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.”
203. The Baron of Brackley.
P. 79. Fragment from Findlay MSS, I, 209, derived from Mrs McKenzie, Advie, Morayshire.
1
‘O are ye sleepin, baul B[r]achlie, or are ye at hame?
For the caterans are at ye, an a’ your kye ’s taen.’
2
. . . . . . . .
‘Ye’ll fling your rocks, lasses, we’ll fecht them our lane.
3
‘We’ll fecht them an fleg them, an gar them rin hame,
We’ll stand them in battle, as gin we were men.
4
‘There’s four-an-twenty milk-white kine in Glentanner free,
In the parks o Glentanner sae fain’s I wad be!’
5
He’s called on his lady to give him his gun:
‘I’m gaun oot, Katie, but I’ll never come home.’
6
She’s a’ her gates wide open flung, an she’s welcomed them in,
An she sleeps wi the villain that slew her baron.
11. Baulbachlie.
52. home originally; altered to in.
The stanzas have been arranged by the light of A.
87. D, as it stands in “The Old Lady’s Collection,” No 25, ‘The Barron of Breachell.’
1
‘Barron of Breachell, are ye withen?
The sharp sourd is att yer gate, Breachell, will gar yer blod spine.’
2
‘The’r at yer gate, Brichell, the’r nether men nor lads,
Bat silly heard widifaus, we belted plaids.
3
‘O if I had a man,’ she says, ‘as it louks I haa nean,
He widne sit in the house an see my kay tean.
4
‘Bat, lasses, tak doun yer rokes, an we will defend,’
. . . . . . . . . .
5
‘O kiss me, d[ea]r Peggey, an gee me doun my gun,
I may well gaa out, bat I ill never come in.’
6
Out spak his brother, says, Gee me your hand,
I [ill] fight in your caus as lang as I may stan.
7
Fan the Barron of Brechell came to the closs,
A braver barron never read upon horse.
8
. . . . . . . . . .
‘I think the silly heard widdefus are groun fighten men.’
9
First they killed an, and sayn they killed tua,
An the Barron of Brichell is dead an awa.
10
They killed Sandy Gordon, Sandy Gordon of the Knok,
The miller an his three sons, that lived att Glenmuke.
11
First they killed ane, an sayn they killed tua,
An the Barron of Brichell is dead an awaa.
12
Up came Crigevar an a’ his fighten men:
‘Had I come an houre sinner, he sudna ben slain.’
13
For first they killed an, an sayn they killed tua,
An the Barron of Breachell is dead an awa.
14
‘O came ye by Brechell, lads? was ye in ther?
Saw ye Peggie Doun, raving her hear?’
15
‘We came by Breache[l], lads, we was in ther;
We saa Peggie Doun, curling her hear.
16
‘She ate we them, drank we them, bad them come in
To her haas an her bours that had slain her barron.’
17
‘Come in, gentelmen, ate an drink we me;
Tho ye have slain my barron, I ha na ill well att thee.’
18
‘O was ye att Glenmuck, lads? was ye in ther?
Saa ye Catren Gordon, raving her hear?’
19
‘We was att Gleanmuck, lads, we was in ther,
We saa Catren Gordon, ravi[n]g her hear.
20
‘We the tear in her eay,. . . . . .
Seven bearns att her foot, the eaght on her knee.
21
They killed Peater Gordon, Peater Gordon of the Knok.
The miller an his three sons, that lives att Glenmuck.
22
First they killed an, an sayn they killed twa,
An the Barron of Breachell is dead an awaa.
208. Lord Derwentwater.
P. 116 b. Add at the end of the first paragraph: Robert Patten, The History of the Rebellion in the Year 1715, 4th ed., 1745, p. 47.
123. From “The Old Lady’s Collection,” second part, p. 6.