Transcriber's Notes
Archaic, dialect and inconsistent spellings have been retained as in the original. Other than minor changes to format or punctuation, any changes to the text have been listed at the end of the book.
ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH BALLADS.
EDITED BY
FRANCIS JAMES CHILD.
VOLUME III.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY.
M.DCCC.LX.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857 by Little, Brown and Company, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H.O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THIRD.
BOOK III.
CONTINUED.
EARL RICHARD.
A fragment of this gloomy and impressive romance, (corresponding to v. 21-42,) was published in Herd's Scottish Songs, i. 184, from which, probably, it was copied into Pinkerton's Scottish Tragic Ballads, p. 84. The entire ballad was first printed in The Border Minstrelsy, together with another piece, Lord William, containing a part of the same incidents. Of the five versions which have appeared, four are given in this place, and the remaining one in the Appendix. In the Gentleman's Magazine, 1794, Vol. 64, Part I. p. 553, there is a modern ballad of extremely perverted orthography and vicious style, (meant for ancient,) in which the twenty lines of Herd's fragment are interwoven with an altogether different story. It is printed as authentic in Scarce "Ancient" Ballads,
"There are two ballads in Mr. Herd's MSS. upon the following story, in one of which the unfortunate knight is termed Young Huntin'. [See Appendix.] The best verses are selected from both copies, and some trivial alterations have been adopted from tradition." Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, iii. 184.
One hour langer for me;
For I have a sweetheart in Garlioch Wells,
I love far better than thee.
Than thy face is far mair white:"
"But, nevertheless, now, Erl Richard,
Ye will bide in my bower a' night?"
As they sat down to sup:10
A living man he laid him down,
But I wot he ne'er rose up.
That flew aboun her head;
"Lady! keep weel your green cleiding15
Frae gude Erl Richard's bleid."—
Frae gude Erl Richard's bleid,
Than thou canst keep thy clattering toung,
That trattles in thy head."20
She has call'd them ane by ane;
"There lies a dead man in my bour:
I wish that he were gane!"
As he was wont to ride;—
A hunting-horn tied round his waist,
A sharpe sword by his side;
And they hae had him to the wan water,
For a' men call it Clyde.30
That sat upon the tree—
"What hae ye done wi' Erl Richard?
Ye were his gay ladye."—
And sit upon my hand;
And thou sall hae a cage o' gowd,
Where thou hast but the wand."—
Nae cage o' gowd for me;40
As ye hae done to Erl Richard,
Sae wad ye do to me."
A rigg but barely ane,
When she met wi' his auld father,45
Came riding all alane.
Where hae ye been sae late?
We hae been seeking Erl Richard,
But him we canna get."—50
He'll ride them ane by ane;
And though the night was ne'er sae mirk,
Erl Richard will be hame."
The King was boun to ride;
And he has mist him, Erl Richard,
Should hae ridden on his right side.
Wi' mickle mournfu' din—60
"It fears me sair o' Clyde water,
That he is drown'd therein."—
"Gar douk for gold and fee;
O wha will douk for Erl Richard's sake,65
Or wha will douk for me?"
And out aye at the other;
"We can douk nae mair for Erl Richard,
Although he were our brother."70
The King was boun to bed;
And up and spake the popinjay,
That flew abune his head.
And douk upon the night;
And where that sackless knight lies slain,
The candles will burn bright."—
That sings baith sad and sweet;80
O there's a bird within your bower,
Keeps me frae my night's sleep."
And douk'd upon the night;
And where that sackless knight lay slain,85
The candles burned bright.
They fand Erl Richard in;
A green turf tyed across his breast,
To keep that gude lord down.90
When he saw the deadly wound—
"O wha has slain my right-hand man,
That held my hawk and hound?"—
Says—"What needs a' this din?
It was his light leman took his life,
And hided him in the linn."
Sae did she by the corn,100
She hadna seen him, Erl Richard,
Since Moninday at morn.
"It was my may Catherine:"
Then they hae cut baith fern and thorn,105
To burn that maiden in.
Nor yet upon her chin;
Nor yet upon her yellow hair,
To cleanse the deadly sin.110
A drap it never bled;
The ladye laid her hand on him,
And soon the ground was red.
And put her mistress in;
The flame tuik fast upon her cheik,
Tuik fast upon her chin;
Tuik fast upon her faire body—
She burn'd like hollin-green.120
30. Clyde, in Celtic, means white.—Lockhart.
86. These are unquestionably the corpse-lights, called in Wales Canhwyllan Cyrph, which are sometimes seen to illuminate the spot where a dead body is concealed. The Editor is informed, that, some years ago, the corpse of a man, drowned in the Ettrick, below Selkirk, was discovered by means of these candles. Such lights are common in churchyards, and are probably of a phosphoric nature. But rustic superstition derives them from supernatural agency, and supposes, that, as soon as life has departed, a pale flame appears at the window of the house, in which the person had died, and glides towards the churchyard, tracing through every winding the route of the future funeral, and pausing where the bier is to rest. This and other opinions, relating to the "tomb-fires' livid gleam," seem to be of Runic extraction. Scott.
87. The deep holes, scooped in the rock by the eddies of a river, are called pots; the motion of the water having there some resemblance to a boiling caldron. Linn, means the pool beneath a cataract. Scott.
120. The lines immediately preceding, "The maiden touched," &c., and which are restored from tradition, refer to a superstition formerly received in most parts of Europe, and even resorted to by judicial authority, for the discovery of murder. In Germany, this experiment was called bahrrecht, or the law of the bier; because, the murdered body being stretched upon a bier, the suspected person was obliged to put one hand upon the wound and the other upon the mouth of the deceased, and, in that posture, call upon heaven to attest his innocence. If, during this ceremony, the blood gushed from the mouth, nose, or wound, a circumstance not unlikely to happen in the course of shifting or stirring the body, it was held sufficient evidence of the guilt of the party. Scott.
EARL RICHARD.
Obtained from recitation by Motherwell, and printed in his Minstrelsy, p. 218.
As fast as he could ride;
His hunting-horn hung about his neck,
And a small sword by his side.
He tirled at the pin;
And wha was sae ready as the lady hersell
To open and let him in?
"O light and stay a' night;10
You shall have cheer wi' charcoal clear,
And candles burning bright."
I cannot light at all;
A fairer lady than ten of thee15
Is waiting at Richard's-wall."
To kiss her rosy cheek;
She had a penknife in her hand,
And wounded him so deep.20
"O lie ye there till morn;
A fairer lady than ten of me
Will think lang of your coming home."
She called them twa by twa:
"I have got a dead man in my bower,
I wish he were awa."
And the other by the feet;30
And they've thrown him in a deep draw well,
Full fifty fathoms deep.
That sat upon a tree:
"Gae hame, gae hame, ye fause lady,35
And pay your maids their fee."
That sits upon the tree;
I have a cage of beaten gold,
I'll gie it unto thee."40
And pay your maids their fee;
As ye have done to Earl Richard,
Sae wud ye do to me."
And a bow bent on a string;
I'd shoot a dart at thy proud heart,
Among the leaves sae green."