Part 12

This affray occurred in September, 1666. The account of it given by the Gordons (the son of the murdered laird and the Marquis of Huntly) was that John Gordon of Brackley, having poinded cattle belonging to John Farquharson of Inverey, or his followers, Inverey “convoked his people, to revenge himself on Brackley for putting the law in execution; that he came to the house of Brackley, and required the laird to restore his cattle which had been poinded; and that, although the laird gave a fair answer, yet the Farquharsons, with the view of drawing him out of his house, drove away not only the poinded cattle but also Brackley’s own cattle, and when the latter was thus forced to come out of his house, the Farquharsons fell on him and murdered him and his brother.”

A memorandum for John Farquharson of Inverey and others, 24 January, 1677, “sets forth that John Gordon of Brackley, having bought from the sheriff of Aberdeen the fines exigible from Inverey and others for killing of black-fish, the said Brackley made friendly arrangements with others, but declined to settle with Inverey; whereupon the latter, being on his way to the market at Tullich,[62] sent Mr John Ferguson, minister at Glenmuick, John McHardy of Crathie, a notary, and Duncan Erskine, portioner of Invergelder, to the laird of Brackley, with the view of representing to him that Inverey and his tenants were willing to settle their fines on the same terms as their neighbors. These proposals were received by Brackley with contempt, and during the time of the communing he gathered his friends and attacked Inverey, and having ‘loused severall shotts’ against Inverey’s party, the return shots of the latter were in self-defence. The result was that the laird of Brackley, with his brother William and their cousin James Gordon in Cults, were killed on the one side, and on the other Robert McWilliam in Inverey, John McKenzie, sometime there, and Malcom Gordon the elder.” The convocation of Inverey’s friends is accounted for in the same document by the fact that Inverey was captain of the watch for the time; that he and his ancestors had been used to go to the market with men to guard it; and that it is the custom of the country for people who are going to the market to join any numerous company that may be going the same way, either for their own security or out of “kindness for the persons with whom they go,” and also the custom of that mountainous country to go with arms, especially at markets. (Abstract, by Dr. John Stuart, of a MS. of Col. James Farquharson of Invercauld, Historical MSS Commission, Fourth Report, p. 534).

Another account, agreeing in all important points with the last, is given in a history of the family of Macintosh.[63] It will be borne in mind that Inverey belonged to this clan, and that acts of his would therefore be put in a favorable light. Brackley had seized the horses of some of Inverey’s people on account of fines alleged to be due by them for taking salmon in the Dee out of season. Inverey represented to Brackley that the sufferers by this proceeding were men who had incurred no penalty, and offered, if the horses should be restored, to deliver the guilty parties for punishment. Brackley would not return the horses on these terms, and Inverey then proposed that the matter in dispute should be left to friends. While Brackley was considering what to do, Alexander Gordon of Aberfeldy came to offer his services, with a body of armed men, and Brackley, now feeling himself strong, rejected the suggestion of a peaceful solution, and set out to attack Inverey. When a collision was impending, Inverey at first drew back, begging Brackley to desist from violence, which only made Brackley and Aberfeldy the keener. Two of Inverey’s followers were slain; and then Inverey and his men, in self-defence, turned on their assailants, and killed Gordon of Brackley, his brother William, and James Gordon of Cults.

The Gordons, this account further says, began a prosecution of Inverey and his party before the Court of Justiciary. Inverey had recourse to Macintosh, his chief, who exerted himself so effectually in behalf of his kinsman that when the case was called no plaintiff appeared. Nevertheless Dr John Stuart (Historical MSS, as above) produces a warrant “for apprehending John Farquharson of Inverey and others his followers, who had been outlawed for not compearing to answer at their trial, and had subsequently continued for many years in their outlawry, associating with themselves a company of thieves, murderers, and sorners; therefore empowering James Innes, Serjeant, and Corporal Radnoch, commanding a party of troops at Kincardine O’Neill, to apprehend the said John Farquharson and his accomplices.” From this warrant Dr Stuart considers that we may infer that Inverey was the aggressor in the affray with Brackley. But there is nothing to identify the case, and the date of the warrant is February 12, 1685, nearly twenty years from the affair which we are occupied with, during which space, unless he were of an unusually peaceable habit, Inverey might have had several broils on his hands.

Gordon of Brackley, as reported by Mrs Brown, from what she may have heard in her girlhood, a hundred years after his tragical end, was “a man universally esteemed.”[64] “Farquharson of Inverey,” says Jamieson, without giving his authority, “a renowned freebooter on Deeside, was his relation, and in habits of friendly intercourse with him. Farquharson was fierce, daring, and active, exhibiting all the worst characteristics of a freebooter, with nothing of that blunt and partially just and manly generosity which were then not uncommonly met with among that description of men. The common people supposed him (as they did Dundee, and others of the same cast who were remarkable for their fortunate intrepidity and miraculous escapes) to be a warlock, and proof against steel and lead. He is said to have been buried on the north side of a hill, which the sun could never shine upon, etc.” All which, as far as appears, is merely the tradition of Jamieson’s day, and will be taken at different values by different readers.

The ‘Peggy’ of #A a#, #b#, #C#, #D# was Margaret Burnet, daughter of Sir Thomas Burnet of Leys, and own cousin of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury.[65] This lady married Gordon of Brackley against her friends’ wishes, or without their consent, and so probably made a love-match. After Brackley’s death she married one James Leslie, Doctor of Medicine,[66] a fact which will suffice to offset the unconfirmed scandal of the ballad.

It is now to be noted that a baron of Brackley had been murdered by caterans towards the end of the preceding century. “The Clanchattan, who, of all that faction, most eagerly endeavored to revenge the Earl of Murray his death, assembling their forces under Angus Donald Williamson his conduct, entered Strathdee and Glenmuick, where they invaded the Earl of Huntly his lands, and killed four of the surname of Gordon, Henry Gordon of the Knock, Alexander Gordon of Teldow, Thomas Gordon of Blaircharrish, and the old baron of Breaghly, whose death and manner thereof was so much the more lamented because he was very aged, and much given to hospitality, and slain under trust. He was killed by them in his own house after he had made them good cheer, without suspecting or expecting any such reckoning for his kindly entertainment; which happened the first day of November, 1592. In revenge whereof the Earl of Huntly assembled some of his forces and made an expedition into Pettie,” etc. (See No 183, III, 456.) So writes Sir Robert Gordon, before 1630.[67]

Upon comparing Sir Robert Gordon’s description of the old baron of Brackley who was murdered in 1592 with what is said of the baron in the ballad (#A#), there is a likeness for which there is no historical authority in the instance of the baron of 1666. The ballad intimates the hospitality which is emphasized by Sir Robert Gordon, and also the baron’s unconsciousness of his having any foe to dread. (“An honest aged man,” says Spotiswood, “against whom they could pretend no quarrel.”) Other details are not pertinent to the elder baron, but belong demonstrably to the Brackley who had a quarrel with Farquharson.

Of the two, the older Brackley would have a better chance of being celebrated in a ballad. He was an aged and innocent man, slain while dispensing habitual hospitality, “slain under trust.” The younger Brackley treated Inverey’s people harshly, there was an encounter, Brackley was killed, and others on both sides. His friends may have mourned for him, but there was no call for the feeling expressed in the ballad; that would be more naturally excited by the death of the kindly old man, ‘who basely was slain.’ On the whole it may be surmised that two occurrences, or even two ballads, have been blended, and some slight items of corroborative evidence may favor this conclusion.

‘The Gordons may mourn him and bann Inverey,’ says #B# 14. It appears that the Earl of Aboyne sided with Inverey, though the Marquis of Huntly supported the laird of Brackley’s son;[68] whereas all the Gordons would have mourned the older baron, and none would have maintained the caterans who slew him.

In the affray with the Farquharsons in 1666 there were killed, of the Gordons, besides Brackley, his brother William and his cousin James Gordon of Cults. The Gordons killed by the Clanchattan in 1592 were Brackley, Henry Gordon of the Knock, an Alexander Gordon (also a Thomas). According to #A# 34, 35, the Gordons killed were Brackley and his brother William, his cousin James of the Knox [Knocks, Knock], and his uncle Alexander Gordon; according to #B# 12, 13, there were killed, besides Brackley, “Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock” (one and the same person), Brackley’s brother, as we see from 10; in #D# 10, the killed are Brackley, and Sandy Gordon o the Knock, called Peter in 21. A Gordon of the Knock is named as killed in #A#, #B#, #D#, and it is Henry Gordon in #B#; an Alexander Gordon is named in #A#, #B#. A William Gordon and a James (of the Knocks, not of the Cults) are named in #A#. On the whole, the names sort much better with the earlier story.

In #B# 15 we are told that if Craigievar had come up an hour sooner, Brackley had not been slain. Upon this Dr Joseph Robertson (who assigned the ballad to 1592) has observed, Kinloch MSS, VI, 24, that Craigievar passed to a branch of the family of Forbes in 1625; so that Craigievar would have done nothing to save Brackley in 1666, the Gordons and the Forbeses having long been at feud. To make sense of this stanza we must suppose an earlier date than 1625.

The fourth edition of Spotiswood’s history, printed in 1677 (about forty years after the author’s death), calls Brackley of 1592 _John_ Gordon. Further, there is this anonymous marginal note, not found in the preceding editions: “I have read in a MS. called the Acts of the Gordons, that Glenmuick, Glentaner, Strathdee and Birs were spoiled, and Brachlie, with his son-in-law, slain, by Mackondoquy [that is Maconochie, _alias_ Campbell] of Inner-Aw.”[69]

Brackley, on the Muick, is in close vicinity to the village of Ballater, on the Dee, some forty miles westward from Aberdeen.

Translated by Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, p. 156, after Allingham.

* * * * *

A

#a.# Scarce Ancient Ballads [Alexander Laing], Aberdeen, 1822, p. 9. #b.# Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 68. #c.# The New Deeside Guide, by James Brown (_i.e._ Joseph Robertson), Aberdeen [1832], p. 46.

1 Inverey cam doun Deeside, whistlin and playin, He was at brave Braikley’s yett ere it was dawin.

2 He rappit fu loudly an wi a great roar, Cried, Cum doun, cum doun, Braikley, and open the door.

3 ‘Are ye sleepin, Baronne, or are ye wakin? Ther’s sharpe swords at your yett, will gar your blood spin.

4 ‘Open the yett, Braikley, and lat us within, Till we on the green turf gar your bluid rin.’

5 Out spak the brave baronne, owre the castell-wa: ‘Are ye cum to spulyie and plunder mi ha?

6 ‘But gin ye be gentlemen, licht and cum in: Gin ye drink o my wine, ye’ll nae gar my bluid spin.

7 ‘Gin ye be hir’d widifus, ye may gang by, Ye may gang to the lawlands and steal their fat ky.

8 ‘Ther spulyie like rievers o wyld kettrin clan, Who plunder unsparing baith houses and lan.

9 ‘Gin ye be gentlemen, licht an cum [in], Ther’s meat an drink i my ha for every man.

10 ‘Gin ye be hir’d widifus, ye may gang by, Gang doun to the lawlands, and steal horse and ky.’

11 Up spak his ladie, at his bak where she lay, ‘Get up, get up, Braikley, and be not afraid; The’r but young hir’d widifus wi belted plaids.’

12 ‘Cum kiss me, mi Peggy, I’le nae langer stay, For I will go out and meet Inverey.

13 ‘But haud your tongue, Peggy, and mak nae sic din, For yon same hir’d widifus will prove themselves men.’

14 She called on her marys, they cam to her hand; Cries, Bring me your rocks, lassies, we will them command.

15 ‘Get up, get up, Braikley, and turn bak your ky, Or me an mi women will them defy.

16 ‘Cum forth then, mi maidens, and show them some play; We’ll ficht them, and shortly the cowards will fly.

17 ‘Gin I had a husband, whereas I hae nane, He woud nae ly i his bed and see his ky taen.

18 ‘Ther’s four-and-twenty milk-whit calves, twal o them ky, In the woods o Glentanner, it’s ther thei a’ ly.

19 ‘Ther’s goat i the Etnach, and sheep o the brae, An a’ will be plunderd by young Inverey.’

20 ‘Now haud your tongue, Peggy, and gie me a gun, Ye’ll see me gae furth, but I’ll never cum in.

21 ‘Call mi brother William, mi unkl also, Mi cousin James Gordon; we’ll mount and we’ll go.’

22 When Braikley was ready and stood i the closs, He was the bravest baronne that eer mounted horse.

23 Whan all wer assembld o the castell green, No man like brave Braikley was ther to be seen.

24 . . . . . . . ‘Turn bak, brother William, ye are a bridegroom;

25 ‘Wi bonnie Jean Gordon, the maid o the mill; O sichin and sobbin she’ll soon get her fill.’

26 ‘I’m no coward, brother, ’tis kend I’m a man; I’ll ficht i your quarral as lang’s I can stand.

27 ‘I’ll ficht, my dear brother, wi heart and gude will, And so will young Harry that lives at the mill.

28 ‘But turn, mi dear brother, and nae langer stay: What’ll cum o your ladie, gin Braikley thei slay?

29 ‘What’ll cum o your ladie and bonnie young son? O what’ll cum o them when Braikley is gone?’

30 ‘I never will turn: do you think I will fly? But here I will ficht, and here I will die.’

31 ‘Strik dogs,’ crys Inverey, ‘and ficht till ye’re slayn, For we are four hundered, ye are but four men.

32 ‘Strik, strik, ye proud boaster, your honour is gone, Your lands we will plunder, your castell we’ll burn.’

33 At the head o the Etnach the battel began, At Little Auchoilzie thei killd the first man.

34 First thei killd ane, and soon they killd twa, Thei killd gallant Braikley, the flour o them a’.

35 Thei killd William Gordon, and James o the Knox, And brave Alexander, the flour o Glenmuïck.

36 What sichin and moaning was heard i the glen, For the Baronne o Braikley, who basely was slayn!

37 ‘Cam ye bi the castell, and was ye in there? Saw ye pretty Peggy tearing her hair?’

38 ‘Yes, I cam by Braikley, and I gaed in there, And there [saw] his ladie braiding her hair.

39 ‘She was rantin, and dancin, and singin for joy, And vowin that nicht she woud feest Inverey.

40 ‘She eat wi him, drank wi him, welcomd him in, Was kind to the man that had slayn her baronne.’

41 Up spake the son on the nourice’s knee, ‘Gin I live to be a man, revenged I’ll be.’

42 Ther’s dool i the kitchin, and mirth i the ha, The Baronne o Braikley is dead and awa.

* * * * *

B

Kinloch MSS, V, 379, in the handwriting of John Hill Burton.

1 ‘Baron of Brackley, are ye in there? The’re sharp swords at yer yetts, winna ye spear.’

2 ‘If they be gentlemen, lat them cum in; But if they be reavers, we’ll gar them be taen.’

3 ‘It is na gentlemen, nor yet pretty lads, But a curn hir’d widdifus, wears belted plaids.’

4 She called on her women and bade them come in: ‘Tack a’ yer rocks, lasses, and we’ll them coman.

5 ‘We’ll fecht them, we’ll slight them, we’ll do what we can, And I vow we will shoot them altho we shod bang.

6 ‘Rise up, John,’ she said, ‘and turn in yer kye, For they’ll hae them to the Hielands, and you they’l defie.’

7 ‘Had your still, Catharine, and still yer young son, For ye’ll get me out, but I’ll never cum in.’

8 ‘If I had a man, as I hae na nane, He wudna lye in his bed and see his kye tane.’

9 ‘Ye’ll cum kiss me, my Peggy, and bring me my gun, For I’m gaing out, but I’ll never cum in.’

10 There was twenty wi Invery, twenty and ten; There was nane wi the baron but his brother and him.

11 At the head of Reneeten the battle began; Ere they wan Auchoilzie, they killed mony a man.

12 They killed Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock, The mullertd’s four sons up at Glenmuick.

13 They killed Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock, And they made the brave baron like kail to a pot.

14 First they killed ane, and then they killed twa, Then they killed the brave baron, the flower o them a’.

15 Then up came Craigievar, and a party wi him; If he had come an hour sooner, Brackley had not been slain.

16 ‘Came ye by Brackley? and was ye in there? Or say ye his lady, was making great care?’

17 ‘I came by Brackley, and I was in there, But I saw his lady no makin great care.

18 ‘For she eat wi them, drank wi them, welcomed them in; She drank to the villain that killed her guid man.

19 ‘Woe to ye, Kate Fraser! sorry may yer heart be, To see yer brave baron’s blood cum to yer knee.’

20 There is dule in the kitchen, and mirth i the ha, But the Baron o B[r]ackley is dead and awa.

* * * * *

C

#a.# Jamieson-Brown MS., Appendix, p. viii, as transcribed for Jamieson by Rev. Andrew Brown, and sent him by Mrs. Brown in a letter of June 18, 1801. #b.# Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, I, 102; Mrs. Brown’s copy combined with an imperfect one taken down by Sir W. Scott “from the recitation of two ladies, great-grandchildren of Farquharson of Inverey.”

1 O Inverey came down Dee side, whistling and playing; He’s landed at Braikly’s yates at the day dawing.

2 Says, Baron of Braikly, are ye within? There’s sharp swords at the yate will gar your blood spin.

3 The lady raise up, to the window she went; She heard her kye lowing oer hill and oer bent.

4 ‘O rise up, John,’ she says, ‘turn back your kye; They’re oer the hills rinning, they’re skipping away.’

5 ‘Come to your bed, Peggie, and let the kye rin, For were I to gang out, I would never get in.’

6 Then she’s cry’d on her women, they quickly came ben: ‘Take up your rocks, lassies, and fight a’ like men.

7 ‘Though I’m but a woman, to head you I’ll try, Nor let these vile Highland-men steal a’ our kye.’

8 Then up gat the baron, and cry’d for his graith; Says, Lady, I’ll gang, tho to leave you I’m laith.

9 ‘Come, kiss me, my Peggie, nor think I’m to blame; For I may well gang out, but I’ll never win in.’

10 When the Baron of Braikly rade through the close, A gallanter baron neer mounted a horse.

11 Tho there came wi Inverey thirty and three, There was nane wi bonny Braikly but his brother and he.

12 Twa gallanter Gordons did never sword draw; But against four and thirty, wae’s me, what was twa?

13 Wi swords and wi daggers they did him surround, And they’ve pierc’d bonny Braikly wi mony a wound.

14 Frae the head of the Dee to the banks of the Spey, The Gordons may mourn him, and bann Inverey.

15 ‘O came ye by Braikly, and was ye in there? Or saw ye his Peggy dear riving her hair?’

16 ‘O I came by Braikly, and I was in there, But I saw not his Peggy dear riving her hair.’

17 ‘O fye on ye, lady! how could ye do sae? You opend your yate to the faus Inverey.’

18 She eat wi him, drank wi him, welcomd him in; She welcomd the villain that slew her baron.

19 She kept him till morning, syne bad him be gane, And showd him the road that he woud na be tane.

20 ‘Thro Birss and Aboyne,’ she says, ‘lyin in a tour, Oer the hills of Glentanor you’ll skip in an hour.’

21 There is grief in the kitchen, and mirth in the ha, But the Baron of Braikly is dead and awa.

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D

Skene MS., p. 110; north of Scotland, 1802–3.

1 ‘Baron o Breachell, are ye within? The sharp souerd is at yer gate, Breachell, we’ll gar yer blood spin.’

2 ‘Thei’r at yer gate, Breachel, thei’r neither men nor lads, But fifty heard widifas, wi belted plaids.’

3 ‘O if I had a man,’ she says, ‘as it looks I had nane, He widna sit in the house and see my kye tane.

4 ‘But lasses tak down yer rocks, and we will defend . . . . . . .

5 ‘O kiss me, dear Peggy, and gee me down my gun, I may well ga out, but I ll never come in.’

6 Out spak his brither, says, Gee me yer hand; I’ll fight in yer cause sae lang as I may stand.

7 Whan the Baron o Breachell came to the closs, A braver baron neir red upon horse.

8 . . . . . . . I think the silly heard widifas are grown fighten men.

9 First they killed ane, and syen they killed twa, And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.

10 They killed Sandy Gordon, Sandy Gordon o the Knock, The miller and his three sons, that lived at Glenmuick.

11 First they killed ane, and seyn they killed twa, And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.

12 Up came Crigevar and a’ his fighten men: ‘Had I come an hour soonur, he sudna been slain.’

13 For first they killed ane, and seyn they killed twa, And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.

14 ‘O came ye by Breachell, lads? was ye in their? Saw ye Peggy Dann riving her hair?’

15 ‘We cam by Breachell, lads, we was in there, And saw Peggie Dann cairling her hair.

16 ‘She eat wi them, drank wi them, bad them come in To her house an bours that had slain her baron.

17 ‘Come in, gentlemen, eat and drink wi me; Tho ye ha slain my baron, I ha na a wite at ye.’

18 ‘O was [ye] at Glenmuik, lads? was ye in theire? Saw ye Cathrin Gordon rivin her hair?’

19 ‘We was at Glenmuik, lads, we was in there, We saw Cathrin Gordon rivin her hair.

20 ‘Wi the tear in her eye, seven bairns at her foot, The eighth on her knee....

21 They killed Peter Gordon, Peter Gordon of the Knock, The miller and his three sons, that lived at Glenmuik.

22 First they killed ane, and syn they killed twa, And the Baron of Breachell is dead and awa.

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#A.#

_No division of stanzas. Both copies are probably from stall-prints or broadsides. #b# differs frequently from #a# in spelling._

#a.#

5^2, 8^1. spulzie.

6^1. gentlmen.

11^3, 25^1, 40^1. we _for_ wi.

22^1. thee.

30^1. I will never.

#b.#

11^1. laid.

11^3. young _wanting_.

13^2. prove to be men.

15^2. For me.

16^1. ply.

19^1. Ther are goats.

20^2. never return.

22^1. thee.

25^2. seen (_phonetic_).

26^1. it’s kent.

30^1. I never will: ye.

30^2. No, here.

34^1. an syne.

36^1. was heard.

38^2. ther said.

#c.#

_This copy is to the extent of about two thirds taken from #a#; half a dozen stanzas are from Jamieson’s text, #C b#; half a dozen more agree, nearly or entirely, with #B#, and may have been derived from Dr. J. H. Burton, or directly from some traditional source. The order has been regulated by the editor, who has also made a slight verbal change now and then._

1–3==#a# 1–3.