Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance

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15.
'Take thee Worcester,' said the King,
'Tewkesbury, Kenilworth, Burton upon Trent;
Do thou not say another day
But I have given thee lands and rent.

16.
'Sir Richard of Edinburgh, where are ye?
A wise man in this war!
I'll give thee Bristow and the shire
The time that we come there.

17.
'My lord Nevill, where been ye?
You must in these wars be;
I'll give thee Shrewsbury,' says the King,
'And Coventry fair and free.

18.
'My lord of Hamilton, where art thou?
Thou art of my kin full nigh;
I'll give thee Lincoln and Lincolnshire,
And that's enough for thee.'

19.
By then came in William Douglas,
As breme as any boar;
He kneeled him down upon his knees,
In his heart he sighed sore.

20.
Says 'I have served you, my lovely liege,
These thirty winters and four,
And in the Marches between England and Scotland,
I have been wounded and beaten sore.

21.
'For all the good service that I have done,
What shall my meed be?
And I will lead the vanward
Thorough the English country.'

22.
'Ask on, Douglas,' said the King,
'And granted it shall be.'
'Why then, I ask little London,' says Will Douglas,
'Gotten if that it be.'

23.
The King was wrath, and rose away;
Says 'Nay, that cannot be!
For that I will keep for my chief chamber,
Gotten if it be.

24.
'But take thee North Wales and Westchester,
The country all round about,
And rewarded thou shalt be,
Of that take thou no doubt.'

25.
Five score knights he made on a day,
And dubb'd them with his hands;
Rewarded them right worthily
With the towns in merry England.

26.
And when the fresh knights they were made,
To battle they busk them boun;
James Douglas went before,
And he thought to have won him shoon.

27.
But they were met in a morning of May
With the communalty of little England;
But there scaped never a man away,
Through the might of Christes hand.

28.
But all only James Douglas;
In Durham in the field
An arrow struck him in the thigh;
Fast flings he towards the King.

29.
The King looked toward little Durham,
Says 'All things is not well!
For James Douglas bears an arrow in his thigh,
The head of it is of steel.

30.
'How now, James?' then said the King,
'How now, how may this be?
And where been all thy merry men
That thou took hence with thee?'

31.
'But cease, my King,' says James Douglas,
'Alive is not left a man!'
'Now by my faith,' says the King of the Scots,
'That gate was evil gone.

32.
'But I'll revenge thy quarrel well,
And of that thou may be fain;
For one Scot will beat five Englishmen,
If they meeten them on the plain,'

33.
'Now hold your tongue,' says James Douglas,
'For in faith that is not so;
For one Englishman is worth five Scots,
When they meeten together tho.

34.
'For they are as eager men to fight
As a falcon upon a prey;
Alas! if ever they win the vanward,
There scapes no man away.'

35.
'O peace thy talking,' said the King,
'They be but English knaves,
But shepherds and millers both,
And priests with their staves.'

36.
The King sent forth one of his heralds of armes
To view the Englishmen.
'Be of good cheer,' the herald said,
'For against one we be ten.'

37.
'Who leads those lads,' said the King of Scots,
'Thou herald, tell thou me.'
The herald said 'The Bishop of Durham
Is captain of that company.

38.
'For the Bishop hath spread the King's banner,
And to battle he busks him boun.'
'I swear by St. Andrew's bones,' says the King,
'I'll rap that priest on the crown.'

39.
The King looked towards little Durham,
And that he well beheld,
That the Earl Percy was well armed,
With his battle-axe entered the field.

40.
The King looked again towards little Durham,
Four ancients there see he;
There were two standards, six in a valley,
He could not see them with his eye.

41.
My lord of York was one of them,
My lord of Carlisle was the other,
And my lord Fluwilliams,
The one came with the other.

42.
The Bishop of Durham commanded his men,
And shortly he them bade,
That never a man should go to the field to fight
Till he had served his God.

43.
Five hundred priests said mass that day
In Durham in the field,
And afterwards, as I heard say,
They bare both spear and shield.

44.
The Bishop of Durham orders himself to fight
With his battle-axe in his hand;
He said 'This day now I will fight
As long as I can stand!'

45.
'And so will I,' said my lord of Carlisle,
'In this fair morning gay.'
'And so will I,' said my lord Fluwilliams,
'For Mary, that mild may.'

46.
Our English archers bent their bows
Shortly and anon;
They shot over the Scottish host
And scantly touched a man.

47.
'Hold down your hands,' said the Bishop of Durham,
'My archers good and true.'
The second shoot that they shot,
Full sore the Scots it rue.

48.
The Bishop of Durham spoke on high
That both parties might hear,
'Be of good cheer, my merrymen all,
The Scots flien and changen their cheer.'

49.
But as they saiden, so they diden,
They fell on heapes high;
Our Englishmen laid on with their bows
As fast as they might dree.

50.
The King of Scots in a study stood
Amongst his company;
An arrow struck him thorough the nose,
And thorough his armoury.

51.
The King went to a marsh-side
And light beside his steed;
He leaned him down on his sword-hilts
To let his nose bleed.

52.
There followed him a yeoman of merry England,
His name was John of Copland;
'Yield thee, traitor!' says Copland then,
'Thy life lies in my hand.'

53.
'How should I yield me,' says the King,
'And thou art no gentleman?'
'No, by my troth,' says Copland there,
'I am but a poor yeoman.

54.
'What art thou better than I, sir King?
Tell me, if that thou can!
What art thou better than I, sir King,
Now we be but man to man?'

55.
The King smote angrily at Copland then,
Angrily in that stound;
And then Copland was a bold yeoman,
And bore the King to the ground.

56.
He set the King upon a palfrey,
Himself upon a steed;
He took him by the bridle-rein,
Towards London he gan him lead.

57.
And when to London that he came,
The King from France was new come home,
And there unto the King of Scots
He said these words anon.

58.
'How like you my shepherds and my millers?
My priests with shaven crowns?'
'By my faith, they are the sorest fighting men
That ever I met on the ground.

59.
'There was never a yeoman in merry England
But he was worth a Scottish knight.'
'Ay, by my troth,' said King Edward, and laugh,
'For you fought all against the right.'

60.
But now the prince of merry England
Worthily under his shield
Hath taken the King of France,
At Poictiers in the field.

61.
The prince did present his father with that food,
The lovely King of France,
And forward of his journey he is gone.
God send us all good chance!

62.
'You are welcome, brother!' said the King of Scots to the King of
France,
'For I am come hither too soon;
Christ leve that I had taken my way
Unto the court of Rome!'

63.
'And so would I,' said the King of France,
'When I came over the stream,
That I had taken my journey
Unto Jerusalem!'

64.
Thus ends the battle of fair Durham,
In one morning of May,
The battle of Crecy, and the battle of Poictiers,
All within one monthes day.

65.
Then was wealth and welfare in merry England,
Solaces, game, and glee,
And every man loved other well,
And the king loved good yeomanry.

66.
But God that made the grass to grow,
And leaves on greenwood tree,
Now save and keep our noble King,
And maintain good yeomanry!

[Annotations:
1.2: '[spell]' suggested by Child.
6.3: 'leeve,' pleasant, dear; formerly a regular epithet of London.
10.1: 'Hard hansel,' bad omen.
12.2: 'stead,' place.
14.1: 'famous' may be a scribe's error for 'James.'
14.3: 'vanward,' vanguard.
15.2: The manuscript gives 'Tuxburye, Killingworth.'
19.2: 'breme,' fierce.
26.2: 'they busk them boun,' they make themselves ready.
31.4: 'gate,' way.
33.4: 'tho,' then.
40.2: 'ancients,' ensigns.
44.1: 'orders,' prepares.
45.4: 'may,' = maid; the Virgin.
46.4: 'scantly,' scarcely.
48.4: 'cheer,' face, appearance.
49.4: 'dree,' hold out.
53.2: 'And,' if.
61.1: 'food,' man.
62.1: The last five words are perhaps inserted by the scribe.
62.3: 'leve,' grant.]

THE BATTLE OF HARLAW

+The Text+ of this ballad was sent to Professor Child by Mr. C. E.
Dalrymple of Kinaldie, Aberdeenshire, from whose version the printed
variants (_Notes and Queries_, Third Series, vii. 393, and Aytoun's
_Ballads of Scotland_, i. 75) have been more or less directly derived.

The ballad is one of those mentioned in _The Complaynt of Scotland_
(1549), like the 'Hunttis of Chevet' (see p. 2 of this volume). It is
again mentioned as being in print in 1668; but the latter may possibly
refer to a poem on the battle, afterwards printed in Allan Ramsay's
_Evergreen_. The fact that the present ballad omits all reference to the
Earl of Mar, and deals with the Forbes brothers, who are not otherwise
known to have taken part in the battle, disposes Professor Child to
believe that it is a comparatively recent ballad.

+The Story.+--The battle of Harlaw was fought on July 24, 1411. Harlaw
is eighteen miles north-west of Aberdeen, Dunidier a hill on the
Aberdeen road, and Netherha' is close at hand. Balquhain (2.2) is a mile
south of Harlaw, while Drumminnor (15.3) is more than twenty miles
away--though the horse covered the distance there and back in 'twa hours
an' a quarter' (16.3).

The ballad is narrated by 'John Hielan'man' to Sir James the Rose
(derived from the ballad of that name given earlier in the present
volume) and Sir John the Gryme (Graeme). 'Macdonell' is Donald of the
Isles, who, as claimant to the Earldom of Ross, advanced on Aberdeen,
and was met at Harlaw by the Earl of Mar and Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff
of Angus. It was a stubborn fight, though it did not last from Monday to
Saturday (23), and Donald lost nine hundred men and the other party five
hundred.

Child finds a difficulty with the use of the word 'she' in 4.3, despite
'me' in the two previous lines. Had it been 'her,' the difficulty would
not have arisen.

THE BATTLE OF HARLAW

1.
As I cam in by Dunidier,
An' doun by Netherha',
There was fifty thousand Hielan'men
A-marching to Harlaw.
_Wi' a dree dree dradie drumtie dree_

2.
As I cam on, an' farther on,
An' doun an' by Balquhain,
Oh there I met Sir James the Rose,
Wi' him Sir John the Gryme.

3.
'O cam ye frae the Hielan's, man?
An' cam ye a' the wey?
Saw ye Macdonell an' his men,
As they cam frae the Skee?'

4.
'Yes, me cam frae ta Hielan's, man,
An' me cam a' ta wey,
An' she saw Macdonell an' his men,
As they cam frae ta Skee.'

5.
'Oh was ye near Macdonell's men?
Did ye their numbers see?
Come, tell to me, John Hielan'man,
What micht their numbers be?'

6.
'Yes, me was near, an' near eneuch,
An' me their numbers saw;
There was fifty thousan' Hielan'men
A-marchin' to Harlaw.'

7.
'Gin that be true,' says James the Rose,
'We'll no come meikle speed;
We'll cry upo' our merry men,
And lichtly mount our steed.'

8.
'Oh no, oh no,' says John the Gryme,
'That thing maun never be;
The gallant Grymes were never bate,
We'll try phat we can dee.'

9.
As I cam on, an' farther on,
An' doun an' by Harlaw,
They fell fu' close on ilka side;
Sic fun ye never saw.

10.
They fell fu' close on ilka side,
Sic fun ye never saw;
For Hielan' swords gied clash for clash
At the battle o' Harlaw.

11.
The Hielan'men, wi' their lang swords,
They laid on us fu' sair,
An' they drave back our merry men
Three acres breadth an' mair.

12.
Brave Forbes to his brither did say,
'Noo, brither, dinna ye see?
They beat us back on ilka side,
An' we'se be forced to flee.'

13.
'Oh no, oh no, my brither dear,
That thing maun never be;
Tak' ye your good sword in your hand,
An' come your wa's wi' me.'

14.
'Oh no, oh no, my brither dear,
The clans they are ower strang,
An' they drive back our merry men,
Wi' swords baith sharp an' lang.'

15.
Brave Forbes drew his men aside,
Said 'Tak' your rest awhile,
Until I to Drumminnor send,
To fess my coat o' mail.'

16.
The servant he did ride,
An' his horse it did na fail,
For in twa hours an' a quarter
He brocht the coat o' mail.

17.
Then back to back the brithers twa
Gaed in amo' the thrang,
An' they hewed doun the Hielan'men,
Wi' swords baith sharp an' lang.

18.
Macdonell he was young an' stout,
Had on his coat o' mail,
An' he has gane oot throw them a',
To try his han' himsell.

19.
The first ae straik that Forbes strack,
He garrt Macdonell reel,
An' the neist ae straik that Forbes strack,
The great Macdonell fell.

20.
An' siccan a lierachie
I'm sure ye never saw
As wis amo' the Hielan'men,
When they saw Macdonell fa'.

21.
An' whan they saw that he was deid,
They turn'd an' ran awa,
An' they buried him in Leggett's Den,
A large mile frae Harlaw.

22.
They rade, they ran, an' some did gang,
They were o' sma' record;
But Forbes an' his merry men,
They slew them a' the road.

23.
On Monanday, at mornin',
The battle it began,
On Saturday, at gloamin',
Ye'd scarce kent wha had wan.

24.
An' sic a weary buryin'
I'm sure ye never saw
As wis the Sunday after that,
On the muirs aneath Harlaw.

25.
Gin ony body speer at you
For them ye took awa',
Ye may tell their wives and bairnies
They're sleepin' at Harlaw.

[Annotations:
15.4: 'fess,' fetch.
19.1: 'ae,' one.
20.1: 'lierachie,' confusion, hubbub.
25.1: 'speer at,' ask of.]

THE LAIRD OF KNOTTINGTON

+The Text+ was sent to Percy in 1768 by R. Lambe of Norham. The ballad
is widely known in Scotland under several titles, but the most usual is
_The Broom of Cowdenknows_, which was the title used by Scott in the
_Minstrelsy_.

+The Story+ is not consistently told in this version, as in 11.3,4 the
daughter gives away her secret to her father in an absurd fashion.

An English song, printed as a broadside about 1640, _The Lovely
Northerne Lasse_, is directed to be sung 'to a pleasant Scotch tune,
called The broom of Cowden Knowes.' It is a poor variant of our ballad,
in the usual broadside style, and cannot have been written by any one
fully acquainted with the Scottish ballad. It is in the Roxburghe,
Douce, and other collections.

THE LAIRD OF KNOTTINGTON

1.
There was a troop of merry gentlemen
Was riding atween twa knows,
And they heard the voice of a bonny lass,
In a bught milking her ews.

2.
There's ane o' them lighted frae off his steed,
And has ty'd him to a tree,
And he's gane away to yon ew-bught,
To hear what it might be.

3.
'O pity me, fair maid,' he said,
'Take pity upon me;
O pity me, and my milk-white steed
That's trembling at yon tree.'

4.
'As for your steed, he shall not want
The best of corn and hay;
But as to you yoursel', kind sir,
I've naething for to say.'

5.
He's taen her by the milk-white hand,
And by the green gown-sleeve,
And he has led her into the ew-bught,
Of her friends he speer'd nae leave.

6.
He has put his hand in his pocket,
And given her guineas three;
'If I dinna come back in half a year,
Then luke nae mair for me.

7.
'Now show to me the king's hie street,
Now show to me the way;
Now show to me the king's hie street,
And the fair water of Tay.'

8.
She show'd to him the king's hie street,
She show'd to him the way;
She show'd him the way that he was to go,
By the fair water of Tay.

9.
When she came hame, her father said,
'Come, tell to me right plain;
I doubt you've met some in the way,
You have not been your lain.'

10.
'The night it is baith mist and mirk,
You may gan out and see;
The night is mirk and misty too,
There's nae body been wi' me.

11.
'There was a tod came to your flock,
The like I ne'er did see;
When he spake, he lifted his hat,
He had a bonny twinkling ee.'

12.
When fifteen weeks were past and gane,
Full fifteen weeks and three,
Then she began to think it lang
For the man wi' the twinkling ee.

13.
It fell out on a certain day,
When she cawd out her father's ky,
There was a troop of gentlemen
Came merrily riding by.

14.
'Weel may ye sigh and sob,' says ane,
'Weel may you sigh and see;
Weel may you sigh and say, fair maid,
Wha's gotten this bairn wi' thee?'

15.
She turned hersel' then quickly about,
And thinking meikle shame;
'O no, kind sir, it is na sae,
For it has a dad at hame.'

16.
'O hawd your tongue, my bonny lass,
Sae loud as I hear you lee!
For dinna you mind that summer night
I was in the bught wi' thee?'

17.
He lighted off his milk-white steed,
And set this fair maid on;
'Now caw out your ky, good father,' he said,
'She'll ne'er caw them out again.

18.
'I am the laird of Knottington,
I've fifty plows and three;
I've gotten now the bonniest lass
That is in the hale country.'

[Annotations:
1.2: 'knows,' knolls.
1.4: 'bught,' sheep-pen.
9.4: 'your lain,' by yourself.
11.1: 'tod,' fox.
18.2: 'plows': as much land as a plough will till in a year.]

THE WHUMMIL BORE

+The Text+ is from Motherwell's MS. He included it in the Appendix to
his _Minstrelsy_. No other collector or editor notices the ballad--'if
it ever were one,' as Child remarks.

The only point to be noted is that the second stanza has crept into two
versions of _Hind Horn_, apparently because of the resemblance of the
previous stanzas, which present a mere ballad-commonplace.

THE WHUMMIL BORE

1.
Seven lang years I hae served the king,
_Fa fa fa fa lilly_
And I never got a sight of his daughter but ane.
_With my glimpy, glimpy, glimpy eedle,
Lillum too tee a ta too a tee a ta a tally_

2.
I saw her thro' a whummil bore,
And I ne'er got a sight of her no more.

3.
Twa was putting on her gown,
And ten was putting pins therein.

4.
Twa was putting on her shoon,
And twa was buckling them again.

5.
Five was combing down her hair,
And I never got a sight of her nae mair.

6.
Her neck and breast was like the snow,
Then from the bore I was forced to go.

[Annotations:
1.2,4,5: The burden is of course repeated in each stanza.
2.1: 'whummil bore,' a hole bored with a whimble or gimlet.]

LORD MAXWELL'S LAST GOODNIGHT

+The Text+ is from the Glenriddell MSS., and is the one on which Sir
Walter Scott based the version given in the _Border Minstrelsy_. Byron
notes in the preface to _Childe Harold_ that 'the good-night in the
beginning of the first canto was suggested by Lord Maxwell's Goodnight
in the Border Minstrelsy.'

+The Story.+--John, ninth Lord Maxwell, killed Sir James Johnstone in
1608; the feud between the families was of long standing (see 3.4),
beginning in 1585. Lord Maxwell fled the country, and was sentenced to
death in his absence. On his return in 1612 he was betrayed by a
kinsman, and beheaded at Edinburgh on May 21, 1613. This was the end of
the feud, which contained cases of treachery and perfidy on both sides.

'Robert of Oarchyardtoun' was Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardton, Lord
Maxwell's cousin.

'Drumlanrig,' 'Cloesburn,' and 'the laird of Lagg' were respectively
named Douglas, Kirkpatrick, and Grierson.

The Maxwells had houses, or custody of houses at Dumfries, Lochmaben,
Langholm, and Thrieve; and Carlaverock Castle is still theirs.

As for Lord Maxwell's 'lady and only joy,' the ballad neglects the fact
that he instituted a process of divorce against her, and that she died,
while it was pending, in 1608, five years before the date of the
'Goodnight.'

LORD MAXWELL'S LAST GOODNIGHT

1.
'Adiew, madam my mother dear,
But and my sisters two!
Adiew, fair Robert of Oarchyardtoun
For thee my heart is woe.

2.
'Adiew, the lilly and the rose,
The primrose, sweet to see!
Adiew, my lady and only joy!
For I manna stay with thee.

3.
'Tho' I have killed the laird Johnston,
What care I for his feed?
My noble mind dis still incline;
He was my father's dead.

4.
'Both night and day I laboured oft
Of him revenged to be,
And now I've got what I long sought;
But I manna stay with thee.

5.
'Adiew, Drumlanrig! false was ay,
And Cloesburn! in a band,
Where the laird of Lagg fra my father fled
When the Johnston struck off his hand.

6.
'They were three brethren in a band;
Joy may they never see!
But now I've got what I long sought,
And I maunna stay with thee.

7.
'Adiew, Dumfries, my proper place,
But and Carlaverock fair!
Adiew, the castle of the Thrieve,
And all my buildings there!

8.
'Adiew, Lochmaben's gates so fair,
The Langholm shank, where birks they be!
Adiew, my lady and only joy!
And, trust me, I maunna stay with thee.

9.
'Adiew, fair Eskdale, up and down,
Where my poor friends do dwell!
The bangisters will ding them down,
And will them sore compel.

10.
'But I'll revenge that feed mysell
When I come ou'r the sea;
Adiew, my lady and only joy!
For I maunna stay with thee.'

11.
'Lord of the land, will you go then
Unto my father's place,
And walk into their gardens green,
And I will you embrace.

12.
'Ten thousand times I'll kiss your face,
And sport, and make you merry.'
'I thank thee, my lady, for thy kindness,
But, trust me, I maunna stay with thee.'

13.
Then he took off a great gold ring,
Whereat hang signets three;
'Hae, take thee that, my ain dear thing,
And still hae mind of me;

14.
'But if thow marry another lord
Ere I come ou'r the sea;
Adiew, my lady and only joy!
For I maunna stay with thee.'

15.
The wind was fair, the ship was close,
That good lord went away,
And most part of his friends were there,
To give him a fair convay.

16.
They drank thair wine, they did not spare,
Even in the good lord's sight;
Now he is o'er the floods so gray,
And Lord Maxwell has ta'en his goodnight.

[Annotations:
3.2: 'feed,' feud.
3.4: 'dead,' death.
8.2: 'shank,' point of a hill.
9.3: 'bangisters,' roisterers, freebooters.
14.1: 'But if,' unless.]

END OF THE THIRD SERIES

APPENDIX

THE JOLLY JUGGLER

+The Text+ is from a manuscript at Balliol College, Oxford, No. 354,
already referred to in the First Series (p. 80) as supplying a text of
_The Nut-brown Maid_. The manuscript, which is of the early part of the
sixteenth century, has been edited by Ewald Fluegel in _Anglia_, vol.
xxvi., where the present ballad appears on pp. 278-9. I have only
modernised the spelling, and broken up the lines, as the ballad is
written in two long lines and a short one to each stanza.

No other text is known to me. The volume of _Anglia_ containing the
ballad was not published till 1903, some five years after Professor
Child's death; and I believe he would have included it in his collection
had he known of it.

+The Story+ narrates the subjugation of a proud lady who scorns all her
wooers, by a juggler who assumes the guise of a knight. On the morrow
the lady discovers her paramour to be a churl, and he is led away to
execution, but escapes by juggling himself into a meal-bag: the dust
falls in the lady's eye.

It would doubtless require a skilled folk-lorist to supply full critical
notes and parallels; but I subjoin such details as I have been able to
collect.

In _The Beggar Laddie_ (Child, No. 280, v. 116) a pretended beggar or
shepherd-boy induces a lassie to follow him, 'because he was a bonny
laddie.' They come to his father's (or brother's) hall; he knocks,
four-and-twenty gentlemen welcome him in, and as many gay ladies attend
the lassie, who is thenceforward a knight's or squire's lady.

In _The Jolly Beggar_ (Child, No. 279, v. 109), which, with the similar
Scottish poem _The Gaberlunzie Man_, is attributed without authority to
James V. of Scotland, a beggar takes up his quarters in a house, and
will only lie behind the hall-door, or by the fire. The lassie rises to
bar the door, and is seized by the beggar. He asks if there are dogs in
the town, as they would steal all his 'meal-pocks.' She throws the
meal-pocks over the wall, saying, 'The deil go with your meal-pocks, my
maidenhead, and a'.' The beggar reveals himself as a braw gentleman.

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