A Diplomatic Transcription in HTML
by Robert B. Waltz
Preserving the pagination and illustrations of the original
Based on the Edmund Goldsmid reprint.
xiv+88 pages
Contents: Transcriber's Note * Frontispiece (p. i) * Preface: Biographia Leslyana (p. iii) * The Songs (p. 1) * Index
If you are reading this, you presumably know the work of George R. Kinloch, author of this work and of Ancient Scottish Ballads (both 1827). The transcriber therefore will not spend time to describe it, as he has nothing to add to the little in the standard reference works. These are not, in a sense, great works for the ballad scholar; sources are not cited, so they do not give us all the information about the songs that we might wish -- and in any case there are no tunes. In addition, F. J. Child had access to the Kinloch manuscript, and often consulted it to get behind Kinloch's published texts.
And yet, this book remains significant for its early texts of many significant songs -- not just the "Child Ballads" it contains, but also, e.g., "The Derby Ram," of which it contains one of the earliest texts (though already worked over by tradition). That seems sufficient reason to make the book available now in electronic form.
Though that conversion proved more difficult than the transcriber expected. The old typeface of the Goldsmid reprint did not scan especially well, and much had to be retyped, with the usual assortment of errors -- not all of which, it will be evident, can be easily noticed through the Scots dialect. But the transcriber asks your patience. Many of the curiosities are, in fact, present in the original print. Kinloch or his printer, for instance, could not seem to decide whether the common Scots adjective for "fair, handsome" is in fact spelled "bonny" or "bonnie" (sometimes interchanging them in the same verse of the same song!), nor how to spell the nickname of Charles Leslie (was he really "muscle-mou'd"?). In addition, punctuation is excessive and thoroughly erratic, while the capitalization almost capricious. The transcriber has done his best; if you spot an error in the texts, please help us to correct it.
After some hesitation, I decided to annotate the text, but only very lightly; for the most part, apart from details about the printing, I have contented myself with commenting on where Kinloch's texts stand in the Ballad tradition. Annotations have been placed in the right margin to avoid interference with Kinloch's actual text.
The index at the end was compiled by the transcriber; Kinloch did not supply one.
This transcription being in HTML, there has been no good way to indicate the page breaks in the original -- yet it seemed both desirable and necessary to do so. The key is that page numbers always appear at the top of a page. Where the original had no page number (it is always omitted at the beginning of a new song), it has been shown in square brackets. Those who wish to see continuous song texts can delete them easily enough.
This transcription is presented as the first item in the Fresno Folklore Reprints series, intended to make rare items of folk music and folklore studies available in electronic format for use by all. Feel free to spread the word, and to use this in any way that is helpful to you. But we are making these materials available at no charge; we ask that you not charge for reproducing or distributing them.
Transcription and annotations
copyright ©2002 by
Robert B. Waltz
Completed December, 2002
Page numbers are shown at tops of pages, as in the original. If the original omits a page number, it is shown in brackets [ ], as with this page. | |
[ii.] | page ii is blank in the original |
[iii.]BIOGRAPHIA LESLYANACHARLES LESLY (better known by the name of "Mussel mou'd Charlie," from a singular protrusion of his nether lip, in the form of a muscle -- and whose portraiture adorns our title-page,) was, for the greater part of last century, a celebrated peripatetick Ballad-singer in the Town and County of Aberdeen. Of his early years, nothing authentic can be discovered; though Tradition knows him only as an itinerant ballad-singer from his youth. Fame, however, speaks of him as a rank and irreclaimable Jacobite, having been OUT in the rebellions of "Fifteen" and "Forty-five;" and as having not only aided the great cause with his sword, but likewise employed his pen in its favour. He is said to have been the author of sundry Jacobite compositions, and especially of that severe phillippic on the Duke, commencing, "Will ye go to Crookieden." These songs not only cheered and animated his fellow | The Duke: William Augustus, First Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765) was the Hannoverian commander at the Battle of Culloden (April 16, 1746), and came to be known as "The Butcher" because of his treatment of the Highlanders then and thereafter. |
iv.soldiers during the fatigues of their arduous enterprises in the days of yore, but were also, in later times, the chief sources of their Author's livelihood: for, somewhat Homer-like, did the venerable Charles Lesly sing his own compositions through the streets of Aberdeen, for his daily subsistence; and it is not to be doubted that he ever wanted a share of that gueed awmous for which the place is remarkable, although we do not hear that upon his death there was any competition for the honour of his birth-place among the cities of Aberdeenshire. As Charles advanced in years, he made the town of Aberdeen his most permanent residence, and there maintained, to the last, the field of ballad-singing against an host of more youthful competitors, who attempted, by the promulgation of modern and more refined ditties, to depose poor Charlie from the enviable monopoly which he had so long enjoyed. Fortunately, however, for this ancient hero of rhyme, the more sober citizens, who had so long listened with pleasure to his "deep and hollow roar," and admired the eccentricity of his person and habits, began to vindicate his rights, as being founded on a clear prescriptive title, he having "danced and sung," according to the biographical poem annexed, no less a period than one hundred and five years! Indeed, to lose Charlie, would have been depriving Aberdeen of a singular portion of living anti- v.quity, that had become quite identified with the Town and its inhabitants. The consequence was, that Charlie's rivals were put to the rout, and himself allowed to rest in his ancient monopoly unmolested. Death at last "closed the mussel-mou" of Charlie Lesly, who departed this life at Old Raine, his native place, in the year 1792, at the extraordinary age of 105. This sorrowful event was announced to the world, by the following paragraph in the North British Weekly Magazine for the month of October, 1792: "Died lately at Oldrain, in Aberdeenshire, aged 105, Charles Lesly, a hawker, or ballad-singer, well known in that country by the name of Mussel mou'd Charlie. He followed his occupation till within a few weeks of his death." Like other public characters whose demise gives occasion to many political intrigues and bickerings, Charles Lesly had scarcely breathed his Iast till numerous brethren of the craft flocked to the metropolis of the shire, ambitious of acquiring the office which he had so long and so honourably maintained. The office, however, seems, from the want of a competent successor, to have been put in commission; for we find, in the twenty-third verse of the annexed ballad, that "Blind Jamie," and "Ross" were appointed to deliver out the mussel mou'd relics to the inconsolable Aberdonians. vi.With respect to the political creed of the subject of this memoir, we can hardly, after all, think him such a determined Jacobite as has been represented. For although his before mentioned phillippic against the commander of the Royal army in "the forty-five" is well enough for a rank Jacobite, yet it cannot be denied that Prince Charlie himself comes in for a pretty severe rub on occasion, as well as the Duke; which shows that our Author was a good deal of an humourist: Will ye go to Crookieden,
All the whigs will gang to hell,
Satan sits in the black nook,
Notwithstanding the public avocations of Mr. Lesly, and the many hazards and hardships he must have suf- vii.fered during so long a life, he seems to have been not insensible to the more social duties of the married state. For we find, in the outset of one of his ballads, the following notion of his purchase of a Wife in Edinburgh: "I bought a wife in Edinburgh
Whether any rise in the price of wives in this Scottish Smithfield has taken place since the days of Mrs. Lesly, we do not know; only this we know, that there is a considerable advance in the article of tocher: for all that mussel mou'd Charlie received by his matrimonial bargain was, according to his poetical biographer, the sum and quantity of -- "a farthing's worth of cut tobacco!!"* -- Eheu! quam tempora mutantur! -- In a collection of Penny Ballads, penes Mr. Maidment, there is one entitled, "A new song, called the Jacobite's Lamentation;-Composed and sold by Charles Lesly, Flying Stationer, the Poet." It is printed along with "The True Britain's Thought," and "Johnnie * Being one half of the price, which was returned by way of luck-penny viii.Armstrong's last good night;" and bears the imprint, "Edinburgh, Printed for Charles Lesly, Flying Stationer, the Author, 1746." If it were not the case that the orthodox Jacobite tenets of mussel-mou'd Charlie were abundantly conspicuous from other sources, this "Jacobite's Lamentation," which is a violent tirade against his favorite doctrines, and patry, would stagger our belief. We are, therefore, inclined to attribute it solely to the roguery of some wag, in order to torment poor Charlie, whose faith burned with almost insane fervour for the opposite party. Considering his popular fame as a poet and ballad-singer, the steadiness of his political principles, and his extreme old age, we may safely aver in the words of the following ditty, composed on the occasion of his death, that "few men like him are now alive." "SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI!" | |
[ix.] | Page ix is blank in the original |
[x.]
[xi.]MUSSEL MOU'D CHARLIE.Air -- "Highland Laddie" O dolefu' rings the bell o' Raine!
Grim death has clos'd his mussel mou'
He's dead, and shortly will be rotten,
xii.And how he went to Crookieden,
And how, for comfort of his life,
Each Ballad a bawbee him brought,
Her tocher was not quote worth a plack O,
The song he sung, and many more,
Those songs in the lang nights of winter,
* A Printer in Aberdeen xiii.O mourn, good master Chalmers, mourn,
Blind Jamie now, and Ross, they say,
And so farewell, good people all,
Good luck betide you, late and early,
| |
[xiv.] | Page xiv is blank in the original |
[1]I.THE WIDOW O' WESTMORELANDThere was a widow in Westmoreland,
"O haud your tongue, my mither dear,
"Awa, awa, ye ill woman,
2But she is to her true-love gane,
He's buskit her, and he's deckit her,
He buskit her, and he deckit her,
Now she is on to her mither gane,
He buskit me, and he deckit me,
3He buskit me, and he deckit me,
"O never on fit," her mither said,
"O wha is this," the bride she cried,
How could she do't, how did she do't,
"If eleven lang nichts ye've lain wi' a man,
| This is the only known printing of this song, elsewhere known as "The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter," in the nineteenth century. Child knew it (he quotes other items from this volume), but is said to have rejected it for indecency. |
[4]II.THE SLEEPY MERCHANTThere cam a merchant to this toun,
The merchant's bed it was weel made,
5And whan the sun it was weel up,
And whan the breakfast it was by,
And whan the market it was oure,
6The merchant's bed it was weel made,
Atween the bowster and the wa',
And lang afore the brak o' day,
7But fesh* ye ben the cradle plaid,
And whan the breakfast it was bye,
But whan she gaed but to fesh it ben,
* Fesh--fetch. 8 "Foul fa' ye for a merchant,
When twenty weeks war come and gane,
The lassie she sat at her wheel,
"O my dear, how may this be,
9 Why did ye mock the merchant,
He's tane the lassie by the hand,
[10]NOTEONTHE SLEEPY MERCHANTThat ye're saw bale aneath the ee,
It is considered among the vulgar a sure sign of the unchastity of a young woman to have the under eyelid of a blackish or dark blue colour. Tytler, in "The bonnie brucket lassie," takes notice of this characteristic: The bonnie brucket lassie,
And in the old song of "The shearing is no for you," we observe the proverbial expression You're blue below the ee,
Physicians, however, do not recognize this as a mark of unchastity; but all the howdies declare that it is a breeding sign. "If under the lower eyelid the veins be swelled and appear clearly 11and the eyes be something discoloured, it is a certain sign she is with child, unless &c.--Aristotle's Masterpiece. Green was also a sign of conception:-- "Four and twenty belted knights
Young Tamlane. | This ballad was known to Child (see his notes to "The Broomfield Hill"), but he set it aside as too literary. |
[12]III.THE MAGDALENE'S LAMENTAnd she, poor jade, withoutten din,
Ramsay. As I cam in by Tanzie's wood,
* The house of correction formerly at the foot of Leith-wynd, Edinburgh. 13For ance I was a lady fair,
When we were in the tavern-house,
But now I'm in the correction-house,
A wee drap cabbage-kail in a cog,
But if I were at libertie,
| A "magdalene" is, of course, a prostitute -- though it should be noted that there is no evidence that the Biblical Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. She was mentally disturbed, but there is no reason to think the sinful woman of Luke 7:36-50 is the same as the Mary we meet in Luke 8:2 and the other gospels.
On its face, this appears to be based on "The Battle of Harlaw," presumably created in the period after the Hannoverian Succession (hence the reference to "Geordie's Men"). If this is based on an actual incident, it would appear that the young lady's crime was as much rejecting the Hannoverians as practicing her trade. |
[14]IV.AWA wi' your slavery hiremen,
Awa wi' your mealy miller,
Awa wi' your limey mason,
15Awa wi' your blackie sutor,
But I'm for the ranting gardener,
| |
[16]JOCK SHEEPIs evidently the Scottish version of the English ballad of "The Baffled Knight, or Lady's Policy," published in Percy's Reliques, which is "given with some corrections from a manuscript copy, and collated with two printed ones in the Roman character in the Pepys collection." The English copy is decidedly inferior in point of humour and fancy. [17]V.JOCK SHEEPThere was a knight and a lady bright
Whan they cam to the gude greenwud,
Do ye na see my fathers's castle?
18But what she cam to her father's yett
And whistle o' your thumb, Jock Sheep,
You're like a cock my father has,
And whistle, &c. You're like a flower in my father's garden,
And whistle, &c. You're like a steed my father has,
And whistle, &c. 19He's turned him right and round about,
He's tane a mantle him about,
Then word's cam to her father's castle,
She's tane her mantle her about,
But whan she cam to gude greenwud,
Cod--pillow. 20"Ye're welcome here, my dear," he says,
He's tane her by the milk-white hand,
And whistle o' your thumb, fair may,
Ye said I was like your father's cock,
And whistle, &c. Ye said I was like a flow'r in your father's garden,
And whistle, &c. 21Ye said I was like your father's steed,
Sae whistle, &c. "O had I staid in my father's castle,
He's set her on his milk-white steed,
| As the original notes state, this is Child #112, "The Baffled Knight." The beginning, however, appears damaged, and may have been deliberately repaired with a stanza from "The Broomfield Hill" (Child #43).
The second half of the song also appears untraditional; the theme of the knight getting his own back from the lady is not found in true traditional versions of this song, and is probably a literary fix designed to relieve the disturbed dignity of all the men listening to the piece. The modifications were enough to make Child exclude this version from his collection -- and certainly the song is better without them. |
[22]EPITAPH ON JOCK SHEEPHic conditur Joannes Ovis,
The above Epitaph was written by a friend, who, on reading the ballad thought it worthy of such an accompaniment. | The Latin translates as,
Here lies John Sheep... Who firmly embraced (or "strongly pressured") the girl |
[23]VI.The lassie and the laddie
The laddie gaed to bar the door,
She's casten aff her peticoat,
24Up gat the nakit fallow,
"The cauld's tane me, master,
O I hae serv'd ye seven lang years,
It's up the loan o' Charltoun,
| |
[25]VII.THE FRIARCan this be one of the squibs, so liberally fulminated at the Roman Catholic Priests and Friars, during the days of Sir David Lindsay; when they were satyrized as paying more devotion to "marit wyfis" and "lustie maydens," than to their book and psalter? See an English copy of this Ballad in Durfey's Pills to purge Melancholy, vol. I., p. 34, under the title of "The Fryer and the Maid." O listen, and I will ye tell,
26The Friar cam to the maiden's bed-side,
"O I wad grant you your desire,
"O' hell's burning fire ye need have na doubt
"O an I grant to you this thing,
He brocht her the money and did it down tell;
27The lassie cries, "my master does come,"
"O ye'll dow ye in below this claith,
The Friar cries, "I'm in the well,"
* Var. -- Oh ye will go beyond yon screen,
Then in behind the screen she him sent,
28Then the Friar cried, with piteous moan,
"Ye said ye wad sing me out o' hell,
"If ye'll help me out I will be gone,
She helpit him out, and bade him begone,
"For your money there's nae much matter,
* Qu. Drumbling-- i.e. troubling or mudying. 29The Friar he gaed up the street,
Then a' wha heard it commend this fair maid,
| This is "The Friar in the Well," Child #276. Child does not print this precise version, but his "B" text is largely from the Kinloch papers -- the same papers Kinloch used to compile this version. |
[30]VIII.* * * The beef, and the bacon,
In cam Lizzie Ogilvie,
For there's ten ell in my petticoat,
* * * | Although this is only a fragment (and a rather pointless one at that), this is surely "Drunken Maidens" ("Four Drunken Maidens"), a tale found in broadsides of the eighteenth century telling of four girls who went on a spree (plus a feast) and bankrupted themselves. Kinloch seems to have known that this version was defective; hence the line of asterisks (used, e.g., at the end of his broken-off version of "Kempy Kay.") |
[31]IX.EARL OF ERROLGilbert Hay, tenth Earl of Errol, the hero of this singular production, was married at Kinnard, 7th January, 1658, to Lady Catherine Carnegy, youngest daughter of James, second Earl of Southesk. The tradition of the country is that the lady actually sued her husband for a divorce on the ground of impotency, and that the incidents really took place as detailed in the ballad, but I have been unable to discover the truth of this tradition. The following excerpt, however, from a note on a South country version of this ballad, preserved in Mr. Sharpe's "Ballad Book," bears strong evidence of the truth of the tradition. It is contained in a letter from Keith of Bentholm to Captain Brown at Paris, which, after mentioning the other news of the day, concludes:-- "Lastly, the sadd (and not lyke heard of in this land amongst eminent persons,) story of the Eril of Errol's impotencie, which is lyke, being cum to public hearing, to draw deeper betuix him and Southesk, than is alledgit it hath done 'twixt him and Southesk's daughter. These are the meane emergents we are taken up with, whilst beyond sea empyres are overturning." -- Scoone, 22d Feb. 1659 [32]EARL OF ERROLO Errol is a bonnie place,*
And the ranting o't, and the danting o't,
* Errol is situated in the Carse of Gowrie; a district famed for the excellence of its fruit. 33O Errol's place is a bonnie place,
"As I cam in by yon canal,
Tho' your name be Dame Cathrine Carnegie,
"If ye gar my father sell Kinnaird,
The lady is on to Edinbrugh,
34O up bespak her sister,
Then up bespak a wily lord,
But up bespak dame Cathrine Carnegie
Errol has got it in his will,
* This lady is sometimes called Jane; but both names are erroneous. The Earl of Southesk had only two daughters; the heroine of this ballad, and Elizabeth, who married first James, second Earl of Annandale, and secondly David, Viscount Stormont.
35"Look up, look up, my well faur'd may,
He's tane the lassie by the han',
Whan they war laid in the proof-bed,
But they hae keepit this lassie
And there was three thairbut, thairbut,
And whan the word gaed through the town
36"O fair befa' you! Errol, now,
"O I'll tak aff my robes o' silk,
"Take hame your dochter, Sir Carnegie,
And ilka day her plate was laid,
And the rantin o't, and the dantin o't,
Var.-- Seven years the trencher sat,
| Child #231. This is one of the three texts Child collated to produce his "D" text. There is another text (Child's F) in the Kinloch papers. Child's background material appears to have been derived largely from Kinloch's introduction and footnotes. |
[37]X.THE ASTROLOGERThere was a handsome 'Strologer
A pretty maid, as I heard said,
In asking for this cunning man,
38"If you would read my fortune right,
"I will not walk up stairs with you,
"You may be as nimble as you're able,
"I know your but a servant may,
Deny it not, fair may," he says,
39That you lay with your master
Deny it not, fair maid, he said,
| |
[40]XI.KEMPY* KAYThis ludicrous production seems to be a parody on a passage in the ancient metrical romance of "The marriage of Sir Gawaine;" of which a fragment is published in Percy's Reliques. Sir Kaye, for his unknighly disrepect of the "lothely lady," whom he so uncourteously anathematised, is here transformed into her ardent lover; but unfortunately the termination of their loves remains unknown, as the ballad breaks off abruptly at the most interesting point. Sir Kaye, however, appears not to have been terrified as the "snout" of the lady, or "in doubt" of his kiss; for he seems, if we may judge from the "extreme unction" he underwent, to have been literally glued to the lips of the loathesome lady. Mr. Sharpe, whose opinion on such matters is deserving of the highest regard, considers this ballad to be of Danish extraction, and refers to the Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 311, for a humorous song of the same nature, called Sir Guncelin, translated from the Kempe Viser, by Mr. Jamieson, in which all the characters are kemps or giants. * Diminutive of Kemp, a champion or warrior. [41]KEMPY KAYKEMPY KAYE is a wooing gane,
"Where are ye gaun, O Kempy Kaye,
"An ye be gaun to court a wife,
42"Rise up, rise up, my Fusome Fug,
Up then raise the Fusome Fug,
She rampit She had a neis upon her face,
* Develling-- sauntering. | Child #33. Child's "B" text is a comparison of Kinloch's manuscript with this version. |
43She had twa een intil her head,
Ilka hair that was on her head
When Kempy Kaye cam to the house,
He gied to her a braw silk napkin,
* Plooms-- plumbs.
| Although the work "brat" is marked for glossing in the text above, there is no gloss in the margin of the printed text. |
44He gied to her a braw gowd ring,
When thir twa lovers had met thegither,
* * * * Bill-- the west country pron. of bull. | |
[45]XII.HEY THE MANTLEAmong the numerous ancient ditties enumerated in the "Complaynt of Scotland" there occurs, Fayr luf, lent thow me thy mantil, joy! "The original song," says Dr. Leyden, "is probably lost; but a ludicrous parody, in which the chorus is preserved, is well known in the south of Scotland. It begins, Our Guidman's away to the Mers,
The Editor has never seen the above version; but the following one is still preserved in the north country. Our ancestors appear to have been very fond of the ludicrous; many specimens of their talents for that species of composition will be found in the present collection. [46]XII.HEY THE MANTLEEarly in the morning whan the cat crew day,
Our gudeman's gane awa to the Mers,
And as he gaid through thick wud, thin wud's brither,
47As he cam bye the mill door, he heard psalms singing,
There war four-and-twenty tailors riding on a snail,
There war four-and-twenty tailors riding on a paddock,
There war four-and-twenty tailors playing at the ba',
[48]XIII.Four-and-twenty cripple tailors, riding on a snail;
Four-and-twenty blind men playin' at the ba;
Four-and-twenty young maids swimming in a pool;
49Four-and-twenty auld wives skinning at a whale,
Four-and-twenty dirten brats pelting at a frog;
Four-and-twenty windmills running in a burn;
Four-and-twenty young men wi' faces like the moon,
| |
[50]XIV.THE MAN IN THE MOONThe following ditty, particularizing various optical illusions, and strange absurdities, to which a man in his cups is subject, through the medium of seeing double, reminds us of the eccentricities of the "drunken menyie of old Sir Thom o' Lyne:" Jock looked at the sun, and cried, "Fire, fire, fire;"
[51]THE MAN IN THE MOONI SAW the man in the moon,
I saw a sparrow draw a harrow,
52I saw a pyet haud the pleuch,
I saw a wran kill a man,
I saw a sheep shearing corn,
I saw a puggie wearing boots,
53I saw a puggie wearing boots,
I saw a ram wade a dam,
I saw a louse chace a mouse,
I saw a sow sewing silk,
55I saw a sow sewing silk,
I saw a dog shoe a horse,
I saw an eel chase the deil,
| This is the song variously known as "Martin Said to His Man," "Johnny Fool," "Hurrah, Lie!" It is attested at least since 1668 and Dryden's play "Sir Martin Mar-all, or the Feigned Innocence." Verbal variation is of course extreme, but there is no real doubt that it is the same song. |
55XV.THE SHOEMAKER"SHOEMAKER, shoemaker, are ye within?
"Oh fair may come in and see,
He's tane her in behind the bench,
56Whan twenty weeks war come and gane,
"O," says she, "I can't spin at a wheel,"
Whan twenty weeks war come and gone,
"O says her father, we'll cast it out
O says her mother, we'll keep it in.
* King Crispin I presume. 57Whan other maid gang to the ball,
Whan other maids gang to their tea,
| |
[58]XVI.THE MAIDEN'S DREAMOne nicht as I lay on my bed
One cam to me, both tall and young,
He talk'd to me of married life,
59And whan the happy morning cam,
And whan to church I brought was then,
And whan to dinner I was set doun,
And after dinner I was conveyed
And whan to bed I was brought then,
60I wish my dream had lasted long,
| |
[61]XVII.THE COVERING BLUE"My father he locks the doors at nicht,
"I will mak a lang ladder,
He has made a lang ladder,
62They had na kiss'd, nor lang clappit,
I dreamed a dream sin late yestreen,
Ye'll rise, ye'll rise, my auld gudeman,
"I dream'd a dream sin late yestreen,
Ye'll rise, ye'll rise, my auld gudeman,
63"If ye're wanting rising, rise yourself,
But up she raise, and but she gaies,
"Ye'll rise, ye'll rise, my auld gudeman,
"The grip that he's gotten, I wish he may haud,
| A version of Child #281, "The Keach i the Creel." Kinloch had the song from Alexander Kinnear of Stonehaven; Child's "D" text is from the Kinloch manuscript, closely approximating this text (save that Child does not show the repetitions that Kinloch makes explicit). |
[64]XVIII.THE MUIR HENThe bonnie muir hen gaed down the den,
(Ch.) Sing archie owdum diddledum dow,
And I the nearer that I cam,
65"O haud your tongue, fair maid, he says,
The next time that he did her meet,
He's tane her by the milk-white hand,
And when he let her up again,
Whan twenty weeks war come and gane,
66And whan he cam into the ha',
But I thought my gun would me misgie,
| |
[67]XIX.Widows are sour, and widows are dour,
Money into their pocket, he says,
Jamie Jack he loves her weel,
68Jeanie lay sick on the bleaching green,
O gin Burley was lying sick,
But gin ye had been wi' me yestreen,
| |
[69]XX.BONNIE BUCHAIRN. Quhilk o' ye lasses will go to Buchairn?
I'LL no hae the lass wi' the gowden locks,
I'll get a thigging frae auld John Watt,
70And I'll get anith frae honest John Gray,
Lassie, I am gaun to Lawren'-fair,*
Then, some o' ye, lasses, maun go to Buchairn,
* Lawren'-fair, a market held at Lawrence-kirk, in Mearnshire. | |
[71]XXI.It fell on a morning, a morning in May,
O! ance my apron it was side,
O! ance my apron it was new,
72I saw my father on the stair,
It's no a vagabond, nor yet a loon--
I saw my mother on the stair,
It is my mantle and my shirt,
As I was waling up the street,
| This has some points of contact with "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] and its relatives such as "Must I Go Bound" and "The Wild Goose Grasses," but it is clearly not the same song. If the theories of certain folklorists are correct, and "The Butcher Boy" a composite, this might be related to one of the elements. |
[73]XXII.FIRST there cam whipmen, and that not a few,
The next was a merchantman out o' the town,
* * * * | |
[74]XXIII.LAIRD O' LEYSThis ballad related to a faux pas of one of the Burnets of Leys, in Mearns-shire; but which of them I know not. The Laird o' Leys is to London gane,
He hadna been in fair London
"They ca' me this, and they ca' me that,
75"Awa' wi' your jesting, Sir," she said,
"They ca' me this, and they ca' me that,
"Tell down, tell down, ten thousand crowns,
"My head's the thing I canna weel want;
But word's gane down to the Lady o' Leys
76But I'll sell off my jointure-house,
So she is on to London gane,
| Child #241. Kinloch's verions is Child's "B" text. |
[77]XXIV.TAM BARROW'Twas in the month of Februar,
His mukle-coat, his hair wig,
He was na widower lang ago,
78He wash'd his face, he kaim'd his hair,
A' the lasses blinkit blythe,
But he's to a rich widow gane,
Your children I will put to school,
But he was na married lang ago,
| |
[79]XXV.Johnie cam to our toun,
He gaed thro' the fields wi' me,
| |
[80]XXVI.THE RAM OF DIRAMAs I cam in by Diram,
And a hech, hey, a-Diram,
He had four feet to stand upon
81The woo that grew on the ram's back,
The horns that war on the ram's head,
This ram was fat behind, Sir,
The tail that hang at the ram,
And a hech, hey, a-Diram,
| Obviously a version of the well-known "Derby Ram" -- this being one of the oldest known versions, and perhaps the earliest recorded in Scotland. |
[82]XXVII.THE KNAVEI GAED to the market,
And a knave has his knave tricks,
I boucht a pint ale,
I cam my way hame,
83I gied him cheese and bread,
I gaed to my bed,
I happen'd to be wi' bairn,
I paid the nourice fee,
And a knave has his knave tricks,
| |
[84]XXVIII.There was a little wee bridelie,
There was nae mair meat at it,
There was nae drink but a soup,
85There was nae music but a pipe,
The bridegroom gaed thro' the reel,
The bride gaed till her bed,
* Before the invention of braces, the nether garments were usually supported by a leathern belt round the waist. | |
[86]XXIX.THE MAUTMANThis coarse production is a different, if not an older version of The Mautman, published in Herd's Collection. The Mautman comes on Munanday,
Bring a' your maut to me,
* Jockies--Pigs? | Pigs? I rather expect it means bairns.... |
87She's tane the chappin stoup,
"The maut is very gude maut,
Now, hark ye, hark ye, kimmer,
A curst unruly crew,
They pierced my dochter's barrel,
*Fat--vat 88Some say kissing's a sin,
If it wasna lawfu',
If it wasna modest,
Bring a' your maut to me,
Won'd--known, an oblique sense of dwelt. |
As I cam in by Diram (XXVI/p. 80)
As I cam in by Tanzie's wood (III/p. 12)
The Astrologer (X/p. 37)
Awa wi' your slavery hiremen (IV/p. 14)
[The Baffled Knight/Child #112] (V/p. 16)
The Baron o' Leys [Child #241] (XXIII/p. 74)
The beef, and the bacon (VIII/p. 30)
Bonnie Buchairn (XX/p. 69)
The bonnie muir hen gaed down the den (XVIII/p. 64)
The Covering Blue (XVII/p. 61)
[The Derby Ram] (XXVI/p. 80)
Drunken Maidens (VIII/p. 30)
Earl of Errol [Child #231] (IX/p. 31)
Early in the morning whan the cat crew day (XII/p. 45)
First there cam whipmen, and that not a few (XXII/p. 73)
Four Drunken Maidens (VIII/p. 30)
Four-and-twenty cripple tailors, riding on a snail (XIII/p. 48)
The Friar (VII/ p. 25)
[The Friar in the Well/Child #276] (VII/p. 25)
Hey the Mantle (XII/p. 45)
[Hurrah, Lie!] (XIV/p. 50)
The Keach i the Creel [Child #281] (XVII/p. 61)
Kempy Kay [Child #33] (XI/p. 40)
I bought a wife in Edinburgh (Intro/frag. on p. vii)
I gaed to the market (XXVII/p. 82)
I saw the man in the moon (XIV/p. 50)
I'll no hae the lass wi' the gowden locks (XX/p. 69)
It fell on a morning, a morning in May (XXI/p. 71)
Jock Sheep (V/ p. 16)
Johnie cam to our toun (XXV/p. 79)
[Johnny Fool] (XIV/p. 50)
Kempy Kay [Child #33] (XI/p. 40)
Kempy Kay is a wooing gane (XI/p. 40)
The Knave (XXVII/p. 82)
Laird o' Leys (XXIII/p. 74)
The Laird o' Leys is to London gane (XXIII/p. 74)
The lassie and the laddie (VI/p. 23)
The Magdalene's Lament (III/p. 12)
The Maiden's Dream (XVI/p. 58)
The Man in the Moon (XIV/p. 50)
[Martin Said to His Man] (XIV/p. 50)
The Mautman (XXIX/p. 86)
The Mautman comes on Munanday (XXIX/p. 86)
The Muir Hen (XVIII/p. 64)
Mussel Mou'd Charlie (Intro/p. ix)
My father he locks the doors at nicht (XVII/p. 61)
O dolefu' rings the bell o' Raine (Intro/p. ix)
O Errol is a bonnie place (IX/p. 31)
O listen, and I will ye tell (VII/p. 25)
One nicht as I lay on my bed (XVI/p. 58)
Quhilk o' ye lasses will go to Buchairn (XX/p. 69)
The Ram of Diram (XXVI/p. 80)
The Shoemaker (XV/p. 55)
Shoemaker, shoemaker, are ye within (XV/p. 55)
Sing archie owdum diddledum dow (XVIII/p. 64)
The Sleepy Merchant (II/p. 4)
Tam Barrow (XXIV/p. 77)
There cam a merchant to this toun (II/p. 4)
There was a handsome 'Strologer (X/p. 37)
There was a knight and a lady bright (V/ p. 16)
There was a little wee bridelie (XXVIII/p. 84)
There was a widow in Westmoreland (I./p. 1)
'Twas in the month of Februar (XXIV/p. 77)
The Widow o' Westmoreland (I./p. 1)
The Widow o' Westmoreland's Daughter (I./p. 1)
Widows are sour, and widows are dour (XIX/p. 67)
Will ye go to Crookieden (Intro/p. vi.)