XIII.

LADY ANNE BOTHWELL'S LAMENT.

A SCOTTISH SONG.

The subject of this pathetic ballad the Editor once thought might possibly relate to the Earl of Bothwell, and his desertion of his wife Lady Jean Gordon, to make room for his marriage with the Queen of Scots.

But this opinion he now believes to be groundless; indeed Earl Bothwell's age, who was upwards of 60 at the time of that marriage, renders it unlikely that he should be the object of so warm a passion as this elegy supposes. He has been since informed, that it entirely refers to a private story: A young lady of the name of _Bothwell_, or rather _Boswell_, having been, together with her child, deserted by her husband or lover, composed these affecting lines herself; which here are given from a copy in the Editor's folio MS. corrected by another in Allan Ramsay's _Miscellany_.

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[The young lady alluded to above has since been set aside for the Hon. Anne Bothwell, daughter of Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney. Mr. James Maidment, in his elegant edition of _Scottish Ballads and Songs_ (vol. ii. 1868), writes: "The late Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esquire, whose knowledge of antiquated scandal was extraordinary, found in a MS. history of the family of Bothwell by Father Hay, that Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, had a daughter named 'Anne, who fell with child to a son of the Earl of Marre.'" Anne was the sister of the first Lord Holyroodhouse (created in 1607), and her seducer was Alexander, third son of John, seventh Earl of Mar, a cousin of her own, considered one of the handsomest men of his day. This is all very well for conjecture, but it is nothing more. The ballad does not appear to have been associated with a Bothwell, or in fact with any named person, until more than a century after it was written. In the Folio MS. it is simply called _Balowe_, and Percy therefore might well have hesitated before he gave it the heading he has, and before he Scotticised all the English words. The four earliest versions are in the following books: 1. Richard Brome's Comedy of the _Northern Lass, or the Nest of Fools_, printed in 1632, but acted somewhat earlier; 2. Percy Folio; 3. Pinkerton's MS. (1625-49), in the possession of David Laing; 4. John Gamble's MS., 1649; 5. Elizabeth Rogers' MS., 1658. Mr. Chappell drew up the following very valuable note for the edition of the Percy Folio (vol. iii. p. 518), which puts the matter very clearly:--

"Baloo is a sixteenth-century ballad, not a seventeenth. It is alluded to by several of our early dramatists, and the tune is to be found in an early Elizabethan MS. known as William Ballet's Lute Book, as well as in Morley's _Consort Lessons_, printed in 1599. The words and tune are together in John Gamble's Music Book, a MS. in the possession of Dr. Rimbault, (date 1649,) and in Elizabeth Rogers's Virginal Book, in the library of the British Museum (Addit. MS. 10,337). The last is dated 1658, but the copy may have been taken some few years after. Baloo was so popular a subject that it was printed as a street ballad, with additional stanzas, just as 'My lodging it is on the cold ground' and other popular songs were lengthened for the same purpose. It has been reprinted in that form by Evans, in his _Old Ballads, Historical and Narrative_, edit. 1810, vol. i. p. 259. The title is 'The New Balow; or A Wenches Lamentation for the loss of her Sweetheart: he having left her a babe to play with, being the fruits of her folly.' The particular honour of having been the 'wench' in question was first claimed for 'Lady Anne Bothwell' in Part iii. of _Comic and Serious Scots Poems_, published by Watson in Edinburgh in 1711. Since that date Scotch antiquaries have been very busy in searching into the scandalous history of the Bothwell family, to find out which of the Lady Annes might have been halla-balooing.

"May we not release the whole race from this imputation? The sole authority for the charge is Watson's _Collection_! the same book that ascribes to the unfortunate Montrose the song of 'My dear and only love, take heed,' and tacks it as a second part to his 'My dear and only love, I pray.' Shade of Montrose! how must you be ashamed of your over-zealous advocate! Let us examine whether the spirit of 'Lady Anne Bothwel' has more reason to be grateful. Among the stanzas ascribed to her by Watson are the two following, which are not to be found in any English copy:--

'I take my fate from best to worse That I must needs now be a nurse, And lull my young son in my lap. From me, sweet orphan, take the pap: Balow, my boy, thy mother mild Shall sing, as from all bliss exil'd.'

"In the second we find the inducement supposed to have been offered by Lady Anne's lover:

'I was too credulous at the first To grant thee that a maiden durst, And in thy bravery thou didst vaunt That I no maintenance should want:(!) Thou swear thou lov'd, thy mind is moved, Which since no otherwise has proved.'

"Comment is unnecessary. Can any one believe that such lines were written by or for any lady of rank? Yet they were copied as Lady Anne's by Allan Ramsay, and polished in his usual style. They have been polished and repolished by subsequent editors, but to little avail, for they remain great blots upon a good English ballad. There is not a Scotch word, nor even one peculiar to the North of England, in the whole of Watson's version."

This attempt to dispute the Scottish origin of the ballad is strongly resented by the editor of the _Ballad Minstrelsy of Scotland_, Glasgow, 1871. At all events the fact remains that the title "Lady Anne Bothwell's Balow" cannot be traced farther back than Watson's _Collection_, published in 1711.]

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Balow,[603] my babe, lye still and sleipe! It grieves me sair to see thee weipe: If thoust be silent, Ise be glad, Thy maining[604] maks my heart ful sad. Balow, my boy, thy mothers joy, 5 Thy father breides me great annoy. Balow, my babe, ly stil and sleipe, It grieves me sair to see thee weepe.

Whan he began to court my luve, And with his sugred wordes[605] to muve, 10 His faynings fals, and flattering cheire To me that time did not appeire: But now I see, most cruell hee Cares neither for my babe nor mee. Balow, &c. 15

Lye still, my darling, sleipe a while, And when thou wakest, sweitly smile: But smile not, as thy father did, To cozen maids: nay God forbid! Bot yett I feire, thou wilt gae neire 20 Thy fatheris hart, and face to beire. Balow, &c.

I cannae chuse, but ever will Be luving to thy father still: Whair-eir he gae, whair-eir he ryde, 25 My luve with him doth still abyde: In weil or wae, whair-eir he gae, Mine hart can neire depart him frae. Balow, &c.

Bot doe not, doe not, prettie mine, 30 To faynings fals thine hart incline: Be loyal to thy luver trew, And nevir change hir for a new: If gude or faire, of hir have care, For womens banning's[606] wonderous sair. 35 Balow, &c.

Bairne, sin thy cruel father is gane, Thy winsome smiles maun eise my paine; My babe and I'll together live, He'll comfort me when cares doe grieve: 40 My babe and I right saft will ly, And quite forgeit man's cruelty. Balow, &c.

Fareweil, fareweil, thou falsest youth, That evir kist a womans mouth! 45 I wish all maides be warnd by mee Nevir to trust mans curtesy; For if we doe bot chance to bow, They'le use us then they care not how. Balow, my babe, ly stil, and sleipe, 50 It grives me sair to see thee weipe.

FOOTNOTES:

[603] [hush.]

[604] [moaning.]

[605] When _sugar_ was first imported into Europe, it was a very great dainty; and therefore the epithet _sugred_ is used by all our old writers metaphorically to express extreme and delicate sweetness. (See above, No. XI. v. 10.) _Sugar_ at present is cheap and common; and therefore suggests now a coarse and vulgar idea.

[606] [cursing.]