Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume I Part 10

[Footnote 86: _Sewin sons_--This must include sons-in-law; for the last Sir Richard, like his predecessor, had only three sons, namely, I. William, the famous secretary of Queen Mary; II. Sir John, who alone survived him, and is the _Burd-allane_ of the consolation; III.

Thomas, a youth of great hopes, who died in Italy. But he had four daughters, married to gentlemen of fortune.--_Pinkerton's List of Scottish Poets_, p. 114.]

[Footnote 87: _Grie and grie_--In regular descent; from _gre_, French.]

Sir William Mautlant, or Maitland, the eldest and sole surviving son of Sir Richard, ratified and confirmed, to the monks of Dryburgh, "_Omnes terras quas Dominus Ricardus de Mautlant pater suus fecit dictis monachis_ _in territorio suo de Thirlestane," Sir William is supposed to have died about 1315.--Crawford's Peerage_.

Such were the heroes of the ballad. The castle of Thirlestane is situated upon the Leader, near the town of Lauder. Whether the present building, which was erected by Chancellor Maitland, and improved by the Duke of Lauderdale, occupies the site of the ancient castle, I do not know; but it still merits the epithet of a "_darksome house_."

I find no notice of the siege in history; but there is nothing improbable in supposing, that the castle, during the stormy period of the Baliol wars, may have held out against the English. The creation of a nephew of Edward I., for the pleasure of slaying him by the hand of young Maitland, is a poetical licence[88]; and may induce us to place the date of the composition about the reign of David II., or of his successor, when the real exploits of Maitland, and his sons, were in some degree obscured, as well as magnified, by the lapse of time.

The inveterate hatred against the English, founded upon the usurpation of Edward I., glows in every line of the ballad.

[Footnote 88: Such liberties with the genealogy of monarchs were common to romancers. Henry the Minstrel makes Wallace slay more than one of King Edward's nephews; and Johnie Armstrong claims the merit of slaying a sister's son of Henry VIII.]

Auld Maitland is placed, by Gawain Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld, among the popular heroes of romance, in his allegorical Palice of Honour[89]:

[Footnote 89: It is impossible to pa.s.s over this curious list of Scottish romances without a note; to do any justice to the subject would require an essay.--_Raf Coilyear_ is said to have been printed by Lekprevik, in 1572; but no copy of the edition is known to exist, and the hero is forgotten, even by popular tradition.

_John the Reif_, as well as the former personage, is mentioned by Dunbar, in one of his poems, where he stiles mean persons,

Kyne of Rauf Colyard, and Johne the Reif.

They seem to have been robbers: Lord Hailes conjectured John the Reif to be the same with Johnie Armstrong; but, surely, not with his usual accuracy; for the _Palice of Honour_ was printed twenty-eight years before Johnie's execution. John the Reif is mentioned by Lindesay, in his tragedy of _Cardinal Beatoun_.

--disagysit, like John the Raif, he geid.--

_Cowkilbeis Sow_ is a strange legend in the Bannatyne MSS.--See _Complaynt of Scotland_, p. 131.

_How the wren came out of Ailsay_.--The wren, I know not why, is often celebrated in Scottish song. The testament of the wren is still sung by the children, beginning,

The wren she lies in care's nest, Wi' meikle dole and pyne.

This may be a modification of the ballad in the text.]

I Saw Raf Coilyear with his thrawin brow, Crabit John the Reif, and auld Cowkilbeis Sow; And how the wran cam out of Ailsay, And Peirs Plowman[90], that meid his workmen few; Gret Gowmacmorne, and Fyn MacCowl, and how They suld be G.o.ddis in Ireland, as they say.

_Thair saw I Maitland upon auld beird gray_, Robine Hude, and Gilbert with the quhite hand, How Hay of Nauchton flew in Madin land.

In this curious verse, the most noted romances, or popular histories, of the poet's day, seem to be noticed. The preceding stanza describes the sports of the field; and that, which follows, refers to the tricks of "jugailrie;" so that the three verses comprehend the whole pastimes of the middle ages, which are aptly represented as the furniture of dame Venus's chamber. The verse, referring to Maitland, is obviously corrupted; the true reading was, probably, "_with his_ auld beird gray." Indeed the whole verse is full of errors and corruptions; which is the greater pity, as it conveys information, to be found no where else.

[Footnote 90: _Peirs Plowman_ is well known. Under the uncouth names of Gow Mac Morn, and of Fyn MacCowl, the admirers of Ossian are to recognise Gaul, the son of Morni, and Fingal himself; _heu quantum mutatus ab illo_!

To ill.u.s.trate the familiar character of _Robin Hood_, would be an insult to my readers. But they may be less acquainted with _Gilbert with the White Hand_, one of his brave followers. He is mentioned in the oldest legend of that outlaw; Ritson's _Robin Hood_, p. 52.

Thryes Robin shot about, And alway he slist the wand, And so dyde good _Gylberte With the White Hand_.

_Hay of Nachton_ I take to be the knight, mentioned by Wintown, whose feats of war and travel may have become the subject of a romance, or ballad. He fought, in Flanders, under Alexander, Earl of Mar, in 1408, and is thus described;

Lord of the Nachtane, schire William, Ane honest knycht, and of gud fame, A travalit knycht lang before than.

And again, before an engagement,

The lord of Nachtane, schire William The Hay, a knycht than of gud fame, Mad schire Gilberte the Hay, knycht.

_Cronykil_, B. IX. c. 27.

I apprehend we should read "How Hay of Nachton _slew_ in Madin Land."

Perhaps Madin is a corruption for Maylin, or Milan Land.]

The descendant of Auld Maitland, Sir Richard of Lethington, seems to have been frequently complimented on the popular renown of his great ancestor. We have already seen one instance; and in an elegant copy of verses in the Maitland MSS., in praise of Sir Richard's seat of Lethingtoun, which he had built, or greatly improved, this obvious topic of flattery does not escape the poet. From the terms of his panegyric we learn, that the exploits of auld Sir Richard with the gray beard, and of his three sons, were "sung in many far countrie, albeit in rural rhyme;" from which we may infer, that they were narrated rather in the shape of a popular ballad, than in a _romance of price_. If this be the case, the song, now published, may have undergone little variation since the date of the Maitland MSS.; for, divesting the poem, in praise of Lethington, of its antique spelling, it would run as smoothly, and appear as modern, as any verse in the following ballad. The lines alluded to, are addressed to the castle of Lethington:

And happie art thou sic a place, That few thy mak ar sene: But yit mair happie far that race To quhome thou dois pertene.

Quha dais not knaw the Maitland bluid, The best in all this land?

In quhilk sumtyme the honour stuid And worship of Scotland.

Of auld Sir Richard, of that name, We have hard sing and say; Of his triumphant n.o.bill fame, And of his auld baird gray.

And of his n.o.bill sonnis three, Quhilk that tyme had no maik; Quhilk maid Scotland renounit be, And all England to quaik.

Quhais luifing praysis, maid trewlie, Efter that simple tyme, Ar sung in monie far countrie, Albeit in rural rhyme.

And, gif I dar the treuth declair, And nane me fleitschour call, I can to him find a compair, And till his barnis all.

It is a curious circ.u.mstance, that this interesting tale, so often referred to by ancient authors, should be now recovered in so perfect a state; and many readers may be pleased to see the following sensible observations, made by a person, born in Ettrick Forest, in the humble situation of a shepherd. "I am surprised to hear, that this song is suspected by some to be a modern forgery; the contrary will be best proved, by most of the old people, hereabouts, having a great part of it by heart. Many, indeed, are not aware of the manners of this country; till this present age, the poor illiterate people, in these glens, knew of no other entertainment, in the long winter nights, than repeating, and listening to, the feats of their ancestors, recorded in songs, which I believe to be handed down, from father to son, for many generations; although, no doubt, had a copy been taken, at the end of every fifty years, there must have been some difference, occasioned by the gradual change of language. I believe it is thus that many very ancient songs have been gradually modernised, to the common ear; while, to the connoisseur, they present marks of their genuine antiquity."--_Letter to the Editor from Mr. James Hogg_. To the observations of my ingenious correspondent I have nothing to add, but that, in this, and a thousand other instances, they accurately coincide with my personal knowledge.

AULD MAITLAND.

There lived a king in southern land, King Edward hight his name; Unwordily he wore the crown, Till fifty years were gane.

He had a sister's son o's ain, Was large of blood and bane; And afterward, when he came up, Young Edward hight his name.

One day he came before the king, And kneel'd low on his knee-- "A boon, a boon, my good uncle, "I crave to ask of thee!

"At our lang wars, in fair Scotland, "I fain hae wished to be; "If fifteen hundred waled[90] wight men "You'll grant to ride wi' me."

"Thou sail hae thae, thou sail hae mae; "I say it sickerlie; "And I mysell, an auld gray man, "Array'd your host sall see."

King Edward rade, King Edward ran-- I wish him dool and pyne!

Till he had fifteen hundred men a.s.sembled on the Tyne.

And thrice as many at Berwicke[91]

Were all for battle bound, _Who, marching forth with false Dunbar, A ready welcome found_.

They lighted on the banks of Tweed, And blew their coals sae het, And fired the Merse and Teviotdale, All in an evening late.

As they fared up o'er Lammermore, They burned baith up and down, Until they came to a darksome house; Some call it Leader-Town.