Chapter 10

13. It fell out on a certain day, When she cawd out her father's ky, There was a troop of gentlemen Came merrily riding by.

14. 'Weel may ye sigh and sob,' says ane, 'Weel may you sigh and see; Weel may you sigh and say, fair maid, Wha's gotten this bairn wi' thee?'

15. She turned hersel' then quickly about, And thinking meikle shame; 'O no, kind sir, it is na sae, For it has a dad at hame.'

16. 'O hawd your tongue, my bonny lass, Sae loud as I hear you lee! For dinna you mind that summer night I was in the bught wi' thee?'

17. He lighted off his milk-white steed, And set this fair maid on; 'Now caw out your ky, good father,' he said, 'She'll ne'er caw them out again.

18. 'I am the laird of Knottington, I've fifty plows and three; I've gotten now the bonniest lass That is in the hale country.'

[Annotations: 1.2: 'knows,' knolls. 1.4: 'bught,' sheep-pen. 9.4: 'your lain,' by yourself. 11.1: 'tod,' fox. 18.2: 'plows': as much land as a plough will till in a year.]

THE WHUMMIL BORE

+The Text+ is from Motherwell's MS. He included it in the Appendix to his _Minstrelsy_. No other collector or editor notices the ballad--'if it ever were one,' as Child remarks.

The only point to be noted is that the second stanza has crept into two versions of _Hind Horn_, apparently because of the resemblance of the previous stanzas, which present a mere ballad-commonplace.

THE WHUMMIL BORE

1. Seven lang years I hae served the king, _Fa fa fa fa lilly_ And I never got a sight of his daughter but ane. _With my glimpy, glimpy, glimpy eedle, Lillum too tee a ta too a tee a ta a tally_

2. I saw her thro' a whummil bore, And I ne'er got a sight of her no more.

3. Twa was putting on her gown, And ten was putting pins therein.

4. Twa was putting on her shoon, And twa was buckling them again.

5. Five was combing down her hair, And I never got a sight of her nae mair.

6. Her neck and breast was like the snow, Then from the bore I was forced to go.

[Annotations: 1.2,4,5: The burden is of course repeated in each stanza. 2.1: 'whummil bore,' a hole bored with a whimble or gimlet.]

LORD MAXWELL'S LAST GOODNIGHT

+The Text+ is from the Glenriddell MSS., and is the one on which Sir Walter Scott based the version given in the _Border Minstrelsy_. Byron notes in the preface to _Childe Harold_ that 'the good-night in the beginning of the first canto was suggested by Lord Maxwell's Goodnight in the Border Minstrelsy.'

+The Story.+--John, ninth Lord Maxwell, killed Sir James Johnstone in 1608; the feud between the families was of long standing (see 3.4), beginning in 1585. Lord Maxwell fled the country, and was sentenced to death in his absence. On his return in 1612 he was betrayed by a kinsman, and beheaded at Edinburgh on May 21, 1613. This was the end of the feud, which contained cases of treachery and perfidy on both sides.

'Robert of Oarchyardtoun' was Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardton, Lord Maxwell's cousin.

'Drumlanrig,' 'Cloesburn,' and 'the laird of Lagg' were respectively named Douglas, Kirkpatrick, and Grierson.

The Maxwells had houses, or custody of houses at Dumfries, Lochmaben, Langholm, and Thrieve; and Carlaverock Castle is still theirs.

As for Lord Maxwell's 'lady and only joy,' the ballad neglects the fact that he instituted a process of divorce against her, and that she died, while it was pending, in 1608, five years before the date of the 'Goodnight.'

LORD MAXWELL'S LAST GOODNIGHT

1. 'Adiew, madam my mother dear, But and my sisters two! Adiew, fair Robert of Oarchyardtoun For thee my heart is woe.

2. 'Adiew, the lilly and the rose, The primrose, sweet to see! Adiew, my lady and only joy! For I manna stay with thee.

3. 'Tho' I have killed the laird Johnston, What care I for his feed? My noble mind dis still incline; He was my father's dead.

4. 'Both night and day I laboured oft Of him revenged to be, And now I've got what I long sought; But I manna stay with thee.

5. 'Adiew, Drumlanrig! false was ay, And Cloesburn! in a band, Where the laird of Lagg fra my father fled When the Johnston struck off his hand.

6. 'They were three brethren in a band; Joy may they never see! But now I've got what I long sought, And I maunna stay with thee.

7. 'Adiew, Dumfries, my proper place, But and Carlaverock fair! Adiew, the castle of the Thrieve, And all my buildings there!

8. 'Adiew, Lochmaben's gates so fair, The Langholm shank, where birks they be! Adiew, my lady and only joy! And, trust me, I maunna stay with thee.

9. 'Adiew, fair Eskdale, up and down, Where my poor friends do dwell! The bangisters will ding them down, And will them sore compel.

10. 'But I'll revenge that feed mysell When I come ou'r the sea; Adiew, my lady and only joy! For I maunna stay with thee.'

11. 'Lord of the land, will you go then Unto my father's place, And walk into their gardens green, And I will you embrace.

12. 'Ten thousand times I'll kiss your face, And sport, and make you merry.' 'I thank thee, my lady, for thy kindness, But, trust me, I maunna stay with thee.'

13. Then he took off a great gold ring, Whereat hang signets three; 'Hae, take thee that, my ain dear thing, And still hae mind of me;

14. 'But if thow marry another lord Ere I come ou'r the sea; Adiew, my lady and only joy! For I maunna stay with thee.'

15. The wind was fair, the ship was close, That good lord went away, And most part of his friends were there, To give him a fair convay.

16. They drank thair wine, they did not spare, Even in the good lord's sight; Now he is o'er the floods so gray, And Lord Maxwell has ta'en his goodnight.

[Annotations: 3.2: 'feed,' feud. 3.4: 'dead,' death. 8.2: 'shank,' point of a hill. 9.3: 'bangisters,' roisterers, freebooters. 14.1: 'But if,' unless.]

END OF THE THIRD SERIES

APPENDIX

THE JOLLY JUGGLER

+The Text+ is from a manuscript at Balliol College, Oxford, No. 354, already referred to in the First Series (p. 80) as supplying a text of _The Nut-brown Maid_. The manuscript, which is of the early part of the sixteenth century, has been edited by Ewald Flügel in _Anglia_, vol. xxvi., where the present ballad appears on pp. 278-9. I have only modernised the spelling, and broken up the lines, as the ballad is written in two long lines and a short one to each stanza.

No other text is known to me. The volume of _Anglia_ containing the ballad was not published till 1903, some five years after Professor Child's death; and I believe he would have included it in his collection had he known of it.

+The Story+ narrates the subjugation of a proud lady who scorns all her wooers, by a juggler who assumes the guise of a knight. On the morrow the lady discovers her paramour to be a churl, and he is led away to execution, but escapes by juggling himself into a meal-bag: the dust falls in the lady's eye.

It would doubtless require a skilled folk-lorist to supply full critical notes and parallels; but I subjoin such details as I have been able to collect.

In _The Beggar Laddie_ (Child, No. 280, v. 116) a pretended beggar or shepherd-boy induces a lassie to follow him, 'because he was a bonny laddie.' They come to his father's (or brother's) hall; he knocks, four-and-twenty gentlemen welcome him in, and as many gay ladies attend the lassie, who is thenceforward a knight's or squire's lady.

In _The Jolly Beggar_ (Child, No. 279, v. 109), which, with the similar Scottish poem _The Gaberlunzie Man_, is attributed without authority to James V. of Scotland, a beggar takes up his quarters in a house, and will only lie behind the hall-door, or by the fire. The lassie rises to bar the door, and is seized by the beggar. He asks if there are dogs in the town, as they would steal all his 'meal-pocks.' She throws the meal-pocks over the wall, saying, 'The deil go with your meal-pocks, my maidenhead, and a'.' The beggar reveals himself as a braw gentleman.

A converse story is afforded by the first part of the Norse tale translated by Dasent in _Popular Tales from the Norse_, 1888, p. 39, under the title of _Hacon Grizzlebeard_. A princess refuses all suitors, and mocks them publicly. Hacon Grizzlebeard, a prince, comes to woo her. She makes the king's fool mutilate the prince's horses, and then makes game of his appearance as he drives out the next day. Resolved to take his revenge, Hacon disguises himself as a beggar, attracts the princess's notice by means of a golden spinning-wheel, its stand, and a golden wool-winder, and sells them to her for the privilege of sleeping firstly outside her door, secondly beside her bed, and finally in it. The rest of the tale narrates Hacon's method of breaking down the princess's pride.

Other parallels of incident and phraseology may be noted:--

4.1 'well good steed'; 'well good,' a commonplace = very good; for 'well good steed,' cf. _John o' the Side_, 34.3 (p. 162 of this volume).

7.1 'Four-and-twenty knights.' The number is a commonplace in ballads; especially cf. _The Beggar Laddie_ (as above), Child's text A, st. 13:

'Four an' tuenty gentelmen They conved the beager ben, An' as mony gay ladës Conved the beager's lassie.'

12.4 For the proper mediæval horror of 'churl's blood,' see _Glasgerion_, stt. 12, 19 (First Series, pp. 4, 5).

13.3 'meal-pock.' The meal-bag was part of the professional beggar's outfit; see _Will Stewart and John_, 78.3 (Child, No. 107, ii. 437). For blinding with meal-dust, see _Robin Hood and the Beggar_, ii. 77, 78 (Child, No. 134, iii. 163). The meal-pock also occurs in _The Jolly Beggar_, as cited above.

THE JOLLY JUGGLER

Draw me near, draw me near, Draw me near, ye jolly jugglere!

1. Here beside dwelleth A rich baron's daughter; She would have no man That for her love had sought her. _So nice she was!_

2. She would have no man That was made of mould, But if he had a mouth of gold To kiss her when she would. _So dangerous she was!_

3. Thereof heard a jolly juggler That laid was on the green; And at this lady's words I wis he had great teen. _An-ang'red he was!_

4. He juggled to him a well good steed Of an old horse-bone, A saddle and a bridle both, And set himself thereon. _A juggler he was!_

5. He pricked and pranced both Before that lady's gate; She wend he [had] been an angel Was come for her sake. _A pricker he was!_

6. He pricked and pranced Before that lady's bower; She wend he had been an angel Come from heaven tower. _A prancer he was!_

7. Four-and-twenty knights Led him into the hall, And as many squires His horse to the stall, _And gave him meat_.

8. They gave him oats And also hay; He was an old shrew And held his head away. _He would not eat._

9. The day began to pass, The night began to come, To bed was brought The fair gentlewoman, _And the juggler also_.

10. The night began to pass, The day began to spring; All the birds of her bower, They began to sing, _And the cuckoo also_!

11. 'Where be ye, my merry maidens, That ye come not me to? The jolly windows of my bower Look that you undo, _That I may see_!

12. 'For I have in mine arms A duke or else an earl.' But when she looked him upon, He was a blear-eyed churl. _'Alas!' she said._

13. She led him to an hill, And hanged should he be. He juggled himself to a meal-pock; The dust fell in her eye; _Beguiled she was_.

14. God and our Lady And sweet Saint Joham Send every giglot of this town Such another leman, _Even as he was_!

[Annotations: 2.3: 'But if,' unless. 3.4: 'teen,' wrath. 5.3, 6.3: 'wend,' thought. 5.3: 'had' omitted in the manuscript. 8.3: 'He': the manuscript reads '&.' 13.3: 'meal-pock,' meal-bag. 14.3: 'giglot,' wench.]

INDEX OF TITLES PAGE

Baron of Brackley, The, 122 Battle of Harlaw, The, 194 Battle of Otterburn, The, 16 Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, 133 Bewick and Grahame, 101 Braes of Yarrow, The, 34

Captain Car, 62 Clyde's Water, 140

Death of Parcy Reed, The, 93 Dick o' the Cow, 75 Durham Field, 181

Earl Bothwell, 177

Fire of Frendraught, The, 112 Flodden Field, 71

Gardener, The, 153 Geordie, 118 Gipsy Laddie, The, 129

Heir of Linne, The, 170 Hunting of the Cheviot, The, 1

Jamie Douglas, 164 John o' the Side, 156 Johnie Armstrong, 30 Jolly Juggler, The, 211

Katharine Jaffray, 145 Kinmont Willie, 49

Laird of Knottington, The, 200 Laird o' Logie, The, 58 Lizie Lindsay, 148 Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight, 206

Mary Hamilton, 44

Outlyer Bold, The, 40

Sir Hugh in the Grime's Downfall, 89 Sir James the Rose, 135 Sir Patrick Spence, 68

Twa Brothers, The, 37 Waly, waly, gin love be bonny, 168 Whummil Bore, The, 204

INDEX OF FIRST LINES PAGE

Adiew, madam my mother dear, 207 As I cam in by Dunidier, 195

God send the land deliverance, 94 Good Lord John is a hunting gone, 89

Here beside dwelleth, 214

I dreamed a dreary dream this night, 34 Inverey cam doun Deeside, whistlin' and playin', 123 It befell at Martynmas, 63 It's of a young lord o' the Hielands, 148 I will sing, if ye will hearken, 59

King Jamie hath made a vow, 72

Lordings, listen and hold you still, 182

Now Liddisdale has long lain in, 76

O Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, 134 Of all the lords in fair Scotland, 171 O have ye na heard o' the fause Sakelde, 50 O heard ye of Sir James the Rose, 135 Old Grahame he is to Carlisle gone, 101 O waly, waly up the bank, 168

Peter o' Whifield he hath slain, 157

Seven lang years I hae served the king, 204

The eighteenth of October, 113 The gardener stands in his bower-door, 153 The king sits in Dumferling toune, 69 The Persë owt off Northombarlonde, 3 There cam singers to Earl Cassillis' gates, 130 There dwelt a man in faire Westmerland, 30 There liv'd a lass in yonder dale, 145 There was a battle in the north, 118 There was a troop of merry gentlemen, 200 There were three sisters, they lived in a bower, 40 There were twa brethren in the north, 37

Waly, waly up the bank, 165 Woe worth thee, woe worth thee, false Scotland, 177 Word's gane to the kitchen, 46

Ye gie corn unto my horse, 141 Yt fell abowght the Lamasse tyde, 18

Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Errata:

Bewick and Grahame [Stanza 33.] But if thou be a man, as I trow thou art, _text reads "he a man"_ Durham Field _"Crecy" consistently written with cedilla_ Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight [editor's introduction] As for Lord Maxwell's 'lady and only joy,' _close quote missing_