Chapter 3

3. Newes then was brought unto the king That there was sicke a won as hee, That livëd lyke a bold out-law, And robbëd all the north country.

4. The king he writt an a letter then, A letter which was large and long; He signëd it with his owne hand, And he promised to doe him no wrong.

5. When this letter came Jonnë untill, His heart it was as blyth as birds on the tree: 'Never was I sent for before any king, My father, my grandfather, nor none but mee.

6. 'And if wee goe the king before, I would we went most orderly; Every man of you shall have his scarlet cloak, Laced with silver laces three.

7. 'Every won of you shall have his velvett coat, Laced with sillver lace so white; O the golden bands an about your necks, Black hatts, white feathers, all alyke.'

8. By the morrow morninge at ten of the clock, Towards Edenburough gon was hee, And with him all his eight score men; Good lord, it was a goodly sight for to see!

9. When Jonnë came befower the king, He fell downe on his knee; 'O pardon, my soveraine leige,' he said, 'O pardon my eight score men and mee.'

10. 'Thou shalt have no pardon, thou traytor strong, For thy eight score men nor thee; For to-morrow morning by ten of the clock, Both thou and them shall hang on the gallow-tree.'

11. But Jonnë looked over his left shoulder, Good Lord, what a grevious look looked hee! Saying, 'Asking grace of a graceles face-- Why there is none for you nor me.'

12. But Jonnë had a bright sword by his side, And it was made of the mettle so free, That had not the king stept his foot aside, He had smitten his head from his faire boddë.

13. Saying, 'Fight on, my merry men all, And see that none of you be taine; For rather than men shall say we were hange'd, Let them report how we were slaine.'

14. Then, God wott, faire Eddenburrough rose, And so besett poore Jonnë rounde, That fowerscore and tenn of Jonnë's best men Lay gasping all upon the ground.

15. Then like a mad man Jonnë laide about, And like a mad man then fought hee, Untill a falce Scot came Jonnë behinde, And runn him through the faire boddee.

16. Saying, 'Fight on, my merry men all, And see that none of you be taine; For I will stand by and bleed but awhile, And then will I come and fight againe.'

17. Newes then was brought to young Jonnë Armestrong As he stood by his nurse's knee, Who vowed if ere he live'd for to be a man, O' the treacherous Scots reveng'd hee'd be.

THE BRAES OF YARROW

+The Text+ was communicated to Percy by Dr. Robertson of Edinburgh, but it did not appear in the _Reliques_.

In 9.1, 'Then' is doubtless an interpolation, as are the words 'Now Douglas' in 11.1 But on the whole it is the best text of the fifteen or twenty variants.

+The Story.+--James Hogg and Sir Walter Scott referred the ballad to two different sources, the former legendary, and the latter historical. It has always been very popular in Scotland, and besides the variants there are in existence several imitations, such as the well-known poem of William Hamilton, 'Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny bonny bride.' This was printed in vol. ii. of Percy's _Reliques_.

About half the known variants make the hero and heroine man and wife, the other half presenting them as unmarried lovers.

THE BRAES OF YARROW

1. 'I dreamed a dreary dream this night, That fills my heart wi' sorrow; I dreamed I was pouing the heather green Upon the braes of Yarrow.

2. 'O true-luve mine, stay still and dine, As ye ha' done before, O;' 'O I'll be hame by hours nine, And frae the braes of Yarrow.'

3. 'I dreamed a dreary dream this night, That fills my heart wi' sorrow; I dreamed my luve came headless hame, O frae the braes of Yarrow!

4. 'O true-luve mine, stay still and dine. As ye ha' done before, O;' 'O I'll be hame by hours nine, And frae the braes of Yarrow.'

5. 'O are ye going to hawke,' she says, 'As ye ha' done before, O? Or are ye going to wield your brand, Upon the braes of Yarrow?'

6. 'O I am not going to hawke,' he says, 'As I have done before, O, But for to meet your brother John, Upon the braes of Yarrow.'

7. As he gaed down yon dowy den, Sorrow went him before, O; Nine well-wight men lay waiting him, Upon the braes of Yarrow.

8. 'I have your sister to my wife, Ye think me an unmeet marrow! But yet one foot will I never flee Now frae the braes of Yarrow.'

9. Then four he kill'd and five did wound, That was an unmeet marrow! And he had weel nigh wan the day Upon the braes of Yarrow.

10. But a cowardly loon came him behind, Our Lady lend him sorrow! And wi' a rappier pierced his heart, And laid him low on Yarrow.

11. Now Douglas to his sister's gane, Wi' meikle dule and sorrow: 'Gae to your luve, sister,' he says, 'He's sleeping sound on Yarrow.'

12. As she went down yon dowy den, Sorrow went her before, O; She saw her true-love lying slain Upon the braes of Yarrow.

13. She swoon'd thrice upon his breist That was her dearest marrow; Said, 'Ever alace, and wae the day Thou went'st frae me to Yarrow!'

14. She kist his mouth, she kaimed his hair, As she had done before, O; She wiped the blood that trickled doun Upon the braes of Yarrow.

15. Her hair it was three quarters lang, It hang baith side and yellow; She tied it round her white hause-bane, And tint her life on Yarrow.

[Annotations: 7.1: 'dowy,' dreary. 7.3: 'well-wight,' brave, sturdy. 13.: Apparently Percy's invention. 14.3: 'wiped': Child suggests the original word was 'drank.' 15.2: 'side,' long. 15.3: 'hause-bane,' neck.]

THE TWA BROTHERS

+The Text+ is from Sharpe's _Ballad Book_ (1823). Scott included no version of this ballad in his _Minstrelsy_; but Motherwell and Jamieson both had traditional versions. Motherwell considered it essential that the deadly wound should be accidental; but it is far more typical of a ballad-hero that he should lose his temper and kill his brother; and, as Child points out, it adds to the pathetic generosity of the slain brother in providing excuses for his absence to be made to his father, mother, and sister.

+The Story.+--Motherwell and Sharpe were more or less convinced that the ballad was founded on an accident that happened in 1589 to a Somerville, who was killed by his brother's pistol going off.

This ballad is still in circulation in the form of a game amongst American children--the last state of more than one old ballad otherwise extinct.

THE TWA BROTHERS

1. There were twa brethren in the north, They went to the school thegither; The one unto the other said, 'Will you try a warsle afore?'

2. They warsled up, they warsled down, Till Sir John fell to the ground, And there was a knife in Sir Willie's pouch, Gied him a deadlie wound.

3. 'Oh brither dear, take me on your back, Carry me to yon burn clear, And wash the blood from off my wound, And it will bleed nae mair.'

4. He took him up upon his back, Carried him to yon burn clear, And washd the blood from off his wound, But aye it bled the mair.

5. 'Oh brither dear, take me on your back, Carry me to yon kirk-yard, And dig a grave baith wide and deep, And lay my body there.'

6. He's taen him up upon his back, Carried him to yon kirk-yard, And dug a grave baith deep and wide, And laid his body there.

7. 'But what will I say to my father dear, Gin he chance to say, Willie, whar's John?' 'Oh say that he's to England gone, To buy him a cask of wine.'

8. 'And what will I say to my mother dear, Gin she chance to say, Willie, whar's John?' 'Oh say that he's to England gone, To buy her a new silk gown.'

9. 'And what will I say to my sister dear, Gin she chance to say, Willie, whar's John?' 'Oh say that he's to England gone, To buy her a wedding ring.'

10. 'But what will I say to her you lo'e dear, Gin she cry, Why tarries my John?' 'Oh tell her I lie in Kirk-land fair, And home again will never come.'

[Annotations: 1.4: 'warsle,' wrestle.]

THE OUTLYER BOLD

+The Text+ is taken from Motherwell's MS., which contains two versions; Motherwell printed a third in his _Minstrelsy_,--_Babylon; or, The Bonnie Banks o' Fordie_. Kinloch called the ballad the _Duke of Perth's Three Daughters_. As the following text has no title, I have ventured to give it one. 'Outlyer' is, of course, simply 'a banished man.'

+The Story+ is much more familiar in all the branches of the Scandinavian race than in England or Scotland. In Denmark it appears as _Herr Truels' Daughters_ or _Herr Thor's Children_; in Sweden as _Herr Torës' Daughters_. Iceland and Faroe give the name as Torkild or Thorkell.

The incidents related in this ballad took place (i) in Scotland on the bonnie banks o' Fordie, near Dunkeld; (ii) in Sweden in five or six different places; and (iii) in eight different localities in Denmark.

THE OUTLYER BOLD

1. There were three sisters, they lived in a bower, _Sing Anna, sing Margaret, sing Marjorie_ The youngest o' them was the fairest flower. _And the dew goes thro' the wood, gay ladie_

2. The oldest of them she's to the wood gane, To seek a braw leaf and to bring it hame.

3. There she met with an outlyer bold, Lies many long nights in the woods so cold.

4. 'Istow a maid, or istow a wife? Wiltow twinn with thy maidenhead, or thy sweet life?'

5. 'O kind sir, if I hae't at my will, I'll twinn with my life, keep my maidenhead still.'

6. He's taen out his wee pen-knife, He's twinned this young lady of her sweet life.

7. He wiped his knife along the dew; But the more he wiped, the redder it grew.

8. The second of them she's to the wood gane, To seek her old sister, and to bring her hame.

9. There she met with an outlyer bold, Lies many long nights in the woods so cold.

10. 'Istow a maid, or istow a wife? Wiltow twinn with thy maidenhead, or thy sweet life?'

11. 'O kind sir, if I hae't at my will, I'll twinn with my life, keep my maidenhead still.'

12. He's taen out his wee pen-knife, He's twinned this young lady of her sweet life.

13. He wiped his knife along the dew; But the more he wiped, the redder it grew.

14. The youngest o' them she's to the wood gane, To seek her two sisters, and to bring them hame.

15. There she met with an outlyer bold, Lies many long nights in the woods so cold.

16. 'Istow a maid, or istow a wife? Wiltow twinn with thy maidenhead, or thy sweet life?'

17. 'If my three brethren they were here, Such questions as these thou durst nae speer.'

18. 'Pray, what may thy three brethren be, That I durst na mak' so bold with thee?'

19. 'The eldest o' them is a minister bred, He teaches the people from evil to good.

20. 'The second o' them is a ploughman good, He ploughs the land for his livelihood.

21. 'The youngest of them is an outlyer bold, Lies many a long night in the woods so cold.'

22. He stuck his knife then into the ground, He took a long race, let himself fall on.

[Annotations: 4.1: 'Istow,' art thou. 4.2: 'twinn with,' part with. 17.2: 'speer,' ask.]

MARY HAMILTON

+The Text+ given here is from Sharpe's _Ballad Book_ (1824). Professor Child collected and printed some twenty-eight variants and fragments, of which none is entirely satisfactory, as regards the telling of the story. The present text will suit our purpose as well as any other, and it ends impressively with the famous pathetic verse of the four Maries.

+The Story.+--Lesley in his _History of Scotland_ (1830) says that when Mary Stuart was sent to France in 1548, she had in attendance 'sundry gentlewomen and noblemen's sons and daughters, almost of her own age, of the which there were four in special of whom everyone of them bore the same name of Mary, being of four sundry honourable houses, to wit, Fleming, Livingston, Seton, and Beaton of Creich.' The four Maries were still with the Queen in 1564. Hamilton and Carmichael appear in the ballad in place of Fleming and Livingston.

Scott attributed the origin of the ballad to an incident related by Knox in his _History of the Reformation_: in 1563 or 1564 a Frenchwoman was seduced by the Queen's apothecary, and the babe murdered by consent of father and mother. But the cries of a new-born babe had been heard; search was made, and both parents were 'damned to be hanged upon the public street of Edinburgh.'

In 1824, in his preface to the _Ballad Book_, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe produced a similar story from the Russian court. In 1885 this story was retold from authentic sources as follows. After the marriage of one of the ministers of Peter the Great's father with a Hamilton, the Scottish family ranked with the Russian aristocracy. The Czar Peter required that all his Empress Catharine's maids-of-honour should be remarkably handsome; and Mary Hamilton, a niece, it is supposed, of the above minister's wife, was appointed on account of her beauty. This Mary Hamilton had an amour with one Orlof, an aide-de-camp to the Czar; a murdered babe was found, the guilt traced to Mary, and she and Orlof sent to prison in April 1718. Orlof was afterwards released; Mary Hamilton was executed on March 14, 1719.

Professor Child, in printing this ballad in 1889, considered the details of the Russian story[1] (most of which I have omitted) to be so closely parallel to the Scottish ballad, that he was convinced that the later story was the origin of the ballad, and that the ballad-maker had located it in Mary Stuart's court on his own responsibility. In September 1895 Mr. Andrew Lang contributed the results of his researches concerning the ballad to _Blackwood's Magazine_, maintaining that the ballad must have arisen from the 1563 story, as it is too old and too good to have been written since 1718. Balancing this improbability--that the details of a Russian court scandal of 1718 should exactly correspond to a previously extant Scottish ballad--against the improbability of the eighteenth century producing such a ballad, Child afterwards concluded the latter to be the greater. The coincidence is undoubtedly striking; but neither the story nor the name are uncommon.

[Footnote 1: See Waliszewski's _Peter the Great_ (translated by Lady Mary Loyd), vol. i. p. 251. London, 1897.]

It is, of course, possible that the story is older than 1563--it should not be difficult to find more than one instance--and that it was first adapted to the 1563 incident and afterwards to the Russian scandal, the two versions being subsequently confused. But there is no evidence for this.

MARY HAMILTON

1. Word's gane to the kitchen, And word's gane to the ha', That Marie Hamilton gangs wi' bairn To the hichest Stewart of a'.

2. He's courted her in the kitchen, He's courted her in the ha', He's courted her in the laigh cellar, And that was warst of a'.

3. She's tyed it in her apron And she's thrown it in the sea; Says, 'Sink ye, swim ye, bonny wee babe, You'll ne'er get mair o' me.'

4. Down then cam the auld queen, Goud tassels tying her hair: 'O Marie, where's the bonny wee babe That I heard greet sae sair?'

5. 'There was never a babe intill my room, As little designs to be; It was but a touch o' my sair side, Come o'er my fair bodie.'

6. 'O Marie, put on your robes o' black, Or else your robes o' brown, For ye maun gang wi' me the night, To see fair Edinbro' town.'

7. 'I winna put on my robes o' black, Nor yet my robes o' brown; But I'll put on my robes o' white, To shine through Edinbro' town.'

8. When she gaed up the Cannogate, She laugh'd loud laughters three; But whan she cam down the Cannogate The tear blinded her ee.

9. When she gaed up the Parliament stair, The heel cam aff her shee; And lang or she cam down again She was condemn'd to dee.

10. When she cam down the Cannogate, The Cannogate sae free, Many a ladie look'd o'er her window, Weeping for this ladie.

11. 'Ye need nae weep for me,' she says, 'Ye need nae weep for me; For had I not slain mine own sweet babe, This death I wadna dee.

12. 'Bring me a bottle of wine,' she says, 'The best that e'er ye hae, That I may drink to my weil-wishers, And they may drink to me.

13. 'Here's a health to the jolly sailors, That sail upon the main; Let them never let on to my father and mother But what I'm coming hame.

14. 'Here's a health to the jolly sailors, That sail upon the sea; Let them never let on to my father and mother That I cam here to dee.

15. 'Oh little did my mother think, The day she cradled me, What lands I was to travel through, What death I was to dee.

16. 'Oh little did my father think, The day he held up me, What lands I was to travel through, What death I was to dee.

17. 'Last night I wash'd the queen's feet, And gently laid her down; And a' the thanks I've gotten the nicht To be hang'd in Edinbro' town!

18. 'Last nicht there was four Maries, The nicht there'll be but three; There was Marie Seton, and Marie Beton, And Marie Carmichael, and me.'

KINMONT WILLIE

+The Text.+--There is only one text of this ballad, and that was printed by Scott in the _Minstrelsy_ from 'tradition in the West Borders'; he adds that 'some conjectural emendations have been absolutely necessary,' a remark suspicious in itself; and such modernities as the double rhymes in 26.3, 28.3, etc., do not restore confidence.

+The Story.+--The forcible entry into Carlisle Castle and the rescue of William Armstrong, called Will of Kinmouth, took place on April 13, 1596; but Kinmont Willie was notorious as a border thief at least as early as 1584.

The events leading up to the beginning of the ballad were as follow: 'The keen Lord Scroop' was Warden of the West-Marches of England, and 'the bauld Buccleuch' (Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm, or 'Branksome Ha',' 8.2) was the Keeper of Liddesdale. To keep a periodical day of truce, these two sent their respective deputies, the 'fause Sakelde' (or Salkeld) and a certain Robert Scott. In the latter's company was Kinmont Willie. Business being concluded, Kinmont Willie took his leave, and made his way along the Scottish side of the Liddel river, which at that point is the boundary between England and Scotland. The English deputy and his party spied him from their side of the stream; and bearing an ancient grudge against him as a notorious cattle-lifter and thief, they pursued and captured him, and he was placed in the castle of Carlisle.

This brings us to the ballad. 'Hairibee' (1.4) is the place of execution at Carlisle. The 'Liddel-rack' in 3.4 is a ford over the Liddel river. Branxholm, the Keeper's Hall (8.2) and Stobs (16.4) are both within a few miles of Hawick.

The remark in 16.2 appears to be untrue: the party that accompanied Buccleuch certainly contained several Armstrongs, including four sons of Kinmont Willie, and 'Dickie of Dryhope' (24.3) was also of that ilk; as well as two Elliots, though not Sir Gilbert, and four Bells. 'Red Rowan' was probably a Forster.

The tune blown on the Warden's trumpets (31.3,4) is said to be a favourite song in Liddesdale. See Chambers's _Book of Days_, i. 200.

KINMONT WILLIE

1. O have ye na heard o' the fause Sakelde? O have ye na heard o' the keen Lord Scroop? How they hae taen bauld Kinmont Willie, On Hairibee to hang him up?

2. Had Willie had but twenty men, But twenty men as stout as he, Fause Sakelde had never the Kinmont taen, Wi' eight score in his companie.

3. They band his legs beneath the steed, They tied his hands behind his back; They guarded him, fivesome on each side, And they brought him ower the Liddel-rack.

4. They led him thro' the Liddel-rack, And also thro' the Carlisle sands; They brought him to Carlisle castell, To be at my Lord Scroop's commands.

5. 'My hands are tied, but my tongue is free, And whae will dare this deed avow? Or answer by the Border law? Or answer to the bauld Buccleuch!'

6. 'Now haud thy tongue, thou rank reiver! There's never a Scot shall set ye free; Before ye cross my castle-yate, I trow ye shall take farewell o' me.'

7. 'Fear na ye that, my lord,' quo' Willie; 'By the faith o' my body, Lord Scroop,' he said, 'I never yet lodged in a hostelrie, But I paid my lawing before I gaed.'

8. Now word is gane to the bauld Keeper, In Branksome Ha' where that he lay, That Lord Scroop has taen the Kinmont Willie, Between the hours of night and day.

9. He has taen the table wi' his hand, He garr'd the red wine spring on hie; 'Now Christ's curse on my head,' he said, 'But avenged of Lord Scroop I'll be!

10. 'O is my basnet a widow's curch, Or my lance a wand of the willow-tree, Or my arm a ladye's lilye hand, That an English lord should lightly me?

11. 'And have they taen him, Kinmont Willie, Against the truce of Border tide, And forgotten that the bauld Buccleuch Is keeper here on the Scottish side?

12. 'And have they e'en taen him, Kinmont Willie, Withouten either dread or fear, And forgotten that the bauld Buccleuch Can back a steed, or shake a spear?

13. 'O were there war between the lands, As well I wot that there is none, I would slight Carlisle castell high, Tho' it were builded of marble stone.

14. 'I would set that castell in a low, And sloken it with English blood; There's nevir a man in Cumberland Should ken where Carlisle castell stood.

15. 'But since nae war's between the lands, And there is peace, and peace should be, I'll neither harm English lad or lass, And yet the Kinmont freed shall be!'

16. He has call'd him forty marchmen bauld, I trow they were of his ain name, Except Sir Gilbert Elliot, call'd The Laird of Stobs, I mean the same.

17. He has call'd him forty marchmen bauld, Were kinsmen to the bauld Buccleuch, With spur on heel, and splent on spauld, And gleuves of green, and feathers blue.

18. They were five and five before them a', Wi' hunting-horns and bugles bright; And five and five came wi' Buccleuch, Like Warden's men, arrayed for fight.

19. And five and five like a mason-gang, That carried the ladders lang and hie; And five and five like broken men; And so they reached the Woodhouselee.

20. And as we cross'd the Bateable Land, When to the English side we held, The first o' men that we met wi', Whae should it be but fause Sakelde!

21. 'Where be ye gaun, ye hunters keen?' Quo' fause Sakelde; 'come tell to me!' 'We go to hunt an English stag, Has trespass'd on the Scots countrie.'

22. 'Where be ye gaun, ye marshal-men?' Quo' fause Sakelde; 'come tell me true!' 'We go to catch a rank reiver, Has broken faith wi' the bauld Buccleuch.

23. 'Where are ye gaun, ye mason-lads, Wi' a' your ladders lang and hie?' 'We gang to herry a corbie's nest, That wons not far frae Woodhouselee.'

24. 'Where be ye gaun, ye broken men?' Quo' fause Sakelde; 'come tell to me!' Now Dickie of Dryhope led that band, And the nevir a word o' lear had he.

25. 'Why trespass ye on the English side? Row-footed outlaws, stand!' quo' he; The neer a word had Dickie to say, Sae he thrust the lance thro' his fause bodie.

26. Then on we held for Carlisle toun, And at Staneshaw-bank the Eden we cross'd; The water was great, and meikle of spait, But the nevir a horse nor man we lost.