C
Motherwell’s MS., p. 440.
1
All young maidens fair and gay,
Whatever your station be,
Never lay your love upon a man
Above your own degree.
2
I speak it all by Bird Isabel;
She was her father’s dear,
She laid her love on Earl Patrick,
Which she rues ever mair.
3
‘Oh, we began a wark, Patrick,
That we two cannot end;
Go you unto the outer stair
And call some women in.’
4
He’s gone unto the outer stair,
And up in it did stand,
And did bring in eleven ladies,
With one sign of his hand.
5
He did him to the doctor’s shop,
As fast as he could gang,
But ere the doctor could get there
Bird Isabel bore a son.
6
But he has courted a duke’s daughter,
Lived far beyont the sea;
Burd Isabel’s parents were but mean,
They had not gear to gie.
7
He has courted a duke’s daughter,
Lived far beyond the foam;
Burd Isabel was a mean woman,
And tocher she had none.
8
Now it fell once upon a day
His wedding day was come;
He’s hied him to his great-grand-aunt,
As fast as he could gang.
9
Says, Will you go this errand, aunt?
Go you this errand for me,
And if I live and bruick my life
I will go as far for thee.
10
‘Go and bring me Bird Isbel’s son,
Dressed in silks so fine,
And if he live to be a man
He shall heir all my land.’
11
Now she went hailing to the door,
And hailing ben the floor,
And Isabel styled her madame,
And she, her Isabel dear.
12
‘I came to take Earl Patrick’s son,
To dress in silks so fine;
For if he live to be a man
He is to heir his land.’
13
‘Oh is there ever a woman,’ she said,
‘Of high station or mean,
Daur take this bairn from my knee?
For he is called mine.
14
‘Oh is there ever a woman,’ she said,
‘Of mean station or hie,
Daur tak this bairn frae my foot?
For him I bowed my knee.’
15
His aunt went hailing to his door,
And hailing ben the floor,
And she has styled him, Patrick,
And [he] her, aunty dear.
16
She says, I have been east and west,
And far beyond the sea,
But Isabel is the boldest woman
That ever my eyes did see.
17
‘You surely dream, my aunty dear,
For that can never be;
Burd Isabel’s not a bold woman,
She never was bold to me.’
18
Now he went hailing to her door,
And hailing ben the floor,
And she has styled him, Patrick,
And he her, Isabel dear.
19
‘O ye have angered my great-grand-aunt;
You know she’s a lady free;’
‘I said naught to your great-grand-aunt
But what I’ll say to thee.
20
‘Oh is there ever a woman, I said,
Of high station or mean,
Daur tak this bairn from my knee?
For he is called mine.
21
‘Oh is there ever a woman, I said,
Of mean station or hie,
Daur tak this bairn from my foot?
For him I bowed my knee.
22
‘But I’ll cause you stand at good church-door,
For all your noble train;
For selling of your precious soul,
You shall not get further ben.’
258
BROUGHTY WA’S
a. ‘Helen,’ Buchan’s MSS, I, 233.
b. ‘Burd Hellen,’ or, ‘Browghty Wa’s,’ Harris MS., fol. 17 b; from Mrs Harris.
A young woman is carried off from Broughty Castle, near Dundee, by a body of armed Highlanders. Her lover, who is making her a visit at the time, is either taken along with her—an unnecessary incumbrance, one would think—or follows her. The pair go out to take the air; she throws herself into a river; her lover leaps in after her and is drowned. She kilts up her clothes and makes her way to Dundee, congratulating herself that she had learned to swim for liberty.
Stanza 9, as it runs in b, is a reminiscence of ‘Bonny Baby Livingston,’ and 13 recalls ‘Child Waters,’ or ‘The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter.’
1
Burd Helen was her mother’s dear,
Her father’s heir to be;
He was the laird of Broughty Walls,
And the provost o Dundee.
2
Burd Helen she was much admired
By all that were round about;
Unto Hazelan she was betrothed,
Her virgin days were out.
3
Glenhazlen was a comely youth,
And virtuous were his friends;
He left the schools o bonny Dundee
And on to Aberdeen.
4
It fell upon a Christmas Day
Burd Helen was left alone
For to keep her father’s towers;
They stand two miles from town.
5
Glenhazlen’s on to Broughty Walls,
Was thinking to win in;
But the wind it blew, and the rain dang on
And wat him to the skin.
6
He was very well entertaind,
Baith for his bed and board,
Till a band o men surrounded them,
Well armd wi spear and sword.
7
They hurried her along wi them,
Lockd up her maids behind;
They threw the keys out-ower the walls,
That none the plot might find.
8
They hurried her along wi them,
Ower mony a rock and glen,
But, all that they could say or do,
From weeping would not refrain.
9
‘The Hiland hills are hie, hie hills,
The Hiland hills are hie;
They are no like the banks o Tay,
Or bonny town o Dundee.’
10
It fell out ance upon a day
They went to take the air;
She threw hersell upon the stream,
Against wind and despair.
11
It was sae deep he coudna wide,
Boats werna to be found,
But he leapt in after himsell,
And sunk down like a stone.
12
She kilted up her green claiding
A little below her knee,
And never rest nor was undrest
Till she reachd again Dundee.
13
‘I learned this at Broughty Walls,
At Broughty near Dundee,
That if water were my prison strong
I would swim for libertie.’
a.
72. Tuckd.
b.
14. the wanting.
23. But to Hunglen.
32. were wanting.
41. fell oot once upon a time.
43. All for.
44. stand ten.
51. Glenhazlen he cam ridin bye.
52. An thinkin to get in.
71, 81. They hies̄ēd.
72. Locked up.
73. An flang.
84. To weep she wald.
93,4. An if you wald my favour gain, Oh, tak me to Dundee!
101. once upon a time.
102. went oot to.
103. into the.
104. Between.
111. The stream was deep.
112. So he: after her himsell.
After 11:
‘The Highland hills are high, high hills,
The Highland hills are hie;
They’re no like the pleasant banks o Tay,
Nor the bonnie town o Dundee’.
133. water waur my prison-walls.
134. I could.
259
LORD THOMAS STUART
Maidment’s North Countrie Garland, p. 1.
Lord Thomas Stuart has married a young countess, and has given her Strathbogie and Aboyne for a morning-gift. The lady has a desire to see these places. As they are on their way thither (from Edinburgh), her husband is attacked with a pain which obliges him to turn back; he tells her to ride on, and she seems so to do. The pain proves to be beyond the skill of leeches. Lord Thomas begs his father to see that his wife gets what he has given her. He dies; the horses turn wild in the stables, the hounds howl on the leash. Lady Stuart has the usual dream (No 74, A 8, B 11, etc.). She comes back wringing her hands; she knows by the horses that are standing about the house that the burial is preparing.
1
Thomas Stuart was a lord,
A lord of mickle land;
He used to wear a coat of gold,
But now his grave is green.
2
Now he has wooed the young countess,
The Countess of Balquhin,
An given her for a morning-gift
Strathboggie and Aboyne.
3
But women’s wit is aye willful,
Alas that ever it was sae!
She longed to see the morning-gift
That her gude lord to her gae.
4
When steeds were saddled an weel bridled,
An ready for to ride,
There came a pain on that gude lord,
His back, likewise his side.
5
He said, Ride on, my lady fair,
May goodness be your guide!
For I’m sae sick an weary that
No farther can I ride.
6
Now ben did come his father dear,
Wearing a golden band;
Says, Is there nae leech in Edinburgh
Can cure my son from wrang?
7
‘O leech is come, an leech is gane,
Yet, father, I’m aye waur;
There’s not a leech in Edinbro
Can death from me debar.
8
‘But be a friend to my wife, father,
Restore to her her own;
Restore to her my morning-gift,
Strathboggie and Aboyne.
9
‘It had been gude for my wife, father,
To me she’d born a son;
He would have got my land an rents,
Where they lie out an in.
10
‘It had been gude for my wife, father,
To me she’d born an heir;
He would have got my land an rents,
Where they lie fine an fair.’
11
The steeds they strave into their stables,
The boys could’nt get them bound;
The hounds lay howling on the leech,
Cause their master was behind.
12
‘I dreamed a dream since late yestreen,
I wish it may be good,
That our chamber was full of swine,
An our bed full of blood.’
13
I saw a woman come from the West,
Full sore wringing her hands,
And aye she cried, Ohon, alas!
My good lord’s broken bands.
14
As she came by my good lord’s bower,
Saw mony black steeds an brown:
‘I’m feared it be mony unco lords
Havin my love from town!’
15
As she came by my gude lord’s bower,
Saw mony black steeds an grey:
‘I’m feared it’s mony unco lords
Havin my love to the clay!’
260
LORD THOMAS AND LADY MARGARET
A. a. ‘Lord Thomas,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 407. b. ‘Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret,’ the same, p. 71.
B. ‘Clerk Tamas,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 43.
Christie, who gives B, “epitomized and slightly changed,” under the title ‘Clerk Tamas and Fair Annie,’ Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 12, says that he can trace the ballad, traditionally, far into the last century.
A. Lord Thomas goes a-hunting, and Lady Margaret rides after him; when he sees her following, he orders his servants to hunt her far from him, and they hunt her high and low. She comes upon a tall young man, and begs ‘relief’ from him for a lady wronged in love and chased from her ‘country.’ No relief is to be had from him unless she will renounce all other men and be his wife. After a time, Lady Margaret, sewing at her window, observes a vagrant body, who turns out to be Lord Thomas, reduced to beggary; he has been banished from his own country, and asks relief. No relief from her; she would hang him were he within her bower. Not so, says Lord Thomas; rather he would kill her lord with his broadsword and carry her off. Not so, says Lady Margaret, but you must come in and drink with me. She poisons three bottles of wine, and pretends to be his taster. Lord Thomas drinks away merrily, but soon feels the poison. I am wearied with this drinking, he says. And so was I when you set your hounds at me, she replies; but you shall be buried as if you were one of my own.
B has Clerk Tamas for Lord Thomas, and Fair Annie for Lady Margaret. Tamas has loved Annie devotedly, but now hates her and the lands she lives in. Annie goes to ask him to pity her; he sees her coming, as he lies ‘over his shot-window,’ and orders his men to hunt her to the sea. A captain, lying ‘over his ship-window,’ sees Annie driven from the town, and offers to take her in if she will forsake friends and lands for him. The story goes on much as in A.
A 8 is borrowed from ‘The Douglas Tragedy,’ see No 7, C 9. B 143,4 is a commonplace, which, in inferior traditional ballads, is often, as here, an out-of-place. B 15, 16 is another commonplace, of the silly sort: see No 87, B 3, 4, D 4, 5, and Buchan’s ‘Lady Isabel,’ 20, 21.