Tradition has confused the heroine of this piece with the wife of Bothwelhaugh,who slew the Regent Murray.That his motive was not mere political assassination,but to avenge the ill-treatment and death of his wife,seems to be disproved by Maidment.The affair,however,is still obscure.This deserted Lady Anne of the ballad was,in fact,not the wife of Bothwelhaugh,but the daughter of the Bishop of Orkney;her lover is said to have been her cousin,Alexander Erskine,son of the Earl of Mar.Part of the poem (Mr.
Child points out)occurs in Broome's play,THE NORTHERN LASS(1632).Though a popular favourite,the piece is clearly of literary origin,and has been severely "edited"by a literary hand.
This version is Allan Ramsay's.
JOCK O'THE SIDE
A Liddesdale chant.Jock flourished about 1550-1570,and is commemorated as a receiver by Sir Richard Maitland in a poem often quoted.The analogies of this ballad with that of "Kinmont Willie"
are very close.The reference to a punch-bowl sounds modern,and the tale is much less plausible than that of "Kinmont Willie,"
which,however,bears a few obvious marks of Sir Walter's own hand.
A sceptical editor must choose between two theories:either Scott of Satchells founded his account of the affair of "Kinmont Willie"
on a pre-existing ballad of that name,or the ballad printed by Scott is based on the prose narrative of Scott of Satchells.The former hypothesis,everything considered,is the more probable.
LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET
Published in Percy's RELIQUES,from a Scotch manu,"with some corrections."The situation,with various differences in detail and conclusion,is popular in Norse and Romaic ballads,and also in many MARCHEN of the type of THE BLACK BULL OF NORRAWAY.
FAIR ANNIE
From THE BORDER MINSTRELSY.There are Danish,Swedish,Dutch,and German versions,and the theme enters artistic poetry as early as Marie de France (LE LAI DEL FREISNE).In Scotch the Earl of Wemyss is a recent importation:the earldom dates from 1633.Of course this process of attaching a legend or MARCHEN to a well-known name,or place,is one of the most common in mythological evolution,and by itself invalidates the theory which would explain myths by a philological analysis of the proper names in the tale.These may not be,and probably are not,the original names.
THE DOWNIE DENS OF YARROW
From THE BORDER MINSTRELSY.Scott thought that the hero was Walter Scott,third son of Thirlestane,slain by Scott of Tushielaw.The "monument"(a standing stone near Yarrow)is really of a very early,rather Post-Roman date,and refers to no feud of Thirlestane,Oakwood,Kirkhope,or Tushielaw.The stone is not far from Yarrow Krik,near a place called Warrior's Rest.Hamilton of Bangour's version is beautiful and well known.Quite recently a very early interment of a corpse,in the curved position,was discovered not far from the standing stone with the inion.
Ballad,stone,and interment may all be distinct and separate.
SIR ROLAND
From Motherwell's MINSTRELSY.The authenticity of the ballad is dubious,but,if a forgery,it is a very skilled one for the early nineteenth century.Poets like Mr.Swinburne,Mr.Rossetti,and Mrs.Marriot Watson have imitated the genuine popular ballad,but never so closely as the author of "Sir Roland."
ROSE THE RED AND WHITE LILY
From the Jamieson-Brown MS.,originally written out by Mrs.Brown in 1783:Sir Waiter made changes in THE BORDER MINSTRELSY.The ballad is clearly a composite affair.Robert Chambers regarded Mrs.Brown as the Mrs.Harris of ballad lore,but Mr.Norval Clyne's reply was absolutely crushing and satisfactory.
THE BATTLE OF HARLAW
Fought on July 24,1411.This fight broke the Highland force in Scotland.The first version is,of course,literary,perhaps a composition of 1550,or even earlier.The second version is traditional,and was procured by Aytoun from Lady John Scott,herself the author of some beautiful songs.But the best ballad on the Red Harlaw is that placed by Scott in the mouth of Elspeth,in THE ANTIQUARY.This,indeed,is beyond all rivalry the most splendid modern imitation of the ancient popular Muse.
DICKIE MACPHALION
A great favourite of Scott's,who heard it sung at Miss Edgeworth's,during his tour in Ireland (1825).One verse recurs in a Jacobite chant,probably of 1745-1760,but the bibliography of Jacobite songs is especially obscure.
A LYKE-WAKE DIRGE
From the BORDER MINSTRELSY.The ideas are mainly pre-Christian;the Brig o'Dread occurs in Islamite and Iroquois belief,and in almost all mythologies the souls have to cross a River.Music for this dirge is given in Mr.Harold Boulton's and Miss Macleod's SONGS OF THE NORTH.
THE LAIRD OF WARISTOUN
This version was taken down by Sir Walter Scott from his mother's recitation,for Jamieson's book of ballads.Jamieson later quarrelled bitterly with Sir Walter,as letters at Abbotsford prove.A variant is given by Kinloch,and a longer,less poetical,but more historically accurate version is given by Buchan.The House of Waristoun is,or lately was,a melancholy place hanging above a narrow lake,in the northern suburbs of Edinburgh,near the Water of Leith.Kincaid was the name of the Laird;according to Chambers,the more famous lairds of Covenanting times were Johnstons.Kincaid is said to have treated his wife cruelly,wherefore she,or her nurse,engaged one Robert Weir,an old servant of her father (Livingstone of Dunipace),to strangle the unhappy man in his own bedroom (July 2,1600).The lady was beheaded,the nurse was burned,and,later,Weir was also executed.
The line "I wish that ye may sink for sin"
occurs in an earlier ballad on Edinburgh Castle-"And that all for the black dinner Earl Douglas got therein."
MAY COLVEN
