Francis James Child

THE BATTLE OF OTTERBURN. See p. 5.

In the versions of this ballad given in the body of this work, the Earl of Douglas is represented as falling by the hand of Harry Percy. In the ballad which follows, taken from Herd's Scottish Songs, i. 211, his death is ascribed to the revenge of an offended servant. Though there is not the slightest reason to give credence to this story, it has a certain foundation in tradition. Hume of Godscroft writes "there are that say, that he [Douglas] was not slain by the enemy, but by one of his own men, a groom of his chamber, whom he had struck the day before with a truncheon, in ordering of the battle, because he saw him make somewhat slowly to. And they name this man John Bickerton of Luffness, who left a part of his armour behind unfastened, and when he was in the greatest conflict, this servant of his came behind his back, and slew him thereat." Wintown says that the Earl was so intent on marshalling his forces, and so eager to be at the foe, that he neglected to arm himself carefully.—Scott's Minstrelsy, i. 350.

13. At this place a recited copy, quoted by Finlay (Scottish Ballads, I. p. xviii.), has the following stanzas:—

Then out an spak a little wee boy,
And he was near o' Percy's kin,
"Methinks I see the English host,
A-coming branking us upon;

Wi' nine waggons scaling wide,
And seven banners bearing high;
It wad do any living gude
To see their bonny colours fly.

43, 44. Supplied by Motherwell from a recited copy.

---

THE BATTLE OF HARLAW.

From Ramsay's Evergreen, i. 78.

This battle took place at Harlaw, near Aberdeen, on the 24th of July, 1411. The conflict was occasioned by a dispute concerning the succession to the earldom of Ross, between Donald, Lord of the Isles, and the son of the Regent, Robert, Duke of Albany, whose claim was supported by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar. The consequences of this battle were of the highest importance, inasmuch as the wild Celts of the Highlands and Islands received such a check that they never again combined for the conquest of the civilized parts of Scotland.

The Battle of Harlaw is one of the old ballads whose titles occur in the Complaynt of Scotland (1548). A bag-pipe tune of that name is mentioned in Drummond of Hawthornden's mock-heroic poem, the Polemo Middinia:

"Interea ante alios dux Piper Laius heros,
PrÆcedens, magnamque gerens cum burdine pypam
Incipit Harlai cunctis sonare Batellum."

Mr. Laing, in his Early Metrical Tales (p. xlv.) speaks of an edition printed in the year 1668 as being "in the curious library of old Robert Myln." No copy is now known to exist of a date anterior to that which was published in Ramsay's Evergreen. Of the age of this copy the most opposite opinions have been maintained, some regarding the ballad as contemporary with the event, and others insinuating that Ramsay, or one of his friends, is chargeable with the authorship. This last notion has no other ground than the freedom which Ramsay notoriously took with his texts, and that freedom has very likely been exercised in the present case. We shall, perhaps, be going quite as far as is prudent, if we acknowledge that this may be one of "the Scots poems wrote by the ingenious before 1600." Most readers will agree with Lord Hailes that the language is as recent as the days of Queen Mary, or of James the Sixth. Sibbald, in his Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, iii. 288, has stated other objections to receiving this ballad for ancient, which seem, however, to be satisfactorily answered by Finlay, Scottish Ballads, i. 160.

The copy of this ballad in The Thistle of Scotland, p. 75, is only Ramsay's, imperfectly remembered, or, what is quite as probable, here and there altered according to the taste of the illiterate editor. At page 92 of the same book, three stanzas are given of a burlesque song on this battle. A traditional ballad, recently recovered, is inserted at the end of this volume.

Frae Dunidier as I cam throuch,
Doun by the hill of Banochie,
Allangst the lands of Garioch,
Grit pitie was to heir and se
The noys and dulesum hermonie,5
That evir that dreiry day did daw,
Cryand the corynoch on hie,
Alas! alas! for the Harlaw.

I marvlit quhat the matter meint,
All folks war in a fiery-fairy;10
I wist nocht quha was fae or freind,
Zit quietly I did me carrie.
But sen the days of auld King Hairy,
Sic slauchter was not hard nor sene,
And thair I had nae tyme to tairy,15
For bissiness in Aberdene.

Thus as I walkit on the way,
To Inverury as I went,
I met a man and bad him stay,
Requeisting him to mak me quaint20
Of the beginning and the event,
That happenit thair at the Harlaw:
Then he entreited me tak tent,
And he the truth sould to me schaw.

Grit Donald of the Yles did claim25
Unto the lands of Ross sum richt,
And to the governour he came,
Them for to haif, gif that he micht:
Quha saw his interest was but slicht,
And thairfore answerit with disdain;30
He hastit hame baith day and nicht,
And sent nae bodward back again.

But Donald richt impatient
Of that answer Duke Robert gaif,
He vowed to God Omnipotent,35
All the hale lands of Ross to haif,
Or ells be graithed in his graif:
He wald not quat his richt for nocht,
Nor be abusit lyk a slaif;
That bargin sould be deirly bocht.40

Then haistylie he did command,
That all his weir-men should convene,
Ilk an well harnisit frae hand,
To meit and heir quhat he did mein:
He waxit wrath, and vowit tein,45
Sweirand he wald surpryse the North,
Subdew the brugh of Aberdene,
Mearns, Angus, and all Fyfe to Forth.

Thus with the weir-men of the Yles,
Quha war ay at his bidding bown,50
With money maid, with forss and wyls,
Richt far and neir, baith up and doun,
Throw mount and muir, frae town to town,
Allangst the lands of Ross he roars,
And all obey'd at his bandown,55
Evin frae the North to Suthren shoars.

Then all the countrie men did zield;
For nae resistans durst they mak,
Nor offer battill in the feild,
Be forss of arms to beir him bak.60
Syne they resolvit all and spak,
That best it was for thair behoif,
They sould him for thair chiftain tak,
Believing weil he did them luve.

Then he a proclamation maid,65
All men to meet at Inverness,
Throw Murray land to mak a raid,
Frae Arthursyre unto Spey-ness.
And further mair, he sent express,
To schaw his collours and ensenzie,70
To all and sindry, mair and less,
Throchout the bounds of Byne and Enzie.

And then throw fair Straithbogie land
His purpose was for to pursew,
And quhasoevir durst gainstand,75
That race they should full sairly rew.
Then he bad all his men be trew,
And him defend by forss and slicht,
And promist them rewardis anew,
And mak them men of mekle micht.80

Without resistans, as he said,
Throw all these parts he stoutly past,
Quhair sum war wae, and sum war glaid,
But Garioch was all agast.
Throw all these feilds he sped him fast,85
For sic a sicht was never sene;
And then, forsuith, he langd at last
To se the bruch of Aberdene.

To hinder this prowd enterprise,
The stout and michty Erle of Marr90
With all his men in arms did ryse,
Even frae Curgarf to Craigyvar:
And down the syde of Don richt far,
Angus and Mearns did all convene
To fecht, or Donald came sae nar95
The ryall bruch of Aberdene.

And thus the martial Erle of Marr
Marcht with his men in richt array;
Befoir the enemie was aware,
His banner bauldly did display.100
For weil enewch they kend the way,
And all their semblance weil they saw:
Without all dangir, or delay,
Come haistily to the Harlaw.

With him the braif Lord Ogilvy,105
Of Angus sheriff principall,
The constabill of gude DundÈ,
The vanguard led before them all.
Suppose in number they war small,
Thay first richt bauldlie did pursew,110
And maid thair faes befor them fall,
Quha then that race did sairly rew.

And then the worthy Lord Salton,
The strong undoubted Laird of Drum,
The stalwart Laird of Lawristone,115
With ilk thair forces, all and sum.
Panmuir with all his men did cum,
The provost of braif Aberdene,
With trumpets and with tuick of drum,
Came schortly in thair armour schene.120

These with the Earle of Marr came on,
In the reir-ward richt orderlie,
Thair enemies to sett upon;
In awfull manner hardily,
Togither vowit to live and die,125
Since they had marchit mony mylis,
For to suppress the tyrannie
Of douted Donald of the Yles.

But he in number ten to ane,
Richt subtilÈ alang did ryde,130
With Malcomtosch and fell Maclean,
With all thair power at thair syde;
Presumeand on thair strenth and pryde,
Without all feir or ony aw,
Richt bauldie battill did abyde,135
Hard by the town of fair Harlaw.

The armies met, the trumpet sounds,
The dandring drums alloud did touk,
Baith armies byding on the bounds,
Till ane of them the feild sould bruik.140
Nae help was thairfor, nane wald jouk,
Ferss was the fecht on ilka syde,
And on the ground lay mony a bouk
Of them that thair did battill byd.

With doutsum victorie they dealt,145
The bludy battil lastit lang;
Each man his nibours forss thair felt,
The weakest aft-tymes gat the wrang:
Thair was nae mowis thair them amang,
Naithing was hard but heavy knocks,150
That eccho mad a dulefull sang,
Thairto resounding frae the rocks.

But Donalds men at last gaif back,
For they war all out of array:
The Earl of Marris men throw them brak,155
Pursewing shairply in thair way,
Thair enemys to tak or slay,
Be dynt of forss to gar them yield;
Quha war richt blyth to win away,
And sae for feirdness tint the feild.160

Then Donald fled, and that full fast,
To mountains hich for all his micht;
For he and his war all agast,
And ran till they war out of sicht;
And sae of Ross he lost his richt,165
Thocht mony men with hem he brocht;
Towards the Yles fled day and nicht,
And all he wan was deirlie bocht.

This is (quod he) the richt report
Of all that I did heir and knaw;170
Thocht my discourse be sumthing schort,
Tak this to be a richt suthe saw:
Contrairie God and the kings law,
Thair was spilt mekle Christian blude,
Into the battil of Harlaw:175
This is the sum, sae I conclude.

But zit a bonny quhyle abyde,
And I sall mak thee cleirly ken
Quhat slauchter was on ilkay syde,
Of Lowland and of Highland men:180
Quha for thair awin haif evir bene;
These lazie lowns micht weil be spaird,
Chessit lyke deirs into their dens,
And gat thair waiges for reward.

Malcomtosh, of the clan heid cheif,185
Macklean, with his grit hauchty heid,
With all thair succour and relief,
War dulefully dung to the deid:
And now we are freid of thair feid,
They will not lang to cum again;190
Thousands with them, without remeid,
On Donald's syd that day war slain.

And on the uther syde war lost,
Into the feild that dismal day,
Chief men of worth, of mekle cost,195
To be lamentit sair for ay.
The Lord Saltoun of Rothemay,
A man of micht and mekle main;
Grit dolour was for his decay,
That sae unhappylie was slain.200

Of the best men amang them was
The gracious gude Lord Ogilvy,
The sheriff principal of Angus,
Renownit for truth and equitie,
For faith and magnanimitie:205
He had few fallows in the field,
Zet fell by fatall destinie,
For he nae ways wad grant to zield.

Sir James Scrimgeor of Duddap, knicht,
Grit constabill of fair DundÈ,210
Unto the dulefull deith was dicht:
The kingis cheif banner man was he,
A valziant man of chevalrie,
Quhais predecessors wan that place
At Spey, with gude King William frie,215
Gainst Murray and Macduncans race.

Gude Sir Allexander Irving,
The much renownit laird of Drum,
Nane in his days was bettir sene,
Quhen they war semblit all and sum.220
To praise him we sould not be dumm,
For valour, witt, and worthyness;
To end his days he ther did cum,
Quhois ransom is remeidyless.

And thair the knicht of Lawriston225
Was slain into his armour schene,
And gude Sir Robert Davidson,
Quha provest was of Aberdene:
The knicht of Panmure, as was sene,
A mortall man in armour bricht,230
Sir Thomas Murray, stout and kene,
Left to the warld thair last gude nicht.

Thair was not sen King Keneths days
Sic strange intestine crewel stryf
In Scotland sene, as ilk man says,235
Quhair mony liklie lost thair lyfe;
Quhilk maid divorce twene man and wyfe,
And mony childrene fatherless,
Quhilk in this realme has bene full ryfe:
Lord help these lands, our wrangs redress.240

In July, on Saint James his even,
That four and twenty dismall day,
Twelve hundred, ten score and eleven
Of zeirs sen Chryst, the suthe to say,
Men will remember, as they may,245
Quhen thus the veritie they knaw,
And mony a ane may murn for ay,
The brim battil of the Harlaw.

---

KING HENRIE THE FIFTH'S CONQUEST.

Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England. Percy Society, vol. xvii. p. 52.

"From the singing of the late Francis King, of Skipton in Craven, an eccentric character, who was well known in the western dales of Yorkshire as 'the Skipton Minstrel.' King's version does not contain the third verse, which is obtained, as is also the title, from a modern broadside, from whence also one or two verbal corrections are made, of too trifling a nature to particularize. The tune to which King used to sing it, is the same as that of The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood."

Another ballad, much inferior in spirit to this, on the Battle of Agincourt, is to be found in The Crown Garland of Golden Roses (ed. 1659), Percy Soc. vol. xv. p. 65. Percy inserted in the Reliques, ii. 26, a song on this battle. Another, quoted in Heywood's Edward Fourth, and therefore popular before 1600, is printed in Mr. Collier's preface to Shakespeare's Henry Fifth (new edition).

The story of the tennis-balls is adopted from the chronicles by Shakespeare. "It is reported by some historians," says Hume, "that the Dauphin, in derision of Henry's claims and dissolute character, sent him a box of tennis-balls, intimating that mere implements of play were better adapted to him than the instruments of war. But this story is by no means credible; the great offers made by the court of France show that they had already entertained a just idea of Henry's character, as well as of their own situation." History of England, ch. xix.

As our king lay musing on his bed,
He bethought himself upon a time
Of a tribute that was due from France,
Had not been paid for so long a time.
Down, a-down, a-down, a-down,
Down, a-down, a-down.

He callÈd on his trusty page,5
His trusty page then callÈd he,
"O you must go to the king of France,
O you must go right speedilie.

"And tell him of my tribute due,
Ten ton of gold that's due to me,10
That he must send me my tribute home,
Or in French land he soon will me see."

O then away went the trusty page,
Away, away, and away went he,
Until he came to the king of France;15
Lo! he fell down on his bended knee.

"My master greets you, worthy Sire;
Ten ton of gold there is due, says he;
You must send him his tribute home,
Or in French land you will soon him see."20

"Your master's young, and of tender years,
Not fit to come into my degree;
But I will send him three tennis balls,
That with them learn to play may he."

O then away came the trusty page,25
Away, and away, and away came he,
Until he came to our gracious king;
Lo! he fell down on his bended knee.

"What news, what news, my trusty page,
What news, what news, hast thou brought to me?"30
"I've brought such news from the king of France,
That you and he will ne'er agree.

"He says you're young, and of tender years,
Not fit to come into his degree;
But he will send you three tennis balls,35
That with them you may learn to play."

O then bespoke our noble king,
A solemn vow then vowÈd he;
"I'll promise him such tennis balls,
As in French lands he ne'er did see.40

"Go, call up Cheshire and Lancashire,
And Derby hills, that are so free;
Not a married man, nor a widow's son,
For the widow's cry shall not go with me."

They called up Cheshire and Lancashire,45
And Derby lads that were so free;
Not a married man, nor a widow's son,
Yet they were a jovial bold companie.

O then he sailed to fair French land,
With drums and trumpets so merrilie;50
O then bespoke the king of France,
"Yonder comes proud king Henrie."

The first fire that the Frenchmen gave,
They killed our Englishmen so free;
We killed ten thousand of the French,55
And the rest of them they were forced to flee.

And then we marched to Paris gates,
With drums and trumpets so merrilie;
O then bespoke the king of France,
"Lord have mercy on my poor men and me!60

"Go! tell him I'll send home his tribute due,
Ten ton of gold that is due from me;
And the fairest flower that is in our French land
To the Rose of England it shall go free."

---

JANE SHORE.

The story and character of Jane Shore can best be read in a charmingly written passage of Sir Thomas More's History of Edward Fifth, quoted in Percy's Reliques, ii. 268. The ballad adheres to matter of fact with a fidelity very uncommon. In Drayton's England's Heroical Epistles is one from Jane Shore to King Edward, and in the notes he thus gives her portrait: "Her stature was meane, her haire of a dark yellow, her face round and full, her eye gray, delicate harmony being betwixt each part's proportion, and each proportion's colour, her body fat, white, and smooth, her countenance cheerfull and like to her condition." (Cited by Percy.)

This ballad is taken from the Collection of 1723, vol. i. p. 145. The full title is: The Woeful Lamentation of Jane Shore, a Goldsmith's Wife in London, sometime King Edward the Fourth's Concubine. The same version, with trifling variations, is found in Percy's Reliques, ii. 274, and Ritson's Ancient Songs, ii. 128. In the Garland of Good Will there is another piece on the same subject, (Percy Society, vol. xxx. p. 9, The Lamentation of Shore's Wife,) and in the Collection of 1723, a burlesque song, called King Edward and Jane Shore (vol. i. p. 153).

If Rosamond, that was so fair,
Had cause her sorrow to declare,
Then let Jane Shore with sorrow sing,
That was beloved of a king.

Then, wanton wives, in time amend,
For love and beauty will have end.

In maiden years my beauty bright5
Was loved dear by lord and knight;
But yet the love that they requir'd,
It was not as my friends desir'd.

My parents they, for thirst of gain,
A husband for me did obtain;10
And I, their pleasure to fulfil,
Was forc'd to wed against my will.

To Matthew Shore I was a wife,
Till lust brought ruin to my life;
And then my life I lewdly spent,15
Which makes my soul for to lament.

In Lombard-street I once did dwell,
As London yet can witness well;
Where many gallants did behold
My beauty in a shop of gold.20

I spread my plumes, as wantons do,
Some sweet and secret friende to wooe,
Because my love I did not find
Agreeing to my wanton mind.

At last my name in court did ring25
Into the ears of England's king,
Who came and lik'd, and love requir'd,
But I made coy what he desir'd.

Yet Mistress Blague, a neighbour near,
Whose friendship I esteemed dear,30
Did say, "It is a gallant thing
To be beloved of a king."

By her perswasions I was led
For to defile my marriage-bed,
And wronge my wedded husband Shore,35
Whom I had lov'd ten years before.

In heart and mind I did rejoyce,
That I had made so sweet a choice;
And therefore did my state resign,
To be King Edward's concubine.40

From city then to court I went,
To reap the pleasures of content;
There had the joys that love could bring,
And knew the secrets of a king.

When I was thus advanc'd on high,45
Commanding Edward with mine eye,
For Mistress Blague I in short space
Obtain'd a living from his Grace.

No friend I had, but in short time
I made unto promotion climb;50
But yet for all this costly pride,
My husbande could not me abide.

His bed, tho' wronged by a king,
His heart with deadly grief did sting;
From England then he goes away55
To end his life beyond the sea.

He could not live to see his name
Impaired by my wanton shame;
Altho' a prince of peerless might
Did reap the pleasure of his right.60

Long time I lived in the court,
With lords and ladies of great sort;
And when I smil'd, all men were glad,
But when I mourn'd, my prince grew sad.

But yet an honest mind I bore65
To helpless people, that were poor;
I still redress'd the orphan's cry,
And sav'd their lives condemn'd to dye.

I still had ruth on widows tears,
I succour'd babes of tender years;70
And never look'd for other gain
But love and thanks, for all my pain.

At last my royal king did dye,
And then my days of woe grew nigh;
When crook-back'd Richard got the crown,75
King Edward's friends were soon put down.

I then was punish'd for my sin,
That I so long had lived in;
Yea, every one that was his friend,
This tyrant brought to shameful end.80

Then for my lewd and wanton life,
That made a strumpet of a wife,
I penance did in Lombard-street,
In shameful manner in a sheet:

Where many thousands did me view,85
Who late in court my credit knew;
Which made the tears run down my face,
To think upon my foul disgrace.

Not thus content, they took from mee
My goods, my livings, and my fee,90
And charg'd that none should me relieve,
Nor any succour to me give.

Then unto Mistress Blague I went,
To whom my jewels I had sent,
In hope thereby to ease my want,95
When riches fail'd, and love grew scant.

But she deny'd to me the same,
When in my need for them I came;
To recompence my former love,
Out of her doors she did me shove.100

So love did vanish with my state,
Which now my soul repents too late;
Therefore example take by me,
For friendship parts in poverty.

But yet one friend among the rest,105
Whom I before had seen distress'd,
And sav'd his life, condemn'd to dye,
Did give me food to succour me:

For which, by law it was decreed
That he was hanged for that deed;110
His death did grieve me so much more,
Than had I dy'd myself therefore.

Then those to whom I had done good
Durst not afford mee any food;
Whereby in vain I begg'd all day,115
And still in streets by night I lay.

My gowns beset with pearl and gold,
Were turn'd to simple garments old;
My chains and jems and golden rings,
To filthy rags and loathsome things.120

Thus was I scorn'd of maid and wife,
For leading such a wicked life;
Both sucking babes and children small,
Did make a pastime at my fall.

I could not get one bit of bread,125
Whereby my hunger might be fed:
Nor drink, but such as channels yield,
Or stinking ditches in the field.

Thus, weary of my life, at length
I yielded up my vital strength,130
Within a ditch of loathsome scent,
Where carrion dogs do much frequent:

The which now since my dying day,
Is Shoreditch call'd, as writers say;
Which is a witness of my sin,135
For being concubine to a king.

You wanton wives, that fall to lust,
Be you assur'd that God is just;
Whoredom shall not escape his hand,
Nor pride unpunish'd in this land.140

If God to me such shame did bring,
That yielded only to a king,
How shall they scape that daily run
To practise sin with every man?

You husbands, match not but for love,145
Lest some disliking after prove;
Women, be warn'd when you are wives,
What plagues are due to sinful lives:
Then, maids and wives, in time amend,
For love and beauty will have end.

56. upon.81. rude.114. restore.134. But it had this name long before; being so called from its being a common sewer (vulgarly shore) or drain.—Percy.

---

A TRUE RELATION OE THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SIR ANDREW BARTON, A PYRATE AND ROVER ON THE SEAS.

This copy of Sir Andrew Barton is to be found in Old Ballads (1723) vol. i. 159, Ritson's Ancient Songs, ii. 204, Moore's Pictorial Book of Ancient Ballad Poetry, p. 256, and Early Naval Ballads of England, Percy Society, vol. ii. p. 4, with only exceedingly trifling variations. We have followed the last, where the ballad is given from a black-letter copy in the British Museum, "printed by and for W. O., and sold by the booksellers."

129-136. In some copies this stanza is wrongly placed after the next.238. The services of Peter's son, not mentioned in this ballad, are duly recorded in the older, unabridged copy. See v. 53-56, on p. 64.

---

THE BATTLE OF CORICHIE ON THE HILL OF FAIR, FOUGHT OCT.28, 1562.

From Evans's Old Ballads, iii. 132.

The favor shown by Queen Mary to her brother Lord James Stuart, on her first coming to Scotland, excited a violent jealousy in Gordon, Earl of Huntly, who, as a Catholic, and the head of a loyal and powerful family in the North, expected no slight distinction from his sovereign. This jealousy broke out into open hostility when the Queen, in 1562, conferred on her brother the earldom of Murray, the honors and revenues of which had been enjoyed by Huntly since 1548. Mary was at this time on a progress in the northern part of her kingdom, attended by the new earl and a small escort. Huntly collected his vassals and posted himself at a place called the Fair Bank, or Corichie, near Aberdeen. Murray having increased his forces by seven or eight hundred of the Forbeses and Leslies, who, although attached to the Huntly faction, dared not disobey the Queen's summons, marched to the attack. As little confidence could be placed in the good faith of the northern recruits, he ordered them to begin the battle. In obedience to this command, they advanced against the enemy, but instantly recoiled and retreated in a pretended panic on Murray's reserve, followed by the Gordons in disorder. The Queen's party received both the flying and the pursuers with an impenetrable front of lances. Huntly was repulsed, and the other northern clans, seeing how the victory was going, turned their swords upon their friends. Many of the Gordons were slain, and the Earl, who was old and fat, being thrown from his horse, was smothered in the retreat. His sons John and Adam were taken prisoners, and the former was put to death at Aberdeen the day after the battle.

The following ballad, it will be perceived, is utterly at variance with the facts of history. It was first printed in Evans's Old Ballads, and is said to be the composition of one Forbes, schoolmaster at Mary-Culter, on Dee-side. The dialect is broad Aberdeen.

Murn ye heighlands, and murn ye leighlands,
I trow ye hae meikle need;
For thi bonny burn o' Corichie
His run this day wi' bleid.

Thi hopefu' laird o' Finliter,5
Erle Huntly's gallant son,
For thi love hi bare our beauteous quine
His gar't fair Scotland mone.

Hi his braken his ward in Aberdene,
Throu dreid o' thi fause Murry,10
And his gather't the gentle Gordone clan,
An' his father, auld Huntly.

Fain wid he tak our bonny guide quine,
An' beare hir awa' wi' him;
But Murry's slee wyles spoil't a' thi sport,15
An' reft him o' lyfe and lim.

Murry gar 't rayse thi tardy Merns men,
An' Angis, an' mony ane mair,
Erle Morton, and the Byres Lord Linsay,
An' campit at thi hill o' Fare.20

Erle Huntlie came wi' Haddo Gordone,
An' countit ane thusan men;
But Murry had abien twal hunder,
Wi' sax score horsemen and ten.

They soundit thi bougills an' the trumpits,25
An' marchit on in brave array,
Till the spiers an' the axis forgatherit,
An' than did begin thi fray.

Thi Gordones sae fercelie did fecht it,
Withouten terrer or dreid,30
That mony o' Murry's men lay gaspin,
An' dyit thi grund wi theire bleid.

Then fause Murry feingit to flee them,
An' they pursuit at his backe,
Whan thi haf o' thi Gordones desertit,35
An' turnit wi' Murray in a crack.

Wi hether i' thir bonnits they turnit,
The traiter Haddo o' their heid,
An' slaid theire brithers an' their fatheris,
An' spoilit an' left them for deid.40

Then Murry cried to tak thi auld Gordone,
An' mony ane ran wi' speid;
But Stuart o' Inchbraik had him stickit,
An' out gushit thi fat lurdane's bleid.

Then they teuke his twa sones quick an' hale,45
An' bare them awa' to Aberdene;
But fair did our guide quine lament
Thi waeful chance that they were tane.

Erle Murry lost mony a gallant stout man;
Thi hopefu' laird o' Thornitune,50
Pittera's sons, an Egli's far fearit laird,
An mair to mi unkend, fell doune.

Erle Huntly mist ten score o' his bra' men,
Sum o' heigh an' sum o' leigh degree;
Skeenis youngest son, thi pryde o' a' the clan,
Was ther fun' dead, he widna flee.55

This bloody fecht wis fercely faucht
Octobri's aught an' twinty day,
Crystis' fyfteen hundred thriscore yeir
An' twa will merk thi deidlie fray.60

But now the day maist waefu' came,
That day the quine did grite her fill,
For Huntly's gallant stalwart son,
Wis heidit on thi heidin hill.

Fyve noble Gordones wi' him hangit were65
Upon thi samen fatal playne;
Crule Murry gar't thi waefu' quine luke out,
And see hir lover an' liges slayne.

I wis our quine had better frinds,
I wis our country better peice;70
I wis our lords wid na' discord,
I wis our weirs at hame may ceise.

5. This.

---

THE BATTLE OF BALRINNES,

(OTHERWISE CALLED THE BATTLE OF GLENLIVET.)

When Philip the Second was preparing his Armada for the conquest of England, he spared no pains to induce James of Scotland to favor his enterprise. Elizabeth, on her part, was not less active to secure the friendship of a neighbor, who, by opening or closing his ports, might do so much to assist or to counteract the projects of her enemy. James had the wisdom to see that it was not for his interest to ally himself with a power that sought the extinction of the faith which he professed, and the subjugation of a kingdom to which he was the heir. The Spanish overtures were rejected, and the great body of the people, warmly applauding the king's decision, entered into a combination to resist an attempt to land at any point on the Scottish coast. There was, nevertheless, a small party in Scotland which favoured the designs of Philip. At the head of this faction were the Catholic Earls of Huntly, Errol, and Angus. Even after the dispersion of the Armada, they kept up negotiations with the Prince of Parma and the King of Spain, in the hope of restoring the ancient religion, or at least of obtaining for themselves an equality of privileges with the Protestants. More than once were the leaders of this party committed to prison for overt acts of treason, and released by the clemency of the sovereign, but suffering as the Romanists did under the oppression of a fanatical majority, rebellion was their natural condition.

After various acts of insubordination, continued for a series of years, it was proved beyond question that the Catholic earls had signed papers for an invasion of Britain by 30,000 foreigners. A Convention of Estates, summoned to consider the affair, finally determined that the three earls should be exempt from further inquiry on account of this conspiracy, but that before the first day of February, 1594, they should either renounce the errors of Popery, or remove from the kingdom. The Catholic leaders, relying on the number of their supporters, and not less on the inaccessible nature of the country in which their estates lay, scornfully rejected the choice proposed to them, renewed their connections with Spain, and were accordingly declared guilty of high treason and subjected to the doom of forfeiture.

King James's exchequer was at this time so low that it was impossible for him to undertake the enforcing of this sentence in person. He was obliged to delegate the office to the young Earl of Argyle, who was induced to accept the appointment by the promise of a portion of Huntly's forfeited estates. The prospect of booty and the authority of the chief of the Campbells drew together six or seven thousand Highlanders, to whom were joined some hundreds of men from the Western Islands, under the chief of Maclean. With this body, one fourth of whom carried firelocks, while the rest were armed after the Gaelic fashion, Argyle descended from the hills towards Huntly's castle of Strathbogie.

The chief of the Gordons, suddenly assailed, had no time to procure assistance from Angus. He collected about a thousand gentlemen of his own name, and Errol came to his aid with two or three hundred of the Hays. All these were men of birth, well armed and mounted, and to this small, but powerful, troop of cavalry, was added a train of six field pieces (engines very terrible to Highlanders), under the management of an excellent soldier, the very same Captain Ker, who has figured already in the ballad of Edom o' Gordon.

The armies encountered at a place called Belrinnes in a district called Glenlivet. The Highlanders were posted on a mountain-side, so steep that footmen could barely keep their hold. Notwithstanding this obstacle, the Earls determined to attempt the ascent, and Errol, supported by Sir Patrick Gordon, led the Hays up the hill in the very face of the foe. While the vanguard was advancing, Ker brought some of his artillery to bear on Argyle's front, which threw the Highlanders into confusion, and caused some of them to fly. Errol's horsemen, however, were soon forced by the steepness of the mountain to wheel and move obliquely, and their flank being thus exposed, their horses suffered considerable damage from a volley of bullets and arrows. Upon this Huntly made a fierce attack upon Argyle's centre, and bore down his banner, and his cavalry soon after attaining to more even ground, where their horses could operate with efficiency, the Highlanders, who were destitute of lances, and so unable to withstand the shock, were driven down the other side of the hill, and put to utter rout. The chief of Maclean alone withstood the assault of the horsemen, and performed marvellous feats of bravery, but was at last forced off the field by his own soldiers, and Argyle himself was compelled to fly, weeping with anger. Of the Catholics, Sir Patrick Gordon, Huntley's uncle, was slain, with only twelve others. The loss of the other party was several hundred soldiers, besides some men of note, among them Campbell of Lochinzell.

This battle was fought on the third of October, 1594. The action is called the Battle of Glenlivet, or of Balrinnes, and also of Strath-aven.—See the 38th chapter of Sir W. Scott's History of Scotland, and the contemporary narrative in Dalzell's Scotish Poems of the Sixteenth Century, i. 136.

The ballad which follows is taken from the publication of Dalzell just mentioned, vol. ii. p. 347. There is a copy in the Pepys Collection, and another in the Advocates' Library, printed at Edinburgh in 1681. The ballad is also printed, undoubtedly from a stall copy, in Scarce Ancient Ballads, p. 29. The first four stanzas had previously been given in Jamieson's Popular Ballads, ii. 144. The older version of Dalzell is somewhat defective, and abounds in errors, which, as well as the vitiated orthography, are attributed to the ignorance of an English transcriber. The omissions are here supplied in the margin from the other copies.

Betuixt Dunother and Aberdein,
I rais and tuik the way,
Beleiuing weill it had not beine
Nought halff ane hour to day.
The lift was clad with cloudis gray,5
And owermaskit was the moone,
Quhilk me deceaued whair I lay,
And maid me ryss ouer soone.

On Towie Mounth I mett a man,
Weill grathed in his gear:10
Quoth I, "Quhat neues?" then he begane
To tell a fitt of warre.
Quoth he, "Of lait I heir,
Ane bloodie broust there was brouine,
Zesterday, withouten moir,15
Upone ane hill at Strathdoune."

---

Then I, as any man wold be,25
Desyrous for to know
Mair of that taill he told to me,
The quhilk he said he sawe—
Be then the day began to daw,
And back with him I red;30
Then he began the soothe to schaw,
And on this wayis he said.

Macallenmore cam from the wast
With many a bow and brand;
To wast the Rinnes he thought best,35
The Earll of Huntlies land.
He swore that none should him gainestand,
Except that he war fay;
Bot all sould be at his comand
That dwelt be northen Tay.40

Then Huntlie, for to prevent that perrill,
Directit hastilie
Unto the noble Erll of Erroll,
Besought him for supplie.
Quha said, "It is my deutie45
For to giue Huntlie support;
For if he lossis Strabolgie,
My Slaines will be ill hurt.

"Thairfoir I hald the subject vaine,
Wold rave us of our right;50
First sall one of us be slaine,
The uther tak the flight.
Suppose Argyll be muche of might,
Be force of Heigheland men;
We's be a motte into his sight,55
Or he pas hame againe.

"Be blaithe, my mirrie men, be blaithe,
Argyll sall have the worse,
Give he into this countrie kaithe,
I houpe in God[i]s cross."60
Then leap this lord upon his horss,
Ane warrlyk troupe at Torray;
To meit with Huntlie and his force,
They ryde to Elgine of Murray.

The samen night thir lordis meit;65
For utheris, who thought long,
(To tell zow all, I haue forgot)
The mirthe was them amonge.
Then playeris played, and songsters song,
To gled the mirrie host,70
Quho feared not thair foes strong,
Nor zet Argylles boste.

They for two dayes wold not remove,
Bot blaithlie dranck the wyne,
Some to his lass, some to his loue,75
Some to his ladeis fyne.
And he that thought not for to blyne,
His mistres tockin tackes;
They kist it first, and set it syne
Upone thair helmes and jackes.80

They past thair tyme right wantonly,
Quhill word cam at ye last,
Argyll, with ane great armie,
Approached wondrous fast.
Then [out] of the toune thir barrones past,85
And Huntlie to them said,
"Good gentillmen, we will us cast
To Strathbolgie but bed."

Quhen they unto Strathbolgie came,
To that castell but dreid,90
Then to forsee how thingis might frame,
For they had meikle neid,
They woned them unto the dead,
As kirkmen could devys;
Syne prayed to God that they might speed95
Off thair guid enterpryse.

Then evirie man himself did arme,
To meit Mackallanmorne,
Unto Strathdoune quho did great harme
The Wednesday beforne.100
As lyounes does poore lambes devoure,
With bloodie teethe and naillis,
They burnt the biggingis, tuik the store,
Syne slewe the peopillis sellis.

Besyd all this hie crueltie,105
He said, ere he should ceass,
The standing stonnes of Strathbolgie
Schould be his palione place.
Bot Huntlie said, "With Godis grace,
First we sall fight them ones;110
Perchance that they may tak the chess,
Ere they come to the stonnes."

Thir lordis keipt on at afternoone,
With all thair warrmen wight;
Then sped up to Cabrach sone,115
Whair they bed all that night.
Upone the morne, quhen day was light,
They rose and maid them boune
Intill ane castell that stood on hight,
They call it Auchindoune.120

Besyd that castell, on a croft,
They stended pallionis ther;
Then spak a man that had bein oft
In jeopardie of warr:
"My lord, zour foes they ar to fear,125
Thoughe we war neuir so stoute;
Thairfoir comand some man of warre
To watche the rest about."

Be this was done, some gentillmen
Of noble kin and blood,130
To counsell with thir lordis begane,
Of matteris to concluide:
For weill aneughe they understood
The matter was of weght,
They had so manie men of good135
In battell for to fight.

The firstin man in counsall spak,
Good Errol it was he;
Who sayis, "I will the vaneguard tack
And leiding upone me.140
My Lord Huntlie, come succour me,
When ze sie me opprest;
For fra the feild I will not flie
So long as I may last."

Thair at some Gordones waxed wraithe,145
And said he did them wrong;
To lat this lord then they warre leath
First to [the] battell gange.
The meiting that was them amonge,
Was no man that it hard,150
Bot Huntlie, with ane troupe full stronge,
Bed into the reir guarde.

Thir wer the number of thair force
Thir lordis to battell led:
Ane thousand gentillmen on horss,155
And some fotemen they had;
Thrie hundreth that schot arrowes bred,
Four scorr that hagbutis bore:
Thir war the number that they had
Of footmen with them suire.160

This worthy chevalrie
All merchand to the field;
Argyll, with ane great armie,
Upone ane hill had tane beild,
Aboyding them [with] speare and scheild,165
With bullettis, dartis, and bowes;
The men could weill thair wapones weild;
To meit them was no mowes.

When they so near uther war come,
That ilk man saw his foe,170
"Goe to, and assay the gaime," said some;
Bot Capitane Ker said, "No:
First lat the gunes befoir us goe,
That they may break the order":
Quoth both the lordis, "Lat it be so,175
Or euer we goe forder."

Then Androw Gray, upone ane horss,
Betuixt the battillis red;
Makand the signe of holy cross,
In manus tuas he said.180
He lighted thair [the] gunes to led,
Quhill they cam to the rest;
Then Capitane Ker unto him sped,
And bad him shuit in haist.

"I will not [shuit]," quothe Androw Gray,185
"Quhill they cum over zonder hill;
We have an ower guid caus this dey,
Through misgydins to spill.
Goe back, and bid our men byd still,
Quhill they cum to the plaine;190
Then sall my shuitting doe them ill,
I will not shuit in vaine."

"Shuit up, shuit up," quothe Capitane Ker,
"Shuit up, to our comfort!"
The firsten shot [it] was to neir,195
It lighted all to schort.
The nixtin shot thair foes hurt,
It lighted wounderous weill:
Quoth Androw Gray, "I sie ane sport,
Quhen they began to reill.200

"Goe toe, good mattes, and say the game,
Zonder folkis ar in a fray;
Lat sie how we can well with them,
Into thair disaray.
Goe, goe, it is not tyme to stay,205
All for my bennisoune;
Saue non this day ze may gar dye,
Quhill ze the feild haue wonne."

Then Errol haisted to the hight,
Whair he did battell byd;
With him went Auchindoune and Gight,
And Bonnitoune by his syd:220
Whair manie gentillman did with him byd,
Whos prais sould not be smored;
Bot Capitane Ker, that was thair gyde,
Red ay befoir my lord.

They war not manie men of werre,225
Bot they war wonder trewe;
With hagbutis, pistolet, bowe, and speare,
They did thair foes persewe,
Quhair bullettis, dartis, and arrowes flew,
Als thick as haill or raine,230
Quhilk manie hurt, and some they slew,
Of horss and gentillmen.

Huntlie maid haist to succour him,
And charged furiouslie,
Quhair manie menis sight grew dim,235
The shottis so thick did flie;
Quhilk gart right manie doghtie die,
Of some on euerie syd;
Argyll with his tald hoste did flie,
Bot Macklenne did abyd.240

Macklene had one ane habershoune,
Ilk lord had one ane jack;
Togidder feirc[e]lie are they rune,
With manie a gunes crack.
The splenderis of thair spearis they break,245
Flewe up into the air,
Quhilk boore doune maney on thair back,
Againe ros neuer mair.

[249-56]

[257-64]

"Alace, I sie ane sorÉ sight,"265
Said the Laird of Macklenne;
"Our feible folkis is tenne the flight,
And left me myne allaine.
Now must I flie, or els be slaine,
Since they will not returne;"270
With that he ran ouer ane dyne,
Endlongis ane lytill burne.

Then after great Argylles hoste
Some horssmen tuik the chess,
Quha turned their backes for all thair bost,275
Contrair the fooles say[s].
They cried "oh," with manie "alace,"
Bot neuir for mercie sought;
Thairfoir the Gordones gaue no grace,
Becaus they craved it nought.280

Then some guidman perseiued sharpe,
With Erroll and Huntlie,
And thai with [a] capitane did carpe,
Quhais name was Ogilvie.
He sayis, "Gentillmen, lat see285
Who maniest slaine slaydis;
Save non this day ze may gar die,
For pleadis, nor ransome paynes."

Lyk hartes, up howes and hillis thei ranne,
Quhair horsmen might not winn:290
"Reteir againe," quoth Huntlie then,
"Quhair we did first begin.
Heir lyes manie carved skinnes,
With manie ane bloodie beard,
For anie helpe, with litell dinne,295
Sall rotte aboue the eard."

When they cam to the hill againe,
The sett doune one thair knees,
Syne thanked God that they had slaine
Soe manie enimies.300
They ros befor Argylles eyis,
Maid Capitane Ker ane knight;
Syne bed among the dead bodies,
Whill they war out of sight.

[305-12]

[313-20]

This deid so doughtilie was done,
As I hard trewe men tell,
Upone ane Thursday afternoone,
St. Franecis ewill befell.

Guid Auchindoune was slaine himself,325
With uther seven in battÉll;
So was the Laird of Lochinzell,
Grate pitie was to tell.

---

13-24.

Saying, "The ministers, I fear,
A bloody browst have brown,
For yesterday, withouthen mair,15
On the hill at Stradown,
I saw three lords in battle fight
Right furiously awhile,
Huntlie and Errol, as they hight,
Were both against Argyle.20
Turn back with me and ride a mile,
And I shall make it kend,
How they began, the form and stile,
And of the battles end."

Jamieson.36. landis.88. beed.91. fraine.89-96. This stanza is unintelligible in Dalzell. It stands thus in Laing's copy.

When they unto Strathboggy came,
To council soon they geed,
For to see how things might frame,
For they had meikle need.
They voted then to do a deed
As kirkmen do devise,
And pray'd that they might find good speed
In that great interprise.

149. This line seems to be corrupted.161. Some words are lost.

Thus with their noble cavalry
They marched to the field.

Laing.165. speares and scheildis.167. weild thair wapones weill.180. mannis.187. then ower.209-216.

Then awful Erroll he can say
"Good fellows, follow me:210
I hope it shall be ours this day,
Or else therefore to die.
Tho they in number many be,
Set on, withoutten words;
Let ilk brave fellow brake his tree,215
And then pursue with swords."

213. many were.219. within went.249-56.

Then some men said, "We will be sure
And take Maclean by course;250
Go to, for we are men anew
To bear him down by force."
But noble Errol had remorse,
And said, "It is not best,
For tho Argyle has got the worst,255
Let him gang with the rest.

257-64.

"What greater honour could ye wish
In deeds of chivalry,
Or brave victory than this,
Where one has chac'd thrice three?260
Therefore, good fellows, let him be;
He'll die before he yield;
For he with his small company
Bade langest in the field."

281. perceiued.286, 288. corrupted.305-12.

Now I have you already tauld,305
Huntly and Errol's men
Could scarce be thirteen hundred called,
The truth if ye would ken.
And yet Argyle his thousands ten
Were they that took the race,310
And tho that they were nine to ane,
They caused [them] take the chace.

308. he.309. has.313-20.

Sae Argyle's boast it was in vain,
(He thought sure not to tyne)
That if he durst cum to the plain,315
He would gar every nine
Of his lay hold upon ilk man
Huntly and Errol had:
But yet for all his odds he ran
To tell how ill he sped.320

319. fled.324. should be eve, or vigil.

BONNY JOHN SETON.

This ballad is taken from Maidment's North Countrie Garland, p. 15. There is another version in Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, ii. 136 (The Death of John Seton).

John Seton of Pitmedden, a young and brave cavalier, was shot through the middle by a cannon ball, during the skirmish at the Bridge of Dee, while engaged, under the Viscount of Aboyne, in resisting the advance of Montrose upon the town of Aberdeen, in June, 1639. It was the hard fate of Aberdeen to suffer from the arms of Montrose, first, when he was general of the Covenanters, and again while he was lieutenant for the King. The murder and pillage perpetrated in the town by the Irish after the defeat of Lord Burleigh, in 1644, have been made the subject of violent reproach by his enemies, but it may perhaps be said, that for all that exceeded the usual horrors of war, the heroic commander was not responsible. In Buchan's version of the present ballad, the clemency shown by Montrose on taking possession of the city in 1639 is commemorated in three stanzas worthy of preservation. The Covenanters were "resolved to have sacked it orderly."

THE HAWS OF CROMDALE.

Ritson's Scottish Songs, ii. 40. Johnson's Museum, p. 502.

This ballad, very popular in Scotland, was long sold on the stalls before it was received into the collections. A glance will show that it has at best been very imperfectly transmitted by oral tradition. In fact, the Ettrick Shepherd seems to be right in maintaining that two widely separated events are here jumbled together. The first five stanzas apparently refer to an action in May, 1690, when Sir Thomas Livingston surprised fifteen hundred Highlanders in their beds at Cromdale, and the remainder to the lost battle of Auldern, where Montrose, with far inferior forces, defeated Sir John Hurry with prodigious slaughter, on the 4th of May, 1645. Mr. Stenhouse states, indeed, that after that imprudent division of the army of the Covenant which opened the way to the disaster at Auldern, Hurry surprised and routed at Cromdale a body of Highlanders under the lion-hearted Allaster Macdonald. But this check appears, by his own language, to have been too slight an affair to call forth such verses as those with which the ballad begins. See Hogg's Jacobite Relics, ii. 157, Johnson's Museum (1853), iv. 428.

THE BATTLE OF ALFORD.

Two months after the defeat of Sir John Hurry at Auldern, Montrose utterly destroyed the other division of the covenanting army, under General Baillie, at Alford on the Don. On the 2d of July, the King's forces marched from Drumminor, and crossed the Don to Alford, Montrose and the Earl of Aboyne taking up their quarters in the castle of Asloun. Baillie, who was now in pursuit of the royalists, moved southward, and encamped on the day just mentioned, at Lesly. The next morning he crossed the river (halting on the way near a farm called Mill Hill), whereupon the battle took place. Montrose dearly purchased this new victory by the loss of Lord George Gordon, who commanded the right wing, not the left.

These fragmentary verses are from The Thistle of Scotland, p. 68.

THE BATTLE OF PENTLAND HILLS.

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ii. 203

"The insurrection commemorated and magnified in the following ballad, as indeed it has been in some histories, was, in itself, no very important affair. It began in Dumfries-shire, where Sir James Turner, a soldier of fortune, was employed to levy the arbitrary fines imposed for not attending the Episcopal churches. The people rose, seized his person, disarmed his soldiers, and, having continued together, resolved to march towards Edinburgh, expecting to be joined by their friends in that quarter. In this they were disappointed; and, being now diminished to half their numbers, they drew up on the Pentland Hills, at a place called Rullien Green. They were commanded by one Wallace; and here they awaited the approach of General Dalziel, of Binns; who, having marched to Calder, to meet them on the Lanark road, and finding, that, by passing through Collington, they had got to the other side of the hills, cut through the mountains and approached them. Wallace showed both spirit and judgment: he drew up his men in a very strong situation, and withstood two charges of Dalziel's cavalry; but, upon the third shock, the insurgents were broken and utterly dispersed. There was very little slaughter, as the cavalry of Dalziel were chiefly gentlemen, who pitied their oppressed and misguided countrymen. There were about fifty killed, and as many made prisoners. The battle was fought on the 28th November, 1666; a day still observed by the scattered remnant of the Cameronian sect, who regularly hear a field-preaching upon the field of battle.

"I am obliged for a copy of the ballad to Mr. Livingston of Airds, who took it down from the recitation of an old woman residing on his estate.

"The gallant Grahams, mentioned in the text, are Graham of Claverhouse's horse." Scott.

THE READING SKIRMISH.

Several companies, principally Irish, belonging to the army of King James, and stationed at Reading, had quitted the town in consequence of a report that the Prince of Orange was advancing in that direction with the main body of his forces. On the departure of the garrison, the people of Reading at once invited the Prince to take possession of the place, and secure them against the Irish. But the King's troops, having learned that it was only a small detachment of William's soldiers, and not the main army, by whom they were threatened, returned and reoccupied their post. Here they were attacked by two hundred and fifty of the Dutch, and though numbering six hundred, were soon put to flight, with the loss of their colors and of fifty men, the assailants losing but five. This skirmish occurred on Sunday, the 9th of December, 1688.

This piece is extracted from Croker's Historical Songs of Ireland, p. 14, Percy Society, vol. i., and was there given from a collection of printed ballads in the British Museum. The burden seems to be derived from the following stanza of Lilli burlero:

THE READING SKIRMISH;

OR, THE BLOODY IRISH ROUTED BY THE VICTORIOUS DUTCH.

To the tune of Lilli borlero. Licensed according to order. Printed for J. D. in the year 1688.

UNDAUNTED LONDONDERRY.

The story of the siege of Londonderry, "the most memorable in the annals of the British isles," is eloquently told in the twelfth chapter of Macaulay's History of England. It lasted one hundred and five days, from the middle of April to the first of August (1689). During that time the garrison had been reduced from about seven thousand men to about three thousand. Famine and pestilence slew more than the fire of the enemy. In the last month of the siege, there was scarcely any thing left to eat in the city but salted hides and tallow. The price of a dog's paw was five shillings and sixpence, and rats that had fed on the bodies of the dead were eagerly hunted and slain. The courage and self-devotion of the defenders, animated by a lofty public spirit and sustained by religious zeal, were at last rewarded by a glorious triumph, and will never cease to be celebrated with pride and enthusiasm by the Protestants of Ireland.

The ballad is here given as printed in Croker's Historical Songs of Ireland, p. 46, from a black letter copy in the British Museum. The whole title runs thus: Undaunted Londonderry; or, the Victorious Protestants' constant success against the proud French and Irish Forces. To the Tune of Lilli Borlero.

13. In a sally which was made by the garrison towards the end of April, the Duke of Berwick is said to have received a slight wound in the back.21. The Rev. George Walker, rector of the parish of Donaghmore, the hero of the defence. His statue now stands on a lofty pillar, rising from a bastion which for a long time sustained the heaviest fire of the besiegers.

PR[OE]LIUM GILLICRANKIANUM. See p. 152.

From Johnson's Museum, p. 105.

THE BOYNE WATER.

This momentous battle was fought on the 1st of July, 1690. James had a strong position and thirty thousand men, two thirds of whom were a worthless rabble. William had thirty-six thousand splendid soldiers. The loss on neither side was great. Of James's troops there fell fifteen hundred, the flower of his army; of the conqueror's not more than five, but with them the great Duke of Schomberg. The present version of this ballad is from Croker's Historical Songs of Ireland, p. 60, given from a MS. copy in the editor's possession.

THE WOMAN WARRIOR,

From Durfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, v. 8.

Cork was taken September 27-29, 1690, by the Duke (then Earl) of Marlborough, with the coÖperation of the Duke of Wirtemberg. The Duke of Grafton, then serving as a volunteer, was mortally wounded while advancing to the assault. Croker suggests that this lamentation for the heroine of Cow-Cross, "the Mary Ambree of her age," was one of the many indirect efforts made to bring the military skill of Marlborough into popular notice.

A DIALOGUE

BETWEEN WILL LICK-LADLE AND TOM CLEAN-COGUE, TWA SHEPHERDS, WHA WERE FEEDING THEIR FLOCKS ON THE OCHIL-HILLS ON THE DAY THE BATTLE OF SHERIFF-MOOR WAS FOUGHT.

(See p. 156. From Ritson's Scottish Songs, ii. 67.)

UP AND WAR THEM A', WILLIE. See p. 156.

From Herd's Scotish Songs, ii. 234. The same in Ritson's Scotish Songs, ii. 73. Burns furnished a somewhat different version to Johnson's Museum (p. 195, also in Cromek's Select Scotish Songs, ii. 29), which he obtained from one Tom Neil, a carpenter in Edinburgh, who was famous for his singing of Scottish songs. The title and burden to this version is Up and warn a', Willie, an allusion, says Burns, to the crantara, or warning of a Highland clan to arms, which the Lowlanders, not understanding, have corrupted. There is another copy in Hogg's Jacobite Relics, ii. 18, which is nearly the same as the following.

When the Earl of Mar first raised his standard, and proclaimed the Chevalier, the ornamental ball on the top of the staff fell off, and the superstitious Highlanders interpreted the circumstance as ominous of ill for their cause. This is the incident referred to in the third stanza.

THE MARQUIS OF HUNTLEY'S RETREAT FROM THE BATTLE OF SHERIFFMUIR.

See p. 156. From A New Book of Old Ballads, p. 30.

Hogg inserted this ballad in the Jacobite Relics, ii. 13, using, says Maidment, the editor of the publication cited above, a very imperfect manuscript copy. The following version was taken from the original broad-side, supposed to be unique. There are very considerable variations in the language of the two copies, and the order of the stanzas is quite different. This says Hogg, "is exclusively a party song, made by some of the Grants, or their adherents, in obloquy of their more potent neighbours, the Gordons. It is in a great measure untrue; for, though the Marquis of Huntley was on the left wing at the head of a body of horse, and among the gentlemen that fled, yet two battalions of Gordons, or at least of Gordon's vassals, perhaps mostly of the Clan Chattan, behaved themselves as well as any on the field, and were particularly instrumental in breaking the Whig cavalry, or the left wing of their army, and driving them back among their foot. On this account, as well as that of the bitter personalities that it contains, the "song is only curious as an inveterate party song, and not as a genuine humorous description of the fight that the Marquis and his friends were in. The latter part of the [third] stanza seems to allude to an engagement that took place at Dollar, on the 24th October, a fortnight previous to the battle of Sheriffmuir. Mar had despatched a small body of cavalry to force an assessment from the town of Dunfermline, of which Argyle getting notice, sent out a stronger party, who surprised them early in the morning before daylight, and arrested them, killing some and taking seventeen prisoners, several of whom were Gordons. The last stanza [but one] evidently alludes to the final submission of the Marquis and the rest of the Gordons to King George's government, which they did to the Grants and the Earl of Sutherland. The former had previously taken possession of Castle Gordon; of course, the malicious bard of the Grants, with his ill-scraped pen, was not to let that instance of the humiliation of his illustrious neighbours pass unnoticed.—Jacobite Relics, vol. ii. p. 255.

JOHNIE COPE. See p. 168.

Johnson's Museum (1853), vol. iv. p. 220, Ritson's Scottish Songs, ii. 84.

From A Collection of Old Ballads, ii. 8. The same, with one or two trifling verbal differences, in Percy's Reliques, i. 246.

This story was originally told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Britonum, lib. ii. c. 2. It occurs in two forms in the Gesta Romanorum: see Madden's Old English Versions, p. 44, p. 450.

Shakespeare's King Lear was first printed in 1608, and is supposed to have been written between 1603 and 1605. Another drama on the subject was printed in 1605, called The true Chronicle History of King Leir and his Three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordella. This was probably only a new impression of a piece entered in the Stationers' Registers as early as 1594. The ballad which follows agrees with Shakespeare's play in several particulars in which Shakespeare varies from the older drama and from Holinshed, the authority of both dramas. The name Cordelia is also found in place of the Cordella of the Chronicle History; but, on the other hand, we have Ragan instead of Shakespeare's Regan. In the absence of a date, we are unable to determine whether the ballad was written prior to the play of King Lear, or was founded upon it.

FAIR ROSAMOND.

The celebrated mistress of Henry the Second was daughter to Walter Clifford, a baron of Herefordshire. She bore the king two sons, one of them while he was still Duke of Normandy. Before her death she retired to the convent of Godstow, and there she was buried; but Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, not courtly enough to distinguish between royal and vulgar immoralities, caused her body to be removed, and interred in the common cemetery, "lest Christian religion should grow in contempt."

The story of Queen Eleanor's poisoning her rival is not confirmed by the old writers, though they mention the labyrinth. All the romance in Rosamond's history appears to be the offspring of popular fancy. Percy has collected the principal passages from the chronicles in his preface to the ballad.

Fair Rosamond is the work of Thomas Deloney, a well-known ballad-maker who died about 1600. Our copy is the earliest that is known, and is taken from Deloney's Strange Histories, ed. of 1607, as reprinted by the Percy Society, vol. iii. p. 54. The same is found in the Crown Garland of Golden Roses, ed. 1659 (Per. Soc. vol. vi. p. 12), and in the Garland of Good Will, ed. 1678 (Per. Soc. vol. xxx. p. 1.): and besides, with trifling variations, in A Collection of Old Ballads, i. 11, Percy's Reliques, ii. 151, and Ritson's Ancient Songs, ii. 120, from black-letter copies.

Another ballad with the title of the Unfortunate Concubine, or, Rosamond's Overthrow, is given in the collection of 1723, vol. i. p. 1. The story is also treated in the forty-first chapter of Warner's Albion's England. Warner has at least one good stanza,[3] which is more than can be said of this wretched, but very popular, production.

Some corrections have been adopted from the Crown Garland of Golden Roses.

QUEEN ELEANOR'S FALL.

A Collection of Old Ballads, i. 97.

"I never was more surprised," says the editor of the Collection of 1723, "than at the sight of the following ballad; little expecting to see pride and wickedness laid to the charge of the most affable and most virtuous of women: whose glorious actions are not recorded by our historians only; for no foreign writers, who have touched upon those early times, have in silence passed over this illustrious princess, and every nation rings with the praise of Eleonora Isabella of Castile, King Edward's Queen. Father Le Monie, who (in his GallÉrie des Femmes Fortes) has searched all Christendom round, from its very infancy to the last age, for five heroines, very partially bestows the first place upon one of his own country-women, but gives the second, with a far superior character, to this queen."

In this absurdly false and ignorant production, the well-beloved Eleonora of Castile is no doubt confounded with her most unpopular mother-in-law, Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry the Third, whose luxurious habits, and quarrels with the city of London, might afford some shadow of a basis for the impossible slanders of the ballad-singer. Queenhithe was a quay, the tolls of which formed part of the revenue of the Queen, and Eleanor of Provence rendered herself extremely odious by compelling vessels, for the sake of her fees, to unlade there. Charing-cross was one of thirteen monuments raised by Edward the First at the stages, where his queen's body rested, on its progress from the place of her decease to Westminster. In the connection of both these places with the name of a Queen Eleanor may be found (as Miss Strickland suggests in her Lives of the Queens) the germ of the marvellous story of the disappearance at Charing-cross and the resurrection at Queenhithe.

That portion of the story which relates to the cruelty exercised by the queen towards the Lord Mayor's wife is borrowed from the Gesta Romanorum. See Madden's Old English Versions, &c. p. 226, Olimpus the Emperour. Peele's Chronicle History of Edward the First exhibits the same misrepresentations of Eleanor of Castile. See what is said of this play in connection with the ballad of Queen Eleanor's Confession, vol. vi. p. 209. The whole title of the ballad is:—

A Warning Piece to England against Pride and Wickedness:

THE DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK'S CALAMITY.

From Strange Histories, p. 17 (Percy Society, vol. iii). Other copies, with variations, are in The Crown-Garland of Golden Roses, Part II. p. 20 (Percy Society, vol. xv.), and A Collection of Old Ballads, iii. 91. The editor of Strange Histories informs us that a play on the same subject as the ballad was written by Thomas Drew, or Drue, early in the reign of James I., and printed in 1631, under the title of The Duchess of Suffolk, her Life. He remarks further that both play and ballad was founded upon the narrative of Fox, anno 1558 [Acts and Monuments, iii. 926, ed. 1641]; but the differences between Fox's account and the story which follows are altogether too great for this supposition to be true.

Katharine, daughter of Lord Willoughby of Eresby, was first married to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and after his death to Richard Bertie, Esq., with whom she was forced to fly from persecution in 1553, taking refuge first in the Low Countries, and afterwards in Poland.

9. There is said to be a place so called in the archiepiscopal palace at Lambeth.28. So, C. G. G. R., for which in.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF FAMOUS THO. STUKELY, AN ENGLISH GALLANT IN THE TIME OF QUEENE ELIZABETH, WHO ENDED HIS DAYES IN A BATTAILE OF KINGS IN BARBARIE.

Thomas Stuckley, says Fuller, "was a younger brother, of an ancient, wealthy, and worshipful family, nigh Ilfracombe in this county [Devon], being one of good parts; but valued the less by others, because overprized by himself. Having prodigally mis-spent his patrimony, he entered on several projects (the issue general of all decayed estates); and first pitched on the peopling of Florida, then newly found out, in the West Indies. So confident his ambition, that he blushed not to tell Queen Elizabeth, 'that he preferred rather to be sovereign of a mole-hill, than the highest subject to the greatest king in Christendom;' adding, moreover, 'that he was assured he should be a prince before his death.' 'I hope,' said Queen Elizabeth, 'I shall hear from you, when you are stated in your principality.' 'I will write unto you,' quoth Stuckley. 'In what language?' said the Queen. He returned, 'In the style of princes: To our dear sister.'

"His fair project of Florida being blasted for lack of money to pursue it, he went over into Ireland, where he was frustrated of the preferment he expected, and met such physic that turned his fever into frenzy; for hereafter resolving treacherously to attempt what he could not loyally achieve, he went over into Italy.

"It is incredible how quickly he wrought himself through the notice into the favour, through the court into the chamber, yea closet, yea bosom of Pope Pius Quintus; so that some wise men thought his Holiness did forfeit a parcel of his infallibility in giving credit to such a glorioso, vaunting that with three thousand soldiers he would beat all the English out of Ireland.

"The Pope finding it cheaper to fill Stuckley's swelling sails with airy titles than real gifts, created him Baron of Ross, Viscount Murrough, Earl of Wexford, Marquis of Leinster; and then furnished this title-top-heavy general with eight hundred soldiers, paid by the King of Spain, for the Irish expedition.

"In passage thereunto, Stuckley lands at Portugal, just when Sebastian, the king thereof, with two Moorish kings, were undertaking a voyage into Africa. Stuckley, scorning to attend, is persuaded to accompany them. Some thought he wholly quitted his Irish design, partly because loath to be pent up in an island (the continent of Africa affording more elbow-room for his achievements); partly because so mutable his mind, he ever loved the last project (as mothers the youngest child) best. Others conceive he took this African in order to his Irish design; such his confidence of conquest, that his breakfast on the Turks would the better enable him to dine on the English in Ireland.

"Landing in Africa, Stuckley gave council which was safe, seasonable, and necessary; namely, that for two or three days they should refresh their land soldiers; whereof some were sick, and some were weak, by reason of their tempestuous passage. This would not be heard; so furious was Don Sebastian to engage; as if he would pluck up the bays of victory out of the ground, before they were grown up; and so, in the battle of Alcaser, their army was wholly defeated: where Stuckley lost his life.

"This battle was fought anno 1578, where Stuckley, with his eight hundred men, behaved himself most valiantly, till overpowered with multitude." Worthies of England, by Nuttall, i. 414.

Mr. Dyce, in his prefatory note to Peele's Battle of Alcazar, having cited the above extract with several poetical notices of Stukeley, mentions another play founded on this adventurer's exploits (The Famous Historye of the Life and Death of Captaine Thomas Stukely), acted in 1596, and printed in 1605 (Peele's Works, ii. 85).

The ballad is from The Crown-Garland of Golden Roses (Percy Society, vol. vi.) p. 33. There are some verses on Stukeley's projected voyage to Florida in Mr. Collier's Old Ballads, in the first volume of the Percy Society, p. 73.

LORD DELAWARE.

No plausible foundation for this ballad has as yet been found in history. It has been suggested that Delaware is a corruption of De la Mare, a speaker of the House of Commons, and a great advocate of popular rights, in the reign of Edward the Third! But there is no accounting for the Dutch lord and the Welsh Duke of Devonshire on this or any other supposition.

The ballad is given from Lyle's Ancient Ballads and Songs, p. 135, as "noted down from the singing of a gentleman," and then "remodelled and smoothed down" by the editor. The same copy is printed in Dixon's Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs (Percy Society, vol. xvii.), p. 80, and in Bell's volume with the same title, p. 66.

THE BATTLE OF HARLAW. (See p. 180.)

Traditionary Version, from Aytoun's Scottish Ballads, i. 75.

"I am indebted to the kindness of Lady John Scott for the following extremely spirited ballad, which was taken down some years ago in Aberdeenshire, where it is still very popular. It is sung to a beautiful air, with the following refrain to each stanza:—