
As she went out to walk,
And there she saw him Sir Patrick,
Going wi his hound and hawk.
25 ' Stay still, stay still, now Sir Patrick,
stay a little wee,
And think upon the fair promise
Last year ye made to me.
26 * Now your father 's dead, kind sir,
And your mother the same ;
Yet nevertheless now, Sir Patrick,
Ye 're nae bringing me hame.'
27 * If the morn be a pleasant day,
1 mean to sail the sea,
To spend my time in fair England,
f All for a month or three.'
28 He hadna been in fair England
A month but barely ane
Till he forgot her Burd Isbel,
The mother of his son.
29 Some time he spent in fair England,
And when returnd again
He laid his love on a duke's daughter,
And he has brought her hame.
30 Now he 's forgot his first true love
He ance lovd ower them a' ;
But now the devil did begin
To work between them twa.
31 When Sir Patrick he was wed,
And all set down to dine,
Upon his first love, Burd Isbel,
A thought ran in his mind.
32 He calld upon his gude grand-aunt
To come right speedilie ;
Says, Ye '11 gae on to Burd Isbel,
Bring my young son to me.
33 She 's taen her mantle her about,
Wi gowd gloves on her hand,
And she is on to Burd Isbel,
As fast as she coud gang.
34 She haild her high, she haild her low,
With stile in great degree :
' O busk, O busk your little young son,
For he maun gang wi me.'
35 ' I woud fain see the one,' she said,
' O low station or hie,
Woud take the bairn frae my foot,
For him I bowed my knee.
36 ' I woud fain see the one,' she said,
' low station or mean,
Woud take the bairn frae my foot
Whom I own to be mine.'
37 Then she has done her hame again,
As fast as gang coud she ;
' Present,' said he, ' my little young son,
For him I wish to see.'
38 ' Burd Isbel 's a bauld woman,' she said,
' As eer I yet spake wi ; '
But sighing said him Sir Patrick,
She ne'er was bauld to me.
39 But he 's dressd in his best array,
His gowd rod in his hand,
And he is to Burd IsbePs bower,
As fast as he coud gang.
40 ' O how is this, Burd Isbel,' he said,
( So ill ye 've used me ?
What gart you anger my gude grand-aunt,
That I did send to thee ? '
41 ' If I hae angerd your gude grand-aunt,
O then sae lat it be ;
I said naething to your gude grand-aunt
But what I '11 say to thee.
122
257. BURD ISABEL AND EARL PATRICK
42 ' Iwoud fain see the one, I said,
O low station or hie,
Wha woud take this bairn frae my foot,
For him I bowed the knee.
43 I woud fain see the one, I said,
O low station or mean,
Woud take this bairn frae my foot
Whom I own to be mine.'
44 ' O if I had some counsellors here,
And clerks to seal the band,
I woud infeft your son this day
In third part o my land.'
45 ' I hae two couzins, Scottish clerks,
Wi bills into their hand,
An ye '11 infeft my son this day
In third part o your land.'
46 Then he calld in her Scottish clerks,
Wi bills into their hand,
And he 's infeft his son that day
The third part o his land.
47 To ane o these young clerks she spoke,
Clerk John it was his name ;
Says, Of my son I gie you charge
Till I return again.
48 ' Ye '11 take here my son, clerk John,
Learn him to dance and sing,
And I will to some unco land,
Drive love out of my mind.
49 ' And ye '11 take here my son, clerk John,
Learn him to hunt the roe,
And I will to some unco land ;
Now lat Sir Patrick go.
50 But I '11 cause this knight at church-door stand.
For a' his noble train ;
For selling o Ids precious soul
Dare never come farther ben.'
O
MotherweLL's MS., p. 440.
1 ALL young maidens fair and gay,
Whatever your station be,
Never lay your love upon a man
Above your own degree.
2 I speak it all by Bird Isabel ;
She was her father's dear,
She laid her love on Earl Patrick,
Which she rues ever mair.
3 ' Oh, we began a wark, Patrick,
That we two cannot end ;
Go you unto the outer stair
And call some women in.'
4 He 's gone unto the outer stair,
And up in it did stand,
And did bring in eleven ladies,
With one sign of his hand.
5 He did him to the doctor's shop,
As fast as he could gang,
But ere the doctor could get there
Bird Isabel bore a son.
6 But he has courted a duke's daughter,
Lived far beyont the sea ;
Burd Isabel's parents were but mean,
They had not gear to gie.
7 He has courted a duke's daughter,
Lived far beyond the foam ;
Burd Isabel was a mean woman,
And tocher she had none.
8 Now it fell once upon a day
His wedding day was come ;
He 's hied him to his great-grand-aunt,
As fast as he could gang.
9 Says, Will you go this errand, aunt?
Go you this errand for me,
And if I live and bruick my life
I will go as far for thee.
10 ' Go and bring me Bird Isbel's son,
Dressed in silks so fine,
And if he live to be a man
He shall heir all my land.'
11 Now she went hailing to the door,
And hailing ben the floor,
258. BROUGHTY WA'S
423
And Isabel styled her madame,
And she, her Isabel dear.
12 ' I came to take Earl Patrick's son,
To dress in silks so fine ;
For if he live to be a man
He is to heir his land.'
13 ' Oh is there ever a woman,' she said,
1 Of high station or mean,
Daur take this bairn from my knee ?
For he is called mine.
14 ' Oh is there ever a woman,' she said,
' Of mean station or hie,
Daur tak this bairn f rae my foot ?
For him I bowed my knee.'
15 His aunt went hailing to his door,
And hailing ben the floor,
And she has styled him, Patrick,
And [he] her, aunty dear.
16 She says, I have been east and west,
And far beyond the sea,
But Isabel is the boldest woman
That ever my eyes did see.
17 ' You surely dream, my aunty dear,
For that can never be ;
Burd Isabel 's not a bold woman,
She never was bold to me.'
18 Now he went hailing to her door,
And hailing ben the floor,
And she has styled him, Patrick,
And he her, Isabel dear.
19 ' O ye have angered my great-grand-aunt ;
You know she 's a lady free ; '
' I said naught to your great-grand-aunt
But what I '11 say to thee.
20 ' Oh is there ever a woman, I said,
Of high station or mean,
Daur tak this bairn from my knee ?
For he is called mine.
21 * Oh is there ever a woman, I said,
Of mean station or hie,
Daur tak this bairn from my foot ?
For him I bowed my knee.
22 ' But I '11 cause you stand at good church-door,
For all your noble train ;
For selling of your precious soul,
You shall not get further ben.'
258
BROUGHTY WA'S
a. ' Helen,' Buchan's MSS, I, 233.
b. ' Burd Hellen,' or, ' Browghty Wa's,' Harris MS.,
fol. 1 7 b ; from Mrs Harris.
A YOUNG woman is carried off from
Broughty Castle, near Dundee, by a body of
armed Highlanders. Her lover, who is mak
ing her a visit at the time, is either taken along
with her an unnecessary incumbrance, one
would think or follows her. The pair go
out to take the air ; she throws herself into
a river; her lover leaps in after her and is
VOL. iv. 54
drowned. She kilts up her clothes and makes
her way to Dundee, congratulating herself
that she had learned to swim for liberty.
Stanza 9, as it runs in b, is a reminiscence
of 'Bonny Baby Livingston,' and 13 recalls
'Child Waters,' or 'The Knight and the
Shepherd's Daughter.'
424
258. DROUGHTY WA'S
1 BUBD HELEN was her mother's dear,
Her father's heir to be ;
He was the laird of Broughty Walls,
And the provost o Dundee.
2 Burd Helen she was much admired
By all that were round about ;
Unto Hazelan she was betrothed,
Her virgin days were out
3 Glenhazlen was a comely youth,
And virtuous were his friends ;
He left the schools o bonny Dundee
And on to Aberdeen.
4 It fell upon a Christmas Day
Burd Helen was left alone
For to keep her father's towers ;
They stand two miles from town.
5 Glenhazlen 's on to Broughty Walls,
Was thinking to win in ;
But the wind it blew, and the rain dang on
And wat him to the skin.
6 He was very well entertaind,
Baith for his bed and board,
Till a band o men surrounded them,
Well armd wi spear and sword.
7 They hurried her along wi them,
Lockd up her maids behind ;
They threw the keys out-ower the walls,
That none the plot might find.
8 They hurried her along wi them,
Ower mony a rock and glen,
But, all that they could say or do.
From weeping would not refrain.
9 The Hilaiul hills are hie, hie hills,
The Hiland hills are hie ;
They are no like the banks o Tay,
Or bonny town o Dundee.'
10 It fell out ance upon a day
They went to take the air ;
She threw hersell upon the stream,
Against wind and despair.
11 It was sae deep he coudna wide,
Boats werna to be found,
But he leapt in after himsell,
And sunk down like a stone.
12 She kilted up her green claiding
A little below her knee,
And never rest nor was undrest
Till she reachd again Dundee.
13 ' I learned this at Broughty Walls,
At Broughty near Dundee,
That if water were my prison strong
I would swim for libertie.'
a. 7 2 . Tuckd.
b. I 4 , the wanting. 2*. But to Hunglen.
3 3 . were wanting.
4 1 . fell oot once upon a time. 4*. All for.
4 4 . stand ten.
5 1 . Glenhazlen he cam ridin bye.
.")-. An tliinkin to get in.
7 1 , 8 1 . They hie5d.
7 2 . Locked up.
7*. An flang. 8 4 . To weep she wald.
9 M . An if you wald my favour gain, Oh, tak
me to Dundee!
10 1 . once upon a time.
10 3 . went oot to.
10. into the. 10 4 . Between.
II 1 . The stream was deep.
II 3 . So he : alter her himsell.
After 11 :
' The Highland hills are high, high hills,
The Highland hills are hie ;
They 're no like the pleasant banks o Tay,
Nor the bonnie town o Dundee'.
13*. water waur my prison-walls.
13 4 . I could.
259. LORD THOMAS STUART
425
259
LORD THOMAS STUART
Maidment's North Countrie Garland, p. 1.
LOED THOMAS STUART has married a
young countess, and has given her Strath-
bogie and Aboyne for a morning-gift. The
lady has a desire to see these places. As they
are on their way thither (from Edinburgh),
her husband is attacked with a pain which
obliges him to turn back ; he tells her to ride
on, and she seems so to do. The pain proves
to be beyond the skill of leeches. Lord
Thomas begs his father to see that his wife
gets what he has given her. He dies ; the
horses turn wild in the stables, the hounds
howl on the leash. Lady Stuart has the usual
dream (No 74, A 8, B 11, etc.). She comes
back wringing her hands ; she knows by the
horses that are standing about the house that
the burial is preparing.
1 THOMAS STUART was a lord,
A lord of mickle land ;
He used to wear a coat of gold,
But now his grave is green.
2 Now he has wooed the young countess,
The Countess of Balquhin,
An given her for a morning-gift
Strathboggie and Aboyne.
3 But women's wit is aye willful,
Alas that ever it was sae !
She longed to see the morning-gift
That her gude lord to her gae.
4 When steeds were saddled an weel bridled,
An ready for to ride,
There came a pain on that gude lord,
His back, likewise his side.
5 He said, Ride on, my lady fair,
May goodness be your guide !
For I 'm sae sick an weary that
No farther can I ride.
6 Now ben did come his father dear,
Wearing a golden band ;
Says, Is there nae leech in Edinburgh
Can cure my son from wrang ?
7 ' O leech is come, an leech is gane,
Yet, father, I 'm aye waur ;
There 's not a leech in Edinbro
Can death from me debar.
8 * But be a friend to my wife, father,
Restore to her her own ;
Restore to her my morning-gift,
Strathboggie and Aboyne.
9 ' It had been gude for my wife, father,
To me she 'd born a son ;
He would have got my land an rents ,
Where they lie out an in.
10 * It had been gude for my wife, father,
To me she 'd born an heir ;
He would have got my land an rents,
Where they lie fine an fair.'
420
200. LORD THOMAS AND LADY MARGARET
11 The steeds they strove into their stables,
The boys could 'nt get them bound ;
The hounds lay howling on the leech,
Cause their master was behind.
12 I dreamed a dream since late yestreen,
I wish it may be good,
That our chamber was full of swine,
An our bed full of blood.'
13 I saw a woman come from the West,
Full sore wringing her hands,
And aye she cried, Ohon, alas !
My good lord 's broken bands.
14 As she came by my good lord's bower,
Saw inony black steeds an brown :
' I 'in feared it be mony unco lords
Havin my love from town ! '
15 As she came by my gude lord's bower,
Saw mony black steeds an grey :
' I 'm feared it 's mony unco lords
Havin my love to the clay ! '
260
LORD THOMAS AND LADY MARGARET
A. a. ' Lord Thomas,' Motherwell's MS., p. 407. b.
' Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret,' the same, p. 71.
B. < Clerk Tamas,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of
Scotland, I, 43.
CHRISTIE, who gives B, "epitomized and
slightly changed," under the title ' Clerk
Tamas and Fair Annie,' Traditional Ballad
Airs, II, 12, says that he can trace the ballad,
traditionally, far into the last century.
A. Lord Thomas goes a-hunting, and Lady
Margaret rides after him ; when he sees her
following, he orders his servants to hunt her
far from him, and they hunt her high and
low. She comes upon a tall young man, and
begs * relief ' from him for a lady wronged in
love and chased from her ' country.' No re
lief is to be had from him unless she will
renounce all other men and be his wife. Af
ter a time, Lady Margaret, sewing at her win
dow, observes a vagrant body, who turns out
to be Lord Thomas, reduced to beggary ;
he has been banished from his own country,
and asks relief. No relief from her; she
would hang him were he within her bower.
Not so, says Lord Thomas ; rather he would
kill her lord with his broadsword and carry
her off. Not so, says Lady Margaret, but
you must come in and drink with me. She
poisons three bottles of wine, and pretends
to be his taster. Lord Thomas drinks away
merrily, but soon feels the poison. I am
wearied with this drinking, he says. And
so was I when you set your hounds at me,
she replies ; but you shall be buried as if you
were one of my own.
B has Clerk Tamas for Lord Thomas, and
Fair Annie for Lady Margaret. Tamas has
loved Annie devotedly, but now hates her and
the lauds she lives in. Annie goes to ask him
to pity her ; he sees her coming, as he lies
'over his shot-window,' and orders his men
to hunt her to the sea. A captain, lying
'over his ship - window,' sees Annie driven
from the town, and offers to take her in if she
will forsake friends and lands for him. The
story goes on much as in A.
A 8 is borrowed from ' The Douglas Tra
gedy,' see No 7, C 9. B 14 3 " 4 is a common
place, which, in inferior traditional ballads, is
often, as here, an out-of -place. B 15, 16 is
another commonplace, of the silly sort : see
No 87, B 3, 4, D 4, 5, and Buchan's Lady
Isabel,' 20, 21.
260. LORD THOMAS AND LADY MARGARET
427
a. Motherwell's MS., p. 407 ; from the recitation of Mrs
Parkhill, Maxweltown, 28 September, 1825 (with varia
tions, furnished by another person of the same neigh
borhood, interlined), b. Motherwell's MS., p. 71 ; from
Miss , Glasgow.
1 LORD THOMAS is to the hunting gone,
To hunt the fallow deer ;
Lady Margaret 's to the greenwood shaw,
To see her lover hunt there.
2 He has looked over his left shoulder,
To see what might be seen,
And there he saw Lady Margaret,
As she was riding her lane.
3 He called on his servants all,
By one, by two, by three :
' Go hunt, go hunt that wild woman,
Go hunt her far from me ! '
4 They hunted her high, they hunted her low,
They hunted her over the plain,
And the red scarlet robes Lady Margaret had
on
Would never be mended again.
5 They hunted her high, they hunted her low,
They hunted her over the plain,
Till at last she spy'd a tall young man,
As he was riding alane.
6 ' Some relief, some relief, thou tall young man !
Some relief I pray thee grant me !
For I am a lady deep wronged in love,
And chased from my own countrie.'
7.' No relief, no relief, thou lady fair,
No relief will I grant unto thee
Till once thou renounce all the men in the
world
My wedded wife for to be.'
8 Then he set her on a milk-white steed,
Himself upon a gray,
And he has drawn his hat over his face,
And chearf ully they rode away.
9 Lady Margaret was at her bower-window,
Sewing her silken seam,
And there she spy'd, like a wandering bodie,
Lord Thomas begging alane.
10 ' Some relief, some relief, thou lady fair !
Some relief, I pray thee grant me !
For I am a puir auld doited carle,
And banishd from my ain countrie.'
11 ' No relief, no relief, thou perjured man,
No relief will I grant unto thee ;
For oh, if I had thee within my bower,
There hanged dead thou would be.'
12 ' No such thing, Lady Margaret,' he said,
' Such a thing would never be ;
For with my broadsword I would kill thy
wedded lord,
And carry thee far off with me.'
13 ' Oh no, no ! Lord Thomas,' she said,
' Oh, no such things must be ;
For I have wine in my cellars,
And you must drink with me.'
14 Lady Margaret then called her servants all,
By one, by two, by three :
' Go fetch me the bottles of blude-red wine,
That Lord Thomas may. drink with me.'
15 They brought her the bottles of blude-red wine,
By one, by two, by three,
And with her fingers long and small
She poisond them all three.
16 She took the cup in her lilly-white hand,
Betwixt her finger and her thumb,
She put it to her red rosy lips,
But never a drop went down.
17 Then he took the cup in his manly hand,
Betwixt his finger and his thumb,
He put it to his red rosy lips,
And so merrily it ran down.
18 ' Oh, I am wearied drinking with thee, Mar
garet !
I am wearied drinking with thee ! '
' And so was I,' Lady Margaret said,
' When thou hunted thy hounds after me.'
19 ' But I will bury thee, Lord Thomas,' she said,
' Just as if thou wert one of my own ;
And when that my good lord comes home
I will say thou 's my sister's son.'
260. LORD THOMAS AND LADY MARGARET
B
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 43.
1 CLERK TAMAS lovd her fair Annie
As well as Mary lovd her son ;
But now he hates her fair Annie,
And hates the lands that she lives in.
2 ' Ohon, alas ! ' said fair Annie,
Alas ! this day I fear I '11 die ;
But I will on to sweet Tamas,
And see gin he will pity me.'
3 As Tamas lay ower his shott-window,
Just as the sun was gaen down,
There he beheld her fair Annie,
As she came walking to the town.
4 ' O where are a' my well-wight men,
I wat, that I pay meat and fee,
For to lat a' my hounds gang loose
To hunt this vile whore to the sea.'
5 The hounds they knew the lady well,
And nane o them they woud her bite,
Save a*ie that is ca'd Gaudywhere,
I wat he did the lady smite.
6 ' O wae mat worth ye, Gaudywhere !
An ill reward this is to me ;
For ae bit that I gae the lave,
I 'm very sure I 've gien you three.
7 ' For me, alas ! there 's nae remeid,
Here comes the day that I maun die ;
I ken ye lovd your master well,
And sae, alas for me ! did I.'
8 A captain lay ower his ship-window,
Just as the sun was gaen down ;
There he beheld her fair Annie,
As she was hunted frae the town.
9 ' Gin ye 11 forsake father and mither,
And sae will ye your friends and kin,
Gin ye '11 forsake your lands sae broad,
Then come and I will take you in.'
10 Yes, I '11 forsake bait h father and mither,
And sae will I my friends and kin ;
Yes, I '11 forsake my lands sae broad,
And come, gin ye will take me in.'
11 Then a' thing gaed frae fause Tamas,
And there was naething byde him wi ;
Then he thought lang for Arrandella,
It was fair Annie for to see.
12 ' How do ye now, ye sweet Tamas ?
And how gaes a' in your countrie ? '
' I '11 do better to you than ever I 've done,
Fair Annie, gin ye '11 come an see.'
13 ' O Guid forbid,' said fair Annie,
( That e'er the like fa in my hand !
Woud I forsake my ain gude lord
And follow you, a gae-through-land ?
14 ' Yet nevertheless now, sweet Tamas,
Ye '11 drink a cup o wine wi me,
And nine times in the live lang day
Your fair claithing shall changed be.'
15 Fair Annie pat it till her cheek,
Sae did she till her milk-white chin,
Sae did she till her flattering lips,
But never a drap o wine gaed in.
16 Tamas pat it till his cheek,
Sae did he till his dimpled chin ;
He pat it till his rosy lips,
And then the well o wine gaed in.
17 * These pains,' said he, ' are ill to bide ;
Here is the day that I maun die ;
take this cup frae me, Annie,
For o the same I am weary.'
18 ' And sae was T o you, Tamas,
When I was hunted to the sea ;
But I 'se gar bury you in state,
Which is mair than ye 'd done to me.'
A. a. 12 1 . (no such thing) a second time ; inserted
apparently by Mbthenvell.
Interlineations : 2 a . what he might spy.
2*. riding by.
261. LADY ISABEL
429
8*. his broadsword from his side.
8 4 . And slowly.
9 s . To see what she might spy.
9 8 . spy'd Lord Thomas.
9 4 . A begging along the highway.
10 8 . puir oppressed man.
15 1 . They glowred, but they brought the blude-
red wine.
b. I 1 , is a. I 2 , the green wood oer.
I 8 . Lady Margaret has followed him.
I 4 . To seek her own true-love. 2. Wanting.
3 1 . He has called up his merrie men all.
3 8 . Hunt away, hunt away this.
3 4 . her away from. 4 1 , 5 1 . and they.
4 a , 5 2 . Till she ran quite over.
4 8 . The scarlet robes. 4 4 . They can never.
5 8 . And there she spied. 5 4 . Just as.
6 2 . Some relief, some relief grant me.
6 8 . lady that is deep, deep in.
6 4 . And I am banished from. 7 1 . fair ladie.
7 s . No relief, no relief I '11 grant thee.
7 8 . Unless you forsake : in this.
7 4 . And my : you will be.
8 1 . He has mounted her.
8 3 . And himself on a dapple.
8*. The buglet horn hung done by there side.
8 4 . And so slowly as they both.
9 1 . One day L. M. at her castle-window.
9 2 . Was sewing. 9 8 . espied L. T.
9 4 . A begging all. 10 1 . fair ladie.
10 2 . Some relief, some relief grant me.
10 M , 11. No relief, no relief, Lord Thomas,
she said, But hanged thou shalt be.
12 1 . O no, O no, Lady.
12 2 . For no such things must be.
12 s . But with: I will.
12 4 . And I '11 ride far off with thee.
13 1 . O no, O no. 13 2 . O no : must not.
14 1 . She has called up her.
14 2 , 15 2 . and by.
14 8 . Go bring to me a bottle of wine.
15 1 . her up a bottle of wine.
15 8 . so long. 15*. The rank poison in put she.
16, 17. Wanting.
18 1 . I 'm wearied, I 'm wearied, Lady Marga
ret, he said.
18 2 . OI'm: talking to.
18 8 . I, Lord Thomas, she.
18 4 . you hounded your dogs.
19 1 . bury you as one of my own.
19 2 . And all in my own ground.
19 4 . say you 're.
261
LADY ISABEL
'Lady Isabel,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 129.
LADY ISABEL'S step-mother accuses her of
being her father's leman ; he gives her finer
gowns than he gives his wife. Isabel replies
that, in the first place, she is young, which ia
reason enough why her gowns should be
fairer ; but that, as a matter of fact, a lover
of hers over seas sends her ten gowns to one
that her father buys her. The step-mother
invites Isabel to take wine with her. Isabel
wishes first to go to a church. At this church
she sees her own mother, and asks whether
she shall flee the country or drink what has
been prepared for her. Her mother enjoins
her to drink the dowie drink ; before she is
cold she will be in a better place. Upon re
turning, Isabel is again pressed to take wine,
and again begs to be excused for the moment ;
she wishes to see her maids in the garden.
She gives her maids ring and brooch. A third
time the step-mother proposes that they shall
take wine together; the daughter, with due
courtesy, begs the elder to begin. The step-
430
961. LADY ISABEL
mother goes through certain motions custom
ary in ballads of this description, and swal
lows not a drop ; Isabel duly repeats the mum
mery, but drinks. She has time to tell this
wicked dame that their beds will be made
very far apart. The step-mother goes mad.
Stanzas 20, 21, as has already been inti
mated, are a commonplace, and a foolish one.
Stanza 24, in various forms, not always well
adapted to the particular circumstances, ends
several ballads : as No 64, F ; No 65, H ; No
66, A 28, 29, B 20, 21 ; No 67, B ; No 70, B.
Translated by Gerhard, p. 161.
1 'T WAS early on a May morning
Lady Isabel combd her hair ;
But little kent she, or the morn
She woud never comb it mair.
2 'T was early on a May morning
Lady Isabel rang the keys ;
But little kent she, or the morn
A fey woman she was.
3 Ben it came her step-mother,
As white 's the lily flower :
' It 's tauld me this day, Isabel,
You are your father's whore.'
4 ' O them that tauld you that, mother,
I wish they neer drink wine ;
For if I be the same woman
My ain sell drees the pine.
5 ' And them that 's tauld you that, mother,
I wish they neer drink ale ;
For if I be the same woman
My ain sell drees the dail.'
6 ' It may be very well seen, Isabel,
It may be very well seen ;
He buys to you the damask gowns,
To me the dowie green.'
7 ' Ye are of age and I am young,
And young amo my flowers ;
The fairer that my claithing be,
The mair honour is yours.
8 ' I hae a love beyond the sea,
And far ayont the f aem ;
For ilka gown my father buys me,
My ain luve sends me ten.'
9 ' Come ben, come ben now, Lady Isabel,
And drink the wine wi me ;
I hae twa jewels in ae coffer,
And ane o them I '11 gie [ye].'
10 ' Stay still, stay still, my mother dear,
Stay still a little while,
Till I gang into Marykirk ;
It 's but a little mile.'
11 When she gaed on to Marykirk,
And into Mary's quire,
There she saw her ain mother
Sit in a gowden chair.
12 ' O will I leave the lands, mother ?
Or shall I sail the sea ?
Or shall I drink this dowie drink
That is prepar'd for me ? '
13 ' Ye winna leave the lands, daughter,
Nor will ye sail the sea,
But ye will drink this dowie drink
This woman 's prepar'd for thee.
14 ' Your bed is made in a better place
Than ever hers will be,
And ere ye 're cauld into the room
Ye will be there wi me.'
15 ' Come in, come in now, Lady Isabel,
And drink the wine wi me ;
I hae twa jewels in ae coffer,
And ane o them I '11 gie [ye].'
16 ' Stay still, stay still, my mother dear,
Stay still a little wee,
Till I gang to yon garden green.
My Maries a' to see.'
262. LORD LIVINGSTON
431
17 To some she gae the broach, the broach,
To some she gae a ring ;
But wae befa her step-mother !
To her she gae nae thing.
18 ' Come in, come in now, Lady Isabel,
And drink the wine wi me ;
I hae twa jewels in ae coffer,
And ane o them I '11 gie [ye].'
19 Slowly to the bower she came,
And slowly enterd in,
And being full o courtesie,
Says, Begin, mother, begin.
20 She put it till her cheek, her cheek,
Sae did she till her chin,
Sae did she till her fu fause lips,
But never a drap gaed in.
21 Lady Isabel put it till her cheek,
Sae did she till her chin,
Sae did she till her rosy lips,
And the rank poison gaed in.
22 O take this cup frae me, mother,
O take this cup frae me ;
My bed is made in a better place
Than ever yours will be.
23 ' My bed is in the heavens high,
Amang the angels fine ;
But yours is in the lowest hell,
To drie torment and pine.'
24 Nae moan was made for Lady Isabel
In bower where she lay dead,
But a' was for that ill woman,
In the fields mad she gaed.
262
LORD LIVINGSTON
Lord Livingston,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 39.
As far as can be made out, Livingston and
Seaton engage themselves to play against one
another at some game, the victor expecting to
stand the better in the eyes of a lady. They
then proceed to Edinburgh castle, where a
lady, whose ' gowns seem like green,' marshals
the company in pairs, and chooses Livingston
for her own partner. This preference en
rages Seaton, who challenges Livingston to
fight with him the next day. Up to this
point the pairing may have been for a dance,
or what not, but now we are told that Living
ston and the fair dame are laid in the same bed,
and further on that they were wedded that
same night. In the morning Livingston arms
himself for his fight; he declines to let his
lady dress herself in man's clothes and fight
in his stead. On his way ' to plain fields ' a
witch warns him that she has had the dream
which Sweet William dreams in No 74, and
others elsewhere. Livingston is 'slain,' but
for all that stands presently bleeding by his
lady's knee: see No 73, B 34, D 17. She
begs him to hold out but half an hour, and
every leech in Edinburgh shall come to him :
see No 88, A 12, etc. He orders his lands to
be dealt to the auld that may not, the young
that cannot, etc. : see No 92, A 10, B 15.
The lady declares that it was known from her
birth that she was to marry a knight and lose
him the next day. She will now do for his
sake what other ladies would not be equal to
(and which nevertheless many other ballad-
ladies have undertaken, as in No 69 and else-
VOL. IV.
55
432
262. LORD LIVINGSTON
where). When seven years are near an end
her heart breaks.
This ballad, or something like it, was
known at the end of the last century. The
story has a faint resemblance to that of ' Arm
strong and Musgrave,' a broadside printed in
the last quarter of the seventeenth century :
Crawford Ballads, No 123, Old Ballads, 1723,
I, 175; Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, II, 70.
Pinkerton acknowledges that he composed the
'Lord Livingston' of his Tragic Ballads,
1781, p. 69, but he says that he had " small
lines from tradition." (Ancient Scotish Po
ems, 1786, I, cxxxi.) Pinkerton's ballad
is the one which Buchan refers to, II, 308.
It is translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og
skotske Folkeviser, p. 139, No 21.
1 IT fell about the Lammas time,
When wightsmen won their hay,
A' the squires in merry Linkuin
Went a' forth till a play.
2 They playd until the evening tide,
The sun was gaeing down ;
A lady thro plain fields was bound,
A lily leesorae thing.
3 Two s^quires that for this lady pledged,
In hopes for a renown,
The one was calld the proud Seaton,
The other Livingston.
4 ' When will ye, Michaell o Livingston,
Wad for this lady gay ? '
4 To-morrow, to-morrow/ said Livingston,
' To-morrow, if you may.'
5 Then they hae wadded their wagers,
And laid their pledges down ;
To the high castle o Edinbro
They made them ready boun.
6 The chamber that they did gang in,
There it was daily dight ;
The kipples were like the gude red gowd,
As they stood up in hight,
And the roof-tree like the siller white,
And shin'd like candles bright.
7 The lady fair into that ha
Was comely to be seen ;
Her kirtle was made o the pa,
Her gowns seemd o the green.
8 Her gowns seemd like green, like green,
Her kirtle o the pa ;
A siller wand intill her hand,
She marshalld ower them a*.
9 She gae every knight a lady bright,
And every squire a may ;
Her own sell chose him Livingston,
They were a comely tway.
10 Then Seaton started till his foot,
The fierce flame in his ee :
' On the next day, wi sword in hand,
On plain fields meet ye me.'
11 When bells were rung, and mass was sung,
And a' man bound for bed,
Lord Livingston and his fair dame
In bed were sweetly laid.
12 The bed, the bed where they lay in
Was coverd wi the pa ;
A covering o the gude red gowd
Lay nightly ower the twa.
13 So they lay there, till on the morn
The sun shone on their feet ;
Then up it raise him Livingston
To draw to him a weed.
14 The first an weed that he drew on
Was o the linen clear ;
The next an weed that he drew on,
It was a weed o weir.
16 The niest an weed that he drew on
Was gude iron and steel ;
Twa gloves o plate, a gowden helmet.
Became that hind chiel weel.
262. LORD LIVINGSTON
433
16 Then out it speaks that lady gay
A little f orbye stood she
' I '11 dress mysell in men's array,
Gae to the fields for thee.'
17 ' O God forbid,' said Livingston,
' That eer I dree the shame ;
My lady slain in plain fields,
And I coward knight at haine ! '
18 He scarcely travelled frae the town
A mile but barely twa
Till he met wi a witch-woman,
I pray to send her wae !
19 ' This is too gude a day, my lord,
To gang sae far frae town ;
This is too gude a day, my lord,
On field to make you boun.
20 ' I dreamd a dream concerning thee,
O read ill dreams to guid !
Your bower was full o milk-white swans,
Your bride's bed full o bluid.'
21 ' O bluid is gude,' said Livingston,
' To bide it whoso may ;
If I be frae yon plain fields,
Nane knew the plight I lay.'
22 Then he rade on to plain fields
As swift 's his horse coud hie,
And there he met the proud Seaton,
Come boldly ower the lee.
23 ' Come on to me now, Livingston,
Or then take foot and flee ;
This is the day that we must try
Who gains the victorie.'
24 Then they fought with sword in hand
Till they were bluidy men ;
But on the point o Beaton's sword
Brave Livingston was slain.
25 His lady lay ower castle-wa,
Beholding dale and down,
When Blenchant brave, his gallant steed,
Came prancing to the town.
26 ' O where is now my ain gude lord
He stays sae far frae me ? '
4 O dinna ye see your ain gude lord
Stand bleeding by your knee ? '
27 ' O live, O live, Lord Livingston,
The space o ae half hour,
There 's nae a leech in Edinbro town
But I '11 bring to your door.'
28 ' Awa wi your leeches, lady,' he said,
'Of them I '11 be the waur;
There 's nae a leech in Edinbro town
That can strong death debar.
29 ' Ye '11 take the lands o Livingston
And deal them liberallie,
To the auld that may not, the young that can
not,
And blind that does na see,
And help young maidens' marriages,
That has nae gear to gie.'
30 ' My mother got it in a book,
The first night I was born,
I woud be wedded till a knight,
And him slain on the morn.
31 ' But I will do for my love's sake
What ladies woudna thole ;
Ere seven years shall hae an end,
Nae shoe 's gang on my sole.
32 * There 's never lint gang on my head,
Nor kaine gang in my hair,
Nor ever coal nor candle-light
Shine in my bower mair.'
33 When seven years were near an end,
The lady she thought lang,
And wi a crack her heart did brake.
And sae this ends my sang.
434
263. THE NEW-SLAIN KNIGHT
263
THE NEW-SLAIN KNIGHT
'The New-Slain Knight,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 197.
A KNIGHT (who twaddles in the first per
son at the beginning) finds a maid sleeping
under a hedge, wakes her, and tells her that
he has seen a dead man in her father's garden.
She asks about the dead man's hawk, hound,
sword. His hawk and hound were gone, his
horse was tied to a tree, a bloody sword lay
under his head. She asks about his clothes,
and receives a description, with the addition
that his hair was bonny and new combed.
4 I combed it late yesterday ! ' says the lady.
4 Who now will shoe my foot, and glove my
hand, and father my bairn ? ' The knight
offers himself for all these, but the lady will
commit herself only to Heaven. The knight,
after knacking his fingers quite superfluously,
unmasks ; he has only been making a trial of
her truth.
A large part of this piece is imitated or
taken outright from very well known ballads
(as has already been pointed out by the editor
of the Ballad Minstrelsy of Scotland, 1871,
p. 345) : 5-8 from 4 Young Johnstone,' No 88 ;
10, 11 from ' The Lass of Roch Royal,' No 76
(see particularly B 1-4, and compare No 66,
A 24, etc.) ; for 13 1 - 2 see No 91, B 5 1 , 6 1 , 7 1 ,
D 7 1 - 2 , No 257, A 7.
Grundtvig notes that this piece is of the
same description as the Danish 4 Troskabspro-
ven,' Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, IV, 553,
No 252, one version of which is translated by
Prior, III, 289, No 146. Naturally, the fidel
ity of maid or wife is celebrated in the bal
lads of every tongue and people. This par
ticular ballad, so far as it is original, is of very
ordinary quality. The ninth stanza is pretty,
but not quite artless.
Translated by Grundtvig, Engelske
skotske Folkeviser, p. 294, No 46.
g
1 MY heart is lighter than the poll ;
My folly made me glad,
As on my rambles I went out,
Near by a garden-side.
2 I walked on, and farther on,
Love did my heart engage ;
There I spied a well-faird maid,
Lay sleeping near a hedge.
3 Then I kissd her with my lips
And stroked her with my hand :
' Win up, win up, ye well-faird maid,
This day ye sleep oer lang.
4 ' This dreary sight that I hae seen
Unto my heart gives pain ;
At the south side o your father's garden,
I see a knight lies slain.'
5 O what like was his hawk, his hawk?
Or what like was his hound ?
And what like was the trusty brand
This new-slain knight had on? '
6 ' His hawk and hound were from him gone,
His steed tied to a tree ;
A bloody brand beneath his head,
And on the ground lies he.'
7 ' O what like was his hose, his hose?
And what like were his shoon?
And what like was the gay clothing
This new-slain knight had on? '
264. THE WHITE FISHER
435
8 ' His coat was of the red scarlet,
His waistcoat of the same ;
His hose were of the bonny black,
And shoon laced with cordin.
9 ' Bonny was his yellow hair,
For it was new combd down ; '
Then, sighing sair, said the lady fair,
' I combd it late yestreen.
10 ' O wha will shoe my fu fair foot ?
Or wha will glove my hand ?
Or wha will father my dear bairn,
Since my love 's dead and gane? '
11 ' O I will shoe your fu fair foot,
And I will glove your hand ;
And I '11 be father to your bairn,
Since your love 's dead and gane.'
12 'I winna father my bairn,' she said,
' Upon an unkent man ;
I '11 father it on the King of Heaven,
Since my love 's dead and gane.'
13 The knight he knackd his white fingers,
The lady tore her hair ;
He 's drawn the mask from off his face,
Says, Lady, mourn nae mair.
14 ' For ye are mine, and I am thine,
I see your love is true ;
And if I live and brook my life
Ye 'se never hae cause to rue.'
10 1 , II 1 . fair fu.
264
THE WHITE FISHER
' The White Fisher,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 200.
A YOUNG lord, Willie, asks his * gay lady '
whose the child is that she is going with. She
owns that a priest is the father, which does
not appear to disconcert Willie. A boy is
born, and the mother charges Willie to throw
him into the sea, ' never to return till white
fish he bring hame.' Willie takes the boy
(now called his son) to his mother, and tells
her that his 'bride' is a king's daughter;
upon which his mother, who had had an ill
opinion of the lady, promises to do as well by
Willie's son as she had done by Willie. Re
turning to his wife, he finds her weeping and
repining for the ' white fisher ' that she had
' sent to the sea.' Willie offers her a cor
dial ; she says that the man who could have
drowned her son would be capable of poison
ing her. Willie then tells her that his mother
has the boy in charge ; she is consoled, and
declares that if he had not been the father
she should not have been the mother.
To make this story hang together at all, we
must suppose that the third and fourth stan
zas are tropical, and that Willie was the
priest ; or else that they are sarcastic, and are
uttered in bitter resentment of Willie's sus
picion, or affected suspicion. But we need
not trouble ourselves much to make these coun
terfeits reasonable. Those who utter them
rely confidently upon our taking folly and
jargon as the marks of genuineness. The
white fisher is a trumpery fancy ; 2, 7, 8, 12
are frippery commonplaces.
436
264. THE WHITE F1SHEK
1 ' IT is a month, and isna raair,
Love, sin I was at thee,
But find a stirring in your side ;
Who may the father be V
2 Is it to a lord of might,
Or baron of high degree ?
Or is it to the little wee page
That rode along wi me ? '
S ' It is not to a man of might,
Nor baron of high degree,
But it is to a popish priest ;
My lord, I winna lie.
4 ' He got me in my bower alone,
As I sat pensively ;
He vowed he would forgive my sins,
If I would him obey.'
5 Now it fell ance upon a day
This young lord went from home,
And great and heavy were the pains
That came this lady on.
6 Then word has gane to her gude lord,
As he sat at the wine,
And when the tidings he did hear
Then he came singing hame.
7 When he came to his own bower-door,
He tirled at the pin :
Sleep ye, wake ye, my gay lady,
Ye '11 let your gude lord in.'
8 Huly, huly raise she up,
And slowly put she on,
And slowly came she to the door ;
She was a weary woman.
9 4 Ye '11 take up my son, Willie,
That ye see here wi me,
And hae him down to yon shore-side,
And throw him in the sea.
10 ' Gin he sink, ye '11 let him sink,
Gin he swim, ye '11 let him swim ;
And never let him return again
Till white fish he bring hame.'
1 1 Then he 's taen up his little young son,
And rowd him in a band,
And he is on to his mother,
As fast as he could gang.
12 ' Ye '11 open the door, my mother dear,
Ye '11 open, let me come in ;
My young son is in my arms twa,
And shivering at the chin.'
18 'I tauldyou true, my son Willie,
When ye was gaun to ride,
That lady was an ill woman
That ye chose for your bride.'
14 ' O hold your tongue, my mother dear,
Let a' your folly be ;
I wat she is a king's daughter
That 's sent this son to thee.
15 ' I wat she was a king's daughter
I loved beyond the sea,
And if my lady hear of this
Right angry will she be.'
16 If that be true, my son Willie
Your ain tongue winna lie
Nae waur to your son will be done
Than what was done to thee.'
17 He 's gane hame to his lady,
And sair mourning was she :
' What ails you now, my lady gay,
Ye weep sa bitterlie ? '
18 ' O bonny was the white fisher
That I sent to the sea ;
But lang, lang will I look for fish
Ere white fish he bring me !
1 9 ' O bonny was the white fisher
That ye kiest in the faem ;
But lang, lang will I look for fish
Ere white fish he fetch hame !
20 ' I fell a slumbering on my bed
That time ye went frae me,
And dreamd my young son filld my arms,
But when waked 1 , he 's in the sea.'
21 ' O hold your tongue, my gay lady,
Let a' your mourning be,
And I '11 gie you some fine cordial,
My love, to comfort thee.'
22 ' I value not your fine cordial,
Nor aught that ye can gie ;
Who could hae drownd my bonny young son
Could as well poison me.'
28 Cheer up your heart, my lily flower,
Think nae sic ill o me ;
Your young son 's in my mother's bower,
Set on the nourice knee.
265. THE KNIGHT'S GHOST
437
24 ' Now, if ye '11 be a gude woman,
I '11 neer mind this to thee ;
Nae waur is done to your young son
Than what was done to me.'
25 ' Well fell 's me now, my ain gude lord ;
These words do cherish me ;
If it hadna come o yoursell, my lord,
'T would neer hae come o me.'
7*. Ye sleep ye, wake ye.
265
THE KNIGHT'S GHOST
1 The Knight's Ghost,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 227.
A LADY who is expecting the return of her
lord from sea goes down to the strand to meet
him. The ship comes in, but the sailors tell
her that she will never see her husband ; he
has been slain. She invites the men to drink
with her, takes them down to the cellar, makes
them drunk, locks the door, and bids them lie
there for the bad news they have told ; then
she throws the keys into the sea, to lie there
till her lord returns. After these efforts she
falls asleep in her own room, and her dead
lord starts up at her feet ; he brings the keys
with him, and charges her to release his men,
who had done their best for him and were
not to blame for his death. The lady, to turn
this visit to the more account, asks to be in
formed what day she is to die, and what day
to be buried. The knight is not empowered
to answer, but, come to heaven when she will,
he will be her porter. He sees no objection
to telling her that she will be married again
and have nine children, six ladies free and
three bold young men.
The piece has not a perceptible globule of
old blood in it, yet it has had the distinction
of being more than once translated as a speci
men of Scottish popular ballads. ' Monie ' in
2 2 may be plausibly read, or understood, ' me-
nie,' retinue ; still the antecedent presump
tion in favor of nonsense in ballads of this
class makes one hesitate. 7 3 ' 4 is unnatural ;
no dissembling would be required to induce
the young men to drink. In 8 3 , ' birled them
wi the beer ' is what we should expect, not
' birled wi them.'
Translated by Rosa Warrens, Schottische
Volkslieder der Vorzeit, p. 57, No 13 ; by
Gerhard, p. 154.
1 ' THERE is a fashion in this land,
And even come to this country,
That every lady should meet her lord
When he is newly come frae sea :
2 ' Some wi hawks, and some wi hounds,
And other some wi gay monie ;
But I will gae myself alone,
And set his young son on his knee.'
3 She 's taen her young son in her arms,
And nimbly walkd by yon sea- strand,
And there she spy'd her father's ship,
As she was sailing to dry land.
4 ' Where hae ye put my ain gude lord,
This day he stays sae* far frae me ? '
' If ye be wanting your ain gude lord,
A sight o him ye '11 never see.'
438
265. THE KNIGHT'S GHOST
5 ' Was he brunt? or was he shot?
Or was he drowned in the sea ?
Or what 's become o my ain gude lord,
That he will neer appear to me? '
6 ' He wasna brunt, nor was he shot,
Nor was he drowned in the sea ;
He was slain in Dumfennling,
A fatal day to you and me.'
7 'Come in, come in, my merry young men,
Come in and drink the wine wi me ;
And a' the better ye shall fare
For this gude news ye tell to me.'
8 She 's brought them down to yon cellar,
She brought them fifty steps and three ;
She birled wi them the beer and wine,
Till they were as drunk as drunk could be.
9 Then she has lockd her cellar-door,
For there were fifty steps and three :
' Lie there, wi my sad malison,
For this bad news ye 've tauld to me.'
10 She 's taen the keys intill her hand
And threw them deep, deep in the sea :
Lie there, wi my sad malison,
Till nSy gude lord return to me.'
1 1 Then she sat down in her own room,
And sorrow lulld her fast asleep,
And up it starts her own gude lord,
And even at that lady's feet.
12 ' Take here the keys, Janet,' he says,
That ye threw deep, deep in the sea ;
And ye '11 relieve my merry young men,
For they 've nane o the swick o me.
13 'They shot the shot, and drew the stroke,
And wad in red bluid to the knee ;
Nae sailors mair for their lord coud do
Nor my young men they did for me.'
14 ' I hae a question at you to ask,
Before that ye depart f rae me ;
You '11 tell to me what day I '11 die,
And what day will my burial be? '
15 I hae nae mair o God's power
Than he has granted unto me ;
But come to heaven when ye will,
There porter to you I will be.
16 ' But ye '11 be wed to a finer knight
Than ever was in my degree ;
Unto him ye '11 hae children nine,
And six o them will be ladies free.
17 ' The other three will be bold young men,
To fight for king and countrie ;
The ane a duke, the second a knight,
And third a laird o lands sae free.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
VOL. I.
1. Biddies Wisely Expounded.
Pp. 1-3, 484 ; II, 495 a. Little-Russian. Three
lads give a girl riddles. ' If you guess right, shall you
be ours ? ' Golovatsky, II, 83, 19. Two other pieces
in the same, III, 180, 55. (W. W.)
A king's daughter, or other maid, makes the reading
of her riddles a condition of marriage in several Po
lish tales ; it may be further stipulated that a riddle
shall be also given which the woman cannot guess, or
that those who fail shall forfeit their life. Karlowicz
in Wisla, III, 258, 270, where are cited, besides a MS.
communication, Zbidr wiadomosci do antropologii kra-
jowej, V, 194, VII, 12 ; Glinski, Bajarz Polski, III,
No 1 ; Kolberg, Krakowskie, IV, 204.
2. The Elfin Knight.
P. 7 a. The last two stanzas of F are also in Kin-
loch MSS, V, 275, with one trivial variation, and the
burden, ' And then, etc.'
Sir Walter Scott had a copy beginning, ' There lived
a wife in the wilds of Kent : ' Sharpe's Ballad Book,
1880, p. 147 f.
7 b, 484 a. Add: P, Q, Hruschka u. Toischer,
Deutsche Volkslieder aus Bohmen, p. 171 , No 124, a, b.
7 b, III, 496 a. Store Fordringer,' Kristensen,
Jyske Folkeminder, X, 342, No 85 (with the stupid
painted roses).
7 f, 484 a, II, 495 a, III, 496 a. Add : I tre Tam-
buri,' Ferraro, C. P. del Basso Monferrato, p. 52 ; 'II
Compito,' Romaic, Tommaseo, III, 13 (already cited
by Nigra).
8 a, II, 495 a. Tasks. Servian ballads. Kara
dzic, Sr. n. pj., I, 164, No 240, ' The Spinster and the
Tsar;' I, 165, No 242, The Spinster and the Gold
smith.' Cf. I, 166, No 243. Also, Karadzic, Sr. n.
pj. iz Herz., p. 217, No 191 ; Petranovic, I, 13, No 16
(where the girl's father sets the tasks), and p. 218, No
238 ; Rajkovic, p. 209, No 237. Bulgarian. Collec
tion of the Bulgarian Ministry of Public Instruction,
II, 31, 3 ; III, 28, 4. Cf. Verkovic, p. 52, 43 ; Bezso-
nov, II, 74, 105 ; Miladinof, p. 471, 536. Russian.
An episode in the old Russian legend of Prince Peter
of Murom and his wife Fevronija, three versions : Ku-
selev-Bezborodko, Monuments of Old Russian Litera
ture, I, 29 ff. (W. W.)
Wit-contests in verse, the motive of love or mar
riage having probably dropped out. Polish. Five ex
amples are cited by Karlowicz, Wisla, III, 267 ff. : Kol
berg, Krakowskie, II, 149, and Mazowsze, II, 149, No
332, Zbidr wiad. do antrop., X, 297, No 217, and two
not before printed. Moravian examples from Susil,
p. 692 f., No 809, p. 701 ff., No 815 : make me a shirt
without needle or thread, twist me silk out of oaten
straw ; count me the stars, build me a ladder to go up
to them ; drain the Red Sea, make me a bucket that
will hold it ; etc. Zapolski, White Russian Weddings
and Wedding-Songs, p. 35, No 19. Wisla, as before,
III, 532 ff.
Polish tales of The Clever Wench are numerous :
Wisla, III, 270 ff.
13 b. A fragment of a riddle given by a wise man
to the gods is preserved in a cuneiform inscription :
[What is that ] which is in the house ? which roars
like a bull? which growls like a bear? which enters
into the heart of a man? etc. The answer is evidently
air, wind. George Smith, The Chaldean Account of
Genesis, 1876, p. 156 : cited by J. Karlowicz, Wisla,
III, 273.
15-20, 484 f., II, 495 f. Communicated by the Rev.
S. Baring-Gould. " From the north of Cornwall, near
Camelford. This used to be sung as a sort of game in
farm-houses, between a young man who went outside
the room and a girl who sat on the settle or a chair, and
a sort of chorus of farm lads and lasses. Now quite
discontinued." The dead lover represents the auld
man in I.
1 A fair pretty maiden she sat on her bed,
The wind is blowing in forest and town
She sighed and she said, O my love he is dead !
And the wind it shaketh the acorns down
2 The maiden she sighed ; ' I would,' said she,
' That again my lover might be with me ! '
3 Before ever a word the maid she spake,
But she for fear did shiver and shake.
4 There stood at her side her lover dead ;
' Take me by the hand, sweet love,' he said.
5 .
6 ' Thou must buy me, my lady, a cambrick shirt,
Whilst every grove rings with a merry an-
tine
VOL. IV.
56
440
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
And stitch it without any needle-work.
O and thus shalt thou be a true love of mine
7 'And thou must wash it in yonder well,
Whilst, etc.
Where never a drop of water in fell.
O and thus, etc.
8 'And thou must hang it upon a white thorn
That never has blossomed since Adam was
born.
9 ' And when that these tasks are finished and
done
I '11 take thee and marry thee under the sun.'
10 ' Before ever I do these two and three,
I will set of tasks as many to thee.
11 ' Thou must buy for me an acre of land
Between the salt ocean and the yellow sand.
12 ' Thou must plough it oer with a horse's horn,
And sow it over with one peppercorn.
13 ' Thou* must reap it too with a piece of leather,
And bind it up with a peacock's feather.
14 ' And when that these tasks are finished and
done,
O then will I marry thee under the sun.'
15 ' Now thou hast answered me well,' he said,
The wind, etc.
' Or thou must have gone away with the dead.'
And the wind, etc.
16 .
Mr Frank Kidsen has given a copy of ' Scarborough
Fair,' with some better readings, as sung " in Whitby
streets twenty or thirty years ago," in Traditional
Tunes, p. 43, 1891.
1-4, second line of burden, true love.
2 2 . Without any seam or needlework.
8 1 . yonder dry well. 3 2 . no water sprung.
4 1 . Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn.
4 2 . Which never bore blossom since.
5, 6. Wanting. 7 1 . O will you find me.
7 a . Between the sea-foam [and] the sea-sand. Or
never be a true lover of mine.
8 1 . O will you plough. 9 1 . O will you reap it.
9 2 . And tie it all up.
10 1 . And when you have done and finished your
work.
10 8 . You may come to me for your. And then
you shall be a. At p. 172, the first stanza of
another version is given, with Rue, parsley, rose
mary and thyme for the first line of the burden.
3. The Pause Knight upon the Road.
Pp. 20, 485 (also, 14 a, 484 a), III, 496 a. Foiling
mischievous sprites and ghosts by getting the last word,
or prolonging talk till the time when they must go,
especially the noon-sprite : Wisla, III, 275 f., and notes
44-6 ; also, 269 f. The Wends have the proverbial
phrase, to ask as many questions as a noon-sprite.
The Poles have many stories of beings that take ser
vice without wages, on condition of no fault being found,
and make off instantly upon the terms being broken.
20, III, 496 a. The last verses of ' Tsanno d'Oyme,'
Daymard, Vieux Chants pop. recueillis en Quercy, p.
70, are after the fashion of this ballad.
'Tsano d'Oyme, atal fuesses ndgado !'
' Lou fil del rey, et bous ne fuesse's Paygo ! '
. ' Tsano d'Oyme, atal fuesse's brullado ! '
' Lou fil del rey, et bous fuesses las clappos ! '
4. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight.
P. 24 a. A copy in Christie's Traditional Ballad
Airs, II, 236, ' May Colvine and Fause Sir John ' (of
which no account is given), is a free compilation from
D b, D a, and C c.
The Gaelic tale referred to by Jamieson may be seen,
as Mr Macmath has pointed out to me, in Rev. Alex
ander Stewart's 'Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe, Ed
inburgh, 1885, p. 205 ff. Dr Stewart gives nine stanzas
of a Gaelic ballad, and furnishes an English render
ing. The story has no connection with that of No 4.
25 b, note. ' Halewyn en het kleyne Kind,' in the
first volume of the MS. Poesies pop. de la France, was
communicated by Crnssemaker, and is the same piece
that he printed. Other copies in Lootens et Feys, No
45, p. 85 (see p. 296) ; Volkskunde , II, 194, ' Van Mijn-
heerken van Bruindergestem.'
27 a, note f- Add : Mac Inness, Folk and Hero Tales
[Gaelic], p. 301, a Highland St George: see 1, 487, note.
27 f. Professor Bugge, Arkiv for nordisk Filologi,
VII, 120-36, 1891, points out that a Swedish ballad
given in Grundtvig, D. g. F. IV, 813f.,F, and here re
ferred to under 'Hind Etin,' I, 364 b, as Swedish C,
has resemblances with 'Kvindemorderen.' Fru Malin
is combing her hair al fresco, when a suitor enters her
premises ; he remarks that a crown would sit well on
her head. The lady skips off to her chamber, and ex
claims, Christ grant he may wish to be mine ! The
441
suitor follows her, and asks, Where is the fair dame who
wishes to be mine ? But when Fru Malin comes to table
she is in trouble, and the suitor puts her several leading
questions. She is sad, not for any of several reasons
suggested, but for the bridge under which her seven
sisters (syskon) lie. ' Sorrow not,' he says, ' we shall
build the bridge so broad and long that four-and-twenty
horses may go over at a time.' They pass through a
wood ; on the bridge her horse stumbles, and she is
thrown into the water. She cries for help ; she will give
him her gold crown. He cares nothing for the crown,
and never will help her out. Bugge maintains that this
ballad is not, as Grundtvig considered it, a compound of
' Nokkens Svig ' and ' Harpens Kraft,' but an indepen
dent ballad, 'The Bride Drowned,' of a set to which
belong 'Der Wasserman,' Haupt and Schmaler, I, 62,
No 34, and many German ballads : see Grundtvig, IV,
810 f, and here I, 365 f., 38.
29-37, 486 a. Add : E E, Hruschka u. Toischer,
Deutsche Volkslieder aus Bbhmen, p. 126, No 35. Like
Q, p. 35.
39 ff . The Polish ballad Jas i Kasia.' Mr John
Karlowicz has given, in Wisla, IV, 393-424, the results
of a study of this ballad, and they are here briefly sum
marized.
Ten unprinted versions are there added to the large
number already published, making about ninety copies,
if fragments are counted. Copies not noted at I, 39,
486, are, besides these ten, the following. Kolberjr,
Krakowskie, II, 111, 168, Nos 208, 336 ; Kieleckie, II,
148, No 453 ; Leczychie, p. 131, No 223 ; Lubelskie, I,
289 ff., Nos 473 1 , 474 ; Poznanskie, IV, 63, No 131 ;
Mazowsze, III, 274, No 386, IV, 320, No 346. Zbio'r
wiadomosci do antropologii krajowej, II, 78, Nos 89,
90 ; IV, 129 ; X, 123. Wisla, II, 132, 159. Prace
filologiczne, II, 568. Ketrzynski, O Mazurach, p. 35,
No 1. Zawilidski, Z powiesci i pies*ni gdrali beskido-
wych, p. 88, No 66. Wasilewski, Jagodne, etc., No 120.
Federowski, Lud okolic Zarek, etc., p. 102, No 49.
Most of the ten versions printed in Wisla agree with
others previously published ; in some there are novel
details. In No 3, p. 398, Kasia, thrown into the water
by her lover, is rescued by her brother. In No 10,
p. 404, Jds, when drowning the girl, tells her that he
has drowned four already, and she shall be the fifth ;
her brother comes sliding down a silken rope ; fisher
men take the girl out dead. There are still only two
of all the Polish versions in which Catharine kills John,
A a, b. The name Ligar, in the latter, points clearly,
Mr Karlowicz remarks, to the U-linger, Ad-elger, Ol-
legehr of the German versions, and he is convinced
that the ballad came into Poland from Germany, al
though the girl is not drowned in the German ballad,
as in the Polish, English, and French.
John, who is commonly the hero in the Polish ballad,
is at the beginning of many copies declared to have
sung, and the words have no apparent sense. But we
observe that in the versions of western Europe the
hero plays on the horn, sings a seductive song, promises
to teach the girl to sing, etc. ; the unmeaning Polish
phrase is therefore a survival.
In many of the German versions a bird warns the
maid of her dangej: . This feature is found once only
in Polish : in Zawilinski (No 69 A of Karlowicz).
At p. 777 of Susil's Moravian Songs there are two
other versions which I have not noticed, the second of
them manifestly derived from Poland.
There is a Little-Russian ballad which begins like
the Polish ' Jds i Kasia,' but ends with the girl being
tied to a tree and burned, instead of being drowned :
Wisla, IV, 423, from Zbidr wiadom. do antrop., Ill,
150, No 17. Traces of the incident of the burning are
also found in Polish and Moravian songs : Wisla, pp.
418-22. It is probable that there were two independent
ballads, and that these have been confounded.
42 a, III, 497 a. A. Add: ' Renaud et ses Femmes,'
Revue des Traditions Populaires, VI, 34.
43 a. ' Lou Cros de Proucinello,' Daymard, Vieux
Chants p. recueillis en Quercy, p. 130, has at the end
two traits of this ballad. A young man carries off a girl
whom he has been in love with seven years ; he throws
her into a ravine ; as she falls, she catches at a tree ;
he cuts it away ; she cries, What shall I do with my
pretty gowns ? and is answered, Give them to me for
another mistress. Cf. also Daymard, p. 128.
43 b, III, 497 a. La Fille de Saint-Martin.' Add:
' Le Mari Assassin,' Chanson du pays de Caux, Revue
des Traditions Populaires, IV, 133.
43 f., 488 a, III, 497. Italian. The ballad in
Nannarelli (488 a) I have seen : it is like ' La Monfer-
rina incontaminata.' Add: 'Labella Inglese,' Salva-
dori, in Giornale di Filologia Romanza, II, 201 ; ' Un'
eroina,' A. Giannini, Canzoni del Contado di Massa
Lunense, No 1, Archivio, VIII, 273; [' Montiglia '],
['Inglesa'j, Bolognini, Annuario degli Alpinisti Tri-
dentini, XIII, Usi e Costumi del Trentino, 1888, p. 37 f.
44 b. ' La Princesa Isabel,' Pidal, Romancero Astu-
riano, p. 350 (sung by children as an accompaniment to
a game), is a variety of ' Rico Franco.'
45 a, 488 a. Another Portuguese version, ' O caso
de D. Ignez,' Braga, Amplia9oes ao Romanceiro das
Ilhas dos A9ores, Revista Lusitana, I, 103.
45 b. Breton, 5. Marivonnic also in Quellien, Chan
sons et Danses des Bretons, 1889, p. 99.
50 b, note ||. As to this use of blood, cf. H. von
Wlistocki, Volksthiimliches zum Armen Heinrich,
Ztschr. f. deutsche Philologie, 1890, XXIII, 217 ff ;
Notes and Queries, 7th Series, VIII, 363. (G. L. K.)
55. B. A copy in Walks near Edinburgh, by Mar
garet Warrender, 1890, p. 104, differs from B b in only
a few words, as any ordinary recollection would. As :
4 8 , 6 8 , 8 8 . my guid steed.
9 4 . It will gar our loves to twine.
10*. An I '11 ring for you the bell.
II 8 . Grant me ae kiss o your fause, fause mouth
(improbable reading).
14 2 . she won. 14 8 . most heartily.
442
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
56 ff., 488 f., H, 497 f.
The copy of ' May Collin ' which follows is quite the
best of the series C-O. It is written on the same sheet
of paper as the "copy of some antiquity" used by
Scott in making up his Gay Goss Hawk' (ed. 1802,
II, 7). The sheet is perhaps as old as any in the vol
ume in which it occurs, but may possibly not be the
original. ' May Collin ' is not in the same hand as the
other ballad.
According to the preface to a stall-copy spoken of by
Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. Ixx, 24, " the treacherous
and murder-minting lover was an ecclesiastic of the
monastery of Maybole," and the preface to D d (see
I, 488) makes him a Dominican friar. So, if we were
to accept these guides, the ' Sir ' would be the old ec
clesiastical title and equivalent to the ' Mess ' of the
copy now to be given.
'May Collin,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Min
strelsy," No 146, Abbotsford.
1 May Collin
was her father's heir,
And she fell in love with a falsh priest,
And she rued it ever mair.
2 He followd her butt, he followd her benn,
He followd her through the hall,
Till she had neither tongue nor teeth
Nor lips to say him naw.
3 ' We '11 take the steed out where he is,
The gold where eer it be,
And we '11 away to some unco land,
And married we shall be.'
4 They had not riden a mile, a mile,
A mile but barely three,
Till they came to a rank river,
Was raging like the sea.
5 * Light off, light off now, May Collin,
It 's here that you must die ;
Here I have drownd seven king's daughters,
The eight now you must be.
6 ' Cast off, cast off now, May Collin,
Your gown that 's of the green ;
For it 's oer good and oer costly
To rot in the sea-stream.
7 ' Cast off, cast off now, May Collin,
Your coat that 's of the black ;
For it 's oer good and oer costly
To rot in the sea-wreck.
8 ' Cast off, cast off now, May Collin,
Your stays that are well laced ;
For thei *r oer good and costly
In the sea's ground to waste.
9 ' Cast [off, cast off now, May Collin,]
Your sark that 's of the holland ;
For [it 's oer good and oer costly]
To rot in the sea-bottom.'
10 ' Turn you about now, falsh Mess John,
To the green leaf of the tree ;
It does not fit a mansworn man
A naked woman to see.'
11 He turnd him quickly round about,
To the green leaf of the tree ;
She took him hastly in her arms
And flung him in the sea.
12 ' Now lye you there, you falsh Mess John,
My mallasin go with thee !
You thought to drown me naked and bare,
But take your cloaths with thee,
And if there be seven king's daughters there
Bear you them company.'
13 She lap on her milk steed
And fast she bent the way,
And she was at her father's yate
Three long hours or day.
14 Up and speaks the wylie parrot,
So wylily and slee :
' Where is the man now, May Collin,
That gaed away wie thee ? '
15 ' Hold your tongue, my wylie parrot,
And tell no tales of me,
And where I gave a pickle befor
It 's now I '-11 give you three.'
I 1 - 1 . One line : May Collin was her father's heir.
7*. on the. 8*. ina? indistinct. 12 6 . 7.
5. Gil Brenton.
P. 63 b. Swedish. ' Riddar Olof,' Lagus, Ny-
landska Folkvisor, I, 63, No 16, a, 6, imperfect copies.
64 b. Danish. ' Den rette Brudgom ' (Samson and
Vendelru), Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 863,
No 97.
65 b. ' Herr Peders Hustru,' the same, p. 365, =
Grundtvig, No 278.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
443
70. B. The three stanzas which follow were com
municated to Scott by Major Henry Hutton, Royal Ar
tillery, 24th December, 1802 (Letters, I, No 77), as rec
ollected by his father and the family. " Scotch Ballads,
Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 18. Instead of
3,4:
There 's five o them with meal and malt,
And other five wi beef and salt ;
There 's five o them wi well-bak'd bread,
And other five wi goud so red.
There 's five o them wi the ladies bright,
There 's other five o belted knights ;
There 's five o them wi a good black neat,
And other five wi bleating sheep.
"And before the two last stanzas, introduce"
O there was seald on his breast-bane,
' Cospatric is his father's name ; '
there was seald on his right hand
He should inherit his father's land.
so is written over the second and in I*.
7. Earl Brand.
P. 88. ' Ribold og Guldborg : ' Kristensen, Jyske
Folkeminder, X, 33, ' Naevnet til d0de,' No 15, A-I.
91 b. Swedish. 'Rung Valdemo,' Ellibrand och
Froken Gyllenborg,' Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, 1, 1,
No 1, a, b. (" Name not my name," a 20, 6 12.)
95 b, 489 b ; III, 498 a. For the whole subject, see
K. Nyrop. Navnets Magt, 1887, and especially sections
4, 5, pp. 46-70. As to reluctance to have one's name
known, and the advantage such knowledge gives an
adversary, see E. Clodd, in The Folk Lore Journal,
VII, 154 ff., and, in continuation, Folk-Lore, I, 272.
The berserkr GlammaSr could pick off any man with
his pike, if only he knew his name. Saga Egils ok A.S-
mundar, Rafn, Fornaldar Sb'gur, III, 387, Asmundar-
son, F. s. NorSrlanda, III, 292. (G. L. K.)
The demonic Gelo informs certain saints who force
her " to tell them how other people's children [may] be
defended from her attacks," that if they "can write
her twelve names and a half she shall never be able to
come within seventy- five stadia and a half : " Thomas
Wright, Essays on Subjects connected with the Liter
ature, etc., of the Middle Ages, 1846, I, 294 (referring
to Leo Allatius, De Grsecorum hodie quorundam opi-
nationibus). The passage in question is to be found
at p. 127 of Leo Allatius, De templis Graecorum re-
centioribus, ad loannem Morinum ; De Narthece ec-
clesiae veteris ; nee non De Grsecorum hodie quorun
dam opinationibus, ad Paullum Zacchiam. Colonise
Agrippinse, 1645. (G. L. K.)
96 b. Swedish. Two copies of ' Rosen lilla ' in
Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 37, No 10.
Danish. Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 215,
No 52, C 9, two lilies ; p. 318, No 78, 9, 10, graves
south and north, two lilies.
97 b. French. <Les deux Amoureux,' Daymard,
Vieux Chants p. rec. en Quercy, p. 122, lavender and
tree.
97 b, 489 b, II, 498 a, III, 498 b. Slavic. (1.) White-
Russian : he buried in church, she in ditch ; plane
and linden (planted) ; plane embraces linden. MS.
(2.) Little-Russian : buried apart ; plane grows over his
grave, two birches over hers ; branches do not interlace.
Kolberg, Pokucie, p. 41. (3.) White-Russian : he in
church, she near church ; oak, birch (planted) ; trees
touch. Zbidr wiado. do antropol., XIII, 102 f. (4.) Lit
tle-Russian : burial apart in a church ; rosemary and
lily from graves. Var. : rose and sage, rosemary ; flow
ers interlace. Holovatzky, III, 254. (J. Karlowicz, in
Melusine, V, 39 ff.)
Bulgarian. A poplar from the maid's grave, a pine
from her lover's : Collection of the Bulgarian Ministry
of Instruction, I, 35. (W. W.)
97 b, 490 a, III, 498 b. Breton. Luzel, Soniou, I,
272-3 : a tree from the young man's grave, a rose from
the maid's.
99 ff., 490 ff. ' The Earl o Bran,' " Scotch Ballads,
Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 22 b, Abbotsford ;
in the handwriting of Richard Heber.
1 Did ye ever hear o guid Earl o Bran
An the queen's daughter o the south-Ian ?
2 She was na fifteen years o age
Till she came to the Earl's bed-side.
3 ' O guid Earl o Bran, I fain wad see
My grey bounds run over the lea.'
4 ' O kind lady, I have no steeds but one,
But ye shall ride, an I shall run.'
5 ' O guid Earl o Bran, but I have tua,
An ye shall hae yere wael o those.'
6 The 're ovr moss an the 're over muir,
An they saw neither rich nor poor.
7 Till they came to aid Carl Hood,
He 's ay for ill, but he 's never for good.
8 ' O guid Earl o Bran, if ye loe me,
Kill Carl Hood an gar him die.'
9 ' O kind lady, we had better spare ;
I never killd ane that wore grey hair.
444
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
10 ' We '11 gie him a penny-fie an let him gae,
An then he '11 carry nae tiddings away.'
11 * Where hae been riding this lang simmer-day ?
Or where hae stolen this lady away ? '
1 '_'() I hae not riden this lang simmer-day.
Nor hae I stolen this lady away.
13 ' For she is my sick sister
I got at the Wamshester.'
14 ' If she were sick an like to die,
She wad na be wearing the gold sae high.'
15 Aid Carl Hood is over the know,
Where they rode one mile, he ran four.
16 Till he came to her mother's yetts,
An I wat he rapped rudely at.
17 * Where is the lady o this ha ? '
' She 's out wie her maidens, playing at
the ba.'
18 ' O na !* fy na !
For I met her fifteen miles awa.
19 ' She 's over moss, an she 's over muir,
An a' to be the Earl o Bran's whore.'
20 Some rode wie sticks, an some wie rungs,
An a' to get the Earl o Bran slain.
21 That lady lookd over her left shoudder-bane :
' O guid Earl o Bran, we '11 a' be taen !
For yond 'r a' my father's men.
22 ' But if ye '11 take my claiths, I '11 take thine,
An I '11 fight a' my father's men.'
23 ' It 's no the custom in our land
For ladies to fight an knights to stand.
24 ' If they come on me ane by ane,
1 11 smash them a' doun bane by bane.
25 ' If they come on me ane and a',
Ye soon will see my body fa.'
26 He has luppen from his steed,
An he has gein her that to had.
27 An bad her never change her cheer
Untill she saw his body bleed.
28 They came on him ane by ane,
An he smashed them doun a' bane by bane.
29 He sat him doun on the green grass,
For I wat a wearit man he was.
30 But aid Carl Hood came him behind,
An I wat he gae him a deadly wound.
31 He 's awa to his lady then,
He kissed her, an set her on her steed again.
32 He rode whistlin out the way,
An a' to hearten his lady gay.
33 'Till he came to the water-flood :
' O guid Earl o Bran, I see blood ! '
34 ' O it is but my scarlet hood,
That shines upon the water-flood.'
35 They came on 'till his mother's yett,
An I wat he rappit poorly at.
36 His mother she 's come to the door :
' O son, ye 've gotten yere dead wie an Eng-
lish whore ! '
37 ' She was never a whore to me ;
Sae let my brother her husband be.'
38 Sae aid Carl Hood was not the dead o ane,
But he was the dead o hale seeventeen.
Note at the end : I have not written the chorus, but
Mr Leyden, having it by him, knows how to in
sert it.
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
22 d. In the handwriting of William Laidlaw. Scott has
written at the head, Earl Bran, another copy.
1 Earl Bran 's a wooing gane ;
Ae lalie, O lilly lalie
He woo'd a lady, an was bringing her hame.
O the gae knights o Airly
2 .
They met neither wi rich nor poor.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
445
3 Till they met wi an auld palmer Hood,
Was ay for ill, an never for good.
4 ' yonder is an auld palmer Heed :
Tak your sword an kill him dead.'
5 ' Gude forbid, O ladie fair,
That I kill an auld man an grey hair.
6 ' We '11 gie him a an forbid him to tell ; '
The gae him a an forbad him to tell.
7 The auld man than he 's away hame,
He telld o Jane whan he gaed hame.
8 * I thought I saw her on yon moss,
Riding on a milk-white horse.
9 ' I thought I saw her on yon muir ;
By this time she 's Earl Bran's whore.'
10 Her father he 's ca'd on his men :
' Gae follow, an fetch her again.'
11 She 's lookit oer her left shoulder :
' O yonder is my father's men !
12 ' O yonder is my father's men :
Take my cleadin, an I '11 take thine.'
13 ' that was never law in land,
For a ladie to feiht an a knight to stand.
14 ' But if yer father's men come ane an ane,
Stand ye by, an ye '11 see them slain.
15 ' If they come twae an twae,
Stand ye by, an ye '11 see them gae.
16 c And if they come three an three,
Stand ye by, an ye '11 see them die.'
17 Her father's men came ane an ane,
She stood by
18 Than they cam by twae an twae,
19 Than they cam by three an three,
20 But ahint him cam the auld palmer Hood,
An ran him outthro the heart's blood.
21 ' I think I see your heart's blood : '
' It 's but the glistering o your scarlet hood.'
7 1 . MS., he 's *, and, in the margin, * away has
been gane. Over away hame is written thre them
(= thrae, frae, them), or, perhaps, thre than.
20 1 . MS., palmer weed : cf. 3 l , 4 1 . 20 2 . outr thro.
P. 100, B ; 489 b, 492, 1. The printed copy used by
Scott was ' Lord Douglas' Tragedy,' the first of four
pieces in a stall - pamphlet, " licensed and entered,
1792:" "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Min
strelsy," No 1. I is another edition of the same. The
variations from I are as follows :
I 1 , says. 2 s . your arms. 3 4 . father who.
4 8 . seven wanting. 4*. just now.
5 1 . better for (the obvious misprint) bitter.
5 8 . once that. 6 1 . Jlold your hand. 7 2 . wounds.
7 4 . forkd in the. 8 1 . Lady Margret.
9 3 , 13 8 . blue gilded, as in I, for bugelet: hanging
down. 9 4 , 13 4 . slowly they both.
10 8 . yon clear river-side. II 8 . his pretty.
12 8 . 'T is nothing. 15 2 . soft. 16 2 . long ere day.
16*. died wanting. 17 1 . St for Lady.
17 8 . sprung. 18 2 . be near. 18 8 . ye : weil.
8. Erlinton.
P. 107. The two copies from which (with some edi
torial garnish and filling out) A was compounded were :
a. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,"
No 20, obtained from Nelly Laidlaw, and in the hand
writing of William Laidlaw ; b. ' Earlington's Daugh
ter,' the same collection, No 11, in the handwriting of
James Hogg. The differences are purely verbal, and
both copies may probably have been derived from the
same reciter ; still, since only seven or eight verses in
sixty-eight agree, both will be given entire, instead of a
list of the variations.
a. 1 Lord Erlinton had ae daughter,
I trow he 's weird her a grit sin ;
For he has bugn a bigly bower,
An a' to pit his ae daughter in.
An he has buggin, etc.
2 An he has warn her sisters six,
Her sisters six an her brethren se'en,
Thei 'r either to watch her a' the night,
Or than to gang i the mornin soon.
3 She had na been i that bigly bower
Not ae night but only ane
Untill that Willie, her true-love,
Chappit at the bower-door, no at the gin.
446
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
4 ' Whae 's this, whae 's this chaps at my bower-
door,
At my bower-door, no at the gin ? '
* O it is Willie, thy ain true-love ;
will ye rise an let me in ? '
6 * In my bower, Willie, there is a wane,
An in the wane there is a wake ;
But I will come to the green woods
The morn, for my ain true-love's sake.'
6 This lady she 's lain down again,
An she has lain till the cock crew thrice ;
She said unto her sisters baith,
Lasses, it 's time at we soud rise.
7 She 's putten on her breast a silver tee,
An on her back a silken gown ;
She 's taen a sister in ilka hand,
An away to the bonnie green wood she 's
gane.
8 They hadna gane a mile in that bonnie green
wood,
They had na gane a mile but only ane,
Till they met wi Willie, her ain true-love,
An thrae her sisters he has her taen.
9 He 's taen her sisters ilk by the hand,
He 's kissd them baith, an he 's sent them
hame;
He 's muntit his ladie him high behind,
An thro the bonnie green wood thei 'r gane.
10 They 'd ridden a mile i that bonnie green wood,
They hadna ridden but only ane,
When there cam fifteen o the baldest knights
That ever boor flesh, bluid an bane.
11 Than up bespak the foremost knight,
He woor the gray hair on his chin ;
' Yield me yer life or your lady fair,
An ye sal walk the green woods within/
12 ' For to gie my wife to thee,
1 wad be very laith,' said he ;
' For than the folk wad think I was gane mad,
Or that the senses war taen frae me.'
13 Up than bespak the niest foremost knight,
I trow he spak right boustrouslie ;
4 Yield me yer life or your ladie fair,
An ye sail walk the green woods wi me.'
14 ' My wife, she is my warld's meed,
My life, it lyes me very near ;
But if ye be man o your manhood
I serve will while my days are near.'
15 He 's luppen off his milk-white steed,
He 's gien his lady him by the head :
' See that ye never change yer cheer
Till ance ye see my body bleed.'
16 An he 's killd a' the fifteen knights,
He 's killed them a' but only ane ;
A' but the auld grey-headed knight,
He bade him carry the tiddins hame.
17 He 's gane to his lady again,
I trow he 's kissd her, baith cheek an chin ;
' Now ye 'r my ain, I have ye win,
An we will walk the green woods within.'
2*. Their struck out.
9 8 . muntit struck out, and set written above.
12 8 . than struck out.
14 4 . while, are, struck out, and till, be, written above.
16*. tiddins : one d struck out. These changes
would seem to be somebody^ editorial improve
ments.
Wi me in 1 8* sacrifices sense to rhyme. We are to
understand in II 8 - 4 , 13* 4 that Willie is to die if
he will not give up the lady, but if he will resign
her he may live, and walk the wood at his pleasure.
14 4 is corrupt in both texts.
b. 1 O Earlington, he has ae daughter,
And I wot he has ward her in a great sin ;
He has buggin to her a bigly bowr,
And a' to put his daughter in.
2 O he has warnd her sisters six,
Her sisters six and her brethren seven,
Either to watch her a' the night,
Or else to search her soon at morn.
3 They had na been a night in that bigly bowr,
'T is not a night but barely ane,
Till there was Willie, her ain true-love,
Rappd at the door, and knew not the gin.
4 ' Whoe 's this, whoe 's this raps at my bowr-
door,
Raps at my bowr-door, and knows not the
gin?'
' O it is Willie, thy ain true-love ;
I pray thee rise and let me in.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
447
5 ' in my bower, Willie, there is a wake,
And in the wake there is a wan ;
But I '11 come to the green wood the morn,
To the green wood for thy name's sake.'
6 O she has gaen to her bed again,
And a wait she has lain till the cock crew
thrice ;
Then she said to her sisters baith,
Lasses, 't is time for us to rise.
7 She 's puten on her back a silken gown,
And on her breast a silver tie ;
She 's taen a sister in ilka hand,
And thro the green wood they are gane.
8 They had na walkt a mile in that good green
wood,
'T is not a mile but barely ane,
Till there was Willie, her ain true-love,
And from her sisters he has her taen.
9 He 's taen her sisters by the hand,
He kist them baith, he sent them hame ;
He 's taen his lady him behind,
And thro the green wood they are gane.
10 They had na ridden a mile in the good green
wood,
'T is not a mile but barely ane,
Till there was fifteen of the boldest knights
That ever bore flesh, blood or bane.
11 The foremost of them was an aged knight,
He wore the gray hair on his chin :
4 Yield me thy life or thy lady bright,
And thou shalt walk these woods within.'
12 ' 'T is for to give my lady fair
To such an aged knight as thee,
People wad think I were gane mad,
Or else the senses taen frae me.'
13 Up then spake the second of them,
And he spake ay right bousterously ;
' Yield me thy life or thy lady bright,
And thou shalt walk these woods within.'
14 ' My wife, she is my warld's meed,
My life it lies me very near ;
But if you '11 be man of your manheed,
I '11 serve you till my days be near.'
VOL. IV.
57
15 He 's lighted of his milk-white steed,
He 's given his lady him by the head :
' And see ye dinna change your cheer
Till you do see my body bleed.'
16 O he has killd these fifteen lords,
And he has killd them a' but ane,
And he has left that old aged knight,
And a' to carry the tidings hame.
17 O he 's gane to his lady again,
And a wait he has kist her, baith cheek and
chin:
' Thou art my ain love, I have thee bought,
And thou shalt walk these woods within.'
5. wake should be wane and wan wake, as in A.
1O. The Twa Sisters.
P. 119 a. Danish. 'De talende Strenge,' Kristen-
sen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 68, 375, No 19, A-E.
119 b. Swedish. De tva systrarna,' Lagus, Ny-
landska Folkvisor, I, 27, No 7, a, 6; the latter imper
fect.
124 b. Bohemian, Waldau, Bbhmische Granaten, II,
97, No 137 (with the usual variations).
125 b, 493 b ; II, 498 b ; III, 499 a. Add : Les ro-
seaux qui chantent,' Kevue des Traditions Populaires,
IV, 463, V, 178 ; 'La rose de Pimperle',' Meyrac, Tra
ditions, etc., des Ardennes, p. 486 E. ; ' L'os qui chante,'
seven Walloon versions, E. Monseur, Bulletin de Folk
lore Wallon, I, 39 ff.
128. C. 'The Cruel Sister,' "Scotch Ballads, Ma
terials for Border Minstrelsy," No 1 6 ; communicated
to Scott by Major Henry Hutton, Royal Artillery, De
cember 24, 1802 (Letters, I, No 77), as recollected by
his father " and the family."
1 There were twa sisters in a bowr,
Binnorie, O Binnorie
The eldest was black and the youngest fair.
By the bonny milldams o Binnorie
After 13 (or as 14) :
Your rosie cheeks and white hause-bane
Garrd me bide lang maiden at hame.
After 15 :
The miller's daughter went out wi speed
To fetch some water to make her bread.
After 17 :
He coud not see her fingers sma,
For the goud rings they glistend a'.
448
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
He coud na see her yellow hair
For pearlin and jewels that were so rare.
And when he saw her white hause-bane
Round it hung a gouden chain.
He stretched her owt-our the bra
And moaned her wi mekle wa.
" Then, at the end, introduce the following ' ' (which,
however, are not traditional).
The last tune the harp did sing,
' And yonder stands my false sister Alison.
4 O listen, listen, all my kin,
'T was she wha drownd me in the lin.'
And when the harp this song had done
It brast a' o pieces oer the stane.
" Alison. The writer of these additional stanzas un
derstands the name was Alison, and not Helen." Ali
son occurs in D, K.
Pp. 133, ]^9. L. Anna Seward to Walter Scott, April
25-29, 1802 : Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott,
I, No 54, Abbotsford. " The Binnorie of endless repe
tition has nothing truly pathetic, and the ludicrous use
made of the drowned sister's body is well burlesqued
in a ridiculous ballad, which I first heard sung, with
farcial grimace, in my infancy [born 1747], thus :"
1 And O was it a pheasant cock,
Or eke a pheasant hen ?
Or was it and a gay lady,
Came swimming down the stream ?
2 O it was not a pheasant cock,
Or eke a pheasant hen,
But it was and a gay lady,
Came swimming down the stream.
3 And when she came to the mill-dam
The miller he took her body,
And with it he made him a fiddling thing,
To make him sweet melody.
4 And what did he do with her fingers small ?
He made of them pegs to his vial.
5 And what did he do with her nose-ridge ?
Why to his fiddle he made it a bridge.
Sing, O the damnd mill-dam, O
6 And what did he do with her veins so blue ?
Why he made him strings his fiddle unto.
7 And what did he do with her two shins ?
Why to his vial they daucd Moll Sims.
8 And what did he do with her two sides ?
Why he made of them sides to his fiddle be
sides.
9 And what did he do with her great toes ?
Why what he did with them that nobody
knows.
Sing, O the damnd mill-dam, O
For 4, 5, 6, 7, see A 8, 9, 10, 13.
P. 137. MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 1, hi Scotch Bal
lads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 32; taken
down " from a Miss Nancy Brockie, Bemerside." 1813.
1 There were twa sisters sat in a bower,
By Nera and by Nora
The youngest was the fairest flower.
Of all the mill-dams of Bennora
2 It happened upon a bonnie summer's day
The eldest to the youngest did say :
In the bonnie mill-dams of Bennora
3 ' We must go and we shall go
To see our brother's ships come to land.'
In, etc. (and throughout).
4 ' I winna go and I downa go,
For weeting the corks o my coal-black shoes.'
5 She set her foot into a rash-bush,
To see how tightly she was dressd.
6 But the youngest sat upon a stone,
But the eldest threw the youngest in.
7 ' O sister, oh sister, come lend me your hand,
And draw my life into dry land ! '
8 ' You shall not have one bit o my hand ;
Nor will I draw you to dry land.'
9 ' O sister, O sister, come lend me your hand.
And you shall have Sir John and all his
land.'
10 ' You shall not have one bit o my hand.
And I '11 have Sir John and all his hind.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
449
11 The miller's daughter, clad in red,
Came for some water to bake her bread.
12 ' father, O father, go fish your mill-dams,
For there either a swan or a drownd wo
man.'
13 You wad not have seen one bit o her waist,
The body was swelld, and the stays strait
laced.
14 You wad not have seen one bit o her neck,
The chains of gold they hang so thick.
15 He has taen a tait of her bonnie yellow hair,
He 's tied it to his fiddle-strings there.
16 The verry first spring that that fiddle playd
Was, Blest be [the] queen, my mother ! [it] nio Julia -
has said.
17 The verry next spring that that fiddle playd
Was, Blest be Sir John, my own true-love !
18 The very next spring that that fiddle playd
Was, Burn my sister for her sins !
4 2 . Written at first my black heeld shoes.
12 2 . swain. 17 2 . thy own.
11. The Cruel Brother.
P, 142 b, 496 a, III, 499 a. B was repeated by Sal
vador! in-Giornale di Filologia Romanza, II, 197 ; and
E was first published by Mazzatinti in IV, 69, of the
same.
142 f. A variety of ' Graf Friedrich ' in Hruschka
u. Toischer, Deutsche Volkslieder aus Bo'hmen, p. 101,
No 25.
143 b. 111,499. Testament. Hr. Adelbrand,' Kris-
tensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 227, 232, No 54, A,
20 ff., P, 10 fL= < Herr Radibrand och lilla Lena,'
' Skon Helena och riddaren Hildebrand,' Lagus, Ny-
landska Folkvisor, I, 89, No 25, a, b.
'Adelbrand ' is No 311 of Danmarks gamle Folkevi-
ser, V, n, 297, ed. Olrik, of which the versions that
have been cited in this book are B, K e, G e, F,
K b, I. There is a testament in other copies of the
same. Also in No 320, not yet published.
145 ff. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Min
strelsy," No 22 a. In the handwriting of William
Laidlaw ; "from Jean Scott."
There was three ladies playd at the ba,
With a hey hey an a lilly gay
Bye cam three lords an woo'd them a*.
Whan the roses smelld sae sweetly
The first o them was clad in yellow :
' O fair may, will ye be my marrow ? '
Whan the roses smell, etc.
The niest o them was clad i ried :
' O fair may, will ye be my bride ? '
The thrid o them was clad i green :
He said, O fair may, will ye be my queen ?
12. Lord Randal.
Pp. 152 b, 498 b, 111,499 b. Italian. Add L, "U
Cavalieru Traditu ; ' communicated to La Calabria, Oc
tober 15, 1888, p. 5, ' Storie popolari Acresi,' by Anto-
154 a. Danish. ' Den forgivne S0ster ' (with tes
tament), Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 358, No
92.
156 b. Vuk, I, No 302, is translated by Bowring, p.
143.
157 ff., 499 ff. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Bor
der Minstrelsy," No 22 g, in the handwriting of Wil
liam Laidlaw.
1 ' Where ha ye been, Lord Randal, my son ? '
' I been at the huntin, mother, mak my bed
soon ;
I 'm weariet wi huntin, I fain wad lie down.'
2 'What gat ye to yer supper, Lord Randal,
my son ? '
'An eel boild i broo, mother, mak my bed
soon ;
I 'm,' etc.
3 ' What gat yer dogs, Earl Randal, my son ? '
'The broo o the eel, mother,' etc.
4 ' What leave [ye] yer false love, Lord Ran
dal, my son ? '
' My goud silken garters, to hang hersel on ;
I 'm,' etc.
4 1 . leave year.
Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott, XX, No 77, Ab-
botsford ; from Joseph Jamieson Archibald, Largs, 18th
February, 1830.
450
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
" By the bye ! How does your copy of ' Willie Doo '
go ? Or is it the same as our ' Auld Nursery Lilt,' bet
ter known by the name of ' My Wee Croodling Doo ' ?
To give you every justice, I shall copy a stanza or two."
1 ' Whare were ye the lea lang day,
My wee crooding doo, doo ? '
* I hae been at my step-dame's ;
Mammy, mak my bed noo, noo ! '
2 'Whare gat she the wee, wee fish ? '
' She gat it neist the edder-flowe.'
3 ' What did she wi the fishie's banes ? '
' The wee black dog gat them to eat.'
4 ' What did the wee black doggie then ? '
' He shot out his fittie an deed ;
An sae maun I now too, too.' Etc.
" The wee crooding doo next received a fatal drink,
and syne a lullaby, when his bed was made ' baith saft
an fine,' while his lang fareweel and dying lamentation
was certainly both trying and afflicting to the loving
parents." The drink after the fish was a senseless inter
polation ; the ' lang fareweel ' was probably the testament
of the longer* ballad.
500. The title of Q in the MS. is Lord Randal; '
of R, ' Little wee toorin dow.'
14. Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o
Fordie.
P. 171 a. Danish. 'Herr Tures Detre,' Kristensen,
Jyske Folkeminder, X, 294, No 72.
15. Leesome Brand.
P. 178 a. Jomfru i Hindeham,' 1). g. F. No 58,
Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 14, No 7.
179 a, III, 500 b. Danish, II, Barnef0dsel i Lun-
den,' six copies and a fragment, in Kristensen's Skat-
tegraveren, X, 145 ff., Nos 416-22, 1888. (' Sadlen for
trang, vejen for lang,' 416, 17, 20; man's help, 416,
419; children buried alive, 417, 18, 22; sister and
brother, 418; lilies from grave, 416, 17.) ' Skjen
Medler,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 182, No
46, A-H. (Saddle, way, A ; man's help, A, B, E, F,
H ; children buried alive, A, B, C, E, F.)
Swedish. 'Herr Riddervall,' Lagus, Nyliindska
Folkvisor, I, 75, No 20.
16. Sheath and Knife.
P. 186. D is in or from T. Lyle's Ancient Ballads
and Songs, 1827, p. 241. Scott, as Lyle says, has
nearly the same burden in a stanza (of his own?)
which he makes E. Deans sing, in The Heart of Mid-
Lothian.
17. Hind Horn.
P. 193 b (2). 'Hr. Lovmand,' Kristensen, Jyske
Folkeminder, X, 252, No 62, A-D.
194 ff., 502 f. ; II, 499 b ; III, 501 b. Ring stories.
Cf. Maclnnes, Folk and Hero Tales (Argyllshire),
1890, p. 157. (G. L. K.)
Bulgarian ballad. Stojan is married on Sunday ;
on Monday he is ordered to join the army. His wife
gives him a posy, which will remain fresh until she
marries another man. He serves nine years ; the tenth
the queen discovers from his talk that he has a wife, and
gives him permission to go home. He arrives the very
day on which his wife is to be remarried, goes to the
wedding, and asks her to kiss his hand and accept a
gift from him. She recognizes him by the ring on his
hand, sends off the guests, and goes home with him.
Collection of the Ministry of Instruction, I, 39. In a
variant, Verkovic, p. 329, No 301, the man is gone three
years, and arrives just as the wedding procession comes
for the bride. (W. W.)
198 b. ' Le Retour du Mari.' ' Un Retour de
Guerre ' (cards), Daymard, pp. 203, 4.
202 a, III, 501 b. For more of these curiosities (in
Salman u. Morolf, Orendel, Virginal, Laurin, etc.), see
Vogt's note, p. 181 (248 ff.), to Salman u. Morolf.
206. H. I have received from Mr Walker, of Aber
deen, author of ' The Bards of Bonaccord,' a copy of
' Hind Horn ' which was taken down by a correspon
dent of his on lower Deeside about 1880. It closely
resembles G- and H. Collated with H, the more note
worthy variations are as follows :
I 1 . Hey how, bound, lovie, hey how, free.
6 2 . An the glintin o 't was aboon.
10. An when he looked the ring upon, O but it was
pale an wan !
13 2 . What news, what news is in this Ian?
19. Ye '11 ging up to yon high hill,
An ye '11 hlaw yer trumpet loud an shrill
20. Doun at yon .gate ye will enter in,
And at yon stair ye will stan still.
21. Ye '11 seek meat frae ane, ye '11 seek meat frae
twa,
Ye '11 seek meat fra the highest to the lowest o
them a'.
22. But it 's out o their bans an ye will tak nane
Till it comes out o the bride's ain ban.
26 2 . Wi the links o the yellow gowd in her hair.
After 27 : An when she looked the ring upon, O
but she grew pale an wan !
After 28 : Or got ye it frae ane that is far, far
away, To gie unto me upon my weddin-day?
80. But I got it frae you when I gaed away. To
gie unto you on your weddin-day.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
451
32. It 's I '11 gang wi you for evermore, An beg
my bread frae door to door.
502 a. There can hardly be a doubt that the two
stanzas cited belonged to 'The Kitchie-Boy,' 'Bonny
Foot-Boy,' No 252. Cf. A 34, 35, B 47, D 7, 8, of that
ballad.
18. Sir Lionel.
P. 209 b. ' Blow thy home, hunter.' Found, with
slight variations, in Add. MS. 31922, British Museum,
39, b (Henry VIII) : Ewald, in Anglia, XII, 238.
19. King Orfeo.
P. 215. The relations of the Danish ' Harpens
Kraft/ and incidentally those of this ballad, to the
English romance are discussed, with his usual acute-
ness, by Professor Sophus Bugge in Arkiv for nordisk
Filologi, VII, 97 ff., 1891. See II, 137, of this collection.
20. The Cruel Mother.
P. 218 b, III, 502 a. ' Barnemordersken,' Kristen-
sen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 356, No 90, A, B.
219 b, 504 a, II, 500 a, III, 502 b. Add : Q, R,
Hruschka u. Toischer, Deutsche Volkslieder aus Boh-
men, p. 129, No 40 a, b.
220 ff. a. MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 4, in " Scotch
Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 33.
"Taken down from Mrs Hislope, Gattonside. The
air is plaintive and very wild." 1813. b. "Scotch
Ballads, Materials," etc., No 113 ; in the hand of T.
Wilkie.
1 As I looked over my father's castle-wa,
All alone and alone, O
I saw two pretty babes playing at the ba.
Down by yone greenwood side, O
2 ' O pretty babes, if ye were mine,'
All alone, etc.,
' I would dead you o the silk so fine.'
Alone by the, etc.
3 ' O mother dear, when we were thine,
Ye houket a hole foment the sun,'
And laid yer two babes in, O
4 ' O pretty babes, if ye were mine,
I would feed you wi the morning's milk.'
Alone by, etc.
5 ' O mother dear, when we were thine,
Ye houket a hole foment the sun.
And laid yer two babes in, O.
6 ' But we are in the heavens high,
And ye hae the pains of hell to dri.'
Alone by, etc.
7 ' O pretty babes, pray weel for me ! '
' Aye, mother, as ye did for we.'
Down by, etc.
a. 3 1 . when that ye had done is written above we were
thine.
b. 1. Burden, second line, by the. 2 2 . with the.
After 2 :
' O mother dear, when we were thine ,
Ye stabd us wi your little penknife.'
Down by the, etc.
3 1 . when that ye had done. 4, 5. Wanting.
G. Burden, second line, Down by the, etc.
The copy at II, 500 b (Pepys, V, 4, No 2), is also in
the Crawford collection, No 1127, and in that from the
Osterley Park library, British Museum, C. 39. k. 6 (60).
It is dated 1688-95 in the Crawford catalogue, and
1690 ? in the Museum catalogue.
The text printed II, 500 is here corrected according
to the Museum copy.
2 1 . lovd. 3 2 . for her heaviness. 6 2 . pritty.
8 1 . long and sharp. 12 2 . other as naked as.
13 2 . would. 14 2 . dress us.
21 1 , 22 1 . O mother, O mother.
23 1 . Alass ! said. After 10, etc.: hair and.
Title : Infants whom.
Imprint : London : Printed, etc. : Guiltspur.
(9 2 , 19 2 . have into, wrongly.)
21. The Maid and the Palmer.
P. 228, III, 502. ' Synderinden,' Kristensen, Jyske
Folkeminder, X, 71, No 20.
Swedish K is repeated in Lagus, Nylandska Folkvi-
sor, I, 105, No 32.
230 b. A Bohemian ballad, to the same effect, in
Waldau's Bb'hmische Granaten, II, 210, No 299.
231, III, 502 b. French. A has been printed by
Holland, Chansons Populaires, VI, 22, o (it is folio 60
of the MS.). Two other before unprinted versions p,
q, at pp. 25, 26, of Holland.
232, 504 b. 'Maria Maddalena,' three stanzas only,
Archivio, VIII, 323, Canti Parmigiani, No 2.
22. St Stephen and Herod.
P. 236 a. French. ' Trois Pelerins de Dieu,' Mey-
rac, Traditions, etc., des Ardennes, p. 280.
240 f., 505 f., II, 501 b. Add :
452
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
Cantou il gatsu :
I Cristu naciti !
Dixu il buey :
l)i x u la ubecha :
; n Bilr u !
Dixu la cabra :
; Catsa, cascarra,
Que nacid en Grenada !
Munthe, Folkpoesi fran Asturien, III, No 24, cited
by Pitre in Archivio, VIII, 141.
" Quando Christo nasceu, disse o gallo : Jesus-Christo
^ na ... a ... a ... do." Leite de Vasconcellos,
Tradi9oes pop. de Portugal, p. 148, No 285 b.
241. Greek ballad, The Taking of Constantinople.
Tbere is a Bulgarian version. A roasted cock crows,
fried fish come to life : Sbornik of the Ministry of Pub
lic Instruction, II, 82. In other ballads the same inci
dent is transferred to the downfall of Bulgaria : Kaca-
nofskij, p. 235, No 116 ; Sbornik, II, 129, 2, and U,
131, 2. (W. W.)
24. Bonnie Annie.
P. 245 ff. The Rev. S. Baring-Gould has recently
found this ballad in South Devon.
a. Taken down from a man of above eighty years
at Bradstone. b. From a young man at Dartmoor, c.
From an old man at Holne.
1 'T was of a sea-captain came oer the salt billow,
He courted a maiden down by the green wil
low:
' O take of your father his gold and his trea
sure,
take of your mother her fee without mea
sure.'
'_' I '11 take of my father his gold and his trea
sure,
1 '11 take of my mother her fee without mea
sure: '
She has come with the captain unto the sea
side, O,
' We '11 sail to lands foreign upon the blue tide,
O!'
3 And when she had sailed today and tomorrow,
She was beating her hands, she was crying in
sorrow ;
And when she had sailed the days were not
many,
The sails were outspread, but of miles made
not any.
4 And when she had sailed today and tomorrow,
She was beating her hands, she was crying in
sorrow ;
And when she had sailed not many a mile, O,
The maid was delivered of a beautiful child, 0.
5
6 ' O take a white napkin, about my head bind it !
take a white napkin, about my feet wind it !
Alack ! I must sink, both me and my baby,
Alack ! I must sink in the deep salten water.
7 ' O captain, O captain, here 's fifty gold crown,
o,
1 pray thee to bear me and turn the ship
round, O ;
O captain, O captain, here 's fifty gold pound,
o,
If thou wilt but set me upon the green ground,
0.'
8 'O never, O never! the wind it blows
stronger,
O never, O never ! the time it grows longer ;
And better it were that thy baby and thou, O,
Should drown than the crew of the vessel, I
vow, O.'
9 ' O get me a boat that is narrow and thin, O,
And set me and my little baby therein, O : '
4 O no, it were better that thy baby and thou, O,
Should drown than the crew of the vessel, I
vow, O.'
10 They got a white napkin, about her head bound
it,
They got a white napkin, about her feet wound
it;
They cast her then overboard, baby and she, O,
Together to sink in the cruel salt sea, 0.
11 The moon it was shining, the tide it was run
ning;
O what in the wake of the vessel was swim
ming?
' O see, boys ! O see how she floats on the wa
ter!
O see, boys ! O see ! the undutiful daughter !
12 Why swim in the moonlight, upon the sea
swaying ?
what art thou seeking? for what art thou
praying ? '
453
captain, O captain, I float on the water ;
For the sea giveth up the undutiful daughter.
13 ' O take of my father the gold and the trea
sure,
O take of my mother her fee without measure ;
make me a coffin of gold that is yellow,
And bury me under the banks of green willow ! '
14 ' I will make thee a coffin of gold that is yel
low,
1 '11 bury thee under the banks of green willow ;
I '11 bury thee there as becometh a lady,
1 '11 bury thee there, both thou and thy baby.'
15 The sails they were spread, and the wind it
was blowing,
The sea was so salt, and the tide it was flow
ing;
They steered for the land, and they reachd the
shore, O,
But the corpse of the maiden had reachd there
before, O.
b. 1 1>2 . There was a sea-captain came to the sea
side, O,
He courted a damsel and got her in trouble.
13 8 . coffin of the deepest stoll yellow.
15 4 . But the mother and baby had got there be
fore, O.
c. 1 'T is of a sea-captain, down by the green willow,
He courted a damsel and brought her in trouble;
When gone her mother's good will and all her
father's money,
She fled across the wide sea along with her
Johnny.
2 They had not been sailing the miles they were
many
Before she was delivered of a beautiful baby:
' O tie up my head ! O and tie it up easy,
And throw me overboard, both me and my
baby ! '
1 ' This seven long years I 've courted a maid,'
As the sun shines over the valley
'And she neer would consent for to be my
bride.'
Among the blue flowers and the yellow
2 ' O Jamie, O Jamie, I '11 learn you the way
How your innocent love you '11 betray.
3 ' If you will give to the bell-man a groat,
And he '11 toll you down a merry night- wake.'
4 Now he has given the bell-man a groat,
And he has tolld him down a merry night-
wake.
5 ' It 's I must go to my true-love's wake,
For late last night I heard he was dead.'
6 ' Take with you your horse and boy,
And give your true lover his last convoy.'
7 ' I '11 have neither horse nor boy,
But I '11 go alone, and I '11 mourn and cry.'
8 When that she came to her true-love's hall,
Then the tears they did down fall.
9 She lifted up the sheets so small,
He took her in his arms and he threw her to
the wa.
10 ' It 's let me go a maid, young Jamie,' she said,
' And I will be your bride, and to-morrow we '11
be wed.'
11 * If all your friends were in this bower,
You should not be a maid one quarter of an
hour.
12 ' You came here a maid meek and mild,
But you shall go home both marryd and with
child.'
3 She floated on the waves, and she floated so 13 He gave to her a gay gold ring,
easy,
That they took her on board again, both she
and her baby.
(The rest forgotten.')
25. Willie's Lyke-Wake.
Pp. 247 ff., 506. 'The Blue Flowers and the Yel
low,' Greenock, printed by W. Scott [1810].
And the next day they had a gay wedding.
The unfortunate Weaver. To which are added The
Farmer's Daughter and The Blue Flowers and the
Yellow. Greenock. Printed by W. Scott. [1810.]
British Museum, 11621. b. 7 (43).
248 a (C), III, 503 a. <Hr. Mortens Klosterrov,'
Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 264, No 64.
249 b, 506 a, IH, 503 a. Swedish. Herr Karl,'
Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 51, No 12.
454
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
26. The Three Ravens.
P. 253. J. Haslewood made an entry in his copy of
Ritson's Scotish Song of a MS. Lute-Book (pre
sented to Dr C. Burney by Dr Skene, of Marischal Col
lege, in 1781), which contained airs "noted and col
lected by Robert Gordon, at Aberdeen, in the year of
our Lord 1627." Among some ninety titles of tunes
mentioned, there occur ' Ther wer three ravens,' and
' God be with the, Geordie.' (W. Macmath.)
" The song of ' The Twa Corbies ' was given to me
by Miss Erskine of Alva (now Mrs Kerr), who, I think,
said that she had written it down from the recitation
of an old woman at Alva." C. K. Sharpe to Scott,
August 8, 1802, Letters, I, 70, Abbotsf ord ; printed in
Sharpe's Letters, ed. Allardyce, I, 136.
29. The Boy and the Mantle.
P. 268 a. Flowers. 2. A garland, Kathd Sarit Sa-
gara, Tawney's translation, II, 601.
269 b. The chaste Si'td clears herself of unjust sus
picion by passing safely over a certain lake : Kathii
Sarit Sagara, Tawney's translation, I, 486 f.
A chessboard that can be " mated " only by one that
has never been false in love : English Prose Merlin,
ed. Wheatley, ch. 21, vol. i, part II, p. 363. (G. L. K.)
31. The Marriage of Sir Gawain.
P. 289, II, 502 b. On the loathly damsel in the Per
ceval of Chrestien de Troyes, see The Academy, Oc
tober 19, 1889, p. 255. (G. L. K.)
290, note f- One shape by day, another by night :
Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, 1890, pp. 51,
68, 69, 71, 136.
32. King Henry.
P. 298 b. Second paragraph. Prince as lindworm
restored by maid's lying in bed with him one night :
' Lindormen,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 20,
No 9, Lagus, Nylandske Folkvisor, I, 97, No 29, a, ft.
(Lindworm asks for a kiss in a 4, b 2.)
34. Kemp Owyne.
P. 307 b. Second paragraph. ' Jomfruen i Linden,'
Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 22, No 10.
37. Thomas Rymer.
P. 323 ff. " Thomas the Rhymer. Variations. J.
Ormiston, Kelso." "Scotch Ballads, Materials for
Border Minstrelsy," No 96, Abbotsford ; in the hand
writing of John Leyden.
Her horse was o the dapple-gray,
And in her hands she held bells nine :
'Harp and carp, Thomas,' she said,
' For a' thae bonny bells shall be thine.'
It was a night without delight,
And they rade on and on, I wiss, (amiss)
Till they came to a garden green ;
He reached his hand to pu an apple,
For lack o fruit he was like to tyne.
' Now had your hand, Thomas,' she said,
4 Had your hand, and go wi me ;
That is the evil fruit o hell,
Beguiled man and women in your countrie.
' O see you not that road, Thomas,
That lies down by that little hill ?
Curst is the man has that road to gang,
For it takes him to the lowest hell.
' O see you not that road, Thomas,
That lies across yon lily lea ?
Blest is the man has that road to gang,
For it takes him to the heavens hie.
1 When ye come to my father's ha,
To see what a learned man you be
They will you question, one and a',
But you must answer none but me,
And I will answer them again
I gat you at the Eildon tree.'
And when, etc.
He answered none but that gay ladie.
' Harp and carp, gin ye gang wi me,
It shall be seven year and day
Or ye return to your countrie.
' Wherever ye gang, or wherever ye be,
Ye 'se bear the tongue that can never lie.
* Gin ere ye want to see me again,
Gang to the bonny banks o Farnalie.'
' Thomas the Rhymer,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Bor
der Miustrelsy," No 97, Abbotsford ; communicated to Sir
Walter Scott by Mrs Christiana Greenwood, London, May
27, 1806 (Letters, 1, 189), from the recitation of her mother
and of her aunt, both then above sixty, who learned it in
their childhood from Kirstan Scot, a very old woman, at
Longnewton, near Jedburgh.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
455
1 Thomas lay on the Huntlie bank,
A spying ferlies wi his eee,
And he did spy a lady gay,
Come riding down by the lang lee.
2 Her steed was o the dapple grey,
And at its mane there hung bells nine ;
He thought he heard that lady say,
' They gowden bells sail a' be thine.'
3 Her mantle was o velvet green,
And a' set round wi jewels fine ;
Her hawk and hounds were at her side,
And her bugle-horn in gowd did shine.
4 Thomas took aff baith cloak and cap,
For to salute this gay lady :
' O save ye, save ye, fair Queen o Heavn,
And ay weel met ye save and see ! '
5 ' I 'm no the Queen o Heavn, Thomas ;
I never carried my head sae hee ;
For I am but a lady gay,
Come out to hunt in my follee.
6 ' Now gin ye kiss my mouth, Thomas,
Ye mauna miss my fair bodee ;
Then ye may een gang hame and tell
That ye 've lain wi a gay ladee.'
7 ' O gin I loe a lady fair,
Nae ill tales o her wad I tell,
And it 's wi thee I fain wad gae,
Tho it were een to heavn or hell.'
8 ' Then harp and carp, Thomas,' she said,
' Then harp and carp alang wi me ;
But it will be seven years and a day
Till ye win back to yere ain countrie.'
9 The lady rade, True Thomas ran,
Untill they cam to a water wan ;
it was night, and nae delight,
And Thomas wade aboon the knee.
10 It was dark night, and nae starn-light,
And on they waded lang days three,
And they heard the roaring o a flood,
And Thomas a waefou man was he.
11 Then they rade on, and farther on,
Untill they came to a garden green ;
To pu an apple he put up his hand,
For the lack o food he was like to tyne.
VOL. IV. 58
12 ' O haud yere hand, Thomas,' she cried,
' And let that green flourishing be ;
For it 's the very fruit o hell,
Beguiles baith man and woman o yere coun
trie.
13 ' But look afore ye, True Thomas,
And I shall show ye ferlies three ;
Yon is the gate leads to our land,
Where thou and I sae soon shall be.
14 ' And dinna ye see yon road, Thomas,
That lies out-owr yon lilly lee ?
Weel is the man yon gate may gang,
For it leads him straight to the heavens hie.
15 ' But do you see yon road, Thomas,
That lies out-owr yon frosty fell ?
Ill is the man yon gate may gang,
For it leads him straight to the pit o hell.
16 ' Now when ye come to our court, Thomas,
See that a weel-learnd man ye be ;
For they will ask ye, one and all,
But ye maun answer nane but me.
17 ' And when nae answer they obtain,
Then will they come and question me,
And I will answer them again
That I gat yere aith at the Eildon tree.
18 ' Ilka seven years, Thomas,
We pay our teindings unto hell,
And ye 're sae leesome and sae strang
That I fear, Thomas, it will be yeresell.'
I 4 , the Lang-lee. 12 2 . flour is hing.
39. Tarn Lin.
P. 335. D a, excepting the title and the first stanza,
is in a hand not Motherwell's.
I a first appeared in the second edition of the Min
strelsy, 1803, II, 245. The "gentleman residing near
Langholm," from whom Scott derived the stanzas of a
modern cast, was a Mr Beattie, of Meikledale, and Scott
suspected that they might be the work of some poetical
clergyman or schoolmaster : letter to W. Laidlaw, Janu
ary 21, 1803, cited by Carruthers, Abbotsford Notanda,
appended to R. Chambers's Life of Scott, 1871, p. 121 f.
336 b. ' Den fortrollade prinsessan,' Lagus, Nyland-
ska Folkvisor, I, 67, No 17.
356 b. Add: D c, 12 2 . aft.
340 a, H, 505 b, III, 505 b. Sleeping under an
456
ADDITIONS AND COKBECTIONS
apple-tree. See also st. 14 of the version immediately
following.
So Lancelot goes to sleep about noon under an ap
ple-tree, and is enchanted by Morgan the Fay. Mal
ory's Morte Darthur, bk. vi, ch. 1, ch. 3, ed. Sommer,
I, 183, 186. (G. L. K.)
Communicated to Scott November 11, 1812, by Hugh
Irvine, Drum, Aberdeenshire, as procured from the recita
tion of an old woman in Buchan: Letters, V, No 137, Ab-
botsford. (Not in Irvine's hand.)
1 Leady Margat stands in her boor-door,
Clead in the robs of green ;
She longed to go to Charters Woods,
To pull the flowers her lean.
2 She had not puld a rose, a rose,
O not a rose but one.
Till up it starts True Thomas,
Said, Leady, let alone.
3 ' Why pull ye the rose, Marget?
Or why break ye the tree ?
Or why come ye to Charters Woods
Without the leave of me ? '
4 ' I will pull the rose,' she said,
' And I will break the tree,
For Charters Woods is all my own,
And I '1 ask no leave of the/
5 He 's tean her by the milk-white hand,
And by the grass-green sleeve,
And laid her lo at the foot of the tree,
At her he askt no leave.
6 It fell once upon a day
They wer a pleaying at the ba,
And every one was reed and whyte,
Leady Marget's culler was all awa.
7 Out it speaks an elder man,
As he stood in the gate,
' Our king's daughter she gos we bern,
And we will get the wait.'
8 * If I be we bern,' she said,
' My own self beer the blame !
There is not a man in my father's court
Will get my hern's name.'
9 ' There grows a flower in Charters Woods,
It grows on gravel greay,
It ould destroy the boney young bern
That ye got in your pley.'
10 She 's tean her mantle her about,
Her green glove on her hand,
And she 's awa to Charters Woods,
As f est as she could gang.
11 She had no puld a pile, a pile,
not a pile but one,
Up it startid True Thomas,
Said, Leady, lat alean.
12 ' Why pull ye the pile, Marget,
That grows on gravel green,
For to destroy the boney young bern
That we got us between ? '
13 ' If it were to an earthly man,
As [it is] to an elphan knight,
I ould walk for my true-love's sake
All the long winter's night.'
14 ' When I was a boy of eleven years old,
And much was made of me,
I went out to my father's garden,
Fell asleep at yon aple tree :
The queen of Elphan [she] came by,
And laid on her hands on me.
15 Elphan it 's a boney place,
In it fain wid I dwall ;
But ey at every seven years end
We pay the teene to hell :
I 'm so full of flesh and blood
1 'm sear f eart for mysel.
16 ' The morn 's Hallow Even's night,
When a' our 'courts do ride,
Through England and through Irian d.
Through a' the world wide :
And she that would her true-love borrow
At Miles Corse she may bide.
17 ' The first an court that ye come till,
Ye let them a' pass by ;
The next an court that ye come till,
Ye bile them reverendly.
18 ' The next an court that ye come till,
An therein rides the queen,
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
457
Me upon a milk-whyte steed,
And a gold star in my croun ;
Because I am a erle's soon,
I get that for my renoun.
19 ' Ye take me in your armes,
Give me a right sear fa ;
The queen of Elphan she '1 cry out,
True Thomas is awa !
20 ' First I '1 be in your armes
The fire burning so bold ;
Ye hold me fast, let me no pass
Till I be like iron cold.
21 ' Next I '1 be in your armes
The fire burning so wild ;
Ye hold me fast, let me no pass,
I 'm the father of your child.'
22 The first court that came her till,
She let them a' pass by ;
The nex an court that came her till,
She helt them reverendly.
23 The nex an court that came her till,
And therein read the queen,
True Thomas on a milk-whyte steed,
A gold star in his croun ;
Because he was a earl's soon,
He got that for his renoun.
24 She 's tean him in her arms,
Geen him a right sore fa ;
The queen of Elphan she cried out,
True Thomas is awa !
25 He was into her arms
The fire burning so bold ;
She held him fast, let him no pass
Till he was like iron cold.
26 He was into her arms
The fire burning so wild ;
She held him fast, let him no pass,
He was the father of her child.
27 The queen of Elphan she cried out,
An angry woman was she,
4 Let Leady Marget an her true-love be,
She 's bought him dearer than me.'
3 s . breat. 15*. tune (?).
27 2 . woman is struck out.
16 1 . Thee.
The following fragment does not appear to have been
among the " several recitals from tradition " used by
Scott in making up his ballad. Some lines which it
might be supposed to have furnished occur in the edi
tion of 1802, issued before Scott's acquaintance with
Laidlaw began.
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
27, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.
1 I charge ye, a' ye ladies fair,
That wear goud in your hair,
To come an gang bye Carterhaugh,
For young Tarn Lieu is there.
2 Then Janet kiltit her green cleadin
A wee aboon her knee,
An she 's gane away to Carterhaugh,
As fast as she can dree.
3 When Janet cam to Carterhaugh,
Tarn Lien was at the wall,
An there he left his steed stannin,
But away he gaed his sell.
4 She had na pu'd a red, red rose,
A rose but only thre,
Till up then startit young Tarn Lien,
Just at young Jenet's knee.
6 ' What gars ye pu the rose, Janet,
Briek branches frae the tree,
An come an gang by Carterhaugh,
An speir nae leave of me ? '
6 ( What need I speir leave o thee, Tarn ?
What need I speir leave o thee,
When Carterhaugh is a' mine ain,
My father gae it me ? '
7 She 's kiltit up her green cleadin
A wee aboon her knee,
An she 's away to her ain bower-door,
As fast as she can dree.
8 There war four-an-twentie fair ladies
A' dancin in a chess,
458
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
An some war blue an some war green,
But Janet was like the gross.
9 There war four-an-twentie fair ladies
A' piny in at the ba,
An some war red an som wer white,
But Jennet was like the snaw.
1*. To is doubtful ; almost bound in.
6*. gae written over left struck out.
8 s , 9. A' in the MS.
M
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
15. Communicated to Scott by Major Henry Button, Royal
Artillery, 24th December, 1802, as recollected by his father
" and the family : " Letters I, No 77. Major Hutton inti
mates that stanzas 46-49 of the first edition of ' Tamlane '
('Roxburgh was my grandfather,' ff., corresponding to I
28-32) should be struck out, and his verses inserted. But
4-12 of Hutton's stanzas belong to ' Thomas Kymer.'
1 My father was a noble knight,
And was much gi'n to play,
And I myself a bonny boy,
And followed him away.
2 He rowd me in his hunting-coat
And layd me down to sleep,
And by the queen of fairies came,
And took me up to keep.
3 She set me on a milk-white steed ;
'T was o the elfin kind ;
His feet were shot wi beaten goud,
And fleeter than the wind.
s
4 Then we raid on and on'ard mair,
Oer mountain, hill and lee,
Till we came to a hie, hie wa,
Upon a mountain's bree.
5 The apples hung like stars of goud
Out-our that wa sa fine ;
I put my hand to pu down ane,
For want of food I thought to tine.
6 ' O had your hand, Tamas ! ' she said,
' O let that evil fruit now be !
It was that apple ye see there
Beguil'd man and woman in your country.
7 ' O dinna ye see yon road, Tamas,
Down by yon lilie lee ?
Blessd is the man who yon gate gaes,
It leads him to the heavens hie.
8 ' And dinna ye see yon road, Tamas,
Down by yon frosty fell ?
Curst is the man that yon gate gaes,
For it leads to the gates of hell.
9 ' O dinna ye see yon castle, Tamas,
That 's biggit between the twa,
And theekit wi the beaten goud ?
that 's the fairies' ha.
10 ' O when ye come to the ha, Tamas,
See that a weel-learnd boy ye be ;
They '11 ask ye questions ane and a',
But see ye answer nane but me.
11 ' If ye speak to ain but me, Tamas,
A fairie ye maun ever bide ;
But if ye speak to nane but me, Tamas,
Ye may come to be your country's pride.'
12 And when he came to Fairie Ha,
1 wot a weel-learnd boy was he ;
They askd him questions ane and a',
But he answerd nane but his ladie.
13 There was four-and-twenty gude knights'-
sons
In fairie land obliged to bide,
And of a' the pages that were there
Fair Tamas was his ladie's pride.
14 There was four-and-twenty earthly boys,
Wha all played at the ba,
But Tamas was the bonniest boy,
And playd the best amang them a'.
15 There was four-and-twenty earthly maids,
Wha a' playd at the chess,
Their colour rosy-red and white,
Their gowns were green as grass.
16 ' And pleasant are our fairie sports,
We flie o'er hill and dale ;
But at the end of seven years
They pay the teen to hell.
17 ' And now 's the time, at Hallowmess,
Late on the morrow's even,
And if ye miss me then, Janet,
I 'm lost for yearis seven.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
459
N
' Tamlane,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Min
strelsy," No 96 a; in the handwriting of John Leyden.
' Gowd rings I can buy, Thomas,
Green mantles I can spin,
But gin ye take my maidenheid
I '11 neer get that again.'
Out and spak the queen o fairies,
Out o a shot o wheat,
' She that has gotten young Tamlane
Has gotten my heart's delight.'
4O. The Queen of Elfan's Nourice.
P. 358, II, 505 b, III, 505 b. More cases in Fairy
Births and Human Midwives,' E. S. Hartland, The
Archaeological Review, IV, 328 ff.
The elf-woman's daughter has lain on the floor nine
teen days in travail, for she cannot be delivered unless
a mortal man lay hands upon her. Hrdlfr is lured to
the elf-woman's hall for this purpose. Gongu-Hrdlfs
Saga, c. 15, Rafn, Fornaldar Sogur, III, 276, Asmun-
darson, Fornaldarsbgur Nordrlanda, III, 174, 175. (G.
L. K.)
41. Hind Etin.
P. 361 b, III, 506 a. Danish. X, ' Agnete i Bjzerg-
et,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 3, No 2.
364 a, III, 506 a. Danish. M-O, ' Agnete i Hav-
et,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 6, No 3, A-C.
365 a, II, 506 a. German. J. ' Die schb'ne Doro
thea,' Gadde-Gloddow, V. 1. aus Hinterpommern, Zeit-
schrift fur Volkskunde, III, 227.
42. Clerk Colvill.
P. 374 b. Danish. ' Elvedansen,' Kristensen, Jyske
Folkeminder, X, 10, 372, No 5, A, B, C.
380, II, 506 a, III, 506 a. PP, QQ, 'Arnaud,'
Quercy, Daymard, p. 167 f., 34 verses, 26 verses. RR,
'Lou Counte Arnaud,' Bas-Quercy, Soleville, Chants
p. du Bas-Quercy, 1889, p. 13, 10 stanzas. S3, version
limousine, La Tradition, V, 184.
384, III, 506 a. Spanish. Don Pedro,' El Folk-
Lore Frexnense y Be'tico-Extremeno, Fregenal, 1883-
84; (1) p. 129 (and 180), Zafra, Badajoz, D. Sergio
Hernandez ; (2) p. 182, Badajoz ; (3) p. 183, Mon-
tanchez, provincia de Cacares ; (4) Constantina, pro-
vincia de Sevilla, D. Antonio Machado y Alvarez.
386 a. Bohemian. A a also = Wenzig, Slawische
V. 1., 1830, p. 47.
43. The Broomfield Hill.
P. 392 b, III, 506. Sleep-thorn, sleep-pin. Add :
Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, 1890, pp. 40,
130 ff., 200; Hyde, Beside the Fire, Irish-Gaelic Folk-
Stories, p. 43 ; Maclnnes, Folk and Hero Tales, 1890,
p. 141 (cf. p. 459).
Sleep-pin, Wlislocki, M. u. S. der transylvanischen
Zigeuner, p. 46 . Compare the wand in J. H. Knowles's
Folk- Tales of Kashmir, p. 199. (G. L. K.)
393, III, 506 b. Italian. La bella Brunetta,' Fer
rari, C. p. in San Pietro Capofiume; 'La Bevanda
sonnifera,' Giannini, Canzoni del Contado di Massa
Lunense, Archivio, VII, 109, No 11, 279, No 7.
44. The Twa Magicians.
P. 400 a, II, 506 b, III, 506 b. French. W, J'ai
fait une maitresse,' Daymard, p. 51, Quercy. X, ' Mar-
garideto,' Soleville, Chants p. du Bas-Quercy, p. 94.
Italian. Add to Tigri's rispetto : Vigo, Canti p. si-
ciliani, 1870-74, No 1711, Pitre, Studj di Poesia pop.,
p. 76 ; Casetti e Imbriani, C. p. delle Provincie meridi-
onali, p. 187 : all cited by d' Ancona, Poesia pop., p. 341.
400 b. Bohemian. Waldau, Bbhmische Granaten,
II, 75, No 107, dove, gun ; fish, hook ; hare, dog.
401 b. Tale in Curtin's Myths and Folk-Lore of
Ireland, pp. 152-6.
Cf. also Notes and Queries, 7th Series, IX, 101,
295 ; Clouston, Popular Tales and Fictions, I, 413 ff.
(G. L K.)
45. King John and the Bishop.
P. 403 f. Roxburghe, III, 883, is B. Roxburghe,
III, 494 was printed and sold by John White, Newcas
tle- upon- Tyne, " circa 1777 :" Ebs worth, Roxburghe
Ballads, VI, 749. ' The King and the Bishop,' Rox
burghe, III, 170, is printed in the same volume, p. 751,
and The Old Abbot and King Olfrey,' Pepys, II, 127,
at p. 753.
405 b, II, 507. An Armenian, a Slovak, and a Hun
garian version, by H. v. Wlislocki, Zs. f . vergleichende
Litteraturgeschichte, u. s. w., N. F., IV, 106 ff., 1891.
404 b, 2d paragraph. Of this kind is the Russian tale,
How Fraud made entrance into Russia. Ivan the Ter
rible demands tribute of neighboring princes. They
propose to him three riddles : if he guesses them, they
are to pay twelve casks of gold and tribute ; if he fails,
they take his kingdom. A marvellous old man helps
the Tsar out. He has been promised a cask of gold,
but the Tsar fills one of the casks two thirds with sand,
and offers that. The old man tells him that he, the
Tsar, has brought Fraud into the land, never to be erad
icated. Ivan begs him to take one of the other casks,
but in vain. The old man vanishes ; it was God. Ryb-
nikof, n, 232, No 39. (W. W.)
46. Captain Wedderburn's Courtship.
P. 41 7 a, II, 507 b, III, 507 a. Heads on spikes ; only
one spike without a head : Curtin, Myths and Folk-
Lore of Ireland, 1890, pp. 37, 114 f, 193 ; Mac Innes,
Folk and Hero Tales, Folk-Lore Society, 1890, pp. 79,
453.
460
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
47. Proud Lady Margaret.
P. 426. A. Two stanzas (6, 9) and a line were
wanting in the copy supplied by Hamilton. March 23,
1 803, Hamilton sent to Scott the following verses, " to
come in at the first break." There were still four lines,
which should come before these, that Hamilton could
not recollect. " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border
Minstrelsy," No 1 1 7. See B 1 7, C 1 1, where also there
is defect, and D 6, 7.
' O wherein leems the beer ? ' she said,
' Or wherein leems the wine ?
O wherein leems the gold ? ' she said,
' Or wherein leems the twine ? '
4 The beer is put in a drinking-horn,
The wine in glasses fine,
There 's gold in store between two kings,
When they are fighting keen,
And the twine is between a lady's two hands
When they are washen clean.'
49. The Twa Brothers.
P. 436, li, 14, III, 381 b. Tell my mother I am
married,' etc. : so in the beautiful Roumanian ' Mi-
orita,' Alecsandri, p. 3.
438. A b. ' The Two Brothers,' Walks near Ed
inburgh, by Margaret Warrender, 1890, p. 60. Given
to Lady John Scott many years ago by Campbell Rid-
dell, brother of Sir James Riddell of Ardnamurchan.
1 There were two brothers in the north,
Lord William and Lord John,
And they would try a wrestling match,
So to the fields they 've gone, gone, gone,
So to the fields they 've gone.
2 They wrestled up, they wrestled down,
Till Lord John fell on the ground.
And a knife into Lord William's pocket
Gave him a deadly wound.
3 ' Oh take me on your back, dear William,' he
said,
' And carry me to the burnie clear,
And wash my wound sae deep and dark,
Maybe 't will bleed nae mair.'
4 He took him up upon his back,
An carried him to the burnie clear,
But aye the mair he washed his wound
It aye did bleed the mair.
5 ' Oh take me on your back, dear William,' he
said,
' And carry me to the kirkyard fair,
And dig a grave sae deep and dark,
And lay my body there.'
6 ' But what shall I say to my father dear
When he says, Willie, what's become of
John?'
Oh tell him I am gone to Greenock town,
To buy him a puncheon of rum.'
7 * And what shall I say to my sister dear
When she says, Willie, what 's become of
John?'
' Oh tell her I 've gone to London town
To buy her a marriage-gown.'
8 ' But what shall I say to my grandmother dear
When she says, Willie, what 's become of
John?'
' Oh tell her I 'm in the kirkyard dark,
And that I 'm dead and gone.'
53. Young Beichan.
P. 459 a. Danish. ' Ellen henter sin FaBstemand,'
Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 125, No 34, A, B.
462 a, HI, 507 b. 'Gerineldo,' again, in Munthe,
Folkpoesie fran Asturien, No 2, second part, p. 112 b
(Upsala Universitets Arsskrift) ; but imperfect.
462 b, 463 a, IE, 508 a. Another version of the
French ballad (' Tout au milieu de Paris ') in Meyrac,
Traditions, etc. , des Ardennes, p. 238.
468 ff. 'Earl Bichet,' "Scotch Ballads, Materials
for Border Minstrelsy," No 83, Abbotsford. Commu
nicated to Scott by Mrs Christiana Greenwood, Lon
don, May 27, 1806 (Letters, I, No 189), as heard by
her in her youth at Longnewton, near Jedburgh, " where
most of the old women could sing it."
1 Earl Bichet 's sworn a mighty aith,
And a solemn vow made he,
That he wad to the Holy Land,
To the Holy Land wad he gae.
2 When he came to the Holy Land,
Amang the Infidels sae black,
They hae consulted them amang
The Earl Bichet for to take.
3 And when they basely him betrayd
They put him into fetters strang,
And threw him in a dungeon dark,
To spend the weary night sae lang.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
461
4 Then in ilka shoulder they bored a hole,
In his right shoulder they bored three,
And they gard him draw the coops o wine,
Till he was sick and like to dee.
5 Then they took him out o their carts and wains,
And put him in a castle of stone ;
When the stars shone bright, and the moon
gave light,
The sad Earl Bichet he saw none.
6 The king had only ae daughter,
And it was orderd sae to be
That, as she walked up and down,
By the strong-prison-door cam she.
7 Then she heard Earl Bichet sad
Making his pityful mane,
In doolfu sounds and moving sighs
Wad melt a heart o stane.
8 ' When I was in my ain countrie,
I drank the wine sae clear ;
But now I canna get bare bread ;
I wis I had neer come here !
9 ' When I was in my ain countrie,
1 drank the wine sae red ;
But now I canna get a bite o bare bread ;
O I wis that I were dead ! '
10 ' Gae bring to me the good leaven [bread],
To eat when I do need ;
Gae bring to me the good red wine,
To drink when I do dread.'
11 ' Gae ask my father for his leave
To bring them unto me,
And for the keys o the prison-door,
To set Earl Bichet free.'
12 Then she went into her ain chamber
And prayd most heartilie,
And when that she rose up again
The keys fell at her knee.
13 Then they hae made a solemn vow
Between themselves alone,
That he was to marry no other woman,
And she no other man.
14 And Earl Bichet 's to sail to fair Scotland,
Far oer the roaring faem,
And till seven years were past and gone
This vow was to remain.
15 Then she built him a stately ship,
And set it on the sea,
Wi four-and-twenty mariners,
To bear him companie.
16 ' My blessing gae wi ye, Earl Bichet,
My blessing gae wi thee ;
My blessing be wi a' the mariners
That are to sail wi thee.'
17 Then they saild east, and they saild wast,
Till they saild to Earl Bichet's yett,
When nane was sae ready as his mother
dear
To welcome her ain son back.
18 ' Ye 're welcome, welcome, Earl Bichet,
Ye 're dearly welcome hame to me !
And ye 're as welcome to Lady Jean,
For she has lang looked for thee.'
19 ' What haste, what haste, O mother dear,
To wale a wife for me ?
For what will I do wi the bonny bride
That I hae left ayont the sea ? '
20 When seven years were past and gone,
Seven years but and a day,
The Saracen lady took a crying in her sleep,
And she has cried sair till day.
21 ' O daughter, is it for a man o might ?
Or is it for a man o mine ? '
' It 's neither for a man o might,
Nor is it for a man o thine.
22 ' Bat if ye '11 build me a ship, father,
And set it on the sea,
I will away to some other land,
To seek a true-love free.'
23 Then he built her a gallant ship,
And set it on the sea,
Wi a hunder and fifty mariners,
To bear her companie.
462
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
24 At every corner o the ship
A siller bell did hing,
And at ilka jawing o the faem
The siller bells did ring.
25 Then they saild east, and they saild wast,
Till they cam to Earl Bichet's yett ;
Nane was sae ready as the porter
To open and let her in thereat.
26 ' O is this Earl Bichet's castle-yett ?
Or is that noble knight within ?
For I am weary, sad and wet,
And far I 've come ayont the faem.'
27 ' He 's up the stair at supper set,
And mony a noble knight wi him ;
He 's up the stair wi his bonny bride,
And mony a lady gay wi them.'
28 She 's put her hand into her purse
And taen out fifty merks and three :
' If this be the Earl Bichet's castle,
Tell him to speak three words wi me.
29 ' Tell kirn to send me a bit o his bread
But an a bottle o his wine,
And no forget the lady's love
That freed him out o prison strong.'
30 The porter he gaed up the stair,
And mony bow and binge gae he ;
' What means, what means,' cried Earl Bichet,
1 O what means a' this courtesie ? '
31 ' O I hae been porter at yere yett
These four-and-twenty years and three ;
But the fairest lady now stands thereat
That ever my two eyes did see.
32 ' She has a ring on her foremost finger,
And on her middle-finger three ;
She has as much gowd about her waist
As wad buy earldoms o land for thee.
33 ' She wants to speak three words wi thee,
And a little o yere bread and wine,
And not to forget the lady's love
That freed ye out o prison strong.'
34 I '11 lay my life,' cried Earl Bichet,
4 It 's my true love come oer the sea ! '
Then up and spake the bride's mother,
' It 's a bonny time to speak wi thee ! '
35 ' O your doughter came here on a horse's back,
But I '11 set her hame in a chariot free ;
For, except a kiss o her bonny mouth,
Of her fair body I am free.'
36 There war thirty cups on the table set,
He gard them a' in flinders flee ;
There war thirty steps into the stair,
And he has louped them a' but three.
37 Then he took her saftly in his arms,
And kissed her right tenderlie :
1 Ye 're welcome here, my ain true love,
Sae dearly welcome ye 're to me ! '
7*. doolfu : 1 struck out.
At the end: " Some verses are wanting at the con
clusion."
The following stanza, entered by Scott in the quarto
volume "Scottish Songs," 1795, fol. 29 back, Abbots-
ford library, N. 3, is much too good to be lost .
Young Bechin was in Scotland born,
He longed far countries for to see,
And he bound himself to a savage Moor,
Who used him but indifferently.
VOL. II.
55. The Carnal and the Crane.
P. 7, 509 b, III, 507 b. The Sower. Add : Legeay,
Noels Anciens, Premiere Se'rie, 1875, 4 Saint Joseph
avec Marie,' No 34, p. 68; Daymard, Vieux Chants p.
rec. en Quercy, ' La Fuite en Egypte,' p. 333 ; Sole-
ville, Ch. p. du Bas-Quercy, 'Lou Bouiaje,' p. 126;
La Tradition, IV, 189.
56. Dives and Lazarus.
P. 10, III, 507 b. ' Le mauvais riche,' Daymard,
Vieux Chants p. rec. en Quercy, p. 282.
57. Brown Bobyn's Confession.
P. 13. Swedish. 'Herr Paders Sjoresa,' Lagus,
Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 56, No 14, a, b.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
463
Danish. 'Jon Rimaardsens Sejlads,' Kristensen,
Jyske Folkeminder, X, 296, No 73, A-D.
13 8., II, 510, also No 20, I, 244. While Prince
Lundarasena is on a voyage, a great hurricane arises.
An offering of jewels is made to the sea, but does not
quiet it. Lundarasena says : " It is through my de
merits in former births that this day of doom has sud
denly come upon you." He flings himself into the
water ; the wind falls immediately and the sea becomes
calm. (He is not drowned.) Kathi Sarit Sdgara,
Tawney's translation, II, 375.
A ship stopped. Cf. the story told by Henry of
Huntingdon, viii, 22, of one Reiner, a follower of Geof
frey Mandeville (Gaufridus de Magna Villa).
" Princeps autem peditum suorum, Reinerus nomine,
cujus officium fuerat ecclesias frangere vel incendere,
dum mare cum uxore sua transiret, ut multi perhibu-
erunt, navis immobilis facta est. Quod monstrum nau-
tis stupentibus, sorte data rei causam inquirentibus,
sors cecidit super Reinerum. Quod cum ille nimirum
totis contradiceret nisibus, secundo et tertio sors jacta
in eum devenit. Positus igitur in scapha est, et uxor
ejus, et pecunia scelestissime adquisita, et statim navis
cursu velocissimo ut prius fecerat pelagus sulcat, scapha
vero cum nequissimis subita voragine circumducta in
aeternum absorpta est." This was in the year 1144.
Henrici Archidiaconi Huntendunensis Historia Anglo-
rum, ed. Arnold, Rolls Series, 1879, p. 278. (G. L. K.)
" Audivi a fratre Galtero de Leus quod, cum quedam
mulier, mare transiens, pulcritudine sua omnes qui
erant in navi ita attraxisset ut omnes qui erant ibi
fere cum ea peccassent vel per actum aut consensum,
et non evitaret patrem aut filium, sed indifferenter om
nibus, licet occulte, se exponeret, facta in mari tempes-
tate et navi periclitante, cepit clamare coram omnibus
omnia peccata sua et confiteri ea, credens quod alii
propter ea deberent periclitari. Tune, aliis confitenti-
bus, cessavit mare a furore suo. Facta tranquillitate,
nullus potuit scire que esset ilia mulier aut cognoscere
earn." Anecdotes historiques, Legendes et Apologues
tires du Recueil inedit d'Etienne de Bourbon, ed. Le-
coy de la Marche, 1877, p. 160. (G. L. K.)
A merchant is making a voyage to Mount Athos with
a cargo of wax and incense. St Nicolas freezes the
ship in, and will not thaw it out until the master makes
a vow to present the cargo to the monastery there.
Bulgarian, Miladinof, p. 56, No 50. A ship in which
Milica is captive is stopped by her tears and plaints
until she and her brother are released. Servian, Ka
radzic", I, 556, No 729. (W. W.)
16. ' Captain Glen.' Christie's Traditional Ballad
Airs, I, 241, from recitation. As Christie remarks,
some verses of the ballad are introduced into Scott's
Pirate, ch. 36.
59. Sir Aldingar.
P. 33 f. The child champion in A. (Compare also
the notes to No 90, D, 513 b, III, 515 b.) Children
who distinguish themselves by valorous exploits, and
VOL. iv, 59
even get the better of heroes, are especially common in
Bulgarian epos. A child of three days kills a monster
that stops the way of a marriage-train, and then re
quires the guests to come to its baptism : Miladinof,
p. 79, No 59. Marko Kraljevic is vanquished by one
of these, seven years old : Miladinof, p. 173, No 121 ;
Kacanofskij, pp. 341-55, Nos 151-55. In Kacanof-
skij, p. 355, No 156, the child is but seven months
old. More of this extravagance in Miladinof, p. 266,
No 173 ; Sbornik of the Ministry of Instruction, I, 59,
No 4. (W. W.)
35, note. In The Order of Combats for Life in
Scotland, Spalding Club Misc., II, 387 (of uncertain
date), the second oath to be proposed to the parties is,
that they have not brought into the lists other armor or
weapons than was allowed, neither any engine, charm,
herb, or enchantment, etc.
6O. King Estmere.
P. 50 b, the last paragraph. It might have been re
marked that ' King Estmere ' resembles in a general
way a series of German poems of adventure, in which
a young king (or his guardians) is nice about a wife,
and the princess proposed to him is won only with great
difficulty : Kb'nig Rother (ed. Riickert, v. 13 ff.) ; Ortnit
(Ortnit und die Wolfdietriche, ed. Amelung und Ja-
nicke, I, 4, st. 8 ff.) ; Hugdietrich (the same, p. 168,
st. 9 ff.) ; Oswald (Sant Oswaldes Leben, ed. Ettmuller,
p. 6, v. 140 ff) ; Orendel (ed. Berger, p. 8, v. 192 ff.) ;
Dietwart (Dietrichs Flucht, ed. Martin, Heldenbuch,
II' Teil, p. 68, v. 785 ff.). To which may be added
Fore, in Salman und Marolf (ed. Vogt, p. 5, str. 24 ff.),
and Tsar Vasily, in Russian byliny (see Vogt, p. XLII).
61. Sir Cawline.
P. 60, IH, 508 b. Cuciilin pulls liver and lights out
of the throats of two lions : Curtin, Myths and Folk-
Lore of Ireland, p. 317.
62. Pair Annie.
P. 65 a. Swedish. ' Skon Anna,' ' Skb'n Anna och
Herr Peder,' Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 13, No 4,
a, b. The bride throws down one half of a gold ring,
Fair Annie the other ; the parts run together : a 23,
b 16.
67. The romance of Galerent follows the story of
Marie's lai, and is thought to be founded on it : Le
Roman de Galerent, Comte de Bretagne, par le trou-
vere Renaut, A. Boucherie, 1888. (G. L. K.)
68, note. The story is in Coryat's Crudities, 1611,
p. 646 f. ; III, 81 f., of the ed. of 1776. (G. L. K.)
63. Child Waters.
P. 84 b, III, 508 b. Add : Skattegraveren, 1888, II,
135, Nos 408-11.
464
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
64. Pair Janet.
P. 101 b. Danish. < Kong Valdemar og bans Ses-
ter,' Kristensen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 75, 378, No
23.
102 b. Breton ballad. After Luzcl, II, 6-15, add
558, the page of the third ballad.
Quellien, Chansons et Danses des Bretons, p. 73, is a
fourth version. This ballad, says Quellien, is widely
spread, and has various titles, one of which is ' Le
Comte de Poitou.'
103 ff. " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Min
strelsy," Abbotsford, No 25. In the handwriting of
William Laid law ; "from Jean Scott."
1 Young Janet sits in her garden,
Makin a heavie niaen,
Whan by cam her father dear,
Walkin himself alane.
2 ' It 's telld me in my bower, Janet,
It 's telld me in my bed,
That ye 're in love wi Sweet Willie ;
But a French lord ye maun wed.'
3 ' In it be telld ye in yer bower, father,
In it, be telld ye in your bed,
That me an Willie bears a love,
Yet a French lord I maun wed,
But here I mak a leel, leel vow
He 's neer come in my bed.
4 ' An for to please my father dear
A French lord I will wed ;
But I hae sworn a solemn oth
He 's neer come in my bed.'
5 Young Janet 's away to her bower-door,
As fast as she can hie,
An Willie he has followd her,
He 's followd speedilie.
6 An whan he cam to her bowr-door
He tirlt at the pin :
' O open, open, Janet love,
Open an let me in.'
7 ' It was never my mother's custm, Willie,
It never sal be mine,
For a man to come the bower within
When a woman 's travelin.
8 ' Gae yer ways to my sisters' bower,
Crie, Meg, Marion an Jean,
Ye maun come to yer sister Janet,
For fear that she be gane.'
9 Sae he gaed to her sisters' bower,
Cry'd, Meg, Marion an Jean,
Ye maun come to yer sister Janet,
For fear that she be gane.
10 Some drew to their silk stokins,
An some drew to their shoon,
An some drew to their silk cleadin,
For fear she had been gane.
11 When they cam to her bower-door
They tirlt at the pin ;
For as sick a woman as she was,
She raise an loot them in.
12 They had na the babie weel buskit,
Nor her laid in her bed,
Untill her cruel father cam,
Cried, Fye, gar busk the bride !
13 ' There a sair pain in my back, father,
There a sair pain in my head,
An sair, sair is my sidies to ;
This day I downa ride.'
14 ' But I hae sorn a solemn oath,
Afore a companie,
That ye sal ride this day, Janet,
This day an ye soud die.
15 * Whae '11 horse ye to the kirk, Janet ?
An whae will horse ye best ? '
* Whae but Willie, my true-love ?
He kens my mister best.'
16 Whae '11 horse ye to the kirk, Janet ?
An whae will horse ye there ? '
' Whae but Willie, my true-love ?
He neer will doo 'd nae maer.
17 ' Ye may saddle a steed, Willie,
An see that ye saddle 't soft ;
Ye may saddle a steed, Willie,
For ye winna saddle 't oft.
18 ' Ye may saddle a steed, Willie,
An see that ye saddle 't side ;
Ye may saddle a steed, Willie ;
But I thought to have been yer bride.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
465
19 When they war a' on horse-back set,
On horse-back set sae hie,
Then up spak the bold bridegroom,
An he spak boustresslie.
20 Up then spak the bold bridegroom,
An he spak loud an thrawn ;
' I think the bride she be wi bairn,
She looks sae pale an wan.'
21 Then she took out her bible-book,
Swoor by her fingers five
That she was neither wi lad nor lass
To no man was alive.
22 Then she took out her bible-book,
Swoor by her fingers ten
An ever she had born a bairn in her days
She had born 'd sin yestreen :
Then a' the ladies round about
Said, That 's a loud leesin.
23 Atween the kitchin an the kirk
It was a weel-met mile ;
It was a stra'd i the red roses,
But than the camomile.
24 When the war a' at dener set,
Drinkin at the wine,
Janet could neither eat nor drink
But the water that ran so fine.
25 Up spak the bride's father,
Said, Bride, will ye dance wi me ?
' Away, away, my cruel father !
There nae dancin wi me.'
26 Up then spak the bride's mother,
Said, Bride, will ye dance wi me ?
' Away, away, my mother dear !
There nae dancin wi me.'
27 Up then spak the bride's sisters, etc.
28 Up then spak the bride's brother, etc.
29 Then up spak the bold bridegroom, [etc.]
30 Up then spak the Sweet Willie,
An he spak wi a vance ;
' An ye '11 draw of my boots, Janet,
I '11 gie a' yer lassies a dance.'
31 ' I seen 't other ways, Willie,
An sae has mae than me,
When ye wad hae danced wi my fair body,
An leten a' my maidens be.'
32 He took her by the milk-white hand,
An led her wi mickle care,
But she drapit down just at his feet,
And word spak little mair.
33 ' Ye may gae hire a nurse, Willie,
An take yer young son hame ;
Ye may gae hire a nurse, Willie,
For bairn's nurse I '11 be nane.'
34 She 's pu'd out the keys o her coffer,
Hung leugh down by her gair ;
She said, Gie thae to my young son,
Thrae me he '11 neer get mair.'
35 Up then spak the bold bridegroom,
An he spak bousterouslie ;
' I 've gien you the skaeth, Willie,
But ye 've gien me the scorn ;
Sae there 's no a bell i St Mary's kirk
Sail ring for her the morn.'
36 ' Ye 've gien me the skaeth, bridegroom,
But I '11 gee you the scorn ;
For there 's no a bell i St Marie's kirk
But sal ring for her the morn.
37 ' Gar deal, gar deal at my love's burial
The wheat-bread an the wine,
For or the morn at ten o clock
Ye '11 deal 'd as fast at mine.'
38 Then he 's drawn out a nut-brown sword,
Hang leugh down by his gair,
He 's thrust it in just at his heart,
An word spak never mair.
39 The taen was buried i St Mary's kirk,
The tother i St Mary's queer,
An throw the taen there sprang a birk,
Throw the tother a bonnie brier.
40 Thae twae met, an thae twae plaet,
An ay they knitit near,
An ilka ane that cam thereby
Said, There lies twa lovers dear.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
41 Till by there came an ill French lord,
An ill death may he die !
For he pu'd up the bonnie brier,
5 1 . Away struck out, and on toritten over.
9 1 . An at the beginning struck out.
10 LS -. drew to them their ? Cf. A 10.
11*. The fourth verse is written as the second (it for
in), but struck out. 12 1 . bukit.
18*. Changed, by striking out, to An sair, sair my
side. An sair, sair is my side should probably be
the second line.
Cf. A 17, C 12. 15 2 . An whae 1 will.
16*. He '11 neer will.
18 4 . But struck out. 23*. But an ?
30 1 . he Sweet Willie ? 34 2 . Hang ? Cf. 38 2 .
39 2 . MS. queer Choir. 40*. twa struck out.
65. Lady Maisry-
P. 112 b. I. "Mrs Baird says that this ballad was
printed in the Saltmarket [Glasgow] by the Robertsons
about seventy years ago." Note by Mother well in a
copy of his Minstrelsy.
113, note . ' Galancina ' also in Munthe, Folkpo-
esi fran Asturien, No 3, Upsala Universitets Arsskrift,
1887.
' Lady Margery,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border
Minstrelsy," No 71, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 71, Abbots-
ford. " From the recitation of Janet Scott, Bowden, who
sung a dysmal air, as she called it, to the words."
This version resembles D. 12, 13, may be caught from
' Lord Derwentwater : ' see No 208, E 8, 9, F 9, 10. Omens
are not in place after the positive information given in 11.
1 Lady Margery was the king's ae daughter,
But an the prince's heir ; O
She 's away to Strawberry Castle,
To learn some English lair. O
2 She had not been in Strawberry Castle
A twelvemonth and a day
Till she 's even as big wi child
As ever a lady could gae.
3 Her father 's to the cutting o the birks,
Her mother to the broom,
And a' for to get a bundle o sticks
To burn that fair lady in.
4 ' O hold your hand now, father dear,
hold a little while,
For if my true-love be yet alive
1 '11 hear his bridle ring.
5 ' Where will I get a bonny boy,
That will win hoes and shoon,
That will run to Strawberry Castle
And tell my love to come ? '
6 She 's called on her waiting-maid
To bring out bread and wine :
' Now eat and drink, my bonny boy,
Ye '11 neer eat mair o mine.'
7 Away that bonny boy he 's gaen,
As fast as he could rin ;
When he cam where grass grew green
Set down his feet and ran.
8 And when he cam where brigs were broken
He bent his bow and swam ;
9 When he came to Strawberry Castle,
He lighted on the green ;
Who was so ready as the noble lord
To rise and let the boy in !
10 ' What news ? what news, my pretty page ?
What tydings do ye bring ?
Is my lady lighter yet
Of a daughter or a son ? '
11 ' Bad news, bad news, my noble lord,
Bad tydings have I brung ;
The fairest lady in a' Scotland
This day for you does burn.'
12 He has mounted a stately steed
And he was bound to ride ;
The silver buttons flew off his coat
And his nose began to bleed.
13 The second steed that lord mounted
Stumbled at a stone ;
' Alass ! alass ! ' he cried with grief,
' My lady will be gone.'
14 When he came from Strawberry Castle
He lighted boots and a' ;
He thought to have goten a kiss from her,
But her body fell in twa.
15 For the sake o Lady Margery
He 's cursed her father and mother,
For the sake o Lady Margery
He 's cursed her sister and brother.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
467
16 And for the sake o Lady Margery
He 's cursed all her kin ;
He cried, Scotland is the ae warst place
That ever my fit was in !
O, added in singing to the second and fourth lines of
each stanza, is sometimes not written in the MS.
9 is written as the third and fourth lines of 8.
15 and 16 are written as one stanza of four long
lines.
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
22 f ; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw. " From Jean
Scott." This version resembles B.
1 Marjorie was her father's dear,
Her mother's only heir,
An she 's away to Strawberry Castle,
To learn some unco lear.
2 She had na heen i Strawberry Castle
A year but barely three
Till Marjorie turnd big wi child,
As big as big could be.
3 ' Will ye hae that old, old man
To be yer daily mate,
Or will ye burn in fire strong
For your true lover's sake ? '
4 ' I winna marry that old, old man
To be my daily mate;
I '11 rather burn i fire strong
For my true lover's sake.
5 ' O where will I get a bonnie boy
That will win hose an shoon
An will gae rin to Strawberry Castle,
To gar my good lord come soon ? '
6 ' Here am I, a bonnie boy
That will win hose an shoon,
An I '11 gae rin to Strawberry Castle,
And gar your lord come soon.'
7 ' Should ye come to a brocken brig,
Than bend your bow an swim ;
An whan ye com to garse growin
Set down yer feet an rin.'
8 When eer he came to brigs broken,
He bent his bow an swam,
And whan he cam to grass growin
He set down his feet an ran.
7 When eer he cam to Strawberry Castle
He tirlt at the pin ;
There was nane sae ready as that young lord
To open an let him in.
8 ' Is there ony o my brigs broken ?
Or ony o my castles win ?
Or is my lady brought to bed
Of a daughter or a son ? '
9 ' There 's nane o a' yer brigs broken,
Ther 's nane of your castles win ;
But the fairest lady in a' your land
This day for you will burn.'
10 ' Gar saddle me the black, black horse,
Gar saddle me the brown,
Gar saddle me the swiftest stead
That eer carried man to town.'
11 He 's burstit the black unto the slack,
The grey unto the brae,
An ay the page that ran afore
Cried, Ride, sir, an ye may.
12 Her father kindlet the bale-fire,
Her brother set the stake,
Her mother sat an saw her burn,
An never cried Alack !
13 ' Beet on, beet [on], my cruel father,
For you I cound nae friend ;
But for fifteen well mete mile
I '11 hear my love's bridle ring.'
14 When he cam to the bonnie Dundee,
He lightit wi a glent ;
Wi jet-black boots an glittrin spurs
Through that bale-fire he went.
15 He thought his love wad hae datit him,
But she was dead an gane ;
He was na sae wae for that lady
As he was for her yong son.
468
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
16 ' But I 'II gar born for yon, Marjorie,
Yer father an yer mother,
An I '11 gar burn for you, Marjorie,
Your sister an your brother.
17 ' An I will burn for yon, Marjorie,
The town that ye 'r brant in,
An monie ane 's be fatherless
That has but little sin.'
4*. But at the beginning struck out.
10. grey is written over brown in the second line
(perhaps because of grey in II 2 ), and to town is
struck out in the fourth tine, but nothing supplied.
67. Qlasgerion.
P. 136. " Glen Kindy, or rather Glen Skeeny, I have
heard, and there is a ballad in Percy's collection tbat
is very much the same." Mrs Brown, in a letter to
Jamieson, June 18, 1801, Jamieson-Brown MS., Appen
dix, p. x.
137 a, second paragraph. ' Riddaren och torpar-
drangen,' Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 133, No 43.
68. Young Hunting.
P. 142 b. The four additional stanzas in J first ap
peared in the second edition of the Minstrelsy, 1803,
II, 44.
143 b, 512 a, III, 509 a. Discovery of drowned bod
ies. Add : La Tradition, IV, 236.
143 b, second paragraph. Many cases in Pitcairn's
Criminal Trials, III, 182-99.
69. Clerk Saunders.
P. 157 f. Scandinavian ballads. See Danmarks gamle
Folkeviser, now edited by Axel Olrik, V, u, 210, No
304, ' De hurtige Svar.' There are two Faroe versions,
A a, A b, B, now No 124 of the MS. F0royjakvseSi.
Hammershaimb's ballad is a compound of A a, B. There
is a Norwegian copy, which I failed to note, in Danske
Viser, IV, 363 f, and there are others in the hands of
Professor Bugge. There are two Swedish unprinted
copies in Arwidsson's collection, and others are referred
to by Afzelius. Danish, A-D : A a and B c are the
copies referred to at p. 158, C, D were published in
1889, in Kristensen's Jyske Folkeminder, X, 210 ff.,
No 51. For the Icelandic ballads see Olrik, No 294,
p. 69 ff. A tendency to the comic is to be remarked in
the Swedish and Danish group, in which (with one ex
ception) a brother takes the place of the father.
158 a, III, 509 a. Spanish, add : ' Mafianita, mafta-
nita,' El Folk-Lore Frexnense y Be"tico-ExtremeBo,
Fregenal, 1883-84, p. 171.
158 . ' Clerk Sandy,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials
for Border Minstrelsy," No 22 c ; in the handwriting of
Richard Heber.
1 Clerk Sandy an his true-love
Came oer the bent so brown ,
There was never sic a word between them tua
Till the bells rang in the toun.
2 ' Ye maun take out your pocket-napkin
An put it on my een,
That safely I may say the morn
I saw na yow yestreen.
3 * Take me on your back, lady,
An carry me to your bed,
That safely I may say the morn
Yere bouer's floor I never tread.'
4 She 's taen him in her armeys tua,
An carried him to her bed,
That safely he may say the morn
Her bouer's floor he never tread.
6 ' I have seven brethren,' she says,
' An bold young men they be ;
If they see me an you thegether,
Yere butcher they will be.'
6 They had na sutten as lang, as lang
As other lovers when they meet,
Till Clerk Sandy an his true-love
They fell baith sound asleep.
7 In an came her seven brethren,
An bold young men they 've been :
' We have only ae sister in a' the world,
An wi Clerk Sandy she 's lein.'
8 Out an spake her second brother :
' I 'm sure it's nae injury ;
If there was na another man in a' the world.
His butcher I will be.'
9 He 's taen out a little pen-knife,
Hang low doun by his gaer,
An thro an thro Clerk Sandy's middle ;
A word spake he never mair.
10 They lay lang, an lang they lay,
Till the bird in its cage did sing ;
She softly unto him did say,
I wonder ye sleep sae soun.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
469
11 They lay lang, an lang they lay,
Till the sun shane on their feet ;
She softly unto him did say,
Ye ly too sound asleep.
12 She softly turnd her round about,
An wondred he slept sae soun ;
An she lookd ovr her left shoulder,
An the blood about them ran.
I 3 , bents o Broun.
71. The Bent Sae Brown.
P. 170 a, III, 509 a, IV, 164 b. Danish. <Jom-
fruens Bradre,' ' Hr. Hjselm,' Kristensen, Jyske Folke-
minder, X, 266, 269, No 65, A, B, No 66.
72. The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford.
P. 174, 512 a, III, 509 a. M. Gaston Paris has made
it strongly probable that Pontoise, and not Toulouse,
was originally the scene of the French-Catalan-Italian
ballad. Three students had inadvertently trespassed
on the hunting-grounds of Enguerrand de Couci ; the
baron had them arrested by his foresters and hanged
from the battlements of his castle ; for which St Louis
made him pay a heavy fine, and with the money founded
a hospital at Pontoise. Journal des Savants, Sept.-
Nov., 1889, p. 614.
73. Lord Thomas and Fair Annet.
P. 180. Norse (1). ' Peder och liten Stina,' Lagus,
Nylandska Folkvisor, 1, 18, No 5. Stina hangs herself
in the orchard. Peder runs on his spear.
181,111, 510 b. French ballads. 'La Delaissee,'
Daymard, Vieux Chants p. rec. en Quercy, p. 50. ' Le
Rossignolet,' Revue des Traditions pop., V, 144, 205.
P. 182 f. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border
Minstrelsy," No 22 h ; in the handwriting of William
Laidlaw. From Jean Scott.
1 Fair Annie an Sweet Willie
Sat a' day on yon hill ;
Whan day was gane an night was comd,
They hadna said their fill.
2 Willie spak but ae wrang word,
An Annie took it ill :
1 1 '11 never marry a fair woman
Against my friends's will.'
3 Annie spak but ae wrang word,
An Willy lookit down :
' If I binna gude enough for yer wife,
I 'm our-gude for yer loun.'
4 Willie 's turnd his horse's head about,
He 's turnd it to the broom,
An he 's away to his father's bower,
I the ae light o the moon.
5 Whan he cam to his father's bower,
[He tirlt at the pin ;
Nane was sae ready as his father
To rise an let him in.]
6 ' An askin, an askin, dear father,
An askin I '11 ask thee ; '
* Say on, say on, my son Willie,
Whatever your askin be.'
7 ' O sail I marry the nit-brown bride,
Has corn, caitle an kye,
Or sail I marry Fair Annie,
Has nought but fair beauty ? '
8 ' Ye ma sit a gude sate, Willy,
Wi corn, caitle an kye ;
But ye '11 but sit a silly sate
Wi nought but fair beauty.'
9 Up than spak his sister's son,
Sat on the nurse's knee,
Sun-bruist in his mother's wame,
Sun-brunt on his nurse's knee :
10 ' O yer hogs will die out i the field,
Yer kye ill die i the byre ;
An than, whan a' yer gear is gane,
A f usom fag by yer fire !
But a' will thrive at is wi you
An ye get yer heart's desire.'
11 Willie 's turnd his horse's head about,
He 's away to his mother's hour, etc.
12 < O my hogs ill die out i the field,
My kye die i the byre,
An than, whan a' my gear is gane,
A f usom fag bi my fire !
But a' will thrive at is wi me
Gin I get my heart's desire.'
13 Willie 's, etc.,
He 's awae to his brother's bower, etc.
14
" sister's bower, etc.
470
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
15 Than Willie has set his wadin-day
Within thirty days an three,
An he has sent to Fair Annie
His waddin to come an see.
16 The man that gade to Fair Annie
Sae weel his errant coud tell :
' The morn it 's Willie's wadin-day,
Ye maun be there yer sell.'
17 'T was up an spak her aged father,
He spak wi muckle care ;
' An the morn be Willie's wadin-day,
I wate she maun be there.
18 ' Gar take a steed to the smiddie,
Caw on o it four shoon ;
Gar take her to a merchant's shop,
Cut off for her a gown.'
19 She wadna ha 't o the red sae red,
Nor yet o the grey sae grey,
But she wad ha 't o the sky couler
That she woor ilka day.
'JO There war four-an-twontie gray goss-hawks
A flaffin their wings sae wide,
To flaff the stour thra off the road
That Fair Annie did ride.
21 The [re] war four-a-twontie milk-white dows
A fleein aboon her head,
An four-an-twontie milk-white swans
Her out the gate to lead.
22 Whan she cam to St Marie's kirk,
She lightit on a stane ;
The beauty o that fair creature
Shone oer mony ane.
23 'T was than out cam the nit-brown bride,
She spak wi muckle spite ;
' O where gat ye the water, Annie,
That washes you sae white ? '
24 ' I gat my beauty
Where ye was no to see ;
I gat it i my father's garden,
Aneath an apple tree.
25 ' Ye ma wash i dubs,' she said,
' An ye ma wash i syke,
But an ye wad wash till doomsday
Ye neer will be as white.
26 ' Ye ma wash i dubs,' she said,
An ye ma wash i the sea,
But an ye soud wash till doomsday
Ye '11 neer be as white as me.
27 For I gat a' this fair beauty
Where ye gat never none,
For I gat a' this fair beauty
Or ever I was born.'
28 It was than out cam Willie,
Wi hats o silks and flowers;
He said, Keep ye thae, my Fair Annie,
An brook them weel for yours.'
29 ' Na, keep ye thae, Willie,' she said,
' Gie them to yer nit-brown bride ;
Bid her wear them wi mukle care,
For woman has na born a son
Sal mak my heart as sair.'
30 Annie 's luppen on her steed
An she has ridden hame,
Than Annie 's luppen of her steed
An her bed she has taen.
31 When mass was sung, an bells war rung.
An a' man bound to bed,
An Willie an his nit-brown bride
I their chamber war laid.
32 They war na weel laid in their bed,
Nor yet weel faen asleep,
Till up an startit Fair Annie,
Just up at Willie's feet.
33 How like ye yer bed, Willie ?
An how like ye yer sheets ?
An how like ye yer nut-brown bride.
Lies in yer arms an sleeps ? '
34 ' Weel eneugh I like my bed, Annie,
Weel eneugh I like my sheets ;
But wae be to the nit-brown bride
Lies in my arms an sleeps ! '
35 Willie 's ca'd on his merry men a'
To rise an pit on their shoon ;
' An we '11 awae to Annie's bower,
Wi the ae light o the moon.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
471
36 An whan he cam to Annie's bower,
He tirlt at the pin ;
Nane was sae ready as her father
To rise an let him in.
37 There was her father a[n] her se'en brethren
A makiii to her a bier,
Wi ae stamp o the melten goud,
Another o siller clear.
38 When he cam to the chamber-door
Where that the dead lay in,
There was her mother an six sisters
A makin to her a sheet,
Wi ae drap o . . . .
Another o silk sae white.
39 ' Stand by, stand by now, ladies a',
Let me look on the dead ;
The last time that I kiss[t] her lips
They war mair bonny red.'
40 ' Stand by, stand by now, Willie,' they said,
' An let ye her alane ;
Gin ye had done as ye soud done,
She wad na there ha lien.'
41 ' Gar deal, gar deal at Annie's burrial
The wheat bread an the wine,
For or the morn at ten o clock
Ye 's deal'd as fast at mine.'
5. Whan he cam to his father's bower, etc. Com
pleted from 36.
7 2 . caitle written under cattle.
8*. Annie written over nought.
11. 4-8 are intended to be repeated, with mother sub
stituted for father.
13, 14. 4-8, 12, are intended to be repeated, with the
proper substitutions for brother, sister.
After 19 : Something about her sadle and steed.
20 2 , 37 2 , 38 4 . A' ; which may be intended.
29. Compare E 30 : but I am unMe to suggest a sat
isfactory restoration of the stanza.
After 41 : etc. See Sweet Willie an Janet. What
should follow is probably, Sweet Willie was
buried, etc.
There are six stanzas of ' Lord Thomas and Fair Ele-
nor,' from Mrs Gammell's recitation, in Pitcairn's MSS,
III, 35. They are of no value.
75. Lord Lovel.
P. 204 f., note f 512 b. Add : Hruschka u. Tois-
cher, Deutsche V. 1. aus Bohmen, p. 108, No 20, a-f.
VOL. iv. 60
205 a, note, III, 510 b. For ' Stolten Hellelille, see
Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, V, n, 352, No 312, 'G0de
og Hillelille.' Add : ' Greven og lille Lise,' Kristen-
sen, Jyske Folkeminder, X, 319, No 79, A-E.
205 b, III, 510 b. 'Den elskedes D0d:' the same
volume of Kristensen, 'Herr Peders Kjaereste,' p. 327,
No 80.
206, 512 b, III, 510 b. ' Lou Fil del Rey et sa Mio
morto,' Daymard, Vieux Chants p. rec. en Quercy, p.
82.
There is a similar ballad, ending with admonition
from the dead mistress, in Luzel, Soniou, I, 324, 25,
4 Cloaregic ar Stanc.'
76. The Lass of Roch Royal.
213 a. Title of B. Not Lochroyan in Herd, 1, 144,
but, both in title and text, Lochvoyan. In Herd, II,
60, the title has Lochroyan ; the word does not occur
in so much of the text as remains. Printed Lochroyan
by Herd, and probably Lochroyan was intended in I,
144, as the alternative, though the last letter but one is
indistinctly written, and may be read e. B came to
Herd " by post from a lady in Ayrshire (?), name un
known." Also, No 38, A a, No 51, A a ; No 161,
B a ; No 220, A. Note (in pencil, and indistinct as to
the place), Herd's MSS, I, 143.
21 5 a. A part of this ballad is introduced into two
versions of 'The Mother's Malison,' No 216; see
IV, 186. See also 'Fair Janet,' No 64, A 13, D 5,
G5.
217. B. Lochvoyan everywhere, not Lochroyan.
221. E 2 2 . Finlay, in a letter to Scott, March 27,
1803 (Letters, I, No 87), says, "in a copy which I have
seen, with the music, it is a birchen, instead of a silver,
kame."
' The Lass of Lochroyan/ " Scotch Ballads, Materials
for Border Minstrelsy," No 82, Abbotsford. Communi
cated to Scott by Major Henry Hutton, Royal Artillery,
24th December, 1802 (Letters I, No 77), as recollected by
his father and the family.
Some ten stanzas of this version (16-19, 25-27, 30, 32,
34) appear to have been used by Scott in compiling the copy
printed in his Minstrelsy, E b. (The note on E b, p. 226,
requires correction.) There is much in common with B,
Ea, P.
1 ' O wha will shoe my bonny foot ?
And wha will glove my hand ?
And wha will bind my middle jimp
Wi a lang, lang linen band ?
2 ' wha will kame my yellow hair,
With a haw bayberry kame ?
And wha will be my babe's father
Till Gregory come hame ? '
t
472
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
3 ' Thy father, he will shoe thy foot,
Thy brother will glove thy hand,
Thy mither will bind thy middle jimp
Wi a lang, lang linen band.
4 ' Thy sister will kame thy yellow hair,
Wi a haw bayberry kame ;
The Almighty will be thy babe's father
Till Gregory come hame.'
5 ' And wha will build a bonny ship,
And set it on the sea ?
For I will go to seek my love,
My ain love Gregory.'
6 Up then spak her father dear,
A waf u man was he ;
' And I will build a bonny ship.
And set her on the sea.
7 * And I will build a bonny ship,
And set her on the sea,
And ye sal gae and seek your love,
Your ain love Gregory.'
8 Then he/s gard build a bonny ship,
And set it on the sea,
Wi four-and-twenty mariners,
To bear her company.
9 O he 's gart build a bonny ship,
To sail on the salt sea ;
The mast was o the beaten gold,
The sails [o] cramoisie.
10 The sides were o the gude stout aik,
The deck o mountain pine,
The anchor o the silver shene,
The ropes o silken twine.
11 She had na saild but twenty leagues,
But twenty leagues and three,
When she met wi a rank rever,
And a' his companie.
12 ' Now are ye queen of heaven hie,
Come to pardon a' our sin ?
Or are ye Mary Magdalane,
Was born at Bethlam ? '
13 ' I 'm no the queen of heaven hie,
Come to pardon ye your sin,
Nor am I Mary Magdalane,
Was born in Bethlam.
14 ' But I 'm the lass of Lochroyan,
That 's sailing on the sea
To see if I can find my love,
My ain love Gregory.'
15 ' O see na ye yon bonny bower ?
It 's a' covered oer wi tin ;
When thou hast saild it round about,
Lord Gregory is within.'
16 And when she saw the stately tower,
Shining both clear and bright,
Whilk stood aboon the jawing wave,
Built on a rock of height,
17 Says, Row the boat, my mariners,
And bring me to the land,
For yonder I see my love's castle,
Close by the salt sea strand.
18 She saild it round, and saild it round,
And loud and loud cried she
' Now break, now break your fairy charms.
And set my true-love free.'
19 She 's taen her young son in her arms
And to the door she 's gane,
And long she knockd, and sair she ca'd,
But answer got she nane.
20 ' O open, open, Gregory !
O open ! if ye be within ;
For here 's the lass of Lochroyan,
Come far fra kith and kin.
21 ' O open the door, Lord Gregory !
O open and let me in !
The wind blows loud and cauld, Gregory,
The rain drops fra my chin.
22 ' The shoe is frozen to my foot,
The glove unto my hand.
The wet drops fra my yellow hair,
Na langer dow I stand.'
23 O up then spak his ill mither,
An ill death may she die !
' Y 're no the lass of Lochroyan,
She 's far out-our the sea.
24 ' Awa, awa. ye ill woman,
Ye 're no come here for gude ;
Ye 're but some witch or wil warlock,
Or mermaid o the flood.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
473
25 ' I am neither witch nor wil warlock,
Nor mermaid o the sea,
But I am Annie of Lochroyan,
O open the door to me ! '
26 ' Gin ye be Annie of Lochroyan,
As I trow thou binna she,
Now tell me of some love-tokens
That past tween thee and me.'
27 ' dinna ye mind, love Gregory,
As we sat at the wine,
We chang'd the rings frae our fingers ?
And I can shew thee thine.
28 ' O yours was gude, and gude enough,
But ay the best was mine,
For yours was o the gude red gowd,
But mine o the diamond fine.
29 ' Yours was o the gude red gowd,
Mine o the diamond fine ;
Mine was o the purest troth,
But thine was false within.'
30 ' If ye be the lass of Lochroyan,
As I kenna thou be,
Tell me some mair o the love-tokens
Past between thee and me.'
31 ' And dinna ye mind, love Gregory,
As we sat on the hill,
Thou twin'd me o my maidenheid,
Right sair against my will ?
32 ' Now open the door, love Gregory !
Open the door ! I pray ;
For thy young son is in my arms,
And will be dead ere day.'
33 ' Ye lie, ye lie, ye ill woman,
So loud I hear ye lie ;
For Annie of the Lochroyan
Is far out-our the sea.'
34 Fair Annie turnd her round about :
' Weel, sine that it be sae,
May neer woman that has borne a son
Hae a heart sae fu o wae !
35 ' Take down, take down that mast o gowd,
Set up a mast of tree ;
It disna become a forsaken lady
To sail sae royallie.'
36 When the cock had crawn, and the day did
dawn,
And the sun began to peep,
Up then raise Lord Gregory,
And sair, sair did he weep.
37 ' O I hae dreamd a dream, mither,
I wish it may bring good !
That the bonny lass of Lochroyan
At my bower-window stood.
38 ' I hae dreamd a dream, mither,
The thought o 't gars me greet !
That fair Annie of Lochroyan
Lay dead at my bed-feet.'
39 ' Gin it be for Annie of Lochroyan
That ye make a' this main,
She stood last night at your bower-door,
But I hae sent her hame.'
40 ' O wae betide ye, ill woman,
An ill death may ye die !
That wadna open the door yoursell
Nor yet wad waken me.'
41 O he 's gane down to yon shore-side,
As fast as he coud dree,
And there he saw fair Annie's bark
A rowing our the sea.
42 ' Annie, Annie,' loud he cried,
' O Annie, O Annie, bide ! '
But ay the mair he cried Annie
The braider grew the tide.
43 ' O Annie, Annie, dear Annie,
Dear Annie, speak to me ! '
But ay the louder he gan call
The louder roard the sea.
44 The wind blew loud, the waves rose hie
And dashd the boat on shore ;
Fair Annie's corpse was in the feume,
The babe rose never more.
45 Lord Gregory tore his gowden locks
And made a wafu moan ;
Fair Annie's corpse lay at his feet,
His bonny son was gone.
46 ' cherry, cherry was her cheek,
And gowden was her hair,
474
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
And coral, coral was her lips,
Nane might with her compare.'
47 Then first he kissd her pale, pale cheek,
And syne he kissd her chin,
And syne he kissd her wane, wane lips,
There was na breath within.
48 ' O wae betide my ill mither,
An ill death may she die !
She turnd my true-love frae my door,
Who came so far to me.
49 ' O wae betide my ill mither,
An ill death may she die !
She has no been the deid o ane,
But she 's been the deid of three.'
50 Then he 's taen out a little dart,
Hung low down by his gore,
He thrust it through and through his heart,
And words spak never more.
li, 48 1 . Oh.
77. Sweet William's Ghost.
P. 233. O. These three stanzas, which Scott an
nexed to ' Clerk Saunders ' in the second edition of
the Minstrelsy, 1803, II, 41, were contributed by the
Ettrick Shepherd, who writes, not quite lucidly : " Altho
this ballad [Clerk Saunders] is mixed with another, ac
cording to my mother's edition, in favour of whose origi
nality I am strongly prepossessed, yet, as the one does
in no sense disgrace the other in their present form,
according to her it ends thus."
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy, " No
141, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of James Hogg.
1 ( But plett a wand o bonnie birk
An lay it on my breast,
An drap a tear upon my grave,
An wiss my saul gude rest.
2 ' But fair Marget, an rare Marget,
An Marget, o verity,
If eer ye loe another man,
Neer loe him as ye did me.'
3 But up then crew the milk-white cock,
An up then crew the grey ;
Her lover vanishd in the air,
An she gaed weepin away.
78. The Unquiet Grave.
P. 236 b. Add : Waldau's Bbhmisehe Granaten, II,
121, No 176.
286 f., Ill, 512 f. The Rev. S. Baring-Gould has
recovered several copies of ' The Unquiet Grave ' in
the West Country. It will be observed that the varia
tions in this ballad do not take a wide range. The
verses are not always sung in the same order ; there is
not story enough to keep them in place. Mr Baring-
Gould informs me that there is a Devon popular tale
which is very similar (possibly a prose version of the
ballad). In this, a bramble-leaf comes between the
lips of the maiden and her dead lover, and her life is
saved thereby. This tale is utilized in the ballad as
printed in Songs of the West, No 6, ' Cold blows the
wind, sweetheart ! '
a. Sent Rev. S. Baring-Gould by Mrs Gibbons, daughter
of the late Sir W. L. Trelawney, as she remembered it sung
by her nurse, Elizabeth Doidge, a woman of the neighbor
hood of Brentor, about 1828. b. Obtained by the same
from John Woodrich, blacksmith, parish of Thrustleton, as
heard from his grandmother about 1848. c. By the same,
from Anne Roberts, Scobbeter.
1 ' Cold blows the wind tonight, sweet-heart,
Cold are the drops of rain ;
The very first love that ever I had
In greenwood he was slain.
2 ' I '11 do as much for my sweet-heart
As any young woman may ;
I '11 sit and mourn on his grave-side
A twelve-month and a day.'
3 A twelve-month and a day being up.
The ghost began to speak :
' Wliy sit you here by my grave-side
And will not let me sleep ?
4 ' What is it that you want of me,
Or what of me would have ? '
' A kiss from off your lily-white lips.
And that is all I crave ! '
5 ' Cold are my lips in death, sweet-heart,
My breath is earthy strong ;
To gain a kiss of my cold lips,
Your time would not be long.
6 ' If you were not my own sweet-heart,
As now I know you be,
I 'd tear you as the withered leaves
That grew on yonder tree.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
475
' don't you mind the garden, love,
Where you and I did walk ?
The fairest flower that blossomd there
Is withered on the stalk.
8 ' And now I 've mourned upon his grave
A twelvemonth and a day,
We '11 set our sails before the wind
And so we '11 sail away.'
9 ' Cold though your lips in death, sweet-heart,
One kiss is all I crave ;
I care not, if I kiss but thee,
That I should share thy grave.'
10 ' Go fetch me a light from dungeon deep,
Wring water from a stone,
And likewise milk from a maiden's breast
That never maid hath none. (Read babe
had.)
b. 1 Cold blows the wind to-night, my love,
Cold are the drops of rain ;
The very first love that ever I had
In greenwood he was slain.
2 ' I '11 do as much for my true-love
As any young woman may ;
I '11 sit and mourn upon his grave
A twelve-month and a day.'
3 When a twelve-month and a day were up,
His body straight arose :
' What brings you weeping oer my grave
That I get no repose ? '
4 ' think upon the garden, love,
Where you and I did walk ;
The fairest flower that blossomd there
Is withered on the stalk.
5 ' The stalk will bear no leaves, sweet-heart.
The flower will neer return,
And my true-love is dead, is dead,
And I do naught but mourn.'
6 ' What is it that you want of me
And will not let me sleep ?
Your salten tears they trickle down
And wet my winding-sheet.'
7 ' What is it that I want of thee,
O what of thee in grave ?
A kiss from off your lily-white lips,
And that is all I crave.'
8 ' Cold are my lips in death, sweet-heart,
My breath is earthy strong ;
If you do touch my clay-cold lips,
Your time will not be long.'
11 ' Now if you were not true in word,
As now I know you be,
I 'd tear you as the withered leaves
Are torn from off the tree.'
C. 1 'It 's for to meet the falling drops,
Cold fall the drops of rain ;
The last true-love, etc.
2 ' I '11 do as much for my fair love
As any,' etc.
The rest " almost exactly "as b.
'Charles Graeme,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of
Scotland, 1, 89, Motherwell's MS., p. 624, begins with stanzas
which belong to this ballad. What follows after the third,
or just possibly the sixth, stanza reads as if some contribu
tor had been diverting himself with an imposition on the
editor's simplicity. Buchan himself remarks in a note, p.
299 : " There seems to be a very great inconsistency mani
fested throughout the whole of this ballad in the lady's be
havior towards the ghost of her departed lover. Perhaps
she wished to sit and sigh alone, undisturbed with visits
from the inhabitants of the grave." (Translated by Ger
hard, p. 63.)
1 ' Cauld, cauld blaws the winter night,
Sair beats the heavy rain ;
Young Charles Graeme 's the lad I love,
In greenwood he lies slain.
2 ' But I will do for Charles Graeme
What other maidens may ;
I '11 sit and harp upon his grave
A twelvemonth and a day.'
3 She harped a' the live-lang night,
The saut tears she did weep,
Till at the hour o one o'clock
His ghost began to peep.
4 Pale and deadly was his cheek,
And pale, pale was his chin ;
476
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
And how and hollow were his een,
No light appeard therein.
5 Why sit ye here, ye maiden fair,
To mourn sae sair for me ? '
' I am sae sick, and very love-sick,
Aye foot I cannot jee.
6 Sae well 's I loved young Charles Graeme,
I kent he loved me ;
My very heart 's now like to break
For his sweet companie.'
7 ' Will ye hae an apple, lady,
And I will sheave it sma V '
' I am sae sick, and very love-sick,
I cannot eat at a'.'
8 ' Will ye hae the wine, lady,
And I will drain it sma ? '
' I am sae sick, and very love-sick,
I cannot drink at a'.
9 ' See ye not my father's castle,
Well covered ower wi tin ?
There 's nane has sic an anxious wish
As I hae to be in.'
10 ' O harfle, fab- maid, ye 'se quickly won,
But this request grant me ;
When ye are safe in downbed laid,
That I may sleep wi thee.'
1 1 ' If hame again, sir, I could win,
I '11 this request grant thee ;
When I am safe in downbed laid,
This night ye 'se sleep wi me.'
1 2 Then he poud up a birken bow,
Pat it in her right han,
And they are to yon castle fair,
As fast as they coud gang.
13 When they came to yon castle fair,
It was piled round about ;
She slipped in and bolted the yetts,
Says, Ghaists may stand thereout.
14 Then he vanishd frae her sight
In the twinkling o an ee ;
Says, Let never ane a woman trust
Sae much as I 've done thee.
8O. Old Robin of Portingale.
P. 240, 513 a, ID, 514. Mabillon cites Balderic's
history of the first crusade, whose words are : " Multi
etiam de gente plebeia crucem sibi divinitus innatam
jactando ostentabant, quod et idem quaedam ex mu-
lierculis praesumpserunt ; hoc enim falsum deprehen-
sum est omnino. Multi vero ferrum callidum instar
rim-is sibi adhibuerunt, vel peste jactantiae, vel bonae
suffi voluntatis ostentatione." Migne, Patrologiae Curs.
Compl., torn, clxvi, col. 1070.
A man who is looking forward to a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land wishes to have the cross burned into his
right shoulder, since then, though he should be stript
of his clothes, the cross would remain : Miracula S.
Thomae, Auctore Benedicto, Robertson, Materials for
the History of Thomas Becket, II, 175. The brand
ing of the cross in the flesh must have become common,
since it was forbidden by the canon law. In some edi
tions of the Sarum Missal, a warning is inserted in the
Servitium Peregrinorum : " Combustio crucis in carne
peregrinis euntibus Hierusalem prohibitum est in lege,
secundum jura canonica, sub poena excommunication is
majoris." Sarum Missal, Burntisland, 1867, col. 856 *.
(Cited by Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle
Ages, p. 167.)
81. Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard.
P. 242 ff. P, which Jamieson says he received from
Scotland, happens to have been preserved at Abbots-
ford. Since Jamieson made a considerable number of
small changes, the original text is now given here.
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,"
No 133 c, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of James
Hogg.
1 ' I have a towr in Dalesberry,
Whilk now is dearly dight,
And I will gie it to young Musgrave,
To lodge wi me a night.'
2 ' To lodge wi thee a night, fair lady,
Wad breed baith sorrow and strife ;
For I see by the rings on your fingers
Ye 're good Lord Barnaby's wife.'
3 ' Lord Barnaby's wife although I be,
Yet what is that to thee V
For we '1 beguile, him for this ae night ;
He 's on to fair Dundee.
4 ' Come here, come here, my little foot-page,
This guinea I will give thee,
If ye will keep thir secrets closs
Tween young Musgrave an me.
5 ' But here hae I a little pen-knife,
Kings low down by my gare ;
If ye dinna keep thir secrets closs,
Ye '1 find it wonder sair.'
6 Then she 's taen him to her chamber,
An down in her arms lay he ;
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
477
The boy koost off his hose an shoon
An ran for fair Dundee.
7 When he came to the wan water,
He slackd his bow an swam,
An when he wan to growan gress
Set down his feet an ran.
8 And whan he came to fair Dundee,
Could nouther rap nor ca,
But set his braid bow to his breast
An merrily jumpd the wa.
9 ' O waken ye, waken ye, my good lord,
Waken, an come away ! '
' What ails, what ails my wee foot-page
He cry's sae lang or day ?
10 ' O is my towers burnt, my boy?
Or is my castle won ?
Or has the lady that I loe best
Brought me a daughter or son ? '
11 ' Your halls are safe, your towers are safe
An free frae all alarms ;
But oh, the lady that ye loe best
Lyes sound i Musgrave's arms.'
12 ' Gae saddle me the black,' he cry'd,
' Gae saddle me the gray ;
Gae saddle me the milk-white steed,
To hie me out the way.'
13 ' O lady, I heard a wee horn tout,
An it blew wonder clear,
An ay the turnin o the note
Was, Barnaby will be here !
14 ' I thought I heard a wee horn blaw,
An it blew loud an hie,
An ay at ilka turn it said,
Away, Musgrave, away ! '
15 ' Lye still, my dear, lye still, my dear,
Ye keep me frae the cold !
For it is but my father's shepherds,
Drivin there flocks to the fold.'
16 Up they lookit, an down they lay,
An they 're fa'n sound asleep ;
Till up start good Lord Barnaby,
Just closs at their bed-feet.
1 7 How do ye like my bed, Musgrave ?
An how like ye my sheets ?
An how like ye my fair lady,
Lyes in your arms an sleeps ? '
18 ' Weel I like your bed, my lord,
An weel I like your sheets ;
But ill like I your fair lady,
Lyes in my arms an sleeps.
19 ' You got your wale o se'en sisters,
An I got mine o five ;
So take ye mine, an I 's take thine,
An we nae mair shall strive.'
20 ' O my woman 's the best woman
That ever brake world's bread,
But your woman 's the worst woman
That ever drew coat oer head.
21 ' I have two swords in my scabbart,
They are baith sharp an clear ;
Take ye the best, and I the worst,
An we '1 end the matter here.
22 ' But up an arm thee, young Musgrave,
We '1 try it hand to hand ;
It 's neer be said o Lord Barnaby
He struck at a naked man.'
23 The first stroke that young Musgrave got,
It was baith deep an sair,
An down he fell at Barnaby's feet,
An word spak never mair.
24 ' A grave ! a grave ! ' Lord Barnaby cry'd,
' A grave to lay them in !
My lady shall lye on the sunny side,
Because of her noble kin.'
25 But O how sorry was that good lord,
For a' his angry mood,
When he espy'd his ain young son
All weltering in his blood !
The following copy was kindly communicated to me
by Mr David MacRitchie, Honorary Secretary of the
Gypsy Lore Society, in advance of its publication in
the Journal of the society. While it preserves the
framework of the story, it differs very considerably in
details from all the printed copies. It is evidently of
the same origin as some of the Scottish versions (all
of which seem to derive from print), though it has no
marked resemblance to the actual form of any partic
ular one of these. Some peculiarities are plausibly
attributable to dim or imperfect recollection. Thus,
the ball-play of D, E, etc., is turned into a ball. Lord
Barnard is made a king, and the page the king's brother
(neither of which changes is an improvement). We
may observe that in J Lord Barnabas is at the king's
court, and in I Sir Grove is Lord BengwilPs brother ;
but these points are not decisive, and the changes may
be purely arbitrary. 4 shows traces of E 5 and P 3 ;
8 may have been suggested by something like G 4 ;
and the last line of 14 looks like a corruption of G 29.
This involves the supposition that the source of the
ballad was a version somewhat different from any hith-
478
AUDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
erto recovered ; but ' Little Musgrave ' is one of the
best known of all ballads, and the variants must have
been innumerable. On the whole, 1-8, 14, present a
free treatment of ill-remembered matter ; 9-13 are fairly
well preserved ; compare E 13-17.
'Moss Groves,' taken down in 1891 by Mr John Samp
son, Liverpool, from Philip Murray, an old tinker, who
learned the ballad in his boyhood from an old gypsy named
Amos Rice.
1 There was four-and-twenty ladies
Assembled at a ball,
And who being there but the king's wife,
The fairest of them all.
2 She put her eye on the Moss Groves,
Moss Groves put his eye upon she :
4 How would you like, my little Moss Groves,
One night to tarry with me ? '
3 ' To sleep one night with you, fair lady,
It would cause a wonderful sight ;
For I know by the ring upon your hand
You are the king's wife. '
4 ' If I am the king's wife,
I mean him to beguile ;
For he has gone on a long distance,
And won't be back for a while.'
5 Up spoke his brother,
An angry man was he ;
' Another night I '11 not stop in the castle
Till my brother I '11 go see.'
6 When he come to his brother,
He was in a hell of a fright :
' Get up, get up, brother dear !
There 's a man in bed with your wife.'
7 ' If it 's true you tell unto me,
A man I '11 make of thee ;
If it 's a lie you tell unto me,
It 's slain thou shalt be.'
8 When he came to his hall,
The bells begun to ring,
And all the birds upon the bush
They begun to sing.
9 ' How do you like my covering-cloths ?
And how do you like my sheets?
How do you like my lady fair,
All night in her arms to sleep? '
10 * Your covering-cloths I like right well,
Far better than your sheets ;
Far better than all your lady fair,
All night in her arms to sleep.'
1 1 ' Get up, get up now, little Moss Groves,
Your clothing do put on :
It shall never be said in all England
That I drew on a naked man.
12 ' There is two swords all in the castle
That cost me very dear ;
You take the best, and I the worst,
And let 's decide it here.'
13 The very first blow Moss Groves he gave,
He wounded the king most sore ;
The very first blow the king gave him,
Moss Groves Le struck no more.
14 She lifted up his dying head
And kissed his cheek and chin :
4 1 'd sooner have you now, little Moss Groves,
Than all their castles or kings. '
259 a. Insert under C : d. Printed and sold in Al-
dermary Church-yard, Bow Lane, London.
83. Child Maurice.
P. 266. B. Motherwell sent ' Child Noryce ' to Sir
Walter Scott in a letter dated 28 April, 1825 (Letters,
XIV, No 94, Abbotsford). He changed several read
ings (as, orders to errand, in 6 4 ), and in three cases
went back to original readings which he has altered in
his manuscript. I am now convinced that the altera
tions made in the manuscript are not in general, if ever,
corrections derived from the reciters, but Motherwell's
own improvements, and that the original readings should
be adhered to.
86. Young Benjie.
P. 281. " From Jean Scott." In the handwriting
of William Laidlaw. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for
Border Minstrelsy," No 29, Abbotsford.
Excepting the first stanza, the whole of this fragment
(with slight changes), is found in the ballad in Scott's
Minstrelsy. That ballad has about twice as many
verses, and the other half might easily have been sup
plied by the editor.
1 Fair Marjorie sat i her bower-door,
Sewin her silken seam,
When by then cam her false true-love,
Gard a' his bridles ring.
2 * Open, open, my true-love,
Open an let me in ; '
' I dare na, I dare na, my true-love,
My brethren are within.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
479
3 ' Ye lee, ye lee, my ain true-love,
Sae loud I hear ye lee !
For or I cam thrae Lothian banks
They took fare-weel o me.' ' .
4 The wind was loud, that maid was proud,
An leath, leath to be dung,
But or she wan the Lothian banks
Her fair coulour was gane.
5 He took her up in his armis,
An threw her in the lynn.
6 Up then spak her eldest brother,
Said, What is yon I see ?
Sure, youn is either a drowned ladie
Or my sister Marjorie.
7 Up then spak her second brother,
Said, How will wi her ken ?
Up then spak her . . . brother,
There a hinnie-mark on her chin.
8 About the midle o the night
The cock began to craw ;
About the middle o the night
The corpse began to thraw.
9 ' O whae has doon ye wrang, sister ?
whae has doon ye wrang ? '
10 ' Young Boonjie was the ae first man
1 laid my love upon ;
He was sae proud an hardie
He threw me oer the lynne.'
11 ' O shall we Boonjie head, sister ?
Or shall we Boonjie hang ?
Or shall we pyke out his twa grey eyes,
An punish him or he gang ? '
12 ' O ye sanna Boonjie head, brother,
Ye sana Boonjie hang ;
But ye maun pyke out his twa grey
An punish him or he gang.'
13 ' The ae best man about your house
Maun wait young Boonjie on.'
3 8 . thare. 4 should probably follow 5.
6 8 . either a substituted for some.
7 8 . her second : second struck out. youngest ?
8 2 . The corpse : corpse struck out.
'OL. IV. 61
89. Fause Foodrage.
P. 297. Danish. Now printed as No 298 of Dan-
marks gamle Folkeviser, by Axel Olrik, the continuator
of that noble collection, with the title ' Svend af Vol-
Iersl0v.' There are fifteen old versions besides Tra-
gica 18 (which is a compounded and partly ungenuine
text) and the one recently printed by Kristensen, the
basis of which is the copy in Tragica. ' Ung Villum '
is Tragica 18 with two stanzas omitted.
298, III, 515 b. 'Liden Engel' is No 297 of Dan-
marks gamle Folkeviser. There are eight old copies,
and Kristensen has added five from recent tradition :
the two here noted and three in Jyske Folkeminder,
No 49, A-C, 201 ff. There is also a Swedish copy of
1693, printed in Dybeck's Runa, 1844, p. 93, which I
had not observed.
9O. Jellon Grame.
P. 303 b, 513 b, III, 515 b. Robert le Diable in Lu-
zel's ballad, II, 24 f, when one year old, was as big as
a child of five.
At the age of five, Cuchulinn sets out for his uncle's
court, where he performs prodigies of strength. In
his seventh year he is received among the heroes, etc. :
Zimmer, Gb'ttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1890, pp.
519-20. Merlin, when two years old, "speaks and
goes," and defends his mother before the justice : Ar-
thour and Merlin, vv. 1069-70, ed. Turnbull for the
Abbotsford Club, p. 41. O'gmundr when seven years
old was as strong as a full-grown man : Orvar-Odds
Saga, c. 19, Rafn, Fornaldar Sdgur, II, 241. The
three-nights-old son of Thdrr and Jarnsaxa removes
the foot of Hrungnir from the neck of his father when
all the gods have tried in vain. He also speaks.
Skaldskaparmal, c. 17. "The Shee an Gannon was
born in the morning, named at noon, and went in the
evening to ask his daughter of the king of Erin : "
Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, p. 114. Cf.
p. 223, where a champion jumps out of the cradle.
(G. L. K.)
91. Fair Mary of Wellington.
P. 309. B. " The ballad about Lady Livingston
appears to be founded on a truth ; her fate is mentioned
by Sir R. Gordon. Only her mother, Lady Huntley,
is made a queen ; which it was natural enough in a
Highland poet to do." Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe to
Sir Walter Scott, Letters, XV, No 231, Abbotsford,
1825 or 26.
What Sir Robert Gordon says is: "In July 1616
yeirs, Elizabeth Gordoun, Ladie of Livingstoun (wyff
to the Lord Livingstoun, now Earleof Lithgow), daugh
ter to the Marquis of Huntly, died in chyld-bed, at
Edinburgh, of a son called George, who is now Lord
Livingstoun." (Genealogy of the Earls of Sutherland,
p. 335.) The characteristic particulars are wanting.
480
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
D is also in Kinloch MSS, V, 363, in the youthful
handwriting of J. H. Burton, and is probably the origi
nal copy. The differences from the text of D, p. 314,
except spellings, are these :
I 1 , it was. 1*. and me.
93. Larrikin.
P. 321, note *. See further in Notes and Queries,
First Series, II, 519 ; V, 32, 112, 184, 855.
321 ff., 518.
'Lamkin,' "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Min
strelsy," No 133, Abbotsford ; in tbe handwriting of James
Hogg.
1 Lamkin was as good a mason
As ever liftit stane ;
He built to the laird o Lariston,
But payment gat he nane.
2 Oft he came, an ay he came,
To that good lord's yett,
But neither at dor nor window
Ony entrance could get.
3 Till ae wae an weary day
Early he came,
An it fell out on that day
That good lord was frae hame.
4 He bade steek dor an window,
An prick them to the gin,
Nor leave a little wee hole,
Else Lamkin wad be in.
5 Noorice steekit dor an window,
She steekit them to the gin ;
But she left a little wee hole
That Lamkin might win in.
6 * O where 's the lady o this house ? '
Said cruel Lamkin ;
4 She 's up the stair sleepin,'
Said fause noorice then.
7 ' How will we get her down the stair ? '
Said cruel Lamkin ;
' We '1 stogg the baby i the cradle,'
Said fause noorice then.
8 He stoggit, and she rockit,
Till a' the floor swam,
An a' the tors o the cradle
Red wi blude ran.
9 ' O still my son, noorise,
O still him wi the kane ; '
He winna still, madam,
Till Lariston come hame.'
10 ' O still my son, noorice,
O still him wi the knife ; '
I canna still him, madam,
If ye sude tak my life.'
11 ' O still my soon, noorice,
still him wi the bell ; '
' He winna still, madam,
Come see him yoursel.'
12 Wae an weary rase she up,
Slowly pat her on
Her green claethin o the silk,
An slowly came she down.
13 The first step she steppit,
It was on a stone ;
The first body she saw
Was cruel Lamkin.
14 * O pity, pity, Lamkin,
Hae pity on me ! '
' Just as meikle pity, madam,
As ye paid me o my fee.'
15 ' I'll g' ye a peck o good red goud,
Streekit wi the wand ;
An if that winna please ye,
1 '11 heap it wi my hand.
16 ' An if that winna please ye,
goud an o fee,
I '11 g' ye my eldest daughter,
Your wedded wife to be.'
17 ' Gae wash the bason, lady,
Gae wash 't an mak it clean,
To kep your mother's heart' s-blude,
For she 's of noble kin.'
18 ' To kep my mother's heart's-blude
1 wad be right wae ;
O tak mysel, Lamkin,
An let my mother gae.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
481
19 ' Gae wash the bason, noorice,
Gae wash 't an mak it clean,
To kep your lady's heart' s-blude,
For she 's o noble kin.'
20 * To wash the bason, Lamkin,
I will be right glad,
For mony, mony bursen day
About her house I Ve had.'
21 But oh, what dule an sorrow
Was about that lord's ha,
When he fand his lady lyin
As white as driven snaw !
22 O what dule an sorrow
Whan that good lord cam in,
An fand his young son murderd,
I the chimley lyin !
9 2 . kane. kame,
J 10 2 , M 3 2 .
B 13 2 . But cf. wand, A 16 2
95. The Maid freed from the Gallows.
P. 346, III, 516 a. Add 'Leggenda Napitina' (still
sung by the sailors of Pizzo) ; communicated to La Ca
labria, June 15, 1889, p. 74, by Salvatore Mele ; Canto
Marinaresco di Nicotera, the same, September 15, 1890.
A wife is rescued by her husband.
847 b. Swedish. ' Den bortsalda,' Lagus, Nyland-
ska Folkvisor, I, 22, No 6, a, b, c.
349 b, 514 a, III, 516 b, and especially 517 a. A
wounded soldier calls to mother, sister, father, brother
for a drink of water, and gets none ; calls to his love,
and she brings it : Waldau, Bb'hmische Granaten, II,
57, No 81.
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
127, Abbotsford. Sent to John Leyden, by whom and when
does not appear.
1 ' Hold your tongue, Lord Judge,' she says,
( Yet hold it a little while ;
Methinks I see my ain dear father
Coming wandering many a mile.
2 ' O have you brought me gold, father ?
Or have you brought me fee ?
Or are you come to save my life
From off this gallows-tree ? '
But I am come to see you hangd,
As you this day shall be.'
[" The verses run thus untill she has seen her mother,
her brother, and her sister likewise arrive, and then
Methinks I see my ain dear lover, etc."]
4 ' I have not brought you gold, true-love,
Nor yet have I brought fee,
But I am come to save thy life
From off this gallows-tree.'
5 * Gae hame, gae hame, father,' she says,
' Gae hame and saw yer seed ;
And I wish not a pickle of it may grow up,
But the thistle and the weed.
6 ' Gae hame, gae hame, gae hame, mother,
Gae hame and brew yer yill ;
And I wish the girds may a' loup off,
And the Deil spill a' yer yill.
7 ' Gae hame, gae hame, gae hame, brother,
Gae hame and lie with yer wife ;
And I wish that the first news I may hear
That she has tane your life.
8 ' Gae hame, gae hame, sister,' she says,
' Gae hame and sew yer seam ;
I wish that the needle-point may break,
And the craws pyke out yer een.'
Communicated by Dr George Birkbeck Hill, May 10, 1890,
as learned forty years before from a schoolfellow, who came
from the north of Somersetshire and sang it in the dialect
of that region. Given from memory.
1 ' Hold up, hold up your hands so high !
Hold up your hands so high !
For I think I see my own father
Coming over yonder stile to me.
2 ' Oh father, have you got any gold for me ?
Any money for to pay me free ?
To keep my body from the cold clay ground,
And my neck from the gallows-tree ? '
3 ' Oh no, I 've got no gold for thee,
No money for to pay thee free,
For I 've come to see thee hangd this day,
And hanged thou shalt be.'
482
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
4 ' Oh the briers, prickly briers,
Come prick my heart so sore ;
If ever I get from the gallows-tree,
I '11 never get there any more.'
[" The same verses are repeated, with mother, brother,
and sister substituted for father. At last the sweet
heart comes. The two first verses are the same, and
the third and fourth as follows."]
5 ; Oh yes, I Ve got some gold for thee,
Some money for to pay thee free ;
I '11 save thy body from the cold clay ground,
And thy neck from the gallows-tree.'
6 ' Oh the briers, prickly briers,
Don't prick my heart any more ;
For now I 've got from the gallows-tree
I '11 never get there any more.'
[" I do not know any title to this song except ' Hold
up, hold up your hands so high ! ' It was by that title
that we called for it."]
Julius Krohn has lately made an important contribu
tion to our knowledge of this ballad in an article in
Virittaja, II, 36-50, translated into German under the
title ' Das Lied vom Madchen welches erlbst werden
soil,' Helsingfors, 1891. Professor Estlander had pre
viously discussed the ballad in Finsk Tidskrift, X, 1881
(which I have not yet seen), and had sought to show
that it was of Finnish origin, a view which Krohn
disputes and refutes. There are nearly fifty Finnish
versions. The curse with which I ends, and which is
noted as occurring in Swedish C (compare also the
Sicilian ballad), is never wanting in the Finnish, and
is found also in the Esthonian copies.
96. The Gay Goshawk.
P. 356 a, III, 517 a. Add : (18) La Fille dans la
Tour,' Daymard, Vieux Chants p. rec. en Quercy, p.
174 ; (19) 'La belle dans la Tour,' Pas de Calais, com
municated by M. G. Doncieux to Revue des Traditions
populaires, VI, 603 ; (20) ' Belle Idoine,' Questionnaire
de Folklore, public" par la Socie"te du Folklore Wallon,
p. 79.
M. Doucieux has attempted a reconstruction of the
text in Melusine, V, 265 ff. He cites M. Gaston Paris
as having lately pointed out a striking similitude be
tween the first half of the French popular ballad and
that of a little romance of Bele Ydoine composed in the
twelfth century by Audefrois le Bastars (Bartsch, Alt-
franzbsische Romanzen und Pastourellen, p. 59, No 57).
This resemblance has, I suppose, occasioned the title of
' Belle Idoine ' to be given editorially to No 20 above,
for the name does not occur in the ballad.
356 b, III, 517 a. Add: Au Jardin des Olives,'
Guillon, p. 83, ' Dessous le Rosier blanc,' Daymard, p.
171 (Lea troia Capitaines). A girl feigns death to
avoid becoming a king's mistress, ' Hertig Henrik och
Konungen,' Lagus, Nylandska Folkvisor, I, 117, No 37.
363. E. The following is the MS. copy, " of some
antiquity," from which E was in part constructed.
(Whether it be the original or a transcript cannot be
determined, but Mr Macmath informs me that the pa
per on which it is written " seems about the oldest sheet
in the volume.") The text was freely handled. ' Lord
William ' does not occur in it, but the name is found in
another version which follows this.
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
146 a, Abbotsford.
1 * O waly, waly, my gay goss-hawk,
Gin your feathering be sheen ! '
' O waly, waly, my master dear,
Gin ye look pale and lean !
2 ' Whether is it for the gold sae rid,
Or is it for the silver clear ?
Or is it for the hiss in southen land,
That she cannot win here.'
3 ' It is not for the gold sae rid,
Nor is it for the silver clear,
But it is for the lass in southen land,
That she cannot win her[e].'
4 ' Sit down, sit down, my master dear,
Write a love-letter hastily,
And put it in under my feathern gray,
And I '11 away to southen land as fast as I
can flee.
5 * But how shall I your true-love ken ?
Or how shall I her know ?
I bear the tongue never wi her spake,
The eye that never her saw.'
6 ' The red that is. in my love's cheek
Is like blood spilt amang the snaw ;
The white that is on her breast-bone
Is like the down on the white sea-maw.
7 ' There 's one that stands at my love's gate
And opens the silver pin,
And there ye may safely set ye on
And sing a lovely song.
8 ' First ye may sing it loud, loud, loud,
And then ye may sing it clear,
And ay the oerword of the tune
Is, Your love cannot win here.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
483
9 He has written a love-letter,
Put it under his feathern gray,
And he 's awa to southen land,
As fast as ever he may.
10 When he came to the lady's gate,
There he lighted down,
And there he sat him on the pin
And sang a lovely song.
11 First he sang it loud, loud, loud,
And then he sang it clear,
And ay the oerword of the tune
Was, Your love cannot win here.
12 ' Hold your tongues, my merry maids all,
And hold them a little while ;
I hear some word from my true-love,
That lives in Scotland's isle.'
13 Up she rose, to the door she goes,
To hear what the bird woud say,
And he 's let the love-letter fall
From under his feathern gray.
14 When she looked the letter on,
The tear blinded her eye,
And when she read it oer and oer
A loud laughter took she.
15 ' Go hame, go hame, my bonny bird,
And to your master tell,
If I be nae wi him at Martinmass,
I shall be wi him at Yule.'
16 The lady 's to her chamber gane,
And a sick woman grew she ;
The lady 's taen a sudden brash,
And nathing she '11 do but die.
17 ' An asking, an asking, my father dear,
An asking grant to me !
If that I die in southen land,
In Scotland bury me.'
18 ' Ask on, ask on, my daughter dear,
That asking is granted thee ;
If that you die in southen land,
In Scotland I '11 bury thee.'
19 ' Gar call to me my seven bretheren,
To hew to me my bier,
The one half of the beaten gold,
The other of the silver clear.
20 ' Go call to me my seven sisters,
To sew to me my caul ;
Every needle-steik that they put in
Put by a silver bell.'
21 The first Scots kirk that they came to,
They heard the mavis sing ;
The next Scots kirk that they came to,
They heard the dead-bell ring.
22 The next Scots kirk that they came to,
They were playing at the foot-ball,
And her true-love was them among,
The chieftian amangst them all.
23 ' Set down, set down these corps,' said he,
1 Let me look them upon ; '
As soon as he lookd the lady on,
The blood sprang in her chin.
24 ' One bite of your bread, my love,
And one glass of your wine !
For I have fasted these five long days,
All for your sake and mine.
25 ' Go hame, go hame, my seven brothers,
Go hame and blaw your horn,
And ye may tell thro southen land
How I playd you the scorn.'
26 ' Woe to you, my sister dear,
And ane ill death may you die !
For we left father and mother at hame
Breaking their heart for thee.'
The Ettrick Shepherd sent Scott the following stan
zas to be inserted in the first edition at places indicated.
Most of them are either absolutely base metal or very
much worn by circulation. The clever contrivance for
breathing (found also in G- 39, H 19) and the bribing
of the surgeon provoke scorn and resentment.
' Gay Gos Hawk,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border
Minstrelsy," No 143, No 133 a, Abbotsford ; in the hand
writing of James Hogg.
After 12 of ed. 1802 (E 13) :
He happit off the flowry birk,
Sat down on the yett-pin,
And sang sae sweet the notes o love
Till a' was coush within.
After 15 (E 16) :
' O ye maun send your love a kiss,
For he has sent you three ;
484
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
O ye maun send your love a kiss,
And ye maun send it wi me.'
4 He has the rings off my fingers,
The garland off my hair ;
He has the heart out o my bouk,
What can I send him mair ? '
After 22 :
4 The third Scotts kirk that ye gang to
Ye 's gar them blaw the horn,
That a' the lords o fair Scotland
May hear afore the morn.'
After 23 :
She wyld a wright to bore her chest,
For caller air she 'd need ;
She brib'd her surgeon wi the goud
To say that she was dead.
After 25 :
4 What ails, what ails my daughter dear
Her colour bides sae fine ? '
The surgeon-lad reply'd again,
She 's nouther pin'd nor lien.
After 30 :
The third Scotts kirk that they cam to,
Sae loud they blew the horn,
An a' the lads on yon water
Was warnd afore the morn.
After 31:
4 Set down, set down the bier,' he said,
* These comely corps I '11 see ; '
4 Away, away,' her brothers said,
4 For nae sick thing shall be.
4 Her een are sunk, her lips are cold,
Her rosy colour gane ;
'T is nine lang nights an nine lang days
Sin she deceasd at hame.'
' Wer 't nine times nine an nine times nine,
My true-love's face I '11 see ;
Set down the bier, or here I swear
My prisners you shall be.'
He drew the nails frae the coffin,
An liftit up the cone,
An for a' sae lang as she 'd been dead
She smil'd her love upon.
After 35 :
4 And tell my father he sent me
To rot in Scotland's clay ;
But he sent me to my Willie,
To be his lady gay.'
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
28 b, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.
1 Lord William was walkin i the garden green,
Viewin the roses red,
An there he spyed his bonnie spier-hawk,
Was fleein aboon his head.
2 ' O could ye speak, my bonnie spier-hawk,
As ye hae wings to flee,
Then ye wad carry a luve-letter
Atween my love an me.'
3 4 But how can I your true-love ken ?
Or how can I her know ?
Or how can I your true-love ken,
The face I never saw ? '
4 4 Ye may esily my love ken
Amang them ye never saw ;
The red that 's on o my love's cheek
Is like bluid drapt on the snaw.'
5 ' O what will be my meat, master ?
An what '11 be my fee ?
An what will be the love-tokens
That ye will send wi me ? '
6 4 Ye may tell my love I '11 send her a kiss,
A kiss, aye, will I three ;
If ever she come [to] fair Scotland,
My wedded wife she 's be.
7 4 Ye may tell my love I '11 send her a kiss,
A kiss, aye, will I twae ;
An ever she come to fair Scotland,
I the red gold she sail gae.'
8 The hawk flew high, an she flew leugh,
An south aneath the sun,
Untill it cam, etc.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
485
9 ' Sit still, sit still, my six sisters,
An sew your silken seam,
Till I gae to my bower-window
An hear yon Scottish bird sing.'
10 Than she flew high, an she flew leugh,
An' far aboon the wa ;
She drapit to that ladie's side,
An loot the letter fa.
11 ' What news, what news, my bonnie burd ?
An what word carry ye ?
An what are a' the love-tokens
My love has sent to me ? '
12 ' O ye may send your love a kiss,
For he has sent ye three ;
Ye hae the heart within his buik,
What mair can he send thee ? '
13 ' O I will send my love a kiss,
A kiss, I, will I three ;
If I can win to fair Scotland,
His wedded wife I '11 be.
14 ' O I will send my love a kiss,
An the cairn out o my hair ;
He has the heart that 's in my buik,
What can I send him mair ?
15 ' An gae yer ways, my bonnie burd,
. An tell my love frae me,
If [I] be na there gin Martinmas,
Gin Tool I there will be.'
16 'T was up an spak her ill step-minnie,
An ill deed may she die !
' Yer daughter Janet 's taen her bed,
An she '11 do nought but die.'
17 ' An askin, an askin, dear father,
An askin I crave o thee ;
If I should die just at this time,
In Scotland burry me.'
18 ( There 's room eneugh in wide England
To burry thee an me ;
But sould ye die, my dear daughter,
I Scotland I '11 burry thee.'
19 She 's warnd the wrights in lilly Londeen,
She 's warnd them ane an a',
To mak a kist wi three windows,
The cauler air to blaw.
20 ' O will ye gae, my six sisters,
An sew to me a sheet,
The tae half o the silk sae fine,
The tother o cambric white.'
21 Then they hae askit the surgeon at, etc.
22 Then said her cruel step-minnie,
Take ye the boilin lead
An some o 't drap on her bosom ;
We '11 see gif she be dead.
23 Then boilin lead than they hae taen
An drappit on her breast ;
' Alas ! alas ! ' than her father he cried,
' For she 's dead without the priest ! '
24 She neither chatterd in her teeth
Nor shivert wi her chin ;
4 Alas ! alas ! ' her father cried,
' For there nae life within ! '
25 ' It 's nine lang days, an nine lang nights,
She 's wantit meat for me ;
But for nine days, nine langer nights,
Her face ye salna see.'
26 He 's taen the coffin wi his fit,
Gard it in flinders flie, etc.
27 ' Fetch me,' she said, ' a cake o yer bread
An a wi drap o your wine,
For luve o you an for your sake
I 've fastit lang nights nine.'
28 T was up then spak an eldrin knight,
A grey-haird knight was he ;
' Now ye hae left yer auld father,
For you he 's like to die.
29 ' An ye hae left yer sax sisters
Lamentin a' for you ;
I wiss that this, my dear ladie,
Ye near may hae to rue.'
30 ' Commend me to my auld father,
If eer ye come him niest ;
But nought say to my ill step-minnie,
Gard burn me on the breist.
486
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
31 ' Commend me to my six sisters,
If ye gang bak again ;
But nought say to my ill step-minnie,
Gard burn me on the chin.
32 ' Commend me to my brethren bald,
An ever ye them see ;
If ever they come to fair Scotland
They 's fare nae war than me.
33 ' For I cam na to fair Scotland
To lie amang the dead,
But I cam down to fair Scotland
To wear goud on my head.
34 ' Nor did I come to fair Scotland
To rot amang the clay,
But I cam to fair Scotland
To wear goud ilka day.'
10 2 . Far. aboon them a'.
367 b. The second edition of the Minstrelsy, 1803,
II, 6, inserted 13, from Hogg's communication, substi
tuted 22, 23, 24 of Laidlaw's (H) for 27, 28, introduced
30 of Laidlaw after 36 (all with changes), and made
the consequently necessary alteration in 87.
99. Johnie Soot.
P. 378 b. Another copy of the Breton ballad, Lezo-
bre,' in Quellien, Chansons et Danses des Bretons, 1889,
p. 65.
379 ff.
Q
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
4 a, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.
1 Young Johnie 's up to England gane
Three quarters of a year ;
Young Johnie 's up to England gane,
The king's banner for to bear.
2 But he had not in England been
The one half of the time
Till the fairest laidy in all the court
Was going with child to him.
3 Word unto the kitchen. 's gane,
And word 's to the hall,
And word unto the court has gane.
Among the nobles all.
4 And word unto the chamber 's gane,
The place where the king sat,
That his only daughter is with child
To Johnie, the little Scott
5 ' If this be true,' then sais the king,
' As I true well it be,
I '11 put hir in a strong castle,
And hungre hir till she dee.'
6 Hir breast-plate was made of iron,
In place of the beaten gold,
A belt of steel about hir waist,
And O but she was cold !
7 ' O where will I get a pritty little boy,
That will win hoes and shoon,
That will go doun to yonder lee
And tell my Johnie to come ? '
8 ' Here am I, a pritty little boy,
That will win hoes and shoon,
And I '11 go doun to yonder lee
And tell young Johnie to come.'
9 She has wrote a brod letter,
And seald it tenderly,
And she has sent it to Johnie the Scott,
That lay on yonder lee.
10 When Johnie first the letter got,
A blith, blith man was he ;
But or he read the half of it
The salt teer blind Johnie's ee.
11 ' I will go to fair England,' says he,
' What ever may betide,
For to releave that gay laidy
Who last lay by my side.'
12 Up then spoke his old mother,
A sorrifull woman was she ;
' If you go to England, John,
I '11 never see you mare.'
13 Up then spoke Johnie's father,
His head was growing gray ;
' If you go to England, John,
O fair you well for me ! '
14 Up then spoke Johnie's uncle,
Our Scottish king was he ;
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
487
* Five hundred of my merry men
Shall bear you company.'
15 When Johnie was mounted on his steed
He looked wondorous bold,
The hair that oer his shouldiers hang
Like threeds of yellow gold.
16 ' Now come along with me, my men,
O come along with me,
We '1 blow thier castles in the air,
And set free my gay laidy.'
17 The first gay town that they came to,
Made mass for to be sung ;
The nixt gay town that they came to,
Made bells for to be rung.
18 But when they came to London town,
They made the drums beat round,
Who made the king and all his court
To wonder at the sound.
19 * Is this the Duke of Mulberry,
Or James the Scottish king ?
Or is it a young gentleman
To England new come home ? '
20 It is not the Duke of Mulberry,
Nor James the Scottish [king] ;
But it is a young gentleman,
MacNaughten is his name.'
21 ' If MacNaughten be your name,' says the king,
' As I true well it be,
Before the morn at eight o clock
Dead hanged you shall be.'
22 Up bespoke one of Johnie's little boys,
And a well-spoke boy was he ;
' Before we see our master hangd,
We '1 all fight till we dee.'
23 ' Well spoke, well spoke, my little boy,
That is well spoke of thee ;
But I have a champian in my bower
That will fight you three by three.'
24 Up then spoke Johnie himself,
And he spoke manfully ;
' If it please your Majesty,
May I this champian see ? '
VOL. iv. 62
25 The king and all his nobles then
Rode down unto the plain,
The queen and all [her] gay marries,
To see young Johnie slain.
26 When the champian came out of the bower,
He looked at Johnie with disdain ;
But upon the tope of Johnie's brodsword
This champian soon was slain.
27 He fought on, and Johnie fought on,
With swords of tempered steel,
And ay the blood like dropes of rain
Came trinkling down thier hiel.
28 The very nixt stroke that Johnie gave,
He brought him till his knee ;
The nixt stroke that Johnie gave,
He clove his head in twa.
29 He swapt his sword on every side,
And turned him on the plain :
' Have you any more of your English dogs
That wants for to be slain ? '
30 ' A clerk, a clerk ! ' the king he crys,
' I '11 seal her taucher free ; '
' A priest, a priest ! ' the queen she crys,
* For weded they shall be.'
31 ' I '11 have none of your [gold],' say[s] he,
' Nor any of your white money ;
But I will have my ain true-love ;
This day she has cost me dear.'
27*. hill. 29 4 . two.
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
37, Abbotsford, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 11; from Miss
Nancy Brockie, Bemerside. Another copy, "Scotch Bal
lads," etc., No 139, in the handwriting of T. Wilkie, and
somewhat retouched by him.
1 Lord Jonnie 's up to England gone
Three quarters of an year ;
Lord Jonnie 's up to England gone,
The king's banner to bear.
2 He had not been in fair England,
Three quarters he was not,
488
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
Till the king's eldest daughter
Goes with child to Lord Jonnie Scott.
3 Word is to the kitchen gone,
And word 's gone to the hall,
And word 's gone to the high, high room,
Among the nobles all.
4 Word 's gone to the king himsel,
In the chamber where he sat,
That his eldest daughter goes with child
To Lord Jonnie Scott.
5 ' If that be true,' the king replied,
As I suppose it be,
I '11 put her in a prison strong,
And starve her till she die.'
6 ' O where will I get a little boy,
That has baith hose and shoon,
That will run into fair Scotland,
And tell my love to come ? '
7 ' here is a shirt, little boy,
Her own hand sewed the sleeve ;
Tell her \o come to good greenwood,
Not ask her father's leave.'
3 ' What news, what news, my little boy ?
What news have ye brought to me ? '
' No news, no news, my master dear,
But what I will tell thee.
9 ' O here is a shirt, madam,
Your awn hand sewed the sleeve ;
You must gang to good greenwood,
Not ask your parents' leave.'
10 ' My doors they are all shut, little boy,
My windows round about ;
My feet is in the fetters strong,
And I cannot get out.
11 ' My garters are of the black, black iron,
And O but they are cold !
My breast-plate 's o the strong, strong steel,
Instead of beaten gold.
12 ' But tell him for to bide away,
And not come near to me,
For there 's a champion in my father's ha
Will fight him till he dee.'
13 ' What news, what news, my little boy ?
What news have ye to me ?'
' No news, no news, my master dear,
But what I will tell thee.
14 ' Her doors they are all shut, kind sir,
Her windows round about ;
Her feet are in the fetters strong,
And she cannot get out.
15 ' Her garters are of the black, black iron,
And O but they are cold !
Her breast-plate 's of the strong, strong steel,
Instead of beaten gold.
16 ' She bids you for to bide away,
And not go near to see,
For there 's a champion in her father's house
Will fight you till you die.'
17 Then up and spoke Lord Jonnie's mother,
But she spoke out of time ;
' O if you go to fair England
I fear you will be slain.'
18 But up and spoke a little boy,
Just at Lord Jonnie's knee,
' Before you lose your ain true-love,
We '11 a' fight till we die.'
19 The first church-town that they came to,
They made the bells be rung ;
The next church-town that they came to,
The[y] gard the mass be sung.
20 The next church-town that they came to,
They made the drums go through ;
The king and all his nobles stood
Amazing for to view.
21 ' Is this any English gentleman,
Or James our Scottish king ?
Or is it a Scottish gentleman,
To England new come in ? '
22 ' No, 't is no English gentleman,
Nor James the Scottish king ;
But it is a Scottish gentleman,
Lord Jonnie is my name.'
23 ' If Lord Jonnie be your name,
As I suppose it be,
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
489
I have a champion in my hall
Will fight you till you die.'
24 ' O go fetch out that gurrley fellow,
Go fetch him out to me ;
Before I lose my ain true-love,
We '11 all fight till we die.'
25 Then out and came that gurrly fellow,
A gurrly fellow was he,
With twa lang sclasps between his eyes,
His shoulders there were three.
26 The king and all his nobles stood
To see the battle gained ;
The queen and all her niaries stood
To see Lord Jonnie slain.
27 The first stroke that Lord Jonnie gave,
He wounded very sore ;
The next stroke that Lord Jonnie gave,
The champion could fight no more.
28 He 's taen a whistle out from his side,
He 's blawn a blast loud and shill :
' Is there any more of your English dogs
To come here and be killed ? '
29 ' A clerk, a clerk ! ' the king did say,
' To cry her toucher free ; '
' A priest, a priest ! ' Lord Jonnie [did] cry
' To wed my love and me.
30 ' 'T was for none of your monnie I fought,
Nor for none of your world's gear ;
But it was for my own true-love ;
I think I 've bought her dear.'
" This song (L. Jonnie) I took down from the same
girl who sung Hughie Graeme."
5 2 . supose.
8 8 . no news thrice : master wrongly, in anticipation
In No 139.
4 8>4 . That the king's eldest daughter Goes with
child to.
7 1 . There is a shift, little boy. 7 4 . parents leave.
8 2 . ye to. 16 1 . But she. 16 s . father's hall.
19 2 . They gard. 19*. They made.
22 2 . James our. 23 1 . name, kind sir. 25 1 . out soon.
28 2 . blown it baith loud. 29 1 . did cry.
29 2 . tocher fee. 29 8 . Jonnie cri's.
SO 1 , our. 30 3 . Nor none.
S
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
140, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of James Hogg, who
remarks at the end : " The repeater of the above song called
the hero once or twice Johny Scott, which I ommitted in the
MS., seeing it contradicted in the 22 verse. I thought it
best to apprise you of this, in case you might find any tract
of its being founded on fact, because, if it is not, it hath
little else to reccomend it."
1 O Johny 's up thro England gane
Three quarters of a year,
An Johny 's up thro England gane,
The king's banner to bear.
2 He had not been in London town
But a very little while
Till the fairest lady in the court
By Johny gaes wi child.
3 But word is to the kitchin gane,
An word 's gane to the ha,
An word 's gane to yon high, high court,
Amang our nobles a'.
4 An when the king got wit o that
An angry man was he :
' On the highest tree in a' the wood
High hangit shall he be !
5 ' An for the lady, if it 's true,
As I do fear it be,
I '11 put her in yon castle strong,
An starve her till she die.'
6 But Johny had a clever boy,
A clever boy was he,
O Johny had a clever boy,
His name was Gregory.
7 * run, my boy, to yon castle,
All windows round about,
An there you '1 see a fair lady,
At a window looking out.
8 ' Ye maun bid her take this silken sark
Her ain hand sewd the gare
An bid her come to the green wood,
For Johny waits her there.'
9 Away he ran to yon castle,
All windows round about,
Where he espy'd a lady fair,
At a window looking out.
490
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
10 ' O madam, there 's a silken sark
Your ain hand sewd the gare
An haste ye to the good green wood,
For Johny waits you there.'
11 * O I 'm confin'd in this castle,
Though lighted round about ;
My feet are bound with fetters strong,
That I cannot win out.
12 ' My gartens are of stubborn era,
Alas ! baith stiff and cold ;
My breastplate of the sturdy steel,
Instead of beaten gold.
13 ' Instead of silken stays, my boy,
With steel I 'm lac'd about ;
My feet are bound with fetters strong,
And how can I get out ?
14 ' But tell him he must stay at home,
Nor venture here for me ;
Else an Italian in our court
Must fight him till he die.'
15 When Johny he got wit o that,
An angry man was he :
' But I will gae wi a' my men
My dearest dear to see.'
16 But up then spake a noble lord,
A noble lord was he ;
4 The best of a' my merry men
Shall bear you company.'
17 But up then spake his auld mother,
I wat wi meikle pain ;
' If ye will gae to London, son,
Ye '1 neer come back again.'
18 But Johny turnd him round about,
I wat wi meikle pride :
' But I will gae to London town,
Whatever may betide.'
19 When they were a' on horseback set,
How comely to behold !
For a' the hairs o Johny's head
Did shine like threads o gold.
20 The first ae town that they gaed through,
They gart the bells be rung,
But the neist town that they gaed through
They gart the mass be sung.
21 But when they gaed to London town
The trumpets loud were blown,
Which made the king and a' his court
To marvel at the sound.
22 ' Is this the Duke of Morebattle ?
Or James the Scottish king ? '
No, sire, I 'm a Scottish lord,
McNaughten is my name.'
23 ' If you be that young Scottish lord,
As I believe you be,
The fairest lady in my court
She gaes wi child by thee.'
24 ' And if she be with child by me,
As I think sae may be,
It shall be heir of a' my land,
And she my gay lady.'
25 ' O no, no,' the king reply'd,
' That thing can never be,
For ere the morn at ten o clock
I '11 slay thy men an thee.
26 ; A bold Italian in my court
Has vanquishd Scotchmen three,
And ere the morn at ten o clock
I 'm sure he will slay thee.'
27 But up then spake young Johny's boy,
A clever boy was he ;
' O master, ere that you be slain,
There 's mae be slain than thee.'
28 The king and all his court appeard
Neist morning on the plain,
The queen and all her ladies came
To see youn[g] Johny slain.
29 Out then stepd the Italian bold,
And they met on the green ;
Between his shoulders was an ell,
A span between his een.
30 When Johny in the list appeard,
Sae young and fair to see,
A prayer staw frae ilka heart,
A tear frae ilka ee.
31 And lang they fought, and sair they fought,
Wi swords o temperd steel,
Until the blood like draps o rain
Came trickling to their heal.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
491
32 But Johny was a wannle youth,
And that he weel did show ;
For wi a stroke o his broad sword
He clove his head in two.
33 ' A priest, a priest ! ' then Johny cry'd,
' To wed my love and me ; '
' A clerk, a clerk ! ' the king reply'd,
' To write her tocher free.'
8 ' Is this the Duke o York ? ' they said,
' Or James the Scottish king ?
Or is it John the little Scott,
Frae Scotland new come hame ? '
9 ' I have an Italian in my bower,
This day he has eaten three ;
Before I either eat or sleep
The fourth man ye shall be.'
10 .
'John, the little Scot;' in the youthful handwriting of
Sir Walter Scott, inserted, as No 4, at the beginning of a
MS. volume, in small folio, containing a number of prose
pieces, etc., Abboteford Library, L. 2.
1 Johnny 'a gane up to fair England
Three quarters of a year,
And Johny 's gane up to fair England,
The king's broad banner to bear.
2 He had not been in fair England,
Even but a little while,
When that the king's ae dochter
To Johnny gaes wi child.
3 And word is gane to the kitchen,
And word 's gane to the ha,
And word 's gane to the high, high court,
Amang the nobles a'.
4 And word is gane unto the king,
In the chair where he sat,
That his ae dochter 's wi bairn
To John the little Scott.
5 * If that I thought she is wi bairn,
As I true weell she be,
I '11 put her up in high prison,
And hunger her till she die.'
6 ' There is a silken sark, Johnny,
My ain sell sewed the gare,
And if ye come to tak me hence
Ye need nae taken mare.
7 ' For I am up in high prison,
And O but it is cold !
My garters are o the cold, cold iron,
In place o the beaten gold.'
Between his een there was two spans,
His shoulders ells were three.
11 Johnny drew forth his good braid glaive
And slate it on the plain :
' Is there any more of your Italian dogs
That wanteth to be slain ? '
12 ' A clerk, a clerk ! ' her father cry'd
' To register this deed ; '
' A priest, a priest ! ' her mother cry'd,
' To marry them wi speed.'
I 1 , gane struck out. I 4 , broad struck out.
8 1 . king o Scots, originally, for Duke o York.
9 1 . n Italian struck out, and Lion written above.
100. Willie o Winsbury.
P. 399 ff. MS. of Thomas Wilkie, p. 5, in Scotch
Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 34.
From Mrs Hislope, Gattonside. 1818.
1 The king calld on his merry men all,
By one, by two, and by three ;
Lord Thomas should been the foremost man,
But the hindmost man was he.
2 As he came tripping down the stairs,
His stockings were of the silk,
His face was like the morning sun,
And his hand as white as milk.
3 'No wonder, no wonder, Lord Thomas,' he
said,
' Then my daughter she loved thee ;
For, if I had been a woman as I am a man,
Tom, I would hae loved thee.'
492
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
106. The Famous Flower of Serving-Men.
P. 429. The fragment printed by Scott was given
him by the Ettrick Shepherd. It was printed with no
important change except in the last stanza, all of which
is the editor's but the second line. The two lines of
stanza 7 are scored through in the MS.
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
133 b, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of James Hogg.
1 My love he built me a bonny bowr,
An cled it a' wi lily-flowr ;
A brawer bowr ye neer did see
Than my true-love he built to me.
2 There came a man by middle day,
He spy'd his sport an went away,
An brought the king that very night,
Who brak my bowr, an slew my knight.
3 He slew my knight, to me sae dear ;
He slew my knight, an poind his gear ;
My servants all for life did flee,
An left me in extremity.
4 I sewd his sheet, making my moan ;
I watchd the corpse, mysel alone ;
I watchd his body night and day ;
No living creature came that way.
5 I took the corpse then on my back,
And whiles I gaed, and whiles I sat ;
I digd a grave, and laid him in,
And hapd him wi the sod sae green.
6 But thinkna ye my heart was sair
When I laid the mool on his yellow hair ?
O thinkna ye my heart was wae
When I turnd about, away to gae ?
7 Nae langer there I could remain
Since that my lovely knight was slain ;
458 b. The Danish ballad is now No 314 of Dan-
marks gamle Folkeviser, continued by Axel Olrik, V,
ii, 877, Ebbe Gait Hr. Tidemand.' There are four
Danish versions, A-D, some of the sixteenth century ;
a Faroe version in five copies, ' Ebbin kail,' Faroyja-
kvceol, as elaborated by Grundtvig and Bloch, No 123,
D. g. F., B ; an Icelandic version, ' Si'monar kvaeSi,'
fslenzk FornkvsetJi, I, 224, No 26. Danish C, Vedel,
in, No 1 7, is compounded of B and a lost version which
must have resembled A. The copy in Danske Viser,
Abrahamson, No 63, is recompounded from C and one
of the varieties of D. Herr Tidemand is the offending
knight in A, C; Ebbe Gait in B, D and the Faroe
E ; Kdng Simon in the Icelandic version. A has fif
teen stanzas, B only eleven ; the story is extended to
sixty-seven in D. A begins directly with a complaint
on the part of the injured husband before the King's
Bench ; the husband in this version b of a higher class
than in the others, Herr Peder, and not a peasant.
The forcing is done at the woman's house in A and the
Icelandic version ; in B-E in a wood. In all, the rav-
isher is capitally punished.
Hr. Olrik is disposed to think ' The Knight and the
Shepherd's Daughter ' a not very happy patching to
gether of 'Ebbe Gait,' a lost ballad, and * Taerning-
spillet,' D. g. F., No 248, by a minstrel who may perhaps
have had Chaucer's story in mind. I am not prepared
to go further than to admit that there is a gross incon
sistency, even absurdity, in the English ballad ; the
shepherd's daughter of the beginning could not possibly
turn out a duke's, an earl's, or a king's daughter in the
conclusion.
' Malfred og Sallemand,' p. 458, note , which has
many verses in common with ' Ebbe Gait,' is now No
313 of Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, V, 11, 367.
M
' Earl Richmond,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border
Minstrelsy," No 81, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of
James Skene of Rubislaw.
1 There was a shepherd's daughter
Kept hogs upo yon hill,
By cam her a gentle knight,
And he would hue his will.
HO. The Knight and the Shepherd's
Daughter.
P. 457 a, 476 f. A. b is printed in the Ballad Soci
ety's ed. of the Roxburghe Ballads, III, 449. It is in the
Crawford collection, No 1142. There are four copies
in the Douce collection : 1, 11 b, 14, 21 b, IV, 33, two of
Charles II. 's time, two of no account (Chappell).
2 Whan his will o her he had,
[His will] as he had taen,
' Kind sir, for yer courtesy,
Will ye tell me yer name ? '
3 ' Some they ca me Jock,' he says,
And some they ca me John ;
But whan 'm in our king's court
Hitchcock is my name.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
493
4 The lady being well book-read,
She spelt it oer again :
' Hitchcock in our king's court
Is Earl Richard at hame.'
5 He pat his leg out-oer his steed
And to the get he 's gane ;
She keltit up her green clothing,
And fast, fast followed him.
6 ' Turn back, turn back, ye carl's daughter,
And dinna follow nie ;
It sets na carl's daughters
Kings' courts for to see.'
7 ' Perhaps I am a cerl's daughter,
Perhaps I am nane,
But whan ye gat me in free forest
Ye might ha latten 's alane.'
8 Whan they cam to yon wan water
That a' man does call Clyde,
He looket oer his left shuder,
Says, Fair may, will ye ride ?
9 ' I learnt it in my mother's bowr,
I wis I had learnt it better,
Whan I cam to wan water
To soom as does the otter.'
10 Or the knight was i the middle o the water,
The lady she was oer ;
She took out a came o gold,
To came down her yellow hair.
11 ' Whar gat ye that, ye cerl's daughter ?
I pray ye tell to me : '
' I got it fra my mither,' she says,
' To beguil sick chaps as thee.'
12 Whan they cam to our king's court,
He rade it round about,
And he gade in at a shot-window,
And left the lady without.
13 She gade to our king hersel,
She fell low down upon her knee :
* There is a knight into your court
This day has robbed me.'
14 ' Has he robbd ye o your goud ?
Or o yer well-won fee ?
Or o yer maidenhead,
The flower o yer body ? '
15 ' He has na robbd me o my goud,
For I ha uane to gee ;
But he has robbd me o my maidenhead,
The flower o my body.'
16 ' O wud ye ken the knight,' he says,
' If that ye did him see ? '
' I wud him ken by his well-fared face
And the blyth blink o his ee.'
17 ' An he be a married man,
High hanged sail he be,
And an he be a free man,
Well wedded to him ye 's be,
Altho it be my brother Richie,
And I wiss it be no he.'
18 The king called on his merry young men,
By ane, by twa, by three ;
Earl Richmond had used to be the first,
But the hindmost was he.
19 By that ye mith ha well kent
That the guilty man was he ;
She took him by the milk-white hand,
Says, This same ane is he.
20 There was a brand laid down to her,
A brand but an a ring,
Three times she minted to the brand,
But she took up the ring ;
A' that was in our king's court
Countet her a wise woman.
21 ' I '11 gi ye five hundred pounds,
To mak yer marriage we,
An ye '1 turn back, ye cerl's daughter,
And fash nae mere wi me.'
22 ' Gae keep yer five hundred pounds
To mak yer merriage we,
For I '11 hae nathing but yersel
The king he promised me.'
23 ' I '11 gae ye one thousand pounds
To mak yer marriage we,
An ye '1 turn back, ye cerl's daughter,
And fash nae mere wi me.'
24 ' Gae keep yer one thousand pounds,
To mak yer merriage we,
For I '11 hae nathing but yersel
The king he promised me.'
494
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
25 He took her down to yon garden,
And clothed her in the green ;
Whan she cam up again,
Sh[e] was fairer than the queen.
26 They gad on to Mary kirk, and on to Mary
quire,
The nettles they grew by the dyke :
' O, an my mither wer her[e],
So clean as she wud them pick ! '
27 ' I wiss I had druken water,' he says,
' Whan I drank the ale,
That ony cerl's daughter
Sud tell me sick a tale.'
28 ' Perhaps I am a cerl's daughter,
Perhaps I am nane ;
But whan ye gat me in free forest
Ye might ha latten 's alane.
29 < Well mat this mill be,
And well mat the gae !
Mony a day they ha filled me pock
the white meal and the gray.'
30 ' I wiss I had druken water,' he says,
1 When I drank the ale,
That ony cerl's daughter
Sud tell me sick a tale.'
31 ' Perhaps I am a cerl's daughter,
Perhaps I am nane ;
But whan ye gat me in free forest
Ye might ha latten 's alane.
32 ' Tak awa yer siller spoons,
Tak awa fra me,
An gae me the gude horn spoons,
It 's what I 'm used tee.
33 ' O "an my mukle dish wer here,
And sine we hit were fu,
I wud sup file I am saerd,
And sine lay down me head and sleep wi
ony sow.'
34 ' I wiss I had druken water,' he says,
' Whan I drank the ale,
That any cerl's daughter
Sud tell me sick a tale.'
36 ' Perhaps I am a cerl's daughter,
Perhaps I am nane,
But whan ye gat me in free forest,
Ye might ha latten 's alane.'
36 He took his hat in oer his face,
The tear blindit his ee ;
She threw back her yellow locks,
And a light laughter leugh she.
37 ' Bot an ye be a beggar geet,
As I trust well ye be,
Whar gat ye their fine clothing
Yer body was covered we ? '
38 ' My mother was an ill woman,
And an ill woman was she ;
She gat them ....
Fra sic chaps as thee.'
39 Whan bells were rung, and mess was sung,
And aa man bound to bed,
Earl Richard and the carl's daughter
In a chamer were laid.
40 ' Lie yont, lie yont, ye carl's daughter,
Yer hot skin burns me ;
It sets na carl's daughters
In earls' beds to be.'
41 ' Perhaps I am a carl's daughter,
Perhaps I am nane ;
But whan ye gat me in free forest
Ye might ha latten 's alane.'
42 Up it starts the Belly Blin,
Just at their bed-feet.
43 ' I think it is a meet marrige
Atween the taen and the tither,
The Earl of Hertford's ae daughter
And the Queen of England's brither.'
44 ' An this be the Earl of Hertford's ae daugh
ter,
As I trust well it be,
Mony a gude horse ha I ridden
For the love o thee.'
1-34. Written as far as 36 in long lines, two to a
stanza : there is no division of stanzas.
28, 24, 28, 80, 31, 34, 85, 41, are not fully written
out.
29 2 . Possibly mat she gae, but observe the plural in
the next line.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
495
112. The Baffled Knight.
P. 480 a. There is another variety of D in The
Calleen Fuine, to which are added The Shepherd's
Boy, etc. Limerick, Printed by W. Goggin, corner of
Bridge - Street. British Museum, 11621. e. 14 (16).
Dated 1810 ? in the catalogue.
This begins :
There was a shepherd's boy,
He kept sheep upon a hill,
And he went out upon a morning
To see what he could kill.
It 's blow away the morning dew,
It 's blow, you winds, hi ho !
You stole away my morning blush,
And blow a little, blow.
481 a. 'Lou Cabalier discret ' ('Je vous passerai
le bois '), Daymard, Vieux Chants p. rec. en Quercy,
p. 126.
481 b, III, 518 a. Dans le bois elle s'est mise a
pleurer : Revue des Traditions Populaires, IV, 514 ;
' J'ai fini ma journe"e,' Gothier, Recueil de Cramignons,
p. 5, Youp ta deritou la la,' Terry et Chaumont, Re
cueil d' Airs de Cramignons, etc., p. 66, No 34 ; ' Apres
ma journde faite,' Meyrac, Traditions, etc., des Ar
dennes, pp. 277, 279.
Varieties : ' Lou Pastour bregountsous (trop dis
cret),' Daymard, p. 124 ; ' A la ronde, mesdames,' Terry
et Chaumont, p. 22, No 13 ; La belle et Termite,' ' La
jeune couturiere,' La Tradition, IV, 346, 348, Chan
sons populaires de la Picardie (half- popular).
482 a. A Breton song gives the essence of the story
in seven couplets : Quellien, Chansons et Danses des
Bretons, p. 156.
Danish. Den dyre Kaabe,' Kristensen, Jyske
Folkeminder, X, 142, No 38.
482 b, third paragraph. The incident of the boots in
Hazlitt, Jest-Books, II, 241 (Tarlton's Jests, 1611, but
printed before 1600).
113. The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry.
P. 494,111, 518. See David MacRitchie, The Finn-
Men of Britain, in The Archaeological Review, IV, 1-
26, 107-129, 190 ff., and Alfred Nutt, p. 232.
A husband who is a man by day, but at night a
seal : Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, p. 51.
(G. L. K.)
VOL, in.
114. Johnie Cock.
P. 1. There is a ballad of Bertram, the Bauld
Archer' in Pitcairn's MSS, III, 51; printed in Maid-
ment's Scotish Ballads and Songs, 1859, p. 46. Pit-
cairn derived it from Mrs McCorquodale, Stirling, a
VOL. iv. 63
farmer's wife, who remembered it " to have been sung by
her grandmother, a woman above eighty years old, who
stated that she had it from an old woman, her aunt."
The reciter herself was above sixty-five, and had " first
heard it when a little girl." Nevertheless, Bertram is
fustian, of a sort all too familiar in the last century.
The story, excepting perhaps the first stanza, is put into
the mouth of Bertram's mistress, ei la Gilderoy. The
bauld archer has gone to the forest for to mak a rob-
berie. The king has made proclamation that he will
give five hunder merk for Bertram's life. John o
Shoumacnair (Stronmaknair, Maidment) proposes to
his billies to kill Bertram and get the money. They
busk themselves in hodden gray, ' like to friers o low
degree,' present themselves to Bertram and ask a
boon of him, which Bertram grants without inquiry.
While they are parleying, Shoumacnair drives his dirk
into Bertram's back. But, though he swirls wi the
straik, Bertram draws his awsome bran, kills ane,
wounds twa, and then his stalwart, gallant soul takes its
flight to heaven.
2 b. Braid. " This version [' Johnie of Braidisbank,'
I] was taken down by Motherwell and me from the
recitation of Mr James Knox, land-surveyor at Tipper-
linne, near Edinburgh, in the month of May, 1824, when
we met him in the good town of Paisley. At 1 7 a tradi
tion is mentioned which assigns Braid to have been the
scene of this woeful hunting. Mr Knox is the author
ity for this tradition. Braid is in the neighborhood
of Tipperlinne." Note by Mr P. A. Ramsay in a copy
of the Minstrelsy which had belonged to Motherwell.
(W. Macmath.)
Wolves in Scotland. " It is usually said that the
species was extirpated about 1680 by Sir Ewen Cam
eron of Lochiel, but the tradition to that effect appears
to be true only of Sir Ewen's own district of western
Invernessshire." The very last wolf may have been
killed in 1 743. R. Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scot
land, in, 690.
7. F was made up from several copies, one of which
was the following, ' John o Cockielaw,' in Scott's youth
ful handwriting, inserted, as No 3, at the beginning of
a MS. volume, in small folio, containing a number of
prose pieces, and beginning with excerpts from Law's
Memorials. Abbotsford Library, L. 2.
1 Johnny got up in a May morning,
Calld for water to wash his hands :
4 Gar louse to me my good gray dogs
That are tied with iron bands.'
2 When Johnny's mother got word o that,
For grief she has lain down :
' O Johnny, for my benison,
I red you bide at hame ! '
3 He 's putten on his black velvet,
Likewise his London brown,
496
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
And he 's awa to Durrisdeer,
To hunt the dun deer down.
4 Johnny shot, and the dun deer lap,
And he wounded her on the side ;
Between the water and the brae,
There he laid her pride.
5 He 's taken out the liver o her,
And likewise sae the lungs,
And he has made a' his dogs to feast
As they had been earl's sons.
6 They eat sae much o the venison,
And drank sae much of the blood,
That they a' then lay down and slept,
And slept as they had been dead.
7 And bye there cam a silly aid man,
And an ill death might he die !
And he 's awa to the seven f orresters,
As fast as he can drie.
8 * As I cam down by Merriemas,
And down aboon the scroggs,
The boiyiiest boy that ever I saw
Lay sleeping amang his doggs.
9 ' The shirt that was upon his back
Was of the Holland fine,
The cravat that was about his neck
Was of the cambrick lawn.
10 ' The coat that was upon his back
Was of the London brown,
The doublet ....
Was of the Lincome twine.'
11 Out and spak the first forrester,
That was a forrester our them a* ;
If this be John o Cockielaw,
Nae nearer him we '11 draw.
12 Then out and spak the sixth,
That was forrester amang them a' ;
If this is John o Cockielaw,
Nearer to him we '11 draw.
13 Johnny shot six of the forresters,
And wounded the seventh, we say,
And set him on a milk-white steed
To carry tidings away.
4*. Wi He there he (he written in place of another
word). Wi He struck out.
6 1 . Originally, That they lay a* them down.
7 2 . Originally, And a silly aid man was he.
II 3 . washed, hed struck out.
116. Adam Bell, etc.
P. 18. The Tell story hi The Braemar Highlands,
by Elizabeth Taylor, Edinburgh, 1869, pp. 99-103, is a
transparent plagiarism, as indeed the author of the
book seems to be aware.
117. A Gest of Robyn Hode.
P. 40 ff. Thomas Robinhood is one of six witnesses
to a grant in the 4th of Richard II. (June 22, 1380-
June 21, 1381). See Historical MSS Commission,
Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 511, col. 2. The pronun
ciation, Robinhood (p. 41 a, note f), is clearly seen
in the jingle quoted by Nash, Strange Newes, 1593,
Works, ed. Grosart, II, 230 : " Ah, neighbourhood,
neighbourhood, Dead and buried art thou with Robin-
hood."
Among the disbursements of John Lord Howard,
afterwards Duke of Norfolk, occurs the following :
" And the same day, my Lord paide to Robard Hoode
for viij. shafftys xvj. d." (This is Friday, Sept. 26,
1483.) Household Books of John Duke of Norfolk and
Thomas Earl of Surrey, temp. 1481-1490, ed. by J. P.
Collier, 1844, Roxburghe Club, p. 464. Collier, p.
525, remarks that "the coincidence that the duke
bought them of a person of the name of Robin Hood
is singular."
The Crosscombe Church - Wardens' Accounts (in
Church- Wardens' Accounts of Croscombe, Pilton, Yat-
ton, etc., ranging from 1349 to 1560, ed. by Right Rev.
Bishop Hobhouse, Somerset Record Soc. Publications,
IV, 1890) :
" Comes Thomas Blower and John Hille, and pre
sents in xl *. of Roben Hod's recones." 147$ (ac
counts for 14 7|), p. 4.
" Corny s Robin Hode and presents in xxxiij s. iv d."
148f (for 148), p. 10.
" Ric. Willes was Roben Hode, and presents in for
yere past xxiij s." 148| (for 148), p. 11.
" Comys Robyn Hode, Wyllyam Wyndylsor, and
presents in for the yere paste iij /. vj s. viij d. ob."
148^ (for 148$), P- 14.
" Robyn Hode presents in xlvj s. viij. d." 149| (for
149|), p. 20.
And so of later years.
A pasture called Robynhode Closse is mentioned in
the Chamberlains' Accounts of the town of Nottingham
in I486, 1486, and 1500 : Records of the Borough of
Nottingham, HI, 64, 230, 254. A Robynhode Well
near the same town is mentioned in a presentment at
the sessions of July 20, 1500 (III, 74), and again in
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
497
1548 as Robyn's Wood Well (IV, 441). Robin Hood's
Acre is mentioned in 162| (IV, 441). Robbin-hoodes
Wele is mentioned in Jack of Dover, his Quest of In-
quirie, 1604, Hazlitt, Jest-Books, II, 315. (The above
by G. L. K.)
49 b. Italian robber-songs. " Sulle piazze romane
e napoletane ognuno ha potuto sentire ripetere i canti
epici che celebrano le imprese di famosi banditi o pre-
potenti, Meo Pataca, Mastrilli, Fra Diavolo : " Cantu,
Document! alia Storia universale (1858), V, 891.
53 a. Note on 243-47. The same incident in
The Jests of Scogin, Hazlitt's Jest-Books, II, 151.
(G. L. K.)
58 f., 519 a. See also the traditional story how
Bishop Forbes, of Corse, lent his brother a thousand
marks on the security of God Almighty, in The Scots
man's Library, by James Mitchell, 1825, p. 576. (W.
Macmath.)
121. Robin Hood and the Potter.
P. 108 a. Compare the Great- Russian bylinas about
Il'ja of Murom and his son (daughter). Il'ja is cap
tain of the march-keepers, Dobrynja second in com
mand. No man, on foot or on horse, no bird or beast,
undertakes to pass. But one day a young hero crosses,
neither greeting nor paying toll. One of the guards,
commonly Dobrynja, is sent after him, but comes back
in a fright. Il'ja takes the matter in hand, has a fight
with the young man, is worsted at first, but afterwards
gets the better of him. Wollner, Volksepik der Gross-
russen, p. 115. (W. W.)
141. Robin Hood rescuing "Will Stutly.
P. 186. Stanzas 19, 20. The boon of being allowed
to fight at odds, rather than be judicially executed, is
of very common occurrence in South-Slavic songs, gen
erally with the nuance that the hero asks to have the
worst horse and the worst weapon. A well-known in
stance is the Servian song of Jurisic Janko, Kara
dzic, II, 319, No 52, and the older Croat song of
Svilojevic (treating the same matter), Bogisic, p. 120
No 46. (W. W.)
155. Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter.
P. 241. For the subject in general, and particularly
' el santo nino de la Guardia,' see further H. C. Lea,
in The English Historical Review, IV, 229, 1889.
242 b, fourth paragraph. See J. Loeb, Un memoire
de Laurent Ganganelli sur la calomnie du meurtre ri-
tuel, in Revue des Etudes juives, XVIII, 179 ff., 1889.
(G. L. K.) For the other side : H sangue cristiano nei
riti ebraici della moderna sinagoga. Versione dal greco
del Professore N. F. S. Prato, 1883. Henri Desportes,
Le mystere du sang chez les Juifs de tous les temps.
Paris, 1889.
246 b. E 5. The following stanza was inserted by
Motherwell as a variation in a copy of his Minstrelsy
afterwards acquired by Mr P. A. Ramsay :
She went down to the Jew's garden,
Where the grass grows lang and green,
She pulled an apple aff the tree,
Wi a red cheek and a green,
She hung it on a gouden chain,
To wile that bonnie babe in.
249 ff. A version resembling H-M, O has been
kindly communicated by Mr P. Z. Round.
S
Written down April, 1891, by Mrs W. H. Gill, of Sidcup,
Kent, as recited to her in childhood by a maidservant in
London.
1 It rained so high, it rained so low,
In the Jew's garden all below.
2 Out came a Jew,
All clothe'd in green,
Saying, Come hither, come hither, my sweet
little boy,
And fetch your ball again.
3 ' I won't come hither, I shan't come hither,
Without my school-fellows all ;
My mother would beat me, my father would
kill me,
And cause my blood to pour.
4 ' He showed me an apple as green as grass,
He showed me a gay gold ring,
He showed me a cherry as red as blood,
And that enticed me in.
5 ' He enticed me into the parlour,
He enticed me into the kitchen,
And there I saw my own dear sister,
A picking of a chicken.
6 ' He set me in a golden chair
And gave me sugar sweet ;
He laid me on a dresser-board,
And stabbed me like a sheep.
7 ' With a Bible at my head,
A Testament at my feet,
498
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
A prayer-book at the side of me,
And a penknife in so deep.
8 ' If my mother should enquire for me,
Tell her I 'in asleep ;
Tell her I 'm at heaven's gate,
Where her and I shall meet.'
156. Queen Eleanor's Confession.
Pp. 258 S.
' Earl Marshall,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border
Minstrelsy," No 4 b, Abbotsford ; m the handwriting of
William Laidlaw.
1 The queen of England she is seek,
And seek and like to dee ;
She has sent for friers out of France,
To bespeek hir speed[i]ly.
2 The king has cald on his merrymen,
By thirtys and by threes ;
Earl Marshall should have been the formest
mdn,
But the very last man was he.
3 ' The queen of England s[h]e is seek,
And seek and like to dee,
And she has sent for friers out of France,
To bespeek hir speedyly.
4 ' But I will put on a frier's weeg,
And ye '1 put on another,
And we '11 away to Queen Helen gaits,
Like friers both together.'
5 ' O no, no,' says Earl Marshall,
' For this it must not be ;
For if the queen get word of that,
High hanged I will be.'
6 ' But I will swear by my septer and crown,
And by the seas so free,
I will swear by my septer and crown,
Earl Marshall, thow 's no dee.'
7 So he has put on a frier's wig,
And the king has put on another,
And they are away to Queen Helen gaits,
Like friers both together.
8 When they came to Queen Helen gaits,
They tirled at the pin ;
There was non so ready as the queene herself
To open and let them in.
9 ' O are you two Scottish dogs ?
And hanged you shall be
Or are [you] friers come out of France,
To bespeek me speedily ? '
10 ' We are not two Scottish dogs,
Nor hanged we shall be ;
For we have not spoken a wrong word
Since we came over the sea.'
11 ' Well then, the very first that ever I sind
I freely confess to thee ;
Earl Marshall took my maidenhead
Below yon greenwood tree.'
12 ' That is a sin, and very great sin,
But the Pope will pardon thee ; '
' Amene, Amene,' says Earl Marshall,
But a feert, feert heart had he.
13 ' The very next sin that ever I sind
I freely confess to thee ;
I had [poisen] seven years in my breast
To poisen King Hendry.'
14 ' That is a sin, and very great sin,
But the Pope forgiveth thee ; '
' Amene, Amene,' says Earl Marshall,
But a feert, feert heart had he.
15 ' The very next sin that ever I sind
I freely confess to thee ;
I poisened one of my court's ladies,
Was far more fairer than me.'
16 ' That is a sin, and a very great sin,
But the Pope forgiveth thee ; '
' Amene, Amene,' says Earl Marshall,
But a feert, feert heart had he.
17 ' Do you see yon bony boys,
Playing at the baw ?
The oldest of them is Earl Marshall's.
And I like him best of all.'
18 That is a sin, and very great sin,
But the Pope forgiveth thee ; '
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
499
' Amene, Amene,' says Earl Marshall,
But a feert, feert heart had he.
19 ' Do ye see two bony [boys],
Playing at the baw ?
The youngest of them is King Hendry's,
And I like him worst of all.
20 ' Because he is headed like a bull,
And his nose is like a boar ; '
' What is the matter ? ' says King Henry,
' For he shall be my heir.'
21 Now he put off his frier's wig
And drest himself [in] red ;
She wrung hir hands, and tore hir hair,
And s[w]ore she was betraid.
22 ' Had I not sworn by my septer and crown,
*And by the seas so free,
Had I not sworn by my septer and crown,
Earl Marshall, thowst have died.'
4 a . yet. 4 8 . will. 14 2 . they.
19 s . is Earl Marshall's.
158. Hugh Spencer's Feats in France.
Ill, 276, note f. I had remarked that this ballad
was after the fashion of Russian bylinas. Professor
Wollner indicates especially the bylina of Dobrynja
and Vasilij Kazimirovic, which in a general way is
singularly like Hugh Spencer.' In this very fine bal
lad, Vladimir is in arrears with his tribute to a Saracen
king, and appoints Vasilij his envoy, to make pay
ment. Vasilij asks that he may have Dobrynja go with
him, and Dobrynja asks for Ivanuska's company.
(Compare B.) Dobrynja beats the king at cbess and
at the bow (which corresponds to the justing in the
English ballad) ; then follows a great fight, the result
of which is that the Saracen king is fain to pay tribute
himself. Wollner, Volksepik der Grossrussen, pp. 123-
125.
Other examples of difficult feats done in foreign lands,
commonly by comrades of the hero, in Karadzic, II,
445, 465, Nos 75, 79 ; also II, 132, No 29 ; and the
Bulgarian Sbornik, II, 130, 1, 132, 3. (W. W.)
161. The Battle of Otterburn.
Pp. 294, 520. St George Our Lady's Knight. ' Swete
Sainct George, our ladies knyght,' Skelton, ' Against
the Scottes,' v. 141, Dyce, 1, 186 ; ' Thankyd be Saynte
Gorge our ladyes knythe,' in the ' Ballade of the Scot-
tysche Kynge,' p. 95 of the fac-simile edition by J. Ash-
ton, 1882 (where the passage is somewhat different).
In his note, II, 220, to the poem ' Against the Scottes,'
Dyce remarks that St George is called Our Lady's
Knight " in a song written about the same time as the
present poem, Cott. MS. Domit. A. xviii. fol. 248." This
appears to be the song quoted from the same MS. by
Sir H. Ellis, Original Letters, First Series, I, 79 :
1 Swet Sent Jorge, our Ladyes knyte,
Save Kyng Hary bothe be day and nyjth.'
In his Chorus de Dis, super triumphali victoria con
tra Gallos, etc., Skelton speaks of St George as Gloria
Cappadocis divae milesque Mariae, v. 13 ; Dyce, I, 191.
See also John Anstis, The Register of the Most No
ble Order of the Garter, London, 1724, 1, 122 ; II, 27,
48 f. (G. L. K.)
299. C. First published in the second edition of the
Minstrelsy, 1803, I, 27. 1 8>4 there read The doughty
earl of Douglas rode Into England, to catch a prey ;
31 1 , Yield thee, O yield thee, etc., and 31 8 , Whom to
shall I yield, said, etc.
For his later edition of The Battle of Otterburn,'
Scott says he used " two copies . . . obtained from
the recitation of old persons residing at the head of
Ettrick Forest." James Hogg sent Scott, in a letter
dated September 10 (1802?), twenty-nine stanzas "col
lected from two different people, a crazy old man and
a woman deranged in her mind," and subsequently re
covered, by "pumping" his "old friends' memory,"
other lines and half lines out of which (using the neces
sary cement, and not a little) he built up eleven stanzas
more, and these he seems to have forwarded in the same
letter. These two communications are what is described
by Scott as two copies. They will be combined here
according to Hogg's directions, and the second set of
verses bracketed for distinction.
The materials out of which C was constructed can
now easily be separated. We must bear in mind that
Scott allowed himself a liberty of alteration ; this he
did not, however, carry very far in the present instance.
1-13, 15-19, 23 are taken, with slight change or none,
from Hogg's first " copy " of verses ; 24, 26-29 from the
second ; 30-35 are repeated from S,cott's first edition.
14 is altered from A 16 ; 20 = Hogg 21 1 - 2 -f Scott ; 21
= Hogg 22 1 -|- Hogg 35 2 - 4 ; 22 = Hogg 23 1 - 8 -!- Scott ; 25
= Hogg 28 1 -j-B 8 2 " 4 . Scott did well to drop Hogg 9,
and ought to have dropped Hogg 8.
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
132, Abbotsford, stanzas 1-24, 35-38, 40 ; the same, No 5,
stanzas 25-34, 39. Communicated to Scott, in a letter, by
James Hogg.
1 It fell about the Lammas time,
When the muir-men won their hay,
That the doughty Earl Douglas went
Into England to catch a prey.
500
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
2 He chose the Gordons and the Graemes,
With the Lindsays light and gay ;
But the Jardines wadna wi him ride,
And they rued it to this day.
3 And he has burnt the dales o Tine
And part of Almonshire,
And three good towers on Roxburgh fells
He left them all on fire.
4 Then he marchd up to Newcastle,
And rode it round about :
O whae 's the lord of this castle,
Or whae 's the lady o 't ? '
5 But up spake proud Lord Piercy then,
And O but he spak hie !
I am the lord of this castle,
And my wife 's the lady gaye.'
6 If you are lord of this castle,
Sae weel it pleases me ;
For ere I cross the border again
The ane of us shall die.'
7 He took a lang speir in his hand,
Was made of the metal free,
And for to meet the Douglas then
He rode most furiously.
8 But O how pale his lady lookd,
Frae off the castle wa,
When down before the Scottish spear
She saw brave Piercy fa !
9 How pale and wan his lady lookd,
Frae off the castle hieght,
When she beheld her Piercy yield
To doughty Douglas' might !
10 * Had we twa been upon the green,
And never an eye to see,
I should have had ye flesh and fell ;
But your sword shall gae wi me.'
11 ' But gae you up to Otterburn,
And there wait dayes three,
And if I come not ere three days' end
A fause lord ca ye me.'
12 * The Otterburn 's a bonny burn,
'T is pleasant there to be,
But there is naught at Otterburn
To feed my men and me.
13 ' The deer rins wild owr hill and dale,
The birds fly wild frae tree to tree,
And there is neither bread nor kale
To fend my men and me.
14 But I will stay at Otterburn,
Where you shall welcome be ;
And if ye come not ere three days' end
A coward I '11 ca thee.'
15 ' Then gae your ways to Otterburn,
And there wait dayes three ;
And if I come not ere three days' end
A coward ye 's ca me.'
16 They lighted high on Otterburn,
Upon the bent so brown,
They lighted high on Otterburn,
And threw their pallions down.
17 And he that had a bonny boy
Sent his horses to grass,
And he that had not a bonny boy
His ain servant he was.
18 But up then spak a little page,
Before the peep of the dawn ;
* O waken ye, waken ye, my good lord,
For Piercy 's hard at hand ! '
19 ' Ye lie, ye lie, ye loud liar,
Sae loud I hear ye lie !
The Piercy hadna men yestreen
To dight my men and me.
20 ' But I have seen a dreary dream,
Beyond the isle o Sky ;
I saw a dead man 'won the fight,
And I think that man was I.'
21 He belted on his good broad-sword
And to the field he ran,
Where he met wi the proud Piercy,
And a' his goodly train.
22 When Piercy wi the Douglas met,
I wat he was right keen ;
They swakked their swords till sair they swat,
And the blood ran them between.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
501
23 But Piercy wi his good broad-sword,
Was made o the metal free,
Has wounded Douglas on the brow
Till backward he did flee.
24 Then he calld on his little page,
And said, Run speedily,
And bring my ain dear sister's son,
Sir Hugh Montgomery.
25 [Who, when he saw the Douglas bleed,
His heart was wonder wae :
' Now, by my sword, that haughty lord
Shall rue before he gae.'
26 ' My nephew bauld,' the Douglas said,
' What boots the death of ane ?
Last night I dreamd a dreary dream,
And I ken the day 's thy ain.
27 ' I dreamd I saw a battle fought
Beyond the isle o Sky,
When lo, a dead man wan the field,
And I thought that man was I.
28 ' My wound is deep, I fain wad sleep,
Nae mair I '11 fighting see ;
Gae lay me in the breaken bush
That grows on yonder lee.
29 ' But tell na ane of my brave men
That I lye bleeding wan,
But let the name of Douglas still
Be shouted in the van.
30 ' And bury me here on this lee,
Beneath the blooming brier,
And never let a mortal ken
A kindly Scot lyes here.'
31 He liftit up that noble lord,
Wi the saut tear in his ee,
And hid him in the breaken bush,
On yonder lily lee.
32 The moon was clear, the day drew near,
The spears in flinters flew,
But mony gallant Englishman
Ere day the Scotsmen slew.
33 Sir Hugh Montgomery he rode
Thro all the field in sight,
And loud the name of Douglas still
He urgd wi a' his might.
34 The Gordons good, in English blood
They steepd their hose and shoon,
The Lindsays flew like fire about,
Till a' the fray was doon.]
35 When stout Sir Hugh wi Piercy met,
I wat he was right fain ;
They swakked their swords till sair they swat,
And the blood ran down like rain.
36 ' yield thee, Piercy,' said Sir Hugh,
' O yield, or ye shall die ! '
' Fain wad I yield,' proud Piercy said,
' But neer to loun like thee.'
37 ' Thou shalt not yield to knave nor loun,
Nor shalt thou yield to me ;
But yield thee to the breaken bush
That grows on yonder lee.'
38 ' I will not yield to bush or brier,
Nor will I yield to thee ;
But I will yield to Lord Douglas,
Or Sir Hugh Montgomery.'
39 [When Piercy knew it was Sir Hugh,
He fell low on his knee,
But soon he raisd him up again,
Wi mickle courtesy.]
40 He left not an Englishman on the field
That he hadna either killd or taen
Ere his heart's blood was cauld.
35 8 . swords still.
Hogg writes :
" As for the scraps of Otterburn which I have got,
they seem to have been some confused jumble, made by
some person who had learned both the songs which you
have, and in time had been straitened to make one out of
them both. But you shall have it as I had it, saving that,
as usual, I have sometimes helped the measure, without
altering one original word."
After 24 : " This ballad, which I have collected from
two different people, a crazy old man and a woman de
ranged in her mind, seems hitherto considerably entire ;
but now, when it becomes most interesting, they have
502
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
both failed me, and I have been obliged to take much
of it in plain prose. However, as none of them seemed
to know anything of the history save what they had
learned from the song, I took it the more kindly. Any
few verses which follow are to me unintelligible.
" He told Sir Hugh that he was dying, and ordered
him to conceal his body, and neither let his own men
nor Piercy's know ; which he did, and the battle went
on headed by Sir Hugh Montgomery, and at length "
(35, etc.).
After 38 : " Piercy seems to have been fighting dev
ilishly in the dark; indeed, my relaters added no more,
but told me that Sir Hugh died on the field, but that "
(40).
In the postscript, Hogg writes :
" Not being able to get the letter away to the post, I
have taken the opportunity of again pumping my old
friends' memory, and have recovered some more lines
and half lines of Otterburn, of which I am become some
what enamourd. These I have been obliged to arrange
somewhat myself, as you will see below; but so mixed
are they with original lines and sentences that I think,
if you pleased, they might pass without any acknow
ledgment. Sure no man will like an old song the worse
of being somewhat harmonious. After [24] you may
read [25-34]. Then after [38] read [39]."
Of Almonshire [3 2 ] Hogg writes : " Almon shire
may probably be a corruption of Banburgh shire, but as
both my relaters called it so, I thought proper to pre
serve it."
Andrew Livingston writes to Scott, Airds by Castle
Douglas, 28th April, 1806, Letters, I, No 183 : " My
mother recollects seven or eight verses of the ballad of
' The Battle of Otterburn ' different from any I have
seen either in the first and second editions of the Min
strelsy or in Percy's Reliques. ... In several parts
they bear a great resemblance to the copy in the first
edition of the Minstrelsy."
162. The Hunting of the Cheviot.
P. 306. Fighting on or with stumps, etc.
Ketilbjbrn's 'foot is cut off at the ankle-joint. He
does not fall, but hobbles against his enemies and kills
two of them before his strength gives out : Gull-J>dris
Saga, c. 18, ed. Maurer, p. 75. Gmipr fought on his
knees after his foot was off : Vemundar Saga ok Vfga-
skiitu, c. 13, Rafn, Islendinga Sbgur, II, 266. Sorli
kills eleven men with his club, hobbling round on one
foot and one stump (apparently, though Sbrli and Han-
are perhaps confused in the narrative): Gb'ngu-Hrdlfs
Saga, c. 81, Rafn, Fornaldar Sogur, III, 329, Asmun-
darson, III, 214 (wrongly, 114). Mar fights when both
his hands are off : Gull-)w5ris Saga, c. 10, Maurer,
p. 59. Compare the exploits of Sblvi after both his
hands have been cut off: Gbngu-Hrdlfs Saga, c. 31,
Rafn, F. S., Ill, 331, Asmundarson, III, 215 (wrongly
115) ; and Rbnddlfr's performances after one of his
hands has been cut off and all the toes of one foot,
in the same saga, c. 30, Rafn, p. 324 f., Asmundarson,
p. 211 (111); and Gbngu-Hrdlfr's, who has had both
feet cut off while he slept, the same saga, c. 25, Rafn,
pp. 307-9, Asmundarson, 197 f. The Highlander at
the battle of Gasklune had his predecessor in Ali, in
the same saga, c. 30, Rafn, p. 324, Asmundarson, p.
210 (110). (G. L. K.)
167. Sir Andrew Barton.
P. 838 b. Gold to bury body. So in the story of
Buridan and the Queen of France, Haupt's Zeitschrift
II, 364. (G. L. K.)
In Apollonius of Tyre : puellam in loculo conposuit
... . et uiginti sestertios ad caput ipsius posuit , et scrip-
turam sic continentem : Quicumque corpus istud inue-
nerit et humo tradiderit medios sibi teneat, medios pro
funere expendat ; et misit in mare. C. 25, ed. Riese,
p. 29. Cf. Jourdainfi de Blaivies, 2222-33, K. Hof-
mann, Amis et Amiles und Jourdains de Blaivies, 1882,
p. 168 f. (P. Z. Round.)
'The Sonnge of Sir Andraye Barton, Knight,' Eng
lish Miscellanies, edited by James Raine, Surtees Soci
ety, vol. Ixxxv, p. 64, 1890 ; from a MS. in a hand of
the sixteenth century now in York Minster Library.
This very interesting version of Sir Andrew Barton,
the editor informs us, was originally No 25 of a ballad-
book in small quarto. It came recently " into the pos
session of the Dean and Chapter of York with a num
ber of papers which belonged in the seventeenth century
to the episcopal families of Lamplugh and Davenant."
If, as is altogether probable, there were copies of other
ballads in the same book in quality as good as this,
and if, as is equally probable, no more of the book can
be recovered, our only comfort is the cold one of having
had losses. In several details this copy differs from
that of the Percy MS., but not more than would be ex
pected. The English sail out of the Thames on the
morrow after midsummer month, July 1, and come back
the night before St Maudlen's eve, or the night of July
20, stanzas 17, 74. In stanza 42 Barton boasts that
he had once sent thirty Portingail heads home salted
' to eat with bread ' ! We read in Lesley's History
that the Hollanders had taken and spoiled divers Scots
ships, and had cruelly murdered and cast overboard the
merchants and passengers ; in revenge for which An
drew Barton took many ships of that country, and filled
certain pipes with the heads of the Hollanders and sent
them to the Scottish king. (Ed. 1830, p. 74 ; ed. 1578,
p. 329.) The eating is a ferocious addition of the ballad.
Several passages of this copy are corrupted. A throws
light upon some of these places, but others remain to
me unamendable.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
503
1 It fell against a midsomer moneth,
When birds soonge well in every tree,
Our worthg prence, Kinge Henrye,
He roode untoe a chelvellrye.
2 And allsoe toe a forrest soe faire,
Wher his Grace wente toe tak the ayre ;
And twentye marchantes of London citie
Then on there knees they kneelled there.
3 ' Ye are welcome home, my rich merchantes,
The best salers in Christentie ! '
4 We thanke yowe ; by the rood, we are salers
good,
But rich merchantes we cannot be.
4 * To France nor Flanders we der not goe,
Nor a Burgesse voy[a]ge we der not fare,
For a robber that lyes abrod on the sea,
And robs us of oure merchantes-ware.'
5 King Henry was stout, and turnd himc
about ;
He sware by the lord that was mickell of
might,
' Is ther any rober in the world soe stoute
Der worke toe England that unrighte ? '
6 The merchantes answered, soore they sight,
With a woefull harte to the kinge againe,
' He is one that robes us of our right,
Were we twentie shippes and he but one.'
7 King Henrye lookte over his shoulder agayne,
Amongst his lordes of hye degree :
''Have I not a lord in all my land soe stoute
Der take yon robber upon the sea ? '
8 ' Yes,' then did answeer my lord Charls How-
warde,
Neare the kinge's grace that he did stande ;
He saide, If your Grace will give me leave,
My selfe will be the onlie man,
9 * That will goe beat Sir Andrewe Barton
Upon the seas, if he be there ;
I 'le ether bringe hime and his shippe toe this
lande,
Ore I 'le come in England never more.'
10 'Yow shall have five hundrethe men,' saide
Kinge Henrye,
' Chuse them within my realme soe free,
voi iv. 64
Beside all other merriners and boys,
Toe gide the great shippe on the sea.'
11 The first of all the lord up cald,
A noble gunner he was one ;
This man was thre score yeares and ten,
And Fetter Symond height his name.
12 ' Fetter,' quoeth he, ' I must saill the sea,
Toe looke an enemye, God be my speede !
As thowe arte ould, I have chossen the
Of a hundreth gunners to be the headde.'
13 He said, If your Honor have chossen me
Of a hundreth gunners to be the headd,
On your mayn-mast-tre let me be hangd,
If I miss thre mille a pennye breed.
14 Then next of all my lord up cald,
A noble boweman he was ane ;
In Yorkeshier was this gentleman borne,
And William Horsley height his name.
15 ' Horsley,' saide he, ' I must saill the sea,
To meete an enemee, thow must knowe ;
I have oft [been] told of thy artillorye,
But of thy shootinge I never sawe.
16 ' Yet fore thye drawght that thowe dost drawe,
Of a hundreth bowemen to be the heade ; '
Said Horsley then, Let me be hang[d]e,
If I mis twelve score a twelt penc[e]
breed.
17 Yea, pickmen more, and bowmen both,
This worthe Howward tooke to the sea ;
On the morowe after midsomer moneth
Out of Temes mouth sallied he.
18 Hee had not sallied one daie but three,
After his Honor tooke to the sea,
When he mette with one Harrie Huntte,
In Newcastell ther dwelte hee.
19 When he sawe the lion of England out blaisse,
The streemers and the roose about his eye,
Full soonne he let his toppe-saill fall ;
That was a tooken of curtissie.
20 My lord he cald of Henry Huntte,
Bad Harry Hunt both stay and stande ;
Saies, Tell me where thy dwellinge is,
And whome unto thye shippe belonnges.
504
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
21 Henrye Hunt he answered, sore he sight,
With a woefull hart and a sorrowefull
minde,
' I and this shippe doth both belonge
Unto the Newe Castell that stands upon
Tyne.'
22 ' But haist thowe harde,' said my lord Charles
Hawward,
4 Wher thowe haist travelled, by daie or by
night,
Of a robber that lies abroode on the sea,
They call him Sir Andrewe Barton, knight ? '
23 ' Yes,' Harye answered, sore he sight,
With a woefull hart thus did he saye ;
' Mary, over well I knowe that wight,
I was his pressoner yesterdaie.
24 ' Toe frome home, my lord, that I was bonne,
A Burgess voyage was boune so faire,
Sir Andrewe Barton met with me,
And robd me of mye merchantes-waire.
25 ' And I ame a man in mickle debte,
And e\*erye one craves his owne of mee ;
And I am boune to London, my lorde,
Fore toe comepleanne to good King Henrye.'
26 ' But even I pray the,' saies Lord Charlies
Howeerd,
' Henrye, let me that robber see,
Where that Scoott hath teyne from the a
grootte,
I 'le paye the back a shillinge,' said hee.
27 ' Nay, God forbid ! yea, noble lord,
I heare your Honor speake amisse ;
Christ keepe yowe out of his companye !
Ye wott not what kine a man he is.
28 ' He is brase within and steelle without,
He beares beames in his topcastle hye,
He hath threscore peece on ether side,
Besides, my lorde, well mande is he.
29 ' He hath a pennis is dearelye deighte,
She is dearelye deighte and of mickell pried ;
His pennis hath ninescorre men and more.
And thirtene peece on ethere side.
30 ' Were yowe twentie shippes, my lorde,
As your Honor is but one,
Ethere bye lerbord or by lowe
That Scootte would overcome yowe, everye
one.'
31 Marye, that 's ill hartinge,' saies my lord
Charlls Howeward,
' Harye, to welcome a stranger to the sea ;
I 'le ether bringe thatt Scootte and his shippe
toe England,
Or into Scootteland hee ['s] carrye me.'
32 ' Well, since the matter is soe flatte,
Take heed, I 'le tell yowe this before ;
If yowe Sir Andrewe chance toe borde,
Let noe man toe his topcastle goe.
33 ' Excepte yowe have a gunner goode
That can well marke with his eye ;
First seeke to gette his pennis sunk,
The soonner overcome his selfe may bee.
34 ' Yesterdaie I was Sir Andrewe's pressonner,
And ther he tooke me sworne,' saide hee ;
' Before I 'le leave off my serving God,
My wild-maide oeth may brooken be.
35 ' Will yowe lend me sexe peece of ordenance,
my lord,
To carye into my shippe with mee ?
Toe morrowe by seven a clocke, and souner,
In the morne yowe shall Sir Andrewe see.
36 ' Fore I will set yowe a glasse, my lord,
That yowe shall saille forth all this night ; ,
Toe morrowe be seven a clocke, and souner,
Yow 's se Sir Andrewe Barton, knight.'
37 Nowe will we leave talkinge of Harry Hunt ;
The worthye Howwarde tooke to the sea ;
By the morne, by seven a clocke, and souner,
My lord hee did Sir Andrewe see.
38 A larborde, wher Sir Andrewe laye,
They saide he tould his gold in the light ;
' Nowe, by my faith,' saide my lord Charlies
Howwarde,
' I se yonne Scootte, a worthe wight !
39 ' All our greatt ordienance wee '11 take in ;
Fetch downe my streemers,' then saide hee.
' And hange me forth a white willowe-wande,
As a marchante-man that sailles by the
sea.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
505
40 By Sir Andrewe then mye lord he past,
And noe topsaille let fall would hee :
' What meanes yonne English dogg ? ' he sales,
' Dogs doe knowe noe curtissie.
41 ' For I have staid heare in this place
Admirall more then yeares three ;
Yet was not ther Englisheman or Portingaill
Could passe by me with his liffe,' saide he.
42 ' Once I met with the Portingaills,
Yea, I met with them, ye, I indeed ;
I salted thirtie of ther heades,
And sent them home to eate with breade.
43 ' Nowe by me is yoen pedler past ;
It greves me at the hart,' said hee ;
' Fetch me yoen English dogs,' he saide,
< I 'le hange them al on my mayn-mast-
tree.'
44 Then his pennis shotte of a peec[e] of orde-
nance ;
The shootte my lord might verye well ken,
Fore he shootte downe his missonne-mast,
And kild fifteen of my lorde's men.
45 ' Come hether, Peter Simond,' said my lord
Charles Howward,
' Letes se thi word standis in steede ;
On my mayn-mast-tre thowe must be hunge,
If thowe misse three mill a penney breed.'
46 Petter was ould, his hart was bould ;
He tooke a peece frome hie and laid hir be-
loue ;
He put in a chean of yeard[e]s nine,
Besides all other greate shoote and smaller.
47 And as he maide that gune to goe,
And verye well he marke[d] with his eie,
The first sight that Sir Andrewe sawe,
He sawe his penis sunke in the sea.
48 When Sir Andrewe sawe his pennis sunke,
That man in his hart was no thinge well :
' Cut me my cabells ! let me be lousse !
I 'le fetch yoen English dogges me seine.'
49 When my lord sawe Sir Andrewe from his an
ker loouse,
Nay, Lord ! a mighty man was hee :
' Let my drumes strike up and my trumpetes
sound,
And blaise my banners vailliantlie.'
50 Peter Simon's sonne shoote of a gune ;
That Sir Andrewe might very well ken ;
Fore he shoott throughe his over-decke,
And kild fifttie of Sir Andrewe's men.
51 ' Ever alack ! ' said Sir Andrewe Barton,
' I like not of this geare,' saide hee ;
' I doubt this is some English lorde
t That 's corned to taik me on the sea.'
52 Harrye Hunt came in on the other side ;
The shoote Sir Andrewe might very well ken ;
Fore he shoote downe his misson-mast,
And kild other fortye of his men.
53 ' Ever alacke ! ' said Sir Andrewe Barton,
' What maye a trewe man thinke or saye ?
He is becomed my greatest enymye
That was my pressonner yesterdaie.
54 ' Yet feare no English dogges,' said Sir Andrew
Barton,
' Nor fore ther forse stand ye [in] no awe ;
My hands shall hange them all my selfe,
Froe once I let my beanies downe fawe.
55 ' Come hether quick, thou Girdon goede,
And come thou hether at my call,
Fore heare I may noe longer staye ;
Goe up and let my beames down fall.'
56 Then he swarmd up the maine-mast-tree,
With mickell might and all his maine ;
Then Horsley with a broode-headed arrowe
Stroke then Girdon throughe the weame.
57 And he fell backe to the hatches againe,
And in that wound full sore did bleed ;
The blood that ran soe fast from hime,
They said it was the Girdon's deed.
58 ' Come hether, thow James Hamelton,
Thowe my sister's sonne, I have noe moe ;
I 'le give the five hundreth pound,' he saide,
' Ife thowe wilt toe the top[ca]saille goe.'
59 Then he swarmd up the mayn-mast-tree,
With mickell might and all his mayne ;
506
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
Then Horsley with a broode-arrowe-head
Tooke hime in at the buttuke of the utuer
beame.
60 Yet frome the tre he would not parte,
But up in haist he did pressed ;
Then Horsley with anotheir arrowe
Strooke then Hamelton throughe the heade.
61 When. Sir Andrewe sawe his sister's sonne
slayne,
That man in his heart was nothinge well :
' Fight, maisters ! ' said Sir Andrewe Barton,
' It 's time I 'le to the top myselne.'
62 Then he put on the armere of prooffe,
And it was guilt with gold full cleare :
' My brother John of Barton,' he saide,
' Full longe against Portingaill he it weare.'
63 When he had on that armore of prooffe,
Yea, on his bodye he had that on,
Marry, they that sawe Sir Andrewe Barton
Said arrowes nor guns he feared none.
64 Yet HorSley drewe a broode-headed arrowe,
With mickell might and all his mayne ;
That shaft against Sir Andrewe's brest
Came back to my lord Howwarde's shippe
agayne.
65 When my lord he sawe that arrowe comme,
My lord he was a woef ull wight ;
* Marke well thine ame, Horsley,' he saide,
' Fore that same shoote I 'le make the
knight'
66 ' Ever alacke ! ' said Horsley then,
' For howe soe ever this geare doth goe,
If I for my service louse my heade,
I have in this shippe but arrowe[s] towe.'
67 Yet he mar[k]t hime with the one of them,
In a previe place and a secrete pert ;
He shoote hime in at the left oxtere,
The arrowe quiett throughe [the] harte.
68 ' Feight, maisters ! ' said Sir Andrewe Bar
ton,
* ' I 'se a lettle hurt, but I ame not slaynp ;
I 'le lie me downe and bleede a whill,
I 'le risse and feight with yowe agayne.
69 ' Yet feare noe English dogges,' said Sir An
drewe Barton,
'Nore fore there force stand ye [in] noe
awe ;
Stick stifeley to Sir Andrewe Barton,
Feight till ye heare my whisstill blowe.'
70 The could noe skill of the whisstill heare ;
Quoeth Hary Hunt, I der lay my heade,
My lord, yowe maye take the shippe when
yowe will,
I se Sir Andrewe Barton ['s] deade.
71 And then they horded that noble shippe,
On both the sides, with all ther men ;
Ther was eighten [score] Scootes a live,
Besides all other was hurte and slayne.
72 Then up my lord tooke Sir Andrewe Barton,
And of he cutt the dead man's head :
' I would forsweare England for twenty years,
Toe have the quicke as thowe art deade.'
73 But of he cut the dead man's heade,
And bounde his bodye toe borden tre,
And tiede five hundreth angels about his midle,
That was toe cause hime buried toe bee.
74 Then they sallied toe Ingland agayne,
With mickle merienes, as I weane ;
They entred Englishe land agayn
On the night before S te Maudlen even.
75 Toe mete my lord came the kinge an quen,
And many nobles of hie degree ;
They came fore noe kind of thinge
But Sir Andrewe Barton they would see.
76 Quoth my lord, Yowe may thanke Allmighty
God,
And foure men in the shippe with mee,
That ever we scaipt Sir Andrewe['s] hands ;
England had never such an enniemie.
77 ' That 's Henrye Hunt and Fetter Symon,
William Horsley and Fetter Symon['s]
sonne ;
Reward all thoesse fore there paynes.
They did good service att that time.'
78 ' Henry Hunt shall have his whistle and chean,
A noble a daie I 'le give him,' quoeth hee,
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
507
' And his coustome betwexte Trent tid and
Tyne,
Soe longe as he doth use the sea.
79 ' Fetter Symon shall have a crowne a daie,
Halfe a crowne I 'le give his sonne ;
That was fore a shoott he sente
Sir Andrew Barton with his gune.
80 ' Horsley, right I 'le make the a knight,
In Yorkshiere shall thy dwellinge be ;
My lord Charlies Howwarde shall be an earle,
And soe was never Howward before,' quoth
he.
81 ' Everye Englishe man shall have eightten pens
a daie
That did mainetayne [t]his feight soe free,
And everye Scotchman a shillinge a daie
Till they come atte my brother Jamie.'
In eight-line stanzas.
I 4 , chelvellrye. chevachie? or some sort of vallie?
S 1 . Yea. 4 2 . farre. 10 8 . and blause.
10*. give the the. 14 4 . height : was interlined.
16 2 . thou's be? 19 2 . sterne. For streemers, see
39 2 , and B 33 2 . 23 8 . weight.
28 s . threscoree. 29*. sidde.
SO 1 . Were yare. Perhaps thare.
30 s . by lowe. Cf. A 29 2 ::=hull? 32 8 . you and.
38 4 , 65 2 . weight. 44 4 . xv th . 45 2 . the word.
46 8 . ninee. 47 8 . sawee. 52 1 . sidde. 54 2 . yea no.
55 1 . hether, drinke. 58 2 . noe more.
58*, 66 2 . goee. 59 s . Probably broode - headed ar-
rowe, as in 56 8 , 64 1 .
59*. utuer = outer? bane? But I do not under
stand.
62*. Portingaill they weare : cf. A 59*. 72 8 . xx th .
73 8 . 5 : angles. 75 1 . Toe might. 78 2 . An noble.
79*. gunee. 81*. Jamie, Jamiee.
168. Flodden Field.
P, 351 b, 12. See an account of the exhumation of
a corpse wrapped in a hide without a covering of lead,
in Archaeologia> I, 34. (G. L. K.)
169. Johnie Armstrong.
P. 367, note f. A new-born child thrown into the
water by its mother tells her that she has lost Paradise :
'L'Enfant noyeY La Tradition, V, 116.
172. Musselburgh Field.
P. 378. Is this the song quoted by Sir Toby in
Twelfth Night, II, 3 (and hitherto unidentified), " O,
the twelfth day of December " ? (G. L. K.)
173. Mary Hamilton.
Pp. 379-97. I a was first printed in the second edi
tion of the Minstrelsy, 1803, II, 163. (Read in I 2 , on
her ; in 3 2 , hand.) The copy principally used was one
furnished by Sharpe, which was not A a, and has not
so far been recovered. Besides this, " copies from va
rious quarters " were resorted to. (Half a dozen stan
zas are found in G, but G itself is very likely a compila
tion). Eight copies from Abbotsford are now printed
for the first time. Two of these may have been in
Scott's hands in time to be used, two were certainly
not, and for the others we have no date.
There is only one novel feature in all these copies :
in U 13 Mary's paramour is a pottinger. The remark
that there is no trace of an admixture of the Russian
story with that of the apothecary, page 383, must there
fore be withdrawn.* Mary in this version, as in E, F,
Q, T, U, V, Y, is daughter of the Duke of York.
X, like E, F, has borrowed from No 95: see 13-15.
s
Finlay sent Scott, March 27, 1803, the following copy
of 'The Queen's Marie,' as he "had written it down
from memory : " Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott,
I, No 87, Abbotsford. Stanzas 10, 9, 12 appear in the
second volume of the Minstrelsy, 1802, p. 154, with the
variation of a couple of words, as ' The Lament of the
Queen's Marie ' (here I b). Perhaps Finlay adopted
these three stanzas into his copy. Stanzas 1, 3, 6, 8,
with very slight variations, were printed by Finlay in
the preface to his Scottish Ballads, 1808 (O).
1 There lived a lord into the South,
An he had daughters three ;
The youngest o them 's gaen to the king's
court,
To learn some courtesie.
2 She had na been in the king's court
A twelvemonth an a day,
When word is thro the kitchen gaen,
An likewise thro the ha,
That Mary Moil was gane wi child
To the highest steward of a'.
* Scott suggested that the passage in Knox was the
foundation of the ballad, January, 1802, in the first edition
of his Minstrelsy, where only three stanzas were given.
The Key. Mr Paxton, however, first saw Scott's fragment
not long before 1804, and then in the second number of the
Edinburgh Review, where there is no mention of the apothe
cary. Thereupon, he says, I " instantly " wrote the enclosed
piece from the mouth of my aged mother. There is no
room, consequently, for the supposition that either mother
or son might have taken a hint from Knox, and put in the
pottiuger. .
508
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
3 She rowd it into a basket
An flang 't into the sea,
Saying, Sink ye soon, my bonny babe,
Ye 'se neer get mair o me.
4 She rowd it into a basket
An flang 't into the faem,
Saying, Sink ye soon, my bonny babe,
I 'se gang a maiden hame.
5 O whan the news cam to the king
An angry man was he ;
He has taen the table wi his foot,
An in flinders gart it flie.
6 * O woe be to you, ye ill woman,
An ill death may ye die !
Gin ye had spared the sweet baby's life,
It might have been an honour to thee.
7 ' O busk ye, busk ye, Mary Moil,
O busk, an gang wi me,
For agen the morn at ten o clock
A rare sight ye sail see.'
8 She wadna put on her gown o black,
Nor yet wad she o brown,
But she wad put on her gown o gowd,
To glance thro Embro town.
9 O whan she cam to the Netherbow Port
She gied loud laughters three,
But whan she cam to the gallows-foot
The tear blinded her ee.
10 Saying, O ye mariners, mariners,
That sail upon the sea,
Let not my father nor mother to wit
The death that I maun die.
11 ' For little did father or mother wit,
The day they cradled me,
What foreign lands I should travel in,
Or what death I should die.
12 ' Yestreen the Queen had four Maries,
The night she '11 hae but three ;
There was Mary Seton, an Mary Beaton,
An Mary Carmichael, an me.'
3*, 4*. We should read Sink ye, soom ye, as in
A 3 8 , U 14 8 , X 4 8 , and other copies.
Communicated to Sir Walter Scott by Mrs Christiana
Greenwood, London, 21st February and 27th May, 180G,
from the recitation of her mother and her aunt, who learned
the ballad above fifty years before from Kirstan Scot, then
an old woman, at Longnewton, near Jedburgh : Letters at
Abbotaford, I, Nos 173, 189.
1 There was a duke, and he dwelt in York,
And he had daughters three ;
One of them was an hostler-wife,
And two were gay ladies.
2 O word 's gane to Queen Mary's court,
As fast as it coud gee,
That Mary Hamilton 's born a bairn,
And the baby they coud na see.
3 Then came the queen and a' her maids,
. Swift tripping down the stair :
' Where is the baby, Mary,
That we heard weep sae sair ? '
4 ' O say not so, Queen Mary,
Nor bear ill tales o me,
For this is but a sore sickness
That oft times troubles me.'
5 They sought it up, they sought it down,
They sought it below the bed,
And there the[y] saw the bonny wee babe,
Lying wallowing in its bluid.
6 ' Now busk ye, busk ye, Mary Hamilton,
Busk ye and gang wi me,
For I maun away to Edinbro town,
A rich wedding to see.'
7 Mary wad na put on the black velvet,
Nor yet wad put on the brown,
But she's put on the red velvet,
To shine thro Edinbro town.
8 When she came unto the town,
And near the Tolbooth stair,
There stood many a lady gay,
Weeping for Mary fair.
9 ' O baud yeer tongue[s], ye Lillys a',
And weep na mair for me !
O baud yeer tongues, ye ladys a',
For it 's for my fault I dee.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
509
10 ' The king he took me on his knee
And he gae three drinks to me,
And a' to put the babie back,
But it wad na gang back for me.
11 ' O ye mariners, ye mariners a',
That sail out-owr the sea,
Let neither my father nor mother get wit
What has become o me !
12 ' Let neither my father nor mother ken,
Nor my bauld brethren three,
For muckle wad be the gude red bluid
That wad be shed for me.
13 'Aft hae I laced Queen Mary's back,
Aft hae I kaimed her hair,
And a' the reward she 's gein to me 's
The gallows to be my heir.
14 ' Yestreen the queen had four Marys,
The night she '1 hae but three ;
There was Mary Seatoun, and Mary Beatoun,
An Mary Carmichal, an me.'
u
' Lament of the Queen's Marie,' " Scotch Ballads, Mate
rials for Border Minstrelsy," No 92, Abbotsford. Commu
nicated to Scott, 7th January, 1804, by Rev. George Paxton,
Kilmaurs, near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire (afterwards professor
of divinity at Edinburgh) ; from the mouth of Jean Milne,
his " aged mother, formerly an unwearied singer of Scot-
ish songs."
1 ' My father was the Duke of York,
My mother a gay ladye,
And I myself a daintie dame ;
The queen she sent for me.
2 * But the queen's meat it was sae sweet,
And her clothing was sae rare,
It made me long for a young man's bed,
And I rued it evermair.'
3 But word is up, and word is down,
Amang the ladyes a',
That Marie 's born a babe sin yestreen,
That babe it is awa.
4 But the queen she gat wit of this,
She calld for a berry-brown gown,
And she 's awa to Marie's bower,
The bower that Marie lay in.
5 ' Open your door, my Marie,' she says,
' My bonny and fair Marie ;
They say you have born a babe sin yestreen,
That babe I fain wad see.'
6 ' It is not sae wi me, madam,
It is not sae wi me ;
It is but a fit of my sair sickness,
That oft times troubles me.'
7 ' Get up, get up, my Marie,' she says,
' My bonny and fair Marie,
And we '11 away to Edinburgh town,
And try the verity.'
8 Slowly, slowly, gat she up,
And slowly pat she on,
And slowly went she to that milk-steed,
To ride to Edinburgh town.
9 But when they cam to Edinburgh,
And in by the Towbooth stair,
There was mony a virtuous ladye
Letting the tears fa there.
10 ' Why weep ye sae for me, madams ?
Why weep ye sae for me ?
For sin ye brought me to this town
This death ye gar me die.'
11 When she cam to the Netherbow Port,
She gae loud laughters three ;
But when she cam to the gallows-foot
The tear blinded her ee.
12 ' Yestreen the queen had four Maries,
The night she '11 hae but three ;
There was Marie Seton, and Marie
toun,
And Marie Carmichael, and me.
13 ' My love he was a pottinger,
Mony drink he gae me,
And a' to put back that bonnie babe,
But alas ! it wad na do.
14 ' I pat that bonny babe in a box,
And set it on the sea ;
O sink ye, swim ye, bonny babe !
Ye 's neer get mair o me.
15 ' O all ye jolly sailors,
That sail upon the sea,
Bea-
510
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
Let neither my father nor mother ken
The death that I maun die.
16 ' But if my father and mother kend
The death that I maun die,
O mony wad be the good red guineas
That wad be gien for me.'
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 9,
Abbotaford ; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.
1 ' My father was the Duke of York,
My mother the gay ladie,
An I myself a maiden bright,
An the queen desired me.'
2 But there word gane to the kitchen,
There 's word gane to the ha,
That Mary mild she gangs wi child
To the uppermost Stewart of a'.
3 Than they sought but, and they sou[ght] ben,
They sought aneath the bed,
An there the f and the bonnie lad-bairn,
Lyin lappin in his blood.
4 ' Gae buss ye, Marie Hamilton,
Gae buss ye, buss ye bra,
For ye maun away to Edin[brough] town,
The queen's birthday . . . '
5 She wadna put on her black, bla[ck] silk,
Nor wad she put on the brown,
But she pat on the glisterin stufs,
To glister in Edinbrough town.
6 An whan she cam to the water-gate
Loud laughters gae she three,
But whan she cam to the Netherbow Port
The tear blinded Marie's ee.
7 'T was up than spak Queen Marie's nurse,
An a sorry woman was she :
( Whae sae clever o fit and ready o wit
Has telld sic news o thee ! '
8 ' Oft have I Queen Marie's head
Oft have I caimd her hair,
An a' the thanks I 've gotten for that
Is the gallows to be my heir !
9 ' Oft have I dressd Queen Marie's head,
An laid her in her bed,
An a' the thanks I 've gotten for that
Is the green gallows-tree to tread !
10 ' O spare, O spare, O judge,' she cried,
4 O spair a day for me ! '
' There is nae law in our land, ladie,
To let a murderer be.'
11 ' Yestreen the queen had four Maries,
The night she '11 hae but three ;
There was Marie Seaton, and Ma[rie] Bea-
[ton],
An Marie Carmichael, an me.
12 ' O if my father now but kend
The death that I 'm to die,
O muckle, muckle wad be the red gowd
That he wad gie for me.
13 ' An if my brothers kend the death
That I am now to die,
O muckle, muckle wad be the red blood
That wad be shed for me.'
2K Or:
That Mary Hamilton 's born a bairn
An murderd it at the wa.
S 1 , 11*. Edge bound in.
8 1 . caimd written, but struck out. 8 8 . & I the.
w
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Bordej Minstrelsy,"
85, Abbotsford.
1 There lived a man in the North Countree
And he had doghters three ;
The youngest o them 's to Edinbourgh gaen,
Ane o the queen's Marys to be.
2 Queen Mary's bread it was sae white,
And her wine it ran sae clear,
It shewed her the way to the butler's bed.
And I wait she 's bought dear.
3 For Mary 's to the garden gaen,
To eat o the saven tree,
And a' 's to pit her young son back.
But back he wad na be.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
511
4 So Mary 's to her chamber gaen,
There mony a lord and belted knight
Was grieved for her beautee.
5 Queen Mary she came down the stair,
And a' her maids afore her :
' Oh, Mary Miles, where is the child
That I have heard greet sae sore O ? '
6 ' There is no child with me, madam,
There is no child with me ;
It was only a bit of a cholick I took,
And I thought I was gawen to dee.'
7 So they looked up, and they looked down.
And they looked beneath the bed-foot,
And there they saw a bonnie boy,
Lying weltering in his blood.
8 .
' Since that you have killed your own dear child,
The same death you shall dee.'
9 When Mary came afore the court,
A loud laugh laughed she ;
But when she came to the [gallows-]fit
The tear blinded her ee.
10 ' O wha will comb Queen Mary's heed ?
Or wha will brade her hair ?
And wha will lace her middle sae jimp
Whan [I] am nae langer there ?
11 ' Yestreen the queen [had] four Maries,
The night she '11 hae but three ;
There was Mary Seaten, and Mary Beaten,
And Mary Carmichal, and me.
12 ' I '11 not put on my robes of black,
Nor yet my robes of brown,
But I '11 put on a shining braw garb,
That will shine thro Edinbourgh town.'
13 Oh, whan she came to the Cannongate,
The Cannongate sae hee,
14 And whan she came to [the] Hee Town,
The Hee Town sae hee,
10 1 . Oh. II 1 ' 2 . Added in a different hand.
12 8 . shinning.
' The Queen's Maries,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for
Border Minstrelsy," No 91, Abbotsford.
1 There livd a lord in the West Country,
And he had daughters three ;
The youngest o them 's to the queen's court,
To learn some courtesy.
2 She hadna been at the queen's court
A year but and a day
Till she has fa'n as big wi child,
As big as she coud gae.
3 She 's gane into the garden
To pu the sycamore tree,
And taen the bony bairn in her arms
And thrown it in the sea.
4 She rowd it in her apron
And threw it in the sea :
' Gae sink or soom, my bony sweet babe,
Ye '11 never get mair o me.'
5 Then in an came Queen Mary,
Wi gowd rings on her hair :
' O Mary mild, where is the child
That I heard greet sae sair ? '
6 * It wasna a babe, my royal liege,
Last night that troubled me,
But it was a fit o sair sickness,
And I was lyken to dee.'
7 ' O hold yere tongue, Mary Hamilton,
Sae loud as I hear ye lee !
For I '11 send you to Enbro town,
The verity to see.'
VOL. IV.
65
512
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
8 She wadna put on the ribbons o black,
Nor yet wad she the brown,
But she wad put on the ribbons o gowd,
To gae glittring through Enbro town.
9 As she rade up the Sands o Leith,
Riding on a white horse,
little did she think that day
To die at Enbro Corss !
10 As she rade up the Cannongate,
She leugh loud laughters three,
And mony a lord and lady said,
1 Alas for that lady ! '
11 ' Ye needna say Oh, ye needna cry Eh,
Alas for that lady !
Ye '11 neer see grace in a graceless face,
As little ye '11 see in me.'
12 When she came to the Netherbow Port,
She leugh loud laughters three,
But ere she came to the gallows-foot
The tear blinded her eie ;
Saying, Tye a white napkin owr my face,
For thaj; gibbet I downa see.
13 ' hold yere hand, Lord Justice !
O hold it a little while !
1 think I see my ain true-love
Come wandring mony a mile.
14 ' O have ye brought me ony o my gowd ?
Or ony o my weel-won fee ?
Or are ye come to see me hangd,
Upon this gallows-tree ? '
15 ' O I hae brought ye nane o yere gowd,
Nor nane o yere weel-won fee,
But I am come to see ye hangd,
And hangit ye shall be.'
16 ' O all ye men and mariners,
That sail for wealth or fame,
Let never my father or mother get wit
But what I 'm coming harae.
17 ' all ye men and mariners,
That sail upon the sea,
"Let never my father or mother get wit
The death that I maun dee.
18 ' Yestreen the queen had four Maries,
The night she '11 hae but three ;
There was Mary Seaton, and Mary Beaton,
And Mary Cannichael, and me.'
' The Queen's Marys/ " Scotch Ballads, Materials for
Border Minstrelsy," No 144, Abbotsford.
1 ' Yestreen the queen had four Marys,
The night she '11 hae but three ;
She had Mary Beaton, and Mary Seaton,
And Mary Carmichael, and me.
2 ' My feather was the Duke of York,
My mother a gay lady,
And I mysell a bonnie young may,
And the king fell in love we me.
3 * The king's kisses they were so sweet,
And his wine it was so strong,
That I became a mother
Before fifteen years old.'
4 ' O tell the truth now, Mary,
And sett this matter right ;
What hae ye made o the babey
Was greeting yesternight ?'
5 ' I will tell you, madam the queen,
I winna tell a lie ;
I put it in a bottomless boat
And bad it sail the sea.'
6 ' Ye lie, ye lie now, Mary,
Sae loud 's I hear you lie !
You wasnae out o the palace.
So that coud never be.'
7 ' Weel I will tell you, madam,
Though it should gar me weep ;
I stabbd it we my little pen-knife,
And bad it take a sleep.'
8 When she came up the Netherbow,
She geed loud laughters three ;
But when she came out o the Parliament Close
The tear blinded her ee.
9 ' O little does my feather ken
The death I am to die,
Or muckel wad be the red, red gould
Wad be payed doun for me.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
513
10 ' O little does my mother think
The death that I am to die,
Or monie wad be the saut, saut tears
That she wad shed for me.
11 ' O never lett my brothers ken
The death that I am to die,
For muckel wad be the red, red blood
That wad be shed for me.
12 ' Aft hae I washd the king's bonnie face,
Kaimd doun his yellow hair,
And this is a' the reward he 's geen me,
The gallows to be my share.'
' The Queen's Marie,' " Scotch Ballads, Materials for
Border Minstrelsy," No 90 a, Abbotsford; in the handwrit
ing of John Leyden.
1 ' Buss ye, bonny Marie Hamilton,
Buss and gae wi me,
For ye maun gae to Edinborough,
A great wedding to see.'
2 ' Ride hooly, hooly, gentlemen,
Ride hooly now wi me,
For never, I 'm sure, a wearier bride
Rode in your cumpany.'
3 Little wist Marie Hamilton,
When she rode on the brown,
That she was gawn to Edinborough,
And a' to be put down.
4 When she came to the Council stairs,
She ga loud laughters three ;
But or that she came down again
She was condemmd to dee.
5 ' O ye mariners, mariners, mariners,
When ye sail oer the faem,
Let never my father nor mother to wit
But I 'm just coming name.
6 ' Let never my father nor mother to wit,
Nor my bauld brether[en] three,
Or meckle wad be the red, red gowd
This day be gien for me.
7 ' Let never my father or mother to wit,
Nor my bauld brethren three.
Or meckle war the red, red blude
This day wad fa for me.'
AA
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
142, Abbotsford; in the handwriting of James Hogg.
' Oft hae I kaimd Queen Mary's head,
An oft hae I curld her hair,
An now I hae gotten for my reward
A gallows to be heir.'
178. Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon.
P. 426, note *. This history borrows from Sir Rob
ert Gordon. See what he says, p. 166 f., and also pre
viously, p. 164 ff.
428 a. P, G. " I have a manuscript where the whole
scene is transferred to Ayrshire, and the incendiary is
called Johnnie Faa." Note of Sir W. Scott in Sharpe's
Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 142.
This copy has not as yet been recovered, but there
is another at Abbotsford, a fine fragment, in which
Lady Campbell is the heroine. As to Adam Me Gor
don, the c of Mac is often dropped, so that Adam Ma-
Gordon and Adam o Gordon are of pretty much the
same sound (a remark of Mr Macmath). The Andrew
Watty of 13 8 is noted on the last page of the MS. to
be " a riding man."
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
75, Abbotsford. Communicated to Scott November 6, 1803,
by Bruce Campbell, Sornbeg, Galston, Ayrshire, through
David Boyle, Advocate, afterwards Lord Justice General
of Scotland.
1 It fell about the Martinmass time,
When the wind blew shill and cald,
That Adam McGordon said to his men,
Where will we get a hall ?
2 ' There is a hall here near by,
Well built with lime and stone ;
There is a lady there within
As white as the . . bone.'
3 ' Seven yea* and more this lord and I
Has had a deadly feud,
And now, since her good lord's frae hame,
His place to me she '11 yield.'
4 She looked oer her castle-wall,
And so she looked down,
514
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
And saw Adam McGordon and his men
Approaching the wood-end.
5 ' Steik up, steik up my yett,' she says,
' And let my draw-bridge fall ;
There is meickle treachery
Walking about my wall.'
6 She had not the sentence past,
Nor yet the word well said,
When Adam McGordon and his men
About the walls were laid.
7 She looked out at her window,
And then she looked down,
And then she saw Jack, her own man,
Lifting the pavement-stane.
8 ' Awa, awa, Jack my man !
Seven year I paid you meat and fee,
And now you lift the pavement-stane
To let in the low to me.'
9 ' I yield, I yield, O lady fair,
Seven year ye paid me meat and fee ;
But now I, am Adam McGordon's man,
I must either do or die.'
10 ' If ye be Adam McGordon's man,
As I true well ye be,
Prove true unto your own master,
And work your will to me.'
11 ' Come down, come down, my lady Camp
bell,
Come down into my hand ;
Ye shall lye all night by my side,
And the morn at my command.'
12 ' I winna come down,' this lady says,
' For neither laird nor lown,
Nor to no bloody butcher's son,
The Laird of Auchindown.
13 ' 1 wald give all my kine,' she says,
' So wald I fifty pound,
That Andrew Watty he were here ;
He would charge me my gun.
14 ' He would charge me my gun,
And put in bullets three,
That I might shoot that cruel traitor
That works his wills on me.'
15 He shot in, and [s]he shot out,
The value of an hour, .
Until the hall Craigie North
Was like to be blawn in the air.
16 He fired in, and she fired out,
The value of houris three,
Until the hall Craigie North
The reik went to the sea.
17 O the frost, and ae the frost,
The frost that freezes fell !
I cannot stay within my bower,
The powder it blaws sae bald.'
18 But then spake her oldest son,
He was both white and red ;
4 O mither dear, yield up your house !
We '11 all be burnt to deed.'
19 Out then spake the second son,
He was both red and fair ;
' O brother dear, would you yield up your
house,
And you your father's heir ! '
20 Out then spake the little babe,
Stood at the nurse's knee ;
' O mither dear, yield up your house !
The reik will worry me.'
21 Out then speaks the little nurse,
The babe upon her knee ;
' O lady, take from me your child !
I '11 never crave my fee.'
22 ' Hold thy tongue, thou little nurse,
Of thy prating let me bee ;
For be it death or be it life,
Thou shall take share with me.
23 ' I wald give a' my sheep,' she says,
<T[hat] . . yon . . s[ha],
I had a drink of that wan water
That runs down by my wa.'
2 1 . hall there.
2*. An illegible word ending seemingly in hie.
8 1 . this lord and I begins the second line.
3*. has good : has caught from the line above.
8 4 . shall altered to she '11 ; but she shall is clearly
meant.
7, 11*, 15, 16, 21 1 . y'. 14. would: wald, per
haps.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
515
IB 9 , valuue, or, valaue, or, valuae.
16 8 . A preposition seems to be wanting. Hall here
and in 15 8 is troublesome. Perhaps the reading
should be in 15 8 that all, in 16 8 that through all.
23 2 . The paper is folded here, and the line has been
so much rubbed as to be illegible.
" An old ballad upon the burning of an old castle
of Loudoun by the Kennedys of Auchruglan." Bruce
Campbell.
181. The Bonny Earl of Murray.
P. 447. Add to the citation from Spottiswood : His
tory of the Church of Scotland, 1655, p. 387.
182. The Laird o Logie.
P. 449. A was first published in the second edition
of Scott's Minstrelsy, 1803, I, 243.
B was repeated in the first edition of Scott's Min
strelsy, I, 220, 1802, The Laird of Ochiltree.'
452. The following is the original, unimproved copy
of A. There is a transcript of this, in William Laid-
law's hand, "Scotch Ballads," etc., No 23, which is
somewhat retouched, but by no means with the freedom
exercised by the editor of the Minstrelsy. Some of
Laidlaw's changes were adopted by Scott.
'The Laird of Logie,' "Scotch Ballads, Materials for
Border Minstrelsy," No 3 a, Abbotsford. Sent Scott Sep
tember 11, 1802, by William Laidlaw ; received by him from
Mr Bartram of Biggar.
1 I will sing, if ye will barken,
An ye wad listen unto me ;
I '11 tell ye of a merry passage
Of the wanton laird of Young Logie.
2 Young Logie 's laid in Edinbovough chapel,
Carmichaell 's keeper of the key ;
I heard a may lamenting sair,
All for the laird of Young Logie.
3 ' Lament, lament na, May Margret,
And o your weeping let me be ;
For ye maun to the king your sell,
And ask the life of Young Logie.'
4 May Margaret has kilted her green deeding,
And she 's currld back her yellow hair,
And she 's away to the king hersell,
And adieu to Scotland for ever mair !
5 When she came before the king,
She fell low down on her knee :
' It 's what 's your will wi me, May Margret,
And what makes all this courtesey ? '
' Naething, naething, my sovreign liege,
But grant me the life of Young Logie.'
6 ' O no, O no, May Margret,
No, in sooth it maun na be ;
For the morn, or I taste meat or drink,
Hee hanged shall Young Logie be.'
7 She has stolen the king's reeding-comb,
But an the queen her wedding-knife,
And she has sent it to Carmichaell,
To cause Young Logie come by life.
8 She sent him a purse of the red gold,
Another of the white money,
And sent him a pistol into each hand,
And bade him shoot when he got fra.
9 When he came to the Tolbooth stair,
There he loot his volley flee,
Which made the king in his chamber start,
Even in the chamber where he lay.
10 ' Gae out, gae out, my merrie men,
And gar Carmichael come speake wi me,
For I '11 lay my life the pledge of that,
That yon 's the volley of Young Logie.'
11 When Carmichael came before the king,
He fell low down on his knee ;
The very first word that the king spake,
' How dois the laird o Young Logie ? '
12 Carmichael turnd him round about,
A wait the salt tear blint his eye :
' There came a tacken frae the king
Has tean the laird awa frae me.'
13 ' Hast thou playd me that, Carmichael ?
Hast thou playd me that ? ' quo he ;
' The morn the Justice Court 's to stand,
And Logic's place ye maun supply.'
14 Carmichal 's awa to May Margr[e]t's bower,
Een as fast as he may dree :
' It 's if Young Logie be within,
Tell him to come speak to me.'
15 May Margret 's turnd her round about,
A wait a loud laughter gae she :
516
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
' The egg is cheeped and the bird is flown,
And seek ye the laird of Young Logie.'
16 The one is sheppd at the pier o Lcitli,
The other at the Queen's Ferry,
And she has gotten a father to her bairn,
The wanton laird of Young [Logie].
4*. yer for her.
6 4 . Yea for Hee. Hie in Laidlaw's transcript.
Taking into account the apparent yer for her in
4*, it looks as if hea, her were intended. 8 4 . free ?
12*. blint may be blent.
453. B. 'The Winsome Laird of Young Logie,'
M Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
187 a, "sung by Lady A. Lindsay," closely resembles
Herd's version, but in one passage approaches C, and
Young Logie displaces Ochiltrie. This copy will be
treated as B b.
b. I 1 . O wanting. l a . To the tale I tell.
I 8 . How the.
I 4 . The winsom laird of Young Logie.
2 1 . Whan the queen did hear the same.
2 8 . Alas for poor Lady Margaret.
3 2 , 8 2 . as wanting. 3*. Or never kend.
4 1 . Fye, oR no, said : that maunna be wanting.
4 2 . Fy, O no, thus (partly altered to this).
4*. find out some cunning way.
4 4 . To loose and let Young Logie free.
Between 5 2 and 5 8 :
The king he 's risen and taen her up,
Says, What means a' this curtesy. (As 5 8 -*.)
When you took me to be your queen,
You promisd me favours twa or three. (As 6 1 - 2 .)*
5":
The first ane that I ask of yow
Is to loose and let Young Logie free. (As 6 8 - 4 .)
6 1 . O wanting : of me. 6 s . would hae granted.
6 4 , 7 4 . Winna save. 7 1 . queen than she came.
T-. And she came down.
8- 4 :
I wish that I had neer been born,
Or never kend Young Logic's name. (As in 3.)
91. Fye, oh no, said. 9 2 . Fye, O no, this maun ne.
9*. I '11 find out some other.
9 4 . To save the life o. 10 1 . she triped.
II 1 . Sbegaeto. II 8 . And twa.
II 4 . And bade him shoot as he gaed by.
Compare here 'Adam Bell,' V, 28, stanzas 125, 128.
1 2 1 . And wanting. 1 2*. O peace : our gudely.
IS 1 . O wanting. 14 1 . Gae bring to.
14 2 . Gae bring them. 14 8 . Before the : by ten.
14 4 . they each ane. 15. Wanting.
16 1 . Fye, O no, said.
16*. Fye, O no, this maun ne. 16 8 . hang at a'.
17 1 . Lady Marg 1 took sniping.
17 2 . Young Logie at. 17 8 . the lass : her lad.
Tune of Logan Water.
183. Willie Macintosh.
P. 456. The account in ' The History of the Feuds '
is taken from Sir Robert Gordon's History of Suther
land, p. 217.
Jamieson, writing to Scott, in November, 1804, says :
" I have heard a scrap of the rude ballad on the burning
of Achindoun, 'Bonny Willie Mackintosh You've
tint a feather frae your cap By the day dawing,' etc.,
or something of this kind, from the Rev* John Grant
of Elgin. The Duchess of Gordon applied to him
about it some years ago, but he could never recover it."
(Letters addressed to Sir W. Scott, I, No 1 1 7, Abbots-
ford.)
186. Kinmont Willie.
P. 4 70 b, at the end of the first paragraph. Strike
out 1639. Spottiswood's account begins at the same
page, 413, in the edition of 1655.
188. Archie o Cawfleld.
P. 484. B b was first printed in the second edition
of the Minstrelsy, 1803, I, 195.
The following is the copy from which Scott derived
the stanzas introduced into this later edition of the bal
lad. It will be observed that ' luve of Teviotdale ' is
the reading of 4 2 , and not a correction of Scott's, as sug
gested at 486 b.
'Archie o Ca'field, Variations,' "Scotch Ballads, Mate
rials for Border Minstrelsy," No 90, Abbotsford; in the
handwriting of John Leyden.
1 The one unto the other did say,
' Blythe and merry how can we he,
When the night is billie Archie's lyke-wake,
The morn the day that he maun die ? '
2 ' An ye wad be bly the an ye wad be sad,
What better wad billie Archie be,
Unless I had thirty men to mysell,
And a' to ride in our companie ?
3 ' Ten to had the horses' heads,
And other ten to walk alee,
And ten to break up the strang prisoun
Where billie Archie he does lie.'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
517
4 Up bespak him mettled John Hall,
The luve o Teviotdale ay was he ;
' An I had eleven men to mysell,
It 's ay the twalt man I wad be.'
5 Up bespak him coarse Ca'field,
I wat and little gude worth was he ;
' Thirty men is few enow,
And a' to ride in our cumpanie.'
6 Then a' the night thae twal men rade,
And ay untill they were a' wearie,
Till they came to the strang prisoun
Where billie Archie he did He.
7 ' Sleeps thou, wakes thou, billie ? ' he said,
' Or did ye hear whan I did cry ?
The night it is your lyke-wake night,
The morn it is your day to die.'
8
* Work ye within and I without,
And soon a loose man shall you be.'
9 Dickie pu'd the prisoner on o his back,
And down the stair cam merrilie }
' Now by my sooth,' quo mettled John Hall,
' Ye may let a leg o him lean to me.'
10 * I have my billie upon my back,
I count him lighter than a flee ;
Gin I were at my little black mare,
At Ca'field soon I trust to be.'
11 Then a' the night these twelve men rade,
And aye untill they were a' wearie,
Untill they came to the wan water,
And it was gawn like ony see.
12 ' There lives a smith on the water-side,
Sae has he done thirty years and three :
The night it is mirk, and vera pit-mirk,
And there '11 never a nail ca right for me.'
15 ' Shame fa you and your trade baith,
Canna beet a gude fallow by your mysterie !
But lees me on thee, my little black mare,
Thou 's worth thy weight o gowd to me.'
16 Then thay lay down to take a sleep,
But ay on fit stood noble Dickie,
And he 's looked oer his left shoulder,
And a' to see what he could see.
17 ' Get up, get up, ye drowsy sleepers !
Ye dinna see what I do see ;
For yonder comes the land-lieutenant,
Two hunder men in his cumpanie.
18 ' This night an they lay hands on us,
This night, as I think weel it will be,
This night sail be our lyke-wake night,
The morn like as mony dogs we '11 die.'
19 ' My mare is young, and vera young,
And in o the weel she will drown me ; '
* But ye '11 take mine, and I '11 take thine,
And soon thro the water we sail be.'
20 Then up bespak him coarse Ca'field,
I wate and little gude worth was he ;
* We had better lose ane than lose a' the lave,
We '11 leave the prisoner, we '11 gae free.'
21 * Shame fa you and your lands baith,
Wad ye een your lands to your born billie ?
But hey ! bear up, my little black mare,
And yet thro the water we sail be.'
22 ' Come thro, come thro now,' Dickie he said,
' Come thro, come thro and drink wi me ;
There 's no be a Saturday in a' the year
But changed sail your garments be.
13 ' O I have a crown in my pocket,
And I '11 give it every groat to thee
Gin thou shoe my little black mare for me.'
14 ' The night is mirk, and vera pit-mirk,
And wi candle-light I canna weel see ;
23
While a bit o your iron hads thegether,
Barefit sail she never be.'
12 1 . Var. other side o the water.
12, 13 are written as one stanza.
518
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
VOL. IV.
190. Jamie Telfer of the Pair Dodhead.
P. 4 a. James Hogg, writing to Scott, June 30,
r !802 VI says : M I am surprised to find that the songs
in your collection differ so widely from my mother's. . . .
4 Jamie Telfer ' differs in many particulars." (Letters,
I, No. 44.) Scott's remarks should have been cited
from the edition of 1802, I, 91.
5. Mr Andrew Lang has obligingly called my atten
tion to difficulties which attend the assumption that the
Dodhead of the ballad is the place of that name in Sel
kirkshire. Jamie Telfer, st. 7, runs ten miles between
Dodhead and Stobs, and this is far enough if help is to
be timely ; but he would have to run thirty if his Dod
head were in Selkirkshire. With succor not nearer
than that, Telfer would soon have been harried out of
existence. The distances are too great both for the
English and the Scots. But there is a Dod south of the
O
Teviot, not far from Skelfhill, which is some seven
miles only from Stobs. (Dodhead is not entered here
on the Ordnance map, " but Dodburn is just under Dod-
rif. and where there is a Dodburn there is ' tied ' to
O*
be a Dodhead in this country.") Turning from Stobs
to Teviot, Telfer would come in due order to Coltherds-
cleugh, Branxholm, and Borthwick Water, without the
loss of time wkich he would, on the other supposition,
incur in passing and returning. (See a note, by Mr
Lang, in Mrs 6. R. Tomson's Ballads of the North
Countrie, 1888, p. 435.)
Several other matters are not quite clear. Catslock-
hill, for instance, seems to be misplaced. Mr Lang, a
native of Ettrick valley, knows of no Catslack but that
in Yarrow. Of this, Mr T. Craig-Brown (Selkirkshire,
I, 21), who accepts Scott's Dodhead, says, " A long
ride, if Catslack is in Yarrow."
191. Hughie Grame.
P. 8. C. Substitute for Scott's Minstrelsy, etc.,
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No
87, Abbotsford. Add : H. ' Hughie Grame,' " Scotch
Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 4.
I. ' Hughie Graeme,' Wilkie's MS., in " Scotch Bal
lads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 86.
P. 10 ff. For C substitute this, the original copy, as
procured for Scott by William Laidlaw.
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,"
No 87, Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of William Laid
law. " From Robert Laidlaw."
1 Gude Lord Scroop 'a to the huntin gane ;
He 's ridden oer monie a moss an muir,
An he has grippit Hughie the Graeme,
For stealin o the bishop's mare.
2 An they hae grippit Hughie the Graeme.
An brought him up thro Carlisle town ;
The lasses an lads they stood by the wa's,
Cryin, Hughie the Graeme, thou's no gae
down!
3 They ha chosen a jury o men,
The best that were i Coventry,
An fifteen o them out a' at anse,
' Hughie the Graeme, thou art guiltle.'
4 Than up bespak him gude Lord Hume,
As he sat at the judge's knee ;
' Twentie white onsen, my gude lord,
If ye '11 grant Hughie the Graeme to me.'
5 ' O no, no, no, my gude Lord Home,
For sooth an so it mauna be ;
For war there but twae Graems o the name,
They sould be hangit a' for me.'
6 'T was up than spak her gude Lady Hume,
As she sat by the judge's knee ;
' A peck o white pennies, my gude lord,
If ye '11 grant Hughie the Greame to me.'
7 ' O no, O no, my gude Lady Hume,
For sooth an so it sal na be ;
For war there but twae Greames of the name,
They soud be hangit a' for me.'
8 ' If I be guilty,' said Hughie the Graeme,
Of me my friends sal hae nae lack ; '
An he has luppen fifteen feet an three,
An his hands they war tyed ahint his back.
9 He 's lookit oer his left shouther,
To see what he coud see,
An there he saw his auld father commin,
An he was weepin bitterlie.
10 ' O had yer tongue, my father,' he says,
' An see that ye dinna weep for me,
For they may ravish me o my life,
But they canna banish me thrae the heavens
hie.
11 ' Fare ye weel, Maggie, my wife ;
The last time I came oer the muir,
It was you berievt me o my life,
An wi the bishop playd the w[hore].'
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
519
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 4,
Abbotsford ; in the handwriting of William Laidlaw.
1 Lairds and lords a hounting gane,
Out-over hills and valleys clear,
And there they met Hughie Grame,
Was riding on the bishop's mare.
2 And they have tied him hand and foot,
And they have carried him to Stirling
town;
The lads and lasses there about
Crys, Hughie Grame, you are a lown !
3 ' If I be a lown,' says he,
' I am sure my friends has had bad luck ; '
We that he jumpted fifteen foot,
With his hands tied behind his back.
4 Out and spoke Laidy Whiteford,
As she sat by the bishop's knee ;
' Four-and-twenty milk-kie I '11 give to thee,
If Hughie Grame you will let free.'
5 ' Hold your tongue, my laidy Whiteford,
And of your pleading now lay by ;
If fifty Grames were in his coat,
Upon my honour he shall die.'
6 Out and spoke Lord Whiteford,
As he sat by the bishop's knee ;
' Four-and-twenty stots I '11 give thee,
If Hughie Grame you will let free.'
7 ' Hold your tongue, my lord Whiteford,
And of your pleading now lay by ;
If twenty Grames were in his coat,
Upon my honour he shall die.'
8 ' You may tell to Meg, my wife,
The first time she comes through the mu[ir],
She was the causer of my death,
For with the bishop [she] plaid the whore.
9 ' You may tell to Meg, my wife,
The first time she comes through the town,
She was the causer of my death,
For with the bishop [she] plaid the lown.'
10 He looked oer his left shoulder,
To see what he could spy or see,
And there he spied his old father,
Was weeping bitterly.
11 ' Hold your tongue, my dear father,
And of your weeping now lay by ;
They may rub me of my sweet life,
But not from me the heavence high.
12 ' You may give my brother John
The sword that 's of the mettle clear,
That he may come the morn at four o clock
To see me pay the bishop's mare.
13 ' You may give my brother James
The sword that 's of the mettle brown ;
Tell him to come the morn at four o clock
To see his brother Hugh cut down.'
14 Up and spoke his oldest son,
As he sat by his nurse's knee ;
' If ere I come to be a man,
Revenged for my father ['s] death I '11 be.'
" Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 36,
Abbotsford, MS. of Thomas Wilkie, 1813-15, p. 9; "from
a young girl, a Miss Nancy Brockie, Bemerside, who learned
it from an old woman called Maron Miller, Threepwood."
Another copy, in Wilkie's hand, No 86 of the same.
1 Ye dukes and lords that hunt and go
Out-over moors and mountains clear,
And they have taen up poor Hughie Graeme.
For stealing of the bishope's mare.
Fall all the day, fall all the daudy,
Fall all the day, fall the daudy O.
2 They hae tied him hand and foot,
They hae led him thro the town ;
The lads and lassies they all met,
Cried, Hughie Graeme, ye 've playd the
loon!
3 ' O if that I had playd the loon,
My friends of me they hae bad luck ; '
With that he jumped fifteen feet,
Wi his hands tied fast behind his back.
4 Up then spoke my lady Whiteford,
As she sat by the bishope's knee ;
' Five hundred white pence I '11 give thee.
If you let Hughie Graeme go free.'
520
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
5 4 1 '11 hae nane of your hundred pense,
And your presents you may lay by ;
For if Graeme was ten times in his coat,
By my honour, Hugh shall die.'
6 Up then spoke my lord Whiteford,
As he sat by the bishope's knee ;
Five score of good stotta I '11 thee give,
If you '11 sett Hughie Graeme but free.'
7 ' I '11 have none of your hundred stotts,
And all your presents you may keep to your-
sell ;
' For if Graeme was ten times in his coat
Hugh shall die, and die he shall.'
8 Then they hae tied him hand and foot,
And they hae led [him] to the gallows high ;
The lads and lassies they all met,
Cried, Hughie Graeme, thou art to die !
9 Now 's he looked oer his left shoulder,
All for to see what he could spy,
And there he saw his father dear,
Stood weeping there most bitterlie.
10 ' O hold your tongue now, father,' he said,
' And of your weeping lai'd now by ;
For they can rob me of my life,
But they cannot rob me of the heavens high.
11 ' But you must give to my brother John
The sword that 's bent in the middle clear,
And tell him to come at twelve o clock
And see me pay the bishope's mare.
12 ' And you may give to my brother James
The sword that 's bent in the middle brown,
And tell him to come at four o clock
And see his brother Hugh cut down.
13 ' And you may tell to Meg, my wife,
The first time she comes thro the town,
She was the occasion of my death
And wi the bishope playd the loon.
14 ' And you may tell to Meg, my wife,
The first time she comes thro the fair,
She was the occasion of my death,
And from the bishope stole the mare.'
A. A copy in The Northern Garland, Newcastle Gar
lands, No 1, Bell Ballads, Abbotsford Library,
P. 5, has these readings, some of which appear to
be editorial:
2 2 . after him for some time. 4*. shall soon.
11. my fault. 16 a . down low.
22 s . cause and the loss.
H. 8*, 9*. the casurer, the casure. Perhaps we should
read occasion : cf. I 13*, 14*. 9*. plaid the
whore ; but cf. E 13*, I 13.
I. 2. they (all met) ran in flocks : cf. 8. 3 1 . Of that :
see No 86, below. 5 8 . in = his coat = ocent (sic).
10 2 . (laid = lay it.)
No 86, the other copy of I, has variations which seem
to be mostly, if not wholly, editorial.
I 8 , taken Hughie Graeme. 2*. lassies ran in flocks.
S 1 . O if. 3 a . has had. 3 4 . And his.
4 8 . I will give. 4*. ye '11 let. 5*. And of your.
6 a . at the. 6 4 . ye '11 let : go free.
7 1 . Above hundred t written five score.
7 2 . And of your presents ye may lay by.
7*. By my honour, Hugh shall die, bracketed with
the reading in the text.
8 a . And led him to. 9 1 . Now he 's. 9 8 . he spied.
10 1 . now, father dear : he said wanting.
10 2 . laid. II 1 . may give my.
12 1 . give my. IS 8 , 14 8 . That she's.
193. The Death of Parcy Reed.
P. 24 a. B. Telfersent "the real verses" to Sir
Walter Scott. It appears, as might be surmised, that
one half of B is of his own making. 1-3 = B 4, 5, 7 ;
4, 5 = A 4,18; 6 = B 14; 7 = B 15, A 6 ; 8 = A 7,
B 16; 9-14 =B 18-23; 15 = A 15; 16 = B 25;
17-20 = B 38, 39, 33,41.
Letters addressed to Sir Walter Scott, XIII, No 73, Ab
botsford. "Parcy Reed, exactly as it is sung by an old
woman of the name of Cathrine Hall, living at Fairloans,
in the remotest corner of Oxnam parish : " James Teller,
Browndeanlaws, May 18, 1824.
1 O Parcy Reed has Crozer taen,
And has deli verd him to the law ;
But Crozer says he '11 do warse than that,
For he '11 gar the tower of the Troughend fa.
2 And Crozer says he will do warse,
He will do warse, if warse can be ;
For he '11 make the bairns a' fatherless,
And then the land it may lie lea.
3 O Parcy Reed has ridden a raid,
But he had better have staid at hame ;
For the three fause Ha's of Girsenfield
Alang with him he has them taen.
521
4 He 's hunted up, and he 's hunted down,
He 's hunted a' the water of Reed,
Till wearydness has on him taen,
I the Baitinghope he 's faen asleep.
And the fause, fause Ha's o Girsenfield,
They '11 never be trowed nor trusted again.
6 They Ve taen f rae him his powther-bag,
And they Ve put water i his lang gun ;
They 've put the sword into the sheathe
That out again it '11 never come.
7 ' Awaken ye, awaken ye, Parcy Reed,
For I do fear ye 've slept owre lang ;
For yonder are the five Crozers,
A coming owre by the hinging-stane.'
8 ' If they be five and we be four,
If that ye will stand true to me,
If every man ye will take one,
Ye surely will leave two to me.
9 O turn, O turn, O Johny Ha,
turn now, man, and fight wi me ;
If ever ye come to Troughend again,
A good black nag I will gie to thee ;
He cost me twenty pounds o gowd
Atween my brother John and me.'
10 ' I winna turn, I canna turn ;
1 darena turn and fight wi thee ;
For they will find out Parcy Reed,
And then they '11 kill baith thee and me.'
11 ' O turn, O turn now, Willie Ha,
turn, man, and fight wi me,
And if ever ye come to the Troughend again
A yoke of owsen I will gie thee.'
12 'I winna turn, I canna turn ;
1 darena turn and fight wi thee ;
For they will find out Parcy Reed,
And they will kill baith thee and me.'
13 ' turn, O turn, O Thommy Ha,
turn now, man, and fight wi me ;
If ever ye come to the Troughend again,
My daughter Jean I '11 gie to thee.'
14 ' I winna turn, I darena turn ;
1 winna turn and fight with thee ;
For they will find out Parcy Reed,
And then they '11 kill baith thee and me.'
15 ' O woe be to ye, traitors a' !
I wish England ye may never win ;
Ye 've left me in the field to stand,
And in my hand an uncharged gun.
16 ' Ye 've taen frae me my powther-bag,
And ye 've put water i my lang gun ;
Ye 've put the sword into the sheath
That out again it '11 never come.
17 ' O fare ye weel, my married wife !
And fare ye weel, my brother John !
That sits into the Troughend ha
With heart as black as any stone.
18 * O fare ye weel, my married wife !
And fare ye weel now, my sons five !
For had ye been wi me this day
I surely had been man alive.
19 ' fare ye weel, my married wife !
And fare ye weel now, my sons five !
And fare ye weel, my daughter Jean !
I loved ye best ye were born alive.
20 ' O some do ca me Parcy Reed,
And some do ca me Laird Troughend,
But it 's nae matter what they ca me,
My faes have made me ill to ken.
21 ' The laird o Clennel wears my bow,
The laird o Brandon wears my brand ;
Whae ever rides i the Border side
Will mind the laird o the Troughend.'
9 2 . wi me. along with in the margin. 13 8 . ever I.
"There is," says Telfer in his letter, "a place
in Reed water called Deadwood Haughs, where
the country-people still point out a stone where
the unshriven soul of Parcy used to frequent
in the shape of a blue hawk, and it is only a few
years since he disappeared. . . . The ballad of
Parcy Reed has a tune of its own. ... It is a
very mournfull air."
196. The Fire of Frendraught.
P. 39. Miscellanea Curiosa, MS., vol. vi, Abbots-
ford Library, A. 3 , has for its last piece ' The Burning
of the Tower of Frendraught, an Historical Ballad," in
forty-eight stanzas. It begins :
522
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
O passd ye by the Bog of Gicht ?
Heard ye the cry of grief and care ?
Or in the bowers of Rothymay
Saw ye the lady tear her hair ?
" A Satyre against Frendraught, in which ware
burned the Vicount of Melgum, Laird of Rothiemay,
and sundrie other gentlemen, in anno 1630," 218 lines,
MS. in a seventeenth-century hand, is No 1 in a vol
ume with the title Scottish Tracts, Abbotsford Library,
B. 7. Mr. Macmath suggests that this may be the
"flyte" which Sharpe and Sir W. Scott thought of
printing.
20O. The Gypsy Laddie.
IV, 61 b. 'Johnnie Faa ' in [Wm Chambers's] Ex
ploits ... of the most remarkable Scottish Gypsies
or Tinklers, 3d ed., 1823, p. 17, is B a. The ballad
is not in the second edition, 1821, reprinted in 1886.
(W. Macmath.)
2O1. Bessy Bell and Mary Gray.
P. 75 b., first line. Say : o. Scott's Minstrelsy, 1830,
XI, 39, 1833, etc.
203. The Baron of Brackley.
P. 83, note f-
I prefer to say, two or more events. The citations
already given in this work may possibly cover four dis
tinct tragedies, and William Anderson, in his Geneal
ogy and Surnames, 1865, p. 104, tells us (but without
stating his authority) there was " a line of nine barons,
all of whom, in the unruly times in which they lived,
died violent deaths." The ballad may have com
menced originally : " Inverawe (= Inner- Aw) cam
doun Deeside." (W. Macmath.)
208. Lord Derwentwater.
P. 117 b. The omen of nose-bleed occurs in the
Breton ballad 'Ervoan Camus,' Luzel, Soniou, I, 216.
211. Bewick and Graham.
P- 144 a. Scott's improved copy first appeared in
the third edition of the Minstrelsy, 1806, II, 277.
214. The Braes o Yarrow.
Q
P. 164 ff. ' The Dowie Dens of Yarrow,' Kidson's
Traditional Tunes, etc., 1891 , p. 21. From Mrs Calvert,
of Gilnockie, Eskdale ; obtained by her on the braes of
Yarrow from her grandmother, Tibbie Stuel. (Com
pare, especially, J-L.)
1 There lived a lady in the West,
I neer could find her marrow ;
She was courted by nine gentlemen,
And a ploughboy-lad in Yarrow.
2 These nine sat drinking at the wine,
Sat drinking wine in Yarrow ;
They made a vow among themselves
To fight for her in Yarrow.
3 She washed his face, she kaimed his hair,
As oft she 'd done before, O,
She made him like a knight sae bright,
To fight for her in Yarrow.
4 As he walked up yon high, high hill,
And down by the holmes of Yarrow,
There he saw nine armed men,
Come to fight with him in Yarrow.
6 ' There 's nine of you, there 's one of me,
It 's an unequal marrow ;
But I '11 fight you all one by one,
On the dowie dens of Yarrow.'
6 Three he slew, and three they flew,
And three he wounded sorely,
Till her brother John he came in beyond,
And pierced his heart most foully.
7 ' Go home, go home, thou false young man,
And tell thy sister Sarah
That her true-love John lies dead and gone
On the dowie dens of Yarrow.'
8 ' O father dear, I dreamed a dream,
I 'm afraid it will bring sorrow ;
I dreamed I was pulling the heather-bell
In the dowie dens of Yarrow.'
9 'O daughter dear, I read your dream,
I doubt it will prove sorrow ;
For your true-love John lies dead and gone
On the dowie dens of Yarrow.'
10 As she walked up yon high, high hill,
And down by the holmes of Yarrow,
There she saw her true-love John,
Lying pale and dead on Yarrow.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
523
11 Her hair it being three quarters long
The colour it was yellow
She wrapped it round his middle sma,
And carried him hame to Yarrow.
12 * O father dear, you 've seven sons,
You may wed them a' tomorrow,
But a fairer flower I never saw
Than the lad I loved in Yarrow.'
13 The fair maid being great with child,
It filled her heart with sorrow ;
She died within her lover's arms,
Between that day and morrow.
6 1>a . Three misprinted there.
8 1 , 9 1 , 12 1 . Oh.
Macmath MS. p. 91. Inserted in a copy of The Scottish
Ballads ... by Robert Chambers, 1829, p. 145, latterly
belonging to Rev. Dr James C. Barns, Free Church, Kirk
liston.
1 There were three lords drinking at the wine
In the Leader Haughs of Yarrow :
4 Shall we go play at cards and dice,
As we have done before, O ?
Or shall we go play at the single sword,
In the Leader Haughs of Yarrow ? '
2 Three he wounded, and five he slew,
As he had [done] before, O,
But an English lord lap from a bush,
And he proved all the sorrow ;
He had a spear three quarters long,
And he thrust his body thorogh.
3 ' I dreamed ....
I wis it prove nae sorrow !
I dreamed I was puing the apples green
In the dowie howms o Yarrow.'
4 ' O sister, sister, I '11 read your dream,
And I '11 read it in sorrow ;
Ye may gae bring hame your ain true-love,
For he 's sleepin sound in Yarrow.'
5 She sought him east, she sought him west,
She sought him all the forest thorogh ;
She found him asleep at the middle yett,
In the dowie howms o Yarrow.
6 Her hair it was three quarters lang,
And the colour of it was yellow ;
She 's bound it round his middle waist,
And borne him hame from Yarrow.
I 2 - 6 . Leader Haughs. "Obviously nonsense, but
so my minstreless sung it."
3 1 . The rest torn away.
3 8 . apples substituted for heather struck out.
217. The Broom of Cowdenknowa
P. 192. Mrs Greenwood, of London, had heard (pre
sumably at Longnewton, near Jedburgh) " tbe old Cow-
denknows, where, instead of the Laird of the Oakland
hills, it is the Laird of the Hawthorn-wide." Letters
addressed to Sir W! Scott, I, No 189, May 27, [1806.]
221. Katharine Jaffray.
P. 216 a. Scott's 'Katherine Janfarie ' was printed
in the second edition of the Minstrelsy, 1803, I, 288.
222. Bonny Baby Livingston.
P. 231 f. " I can get a copy of a ballad the repeat
ing verse of which is :
The Highlands are no for me,
The Highlands are no for me ;
But gin ye wad my favour win
Than carry me to Dundee.
His name is sometimes called Glendinnin, and his res
idence the same : however, I think it is a Highland
' O
ballad, from other circumstances." W. Laidlaw to Sir
W. Scott, September 11, 1802 : Letters, I, No 78.
Compare D.
225- Bob Roy.
P. 243. The Harris MS. has one stanza, fol. 27 b,
from Mrs Isdale, Dron, ' Robin Oigg's Elopement.'
An they hae brocht her to a bed,
An they hae laid, her doun,
An they 've taen aff her petticoat,
An stript her o her goun.
524
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
226. Lizie Lindsay.
P. 255. Communicated by Mr Walker, of Aberdeen,
as procured October 5, 1891, from George Nutchell,
Ground Officer at Edzell Castle, who derived it from
bis step-grandmother Mrs Lamond (Nelly Low), fifty-
eight years ago, she being at the time eighty years old.
1 Will ye gang to the Highlands, Lizzie Lind
say ?
Will ye gang to the Highlands wi me ?
Will ye gang to the Highlands, Lizzie Lind
say,
My bride an my darling to be ? '
2 She turned her round on her heel,
And a very loud laugh gaed she :
' I 'd like to ken whaur I 'm ganging,
An wha I am gaun to gang wi.'
3 ' My name is Donald Macdonald,
I '11 never think shame nor deny ;
My father he is an old shepherd,
My mither she is an old dey .
4 ' Will ye gang to the Highlands, bonnie Lizzie ?
Will ye'gang to the Highlands wi me ?
For ye shall get a bed o green rashes,
A pillow an a covering o grey.'
5 Upraise then the bonny young lady,
An drew till her stockings an sheen,
An packd up her claise in fine bundles,
An away wi young Donald she 's gaen.
6 When they cam near the end o their journey,
To the house o his father's milk-dey,
He said, Stay still there, Lizzie Lindsay,
Till I tell my mither o thee.
7 Now mak us a supper, dear mither,
The best o yer curds an green whey,
An mak up a bed o green rashes,
A pillow an covering o grey.
8 ' Rise up, rise up, Lizzie Lindsay,
Ye have lain oer lang i the day ;
Ye should hae been helping my mither
To milk her ewes an her kye.'
9 Out then spak the bonnie young lady,
As the saut tears drapt f rae her ee,
4 1 wish I had bidden at hame ;
I can neither milk ewes or kye.'
10 ' Rise up, rise up, Lizzie Lindsay,
There is mair f erliea to spy ;
For yonder 's the castle o Kingussie,
An it stands high an dry.'
11 'Ye are welcome here, Lizzie Lindsay,
The flower o all your kin,
For ye shall be lady o Kingussie,
An ye shall get Donald my son.'
243. James Harris.
P. 860 a. B. There is another, and perhaps slightly
earlier, copy of The Rambler's Garland, British Mu
seum, 11621, c. 2 (64), with a few trifling differences,
for better or worse.
251. Lang Johnny More.
P. 396. ' Bennachie/ by Alex. Inkson M'Connochie,
Aberdeen, 1890, has a copy of this ballad, p. 66, longer
by a few verses and with some verbal differences. But
as this copy has been edited, though " without violence
having been done," the variations, in themselves quite
immaterial, do not demand registration.
To be Corrected in the Print.
I, 185 b, P 13 a . Read There 's.
188 b, line 15. Read 207.
200 b, line 6. Read Vidyadharf.
401 b, fourth paragraph, line 8 f. Read No 68, III,
117.
II, 10 a, eighth line from below. Read "Bfor C.
26 b IS 1 . Read moon.
84 b, last line of third paragraph. Read O 21.
266, B 5 8 . Read you.
428 b, e. Read 3* for S 1 .
482 b, third paragraph, last line. Read V, 101.
507 a, Josefs Gedicht. Eighth line, read Den . . .
in queme. First liqe of answer, read De; third,
deme ; seventh, konde.
III, 41 b, third paragraph, second line. Read MS.
for Mr.
264 a, 17*. Read bee.
b 23*. Read soc.
276 a, line 7. Read queen's own son.
281 a, 5 a . Read new.
288 a, line 4 of the first paragraph. Read William
Lord Douglas.
1), line 16. Head wail.
806 a, note *, fourth line. Read Minstrelsy, II, 825,
ed. 1802.
348 b [A 12 1 ]. Read sais. 15-. Read mirrie.
376 b, Q 2 1 . Read great.
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS
525
379 a, 173, A a, first line. Read Sharpe's.
383 a, line 32. Read pavlovsk.
384 a, 5 1 . Read was never.
397, P I 1 . Read father is.
435 a, E 5 2 . Read loon.
448 a, A, heading. Read 1 750.
459 a, 7 1 . Read Buss. 10 2 . Read o the Dun.
463 a, first line of citation from Maitland. Read
spuilzie.
473 b, 24*. Read never.
475 b, citation from Maitland, line 5. Read ane
guyd.
477 b, third paragraph, line 2. Read moss-trooper.
485 b, first paragraph, line 9 from the end. Read
would.
489 b, B 9 1 . Read, There (= There are) six.
499 a, 9, line 8 f. Read Vuk, II, 376, No 64.
504 a, third line from the bottom. Read O for J.
504 b, third line. Read Rae.
505 a, 13 4 . Read And aye. 18 1 . Read o the.
510 b. The note to p. 215 belongs under No 76.
IV, 6 a, 8 1 . Read whan. (10 1 . Gar seek in the early
editions, Gae in ed. 1833.)
7 b, 41 1 . Read thy kye.
8 a, 46 s . Read dare.
18 a, 10 8 . Read Then. 12 4 . Read [to].
b, 19 2 . Read Whan.
21 b, 17 s . Read grey.
23 a, A a, fourth line. Read former [B].
28 a. Title of 194 B, Laird o Waristoun, in the
MS. copy ; Laird of Wariestoun, in the printed.
34 b, B. Lord Maxwell's Goodnight is the title
in Scott's Minstrelsy. It is Lord Maxwell's
Farewell in the Table of Contents of Glen-
riddell.
36 a, preface, last line but two, and b, line 3. Read
Lord Maxwell for Lord John.
38 a, II 2 . Read, perhaps, fathers' : cf. their, in line 3.
45 b, B 7 1 . Read he 's.
47 b, 18 1 . Read Lady.
54 a, No 199, B. Insert the title: 'Bonny House of
Airly.'
66 a, B 5 1 . Read Gar . . . manteel.
68 a, D, third line. Read Corse for Cragievar.
69 a, 6 s . Read Stincher. 8 8 . Read kill.
75 a, ninth line of preface. Read in his Poems.
76 a, fifth line. Read Beauchie.
81 b, seventeenth and twenty-fourth lines. Read
Abergeldy.
82 b, note, first line. Read Brachally in Dee Water
Side.
90 a, B. Insert ' Laird of Blackwood,' as the title
of the printed copy.
91 a, tenth line of the second paragraph. Read
after the birth of his son for after that event,
note *. Read IV, 277 f, II, 449 f.
92 a, second line. Read A, C.
93 b, A 2 1 . Read cam.
94 a, B, I 4 . Read wont.
95 b, B 12 8 . Read I 'me. C 6*. Read country.
8 1 ' 2 . Read well.
96 a, D 3 8 . Read fire-boams.
105 a, sixth line of Appendix. Read Broadside.
110 b, No 207, D, third line. Read p. 135.
123 b, I b. Strike out (Lord ?) K. Read p. 370.
124 b, fifth paragraph, last line but four. Read Pit-
bagnet's.
129 a, 23 8 . Read feght. b, 28 s . Read burd.
C b. Read in Wilkie's hand, dropping what fol
lows.
138 b, C b 12 1>2 . Read Wanting, .for A man spoke
loud.
139 a, I b 3 4 , 4 1 . Read Pitbagnet's.
152 b, 10 8 . Read showd.
153 b, 9 3 . Read was.
155 a, second line after title. After library, insert P. 6.
157 a, 2 2 . Read nourice.
168 a, 7 2 . Read doon.
201 b, 26 8 . Read kye.
202 a, K 2 2 . Read It is.
207 a, 20 2 . Read them a' out.
212 a, 4 8 . Read sallads.
221 b, 13 2 . Read grey.
224 b, 22 1 . Read hes he.
226 a, 6 8 . Read Lammington.
248 a, 2 2 . Read ladie.
O
..
PR
1181
C5
1832
v.4
pt.2
Child, Francis James
The English and Scottish
popular ballads
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