No. 203: The Baron of Brackley
[There are no known traditional US or Canadian versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (Found at the end of Child's Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A-D [Changes for A b, A c, and C b found in End-notes; A fragment and one additonal version, 'The Barren of Breachell,' (D b) are found in Additions and Corrections.]
5. End-Notes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 203. The Baron of Brackley
A. Roud No. 4017: The Baron of Brackley (32 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 203. The Baron of Brackley (Bronson's music examples)
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-D with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative: 203. The Baron of Brackley
A. a. 'The Baronne of Braikley,' [Alexander Laing's] Scarce Ancient Ballads, 1822, p. 9.
b. 'The Baron of Braikley,' Buchan's Gleanings, 1825, p. 68.
c. 'The Barrone of Brackley,' The New Deeside Guide, by James Brown (pseudonym for Joseph Robertson), Aberdeen, [1832[1]], p. 46.
B. 'The Baron of Brackley,' Kinloch Manuscripts, V, 379; in the handwriting of John Hill Burton.
C. a. 'The Baron of Braikly,' Jamieson-Brown Manuscript, Appendix, p. viii.
b. 'The Baron of Brackley,' Jamieson's Popular Ballads, 1806, I, 102.
D. a. 'The Baron of Breachell,' Skene Manuscript, p. 110.
b. 'The Barren of Breachell,' "The Old Lady's Collection," No 25.
First printed by Jamieson (C b) in 1806, who says: "For the copy of the ballad here given I am indebted to Mrs. Brown. I have also collated it with another, less perfect, but not materially different, so far as it goes, with which I was favored by the editor of the Border Minstrelsy, who took it down from the recitation of two ladies, great-grandchildren of Farquharson of Inverey; so that the ballad, and the notices that accompany it, are given upon the authority of a Gordon [Anne Gordon, Mrs. Brown] and a Farquharson." A c is also a compounded copy: see the notes.
The text in The Thistle of Scotland, p. 46, is C b. That which is cited in part in the Fourth Report on Historical Manuscripts, 1874, p. 584, is A c. The ballad is rewritten by Allan Cunningham, Songs of Scotland, II, 208.
A. Inverey comes before day to Brackley's gate, and calls to him to open and have his blood spilled. Brackley asks over the wall whether the people below are gentlemen or hired gallows-birds; if gentlemen, they may come in and eat and drink; in the other case, they may go on to the Lowlands and steal cattle. His wife urges him to get up; the men are nothing but hired gallows-birds. Brackley will go out to meet Inverey (both know it is he, 12, 19), but these same gallows-birds will prove themselves men. His wife derisively calls on her maids to bring their distaffs; if Brackley is not man enough to protect his cattle, she will drive off the robbers with her women. Brackley says he will go out, but he shall never come in. He arms and sallies forth, attended by his brother William, his uncle, and his cousin; but presently bids his brother turn back because he is a bridegroom. William refuses, and in turn, but equally to no effect, urges Brackley to turn back for his wife's and his son's sake. The Gordons are but four against four hundred of Inverey's, and are all killed. Brackley's wife, so far from tearing her hair, braids it, welcomes Inverey, and makes him a feast. The son, on the nurse's knee, vows to be revenged if he lives to be a man. (Cf. 'Johnie Armstrong,' III, 367, where this should have been noted.)
The other versions agree with A a in the material points. Inverey's numbers are diminished. In B 10, C 11, Brackley has only his brother with him, meaning, perhaps, when he leaves his house. The fight was not simply at the gates, but was extended over a considerable distance (A 33, B 11), and other men joined the Gordons in the course of it. In B 12 we learn that the miller's four sons (D 10, the miller and his three sons) were killed with the Gordons (and William Gordon's wife, or bride, in A 25, is 'bonnie Jean, the maid o the mill'). In B 15, D 12, Craigevar comes up with a party, and might have saved Brackley's life had he been there an hour sooner. In A a, b, C, D, Brackley's wife is Peggy (Peggy Dann, wrongly, D 14, 15); in B 19 (wrongly) Catharine Fraser. D makes Catharine the wife of Gordon of Glenmuick (Alexander Gordon, A a 35), who rives her hair, as Brackley's wife does not (14, 15, 18, 19). In C, Peggy Gordon, besides feasting Inverey, keeps him till morning, and then shows him a road by which he may go safely home. C b adds, for poetical justice, that Inverey at once let this haggard down the wind.
This affray occurred in September, 1666. The account of it given by the Gordons (the son of the murdered laird and the Marquis of Huntly) was that John Gordon of Brackley, having poinded cattle belonging to John Farquharson of Inverey, or his followers, Inverey "convoked his people, to revenge himself on Brackley for putting the law in execution; that he came to the house of Brackley, and required the laird to restore his cattle which had been poinded; and that, although the laird gave a fair answer, yet the Farquharsons, with the view of drawing him out of his house, drove away not only the poinded cattle but also Brackley's own cattle, and when the latter was thus forced to come out of his house, the Farquharsons fell on him and murdered him and his brother."
A memorandum for John Farquharson of Inverey and others, 24 January, 1677, "sets forth that John Gordon of Brackley, having bought from the sheriff of Aberdeen the fines exigible from Inverey and others for killing of black-fish, the said Brackley made friendly arrangements with others, but declined to settle with Inverey; whereupon the latter, being on his way to the market at Tullich,[2] sent Mr. John Ferguson, minister at Glenmuick, John McHardy of Crathie, a notary, and Duncan Erskine, portioner of Invergelder, to the laird of Brackley, with the view of representing to him that Inverey and his tenants were willing to settle their fines on the same terms as their neighbors. These proposals were received by Brackley with contempt, and during the time of the communing he gathered his friends and attacked Inverey, and having 'loused severall shotts' against Inverey's party, the return shots of the latter were in self-defence. The result was that the laird of Brackley, with his brother William and their cousin James Gordon in Cults, were killed on the one side, and on the other Robert McWilliam in Inverey, John McKenzie, sometime there, and Malcom Gordon the elder." The convocation of Inverey's friends is accounted for in the same document by the fact that Inverey was captain of the watch for the time; that he and his ancestors had been used to go to the market with men to guard it; and that it is the custom of the country for people who are going to the market to join any numerous company that may be going the same way, either for their own security or out of "kindness for the persons with whom they go," and also the custom of that mountainous country to go with arms, especially at markets. (Abstract, by Dr. John Stuart, of a Manuscript of Col. James Farquharson of Invercauld, Historical Manuscripts Commission, Fourth Report, p. 534).
Another account, agreeing in all important points with the last, is given in a history of the family of Macintosh.[3] It will be borne in mind that Inverey belonged to this clan, and that acts of his would therefore be put in a favorable light. Brackley had seized the horses of some of Inverey's people on account of fines alleged to be due by them for taking salmon in the Dee out of season. Inverey represented to Brackley that the sufferers by this proceeding were men who had incurred no penalty, and offered, if the horses should be restored, to deliver the guilty parties for punishment. Brackley would not return the horses on these terms, and Inverey then proposed that the matter in dispute should be left to friends. While Brackley was considering what to do, Alexander Gordon of Aberfeldy came to offer his services, with a body of armed men, and Brackley, now feeling himself strong, rejected the suggestion of a peaceful solution, and set out to attack Inverey. When a collision was impending, Inverey at first drew back, begging Brackley to desist from violence, which only made Brackley and Aberfeldy the keener. Two of Inverey's followers were slain; and then Inverey and his men, in self-defence, turned on their assailants, and killed Gordon of Brackley, his brother William, and James Gordon of Cults.
The Gordons, this account further says, began a prosecution of Inverey and his party before the Court of Justiciary. Inverey had recourse to Macintosh, his chief, who exerted himself so effectually in behalf of his kinsman that when the case was called no plaintiff appeared. Nevertheless Dr. John Stuart (Historical Manuscripts, as above) produces a warrant "for apprehending John Farquharson of Inverey and others his followers, who had been outlawed for not compearing to answer at their trial, and had subsequently continued for many years in their outlawry, associating with themselves a company of thieves, murderers, and sorners; therefore empowering James Innes, Serjeant, and Corporal Radnoch, commanding a party of troops at Kincardine O'Neill, to apprehend the said John Farquharson and his accomplices." From this warrant Dr. Stuart considers that we may infer that Inverey was the aggressor in the affray with Brackley. But there is nothing to identify the case, and the date of the warrant is February 12, 1685, nearly twenty years from the affair which we are occupied with, during which space, unless he were of an unusually peaceable habit, Inverey might have had several broils on his hands.
Gordon of Brackley, as reported by Mrs. Brown, from what she may have heard in her girlhood, a hundred years after his tragical end, was "a man universally esteemed."[4] "Farquharson of Inverey," says Jamieson, without giving his authority, "a renowned freebooter on Deeside, was his relation, and in habits of friendly intercourse with him. Farquharson was fierce, daring, and active, exhibiting all the worst characteristics of a freebooter, with nothing of that blunt and partially just and manly generosity which were then not uncommonly met with among that description of men. The common people supposed him (as they did Dundee, and others of the same cast who were remarkable for their fortunate intrepidity and miraculous escapes) to be a warlock, and proof against steel and lead. He is said to have been buried on the north side of a hill, which the sun could never shine upon, etc." All which, as far as appears, is merely the tradition of Jamieson's day, and will be taken at different values by different readers.
The 'Peggy' of A a, b, C, D was Margaret Burnet, daughter of Sir Thomas Burnet of Leys, and own cousin of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury.[5] This lady married Gordon of Brackley against her friends' wishes, or without their consent, and so probably made a love-match. After Brackley's death she married one James Leslie, Doctor of Medicine,[6] a fact which will suffice to offset the unconfirmed scandal of the ballad.
It is now to be noted that a baron of Brackley had been murdered by caterans towards the end of the preceding century. "The Clanchattan, who, of all that faction, most eagerly endeavored to revenge the Earl of Murray his death, assembling their forces under Angus Donald Williamson his conduct, entered Strathdee and Glenmuick, where they invaded the Earl of Huntly his lands, and killed four of the surname of Gordon, Henry Gordon of the Knock, Alexander Gordon of Teldow, Thomas Gordon of Blaircharrish, and the old baron of Breaghly, whose death and manner thereof was so much the more lamented because he was very aged, and much given to hospitality, and slain under trust. He was killed by them in his own house after he bad made them good cheer, without suspecting or expecting any such reckoning for his kindly entertainment; which happened the first day of November, 1592. In revenge whereof the Earl of Huntly assembled some of his forces and made an expedition into Pettie," etc. (See No 183, III, 456.) So writes Sir Robert Gordon, before 1630.[7]
Upon comparing Sir Robert Gordon's description of the old baron of Brackley who was murdered in 1592 with what is said of the baron in the ballad (A), there is a likeness for which there is no historical authority in the instance of the baron of 1666. The ballad intimates the hospitality which is emphasized by Sir Robert Gordon, and also the baron's unconsciousness of his having any foe to dread. ("An honest aged man," says Spotiswood, "against whom they could pretend no quarrel.") Other details are not pertinent to the elder baron, but belong demonstrably to the Brackley who had a quarrel with Farquharson.
Of the two, the older Brackley would have a better chance of being celebrated in a ballad. He was an aged and innocent man, slain while dispensing habitual hospitality, "slain under trust." The younger Brackley treated Inverey's people harshly, there was an encounter, Brackley was killed, and others on both sides. His friends may have mourned for him, but there was no call for the feeling expressed in the ballad; that would be more naturally excited by the death of the kindly old man, 'who basely was slain.' On the whole it may be surmised that two occurrences, or even two ballads, have been blended, and some slight items of corroborative evidence may favor this conclusion.
'The Gordons may mourn him and bann Inverey,' says B 14. It appears that the Earl of Aboyne sided with Inverey, though the Marquis of Huntly supported the laird of Brackley's son;[8] whereas all the Gordons would have mourned the older baron, and none would have maintained the caterans who slew him.
In the affray with the Farquharsons in 1666 there were killed, of the Gordons, besides Brackley, his brother William and his cousin James Gordon of Cults. The Gordons killed by the Clanchattan in 1592 were Brackley, Henry Gordon of the Knock, an Alexander Gordon (also a Thomas). According to A 34, 35, the Gordons killed were Brackley and his brother William, his cousin James of the Knox [Knocks, Knock], and his uncle Alexander Gordon; according to B 12, 13, there were killed, besides Brackley, "Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock" (one and the same person), Brackley's brother, as we see from 10; in D 10, the killed are Brackley, and Sandy Gordon o the Knock, called Peter in 21. A Gordon of the Knock is named as killed in A, B, D, and it is Henry Gordon in B; an Alexander Gordon is named in A, B. A William Gordon and a James (of the Knocks, not of the Cults) are named in A. On the whole, the names sort much better with the earlier story.
In B 15 we are told that if Craigievar had come up an hour sooner, Brackley had not been slain. Upon this Dr. Joseph Robert son (who assigned the ballad to 1592) has observed, Kinloch Manuscripts, VI, 24, that Craigievar passed to a branch of the family of Forbes in 1625; so that Craigievar would have done nothing to save Brackley in 1666, the Gordons and the Forbeses having long been at feud. To make sense of this stanza we must suppose an earlier date than 1625.
The fourth edition of Spotiswood's history, printed in 1677 (about forty years after the author's death), calls Brackley of 1592 John Gordon. Further, there is this anonymous marginal note, not found in the preceding editions: "I have read in a Manuscript called the Acts of the Gordons, that Glenmuick, Glentaner, Strathdee and Birs were spoiled, and Brachlie, with his son-in-law, slain, by Mackondoquy [that is Maconochie, alias Campbell] of Inner-Aw."[8]
Brackley, on the Muick, is in close vicinity to the village of Ballater, on the Dee, some forty miles westward from Aberdeen.
Translated by Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, p. 156, after Allingham.
Footnotes:
1. Not 1829, as put in the reprint of 1869. "Written hurriedly, in supply of the press, in April and May, 1832. J.R.": Dr. J. Robertson's interleaved copy of the undated first edition. A c is reprinted (with some errors) in The Great North of Scotland Railway, A Guide, by W. Ferguson, 1881, p. 163.
2. A market was established here in 1661 by an act in favor of William Farquharson of Inverey, his heirs, etc. This William had a brother and a son John. William Farquharson of Inverey younger, as "a person of known trust and approven ability," is appointed to keep a guard "this summer for the sherifdom of Kincardine" against cattle-driving Highlanders, July of the same year. Thomson's Acts, VII, 18, 1, 286: pointed out to me by Mr. Macmath.
3. Macfarlane's Genealogical Collections, Manuscript, in the Advocates' Library, I, 29 9 f; already cited by Jamieson, Ballads, I, 108.
4. See a little further on.
5. Gilmour's Decisions, 1701, p. 43. (Macmath.)
6. Col. H. W. Lumsden's Memorials of the Families of Lumsdaine, etc., p. 59.
7. History of the Earldom of Sutherland, p. 21 7 f. To the same effect, Johnntone, Historia Herum Britanniearnm, Amsterdam, 1655, p. 160 f, under the year 1591, and Spotiswood, p. 390, of the editions of 1655, 1666, 1668, under the year 1592. "The History of the Fends," etc., p. 67, ed. 1764, merely repeats Sir Robert Gordon. William Gordon's History of the Family of Gordon, cites Sir Robert Gordon and Johnstone, and calls Gordon of Brackley Alexander.
Still another "Gordon, Baron of Brackley in Deeside," is said to have been murdered by the country people about him in or near 1540: The Genealogy of the Grants, in Macfarlane's Genealogical Collections, I, 168, and An Account of the Rise and Offspring of the Name of Grant, printed for Sir Archibald Grant, Bart., of Monymusk, 1876, p. 30 ff, where the date is put (perhaps through a misprint) before 1480. A horrible revenge was said to have been taken by the Earl of Huntly and James Grant: see the well-known story of the orphans fed at a trough, in Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, chap, xxxix.
8. See the Memorandum for Farquharson in "Fourth Keport," as above, p. 534.
9. Pointed out to me by Mr. Macmath, who, in making this and other communications relating to the Gordons of Brackley, suggested and urged the hypothesis of a mixture of two events in this ballad.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
At least two events are probably confounded in this ballad: (1) the murder of the Baron of Brackley, in 1592, by Highland caterans whom he had hospitably entertained, and (2) an affray occurring in 1666 between John Gordon of Brackley and John Farquharson of Inverey. Other tragedies in the troubled history of the Brackley family may also have contributed to the tradition.
Child's Texts
'The Baronne of Braikley'- Version A a; Child 203 The Baron of Brackley
a. Scarce Ancient Ballads [Alexander Laing], Aberdeen, 1822, p. 9.
b. Buchan's Gleanings, p. 68.
c. The New Deeside Guide, by James Brown (i.e. Joseph Robertson), Aberdeen [1838], p. 46.
1 Inverey cam doun Deeside, whistlin and playin,
He was at brave Braikley's yett ere it was dawin.
2 He rappit fu loudly and wi a great roar,
Cried, Cum doun, cum doun, Braikley, and open the door.
3 'Are ye sleeping, Baronne, or are ye wakin?
Ther's sharpe swords at your yett, will gar your blood spin.
4 'Open the yett, Braikley, and lat us within,
Till we on the green turf gar your bluid rin.'
5 Out spak the brave baronne, owre the castell-wa:
'Are ye cum to spulyie and plunder mi ha?
6 'But gin ye be gentlemen, licht and cum in:
Gin ye drink o my wine, ye'll nae gar my bluid spin.
7 'Gin ye be hir'd widifus, ye may gang by,
Ye may gang to the lawlands and steal their fat ky.
8 'Ther spulyie like rievers o wyld kettrin clan,
Who plunder unsparing baith houses and lan.
9 'Gin ye be gentlemen, licht an cum [in],
Ther's meat an drink i my ha for every man.
10 'Gin ye bir'd widifus, ye may gang by,
Gang doun to the lawlands, and steal horse and ky.'
11 Up spak his ladie, at his bak where she lay,
'Get up, get up, Braikley, and be not afraid;
The'r but young hir'd widifus wi belted plaids.'
12 'Cum kiss me, mi Peggy, I'le nae langer stay,
For I will go out and meet Inverey.
13 'But haud your tongue, Peggy, and mak nae sic din,
For yon same hir'd widifus will prove themselves men.'
14 She called on her marys, they cam to her hand;
Cries, Bring me your rocks, lassies, we will them command.
15 'Get up, get up, Braikley, and turn bak your ky,
Or me an mi women will them defy.
16 'Cum forth then, mi maidens, and show them some play;
We'll ficht them, and shortly the cowards will fly.
17 'Gin I had a husband, whereas I hae nane,
He woud nae ly i his bed and see his ky taen.
18 'Ther's four-and-twenty milk-whit calves, twal o them ky,
In the woods o Glentanner, it's ther thei a' ly.
19 'Ther's goat i the Etnach, and sheep o the brae,
An a' will be plunderd by young Inverey.'
20 'Now haud your tongue, Peggy, and gie me a gun,
Ye'll see me gae furth, but I'll never cum in.
21 'Call mi brother William, mi unkl also,
Mi cousin James Gordon; we'll mount and we'll go.'
22 When Braikley was ready and stood i the closs,
He was the bravest baronne that eer mounted horse.
23 Whan all wer assembld o the castell green,
No man like brave Braikley was ther to be seen.
24 . . . . .
'Turn bak, brother William, ye are a bridegroom;
25 'Wi bonnie Jean Gordon, the maid o the mill;
O sichin and sobbin she'll soon get her fill.'
26 'I'm no coward, brother, 'tis kend I'm a man;
I'll ficht i your quarral as lang's I can stand.
27 'I'll ficht, my dear brother, wi heart and gude will,
And so will young Harry that lives at the mill.
28 'But turn, mi dear brother, and nae langer stay:
What'll cum o your ladie, gin Braikley thei slay?
29 'What'll cum o your ladie and bonnie young son?
O what'll cum o them when Braikley is gone?'
30 'I never will turn: do you think I will fly?
But here I will ficht, and here I will die.'
31 'Strik dogs,' crys Inverey, a+end ficht till ye're slayn,
For we are four hundered, ye are but four men.
32 'Strik, strik, ye proud boaster, your honour is gone,
Your lands we will plunder, your castell we'll burn.'
33 At the head o the Etnach the battel began,
At Little Auchoilzie thei killd the first man.
34 First thei killd ane, and soon they killd twa,
Thei killd gallant Braikley, the flour o them a'.
35 Thei killd William Gordon, and James o the Knox,
And brave Alexander, the flour o Glenmuick.
36 What sichin and moaning was heard i the glen,
For the Baronne o Braikley, who basely was slayn!
37 'Cam ye bi the castell, and was ye in there?
Saw ye pretty Peggy tearing her hair?'
38 'Yes, I cam by Braikley, and I gaed in there,
And there [saw] his ladie braiding her hair.
39 'She was rantin, and dancin, and singin for joy,
And vowin that nicht she woud feest Inverey.
40 'She eat wi him, drank wi him, welcomd him in,
Was kind to the man that had slayn her baronne.'
41 Up spake the son on the nourice's knee,
'Gin I live to be a man, revenged I'll be.'
42 Ther's dool i the kitchin, and mirth i the ha,
The Baronne o Braikley is dead and awa.
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'The Baron of Brackley'- Version B; Child 203 The Baron of Brackley
Kinloch Manuscripts, V, 379, in the handwriting of John Hill Burton.
1 'Baron of Brackley, are ye in there?
The're sharp swords at yer yetts, winna ye spear.'
2 If they be gentlemen, lat them cum in;
But if they be reavers, we'll gar them be taen.'
3 It is na gentlemen, nor yet pretty lads,
But a curn hir'd widdifus, wears belted plaids.'
4 She called on her women and bade them come in:
'Tack a' yer rocks, lasses, and we'll them coman.
5 'We'll fecht them, we'll slight them, we'll do what we can,
And I vow we will shoot them altho we shod bang.
6 'Rise up, John,' she said, a+end turn in yer kye,
For they'll hae them to the Hielands, and you they'l defie.'
7 'Had your still, Catharine, and still yer young son,
For ye'll get me out, but I'll never cum in.'
8 'If I had a man, as I hae na nane,
He wudna lye in his bed and see his kye tane.'
9 'Ye'll cum kiss me, my Peggy, and bring me my gun,
For I'm gaing out, but I'll never cum in.'
10 There was twenty wi Invery, twenty and ten;
There was nane wi the baron but his brother and him.
11 At the head of Reneeten the battle began;
Ere they wan Auchoilzie, they killed mony a man.
12 They killed Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock,
The mullertd's four sons up at Glenmuick.
13 They killed Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock,
And they made the brave baron like kail to a pot.
14 First they killed ane, and then they killed twa,
Then they killed the brave baron, the flower o them a'.
15 Then up came Craigievar, and a party wi him,
If he had come an hour sooner, Brackley had not been slain.
16 'Came ye by Brackley? and was ye in there?
Or say ye his lady, was making great care?'
17 'I came by Brackley, and I was in there,
But I saw his lady no making great care.
18 'For she eat wi them, drank wi them, welcomed them in;
She drank to the villain that killed her guid man.
19 'Woe to ye, Kate Fraser! sorry may yer heart be,
To see yer brave baron's blood cum to yer knee.'
20 There is dule in the kitchen, and mirth i the ha,
But the Baron o B[r]ackley is dead and awa.
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'The Baron of Braikly'- Version C a; Child 203 The Baron of Brackley
a. Jamieson-Brown Manuscript, Appendix, p. viii, as transcribed for Jamison by Rev. Andrew Brown, and sent him by Mrs. Brown in a letter of June 18, 1801.
b. Jamieson's Popular Ballads, 1, 102; Mrs. Brown's copy combined with an imperfect one taken down by Sir W. Scott "from the recitation of two ladies, great-grandchildren of Farquhanon of Inverey."
1 O Inverey came down Dee side, whistling and playing;
He's landed at Braikly's yates at the day dawing.
2 Says, Baron of Braikly, are ye within?
There's sharp swords at the yate will gar your blood spin.
3 The lady raise up, to the window she went;
She heard her kye lowing oer hill and oer bent.
4 'O rise up, John,' she says, 'Turn back your kye;
They're oer the hills rinning, they're skipping away.'
5 'Come to your bed, Peggie, and let the kye rin,
For were I to gang out, I would never get in.'
6 Then she's cry'd on her women, they quickly came ben:
'Take up your rocks, lassies, and fight a' like men.
7 'Though I'm but a woman, to head you I'll try,
Nor let these vile Highland-men steal a' our kye.'
8 Then up gat the baron, and cry'd for his graith;
Says, Lady, I'll gang, tho to leave you I'm laith.
9 'Come, kiss me, my Peggie, nor think I'm to blame;
For I may well gang out, but I'll never win in.'
10 When the Baron of Braikly rade through the close,
A gallanter baron neer mounted a horse.
11 Tho there came wi Inverey thirty and three,
There was nane wi bonny Braikly but his brother and he.
12 Twa gallanter Gordons did never sword draw;
But against four and thirty, wae's me, what was twa?
13 Wi swords and wi daggers they did him surround,
And they've pierc'd bonny Braikly wi mony a wound.
14 Frae the head of the Dee to the banks of the Spey,
The Gordons may mourn him, and bann Inverey.
15 'O came ye by Braikly, and was ye in there?
Or saw ye his Peggy dear riving her hair?'
16 'O I came by Braikly, and I was in there,
But I saw not his Peggy dear riving her hair.'
17 'O fye on ye, lady! how could ye do sae?
You opend your yate to the faus Inverey.'
18 She eat wi him, drank wi him, welcomd him in;
She welcomd the villain that slew her baron.
19 She kept him till morning, syne bad him be gane,
And showd him the road that he woud na be tane.
20 'Thro Birss and Aboyne,' she says, 'lyin in a tour,
Oer the hills of Glentanor you'll skip in an hour.'
21 There is grief in the kitchen, and mirth in the ha,
But the Baron of Braikly is dead and awa.
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'The Baron of Breachell'- Version D; Child 203 The Baron of Brackley
Skene Manuscript, p. 110; north of Scotland, 1802-3.
1 'Baron o Breachell, are ye within?
The sharp souerd is at yer gate, Breachell, we'll gar yer blood spin.'
2 'Thei'r at yer gate, Breachel, the'r neither men nor lads,
But fifty heard widifas, wi belted plaids.'
3 'O if I had a man,' she says, aes it looks I had nane,
He widna sit in the house and see my kye tane.
4 'But lasses tak down yer rocks, and we will defend
. . . . . . . .
5 'O kiss me, dear Peggy, and gee me down my gun,
I may well ga out, but I'll never come in.'
6 Out spak his brither, says, Gee me yer hand;
I'll fight in yer cause sae lang as I may stand.
7 Whan the Baron o Breachell came to the closs,
A braver baron neir red upon horse.
8 . . . . . . . .
I think the silly heard widifas are grown fighten men.
9 First they killed ane, and syen they killed twa,
And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.
10 They killed Sandy Gordon, Sandy Gordon o the Knock,
The miller and his three sons, that lived at Glenmuick.
11 First they killed ane, and seyn they killed twa,
And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.
12 Up came Crigevar and a' his fighten men:
'Had I come an hour soonur, he sudna been slain.'
13 For first they killed ane, and seyn they killed twa,
And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.
14 'O came ye by Breachell, lads? was ye in their?
Saw ye Peggy Dann riving her hair?'
15 'We cam by Breachell, lads, we was in there,
And saw Eggie Dann cairling her hair.
16 'She eat wi them, drank wi them, bad them come in
To her house an bours that had slain her baron.
17 'Come in, gentlemen, eat and drink wi me;
Tho ye ha slain my baron, I ha na a wite at ye.'
18 'O was [ye] at Glenmuik, lads? was ye in theire?
Saw ye Cathrin Gordon rivin her hair?'
19 'We was at Glenmuik, lads, we was in there,
We saw Cathrin Gordon rivin her hair.
20 'Wi the tear in her eye, seven bairns at her foot,
The eighth on her knee . . .
21 The killed Peter Gordon, Peter Gordon of the Knock,
The miller and his three sons, that lived at Glenmuik.
22 First they killed ane, and syn they killed twa,
And the Baron of Breachell is dead and awa.
----------
End-Notes
A. No division of stanzas. Both copies are probably from stalk-prints or broadsides, b differs frequently from a in spelling.
a. 52, 81. spulzie.
61. gentlmen.
113, 251, 401. we for wi.
221. thee.
301. I will never.
b. 111. laid.
113. yonng wanting.
132. prove to be men.
152. For me.
161. ply.
191. Ther are goats.
202. never return.
221. thee.
252. seen (phonetic).
261. it 's kent.
301. I never will: ye.
302. No, here.
341. an syne.
361. was heard.
382. ther said.
c. This copy is to the extent of about two thirds taken from a; half a dozen stanzas are from Jamieson's text, C b; half a dozen more agree, nearly or entirely, with B, and may have been derived from Dr. J. H. Burton, or directly from some traditional source. The order has been regulated by the editor, who has also made a slight verbal change now and then.
1-3 = a 1-3. 4-8 = 5-9. 9 = 111,2, nearly (c 92, and face Inverey). 112= 132. 12-14 = 18, 19, 17. 15 = 15, nearly; cf. B 61. 171 = 162. 18 = 20, nearly. 19 = 21. 22 = 31, with different numbers. 23 = 33: Reneatan for Etnach, cf. B 111. 24 = 35. 25 = 34. 29 = 38. 30 = 39. 311 = 401. 322= 402, B 182. 35 = 41. 36 = 42. 37 = 36.
From C b. 20 = 12. 21 = 13, nearly. 26 = 16. 33, 34 = 23, 24, nearly. 38 = 17. 10 (nearly B 6: cf. c 151).
Get up, get up Brackley, and turn back your kye,
Or they'll hae them to the Highlands, and you they'll defy.
16 (nearly B 4: cf. a 14):
She called on her maidens, and bade them come in:
Tak a' your rocks, lasses, we will them comman.
27 (nearly B 15: cf. D 12). Had he come one hour, etc.
28 = B 16. 312= B 182 (a 402). She drank to the villain that killed her barrone.
32 = B 19, nearly. Wae to you, Kate Fraser, sad may your heart be.
B. 111. Keneeten perhaps: b. Reneatan.
121. They for The.
C. a. Not divided, but roughly marked off into stanzas of four verses.
62. frocks for rocks.
b. 11. Down Dee side came Inverey.
12. lighted at Brackley yates.
21. O are.
41. rise up, ye baron, and.
42. For the lads o Drumwharran are driving them bye.
5. 'How can I rise, lady, or turn them again?
Whareer I have ae man, I wat they hae ten.'
6. 'Then rise up, my lasses, tak rocks in your hand,
And turn back the kye; I hae you at command.
7. 'Gin I had a husband, as I hae nane,
He wadna lye in his bower, see his kye tane.'
81. got.
After 8:
Come kiss me then, Peggy, and gie me my speir;
I ay was for peace, tho I never feard weir.
91. me then, Peggy.
92. I weel may gae out.
101. When Brakley was busked and rade oer the closs.
102. neer lap to a.
After 10:
When Brackley was mounted and rade oer the green,
He was as bald a baron as ever was seen.
122. what is.
151. by Brackley yates, was.
161. by Brackley yates, I.
162. And I saw his Peggy a-making good cheer.
After 16:
The lady she feasted them, carried them ben;
She laughd wi the men that her baron had slain.
171. on you: could you.
172. yates.
192. shoudna.
"Poetical justice requires that I should subjoin the concluding stanza of the fragment, which could not be introduced into the text; as the reader cannot be displeased to learn that the unworthy spouse of the amiable, affectionate, and spirited baron of Brackley was treated by her unprincipled gallant as she deserved, and might have expected:
Inverey spak a word, he spak it wrang;
'My wife and my bairns will be thinking lang.'
'O wae fa ye, Inverey! ill mat ye die!
First to kill Brackley, and then to slight me.'
D. Title, 11, etc. Breachell. Perhaps miscopied by Skene from Breachlie; and so Crigeran,
121, for Crigevar.
172. at thee.
-------------
Additions and Corrections
To be Corrected in the Print.
81 b, seventeenth and twenty-fourth lines. Read Abergeldy.
82 b, note, first line. Read Brachally in Dee Water Side.
P. 83, note †.
I prefer to say, two or more events. The citations already given in this work may possibly cover four distinct tragedies, and William Anderson, in his Genealogy and Surnames, 1865, p. 104, tells us (but without stating his authority) there was "a line of nine barons, all of whom, in the unruly times in which they lived, died violent deaths." The ballad may have commenced originally: "Inverawe (= Inner-Aw) cam doun Deeside." (W. Macmath.)
P. 79. Fragment from Findlay Manuscripts, I, 209, derived from Mrs. McKenzie, Advie, Morayshire.
1 'O are ye sleepin, haul B[r]achlie, or are ye at hame?
For the caterans are at ye, an a' your kye's taen.'
2 . . .
'Ye'll fling your rocks, lasses, we'll fecht them our lane.
3 'We'll fecht them an fleg them, an gar them rin hame,
We'll stand them in battle, as gin we were men.
4 'There's four-an-twenty milk-white kine in Glentanner free,
In the parks o Glentanner sae fain's I wad be!'
5 He's called on his lady to give him his gun:
'I'm gaun oot, Katie, but I'll never come home.'
6 She's a' her gates wide open flung, an she's welcomed them in,
An she sleeps wi the villain that slew her baron.
11. Baulbachlie.
52. home originally; altered to in.
The stanzas have been arranged by the light of A.
87. D, as it stands in "The Old Lady's Collection," No 25, 'The Barren of Breachell.'
1 'Barron of Breachell, are ye withen?
The sharp sourd is att yer gate, Breachell, will gar yer blod spine.'
2 'The'r at yer gate, Brichell, the 'r nether men nor lads,
Bat silly heard widifaus, we belted plaids.
3 'O if I had a man,' she says, 'as it louks I haa nean,
He widne sit in the house an see my kay tean.
4 'Bat, lasses, tak doun yer rokes, an we will defend,'
. . .
5 'O kiss me, d[ea]r Peggey, an gee me doun my gun,
I may well gaa out, bat I ill never come in.'
6 Out spak his brother, says, Gee me your hand,
I [ill] fight in your caus as lang as I may stan.
7 Fan the Ban-on of Brechell came to the closs,
A braver barren never read upon horse.
8 . . .
'I think the silly heard widdefus are groun fighten men.'
9 First they killed an, and sayn they killed tua,
An the Barren of Brichell is dead an awa.
10 They killed Sandy Gordon, Sandy Gordon of the Enok,
The miller an his three sons, that lived att Glenmuke.
11 First they killed ane, an sayn they killed tua,
An the Barron of Brichell is dead an awaa.
12 Up came Crigevar an a' his fighten men:
'Had I come an houre sinner, he sudna ben slain.'
13 For first they killed an, an sayn they killed tua,
An the Barron of Breachell is dead an awa.
14 'O came ye by Brechell, lads? was ye in ther?
Saw ye Peggie Doun, raving her hear?'
15 'We came by Breache[l], lads, we was in ther;
We saa Peggie Doun, curling her hear.
16 'She ate we them, drank we them, bad them come in
To her haas an her bours that had slain her barron.'
17 'Come in, gentelmen, ate an drink we me;
Tho ye have slain my barron, I ha na ill well att thee.'
18 O was ye att Glenmuck, lads? was ye in ther?
Saa ye Catren Gordon, raving her hear?'
19 'We was att Gleanmuck, lads, we was in ther,
We saa Catren Gordon, ravi[n]g her hear.
20 'We the tear in her eay,
Seven bearns att her foot, the eaght on her knee.
21 They killed Peater Gordon, Peater Gordon of the Knok.
The miller an his three sons, that lives att Glenmuck.
22 First they killed an, an sayn they killed twa,
An the Barron of Breachell is dead an awaa.