294
DUGALL QUIN
‘Dugall Quin,’ The Old Lady’s MS. Collection, No 27.
In this little ballad, which has barely story enough to be so called, Dugald Quin, a Highlander, who seems to give himself out as a man in very humble circumstances, induces Lizzie Menzies, a young lady who appears to have nine maids at her command, to follow him, regardless of her father’s opposition. She cannot resist his merry winking eyes. After she has cast in her lot with his, he promises her nine mills (to match the nine maids), and to make her lady of Garlogie. The old lady minutes at the end of her copy that “it was the Marquis of Huntly.”
One version of ‘Rob Roy,’ No 225, I, 8, has a stanza like 2.
‘What think ye o my coal-black hair,
But and my twinkling een, lady,
A little bonnet on my head,
And cocket up aboon, lady?’
I suppose the Farie of 62, 92, to stand for a locality on the way north to Boggie (Strathbogie); I cannot, however, identify the place. ‘Tempeng chiss of farie,’ 64, 94, 104, may be a tempting fairy treasure. ‘Chis’ is Gaelic for tribute, but I am at present unable, making whatever allowance for the capricious spelling of the manuscript, to suggest any satisfying explanation of this important phrase.
Sir Walter Scott makes this note: “How the devil came Dugald Gunn [so he chooses to read Quin] to be identified with the Marquis of Huntly? I never saw the song before; it has some spunk in it.” Sharpe’s Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 154.
1
Dugall Quin came to the toun,
An he’s ben lang awaa,
An he is one to Lissie’s bed,
Tartan, trues, an a’.
2
‘Hou wad ye leak me, Lisie,’ he says,
‘Gin that I war yer ain,
We raged cot apon my back,
An singel-soled sheen,
A littel we bonnet on my head,
An tua merry wenking ean?’
3
‘Well wad I leak ye, Dugall,’ she says,
‘Gin that ye war my ain,
We ragged coat upon yer back,
An singel-soled sheen,
A littel we bonnet on yer head,
An tua merry wenking eyn.
4
‘Hou wad ye leak me, Dugall,’ she says,
‘Gin I wer yer ain,
We silken sneed upon my head,
An gold fann in my hand,
An madins ning, a’ clead in green,
To be att my comand?’
5
‘Well wad I leak ye, Lisie,’ he says,
‘Gin ye wer my ain,
We silken sneed upon yer head,
An a goud fan in yer hand,
An madins nine, a’ clad in green,
To be att yer command.
6
‘Follou me nou, Lisie,’ he says,
‘Follou me throu Farie,
An reap the boddoms of my pakets,
An ye’ll gett tempeng chiss of farei.’
7
Outspak her father, says,
Lissie, I widna wish ye,
For gin ye gay we this young man
They will say I ha bat lost ye.
8
‘O had yer toung, my father dear,
For a’ that winne brake me;
For I will gaa we this young man,
Since it’s his will to take me.’
9
‘Follou me nou, Lissë,’ he says,
‘An follou me throu Farie,
An reap the boddom of my poket,
An ye’ll gett tempeng chess of farie.’
10
‘Wea matt worth yer well-fared face,
Alas that ever I saa ye!
The first an thing that ever ye gaa to me
Was the tempen chess of farie.’
11
Dugall Quin read doun the toun,
Upon Dumfarling’s horses,
An Lisie Meanes folloued him,
For a’ her father’s forces.
12
‘Follou me nou, Lisie,’ he says,
‘An follou me our Boggie;
I ill make ye lady of ning mills,
An lady of bonny Garlogë.’
13
She has folloued her trou-love
[An folloued him] our Boggie,
An she has marred Dugall Quin,
An lives belou Strathbogy.
25. bomnet.
45, 123. ning: a frequent spelling of the old lady’s, conceived, perhaps, as nign. We have nine in 55.
123. ill; MS. aill.
Note at the end: it was the markes of Huntly.