The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 5 (of 5)

Volume 5 / Part 3 — ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS (continued 2)

Reading edition

7^3,4. Till ther couldne ane come near her bour For the morning of they may. Perhaps moaning.

16². he had.

18³. Perhaps the meat.

19^2,4. sale, cale (for sold, cold).

22². hean.

22³. bidden ga.

35³. Didde.

92. Bonny Bee Horn.

P. 317. ‘The Lowlands of Holland.’ In ‘The Sorrowful Lover’s Regrate, or, The Low-Lands of Holland,’ British Museum 1346. m. 7(40), dated May the 5th, 1776, a threnody in eleven double stanzas. 1, 2 of the copy in Johnson’s Museum are 1, 2; Johnson, 3==7, 4==4, 5==6, 6==3, and the stanza added by Stenhouse is 9 (with verbal divergences). ‘The Maid’s Lamentation for the loss of her true love,’ Museum 11621. c. 3(39), “Newcastle, 1768?,” the fifth piece in The Complaining Lover’s Garland, has five stanzas: 1 corresponding to 2 of Johnson, 2 to 5, 5 to 6, 3 to 5 of the Regrate, and 4 to 9, with considerable differences. ‘The Seaman’s Sorrowful Bride,’ Roxburghe, IV, 73, Ebsworth, VI, 444, begins with two stanzas which resemble Johnson, 2, 1. This last was printed for J. Deacon, in Guilt-spur-street, and the date, according to Chappell, would be 1684-95.

93. Lamkin.

P. 331, I, as it stands in “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 15.

1 Lamken was as gued a masson as ever did hue ston; He bigged Lord Weary’s house, an pament never got non. 2 It fell ance on a day Lord Weary went from home, An Lamkin came to the fause nirice, . . . . . . . * * * * * * 3 ‘O still my bairn, nirice, still him we the kniff:’ ‘He winnë still, lady, tho I sud lay doun my life.’ 4 ‘O still my bairn, nirice, still him we the bell:’ ‘He winnë still, lady, till ye come doun yersell.’ 5 The first step she came on, it was the stane; The nest step she mett him Lamkin. 6 ‘O spare my life, Lamkin, an I ell gee ye a peak of goud well laid on; An that dinnë pleas ye, I ell heap it we my hand.’ 7 ‘O will I kill the lady, nirice, or will I lat her gang?’ ‘O kill her, Lanken, she was never gued to me.’ 8 ‘O wanted ye yer meatt, nirice? or wanted ye yer fiee? Or wanted ye the other bountys lady’s are wont to gee?’ 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘Kill her, Lanken, she was never gued to me.’ 10 ‘Ye wash a bason, nirice, an ye wash it clean, To cape this lady’s blode; she is come of high kine.’ 11 ‘I winnë wash a bason, nor wash it clean, To cap this lady’s blod, tho she be come of high kine.’ 12 Bonny sang yon burd as he satt on the tree, Bat sare grat Lamkin fan he was hanged hie. 13 Bonny sang the burd that satt on the hill, Bat sare grat the nirice fan the caldron began to boill. 14 Lankin was hanged, . . . . . high, An the faus nirice was burnt in the cadron was she.

339 ff., 513, IV, 480.

Y

‘Lammikin,’ Findlay’s MSS, I, 173, “from J. Milne, who wrote it down from recitation by John Duncan.”

1 Lie in your room, my wife, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ‘You’ll fasten doors and windows, you’ll fasten them out an in, For if you leave ae window open Lammikin will come in.’ 3 They’ve fastened doors an windows, they’ve fastened them out an in, But they have left ae window open, an Lammikin cam in. 4 ‘O where are a’ the women that dwell here within?’ ‘They’re at the well washin, and they will not come in.’ 5 ‘O where are a’ the men that dwell here within?’ ‘They’re at the . . . ., and they will not come in.’ 6 ‘O where is the lady that dwells here within?’ ‘She’s up the stair dressin, an she will not come doun.’ 7 ‘It’s what will we do to mak her come doun? We’ll rock the cradle, nourrice, an mak her come doun.’ 8 They [hae] rocked the cradle to mak her come doun, . . . . . . the red bluid out sprung. 9 ‘O still the bairn, nourrice, O still him wi the bell:’ ‘He winna still, my lady, till ye come doun yersel.’ 10 The first step she steppit, it was upon a stane; The next step she steppit, she keppit Lammikin. 11 ‘O mercy, mercy, Lammikin, hae mercy upo me! Tho ye hae killed my young son, ye may lat mysel abee.’ 12 ‘O it’s will I kill her, nourrice, or will I lat her be?’ ‘O kill her, kill her, Lammikin, she neer was gude to me.’ 13 ‘O it’s wanted ye your meat? or wanted ye your fee?’ . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ‘I wanted not my meat, I wanted not my fee, But I wanted some bounties that ladies can gie.’

95. The Maid freed from the Gallows.

P. 346, III, 516 a, IV, 481 b. Italian. Maria Carmi, Canti pop. Emiliani, Archivio, XII, 189. Brunetina, after she has been rescued by her lover, is informed, while she is dancing at a ball, that her mother is dead. Bury her, she replies, I will dress in complete red, and she goes on dancing. So of her father. But when told that her lover is dead, she says she will dress in complete black, and bids the music stop, for she wishes to dance no more. ‘La Ballerina,’ Nigra, No 107, p. 469, is no doubt the last half of this ballad corrupted at the conclusion. The woman will not stop dancing for the reported death of father, mother, brother, sister, husband, but when told that her boy is dead asks the players to cease, her legs are broken, she can dance no more.

In ‘Leggenda Marinesca’ (di Catanzaro), La Calabria, October, 1893, VI, 16, a wife (or perhaps an affianced young woman) is ransomed from pirates by her husband (or betrothed), after father, mother, and brother have refused. If her father, mother, brother, should die, she would deck her hair, dress in red, yellow, or white, bid the guitar strike up, and dance; but if her true-love died, she would put on black, cut her hair, and throw the guitar into the sea.

349. Mr Kaarle Krohn, of the University of Helsingfors, has favored me with the following study of the very numerous Finnish and Esthonian versions of this ballad, incorporating therein the researches of his father, Julius Krohn, already referred to at IV, 482 a. (Estlander’s discussion, which I had not seen, “Sången om den friköpta,” occupies pp. 331-356 of the tenth volume of Finsk Tidskrift.)

I. The West Finnish versions, dispersed over West and East Finland and Ingria. These are in the modern metre, which came into use hardly before the end of the seventeenth century, and it is in the highest degree probable that they were learned from the Swedes. About thirty copies known. Specimen, Reinholm’s collection, H 12, No 76, from the Nystad district northward from Åbo, in Southwest Finland; J. K., p. 11[120].

Prevailing traits: 1. The maid is sitting in a little room, less frequently in a ship’s cabin or a boat. 2. The father has three horses. 3. The mother has three cows. 4. The brother has three swords. 5. The sister has three crowns, or, in copies from further east, where crowns are not used for head-gear, three silk kerchiefs. 6. The lover has three ships, or almost as often three castles (mansions). There are variations, but rarely, as to the objects possessed, and sometimes exchanges, but only two cases are of importance. In one copy from the extreme of Southeast Finland, the father has three oxen, which seems to be the original disposition, the change to horses coming about from the circumstance that oxen are seldom employed for ploughing in Finland. In four copies from the most eastern part of Finland the sister has three sheep, perhaps owing to the influence of the East Finnish versions. 7. The imprecations and benedictions at the end occur regularly. May the horses be knocked up or die at ploughing-time; may the cows die, dry up, etc., at milking-time; the swords shiver in war-time; the crowns fall off or melt at wedding or dance (the silk kerchiefs tear, fade, spoil with wet); and on the other hand, may the ships sail well, do well, make money at trading-time; the castles rise, flourish in time of destitution, of bad crops. Etc.

II. The later Esthonian versions, Esthonia and Livonia, in modern metre, of more recent origin, probably, than in Finland. About twenty copies known. Specimen, J. Hurt, Vana Kannel, II, 365, No 367. Lilla is sitting in the little room in weary expectation. She sees her father walking on the sea-beach. ‘Dear father, beloved father, ransom me!’ ‘Wherewith ransom you, when I have no money?’ ‘You have three horses at home, and can pawn one.’ ‘I can do better without my Lilla than without my three horses; the horses are mine for all my life, Lilla for a short time.’ In like fashion, the mother is not willing to sacrifice one of her three cows, the brother one of his three swords, the sister one of her three rings. But the lover, who has three ships, says, I can better give up a ship than give up my dear Lilla; my ships are mine for a short time, but Lilla for all my life. Lilla breaks out in execrations: may her father’s horses fall dead when they are ploughing in summer, may her mother’s cows dry up in milking, her brother’s swords shiver in war, her sister’s rings break in the very act of marrying; but may her true-love’s ships long bring home precious wares.

Prevailing traits: 1. Lilla; in some copies from East Livonia, Roosi. 2. Little room; quite as often prison-tower. 3. The father has horses, the mother cows, the brother swords, as in the West Finnish versions. The independency of the Esthonian ballad is exhibited in the sister’s three rings. It must, as far as I can at present see, have been borrowed directly from the Swedish, not through the medium of the Finnish. The lover has always three ships, and it is often wished that these ships may sail well in storm and in winter. The maledictions occur regularly, as in the example cited. There are some divergences as to the items of property, mostly occasioned by the older Esthonian version: thus, the father has sometimes oxen or corn-lofts, the brother horses, the sister brooches.

III. The older Esthonian versions, disseminated in Esthonia and Livonia, and also among the orthodox Esthonians beyond Pskov. These are in the old eight-syllable measure of the runes (and of Kalevala). More than a hundred copies have been obtained.

a. Best preserved and of most frequent occurrence in the island of Ösel. Twenty copies. Specimen from J. Hurt’s manuscript collections. Anne goes into the cow-house and soils her cap. She proceeds to the sea-beach to wash her cap. Ships come from Russia, from Courland. Anne is made captive. She weeps, and begs that the ship may be stopped; she wishes to take a look homewards. Her father has three oxen, one of which has silver horns, another copper, the third golden, but he will give none of them for her. Her mother has three cows, with silver, copper, golden udders; her brother, three horses, with the same variety of manes; her sister, three sheep, with wool of the three sorts; a neighbor’s son, three lofts full of wheat, rye, barley. She wishes that the oxen may die in ploughing-time, the cows in milk-time, the horses at wooing-time, the sheep at wool-time; but may the corn-lofts of the neighbor’s son grow fuller in the direst famine-time.

Prevailing traits: 1. The maid’s name is Anne. 2. The pirates are Russians (10 times), Poles (6), Courlanders (2), Swedes (1), Germans (1), English (1). 3. The father has commonly oxen; the mother, cows always; the brother, almost always horses; the sister, sheep, six times, oftener than anything else; the lover, ordinarily corn-lofts. 4. The cursing occurs ten times. There are in a few cases exchanges of the sorts of property (thus, the father has corn-lofts, the sister has brooches, each four times), and in two instances the lover is omitted. The ballad has perhaps been affected by another (see II, 347 f.) in which a girl receives information that she has been sold by her relations: by her father for a pair of oxen (25 cases) or for a horse (18), by her mother for a cow, by her brother for a horse (24) or for a pair of oxen (14), by her sister for a brooch; and she curses all that they have got by the sale.

b. Less perfect and not so well preserved on the Esthonian mainland. About 100 copies, more or fewer. Specimens, Neus, p. 109, No 34, Hurt, Vana Kannel, I, 166, No 103, II, 310, No 442.

Prevailing traits: 1. The name of the maid, Anne, and the introduction linked to it, are often dropped, especially in the southeast of the Esthonian district, and a passage about a young conscript who wishes to be bought off from serving is substituted. The maid, whose brothers have hidden away, is pressed instead of them, and sent into service. As she is driven by the house of her parents in the military wagon she entreats her guards not to make sail! 2. The kidnapper is most frequently a Russian, then Pole, Swede, less commonly German, Courlander. In the northeast of the Esthonian district, on the border of Ingria, Karelian, four times. 3. The father often keeps the oxen, but almost as often has horses; the brother, in these last cases, has seldom oxen, generally horses as well as the father. The alteration is in part owing to the same material occasion as in the West Finnish versions; sometimes an influence from the ballad of the maiden who has been sold by her relatives may be suspected (in which ballad it is not easy to say whether the oxen belong originally to father or brother). Frequently the father has corn-lofts, the lover, to whom these would belong, having dropped out. The mother has almost always cows; in the northeast, on the Ingrian border, three times, aprons. The brother has generally horses, five times oxen, with other individual variations. The sister has preserved the sheep only four times; eight times she has brooches, and in one of these cases the ballad of the maid sold by her relatives is blended with ours, while in the remainder the influence of that ballad is observable. In six cases she has rings, perhaps under the influence of the later Esthonian versions. In the southeast she has chests seven times, and in most of these cases the lover has the rings. Other variations occur from one to four times. The lover has his corn-lofts nine times. Eight times he has horses, and in half of these instances he has exchanged with the brother, or both have horses. Twice he has ships, through the influence of the later Esthonian versions; or rings, in which cases the father ordinarily has the corn-lofts. 4. The imprecation in the conclusion is but rarely preserved.

IV. The East Finnish versions. Diffused in Ingria, East Finland, and Russian Karelia. In the old rune-measure, about forty copies. Specimen, Ahlqvist’s collection, from East Finland, No 351: see J. K., p. 11.

Prevailing traits: 1. The maid is in a boat on the Neva. 2. The kidnapper is a Russian. 3. The father has a horse, the mother a cow, the brother a horse, the sister a sheep (each with an epithet). 4. The imprecation is almost without exception preserved. This version arose from a blending of the West Finnish, I, the older Esthonian, III, and the ballad of the maid sold by her relatives. This latter occurs in West Ingria in the following shape: The maid gets tidings that she has been sold. The father has received for her a gold-horse (may it founder when on the way to earn gold!), the mother a portly cow (may it spill its milk on the ground!), the brother a war-horse (may the horse founder on the war-path!), the sister a bluish sheep (may wolf and bear rend it!). In some copies the father or the brother has oxen (may they fall dead in ploughing!), as in the Esthonian ballad, from which the Ingrian is borrowed. The sister’s sheep instead of brooch shows perhaps the influence of the older Esthonian ballad of the maid begging to be ransomed, or it may be an innovation.

The ballad of the maid sold by her family occurs in West Ingria independently, and also as an introduction to the other, and has been the occasion for the changes in the possessions of the relatives. North of St Petersburg the combination is not found, though it has left its traces in the course of the spreading of the ballad from Narva to St Petersburg.

The maid’s sitting in a boat may come as well from the older Esthonian as from the West Finnish version, although it is more common in the latter for her to be sitting in the “little room.” The Russian as the kidnapper is a constant feature in the older Esthonian version, but occurs also three times in the West Finnish (once it is the red-headed Dane, in the copy in which the oxen are preserved). Besides Russian, the kidnapper is once called Karelian in West Ingria, often in East Finland, and this denomination also occurs in Northeast Esthonia. The influence of the older Esthonian versions is shown again in some copies preserved in West Ingria which are not mixed up with the ballad of the maid that has been sold; the mother having three aprons in two instances, as in some Northeast Esthonian copies.

The river Neva as a local designation is preserved in East Finland, and shows that the version in which it occurs migrated from Ingria northwards. In the course of its migration (which ends in Russian Karelia) this version has become mixed with the West Finnish in multiform ways. The prelude of the East Finnish has attached itself to the West Finnish, notwithstanding the different metre. The trilogy of the latter has made its way into the former, and has spoiled the measure. It is no doubt owing to the influence of the Western version that, in North Ingria and Karelia, the brother, more frequently the lover, has a war-sword, the lover once a sea-ship, or the brother a red boat or war-boat.

Finally it may be noted that in those West Ingrian copies in which the ballads of the maid sold and the maid ransomed are blended the ransomer is a son-in-law, and possesses “a willow castle” (wooden strong-house?), the relation of which to the castle in the West Finnish version is not clear.

If we denote the West Finnish versions by a, the older Esthonian by b, the ballad of the maid sold by her family by c, the status of the East-Finnish versions may be exhibited thus:

In West Ingria, b + c + a. In North Ingria, b + c + a + a. In Karelia, b + c + a + a + a.

That is to say, there has been a constantly increasing influence exerted by the West Finnish versions upon the East Finnish Ingrian versions, and reciprocally. This circumstance has caused it to be maintained that the East Finnish versions were derived from the West Finnish, in spite of the difference of the metre.

353 a. F was communicated by Rev. W. Findlay: Findlay MSS, I, 100.

353. H. c. Mrs Bacheller, of Jacobstown, North Cornwall (sister of Mrs Gibbons, from whom 78 H was derived, see IV, 474 b), gave Rev. S. Baring-Gould the following version of the tale, taught her by a Cornish nursery maid, probably the same mentioned at the place last cited.

“A king had three daughters. He gave each a golden ball to play with, which they were never to lose. The youngest lost hers, and was to be hung on the gallows-tree if it were not found by a day named. Gallows ready, all waiting to see the girl hung. She sees her father coming, and cries:@

‘Father, father, have you found my golden ball, And will you set me free?’ ‘I’ve not found your golden ball, And I can’t set you free; But I am come to see you hanged Upon the gallows-tree.’

The same repeated with every relationship, brother, sister, etc.; then comes the lover:

‘Lover, lover, have you found the golden ball,’ etc. ‘Yes, I have found your golden ball, And I can set you free; I’m not come to see you hung Upon the gallows-tree.’”@

354, IV, 481 f.

K

‘The Prickly Bush,’ Mr Heywood Sumner, in English County Songs, by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland, p. 112. From Somersetshire.

1 ‘O hangman, hold thy hand,’ he cried, ‘O hold thy hand awhile, For I can see my own dear father Coming over yonder stile. 2 ‘O father, have you brought me gold? Or will you set me free? Or be you come to see me hung, All on this high gallows-tree?’ 3 ‘No, I have not brought thee gold, And I will not set thee free, But I am come to see thee hung, All on this high gallows-tree.’ 4 ‘Oh, the prickly bush, the prickly bush, It pricked my heart full sore; If ever I get out of the prickly bush, I’ll never get in any more.’

The above is repeated three times more, with the successive substitution of ‘mother,’ ‘brother,’ ‘sister,’ for ‘father.’ Then the first two stanzas are repeated, with ‘sweetheart’ for ‘father,’ and instead of 3 is sung:

5 ‘Yes, I have brought thee gold,’ she cried, ‘And I will set thee free, And I am come, but not to see thee hung All on this high gallous-tree.’ ‘Oh, the prickly bush,’ etc.

In this version, a man is expressly delivered by a maid, contrary to the general course of tradition. So apparently in J, IV, 481, as understood by Dr. Birkbeck Hill.

96. The Gay Goshawk.

P. 355. M. G. Lewis, in a letter of May 29, 1800 (Letters at Abbotsford, I, No 30), refers to a copy of this ballad (and one of ‘Brown Adam’) which he had furnished Scott. This might perhaps be the “MS. of some antiquity” (printed, IV, 482).

As to the bird’s part in this ballad, compare the following passage. A son, in prison, sending a letter to his mother by a bird, gives this charge:

Quando giugnerete alla porta mia, Là sta un ulivo. Posati su quell’ ulivo, V’agita e dibatti l’ali, Ché di te caderà il foglio di carta.

De Rada, Rapsodie d’un poema Albanese, I, canto xvi, p. 29.

P. 356 a, III, 517 a, IV, 482 a. French. Add: ‘La belle qui fait la morte,’ ‘La fille du duc de Montbrison,’ Pineau, Le Folk-Lore du Poitou, p. 311, p. 389 (each, six stanzas); ‘La belle dans la tour,’ six copies (besides Belle Idoine repeated), M. Wilmotte in Bulletin de Folklore, Société du Folklore Wallon, 1893, p. 35.

356 b, 3d paragraph, III, 517 a. Add: A copy of ‘Les trois capitaines,’ in Mélusine, VI, 52, 183; Wallonia, I, 38; “Fréd. Thomas, La Mosäique du Midi, V, 1841; C. Beauquier, Mém. de la Soc. d’Émulation du Doubs, 1890,” Mélusine, VI, 220, where also a Catalan version, which had escaped my notice, Milà y Fontanals, Romancerillo, p. 259, No 264, is registered by M. Doncieux. A Breton version, Mélusine, VI, 182.

99. Johnie Scot.

P. 379. A. Considering that Sir Walter Scott professes to have derived some variations from recitation in the south of Scotland (see the note, IV, 387), the copy in “Scottish Songs” may be fully collated, small as will be the value of the result.

‘John the Little Scott,’ fol. 24.

1 John the Scot was as brave a knight As ever shook a speir, And he is up to fair England, The king’s braid banner to bear. 2 And while he was in fair England, Sae fair his hap did prove That of the king’s ae daughter dear He wan the heart and love. 3 But word is gane to the English king, And an angry man was he, And he has sworn by salt and bread They should it dear abye.

4 wanting.

5¹. Then Johny’s gane.

5^2,4. I wot.

5³. the English.

6^3,4.

To hear some news from his true love, Least she had sufferd wrang.

7². That will win hose and shoon.

7³. will gang into.

8¹. Then up there.

9 wanting.

10³. to grass growing.

11¹. And when: to the king’s castle.

11³. saw that fair ladye.

12², 13². ain sel.

12⁴. And speer na your father’s.

13¹. Here take.

13³. to feir Scotland.

13⁴. Your true love waits.

14¹. The ladie turned her round about.

14⁴. Unless.

15². In prison pinching cold.

15³. My garters are of.

15⁴. the silk and gold.

16³. And hie thee back to yon Scottish knight.

17¹. quickly sped.

18¹. He told him then that ladie’s words.

18². He told him.

18^3,4.

But ere the tale was half said out Sae loudly to horse he did ca.

19⁴. That should have been my bride.

20¹. And spak his mither dear.

20³. For gin you’re taen.

20⁴. ye’ll.

21¹. and spak.

21². And Johny’s true.

21⁴. And his surety I will.

22.

Then when they cam to English ground They gard the mass be sung, And the firsten town that they cam to They gard the bells be rung.

23¹. And the nextin: cam to.

23⁴. Were.

24¹. And when: the high castle.

24². rode.

25³. Or is it.

26¹. I’m not.

26². James our.

26³. But Johny Scot, the little Scot.

27¹. is thy name.

27³. eer.

28¹. and spak the gallant.

28³. hundred.

28⁴. That will die or.

29¹. and spak.

29². And sae scornfully leugh he.

29³. my bower.

30¹. boon, said the little Scot.

30². Bring forth your.

30³. falls.

30⁴. I hae.

Out then cam that Italian knight, A griesly sight to see; Between his een there was a span, Between his shoulders three and three. And forth then came brave John the Scot, He scarcely reachd his knee, Yet on the point of Johny’s brand The Italian knight did die.

And syne has he waved his bludie glaive, And slait it on the plain; ‘Are there any more Italian dogs That you wish to be slain?’

‘A clerk, a clerk,’ the king he cried, ‘To register this deed;’ ‘A priest, a priest,’ Pitnochtan cried, ‘To marry us wi speed.’

34 wanting.

384. A copy of D was sent by Motherwell to C. K. Sharpe with a letter of December 6, 1824, in which many of the variations of b were introduced into a.

101. Willie o Douglas Dale.

P. 407. A. Collated with the copy in the Abbotsford MS. “Scottish Songs,” as to which see the note at IV, 387.@

‘Willie of Douglas-dale,’ fol. 16.

1¹, was a gallant squire.

2¹. the English court.

2³. When.

2⁴. But her he neer could.

3¹. once.

3². the wanting.

3⁴. By the ae.

4¹. louted low.

4². His cap low in his.

4³. I greet ye well, ye gentle knight.

4⁴. your cap.

5¹. knight, fair dame.

5². Nor eer can hope.

5³. am but a humble squire.

5⁴. That serves.

6¹. Gae.

6². baith night.

6³. tempting written before face and struck out.

6⁴. ever I.

7 wanting.

8². He watchd that ladye’s.

8³. passd the twa between.

9¹. O narrow is my gown, Willy.

9³. And short are my petticoats.

9⁴. sae wide.

9⁶. is laid.

10¹. gin my father get wit.

10². never eat.

10^3,5. get wit.

10⁴. gae.

10⁶. Ah, Willy, you’ll.

11¹. O gin ye’ll.

11². gang.

11³. into.

12 wanting.

14¹. day was come.

14². den.

14³. That gentle ladye.

14⁴. While the.

15^3,4,

Or lack ye ony tender love That may assuage your pain.

16¹. wan na.

16². for my.

16³. And alas, alas.

17¹. He’s felld the thorn in.

17². And blawn it to a flame.

17³. He’s strewd it.

17⁴. To cheer that lovely dame.

18¹. He’s: in gude.

18². And laid the fair ladye.

18³. he’s happed her oer wi withered.

18⁴. his coat and goun.

19 wanting.

20¹. branch red.

20². grew in gude grene wood.

20³. And brought her a draught.

20⁴. I wot they did her good.

21-23 wanting.

24¹. to shoot.

24². has he wanting.

25 (after 30).

26^1,2.

Syne has he sought the forest through, Sum woman’s help to gain.

26³. he came to a bonny.

27¹. O will ye leave the sheep, he says.

27². And come.

27³. ye.

27⁴. give.

28². She fell down.

28³. fair dame.

28⁴. For a.

29². but wanting.

29³. ye: flocks.

29⁴. And gang to fair.

30³. for you.

30⁴. marry wanting: Scottish man.

After 30 (see 25):

O taen has she the bonny knave-boy And washd him in the milke, And she has tended the sick lady, And rowd her in the silk.

31¹. maid.

31³. took to fair.

32¹. an wanting.

32³. they gat safe.

32⁴. Himself was lord therein.

411. From “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 33, ‘Willie of Duglass Daill.’ The Dame Oliphant of the other versions is somewhat disguised in the old lady’s writing as Demelefond, Demelofen, etc.

D

1 Willie was a rich man’s son, A rich man’s son was he; Hee thought his father lake to sair, An his mother of mine digree, An he is on to our English court, To serve for meatt an fee. 2 He hadno ben in our king’s court A tuall-month an a day, Till he fell in love we Mary, Dem [Ele]fon, An a great buity was she. 3 He hadno ben in our king’s court A tuall-month an a houre, Till he dreamed a lady of buty bright Gave him a rosey flour. 4 The lady touk her mantell her about, Her gooun-teall in her hand, An she is on to gued grean woud, As fast as she could gang. 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An ther she spayed a gellant knight, Kamen his yallou hear. 6 ‘What is yer name, sir knight? For a knight I am sure ye be;’ ‘I am called Willie of Duglas Dall, Did ye never hear of me?’ ‘If ye be Willie of Duglass Daill, I afft have heard of thee.’ 7 ‘What is yer name, ye lovely dame? For a lady I trou ye be;’ ‘I am called Mary, Dem Elefond, Did ye never hear of me?’ 8 ‘In ye be Mary, Dem Elefon, As I trust well ye be, . . . . . . . My heart ye haa ye we.’ 9 The lady was fair an rear, The knight’s heart had she; The knight was tall an straght withall, The lady’s hart had he. 10 It fell ance upon a day Dem Elofen thought lang, An she is on to Willie’s bour, As fast as she could gang. 11 ‘Narrou is my pettecot, Willie, It ance was saa wide, An narrou is my stays, Willie, Att ance wer saa wide, An paill is my chikes, Willie, An laigh, laigh is my pride. 12 ‘. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An the knights of my father’s court gat word of this, I feer they wad gare ye diee.’ 13 He touke . . . . . . . . . The lady by the hand, An they are one to gued green woud, As fast as they coud gang. 14 It fell ance upon a day Strong travileng came her tell, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ‘Ye take your boue on yer shoulder, Yer arrous in yer hand, An ye gaa farr throu green woud, An shout some veneson. 16 ‘Fan ye hear me loud cray, Bide far awaa fra me, Bat fan ye hear me laying still Ye may come back an see.’ 17 Fan he hard her loud cray, He bad far awaa, Bat fan he heard her laying still He did come an see, An he got her An her young son her wee. 18 He milked the goats, An feed his young son wee, And he made a fire of the oken speals, An warmed his lady wee. 19 It fell ance upon a day The lady though[t] lang: ‘An ye haa any place in fair Scotland, Willie, I wiss ye wad haa me hame.’ 20 ‘. . . . . . . I ha lands an reants saa friee, The bonny lands of Duglass Daill, They a’ lay bread an friee.’ 21 He’s taen the knight-bairn in his arms, His lady by the hand, An he is out throu gued green woud, As fast as they coud gang. 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Till they came to a maid kepping her goats, . . . . . . . . 23 ‘Hallë, ye maid, For a maid ye seem to be; Will ye live your goats kepping An goo we me? 24 ‘I cannot live my father, I canno live my midder, Nor yet my brethren three; I cannot live my goats kepping, An goo along we the. 25 ‘Fatt is your name, ye lovely dame? For a lady I am shour ye be;’ ‘I am called Mary, Dem Elifond, Did ye never hear of me?’ 26 ‘If ye be Mary, Dem Elifond, As I trust well ye be, I will live my goats kepping An goo along we the. 27 ‘For I will live my father, an I will live my mother, An my brothers three, An I will live my goats, An go along we thee.’ 28 The maid touke the knight-bairn in her ar[m]s, An his lady took he, An they are to gued ship-bourd, And took God to be ther foresteed, an didne fear to droun. 29 An they landed att Duglas Dalle, Far the lands was braid an frie, An the knight-bairn was Black Sir James of Duglas Dall, An a gallant knight was hee.

Written, like all the other pieces in the collection, without division into stanzas or verses.

2³. Demefon; contracted at the edge.

9³. was tell.

11². Read side?

14². Perhaps her tee.

105. The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington.

P. 426 f. Of the Italian ballad there are many more versions, but it is needless to cite them. Add for Spanish: ‘La Ausencia,’ Pidal, Asturian Romances, Nos 31, 32, p. 152 f.

107. Will Stewart and John.

P. 433 b, 2d paragraph. Beating of daughters.

Elizabeth Paston, a marriageable woman, was “betyn onys in the weke, or twyes, and som tyme twyes on a day, and hir hed broken in to or thre places.” (1449.) Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, I, 90.

110. The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter.

P. 457, IV, 492. From “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 34, ‘Earl Richerd,’==Skene, M.

N

1 Ther was a sheperd’s daughter Keeped hogs upon yon hill, An by came [t]her a gentell knight, An he wad haa his will. 2 Fan his will Of her he had taiin, ‘Kind sir, for your curtisy, Will ye tell me yer name?’ 3 ‘Some they caa me Joke, An some caa me John, Bat fan I am in our king’s court Hichkoke is my name.’ 4 The lady being well book-read She spealled it our agen: ‘Hichkoke in Latin Is Earl Richerd att heam.’ 5 He patt his liag out-our his stead An to the gate has gain; She kilted up her green clathing An fast folloued she. 6 ‘Turn back, ye carl’s dother, An dinnë follou me; It setts no carl’s dothers King’s courts to see.’ 7 ‘Perhaps I am a carle’s dother, Perhaps I am nean, Bat fan ye gat me in free forest Ye sud haa latten alean.’ 8 Fan they came to yon wan water That a’ man cas Glide, He luked our his left shoulder, Says, Fair maid, will ye ride? 9 ‘I learned it in my mother’s bour, I watt I learned it well, Fan I came to wan water To soum as dos the eall. 10 ‘I learned it in my mother’s bour, I wiss I had learned it better, Fan I came to wan watter To sume as dos the otter.’ 11 She touk a golden comb, Combed out her yallou hear, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 ‘Far gatt ye that, ye carl’s dother, I pray ye tell to me;’ ‘I gatt it fra my mither,’ she says, ‘To begulle sick sparks as ye.’ 13 ‘Gin ye be a carl’s gett, As I trou well ye be, Far gatt ye a’ that fine clothing, To cloath yer body we?’ 14 ‘My mother was an ill woman, An ill woman was she, An she gatt a’ that fine clathing, Frae sick chaps as ye.’ 15 Fan they came to our king’s court, She fell lou doun on her knee: ‘Win up, ye fair may, What may ye want we me?’ ‘Ther is a knight in your court This day has robbed me.’ 16 ‘Has he robbed you of your goud? Or of your whit monie? Or of your meadnhead, The flour of your body?’ 17 ‘He has no robbed me of my goud, Nor yet of my fiee, Bat he has robed me of my madinhead, The flour of my body.’ 18 ‘Wad ye keen the knight, If ye did him see?’ ‘I wad keen him well by his well-fared face An the blieth blink of his eay.’ An sighan says the king, I wiss it binë my brother Richie! 19 The king called on his merry men a’, By an, by tua, by three; Earl Richerd had ay ben the first, Bat the last man was he. 20 By that ye might a well kent The gulty man was he; She took him by the hand, Says, That same is hee. 21 Ther was a brand laid doun to her, A brand batt an a ring, Three times she minted to the brand, Bat she took up the ring; A’that was in the court ’S counted her a wise woman. 22 ‘I will gee ye five hundred pound, To make yer marrage we, An ye gie hame, ye carl’s dother, An fash na mare we me.’ 23 ‘Ye keep yer five hundred pound, To make yer marreg we, For I will ha nathing bat yer sell, The king he promised me.’ 24 ‘I ill gee ye a thousand poun, To make yer marrage we, An ye gae hame, ye carl’s gett, An fash na mare we me.’ 25 ‘Ye keep yer thousand pound, To make yer marreg we, For I ill ha nathing batt yer sell, The king he promised me.’ 26 He toke her doun An clothed her in green; Fan she cam up, She was fairer then the quin. 27 Fan they gaid to Mary Kirk, The nettels grue by dike: ‘O gin my midder war hear, Sai clean as she wad them peak!’ 28 He drue his hat out-our his eayn, The tear blinded his eay; She drue back her yallou loaks, An a light laughter luke she. 29 Fan she came by yon mill-toun, . . . . . . ‘O well may the mill goo, An well matt she be! For aften ha ye filled my poke We the whit meall an the gray.’ 30 ‘I wiss I had druken the water Fan I drank the aill, Or any carl’s dother Suld ha tald me siken a teall.’ 31 ‘Perhaps I am a carl’s dother, Perhaps I am nean; Fan ye gatt me in frie forest, Ye sud ha latten alean. * * * * * * 32 ‘Take awa yer silver spons, Far awa fra me, An ye gee me t[he] ram-horn [s]pons, Them I am best used we. 33 ‘Ye take awa yer tabel-cloths, Far awa fra me, An ye gee me a mukell dish I am best used we. 34 ‘For if I had my mukel dish hear, An sayn an it war fou, I wad sup till I war sared, An sayn lay doun my head an slep like ony sou. 35 ‘Ye take away yer hollan shits, Far awa fra me, An ye bring me a cannas, It’s the thing I ben eased we.’ 36 Fan bells wer rung, an mess was sung, An a’ man boun to bed, Earl Richerd an the carl’s dother In a bed [were laid]. 37 ‘Lay yond, lay yond, ye carl’s dother, Your hot skin . . me; It setts na carl’s dothers In earls’ beds to be.’ 38 ‘Perhaps I am a carl’s dother, Perhaps I am nean; Bat fan ye gat me in free forest Ye might a latten alean.’ 39 Up starts the Bellie Blind, Att ther bed-head: ‘I think it is a meatt marrage Betuen the ane an the eather, The Earl of Heartfourds ae daughter An the Quien of England’s brother.’ 40 ‘If this be the Earl of Heartfourd’s ae doughter, As I trust well it be, Mony a gued hors have I redden For the love of the.’

2². ha had.

8². cas es: perhaps caes was meant.

9⁴. to eull.

18⁵. sigh an.

21³. courts.

32³. t with an imperfect letter, for the.

37². Perhaps we.

39⁵, 40¹. The t is not crossed in Heartfourd, and Hearlfourd may be meant.

O

Kidson’s Traditional Tunes, p. 20, from Mr Benjamin Holgate, Leeds.

1 There was a shepherd’s daughter Who kept sheep on yon hill; There came a young man riding by, Who swore he’d have his will. Fol lol lay Fol lol di diddle lol di day

2^1,2.

He took her by the lilly-white hand And by her silken sleeve,

3⁴.

Or tell to me your name.

‘Oh, some they call me Jack, sweetheart, And some they call me Will, But when I ride the king’s high-gate My name is Sweet William.’

4⁴. But name.

P

Findlay’s MSS, I, 208, from Mr McKenzie, Advie, Morayshire.

1 ‘T is said a shepherd’s ae daughter Kept sheep upon a hill, An by there cam a courteous knight, An he wad hae his will. 2 He’s taen her by the milk-white hand An by the grass-green sleeve, He’s laid her doon at the fit o a bush, An neer ance speired her leave.

112. The Baffled Knight.

P. 480 a, 4th paragraph. ‘The Politick Maid’ was entered to Thomas Lambert, 16th May, 1637: Arber, Stationers’ Registers, IV, 385.

481 b, III, 518 a, IV, 495 a. Tears. ‘Chasseur, mon beau chasseur,’ Pineau, Le Folk-Lore du Poitou, p. 251.

Varieties. ‘La jolie Couturière,’ Pineau, p. 285.

483 b. ‘La jolie Batelière,’ Romania, XIII, 410; La Tradition, VII, 110.

VOL. III.

117. A Gest of Robyn Hode.

P. 40 b. References to Robin Hood in the 15th century.

And many men speken of Robyn Hood And shotte nevere in his bowe.

Reply of Friar Dow Topias, in Wright’s Poetical Poems and Songs relating to English History, II, 59, dated by Wright 1401, which may be rather too early. The proverbial phrase shows that Robin Hood had long been familiar to the English People.

120. Robin Hood’s Death.

P. 103 a, note *. ‘Give me my God’ is not perhaps too bold a suggestion. We have ‘yeve me my savyour’ in the Romance of the Rose, Morris, v. 6436, translating ‘le cors nostre seigneur.’

132. The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood.

P. 155. The following copy, entitled ‘Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar,’ is from a garland in a collection of folio sheet-ballads mostly dated 1775, in the British Museum, 1346. m. 7(9). The Museum catalogue assigns the ballads to Edinburgh. I owe my knowledge of this piece to Mr P. Z. Round.

1 There was a proud pedlar, a fine pedlar, a proud pedlar he seemd to be, And he’s taen his pack upon his back, and went linking over the lee. 2 Where he met two troublesome men, troublesome men they seemd to be, The one of them was Robin Hood, the other Little John so free. 3 ‘O what is that into thy pack? thou pedlar proud now tell to me;’ ‘There’s seven suits of good green silk, and bow-strings either two or three.’ 4 ‘If there’s seven suits of good green silk, and silken bow-strings two or three, Then be my sooth,’ says Little John, ‘there’s some of them must fall to me.’ 5 Then he’s taen his pack off his back, and laid it low down by his knee: ‘Where’s the man fit to drive me frae’t? then pack and all to him I’ll gie.’ 6 Then Little John pulld out his sword, the pedler he pulld out his brand, They swapped swords till they did sweat; ‘O pedlar fine, now hold thy hand!’ 7 ‘O fy! O fy!’ said Robin Hood, ‘O fy! O fy! that must not be, For I’ve seen a man in greater strait than to pay him and pedlars three.’ 8 ‘Then try him, try him, master,’ he said, ‘O try him now, master,’ said he, ‘For by me sooth,’ said Little John, ‘master, ’tis neither you nor me.’ 9 Bold Robin pulld out his sword, the pedlar he pulld out his brand, They swapped swords till they did sweat; ‘O pedlar fine, now hold thy hand! 10 ‘O what’s thy name,’ says Robin Hood, ‘now, pedlar fine, come tell to me;’ ‘No, be my sooth, that will I not, till I know what your names may be.’ 11 ‘The one of us[’s] calld Robin Hood, the other Little John so free, And now it lies into thy breast whether thou’lt tell thy name to me.’ 12 ‘I’m Gamwell gay, of good green wood, my fame is far beyond the sea; For killing a man in my father’s land my native land I was forcd to flee.’ 13 ‘If thou be Gamwell of the green wood, thy fame is far beyond the sea; And be my sooth,’ said Little John, ‘my sister’s son thou needs must be. 14 ‘But what was that was on thy back? O, cousin Gamwell, tell unto me;’ ‘It is seven sarks and three gravats, is all the kitt that I carry.’ 15 They smoothd their words and sheathd their swords, and kissd and clapt most tenderly; To a tavern then they went to dine, and drank about most heartily.

July, 1775.

Captain Delany’s Garland, containing five new songs, ... II, Robin Hood and the Proud Pedlar.

6², 6⁴, 9⁴. padler.

152. Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow.

P. 223. Letter shot to its address on an arrow. Afanasief, Russian Popular Tales, V, 183.

155. Sir Hugh, or, The Jew’s Daughter.

P. 233, IV, 497.

T

‘Little Sir William,’ Miss M. H. Mason’s Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, p. 46.

1 Easter Day was a holiday, Of all days in the year, And all the little schoolfellows went out to play, Bat Sir William was not there. 2 Mamma went to the Jew’s wife’s house, And knockëd at the ring, Saying, Little Sir William, if you are there, Oh, let your mother in! 3 The Jew’s wife opened the door and said, He is not here to-day; He is with the little schoolfellows out on the green, Playing some pretty play. 4 Mamma went to the Boyne water, That is so wide and deep, Saying, Little Sir William, if you are there, Oh, pity your mother’s weep! 5 ‘How can I pity your weep, mother, And I so long in pain? For the little penknife sticks close in my heart, And the Jew’s wife has me slain. 6 ‘Go home, go home, my mother dear, And prepare my winding sheet, For tomorrow morning before eight o’clock You with my body shall meet. 7 ‘And lay my Prayer-Book at my head, And my grammar at my feet, That all the little schoolfellows as they pass by May read them for my sake.’

U

Notes and Queries, Eighth Series, II, 43, July, 1842. ‘The Jew’s Daughter,’ communicated by Mr C. W. Penny, as repeated to his brother, the vicar of Stixwould, Lincolnshire, by one of the oldest women in the parish. “A song sung by his nurse to a Lincolnshire gentleman, now over sixty years of age.”

1 You toss your ball so high, You toss your ball so low, You toss your ball into the Jew’s garden, Where the pretty flowers grow. 2 Out came one of the Jew’s daughters, Dressed all in green: ‘Come hither, pretty little dear, And fetch your ball again.’ 3 She showed him a rosy-cheeked apple, She showed him a gay gold ring, She showed him a cherry as red as blood, And that enticed him in. 4 She set him in a golden chair, She gave him kisses sweet, She threw him down a darksome well, More than fifty feet deep.

156. Queen Eleanor’s Confession.

P. 259. B. Here given as it stands in “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 6.

1 Our quin’s seek, an very seek, She’s seek an leak to dee, An she has sent for the friears of France, To speak we her spedely. 2 ‘Ye’ll pit on a frier’s robe, An I’ll put one anether, An we’ll goo to madam the Quin, Leak frayers bath together.’ 3 ‘God forbid,’ sayes Earl Marchell, ‘That ever the leak sud be, That I sud begule madam the Quin; I wad be hangëd hei.’ 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The King suar by the croun an the septer roun Eearl Marchell sudne dei. 5 The king pat on a frier’s rob, Eearl Marchell on anether, The’r on to the Quin, Like frayers bath together. 6 ‘Gin ye be the frayers of France,’ she says, ‘As I trust wiell ye be, Bat an ye be ony eather men Ye sall be hangëd he.’ 7 The king he turned him roun, An by his troth suare he, ‘We ha na sung masse San we came fra the sea.’ 8 ‘The first sin ever I did, An a very grat sin it was tee, I gaa my medenhead to Earl Marchell, Below a green-wood tree.’ 9 ‘That was a sin, an a very grate sin, Bat pardoned it man be;’ ‘We menement,’ said Earl Marchell, Bat a heavë, heavë heart had he. 10 ‘The nist sin ever I did, An a grat sin it was tee, I pusned Lady Rosomon, An the King’s darling was she.’ 11 ‘That was a sin, an a grat sin, Bat pardoned it may be;’ ‘We menement,’ said King Henry, Bat a heavë, heavë heart had he. 12 ‘The nist sin I ever did, An a grat sin it was tee, I keepet pusin in my bosom seven year To pusin him King Henre.’ 13 ‘That was a sin, an a grat sin, Bat pardoned it may be;’ ‘We menement,’ sa[i]d King Henrie, Bat a heavë, heavë heart had he. 14 ‘O see ye na yon bony boys, As they play att the baa? An see ye na Earl Merchal’s son? I lee him best of all. 15 ‘But see ye na King Henry’s son? He is headed leak a bull an baked like a bore, I leak him warst of a’:’ ‘An, by my soth,’ says him King Henry, ‘I leak him best of the twa.’ 16 The king he turned him roun, Pat on the coat of goud, The Quin turned her roun, The king to behald. 17 ‘. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gin I had na sworn by the croun an the septer roun, Eearl Marchell sud ben gared dee.’

Written without division into stanzas or verses.

2². An ye’ll.

157. Gude Wallace.

P. 265. From C. K. Sharpe’s “first collection,” p. 18.

I

“An old song shewing how Sir Wm Wallace killed thirty Englishmen.” This copy resembles C.

‘Decencey’ in 8² is the reciter’s rendering of the bencite (benedicite) of C 6².

1 ‘I wish I had a king,’ brave Wallace he said, That every brave Scotsman might leave by his oun, For between me and my sovreign leige I think I see some ill [seed] sowen.’ 2 Brave Wallace out-oer yon river he lap, And he lighted low down on the plain, And he came to a gay lady, As she was at the well washing. 3 ‘Some tidings, some tidings,’ brave Wallace he said, ‘Some tidings ye most tell unto me; Now since we are met here togither on the plain, Some tidings ye most tell unto me.’ 4 ‘O go ye down to yon wee ale-house, And there is fifeteen Englishmen, And they are seeking for good Wallace, And him to take and him for to hang.’ 5 ‘I wish I had a penny in my pocket,’ he says, ‘Or although it were but a bare baubee, And I wad away to the wee ale-house, The fifeteen Englishmen to see.’ 6 She’s put hir hand in hir left pocket, And fifeteen shillings to him she told down: ‘If ever I live to come back this way, The money’s be well paid agein.’ 7 He louted twafauld oer a stick, And he louted threefauld oer a tree, And he’es gane awa to the wee ale-house, The fifeteen Englishmen to see. 8 When he came to the wee ale-house, He walked ben, says, Decencey be there! The Engilish proud captain he awnsered him, And he awnsered him with a graid domineer. 9 ‘Why, where wast thou born, thou old crooked carle? Where and of what country?’ ‘I am a true Scotsman bred and born, And an auld crooked carle, just sic as ye may see.’ 10 ‘I wad gee fifeteen shillings,’ the captain he said, ‘To an auld crooked carle, just sic a ane as thee, If ye wad tell me of Willie Wallace, For he’s the man I wad fain see.’ 11 ‘O hold your hand,’ brave Wallace he said, ‘And let me see if yeer coin be good; If ye wad give fifeteen shillings more, Ye never bade a better boad.’ 12 He’s tean the captain out-oer the chaft-blade, Till a bitt of meat he never did eat mair; He stickit a’ the reste as the sat aroun the table, And he left them all a spraulling there. 13 ‘Get up, get up, goodwife,’ he says, ‘Get up and get me some denner in haste, For it is now three days and nights Since a bit of meat my mouth did taste.’ 14 The denner was not well made ready, Nor was it on the table sett, Till other fifeteen English men Were a’perading about the yett. 15 ‘Come out, come out now, Wallace,’ they crys, ‘For this is the place ye’es sure for [to] die;’ ‘I lippen not sae little to good,’ he says, ‘Although I be but ill-wordie.’ 16 The goodman ran butt, the goodwife ran ben, They put the house in such a fever! Five of them he sticket where they stood, And other five he smoddered in the gitter. 17 Five of them he folowd to the merry greenwood, And these five he hangt on a grain, And gin the morn at ten o’clock He was wi his mirry men at Lochmaben.

6². 15.

8². Perhaps we should read be here, as in A 10², but other copies have bad ... there, and it is likely enough that there is a confusion of the oblique and the direct form.

14⁴. a.

265 b, note †. ‘Let me see if your money be good, and if it be true and right, you’ll maybe get the downcome of Robinhood,’ from a recited copy, in the preface to Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, XV.]

158. Hugh Spencer’s Feats in France.

P. 276. What is narrated of Walter in the Chronicon Novalese is likewise told of Ogier by Alexander Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, ed. T. Wright, p. 261 ff. (see also the note at p. lvi), in a copy of Turpin’s Chronicle, Ward, Catalogue of Romances, I, 579 f., and (excepting the monastery) in La Chevalerie Ogier, ed. Barrois, v. 10390 ff.; of Heimir, Saga Ðiðriks af Bern, c. 429 ff., Unger, p. 361 ff.; and in part in the ballad of ‘Svend Felding,’ Grundtvig, No 31, I, 398. See Grundtvig’s preface to No 15, I, 216 ff.; Ward, as above; Voretzsch, Ueber die Sage von Ogier dem Dänen, p. 113 ff.

161. The Battle of Otterburn.

P. 289, IV, 499. From C. K. Sharpe’s “first collection,” p. 21. Tradition in this copy, as in Herd’s, B, ascribes the death of Douglas to an offended and treacherous page.

1 It was about the Lammes time, When moorland men do win their hay, Brave Earl Douglass, in armer bright, Marchd to the Border without delay. 2 He hes tean wi him the Lindseys light, And sae hes he the Gordons gay, And the Earl of Fife, without all strife, And Sir Heugh Montgomery upon a day. 3 The hae brunt Northumberland, And sae have [the] Northumbershire, And fair Cluddendale they hae brunt it hale, And he’s left it all in fire fair. 4 Ay till the came to Earl Percy’s castle, Earl Percey’s castle that stands sae high: ‘Come dowen, come dowen, thou proud Percey, Come down and talk one hour with me. 5 ‘Come down, come down, thou proud Percey, Come down and talk one hour with me; For I hae burnt thy heritage, And sae will I thy building high.’ 6 ‘If ye hae brunt my heritage, O dule, O dule, and woe is me! But will ye stay at the Otter burn Untill I gather my men to me?’ 7 ‘O I will stay at the Otter burn The space of days two or three, And if ye do not meet me there, I will talk of thy coardie.’ 8 O he hes staid at the Otter burn The space of days two or three; He sent his page unto his tent-door, For to see what ferleys he could see. 9 ‘O yonder comes yon gallent knight, With all bonny banners high; It wad do ony living good For to see the bonny coulers fly.’ 10 ‘If the tale be true,’ Earl Douglass says, ‘The tidings ye have told to me, The fairest maid in Otterburn Thy bedfellow sure shall she be. 11 ‘If the tale be false,’ Earl Douglass says, ‘The tidings that ye tell to me, The highest tree in Otterburn, On it high hangëd shall ye be.’ 12 Earl Douglass went to his tent-door, To see what ferleys he could see; His little page came him behind, And ran him through the fair body. 13 ‘If I had a little time,’ he says, ‘To set in order my matters high, Ye Gordons gay, to you I say, See that ye let not my men away. 14 ‘Ye Linseys light, both wise and wight, Be sure ye carry my coulers high; Ye Gordons gay, again I say, See that ye let not my men away. 15 ‘Sir Heugh Montgomery, my sistir’s son, I give you the vangaurd over all; Let it neer be said into old England That so little made a true Scot fall. 16 ‘O lay me dowen by yon brecken-bush, That grows upon yon liley lea; Let it neer be said into old England That so little made a true Scot die.’ 17 At last those two stout knights did meet, And O but they were wonderous keen! The foght with sowards of the temperd steel, Till the drops of blood ran them betwen. 18 ‘O yeald thee, Percie,’ Montgomery crys, ‘O yeald ye, or I’ll lay the low;’ ‘To whome should I yeald? to whom should I yeald? To whom should I yeald, since it most be so?’ 19 ‘O yeald ye to yon breckan-bush, That grows upon yon lilley lea; And if ye will not yeald to this, In truth, Earl Percey, I’ll gar ye die.’ 20 ‘I will not yeald to a breckan-bush, Nor yet will I yeald to a brier; But fain wad I yeald to Earl Douglass, Or Sir Heugh Montgomery, if he were here.’ 21 O then this lord begun to faint, And let his soward drop to the ground; Sir Heugh Montgomery, a courtious knight, He bravely took him by the hand. 22 This deed was done at the Otter burn, Betwen the sunshine and the day; Brave Earl Douglass there was slain, And they carried Percie captive away.

6³, 7¹, 8¹, 22¹. Otterburn.

292 b, 2d paragraph, 9th line. C 20^3,4 may have been supplied by Scott; not in Hogg’s copy. See IV, 500, st. 21.

294, 520 a, IV, 499. St George, Our Lady’s Knight.

O seynt George, oure lady knyght, To that lady thow pray for me!

Lydgate, Kalendare, vv. 113, 114, ed. Horstmann, in Herrig’s Archiv, LXXX, 121.

O blessyd Lady, Cristes moder dere, And thou Seynt George, that called art her knyght!

Fabyan’s Chronicles, ed. Ellis, 1811, p. 601. (G. L. K.)

162. The Hunting of the Cheviot.

P. 306, IV, 502. Fighting on stumps. Agolafre, fighting on his knees after his legs were broken, ‘had wyþ ys axe a-slawe an hep of frenschemen:’ Sir Ferumbras, v. 4603 ff., ed. Herrtage, The English Charlemagne Romances, I, 143. (The French text does not represent him as fighting on his knees: Fierabras, ed. Kroeber and Servois, 1860, v. 4878 ff., p. 147.) (G. L. K.)

163. The Battle of Harlaw.

P. 317 a, 2d paragraph. Of course Sir James the Rose and Sir John the Gryme came in from the ballad of ‘Sir James the Rose.’

164. King Henry Fifth’s Conquest of France.

P. 323. There is a copy (‘The Battle of Agincourt’) in C. K. Sharpe’s “first collection,” p. 29, from which some variations may be given.

n. 2⁴. And bring home the tribute that’s due to me.

4^1-3.

My master the king salutes thee well, Salutes thee well, most graciously; You must go send, etc.

5^2-4.

And darna come to my degree; Go bid him play with his tenish balls, For in French lands he dare no me see.

7^3,4.

Such tidings from the king of France As I’m sure with him you can ner agree.

8³. He bids you play with these tenish balls.

10⁴. They were a jovial good company.

After 10: He counted oer his merry men, Told them by thirty and by three, And when the were all numberd oer He had thirty thousand brave and three.

12 The first that fird, it was the French, Upon our English men so free, But we made ten thousand of them fall, And the rest were forc’d for there lives to flee.

13¹. Soon we entered Paris gates.

13². trumpets sounding high.

13⁴. Have mercy on [my] men and me.

14^1,2.

Take home your tribute, the king he says, And three tons of gold I will give to thee.

There is also a copy in “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 7, but it is not worth collating.

167. Sir Andrew Barton.

P. 338 b, IV, 502 b. Gold to bury body. Apollonius of Tyre. So in Gower, Confessio Amantis, bk. viii, ed. Pauli, III, 312; in the English prose Kynge Apollyn of Thyre, Wynkyn de Worde, 1510, c. 19, fol. 48, of Ashbee’s fac-simile, 1870; in the German prose Appollonius Tyrus and Appolonius von Tiria, C. Schröder, Griseldis, Apollonius von Tyrus, aus Handschriften herausg., pp. 46, 110, Leipzig, 1873. (G. L. K.)

170. The Death of Queen Jane.

P. 372. Communicated by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, as recited by Samuel Force.

H

1 Queen Jane, O! Queen Jane, O! what a lady was she! And six weeks and a day in labour was she; Queen Jane was in labour for six weeks and more, Till the women grew weary and fain would give oer. 2 ‘O women, O women, good wives as ye be, Go send for King Henry and bring him to me.’ King Henry was sent for, and to her he came: ‘Dear lady, fair lady, your eyes they look dim.’ 3 King Henry came to her, he came in all speed, In a gown of red velvet, from the heel to the head: ‘King Henry, King Henry, if kind you will be, Send for a good doctor, and let him come to me.’ 4 The doctor was sent for, he came with all speed, In a gown of black velvet from the heel to the head; The doctor was sent for and to her he came: ‘Dear lady, fair lady, your labour’s in vain.’ 5 ‘Dear doctor, dear doctor, will you do this for me? O open my right side, and save my baby:’ Then out spake King Henry, That never can be, I’d rather lose the branches than the top of the tree. 6 The doctor gave a caudle, the death-sleep slept she, Then her right side was opened and the babe was set free; The babe it was christened, and put out and nursd, But the royal Queen Jane lay cold in the dust.

I

Macmath MS., p. 99. Received November, 1892, from the recitation of Mary Cochrane (Mrs Joseph Garmory), Abbey-yard, Crossmichael, Kirkcudbrightshire. Written down by her husband.

1 Queen Jeanie was in labor for seven weeks in summer, The women all being tired and quite gave her over: ‘O women, dear women, if women you be, Send for my mother to come and see me.’ 2 Her mother was sent for and instantly came, Knelt down at the bedside where Queen Jeanie lay on: ‘O mother, dear mother, if mother you be, Send for my father to come and see me.’ 3 The father was sent for and instantly came, Knelt down by the bedside where Queen Jeanie lay on: ‘O father, dear father, if father you be, Send for King Henry to come and see me.’ 4 King Henry was sent for and instantly came, Knelt down by the bedside where Queen Jeanie lay on: ‘O Henry, King Henry, if Henry you be, Send for the doctor to come and see me.’ 5 The doctor was sent for and instantly came, Knelt down by the bedside where Queen Jeanie lay on: ‘O doctor, dear doctor, if doctor you be, Open my left side and let the babe free.’ 6 Her left side was opened, the young prince was found: ‘O doctor, dear doctor, lay me down on the ground.’ 7 Her bones were all broken and laid at her feet, And they anointed her body with the ointment so sweet, And ay as they weeped they wrung their hands sore, For the fair flower of England will flourish no more.

173. Mary Hamilton.

P. 379. Stanzas 1, 2, 10 of C are printed in Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 315, and 4, 9 of L at p. 316.

380 a, line 13. Say Stewart, or stewart.

384. A a. Found in a small MS. volume, with the title “Songs” on the cover, entirely in Sharpe’s handwriting, p. 29. The only variations, besides a few in spelling, are these:

9¹. stairs.

17³. the night’s.

18². they’l.

389. F. This version was rendered by Skene with comparative fidelity. Still, the original, ‘Quin Mary’s Marreys,’ No 12 of “The Old Lady’s Collection,” would of course have been given if it had been in hand, and should be substituted, opportunity occurring. It is therefore printed here.

1 ‘My father was the Duck of York, My mother a lady frie, My sell a dainnty damisall, Quin Mary sent for me. 2 ‘The quin’s meat it was so suit, An her clething was sae rair, It made me lang for Suit Willie’s bed, An I ill rue it ever mare. 3 ‘Mary Beeten, an Mary Sitton, An Lady Livenston, a’ three, We’ll never mett in Quin Mary’s bour nou, Marrys tho we be.’ 4 Quin Mary satt in her bour, Suing her selver seam; She thought she hard a baby greet Bat an a lady mean. 5 She throu her neddel frae her, Her seam out of her han, An she is on to Lady Marry’s bour, As fast as she could gang. 6 ‘Open yer dor, Lady Mary,’ she says, ‘An lat me come in; For I hear a baby greet, Bat an a lady meen.’ 7 ‘Ther is nae bab in my bour, madam the Quin, Nor never thinks to be, Bat the strong pains of gravell This night has sesed me.’ 8 She paat her fitt to the dor, Bat an her knee, Bolts of brass an irn bands In flinders she gart flee. 9 She pat a han to her bed-head A nether to her bed-feet, An bonny was the bab Was blabring in its bleed. 10 ‘Wae worth ye, Lady Mary, An ill dead sall ye die! For in ye widne keepet the bonny bab Ye might ha gen ’t to me.’ 11 ‘Lay na the witt on me, madam, Lay na the witt on me, For my fals love bare the v[e]pan att his side That gared my bern dee.’ 12 ‘Gett up, Lady Betton, get up, Lady Setton, An Lady Livenston, three, An we will on to Edenbrugh An tray this gay lady.’ 13 As she cam in the Cannogate, The burgers’ wives they crayed hon, ochon, ochree! 14 ‘O had yer still, ye burgers’ wives, An make na mane for me; Seek never grace out of a graslass face, For they ha nan to gee. 15 ‘Ye merchants an ye mareners, That trad on the sea, Ye dinnë tell in my country The dead I am gaine to dee. 16 ‘Ye merchants an ye mareners, That traid on the fame, Dinnë tell in my countray Bat fatt I am coming hame. 17 ‘Littel did my father think, Fan he brouch[t] me our the sea, That he woud see my yallou lokes Hang on a gallou-tree. 18 ‘Littel did my midder think, Fan she brought me fra hame, That she maugt see my yallou lokes Hang on a gallou-pine. 19 ‘. . . . . . O had yer han a wee! For yonder comes my father, I am sure he’ll borrou me. 20 ‘O some of yer goud, father, An of yer well won fee, To safe me [fra the high hill], [An] fra the gallage-tree.’ 21 ‘Ye’s gett nane of my goud, Ner of my well wone fee, For I wead gee five hundred poun To see ye hanged hee.’ 22 ‘. . . . . O had yer han a wee! Yonder is my love Willie, He will borrou me. 23 ‘O some of yer goud, my love Wille, An some of yer well wone fee, To save me fraa the high hill, An fraie the gallou-tree.’ 24 ‘Ye’s gett a’ my goud, An a’ my well won fee, To save ye fra the heading-hill, An fra the galla-tree.’

4². Perhaps silver.

6³. lady greet: cf. 4³.

7¹. næ.

11². watt.

11³. vpan?

23¹. son Willë.

392 a, H 8⁴. The nine. “Anciently the supreme criminal court of Scotland was composed of nine members.” Kinloch’s note, Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 259. This may afford a date.

I. b. The three stanzas were given as written down from memory by Finlay: see VIII, 507 b.

174. Earl Bothwell.

The following entry in the Stationers’ Registers may refer to this ballad: “24 March, 1579, Thomas Gosson. Receaved of him for a ballad concerninge the murder of the late Kinge of Scottes.” Arber, II, 349.

178. Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon.

P. 423, IV, 513.

I

From “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 28, ‘Edom of Achendoon.’

1 It fell about the Martimas time, Fan the wind blue loud an calld, Said Edom of Gordon to his men, We man dra till a hall. 2 ‘An fatten a hall will we dra tell, My merry men a’ an me? We will to the house of Rothes, An see that gay lady.’ 3 The lady louked our castell-wa, Beheld the day ga doun, An she saa Edun of Gordon, Fase Edom of Ach[en]doun. 4 ‘Gee our yer house, ye gay lady, Gee our yer house to me; The night ye’s be my leall leman, The morn my lady free.’ 5 ‘I winnë gee our my bonny house, To leard nor yet to loun, Nor will I gee our my bonny house To fase Edom of Achendoun. 6 ‘Bat ye gett me Cluny, Gight, or Glack, Or get him young Lesmore, An I ell gee our my bonny house To ony of a’ the four.’ 7 ‘Ye’s nether gett Cluny, Gight, nor Glack, Nor yet him young Lesmore, An ye man gee our yer bonny house, Winten ony of a’ the four.’ 8 The ladie shot out of a shot-windou, It didne hurt his head, It only grased his knee . . . . . . 9 ‘Ye hast, my merry men a’, Gather hathorn an fune, . . . . . . . To see gin this lady will burn.’ 10 ‘Wai worth ye, Joke, my man! I paid ye well yer fee, An ye tane out the quinë-stane, Laten in the fire to me. 11 ‘Wae worth ye, Joke, my man! I paid ye well yer hair, An ye t[a]en out the qunie-stane, To me laten in the fire.’ 12 ‘Ye paid me well my meatt, lady, Ye paid me well my fee, Bat nou I am Edom of Gordon’s man, Mane eather dee’d or dree. 13 ‘Ye paid me well my meatt, lady, Ye paid me well my hire, But nou I am Edom of Gordon’s man, To ye mane lat the fire.’ 14 Out spak her doughter, She was bath jimp an smaa; ‘Ye take me in a pair of shets, Lat me our the castell-waa.’ 15 The pat her in a pair of shets, Lute her oure the castell-waa; On the point of Edom of Gordon’s lance She got a deadly faa. 16 Cherry, cherry was her cheeks, An bonny was her eyen; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 He turned her about, . . . . . . . ‘I might haa spared that bonny face To ha ben some man’s delight. 18 ‘Chirry is yer chik, An bonny is yer eayn; Ye’r the first face I ever saa dead I wist liveng agen.’ 19 Out spak one of his men, As he stad by a stane; ‘Lat it never be sade brave Edom of Gordon Was dantoned by a dame.’ 20 Out spake the bonny barn, It sat on the nurce’s knee; ‘Gee our yer house, my mider dear, The reak it smothers me.’ 21 ‘I wad gee a’ my silks,’ she says, ‘That lays in mony a fall, To haa ye on the head of Mont Ganell, To gett three gasps of the call. 22 ‘I wad gee a’ my goud,’ she says, ‘Far it lays out an in, To haa ye on the head of Mount Ganill, To get three gasps of the wind.’ 23 . . . . . . . that gued lord, As he came fraa the sea, ‘I see the house of Rothes in fire, God safe my gay ladie!’

15³. land.

VOL. IV.

190. Jamie Telfer of the Fair Dodhead.

P. 4. I am now able to give the unprinted copy, referred to in the Border Minstrelsy, in which the Elliots take the place assigned in the other version to the Scotts. This I do by the assistance of Mr Macmath, the present possessor of the manuscript, which was formerly among the papers of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. The hand “is a good and careful one of about the beginning of this century, with a slight shake in it, and probably that of a person advanced in life.” Be it observed that the title, in this case, is ‘Jamie Telfer in the Fair Dodhead,’ signifying, according to Scottish usage, that Telfer was tenant simply, whereas ‘of’ would make him proprietor.

Hogg, writing to Sir W. Scott (Letters, vol. i, No 44), says that ‘Jamie Telfer,’ as printed in the Minstrelsy, differs in many particulars from his mother’s way of giving it. Mrs Hogg’s version may very likely have been a third copy.

In this version, Telfer, after the loosing of his nolt and the ranshakling of his house, runs eight miles to Branxholm, to seek aid of Buccleugh, who refers him to Martin Elliot, to whom, and not to himself, Buccleugh affirms, Telfer has paid blackmail. Telfer, as in the other version, runs up the water-gate to Coultart Cleugh, and invokes the help of Jock Grieve, who sets him on a bonny black to take the fray to Catlock Hill, as in the other version again. Catlock Hill Mr R. B. Armstrong considers to be probably Catlie Hill, marked in Blaeu’s map as near Braidlie. It was occupied by an Elliot in 1541. At Catlock Hill Martin’s Hab sets Telfer on a bonny black to take the fray to Prickenhaugh, a place which, Mr Armstrong observes, is put in Blaeu’s map near Larriston. Auld Martin Elliot is at Prickenhaugh, and he orders Simmy, his son, to be summoned, and the water-side to be warned, including the Currers and Willie o Gorrenberry, who in the other version, st. 27, are warned as owing fealty to Scott; but an Archibald Elliot is described as “in Gorrenberrie” in 1541,[121] and Will Elliot of Gorrombye was concerned in the rescue of Kinmont Willie in 1596, Sim Elliot takes the lead in the pursuit of the marauders which Willie Scott has in the other version, and like him is killed. Martin Elliot of Braidley had among his sons, in 1580, a Sym, an Arche, and a Hob,[121] and was, during a portion of the second half of the sixteenth century, says Mr Armstrong, perhaps the most important person of his name.[122] This Martin Elliot would fit very well into our ballad, but that he should be described as of Prickenhaugh, not of Braidley, raises a difficulty. Braidley, at the junction of the Braidley burn with the Hermitage water, is well placed for our purposes; Prickenhaugh, down by the Liddel water, seems rather remote.

5, 582. See more as to Dodhead in The Saturday Review, May 20, 1893, p. 543.

Jamie Telfer in the Fair Dodhead.

1 It fell about the Martinmas, When steads were fed wi corn and hay, The Captain of Bewcastle said to his lads, We’ll into Tiviotdale and seek a prey. 2 The first ae guide that they met with Was high up in Hardhaugh swire, The second guide that they met with Was laigh down in Borthick water. 3 ‘What tidings, what tidings, my bonny guide?’ ‘Nae tidings, nae tidings I hae to thee; But if ye’ll gae to the Fair Dodhead Mony a cow’s calf I’ll let ye see.’ 4 When they came to the Fair Dodhead, Right hastily they clam the peel, They loosd the nolt out, ane and a’, And ranshakled the house right weel. 5 Now Jamie’s heart it was right sair, The tear ay rowing in his eye; He pled wi the Captain to hae his gear, Or else revengëd he would be. 6 Bat the Captain turnd himsel about, Said, Man, there’s naething in thy house But an auld sword without a scabbard, That scarcely now would fell a mouse. 7 The moon was up and the sun was down, ’Twas the gryming of a new-fa’n snaw; Jamie Telfer has run eight miles barefoot Between Dodhead and Branxholm Ha. 8 And when he came to Branxholm Ha He shouted loud and cry’d well he, Till up bespake then auld Buccleugh, ‘Whae’s this that brings the fray to me?’ 9 ‘It’s I, Jamie Telfer i the Fair Dodhead, And a harried man I think I be; There’s naething left i the Fair Dodhead But only wife and children three.’ 10 ‘Gae seek your succour frae Martin Elliot, For succour ye’s get nane frae me; Gae seek your succour where ye paid blackmail, For, man, ye never paid money to me.’ 11 Jamie he’s turnd him round about, And ay the tear blinded his eye: ‘I’se never pay mail to Scott again, Nor the Fair Dodhead I’ll ever see.’ 12 Now Jamie is up the water-gate, Een as fast as he can drie, Till he came to the Coultart Cleugh, And there he shouted and cry’d weel he. 13 Then up bespake him auld Jock Grieve, ‘Whae’s this that bring[s] the fray to me?’ ‘It’s I, Jamie Telfer i the Fair Dodhead, And a harried man I think I be. 14 ‘There’s naething left i the Fair Dodhead But only wife and children three, And sax poor calves stand i the sta, A’ routing loud for their minnie.’ 15 ‘Alack, wae’s me!’ co auld Jock Grieve, ‘Alack, alack, and wae is me! For ye was married t’ the auld sister, And I t’ the younges[t] o the three.’ 16 Then he’s taen out a bonny black, It was weel fed wi corn and hay, And set Jamie Telfer on his back, To the Catlock hill to take the fray. 17 When he came to the Catlock hill, He shouted loud and cry’d weel he; ‘Whae’s that, whae’s that?’ co Martin’s Hab, ‘Whae’s this that brings the fray to me?’ 18 ‘It’s I, Jamie Telfer i the Fair Dodhead, And a harried man I think I be; There’s neathing left i the Fair Dodhead But only wife and children three.’ 19 ‘Alack, wae’s me!’ co Martin’s Hab, ‘Alack, awae, my heart is sair! I never came bye the Fair Dodhead That ever I faund thy basket bare.’ 20 Then he’s taen out a bonny black, It was weel fed wi corn and hay, And set Jamie Telfer on his back To the Pricken haugh to take the fray. 21 When he came to the Pricken haugh, He shouted loud and cry’d weel he; Up then bespake auld Martin Elliot, ‘Whae’s this that brings the fray to me?’ 22 ‘It’s I, Jamie Telfer i the Fair Dodhead, And a harried man I think I be; There’s naething left i the Fair Dodhead But only wife and children three.’ 23 ‘Ever alack!’ can Martin say, ‘And ay my heart is sair for thee! But fy, gar ca on Simmy my son, And see that he come hastily. 24 ‘Fy, gar warn the water-side, Gar warn it soon and hastily; Them that winna ride for Telfer’s kye, Let them never look i the face o me. 25 ‘Gar warn the water, braid and wide, And warn the Currers i the shaw; When ye come in at the Hermitage slack, Warn doughty Willie o Gorrenberry.’ 26 The gear was driven the Frostily up, From the Frostily into the plain; When Simmie lookëd him afore, He saw the kye right fast driving. 27 ‘Whae drives the kye,’ then Simmy can say, ‘To make an outspeckle o me?’ ‘It’s I, the Captain o Bewcastle, Simmy, I winna lain my name frae thee.’ 28 ‘O will ye let the gear gae back? Or will ye do ony thing for me?’ ‘I winna let the gear gae back, Nor naething, Simmy, I’ll do for the[e]. 29 ‘But I’ll drive Jamie Telfer’s kye In spite o Jamie Telfer’s teeth and thee;’ ‘Then by my sooth,’ can Simmy say, ‘I’ll ware my dame’s calfskin on thee. 30 ‘Fa on them, lads!’ can Simmy say, ‘Fy, fa on them cruelly! For or they win to the Ritter ford Mony toom saddle there shall be.’ 31 But Simmy was striken oer the head, And thro the napskape it is gane, And Moscrop made a dolefull rage When Simmy on the ground lay slain. 32 ‘Fy, lay on them!’ co Martin Elliot, ‘Fy, lay on them cruelly! For ere they win to the Kershop ford Mony toom saddle there shall be.’ 33 John o Biggam he was slain, And John o Barlow, as I heard say, And fifteen o the Captain’s men Lay bleeding on the ground that day. 34 The Captain was shot through the head, And also through the left ba-stane; Tho he had livd this hundred years, He’d neer been loed by woman again. 35 The word is gane unto his bride, Een in the bower where she lay, That her good lord was in ’s enemy’s land Since into Tiviotdale he led the way. 36 ‘I loord a had a winding sheed And helpd to put it oer his head, Or he’d been taen in ’s enemy’s lands, Since he oer Liddle his men did lead.’ 37 There was a man in our company, And his name was Willie Wudëspurs: ‘There is a house in the Stanegarside, If any man will ride with us.’ 38 When they came to the Stanegarside, They bangd wi trees and brake the door, They loosd the kye out, ane and a’, And set them furth our lads before. 39 There was an auld wif ayont the fire, A wee bit o the Captain’s kin: ‘Whae loo[s]es out the Captain’s kye, And sae mony o the Captain’s men wi[t]hin?’ 40 ‘I, Willie Wudëspurs, let out the kye, I winna lain my name frae thee, And I’ll loose out the Captain’s kye In spite o the Captain’s teeth and thee.’ 41 Now on they came to the Fair Dodhead, They were a welcome sight to see, And instead of his ain ten milk-kye Jamie Telfer’s gotten thirty and three.

16². feel fed: cf. 20².

195. Lord Maxwell’s Last Goodnight.

P. 34 b, 525 a. B. The ballad has no title in the Glenriddell MS. The table of contents was the work of a copyist.

196. The Fire of Frendraught.

P. 39 b. Thirteen stanzas of C are given, in the course of an article on The Burning of the House of Frendraucht, in the Aberdeen Magazine, 1832, II, 561.

P. 44. A a. Collation with Sharpe’s MS. and with another copy of the same pieces in “North Country Ballads,” Miscellanea Curiosa, Abbotsford Library.

4¹. Well, turn.

12⁵. were.

15⁴. Let Rothiemay may ly, may ly. But Rothiemay lie, written under, probably as an emendation by Sharpe (not in Scott).

16⁴. Turn in Scott, an easy misreading of Twin.

26¹. Ahon. With a few slight differences of spelling.

we in 9² is a misprint for he.

IV, 522 a. The Satyr begins:

O world of woes, O grief of griefs, to see This damned den wher sure brave sp’rits did dye.

197. James Grant.

These verses occur in a manuscript collection of C. K. Sharpe’s (“second collection”), with slight verbal differences. They are written in long lines not divided into stanzas. Sir W. Scott remarks, Sharpe’s Ballad Book, 1880, p. 145, “I conceive Ballindalloch, being admitted by Grant, set upon him, and that there should be asterisks between the fourth line [the second stanza] and those which follow.”

1¹. Away, away now, James the Grant.

1². You’ll.

1³. For Ballendalloch is at your gate.

2^1,4. Badendalloch.

2². Nor I.

2³. Set up my gat both.

2⁴. And let.

3¹. James the.

3⁴. no get so.

4³. he get but one mile in the highland hill.

4⁴. defy the.

198. Bonny John Seton.

P. 52. A. Found in a MS. of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, and in “North Country Ballads,” Miscellanea Curiosa, Abbotsford Library (another copy of the same pieces), with the following variations.

Sharpe. 1³. The Southeron lords to.

2¹. And bonny: Pitmedden, and always.

2². bald.

2⁴. And the.

3⁴. Sat on.

5². Cried, Brave soldiers.

5⁵. my steed back.

5⁶. But let me never see thee.

6³. And his.

7⁴. That dang Pitmedden’s middle in three.

8^1,2. rade.

8³. But bonny John Seton of Pitmedden.

9¹. Then up it came a.

9². from Drimmorow.

9³. Says, There thou lies.

9⁴. ride thee thorow.

10¹. Craigyvar (always): man.

10². your fiddle.

10³. land.

12¹. They’ve taken.

14⁴. ring.

15¹. For cannons roars: summer’s.

15². Like thunder.

15⁴. cannons fair.

Scott (also).—3¹. lands.

None of the readings in Aytoun given in the notes at p. 53 were derived from Sharpe’s copy except A 8³, and all of them may now be dropped.

199. The Bonnie House o Airlie.

P. 56. In a small MS. volume with the title “Songs” on the cover, entirely in Sharpe’s handwriting. A a is found at p. 24 (with some variations, undoubtedly arbitrary) prefaced with these words: “This song [referring to a copy presently to be given], like most others, would suffer amendment: here follows a copy somewhat improved. I have availed myself of a fragment in a former page of this work, and introduced a stanza [9] marked *, picked up in Perthshire.” Had A a been known to be an “improved” copy, it would not have been made so prominent.

The fragment (of slight value) was “from the recitation of Miss Oliphant of Gask, now Mrs Nairn” (afterwards Lady Nairne). It is (p. 21)—disregarding things misunderstood or avowedly added:

‘Come down, come down, my lady Ogilvie, Come down, and tell us your dower:’ ‘It’s east and west yon wan water side, And it’s down by the banks of the Airly. ‘Had my lord Ogilvie been at hame, As he was wi King Charlie, There durst nae a Campbel in a’ Argyle Avowd to the plundering o Airly.’ ‘Come down, come down, ye lady fair, Come down, and kiss me fairly:’ ‘I wunna come down, ye fause Argyle, If ye sudna leave a standing stane in Airly.

The unimproved copy, p. 22, is as follows.

1 It fell on a day, and a bonny summer day, When corn grew green and yellow, That there fell out a great dispute Between Argyll and Airly. 2 Argyll has raisd an hundred men, An hundred men, and so many, And he is away by the back of Dunkeld For to plunder the bonny house of Airly. 3 Lady Margaret looks oer her bower-window, And O but she looks weary! And there she spied the great Argyll, Coming to plunder the bonny house of Airly. 4 ‘Come down, come down, Lady Margret,’ he said, ‘Come down, and kiss me fairly:’ ‘O I will not kiss the great Argyll, If he should not leave a standing stone in Airly.’ 5 He hath taken her by the left shoulder, Says, Lady, where lyes thy dowry? ‘It’s up and it’s down by the bonny bank-side, Amongst the planting of Airly.’ 6 They have sought it up, they have sought it down, They have sought it both late and early, And they have found it in the bonny plumb-tree That shines on the bowling-green of Airly. 7 He hath taken her by the middle so small, And O but she lookd weary! He hath laid her down by the bonny burn-side Till he hath plunderd the bonny house of Airly. 8 ‘If my good lord were at home this night, As he is with Prince Charly, Nouther you nor no Scottish lord Durst have set a foot on the bowling-green of Airly. 9 ‘Ten bonny sons I have born unto him, And the eleventh neer saw his daddy; Although I had an hundred more, I would give them all to Prince Charly.’

58 c. This is one of the pieces contained in “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 1. The differences from Skene (save spelling) are as follows:

3¹. ore castell-waa.

3³. an his three hundred men.

4^1,2. Come doun the stare, Lady Airly, he says, an kiss me fairly.

4⁴. Altho ye live no.

5². An tell fare layes yer.

7². An he leed.

10² (7²). his.

10³ (7³). An tho.

10⁴ (7⁴). I wad gie them a’.

200. The Gypsy Laddie.

P. 66. B a. A copy of this version in C. K. Sharpe’s papers, “written from recitation in Nithisdale, November, 1814,” shows that improvements had been introduced by two hands, one of them Sharpe’s, neither of them the writer’s. The changes are of no radical importance; simply of the familiar kind which almost every editor has, for some reason, felt himself called upon to make. It may be thought that they are no more worth indicating than they were worth making, but it has been an object in this book to give things exactly as they were delivered. The original readings are as follows.

1¹. C for Cassilis throughout.

1³, so.

1⁴. Till.

2⁴. cast.

3¹. to wanting.

3^2,3, give.

3⁴. rings of her fingers.

4^1,2. you.

4³. hilt of.

4⁴, 9⁴, 16⁴. no more.

6^1,3. Jackie.

7³, 8³. farmer’s barn.

8³, 11³. most.

8⁴. crae.

9^1,2. O wanting.

10³, 11¹, 14³. on water.

11¹. Many a time have.

17⁴. mother bore me.

18³. And wanting.

73.

L

Communicated to the Journal of The Gypsy Society, II, 85, by Mr John Sampson, from the dictation of Lias Robinson, a Gypsy. A translation into Gypsy, by Robinson and his brothers, is given at p. 84 of the same.

1 A band of gypsies, all in a road, All so black and brawny, oh Away come a lady all dressed in silk, To follow the roving gypsies, oh The gypsies, oh! The gypsies, oh! To follow the roving gypsies, oh! 2 Her husband came home at ten o’clock of night, And asked for his lady fair; The servant informed him very soon She had gone with the roving gypsies. 3 ‘Saddle to me my bonny gray mare, Saddle to me my pony; I will go where the green grass grow, To find out the roving gypsies. 4 ‘Last night she slept in a fair feather-bed, And blankets by bonins; Tonight she sleeps in a cold shed-barn, Through following the roving gypsies. 5 ‘Why did you leave your houses and your lands? Why did you leave your babies? Why did you leave your decent married man, To follow the roving gypsies?’ 6 ‘What cares I for my houses and my lands? What cares I for my babies? What cares I for my decent married man? I will go with the roving gypsies.’

1². Var. and bonny.

From a small MS. volume, “Songs,” entirely in C. K. Sharpe’s handwriting, p. 32 (corresponding to B 11, D 6, E 7.)

Yestreen I rade yon wan water, Wi my gude lord before me; The day I maun pit down my bonnie fit and wade, What ever may come oer me.

201. Bessy Bell and Mary Gray.

P. 76 a, 4th paragraph, 1st line. The date 1666 is corrected to 1645 by Cant in his Errata.

77. In the small MS. volume, “Songs,” entirely in C. K. Sharpe’s handwriting, p. 26, a 3 is given “from the Catalogue of the Edinburgh Exhibition of Pictures, 1810” as here, excepting that in the second line the reading is (absurdly) “royal kin.”

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · This reference is to the article by Julius Krohn mentioned at IV, 482 a.Note 2 · R. H. Stodart, Scottish Arms, 1881, II, 277, 276. What is there said of Elliot of Braidley was mostly communicated by Mr. R. B. Armstrong.Note 3 · Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1880-81, p. 93. At several places above I have used a letter from Mr. Armstrong to Mr