Part 37

18 Earl Crawford lay o’er castle wa, And he beheld baith dale and down, And he beheld her Lady Crawford, As she came riding to the town.

19 He called ane o his livery men To come to him right speedilie: ‘Gae shut my yates, gae steek my doors, Keep Lady Crawford out frae me.’

20 When she came to Earl Crawford’s yates, She tirled gently at the pin: ‘O sleep ye, wake ye, Earl Crawford, Ye’ll open, lat Lady Crawford in.

21 ‘Come down, come down, O Earl Crawford, And speak some comfort unto me; And if ye winna come yoursell, Ye’ll send your gentleman to me.’

22 ‘Indeed I winna come mysell, Nor send my gentleman to thee; For I tauld you when we did part Nae mair my spouse ye’d ever bee.’

23 She laid her mouth then to the yates, And aye the tears drapt frae her ee; Says, Fare ye well, Earl Crawford’s yates, You again I’ll nae mair see.

24 Earl Crawford calld on his stable-groom To come to him right speedilie, And sae did he his waiting-man, That did attend his fair bodie.

25 ‘Ye will gae saddle for me my steed, And see and saddle him speedilie, And I’ll gang to the Lady Crawford, And see if she will pity me.’

26 Lady Crawford lay oer castle-wa, And she beheld baith dale and down, And she beheld him Earl Crawford, As he came riding to the town.

27 Then she has calld ane o her maids To come to her right speedilie: ‘Gae shut my yates, gae steek my doors, Keep Earl Crawford out frae me.’

28 When he came to Lady Crawford’s yates, He tirled gently at the pin: ‘Sleep ye, wake ye, Lady Crawford, Ye’ll rise and lat Earl Crawford in.

29 ‘Come down, come down, O Lady Crawford, Come down, come down, and speak wi me; And gin ye winna come yoursell, Ye’ll send your waiting-maid to me.’

30 ‘Indeed I winna come mysell, Nor send my waiting-maid to thee; Sae take your ain words hame again At Crawford castle ye tauld me.

31 ‘O mother dear, gae make my bed, And ye will make it saft and soun, And turn my face unto the west, That I nae mair may see the sun.’

32 Her mother she did make her bed, And she did make it saft and soun; True were the words fair Lillie spake, Her lovely eyes neer saw the sun.

33 The Earl Crawford mounted his steed, Wi sorrows great he did ride hame; But ere the morning sun appeard This fine lord was dead and gane.

34 Then on ae night this couple died, And baith were buried in ae tomb: Let this a warning be to all, Their pride may not bring them low down.

#A. a.#

4^4, 5, 6. _Omitted; supplied from #b#. Dean Christie notes that the lines omitted will be found in a copy which, with other things of the kind, he had destined for use in this collection. Unfortunately, and quite unaccountably, these pieces never came to hand._

19^2. put on the black.

#b.#

_Of #b#, which was obtained some twenty years after #a# was written down, Mrs Thomson says_: Enclosed is the whole of the ballad, as I had it from my mother.... She never sang those two verses to us [5, 6]. She only repeated them to me when Dean Christie wanted the ballad. _We may, perhaps, infer from these last words that the ballad was originally taken down by the daughter from her mother’s recitation, and not by Dean Christie. It is to be observed that the mother was still living in 1890, but when #b# was committed to paper is not said._

#a#

8^{3, 4}, 9^{1, 2}, are wanting in #b#; #b# _has a stanza, an inevitable one, which #a# lacks, in answer to_ 13.

1^1. It’s we were sisters and.

1^3. Some got dukes.

1^4. got men.

1^5. But I: Earl Crawford.

1^6. a meet.

2^1. Fifteen years that.

2^2. And sixteen years I.

2^3. that a tender age.

3^2. We were walking in yon.

3^3. There was nae body walking there.

3^4. But the earl himself and.

4^1. you, Earl.

4^2. You mak sae much o your.

4^3. I wonder at you, Earl Crawford.

4^4, 5, 6. _Inserted in_ #a#.

7^2. little son he set her.

7^3. gee on to your father’s bowers.

8^2. down on her knee.

8^{3, 4}, 9^{1, 2}, _wanting_.

9^3. Hoo’s a’, hoo’s a.

9^4. thee wi.

10^1. now _wanting_.

10^2. And a’ my folly lat it.

10^3. For one: mouth.

11^1. my Lady.

11^2. And I’ll lat a’ your folly.

11^3. portion oer again.

11^4. I’ll provide for.

12^1. now _wanting_.

12^2. And speak nae mair o this to me.

12^3. For I wad nae.

12^4. ye could.

13^3. That will: Crawford’s.

13^4. see gin’s hairt be faen tae.

_After 13_:

‘O here am I, a bonny boy, That’s willin to win meat and fee, That will go on to Earl Crawford’s, And see an’s hairt be faen to thee.’

14^1. to Earl Crawford’s gates.

14^2. He lighted low down on a stane.

14^3. Says, I wonder at you, E. C.

14^4. You’r nae gaun to tak.

15^1. tell to Lady.

15^2. Ye may neither.

15^3. stay weel in.

15^4. she’ll never.

16^1. came to her father’s bowers.

17^1. tell to Lady.

17^3. You’r bidden stay well in your.

17^4. For yu’ll never enter his.

18^1. lily-white.

18^3. to the Earl himsell.

18^4. And wi that her bonny hairt did brack.

19^1. Dowie, dowie raise up her father.

19^2. And _wanting_: the black put on.

19^3. And _wanting_: his steed he mounted.

20^1. When he came to Earl Crawford’s gates.

20^2. They were all going to dine.

20^3. And were all drest in robes of white.

21^1. He says, You may put aff the robes o white.

21^3. And ye’ll put on the dowie black.

22^1. Earl Crawford took his hat in’s hand.

22^3. Says, If this be true that L[ady] L[illie’s].

22^4. sin shall never shine.

230

THE SLAUGHTER OF THE LAIRD OF MELLERSTAIN

In a folio volume with the title “Miscellanies,” the last piece in the volume, Abbotsford.

Birrel’s Diary has this entry under date of January 3, 1603: “The 3 of Januar Johne Hai[t]lie of Millstanes slaine at the Salt Tron be Williame Home hes guidfather. This William of Ball[int]a wes of the hous of Cowdenknowis.” P. 57. In a proclamation of the Privy Council against reset of criminals, 20th January, 1603, the list of cases begins with “the reset of the persons who lately most shamefully and barbarously slew the Laird of Mellestanes.” Register, VI, 525 f. There is nothing to show that these persons were ever brought to justice, and the efforts made by the public authorities to stop hostilities between the families concerned were, as usual, not readily successful. April 28, 1608, the parties to the “feud between James Haitlie, now of Mellirstanes [son of John], and Mr James Home of Eccles, on account of the slaughter of John Haitlie of Mellirstanes,” are ordered to appear before the Council on the 12th of May following, to be reconciled and to chop hands together. Register, VIII, 81 f.

An entry of the 4th of December, 1599, censures Sir George Home, sheriff of Berwick, for not proceeding against “William Home, younger, called of Coldenknowis and now of Ballinta, who slew within the said shire Mr Alexander Dicksoun,” and was denounced therefor 29th December, 1596. This William we may presume to have been the undegenerate son of the William whom Birrel calls Mellerstain’s “guidfather.” Register, VI, 57.

The lady of st. 1 was Marion Lumsden (otherwise Mariot, Margaret), “Lady Mellirstanes,” “relicta Joannis Haitlie de Mellerstanes.” Register P. C., VIII, 101; 366, Register of the Great Seal, VI, 722. Mellerstain stands on a rising ground near the right bank of the Eden, 1^2. Cowdenknows in 3^1 may have been Sir John Home of Cowdenknows, named as one of the curators of James Haitlie (a minor in 1607). Earlstoun is not determinate. Bemerside is an alternative reading for Earlstoun. The laird of Bemerside at the date of the slaughter was the turbulent James Haig. The lady in st. 4 is looking in several directions for the arrival of her husband’s body. (I have not found Fieldiesha and Yirdandstane.) The Salt Tron is a locality of much note in the history of Edinburgh: see Wilson’s Memorials, p. 249.

This fragment appears to have come into Sir Walter Scott’s hands through Mr W. Yellowlees, who filled out two of the defective stanzas, and appended some remarks under the date of 29th October, 1828.[129]

* * * * *

1 . . . . . . . As they came in by the Eden side, They heard a lady lamenting sair, Bewailing the time she was a bride.

2 . . . . . . . A stately youth of blude and lane, . . . . . . . John Hately, the laird of Mellerstain.

3 ‘Cowdenknows, had ye nae lack? And Earlstoun, had ye nae shame? Ye took him away beside my back, But ye never saw to bring him hame.’

4 And she has lookit to Fieldiesha, So has she through Yirdandstane; She lookit to Earlstoun, and she saw the Fans, But he’s coming hame by West Gordon.

5 And she staggerd and she stood,

6 ’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . wude; How can I keep in my wits, When I look on my husband’s blood?’

7 ‘Had we been men as we are women, And been at his back when he was slain, It should a been tauld for mony a lang year, The slaughter o the laird of Mellerstain.’

* * * * *

2^4 [James/John]Hately

3^2 [Earlstoun/Bemerside] had.

_Between 3 and 4 are two half stanzas which belong to_ ‘James Hatley,’ No. 241, _and are there given_.

4^1. Fieldies ha.

4^2. yird and stane.

231

THE EARL OF ERROL

#A. a.# ‘Kate Carnegie,’ Campbell MSS, II, 94. #b.# The Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany, June, 1803, p. 458.

#B.# Skene MS., p. 113.

#C.# ‘The Countess of Erroll,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 176.

#D. a.# ‘Lord and Lady Errol,’ Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 158. #b.# ‘Errol’s Place,’ Maidment’s North Countrie Garland, p. 31. #c.# ‘Earl of Errol,’ Kinloch’s Ballad Book, p. 31.

#E.# Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, edited by Alexander Allardyce, I, 180; Sharpe’s Ballad Book, p. 89, No. 31.

#F.# ‘The Earl of Erroll,’ Kinloch MSS, III, 133.

Sir Gilbert Hay, tenth Earl of Errol, was married to Lady Catherine Carnegy, younger daughter of James, second Earl of Southesk, January 7, 1658, and had no children by her. He died in 1674. The ballad, says the person who communicated #A b# to the Edinburgh Miscellany, was “founded, it would seem, on some attempt to withhold from the Earl of Errol his consort’s portion.” It will be observed that the father proposes a beguiling to his daughter, and that she is ready to assent, in #A#, 12, 13.

It appears from a letter cited by Sharpe in his Ballad Book that the matters treated in the ballad were agitating, and had even “come to public hearing,” in February, 1659.

Sir John Hay of Killour, as the nearest male heir, became the eleventh Earl of Errol. His wife was Lady Anne Drummond, only daughter of James, third Earl of Perth, so that the Earl of Perth might seem to have an interest in this affair of Errol’s. She, however, was not born till January, 1656. Perth is actually made the other party in legal proceedings in #A a# 1, but in #A b# seems to espouse Errol’s side.

Carnegy’s other daughter, who in most of the versions censures her sister’s conduct, is called Jean in #A# 5, #D a# 7, #F# 10, Anne in #D b c#. These are stock ballad-names, and we need not suppose that Anne comes from Lady Anne Drummond. The older daughter’s name was Elizabeth.

Errol is in the Carse of Gowrie, a tract noted for its fertility; which accounts for #B# 2, #D a# 1, #D c# 1, #F# 2.

#E#, #F# go the length of imputing to Lady Errol an attempt to poison her husband with wine which she offers him. A page, of Errol’s kin, exposes her in #E#; in #F# Errol gives the drink to a greyhound, and the dog bursts.

The last stanza of #A b#, #C#, #D c# has reference to “the ancient separate maintenance of a lady dissatisfied with or apart from her husband.” (Edinburgh Magazine, as above.)

#E# is introduced in Sharpe’s letter by some pages of mild pleasantry in the form of a preface to “a specimen of the fourth volume of the Border Minstrelsy, speedily to be published.”

* * * * *

A

#a.# Campbell MSS., II, 94. #b.# The Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany, June, 1803, p. 458.

1 There was a jury sat at Perth, In the merry month of May, Betwixt the noble Duke of Perth But and Sir Gilbert Hay.

2 My lord Kingside has two daughters, They are proper, straight and tall; But my lord Carnegie he has two That far excells them all.

3 Then Errol he has dressd him, As very well he could; I’m sure there was not one cloth-yard But what was trimmd with gold.

4 ‘Ane asking, ane asking, my lord Carnegie, Ane asking I’ve to thee; I’m come to court your daughter Jean, My wedded wife to be.’

5 ‘My daughter Jean was wed yestreen, To one of high degree, But where Jean got one guinea of gold With Kate I’ll give thee three.

6 ‘Full fifteen hundred pounds Had Jean Carnegie, But three fifteen hundred pounds With Kate I’ll gie to thee.’

7 Then Errol he has wed her, And fairly brought her hame; There was nae peace between them twa Till they sundered oer again.

8 When bells were rung, and mess was sung, And a’ man bound to bed, The Earl of Errol and his countess In one chamber was laid.

9 Early in the morning My lord Carnegie rose, The Earl of Errol and his countess, And they’ve put on their clothes.

10 Up spake my lord Carnegie; ‘Kate, is your toucher won?’ ‘Ye may ask the Earl of Errol, If he be your good-son.

11 ‘What need I wash my petticoat And hing it on a pin? For I am as leal a maid yet As yestreen when I lay down.

12 ‘What need I wash my apron And hing it on the door? It’s baith side and wide enough, Hangs even down before.’

13 Up spake my lord Carnegie; ‘O Kate, what do ye think ? We’ll beguile the Earl of Errol As lang as he’s in drink.’

14 ‘O what will ye beguile him wi? Or what will ye do than? I’ll swear before a justice-court That he’s no a sufficient man.’

15 Then Errol he cam down the stair, As bold as oney rae: ‘Go saddle to me my Irish coach, To Edinbro I’ll go.’

16 When he came to Edinbro, He lighted on the green; There were four-and-twenty maidens A’ dancing in a ring.

17 There were four-and-twenty maidens A’ dancing in a row; The fatest and the fairest To bed wi him must go.

18 He’s taen his Peggy by the hand, And he led her thro the green, And twenty times he kissd her there, Before his ain wife’s een.

19 He’s taen his Peggy by the hand, And he’s led her thro the hall, And twenty times he’s kissd her there, Before his nobles all.

20 ‘Look up, look up, my Peggy lass, Look up, and think nae shame; Ten hundred pounds I’ll gie to you To bear to me a son.’

21 He’s keepit his Peggy in his room Three quarter of a year, And just at the nine months’ end She a son to him did bear.

22 ‘Now if ye be Kate Carnegie, And I Sir Gilbert Hay, I’ll make your father sell his lands Your toucher for to pay.’

23 ‘To make my father sell his lands, It wad be a great sin, To toucher oney John Sheephead That canna toucher win.’

24 ‘Now hold your tongue, ye whorish bitch, Sae loud as I hear ye lie! For yonder sits Lord Errol’s son, Upon his mother’s knee; For yonder sits Lord Errol’s son, Altho he’s no by thee.’

25 ‘You may take hame your daughter Kate, And set her on the glen; For Errol canna please her, Nor nane o Errol’s men; For Errol canna please her, Nor twenty of his men.’

26 The ranting and the roving, The thing we a’ do ken, The lady lost her right that night, The first night she lay down; And the thing we ca the ranting o’t, The lady lies her lane.

* * * * *

B

Skene MS., p. 113; taken down from recitation in the north of Scotland, 1802–3.

1 Earell is a bonny place, It stands upon yon plain; The greatest faut about the place Earell’s no a man. What ye ca the danting o’t, According as ye ken, For the pearting... Lady Earell lyes her lane.

2 Earell is a bonny place, It stands upon yon plain; The roses they graw red an white, An apples they graw green.

3 ‘What need I my apron wash An hing upon yon pin? For lang will I gae out an in Or I hear my bairnie’s din.

4 ‘What need I my apron wash An hing upo yon door? For side and wide is my petticoat, An even down afore.

5 ‘But I will lace my stays again, My middle jimp an sma; I’l gae a’ my days a maiden. [Awa], Earell, awa!’

6 It fell ance upon a day Lord Earell Went to hunt him lane, . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7 He was na a mile fra the town, Nor yet sae far awa, Till his lady is on to Edinburgh, To try hir all the law.

8 Little did Lord Earell think, Whan he sat down to dine, That his lady was on to Edinburgh, Nor what was in her mind.

9 Till his best servant came For to lat him ken . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10 She was na in at the toun-end, Nor yet sae far awa, Till Earell was at her back, His gaudy locks to sha.

11 She was na in at the loan-head, Nor just at the end, Till Earell he was at her back, Her errand for to ken.

12 ‘As lang as they ca ye Kate Carnegie, An me Sir Gilbert Hay, I’s gar yer father sell Kinaird, Yer tocher for to pay.’

13 ‘For to gar my father sell Kinnaird, It wad be a sin, To gee it to ony naughty knight That a tocher canna win.’

14 Out spak the first lord, The best amang them a’; ‘I never seed a lady come Wi sick matters to the law.’

15 Out spak the neest lord, The best o the town; ‘Ye get fifteen well-fared maids, An put them in a roun, An Earell in the midst o them, An lat him chuse out ane.’

16 They ha gotten fifteen well-fared maids, An pit them in a roun, An Earell in the mids o them, An bad him chuse out ane.

17 He viewed them a’ intill a raw, Even up an down, An he has chosen a well-fared may, An Meggie was her name.

18 He took her by the hand, Afore the nobles a’, An twenty times he kissed her mou, An led her thro the ha.

19 ‘Look up, Megie, look up, Megie, [Look up,] an think na shame; As lang as ye see my gaudy locks, Lady Earell’s be yer name.’

20 There were fifteen noblemen, An as mony ladies gay, To see Earell proven a man . . . . . . .

21 ‘Ye tak this well-fared may, And keep her three roun raiths o a year, An even at the three raiths’ end I sall draw near.’

22 They hae taen that well-fared may, An keepd her three roun raiths o a year, And even at the three raiths’ end Earell’s son she bare.

23 The gentlemen they ga a shout, The ladies ga a caa, Fair mat fa him Earell! But ran to his lady.

24 He was na in at the town-head, Nor just at the end, Till the letters they were waiting him That Earell had a son.

25 ‘Look up, Meggie, look up, Meggie, [Look up,] an think na shame; As lang as ye see my bra black hat, Lady Earell’s be yer name.

26 ‘I will gie my Meggie a mill, But an a piece o land, . . . . . . . To foster my young son.

27 ‘Faur is a’ my merry men a’, That I pay meat an gaire, To convey my Meggy hame, . . . . . . .?’

28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Even in Lord Earell’s coach They conveyed the lassie hame.

29 ‘Take hame yer daughter, Lord Kinnaird, An take her to the glen, For Earell canna pleas her, Earell nor a’ his men.’

30 ‘Had I ben Lady Earell, Of sic a bonny place, I wad na gaen to Edinburgh My husband to disgrace.’

* * * * *

C

Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 176.

1 Erroll it’s a bonny place, It stands upon a plain; A bad report this ladie’s raisd, That Erroll is nae a man.

2 But it fell ance upon a day Lord Erroll went frae hame, And he is on to the hunting gane, Single man alane.

3 But he hadna been frae the town A mile but barely twa, Till his lady is on to Edinburgh, To gain him at the law.

4 O Erroll he kent little o that Till he sat down to dine, And as he was at dinner set His servant loot him ken.

5 ‘Now saddle to me the black, the black, Go saddle to me the brown, And I will on to Edinburgh, Her errands there to ken.’

6 She wasna well thro Aberdeen, Nor passd the well o Spa, Till Erroll he was after her, The verity to shaw.

7 She wasna well in Edinburgh, Nor even thro the town, Till Erroll he was after her, Her errands there to ken.

8 When he came to the court-house, And lighted on the green, This lord was there in time enough To hear her thus compleen:

9 ‘What needs me wash my apron, Or drie ‘t upon a door? What needs I eek my petticoat, Hings even down afore?

10 ‘What needs me wash my apron, Or hing it upon a pin? For lang will I gang but and ben Or I hear my young son’s din.’

11 ‘They ca you Kate Carnegie,’ he says, ‘And my name’s Gilbert Hay; I’ll gar your father sell his land, Your tocher down to pay.’

12 ‘To gar my father sell his land For that would be a sin, To such a noughtless heir as you, That canno get a son.’

13 Then out it speaks him Lord Brechen, The best an lord ava; ‘I never saw a lady come Wi sic matters to the law.’

14 Then out it speaks another lord, The best in a’ the town; ‘Ye’ll wyle out fifeteen maidens bright Before Lord Erroll come:’ And he has chosen a tapster lass, And Meggie was her name.

15 They kept up this fair maiden Three quarters of a year, And then at that three quarters’ end A young son she did bear.

16 They hae gien to Meggie then Five ploughs but and a mill, And they hae gien her five hundred pounds, For to bring up her chill.

17 There was no lord in Edinburgh But to Meggie gae a ring; And there was na a boy in a’ the town But on Katie had a sang.

18 ‘Kinnaird, take hame your daughter, And set her to the glen, For Erroll canna pleasure her, Nor nane o Erroll’s men.’

19 Seven years on Erroll’s table There stand clean dish and speen, And every day the bell is rung, Cries, Lady, come and dine.

* * * * *

D

#a.# Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 158. #b.# Maidment’s North Countrie Garland, p. 31. #c.# Kinloch’s Ballad Book, p. 31.

1 O Errol’s place is a bonny place, It stands upon yon plain; The flowers on it grow red and white, The apples red and green. The ranting o ‘t and the danting o ‘t, According as ye ken, The thing they ca the danting o ‘t, Lady Errol lies her lane.

2 O Errol’s place is a bonny place, It stands upon yon plain; But what’s the use of Errol’s place? He’s no like other men.

3 ‘As I cam in by yon canal, And by yon bowling-green, I might hae pleased the best Carnegy That ever bore that name.

4 ‘As sure’s your name is Kate Carnegy, And mine is Gibbie Hay, I’ll gar your father sell his land, Your tocher for to pay.’

5 ‘To gar my father sell his land, Would it not be a sin, To give it to a naughtless lord That couldna get a son?’