178. Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (Found at the end of Child's Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-I (H-I from later editions in "Additions and Corrections" sections)
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 178. Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
A. Roud No. 80: Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon (49 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon (Including Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-I with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative: 178. Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
A. Cotton Manuscript Vespasian, A. xxv, No 67, fol. 187, of the last quarter of the 16th century,[1] British Museum; Ritson's Ancient Songs, 1790, p. 137; Böddeker, in Jahrbuch für romanische und englische Sprache und Literatur, XV, 126, 1876 (very incorrectly); Transactions of the New Shakspere Society, 1880-86, Appendix, p. 52†, edited by F.J. Furnivall.
B. Percy Manuscript, p. 34; Hales and Furnivall, I, 79.
C. Percy Papers, from a servant of Rev. Robert Lambe's, 1766.
D. 'Edom of Gordon,' an ancient Scottish Poem. Never before printed. Glasgow, printed and sold by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1755, small 4o, 12 pages. Ritson, Scotish Songs, II, 17.
E. 'Edom o Gordon,' Kinloch Manuscripts, V, 384.
F. The New Statistical Account of Scotland, V, 846, 1845; 'Loudoun Castle,' The Ballads and Songs of Ayrshire, J. Paterson and C. Gray, 1st Series, p. 74, Ayr, 1846.
G. 'The Burning o Loudon Castle,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 543.
[H. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 75, Abbotsford. Communicated to Scott November 6, 1803, by Bruce Campbell, Sornbeg, Galston, Ayrshire, through David Boyle, Advocate, afterwards Lord Justice General of Scotland.
I. From "The Old Lady's Collection," No 28, 'Edom of Achendoon.']
First printed by the Foulises, Glasgow, 1755, after a copy furnished by Sir David Dalrymple, "who gave it as it was preserved in the memory of a lady." This information we derive from Percy, who inserted the Dalrymple ballad in his Reliques, 1765, I, 99, "improved, and enlarged with several fine stanzas recovered from a fragment ... in the Editor's folio Manuscript" Seven stanzas of the enlarged copy were adopted from this Manuscript, with changes; 162,4, 30, 35, 36, are Percy's own; the last three of the Glasgow edition are dropped. Herd's copy, The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 234, is from Percy's Reliques; so is Pinkerton's, Scottish Tragic Ballads, 1781, p. 43, with the omission of the seventh stanza and many alterations. Ritson, Scotish Songs, 1794, II, 17, repeats the Glasgow copy; so the Campbell Manuscripts, I, 155, and Finlay, I, 85. The copy in Buchan's Gleanings, p. 180, is Percy's, with one stanza from Ritson. Of twelve stanzas given in Burton's History of Scotland, V, 70 f., 3-6 are from Percy's Reliques (modified by E, a fragment obtained by Burton), the rest from D.
During the three wretched and bloody years which followed the assassination of the regent Murray, the Catholic Earl of Huntly, George Gordon, was one of the most eminent and active of the partisans of the queen. Mary created him her lieutenant-governor, and his brother, Adam Gordon, a remarkably gallant and able soldier, whether so created or not, is sometimes called the queen's deputy-lieutenant in the north. Our ballad is concerned with a minor incident of the hostilities in Aberdeenshire between the Gordons and the Forbeses, a rival but much less powerful clan, who supported the Reformed faith and the regency or king's party.[2]
"The queen's lieutenant-deputy in the north, called Sir Adam Gordon of Auchindown, knight, was very vigilant in his function; for suppressing of whom the Master of Forbes was directed, with the regent's commission. But the first encounter, which was upon the ninth day of October [1571], Auchindown obtained such victory that he slew of the Forbeses a hundred and twenty persons, and lost very few of his own." This was the battle of Tulliangus, on the northern slope of the hills of Coreen, some thirty miles northwest of Aberdeen. Both parties having been reinforced, an issue was tried again on the twentieth of November at Crabstane, in the vicinity of Aberdeen, where Adam Gordon inflicted a severe defeat on the Forbeses.[3]
"But what glory and renown," says the contemporary History of King James the Sixth, "he [Gordon] obtained of these two victories was all cast down by the infamy of his next attempt; for immediately after this last conflict he directed his soldiers to the castle of Towie, desiring the house to be rendered to him in the queen's name; which was obstinately refused by the lady, and she burst forth with certain injurious words. And the soldiers being impatient, by command of their leader, Captain Ker, fire was put to the house, wherein she and the number of twenty-seven persons were cruelly burnt to the death."
Another account, reported by a contemporary who lived in Edinburgh, is that "Adam Gordon sent Captain Ker to the place of Toway, requiring the lady thereof to render the place of Carrigill to him in the queen's name, which she would noways do; whereof the said Adam having knowledge, moved in ire towards her, caused raise fire thereintill, wherein she, her daughters, and other persons were destroyed, to the number of twenty-seven or thereby."[4] This was in November, 1571.
We have a third report of this outrage from Richard Bannatyne, also a contemporary, a man, it may be observed, bitterly hostile to the queen's party. "Adam of Gordon ... went to the house of Towie, which he burnt and twenty four persons in the same, never one escaping but one woman that came through the corns and hather which was cast to the house-sides, whereby they were smothered. This was done under assurance; for the laird of Towie's wife, being sister to the lady Crawfurd (and also died within the house), sent a boy to the laird in time of the truce (which was for the space of twelve hours) to see on what conditions they should render the house. In the mean time, Adam Gordon's men laid the corns and timbers and bather about the house, and set all on fire."[5]
Buchanan puts the incident which mainly concerns us between the fights of Tulliangus and Crabstone; so does Archbishop Spottiswood. "Not long after" the former, says the archbishop, who was a child of six when the affair occurred, Adam Gordon "sent to summon the house of Tavoy, pertaining to Alexander Forbes. The lady refusing to yield without direction from her husband, he put fire unto it and burnt her therein with children and servants, being twenty-seven persons in all. This inhuman and barbarous cruelty made his name odious, and stained all his former doings; otherwise he was held both active and fortunate in his enterprises."[6]
Buchanan dispatches the burning of the house in a line: Domus Alexandri Forbosii, cum uxore pregnante, liberis et ministris, cremata. Ed. 1582, fol. 248 b.
Towie was a place of no particular importance; judging both by the square keep that remains, which is described as insignificant, and by the number of people that the house contained, it must have been a small place. It is therefore more probable that Captain Ker burnt Towie while executing a general commission to harry the Forbeses than that this house should have been made a special object. But whether this were so or not, it is evident from the terms in which the transaction is spoken of by contemporaries, who were familiarized to a ferocious kind of warfare,[7] that there must have been something quite beyond the common in Captain Ker's proceedings on this occasion, for they are denounced even in those days as infamous, inhuman, and barbarously cruel, and the name of Adam Gordon is said to have been made odious by them.
It is not to be disguised that the language employed by Spottiswood might be so interpreted as to signify that Ker did not act in this dreadful business entirely upon his own responsibility; and the second of the four writers who speak circumstantially of the affair even intimates that Ker applied to his superior for instructions. On the other hand, the author of the History of James the Sixth says distinctly that the house was fired by the command of Ker, whose soldiers were rendered impatient by an obstinate refusal to surrender, accompanied with opprobrious words. The oldest of the ballads, also, which is nearly coeval with the occurrence, speaks only of Captain Car, knows nothing of Adam Gordon. On the other hand, Bannatyne knows nothing, or chooses to say nothing, of Captain Car: Adam Gordon burns the house, and even does this during a truce. It may be said that, even if the act were done without the orders or knowledge of Adam Gordon, he deserves all the ill fame which has fallen to him, for not punishing, or at least discharging, the perpetrator of such an outrage. But this would be applying the standards of the nineteenth century (and its very best standards) to the conduct of the sixteenth. It may be doubted whether there was at that time a man in Scotland, nay, even a man in Europe, who would have turned away a valuable servant because he had cruelly exceeded his instructions.[8]
A favorable construction, where the direct evidence is conflicting, is due to Adam Gordon because of his behavior on two other occasions, one immediately preceding, and the other soon following, the burning of the house of Towie. We are told that he used his victory at Crabstone "very moderately, and suffered no man to be killed after the fury of the fight was past. Alexander Forbes of Strath-gar-neck, author of all these troubles betwixt these two families, was taken at this battle, and as they were going to behead him Auchindown caused stay his execution. He entertained the Master of Forbes and the rest of the prisoners with great kindness and courtesy, he carried the Master of Forbes along with him to Strathbogie, and in end gave him and all the rest leave to depart."[9] And again, after another success in a fight called The Bourd of Brechin, in the ensuing July, he caused all the prisoners to be brought before him, they expecting nothing but death, and said to them: "My friends and brethren, have in remembrance how God has granted to me victory and the upper hand of you, granting me the same vantage ['vand and sching'] to punish you wherewith my late father and brother were punished at the Bank of Fair; and since, of the great slaughter made on the Queen's Grace's true subjects, and most filthily of the hanging of my soldiers here by the Earl of Lennox; and since, by the hanging of ten men in Leith, with other unlawful acts done contrary to the laws of arms; and I doubt not, if I were under their dominion, as you are under mine, that I should die the death most cruelly. Yet notwithstanding, my good brethren and countrymen, be not afraid nor fear not, for at this present ye shall incur no danger of your bodies, but shall be treated as brethren, and I shall do to you after the commandment of God, in doing good for evil, forgetting the cruelty done to the queen and her faithful subjects, and receiving you as her faithful subjects in time coming. Who promised to do the same, and for assurance hereof each found surety. After which the Regent past hastily out of Sterling to Dundee, charging all manner of man to follow him, with twenty days victuals, against the said Adam Gordon. But there would never a man in those parts obey the charge, by reason of the bond made before and of the great gentleness of the said Adam."[10]
After the Pacification of February, 1573, Adam Gordon obtained license to go to France and other parts beyond sea, for certain years, on condition of doing or procuring nothing to the hurt of the realm of Scotland; but for private practices of his, contrary to his promise, in conjunction with Captain Ker and others, he was ordered to return home, 12th May, 1574. His brother, the Earl of Huntly, upon information of these unlawful practices in France, was committed to ward, and when released from ward had to give security to the amount of 20,000. Adam Gordon returned in July, 1575, "at the command of the regent," with twenty gentlemen who had gone to France with him, and was in ward in 1576. He died at St. Johnston in October, 1580, "of a bleeding." As he was of tender age in 1562, he must still have been a young man.[11]
Thomas Ker was a captain "of men of war"; that is, a professional soldier. As such he is mentioned in one of the articles of the Pacification, where it is declared that Captain Thomas Ker, Captain James Bruce, and Captain Gilbert Wauchop, with their respective lieutenants and ensigns, and two other persons, "shall be comprehended in this present pacification, as also all the soldiers who served under their charges, for deeds of hostility and crimes committed dm'ing the present troubles." He was accused of being engaged in practices against the regency, as we have already seen, in 1574. He was released from ward upon caution in February, 1575. 1578, 26th July, he was summoned to appear before the king and council to answer to such things as should be inquired of him. He is mentioned as a burgher of Aberdeen 1588, 1591. 1593, 3d March, he is required to give caution to the amount of 1000 merks that he will not assist the earls of Huntly and Errol. His "counsail and convoy was chiefly usit" in an important matter at Balrinnes in 1594, at which battle he "behavit himself so valiantly" that he was knighted on the field. November 4, 1594, Captain Thomas Ker and James Ker, his brother, are ordered to be denounced as rebels, having failed to appear to answer touching their treasonable assistance to George, sometime Earl of Huntly; and this seems to be the latest notice of him that has been recovered.[12]
In the Genealogy of the family of Forbes drawn up by Matthew Lumsden in 1580, and continued to 1667 by William Forbes, p. 43 f., ed. 1819, we read: "John Forbes of Towie married — Grant, daughter to John Grant of Bandallach, who did bear to him a son who was unmercifullie murdered in the castle of Corgaffe; and after the decease of Bandallach's daughter, the said John Forbes married Margaret Campbell, daughter to Sir John Campbell of Calder, knight, who did bear him three sons, Alex. Forbes of Towie, John Forbes, thereafter of Towie, and William Forbes... The said John Forbes of Towie, after the murder of Margaret Campbell, married Forbes, a daughter to the Reires,"by whom he had a son, who, as also a son of his own, died in Germany. Alexander and William, sons of Margaret Campbell, died without succession, and by the death of an only son of John, junior, the house of Towie became extinct." The rest of the said Margaret Campbell's bairns, with herself, were unmercifullie murdered in the castle of Corgaffe."[13]
According to the Lumsden genealogy, then, Margaret Campbell, with her younger children, and also a son of her husband, John Forbes of Towie, by a former marriage, were murdered at the castle of Corgaffe. Corgarf is a place "exigui nominis," some fifteen miles west of Towie, and, so far as is known, there is nothing to connect this place with the Forbes family.[14] Three sixteenth-century accounts, and a fourth by an historian who was born before the event, make Towie to be the scene of the "murder," and Towie we know to have been in the possession of a member of the house of Forbes for several generations. Since Lumsden wrote only nine years after the event, and was more particularly concerned with the Forbes family than any of the other writers referred to, his statement cannot be peremptorily set aside. But we may owe Corgarf to the reviser of 1667, although he professes not to have altered the substance of his predecessor's work.
Reverting now to the ballad, we observe that none of the seven versions, of which one is put towards the end of the sixteenth century, one is of the seventeenth century, two are of the eighteenth, and the remainder from tradition of the present century, lay the scene at Towie. B, which is of this century, has Cargarf. A, B, the oldest copies (both English), give no name to the castle. Crecrynbroghe in A, Bittonsborrow in B, are not the name of the castle that is burned, but of a castle suggested for a winter retirement by one of Car's men, and rejected by the captain. The fragment C (English again) also names no place. D transfers the scene from the north to the house of Rodes, near Dunse, in Berwickshire, and F, G to Loudoun castle in Ayrshire; the name of Gordon probably helping to the localizing of the ballad in the former case, and that of Campbell, possibly, in the other.
Captain Car is the leader of the bloody band in A, B; he is lord of Eastertown A 6, 13, of Westertown B 5, 9; but 'Adam' is said to fire the house in B 14. Adam Gordon is the captain in C- G. The sufferers are in A Hamiltons,[15] in F, G, Campbells. The name Forbes is not preserved in any version.
A, B. Martinmas weather forces Captain Car to look for a hold. Crecrynbroghe, A, Bittonsborrow, B, is proposed, but he knows of a castle where there is a fair lady whose lord is away, and makes for that. The lady sees from the wall a host of men riding towards the castle, and thinks her lord is coming home, but it was the traitor Captain Car. By supper-time he and his men have lighted about the place. Car calls to the lady to give up the house; she shall lie in his arms that night, and the morrow heir his land. She will not give up the house, but fires on Car and his men. [Orders are given to burn the house.] The lady entreats Car to save her eldest son. Lap him in a sheet and let him down, says Car; and when this is done, cuts out tongue and heart, ties them in a handkerchief, and throws them over the wall. The youngest son begs his mother to surrender, for the smoke is smothering him. She would give all her gold and fee for a wind to blow the smoke away; but the fire falls about her head, and she and her children are burned to death. Captain Car rides away, A. The lord of the castle dreams, learns by a letter, at London, that his house has been fired, and hurries home. He finds the hall still burning, and breaks out into expressions of grief, A. In B, half of which has been torn from the manuscript, after reading the letter he says he will find Car wherever Car may be, and, long ere day, comes to Dractonsborrow, where the miscreant is. If nine or ten stanzas were not lost at this point, we should no doubt learn of the revenge that was taken.
In the short fragment C, upon surrender being demanded, reply is made by a shot which kills seven of the beleaguerers. An only daughter, smothered by the reek, asks her mother to give up the house. Rather would I see you burnt to ashes, says the mother. The boy on the nurse's knee makes the same appeal; her mother would sooner see him burnt than give up her house to be Adam of Gordon's whore.
D makes the lady try fair speeches with Gordon, and the lady does not reply with firearms to the proposal that she shall lie by his side. Nevertheless she has spirit enough to say, when her youngest son beseeches her to give up the house, Come weal, come woe, you must take share with me. The daughter, and not the eldest son, is wrapped in sheets and let down the wall; she gets a fall on the point of Gordon's spear. Then follow deplorable interpolations, beginning with st. 19. Edom o Gordon, having turned the girl over with his spear, and wished her alive, turns her owr and owr again! He orders his men to busk and away, for he cannot look on the bonnie face. One of his men hopes he will not be daunted with a dame, and certainly three successive utterances in the way of sentiment show that the captain needs a little toning up. At this point the lord of the castle is coming over the lea, and sees that his castle is in flames. He and his men put on at their best rate; lady and babes are dead ere the foremost arrives; they go at the Gordons, and but five of fifty of these get away.
And round and round the wae's he went,
Their ashes for to view:
At last into the flames he flew,
And bad the world adieu.
This is superior to turning her owr and owr again, and indeed, in its way, not to be improved.
Nothing need be said of the fragment B further than that the last stanza is modern.
F is purely traditional, and has one fine stanza not found in any of the foregoing:
Out then spake the lady Margaret,
As she stood on the stair;
The fire was at her goud garters,
The lowe was at her hair.
There is no firing at the assailants (though the lady wishes that her only son could charge a gun). Lady Margaret, with the flame in her hair, would give the black and the brown for a drink of the stream that she sees below. Anne asks to be rowed in a pair of sheets and let down the wall; her mother says that she must stay and die with her. Lord Thomas, on the nurse's knee, says, Give up, or the reek will choke me. The mother would rather be burned to small ashes than give up the castle, her lord away. And burnt she is with her children nine.
G has the eighteen stanzas of F,[16] neglecting slight variations, and twenty more (among them the bad D 21), nearly all superfluous, and one very disagreeable. Lady Campbell, having refused to "come down" and be "kept" (caught) on a feather-bed, 5, 6, is ironically asked by Gordon to come down and be kept on the point of his sword, 7. Since you will not come down, says Gordon, fire your death shall be. The lady had liefer be burnt to small ashes than give up the castle while her lord is from home, 10. Fire is set. The oldest daughter asks to be rolled in a pair of sheets and flung over the wall. She gets a deadly fall on the point of Gordon's sword, and is turned over and over again, 18, over and over again, 19. Lady Margaret cries that the fire is at her garters and the flame in her hair. Lady Ann, from childbed where she lies, asks her mother to give up the castle, and is told that she must stay and dree her death with the rest. The youngest son asks his mother to go down, and has the answer that was given Gordon in 10. The waiting-maid begs to have a baby of hers saved; her lady's long hair is burnt to her brow, and how can she take it? So the babe is rolled in a feather-bed and flung over the wall, and gets a deadly fall on the point of Gordon's ever-ready sword. Several ill-connected stanzas succeed, three of which are clearly recent, and then pity for Lady Ann Campbell, who was burnt with her nine bairns. Lord London comes home a "sorry" man, but comforts himself with tearing Gordon with wild horses.
A slight episode has been passed over. It is a former servant of the family that breaks through the house-wall and kindles the fire, A 21, D 12-14, F 5, 6, G 13, 14. In all but A he makes the excuse that he is now Gordon's man, and must do or die.
There is a Danish ballad of about 1600 (communicated to me by Svend Grundtvig, and, I think, not yet printed) in which Karl grevens søn, an unsuccessful suitor of Lady Linild, burns Lady Linild in her bower, and taking refuge in Maribo church, is there burned himself by Karl kejserens søn, Lady Linild's preferred lover. See also 'Liden Engel,' under 'Fause Foodrage,' No 89, II, 298. The copy in Percy's Reliques is translated by Bodmer, I, 126, and by Doenninges, p. 69; Pinkerton's copy by Grundtvig, No 9, and by Loève-Veimars, p. 307; Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 13, apparently translates Ailingham's.
Footnotes:
1. This is the date given me. It is very near to that of the event.
2. Lieut.-Col. H.W. Lumsden has very kindly allowed me a discretional use of an unpublished paper of his upon the historical basis of this ballad, and I freely avail myself of his aid, all responsibility remaining, of course, with me.
3. The Historie of King James the Sext, p. 95 if. The History of the Feuds and Conflicts among the Clans, etc., p. 51 ff, in Miscellanea Scotica, vol. I. Diurnal of Occurrents, pp. 251, 253, 255.
4. Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 255. What place is meant by Carrigill here is of no present consequence, since it was Towie that was burnt. Many writers, as Tytler, VII, 367, following Crawfurd's spurious Memoirs, p. 240, 1706, make the number that perished in the house thirty-seven.
5. Journal of the Transactions in Scotland during the contest between the adherents of Queen Mary and those of her son, 1570, 1571, 1572, 1573, p. 302 f., Edinburgh, 1806.
6. History of the Church of Scotland, ed. 1666, p. 259.
7. "For many miserable months Scotland presented a sight which might have drawn pity from the hardest heart: her sons engaged in a furious and constant butchery of each other; ... nothing seen but villages in flames, towns beleagured by armed men, women and children flying from the cottages where their fathers or husbands had been massacred; ... prisoners tortured, or massacred in cold blood, or hung by forties and fifties at a time." Tytler, VII, 370.
8. These are nearly the words of Lient.-Col. Lumsden, upon whom I am very glad to lean. That Ker was a valuable officer is well known.
9. The History of the Feuds and Conflicts among the Clans, p. 54 f.
10. Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 304 f. Also The Historic of King James the Sext, p. 111.
As to the 'Bank of Fair,' otherwise called Corrichie, the Earl of Huntly and two of his sons, John and Adam, were made prisoners at the battle there in 1562. The father, a corpulent man, "by reason of the throng that pressed him, expired in the hands of his takers." John was executed, but Adam was spared because of his tender age. (Spottiswood, p. 187.)
Tytler observes of Adam Gordon: "In his character we find a singular mixture of knightly chivalry with the ferocity of the highland freebooter... Such a combination as that exhibited by Gordon was no infrequent production in these dark and sanguinary times." VII, 367. But it would have been a good thing to cite other instances.
11. Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, II, 355 f., 420, 480, 720. Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 350. Chronicle of Aberdeen, in The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, II, 53.
12. Register of the Privy Council, II, 199, 725; III, 10; V, 46, 187. Register of the Great Seal, No 1554, vol. V. Miscellany of the Spalding Club, III, 163. Historic of King James the Sext, pp 339 f., 342. The so-called ballad in Dalzell's Scotish Poems of the Sixteenth Century, II, 347, which was in circulation as a broadside.
13. That a Margaret Campbell was the wife of John Forbes of Towie in 1556-63 appears from the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, Nos 1124, 1404,1469. But Lieut.-Col. Lumsden remarks that Sir John Campbell of Calder had no daughter of the name of Margaret, and that there is no record of such a marriage in the Cawdor papers. It may be observed in passing that Buchanan's and Spottiswood's error (as it seems to be) of substituting Alexander Forbes for John might easily arise, since, according to the Genealogy, John's father, one of his brothers, a son, and a grandson, all bore the name Alexander.
14. "After making considerable researches upon the subject, I am come to the conclusion that it was Towie House that was burnt. Cargarf never was in possession of a Forbes." (Joseph Robertson, Kinloch Manuscripts, VI, 28.) What is said of Corgarf in the View of the Diocese of Aberdeen, 1732, Robertson, Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, pp. 611, 616, is derived from Lumsden. Robert Gordon, writing about 1654, says, "Non procul a fontibus [Donae] jacet Corgarf, exigui nominis." A description of the parish of Strathdon, written about 1725, in Macfarlane's Geographical Collections, Manuscript, says of Curgarf, "This is an old castle belonging to the earls of Mar, but nothing remarkable about it:" pp. 26, 616, of the work last cited. The Statistical Accounts of Scotland give no light; the older tells the story of Corgarf, the later of both Corgarf and Towie, and the one is as uncritical as the other.
John Forbes of Towie (Tolleis) is one of a long list of that name in an order of the Lords of Council concerning an action of the Forbes clan against the Earl of Huntly in 1573; and in another paper, dated July, 1578, which has reference to the same action, the Forbeses complain that "sum of thair housiss, wyiffis and bairnis being thairin, were all uterlie wraikit and brount." (Robertson, Illustrations, etc., IV, 762, 765.) Bearing in mind the latitude of phraseology customary in indictments, we are perhaps under no necessity of thinking that the atrocity of Towie was but one of several instances of houses burnt, wives (women) and bairns being therein. There may be those who will think it plausible that "Carrigill" in the Diurnal of Occurrents should be Corgarf, and that both were burnt.
15. The making Gordon burn a house of the Hamiltons, who were of the queen's party, is a heedless perversion of history such as is to be found only in 'historical' ballads. The castle of Hamilton had been burnt in 1570, "and the toun and palice of Hamiltoun thairwith," more than a year before the burning of Towie, but by Lennox and his English allies. (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 177.)
"The old castle of Loudoun," says the Rev. Norman Macleod, "was destroyed by fire about 350 years ago [that is, about 1500]. The current tradition regarding the burning of the old castle ascribes that event to the clan Kennedy at the period above mentioned, and the remains of an old tower at Achruglen, on the Galston side of the valley, is still pointed out as having been their residence."
16. F. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
G. 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 5, 6, 30, 20, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 26, 34, 35.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
During the three wretched and bloody years which followed the assassination of the Regent Murray, the Catholic Earl of Huntly, George Gordon, was one of the most eminent and active of the partisans of the queen. Mary created him her lieutenant-governor, and his brother, Adam Gordon, a remarkably gallant and able soldier, whether so created or not, is sometimes called the queen's deputy-lieutenant in the north. Our ballad is concerned with a minor incident of the hostilities in Aberdeenshire between the Gordons and the Forbeses, a rival but much less powerful clan, who supported the Reformed faith and the regency or king's party. In November, 1571, Captain Thomas Ker was sent by Adam Gordon to reduce the house of Towie, belonging to Alexander (or John) Forbes, who was absent, or, perhaps, to eonduct a general harrying against the Forbeses. The lady refused to surrender the place, and it was burnt, with all the household. The details are somewhat in dispute; but there must have been something quite beyond the common in Captain Ker's proceedings, for they are denounced even in those days as infamous, and the name of Adam Gordon is said to have been made odious by them. It is not certain how far Gordon was responsible for the outrage.
Child's Ballad Texts
['Captaine Care']- Version A; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
Cotton Manuscript Vespasian, A. xxv, No 67, fol. 187; Furnivall, in Transactions of the New Shakspere Society, 1880-86, Appendix, p. 52†.
1 It befell at Martynmas,
When wether waxed colde,
Captaine Care said to his men,
We must go take a holde.
Syck, sike, and to-towe sike,
And sike and like to die;
The sikest nighte that euer I abode,
God lord haue mercy on me!
2 'Haille, master, and wether you will,
And wether ye like it best;'
'To the castle of Crecrynbroghe,
And there we will take our reste.'
3 'I knowe wher is a gay castle,
Is builded of lyme and stone;
Within their is a gay ladie,
Her lord is riden and gone.'
4 The ladie she lend on her castle-walle,
She loked vpp and downe;
There was she ware of an host of men,
Come riding to the towne.
5 'Se yow, my meri men all,
And se yow what I see?
Yonder I see an host of men,
I muse who they bee.'
6 She thought he had ben her wed lord,
As he comd riding home;
Then was it traitur Captaine Care
The lord of Ester-towne.
7 They wer no soner at supper sett,
Then after said the grace,
Or Captaine Care and all his men
Wer lighte aboute the place.
8 'Gyue ouer thi howsse, thou lady gay,
And I will make the a bande;
To-nighte thou shall ly within my armes,
To-morrowe thou shall ere my lande.'
9 Then bespacke the eldest sonne,
That was both whitt and redde:
O mother dere, geue ouer your howsse,
Or elles we shalbe deade.
10 'I will not geue ouer my hous,' she saithe,
'Not for feare of my lyffe;
It shalbe talked throughout the land,
The slaughter of a wyffe.
11 'Fetch me my pestilett,
And charge me my gonne,
That I may shott at yonder bloddy butcher,
The lord of Easter-towne.'
12 Styfly vpon her wall she stode,
And lett the pellettes flee;
But then she myst the blody bucher,
And she slew other three.
13 '[I will] not geue ouer my hous,' she saithe,
'Netheir for lord nor lowne;
Nor yet for traitour Captaine Care,
The lord of Easter-towne.
14 'I desire of Captine Care,
And all his bloddye band,
That he would saue my eldest sonne,
The eare of all my lande.'
15 'Lap him in a shete,' he sayth,
'And let him downe to me,
And I shall take him in my armes,
His waran shall I be.'
16 The captayne sayd unto him selfe:
Wyth sped, before the rest,
He cut his tonge out of his head,
His hart out of his brest.
17 He lapt them in a handkerchef,
And knet it of knotes three,
And cast them ouer the castell-wall,
At that gay ladye.
18 'Fye vpon the, Captayne Care,
And all thy bloddy band!
For thou hast slayne my eldest sonne,
The ayre of all my land.'
19 Then bespake the yongest sonne,
That say on the nurses knee,
Sayth, Mother gay, geue ouer your house;
It smoldereth me.
20 'I wold geue my gold,' she saith,
'And so I wolde my fee,
For a blaste of the westryn wind,
To dryue the smoke from thee.
21 'Fy vpon the, John Hamleton,
That euer I paid the hyre!
For thou hast broken my castle-wall,
And kyndled in the fyre.'
22 The lady gate to her close parler,
The fire fell aboute her head;
She toke vp her childern thre,
Seth, Babes, we are all dead.
23 Then bespake the hye steward,
That is of hye degree;
Saith, Ladie gay, you are in close,
Wether ye fighte or flee.
24 Lord Hamleton dremd in his dream,
In Caruall where he laye,
His halle were all of fyre,
His ladie slayne or daye.
25 'Busk and bowne, my merry men all,
Even and go ye with me;
For I dremd that my haal was on fyre,
My lady slayne or day.'
26 He buskt him and bownd hym,
And like a worthi knighte;
And when he saw his hall burning,
His harte was no dele lighte.
27 He sett a trumpett till his mouth,
He blew as it plesd his grace;
Twenty score of Hamlentons
Was light aboute the place.
28 'Had I knowne as much yesternighte
As I do to-daye,
Captaine Care and all his men
Should not haue gone so quite.
29 'Fye vpon the, Captaine Care,
And all thy blody bande!
Thou haste slayne my lady gay,
More wurth then all thy lande.
30 'If thou had ought eny ill will,' he saith,
'Thou shoulde haue taken my lyffe,
And haue saved my children thre,
All and my louesome wyffe.'
--------
['Captaine Carre']- Version B; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
Percy Manuscript, p. 34; Hales and Furnivall, I, 79.
1 'Ffaith, master, whither you will,
Whereas you like the best;
Vnto the castle of Bittons-borrow,
And there to take your rest.'
2 'But yonder stands a castle faire,
Is made of lyme and stone;
Yonder is in it a fayre lady,
Her lord is ridden and gone.'
3 The lady stood on her castle-wall,
She looked vpp and downe;
She was ware of an hoast of men,
Came rydinge towards the towne.
4 'See you not, my merry men all,
And see you not what I doe see?
Methinks I see a hoast of men;
I muse who they shold be.'
5 She thought it had beene her louly lord,
He had come ryding home;
It was the traitor, Captaine Carre,
The lord of Westerton-towne.
6 They had noe sooner super sett,
And after said the grace,
But the traitor, Captaine Carre,
Was light about the place.
7 'Giue over thy house, thou lady gay,
I will make thee a band;
All night with-in mine armes thou'st lye,
To-morrow be the heyre of my land.'
8 'I'le not giue over my house,' shee said,
'Neither for ladds nor man,
Nor yet for traitor Captaine Carre,
Vntill my lord come home.
9 'But reach me my pistoll pe[c]e,
And charge you well my gunne;
I'le shoote at the bloody bucher,
The lord of Westerton.'
10 She stood vppon her castle-wall
And let the bulletts flee,
And where shee mist . .
. . .
11 But then bespake the litle child,
That sate on the nurses knee;
Saies, Mother deere, giue ore this house,
For the smoake it smoothers me.
12 'I wold giue all my gold, my childe,
Soe wold I doe all my fee,
For one blast of the westerne wind
To blow the smoke from thee.'
13 But when shee saw the fier
Came flaming ore her head,
Shee tooke then vpp her children two,
Sayes, Babes, we all beene dead!
14 But Adam then he fired the house,
A sorrowfull sight to see;
Now hath he burned this lady faire
And eke her children three.
15 Then Captaine Carre he rode away,
He staid noe longer at that tide;
He thought that place it was to warme
Soe neere for to abide.
16 He calld vnto his merry men all,
Bidd them make hast away;
'For we haue slaine his children three,
All and his lady gay.'
17 Worde came to louly London,
To London wheras her lord lay,
His castle and his hall was burned,
All and his lady gay.
18 Soe hath he done his children three,
More dearer vnto him
Then either the siluer or the gold,
That men soe faine wold win.
19 But when he looket this writing on,
Lord, in is hart he was woe!
Saies, I will find thee, Captaine Carre,
Wether thou ryde or goe!
20 Buske yee, bowne yee, my merrymen all,
With tempered swords of steele,
For till I haue found out Captaine Carre,
My hart it is nothing weele.
21 But when he came to Dractons-borrow,
Soe long ere it was day,
And ther he found him Captaine Carre;
That night he ment to stay.
* * * * *
-----------
['Adam of Gordon']- Version C; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
Communicated to Percy by Robert Lambe, Norham, October 4, 1766, being all that a servant of Lambe's could remember.
* * * *
1. 'LUK ye to yon hie castel,
Yon hie castel we see;
A woman's wit's sun oercum,
She'll gie up her house to me.'
2 She ca'd to her merry men a',
'Bring me my five pistols and my lang gun;'
The first shot the fair lady shot,
She shot seven of Gordon's men.
3 He turned round about his back,
And sware he woud ha his desire,
And if that castel was built of gowd,
It should gang a' to fire.
4 Up then spak her doughter deere,
She had nae mair than she:
'Gie up your house, now, mither deere,
The reek it skomfishes me.'
5 'I'd rather see you birnt,' said she,
'And doun to ashes fa,
Ere I gie up my house to Adam of Gordon,
And to his merry men a'.
6 'I've four and twenty kye
Gaing upo the muir;
I'd gie em for a blast of wind,
The reek it blaws sae sour.'
7 Up then spak her little young son,
Sits on the nourrice knee:
'Gie up your house, now, mither deere,
The reek it skomfishes me.'
8 'I've twenty four ships
A sailing on the sea;
I'll gie em for a blast of southern wind,
To blaw the reek frae thee.
9 'I'd rather see you birnt,' said she,
'And grund as sma as flour,
Eer I gie up my noble house,
To be Adam of Gordon's hure.'
* * * * *
---------------
'Edom of Gordon'- Version D; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
Robert and Andrew Foulis, Glasgow, 1755; "as preserved in the memory of a lady."
1 It fell about the Martinmas,
When the wind blew schrile and cauld,
Said Edom o Gordon to his men,
We maun draw to a hald.
2 'And what an a hald sall we draw to,
My merry men and me?
We will gae to the house of the Rhodes,
To see that fair lady.'
3 She had nae sooner busket her sell,
Nor putten on her gown,
Till Edom o Gordon and his men
Were round about the town.
4 They had nae sooner sitten down,
Nor sooner said the grace,
Till Edom o Gordon and his men
Were closed about the place.
5 The lady ran up to her tower-head,
As fast as she could drie,
To see if by her fair speeches
She could with him agree.
6 As soon he saw the lady fair,
And hir yates all locked fast,
He fell into a rage of wrath,
And his heart was aghast.
7 'Cum down to me, ye lady fair,
Cum down to me; let's see;
This night ye's ly by my ain side,
The morn my bride sall be.'
8 'I winnae cum down, ye fals Gordon,
I winnae cum down to thee;
I winnae forsake my ane dear lord,
That is sae far frae me.'
9 'Gi up your house, ye fair lady,
Gi up your house to me,
Or I will burn yoursel therein,
Bot and your babies three.'
10 'I winnae gie up, you fals Gordon,
To nae sik traitor as thee,
Tho you should burn mysel therein,
Bot and my babies three.'
11 'Set fire to the house,' quoth fals Gordon,
'Sin better may nae bee;
And I will burn hersel therein,
Bot and her babies three.'
12 'And ein wae worth ye, Jock my man!
I paid ye weil your fee;
Why pow ye out my ground-wa-stane,
Lets in the reek to me?
13 'And ein wae worth ye, Jock my man!
For I paid you weil your hire;
Why pow ye out my ground-wa-stane,
To me lets in the fire?'
14 'Ye paid me weil my hire, lady,
Ye paid me weil my fee,
But now I'm Edom of Gordon's man,
Maun either do or die.'
15 O then bespake her youngest son,
Sat on the nurses knee,
'Dear mother, gie owre your house,' he says,
'For the reek it worries me.'
16 'I winnae gie up my house, my dear,
To nae sik traitor as he;
Cum weil, cum wae, my jewels fair,
Ye maun tak share wi me.'
17 O then bespake her dochter dear,
She was baith jimp and sma;
'O row me in a pair o shiets,
And tow me owre the wa.'
18 They rowd her in a pair of shiets,
And towd her owre the wa,
But on the point of Edom's speir
She gat a deadly fa.
19 O bonny, bonny was hir mouth,
And chirry were her cheiks,
And clear, clear was hir yellow hair,
Whereon the reid bluid dreips!
20 Then wi his speir he turnd hir owr;
O gin hir face was wan!
He said, You are the first that eer
I wist alive again.
21 He turned hir owr and owr again;
O gin hir skin was whyte!
He said, I might ha spard thy life
To been some mans delyte.
22 'Busk and boon, my merry men all,
For ill dooms I do guess;
I cannae luik in that boony face,
As it lyes on the grass.'
23 'Them luiks to freits, my master deir,
Then freits will follow them;
Let it neir be said brave Edom o Gordon
Was daunted with a dame.'
24 O then he spied hir ain deir lord,
As he came owr the lee;
He saw his castle in a fire,
As far as he could see.
25 'Put on, put on, my mighty men,
As fast as ye can drie!
For he that's hindmost of my men
Sall neir get guid o me.'
26 And some they raid, and some they ran,
Fu fast out-owr the plain,
But lang, lang eer he coud get up
They were a' deid and slain.
27 But mony were the mudie men
Lay gasping on the grien;
For o fifty men that Edom brought out
There were but five ged heme.
28 And mony were the mudie men
Lay gasping on the grien,
And mony were the fair ladys
Lay lemanless at heme.
29 And round and round the waes he went,
Their ashes for to view;
At last into the flames he flew,
And bad the world adieu.
-----------
'Edom o Gordon'- Version E; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
Kinloch Manuscripts, V, 384, in the handwriting of John Hill Burton.
1 It fell about the Martinmas time,
When the wind blew shrill and cauld,
Said Captain Gordon to his men,
We'll a' draw to som hauld.
2 'And whatena hauld shall we draw to,
To be the nearest hame?'
'We will draw to the ha o bonny Cargarff;
The laird is na at hame.'
3 The lady sat on her castle-wa,
Beheld both dale and down;
And she beheld the fause Gordon
Come halycon to the town.
4 'Now, Lady Cargarff, gie ower yer house,
Gie ower yer house to me;
Now, Lady Cargarff, gie ower yer house,
Or in it you shall die.'
5 'I'll no gie ower my bonny house,
To lord nor yet to loun;
I'll no gie ower my bonny house
To the traitors of Auchindown.'
* * * * *
6 Then up and spak her youngest son,
Sat at the nourice's knee:
'O mother dear, gie ower yer house,
For the reek o't smothers me.'
7 'I would gie a' my goud, my child,
Sae would I a' my fee,
For ae blast o the westlan win,
To blaw the reek frae thee.'
8 Then up and spak her eldest heir,
He spak wi muckle pride:
'Now mother dear, keep weel yer house,
And I'll fight by yer side.'
----------
['Adam o Gordon']- Version F; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
The New Statistical Account of Scotland, V, 846, Parish of Loudoun, by Rev. Norman Macleod: "known among the peasantry from time immemorial."
1 It fell about the Martinmas time,
When the wind blew snell and cauld,
That Adam o Gordon said to his men,
Where will we get a hold?
2 See [ye] not where yonder fair castle
Stands on yon lily lee?
The laird and I hae a deadly feud,
The lady fain would I see.
3 As she was up on the househead,
Behold, on looking down,
She saw Adam o Gordon and his men,
Coming riding to the town.
4 The dinner was not well set down,
Nor the grace was scarcely said,
Till Adam o Gordon and his men
About the walls were laid.
5 'It's fause now fa thee, Jock my man!
Thou might a let me be;
Yon man has lifted the pavement-stone,
An let in the low unto me.'
6 'Seven years I served thee, fair ladie,
You gave me meat and fee;
But now I am Adam o Gordon's man,
An maun either do it or die.'
7 'Come down, come down, my lady Loudoun,
Come down thou unto me!
I'll wrap thee on a feather-bed,
Thy warrand I shall be.'
8 'I'll no come down, I'll no come down,
For neither laird no[r] loun;
Nor yet for any bloody butcher
That lives in Altringham town.
9 'I would give the black,' she says,
'And so would I the brown,
If that Thomas, my only son,
Could charge to me a gun.'
10 Out then spake the lady Margaret,
As she stood on the stair;
The fire was at her goud garters,
The lowe was at her hair.
11 'I would give the black,' she says,
'And so would I the brown,
For a drink of yon water,
That runs by Galston Town.'
12 Out then spake fair Annie,
She was baith jimp and sma
'O row me in a pair o sheets,
And tow me down the wa!'
13 'O hold the tongue, thou fair Annie,
And let thy talkin be;
For thou must stay in this fair castle,
And bear thy death with me.'
14 'O mother,' spoke the lord Thomas,
As he sat on the nurse's knee,
'O mother, give up this fair castle,
Or the reek will worrie me.'
15 'I would rather be burnt to ashes sma,
And be cast on yon sea-foam,
Before I'd give up this fair castle,
And my lord so far from home.
16 'My good lord has an army strong,
He's now gone oer the sea;
He bad me keep this gay castle,
As long as it would keep me.
17 'I've four-and-twenty brave milk kye,
Gangs on yon lily lee;
I'd give them a' for a blast of wind,
To blaw the reek from me.'
18 O pittie on yon fair castle,
That's built with stone and lime!
But far mair pittie on Lady Loudoun,
And all her children nine!
----------
'The Burning o Loudon Castle'- Version G; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 543, from the recitation of May Richmond, at the Old Kirk of London.
1 It was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the wind blew schill and cauld,
That Adam o Gordon said to his men,
Whare will we get a hauld?
2 'Do ye not see yon bonnie castell,
That stands on Loudon lee?
The lord and I hae a deadlie feed,
And his lady fain wuld I see.'
3 Lady Campbell was standing in the close,
A preenin o her goun,
Whan Adam o Gordon and his men
Cam riding thro Galston toun.
4 The dinner was na weel set doun,
Nor yet the grace weel said,
Till Adam o Gordon and a' his men
Around the wa's war laid.
5 'Come doun, come down, Ladie Campbell,' he said,
'Come doun and speak to me;
I'll kep thee in a feather bed,
And thy warraner I will be.'
6 'I winna come doun and speak to thee,
Nor to ony lord nor loun;
Nor yet to thee, thou bloody butcher,
The laird o Auchruglen toun.'
7 'Come doun, come doun, Ladye Campbell,' he said,
'Cum doun and speak to me;
I'll kep thee on the point o my sword,
And thy warraner I will be.'
8 'I winna come doun and speak to thee,
Nor to ony lord or loun,
Nor yet to thee, thou bludie butcher,
The laird o Auchruglen toun.'
9 'Syne gin ye winna come doun,' he said,
'A' for to speak to me,
I'll tye the bands around my waist,
And fire thy death sall be.'
10 'I'd leifer be burnt in ashes sma,
And cuist in yon sea-faem,
Or I'd gie up this bonnie castell,
And my gude lord frae hame.
11 'For my gude lord's in the army strong,
He's new gane ower the sea;
He bade me keep this bonnie castell,
As lang's it wuld keep me.'
12 'Set fire to the house,' said bauld Gordon,
'Set fire to the house, my men;
We'll gar Lady Campbell come for to rew
As she burns in the flame.'
13 'O wae be to thee, Carmichael,' she said,
'And an ilk death may ye die!
For ye hae lifted the pavement-stane,
And loot up the lowe to me.
14 'Seven years ye war about my house,
And received both meat and fee:'
'And now I'm Adam o Gordon's man,
I maun either do or dee.'
15 'Oh I wad gie the black,' she said,
'And I wuld gie the brown,
All for ae cup o the cauld water
That rins to Galstoun toun.'
16 Syne out and spak the auld dochter,
She was baith jimp and sma:
'O row me in a pair o sheets,
And fling me ower the wa!'
17 They row't her in a pair o sheets,
And flang her ower the wa,
And on the point o Gordon's sword
She gat a deadlie fa.
18 He turned her ower, and ower again,
And oh but she looked wan!
'I think I've killed as bonnie a face
As ere the sun shined on.'
19 He turned her ower, and ower again,
And oh but she lookt white!
'I micht hae spared this bonnie face,
To hae been some man's delight!'
20 Syne out and spak Lady Margaret,
As she stood on the stair:
'The fire is at my gowd garters,
And the lowe is at my hair.'
21 Syne out and spak fair Ladie Ann,
Frae childbed whare she lay:
'Gie up this bonnie castell, mother,
And let us win away.'
22 'Lye still, lye still, my fair Annie,
And let your talking be;
For ye maun stay in this bonnie castell
And dree your death wi me.'
23 'Whatever death I am to dree,
I winna die my lane:
I'll tak a bairn in ilka arm
And the third is in my wame.'
24 Syne out and spak her youngest son,
A bonnie wee boy was he:
'Gae doun, gae doun, mother,' he said,
'Or the lowe will worry me.'
25 'I'd leifer be brent in ashes sma
And cuist in yon sea-faem,
Or I'd gie up this bonnie castell,
And my guid lord frae hame.
26 'For my gude lord's in the army strong,
He's new gane ower the sea;
But gin he eer returns again,
Revenged my death sall be.'
27 Syne out and spak her waitin-maid:
Receive this babe frae me,
And save the saikless babie's life,
And I'll neer seek mair fee.
28 'How can I tak the bairn?' she said,
'How can I tak't?' said she,
'For my hair was ance five quarters lang,
And 'tis now brent to my bree.'
29 She rowit it in a feather-bed,
And flang it ower the wa,
But on the point o Gordon's sword
It gat a deidlie fa.
30 'I wuld gie Loudon's bonnie castell,
And Loudon's bonnie lee,
All gin my youngest son Johnnie
Could charge a gun to me.
31 'Oh, I wuld gie the black,' she said,
'And sae wuld I the bay,
Gin young Sir George could take a steed
And quickly ride away.'
32 Syne out and spak her auldest son,
As he was gaun to die:
'Send doun your chamber-maid, mother,
She gaes wi bairn to me.'
33 'Gin ye were not my eldest son,
And heir o a' my land,
I'd tye a sheet around thy neck,
And hang thee with my hand.
34 'I would gie my twenty gude milk-kye,
That feed on Shallow lee,
A' for ae blast o the norland wind,
To blaw the lowe frae me.'
35 Oh was na it a pitie o yon bonnie castell,
That was biggit wi stane and lime!
But far mair pity o Lady Ann Campbell,
That was brunt wi her bairns nine.
36 Three o them war married wives,
And three o them were bairns,
And three o them were leal maidens,
That neer lay in men's arms.
37 And now Lord Loudon he's come hame,
And a sorry man was he:
'He micht hae spared my lady's life,
And wreakit himsell on me!
38 'But sin we've got thee, bauld Gordon,
Wild horses shall thee tear,
For murdering o my ladie bricht,
Besides my children dear.'
----------
['Adam McGordon']- Version H; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 75, Abbotsford. Communicated to Scott November 6, 1803, by Bruce Campbell, Sornbeg, Galston, Ayrshire, through David Boyle, Advocate, afterwards Lord Justice General of Scotland.
1 It fell about the Martinmass time,
When the wind blew shill and cald,
That Adam McGordon said to his men,
Where will we get a hall?
2 'There is a hall here near by,
Well built with lime and stone;
There is a lady there within
As white as the . . bone.'
3 'Seven year and more this lord and I
Has had a deadly feud,
And now, since her good lord's frae hame,
His place to me she'll yield.'
4 She looked oer her castle-wall,
And so she looked down,
And saw Adam McGordon and his men
Approaching the wood-end.
5 'Steik up, steik up my yett,' she says,
'And let my draw-bridge fall;
There is meickle treachery
Walking about my wall.'
6 She had not the sentence past,
Nor yet the word well said,
When Adam McGordon and his men
About the walls were laid.
7 She looked out at her window,
And then she looked down,
And then she saw Jack, her own man,
Lifting the pavement-stane.
8 'Awa, awa, Jack my man!
Seven year I paid you meat and fee,
And now you lift the pavement-stane
To let in the low to me.'
9 'I yield, I yield, O lady fair,
Seven year ye paid me meat and fee;
But now I am Adam McGordon's man,
I must either do or die.'
10 'If ye be Adam McGordon's man,
As I true well ye be,
Prove true unto your own master,
And work your will to me.'
11 'Come down, come down, my lady Campbell,
Come down into my hand;
Ye shall lye all night by my side,
And the morn at my command.'
12 'I winna come down,' this lady says,
'For neither laird nor lown,
Nor to no bloody butcher's son,
The Laird of Auchindown.
13 'I wald give all my kine,' she says,
'So wald I fifty pound,
That Andrew Watty he were here;
He would charge me my gun.
14 'He would charge me my gun,
And put in bullets three,
That I might shoot that cruel traitor
That works his wills on me.'
15 He shot in, and [s]he shot out,
The value of an hour,
Until the hall Craigie North
Was like to be blawn in the air.
16 'He fired in, and she fired out,
The value of houris three,
Untill the hall Craigie North
The reik went to the sea.
17 'O the frost, and ae the frost,
The frost that freezes fell!
I cannot stay within my bower,
The powder it blaws sae bald.'
18 But then spake her oldest son,
He was both white and red;
'O mither dear, yield up your house!
We'll all be burnt to deed.'
19 Out then spake the second son,
He was both red and fair;
'O brother dear, would you yield up your house,
And you your father's heir!'
20 Out then spake the little babe,
Stood at the nurse's knee;
'O mither dear, yield up your house!
The reik will worry me.'
21 Out then speaks the little nurse,
The babe upon her knee;
'O lady, take from me your child!
I'll never crave my fee.'
22 'Hold thy tongue, thou little nurse,
Of thy prating let me bee;
For be it death or be it life,
Thou shall take share with me.
23 'I wald give a' my sheep,' she says,
'T[hat] . . yon . . s]ha],
I had a drink of that wan water
That runs down by my wa.'
-----------
'Edom of Achendoon'- Version I; Child 178 Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
From "The Old Lady's Collection," No 28, 'Edom of Achendoon.'
1 It fell about the Martimas time,
Fan the wind blue loud an calld,
Said Edom of Gordon to his men,
We man dra till a hall.
2 'An fatten a hall will we dra tell,
My merry men a' an me?
We will to the house of Rothes,
An see that gay lady.'
3 The lady louked our castell-wa,
Beheld the day ga doun,
An she saa Edun of Gordon,
Fase Edom of Ach[en]doun.
4 'Gee our yer house, ye gay lady,
Gee our yer house to me;
The night ye's be my leall leman,
The morn my lady free.'
5 'I winn gee our my bonny house,
To leard nor yet to loun,
Nor will I gee our my bonny house
To fase Edom of Achendoun.
6 'Bat ye gett me Cluny, Gight, or Glack,
Or get him young Lesmore,
An I ell gee our my bonny house
To ony of a' the four.'
7 'Ye's nether gett Cluny, Gight, nor Glack,
Nor yet him young Lesmore,
An ye man gee our yer bonny house,
Winten ony of a' the four.'
8 The ladie shot out of a shot-windou,
It didne hurt his head,
It only grased his knee
. . . . . .
9 'Ye hast, my merry men a',
Gather hathorn an fune,
. . . . . . .
To see gin this lady will burn.'
10 'Wai worth ye, Joke, my man!
I paid ye well yer fee,
An ye tane out the quin -stane,
Laten in the fire to me.
11 'Wai worth ye, Joke, my man!
I paid ye well yer hair,
An ye t[a]en out the qunie-stane,
To me laten in the fire.'
12 'Ye paid me well my meatt, lady,
Ye paid me well my fee,
Bat nou I am Edom of Gordon's man,
Mane eather dee'd or dree.
13 'Ye paid me well my meatt, lady,
Ye paid me well my hire,
But nou I am Edom of Gordon's man,
To ye mane lat the fire.'
14 Out spak her doughter,
She was bath jimp an smaa;
'Ye take me in a pair of shets,
Lat me our the castell-waa.'
15 The pat her in a pair of shets,
Lute her oure the castell-waa;
On the point of Edom of Gordon's lance
She got a deadly faa.
16 Cherry, cherry was her cheeks,
An bonny was her eyen;
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
17 He turned her about,
. . . . . . .
'I might haa spared that bonny face
To ha ben some man's delight.
18 'Chirry is yer chik,
An bonny is yer eayn;
Ye'r the first face I ever saa dead
I wist liveng agen.'
19 Out spak one of his men,
As he stad by a stane;
'Lat it never be sade brave Edom of Gordon
Was dantoned by a dame.'
20 Out spake the bonny barn,
Ti sat on the nurce's knee;
'Gee out yer house, my mider dear,
The reak it smothers me.'
21 'I wad gee a' my silks,' she says,
'That lays in mony a fall,
To haa ye on the head of Mont Gannell,
To gett three gasps of the call.
22 'I wad gee a' my goud,' she says,
'Far it lays out an in,
To haa ye on the head of Mount Ganill,
To get three gasps of the wind.'
23 . . . . . . . that gued lord,
As he came fraa the sea,
'I see the house of Rothes in fire,
God safe my gay ladie!'
End-Notes
A. Stanzas 1-15 have been revised, or altered, in another hand.
21. master in my copy: mary, Furnivall.
31. wher is is inserted.
32. ed in builded has been run through with a line.
34. riden & gone struck out, and ryd from horn written over.
41. she struck out.
51. Se yow changed to Com yow hether: merimen in Manuscript.
52. Changed to And look what I do see.
And (&), both in the original text and in the revised, is rendered O in my copy.
53. Changed to Yonder is ther.
54. musen, as a correction: Furnivall.
61. own wed, as a correction: Furnivall.
62. yt had for As he.
82. thou shall ly in altered to thoust ly wtin.
102. Not is a correction: Furnivall. My copy has no.
113. this substituted for yonder.
121. Changed to She styfly stod on her castle wall.
123. but then struck out.
124. she struck out.
131. I will: Manuscript torn.
153. arme, Furnivall: my copy, armes.
154. wyll substituted for shall.
194. Editors supply The smoke at the beginning of the line.
203. westeyn: Furnivall.
214. Manuscript has thee.
233. Saith: no close, Furnivall. South: in close, my copy, to chose, Böddeker.
242. Perhaps carnall: Furnivall.
251. Bush in my copy: merymen in Manuscript.
253. dreme, hall in my copy: Furnivall as printed.
261. busht in my copy: buskt, Furnivall.
262,3. My copy renders And (&) O: Furnivall as printed.
284. Editors supply awaye at the end of the line. Böddeker reads so gai.
292. bande looks like baides, one stroke of the n wanting.
301. Should we not read me for eny? she for he in my copy: he, Furnivall.
And for & throughout.
Finis per me "Willelmum Asheton, clericum.
By my copy is meant a collation made for me by Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith.
B. 133. 2.
144, 163, 181. 3.
103, 214. Half a page gone.
And for &.
D. 271, 281. Mudiemen, Mudie men.
Quhen, ze, zour, etc., are here spelled when, ye, your, etc.
F. 54. the loun to: cf. G 134.
G. 64. Another recitation gave Auchindown.
[Corrections to H and I below]
Additions and Corrections
P. 423. "The Donean Tourist," by Alexander Laing, Aberdeen, 1828, p. 100, has a very bad copy, extended to fifty-nine stanzas.
P. 426, note *. This history borrows from Sir Robert Gordon. See what he says, p. 166 f., and also previously, p. 164 ff.
428 a. F, G. "I have a manuscript where the whole scene is transferred to Ayrshire, and the incendiary is called Johnnie Faa." Note of Sir W. Scott in Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 142.
This copy has not as yet been recovered, but there is another at Abbotsford, a fine fragment, in which Lady Campbell is the heroine. As to Adam McGordon, the c of Mac is often dropped, so that Adam MaGordon and Adam o Gordon are of pretty much the same sound (a remark of Mr. Macmath). The Andrew Watty of 133 is noted on the last page of the Manuscript to be "a riding man."
H. "Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 75, Abbotsford. Communicated to Scott November 6, 1803, by Bruce Campbell, Sornbeg, Galston, Ayrshire, through David Boyle, Advocate, afterwards Lord Justice General of Scotland.
1 It fell about the Martinmass time,
When the wind blew shill and cald,
That Adam McGordon said to his men,
Where will we get a hall?
2 'There is a hall here near by,
Well built with lime and stone;
There is a lady there within
As white as the ... bone.'
3 'Seven year and more this lord and I
Has had a deadly feud,
And now, since her good lord's frae hame,
His place to me she'll yield.'
4 She looked oer her castle-wall,
And so she looked down,
And saw Adam McGordon and his men
Approaching the wood-end.
5 'Steik up, steik up my yett,' she says,
'And let my draw-bridge fall;
There is meickle treachery
Walking about my wall.'
6 She had not the sentence past,
Nor yet the word well said,
When Adam McGordon and his men
About the walls were laid.
7 She looked out at her window,
And then she looked down,
And then she saw Jack, her own man,
Lifting the pavement-stane.
8 'Awa, awa, Jack my man!
Seven year I paid you meat and fee,
And now you lift the pavement-stane
To let in the low to me.'
9 'I yield, I yield, O lady fair,
Seven year ye paid me meat and fee;
But now I am Adam McGordon's man,
I must either do or die.'
10 'If ye be Adam McGordon's man,
As I true well ye be,
Prove true unto your own master,
And work your will to me.'
11 'Come down, come down, my lady Campbell,
Come down into my hand;
Ye shall lye all night by my side,
And the morn at my command.'
12 'I winna come down,' this lady
'For neither laird nor lown,
Nor to no bloody butcher's son,
The Laird of Auchindown.
13 'I wald give all my kine,' she says,
'So wald I fifty pound,
That Andrew Watty he were here;
He would charge me my gun.
14 'He would charge me my gun,
And put in bullets three,
That I might shoot that cruel traitor
That works his wills on me.'
15 He shot in, and [s]he shot out,
The value of an hour,
Until the hall Craigie North
Was like to be blawn in the air.
16 He fired in, and she fired out,
The value of houris three,
Until the hall Craigie North
The reik went to the sea.
17 'O the frost, and ae the frost,
The frost that freezes fell!
I cannot stay within my bower,
The powder it blaws sae bald.'
18 But then spake her oldest son,
He was both white and red;
'O mither dear, yield up your house!
We'll all be burnt to deed.'
19 Out then spake the second son,
He was both red and fair;
'O brother dear, would you yield up your house,
And you your father's heir!'
20 Out then spake the little babe,
Stood at the nurse's knee;
'O mither dear, yield up your house!
The reik will worry me.'
21 Out then speaks the little nurse,
The babe upon her knee;
'O lady, take from me your child!
I'll never crave my fee.'
22 'Hold thy tongue, thou little nurse,
Of thy prating let me bee;
For be it death or be it life,
Thou shall take share with me.
23 'I wald give a' my sheep,' she says,
'T[hat] ... yon ... s[ha],
I had a drink of that wan water
That runs down by my wa.'
21. hall there.
24. An illegible word ending seemingly in hie.
31. this lord and I begins the second line.
33. has good: has caught from the line above.
34. shall altered to she'll; but she shall is clearly meant.
74, 114, 154, 163, 211. ye.
141. would: wald, perhaps
162. valuue, or, valaue, or, valuae.
163. A preposition seems to be wanting. Hall here and in 153 is troublesome. Perhaps the reading should be in 153 that all, in 163 that through all.
232. The paper is folded here, and the line has been so much rubbed as to be illegible.
"An old ballad upon the burning of an old castle of Loudoun by the Kennedys of Auchruglan." Bruce Campbell.
To be Corrected in the Print.
435 a, E 52. Read loon.
P. 423, IV, 513.
I. From "The Old Lady's Collection," No 28, 'Edom of Achendoon.'
1 It fell about the Martimas time,
Fan the wind blue loud an calld,
Said Edom of Gordon to his men,
We man dra till a hall.
2 'An fatten a hall will we dra tell,
My merry men a' an me?
We will to the house of Rothes,
An see that gay lady.'
3 The lady louked our castell-wa,
Beheld the day ga doun, An she saa Edun of Gordon,
Fase Edom of Ach[en]doun.
4 'Gee our yer house, ye gay lady,
Gee our yer house to me;
The night ye's be my leall leman,
The morn my lady free.'
5 'I winnë gee our my honny house,
To leard nor yet to loun,
Nor will I gee our my bonny house
To fase Edom of Achendoun.
6 'Bat ye gett me Cluny, Gight, or Glack,
Or get him young Lesmore,
An I ell gee our my bonny house
To ony of a' the four.'
7 'Ye's nether gett Cluny, Gight, nor Glack,
Nor yet him young Lesmore,
An ye man gee our yer bonny house,
Winten ony of a' the four.'
8 The ladie shot out of a shot-windou,
It didne hurt his head,
It only grased his knee
. . .
9 ' Ye hast, my merry men a',
Gather hathorn an fune,
. . .
To see gin this lady will burn.'
10 'Wai worth ye, Joke, my man!
I paid ye well yer fee,
An ye tane out the quine-stane,
Laten in the fire to me.
11 'Wae worth ye, Joke, my man!
I paid ye well yer hair,
An ye t[a]en out the qunie-stane,
To me laten in the fire.'
12 'Ye paid me well my meatt, lady,
Ye paid me well my fee,
Bat nou I am Edom of Gordon's man,
Mane eather dee 'd or dree.
13 'Ye paid me well my meatt, lady,
Ye paid me well my hire,
But nou I am Edom of Gordon's man,
To ye mane lat the fire.'
14 Out spak her doughter,
She was bath jimp an smaa;
'Ye take me in a pair of shets,
Lat me our the castell-waa.'
15 The pat her in a pair of shets,
Lute her oure the castell-waa;
On the point of Edom of Gordon's lance
She got a deadly faa.
16 Cherry, cherry was her cheeks,
An bonny was her eyen;
. . .
. . .
17 He turned her about,
. . .
'I might haa spared that bonny face
To ha ben some man's delight.
18 'Chirry is yer chik,
An bonny is yer eayn;
Ye 'r the first face I ever saa dead
I wist liveng agen.'
19 Out spak one of his men,
As he stad by a stane;
'Lat it never be sade brave Edom of Gordon
Was dantoned by a dame.'
20 Out spake the bonny barn,
It sat on the nurce's knee;
' Gee our yer house, my mider dear,
The reak it smothers me.'
21 'I wad gee a' my silks,' she says,
'That lays in mony a fall,
To haa ye on the head of Mont Ganell,
To gett three gasps of the call.
22 'I wad gee a' my goud,' she says,
'Far it lays out an in,
To haa ye on the head of Mount Ganill,
To get three gasps of the wind.'
23 . . . that gued lord,
As he came fraa the sea,
' I see the house of Rotlies in fire,
God safe my gay ladie!'
153. land.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV, 513 b, H 24. Mr. Macmath is convinced that the missing (illegible) word is orghie (orgeis = a fish, a large kind of ling).
To be Corrected in the Print.
514 b, 181. Read Out then.