Part 4

27. And when we reach'd the Staneshaw-bank, The wind was rising loud and hie; And there the laird garr'd leave our steeds, For fear that they should stamp and nie.

28. And when we left the Staneshaw-bank, The wind began full loud to blaw; But 'twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet, When we came beneath the castel-wa'.

29. We crept on knees, and held our breath, Till we placed the ladders against the wa'; And sae ready was Buccleuch himsell To mount the first before us a'.

30. He has taen the watchman by the throat, He flung him down upon the lead: 'Had there not been peace between our lands, Upon the other side thou hadst gaed.

31. 'Now sound out, trumpets!' quo' Buccleuch; 'Let's waken Lord Scroop right merrilie!' Then loud the Warden's trumpets blew 'Oh whae dare meddle wi' me?'

32. Then speedilie to wark we gaed, And raised the slogan ane and a', And cut a hole thro' a sheet of lead, And so we wan to the castel-ha'.

33. They thought King James and a' his men Had won the house wi' bow and spear; It was but twenty Scots and ten, That put a thousand in sic a stear!

34. Wi' coulters and wi' forehammers, We garr'd the bars bang merrilie, Untill we came to the inner prison, Where Willie o' Kinmont he did lie.

35. And when we cam to the lower prison, Where Willie o' Kinmont he did lie: 'O sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie, Upon the morn that thou's to die?'

36. 'O I sleep saft, and I wake aft, It's lang since sleeping was fleyed frae me; Gie my service back to my wyfe and bairns, And a' gude fellows that speer for me.'

37. Then Red Rowan has hente him up, The starkest man in Teviotdale: 'Abide, abide now, Red Rowan, Till of my Lord Scroop I take farewell.

38. 'Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroop! My gude Lord Scroop, farewell!' he cried; 'I'll pay you for my lodging-maill When first we meet on the border-side.'

39. Then shoulder high, with shout and cry, We bore him down the ladder lang; At every stride Red Rowan made, I wot the Kinmont's airns play'd clang.

40. 'O mony a time,' quo' Kinmont Willie, 'I have ridden horse baith wild and wood; But a rougher beast than Red Rowan I ween my legs have ne'er bestrode.

41. 'And mony a time,' quo' Kinmont Willie, 'I've pricked a horse out oure the furs; But since the day I backed a steed, I never wore sic cumbrous spurs.'

42. We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank, When a' the Carlisle bells were rung, And a thousand men, in horse and foot, Cam' wi' the keen Lord Scroop along.

43. Buccleuch has turned to Eden Water, Even where it flow'd frae bank to brim, And he has plunged in wi' a' his band, And safely swam them thro' the stream.

44. He turned him on the other side, And at Lord Scroop his glove flung he: 'If ye like na my visit in merry England, In fair Scotland come visit me!'

45. All sore astonished stood Lord Scroop, He stood as still as rock of stane; He scarcely dared to trew his eyes, When thro' the water they had gane.

46. 'He is either himsell a devil frae hell, Or else his mother a witch maun be; I wad na have ridden that wan water For a' the gowd in Christentie.'

[Annotations: 6.1: 'haud,' hold: 'reiver,' robber. 7.4: 'lawing,' reckoning. 10.1: 'basnet,' helmet: 'curch,' kerchief. 10.4: 'lightly,' insult. 13.3: 'slight,' destroy. 14.1: 'low,' fire. 17.3: 'splent on spauld,' plate-armour on their shoulders. 19.3: 'broken men,' outlaws. 24.4: 'lear,' information. 25.2: 'Row,' rough. 26.3: 'spait,' flood. 33.4: 'stear,' stir, disturbance. 34.1: 'forehammers,' sledge-hammers. 38.3: 'maill,' rent. 45.3: 'trew,' believe.]

THE LAIRD O' LOGIE

+The Text+ is that of Scott's _Minstrelsy,_ which was repeated in Motherwell's collection, with the insertion of one stanza, obtained from tradition, between Scott's 2 and 3.

+The Story+ as told in this variant of the ballad is remarkably true to the historical facts.

The Laird was John Wemyss, younger of Logie, a gentleman-in-waiting to King James VI. of Scotland, and an adherent of the notorious Francis Stuart, Earl of Bothwell. After the failure of the two rash attempts of Bothwell upon the King's person--the former at Holyrood House in 1591 and the second at Falkland in 1592--the Earl persuaded the Laird of Logie and the Laird of Burleigh to join him in a third attempt, which was fixed for the 7th or 9th of August 1592; but the King got wind of the affair, and the two Lairds were seized by the Duke of Lennox and 'committed to ward within Dalkeith.'

The heroine of the ballad was a Danish maid-of-honour to James's Queen; her name is variously recorded as Margaret Vinstar, Weiksterne, Twynstoun, or Twinslace. 'Carmichael' was Sir John Carmichael, appointed captain of the King's guard in 1588.

The ballad stops short at the escape of the lovers by ship. But history relates that the young couple were befriended by the Queen, who refused to comply with the King's demand that May Margaret should be dismissed. Eventually both were received into favour again, though the Laird of Logie was constantly in political trouble. He died in 1599. (See a paper by A. Francis Steuart in _The Scots Magazine_ for October 1899, p. 387.)

THE LAIRD O' LOGIE

1. I will sing, if ye will hearken, If ye will hearken unto me; The king has ta'en a poor prisoner, The wanton laird o' young Logie.

2. Young Logie's laid in Edinburgh chapel, Carmichael's the keeper o' the key; And May Margaret's lamenting sair, A' for the love of Young Logie.

3. 'Lament, lament na, May Margaret, And of your weeping let me be, For ye maun to the king himsell, To seek the life of Young Logie.'

4. May Margaret has kilted her green cleiding, And she has curl'd back her yellow hair; 'If I canna get Young Logie's life, Farewell to Scotland for evermair!'

5. When she came before the king, She knelit lowly on her knee; 'O what's the matter, May Margaret? And what needs a' this courtesie?'

6. 'A boon, a boon, my noble liege, A boon, a boon, I beg o' thee! And the first boon that I come to crave, Is to grant me the life o' Young Logie.'

7. 'O na, O na, May Margaret, Forsooth, and so it mauna be; For a' the gowd o' fair Scotland Shall not save the life o' Young Logie.'

8. But she has stown the king's redding-kaim, Likewise the queen her wedding knife; And sent the tokens to Carmichael, To cause Young Logie get his life.

9. She sent him a purse o' the red gowd, Another o' the white monie; She sent him a pistol for each hand, And bade him shoot when he gat free.

10. When he came to the Tolbooth stair, There he let his volley flee; It made the king in his chamber start, E'en in the bed where he might be.

11. 'Gae out, gae out, my merrymen a', And bid Carmichael come speak to me, For I'll lay my life the pledge o' that, That yon's the shot o' Young Logie.'

12. When Carmichael came before the king, He fell low down upon his knee; The very first word that the king spake, Was 'Where's the laird of Young Logie?'

13. Carmichael turn'd him round about, I wat the tear blinded his eye; 'There came a token frae your grace, Has ta'en away the laird frae me.'

14. 'Hast thou play'd me that, Carmichael? And hast thou play'd me that?' quoth he; 'The morn the Justice Court's to stand, And Logie's place ye maun supplie.'

15. Carmichael's awa to Margaret's bower, Even as fast as he may dree; 'O if Young Logie be within, Tell him to come and speak with me.'

16. May Margaret turn'd her round about, I wat a loud laugh laughed she; 'The egg is chipp'd, the bird is flown, Ye'll see nae mair of Young Logie.'

17. The tane is shipped at the pier of Leith, The tother at the Queen's Ferrie; And she's gotten a father to her bairn, The wanton laird of Young Logie.

[Annotations: 8.1: 'redding-kaim,' dressing-comb.]

CAPTAIN CAR

+The Text+ is from a Cottonian MS. of the sixteenth century in the British Museum (Vesp. A. xxv. fol. 178). It is carelessly written, and words are here and there deleted and altered. I have allowed myself the liberty of choosing readings from several alternatives or possibilities.

+The Story.+--There seems to be no doubt that this ballad is founded upon an historical incident of 1571. The Scottish variants are mostly called _Edom o' Gordon_, _i.e._ Adam Gordon, who was brother to George Gordon, Earl of Huntly. Adam was a bold soldier; and, his clan being at variance with the Forbeses--on religious grounds,--he encountered them twice in the autumn of 1571, and inflicted severe defeat on them at the battles of Tuiliangus and Crabstane. In November he approached the castle of Towie, a stronghold of the Forbes clan; but the lady occupying it obstinately refused to yield it up, and it was burnt to the ground.

It is not clear whether the responsibility of giving the order to fire the castle attaches to Adam Gordon or to Captain Car or Ker, who was Adam's right-hand man. But when all is said on either side, it is irrational, as Child points out, to apply modern standards of morality or expediency to sixteenth-century warfare. It is curious that this text, almost contemporary with the occurrence which gave rise to the ballad, should be wholly concerned with Captain Car and make no mention of Adam Gordon.

For the burden, see Chappell _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, i. 226.

CAPTAIN CAR

1. It befell at Martynmas, When wether waxed colde, Captaine Care said to his men, 'We must go take a holde.'

_Syck, sicke, and to-towe sike, And sicke and like to die; The sikest nighte that ever I abode, God lord have mercy on me!_

2. 'Haille, master, and wether you will, And wether ye like it best;' 'To the castle of Crecrynbroghe, And there we will take our reste.'

3. 'I knowe wher is a gay castle, Is builded of lyme and stone; Within their is a gay ladie, Her lord is riden and gone.'

4. The ladie she lend on her castle-walle, She loked upp and downe; There was she ware of an host of men, Come riding to the towne.

5. 'Se yow, my meri men all, And se yow what I see? Yonder I see an host of men, I muse who they bee.'

6. She thought he had ben her wed lord, As he com'd riding home; Then was it traitur Captaine Care The lord of Ester-towne.

7. They wer no soner at supper sett, Then after said the grace, Or Captaine Care and all his men Wer lighte aboute the place.

8. 'Gyve over thi howsse, thou lady gay, And I will make the a bande; To-nighte thou shall ly within my armes, To-morrowe thou shall ere my lande.'

9. Then bespacke the eldest sonne, That was both whitt and redde: 'O mother dere, geve over your howsse, Or elles we shalbe deade.'

10. 'I will not geve over my hous,' she saithe, 'Not for feare of my lyffe; It shalbe talked throughout the land, The slaughter of a wyffe.'

11. 'Fetch me my pestilett, And charge me my gonne, That I may shott at yonder bloddy butcher, The lord of Easter-towne.'

12. Styfly upon her wall she stode, And lett the pellettes flee; But then she myst the blody bucher, And she slew other three.

13. ['I will] not geve over my hous,' she saithe, 'Netheir for lord nor lowne; Nor yet for traitour Captain Care, The lord of Easter-towne.

14. 'I desire of Captine Care And all his bloddye band, That he would save my eldest sonne, The eare of all my lande.'

15. 'Lap him in a shete,' he sayth, 'And let him downe to me, And I shall take him in my armes, His waran shall I be.'

16. The captayne sayd unto him selfe: Wyth sped, before the rest, He cut his tonge out of his head, His hart out of his breast.

17. He lapt them in a handkerchef, And knet it of knotes three, And cast them over the castell-wall, At that gay ladye.

18. 'Fye upon the, Captayne Care, And all thy bloddy band! For thou hast slayne my eldest sonne, The ayre of all my land.'

19. Then bespake the yongest sonne, That sat on the nurse's knee, Sayth, 'Mother gay, geve over your house; It smoldereth me.'

20. 'I wold geve my gold,' she saith, 'And so I wolde my ffee, For a blaste of the westryn wind, To dryve the smoke from thee.

21. 'Fy upon the, John Hamleton, That ever I paid the hyre! For thou hast broken my castle-wall, And kyndled in the ffyre.'

22. The lady gate to her close parler, The fire fell aboute her head; She toke up her children thre, Seth, 'Babes, we are all dead.'

23. Then bespake the hye steward, That is of hye degree; Saith, 'Ladie gay, you are in close, Wether ye fighte or flee.'

24. Lord Hamleton drem'd in his dream, In Carvall where he laye, His halle were all of fyre, His ladie slayne or daye.

25. 'Busk and bowne, my mery men all, Even and go ye with me; For I drem'd that my hall was on fyre, My lady slayne or day.'

26. He buskt him and bown'd hym, And like a worthi knighte; And when he saw his hall burning, His harte was no dele lighte.

27. He sett a trumpett till his mouth, He blew as it ples'd his grace; Twenty score of Hamlentons Was light aboute the place.

28. 'Had I knowne as much yesternighte As I do to-daye, Captaine Care and all his men Should not have gone so quite.

29. 'Fye upon the, Captaine Care, And all thy blody bande! Thou haste slayne my lady gay, More wurth then all thy lande.

30. 'If thou had ought eny ill will,' he saith, 'Thou shoulde have taken my lyffe, And have saved my children thre, All and my lovesome wyffe.'

[Annotations: Burden.1: 'to-towe' = too-too. 8.2: 'bande,' bond, compact. 8.4: 'ere,' plough. 11.1: 'pestilett,' pistolet. 14.4: 'eare,' and 18.4 'ayre,' both = heir. 25.1: 'Busk and bowne,' make ready. 26.4:'no dele,' in no way. Cf. _somedele_, etc. 28.4: 'quite,' acquitted, unpunished. 30.1: 'ought,' owed.]

SIR PATRICK SPENCE

+The Text+ is taken from Percy's _Reliques_ (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar ballad, which substitutes a Sir Andrew Wood for the hero. The version of this ballad printed in most collections is that of Scott's _Minstrelsy_, Sir Patrick Spens being the spelling adopted.[1] Scott compounded his ballad of two manuscript copies and a few verses from recitation, but the result is of unnecessary length.

[Footnote 1: Coleridge, however, wrote of the 'grand old ballad of Sir Patrick Spence.']

+The Story.+--Much labour has been expended upon the question whether this ballad has an historical basis or not. From Percy's ballad--the present text--we can gather that Sir Patrick Spence was chosen by the king to convey something of value to a certain destination; and later versions tell us that the ship is bound for Norway, the object of the voyage being either to bring home the king of Norway's daughter, or the Scottish king's daughter, or to take out the Scottish king's daughter to be queen in Norway. The last variation can be supported by history, Margaret, daughter of Alexander III. of Scotland, being married in 1281 to Erik, king of Norway. Many of the knights and nobles who accompanied her to Norway were drowned on the voyage home.

However, we need not elaborate our researches in the attempt to prove that the ballad is historical. It is certainly of English and Scottish origin, and has no parallels in the ballads of other lands. 'Haf owre to Aberdour,' _i.e._ halfway between Aberdour in Buchan and the coast of Norway, lies the island of Papa Stronsay, on which there is a tumulus called 'the Earl's Knowe' (knoll); but the tradition, that this marks the grave of Sir Patrick Spence, is in all probability a modern invention.

SIR PATRICK SPENCE

1. The king sits in Dumferling toune, Drinking the blude-reid wine: 'O whar will I get [a] guid sailor, To sail this schip of mine?'

2. Up and spak an eldern knicht, Sat at the king's richt kne: 'Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailor That sails upon the se.'

3. The king has written a braid letter, And sign'd it wi' his hand, And sent it to Sir Patrick Spence, Was walking on the sand.

4. The first line that Sir Patrick red, A loud lauch lauched he; The next line that Sir Patrick red, The teir blinded his ee.

5. 'O wha is this has done this deid, This ill deid don to me, To send me out this time o' the yeir, To sail upon the se!

6. 'Mak haste, mak haste, my mirry men all, Our guid schip sails the morne:' 'O say na sae, my master deir, Fir I feir a deadlie storme.

7. 'Late, late yestreen I saw the new moone Wi' the auld moone in hir arme, And I feir, I feir, my deir master, That we will cum to harme.'

8. O our Scots nobles wer richt laith To weet their cork-heil'd schoone; Bot lang owre a' the play wer play'd, Thair hats they swam aboone.

9. O lang, lang may their ladies sit Wi' thair fans into their hand Or eir they se Sir Patrick Spence Cum sailing to the land.

10. O lang, lang may the ladies stand, Wi' thair gold kerns in their hair, Waiting for thair ain deir lords, For they'll se thame na mair.

11. Haf owre, haf owre to Aberdour, It's fiftie fadom deip, And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spence, Wi' the Scots lords at his feit.

[Annotations: 1.1: 'Dumferling,' _i.e._ Dunfermline, on the north side of the Firth of Forth.]

FLODDEN FIELD

+The Text+ is from Thomas Deloney's _Pleasant History of John Winchcomb_,[1] the eighth edition of which, in 1619, is the earliest known. 'In disgrace of the Soots,' says Deloney, 'and in remembrance of the famous atchieved historie, the commons of England made this song, which to this day is not forgotten of many.' I suspect it was Deloney himself rather than the commons of England who made this song. A variant is found in Additional MS. 32,380 in the British Museum--a statement which might be of interest if it were not qualified by the addition 'formerly in the possession of J. Payne Collier.' That egregious antiquary took the pains to fill the blank leaves of a sixteenth-century manuscript with ballads either copied from their original sources, as this from Deloney, or forged by Collier himself; he then made a transcript in his own handwriting (Add. MS. 32,381), and finally printed selections. In the present ballad he has inserted two or three verses of his own; otherwise the changes from Deloney's ballad are slight.

[Footnote 1: Reprinted from the ninth edition of 1633 by J. O. Halliwell [-Phillipps], 1859, where the ballad appears on pp. 48-9. Deloney's book was licensed in 1597.]

A very long ballad on the same subject is in the Percy Folio, and similar copies in Harleian MSS. 293 and 367. Another is 'Scotish Field,' also in the Percy Folio.

+The Story.+--Lesley says in his History, 'This battle was called the Field of Flodden by the Scotsmen and Brankston [Bramstone, 8.3] by the Englishmen, because it was stricken on the hills of Flodden beside a town called Brankston; and was stricken the ninth day of September, 1513.'

The ballad follows history closely. 'Lord Thomas Howard' (6.1), uncle to the queen, escorted her to Scotland in 1503: 'This is ground enough,' says Child, 'for the ballad's making him her chamberlain ten years later.'

'Jack with a feather' (12.1) is a contemptuous phrase directed at King James's rashness.

FLODDEN FIELD

1. King Jamie hath made a vow, Keep it well if he may! That he will be at lovely London Upon Saint James his day.

2. 'Upon Saint James his day at noon, At fair London will I be, And all the lords in merry Scotland, They shall dine there with me.'

3. Then bespake good Queen Margaret, The tears fell from her eye: 'Leave off these wars, most noble king, Keep your fidelity.

4. 'The water runs swift and wondrous deep, From bottom unto the brim; My brother Henry hath men good enough; England is hard to win.'

5. 'Away,' quoth he, 'with this silly fool! In prison fast let her lie: For she is come of the English blood, And for those words she shall die.'

6. With that bespake Lord Thomas Howard, The queen's chamberlain that day: 'If that you put Queen Margaret to death, Scotland shall rue it alway.'

7. Then in a rage King James did say, 'Away with this foolish mome! He shall be hanged, and the other be burned, So soon as I come home.'

8. At Flodden Field the Scots came in, Which made our English men fain; At Bramstone Green this battle was seen, There was King Jamie slain.

9. Then presently the Scots did fly, Their cannons they left behind; Their ensigns gay were won all away, Our soldiers did beat them blind.

10. To tell you plain, twelve thousand were slain That to the fight did stand, And many prisoners took that day, The best in all Scotland.

11. That day made many [a] fatherless child, And many a widow poor, And many a Scottish gay lady Sat weeping in her bower.

12. Jack with a feather was lapt all in leather, His boastings were all in vain; He had such a chance, with a new morrice dance, He never went home again.

[Annotations: 7.2: 'Mome,' dolt.]

DICK O' THE COW

+The Text+ is a combination of three, but mainly from a text which seems to have been sent to Percy in 1775. The other two are from Scottish tradition of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I have made a few changes in spelling only. The ballad was certainly known before the end of the sixteenth century, as Thomas Nashe refers to it in 1596:--'_Dick of the Cow_, that mad Demilance Northren Borderer, who plaid his prizes with the Lord _Iockey_ so brauely' (Nashe 's _Works_, ed. R. B. McKerrow, iii. p. 5). _Dick at the Caw_ occurs in a list of 'penny merriments' printed for, and sold by, Philip Brooksby, about 1685.

+The Story+ is yet another of the Border ballads of the Armstrongs and Liddesdale, and tells itself in an admirable way.

The 'Cow,' of course, cannot refer to cattle, as the word would be 'Kye': possibly it means 'broom,' or the hut in which he lived. See Murray's _Dictionary_, and cp. 9.3

'Billie' means 'brother'; hence the quaint 'billie Willie.' It is the same word as 'bully,' used of Bottom the Weaver, which also occurs in the ballad of _Bewick and Grahame_, 5.2 (see p. 102 of this volume).

DICK O' THE COW

1. Now Liddisdale has long lain in, _Fa la_ There is no rideing there at a'; _Fa la_ Their horse is growing so lidder and fatt That are lazie in the sta'. _Fa la la didle_

2. Then Johnë Armstrang to Willie can say, 'Billie, a rideing then will we; England and us has been long at a feed; Perhaps we may hitt of some bootie.

3. Then they're com'd on to Hutton Hall, They rade that proper place about; But the laird he was the wiser man, For he had left nae gear without.

4. Then he had left nae gear to steal, Except six sheep upon a lee; Says Johnie, 'I'de rather in England die, Before their six sheep goed to Liddisdale with me.

5. 'But how cal'd they the man we last with mett, Billie, as we came over the know?' 'That same he is an innocent fool, And some men calls him Dick o' the Cow.'

6. 'That fool has three as good kyne of his own As is in a' Cumberland, billie,' quoth he; 'Betide my life, betide my death, These three kyne shal go to Liddisdaile with me.'