THE BATTE OF OTTERBURNE. After Scott. There are several Scottish versions of this spirit-stirring ballad, and also an English version, first printed in the fourth edition of theReliques. The English ballad, naturally enough, dwells more on the prowess of Percy and his countrymen in the combat than on their final discomfiture. A vivid account of the battle of Otterburne may be found in Froissart'sChronicles. In brief, it was a terrible slaughter brought about by the eager pride and ambition of those two hot-blooded young chieftains, James, Earl of Douglas, and the redoubtable Harry Percy. Yet the generosity of the leaders and the devoted loyalty of their men throw a moral splendor over the scene of bloodshed. In the year 1388 Douglas, at the head of three thousand Scottish spears, made a raid into Northumberland and, before the walls of Newcastle, engaged Percy in single combat, capturing his lance with the attached pennon. Douglas retired in triumph, brandishing his trophy, but Hotspur, burning with shame, hurriedly mustered the full force of the Marches and, following hard upon the Scottish rear, made a night attack upon the camp of Douglas at Otterbnrne, about twenty miles from the frontier. Then ensued a moonlight battle, gallant and desperate, fought on either side with unflinching bravery, and ending in the defeat of the English, Percy being taken prisoner. But the Scots bought their glory dear by the loss of their noble leader, who, when the English troops, superior in number, were gaining ground, dashed forward with impetuous courage, cheering on his men, and cleared a way with his swinging battle-axe into the heart of the enemy's ranks. Struck down by three mortal wounds, he died in the midst of the fray, urging with his failing breath these last requests upon the little guard of kinsmen who pressed about him: "First, that yee keep my death close both from our owne folke and from the enemy; then, that ye suffer not my standard to be lost or cast downe; and last, that ye avenge my death, and bury me at Melrosse with my father. If I could hope for these things," he added, "I should die with the greater contentment; for long since I heard a prophesie that a dead man should winne a field, and I hope in God it shall be I." Lammas-tide, the first of August. Muirmen, moorinen. Harried, plundered. The tane, the one. Fell, skin. (The inference is that Percy was rescued by his men.)Gin, if.Burn, brook.Kale, broth.Fend, sustain.Bent, open field.Petitions, tents (pavilions).Branking, prancing.Wargangs, wagons.Ayont, beyond.Hewmont, helmet.Smakkit, smote.Bracken, fern.
THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT. After Hearne, who first printed it from a manuscript in the Ashmolean collection at Oxford. It was next printed in the Reliques, under title of Chevy-Chase,—a title now reserved for the later and inferior broadside version which was singularly popular throughout the seventeenth century and is still better known than this far more spirited original. "With regard to the subject of this ballad,"—to quote from Bishop Percy,—"although it has no countenance from history, there is room to think it had originally some foundation in fact. It was one of the laws of the Marches, frequently renewed between the nations, that neither party should hunt in the other's borders, without leave from the proprietors or their deputies. There had long been a rivalship between the two martial families of Percy and Douglas, which, heightened by the national quarrel, must have produced frequent challenges and struggles for superiority, petty invasions of their respective domains, and sharp contests for the point of honour; which would not always be recorded in history. Something of this kind, we may suppose, gave rise to the ancient ballad of the Hunting o' the Cheviat. Percy, Earl of Northumberland, had vowed to hunt for three days in the Scottish border, without condescending to ask leave from Earl Douglas, who was either lord of the soil, or lord warden of the Marches. Douglas would not fail to resent the insult, and endeavour to repel the intruders by force; this would naturally produce a sharp conflict between the two parties; something of which, it is probable, did really happen, though not attended with the tragical circumstances recorded in the ballad: for these are evidently borrowed from the Battle of Otterbourn, a very different event, but which aftertimes would easily confound with it." The date of the ballad cannot, of course, be strictly ascertained. It was considered old in the middle of the sixteenth century, being mentioned inThe Complaynt of Scotland(1548) among the "sangis of natural music of the antiquite." Not much can be said for its "natural music," yet despite its roughness of form and enviable inconsistencies of spelling, it has always found grace with the poets. Rare Ben Jonson used to say that he would rather have been the author ofChevy Chasethan of all his works; Addison honored the broadside version with two critiques in theSpectator; and Sir Philip Sidney, though lamenting that the ballad should be "so evil apparrelled in the dust and cobwebs of that uncivill age," breaks out with the ingenuous confession: "I never heard the olde song of Percy and Duglas that I found not my heart mooved more then with a trumpet, and yet is it sung but by some blinde crouder, with no rougher voice then rude stile." Mauger, despite.Let, hinder.Meany, company.Shyars, shires.Bomen, bowmen.Byckarte, moved quickly, rattling their weapons.Bent, open field.Aras, arrows.Wyld, wild creatures, as deer.Shear, swiftly.Grevis, groves.Glent, glanced, flashed by.Oware off none, hour of noon.Mart, death-signal (as used in hunting.)Quyrry, quarry, slaughtered game.Bryttlynge, cutting up.Wyste, knew.Byll and brande, axe and sword.Glede, live coal.The ton, the one.Yerle, earl.Cars, curse.Nam, name.Wat, wot, know.Sloughe, slew.Byddys, abides.Wouche, injury.Ost, host.Suar, sure.Many a doughete the garde to dy, many a doughty (knight) they caused to die.Basnites, small helmets.Myneyeple, maniple (of many folds), a coat worn under the armor.Freyke, warrior.Swapte, smote.Myllan, Milan.Hight, promise.Spendyd, grasped (spanned).Corsiare, courser.Blane, halted.Dynte, stroke.Halyde, hauled.Stour, press of battle.Dre, endure.Hinde, gentle.Hewyne in to, hewn in two.The mayde them byears, they made them biers.Makys, mates.Carpe off care, tell of sorrow.March perti, the Border district.Lyff-tenant, lieutenant.Weal, clasp.Brook, enjoy.Quyte, avenged.That tear begane this spurn, that wrong caused this retaliation.Reane, rain.Ballys bete, sorrows amend.
EDOM O' GORDON. After Aytoun. This ballad was first printed at Glasgow, 1755, as taken down by Sir David Dalrymple "from the recitation of a lady," and was afterwards inserted—"interpolated and corrupted," says the unappeasable Ritson—in Percy'sReliques. Ritson himself published a genuine and ancient copy from a manuscript belonging apparently to the last quarter of the sixteenth century and preserved in the Cotton Library. The ballad is known under two other titles,Captain CarandThe Burning o' London Castle.Notwithstanding this inexactitude in names, the ballad has an historical basis. In 1571 Adam Gordon, deputy-lieutenant of the North of Scotland for Queen Mary, was engaged in a struggle against the clan Forbes, who upheld the Reformed Faith and the King's party. Gordon was successful in two sharp encounters, but "what glory and renown he obtained of these two victories," says the contemporary History of King James the Sixth, "was all cast down by the infamy of his next attempt; for immediately after this last conflict he directed his soldiers to the castle of Towie, desiring the house to be rendered to him in the Queen's name; which was obstinately refused by the lady, and she burst forth with certain injurious words. And the soldiers being impatient, by command of their leader, Captain Ker, fire was put to the house, wherein she and the number of twenty-seven persons were cruelly burnt to the death."
Martinmas, the eleventh of November.Hauld, stronghold.Toun, enclosed place.Buskit, made ready.Light, alighted.But and, and also.Dree, suffer.But an, unless.Wude, mad.Dule, pain.Reek, smoke.Nourice, nurse.Jimp, slender.Row, roll.Tow, throw.Busk and boun, up and away.Freits, ill omens.Lowe, blaze.Wichty, sturdy.Bent, field.Teenfu', sorrowful.Wroken, avenged.
KINMONT WILLIE. After Scott. This dashing ballad appeared for the first time in the Border Minstrelsy, having been "preserved by tradition," says Scott, "on the West Borders, but much mangled by reciters, so that some conjectural emendations have been absolutely necessary to render it intelligible." The facts in the case seem to be that in 1596 Salkeld, deputy of Lord Scroope, English Warden of the West Marches, and Robert Scott, for the Laird of Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddesdale, met on the border line for conference in the interest of the public weal. The truce, that on such occasions extended from the day of the meeting to the next day at sunset, was this time violated by a party of English soldiers, who seized upon William Armstrong of Kinmonth, a notorious freebooter, as he, attended by but three or four men, was returning from the conference; and lodged him in Carlisle Castle. The Laird of Buccleuch, after treating in vain for his release, raised two hundred horse, surprised the castle and carried off the prisoner without further ceremony. This exploit the haughty Queen of England "esteemed a great affront" and "stormed not a little" against the "bauld Buccleuch."Haribee, the place of execution at Carlisle.Liddel-rack, a ford on the Liddel.Reiver, robber.Hostelrie, inn.Lawing, reckoning.Garr'd, made.Basnet, helmet.Curch, cap.Lightly, set light by.Low, blaze.Splent on spauld, armor on shoulder.Woodhouselee, a house belonging to Buccleuch, on the Border.Herry, harry, spoil.Corbie, crow.Wons, dwells.Lear, lore.Row-footed, rough-footed(?).Spait, flood.Garr'd, made.Stear, stir.Coulters, ploughshares.Forehammers, the large hammers that strike before the small, sledgehammers.Fley'd, frightened.Spier, inquire.Hente, caught.Maill, rent.Airns, irons.Wood, mad.Furs, furrows.Trew, trust.
KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT OF CANTERBURY. After Percy, who printed from an ancient black-letter copy. There are three other broadside versions of this popular ballad extant, and at least one older version has been lost. Similar riddle-stories are to be found in almost all European literatures. There is nothing in this ballad save the name of King John, with his reputation for unjust and high-handed dealing, that can be called traditional.Deere, harm.Stead, place.St. Bittel, St. Botolph(?).
ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THE WIDOW'S THREE SONS. After Ritson, who has collected in two volumes the ballads of Robin Hood. This is believed to be one of the oldest of them all. A concise introduction to the Robin Hood ballads is given by Mr. Hales in thePercy Folio MS. vol. i. This legendary king of Sherwood Forest is more rightfully the hero of English song than his splendid rival, the Keltic King Arthur,
"whose name, a ghost, Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak, And cleaves to cairn and cromlech still."
Yet there is scarcely less doubt as to the actual existence of a flesh-and-blood Robin Hood than there is as to the actual existence of a flesh-and-blood King Arthur. But let History look to her own; Literature need have no scruple in claiming both the archer-prince of outlaws and the blameless king of the Table Round. Robber chieftain or democratic agitator, romantic invention or Odin-myth, it is certain that by the fourteenth century Robin Hood was a familiar figure in English balladry. We have our first reference to this generous-hearted rogue of the greenwood, who is supposed by Ritson to have lived from 1160 to 1247, in Langlande'sPiers Ploughman(1362). There are brief notices of the popular bandit in Wyntoun'sScottish Chronicle(1420), Fordun'sScotichronicon(1450), and Mair'sHistoria Majoris Brittaniae(1521). Famous literary allusions occur in Latimer'sSixth Sermon before Edward VI. (1548), in Drayton'sPolyolbion(1613), and Fuller'sWorthies of England(1662). The Robin Hood ballads illustrate to the full the rough and heavy qualities, both of form and thought, that characterize all our English folk-songs as opposed to the Scottish. We feel the difference instantly when a minstrel from over the Border catches up the strain:
"There's mony ane sings o'grass, o'grass,And mony ane sings o'corn;And mony ane sings o'Robin Hood,Kens little whar' he was born.
"It was na' in the ha', the ha',Nor in the painted bower;But it was in the gude greenwood,Amang the lily flower."
Yet these rude English ballads have just claims on our regard. They stand our feet squarely upon the basal rock of Saxon ethics, they breathe a spirit of the sturdiest independence, and they draw, in a few strong strokes, so fresh a picture of the joyous, fearless life led under the green shadows of the deer-haunted forest by that memorable band, bold Robin and Little John, Friar Tuck and George a Green, Will Scarlett, Midge the Miller's Son, Maid Marian and the rest, that we gladly succumb to a charm recognized by Shakespeare himself: "They say he is already in the forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England; they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world."—As You Like It.
ROBIN HOOD AND ALLIN A DALE. After Ritson. This ballad is first found in broadside copies of the latter half of the seventeenth century.Lin., pause.
ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH AND BURIAL. After Ritson, who made his version from a collation of two copies given in a York garland.
ANNIE OF LOCHROYAN. After Aytoun, who improves on Jamieson's version. This beautiful ballad is given in varying forms by Herd, Scott, Buchan, and others. Lochroyan, or Loch Ryan, is a bay on the south-west coast of Scotland.Jimp, slender.Gin, if.Greet, cry.Tirl'd, rattled.But and, and also.Warlock, wizard.Sinsyne, since then.Hooly, slowly.Deid, death.Syne, then.
LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET. After Aytoun, who adds to the first twenty-four stanzas of the copy given in theReliquesa concluding fourteen taken from Jamieson'sSweet Willie and Fair Annie. The unfortunate lady elsewhere figures asThe Nut-Brown BrideandFair Ellinor. There are Norse ballads which relate something akin to the same story.Gif, if.Rede, counsel.Owsen, oxen.Billie, an affectionate term for brother.Byre, cow-house.Fadge, clumsy woman.Sheen, shoes.Tift, whiff.Gin, if.Cleiding, clothing.Bruik, enjoy.Kist, chest.Lee, lonesome.Till, to.Dowie, doleful.Sark, shroud.But and, and also.Birk, birch.
THE BANKS OF YARROW. After Allingham's collated version. There are many renderings of this ballad, which Scott declares to be a great favorite among the peasantry of the Ettrick forest, who firmly believe it founded on fact. The river Yarrow, so favored of the poets, flows through a valley in Selkirkshire and joins the Tweed above the town of Selkirk. TheTenniesis a farm below the Yarrow kirk.Lawing, reckoning.Dawing, dawn.Marrow, mate.Dowie, doleful.Leafu', lawful.Binna, be not.
THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY. After Scott. This ballad is likewise known under titles ofEarl Brand, Lady MargaretandThe Child of Ell. Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic ballads relate a kindred story, and the incident of the intertwining plants that spring from the graves of hapless lovers, occurs in the folk-lore of almost all peoples.Bugelet, a small bugle.Dighted, strove to stanch.Plat, intertwined.
FINE FLOWERS I' THE VALLEY. After Aytoun, his version, though taken down from recitation, being in reality a compound of Herd's and Jamieson's. Aytoun claims that "this is perhaps the most popular of all the Scottish ballads, being commonly recited and sung even at the present day." Different refrains are often employed, and the ballad is frequently given under title ofThe Cruel Brother. Stories similar to this are found in the balladry of both northern and southern Europe.Marrow, mate.Close, avenue leading from the door to the street.Loutiny, bowing.Its lane, alone.
THE GAY GOSS-HAWK. Mainly after Motherwell, although his version is entitledThe Jolly Goshawk. The epithetGayhas the sanction of Scott and Jamieson. Buchan gives a rendering of this ballad under title ofThe Scottish Squire.Whin, furze.Bigly, spacious.Sark, shroud.Claith, cloth.Steeking, stitching.Gar'd, made.Chive, morsel.Skaith, harm.
YOUNG REDIN. After Allingham's collated copy. There are many versions of this ballad, the hero being variously known as Young Hunting, Earl Richard, Lord William, Lord John and Young Redin.Birl'd, plied.Douk, dive.Weil-head, eddy.Linn, the pool beneath a cataract.Brin, burn.Balefire, bonfire.
WILLIE AND MAY MARGARET. After Allingham's copy framed by collating Jamieson's fragmentary version with Buchan's ballad ofThe Drowned Lovers.Stour, wild.Pot, a pool in a river.Dowie den, doleful hollow.Tirled, rattled.Sleeked, fastened.Brae, hillside. _Sowm, swim.Minnie, affectionate term for mother.
YOUNG BEICHAN. Mainly after Jamieson, his version being based upon a copy taken down from the recitation of the indefatigable Mrs. Brown and collated with a manuscript and stall copy, both from Scotland, a recited copy from the North of England, and a short version "picked off an old wall in Piccadilly." Of this ballad ofYoung Beichanthere are numerous renderings, the name of the hero undergoing many variations,—Bicham, Brechin, Beachen, Bekie, Bateman, Bondwell—and the heroine, although Susie Pye or Susan Pye in ten of the fourteen versions, figuring also as Isbel, Essels, and Sophia. It was probably an English ballad at the start, but bears the traces of the Scottish minstrels who were doubtless prompt to borrow it. There is likelihood enough that the ballad was originally suggested by the legend of Gilbert Becket, father of the great archbishop; the story running that Becket, while a captive in Holy Land, plighted his troth to the daughter of a Saracenic prince. When the crusader had made good his escape, the lady followed him, inquiring her way to "England" and to "London," where she wandered up and down the streets, constantly repeating her lover's name, "Gilbert," the third and last word of English that she knew, until finally she found him, and all her woes were put to flight by the peal of wedding bells.Termagant, the name given in the old romances to the God of the Saracens.Pine, pain.Sheave, slice.But and, and also.Dreed, endured.
GILDEROY. After the current version adapted from the original by Sir Alexander Halket or his sister, Lady Elizabeth Wardlaw, the composer ofHardyknute. There is extant a black-letter broadside printed in England as early as 1650, and the ballad appears in several miscellanies of later date. The reviser added the sixth, seventh, and eighth stanzas. It is mortifying to learn that this "winsome Gilderoy "—the name, properly Gillie roy, signifying in Gaelic "the red-haired lad"—was in reality one Patrick Mac-Gregor, who was hanged at the cross of Edinburgh, 1638, as a common cateran or free-booter. That the romantic element in the ballad so outweighs the historical, must account for its classification here.Soy, silk.Cess, black-mail.Gear, property.
BONNY BARBARA ALLAN. After the version given in Ramsay'sTea-Table Miscellanyand followed by Herd, Ritson, and others. Percy prints with this in theReliquesa longer, but poorer copy. In Pepys'sDiary, Jan. 2,1666, occurs an allusion to the "little Scotch song of Barbary Alien."Gin, if.Hooly, slowly.Jow, knell.
THE GARDENER. After Kinloch. Buchan gives a longer, but less valuable version.Jimp, slender.Weed, dress.Camorine, camomile.Kail-blade, cabbage-leaf.Cute, ankle.Brawn, calf.Blaewort, witch bells.
ETIN THE FORESTER. Collated. No single version of this ballad is satisfactory, not Kinloch's fine fragment,Hynde Etin, nor Buchan's complete but inferior version,Young Akin, nor the modernized copy,Young Hastings, communicated by Buchan to Motherwell. Earlier and better renderings of the ballad have doubtless been lost. In the old Scottish speech, an Etin signified an ogre or giant, and although the existing versions show but faint traces of a supernatural element, it is probable that the original character of the story has been changed by the accidents of tradition, and that the Etin was at the outset in line with such personages as Arnold's Forsaken Merman. In the beautiful kindred ballads which abound in the Norse and German literatures, the Etin is sometimes represented by a merman, though usually by an elf-king, dwarf-king, or hill-king.Hind chiel, young stripling.Spier, ask.Bigg, build.Their lane, alone.Brae, hillside.Gars, makes.Greet, weep.Stown, stolen.Laverock, lark.Lift, air.Buntin', blackbird.Christendame, christening.Ben, in.Shaw, forest.Louted, bowed.Boun', go.
LAMKIN. After Jamieson. The many versions of this ballad show an unusually small number of variations. The name, though occurring in the several forms of Lambert Linkin, Lamerlinkin, Rankin, Belinkin, Lankyn, Lonkin, Balcanqual, most often appears as Lamkin or Lammikin or Lambkin, being perhaps a nick-name given to the mason for the meekness with which he had borne his injuries. This would explain the resentful tone of his inquiries on entering the house.Nourice, nurse.Limmer, wretch.Shot-window, projecting window.Gaire, edge of frock.Ilka, each.Bore, crevice.Greeting, crying.Dowie, doleful.Chamer, chamber.Lamer, amber.Ava', of all.
HUGH OF LINCOLN. Mainly after Jamieson. Percy gives a version of this famous ballad under title ofThe Jew's Daughter, and Herd and Motherwell, as well as Jamieson, have secured copies from recitation. The general view that this ballad rests upon an historical basis has but slender authority behind it. Matthew Paris, never too reliable as a chronicler, says that in 1255 the Jews of Lincoln, after their yearly custom, stole a little Christian boy, tortured and crucified him, and flung him into a pit, where his mother found the body. This is in all probability one of the many cruel slanders circulated against the Jews during the Middle Ages, to reconcile the Christian conscience to the Christian maltreatment of that long-suffering race. Such stories are related of various mediaeval innocents, in various lands and centuries, and may be classed together, until better evidence to the contrary presents itself, as malicious falsehood. This ballad should be compared, of course, with Chaucer'sPrioresses Tale.Keppit, caught.Gart, made.Twinn'd, deprived.Row'd, rolled.Ilka, each.Gin, it.
FAIR ANNIE. Mainly after Jamieson's version entitledLady Jane. Jamieson gives another copy, where the heroic lady is known asBurd Helen, but Scott, Motherwell, Kinloch, Buchan, and others agree on the nameFair Annie. The pathetic beauty of the ballad has secured it a wide popularity. There are Danish, Swedish, Dutch, and German versions. "But Fair Annie's fortunes have not only been charmingly sung," says Professor Child. "They have also been exquisitelytoldin a favorite lay of Marie de France, 'Le Lai del Freisne.' This tale of Breton origin is three hundred years older than any manuscript of the ballad. Comparison will, however, quickly show that it is not the source either of the English or of the Low German and Scandinavian ballad. The tale and the ballads have a common source, which lies further back, and too far for us to find."Your lane, alone.Braw, finely dressed.Gear, goods.But and, and also.Stown, stolen.Leugh, laughed.Loot, let.Gars, makes.Greet, weep.
THE LAIRD O' DRUM. After Aytoun's collated version. Copies obtained from recitation are given by Kinloch and Buchan. The eccentric Laird o' Drum was an actual personage, who, in the seventeenth century, mortified his aristocratic relatives and delighted the commons by marrying a certain Margaret Coutts, a woman of lowly rank, his first wife having been a daughter of the Marquis of Huntly. The old shepherd speaks in the Aberdeen dialect.Weel-faur'd, well-favored.Gin, if.Speer, ask.Kebbuck, cheese.Yetts, gates.Gawsy, portly.But the pearlin' abune her bree, without the lace above her brow.
LIZIE LINDSAY. After Jamieson. Complete copies are given by Buchan and Whitelaw, also.Till, to.Braes, hills.Fit, foot.Gin, if.Tocher, dowry.Gait, way.Wale, choice.Dey, dairy-woman.Laverock, lark.Liltin', carolling.Shealin', sheep-shed.Gaits and kye, goats and cows.
KATHARINE JANFARIE. Mainly after Motherwell's version entitledCatherine Johnstone. Other renderings are given by Scott, Maidment, and Buchan. In Scott's version the name of the English suitor is Lord Lochinvar, and both name and story the thieving poet has turned, as everybody knows, to excellent account. The two closing stanzas here seem to betray the hand of an English balladist.Weel-faur'd, well-favored.Lave, rest.Spier'd, asked.Brae, hill.
GLENLOGIE. After Smith's version in theScottish Minstrel,—a book wherein "great liberties," Motherwell claims, have been taken with ancient lays. A rough but spirited version is given by Sharpe, and a third by Buchan.Gar, make.His lane, alone.
GET UP AND BAR THE DOOR. After Herd. This ballad appears, too, in Johnson'sMuseumand Ritson'sScottish Songs.Martinmas, the eleventh of November.Intil, into.Hussyskep, house-keeping.Bree, broth.Scaud, scald.
THE LAWLANDS O' HOLLAND. After Herd. Another version, longer and poorer, occurs in Johnson'sMuseum.Withershins, the wrong way.Twinned, parted.
THE TWA CORBIES. After Scott, who received it from Mr. C. K. Sharpe, "as written down, from tradition, by a lady." This seems to be the Scottish equivalent of an old English poem,The Three Ravens, given by Ritson in hisAncient Songs.Corbies, ravens.Fail, turf.Kens, knows.Hause, neck.Pyke, pick.Theek, thatch.
HELEN OF KIRCONNEL. After Scott. Other versions are given by Herd, Ritson, and Jamieson. There is said to be a traditional basis for the ballad, and the grave of the lovers, Adam Fleming and Helen Irving (or Helen Bell), is still pointed out in the churchyard of Kirconnell, near Springkell.Burd, lady.
WALY WALY. After Ramsay, being first published in theTea-Table Miscellany. These touching and tender stanzas have been pieced by Chambers into the patchwork ballad,Lord Jamie Douglas, but evidently it is not there that they belong.Waly, a cry of lamentation.Brae, hillside.Burn, brook.Syne, then.Lichtly, slight.Busk, adorn.Marti'mas, November.Fell, bitterly.Cramasie, crimson.
LORD RONALD. After Scott's version entitledLord Randal. Scott adopts this name because he thinks the ballad may originally have had reference to the death of Thomas Randolph, or Randal, Earl of Murray,—a theory which Allingham, with more justice than mercy, briefly disposes of as "mere antiquarian moonshine." In point of fact the ballad recounts an old, old story, told in many literatures, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Magyar, Wendish, Bohemian, Catalan. The English offshoot takes on a bewildering variety of forms. (See Introduction, pp. xiii, xiv.)Broo', broth.
EDWARD, EDWARD. After Percy, the ballad having made its first appearance in theReliques. Motherwell gives an interesting version, in which the murderer, who in this case has slain his brother, is addressed asSon Davie. There are German, Swedish, Danish and Finish equivalents. The old orthography, which is retained here for its literary interest, cannot obscure the tragic power of the ballad.Frie, free.Dule ye drie, grief ye suffer.Tul, till.