The date of this ballad, and its subject, are uncertain. From internal
evidence, I am inclined to place it late in the sixteenth century. Of
the Graemes enough is elsewhere said. It is not impossible, that such
a clan, as they are described, may have retained the rude ignorance
of ancient border manners to a later period than their more inland
neighbours; and hence the taunt of old Bewick to Graeme. Bewick is an
ancient name in Cumberland and Northumberland. The ballad itself was
given, in the first edition, from the recitation of a gentleman, who
professed to have forgotten some verses. These have, in the present
edition, been partly restored, from a copy obtained by the recitation of
an ostler in Carlisle, which has also furnished some slight alterations.
The ballad is remarkable, as containing, probably, the very latest
allusion to the institution of brotherhood in arms, which was held so
sacred in the days of chivalry, and whose origin may be traced up to the
Scythian ancestors of Odin. Many of the old romances turn entirely upon
the sanctity of the engagement, contracted by the _freres d'armes_. In
that of _Amis and Amelion_, the hero slays his two infant children, that
he may compound a potent salve with their blood, to cure the leprosy of
his brother in arms. The romance of _Gyron le Courtois_ has a similar
subject. I think the hero, like Graeme in the ballad, kills himself, out
of some high point of honour towards his friend.
The quarrel of the two old chieftains, over their wine, is highly in
character. Two generations have not elapsed since the custom of drinking
deep, and taking deadly revenge for slight offences, produced very
tragical events on the border; to which the custom of going armed to
festive meetings contributed not a little. A minstrel, who flourished
about 1720, and is often talked of by the old people, happened to be
performing before one of these parties, when they betook themselves to
their swords. The cautious musician, accustomed to such scenes, dived
beneath the table. A moment after, a man's hand, struck off with a
back-sword, fell beside him. The minstrel secured it carefully in
his pocket, as he would have done any other loose moveable; sagely
observing, the owner would miss it sorely next morning. I chuse rather
to give this ludicrous example, than some graver instances of bloodshed
at border orgies. I observe it is said, in a MS. account of Tweeddale,
in praise of the inhabitants, that, "when they fall in the humour of
good fellowship, they use it as a cement and bond of society, and not
to foment revenge, quarrels, and murders, which is usual in other
countries;" by which we ought, probably, to understand Selkirkshire and
Teviotdale.--_Macfarlane's MSS._