i= r 1 I II s i "It r-n ^C ^ASVWIB^ ^AHVHQI .^E-UNIVERS/A svlOS-ANC .^v C^ O ^ ^-v 3Q "T^ ^MOKVSOl^ "%a3AINH ^EUNIVERS/A vvlOS-ANC i)- I 3 o. I I i I 3 ^LIBRARYQ^ ^ ^OJIIVD-JO^ ^toojiivj-jo^ ^OF-CAUFOfy^ ^OFCAllFOfy^ o oc I > SCOTTISH TRAGIC BALLADS. LONDON, PRINTED BY AND FOR J. NICHOLS. MDCCLXXXI. TG5 \ JHARDYKNUTE, AN HEROIC BALLAD, NOW FIRST PUBLISHED COMPLETE; ^ WITH THE OTHER MORE APPROVED \V^ SCOTTISH BALLADS, AND SOME NOT HITHERTO MADE PUBLIC, 5 IN THE TRAGIC STILE. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED TWO DISSERTATIONS, I. ON THE ORAL TRADITION OF POETRY. II. ON THE TRAGIC BALLAD. JAMQJUE SACRWM TENERIS VATEM VENKRETUR AB ANNIS. a 2 CONTENTS. DISSERTATION I. Page he DISSERTATION II. xxviii I. Hardyknute^ Part I. t Part II. 16 3. Child Maurice, 35 3. Adam o Gordon. 45 4. &'r Hugh) or the Jew's Daughter* o 5. Fkdden Field) or the Flovxrt tftbf Forejt. $ 6. Edward. 54 7. &V Patrick Spenci. . 57 8. I*fc#> BotbwelFs Lament. 59 9. .EW o/" Murray. 60 1 0. &> James the Rofe. 6 1 1 1 . Laird of Woodljoufelie. 6$ 12. Lord Livingfton. 69 a 3 13. Bitmorit. n CONTENTS. i j, Binnorie, 1 4. Death of Menlelth. 7 .5 15. Lord Airth's Complaint* 1 6. " 7 w/> / iw wifrf Kr/ or difciples of their fages. Pythagoras, who was initiated in their fecret fcience, conveyed in like manner his dictates to his difciples, as appears from the moral verfes which pafs under his name at this day. And though the authenticity of thele may be queftioned, yet that he followed this mode of bequeathing his knowledge to his followers, is proved from the confent of all antiquity *. Nay, before him,. Thales compofed in like manner his Syllem of Natural Philofophy. And even fo late as the time of Ariilotie^ the laws of the Agathyrfi, a nation in Sarmatia, were all delivered in verfe. Not to mention the known law* of the Twelve Tables, which, from the fragments ilill remaining of them, appear to have coniiited of fliort rythmic fentences. From laws and religion, poetry made an eafy progrefe to the celebration of the Gods and Heroes, who were their founders. Verfes in their praife were fung on iblemn occafions by the compofers, or bards themfelves. We meet with many before Homer, who diftinguifhed themfelvcs by fuch productions. Fabricius f has enu- Bierated near feventy whofe names have reached our: times. That immortal author had the advantage of * Jamblichus Sandl Salvator fend filver lorrov; f . I afked him wholly his intent; Good Sir, if your will be, Since that ye bide upon the bent, Some uncouth tidings tell you me t When fhall all thefe wars be gone ? That leil men may live in lee; Or v/hen fhall Fafehude go from home, And Lawtie blow his horn on hie ? I looked from me not a mile, And fa\v twa knights upon a lee, c. I imagine, however, they are all the comr-ofures of one hand ; V>d, if I may ufe a conjecture, were written immediately afier the yifions of Pierce Plowman, every Englifh poem of note in thofe days being foon fucceeded by an imitation in Scotland. * King Ryencc's Challenge, in the Reliques of Ancient Engliih Poetry. y L III. /. 17. f Bannafync's Sccttilh Tosms, p. 6?. III. DISSERTATION I. xxv III. But the greateft affiftance that could be found to the tradition of poetry was derived from the invention of rime ; which is far more ancient than is commonly believed. One of the moil learned men this age has produced *, has flievvn that it is common in Scripture. All the Pfalms confift of riming verfes, and many other paffages which he names. They were ufed among the Greeks fo early as the time of Gorgias the Sicilian, who taught the Athenians this practice. And though the fpirit of the Greek and Latin languages did not always admit of them in poetry, yet they were ufed as occaiional beauties by their moft celebrated writers. Homer, Heliod, and Virgil, have a few, though ap- parently more from chance than defign. The ancient Saturnine verfes were all rimes, as an old commentator -j- informs us. And it is more than probable they were fo conftrucled merely that the memory might the more eafily preferve them, their licence forbidding their being committed to writing. Thofewho would wifh to know more particularly the univerfality of this mode of verfifying among the other- ancient nations, may confult the Huetiana of the moft learned and refpeft- able Bifhop of Avranches j. The Eaflern poetry ccn- fifts altogether, if I miftake not, of riming lines, as may be obferved in the fpecimens of Hafiz their moil * Le Clerc, BibJioth. Univerfelle, torn. IX. f Servius ad Gcorg. II. rer. 386. Scft. 78. illuflriotw xxvi DISSERTATION I. illmtrkms writer, lately publifhed *. It appears, how- ever, that alliteration fupplied the place of rime with the Northern nations till within a recent period f . Offian's poetry, I fuppofe, is in ftanzas fomething like our ballad meafure ; though it were to be wiihed the tranflator had favoured us with fome information on this head evidenced by large fpecimens of the original. He indeed acquaints us that " Each vcrfe was fo con- " neled with thofe which preceded, or followed it, *' that if one line had been remembered in a ftanza, it ** was almoft impoffible to forget the reft j :" but this ftands greatly in need of explanation. The common ballad ftanza is fo fimple, that it has been ufed by moft nations as the firft mode of con- Itrufting rimes. The Spanifli romanzes bear a great refemblance in this, as in other refpefts, to theScottilh 'Ballads. In both, every alternate line ends with fimilar vowels, though the confonants are not fo ftri&ly at- tended to. As for inftance, in the former we have lanei) efyada ; mala, palabra ; vega, cueva ; rompan, vol- canos ; for rimes : and in the later, middle , girdle; keep, bleed', Bukigban, tak kim ; &c. The Englifh, even in the ruder pieces of their firft minftrels, feem to have * Jones, Comment. Poefeos A(iatiez>-Richardfon's Specimen of Perfian Poetry. -J- Ol. Worm. Lit. Run. p. 165 & 176. * Diflert. on the Era of Oflian, p. zz8. cd. 1773. paid DISSERTATION I. xxvii paid more attention to the correfpondence of their con- fonants, as may be obferved in the curious Collection publiflied by Dr. Percy. As the fimplicity of this ftanza rendered it eafy to the compoier, and likewife more natural to exprels the paffions, fo it added to the facility of recollection. It's tone is fedate and flow. The rimes occur feldom, and at equal diftances : though when a more violent paffion. is to be painted, by doubling the rimes, they at once cxprefled the mind better, and diverlified the harmony. Of this the reader will obferve many inftances in this collection, as, Here maun I lie, here maun I die: Like beacon bricht at deid of nicht ; Na river heir, niy dame fa deir: &c. and, to give a very folemn movement to the cadence, they fometimes tripled the rime, an inftance of which may be obferved in the firil ftanza of Child Maurice. When all the circumitances here hinted at are confi- dered, we fliall be lefs apt to wonder, that, by the con- currence of mufical air, retentive arts in the compo- pofition, and chiefly of rime, the moft noble produc- tions of former periods have been preferred in the me- mory of a fucceffion of admirers, and have had the good fortune to arrive at our times pure and uncor- rupted. D I S- [ xxv iii ] DISSERTATION II. ON THE TRAGIC BALLAD. THAT fpecies of poetry which we denominate Ballad, is peculiar to a barbarous period. In an advanced ftate of arts, the Comic Ballad aflumes the form of the Song or Sonnet, and the Tragic or Heroic Ballad that of the higher Ode. The caufe of our pleafure in feeing a mournful event reprefented, or hearing it defcribed, has been attempted to be explained by many critics *. It feems to arife from the mingled paffions of Admiration of the art of the author, Curiofity to attend the termination, De- light arifing from a refk&ion on our own fecurity, and the Sympathetic Spirit. * Ariftotle, Scaliger, Dubos, Trapp in his Praeleflions, Hume, Eflay on Tragedy ; but above all Mr, Burke in his Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful. In P I S S E R T A T I O N II. xxix In giving this pleafure, perhaps the Tragic Ballad yields to no effort of human genius. When we perufe a polifhed Tragedy or Ode, we admire the art of the author, and are led to praife the invention ; but when we read an unartful defcription of a melancholy event, our paffions are more intenfely moved. The laboured productions of the informed compofer referable a Greek or Roman temple j when we enter it, we admire th art of the builder. The rude eirufions of the Gothic Mufe are like the monuments of their Architecture. We are filled with a religious reverence, and, forgetting our praife of the contriver, adore the prefent deity. 1 believe no Tragic Ballad of renowned Antiquity has reached our times, if we deny the beautiful and pathetic CARMEN DE ATY in Catullus a title to this clafs; which, as a modern critic of note has obferved*, feems a tranflation from fome Greek Dithyramlic^ > far more ancient than the times of that poet. His tranflation of Sappho's Ode might mew that he took- a delight in the ancient Greek compofitions, from which indeed he feems to have derived in a great meafure his peculiarly delicate vein. * Eflay on the writings and genius of Pope, p. 324. -^d id, f The Ditbyrambitt were Heroic Ssngs, written with the higheft glow of poetic fancy in honour of the ancient deities. Ariftotlc informs us, that; the Greek. Tragedy originated from them; as their Comedy did from their Paftoral Love Songs. But MX DISSERTATION It. But it xvas with the nations in a date of barbarity, that this effufion of the heart flouriflied as in it's pro- per foil; their focicties, rude and irregular, were full of viciffitudes, and every hour fubjed to the inoft dreadful accidents. The Minftrels, who only knew, and were infpired by the prefent manners, caught the tale of mortality, and recorded it for the inftruftion and en- tertainment of others. It pleafed by moving the paf- fions, and, at the fame time, afforded caution to theii auditors to guard againft fimilar mil-adventures. It is amufing to obferve how expreflive the poetry of every country is of its real manners. That of the "Northern nations is ferocious to the higheft degrees Nor need we wonder that thofe, whofe laws obliged them to decide the moll trifling debate with the {word *, delighted in a vein of poetry, which only painted deeds of blood, and objedls horrible to the imagination. The ballad poetry of the Spaniards is tinged with the romantic gallantry of that nation. The hero is all complaifance ; and takes off his helmet in the heat of combat, when he thinks on hrs miftrefs. That of the Englifli is generous and brave. In their mod noble ballad, Percy laments over the death of his * Frotho etiam III. Danorum rex, queraaclmodum Saxo, lib. V. refert, de qualibet controvcrfia ferro decerni fanxit ; fpeclofins vinbus quam verbis, confligcndura cxiftimans. Scbcdius fie dih Ger. Syr.g. II. c. 46. mortal DISSERTATION IT. xxxi mortal foe. That of the Scots is perhaps, like the face of their country, more various than the re It. We find in it the bravery of the Englifh, the gallantry of the Spanifh, and I am afraid in fome inftances the ferocity of the Northern. A late writer* has remarked, that, " the Scottifli *' tunes, whether melancholy or gay; whether amorous, " martial, or paltoral, are in a fryle highly original, ** and moil feelingly expreffive of all the paffions from " the fweeteft to the moft terrible." He proceeds, " Who was it that thew out thofe dreadful wild ex- " preffions of diftra&ion and melancholy in Lady Cul- ** rajs' 's Dream ? an old competition, now r I am afraid " loft, perhaps becaufe it was almoft too terrible for " the ear." This compofition is neither loft, nor is it too terri- ble for the ear. On the contrary, a child might hear it repeated in a winter night without the fmalleft emo- tion. A copy f of it now lyes before me, and as fome * Mifcelhnies by John Armftrong, M. D. vol. II. p. 254. ' f It is intituled, " A Godly Dream compiled by Elizabeth " MelvH, Lady Culrofs younger, at the requeft df ' a friTd." Edinburgh, 1737, nnio. p. 20. It is either reprinted from fome former edition, or from a MS. It was written, I conje&ure, abouc the end of the Sixteenth Century; but in this ed'.tion I fufpeft feve- ral expreffions are modernized and altered to aorommcdate it to the common capacity. curiofity xxxii DISSERTATION II. curiofity may have been raifed by the above remark, I (hall here give an account of it. The dreadful and melancholy of this production are folely of the religious kind, and may have been deeply affecting to the enthu- fiaftic at the period in which it was wrote: It begins thus; Upon a day as I did mourn full fore, For fundry things wherewith my foul was grieved, My grief increafed, and grew more and more, I comfort fled, and could not be relieved ; With heavinefs my heart was fore miichieved, I loathed my life, I could not eat nor drink, I might not fpeak, nor look to none that lived, But mufed alone, and diverfe things did think. This wretched world did fo moleit my mind, I thought upon this falfe and iron age, And how our hearts are fo to vice inclined, That Satan feems moft fearfully to rage, Nothing on earth my forrow could afwage, 1 felt my iin fo ftrongly to increafe ; I grieved the fpirit was wont to be my pledge; Ivly foul was planged into moft deep diftrefs. Her DISSERTATION II. xxxin Her Saviour is then fuppofed to appear in a dream, and lead her through many hair-breadth fcapes into Heaven : Through dreadful dens, which made my heart aghaft, He bare me up when I began to tire j Sometimes we clamb oer cragie mountains high; And fometimes flayed on ugly braes of fand, They were fo ftay that wonder was to fee; But when I feared, he held me by the hand. Through great deferts we wandered on our way.-*- Forward we paft on narrow bridge of tree, Oer waters great which hideoufly did roar, &c. The moft terrible paflage to a fuperftitious ear, is that in which fhe fuppofes herfelf fulpended over the Gulph of Perdition : Ere I was ware, one gripped me at laft, And held me high above a flaming fire. The fire was great, the heat did pierce me fore, My faith grew weak, my grip was very fmall. I trembled faft, my fear grew more and more. My hands did fliake that I held him withall, At length they loofed, then I began to fall, &c. At xxxiv DISSERTATION II. At length fhe arrives in view of the Heavenly man- fions in a ftanza, which, to alter a little her own ex- preffion, * Glitters with tinfel* I looked up unto that cattle fair Glittering with gold ; and fhining filver bright The ftately towers did mount above the air ; They blinded me they caft ib great a light, My heart was glad to fee that joyful fight, My voyage then I thought it not in vain, I him beibught to guide me there aright, With many vows never to tire again. And the whole concludes with an exhortation to a pious life. But what has the Chriftian religion to do with poetry? In the true poetic terrible, I believe, fome paflages in Hardyknute yield to no attempt of a ftrong and dark fancy. The Ballad ftyled Edward may, I fear, be ra- ther adduced as an evidence that this difpleafes, when it rifes to a degree of the horrible, which that lingular piece certainly partakes of. The Pathetic is the other principal walk of the Tragic Mufe : and in this the Scottifh Ballads yield to no compofitions whatever. What can be imagined more moving than the catattrophes of Offian's Dar- thula, the moft pathetic of all poems ? or of Hardyk- 4 imte, DISSERTATION II. xxxv nute, Child Maurice, and indeed moft of the pieces now collected ? Were ever the feelings of a fond mother exprefled in language equal in fimplicity and pathos to that of Lady Bothwell ? This leads me to remark, that the dialed! in which the Scottifh Ballads are written gives them a great advantage in point of touching the paffions. Their language is rough and unpolifhed, and ieems to flow immediately from the heart *. We meet with no concettos or far-fetched thoughts in them. They poflefs the pathetic power in the higheft degree, becaufe they do not affect it ; and are finking, becaufe they do not meditate to ftrike. Moft of the competitions now offered to the publick, have already received approbation. The mutilated Fragment of Hardyknute formerly in print, was ad- mired and celebrated by the yaq critics. As it is now, I am inclined to think, given in it's original perfection, it is certainly the moft noble production in this ftyle that ever appeared in the world. The manners and characters are ftrongly marked, and well preferved. The incidents deeply interefting ; and the cataftrophe new and affecting. I am indebted for moft of the ftanzas, now recovered, to the memory of a lady in Lanarkfhire. Dionyf. Hal. xxxvi DISSERTATION II. A modern lyric poet of the firft clafs* has pro- nounced Child Maurice a Divine Ballad. " Ariftotle's *' beft rules," fays he, " are obferved in it in a man- " ner that fliews the author had never read Ariftotle." Indeed, if any one will perufe Ariftotle's Art of Poetry with Dacier's Elucidations, and afterwards compare their moil approved rules with this limple Ballad, he will find that they are better illuftrated by this rude effort of the Gothic Mufe, than by the moft exquifite Tragedy of ancient or modern times. The CEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, the Athalie of Racine, the Merope of Maffei, and even the very excellent Drama, which feems immediately founded on it, not excepted. There being many delicaie ftrokes in this original, which the plot adopted by that author forbad his making proper ufe of. This does honour at once to the un- knov.-n ccmpofer of this Ballad, and to the firft of cri- tics. In the former the reader will admire a genius, that, probably untracked by erudition, could produce a itory correiponding to the intricate though natural rules of the Greek author. To the latter will be readily confirmed the applauie of an ancient f, that, he was the fecretary of Nature, and his pen was ever dipped in good ienie. * Mr. Qray. See his Letters publifted by Mr. Mafon. Seft. IV. Let. XXV. f Apud Suidam. Thcfe, DISSERTATION II. xxxvii Thefe, and the other monuments of ancient Scottifh Poetry, which have already appeared, are in this edi- tion given much more correct ; and a few are now firft publifhed from tradition. The Editor imagined they poflefTed force fmall beauties, elfe they would not have been added to this Selection. Their feeming antiquity was only regarded as it enhanced their real graces. MDCCLXXVI *. * Thefe DiflVrtations, &c. were written of this date, but flight additions have been made to them from time to t-ime; as the reader will obfcrvc from references to books publifhed fince that period. LA. LA PLUPART DE CES CHARSONJ SONT DE VIEILLES RO- MANCES DOMT LES AIRS NE SONT PAS PIQUANX; MAIS ILS ONT JE NE SAIS QJJ Ol D' ANTIQUE ET DE DOUX QDI TOUCHE A LA LONCUE. ROUSSEAV. II A R- HARDYKNUTE. AN HEROIC BALLAD. PART I. STATELY ftept he eaft the ha, And ftately ftept he weft; Full feventy yeirs he now had fene, With fcerce fevin yeirs of reft. He livit whan Britons breach of faith jg Wrocht Scotland meikle wae, And ay his fword tauld to their coft He was their deidly fae. Hie on a hill his caftle ftude, With halls and touris a hicht, IO ,And gudely chambers fair to fee, Whar he lodgit mony a knicht. His dame fa peirles anes, and fair, For chafte, and bewtie, fene, Na marrow had in a the land, X$ Save Emergard the quene. B Full a SCOTTISH Full thirtein fons to him {he bare, All men of valour flout, In bluidy ficht, with fword in hand, Nyne loft their lives hot doubt; 20 Four yit pemaind; lang mote they live To fland by liege and land : Hie was their fame, hie was their micht, And hie was their command. Greit luve they bare to Fairly fair, *> Their fifter faft and deir, Her girdle fliawd her middle jimp, And gowden glift her hair. What waefou wae her bewtie bred ! Waefou to young and auld, 3 Waefou I trow to kyth and kin, As ftory ever tauld. The King of Norfe, in fummer tide, Puft up with pouir and micht, Landed in fair Scotland the yle, 35 Wi mony a hardie knicht. The tidings to our gude Scots king Came as he fat at dyne With noble chiefs in braive aray, Drinking the bluid red \vyne. 4 To TRAGIC BALLADS. 3 ' To horfe, to horfe, my royal liege ! " Your faes Hand on the ftrand; '* Full twenty thoufand glittering fpeirs " The cheifs of Norfe command. ' Bring me my fteid Mage dapple gray. 1 * 45 Our gude king raife and cryd : A truftier beift in all the land, A Scots king nevir feyd. " Gae, little page, tell Hardyknute, " Wha lives on hill fa hie, 50 *' To draw his fword, the dreid of faes, " And hafte and follow me." The little page flew fwift as dart, Flung by his matter's arm ; * Cum down, cum down, lord Hardyknute, 5 * And red your king frae harm.* Then reid, reid grew his dark -brown cheiks Sae did his dark -brown brow ; His luiks grew kene, as they were wont - In danger grit to do. 60 He has tane a horn as grene as grafs, And gien five founds fa mrill, That tries in grene wode flmke thereat, Sae loud rang ilka hill. His 4 SCOTTISH His fons in manly fport and glie 4* Had paft the fummer's morn ; Yvhan lo ! down in a grafiy dale, They heard their father's horn. ' That horn, quoth they, neir founds in peace, * We have other fport to bide ;' 70 And fune they hied them tip the hill, And fune were at his fide. " Late, late yeftrene, I weind in peace * To end my lengthend lyfe; " My age micht well excufe my arm 75 ' ' Frae manly feats of flryfe : " But now that Norfe does proudly boaft " Fair Scotland to enthral, ** It's neir be faid of Hardyknute, " He feird to fecht or fall. So 11 Robin of Rothfay bend thy bo\r, " Thy arrows mute fa leil, * ' That mony a comely countenance " They've turn'd to deidly pale. ** Braive Thomas take ye but your lance, 85 ** Ye neid na weapons mair; " Gif ye fecht wi't, as ye did anes, " Gainft Weftmoreland's ferce heir. "And TRAGIC BALLADS. 5 And Malcolm, licht of fute as flag ** That rune in forefb wilde,