The lives of them I freely give, At Bullen too they did advance, St. George's lusty standard then ; For ill May-day, and ill May-games, We see on May-day's eve at night, By London's watch in armour bright. 115 119 125 Still to prevent the like misdeed, came; And that's the cause that I do read, May-day doth get so ill a name. Johnie of Breadislee. printed by Sir Walter Scott-"from the dif ferent copies." Mr. Motherwell reprints it, but gives also these fragments of a more ancient composition, entitled "Johnie of Braid Johnie rose up on a May morning, Called for water to wash his hands; THIS is styled by Sir Walter Scott "an an- | ballad; the one we have selected is that cient Nithsdale Ballad," the hero of which appears to have been an outlaw and deerstealer; probably one of the broken men residing upon the border. It is sometimes said that he possessed the old castle of Morton, inisbank :". Dumfries-shire, now ruinous :-"Near to this castle there was a park, built by Sir Thomas Randolph, on the face of a very great and high hill; so artificially, that, by the advantage of the hill, all wild beasts, such as deers, harts, and roes, and hares, did easily leap in, but could not get out again; and if any other cattle, such as cows, sheep, or goats, did voluntarily leap in, or were forced to do it, it is doubled if their owners were permitted to get them out again." But the date of Johnie's history must be very remote, for the scene of his exploits has been reduced from the condition of a deer-forest to that of a cultivated domain from a time "beyond the memory of tradition."* There are several versions of the * Another tradition, according to Motherwell, assigns Braid, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, to have been the scene of the "woful hunting;"-"and," writes Mr. Cunningham, "Breadeslee, near Lochmaben, has been Johnie lookit east, and Johnie lookit west, 5 Johnie shot, and the dun deer lap, And he's wounded her in the side; "And the neist will lay her pride." 10 pointed out as the more probable residence of the hero of the song; and the scenery in the neighbourhood, and the traditions of the country, countenance the supposition." They've eaten sae mickle o' the gude venison, | These stanzas, however, may have been a And they've drunken sae muckle o' the modern interpolation. Mr. Cunningham, "There's no a bird in a' this forest And straik it on my e'e bree." Another copy has been printed by Robert Chambers-Scottish Ballads-partly taken from the ballads of Scott and Motherwell, and partly from the "recitation of a lady resident at Peebles, and from a MS. copy submitted to him by Mr. Kinloch." He publishes, for the first time, no fewer than ten additional stanzas; we select three, as indicating that the hero held a higher station than that of a mere deer-stealer: His cheeks were like the roses red, His coat was o' the scarlet red, The shirt that was upon his back, also, prints a version, into which he has evidently introduced some improvements of his own. We copy the concluding verse: "O lay my brown sword by my side, And my bent bow at my feet; And stay the howling o' my gray dogs That sound may be my sleep." His dogs are dead, his bent bow broke, And his shafts that flew sae free; And he lies dead near Durisdeer, Fair John of Breadislee. The daring exploits of border outlaws are the themes of many ancient ballads; the reckless character of their lives, their indomitable courage, and continual escapes from their enemies and the law, suggested favourable topics to the old minstrels; several of them are singular for the adventures they describe,, although few advance very high claims to poetic merit. One of the most striking is published by Ritson (“ Ancient Songs”), and re-published, with "better readings," by Scott. It is entitled by Ritson "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime;" and by Scott, "Hughie the Græme." The following are the introductory verses: Gude Lord Scroope's to the hunting gane, He has ridden o'er moss and muir; And he has grippit Hughie the Græme, For stealing o' the bishop's mare. "Now, good Lord Scroope, this may not be? "I ne'er was afraid of a traitor thief; Although thy name be Hughie the Græme, I'll make thee repent thee of thy deeds, If God but grant me but life and time.” JOHNNIE rose up in a May morning, Called for water to wash his hands"Gar loose to me the gude graie dogs That are bound wi' iron bands." When Johnie's mother gat word o' that, 5 The buttons that were on his sleeve Her hands for dule she wrang— "O Johnie! for my benison, To the greenwood dinna gang! Eneugh ye hae o' gude wheat bread, And eneugh o' the blude-red wine; But Johnie's busk't up his gude bend bow, And he has gane to Durrisdeer, As he came down by Merriemas, Johnie he shot, and the dun deer lap, His hounds they laid her pride. Were o' the goud sae gude: 50 Then out and spak the first forester, 10 15 "If this be Johnie o' Breadislee, We soon shall gar him die !” The first flight of arrows the foresters shot, 20 And out and spak the seventh forester, Johnie's set his back against an aik, He has broke three ribs in that ane's side, He's laid him twa-fald over his steed, "O is there nae a bonny bird, Can sing as I can say ?— 55 60 65 70 Could flee away to my mother's bower, 75 The starling flew to his mother's window stane, It whistled and it sang; And aye the ower word o' the tune They made a rod o' the hazel bush, Then out and spak his auld mother, 45" Aft hae I brought to Breadislee, 80 85 90 But wae betyde that silly auld carle, For the highest tree in Merriemas, Now Johnie's gude bend bow is broke, 100 66 The Dowie Dens of Yarrow. THIS ballad was first published in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border;" but other versions of it were, previously, in circulation, and it is stated by Sir Walter Scott to have been "a very great favourite among the inhabitants of Ettrick Forest," where it is universally believed to be founded on fact. Sir Walter, indeed, "found it easy to collect a variety of copies ;" and from them he collated the present edition-avowedly for the purpose of “suiting the tastes of these more light and giddy-paced times." A copy is contained in Motherwell's "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern;" another, in Buchan's "Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland:" it, no doubt, originated the popular composition beginning Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride, by Hamilton, of Bangour, first published in Ramsey's "Tea Table Miscellany ;" and suggested the ballad "The Braes of Yarrow," by the Rev. John Logan. In Herd's collection, in Ritson's "Scottish Songs," and in the "Tea Table Miscellany," are to be found fragments of another ballad, entitled "Willie's drowned in Yarrow," of which this is the concluding stanza : She sought him east, she sought him west, She found him drowned in Yarrow. have almost universally succeeded in their attempts." The ballad he publishes is entitled "The Bracs of Yarrow;" it bears a close resemblance, in its more prominent features, to that collated by Sir Walter Scott, but is far more rugged and less poetic; take for example the opening verse: Ten lords sat drinking at the wine, The version preserved by Mr. Motherwell was taken down "from the recitation of an old woman in Kilbarcan," and is chiefly valuable as showing the state in which the song is preserved in the west of Scotland. It is entitled "The Dowie Downs of Yarrow," The main incidents are similar to those contained in the ballad of Scott; but the style is, as may be expected, much inferior. The two introductory verses may suffice as a sample of the whole : There were three lords birling at the wine, They would go fecht to-morrow. "Thou took our sister to be thy wife, And thou ne'er thocht her thy marrow; Thou stealed her frae her daddie's back, When she was the rose o' Yarrow." Another version was published by Robert Indeed, "Yarrow stream" has been a fertile source of poetry, and seems to have inspired the poets; the very sound is seductive: and,“chiefly taken from a fragment in Herd's as Mr. Buchan remarks, "all who have attempted to sing its praise, or celebrate the actions of those who have been its visiters, collection (which we have introduced in a note), a few stanzas and lines from Buchan's copy, and part of a ballad printed by Jamie son, entitled 'Lizie Lindsay,"" which Jamie- | riage with a warrior of such renown. son gives in an imperfect, and Buchan in an entire, shape. Mr. Chambers, however, has been "under the necessity of altering several lines and verses, and re-writing others." Mr. Allan Cunningham, also, prints yet another version, principally copied from that of Sir Walter Scott, but omitting the three first verses, and reforming the remainder. Mr. Cunningham states, that “he had seen a fragment of the same song in the handwriting of Burns," of which he has given three verses; the first is as follows: : 66 That the several versions of the story, scattered among the people, and preserved by them in some form or other, had one common origin, there can be little doubt. "Tradition," according to Sir Walter Scott, "places the event recorded in the song very early, and it is probable the ballad was composed soon afterwards, although the language has been modernized in the course of its transmission to us, through the inaccurate channel of oral tradition." "The hero of the ballad," he adds, was a knight of great bravery, called Scott;" and he believes it refers to a duel fought at Deuchars wyre, of which Annan's Treat is a part, betwixt John Scott, of Tushielaw, and his brother-in-law, Walter Scott, third son of Robert of Thirlstane, in which the latter was slain. Annan's Treat is a low muir, on the banks of the Yarrow, lying to the west of Yarrow kirk. Two tall unhewn masses of stone are erected about eighty yards distant from each other, and the least child, that can herd a cow, will tell the passenger, that there lie "the two lords who were slain in single combat." Sir Walter also informs us that, according to tradition, the murderer was the brother of either the wife or the betrothed bride of the murdered; and that the alleged cause of quarrel was, the lady's father having proposed to endow her with half of his property upon her mar The name of the murderer is said to have been Annan, hence the place of combat is still called Annan's Treat. LATE at e'en, drinking the wine And ere they paid the lawing, "O stay at hame, my noble lord! "O fare ye weel, my ladye gaye! 5 |