The following very popular ballad has been handed down by tradition in
its present imperfect state. The affecting incident, on which it is
founded, is well known. A lady, of the name of Helen Irving, or Bell,[A]
(for this is disputed by the two clans) daughter of the laird of
Kirconnell, in Dumfries-shire, and celebrated for her beauty, was
beloved by two gentlemen in the neighbourhood. The name of the favoured
suitor was Adam Fleming, of Kirkpatrick; that of the other has escaped
tradition; though it has been alleged, that he was a Bell, of Blacket
House. The addresses of the latter were, however, favoured by the
friends of the lady, and the lovers were therefore obliged to meet in
secret, and by night, in the church-yard of Kirconnell, a romantic spot,
surrounded by the river Kirtle. During one of those private interviews,
the jealous and despised lover suddenly appeared on the opposite bank of
the stream, and levelled his carabine at the breast of his rival. Helen
threw herself before her lover, received in her bosom the bullet, and
died in his arms. A desperate and mortal combat ensued between Fleming
and the murderer, in which the latter was cut to pieces. Other accounts
say, that Fleming pursued his enemy to Spain, and slew him in the
streets of Madrid.
[Footnote A: This dispute is owing to the uncertain date of the ballad;
for, although the last proprietors if Kirconnell were Irvings, when
deprived of their possession by Robert Maxwell in 1600, yet Kirconnell
is termed in old chronicles _The Bell's Tower;_ and a stone, with the
arms of that family, has been found among its ruins. Fair Helen's
sirname, therefore, depends upon the period at which she lived, which it
is now impossible to ascertain.]
The ballad, as now published, consists of two parts. The first seems to
be an address, either by Fleming or his rival, to the lady; if, indeed,
it constituted any portion of the original poem. For the editor cannot
help suspecting, that these verses have been the production of a
different and inferior bard, and only adapted to the original measure
and tune. But this suspicion, being unwarranted by any copy he has been
able to procure, he does not venture to do more than intimate his own
opinion. The second part, by far the most beautiful, and which is
unquestionably original, forms the lament of Fleming over the grave of
fair Helen.
The ballad is here given, without alteration or improvement, from the
most accurate copy which could be recovered. The fate of Helen has not,
however, remained unsung by modern bards. A lament, of great poetical
merit, by the learned historian Mr Pinkerton, with several other poems
on this subject, have been printed in various forms.
The grave of the lovers is yet shewn in the church-yard of Kirconnell,
near Springkell. Upon the tomb-stone can still be read--_Hie jacet
Adamus Fleming;_ a cross and sword are sculptured on the stone. The
former is called, by the country people, the gun with which Helen was
murdered; and the latter, the avenging sword of her lover. _Sit illis
terra levis!_ A heap of stones is raised on the spot where the murder
was committed; a token of abhorrence common to most nations.[A]
[Footnote A: This practice has only very lately become obsolete in
Scotland. The editor remembers, that, a few years ago, a cairn was
pointed out to him in the King's Park of Edinburgh, which had been
raised in detestation of a cruel murder, perpetrated by one Nicol
Muschet, on the body of his wife, in that place, in the year 1720.]