[17]. The Highlanders have only one pronoun, and as it happens to resemble the English her, it has caused the Lowlanders to have a general impression that they mistake the feminine for the masculine gender. It has even become a sort of nickname for them, as in the present case, and in a subsequent verse, ([31],) where it is extended to her-nain-sell. Chambers, Scottish Songs, p. 48.
THE BATTLE OF SHERIFF-MUIR.
Fought on the 13th of November, 1715, between the Duke of Argyle, general of the forces of King George the First, and the Earl of Mar, for the Chevalier de St. George. The right wing of both armies, led by the respective commanders, was successful, and the left wing of both was routed. Hence the victory was claimed by both sides. The Chevalier's army was much the larger of the two, and all the advantages of the contest remained with the other party.
This ballad is printed in Herd's Scottish Songs, i. 170, and in many subsequent collections. It is ascribed by Burns to the "Rev. Murdoch M'Lellan, minister of Crathie, Dee-side." Our copy is taken from Hogg's Jacobite Relics, ii. 1, where the stanzas in brackets appear for the first time. The notes are from Chambers's Scottish Songs, p. 408.
There are several other ballads upon this battle: Up and war them a', Willie, Johnson's Museum, p. 195, and (different) Herd's Scottish Songs, ii. 234: From Bogie Side, or, The Marquis's Raide, a false and scurrilous party song, Hogg's Jacobite Relics, ii. 13:
A Dialogue between Will Lick-Ladle and Tom Clean-Cogue, &c., written by the Rev. John Barclay of Edinburgh, many years after the event: and The Battle of Sherramoor, altered and abridged by Burns from this last, for Johnson's Museum, (p. 290.) [See Appendix].
There's some say that we wan, and some say that they wan,
And some say that nane wan at a', man;
But one thing I'm sure, that at Sherra-muir
A battle there was that I saw, man.
And we ran, and they ran, and they ran, and we ran,5
But [Florence] ran fastest of a', man.
Argyle and [Belhaven], not frighted like Leven,
Which [Rothes and Haddington] saw, man;
For they all, with [Wightman], advanc'd on the right, man,
While others took flight, being raw, man.10
And we ran, &c.
[Lord Roxburgh] was there, in order to share
With [Douglas], who stood not in awe, man;