English and Scottish Ballads Volume II Part 3

The lines supplied by Jamieson have been omitted.

Allan Cunningham's "improved" version of the _Bonny Birdy_ may be seen in his _Songs of Scotland_, ii. 130.

Lord Randal wight, on a summer's night, Was riding o'er the lee, And there he saw a bonny birdie Was singin' on a tree:

"O wow for day! 5 And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away, For I ha'ena lang time to stay!

"Mak haste, mak haste, ye wicht baron; What keeps ye here sae late? 10 Gin ye kent what was doing at hame, I trow ye wad look blate.

"And O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day.

Gin it were day, and ye were away; 15 For ye ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"O what needs I toil day and night, My fair body to spill, When I ha'e knichts at my command, And ladies at my will?" 20

"O weel is he, ye wight baron, Has the blear drawn o'er his e'e; But your lady has a knight in her arms twa, That she lo'es far better nor thee.

"And O wow for day! 25 And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and ye were away; For ye ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"Ye lie, ye lie, ye bonny birdie; How you lie upon my sweet; 30 I will tak out my bonny bow, And in troth I will you sheet."

"But afore ye ha'e your bow weel bent, And a' your arrows yare, I will flee till anither tree, 35 Whare I can better fare.

"And O wow for day And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away; For I ha'ena lang time to stay!" 40

"O whare was ye gotten, and where was ye clecked, My bonny birdie, tell me?"

"O, I was clecked in good green wood, Intill a holly tree; A baron sae bald my nest herried, 45 And ga'e me to his ladie.

"Wi' good white bread, and farrow-cow milk, He bade her feed me aft; And ga'e her a little wee summer-dale wandie, To ding me sindle and saft. 50

"Wi' good white bread, and farrow-cow milk, I wat she fed me nought; But wi' a little wee summer-dale wandie, She dang me sair and oft:-- Gin she had done as ye her bade, 55 I wadna tell how she has wrought.

"And O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and ye were away; For ye ha'ena lang time to stay." 60

Lord Randal rade, and the birdie flew, The live-lang summer's night, Till he cam till his lady's bower-door, Then even down he did light.

The birdie sat on the c.r.a.p o' a tree, 65 And I wat it sang fu' dight:

"O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away; For I ha'ena lang time to stay!" 70

"O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and ye were away; For ye ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"Now Christ a.s.soile me o' my sin," 75 The fause knight he could say; "It's nae for nought that the hawk whistles;[L77]

And I wish that I were away!

"And O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day! 80 Gin it were day, and I were away; For I ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"What needs ye lang for day, And wish that ye were away?

Is na your hounds in my cellar 85 Eating white meal and gray?"

"Yet, O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away, For I ha'ena lang time to stay!" 90

"Is na your horse in my stable, Eating good corn and hay?

Is na your hawk on my perch tree, Just perching for his prey?

And isna yoursel in my arms twa; 95 Then how can ye lang for day?"

"Yet, O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away, For I ha'ena lang time to stay. 100

"Yet, O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

For he that's in bed wi' anither man's wife, Has never lang time to stay."

Then out Lord Randal drew his brand, 105 And straiked it o'er a strae; And through and through the fause knight's waste He gar'd cald iron gae; And I hope ilk ane sall sae be serv'd, That treats an honest man sae! 110

77, This is a proverbial saying in Scotland. J.

GIL MORRICE.

"Of the many ancient ballads which have been preserved by tradition among the peasantry of Scotland, none has excited more interest in the world of letters than the beautiful and pathetic tale of _Gil Morice_; and this, no less on account of its own intrinsic merits as a piece of exquisite poetry, than of its having furnished the plot of the justly celebrated tragedy of _Douglas_. It has likewise supplied Mr. Langhorne with the princ.i.p.al materials from which he has woven the fabric of his sweet, though prolix poem of _Owen of Carron_. Perhaps the list could be easily increased of those who have drawn their inspiration from this affecting strain of Olden Minstrelsy.

"If any reliance is to be placed on the traditions of that part of the country where the scene of the ballad is laid, we will be enforced to believe that it is founded on facts which occurred at some remote period of Scottish History. The 'grene wode' of the ballad was the ancient forest of Dundaff, in Stirlingshire, and Lord Barnard's Castle is said to have occupied a precipitous cliff, overhanging the water of Carron, on the lands of Halbertshire. A small burn, which joins the Carron about five miles above these lands, is named the Earlsburn, and the hill near the source of that stream is called the Earlshill, both deriving their appellations, according to the unvarying traditions of the country, from the unfortunate Erle's son who is the hero of the ballad. He, also, according to the same respectable authority, was 'beautiful exceedingly', and especially remarkable for the extreme length and loveliness of his yellow hair, which shrouded him as it were a golden mist. To these floating traditions we are, probably, indebted for the attempts which have been made to improve and embellish the ballad, by the introduction of various new stanzas since its first appearance in a printed form.

"In Percy's _Reliques_, it is mentioned that it had run through two editions in Scotland, the second of which appeared at Glasgow in 1755, 8vo.; and that to both there was prefixed an advertis.e.m.e.nt, setting forth that the preservation of the poem was owing 'to a lady, who favoured the printers with a copy, as it was carefully collected from the mouths of old women and nurses', and requesting that 'any reader, who could render it more correct or complete, would oblige the public with such improvements'. This was holding out too tempting a bait not to be greedily snapped at by some of those 'Ingenious Hands' who have corrupted the purity of legendary song in Scotland by manifest forgeries and gross impositions.

Accordingly, sixteen additional verses soon appeared in ma.n.u.script, which the Editor of the _Reliques_ has inserted in their proper places, though he rightly views them in no better light than that of an ingenious interpolation. Indeed, the whole ballad of _Gil Morice_, as the writer of the present notice has been politely informed by the learned and elegant Editor of the _Border Minstrelsy_, underwent a total revisal about the period when the tragedy of _Douglas_ was in the zenith of its popularity, and this improved copy, it seems, embraced the ingenious interpolation above referred to. Independent altogether of this positive information, any one, familiar with the state in which traditionary poetry has been transmitted to the present times, can be at no loss to detect many more 'ingenious interpolations', as well as paraphrastic additions, in the ballad as now printed. But, though it has been grievously corrupted in this way, the most scrupulous inquirer into the authenticity of ancient song can have no hesitation in admitting that many of its verses, even as they now stand, are purely traditionary, and fair, and genuine parcels of antiquity, unalloyed with any base admixture of modern invention, and in nowise altered, save in those changes of language to which all oral poetry is unavoidably subjected, in its progress from one age to another."

MOTHERWELL.

We have given _Gil Morrice_ as it stands in the _Reliques_, (iii.

132,) degrading to the margin those stanzas which are undoubtedly spurious, and we have added an ancient traditionary version, obtained by Motherwell, which, if it appear short and crude, is at least comparatively incorrupt. _Chield Morice_, taken down from recitation, and printed in Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, (p. 269,) nearly resembles _Gil Morrice_, as here exhibited. We have also inserted in the Appendix _Childe Maurice_, "the very old imperfect copy," mentioned in the _Reliques_, and first published from the Percy MS. by Jamieson.