No. 294: Dugall Quin
[There are no known US or Canadian traditional versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (There are no footnotes for this ballad)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-B (A second version, Kittredge calls B, was added in Additions and Corrections]
5. End-Notes
6. Additions and Corrections (See Version B)
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 294. Dugall Quin
A. Roud No. 3928: Dugall Quin (4 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 294. Dugall Quin (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child version A-B)
Child's Narrative: 294. Dugall Quin
A. 'Dugall Quin,' The Old Lady's Manuscript Collection, No 27.
[B. 'Donald M'Queen's Flight wi Lizie Menzie,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 117.]
In this little ballad, which has barely story enough to be so called, Dugald Quin, a Highlander, who seems to give himself out as a man in very humble circumstances, induces Lizzie Menzies, a young lady who appears to have nine maids at her command, to follow him, regardless of her father's opposition. She cannot resist his merry winking eyes. After she has cast in her lot with his, he promises her nine mills (to match the nine maids), and to make her lady of Garlogie. The old lady minutes at the end of her copy that "it was the Marquis of Huntly."
One version of 'Rob Roy,' No 225, I, 8, has a stanza like 2.
'What think ye o my coal-black hair,
But and my twinkling een, lady,
A little bonnet on my head,
And cocket up aboon, lady?'
I suppose the Farie of 62, 92, to stand for a locality on the waycaorth to Boggie (Strathbogie); I cannot, however, identify the place. 'Tempeng chiss of farie,' 64, 94, 104, may be a tempting fairy treasure. 'Chis' is Gaelic for tribute, but I am at present unable, making whatever allowance for the capricious spelling of the manuscript, to suggest any satisfying explanation of this important phrase.
Sir Walter Scott makes this note: "How the devil came Dugald Gunn [so he chooses to read Quin] to be identified with the Marquis of Huntly? I never saw the song before; it has some spunk in it." Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 154.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
B, though corrupted at the end, removes the chief verbal difficulties of A. The conclusion of B is borrowed mostly from 'The Gypsy Laddie' (No. 200).
Child's Ballad Texts
'Dugall Quin'- Version A; Child 294 Dugal Quin
'Dugall Quin,' The Old Lady's Manuscript Collection, No 27.
1 Dugall Quin came to the toun,
An he's ben lang awaa,
An he is one to Lissie's bed,
Tartan, trues, an a'.
2 'Hou wad ye leak me, Lisie,' he says,
'Gin that I war yer ain,
We raged cot apon my back,
An singel-soled sheen,
A littel we bonnet on my head,
An tua merry wenking ean?'
3 'Well wad I leak ye, Dugall,' she says,
'Gin that ye war my ain,
We ragged coat upon yer back,
An singel-soled sheen,
A littel we bonnet on yer head,
An tua merry wenking eyn.
4 'Hou wad ye leak me, Dugall,' she says,
'Gin I wer yer ain,
We silken sneed upon my head,
An gold fann in my hand,
An madins ning, a' clead in green,
To be att my comand?'
5 'Well wad I leak ye, Lisie,' he says,
'Gin ye wer my ain,
We silken sneed upon yer head,
An a goud fan in yer hand,
An madins nine, a' clad in green,
To be att yer command.
6 'Follou me nou, Lisie,' he says,
'Follou me throu Farie,
An reap the boddoms of my pakets,
An ye'll gett tempeng chiss of farei.'
7 Outspak her father, says,
Lissie, I widna wish ye,
For gin ye gay we this young man
They will say I ha bat lost ye.
8 'O had yer toung, my father dear,
For a' that winne brake me;
For I will gaa we this young man,
Since it's his will to take me.'
9 'Follou me nou, Liss,' he says,
'An follou me throu Farie,
An reap the boddom of my poket,
An ye'll gett tempeng chess of farie.'
10 'Wea matt worth yer well-fared face,
Alas that ever I saa ye!
The first an thing that ever ye gaa to me
Was the tempen chess of farie.'
11 Dugall Quin read doun the toun,
Upon Dumfarling's horses,
An Lisie Meanes folloued him,
For a' her father's forces.
12 'Follou me nou, Lisie,' he says,
'An follou me our Boggie;
I ill make ye lady of ning mills,
An lady of bonny Garlog.'
13 She has folloued her trou-love
[An folloued him] our Boggie,
An she has marred Dugall Quin,
An lives belou Strathbogy.
End-Notes
25. bomnet.
45, 123. ning: a frequent spelling of the old lady's, conceived, perhaps, as nign. We have nine in 56.
123. ill; Manuscript aill.
Note at the end: it was the markes of Huntly
Additions and Corrections
P. 165. Dugald Gunn, Mr. Macmath suggests, may have been a mistaken reading of Scott's difficult handwriting on the part of the editor of the Ballad Book; as is certainly the case with regard to The Stirrup of Northumberland, V, 207 b, No 9, G.
I unhappily forgot Buchan's 'Donald M'Queen's Flight wi Lizie Menzie,' Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 117, which, though I think it corrupted at the end, removes the principal verbal difficulties in the Old Lady's copy. Mr. Walker of Aberdeen has reminded me of Buchan's ballad, and he had previously suggested to me that Dunfermline was proprietor of Fyvie, and this fact had disposed me to read Fyvie where the text already given has farei, farie. Of the rightfulness of this reading there can now be no doubt, though information is desirable as to the tempting cheese of Fyvie, of which I have not found mention elsewhere.
Buchan, II, 319, makes the following note on his copy: —
"Donald M'Queen, the hero of this ballad, was one of the servants of Baron Seaton of Fyvie, who, with his master, had fled to France after the rebellion in 1715. Baron Seaton having died in France, Donald, his man, returned to Fyvie with one of his master's best horses, and procured a love potion, alias 'the tempting cheese of Fyvie,' which had the effect of bewitching, or, in other words, casting the glamour oer his mistress, Lizie Menzie, the Lady of Fyvie. Some years afterwards this lady went through the country as a common pauper, when, being much fatigued, and in a forlorn condition, she fell fast asleep in the mill of Fyvie, whither she had gone to solicit an alms (charity): on her awakening, she declared that she had just now slept as soun a sleep with the meal-pock beneath her head, as ever she had done on the best down-bed of Fyvie. This information I had from James Rankin, an old blind man, who is well acquainted with the traditions of the country."
Alexander Seaton acquired Fyvie, it is said, in 1596, and in 1606 was created Earl of Dunfermline. Castle and title were forfeited in 1689, and the property was purchased of the crown in 1726 by the Earl of Aberdeen. Dunfermline had no horses for Dugald or Donald to take after 1689. The whole story of Lizie Menzie, Baroness of Seaton, seems to be a fiction as sheer as it is vulgar. Lizie Menzie's forsaking her husband for a footman is refuted by the well-informed Rankin himself, who tells us that the husband had died in France before his man "returned to Fyvie with one of his master's best horses." The conclusion is borrowed mostly from 'The Gypsy Laddie,' where even the drinking of one's own brewage is to be found; but 'The Gypsy Laddie' is not to be reproached with the foolish last stanza.
'Donald M'Queen's Flight wi Lizie Menzie,'- Version B; Child 294 Dugal Quin
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 117.
1 Donald, he's come to this town,
And he's been lang awa,
And he is on to Lizie's bedside,
Wi his tartan trews and a'.
2 'How woud you like me, Lizie,' he said,
'An I ware a' your ain,
Wi tartan coat upo my back,
And single-soled sheen,
A blue bonnetie on my head,
And my twa winking een?'
3 'Weel woud I like you, Donald,' she said,
'An ye ware a' my ain,
Wi tartan coat upo your back,
And single-soled sheen,
And little blue bonnetie on your head,
And blessings on your een.
4 'But how woud ye like me, Donald,' she said,
'An I ware a' your ain,
Wi a siller snood into my head,
A gowd fan in my hand,
And maidens clad in green satins,
To be at my command?'
5 'Weel woud I like you, Lizie,' he said,
'And ye ware a' my ain,
Wi a siller snood into your head,
A gowd fan in your hand,
But nane o your maidens clad in green,
To be at your command.'
6 Then but it speaks her mither dear,
Says, 'Lizie, I maun cross you;
To gang alang wi this young man,
We'd think we had but lost you.'
7 'O had your tongue, my mither dear,
And dinna think to break me;
For I will gang wi this young man,
If it is his will to take me.'
8 Donald M'Queen rade up the green,
On ane o Dumfermline's horses,
And Lizie Menzie followed him,
Thro a' her father's forces.
9 'O follow me, Lizie, my heart's delight,
And follow me for you please;
Kype well the grounds o my pouches,
And ye'll get tempting cheese.'
10 'O wae mat worth you, Donald M'Queen!
Alas, that ever I saw thee!
The first love-token ye gae me
Was the tempting cheese o Fyvie.
11 'O wae be to the tempting cheese,
The tempting cheese o Fyvie,
Gart me forsake my ain gudeman
And follow a footman-laddie!
12 'But lat me drink a hearty browst,
Just sic as I did brew!
On Seton brave I turnd my back,
A' for the sake o you.'
13 She didna wear the silken gowns
Were made into Dumbarton,
But she is to the Highlands gane,
To wear the weeds o tartan.
14 She's casten aff the high-heeM sheen,
Made o the Turkey leather,
And she's put on the single brogues,
To skip amo the heather.
15 Well can Donald hunt the buck,
And well can Lizie sew;
Whan ither trades begin to fail,
They can take their bowies and brew.