Bonnie Hoose o' Earlie- McGill (NB) 1927 Barry A
[From British Ballads from Maine, Barry, Eckstorn and Smyth, 1929. Barry's notes follow.
A print version was supplied to McGill by Barry and this is likely a ballad recreation from recollections and print. McGill was born in Scotland.
R. Matteson 2015]
THE BONNIE HOUSE OF AIRLIE
(Child 199)
Our A-text is nearly identical with Child's A b as printed in 1808 by J. Finlay (Scottish Historical and, Romantic Ballads, II, B1-SB). The melody, which is quite unlike Gavin Greig's 1 a, 1 b (forms of an air published also in G. Thomson's Select Melodies, T, 34, R. A. Smith's Scottish Minstrel,, II, 2, W. Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 276), differs also from the air in G. R. Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 100, but is closely related to Greig's 2a, 2b (Last Leaves, p. 125), as well as to the Jacobite tune recently set to "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond."
A. "The Bonnie Hoose o' Earlie." Written out by Mrs. James McGill, Chamcook, New Brunswick, November, 1927.
1 It fell on a day, a-bonnie simmer's day,
When the corn grew ripe an' Yellow,
There fell oot a great dispute
Between Argyll an' Earlie.
2 The Duke o' Montrose he's written ta'e Argyll
Tae com' in the mornin' early
An' lead in his men by the back ot Dunkeld
Tae plunder the bonnie hoose o' Earlie.
3 The Ladye looked ower her winda sae high
An' O but she looked weary,
For there she espied the great Argyll
Com' tae plunder the bonnie hoose o' Earlie.
4 "Com' doon, com' doon, Lady Margaret," he says,
''Com' doon an' kiss me fairly,
For afore the morn is clear daylicht
Ah'll no leave a stanin' stane in Earlie."
5 "I wadna kiss thee, great Argyll
I wadna kiss thee fairly,
Tho before the morn was clear daylicht
Gin ye suldna leave a stanin' stane in Earlie."
6 He's taen her by the waist sae sma,
Sayin' "Ladle, where is your dowie?[1]"
"O, it's up, it's"doon, the bonnie burn side
That rins thro the plantiln's o' Earlie."
7 They socht it up, they socht it doon,
They socht it late an' earlv,
They foun' it in the bonnie balm tree,
That stanes in the bowlin' green o' Earlie.
8 He's taen her by the left shoulder,
An' O, but she grat sairly,
An' he's led her doon tae yon green bank
Till they plundered the bonnie hoose o' Earlie.
9 "O, it's a hae seven braw sons," she said,
"An' the youngest ne'er saw his daddie,
An' gin I had as mony mair
I'd gae them a' tae prince Charlie.
10 "O, gin my lord had bin at hame,
An' this nicht he's wi' Charlie
There's dauna a Campbell in a' the west,
Hae plundered the bonnie hoose o' Earlie."
1. dowry