Pp. 379–97. #I# a was first printed in the second edition of the
Minstrelsy, 1803, II, 163. (Read in 1^2, on her; in 3^2, hand.) The copy
principally used was one furnished by Sharpe, which was not #A a#, and
has not so far been recovered. Besides this, “copies from various
quarters” were resorted to. (Half a dozen stanzas are found in #G#, but
#G# itself is very likely a compilation). Eight copies from Abbotsford
are now printed for the first time. Two of these may have been in
Scott’s hands in time to be used, two were certainly not, and for the
others we have no date.
There is only one novel feature in all these copies: in #U# 13 Mary’s
paramour is a pottinger. The remark that there is no trace of an
admixture of the Russian story with that of the apothecary, page 383,
must therefore be withdrawn.[151] Mary in this version, as in #E#, #F#,
#Q#, #T#, #U#, #V#, #Y#, is daughter of the Duke of York.
#X#, like #E#, #F#, has borrowed from No 95: see 13–15.
* * * * *
S
Finlay sent Scott, March 27, 1803, the following copy of ‘The Queen’s
Marie,’ as he “had written it down from memory:” Letters addressed to
Sir Walter Scott, I, No 87, Abbotsford. Stanzas 10, 9, 12 appear in the
second volume of the Minstrelsy, 1802, p. 154, with the variation of a
couple of words, as ‘The Lament of the Queen’s Marie’ (here #I b#).
Perhaps Finlay adopted these three stanzas into his copy. Stanzas 1, 3,
6, 8, with very slight variations, were printed by Finlay in the preface
to his Scottish Ballads, 1808 (#O#).
1
There lived a lord into the South,
An he had daughters three;
The youngest o them’s gaen to the king’s court,
To learn some courtesie.
2
She had na been in the king’s court
A twelvemonth an a day,
When word is thro the kitchen gaen,
An likewise thro the ha,
That Mary Moil was gane wi child
To the highest steward of a’.
3
She rowd it into a basket
An flang’t into the sea,
Saying, Sink ye soon, my bonny babe,
Ye’se neer get mair o me.
4
She rowd it into a basket
An flang’t into the faem,
Saying, Sink ye soon, my bonny babe,
I’se gang a maiden hame.
5
O whan the news cam to the king
An angry man was he;
He has taen the table wi his foot,
An in flinders gart it flie.
6
‘O woe be to you, ye ill woman,
An ill death may ye die!
Gin ye had spared the sweet baby’s life,
It might have been an honour to thee.
7
‘O busk ye, busk ye, Mary Moil,
O busk, an gang wi me,
For agen the morn at ten o clock
A rare sight ye sall see.’
8
She wadna put on her gown o black,
Nor yet wad she o brown,
But she wad put on her gown o gowd,
To glance thro Embro town.
9
O whan she cam to the Netherbow Port
She gied loud laughters three,
But whan she cam to the gallows-foot
The tear blinded her ee.
10
Saying, O ye mariners, mariners,
That sail upon the sea,
Let not my father nor mother to wit
The death that I maun die.
11
‘For little did father or mother wit,
The day they cradled me,
What foreign lands I should travel in,
Or what death I should die.
12
‘Yestreen the Queen had four Maries,
The night she’ll hae but three;
There was Mary Seton, an Mary Beaton,
An Mary Carmichael, an me.’
3^3, 4^3. _We should read_ Sink ye, soom ye, _as in A 3^3, U 14^3,
X 4^3, and other copies._
* * * * *
T
Communicated to Sir Walter Scott by Mrs Christiana Greenwood, London,
21st February and 27th May, 1806, from the recitation of her mother and
her aunt, who learned the ballad above fifty years before from Kirstan
Scot, then an old woman, at Longnewton, near Jedburgh: Letters at
Abbotsford, I, Nos 173, 189.
1
There was a duke, and he dwelt in York,
And he had daughters three;
One of them was an hostler-wife,
And two were gay ladies.
2
O word’s gane to Queen Mary’s court,
As fast as it coud gee,
That Mary Hamilton’s born a bairn,
And the baby they coud na see.
3
Then came the queen and a’ her maids,
Swift tripping down the stair:
‘Where is the baby, Mary,
That we heard weep sae sair?’
4
‘O say not so, Queen Mary,
Nor bear ill tales o me,
For this is but a sore sickness
That oft times troubles me.’
5
They sought it up, they sought it down,
They sought it below the bed,
And there the[y] saw the bonny wee babe,
Lying wallowing in its bluid.
6
‘Now busk ye, busk ye, Mary Hamilton,
Busk ye and gang wi me,
For I maun away to Edinbro town,
A rich wedding to see.’
7
Mary wad na put on the black velvet,
Nor yet wad put on the brown,
But she’s put on the red velvet,
To shine thro Edinbro town.
8
When she came unto the town,
And near the Tolbooth stair,
There stood many a lady gay,
Weeping for Mary fair.
9
‘O haud yeer tongue[s], ye ladys a’,
And weep na mair for me!
O haud yeer tongues, ye ladys a’,
For it’s for my fault I dee.
10
‘The king he took me on his knee
And he gae three drinks to me,
And a’ to put the babie back,
But it wad na gang back for me.
11
‘O ye mariners, ye mariners a’,
That sail out-owr the sea,
Let neither my father nor mother get wit
What has become o me!
12
‘Let neither my father nor mother ken,
Nor my bauld brethren three,
For muckle wad be the gude red bluid
That wad be shed for me.
13
‘Aft hae I laced Queen Mary’s back,
Aft hae I kaimed her hair,
And a’ the reward she’s gein to me’s
The gallows to be my heir.
14
‘Yestreen the queen had four Marys,
The night she’l hae but three;
There was Mary Seatoun, and Mary Beatoun,
An Mary Carmichal, an me.’
* * * * *
U
‘Lament of the Queen’s Marie,’ “Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border
Minstrelsy,” No 92, Abbotsford. Communicated to Scott, 7th January,
1804, by Rev. George Paxton, Kilmaurs, near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
(afterwards professor of divinity at Edinburgh); from the mouth of Jean
Milne, his “aged mother, formerly an unwearied singer of Scotish songs.”
1
‘My father was the Duke of York,
My mother a gay ladye,
And I myself a daintie dame;
The queen she sent for me.
2
‘But the queen’s meat it was sae sweet,
And her clothing was sae rare,
It made me long for a young man’s bed,
And I rued it evermair.’
3
But word is up, and word is down,
Amang the ladyes a’,
That Marie’s born a babe sin yestreen,
That babe it is awa.
4
But the queen she gat wit of this,
She calld for a berry-brown gown,
And she’s awa to Marie’s bower,
The bower that Marie lay in.
5
‘Open your door, my Marie,’ she says,
‘My bonny and fair Marie;
They say you have born a babe sin yestreen,
That babe I fain wad see.’
6
‘It is not sae wi me, madam,
It is not sae wi me;
It is but a fit of my sair sickness,
That oft times troubles me.’
7
‘Get up, get up, my Marie,’ she says,
‘My bonny and fair Marie,
And we’ll away to Edinburgh town,
And try the verity.’
8
Slowly, slowly, gat she up,
And slowly pat she on,
And slowly went she to that milk-steed,
To ride to Edinburgh town.
9
But when they cam to Edinburgh,
And in by the Towbooth stair,
There was mony a virtuous ladye
Letting the tears fa there.
10
‘Why weep ye sae for me, madams?
Why weep ye sae for me?
For sin ye brought me to this town
This death ye gar me die.’
11
When she cam to the Netherbow Port,
She gae loud laughters three;
But when she cam to the gallows-foot
The tear blinded her ee.
12
‘Yestreen the queen had four Maries,
The night she’ll hae but three;
There was Marie Seton, and Marie Beatoun,
And Marie Carmichael, and me.
13
‘My love he was a pottinger,
Mony drink he gae me,
And a’ to put back that bonnie babe,
But alas! it wad na do.
14
‘I pat that bonny babe in a box,
And set it on the sea;
O sink ye, swim ye, bonny babe!
Ye’s neer get mair o me.
15
‘O all ye jolly sailors,
That sail upon the sea,
Let neither my father nor mother ken
The death that I maun die.
16
‘But if my father and mother kend
The death that I maun die,
O mony wad be the good red guineas
That wad be gien for me.’
* * * * *
V
“Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No 9, Abbotsford; in
the handwriting of William Laidlaw.
1
‘My father was the Duke of York,
My mother the gay ladie,
An I myself a maiden bright,
An the queen desired me.’
2
But there word gane to the kitchen,
There’s word gane to the ha,
That Mary mild she gangs wi child
To the uppermost stewart of a’.
3
Than they sought but, and they sou[ght] ben,
They sought aneath the bed,
An there the fand the bonnie lad-bairn,
Lyin lappin in his blood.
4
‘Gae buss ye, Marie Hamilton,
Gae buss ye, buss ye bra,
For ye maun away to Edin[brough] town,
The queen’s birthday ...’
5
She wadna put on her black, bla[ck] silk,
Nor wad she put on the brown,
But she pat on the glisterin stufs,
To glister in Edinbrough town.
6
An whan she cam to the water-gate
Loud laughters gae she three,
But whan she cam to the Netherbow Port
The tear blinded Marie’s ee.
7
’Twas up than spak Queen Marie’s nurse,
An a sorry woman was she:
‘Whae sae clever o fit and ready o wit
Has telld sic news o thee!’
8
‘Oft have I Queen Marie’s head
Oft have I caimd her hair,
An a’ the thanks I’ve gotten for that
Is the gallows to be my heir!
9
‘Oft have I dressd Queen Marie’s head,
An laid her in her bed,
An a’ the thanks I’ve gotten for that
Is the green gallows-tree to tread!
10
‘O spare, O spare, O judge,’ she cried,
‘O spair a day for me!’
‘There is nae law in our land, ladie,
To let a murderer be.’
11
‘Yestreen the queen had four Maries,
The night she’ll hae but three;
There was Marie Seaton, and Ma[rie] Bea[ton],
An Marie Carmichael, an me.
12
‘O if my father now but kend
The death that I’m to die,
O muckle, muckle wad be the red gowd
That he wad gie for me.
13
‘An if my brothers kend the death
That I am now to die,
O muckle, muckle wad be the red blood
That wad be shed for me.’
2^{3,4}. Or:
That Mary Hamilton’s born a bairn
An murderd it at the wa.