THE BARON OF BRACKLEY_The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 4 (of 5)

#A. a.# ‘The Baronne of Braikley,’ [Alexander Laing’s] Scarce Ancient

Ballads, 1822, p. 9. #b.# ‘The Baron of Braikley,’ Buchan’s

Gleanings, 1825, p. 68. #c.# ‘The Barrone of Brackley,’ The New

Deeside Guide, by James Brown (pseudonym for Joseph Robertson),

Aberdeen, [1832[60]], p. 46.

#B.# ‘The Baron of Brackley,’ Kinloch MSS, V, 379; in the handwriting

of John Hill Burton.

#C. a.# ‘The Baron of Braikly,’ Jamieson-Brown MS., Appendix, p. viii.

#b.# ‘The Baron of Brackley,’ Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, 1806, I,

102.

#D.# ‘The Baron of Breachell,’ Skene MS., p. 110.

First printed by Jamieson (#C b#) in 1806, who says: “For the copy of

the ballad here given I am indebted to Mrs Brown. I have also collated

it with another, less perfect, but not materially different, so far as

it goes, with which I was favored by the editor of the Border

Minstrelsy, who took it down from the recitation of two ladies,

great-grandchildren of Farquharson of Inverey; so that the ballad, and

the notices that accompany it, are given upon the authority of a Gordon

[Anne Gordon, Mrs Brown] and a Farquharson.”[61] #A c# is also a

compounded copy: see the notes.

The text in The Thistle of Scotland, p. 46, is #C b#. That which is

cited in part in the Fourth Report on Historical Manuscripts, 1874, p.

534, is #A c#. The ballad is rewritten by Allan Cunningham, Songs of

Scotland, II, 208.

#A.# Inverey comes before day to Brackley’s gate, and calls to him to

open and have his blood spilled. Brackley asks over the wall whether the

people below are gentlemen or hired gallows-birds; if gentlemen, they

may come in and eat and drink; in the other case, they may go on to the

Lowlands and steal cattle. His wife urges him to get up; the men are

nothing but hired gallows-birds. Brackley will go out to meet Inverey

(both know it is he, 12, 19), but these same gallows-birds will prove

themselves men. His wife derisively calls on her maids to bring their

distaffs; if Brackley is not man enough to protect his cattle, she will

drive off the robbers with her women. Brackley says he will go out, but

he shall never come in. He arms and sallies forth, attended by his

brother William, his uncle, and his cousin; but presently bids his

brother turn back because he is a bridegroom. William refuses, and in

turn, but equally to no effect, urges Brackley to turn back for his

wife’s and his son’s sake. The Gordons are but four against four hundred

of Inverey’s, and are all killed. Brackley’s wife, so far from tearing

her hair, braids it, welcomes Inverey, and makes him a feast. The son,

on the nurse’s knee, vows to be revenged if he lives to be a man. (Cf.

‘Johnie Armstrong,’ III, 367, where this should have been noted.)

The other versions agree with #A a# in the material points. Inverey’s

numbers are diminished. In #B# 10, #C# 11, Brackley has only his brother

with him, meaning, perhaps, when he leaves his house. The fight was not

simply at the gates, but was extended over a considerable distance (#A#

33, #B# 11), and other men joined the Gordons in the course of it. In

#B# 12 we learn that the miller’s four sons (#D# 10, the miller and his

three sons) were killed with the Gordons (and William Gordon’s wife, or

bride, in #A# 25, is ‘bonnie Jean, the maid o the mill’). In #B# 15, #D#

12, Craigevar comes up with a party, and might have saved Brackley’s

life had he been there an hour sooner. In #A a#, #b#, #C#, #D#,

Brackley’s wife is Peggy (Peggy Dann, wrongly, #D# 14, 15); in #B# 19

(wrongly) Catharine Fraser. #D# makes Catharine the wife of Gordon of

Glenmuick (Alexander Gordon, #A a# 35), who rives her hair, as

Brackley’s wife does not (14, 15, 18, 19). In #C#, Peggy Gordon, besides

feasting Inverey, keeps him till morning, and then shows him a road by

which he may go safely home. #C b# adds, for poetical justice, that

Inverey at once let this haggard down the wind.

This affray occurred in September, 1666. The account of it given by the

Gordons (the son of the murdered laird and the Marquis of Huntly) was

that John Gordon of Brackley, having poinded cattle belonging to John

Farquharson of Inverey, or his followers, Inverey “convoked his people,

to revenge himself on Brackley for putting the law in execution; that he

came to the house of Brackley, and required the laird to restore his

cattle which had been poinded; and that, although the laird gave a fair

answer, yet the Farquharsons, with the view of drawing him out of his

house, drove away not only the poinded cattle but also Brackley’s own

cattle, and when the latter was thus forced to come out of his house,

the Farquharsons fell on him and murdered him and his brother.”

A memorandum for John Farquharson of Inverey and others, 24 January,

1677, “sets forth that John Gordon of Brackley, having bought from the

sheriff of Aberdeen the fines exigible from Inverey and others for

killing of black-fish, the said Brackley made friendly arrangements with

others, but declined to settle with Inverey; whereupon the latter, being

on his way to the market at Tullich,[62] sent Mr John Ferguson, minister

at Glenmuick, John McHardy of Crathie, a notary, and Duncan Erskine,

portioner of Invergelder, to the laird of Brackley, with the view of

representing to him that Inverey and his tenants were willing to settle

their fines on the same terms as their neighbors. These proposals were

received by Brackley with contempt, and during the time of the communing

he gathered his friends and attacked Inverey, and having ‘loused

severall shotts’ against Inverey’s party, the return shots of the latter

were in self-defence. The result was that the laird of Brackley, with

his brother William and their cousin James Gordon in Cults, were killed

on the one side, and on the other Robert McWilliam in Inverey, John

McKenzie, sometime there, and Malcom Gordon the elder.” The convocation

of Inverey’s friends is accounted for in the same document by the fact

that Inverey was captain of the watch for the time; that he and his

ancestors had been used to go to the market with men to guard it; and

that it is the custom of the country for people who are going to the

market to join any numerous company that may be going the same way,

either for their own security or out of “kindness for the persons with

whom they go,” and also the custom of that mountainous country to go

with arms, especially at markets. (Abstract, by Dr. John Stuart, of a

MS. of Col. James Farquharson of Invercauld, Historical MSS Commission,

Fourth Report, p. 534).

Another account, agreeing in all important points with the last, is

given in a history of the family of Macintosh.[63] It will be borne in

mind that Inverey belonged to this clan, and that acts of his would

therefore be put in a favorable light. Brackley had seized the horses of

some of Inverey’s people on account of fines alleged to be due by them

for taking salmon in the Dee out of season. Inverey represented to

Brackley that the sufferers by this proceeding were men who had incurred

no penalty, and offered, if the horses should be restored, to deliver

the guilty parties for punishment. Brackley would not return the horses

on these terms, and Inverey then proposed that the matter in dispute

should be left to friends. While Brackley was considering what to do,

Alexander Gordon of Aberfeldy came to offer his services, with a body of

armed men, and Brackley, now feeling himself strong, rejected the

suggestion of a peaceful solution, and set out to attack Inverey. When a

collision was impending, Inverey at first drew back, begging Brackley to

desist from violence, which only made Brackley and Aberfeldy the keener.

Two of Inverey’s followers were slain; and then Inverey and his men, in

self-defence, turned on their assailants, and killed Gordon of Brackley,

his brother William, and James Gordon of Cults.

The Gordons, this account further says, began a prosecution of Inverey

and his party before the Court of Justiciary. Inverey had recourse to

Macintosh, his chief, who exerted himself so effectually in behalf of

his kinsman that when the case was called no plaintiff appeared.

Nevertheless Dr John Stuart (Historical MSS, as above) produces a

warrant “for apprehending John Farquharson of Inverey and others his

followers, who had been outlawed for not compearing to answer at their

trial, and had subsequently continued for many years in their outlawry,

associating with themselves a company of thieves, murderers, and

sorners; therefore empowering James Innes, Serjeant, and Corporal

Radnoch, commanding a party of troops at Kincardine O’Neill, to

apprehend the said John Farquharson and his accomplices.” From this

warrant Dr Stuart considers that we may infer that Inverey was the

aggressor in the affray with Brackley. But there is nothing to identify

the case, and the date of the warrant is February 12, 1685, nearly

twenty years from the affair which we are occupied with, during which

space, unless he were of an unusually peaceable habit, Inverey might

have had several broils on his hands.

Gordon of Brackley, as reported by Mrs Brown, from what she may have

heard in her girlhood, a hundred years after his tragical end, was “a

man universally esteemed.”[64] “Farquharson of Inverey,” says Jamieson,

without giving his authority, “a renowned freebooter on Deeside, was his

relation, and in habits of friendly intercourse with him. Farquharson

was fierce, daring, and active, exhibiting all the worst characteristics

of a freebooter, with nothing of that blunt and partially just and manly

generosity which were then not uncommonly met with among that

description of men. The common people supposed him (as they did Dundee,

and others of the same cast who were remarkable for their fortunate

intrepidity and miraculous escapes) to be a warlock, and proof against

steel and lead. He is said to have been buried on the north side of a

hill, which the sun could never shine upon, etc.” All which, as far as

appears, is merely the tradition of Jamieson’s day, and will be taken at

different values by different readers.

The ‘Peggy’ of #A a#, #b#, #C#, #D# was Margaret Burnet, daughter of Sir

Thomas Burnet of Leys, and own cousin of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of

Salisbury.[65] This lady married Gordon of Brackley against her friends’

wishes, or without their consent, and so probably made a love-match.

After Brackley’s death she married one James Leslie, Doctor of

Medicine,[66] a fact which will suffice to offset the unconfirmed

scandal of the ballad.

It is now to be noted that a baron of Brackley had been murdered by

caterans towards the end of the preceding century. “The Clanchattan,

who, of all that faction, most eagerly endeavored to revenge the Earl of

Murray his death, assembling their forces under Angus Donald Williamson

his conduct, entered Strathdee and Glenmuick, where they invaded the

Earl of Huntly his lands, and killed four of the surname of Gordon,

Henry Gordon of the Knock, Alexander Gordon of Teldow, Thomas Gordon of

Blaircharrish, and the old baron of Breaghly, whose death and manner

thereof was so much the more lamented because he was very aged, and much

given to hospitality, and slain under trust. He was killed by them in

his own house after he had made them good cheer, without suspecting or

expecting any such reckoning for his kindly entertainment; which

happened the first day of November, 1592. In revenge whereof the Earl of

Huntly assembled some of his forces and made an expedition into Pettie,”

etc. (See No 183, III, 456.) So writes Sir Robert Gordon, before

1630.[67]

Upon comparing Sir Robert Gordon’s description of the old baron of

Brackley who was murdered in 1592 with what is said of the baron in the

ballad (#A#), there is a likeness for which there is no historical

authority in the instance of the baron of 1666. The ballad intimates the

hospitality which is emphasized by Sir Robert Gordon, and also the

baron’s unconsciousness of his having any foe to dread. (“An honest aged

man,” says Spotiswood, “against whom they could pretend no quarrel.”)

Other details are not pertinent to the elder baron, but belong

demonstrably to the Brackley who had a quarrel with Farquharson.

Of the two, the older Brackley would have a better chance of being

celebrated in a ballad. He was an aged and innocent man, slain while

dispensing habitual hospitality, “slain under trust.” The younger

Brackley treated Inverey’s people harshly, there was an encounter,

Brackley was killed, and others on both sides. His friends may have

mourned for him, but there was no call for the feeling expressed in the

ballad; that would be more naturally excited by the death of the kindly

old man, ‘who basely was slain.’ On the whole it may be surmised that

two occurrences, or even two ballads, have been blended, and some slight

items of corroborative evidence may favor this conclusion.

‘The Gordons may mourn him and bann Inverey,’ says #B# 14. It appears

that the Earl of Aboyne sided with Inverey, though the Marquis of Huntly

supported the laird of Brackley’s son;[68] whereas all the Gordons would

have mourned the older baron, and none would have maintained the

caterans who slew him.

In the affray with the Farquharsons in 1666 there were killed, of the

Gordons, besides Brackley, his brother William and his cousin James

Gordon of Cults. The Gordons killed by the Clanchattan in 1592 were

Brackley, Henry Gordon of the Knock, an Alexander Gordon (also a

Thomas). According to #A# 34, 35, the Gordons killed were Brackley and

his brother William, his cousin James of the Knox [Knocks, Knock], and

his uncle Alexander Gordon; according to #B# 12, 13, there were killed,

besides Brackley, “Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock” (one and the

same person), Brackley’s brother, as we see from 10; in #D# 10, the

killed are Brackley, and Sandy Gordon o the Knock, called Peter in 21. A

Gordon of the Knock is named as killed in #A#, #B#, #D#, and it is Henry

Gordon in #B#; an Alexander Gordon is named in #A#, #B#. A William

Gordon and a James (of the Knocks, not of the Cults) are named in #A#.

On the whole, the names sort much better with the earlier story.

In #B# 15 we are told that if Craigievar had come up an hour sooner,

Brackley had not been slain. Upon this Dr Joseph Robertson (who assigned

the ballad to 1592) has observed, Kinloch MSS, VI, 24, that Craigievar

passed to a branch of the family of Forbes in 1625; so that Craigievar

would have done nothing to save Brackley in 1666, the Gordons and the

Forbeses having long been at feud. To make sense of this stanza we must

suppose an earlier date than 1625.

The fourth edition of Spotiswood’s history, printed in 1677 (about forty

years after the author’s death), calls Brackley of 1592 _John_ Gordon.

Further, there is this anonymous marginal note, not found in the

preceding editions: “I have read in a MS. called the Acts of the

Gordons, that Glenmuick, Glentaner, Strathdee and Birs were spoiled, and

Brachlie, with his son-in-law, slain, by Mackondoquy [that is

Maconochie, _alias_ Campbell] of Inner-Aw.”[69]

Brackley, on the Muick, is in close vicinity to the village of Ballater,

on the Dee, some forty miles westward from Aberdeen.

Translated by Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, p. 156, after

Allingham.

* * * * *

#a.# Scarce Ancient Ballads [Alexander Laing], Aberdeen, 1822, p. 9.

#b.# Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 68. #c.# The New Deeside Guide, by James

Brown (_i.e._ Joseph Robertson), Aberdeen [1832], p. 46.

Inverey cam doun Deeside, whistlin and playin,

He was at brave Braikley’s yett ere it was dawin.

He rappit fu loudly an wi a great roar,

Cried, Cum doun, cum doun, Braikley, and open the door.

‘Are ye sleepin, Baronne, or are ye wakin?

Ther’s sharpe swords at your yett, will gar your blood spin.

‘Open the yett, Braikley, and lat us within,

Till we on the green turf gar your bluid rin.’

Out spak the brave baronne, owre the castell-wa:

‘Are ye cum to spulyie and plunder mi ha?

‘But gin ye be gentlemen, licht and cum in:

Gin ye drink o my wine, ye’ll nae gar my bluid spin.

‘Gin ye be hir’d widifus, ye may gang by,

Ye may gang to the lawlands and steal their fat ky.

‘Ther spulyie like rievers o wyld kettrin clan,

Who plunder unsparing baith houses and lan.

‘Gin ye be gentlemen, licht an cum [in],

Ther’s meat an drink i my ha for every man.

‘Gin ye be hir’d widifus, ye may gang by,

Gang doun to the lawlands, and steal horse and ky.’

Up spak his ladie, at his bak where she lay,

‘Get up, get up, Braikley, and be not afraid;

The’r but young hir’d widifus wi belted plaids.’

‘Cum kiss me, mi Peggy, I’le nae langer stay,

For I will go out and meet Inverey.

‘But haud your tongue, Peggy, and mak nae sic din,

For yon same hir’d widifus will prove themselves men.’

She called on her marys, they cam to her hand;

Cries, Bring me your rocks, lassies, we will them command.

‘Get up, get up, Braikley, and turn bak your ky,

Or me an mi women will them defy.

‘Cum forth then, mi maidens, and show them some play;

We’ll ficht them, and shortly the cowards will fly.

‘Gin I had a husband, whereas I hae nane,

He woud nae ly i his bed and see his ky taen.

‘Ther’s four-and-twenty milk-whit calves, twal o them ky,

In the woods o Glentanner, it’s ther thei a’ ly.

‘Ther’s goat i the Etnach, and sheep o the brae,

An a’ will be plunderd by young Inverey.’

‘Now haud your tongue, Peggy, and gie me a gun,

Ye’ll see me gae furth, but I’ll never cum in.

‘Call mi brother William, mi unkl also,

Mi cousin James Gordon; we’ll mount and we’ll go.’

When Braikley was ready and stood i the closs,

He was the bravest baronne that eer mounted horse.

Whan all wer assembld o the castell green,

No man like brave Braikley was ther to be seen.

. . . . . . .

‘Turn bak, brother William, ye are a bridegroom;

‘Wi bonnie Jean Gordon, the maid o the mill;

O sichin and sobbin she’ll soon get her fill.’

‘I’m no coward, brother, ’tis kend I’m a man;

I’ll ficht i your quarral as lang’s I can stand.

‘I’ll ficht, my dear brother, wi heart and gude will,

And so will young Harry that lives at the mill.

‘But turn, mi dear brother, and nae langer stay:

What’ll cum o your ladie, gin Braikley thei slay?

‘What’ll cum o your ladie and bonnie young son?

O what’ll cum o them when Braikley is gone?’

‘I never will turn: do you think I will fly?

But here I will ficht, and here I will die.’

‘Strik dogs,’ crys Inverey, ‘and ficht till ye’re slayn,

For we are four hundered, ye are but four men.

‘Strik, strik, ye proud boaster, your honour is gone,

Your lands we will plunder, your castell we’ll burn.’

At the head o the Etnach the battel began,

At Little Auchoilzie thei killd the first man.

First thei killd ane, and soon they killd twa,

Thei killd gallant Braikley, the flour o them a’.

Thei killd William Gordon, and James o the Knox,

And brave Alexander, the flour o Glenmuïck.

What sichin and moaning was heard i the glen,

For the Baronne o Braikley, who basely was slayn!

‘Cam ye bi the castell, and was ye in there?

Saw ye pretty Peggy tearing her hair?’

‘Yes, I cam by Braikley, and I gaed in there,

And there [saw] his ladie braiding her hair.

‘She was rantin, and dancin, and singin for joy,

And vowin that nicht she woud feest Inverey.

‘She eat wi him, drank wi him, welcomd him in,

Was kind to the man that had slayn her baronne.’

Up spake the son on the nourice’s knee,

‘Gin I live to be a man, revenged I’ll be.’

Ther’s dool i the kitchin, and mirth i the ha,

The Baronne o Braikley is dead and awa.

* * * * *

Kinloch MSS, V, 379, in the handwriting of John Hill Burton.

‘Baron of Brackley, are ye in there?

The’re sharp swords at yer yetts, winna ye spear.’

‘If they be gentlemen, lat them cum in;

But if they be reavers, we’ll gar them be taen.’

‘It is na gentlemen, nor yet pretty lads,

But a curn hir’d widdifus, wears belted plaids.’

She called on her women and bade them come in:

‘Tack a’ yer rocks, lasses, and we’ll them coman.

‘We’ll fecht them, we’ll slight them, we’ll do what we can,

And I vow we will shoot them altho we shod bang.

‘Rise up, John,’ she said, ‘and turn in yer kye,

For they’ll hae them to the Hielands, and you they’l defie.’

‘Had your still, Catharine, and still yer young son,

For ye’ll get me out, but I’ll never cum in.’

‘If I had a man, as I hae na nane,

He wudna lye in his bed and see his kye tane.’

‘Ye’ll cum kiss me, my Peggy, and bring me my gun,

For I’m gaing out, but I’ll never cum in.’

There was twenty wi Invery, twenty and ten;

There was nane wi the baron but his brother and him.

At the head of Reneeten the battle began;

Ere they wan Auchoilzie, they killed mony a man.

They killed Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock,

The mullertd’s four sons up at Glenmuick.

They killed Harry Gordon and Harry of the Knock,

And they made the brave baron like kail to a pot.

First they killed ane, and then they killed twa,

Then they killed the brave baron, the flower o them a’.

Then up came Craigievar, and a party wi him;

If he had come an hour sooner, Brackley had not been slain.

‘Came ye by Brackley? and was ye in there?

Or say ye his lady, was making great care?’

‘I came by Brackley, and I was in there,

But I saw his lady no makin great care.

‘For she eat wi them, drank wi them, welcomed them in;

She drank to the villain that killed her guid man.

‘Woe to ye, Kate Fraser! sorry may yer heart be,

To see yer brave baron’s blood cum to yer knee.’

There is dule in the kitchen, and mirth i the ha,

But the Baron o B[r]ackley is dead and awa.

* * * * *

#a.# Jamieson-Brown MS., Appendix, p. viii, as transcribed for

Jamieson by Rev. Andrew Brown, and sent him by Mrs. Brown in a

letter of June 18, 1801. #b.# Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, I, 102;

Mrs. Brown’s copy combined with an imperfect one taken down by Sir

W. Scott “from the recitation of two ladies, great-grandchildren of

Farquharson of Inverey.”

O Inverey came down Dee side, whistling and playing;

He’s landed at Braikly’s yates at the day dawing.

Says, Baron of Braikly, are ye within?

There’s sharp swords at the yate will gar your blood spin.

The lady raise up, to the window she went;

She heard her kye lowing oer hill and oer bent.

‘O rise up, John,’ she says, ‘turn back your kye;

They’re oer the hills rinning, they’re skipping away.’

‘Come to your bed, Peggie, and let the kye rin,

For were I to gang out, I would never get in.’

Then she’s cry’d on her women, they quickly came ben:

‘Take up your rocks, lassies, and fight a’ like men.

‘Though I’m but a woman, to head you I’ll try,

Nor let these vile Highland-men steal a’ our kye.’

Then up gat the baron, and cry’d for his graith;

Says, Lady, I’ll gang, tho to leave you I’m laith.

‘Come, kiss me, my Peggie, nor think I’m to blame;

For I may well gang out, but I’ll never win in.’

When the Baron of Braikly rade through the close,

A gallanter baron neer mounted a horse.

Tho there came wi Inverey thirty and three,

There was nane wi bonny Braikly but his brother and he.

Twa gallanter Gordons did never sword draw;

But against four and thirty, wae’s me, what was twa?

Wi swords and wi daggers they did him surround,

And they’ve pierc’d bonny Braikly wi mony a wound.

Frae the head of the Dee to the banks of the Spey,

The Gordons may mourn him, and bann Inverey.

‘O came ye by Braikly, and was ye in there?

Or saw ye his Peggy dear riving her hair?’

‘O I came by Braikly, and I was in there,

But I saw not his Peggy dear riving her hair.’

‘O fye on ye, lady! how could ye do sae?

You opend your yate to the faus Inverey.’

She eat wi him, drank wi him, welcomd him in;

She welcomd the villain that slew her baron.

She kept him till morning, syne bad him be gane,

And showd him the road that he woud na be tane.

‘Thro Birss and Aboyne,’ she says, ‘lyin in a tour,

Oer the hills of Glentanor you’ll skip in an hour.’

There is grief in the kitchen, and mirth in the ha,

But the Baron of Braikly is dead and awa.

* * * * *

Skene MS., p. 110; north of Scotland, 1802–3.

‘Baron o Breachell, are ye within?

The sharp souerd is at yer gate, Breachell, we’ll gar yer blood spin.’

‘Thei’r at yer gate, Breachel, thei’r neither men nor lads,

But fifty heard widifas, wi belted plaids.’

‘O if I had a man,’ she says, ‘as it looks I had nane,

He widna sit in the house and see my kye tane.

‘But lasses tak down yer rocks, and we will defend

. . . . . . .

‘O kiss me, dear Peggy, and gee me down my gun,

I may well ga out, but I ll never come in.’

Out spak his brither, says, Gee me yer hand;

I’ll fight in yer cause sae lang as I may stand.

Whan the Baron o Breachell came to the closs,

A braver baron neir red upon horse.

. . . . . . .

I think the silly heard widifas are grown fighten men.

First they killed ane, and syen they killed twa,

And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.

They killed Sandy Gordon, Sandy Gordon o the Knock,

The miller and his three sons, that lived at Glenmuick.

First they killed ane, and seyn they killed twa,

And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.

Up came Crigevar and a’ his fighten men:

‘Had I come an hour soonur, he sudna been slain.’

For first they killed ane, and seyn they killed twa,

And the Baron o Breachell is dead and awa.

‘O came ye by Breachell, lads? was ye in their?

Saw ye Peggy Dann riving her hair?’

‘We cam by Breachell, lads, we was in there,

And saw Peggie Dann cairling her hair.

‘She eat wi them, drank wi them, bad them come in

To her house an bours that had slain her baron.

‘Come in, gentlemen, eat and drink wi me;

Tho ye ha slain my baron, I ha na a wite at ye.’

‘O was [ye] at Glenmuik, lads? was ye in theire?

Saw ye Cathrin Gordon rivin her hair?’

‘We was at Glenmuik, lads, we was in there,

We saw Cathrin Gordon rivin her hair.

‘Wi the tear in her eye, seven bairns at her foot,

The eighth on her knee....

They killed Peter Gordon, Peter Gordon of the Knock,

The miller and his three sons, that lived at Glenmuik.

First they killed ane, and syn they killed twa,

And the Baron of Breachell is dead and awa.

* * * * *

#A.#

_No division of stanzas. Both copies are probably from

stall-prints or broadsides. #b# differs frequently from #a# in

spelling._

#a.#

5^2, 8^1. spulzie.

6^1. gentlmen.

11^3, 25^1, 40^1. we _for_ wi.

22^1. thee.

30^1. I will never.

#b.#

11^1. laid.

11^3. young _wanting_.

13^2. prove to be men.

15^2. For me.

16^1. ply.

19^1. Ther are goats.

20^2. never return.

22^1. thee.

25^2. seen (_phonetic_).

26^1. it’s kent.

30^1. I never will: ye.

30^2. No, here.

34^1. an syne.

36^1. was heard.

38^2. ther said.

#c.#

_This copy is to the extent of about two thirds taken from #a#;

half a dozen stanzas are from Jamieson’s text, #C b#; half a

dozen more agree, nearly or entirely, with #B#, and may have

been derived from Dr. J. H. Burton, or directly from some

traditional source. The order has been regulated by the editor,

who has also made a slight verbal change now and then._

1–3==#a# 1–3.

4–8==5–9.

9==11^{1,2}, _nearly_: (#c# 9^2, and face Inverey).

11^2==13^2.

12–14==18, 19, 17.

15==15, _nearly_: _cf._ #B# 6^1.

17^1==16^2.

18==20, _nearly_.

19==21.

22==31, _with different numbers_.

23==33: Reneatan _for_ Etnach, _cf._ #B# 11^1.

24==35.

25==34.

29==38.

30==39.

31^1==40^1.