And every steek that they pat in
Sewed to a siller bell.
The first Scots kirk that they cam to,
They gar'd the bells be rung;
The next Scots kirk that they cam to,
They gar'd the mass be sung.
But when they cam to St Mary's kirk,
There stude spearmen, all on a raw;
And up and started Lord William,
The chieftane amang them a'.
"Set down, set down the bier," he said;
"Let me looke her upon:"
But as soon as Lord William touched her hand,
Her colour began to come.
She brightened like the lily flower,
Till her pale colour was gone;
With rosy cheik, and ruby lip,
She smiled her love upon.
"A morsel of your bread, my lord,
"And one glass of your wine:
"For I hae fasted these three lang days,
"All for your sake and mine.
"Gae hame, gae hame, my seven bauld brothers!
"Gae hame and blaw your horn!
"I trow you wad hae gien me the skaith,
"But I've gien you the scorn.
"Commend me to my grey father,
"That wish'd, my saul gude rest;
"But wae be to my cruel step-dame,
"Gar'd burn me on the breast."
"Ah! woe to you, you light woman!
"An ill death may you die!
"For we left father and sisters at hame
"Breaking their hearts for thee."
[A]
Cosh—Quiet.
Cosh—Quiet.
[B]
Brash—Sickness.
Brash—Sickness.
NOTES ON THE GAY GOSS HAWK.
The red, that's on my true love's cheik,
Is like blood drops on the snaw.—P. 362. v, 5.
This simile resembles a passage in a MS. translation of an Irish Fairy tale, calledThe Adventures of Faravla, Princess of Scotland, and Carral O'Daly, Son of Donogho More O'Daly, Chief Bard of Ireland.
"Faravla, as she entered her bower, cast her looks upon the earth, which was tinged with the blood of a bird which a raven had newly killed; 'Like that snow,' said Faravla, 'was the complexion of my beloved, his cheeks like the sanguine traces thereon; whilst the raven recals to my memory the colour of his beautiful locks."
There is also some resemblance, in the conduct of the story, betwixt the ballad and the tale just quoted. The Princess Faravla, being desperately in love with Carral O'Daly, dispatches in search of him a faithful confidant, who, by her magical art, transforms herself into a hawk, and, perching upon the windows of the bard, conveys to him information of the distress of the princess of Scotland.
In the ancient romance ofSir Tristrem, the simile of the "blood drops upon snow" likewise occurs:
A bride bright thai ches
As blod open snoweing.
BROWN ADAM.
There is a copy of this Ballad in Mrs.BROWN'SCollection. The Editor has seen one, printed on a single sheet. The epithet, "Smith," implies, probably, the sirname, not the profession, of the hero, who seems to have been an outlaw There is, however, in Mrs.BROWN'Scopy, a verse of little merit here omitted, alluding to the implements of that occupation.
O wha wad wish the wind to blaw,
Or the green leaves fa' therewith?
Or wha wad, wish a lealer love
Than Brown Adam the smith?
But they hae banished him, Brown Adam,
Frae father and frae mother;
And they hae banished him, Brown Adam,
Frae sister and frae brother.
And they hae banished him, Brown Adam,
The flower o' a' his kin;
And he's bigged a hour in gude green-wood
Atween his ladye and him.
It fell upon a summer's day,
Brown Adam he thought lang;
And, for to hunt some venison,
To green-wood he wald gang.
He has ta'en his bow his arm o'er,
His bolts and arrows lang;
And he is to the gude green-wood
As fast as he could gang.
O he's shot up, and he's shot down,
The bird upon the brier;
And he's sent it hame to his ladye,
Bade her be of gude cheir.
O he's shot up, and he's shot down,
The bird upon the thorn;
And sent it hame to his ladye,
Said he'd be hame the morn.
When he cam to his ladye's bour door
He stude a little forbye,
And there he heard a fou fause knight
Tempting his gay ladye.
For he's ta'en out a gay goud ring,
Had cost him mony a poun',
"O grant me love for love, ladye,
"And this shall be thy own."
"I lo'e Brown Adam weel," she said;
"I trew sae does he me:
"I wadna gie Brown Adam's love
"For nae fause knight I see."
Out has he ta'en a purse o' gowd,
Was a' fou to the string,
"O grant me love for love, ladye,
"And a' this shall be thine."
"I lo'e Brown Adam weel," she says;
"I wot sae does he me:
"I wad na be your light leman
"For mair than ye could gie."
Then out he drew his lang bright brand,
And flashed it in her een;
"Now grant me love for love, ladye,
"Or thro' ye this sall gang!"
Then, sighing, says that ladye fair,
"Brown Adam tarries lang!"
Then in and starts him Brown Adam,
Says—"I'm just at your hand."
He's gar'd him leave his bonny bow,
He's gar'd him leave his brand,
He's gar'd him leave a dearer pledge—
Four fingers o' his right hand.
JELLON GRAME.
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.
This ballad is published from tradition, with some conjectural emendations. It is corrected by a copy in Mrs Brown's MS., from which it differs in the concluding stanzas. Some verses are apparently modernized.
Jellonseems to be the same name withJyllianorJulian. "Jyl of Brentford's Testament" is mentioned in Warton'sHistory of Poetry,Vol. II. p. 40. The name repeatedly occurs in old ballads, sometimes as that of a man, at other times as that of a woman. Of the former is an instance in the ballad of"Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter,"—Reliques of Ancient Poetry,Vol. III. p. 72.
Some do call me Jack, sweetheart.
And some do call meJille.
Witton Gilbert, a village four miles west of Durham, is, throughout the bishopric, pronounced Witton Jilbert. We have also the common name of Giles, always in Scotland pronounced Jill. For Gille, or Julianna, as a female name, we haveFair Gillianof Croyden, and a thousand authorities. Such being the case, the editor must enter his protest against the conversion of Gil Morrice, into child Maurice, an epithet of chivalry. All the circumstances in that ballad argue, that the unfortunate hero was an obscure and very young man, who had never received the honour of knighthood. At any rate, there can be no reason, even were internal evidence totally wanting, for altering a well known proper name, which, till of late years, has been the uniform title of the ballad.
JELLON GRAME.
O JELLON GRAME sat in Silverwood,[A]
He sharped his broad sword lang;
And he has call'd his little foot page
An errand for to gang.
"Win up, my bonny boy," he says,
"As quickly as ye may;
"For ye maun gang for Lillie Flower
"Before the break of day."
The boy has buckled his belt about,
And thro' the green-wood ran;
And he cam to the ladye's bower
Before the day did dawn.
"O sleep ye, wake ye, Lillie Flower?
"The red sun's on the rain:
"Ye're bidden come to Silverwood,
"But I doubt ye'll never win hame."
She hadna ridden a mile, a mile,
A mile but barely three,
Ere she cam to a new made grave,
Beneath a green aik tree.
O then up started Jellon Grame,
Out of a bush thereby;
"Light down, light down, now, Lillie Flower,
"For its here that ye maun lye."
She lighted aff her milk-white steed,
And kneel'd upon her knee;
"O mercy, mercy, Jellon Grame,
"For I'm no prepared to die!
"Your bairn, that stirs between my sides,
"Maun shortly see the light;
"But to see it weltering in my blood,
"Would be a piteous sight."
"O should I spare your life," he says,
"Until that bairn were born,
"Full weel I ken your auld father
"Would hang me on the morn."
"O spare my life, now, Jellon Grame!
"My father ye need na dread:
"I'll keep my babe in gude green-wood,
"Or wi' it I'll beg my bread."
He took no pity on Lillie Flower,
Tho' she for life did pray;
But pierced her thro' the fair body
As at his feet she lay.
He felt nae pity for Lillie Flower,
Where she was lying dead;
But he felt some for the bonny bairn,
That lay weltering in her bluid.
Up has he ta'en that bonny boy,
Given him to nurses nine;
Three to sleep, and three to wake,
And three to go between.
And he bred up that bonny boy,
Called him his sister's son;
And he thought no eye could ever see
The deed that he had done.
O so it fell, upon a day,
When hunting they might be,
They rested them in Silverwood,
Beneath that green aik tree.
And mony were the green-wood flowers
Upon the grave that grew,
And marvell'd much that bonny boy
To see their lovely hue.
"What's paler than the prymrose wan?
"What's redder than the rose?
"What's fairer than the lilye flower
"On this wee know[B]that grows?"
O out and answered Jellon Grame,
And he spak hastelie—
"Your mother was a fairer flower,
"And lies beneath this tree.
"More pale she was, when she sought my grace,
"Than prymrose pale and wan;
"And redder than rose her ruddy heart's blood,
"That down my broad sword ran."
Wi' that the boy has bent his bow,
It was baith stout and lang;
And thro' and thro' him, Jellon Grame,
He gar'd an arrow gang.
Says—"Lie ye there, now, Jellon Grame!
"My malisoun gang you wi'!
"The place my mother lies buried in
"Is far too good for thee."
[A]
Silverwood, mentioned in this ballad, occurs in a medley MS song, which seems to have been copied from the first edition of the Aberdeen caurus,penesJohn G. Dalyell, esq. advocate. One line only is cited, apparently the beginning of some song:Silverwood, gin ye were mine.
Silverwood, mentioned in this ballad, occurs in a medley MS song, which seems to have been copied from the first edition of the Aberdeen caurus,penesJohn G. Dalyell, esq. advocate. One line only is cited, apparently the beginning of some song:
Silverwood, gin ye were mine.
[B]
Wee know—Little hillock.
Wee know—Little hillock.
WILLIE'S LADYE.
ANCIENT COPY.
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.
Mr Lewis, in hisTales of Wonder, has presented the public with a copy of this ballad, with additions and alterations. The editor has also seen a copy, containing some modern stanzas, intended by Mr Jamieson, of Macclesfield, for publication in his Collection of Scottish Poetry. Yet, under these disadvantages, the editor cannot relinquish his purpose of publishing the old ballad, in its native simplicity, as taken from Mrs Brown of Faulkland's MS.
Those, who wish to know how an incantation, or charm, of the distressing nature here described, was performed in classic days, may consult the story of Galanthis's Metamorphosis, in Ovid, or the following passage in Apuleius:"Eadem (Saga scilicet quaedam), amatoris uxorem, quod in sibi dicacule probrum dixerat, jam in sarcinam praegnationis, obsepto utero, et repigrato faetu, perpetua praegnatione damnavit. Et ut cuncti numerant, octo annorum onere, misella illa, velut elephantum paritura, distenditur."—APUL. Metam. lib. 1.
There is also a curious tale about a count of Westeravia, whom a deserted concubine bewitched upon his marriage, so as to preclude all hopes of his becoming a father. The spell continued to operate for three years, till one day, the count happening to meet with his former mistress, she maliciously asked him about the increase of his family. The count, conceiving some suspicion from her manner, craftily answered, that God had blessed him with three fine children; on which she exclaimed, like Willie's mother in the ballad, "May Heaven confound the old hag, by whose counsel I threw an enchanted pitcher into the draw-well of your palace!" The spell being found, and destroyed, the count became the father of a numerous family.—Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels,p. 474.
WILLIE'S LADYE.
Willie's ta'en him o'er the faem,[A]
He's wooed a wife, and brought her hame;
He's wooed her for her yellow hair,
But his mother wrought her meikle care;
And meikle dolour gar'd her drie,
For lighter she can never be;
But in her bower she sits wi' pain,