Now save and keep our noble King,
And maintain good yeomanry!
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.