‘Sir James the Rose.’ #a.# From a stall-tract of about 1780,
Abbotsford library. #b.# Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 321. #c.# Sir
James the Rose’s Garland, one of a volume of the like from Heber’s
library. #d.# Motherwell’s MS., p. 281; from the recitation of Mrs
Gentles, of Paisley. #e.# Herd’s MSS, I, 82. #f.# The same, II, 42.
#g.# ‘Sir James the Rose,’ Pinkerton’s Scottish Tragic Ballads,
1781, p. 61.
#b#, says Motherwell, “is given as it occurs in early stall-prints, and
as it is to be obtained from the recitations of elderly people.” Most of
the variations are derived from #d#. #c# may have been printed earlier
than #a#, but is astonishingly faulty. #d#, well remembered from print,
is what Motherwell meant by “the recitations of elderly people.” #e# was
obtained by Herd, probably from recitation, as early as 1776, but must
have been learned from print. #f# is #e# with a few missing lines
supplied. #g#, says Pinkerton, “is given from a modern edition in one
sheet 12mo,” but was beyond question considerably manipulated by the
editor. All the important variations are certainly his work.
The copy in Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 9, is #g#. Whitelaw, in his Book of
Scotish Ballads, p. 39, has combined #b# and #g#.
Half a dozen lines preserved by Burns, Cromek’s Select Scotish Songs,
II, 196 (see the preface to No 212), seem to belong to this ballad.
‘Sir James the Ross, A Historical Ballad’ (sometimes called ‘The
Buchanshire Tragedy’), was composed by the youthful Michael Bruce ([+]
1767) upon the story of the popular ballad, and has perhaps enjoyed more
favor with “the general” than the original.[93] ‘Elfrida and Sir James
of Perth,’ Caw’s Poetical Museum, 1784, p. 290 (probably taken, as most
of the pieces are by the collector said to be, from some periodical
publication), looks more like an imitation of Bruce’s ballad than of its
prototype. It is in fact a stark plagiarism.
Sir James the Rose has killed a squire, and men are out to take him. A
nurse at the house of Marr is his leman, and he resorts to her in the
hope that she may befriend him. She advises him to go to an ale-house
for the night, promising to meet him there in the morning; he says he
will do so, but, perhaps from distrust, which proves to be well
grounded, prefers to wrap himself in his plaid and sleep under the sky.
The party sent out to take him question the nurse, who at first makes a
deceptive answer, then gives them a direction to his hiding-place. They
find James the Rose asleep and take away his arms; he wakes and begs for
mercy, and is told that he shall have such as he has given. He appeals
to his servant to stay by him till death, and then to take his body to
Loch Largan (Loughargan), for which service the man shall have his
clothes and valuables. The avengers cut out his heart and take it to his
leman at the house of Marr; she raves over her treachery, and is ‘born
away’ bodily, to be seen no more.
#e#, #f#, it may be by accident, lack the vulgar passage 18, 19, which
may be a later addition, for nothing is said of a man being in
attendance when Sir James goes to his lair. The leader of the band that
takes Sir James the Rose is Sir James the Graham, Sir James Graham, in
#c#, #e#, #f#; a simple error, evidently. No motive is furnished in
#a-f# for the woman’s betraying her leman. #g# makes her offer
information on condition of getting a proper reward, and she is promised
Sir James’s purse and brechan, but in the end is tendered his bleeding
heart and his bleeding tartan, whatever that may be other than his
brechan. This must be one of Pinkerton’s improvements. The moral tag,
st. 24, is dropped, or wanting, in #c#, #e#, #f#, #g#.
The topography of traditional ballads frequently presents difficulties,
both because it is liable to be changed, wholly, or, what is more
embarrassing, partially, to suit a locality to which a ballad has been
transported, and again because unfamiliar names, when not exchanged, are
exposed to corruption. Some of the places, also, have not a dignity
which entitles them to notice in gazetteers. The first point, in the
case before us, would be to settle the whereabouts of the House of Marr,
in the vicinity of which the scene is laid. This I am unable to do.
There is a Ballechin in Logierait Parish, Perthshire. There is said to
be a Baleichan in Forfarshire.[94] It is not easy to see why the heir of
either of these places (Buleighan and the rest may stand for either)
should wish to have his body taken to Loch Largon in Invernesshire, if
Loch Largon means Loch Laggan, as seems likely.[95]
Translated by Knortz, Schottische Balladen, p. 79, after Aytoun.
* * * * *
1
O heard ye of Sir James the Rose,
The young heir of Buleighen?
For he has killd a gallant squire,
An ‘s friends are out to take him.
2
Now he’s gone to the House of Marr,
Where the nourrice was his leman;
To see his dear he did repair,
Thinking she would befriend him.
3
‘Where are you going, Sir James?’ she says,
‘Or where now are you riding?’
‘O I am bound to a foreign land,
For now I’m under hiding.
4
‘Where shall I go? Where shall I run?
Where shall I go to hide me?
For I have killd a gallant squire,
And they’re seeking to slay me.’
5
‘O go ye down to yon ale-house,
And I’ll pay there your lawing;
And, if I be a woman true,
I’ll meet you in the dawing.’
6
‘I’ll not go down to yon ale-house,
For you to pay my lawing;
There’s forty shillings for one supper,
I’ll stay in ‘t till the dawing.’
7
He’s turnd him right and round about
And rowd him in his brechan,
And he has gone to take a sleep,
In the lowlands of Buleighen.
8
He was not well gone out of sight,
Nor was he past Milstrethen,
Till four and twenty belted knights
Came riding oer the Leathen.
9
‘O have you seen Sir James the Rose,
The young heir of Buleighen?
For he has killd a gallant squire,
And we’re sent out to take him.’
10
‘O I have seen Sir James,’ she says,
‘For he past here on Monday;
If the steed be swift that he rides on,
He’s past the gates of London.’
11
But as they were going away,
Then she calld out behind them;
‘If you do seek Sir James,’ she says,
‘I’ll tell you where you’ll find him.
12
‘You’ll seek the bank above the mill,
In the lowlands of Buleighen,
And there you’ll find Sir James the Rose,
Lying sleeping in his brechan.
13
‘You must not wake him out of sleep,
Nor yet must you affright him,
Till you run a dart quite thro his heart,
And thro the body pierce him.’
14
They sought the bank above the mill,
In the lowlands of Buleighan,
And there they found Sir James the Rose,
A sleeping in his brechan.
15
Then out bespoke Sir John the Græme,
Who had the charge a keeping;
‘It’s neer be said, dear gentlemen,
We’ll kill him when he’s sleeping.’
16
They seizd his broadsword and his targe,
And closely him surrounded;
But when he wak’d out of his sleep,
His senses were confounded.
17
‘O pardon, pardon, gentlemen!
Have mercy now upon me!’
‘Such as you gave, such you shall have,
And so we’ll fall upon thee.’
18
‘Donald my man, wait me upon,
And I’ll give you my brechan,
And, if you stay here till I die,
You’ll get my trews of tartan.
19
‘There is fifty pounds in my pocket,
Besides my trews and brechan;
You’ll get my watch and diamond ring;
And take me to Loch Largon.’
20
Now they have taken out his heart
And stuck it on a spear,
Then took it to the House of Marr,
And gave it to his dear.
21
But when she saw his bleeding heart
She was like one distracted;
She smote her breast, and wrung her hands,
Crying, ‘What now have I acted!
22
‘Sir James the Rose, now for thy sake
O but my heart’s a breaking!
Curst be the day I did thee betray,
Thou brave knight of Buleighen.’
23
Then up she rose, and forth she goes,
All in that fatal hour,
And bodily was born away,
And never was seen more.
24
But where she went was never kend,
And so, to end the matter,
A traitor’s end, you may depend,
Can be expect’d no better.
* * * * *
#a.#
_From_ “A collection of Popular Ballads and Tales,” _in six
volumes_, “formed by me,” _says Sir W. Scott_, “when a boy, from
the baskets of the travelling pedlars.... It contains most of
the pieces that were popular about thirty years since.”
(“1810.”) _Vol._ IV, _No_ 21. _In stanzas of eight lines._
#b.#
1^2. Buleighan, _and always_.
2^3. To seek (#d#).
5^2. there pay.
5^3. maiden true (#d#).
11^1. As they rode on, man after man.
11^2. she cried.
11^3. James the Rose.
12^1. Seek ye the bank abune.
13^3. you drive (#d#).
13^4. through his (#d#).
14^1. abune (#d#).
14^4. Lying sleeping (#d#).
15^1. Up then spake (#d#).
15^3. It shall (#d#).
15^4. We killed: when a (#d#).
16^3. And (#d#).
17^4. we fall (#d#).
20^1. they’ve taen out his bleeding heart (#d#).
21^3. wrung her hands and tore her hair (#d#).
21^4. Oh, what have I.
22^1. It’s for your sake, Sir J. the R. (#d#).
22^2. That my poor heart’s (#d#).
23^3. She bodily.
24^4. Can never be no.
#c.#
1^1. Did you hear.
1^2. That young.
1^2, 7^4, 9^2. Belichan.
1^3. For _wanting_.
1^4. Who was sent out.
2^1. Now _wanting_.
2^2. nurse she was his layman.
3^2. where are you a.
3^3. I am going to some land.
3^4. For I am.
4^1. Where must: I turn.
4^2. I run.
4^3, 9^3. esquire.
4^4. And my friends are out to take me.
5^1. Go you.
5^2. There you’ll stay till the dawning.
5^4. I’ll come and pay your lawing.
6^1. down _wanting_.
6^2. To stay unto the dawning.
6^3. Now if you be a woman true.
6^4. [D] o (?) come and pay the lawning.
7^1. himself quite round.
7^3. he is.
8^1. not quite out.