Part 10
6. She's ta'en her by the lilly hand, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ And led her down to the river-strand, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
7. The youngest stude upon a stane, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ The eldest came and pushed her in, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
8. She took her by the middle sma', _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ And dashed her bonnie back to the jaw, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie/_
9. 'O sister, sister, reach your hand!' _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ 'And ye shall be heir of half my land,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
10. 'O sister, I'll not reach my hand,' _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ 'And I'll be heir of all your land,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
11. 'Shame fa' the hand that I should take,' _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ 'It's twin'd me and my world's make,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
12. 'O sister, reach me but your glove,' _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ 'And sweet William shall be your love,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
13. 'Sink on, nor hope for hand or glove,' _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ 'And sweet William shall better be my love,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
14. 'Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair,' _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ 'Garr'd me gang maiden evermair,' _By the bonnie mill-dams o' Binnorie._
15. Sometimes she sunk, and sometimes she swam, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ Until she came to the miller's dam, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
16. 'O father, father, draw your dam!' _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ 'There's either a mermaid or a milk-white swan,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
17. The miller hasted and drew his dam, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ And there he found a drowned woman, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
18. You could not see her yellow hair, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ For gowd and pearls that were sae rare, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
19. You could na see her middle sma', _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ Her gowden girdle was sae bra', _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
20. An' by there came a harper fine, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ That harped to the king at dine, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
21. When he did look that lady upon, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ He sigh'd and made a heavy moan, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
22. He's ta'en three locks o' her yallow hair, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ And wi' them strung his harp sae fair, _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
23. The first tune he did play and sing, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ Was, 'Farewell to my father the king,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
24. The nextin tune that he play'd syne, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ Was, 'Farewell to my mother the queen,' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
25. The lasten tune that he play'd then, _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ Was, 'Wae to my sister, fair Ellen!' _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._
[Annotations: 8.3: 'jaw,' wave. 11.3: 'my world's make,' my earthly mate.]
YOUNG WATERS
+The Text+ is that of a copy mentioned by Percy, 'printed not long since at Glasgow, in one sheet 8vo. The world was indebted for its publication to the lady Jean Hume, sister to the Earle of Hume, who died lately at Gibraltar.' The original edition, discovered by Mr. Macmath after Professor Child's version (from the _Reliques_) was in print, is:-- 'Young Waters, an Ancient Scottish Poem, never before printed. Glasgow, printed and sold by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1755.' This was also known to Maidment. Hardly a word differs from Percy's version; but here I have substituted the spellings 'wh' for Percy's 'quh,' in 'quhen,' etc., and 'y' for his 'z' in 'zoung, zou,' etc.
+The Story+ has had historical foundations suggested for it by Percy and Chambers. Percy identified Young Waters with the Earl of Murray, murdered, according to the chronicle of Sir James Balfour, on the 7th of February 1592. Chambers, in 1829, relying on Buchan's version of the ballad, had no doubt that Young Waters was one of the Scots nobles executed by James I., and was very probably Walter Stuart, second son of the Duke of Albany. Thirty years later, Chambers was equally certain that the ballad was the composition of Lady Wardlaw.
In a Scandinavian ballad, Folke Lovmandson is a favourite at court; a little wee page makes the fatal remark and excites the king's jealousy. The innocent knight is rolled down a hill in a barrel set with knives--a punishment common in Scandinavian folklore.
YOUNG WATERS
1. About Yule, when the wind blew cule, And the round tables began, A there is cum to our king's court Mony a well-favor'd man.
2. The queen luikt owre the castle-wa', Beheld baith dale and down, And there she saw Young Waters Cum riding to the town.
3. His footmen they did rin before, His horsemen rade behind; Ane mantel of the burning gowd Did keip him frae the wind.
4. Gowden-graith'd his horse before, And siller-shod behind; The horse Young Waters rade upon Was fleeter than the wind.
5. Out then spack a wylie lord, Unto the queen said he: 'O tell me wha 's the fairest face Rides in the company?'
6. 'I've sene lord, and I've sene laird, And knights of high degree, Bot a fairer face than Young Waters Mine eyne did never see.'
7. Out then spack the jealous king, And an angry man was he: 'O if he had bin twice as fair, You micht have excepted me.'
8. 'You're neither laird nor lord,' she says, 'Bot the king that wears the crown; There is not a knight in fair Scotland Bot to thee maun bow down.'
9. For a' that she coud do or say, Appeas'd he wad nae bee, Bot for the words which she had said, Young Waters he maun die.
10. They hae ta'en Young Waters, And put fetters to his feet; They hae ta'en Young Waters, and Thrown him in dungeon deep.
11. 'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, In the wind bot and the weit; Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town Wi' fetters at my feet.
12. 'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, In the wind bot and the rain; Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town Neir to return again.'
13. They hae ta'en to the heiding-hill His young son in his craddle, And they hae ta'en to the heiding-hill His horse bot and his saddle.
14. They hae ta'en to heiding-hill His lady fair to see, And for the words the queen had spoke Young Waters he did die.
[Annotations: 1.2: 'round tables,' an unknown game. 4.1: 'graith'd,' harnessed, usually; here perhaps shod. 6.1: 'laird,' a landholder, below the degree of knight.--+Jamieson+. 13.1: 'heiding-hill': _i.e._ heading (beheading) hill. The place of execution was anciently an artificial hillock.--+Percy+.]
BARBARA ALLAN
+The Text+ is from Allan Ramsay's _Tea-Table Miscellany_ (1763). It was not included in the first edition (1724-1727), nor until the ninth edition in 1740, when to the original three volumes there was added a fourth, in which this ballad appeared. There is also a Scotch version, _Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan_. Percy printed both in the _Reliques_, vol. iii.
+The Story+ of Barbara Allan's scorn of her lover and subsequent regret has always been popular. Pepys records of Mrs. Knipp, 'In perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen' (January 2, 1665-6). Goldsmith's words are equally well known: 'The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt when an old dairymaid sung me into tears with _Johnny Armstrong's Last Goodnight_, or _The Cruelty of Barbara Allen_.' The tune is excessively popular: it is given in Chappell's _English Song and Ballad Music_.
BARBARA ALLAN
1. It was in and about the Martinmas time, When the green leaves were afalling, That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country, Fell in love with Barbara Allan.
2. He sent his men down through the town, To the place where she was dwelling; 'O haste and come to my master dear, Gin ye be Barbara Allan.'
3. O hooly, hooly rose she up, To the place where he was lying, And when she drew the curtain by, 'Young man, I think you're dying.'
4. 'O it's I am sick, and very, very sick, And 't is a' for Barbara Allan.' 'O the better for me ye 's never be, Tho' your heart's blood were aspilling.'
5. 'O dinna ye mind, young man,' said she, 'When ye was in the tavern a drinking, That ye made the healths gae round and round, And slighted Barbara Allan?'
6. He turn'd his face unto the wall, And death was with him dealing; 'Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, And be kind to Barbara Allan.'
7. And slowly, slowly raise she up, And slowly, slowly left him, And sighing, said, she coud not stay, Since death of life had reft him.
8. She had not gane a mile but twa, When she heard the dead-bell ringing, And every jow that the dead-bell geid, It cry'd, 'Woe to Barbara Allan!'
9. 'O mother, mother, make my bed, O make it saft and narrow! Since my love died for me to-day, I'll die for him to-morrow.'
THE GAY GOSHAWK
+The Text+ is from the Jamieson-Brown MS., on which version Scott drew
## partly for his ballad in the _Minstrelsy_. Mrs. Brown recited the ballad
again to William Tytler in 1783, but the result is now lost, with most of the other Tytler-Brown versions.
+The Story.+--One point, the maid's feint of death to escape from her father to her lover, is the subject of a ballad very popular in France; a version entitled _Belle Isambourg_ is printed in a collection called _Airs de Cour_, 1607. Feigning death to escape various threats is a common feature in many European ballads.
It is perhaps needless to remark that no goshawk sings sweetly, much less talks. In Buchan's version (of forty-nine stanzas) the goshawk is exchanged for a parrot.
THE GAY GOSHAWK
1. 'O well's me o' my gay goss-hawk, That he can speak and flee; He'll carry a letter to my love, Bring back another to me.'
2. 'O how can I your true-love ken, Or how can I her know? When frae her mouth I never heard couth, Nor wi' my eyes her saw.'
3. 'O well sal ye my true-love ken, As soon as you her see; For, of a' the flow'rs in fair Englan', The fairest flow'r is she.
4. 'At even at my love's bow'r-door There grows a bowing birk, An' sit ye down and sing thereon As she gangs to the kirk.
5. 'An' four-and-twenty ladies fair Will wash and go to kirk, But well shall ye my true-love ken, For she wears goud on her skirt.
6. 'An' four-and-twenty gay ladies Will to the mass repair, But well sal ye my true-love ken, For she wears goud on her hair.'
7. O even at that lady's bow'r-door There grows a bowin' birk, An' she sat down and sang thereon, As she ged to the kirk.
8. 'O eet and drink, my marys a', The wine flows you among, Till I gang to my shot-window, An' hear yon bonny bird's song.
9. 'Sing on, sing on, my bonny bird, The song ye sang the streen, For I ken by your sweet singin', You 're frae my true-love sen'.'
10. O first he sang a merry song, An' then he sang a grave, An' then he peck'd his feathers gray, To her the letter gave.
11. 'Ha, there's a letter frae your love, He says he sent you three; He canna wait your love langer, But for your sake he'll die.
12. 'He bids you write a letter to him; He says he's sent you five; He canno wait your love langer, Tho' you're the fairest woman alive.'
13. 'Ye bid him bake his bridal bread, And brew his bridal ale, An' I'll meet him in fair Scotlan' Lang, lang or it be stale.'
14. She's doen her to her father dear, Fa'n low down on her knee: 'A boon, a boon, my father dear, I pray you, grant it me.'
15. 'Ask on, ask on, my daughter, An' granted it sal be; Except ae squire in fair Scotlan', An' him you sall never see.'
16. 'The only boon my father dear, That I do crave of the, Is, gin I die in southin lans, In Scotland to bury me.
17. 'An' the firstin kirk that ye come till, Ye gar the bells be rung, An' the nextin kirk that ye come till, Ye gar the mess be sung.
18. 'An' the thirdin kirk that ye come till, You deal gold for my sake, An' the fourthin kirk that ye come till, You tarry there till night.'
19. She is doen her to her bigly bow'r, As fast as she coud fare, An' she has tane a sleepy draught, That she had mix'd wi' care.
20. She's laid her down upon her bed, An' soon she's fa'n asleep, And soon o'er every tender limb Cauld death began to creep.
21. Whan night was flown, an' day was come, Nae ane that did her see But thought she was as surely dead As ony lady coud be.
22. Her father an' her brothers dear Gard make to her a bier; The tae half was o' guid red gold, The tither o' silver clear.
23. Her mither an' her sisters fair Gard work for her a sark; The tae half was o' cambrick fine, The tither o' needle wark.
24. The firstin kirk that they came till, They gard the bells be rung, An' the nextin kirk that they came till, They gard the mess be sung.
25. The thirdin kirk that they came till, They dealt gold for her sake, An' the fourthin kirk that they came till, Lo, there they met her make!
26. 'Lay down, lay down the bigly bier, Lat me the dead look on'; Wi' cherry cheeks and ruby lips She lay an' smil'd on him.
27. 'O ae sheave o' your bread, true-love, An' ae glass o' your wine, For I hae fasted for your sake These fully days is nine.
28. 'Gang hame, gang hame, my seven bold brothers, Gang hame and sound your horn; An' ye may boast in southin lan's Your sister's play'd you scorn.'
[Annotations: 2.3: 'couth,' word.--+Jamieson+. The derivation, from Anglo-Saxon _cwide_, is hard. 7.3: 'she' is the goshawk; called 'he' in 1.2. 8.3: 'shot-window,' here perhaps a bow-window. 9.2: 'streen' = yestreen, last evening. 19.1: 'bigly,' _lit._ habitable; the stock epithet of 'bower.' 25.4: 'make,' mate, lover. 27.1: 'sheave,' slice.]
BROWN ROBIN
+The Text+ is here given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. Versions, lengthened and therefore less succinct and natural, are given in Christie's _Traditional Ballad Airs_ (_Love Robbie_) and in Buchan's _Ballads of the North of Scotland_ (_Brown Robyn and Mally_).
+The Story+ is a genuine bit of romance. The proud porter is apparently suspicious, believing that the king's daughter would not have made him drunk for any good purpose. In spite of that he cannot see through Brown Robin's disguise, though the king remarks that 'this is a sturdy dame.' The king's daughter, one would think, who conceals Robin's bow in her bosom, must also have been somewhat sturdy. Note the picturesque touch in 8.2.
BROWN ROBIN
1. The king but an' his nobles a' } _bis_ Sat birling at the wine; } He would ha' nane but his ae daughter To wait on them at dine.
2. She's served them butt, she's served them ben, Intill a gown of green, But her e'e was ay on Brown Robin, That stood low under the rain.
3. She's doen her to her bigly bow'r, As fast as she coud gang, An' there she's drawn her shot-window, An' she's harped an' she sang.
4. 'There sits a bird i' my father's garden, An' O but she sings sweet! I hope to live an' see the day When wi' my love I'll meet.'
5. 'O gin that ye like me as well As your tongue tells to me, What hour o' the night, my lady bright, At your bow'r sal I be?'
6. 'Whan my father an' gay Gilbert Are baith set at the wine, O ready, ready I will be To lat my true-love in.'
7. O she has birl'd her father's porter Wi' strong beer an' wi' wine, Untill he was as beastly drunk As ony wild-wood swine: She's stown the keys o' her father's yates An latten her true-love in.
8. When night was gane, an' day was come, An' the sun shone on their feet, Then out it spake him Brown Robin, 'I'll be discover'd yet.'
9. Then out it spake that gay lady: 'My love ye need na doubt, For wi' ae wile I've got you in, Wi' anither I'll bring you out.'
10. She's ta'en her to her father's cellar, As fast as she can fare; She's drawn a cup o' the gude red wine, Hung 't low down by her gare; An' she met wi' her father dear Just coming down the stair.
11. 'I woud na gi' that cup, daughter, That ye hold i' your han', For a' the wines in my cellar, An' gantrees whare the[y] stan'.'
12. 'O wae be to your wine, father, That ever 't came o'er the sea; 'Tis pitten my head in sic a steer I' my bow'r I canna be.'
13. 'Gang out, gang out, my daughter dear, Gang out an' tack the air; Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a' your marys fair.'
14. Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wish'd him shame-- 'We'll send the marys to the wood, But we'll keep our lady at hame.'
15. 'There's thirty marys i' my bow'r, There's thirty o' them an' three; But there 's nae ane amo' them a' Kens what flow'r gains for me.'
16. She's doen her to her bigly bow'r As fast as she could gang, An' she has dresst him Brown Robin Like ony bow'r-woman.
17. The gown she pat upon her love Was o' the dainty green, His hose was o' the saft, saft silk, His shoon o' the cordwain fine.
18. She's pitten his bow in her bosom, His arrow in her sleeve, His sturdy bran' her body next, Because he was her love.
19. Then she is unto her bow'r-door As fast as she coud gang; But out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wish'd him shame-- 'We'll count our marys to the wood, And we'll count them back again.'
20. The firsten mary she sent out Was Brown Robin by name; Then out it spake the king himsel', 'This is a sturdy dame.'
21. O she went out in a May morning, In a May morning so gay, But she never came back again, Her auld father to see.
[Annotations: 1.2: 'birling,' drinking: cf. 7.1. 3.1: 'bigly,' commodious: see _The Gay Goshawk_, 19.1. 3.3: 'shot-window,' here perhaps a shutter with a pane of glass let in. 7.1: 'birl'd,' plied: cf. 1.2. 7.4: Cf. _Fause Footrage_ 16.4: a popular simile. 7.5: 'stown,' stolen: 'yates,' gates. 10.4: 'gare,' gore; _i.e._ by her knee: a stock ballad phrase. 11.4: 'gantrees,' stands for casks. 12.3: 'sic,' such: the MS. gives _sick_: 'steer,' disturbance. 13.4: 'marys,' maids. 15.4: 'gains for,' suits, is meet (Icelandic, _gegna_). Cf. Jamieson's version of _Sir Patrick Spence_:-- 'For I brought as much white money As will gain my men and me.' 17.4: 'cordwain,' Cordovan (Spanish) leather. 21.2: 'gay': the MS. gives _gray_. This is Child's emendation, who points out that the sun was up, 8.2.]
LADY ALICE
+The Text+ of this little ballad is given from Bell's _Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England_.
It should be compared with _Lord Lovel_.
LADY ALICE
1. Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window, At midnight mending her quoif, And there she saw as fine a corpse As ever she saw in her life.
2. 'What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? What bear ye on your shoulders?' 'We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, An old and true lover of yours.'
3. 'O lay him down gently, ye six men tall, All on the grass so green, And to-morrow, when the sun goes down, Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen.
4. 'And bury me in Saint Mary's church, All for my love so true, And make me a garland of marjoram, And of lemon-thyme, and rue.'
5. Giles Collins was buried all in the east, Lady Alice all in the west, And the roses that grew on Giles Collins's grave, They reached Lady Alice's breast.
6. The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, And he severed those roses in twain; Sure never were seen such true lovers before, Nor e'er will there be again.
[Annotations: 1.2: 'quoif,' cap. The line should doubtless be:-- 'Mending her midnight quoif.']
CHILD MAURICE
+The Text+ is from the Percy Folio, given _literatim_, with two rearrangements of the lines (in stt. 4 and 22) and a few obvious corrections, as suggested by Hales, and Furnivall, and Child. The Folio version was printed by Jamieson in his _Popular Ballads and Songs_.
The Scotch version, _Gil Morrice_, was printed by Percy in the _Reliques_ in preference to the version of his Folio. He notes that the ballad 'has lately run through two editions in Scotland: the second was printed at Glasgow in 1755.' Thanks to an advertisement prefixed to these Scottish editions, sixteen additional verses were obtained and added by Percy, who thought that they were 'perhaps after all only an ingenious interpolation.' _Gil Morrice_ introduces 'Lord Barnard' in place of 'John Steward,' adopted, perhaps, from _Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard_. Motherwell's versions were variously called _Child Noryce_, _Bob Norice_, _Gill Morice_, _Chield Morice_. Certainly the Folio ballad is unsurpassed for its vigorous, objective style, and forcible, vivid pictures.
+The Story+ of this ballad gave rise to Home's _Douglas_, a tragedy, produced in the Concert Hall, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1756 (on which occasion the heroine's name was given as 'Lady Barnard'), and transferred to Covent Garden Theatre, in London, in 1757, the heroine's name being altered to 'Lady Randolph.'
Perhaps in the same year in which the play was produced in London, the poet Gray wrote from Cambridge:-- 'I have got the old Scotch ballad on which _Douglas_ was founded; it is divine, and as long as from hence to Aston. Aristotle's best rules are observed in it in a manner which shows the author never had heard of Aristotle. It begins in the fifth act of the play. You may read it two-thirds through without guessing what it is about; and yet, when you come to the end, it is impossible not to understand the whole story.'
CHILD MAURICE
1. Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood, He hunted itt round about, And noebodye that he ffound therin, Nor none there was with-out.
2. ... ... ... ... ... ... And he tooke his siluer combe in his hand, To kembe his yellow lockes.
3. He sayes, 'Come hither, thou litle ffoot-page, That runneth lowlye by my knee, Ffor thou shalt goe to Iohn Stewards wiffe And pray her speake with mee.
4. ... ... ... ... ... ... I, and greete thou doe that ladye well, Euer soe well ffroe mee.
5. 'And, as itt ffalls, as many times As knotts beene knitt on a kell, Or marchant men gone to leeue London Either to buy ware or sell;