Part 46

3 ‘But gin I had ane o my father’s servans, For he has so mony, That wad gae to the wood o Glentanner, Wi a letter to the rantin laddie!’

4 ‘Here am I, ane o your father’s servans, For he has sae mony, That will gae to the wood o Glentanner, Wi a letter to the rantin laddie.’

5 ‘Fan ye gae to Aboyne, To the woods o Glentanner sae bonny, Wi your hat in your hand gie a bow to the ground, In the presence o the rantin laddie.’

6 Fan he gaed to Aboyne, To the woods o Glentanner sae bonny, Wi his hat in his hand he gied a bow to the ground, In the presence of the rantin laddie.

7 Fan he looked the letter on Sae loud as he was laughin! But or he read it to an end The tears they cam down rappin.

8 ‘O fa is this or fa is that Has been so ill to my Maggie ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9 ‘But ye gett four-and-twenty milk white steeds, Wi an car . . . . . An as mony gay ladies to ride them on, To gae an bring hame my Maggie.

10 ‘Ye get four-an-twenty bonny brown steeds, Wi an car o an ome, An as mony knights to ride them on, To gae an bring hame my Maggie.’

11 Ye lasses a’, far ever ye be, An ye match wi ony o our Deeside laddies, Ye’ll happy be, ye’l happy be, For they are frank an kind.

* * * * *

C

Laing’s Thistle of Scotland, p. 7, 1823.

1 ‘Aft hae I playd at cards and dice For the love o a bonny rantin laddie, But now I maun sit i my father’s kitchen-nook, And sing, Hush, balow, my baby.

2 ‘If I had been wise, and had taen advice, And dane as my bonny love bade me, I would hae been married at Martinmass, And been wi my rantin laddie.

3 ‘But I was na wise, I took nae advice, Did not as my bonny love bade me, And now I maun sit by mysel i the nook, And rock my bastard baby.

4 ‘If I had horse at my command, As often I had many, I would ride on to the Castle o Aboyne, Wi a letter to my rantin laddie.’

5 Down the stair her father came, And lookëd proud and saucy: ‘Who is the man, and what is his name, That ye ca your rantin laddie?

6 ‘Is he a lord, or is he a laird? Or is he but a caddie? Or is it the young Earl o Aboyne That ye ca your rantin laddie?’

7 ‘He is a young and noble lord, He never was a caddie; It is the noble Earl o Aboyne That I ca my rantin laddie.’

8 ‘Ye shall hae a horse at your command, As ye had often many, To go to the Castle o Aboyne, Wi a letter to your rantin laddie.

9 ‘Where will I get a little page, Where will I get a caddie, That will run quick to bonny Aboyne, Wi this letter to my rantin laddie?’

10 Then out spoke the young scullion-boy, Said, Here am I, a caddie; I will run on to bonny Aboyne, Wi the letter to your rantin laddie.

11 ‘Now when ye come to bonny Deeside, Where woods are green and bonny, There will ye see the Earl o Aboyne, Among the bushes mony.

12 ‘And when ye come to the lands o Aboyne, Where all around is bonny, Ye’ll take your hat into your hand, Gie this letter to my rantin laddie.’

13 When he came near the banks of Dee, The birks were blooming bonny, And there he saw the Earl o Aboyne, Among the bushes mony.

14 ‘Where are ye going, my bonny boy? Where are ye going, my caddie?’ ‘I am going to the Castle o Aboyne, Wi a letter to the rantin laddie.’

15 ‘See yonder is the castle then, My young and handsome caddie, And I myself am the Earl o Aboyne, Tho they ca me the rantin laddie.’

16 ‘O pardon, my lord, if I’ve done wrong; Forgive a simple caddie; O pardon, pardon, Earl o Aboyne, I said but what she bade me.’

17 ‘Ye have done no wrong, my bonny boy, Ye’ve done no wrong, my caddie;’ Wi hat in hand he bowed low, Gave the letter to the rantin laddie.

18 When young Aboyne looked the letter on, O but he blinkit bonny! But ere he read four lines on end The tears came trickling mony.

19 ‘My father will no pity shew, My mother still does slight me, And a’ my friends have turnd from me, And servants disrespect me.’

20 ‘Who are they dare be so bold To cruelly use my lassie? But I’ll take her to bonny Aboyne, Where oft she did caress me.

21 ‘Go raise to me five hundred men, Be quick and make them ready; Each on a steed, to haste their speed, To carry home my lady.’

22 As they rode on thro Buchanshire, The company were many, Wi a good claymore in every hand, That glancëd wondrous bonny.

23 When he came to her father’s gate, He called for his lady: ‘Come down, come down, my bonny maid, And speak wi your rantin laddie.’

24 When she was set on high horseback, Rowd in the Highland plaidie, The bird i the bush sang not so sweet As sung this bonny lady.

25 As they rode on thro Buchanshire, He cried, Each Lowland lassie, Lay your love on some lowland lown, And soon will he prove fause t’ ye.

26 ‘But take my advice, and make your choice Of some young Highland laddie, Wi bonnet and plaid, whose heart is staid, And he will not beguile ye.’

27 As they rode on thro Garioch land, He rode up in a fury, And cried, Fall back, each saucy dame, Let the Countess of Aboyne before ye.

* * * * *

D

Murison MS., p. 74; Aberdeenshire.

1 ‘Aft hae I played at the cards and the dice, It was a’ for the sake o my laddie, But noo I sit i my father’s kitchie-neuk, Singing ba to a bonnie bastard babbie.

2 ‘Whar will I get a bonnie boy sae kin As will carry a letter cannie, That will rin on to the gates o the Boyne, Gie the letter to my rantin laddie?’

3 ‘Here am I, a bonnie boy sae kin, As will carry a letter cannie, That will rin on to the gates o the Boyne, Gie the letter to your rantin laddie.’

4 ‘When ye come to the gates o the Boyne, An low doon on yon cassie, Ye’ll tak aff your hat an ye’ll mak a low bow, Gie the letter to my rantin laddie.’

5 ‘When ye come to the gates o the Boyne, Ye’ll see lords an nobles monie; But ye’ll ken him among them a’, He’s my bonnie, bonnie rantin laddie.’

6 ‘Is your bonnie love a laird or a lord, Or is he a cadie, That ye call him so very often by name Your bonnie rantin laddie?’

7 ‘My love’s neither a laird nor a lord, Nor is he a cadie, But he is yerl o a’ the Boyne, An he is my bonnie rantin laddie.’

8 When he read a line or two, He smilëd eer sae bonnie; But lang ere he cam to the end The tears cam trinklin monie.

9 ‘Whar will I find fifty noble lords, An as monie gay ladies,

* * * * * *

* * * * *

#A. a.#

1^4. below.

4^1. Oh.

8^{3,4}. _The gap should be filled, says Stenhouse, Musical Museum, IV, 405, with these lines_:

As to gar her sit in [her] father’s kitchen-neuk And balow a bastard babie.

#b.#

1, 2. ‘Aft hae I played at the ring and the ba, And lang was a rantin lassie, But now my father does me forsake, And my friends they all do neglect me.’

3^1. But gin I had servants.

3^2. As I hae had right mony.

3^3. For to send awa to Glentanner’s yetts.

4^1. O is your true-love a laird or lord.

4^2. he a Highland caddie.

4^3. That ye sae aften call him by name.

5^1. My true-love he’s baith laird and lord.

5^2. Do ye think I hae married a caddie?

5^3. O he is the noble earl o Aboyne.

5^4. he’s my bonnie rantin.

6^1. ye’se hae servants.

6^2. As ye hae had right mony.

6^3. For to send awa to Glentanner’s yetts.

6^4. Wi a.

7^1. Aboyne the letter got.

7^2. Wow but.

7^3. But ere three lines o it he read.

7^4. O but his.

8^{1,2}. His face it reddened like a flame, He grasped his sword sae massy.

8^3==8^1. O wha is this, _etc_.

8^4==8^2. Sae cruel to, _etc_.

9. _Wanting._

10^1. Gae saddle to me five.

10^2. Gae saddle and.

10^4. For I’m gaing to.

11. And when they came to auld Fedderate He found her waiting ready, And he brought her to Castle Aboyne, And now she’s his ain dear lady.

#B.#

9^1. he gett.

10^1. He gat.

#D.#

_There is an initial stanza which, it seems to me, cannot have belonged originally to this ballad_:

‘My father he feet me far, far away, He feet me in Kirkcaldy; He feet me till an auld widow-wife, But she had a bonnie rantin laddie.’

241

THE BARON O LEYS

#A.# Skene MS., p. 20.

#B.# ‘Laird o Leys,’ Kinloch’s Ballad Book, p. 74.

#C.# ‘The Baron o Leys,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 144.

‘The Baron o Leys,’ in The New Deeside Guide by James Brown [==Joseph Robertson], Aberdeen [1832], p. 15, and The Deeside Guide, Aberdeen, 1889, p. 23, is #C#. #C# 4–11 seems to be an interpolation by a later hand.

“Part of this ballad,” says Buchan, II, 322, “by ballad-mongers has been confused with the ballad of ‘The Earl of Aboyne’ [No 240, #A b#], called in some instances ‘The Ranting Laddie.’” Laing, Thistle of Scotland, p. 11, appears to have confounded it with ‘The Earl of Aboyne’ proper. He gives this stanza:

‘Some ca me that and some ca me this, And The Baron o Leys they ca me, But when I am on bonny Deeside They ca me The Rantin Laddie.’

Herd’s MSS, I, 233, II, fol. 71, give the two following stanzas under the title ‘The Linkin Ladie:’

‘Wae’s me that eer I made your bed! Wae’s me that eer I saw ye! For now I’ve lost my maidenhead, And I ken na how they ca ye.’

‘My name is well kent in my ain country, They ca me The Linking Ladie; If ye had not been as willing as I, Shame fa them wad eer hae bade ye!’

‘The Linkin Ladie,’ judging from this fragment (as it may be supposed to be), was much of a fashion with the ballad which we are engaged with, and may have been an earlier form of it. Sir Walter Scott, who cites these verses from memory (Sharpe’s Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 162), says that the hero of them was a brother of the celebrated [Thomas] Boston, author of ‘The Fourfold State.’

‘The Baron o Leys’ relates, or purports to relate, to an escapade of one of the Burnetts of Leys, Kincardineshire, Alexander, #A#, #B#, George, #C#. A woman who is with child by him gives him his choice of marriage, death, or the payment of ten thousand crowns. He is a married man; his wife is ready to sell everything, to her silk gowns, to release her husband from his awkward position.

* * * * *

A

Skene MS., p. 20; taken down in the north of Scotland, 1802–3.

1 The Laird of Leys is on to Edinbrugh, To shaw a fit o his follie; He drest himsel in the crimson-brown, An he provd a rantin laddie.

2 Ben came a weel-faird lass, Says, Laddie, how do they ca ye? ‘They ca me this, an they ca me that, Ye wudna ken fat they ca me; But whan I’m at home on bonnie Deeside They ca me The Rantin Laddie.’

3 They sought her up, they sought her down, They sought her in the parlour; She coudna be got but whar she was, In the bed wi The Rantin Laddie.

4 ‘Tell me, tell me, Baron of Leys, Ye tell me how they ca ye! Your gentle blood moves in my side, An I dinna ken how they ca ye.’

5 ‘They ca me this, an they ca me that, Ye couldna ken how they ca me; But whan I’m at home on bonnie Deeside They ca me The Rantin Laddie.’

6 ‘Tell me, tell me, Baron of Leys, Ye tell me how they ca ye! Your gentle blood moves in my side, An I dinna ken how to ca ye.’

7 ‘Baron of Leys, it is my stile, Alexander Burnett they ca me; Whan I’m at hame on bonnie Deeside My name is The Rantin Laddie.’

8 ‘Gin your name be Alexander Burnett, Alas that ever I saw ye! For ye hae a wife and bairns at hame, An alas for lyin sae near ye!

9 ‘But I’se gar ye be headit or hangt, Or marry me the morn, Or else pay down ten thousand crowns For giein o me the scorn.’

10 ‘For my head, I canna want; I love my lady dearly; But some o my lands I maun lose in the case, Alas for lyin sae near ye!’

11 Word has gane to the Lady of Leys That the laird he had a bairn; The warst word she said to that was, ‘I wish I had it in my arms.

12 ‘For I will sell my jointure-lands— I am broken an I’m sorry— An I’ll sell a’, to my silk gowns, An get hame my rantin laddie.’

* * * * *

B

Kinloch’s Ballad Book, p. 74, 1827.

1 The Laird o Leys is to London gane; He was baith full and gawdie; For he shod his steed wi siller guid, And he’s playd the ranting laddie.

2 He hadna been in fair London A twalmonth and a quarter, Till he met wi a weel-faurd may, Wha wishd to know how they ca’d him.

3 ‘They ca me this, and they ca me that, And they’re easy how they’ve ca’d me; But whan I’m at hame on bonnie Deeside They ca me The Ranting Laddie.’

4 ‘Awa wi your jesting, sir,’ she said, ‘I trow you’re a ranting laddie; But something swells atween my sides, And I maun ken how they ca thee.’

5 ‘They ca me this, and they ca me that, And they’re easy how they ca me; The Baron o Leys my title is, And Sandy Burnet they ca me.’

6 ‘Tell down, tell down ten thousand crowns, Or ye maun marry me the morn; Or headit or hangit ye sall be, For ye sanna gie me the scorn.’

7 ‘My head’s the thing I canna weel want; My lady she loves me dearlie; Nor yet hae I means ye to maintain; Alas for the lying sae near thee!’

8 But word’s gane doun to the Lady o Leys That the Baron had got a babie: ‘The waurst o news!’ my lady she said, ‘I wish I had hame my laddie.

9 ‘But I’ll sell aff my jointure-house, Tho na mair I sud be a ladie; I’ll sell a’ to my silken goun, And bring hame my rantin laddie.’

10 So she is on to London gane, And she paid the money on the morn; She paid it doun and brought him hame, And gien them a’ the scorn.

* * * * *

C

Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 144.

1 The Baron o Leys to France is gane, The fashion and tongue to learn, But hadna been there a month or twa Till he gat a lady wi bairn.

2 But it fell ance upon a day The lady mournd fu sairlie; Says, Who’s the man has me betrayed? It gars me wonder and fairlie.

3 Then to the fields to him she went, Saying, Tell me what they ca thee; Or else I’ll mourn and rue the day, Crying, alas that ever I saw thee!

4 ‘Some ca’s me this, some ca’s me that, I carena fat befa me; For when I’m at the schools o France An awkward fellow they ca me.’

5 ‘Wae’s me now, ye awkward fellow, And alas that ever I saw thee! Wi you I’m in love, sick, sick in love, And I kenna well fat they ca thee.’

6 ‘Some ca’s me this, some ca’s me that, What name does best befa me; For when I walk in Edinburgh streets The Curling Buckle they ca me.’

7 ‘O wae’s me now, O Curling Buckle, And alas that ever I saw thee! For I’m in love, sick, sick in love, And I kenna well fat they ca thee.’

8 ‘Some ca’s me this, some ca’s me that, Whatever name best befa’s me; But when I’m in Scotland’s king’s high court Clatter the Speens they ca me.’

9 ‘O wae’s me now, O Clatter the Speens, And alas that ever I saw thee! For I’m in love, sick, sick in love, And I kenna well fat to ca thee.’

10 ‘Some ca’s me this, some ca’s me that, I carena what they ca me; But when wi the Earl o Murray I ride It’s Scour the Brass they ca me.’

11 ‘O wae’s me now, O Scour the Brass, And alas that ever I saw thee! For I’m in love, sick, sick in love, And I kenna well fat to ca thee.’

12 ‘Some ca’s me this, some ca’s me that, Whatever name best befa’s me; But when I walk thro Saint Johnstone’s town George Burnett they ca me.’

13 ‘O wae’s me, O wae’s me, George Burnett, And alas that ever I saw thee! For I’m in love, sick, sick in love, And I kenna well fat to ca thee.’

14 ‘Some ca’s me this, some ca’s me that, Whatever name best befa’s me; But when I am on bonny Dee side The Baron o Leys they ca me.’

15 ‘O weal is me now, O Baron o Leys, This day that ever I saw thee! There’s gentle blood within my sides, And now [I] ken fat they ca thee.

16 ‘But ye’ll pay down ten thousand crowns, Or marry me the morn; Else I’ll cause you be headed or hangd For gieing me the scorn.’

17 ‘My head is a thing I cannot well want; My lady loves me sae dearly; But I’ll deal the gold right liberally For lying ae night sae near thee.’

18 When word had gane to the Lady o Leys The baron had gotten a bairn, She clapped her hands, and this did say, ‘I wish he were in my arms!

19 ‘O weal is me now, O Baron o Leys, For ye hae pleased me sairly; Frae our house is banishd the vile reproach That disturbed us late and early.’

20 When she looked ower her castle-wa, To view the woods sae rarely, There she spied the Baron o Leys Ride on his steed sae rarely.

21 Then forth she went her baron to meet, Says, Ye’re welcome to me, fairly! Ye’se hae spice-cakes, and seed-cakes sweet, And claret to drink sae rarely.

* * * * *

#C.#

19^{3,4}. Frae her house she banishd the vile reproach That disturbs us. _The Deeside Guide has nearly the reading here substituted, and some correction is necessary. The reference seems to be to childlessness. In #A# 8 the baron is said to have bairns._

242

THE COBLE O CARGILL

‘The Coble o Cargill,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 80; ‘The Weary Coble o Cargill,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 230. Communicated to Motherwell by William George, tenant in Cambus Michael, Perthshire, who took it from the recitation of an old woman.

Stobhall is on the left bank of the Tay, eight miles above Perth, in Cargill parish, and Cargill is a little further up. Balathy is opposite Cargill, and Kercock is higher up the river on the right bank. The local tradition, as given by Motherwell in his manuscript and his book, is that the butler of Stobhall had a leman both at Kercock and at Balathy. Upon an occasion when the butler had gone to Kercock, the lass of Balathy scuttled the coble, which he had left below, “and waited his return, deeming that her suspicions of his infidelity would be well founded if he took the boat without visiting her in passing.” The butler took the boat without stopping at Balathy, and in her sight the weary coble sank. Local tradition in such cases seldom means more than a theory which people have formed to explain a preëxisting ballad. The jealousy of the lass of Balathy has, in the ballad, passed the point at which confirmation would be waited for. She has many a time watched late for her chance to bore the coble, and she bores it ‘wi gude will.’

St. 14 is a commonplace which has been already several times noted.

The Rev. William Marshall’s Historic Scenes in Perthshire, Edinburgh, 1879, p. 246, gives us a “modern” version of this ballad; that is, one written over in magazine style. This is repeated in Robert Ford’s Auld Scots Ballants, 1889, p. 152. The Perthshire Antiquarian Miscellany, by Robert S. Fittis, Perth, 1875, p. 466, cites some stanzas from another ballad, composed by one James Beattie, journeyman-mason, but represented as having been taken down verbatim from the mouth of an old man. In these pieces the lass of Balathy has the name Jean, Jeanie Low (Low or Gow, according to Ford, p. 149).[142]

* * * * *

1 David Drummond’s destinie, Gude man o appearance o Cargill; I wat his blude rins in the flude, Sae sair against his parents’ will.

2 She was the lass o Balathy toun, And he the butler o Stobhall, And mony a time she wauked late To bore the coble o Cargill.

3 His bed was made in Kercock ha, Of gude clean sheets and of [the] hay; He wudna rest ae nicht therein, But on the prude waters he wud gae.

4 His bed was made in Balathy toun, Of the clean sheets and of the strae; But I wat it was far better made Into the bottom o bonnie Tay.

5 She bored the coble in seven pairts, I wat her heart might hae been fu sair; For there she got the bonnie lad lost Wi the curly locks and the yellow hair.

6 He put his foot into the boat, He little thocht o ony ill; But before that he was mid-waters, The weary coble began to fill.

7 ‘Woe be to the lass o Balathy toun, I wat an ill death may she die! For she bored the coble in seven pairts, And let the waters perish me.

8 ‘Oh, help, oh help, I can get nane, Nae help o man can to me come!’ This was about his dying words, When he was choaked up to the chin.

9 ‘Gae tell my father and my mother It was naebody did me this ill; I was a-going my ain errands, Lost at the coble o bonnie Cargill.’

10 She bored the boat in seven pairts, I wat she bored it wi gude will; And there they got the bonnie lad’s corpse, In the kirk-shot o bonnie Cargill.

11 Oh a’ the keys o bonnie Stobha I wat they at his belt did hing; But a’ the keys of bonnie Stobha They now ly low into the stream.

12 A braver page into his age Neer set a foot upon the plain; His father to his mother said, ‘Oh, sae soon as we’ve wanted him!

13 ‘I wat they had mair luve than this When they were young and at the scule; But for his sake she wauked late, And bored the coble o bonnie Cargill.’

14 ‘There’s neer a clean sark gae on my back, Nor yet a kame gae in my hair; There’s neither coal nor candle-licht Shall shine in my bouir for evir mair.

15 ‘At kirk nor market I’se neer be at, Nor yet a blythe blink in my ee; There’s neer a ane shall say to anither, That’s the lassie gard the young man die.

16 ‘Between the yates o bonnie Stobha And the kirk-style o bonnie Cargill, There is mony a man and mother’s son That was at my love’s burial.’

* * * * *

14^2. Not yet.

243

JAMES HARRIS (THE DÆMON LOVER)

#A.# A Warning for Married Women, being an example of Mrs Jane Reynolds (a West-country woman), born near Plymouth, who, having plighted her troth to a Seaman, was afterwards married to a Carpenter, and at last carried away by a Spirit, the manner how shall presently be recited. To a West-country tune called ‘The Fair Maid of Bristol,’ ‘Bateman,’ or ‘John True.’ Pepys Ballads, IV, 101.

#B.# ‘The Distressed Ship-Carpenter,’ The Rambler’s Garland, 1785 (?), British Museum, 11621, c. 4 (57).

#C.# ‘James Herries,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 214.

#D.# ‘The Carpenter’s Wife,’ Kinloch MSS, I, 297.

#E.# ‘The Dæmon Lover,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 97.

#F.# ‘The Dæmon Lover,’ Scott’s Minstrelsy, II, 427, 1812.

#G.# ‘The Dæmon Lover,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 93.

#H.# ‘The Banks of Italy,’ Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 138, two stanzas.

The Pepys copy was printed for Thackeray and Passenger. Others are: Crawford, No 1114, Printed for A. M[ilbourne], W. O[nley], and T. Thackeray; Ewing, 377, for Coles, Vere, and Gilbertson; the same, 378, by and for W. O[nley]. No 71 in Thackeray’s List, printed 1685. A later copy in the Douce ballads, II, fol. 249 b, Bodleian Library, printed by Thomas Norris at the Looking-Glass on London Bridge. Another, without publisher’s name, in the Roxburghe collection, I, 502; Ballad Society, III, 200.