Earl of Murray- Olney (VT) 1939 Olney/Flanders A
[From Ancient Ballads; Flanders, notes Coffin, 1963. Their notes follow. Frist published in Ballads Migrant in New England (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Young), 1953. As stated in my headnotes (US & Canada versions) this version is suspicious for many reasons.
R. Matteson 2015]
The Bonnie Earl of Murray
(Child 181)
In the winter of 1592, the Earl of Huntly was given a commission by the King to bring his arch enemy the Earl of Murray to trial in connection with Bothwell's raid on Holyrood House. Huntly went to Donibristle, where Murray was staying with his mother, but could not get Murray to surrender. He fired the house, causing the inmates to flee. Murray, who waited till the last possible moment to leave the burning building, nearly escaped, but was spotted among the rocks because the tip of his helmet had caught fire. He was captured and slain. Huntly's men made their leader, who had no part in the actual killing, stab the corpse so he would be unable to shirk responsibility for the crime. However, in spite of public indignation, Huntly was never punished. See Edward D. Ives, "'The Bonny Earl of Murray': The Ballad as History," in MWF,IX, 133-138, for a thorough treatment of these events and the anti-Catholic feelings involved in them. Ives believes the ballad was originally used to fan anti-Huntly indignation.
The ballad tells little of the story, though it may have been more complete at one time. Child has two versions that are merely lyric laments. In America, it is usually found in the form of Child A, although Child B seems to have had some currency in Wisconsin and New England. The Flanders A text is Child A with the fourth stanza omitted. The Flanders B text is a fusion of Child A and B. Flanders stanzas 1, 2, and 5 correspond to Child A 1, 2, and 4, while stanzas 3 and 4 correspond to Child B 5 and 6. The final stanza from the Vermont text is not in the Child versions.
See Coffin, 117, for the brief American bibliography. The song is not listed in Dean-Smith.
The two tunes for Child 181 are not related.
A. The Earl of Murray. The following text and tune were copied from the written back pages of an old, receipt book belonging to Mrs. Charles L. Olney, Springfield, Vermont. Printed in Ballads Migrant in New England, 143. M. Olney, Collector; February, 1939. Structure: 41 A2 AB (4,4,4); Rhythm divergent, but related to A; Contour: each line an arc; Scale: hexatonic; t.c. E,.
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
O! where have you been?
They have slain the Earl of Murray
And they laid him on the green!
They have slain the Earl of Murray
And they laid him on the green!
Now woe be to thee, Huntley!
And wherefore did you see?
I bade you bring him with you,
But forbade you him to slay.
(repeat last two lines)
He was a brave gallant,
And he rode at the ring,
And the Bonnie Earl of Murray
O! might have been a king!
(repeat last two lines)
He was a brave gallant,
And he played at the glove;
And the Bonnie Earl of Murray,
O! he was the Queen's love!
(repeat last two lines)
O! long will this lady
Look o'er the castle down,
Ere she sees the Earl of Murray
Come sounding through the town
(repeat last two lines)