slays in the ballad for an attempt to poison the young king. He was,
however, hanged by his political enemies, April 7, 1571. This prelate
was credited with being an accomplice to the murder of Darnley and to
that of the Regent Murray. His elder brother was heir to the throne
after the progeny of Mary Stuart, and both of these persons were more or
less in the way. Mary Stuart’s son was a step on which the Hamiltons
must “fall down or else oerleap,” and the archbishop is said to have
sneered at the Duke of Chatelheraut for letting an infant live between
him and the throne. A report that the archbishop had undertaken to
poison this infant would readily be believed. Sir William Drury thought
it worth his while to write to Cecil that Queen Mary had done the same
before her son was a year old.[287]
Of Browne’s two previous performances, his standing stoutly for the king
at Edinburgh, st. 26, and his killing the son of the sheriff of
Carlisle, st. 27, we are permitted to know only that, since these
preceded the killing of the bishop, they occurred at some time before
James was five years old. The epoch of the adventure with Douglas, which
is the principal subject of the ballad, could be determined beyond
question if we could ascertain when Brown was made an earl. It falls
after the murder of the Regent Lennox, 8^1, that is, later than
September, 1571, and the king is old enough to know something of the
unhappy occurrences in his family, to forget and forgive, and to make
knights and earls. There are correspondences between the ballad and the
proceedings by which the Earl of Morton, after his resignation of the
regency, obtained possession of the young king’s person and virtually
reëstablished himself in his former power. This was in April, 1578, when
James was not quite twelve years old. Morton was living at Lochleven
“for policie, devysing the situation of a fayre gardene with allayis, to
remove all suspicion of his consavit treason.” James was in the keeping
of Alexander Erskine, his guardian, at Stirling Castle, of which Erskine
was governor; and the young Earl of Mar, nephew of the governor, was
residing there. This young man became persuaded, perhaps through
Morton’s representations, that he himself was entitled to the custody of
the castle, and incidentally of the king. Early in the morning of the
26th of April, before the garrison were astir, Mar (who was risen under
pretence of a hunting-party), supported by two Abbot Erskines, his
uncles, and a retinue of his own, demanded the castle-keys of the
governor. An affray followed, in which a son of Alexander Erskine lost
his life. The young king, wakened by the noise, rushed in terror from
his chamber, tearing his hair. Mar overpowered resistance and seized the
keys. Shortly after this, he and his uncle the governor came to terms at
the instance of the king, Mar retaining Stirling Castle and the
wardenship of the king, and the uncle being made keeper of the castle of
Edinburgh. Morton was received into Stirling Castle, and resumed his
sway. All this did not pass without opposition. The citizens of
Edinburgh rose in arms against Morton (cf. sts 21, 22), and large forces
collected from other parts of the country for the liberation of the
king. A civil war was imminent, and was avoided, it would seem, chiefly
through the influence of the English minister, Bowes, who offered
himself as peacemaker, in the name of his queen (cf. sts 31, 32).[288]
The Douglas of this ballad is clearly William Douglas of Lochleven, who
joined Mar at Stirling as Morton’s intermediary. He was afterwards
engaged in the Raid of Ruthven.
It may be added that Robert Brown, a servant of the king’s, played a
very humble part, for the defence of his master, in the Gowrie
Conspiracy, but that was nearly twenty years after Andrew Brown was
celebrated by Elderton, and when James was no young prince, but in his
thirty-fifth year.
1
As I did walke my selfe alone,
And by one garden greene,
I heard a yonge prince make great moane,
W_hi_ch did turne my hart to teene.
2
‘O Lord!’ he then said vntou me,
‘Why haue I liued soe long?
For yonder comes a cruell Scott,’
Q_uo_th hee, ‘_tha_t will doe me some ronge.’
3
And then came traitor Douglas there,
He came for to betray his king;
Some they brought bills, and some they brought bowes,
And some the brought other things.
4
The king was aboue in a gallery,
W_i_th a heauy heart;
Vnto his body was sett about
W_i_th swords and speares soe sharpe.
5
‘Be you the lordes of Scotland,’ he said,
‘_Tha_t hither for councell seeke to me?
Or bee yoe traitors to my crowne,
My blood _tha_t you wold see?’
6
‘Wee are the l_ord_s of Scottland,’ they said,
‘Nothing we come to craue of thee;
But wee be traitors to thy crowne,
Thy blood that wee will see.’
7
‘O fye vpon you, you false Scotts!
For you neuer all trew wilbe;
My grandfather you haue slaine,
And caused my mother to flee.
8
‘My grandfather you haue slaine,
And my owne father you hanged on a tree;
And now,’ q_uot_h he, ‘the like treason
You haue now wrought for me.
9
‘Ffarwell hart, and farwell hand!
Farwell all pleasures alsoe!
Farwell th . . . my head
. . . . . . .
10
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
‘If thou wilt . . . .
And soe goe away w_i_th mee.’
11
‘Goe marry thy daughter to whome thou wilt,’
Q_uot_h Browne; ‘thou marrys none to me;
For I’le not be a traitor,’ q_uot_h Browne,
‘For all the gold that euer I see.’
12
This Douglas, hearing Browne soe say,
Began to flee away full fast;
‘But tarry a while,’ saies lusty Browne,
‘I’le make you to pay before you passe.’
13
He hath taken the Douglas prisoner,
And hath brought him before the k_ing_;
He kneeled low vpon his knee,
For pardon there prainge.
14
‘How shold I pardon thee,’ saith the k_ing_,
‘And thou’le remaine a traitor still?
For euer since that I was borne,’
Q_uot_h he, ‘thou hast sought my blood to spill.’
15
‘For if you will grant me my pardon,’ he said,
‘Out of this place soe free,
I wilbe sworne before yo_u_r Grace
A trew subiect to bee.’
16
‘God for-gaue his death,’ said the k_ing_,
‘When he was nayled vpon a tree;
And as free as euer God forgaue his death,
Douglas,’ q_uot_h he, ‘I’le forgiue thee.
17
‘And all the traitors in Scottland,’
Q_uo_th he, ‘both great and small;
As free as euer God forgaue his death,
Soe free I will forgiue them all.’
18
‘I thanke you for yo_u_r pardon, king,
_Tha_t you haue granted forth soe plaine;
If I liue a twelue month to an end,
You shall not aliue remaine.
19
‘Tomorrow yet, or ere I dine,
I meane to doo thee one good turne;
For Edenborrow, that is thine owne,’
Q_uo_th he, ‘I will both h[arry] and [burne].’
20
Thus Douglas hied towards Edenborrow,
And many of his men were gone beffore;
And after him on euery side,
W_i_th him there went some twenty score.
21
But when that they did see him come,
They cryed lowd w_i_th voices, saying,
‘Yonder comes a false traitor,
That wold haue slaine our k_ing_.’
22
They chaynd vp the gates of Edenborrow,
And there the made them wonderous fast,
And there Browne sett on Douglas againe,
And quicklye did him ouer cast.
23
But worde came backe againe to the k_ing_,
W_i_th all the speed that euer might bee,
_Tha_t traitor Douglas there was taken,
And his body was there to see.
24
‘Bring me his taker,’ q_uo_th the k_ing_,
‘Come, quickly bring him vnto me!
I’le giue a thousand pound a yeere,
What man soeuer he bee.’
25
But then they called lusty Browne;
Sayes, ‘Browne, come thou hither to mee.
How oft hast thou foughten for my sake,
And alwayes woone the victory?’
26
‘The first time that I fought for you,
It was in Edenborrow, k_ing_;
If there I had not stoutly stood,
My leege, you neuer had beene k_ing_.
27
‘The second time I fought for you,
Here I will tell you in this place;
I killd the sheriffs sonne of Carlile,’
Q_uot_h he, ‘that wold haue slaine yo_u_r Grace.
28
‘The third time t_ha_t I fought for you,
Here for to let you vnderstand,
I slew the Bishopp of S^t Andrew[s],’
Q_uo_th he, ‘w_i_th a possat in [his hand].’
29
. . . . . q_uo_th hee,
‘_Tha_t euer my manhood I did trye;
I’le make a vow for Englands sake
_Tha_t I will neuer battell flee.’
30
‘God amercy, Browne,’ then said the k_ing_,
‘And God amercy heartilye!
Before I made thee but a knight,
But now an earle I will make thee.
31
‘God saue the queene of England,’ he said,
‘For her blood is verry neshe;
As neere vnto her I am
As a colloppe shorne from the fleshe.
32
‘If I be false to England,’ he said,
‘Either in earnest or in iest,
I might be likened to a bird,’
Q_uot_h he, ‘that did defile it nest.’
* * * * *
5^3. yoe bee.
5^4. by my: _cf._ 6^4.
6^1. are they.
8^2. mother _for_ father.
9^4. _Half a page torn away._
18^3. a 12.
20^4. 20 score.
24^3. a 1000.
28^1. the 3[d :].
28^4. possat? MS. _rubbed_: _Hales_.
APPENDIX
THE KING OF SCOTS AND ANDREW BROWNE
A new Ballad, declaring the great treason conspired against the young
King of Scots, and how one Andrew Browne, an Englishman, which was the
king’s chamberlaine, preuented the same. To the tune of Milfield, or els
to Greenesleeues.
This piece, which is contained in a collection of ballads and
proclamations in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, London, is
signed W. Elderton, and was “imprinted at London for Yarathe Iames,
dvvelling in Nevvgate Market, ouer against Christes Church.” It was
licensed to James, May 30, 1581: Arber II, 393. Reprinted by Percy,
Reliques, 1765, II, 204; here from the original. There is an imperfect
and incorrect copy in the Percy MS., p. 273; Hales and Furnivall, II,
265.
Morton was beheaded only three days after these verses were licensed,
and had been in durance for several months before at the castle of
Edinburgh. Elderton cannot be supposed to have the last news from
Scotland, and he was not a man to keep his compositions by him nine
years. The exhortation of Morton to his confederate, Douglas, in the
last stanza but one is divertingly misplaced. The fictions of the privie
banket and the selling of the king beyond seas are of the same mint as
those in the ballad.
Jesus, God! what a griefe is this,
That princes subiects cannot be true,
But still the deuill hath some of his
Will play their parts, whatsoeuer ensue;
Forgetting what a greeuous thing
It is to offend the annointed kinge.
Alas for woe! why should it be so?
This makes a sorowfull heigh ho.
In Scotland is a bonie kinge,
As proper a youthe as neede to be,
Well giuen to euery happy thing
That can be in a kinge to see;
Yet that vnluckie countrie still
Hath people giuen to craftie will.
Alas for woe! etc.
On Whitson eue it so befell
A posset was made to give the kinge,
Whereof his ladie-nurse hard tell,
And that it was a poysoned thing.
She cryed, and called piteouslie,
‘Now helpe, or els the king shall die!’
Alas for woe! etc.
One Browne, that was an English man,
And hard the ladies piteous crye,
Out with his sword, and besturd him than
Out of the doores in haste to flie;
But all the doores were made so fast,
Out of a window he got at last.
Alas for woe! etc.
He met the bishop comming fast,
Hauing the posset in his hande;
The sight of Browne made him agast,
Who bad him stoutly staie and stand.
With him were two that ranne away,
For feare that Browne would make a fray.
Alas for woe! etc.
‘Bishop,’ quoth Browne, ‘what hast thou there?’
‘Nothing at all, my freend,’ sayde he,
‘But a posset to make the king good cheere.’
‘Is it so?’ sayd Browne, ‘that will I see.
First I will haue thy selfe begin,
Before thou goe any further in;
Be it weale or woe, it shall be so.’
This makes a sorrowfull heigh ho.
The bishop saide, Browne, I doo know
Thou art a young man poore and bare;
Liuings on thee I will bestowe;
Let me go on, take thee no care.
‘No, no,’ quoth Browne, ‘I will not be
A traitour for all Christiantie.
Happe weal or woe, it shall be so:
Drinke now, with a sorrowfull heigh ho.’
The bishop dranke, and by and by
His belly burst and he fell downe:
A iust reward for his traytery.
‘This was a posset in deede!’ quoth Browne.
He serched the bishop, and found the keyes
To come to the kinge when he did please.
Alas for woe! etc.
As soone as the king gat word of this,
He humbly fell vppon his knee,
And praysed God that he did misse
To tast of that extremity:
For that he did perceaue and know
His clergie would betray him so.
Alas for woe! etc.
‘Alas,’ he said, ‘vnhappy realme!
My father and godfather slaine,
My mother banished, O extreame
Vnhappy fate, and bitter bayne!
And now like treason wrought for me.
What more vnhappy realme can be!’
Alas for woe! etc.
The king did call his nurse to his grace,
And gave her twentie pound a yeere;
And trustie Browne to, in like case,
He knighted him, with gallant geere,
And gaue him . . . liuings great,
For dooing such a manly feat
As he did sho[w]e, to the bishops woe,
Which made, etc.
When all this treason don and past
Tooke not effect of traytery,
Another treason at the last
They sought against his Maiestie;
How they might make their kinge away
By a priuie banket on a daye.
Alas for woe! etc.
Wherat they ment to sell the king
Beyonde the seas, it was decreede:
Three noble earles heard of this thing,
And did preuent the same with speede.
For a letter came, with such a charme,
That they should doo they[r] king no harme,
For further woe, if they did so;
Which made a sorrowfull heigh ho.
The Earle Mourton told the Douglas then,
‘Take heede you doo not offend the kinge:
But shew your selues like honest men,
Obediently in euery thing;
For his godmother will not see
Her noble childe misvsde to be
With any woe; for if it be so,
She will make a sorrowfull heigh ho’
God graunt all subiects may be true,
In England, Scotland, and euerie where,
That no such daunger may ensue,
To put the prince or state in feare;
That God, the highest king, may see
Obedience as it ought to be.
In wealth or woe, God graunt it be so!
To auoide the sorrowfull heigh ho.
181
THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY
#A.# ‘The Bonny Earl of Murray,’ Ramsay’s Tea-Table Miscellany, 11th
ed., London, 1750, p. 356 (vol. iv).
#B.# ‘The Bonnie Earl o Murray,’ Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, II, 11.
#A# is not in the ninth edition of the Tea-Table Miscellany, 1733, but
may be in the tenth (1736? 1740?), which I have not seen. It is printed
in Percy’s Reliques, 1765, II, 210, and in many subsequent collections:
Herd’s Scots Songs, 1769, p. 32; Ritson’s Scottish Songs, 1794, II, 29;
Johnson’s Museum, No 177; etc.
James Stewart, son of Sir James Stewart of Doune, became Earl of Murray
in consequence of his marriage with the oldest daughter and heiress of
the Regent Murray. “He was a comely personage, of a great stature, and
strong of body like a kemp.”[289] There was a violent hostility between
Murray and the Earl of Huntly. The occurrence which is the subject of
the ballad may be narrated in the least space by citing the account
given by Spottiswood. After his assault on Holyrood House in December
(or September), 1591, “Bothwell went into the north, looking to be
supplied by the Earl of Murray, his cousin-german; which the king
suspecting, Andrew Lord Ochiltrie was sent to bring Murray unto the
south, of purpose to work a reconcilement betwixt him and Huntly. But a
rumor being raised in the mean while that the Earl of Murray was seen in
the palace with Bothwell on the night of the enterprise, the same was
entertained by Huntly (who waited then at court) to make him suspected
of the king, and prevailed so far as he did purchase a commission to
apprehend and bring Murray to his trial. The nobleman, not fearing that
any such course should be used, was come to Donibristle, a house
situated on the north side of Forth, and belonging to his mother the
lady Doune. Huntly, being advertised of his coming, and how he lay there
secure, accompanied only with the Sheriff of Murray and a few of his own
retinue, went thither and beset the house, requiring him to render. The
Earl of Murray refusing to put himself in the hands of his enemy, after
some defence made, wherein the sheriff was killed, fire was set to the
house, and they within forced by the violence of the smoke and flame to
come forth. The earl staid a great space after the rest, and, the night
falling down, ventured among his enemies, and, breaking through the
midst of them, did so far outrun them all as they supposed he was
escaped; yet searching him among the rocks, he was discovered by the tip
of his head-piece, which had taken fire before he left the house, and
unmercifully slain. The report went that Huntly’s friends, fearing he
should disclaim the fact (for he desired rather to have taken him
alive), made him light from his horse and give some strokes to the dead
corpse.... The death of the nobleman was universally lamented, and the
clamors of the people so great ... that the king, not esteeming it safe
to abide at Edinburgh, removed with the council to Glasgow, where he
remained until Huntly did enter himself in ward in Blackness, as he was
charged. But he staid not there many days, being dimitted, upon caution,
to answer before the justice whensoever he should be called. The corpses
of the Earl and Sheriff of Murray were brought to the church of Leith in
two coffins, and there lay divers months unburied, their friends
refusing to commit their bodies to the earth till the slaughter was
punished. Nor did any man think himself so much interested in that fact
as the Lord Ochiltrie, who had persuaded the Earl of Murray to come
south; whereupon he fell afterwards away to Bothwell, and joined with
him for revenge of the murder.”
This outrage was done in the month of February, 1592. Huntly sheltered
himself under the king’s commission, and was not punished. He was no
doubt a dangerous man to discipline, but the king, perhaps because he
believed Murray to be an abettor of Bothwell, showed no disposition that
way.
According to Sir James Balfour, “the queen, more rashly than wisely,
some few days before had commended” Murray, “in the king’s hearing, with
too many epithets of a proper and gallant man.” Balfour may have had
gossip, or he may have had a ballad, for his authority (see #A# 5); the
suggestion deserves no attention.[290]
In #B# the Countess of Murray is treated as the sister of Huntly.
#A# is translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, No 8, p.
52; by Herder, II, 71. #B# by Arndt, Blütenlese, p. 196.
A
Ramsay’s Tea-Table Miscellany, 1763, p. 356.
1
Ye Highlands, and ye Lawlands,
Oh where have you been?
They have slain the Earl of Murray,
And they layd him on the green.
2
‘Now wae be to thee, Huntly!
And wherefore did you sae?
I bade you bring him wi you,
But forbade you him to slay.’
3
He was a braw gallant,
And he rid at the ring;
And the bonny Earl of Murray,
Oh he might have been a king!
4
He was a braw gallant,
And he playd at the ba;
And the bonny Earl of Murray
Was the flower amang them a’.
5
He was a braw gallant,
And he playd at the glove;
And the bonny Earl of Murray,
Oh he was the Queen’s love!
6
Oh lang will his lady
Look oer the castle Down,
Eer she see the Earl of Murray
Come sounding thro the town!
Eer she, etc.
B
Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, II, 11; from recitation.
1
‘Open the gates,
and let him come in;
He is my brother Huntly,
he’ll do him nae harm.’
2
The gates they were opent,
they let him come in,
But fause traitor Huntly,
he did him great harm.
3
He’s ben and ben,
and ben to his bed,
And with a sharp rapier
he stabbed him dead.
4
The lady came down the stair,
wringing her hands:
‘He has slain the Earl o Murray,
the flower o Scotland.’
5
But Huntly lap on his horse,
rade to the king:
‘Ye’re welcome hame, Huntly,
and whare hae ye been?
6
‘Whare hae ye been?
and how hae ye sped?’
‘I’ve killed the Earl o Murray,
dead in his bed.’
7
‘Foul fa you, Huntly!
and why did ye so?
You might have taen the Earl o Murray,
and saved his life too.’
8
‘Her bread it’s to bake,
her yill is to brew;
My sister’s a widow,
and sair do I rue.
9
‘Her corn grows ripe,
her meadows grow green,
But in bonny Dinnibristle
I darena be seen.’
182
THE LAIRD O LOGIE
#A.# ‘The Laird o Logie,’ Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, III, 128. The
same, with the insertion of one stanza from recitation, Motherwell’s
Minstrelsy, p. 56.
#B.# ‘The young Laird of Ochiltrie,’ Herd, The Ancient and Modern
Scots Songs, 1769, p. 240; ed. 1776, I, 21. Repeated in Campbell
MSS, I, 142.
#C.# ‘The Laird of Logie,’ a stall-copy printed by M. Randall,
Stirling. The same in Motherwell’s MS., p. 504, and in Maidment’s
Scotish Ballads and Songs, p. 8, ‘The young Laird of Logie.’
#D.# ‘Young Logie,’ Harris MS., fol. 16.
#E.# ‘The Laird o Logie, or, May Margaret,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy,
p. 56, one stanza.
Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, a madcap cousin of the king, had been
guilty of a violent assault upon Holyrood House in December (or
September), 1591, and in June, 1592, had “conspired the apprehension of
the king’s person” while James was residing at Falkland. In August
following he attempted to force himself into the king’s presence to
“make his reconciliation.”
“The lairds of Burlie and Logie, delated to [have] had intelligence with
the Earl Bothwell, were taken and apprehended by the Duke of Lennox the
ninth day of August, 1592, and committed to ward within Dalkeith; where
being examined they both confessed the same. Burley gat his life for
telling the truth, but Logie, being a great courtier with the king, and
dealer with the Earl Bothwell in Bothwell’s enterprise which should
[have] been done at Dalkeith, to wit, that they should come in at the
back gate through the yard and [have] gotten the king in their hands,
the said laird of Logie was ordained to be tried by an assize and
executed to the death. But the same night that he was examined, he
escaped out by the means of a gentlewoman whom he loved, a Dane, who
conveyed him out of his keepers’ hands, through the queen’s chamber,
where his Majesty and the queen were lying in their beds, to a window in
the backside of the place, where he went down upon a tow [rope], and
shot three pistols in token of his onlouping [mounting his horse] where
some of his servants, with the laird of Niddry, were awaiting him.”
(Moysie’s Memoirs, p. 95.)
Another account may be added, from The Historie of King James the Sext
(p. 253 f.):
“It fortuned that a gentleman called Wemyss of Logie, being also in
credence at court, was delated as a trafficker with Francis Earl
Bothwell; and he, being examined before king and council, confessed his
accusation to be of verity; that sundry times he had spoken with him,
expressly against the king’s inhibition proclaimed in the contrary;
which confession he subscribed with his hand....
“Queen Anne, our noble princess, was served with divers gentlewomen of
her own country, and namely with one called Mistress Margaret Twynstoun,
to whom this gentleman, Wemyss of Logie, bore great honest affection,
tending to the godly band of marriage; the which was honestly requited
by the said gentlewoman, yea, even in his greatest mister (need). For
how soon she understood the said gentleman to be in distress, and
apparently by his confession, to be punisht to the death, and she having
privilege to lie in the queen’s chamber that same very night of his
accusation, where the king was also reposing that same night, she came
forth of the door privily, both the princes being then at quiet rest,
and past to the chamber where the said gentleman was put in custody to
certain of the guard, and commanded them that immediately he should be
brought to the king and queen; whereunto they giving sure credence
obeyed. But how soon she was come back to the chamber-door, she desired
the watches to stay till he should come forth again; and so she closed
the door and conveyed the gentleman to a window, where she ministered a
long cord unto him to convey himself down upon, and so, by her good
charitable help, he happily escaped, by the subtlety of love.”
Calderwood gives the following account: “Upon Monday the seventh of
August, the king being in Dalkeith, the young laird of Logie and Burlie
promised to Bothwell to bring him in before the king to seek his pardon.
The king was forewarned, and Bothwell, howbeit brought in quietly within
the castle, was conveyed out again. Burlie was accused and confessed;
Logie denied, and therefore would have suffered trial. The night before,
one of the queen’s dames, Mistress Margaret, a Dutchwoman, came to the
guard and desired that he might be suffered to come to the queen, who
had something to inquire of him. Two of the guard brought him to the
king’s chamber-door, and staid upon his coming forth, but she conveyed
him in the mean time out at a window in a pair of sheets.... Logie
married the gentlewoman after, when he was received into the king’s
favor again.”[291] Logie, according to Calderwood, was “a varlet of the
king’s chamber.”