Part 32

Four-and-twenty Highlanders, the leader of whom is one Willie, come to Strathdon from Carrie (Carvie?) side to steal away Eppie Morrie, who has refused to marry Willie. They tie her on a horse and take her to a minister, whom Willie, putting a pistol to his breast, orders to marry them. The minister will not consent unless Eppie is willing, and she strenuously refuses; so they take her to Carrie side and put her to bed. She defends herself successfully, and in the morning comes in her lover, Belbordlane, or John Forsyth, well armed, and we presume well supported, who carries her back to her mother, to be his bride.

Scott, Introduction to Rob Roy, Appendix, No V, cites two stanzas of a ballad derived from tradition which, if we had the whole, might possibly turn out to be the same story with different names.

Four-and-twenty Hieland men Came doun by Fiddoch side, And they have sworn a deadly aith Jean Muir suld be a bride.

And they have sworn a deadly aith, Ilke man upon his durke, That she should wed with Duncan Ger, Or they’d make bloody worke.

* * * * *

1 Four-and-twenty Highland men Came a’ from Carrie side To steal awa Eppie Morrie, Cause she would not be a bride.

2 Out it’s came her mother, It was a moonlight night, She could not see her daughter, Their swords they shin’d so bright.

3 ‘Haud far awa frae me, mother, Haud far awa frae me; There’s not a man in a’ Strathdon Shall wedded be with me.’

4 They have taken Eppie Morrie, And horse back bound her on, And then awa to the minister, As fast as horse could gang.

5 He’s taken out a pistol, And set it to the minister’s breast: ‘Marry me, marry me, minister, Or else I’ll be your priest.’

6 ‘Haud far awa frae me, good sir, Haud far awa frae me; For there’s not a man in all Strathdon That shall married be with me.’

7 ‘Haud far awa frae me, Willie, Haud far awa frae me; For I darna avow to marry you, Except she’s as willing as ye.’

8 They have taken Eppie Morrie, Since better could nae be, And they’re awa to Carrie side, As fast as horse could flee.

9 When mass was sung, and bells were rung, And all were bound for bed, Then Willie an Eppie Morrie In one bed they were laid.

10 ‘Haud far awa frae me, Willie, Haud far awa frae me; Before I’ll lose my maidenhead, I’ll try my strength with thee.’

11 She took the cap from off her head And threw it to the way; Said, Ere I lose my maidenhead, I’ll fight with you till day.

12 Then early in the morning, Before her clothes were on, In came the maiden of Scalletter, Gown and shirt alone.

13 ‘Get up, get up, young woman, And drink the wine wi me;’ ‘You might have called me maiden, I’m sure as leal as thee.’

14 ‘Wally fa you, Willie, That ye could nae prove a man And taen the lassie’s maidenhead! She would have hired your han.’

15 ‘Haud far awa frae me, lady, Haud far awa frae me; There’s not a man in a’ Strathdon The day shall wed wi me.’

16 Soon in there came Belbordlane, With a pistol on every side: ‘Come awa hame, Eppie Morrie, And there you’ll be my bride.’

17 ‘Go get to me a horse, Willie, And get it like a man, And send me back to my mother A maiden as I cam.

18 ‘The sun shines oer the westlin hills; By the light lamp of the moon, Just saddle your horse, young John Forsyth, And whistle, and I’ll come soon.’

* * * * *

5^1. pistol, and.

5^2. Set.

16^1. their.

224

THE LADY OF ARNGOSK

Sharpe’s Ballad Book, 1823, p. 99.

“The following fragment,” says Sharpe in his preface (he had not then recovered the second stanza), “I cannot illustrate either from history or tradition.” Very soon after the publication of the Ballad Book, full particulars of the carrying off of the Lady of Arngosk were procured for him by David Webster, the bookseller. Webster addressed himself to Mrs Isobell Dow, otherwise Mrs Mac Leish, of Newburgh, Fife, whose mother, he had learned, was waiting-maid to the lady at the time of the rape. “In my very early years,” he wrote, July 4, 1823, “I have listened with great delight to my mother when she sung me a song the first stanza of which was this:

The Highlandmen are a’ cum down, They’re a’ cum down almost, They’ve stowen awa the bonny lass, The lady of Arngosk.

“Now Miss Finlay informs me that Isobel Stewart, your mother, was waiting-maid to the ‘bonny lass’ at the time she was ‘stowen awa,’ and that you are the most likely person now alive who will be able to recollect the song, or the particulars that gave rise to it. My reason for requesting this favour from a lady I have not the pleasure to know is, some gentlemen, my acquaintance, are making a collection of old Scots songs, which is printing, and they are anxious to have it as full as possible. We therefore wish a copy of the song entire, if you can recollect it, and the name of the lady who was the ‘bonny lass,’” etc. Mrs Dow replied, July 8, through John Masterton, that she was “sorrow” to say that she could not recollect more of the song than Webster was already in possession of, but the story she could never forget, having heard her mother repeat it so often: and this story Masterton proceeds to give in Mrs Dow’s own words. Although Mrs Dow was liberal of details, Webster seems to have wanted to hear more, and accordingly Masterton writes at greater length July 30, repeating what had been said before, with “some particular incidents” omitted in the former letter, but nothing very material except that Miss Gibb was rich, and that Isobell Dow had “brought to her recolection another verse of the song” (st. 2). The earlier letter even is somewhat out of proportion to so meagre a relic of verse, an intolerable deal of bread to a half-penny worth of sack; but it is very readable, and has some value as a chapter from domestic life in Scotland in the first half of the last century.[124]

NEWBURGH, _8 July, 1823_.

DEAR SIR. I am directed by Isobell Dow to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, and to write you an answer to your request respecting the stealing awa the Lady of Arngosk. She is sorrow to say she cannot recolect any more of the song than what you are in possession off already. As for the truth of the story, she can never forget, having heard her mother repeat it so often. I will therefore give you it in her own words.

Yours, &c.,

JN MASTERSON.

My mother was waiting-maid to the Lady of Arngask, whose name was Miss Margret Gibb, at which time two gentlemen paid addresses to her; the one a Mr Jamieson, a writer in Strathmiglo, the other a Mr Graham, of Bracko Castle, who was the subject of the story; but his love did not meet with a return suitable to his wishes; he therefore came to the strong resolution of taking her away by force. It will be proper to mention that he came two nights previous, when my mother was in the barn dighting corn, and accosted her thus: Tiby, I want to see Margret. She answerd: I doubt, Mr Graham, you canna see her the night, but I’ll gang an tell her. She went and was orderd to tell him that he could not see her; which put him in such a frenzy that he ran up and down the barn through chaff and corn up to the middle; however, he forced in to her company, but what passed betwixt them my mother did not know. But on the second night after, at midnight, when in bed (my mother alway sleeping with Miss Gibb),[125] a very sharp knock was heard at the door, which alarmd them very much, it being a lonely place. My mother went and called, who was there; she was answered, Open the door, Tiby, and see. She said: Keep me! Mr Graham, what way are you here at this time? Ye canna won in the night. She drew the bar, and was almost frighted out of her sences by the appearance of above thirty Hillandmen on horseback, all armed with swords and dirks, &c. She atempted to shut the door again, but Mr Graham pressed his knee in and forced his way. He went ben, and ordered them to put on their clothes an go along with him. Miss Gibb insisted on stoping ere daylight, and she would go with good will; but he would admit of no delay, but ordered her to dress herself imediately, otherwise he would do it by force. She then said she would not go unless Tiby acompanied her, which he said he intended to propose had she not mentioned it; but my mother would not go, she said, to ride behind none of these Hillandmen. Mr Graham then proposed to take her behind himself. They did then all mount; he at the same time used the precaution of placing sentries on the houses where the other servants lodged, to prevent them giving the alarm, and also three stout men at the bell of the church, to prevent it being rung. They kept their posts till they thought them a sufficient distance on the way, Mr Graham always joking to my mother about something or other, asuring her so soon as he had all over he would make her happy and comfortable all the days of her life. They rode on over hill and dale till within sight of Bracko Castle, when all of a sudden the Hillanmen dispersed, or deserted them, excepting his own imediate servants; which my mother thought was because he had deceived them, saying that the lady was willing to marry him but her friends would not alow, which by this time they must have found out. He told my mother that a minister was waiting them at Bracko, but he must have been disappointed, for the minister never appeared; else, she always thought, they would been married. Report said that Mr Jamieson had so contrived to stop his arrival. My mother and Miss Margret were then secured in an uper room in the castle till the next day, when there appeared mostly all the men of the parishes of Arngask and Strathmiglo, demanding their lady; my father among the rest, demanding my mother as his intended wife. It seemed so soon as the Hillan sentries were gone from the houses and church-bell of Arngask, that the servants ran to the bell, and rang such a peal as made all the Ochles resound wi the sad news that their lady was stowen awa by Graham an his clan. Mr Jamieson was no less busy in alarming and rousing the indignation of the good folk of Strathmiglo, who were much atached to her interest, so that both parishes rose to a man, and armed themselves with whatever came in the way, and marched in a body to make an attack on the castle, and rescue their much esteemed lady. But on their making their appearance before the castle in such formidable array, Mr Graham thought it prudent to surender rather than sustain the attack of such a body of desperate men. Mr Graham conducted them down stairs with his cap in hand (the gentlemen in those days wore velvet caps), and addressed her thus: I shall see you on your horse, Margret, for a’ the ill you’ve done me, and bade her a long and lasting farewell; at which she stamped with her foot and recommended him to the devil. They all came home in safety, and the bells, that so lately rang to alarm and spread the dismal news, were again rung to proclaim the happy return of the lady that was stowen awa. Bonefires were also erected on the highest of the Ochles. She was married that same year to Mr Jamieson, and I suppose some of their children are alive to this day. It was generaly reported that Mr Graham was so much affronted at the dissapointment that he left the country soon after.

Such, sir, is the story that gave rise to the song you are so much in request off, which I have gathered from Isobell Dow, and put in order according to my weak capacity, knowing it will fall into better and abler hands, and that, altho the song be a wanting, there is ample mater for composition.

I remain your most Obed^t H^{le} Serv^t,

JOHN MASTERTON, for ISOBELL DOW.

P. S. I had almost forgot to mention as to the period of time when it happened, which cannot be less than 87 years, which Isobell makes out in the following maner; it being two years before her father and mother was married, and that they lived together fifty-one years, it being now thirty-four years since her mother died, which makes it to have been about the year 1736.

J. M.

* * * * *

1 The Highlandmen hae a’ come down, They’ve a’ come down almost, They’ve stowen away the bonny lass, The Lady of Arngosk.

2 They hae put on her petticoat, Likewise her silken gown; The Highland man he drew his sword, Said, Follow me ye’s come.

3 Behind her back they’ve tied her hands, An then they set her on; ‘I winna gang wi you,’ she said, ‘Nor ony Highland loon.’

225

ROB ROY

#A.# Skene MS., p. 44.

#B.# ‘Rob Roy,’ Kinloch MSS, I, 343.

#C.# ‘Rob Roy MacGregor,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 93.

#D.# ‘Rob Roy,’ “Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No 147, Abbotsford.

#E.# ‘Rob Roy,’ Pitcairn’s MSS, III, 41.

#F.# ‘Rob Roy,’ Campbell MSS, II, 229.

#G.# ‘Rob Roy,’ Cromek’s Select Scotish Songs, 1810, II, 199.

#H.# Sir Walter Scott’s Introduction to “Rob Roy,” Appendix, No V.

#I.# ‘Rob Roy,’ Campbell’s MSS, II, 58.

#J.# ‘Rob Oig,’ A Garland of Old Historical Ballads, p. 10, Aungervyle Society, 1881.

#K.# ‘Rob Roy,’ Laing’s Thistle of Scotland, p. 93.

The hero of this ballad was the youngest of the five sons of the Rob Roy who has been immortalized by Sir Walter Scott, and was known as Robert Oig, young, or junior. When a mere boy (only twelve years old, it is said) he shot a man mortally whom he considered to have intruded on his mother’s land, and for not appearing to underlie the law for this murder he was outlawed in 1736. He had fled to the continent, and there he enlisted in the British army, and was wounded and made prisoner at Fontenoy in 1745. He was exchanged, returned to Scotland and obtained a discharge from service, and, though still under ban, was able to effect a marriage with a woman of respectable family. She lived but a few years, and after her death, whether spontaneously or under the influence of his brother James, a man of extraordinary hardihood, Rob Oig formed a plan of bettering his own fortune, and incidentally that of his kin, by a marriage of the Sabine fashion with a woman of means. The person selected was Jean Key, who had been two months the widow of John Wright. She was but nineteen years of age, and was living with her mother at Edinbelly, in Stirlingshire, and her property is said to have been, not the twenty thousand pounds of some of the ballads, but some sixteen or eighteen thousand marks.

On the night of December 8, 1750, Rob Oig, accompanied by his brothers James and Duncan and others, first placing guards at the door and windows, to prevent escape from within and help from without, entered the house of Jean Key, and not finding her, because she had taken alarm and hidden herself in a closet, obliged the mother to produce her daughter, under threats “to murder every person in the family, or to burn the house and every person in it alive.” Jean Key, on being brought out, was told by James MacGregor that the party had come to marry her to Robert, his brother.” Upon her desiring to be allowed till next morning, or some few hours, to deliberate upon the answer she was to give to so unexpected and sudden a proposal as a marriage betwixt her, then not two months a widow, and a man with whom she had no manner of acquaintance,” after some little expostulation, they laid hands upon her, dragged her out of doors, tied her on the back of a horse, and carried her first to a house at Buchanan, six miles from Edinbelly, thence to Rowerdennan, “thence, by water, to some part of the Highlands about the upper part of Loch Lomond, out of the reach of her friends and relations, where she was detained in captivity and carried from place to place for upwards of three months.” At Rowerdennan, or further north, a priest read the marriage-service while the resolute James held up the young woman before him, and declared Rob Oig and her to be man and wife.

The rest of the story does not come into the ballad, but it may be added that both the military and the civil power took the matter in hand; that the MacGregors found it necessary to release their captive (who died, but not of the violence she had undergone, ten months after she was taken away); that James MacGregor was brought to trial in July, 1752, for hamesucken (invasion of a private house), forcible abduction of a woman, and constraining her to a marriage, was convicted of a part of the charge but not of the last count, and while the court had the verdict under consideration made his escape from Edinburgh castle; that Rob Oig was apprehended the following year, tried and condemned to death, and was executed in February, 1754.[126]

We may easily believe that, as Scott says, the imagination of half-civilized Highlanders was not much shocked at the idea of winning a wife in a violent way. It had been common, and they may naturally have wondered why it should seem so particular in their instance. It is certain that Jean Key did not receive the sympathy of all of her own sex. A lady of much celebrity has told us that it is safest in matrimony to begin with a little aversion, and there were those in Jean Key’s day, and after, who thought it mere silliness to make a coil about a little compulsion. “It is not a great many years,” Sir Walter Scott testifies, “since a respectable woman, above the lower rank of life, expressed herself very warmly to the author on his taking the freedom to censure the behaviour of the MacGregors on the occasion in question. She said, ‘that there was no use in giving a bride too much choice upon such occasions; that the marriages were happiest lang syne which had been done off hand.’ Finally, she averred that her ‘own mother had never seen her father till the night he brought her up from the Lennox with ten head of black cattle, and there had not been a happier couple in the country.’”

The ballad adheres to fact rather closely; indeed a reasonably good “dittay” could be made out of it. The halt at Buchanan is mentioned #B# 8, #C# 10, #K# 14; the road would be through Drymen, as in #C# 10, #K# 13; and Balmaha, #H# 2, is a little beyond Buchanan. Ballyshine is substituted for Buchanan in #E# 6, #J# 4. At Buchanan, or Ballyshine (‘as they came in by Drimmen town, and in by Edingarry,’ #K# 13), a cloak and gown are bought (fetched) for the young woman to be married in, #B# 8, #C# 10, #F# 4. It is a cotton gown, #E# 6, coat and gown, #A# 8; in cotton gown she is married, #J# 4; meaning probably that she was married in a night-gown, having been roused from her bed. It is at Buchanan, or Ballyshine, that she is married. Four held her up to the priest, #A#, #C#, #F# (two, #D#, #I#, #K#, three, #E#, #J#, six, #B#), four laid her in bed, #A#, #B#, #E#, #F#, #I#, #J#, #K# (two, #C#, #D#).

Rob Roy is said to come from Drunkie (the home of his first wife), #J# 1; to come over the Loch of Lynn, #G# 2. Jean Key’s abode seems to be called White House (Wright?) in #A# 2, but Blackhills, #C# 2, and in #K# 2 Jean Key is called Blackhill’s daughter. Blackhill is apparently a corruption of Mitchell, Jean’s mother’s maiden name. The mother is called Jean Mitchell in #J# 2.

In #A# 8, Rob Roy’s party are wrongly said to tarry at Stirling. In #J# 2, Glengyle is said to go with him to steal Jean Mitchell’s daughter. Glengyle, Rob Oig’s cousin, and chief of his immediate family was, for a MacGregor, an orderly man,[127] and did not countenance the proceeding. #J# 6, 7 belong to the ballad of ‘Eppie Morrie,’ No 223.

Rob Oig puts Jean Key’s fortune at £20,000, #A# 13, #C# 19; 50,000 merks, #D# 14; 30,000, #K# 23; 20,000, which was not very far from right, #E# 10. The reading in #B# 15 is a manifest corruption of thirty thousand merks.

Old Rob Roy is in several copies spoken of as still alive. Though the time both of his birth and death is not accurately known, this was certainly not the case.

#H# is translated by Fiedler, Geschichte der schottischen Liederdichtung, I, 52.

* * * * *

A

Skene MS., p. 44; from recitation in the north of Scotland, 1802–3.

1 Rob Roy, frae the high Highlands, Came to the Lawlan border; It was to steel a lady away, To keep his Highland house in order.

2 As he came in by White House, He sent nae ane before him; She wad hae secured the house, For she did ay abhor him.

3 Twenty men surrount the house, an twenty they went in, They found her wi her mither; Wi sighs an cries an watery eyes They parted frae ane anither.

4 ‘O will ye be my dear?’ he says, ‘Or will ye be my honnie? O will ye be my wedded wife? I lee you best of ony.’

5 ‘I winna be your dear,’ [she says,] ‘Nor will I be your honnie, Nor will I be your wedded wife; Ye lee me for my money.’

6 . . . . by the way, This lady aftimes fainted; Says, Woe be to my cursed gold, This road for me’s invented!

7 He gave her no time for to dress Like ladies when they’re ridin, But set her on hie horseback, Himsel was ay beside her.

8 Whan they came to the Black House, And at Stirling tarried, There he bought her coat an gown, But she would not [be] married.

9 Four men held her to the priest, An four they did her bed, Wi sighs an cries an watery eyes Whan she by him was laid.

10 ‘Be content, be content, Be content wi me, lady; Now ye are my wedded wife Untill the day ye die, lady.

11 ‘My father was a Highlan laird, McGrigor was his name, lady; A’ the country roun about They dreadit his great fame, lady.

12 ‘He kept a hedge about his lands, A prickle to his foes, lady, An every ane that did him wrang, He took him by the nose, lady.

13 ‘My father he delights in nout and goats, An me in horse and sheep, lady; You an twenty thousan pounds Makes me a man complete, lady.

14 ‘You’re welcome to this Highlan lan, It is my native plain, lady; Think nae mair of gauin back, But tak it for your hame, lady.

15 ‘I’m gauin, [I’m gauin,] I’m gauin to France, lady; Whan I come back I’ll learn ye a dance, lady.

16 ‘Set your foot, [set your foot,] Set your foot to mine, lady; Think nae mair of gauin back, But tak it for your hame, lady.’

* * * * *

B

Kinloch MSS, I, 343.

1 Rob Roy frae the Hielands cam Unto the Lawland border, And he has stown a ladie fair, To hand his house in order.

2 He guarded the house round about, Himsel went in and found her out, She hung close by her mither; Wi dolefu cries and watery eyes They parted frae each ither.

3 ‘Gang wi me, my dear,’ he says, ‘Gang and be my honey; Gang and be my wedded wife, I loe ye best o onie.’

4 ‘I winna gang wi you,’ she says, ‘I winna be your honey; I winna be your wedded wife; Ye loe me for my money.’

5 He gied na her na time to dress As ladies whan they’re brides, But hurried her awa wi speed, And rowd her in his plaids.

6 He gat her up upon a horse, Himsel lap on ahind her; And they’re awa to the Hieland hills; Her friends they canna find her.

7 As they gaed oure the Hieland hills, This lady aften fainted, Saying, Wae be to my cursed gowd, This road to me invented!

8 As they gaed oure the Hieland hills, And at Buchanan tarried, He bought to her baith cloak and goun, Yet she wadna be married.