Part 43

15 When bells were rung, and mass was sung, And a’ man bound for bed, The Laird o Drum and the shepherd’s dother In one bed they were laid.

16 ‘If ye were come o noble bleed An were as high as me, We could gang to the yetts o Drum Amangst gueed companie.’

17 ‘I tald you ere we was wed I was oer low for thee, But now we are wedd and in ae bed laid, And you must be content wi me.

18 ‘For an ye were dead, an I were dead, And laid in the dust low down, When we were baith turnd up again Wha could ken your mould frae mine?’

* * * * *

F

#a.# Manuscript of David Louden, Morham, Haddington, p. 7, 1873; from Mrs Dickson, Rentonhall, derived from her great-grandmother. #b.# Macmath MS., p. 13; from Mr William Traquair, S. S. C., Edinburgh, obtained originally in Perthshire.

1 ‘Oh, will ye fancy me, fair maid? Oh, will ye fancy me? O Or will ye go to be ladye o the Drum, An let a’ your shearin abe? O An let a’ your shearin abe? O An let a’ your shearin abe ?’ O

2 ‘I can neither read nor write, Nor neer been brocht up at schule; But I can do all other things, An keep a hoose richt weel.

3 ‘My faither he’s a puir shepherd-man, Herds his hogs on yonder hill; Gin ye will go get his consent, Then I’ll be at your call.’

4 He has gane to her father, That herds hogs on yonder hill; He said, ‘You’ve got a pretty daughter, I’d fain tak her to my sel.’

5 ‘She can neither read nor write, Was neer brocht up at schule; But she can do all other things, An I learnt aye the lassie my sel.

6 ‘She’ll milk your cows, she’ll carry your corn, She’ll gang to the mill or the kiln; She’ll saddle your steed at any time of need, And she’ll brush up your boots hersel.’

7 ‘It’s who will bake my bridal bread? Or who will brew my ale? Or who will welcome this bonnie lassie in? For it’s more than I can tell.’

8 There’s four-and-twenty gentlemen Stand doun at the gate o the Drum; Not one of them all would take off his hat For to welcome the bonnie lassie in.

9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘Oh, brother, you’ve married a wife this day A disgrace to all our kin.’

10 ‘Oh, brother, I’ve married a wife to win, And ye’ve got one to spen, And as long as the bonnie lassie walks out and in She shall aye be the ladye o the Drum.’

11 When all was done, and no bells rung, And all men bound for their bed, The laird and the shepherd’s bonnie daughter In one bed they were laid.

12 ‘Though I’m not of as noble blood, Nor yet of as high degree, Now I lie locked in your arms two, And you must be contented wi me.

13 ‘If you were dead, and I were dead, And baith laid in one grave, If we were baith to be raised up again, Wha would ken your dust frae mine?

* * * * *

#A. a.#

1^3. wellfar’d May.

2^1. fair May: rare May.

2^4. as thee May.

17. _This stanza looks like a spurious addition._

#b.# _Kinloch has taken fourteen of the seventeen stanzas of #a# (all but 1, 2, 17) into his printed copy, with a change of a word here and there (not here noticed), as was his way. The remaining ten stanzas must be from recitation, if Kinloch is to be understood strictly._

1. The laird o Drum is a-wooing gane; It was on a morning early; And he has fawn in wi a bonnie may, A-shearing at her barley.

2. ‘My bonnie may, my weel-faurd may, O will ye fancy me, O And gae and be the lady o Drum, And lat your shearing abee?’ O

3. ‘It’s I canna fancy thee, kind sir, I winna fancy thee; I winna gae and be lady o Drum, And lat my shearing abee.’

_After 3._ My father he is a shepherd mean, Keeps sheep on yonder hill, And ye may gae and spier at him, For I am at his will.

4. Drum: _and always_.

_After 7_:

‘I’ll learn your lassie to read and write, And I’ll put her to the scheel; She’ll neither need to saddle my steed, Nor draw aff my boots hersell.

‘But wha will bake my bridal bread, Or brew my bridal ale, And wha will welcome my bonnie bride, Is mair than I can tell.’

10^4. lake _for_ stain, _and so entered in pencil in the MS._

_After 12_:

‘The first wife that I did wed, She was far abeen my degree; She wadna hae walkd to the yetts o Drum But the pearls abeen her bree.

‘But an she was adord for as much gold As Peggie’s for beautie, She micht walk to the yetts o Drum Amang gueed companie.’

16^3. in my command, _a plausible reading_.

_After 16_:

‘But I told ye afore we war wed I was owre low for thee; But now we are wed, and in ae bed laid, And ye maun be content wi me.

‘For an I war dead, and ye war dead, And baith in ae grave laid, And ye and I war tane up again, Wha could distan your mouls frae mine?’

O _is added to the second and fourth lines except when the rhyme is in two syllables, as in_ 1.

#B.#

_Title._ The Laird o Doune. _So written twice_: _at p. 75 by anticipation_, _again at p. 78_.

1^4. daighterie (i _undotted_): daghter he?

3^1. May: _and always_.

4^4, 11^4. May _added_, _for singing_.

6^4. Sir _added for singing_.

_No division into stanzas, and no indication of gaps. The deficiency at the end of 16^3 is noted by ..._

#D. a.#

O _is added (for singing) to the second and fourth verse of every stanza except_ 1, 4, _which have two-syllable rhyme_.

_19 is by mistake printed twice._

#b.# O _added as in_ #a#.

2^1. me, bonny lassie.

2^3. O will ye fancy me, bonny lassie.

2^4. And lat your shearing be.

3^4, 4^4. whore _for_ miss.

4^1. ye cast.

7^4. And _wanting_.

12, 13. _Wanting._

16^{2,4}, 19^2. above _for_ abeen.

16^5. durst not.

17^2. all man.

19. _Repeated, as in_ #a#.

20^2. in your grave: lien.

_Dixon made changes in printing this copy._

#c#.

O _is not added as in_ #a#.

1^3. he has spied.

2^1. you.

3^3. lady o.

5^1. go you.

7^1. winn.

7^2. mill or.

9^4. Drum was come.

10^4. is a’ your ain.

12^2. in robes.

14^4. all your.

19^1. you weel ere.

20. Gin we were dead, and in grave laid, And then taen up again, I doubt they would look wi a gay clear ee That would ken your dust frae mine.

_In Robertson’s annotated and interleaved copy, besides some readings from #E#, there are noted in the margin the following_:

7^2. to your mill and your kill.

9^3. But there was nae ane did lift.

17^3. and the herd’s dochter.

19^1. you before that we. _This stanza twice, as in_ #a#.

20 as in #a#.

#d.#

O is not added as in #a#, #b#.

1^2. Upon a.

1^3. he has spied.

2^2. O will you fancy me.

2^4. An let your shearin abee.

3^1. said.

3^2. abee.

3^3. For _wanting_. I’m far ower: lady o.

3^4. your whore I winna.

4, 5. _Wanting._

6^1. her auld faither.

6^2. Kept sheep upon the.

6^3. _Wanting._

6^4. That the may was at his will.

7. But my daughter can neither read nor write, She was never at the schule; But she’ll saddle your steed in time of need, An draw aff your boots hersel.

8^3. my bonny bride.

8^4. Is more.

9^1. gentlemen.

9^2. Stood at.

9^3. There was na ane that lifted.

9^4. Drum was come.

10^3. lady o.

10^4. is a’ your ain.

11–13. _Wanting._

14^1. Out an spake his brither John.

14^4. a’ your.

15^1. Out an.

15^3. to save my gear.

16^1. the first time I had a wife.

16^{3,4}. I durstna, _etc._, ^{5,6} _come before_ ^{3,4}.

17^2. to bed.

17^3. an the weel-faured may.

19^1. afore we.

19^3. we are: in ae.

19^4. An I’m: as thee.

20^2. in ae grave lain.

20^3. were come an gane.

20^4. Wha could ken your mools.

#E.#

O _is appended, as in_ #D a#, #b#, _except in_ 1, 4, 5.

#F. a.#

“Mrs Dickson says her mother used to say she has heard her (her mother’s) grandmother sing the following ballad with great glee. Air, Boyne Water.”

9^{3,4}, 10 _are given as one stanza, the last two lines_ “instead of repeat.”

O _is appended throughout_.

#b.#

_Variations given only in part._

O _is appended as in_ #D#, #E#.

_Begins_:

The laird o the Drum a hunting went, One morning very early, And there he spied a bonny, bonny may, A shearing at the barley.

1. ‘And could ye fancy a gentleman? An wad ye married be? O Or wad ye be the lady o the Drum? I pray ye tell to me.’

‘I could, _etc._ And I wad, _etc._ But for to be the lady o the Drum, It’s by far too high for me.’

2. _Wanting._

3^2, 4^2. Feeding sheep.

3^4. I’m entirely at his will. (_Good prose_: _cf._ 5^3.)

4^{3,4}. It’s I am in love wi your daughter, And I’ll.

5^3. But for all other things she’ll do very well.

6^{1,2}. _Wanting._

7. _Wanting._

8^2. Stood all at.

8^3. And nane o them would put their hand to their hat.

9. ‘O brother, you’ve married a wife the day, And you have done much ill; O brother you’ve married a wife today A scorn to a’ your kin.’

10^{1,2}. I’ve got a wife to win my bread, And you’ve got ane to spend it.

10^{3,4}. _Wanting._

_After 10_:

The first wife that I married, She was far above my degree; I durst na enter the room she was in But wi hat below my knee.

11–13. _Wanting._

* * * * *

APPENDIX

Herd’s MSS, I, 55, II, 187; Herd’s Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 6.

1 ‘O my bonie, bonie may, Will ye not rue upon me? A sound, sound sleep I’ll never get Untill I lie ayon thee.

2 ‘I’ll gie ye four-and-twenty good milk-kye, Wer a’ caft in ae year, may, And a bonie bull to gang them by, That blude red is his hair, may.’

3 ‘I hae nae houses, I hae nae land, I hae nae gowd or fee, sir; I am oer low to be your bryde, Your loon I’ll never be, sir.’

* * * * * *

Motherwell’s MS., p. 37; from the recitation of Thomas Risk, smith, learned by him in his youth at St Ninian’s, Stirlingshire.

1 Montrose he had a poor shepherd, And a poor shepherd was he; He had as fair a daughter As ever you could see, And an earl has fallen in love wi her, And his bride now she must be.

2 The earl he came to the shepherd’s door, And he tirled at the pin; Slowly rose the fair maid For to let the earl in.

3 ‘Good day, good day, fair maid,’ he says; ‘Good day, good day,’ said she; ‘Good day unto thee, noble sir, What is thy will with me?’

4 ‘I’m so possessed with love to thee, That I cannot gang nor stand Till you go unto yonder church, To give me thy right hand.’

5 ‘Oh, no, oh no,’ the fair maid says, ‘Oh that can never be; For thou art a lord of good estate, And I but of mean degree.

6 ‘Oh no, oh no,’ the fair maid says, ‘Thou’rt rich and I am poor; And I am owre mean to be thy wife, Too good to be thy whore.

7 ‘I can shape, and I can sew, And cows and yowes can milk, But I was neer brought up in a lady’s room, To sew satin nor silk.

8 ‘And if you had your will of me Ye wud me soon forget; Ye wad gar turn me doun your stairs And bar on me your yett.’

9 ‘Oh no, oh no,’ the earl says, ‘For so shall never be; For this night or I eat or drink My honoured bride you shall be.’

10 ‘My father he’s a poor shepherd, He’s herding on yon hill; You may go to my old father, And ask at him his will.’

11 The earl he went to the poor shepherd, Who was herding on the lea; ‘Good day, good day, shepherd,’ he says; ‘Good day, good day,’ said he, Good day unto your honour, sir; What is your will with me?’

12 ‘Oh you have a fair daughter; Will ye give her to me, Silk and satin she shall wear, And, shepherd, so shall ye.’

13 ‘It’s true I have a fair daughter, But I’ll not give her to thee; For thou art a lord of good estate, And she but of mean degree.

14 ‘The reason is, thou art too rich, And my daughter is too poor; She is ower mean to be thy wife, Too good to be thy whoore.

15 ‘She can shape, etc. (as verse 7).

16 ‘And if you had your will of her, etc. (8).

17 ‘Oh no, oh no,’ the earl says, etc. (9).

18 The earl he to the fair maid again, Who was spinning at her wheel; She had but one petticoat on her, But oh she set it weel!

19 ‘Cast off, cast off that petticoat That you were wont to wear, And put on a gown of the satin silk, With a garland in your hair.’

20 She cast off the petticoat That she was wont to wear, And she put on a gown of the satin silk, With a garland in her hair.

21 Many, many was there that night To bear them company; And she is the earl’s wife, She’s thrice fairer than he.

Motherwell’s MS., p. 252; from the recitation of Mrs Crum, Dumbarton, 7 April, 1825.

1 ‘O fair maid and true maid, Will ye not on me rue, maid? Here’s my hand, my heart’s command, I’ll come and go by you, maid.

2 ‘I’ve four-and-twenty good milk-kye, A’ calved in a[e] year, maid, And a bonnie bill to eisin them, Just as red as your hair, maid.’

3 ‘Your kye go as far in my heart As they go in my heel, sir; And, altho I be but a shepherd’s dochter, I love my body weel, sir.

4 ‘I love my body weel, sir, And my maidenhead far better; And I’ll keep it to marry me, Because I’m scarse o tocher.’

5 This knicht he turned his bridle about, While the tear stood in his ee; And he’s awa to her father gane, As fast as he could dree.

6 ‘Gude een, gude een, you gude auld man,’ ‘Gude een, you earl’s knicht, sir;’ ‘But you have a fair dochter,’ he says, ‘Will you grant her to me, sir? O silks and satins she shall wear, Indeed and so shall ye, sir.’

7 ‘I have a fair dochter,’ he says, ‘She’s fair of blood and bane, sir; But an ye had your will o her Ye wud leave her alane, sir.’

8 ‘Ye would steek her not your chamber-doors, And bar her at your yett, sir; And an ye had your will o her Ye wud her soon forget, sir.’

9 This knicht he turned his bridle about, While the tear stood in his ee, And he’s awa to this fair maid gane, As fast as he could drie.

10 ‘O fair maid and true maid, Will ye not on me rue, maid? Here’s my hand, my heart’s command, I’ll come and go by you, maid.

11 ‘Cast aff, cast aff your gay black gowns, Put on your gowns of silk, maid; Cast aff, cast aff your gay black snoods, Put the garlands on your hair, maid.’

12 ‘It’s I can bake, and I can brew, And good kye can I milk, sir; But I was neer born in the time o the year To wear the gowns o silk, sir.

13 ‘Yestreen I was a shepherd’s dochter, Whistling my hogs to the hill; But the nicht I am an earl’s lady, I may wear what I will.’

Johnson’s Museum, No 397, p. 410.

As I went out ae May morning, A May morning it chanc’d to be, There I was aware of a weelfar’d maid, Cam linkin oer the lea to me.

O but she was a weelfar’d maid, The bonniest lass that’s under the sun; I spier’d gin she could fancy me, But her answer was, I am too young.

‘To be your bride I am too young, To be your loun wad shame my kin; So therefore, pray, young man, begone, For you never, never shall my favour win.’

237

THE DUKE OF GORDON’S DAUGHTER

#a.# ‘The Duke of Gordon’s Daughter,’ The Duke of Gordon’s Garland, Percy Papers, and another edition in a volume of garlands formerly in Heber’s library. #b.# ‘The Duke of Gordon’s Daughters,’ a stall-copy, printed for John Sinclair, Dumfries. #c.# ‘The Duke of Gordon’s Daughters,’ Stirling, printed by M. Randall. #d.# ‘The Duke of Gordon’s Three Daughters,’ Peterhead, printed by P. Buchan. #e.# ‘The Duke of Gordon’s Three Daughters,’ Kinloch MSS, I, 125. #f.# ‘The Duke o Gordon’s Daughters,’ Murison MS., p. 90, Aberdeenshire. #g.# ‘The Duke o Gordon’s Daughter,’ Gibb MS., p. 13, No 3, from the recitation of Mrs Gibb, senior. #h.# ‘The Duke of Gordon’s Three Daughters,’ Macmath MS., p. 31, a fragment recited by Mrs Macmath, senior, in 1874, and learned by her fifty years before.

A copy of #a# was reprinted by Ritson, Scotish Songs, 1794, II, 169. (There are three slight variations in Ritson, two of which are misprints.) Fifteen stanzas are given from Ritson in Johnson’s Musical Museum, ‘The Duke of Gordon has three daughters,’ No 419, p. 431, 1797 (with a single variation and the correction of a misprint). Smith’s Scotish Minstrel, IV, 98, repeats the stanzas in the Museum, inserting a few words to fill out lines for singing. Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 2, has made up a ballad from three “traditional” copies. A fragment of four stanzas in Notes and Queries, Second Series, VII, 418, requires no notice.

Burns gave the first stanza as follows (Cromek’s Reliques, p. 229, ed, 1817; Cromek’s Select Scotish Songs, I, 86, 1810):

The lord o Gordon had three dochters, Mary, Marget, and Jean; They wad na stay at bonie Castle Gordon, But awa to Aberdeen.

The first sister’s name is given as Mary in #e# also.

It is very likely that the recited copies were originally learned from print. #e# and #g# have two stanzas which do not appear in #a-d#, but these may occur in some other stall-copy, or have been borrowed from some other ballad.

Ritson pointed out that George Gordon, the fourth Earl of Huntly, killed at Corrichie in 1562, had three daughters, named Elizabeth, Margaret, and Jean, and that Jean, the youngest, married Alexander Ogilvie, Laird of Boyne. These facts, however, can have no relevancy to this ballad. Ogilvie was Lady Jean Gordon’s third husband, and at the death of the second, in 1594, she was in her fiftieth year, or near to that. Her marriage with the Laird of Boyne was “for the utility and profit of her children,” of which she had a full quiver.[139]

Jean, one of the three daughters of the Duke of Gordon (there was no Duke of Gordon before 1684, but that is early enough for our ballad), falls in love with Captain Ogilvie at Aberdeen. Her father threatens to have the captain hanged, and writes to the king to ask that favor. The king refuses to hang Ogilvie, but reduces him to the ranks, makes him a ‘single’ man. The pair lead a wandering life for three years, and are blessed with as many children. At the end of that time they journey afoot to the Highland hills, and present themselves at Castle Gordon in great destitution. Lady Jean is welcomed; the duke will have nothing to do with Ogilvie. Ogilvie goes over seas as a private soldier, but is soon after sent for as heir to the earldom of Northumberland. The duke is now eager to open Castle Gordon to the Captain. Ogilvie wants nothing there but Jean Gordon, whom, with her three children, he takes to Northumberland to enjoy his inheritance.

Nothing in the story of the ballad is known to have even a shadow of foundation in fact.

* * * * *

1 The Duke of Gordon has three daughters, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Jean; They would not stay in bonny Castle Gordon, But they would go to bonny Aberdeen.

2 They had not been in Aberdeen A twelvemonth and a day Till Lady Jean fell in love with Captain Ogilvie, And away with him she would gae.

3 Word came to the Duke of Gordon, In the chamber where he lay, Lady Jean has fell in love with Captain Ogilvie, And away with him she would gae.

4 ‘Go saddle me the black horse, And you’ll ride on the grey, And I will ride to bonny Aberdeen, Where I have been many a day.’

5 They were not a mile from Aberdeen, A mile but only three, Till he met with his two daughters walking, But away was Lady Jean.

6 ‘Where is your sister, maidens? Where is your sister now? Where is your sister, maidens, That she is not walking with you?’

7 ‘O pardon us, honoured father, O pardon us,’ they did say; ‘Lady Jean is with Captain Ogilvie, And away with him she will gae.’

8 When he came to Aberdeen, And down upon the green, There did he see Captain Ogilvie, Training up his men.

9 ‘O wo to you, Captain Ogilvie, And an ill death thou shalt die; For taking to thee my daughter, Hangëd thou shalt be.’

10 Duke Gordon has wrote a broad letter, And sent it to the king, To cause hang Captain Ogilvie If ever he hanged a man.

11 ‘I will not hang Captain Ogilvie, For no lord that I see; But I’ll cause him to put off the lace and scarlet, And put on the single livery.’

12 Word came to Captain Ogilvie, In the chamber where he lay, To cast off the gold lace and scarlet, And put on the single livery.

13 ‘If this be for bonny Jeany Gordon, This pennance I’ll take wi; If this be for bonny Jeany Gordon, All this I will dree.’

14 Lady Jean had not been married, Not a year but three, Till she had a babe in every arm, Another upon her knee.

15 ‘O but I’m weary of wandering! O but my fortune is bad! It sets not the Duke of Gordon’s daughter To follow a soldier-lad.

16 ‘O but I’m weary of wandering! O but I think lang! It sets not the Duke of Gordon’s daughter To follow a single man.’

17 When they came to the Highland hills, Cold was the frost and snow; Lady Jean’s shoes they were all torn, No farther could she go.

18 ‘O wo to the hills and the mountains! Wo to the wind and the rain! My feet is sore with going barefoot, No further am I able to gang.

19 ‘Wo to the hills and the mountains! Wo to the frost and the snow! My feet is sore with going barefoot, No farther am I able for to go.

20 ‘O if I were at the glens of Foudlen, Where hunting I have been, I would find the way to bonny Castle Gordon, Without either stockings or shoon.’

21 When she came to Castle Gordon, And down upon the green, The porter gave out a loud shout, ‘O yonder comes Lady Jean!’

22 ‘O you are welcome, bonny Jeany Gordon, You are dear welcome to me; You are welcome, dear Jeany Gordon, But away with your Captain Ogilvie.’

23 Now over seas went the captain, As a soldier under command; A message soon followed after To come and heir his brother’s land.

24 ‘Come home, you pretty Captain Ogilvie, And heir your brother’s land; Come home, ye pretty Captain Ogilvie, Be Earl of Northumberland.’

25 ‘O what does this mean?’ says the captain; ‘Where’s my brother’s children three?’ ‘They are dead and buried, And the lands they are ready for thee.’

26 ‘Then hoist up your sails, brave captain, Let’s be jovial and free; I’ll to Northumberland and heir my estate, Then my dear Jeany I’ll see.’

27 He soon came to Castle Gordon, And down upon the green; The porter gave out with a loud shout, ‘Here comes Captain Ogilvie!’

28 ‘You’re welcome, pretty Captain Ogilvie, Your fortune’s advanced I hear; No stranger can come unto my gates That I do love so dear.’

29 ‘Sir, the last time I was at your gates, You would not let me in; I’m come for my wife and children, No friendship else I claim.’

30 ‘Come in, pretty Captain Ogilvie, And drink of the beer and the wine; And thou shalt have gold and silver To count till the clock strike nine.’

31 ‘I’ll have none of your gold or silver, Nor none of your white-money; But I’ll have bonny Jeany Gordon, And she shall go now with me.’

32 Then she came tripping down the stair, With the tear into her eye; One babe was at her foot, Another upon her knee.