Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume I Part 9

He hadna' gane a step, a step, A step, but barely ane, When a bout flew out of our goodly ship, And the salt sea it came in.

"Gae, fetch a web o' the silken claith, "Another o' the twine, "And wap them into our ship's side, "And let na the sea come in."

They fetched a web o' the silken claith, Another of the twine, And they wapped them round that gude ship's side, But still the sea came in.

O laith, laith, were our gude Scots lords To weet their cork-heel'd shoon!

But lang or a' the play was play'd, They wat their hats aboon.

And mony was the feather-bed, That flattered[82] on the faem; And mony was the gude lord's son, That never mair cam hame.

The ladyes wrang their fingers white, The maidens tore their hair, A' for the sake of their true loves; For them they'll see na mair.

O lang, lang, may the ladyes sit, Wi' their fans into their hand, Before they see Sir Patrick Spens Come sailing to the strand!

And lang, lang, may the maidens sit, Wi' their goud kaims in their hair, A' waiting for their ain dear loves!

For them they'll see na mair.

O forty miles off Aberdeen, 'Tis fifty fathom deep, And there lies gude Sir Patrick Spens, Wi' the Scots lords at his feet.

[Footnote 77: In singing, the interjection, O, is added to the second and fourth lines.]

[Footnote 78: _Skeely skipper_--Skilful mariner.]

[Footnote 79: _Gane_--Suffice.]

[Footnote 80: _Half-fou_--the eighth part of a peck.]

[Footnote 81: _Lap_--Sprang.]

[Footnote 82: _Flattered_--Fluttered, or rather floated, on the foam.]

NOTES ON SIR PATRICK SPENS.

_To send us out at this time of the year_, _To sail upon the sea_?--P. 8, v. 3.

By a Scottish act of parliament, it was enacted, that no ship should be fraughted out of the kingdom, with any staple goods, betwixt the feast of St. Simon's day and Jude and Candelmas.--_James III.

Parliament 2d, chap._ 15. Such was the terror entertained for navigating the north seas in winter.

_When a bout flew out of our goodly ship_.--P. 10. v. 5.

I believe a modern seaman would say, a plank had started, which must have been a frequent incident during the infancy of ship-building. The remedy applied seems to be that mentioned in _Cook's Voyages_, when, upon some occasion, to stop a leak, which could not be got at in the inside, a quilted sail was brought under the vessel, which, being drawn into the leak by the suction, prevented the entry of more water.

Chaucer says,

"There n'is no new guise that it na'as old."

_O forty miles off Aberdeen_,--P. 11. v. 3.

This concluding verse differs in the three copies of the ballad, which I have collated. The printed edition bears,

"Have owre, have owre to Aberdour;"

And one of the MSS. reads,

"At the back of auld St. Johnstowne d.y.k.es."

But, in a voyage from Norway, a shipwreck on the north coast seems as probable as either in the Firth of Forth, or Tay; and the ballad states the disaster to have taken place out of sight of land.

AULD MAITLAND.

NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.

This ballad, notwithstanding its present appearance, has a claim to very high antiquity. It has been preserved by tradition; and is, perhaps, the most authentic instance of a long and very old poem, exclusively thus preserved. It is only known to a few old people, upon the sequestered banks of the Ettrick; and is published, as written down from the recitation of the mother of Mr. James Hogg[83], who sings, or rather chaunts it, with great animation. She learned the ballad from a blind man, who died at the advanced age of ninety, and is said to have been possessed of much traditionary knowledge.

Although the language of this poem is much modernised, yet many words, which the reciters have retained, without understanding them, still preserve traces of its antiquity. Such are the words _Springals_ (corruptly p.r.o.nounced _Springwalls_), _sowies_, _portcullize_, and many other appropriate terms of war and chivalry, which could never have been introduced by a modern ballad-maker. The incidents are striking and well-managed; and they are in strict conformity with the manners of the age, in which they are placed. The editor has, therefore, been induced to ill.u.s.trate them, at considerable length, by parallel pa.s.sages from Froissard, and other historians of the period to which the events refer.

[Footnote 83: This old woman is still alive, and at present resides at Craig of Douglas, in Selkirkshire.]

The date of the ballad cannot be ascertained with any degree of accuracy. Sir Richard Maitland, the hero of the poem, seems to have been in possession of his estate about 1250; so that, as he survived the commencement of the wars betwixt England and Scotland, in 1296, his prowess against the English, in defence of his castle of Lauder, or Thirlestane, must have been exerted during his extreme old age. He seems to have been distinguished for devotion, as well as valour; for, A.D. 1249, Dominus Ricardus de Mautlant gave to the abbey of Dryburgh, "_Terras suas de Haubentside, in territorio suo de Thirlestane, pro salute animae suae, et sponsae suae, antecessorum suorum et successorum suorum, in perpetuum_[84]." He also gave, to the same convent, "_Omnes terras, quas Walterus de Giling tenuit in feodo suo de Thirlestane, et pastura incommuni de Thirlestane, ad quadraginta oves, s.e.xaginta vaccas, et ad viginti equos_."--Cartulary of Dryburgh Abbey, in the Advocates' Library.

[Footnote 84: There exists also an indenture, or bond, entered into by Patrick, abbot of Kelsau, and his convent, referring to an engagement betwixt them and Sir Richard Maitland, and Sir William, his eldest son, concerning the lands of Hedderwicke, and the pasturages of Thirlestane and Blythe. This Patrick was abbot of Kelso, betwixt 1258 and 1260.]

From the following ballad, and from the family traditions referred to in the Maitland MSS., Auld Maitland appears to have had three sons; but we learn, from the latter authority, that only one survived him, who was thence surnamed _Burd alane_, which signifies either _unequalled_, or _solitary_. A _Consolation_, addressed to Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, a poet and scholar who flourished about the middle of the sixteenth century, and who gives name to the Maitland MSS., draws the following parallel betwixt his domestic misfortunes and those of the first Sir Richard, his great ancestor:

Sic destanie and derfe devoring deid Oft his own hous in hazard put of auld; Bot your forbeiris, frovard fortounes steid And bitter blastes, ay buir with breistis bauld; Luit wanweirdis work and walter ay they wald, Thair hardie hairtis hawtie and heroik, For fortounes feid or force wald never fauld; Bot stormis withstand with stomak stoat and stoik.

Renowned Richert of your race record, Quhais prais and prowis cannot be exprest; Mair l.u.s.tie lynyage nevir haid ane lord, For he begat the bauldest bairnis and best, Maist manful men, and madinis maist modest, That ever wes syn Pyramus tym of Troy, But piteouslie thai peirles perles apest.

Bereft him all hot Buird-allane, a boy.

Himselfe was aiget, his hous hang be a har, Duill and distres almaist to deid him draife; Yet Burd-allane, his only son and air, As wretched, vyiss, and valient, as the laive, His hous uphail'd, quhilk ye with honor haive.

So nature that the lyk invyand name, [85]In kindlie cair dois kindly courage craif, To follow him in fortoune and in fame.

Richerd he wes, Richerd ye are also, And Maitland als, and magnanime as he; In als great age, als wrappit are in wo, Sewin sons[86] ye haid might contravaill his thrie, Bot Burd-allane ye haive behind as he: The lord his linage so inlarge in lyne, And mony hundreith nepotis grie and grie[87]

Sen Richert wes as hundreth yeiris are hyne.

_An Consolator Ballad to the Richt Honorabill Sir Richert Maitland of Lethingtoune.--Maitland MSS. in Library of Edinburgh University_.

[Footnote 85: _i.e._ Similar family distress demands the same family courage.]