Chapter 8

'Brave sailing here, my dear, And better sailing there, And brave sailing in my love's arms, O if I were there!'

+The Story+ is so slight that the song can scarcely be counted as a narrative. But it is one of the lyrical dialogues covered by the word 'ballad,' and was not ruled out by Professor Child. There seems to be a loss of half a verse in 7, which should doubtless be two stanzas.

THE GARDENER

1. The gardener stands in his bower-door, With a primrose in his hand, And by there came a leal maiden, As jimp's a willow wand. _And by_, etc.

2. 'O lady, can you fancy me, For to be my bride? You'll get a' the flowers in my garden To be to you a weed.

3. 'The lily white shall be your smock, Becomes your body neat; And your head shall be deck'd with jelly-flower, And the primrose in your breast.

4. 'Your gown shall be o' the sweet-william, Your coat o' camovine, And your apron o' the salads neat, That taste baith sweet and fine.

5. 'Your stockings shall be o' the broad kail-blade, That is baith broad and long; And narrow, narrow at the coot, And broad, broad at the brawn.

6. 'Your gloves shall be the marygold, All glittering to your hand, Well spread o'er wi' the blue blaewort, That grows in corn-land.'

7. 'O fare you well, young man,' she says, 'Farewell, and I bid adieu; Since you've provided a weed for me, Among the summer flowers, Then I'll provide another for you, Among the winter showers.

8. 'The new-fallen snow to be your smock, Becomes your body neat; And your head shall be deck'd with the eastern wind, And the cold rain on your breast.'

[Annotations: 2.4: 'weed,' dress. 4.2: 'camovine,' camomile. 5.3: 'coot,' ankle. 5.4: 'brawn,' calf.]

JOHN O' THE SIDE

'He is weil kend, Johne of the Syde, A greater theif did never ryde.'

Sir Richard Maitland.

+The Text+ is from the Percy Folio, but is given in modernised spelling. It lacks the beginning, probably, and one line in st. 3, which can be easily guessed; but as a whole it is an infinitely fresher and better ballad than that inserted in the _Minstrelsy_ of Sir Walter Scott.

+The Story+ is akin to that of _Kinmont Willie_ (p. 49). John of the Side (on the river Liddel, nearly opposite Mangerton) first appears about 1550 in a list of freebooters against whom complaints were laid before the Bishop of Carlisle. He was, it seems, another of the Armstrong family.

Hobby Noble has a ballad[1] to himself (as the hero of the present ballad deserves), in which mention is made of Peter of Whitfield. This is doubtless the person mentioned in the first line of _John o' the Side_ as having been killed presumably by John himself.

[Footnote 1: Child, No. 189, from Caw's _Poetical Museum_, but not of sufficient merit to be included here.]

'Culertun,' 10.1, is Chollerton on the Tyne. Percy suggests Challerton, and in the ballads upon which Scott founded his version the name is 'Choler-ford.' 'Howbrame wood' and 'Lord Clough' are not identified; and Flanders files, effective as they appear to be, are not otherwise known.

'The ballad,' says Professor Child, 'is one of the best in the world, and enough to make a horse-trooper of any young borderer, had he lacked the impulse.'

JOHN O' THE SIDE

1. Peter o' Whifield he hath slain, And John o' Side, he is ta'en, And John is bound both hand and foot, And to the New-castle he is gone.

2. But tidings came to the Sybil o' the Side, By the water-side as she ran; She took her kirtle by the hem, And fast she run to Mangerton.

3. ... ... ... The lord was set down at his meat; When these tidings she did him tell, Never a morsel might he eat.

4. But lords they wrung their fingers white, Ladies did pull themselves by the hair, Crying 'Alas and welladay! For John o' the Side we shall never see more.

5. 'But we'll go sell our droves of kine, And after them our oxen sell, And after them our troops of sheep, But we will loose him out of the New Castell.'

6. But then bespake him Hobby Noble, And spoke these words wondrous high; Says, 'Give me five men to myself, And I'll fetch John o' the Side to thee.'

7. 'Yea, thou'st have five, Hobby Noble, Of the best that are in this country; I'll give thee five thousand, Hobby Noble, That walk in Tyvidale truly.'

8. 'Nay, I'll have but five,' says Hobby Noble, 'That shall walk away with me; We will ride like no men of war, But like poor badgers we will be.'

9. They stuffed up all their bags with straw, And their steeds barefoot must be; 'Come on, my brethren,' says Hobby Noble, 'Come on your ways, and go with me.'

10. And when they came to Culerton ford, The water was up, they could it not go; And then they were ware of a good old man, How his boy and he were at the plough.

11. 'But stand you still,' says Hobby Noble, 'Stand you still here at this shore, And I will ride to yonder old man, And see where the gate it lies o'er.

12. 'But Christ you save, father!' quoth he, 'Christ both you save and see! Where is the way over this ford? For Christ's sake tell it me.'

13. 'But I have dwelled here three score year, So have I done three score and three; I never saw man nor horse go o'er, Except it were a horse of tree.'

14. 'But fare thou well, thou good old man! The devil in hell I leave with thee, No better comfort here this night Thou gives my brethren here and me.'

15. But when he came to his brether again, And told this tidings full of woe, And then they found a well good gate They might ride o'er by two and two.

16. And when they were come over the ford, All safe gotten at the last, 'Thanks be to God!' says Hobby Noble, 'The worst of our peril is past.'

17. And then they came into Howbrame wood, And there then they found a tree, And cut it down then by the root. The length was thirty foot and three.

18. And four of them did take the plank, As light as it had been a flea, And carried it to the New Castle, Where as John o' Side did lie.

19. And some did climb up by the walls, And some did climb up by the tree, Until they came up to the top of the castle, Where John made his moan truly.

20. He said, 'God be with thee, Sybil o' the Side! My own mother thou art,' quoth he; 'If thou knew this night I were here, A woe woman then wouldst thou be.

21. 'And fare you well, Lord Mangerton! And ever I say God be with thee! For if you knew this night I were here, You would sell your land for to loose me.

22. 'And fare thou well, Much, Miller's son! Much, Miller's son, I say; Thou has been better at mirk midnight Than ever thou was at noon o' the day.

23. 'And fare thou well, my good lord Clough! Thou art thy father's son and heir; Thou never saw him in all thy life But with him durst thou break a spear.

24. 'We are brothers childer nine or ten, And sisters children ten or eleven; We never came to the field to fight, But the worst of us was counted a man.'

25. But then bespake him Hobby Noble, And spake these words unto him; Says 'Sleepest thou, wakest thou, John o' the Side, Or art thou this castle within?'

26. 'But who is there,' quoth John o' the Side, 'That knows my name so right and free?' 'I am a bastard-brother of thine; This night I am comen for to loose thee.'

27. 'Now nay, now nay,' quoth John o' the Side, 'It fears me sore that will not be, For a peck of gold and silver,' John said, 'In faith this night will not loose me.'

28. But then bespake him Hobby Noble, And till his brother thus said he; Says 'Four shall take this matter in hand, And two shall tent our geldings free.'

29. Four did break one door without, Then John brake five himsel'; But when they came to the iron door, It smote twelve upon the bell.

30. 'It fears me sore,' said Much, the Miller, 'That here taken we all shall be;' 'But go away, brethren,' said John o' the Side, 'For ever alas! this will not be.'

31. 'But fie upon thee!' said Hobby Noble; 'Much, the Miller, fie upon thee! It sore fears me,' said Hobby Noble, 'Man that thou wilt never be.'

32. But then he had Flanders files two or thee, And he filed down that iron door, And took John out of the New Castle, And said 'Look thou never come here more!'

33. When he had him forth of the New Castle, 'Away with me, John, thou shalt ride.' But ever alas! it could not be, For John could neither sit nor stride.

34. But then he had sheets two or three, And bound John's bolts fast to his feet, And set him on a well good steed, Himself on another by him set.

35. Then Hobby Noble smiled and lough, And spoke these words in mickle pride; 'Thou sits so finely on thy gelding That, John, thou rides like a bride.'

36. And when they came thorough Howbrame town, John's horse there stumbled at a stone; 'Out and alas!' cried Much, the Miller, 'John, thou'll make us all be ta'en.'

37. 'But fie upon thee!' says Hobby Noble, 'Much, the Miller, fie on thee! I know full well,' says Hobby Noble, 'Man that thou wilt never be.'

38. And when they came into Howbrame wood, He had Flanders files two or three To file John's bolts beside his feet, That he might ride more easily.

39. Says 'John, now leap over a steed!' And John then he lope over five. 'I know well,' says Hobby Noble, 'John, thy fellow is not alive.'

40. Then he brought him home to Mangerton; The lord then he was at his meat; But when John o' the Side he there did see, For fain he could no more eat.

41. He says 'Blest be thou, Hobby Noble, That ever thou wast man born! Thou hast fetched us home good John o' the Side, That was now clean from us gone.'

[Annotations: 8.4: 'badgers,' corn-dealers or pedlars. 9.2: 'barefoot,' unshod. 11.4: 'gate,' way. 12.2: 'see,' protect. 13.4: 'tree,' wood. The Folio gives '3'; Percy suggested the emendation. 23.3: 'him' = man, which is suggested by Furnivall. 28.4: 'tent,' guard. 35.1: 'lough,' laughed. 39.2: 'lope,' leapt.]

JAMIE DOUGLAS AND WALY, WALY, GIN LOVE BE BONNY

+The Text+ of the ballad is here given from Kinloch's MSS., where it is in the handwriting of John Hill Burton when a youth. The text of the song _Waly, waly_, I take from Ramsay's _Tea-Table Miscellany_. The song and the ballad have become inextricably confused, and the many variants of the former contain a greater or a smaller proportion of verses apparently taken from the latter.

+The Story+ of the ballad as here told is nevertheless quite simple and straightforward. It is spoken in the first person by the daughter of the Earl of Mar. (She also says she is sister to the Duke of York, 7.4, a person often introduced into ballads.) Blacklaywood, the lady complains, has spoken calumniously of her to her lord, and she leaves him, saying farewell to her children, and taking her youngest son with her.

The ballad is historical in so far as that Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of the Earl of Mar, was married in 1670 to James, second Marquis of Douglas, and was formally separated from him in 1681. Further, tradition puts the blame of the separation on William Lawrie, factor to the Marquis, often styled the laird of Blackwood ('Blacklaywood,' 2.3), from his wife's family estate.

The non-historical points in the ballad are minor ones. The couple had only one child; and the lady's father could not have come to fetch her away (9.2), as the Earl of Mar died in 1668, before his daughter's wedding.

I have printed the song _Waly, waly_ not because it can be considered a ballad, but simply because it is so closely interwoven with _Jamie Douglas_. Stanza 6 is reminiscent of the beautiful English quatrain beginning:

'Westron wind, when will thou blow.'

See Chappell's _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, i. 57.

JAMIE DOUGLAS

1. Waly, waly up the bank, And waly, waly down the brae! And waly, waly to yon burn-side, Where me and my love wunt to gae!

2. As I lay sick, and very sick, And sick was I, and like to die, And Blacklaywood put in my love's ears That he staid in bower too lang wi' me.

3. As I lay sick, and very sick, And sick was I, and like to die, And walking into my garden green, I heard my good lord lichtlie me.

4. Now woe betide ye, Blacklaywood! I'm sure an ill death you must die; Ye'll part me and my ain good lord, And his face again I'll never see.

5. 'Come down stairs now, Jamie Douglas, Come down stairs and drink wine wi' me; I'll set thee into a chair of gold, And not one farthing shall it cost thee.'

6. 'When cockle-shells turn silver bells, And muscles grow on every tree, When frost and snow turn fiery baas, I'll come down the stair and drink wine wi' thee.'

7. 'What's needs me value you, Jamie Douglas, More than you do value me? The Earl of Mar is my father, The Duke of York is my brother gay.

8. 'But when my father gets word o' this, I trow a sorry man he'll be; He'll send four score o' his soldiers brave, To tak me hame to mine ain countrie.'

9. As I lay owre my castell-wa', I beheld my father comin' for me, Wi' trumpets sounding on every side; But they werena music at a' for me.

10. 'And fare ye weel now, Jamie Douglas! And fare ye weel, my children three! And fare ye weel, my own good lord! For my face again ye shall never see.

11. 'And fare ye weel now, Jamie Douglas! And fare ye weel, my children three! And fare ye weel now, Jamie Douglas, But my youngest son shall gae wi' me.'

12. 'What ails ye at your youngest son, Sits smilin' at the nurse's knee? I'm sure he never knew any harm, Except it was from his nurse or thee.'

13. ... ... ... ... ... ... And when I was into my coaches set, He made his trumpets a' to soun.'

14. I've heard it said, and it's oft times seen, The hawk that flies far frae her nest; And a' the world shall plainly see It's Jamie Douglas that I love best.

15. I've heard it said, and it's oft times seen, The hawk that flies from tree to tree; And a' the world shall plainly see It's for Jamie Douglas I maun die.

[Annotations: 1.1: 'Waly' = alas! 1.4: 'wunt' = were wont. 3.4: 'lichtlie,' make light of. 6.3: 'baas,' balls.]

WALY, WALY, GIN LOVE BE BONNY

1. O waly, waly up the bank! And waly, waly, down the brae! And waly, waly yon burn-side, Where I and my love wont to gae!

2. I lean'd my back unto an aik, I thought it was a trusty tree; But first it bow'd, and syne it brak, Sae my true-love did lightly me.

3. O waly, waly! but love be bonny A little time, while it is new; But when it is auld, it waxeth cauld, And fades away like morning dew.

4. O wherefore shoud I busk my head? Or wherefore shoud I kame my hair? For my true-love has me forsook, And says he'll never love me mair.

5. Now Arthur-Seat shall be my bed, The sheets shall ne'er be fyl'd by me; Saint Anton's well shall be my drink, Since my true-love has forsaken me.

6. Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw, And shake the green leaves off the tree? O gentle death, when wilt thou come? For of my life I am weary.

7. 'Tis not the frost that freezes fell, Nor blawing snaw's inclemency; 'Tis not sic cauld that makes me cry, But my love's heart grown cauld to me.

8. When we came in by Glasgow town, We were a comely sight to see; My love was cled in the black velvet, And I mysell in cramasie.

9. But had I wist, before I kiss'd, That love had been sae ill to win, I'd lock'd my heart in a case of gold, And pin'd it with a silver pin.

10. Oh, oh, if my young babe were born, And set upon the nurse's knee, And I mysell were dead and gane! For a maid again I'll never be.

THE HEIR OF LINNE

+The Text+ is taken from the Percy Folio, but I have modernised the spelling. For the _Reliques_ Percy made a ballad out of the Folio version combined with 'a modern ballad on a similar subject,' a broadside entitled _The Drunkard's Legacy_, thus producing a very good result which is about thrice the length of the Folio version.

The Scottish variant was noted by Motherwell and Buchan, but previous editors--Herd, Ritson, Chambers, Aytoun--had used Percy's composition.

+The Story.+--There are several Oriental stories which resemble the ballad as compounded by Percy from _The Drunkard's Legacy_. In most of these--Tartar, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, etc.--the climax of the story lies in the fact that the hero in attempting to hang himself by a rope fastened to the ceiling pulls down a hidden treasure. There is, of course, no such episode in _The Heir of Linne_, but all the stories have similar circumstances, and the majority present the moral aspect of unthriftiness, and of friends deserting a man who loses his wealth.

'Linne,' of course, is the place which is so often mentioned in ballads. See note, First Series, p. 1.

THE HEIR OF LINNE

1. Of all the lords in fair Scotland A song I will begin; Amongst them all there dwelled a lord, Which was the unthrifty lord of Linne.

2. His father and mother were dead him fro, And so was the head of all his kin; To the cards and dice that he did run He did neither cease nor blin.

3. To drink the wine that was so clear, With every man he would make merry; And then bespake him John of the Scales, Unto the heir of Linne said he;

4. Says 'How dost thou, lord of Linne? Dost either want gold or fee? Wilt thou not sell thy lands so broad To such a good fellow as me?

5. 'For ... I ... ,' he said, 'My land, take it unto thee.' 'I draw you to record, my lordës all.' With that he cast him a God's penny.

6. He told him the gold upon the board, It wanted never a bare penny. 'That gold is thine, the land is mine; The heir of Linne I will be.'

7. 'Here's gold enough,' saith the heir of Linne, 'Both for me and my company.' He drunk the wine that was so clear, And with every man he made merry.

8. Within three-quarters of a year His gold and fee it waxed thin, His merry men were from him gone, And left him himself all alone.

9. He had never a penny left in his purse, Never a penny left but three, And one was brass, and another was lead, And another was white money.

10. 'Now welladay!' said the heir of Linne, 'Now welladay, and woe is me! For when I was the lord of Linne, I neither wanted gold nor fee.

11. 'For I have sold my lands so broad, And have not left me one penny; I must go now and take some read Unto Edinburgh, and beg my bread.'

12. He had not been in Edinburgh Not three-quarters of a year, But some did give him, and some said nay, And some bid 'To the deil gang ye!

13. 'For if we should hang any landless fere, The first we would begin with thee.' 'Now welladay!' said the heir of Linne, 'Now welladay, and woe is me!

14. 'For now I have sold my lands so broad, That merry man is irk with me; But when that I was the lord of Linne, Then on my land I lived merrily.

15. 'And now I have sold my land so broad, That I have not left me one penny! God be with my father!' he said, 'On his land he lived merrily.'

16. Still in a study there as he stood, He unbethought him of a bill-- He unbethought him of a bill Which his father had left with him.

17. Bade him he should never on it look Till he was in extreme need; 'And by my faith,' said the heir of Linne, 'Than now I had never more need.'

18. He took the bill, and looked it on, Good comfort that he found there; It told him of a castle wall Where there stood three chests in fere.

19. Two were full of the beaten gold, The third was full of white money. He turned then down his bags of bread, And filled them full of gold so red.

20. Then he did never cease nor blin, Till John of the Scales' house he did win. When that he came to John of the Scales, Up at the speer he looked then.

21. There sat three lords upon a row, And John o' the Scales sat at the board's head, And John o' the Scales sat at the board's head, Because he was the lord of Linne.

22. And then bespake the heir of Linne, To John o' the Scales' wife thus said he; Said, 'Dame, wilt thou not trust me one shot That I may sit down in this company?'

23. 'Now Christ's curse on my head,' she said, 'If I do trust thee one penny!' Then bespake a good fellow, Which sat by John o' the Scales his knee;

24. Said, 'Have thou here, thou heir of Linne, Forty pence I will lend thee; Some time a good fellow thou hast been; And other forty if need be.'

25. They drunken wine that was so clear, And every man they made merry; And then bespake him John o' the Scales, Unto the lord of Linne said he;

26. Said, 'How dost thou, heir of Linne, Since I did buy thy lands of thee? I will sell it to thee twenty pound better cheap Nor ever I did buy it of thee.'

27. 'I draw you to record, lordës all;' With that he cast him a God's penny; Then he took to his bags of bread, And they were full of the gold so red.

28. He told him the gold then over the board, It wanted never a broad penny. 'That gold is thine, the land is mine, And heir of Linne again I will be.'

29. 'Now welladay!' said John o' the Scales' wife, 'Welladay, and woe is me! Yesterday I was the lady of Linne, And now I am but John o' the Scales' wife!'

30. Says 'Have thou here, thou good fellow, Forty pence thou did lend me, Forty pence thou did lend me, And forty pound I will give thee.

31. 'I'll make thee keeper of my forest, Both of the wild deer and the tame,' ... ... ... ... ... ...

32. But then bespake the heir of Linne, These were the words, and thus said he, 'Christ's curse light upon my crown, If e'er my land stand in any jeopardy!'

[Annotations: 2.3,4: Interchanged in manuscript. 2.4: 'blin,' stop. 5.1: Deficient in manuscript. 5.4: 'God's penny,' an earnest-penny, to clinch a bargain. 11.3: 'read,' advice. 13.1: 'fere,' companion. 14.2: 'irk with,' weary of. 16.2: 'unbethought him,' bethought himself. See _Old Robin of Portingale_, 5.3 (First Series, p. 14). 18.4:'in fere,' together. 19.4: ? 'gold and fee.' Cp. 27.4 20.4: Ritson said 'speer' was a hole in the wall of a house, through which the family received and answered the inquiries of strangers. This is apparently a mere conjecture. 22.3: 'shot,' reckoning. Cp. 'pay the shot.' 27.4: See 19.4 and note.]

EARL BOTHWELL

+The Text+ is from the Percy Folio, the spelling being modernised. Percy printed it (with alterations) in the _Reliques_.

+The Story+ of the ballad represents that Darnley was murdered by way of revenge for his participation in the murder of Riccio; that Mary sent for Darnley to come to Scotland, and that she was finally banished by the Regent. All of these statements, and several minor ones, contain as much truth as may be expected in a ballad of this kind.

Mary escaped from Lochleven Castle on May 2, 1568, and found refuge in England on the 16th. The ballad was doubtless written shortly afterwards. On March 24, 1579, a 'ballad concerninge the murder of the late Kinge of Scottes' was licensed to Thomas Gosson, a well-known printer of broadsides.

EARL BOTHWELL