#A. a.# Sharpe’s Ballad Book, p. 59, No 20. #b.# ‘The Bonnie House o
Airly,’ Finlay’s Ballads, II, 25. #c.# Skene MS., pp. 28, 54. #d.#
‘The Bonny House of Airly,’ Campbell MSS, II, 113. #e.# ‘The Bonny
House of Airly,’ an Aberdeen stall-copy, without date. #f.# ‘The
Bonny House o Airly,’ another Aberdeen stall-copy, without date.
#g.# Hogg’s Jacobite Relics, II, 152. #h.# Kinloch MSS, VI, 5, one
stanza.
#B.# Kinloch MSS, V, 273.
#C. a.# ‘The Bonny House of Airley,’ Kinloch MSS, V, 205. #b.# ‘Young
Airly,’ Cromek’s Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 226.
#c.# ‘The Bonny House o Airlie,’ Smith’s Scottish Minstrel, II, 2.
#d.# ‘The Bonny House o Airlie,’ Christie’s Traditional Ballad Airs,
II, 276, 296.
#D.# Kinloch MSS, V, 106; Kinloch MSS, VII, 207; Kinloch’s Ancient
Scottish Ballads, p. 104.
The earliest copy of this ballad hitherto found is a broadside of about
1790 (a hundred and fifty years later than the event celebrated), which
Finlay combined with two others, derived from recitation, for his
edition (#A b#). #C b#, #c#, #d#, are not purely traditional texts, and
#A g# has borrowed some stanzas from #C b#. #C b# is transcribed into
the Campbell MSS, I, 184. Aytoun’s edition, 1859, II, 270, is compounded
from #A a#, #A b#, with half a dozen words changed, and it is not quite
clear how the editor means to be understood when he says, “the
following, I have reason to believe, is the original.”
One summer day, Argyle, who has a quarrel with Airlie, sets out to
plunder the castle of that name. The lord of the place is at the time
with the king. Argyle (something in the style of Captain Car) summons
Lady Ogilvie to come down and kiss him; else he will not leave a
standing stone in Airlie. This she will not do, for all his threat.
Argyle demands of the lady where her dowry is (as if it were tied up in
a handkerchief). She gives no precise information: it is east and west,
up and down the water-side. Sharp search is made, and the dowry is found
in a plum-tree (balm-tree, cherry-tree, palm-tree, #A a#, #b#, #d#, #e#,
#g#). Argyle lays or leads the lady down somewhere while the plundering
goes forward. She tells him that no Campbell durst have taken in hand
such a thing if her lord had been at home. She has born seven (ten)
sons, and is expecting another; but had she as many more (a hundred
more), she would give them all to King Charles.
In #A d# 7 Lady Ogilvie asks the favor of Argyle that he will take her
to a high hill-top that she may _not_ see the burning of Airlie; the
passage is of course corrupt. In #A g# 7 she more sensibly asks that her
face may not be turned that way. In #C a# 5, 6, #b# 5, 6, the rational
request is made that she may be taken to some dark dowey glen[35] to
avoid the sight; but Argyle leads her “down to the top of the town,” and
bids her look at the plundering, #a#; sets her upon a bonnie knowe-tap,
and bids her look at Airlie fa’ing, #b#. #D# 7, 8, goes a step further.
The lady asks that she may be thrown over the castle-wall rather than
see the plundering; Argyle lifts her up ‘sae rarely’ and throws her
over, and she never saw it.
In #C a# 8 Argyle would have Lord Airlie informed that one kiss from his
lady would have saved all the plundering. In #D# 5 he tells Lady Ogilvie
that if she had surrendered on the first demand there would have been no
plundering; and this assurance he repeats to ‘Captain’ Ogilvie, whom he
meets on his way home.
#A b# 2, #D# 1, 2, represent Argyle to be acting under the orders of
Montrose, or in concert with him.
A piece in five or six stanzas which appears, with variations, in
Cromek’s Remains, p. 195, Hogg’s Jacobite Relics, II, 151, Cunningham’s
Songs of Scotland, III, 218, under the caption of ‘Young Airly’ (the
title of #C b# also in Cromek), moves forward the burning of Airlie to
“the 45;” not very strangely (if there is anything traditional in these
verses), when we consider the prominence of the younger Lord Ogilvie and
his wife among the supporters of Charles Edward. (The first three of
Cromek’s stanzas are transcribed into Campbell MSS, I, 187.) No doubt
the Charlie and Prince Charlie of some versions of our ballad were
understood by the reciters to be the Young Chevalier.
The Committee of Estates, June 12, 1640, gave commission to the Earl of
Argyle to rise in arms against certain people, among whom was the Earl
of Airlie, as enemies to religion and unnatural to their country, and to
pursue them with fire and sword until they should be brought to their
duty or else utterly subdued and rooted out. The Earl of Airlie had gone
to England, fearing lest he should be pressed to subscribe the Covenant,
and had left his house to the keeping of his eldest son, Lord Ogilvie.
Montrose, who had signed the commission as one of the Committee, but was
not inclined to so strenuous proceedings, invested Airlie, forced a
surrender, and put a garrison in the place to hold it for the “public.”
Argyle did not interpret his commission in this mild way. He took Airlie
in hand in the beginning of July, and caused both this house and that of
Forthar, belonging to Lord Ogilvie, to be pillaged, burned, and
demolished. Thereafter he fell upon the lands both of the proprietor and
his tenantry, and carried off or destroyed “their whole goods, gear,
corns, cattle, horse, nolt, sheep,” and left nothing but bare bounds.
According to one writer, Lady Ogilvie was residing at Forthar, and,
being big with child, asked leave of Argyle to stay till she was brought
to bed; but this was not allowed, and she was put out, though she knew
not whither to go. By another account, Argyle accused Montrose of having
suffered the lady to escape.[36]
The ballad puts Lady Airlie in command of the house or castle, but none
of the family were there at the time it was sacked. She is called Lady
Margaret in #A b# 4, but her name was Elizabeth. The earl, James, is
called the great Sir John in #C a# 9. #A# 10 and the like elsewhere are
applicable to the younger Lady Ogilvie in respect to the unborn child.
Chambers says that Lady Airlie had three children and Lady Ogilvie but
one, and “the poet must be wrong.” “The poet,” besides being inaccurate,
does not tell the same story in all the versions, and this inconsistency
is again observable in ‘Geordie,’ #A# 9, #B# 18, #C# 8, etc.
‘Gleyd Argyle’ is “generally described as of mean stature, with red hair
and squinting eyes.”[37] His morals appear to some disadvantage again in
‘Geordie,’ #I a# 23.
* * * * *
A
#a.# Sharpe’s Ballad Book, p. 59, No 20, 1823. #b.# Finlay’s
Ballads, II, 25, 1808, from two recited copies and “one printed
about twenty years ago on a single sheet.” #c.# Skene MS., pp. 28,
54, from recitation in the north of Scotland, 1802–3. #d.# Campbell
MSS, II, 113, probably from a stall-copy. #e, f.# Aberdeen stall
copies, “printed for the booksellers.” #g.# Hogg’s Jacobite Relics,
II, 152, No 76, “Cromek and a street ballad collated, 1821.” #h.#
Kinloch MSS, VI, 5, one stanza, taken down from an old woman’s
recitation by J. Robertson.
1
It fell on a day, and a bonny simmer day,
When green grew aits and barley,
That there fell out a great dispute
Between Argyll and Airlie.
2
Argyll has raised an hunder men,
An hunder harnessd rarely,
And he’s awa by the back of Dunkell,
To plunder the castle of Airlie.
3
Lady Ogilvie looks oer her bower-window.
And oh, but she looks weary!
And there she spy’d the great Argyll,
Come to plunder the bonny house of Airlie.
4
‘Come down, come down, my Lady Ogilvie,
Come down, and kiss me fairly:’
‘O I winna kiss the fause Argyll,
If he should na leave a standing stane in Airlie.’
5
He hath taken her by the left shoulder,
Says, Dame where lies thy dowry?
‘O it’s east and west yon wan water side,
And it’s down by the banks of the Airlie.’
6
They hae sought it up, they hae sought it down,
They hae sought it maist severely,
Till they fand it in the fair plumb-tree
That shines on the bowling-green of Airlie.
7
He hath taken her by the middle sae small,
And O but she grat sairly!
And laid her down by the bonny burn-side,
Till they plundered the castle of Airlie.
8
‘Gif my gude lord war here this night,
As he is with King Charlie,
Neither you, nor ony ither Scottish lord,
Durst avow to the plundering of Airlie.
9
‘Gif my gude lord war now at hame,
As he is with his king,
There durst nae a Campbell in a’ Argyll
Set fit on Airlie green.
10
‘Ten bonny sons I have born unto him,
The eleventh neer saw his daddy;
But though I had an hundred mair,
I’d gie them a’ to King Charlie.’
* * * * *
B
Kinloch MSS, V, 273.
1
It fell on a day, a clear summer day,
When the corn grew green and bonny,
That there was a combat did fall out
‘Tween Argyle and the bonny house of Airly.
2
Argyle he did raise five hundred men,
Five hundred men, so many,
And he did place them by Dunkeld,
Bade them shoot at the bonny house of Airly.
3
The lady looked over her own castle-wa,
And oh, but she looked weary!
And there she espied the gleyed Argyle,
Come to plunder the bonny house of Airly.
4
‘Come down the stair now, Madam Ogilvie,
And let me kiss thee kindly;
Or I vow and I swear, by the sword that I wear,
That I winna leave a standing stone at Airly.’
5
‘O how can I come down the stair,
And how can I kiss thee kindly,
Since you vow and you swear, by the sword that you wear,
That you winna leave a standing stone on Airly?’
6
‘Come down the stair then, Madam Ogilvie,
And let me see thy dowry;’
‘O ’tis east and it is west, and ’tis down by yon burn-side,
And it stands at the planting sae bonny.
7
‘But if my brave lord had been at hame this day,
As he is wi Prince Charlie,
There durst na a Campbell in all Scotland
Set a foot on the bowling-green of Airly
8
‘O I hae born him seven, seven sons,
And an eighth neer saw his daddy,
And tho I were to bear him as many more,
They should a’ carry arms for Prince Charlie.’
* * * * *
C
#a.# Kinloch MSS, V, 205, recited by John Rae. #b.# Cromek’s Remains
of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 226, 1810. #c.# Smith’s Scottish
Minstrel, II, 2. #d.# Christie’s Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 276,
“from the recitation of a relative.”
1
It fell on a day, on a bonny summer day,
When the corn grew green and yellow,
That there fell out a great dispute
Between Argyle and Airley.
2
The great Argyle raised five hundred men,
Five hundred men and many,
And he has led them down by the bonny Dunkeld,
Bade them shoot at the bonny house of Airley.
3
The lady was looking oer her castle-wa,
And O but she looked weary!
And there she spied the great Argyle,
Came to plunder the bonny house of Airley.
4
‘Come down stairs now, Madam,’ he says,
‘Now come down and kiss me fairly;’
‘I’ll neither come down nor kiss you,’ she says,
‘Tho you should na leave a standing stane in Airley.’
5
‘I ask but one favour of you, Argyle,
And I hope you’ll grant me fairly
To tak me to some dark dowey glen,
That I may na see the plundering of Airley.’
6
He has taen her by the left shoulder,
And O but she looked weary!
And he has led her down to the top of the town,
Bade her look at the plundering of Airley.
7
‘Fire on, fire on, my merry men all,
And see that ye fire clearly;
For I vow and I swear by the broad sword I wear
That I winna leave a standing stane in Airley.
8
‘You may tell it to your lord,’ he says,
‘You may tell it to Lord Airley,
That one kiss o his gay lady
Wad hae sav’d all the plundering of Airley.’
9
‘If the great Sir John had been but at hame,
As he is this night wi Prince Charlie,
Neither Argyle nor no Scottish lord
Durst hae plundered the bonny house of Airley.
10
‘Seven, seven sons hae I born unto him,
And the eight neer saw his dady,
And altho I were to have a hundred more,
The should a’ draw their sword for Prince Charlie.’
* * * * *
D
Kinloch MSS, V, 106, in the handwriting of James Beattie, and from
the recitation of Elizabeth Beattie.
1
O gleyd Argyll has written to Montrose
To see gin the fields they were fairly,
And to see whether he sh_oul_d stay at hame,
‘Or come to plunder bonnie Airly.
2
Then great Montrose has written to Argyll
And that the fields they were fairly,
And not to keep his men at hame,
But to come and plunder bonnie Airly.
3
The lady was looking oer her castle-wa,
She was carrying her courage sae rarely,
And there she spied him gleyd Arguill,
Was coming for to plunder bonnie Airly.
4
‘Wae be to ye, gleyd Argyll!
And are ye there sae rarely?
Ye might hae kept your men at hame,
And not come to plunder bonnie Airly.’
5
‘And wae be to ye, Lady Ogilvie!
And are ye there sae rarely?
Gin ye had bowed when first I bade,
I never wad hae plunderd bonnie Airly.’
6
‘But gin my guid lord had been at hame,
As he is wi Prince Charlie,
There durst not a rebel on a’ Scotch ground
Set a foot on the bonnie green of Airly.
7
‘But ye’ll tak me by the milk-white hand,
And ye’ll lift me up sae rarely,
And ye’ll throw me outoure my [ain] castle-wa,
Let me neuer see the plundering of Airly.’
8
He’s taen her by the milk-white hand,
And he’s lifted her up sae rarely,
And he’s thrown her outoure her ain castle-wa,
And she neuer saw the plundering of Airly.
9
Now gleyd Argyll he has gane hame,
Awa frae the plundering of Airly,
And there he has met him Captain Ogilvie,
Coming over the mountains sae rarely.
10
‘O wae be to ye, gleyd Argyll!
And are you there sae rarely?
Ye might hae kept your men at hame,
And no gane to plunder bonnie Airly.’
11
‘O wae be to ye, Captain Ogilvie!
And are you there sae rarely?
Gin ye wad hae bowed when first I bade,
I neer wad hae plunderd bonnie Airly.’
12
‘But gin I had my lady gay,
Bot and my sister Mary,
One fig I wad na gie for ye a’,
Nor yet for the plundering of Airly.’
* * * * *
#A. b.#
1^2. When the corn grew green and yellow.
2^{1,2}. The Duke o Montrose has written to Argyle To come in the
morning early.
2^3. An lead in his men by.
2^4. the bonnie house o Airly.
3^1. The lady lookd oer her window sae hie.
4^1. down Lady Margaret he says.
4^{2,3}. (_cf._ #f.#).
‘Or before the morning clear day light,
I’ll no leave a standing stane in Airly.’
‘I wadna kiss thee, great Argyle,
I wadna kiss thee fairly,
I wadna kiss thee, great Argyle,
Gin you shoudna leave a standing stane in Airly.’
5^1. by the middle sae sma.
5^2. Says, Lady, where is your drury?
5^{3,4}. It’s up and down by the bonnie burn-side, Amang the
planting of Airly.
6^2. They sought it late and early.
6^3. And found: bonnie balm-tree.
7^1. by the left shoulder.
7^3. And led: to yon green bank.
8^1 (10^1). lord had been at hame.
8^2 (10^2). As this night he is wi C.
8^3 (10^3). There durst na a Campbell in a’ the west.
8^4 (10^4). Hae plundered the bonnie house.