But light now downe, my deare ladyè,

Light downe, and hold my horse; While I and this discourteous knight Doe trye our valour's force.

Fair Emmeline sighed, fair Emmeline wept,
And aye her heart was woe,

While twixt her love and the carlish knight

Past many a baleful blowe.

The Child of Elle hee fought soe well,
As his weapon he waved amaine,

That soone he had slaine the carlish knight,
And layd him upon the plaine.

135

140

And nowe the baron and all his men

145

Full fast approached nye:

Ah! what may ladye Emmeline doe?
Twere nowe no boote to flye.

Her lover he put his horne to his mouth,

And blew both loud and shrill,

150

And soone he saw his owne merry mea

Come ryding over the hill.

"Nowe hold thy hand, thou bold baròn,

I pray thee hold thy hand,

Nor ruthless rend two gentle hearts

Fast knit in true love's band.

155

Thy

This faire yong knyght and mee: Trust me, but for the carlish knyght, I never had fled from thee.

170

175

180 The

The baron he stroakt his dark-brown cheeke,

And turned his heade asyde

To whipe awaye the starting teare

He proudly strave to hyde.

In deepe revolving thought he stoode,

And mused a little space;

Then raised faire Emmeline from the grounde,

With many a fond embrace.

Here take her, Child of Elle, he sayd,

And gave her lillye white hand;

Here take my deare and only child,

And with her half my land;

Thy father once mine honour wrongde

In dayes of youthful pride;

Do thou the injurye repayre

In fondnesse for thy bride.

And as thou love her, and hold her deare,

Heaven prosper thee and thine :

And nowe my blessing wend wi' thee,

My lovelye Emmeline.

* *

*

185

190

195

200

+++ From the word kirke in ver. 159, this hath been thought to be a Scottish Ballad, but it must be acknowledged that the line referred to is among the additions supplied by the Editor: besides, in the Northern counties of England, kirk is used in the common dialect for church, as well as beyond the Tweed.

XII. EDOM

XII.

EDOM O' GORDON,

A SCOTTISH BALLAD,

was printed at Glasgow, by Robert and Andrew Foulis, MDCCLV, 8vo, 12 pages. We are indebted for its publication (with many other valuable things in these volumes) to Sir David Dalrymple, Bart. who gave it as it was preserved in the memory of a lady, that is now dead.

The reader will here find it improved, and enlarged with several fine stanzas, recovered from a fragment of the same ballad, in the Editor's folio MS. It is remarkable that the latter is entitled CAPTAIN ADAM CARRE, and is in the English idiom. But whether the author was English or Scotch, the difference originally was not great. The English Ballads are generally of the North of England, the Scottish are of the South of Scotland, and of consequence the country of Eallad-singers was sometimes subject to one crown, and sometimes to the other, and most frequently to neither. Most of the finest old Scotch songs have the scene laid within 20 miles of England, which is indeed all poetic ground, green hills, remains of woods, clear brooks. The pastoral scenes remain: of the rude chivalry of former ages happily nothing remains but the ruins of the castles, where the more daring and successful robbers resided. The House or Castle of the RODES stood about a measured mile south from Duns, in Berwickshire: some of the ruins of it may be seen to this day. The GORDONS were anciently seated in the same county: the two villages of East and West Gordon lie about 10 miles from the castle of the

Rodes,

Rodes*. The fact, however, on which the Ballad is founded, happened in the North of Scotland, (see below, p. 130.) yet it is but too faithful a specimen of the violences practised in the feudal times in every part of this Island, and indeed all over Europe.

From the different titles of this Ballad, it should seem that the old strolling bards or minstrels (who gained a livelihood by reciting these poems) made no scruple of changing the names of the personages they introduced, to humour their hearers. For instance, if a Gordon's conduct was blame-worthy in the opinion of that age, the obsequious minstrel would, when among Gordons, change the name to Car, whose clan or sept lay further West, and vice versâ.-The foregoing observation, which I owed to Sir David Dalrymple, will appear the more perfectly well founded, if, as I have since been informed (from Crawford's Memoirs), the principal Commander of the expedition was a GORDON, and the immediate Agent a CAR, or KER; for then the Reciter might, upon good grounds, impute the barbarity here deplored, either to a Gordon, or a Car, as best suited his purpose. In the third volume the reader will find a similar instance. See the song of GIL MORRIS, wherein the principal character introduced had different names given him, perhaps from the same cause.

It may be proper to mention, that in the folio MS., instead of the "Castle of the Rodes," it is the "Castle of Brittons-borrow," and also "Diactours" or "Draitoursborrow," (for it is very obscurely written,) and "Capt. Adam Carre" is called the "Lord of Westerton-town." Uniformity required that the additional stanzas supplied from that copy should be clothed in the Scottish orthography and idiom: this has therefore been attempted, though perhaps imperfectly.

* This Ballad is well known in that neighbourhood, where it is entitled ADAM o' GORDON. It may be observed, that the famous freebooter, whom Edward I fought with, hand to hand, near Farnham, was named ADAM GORDON.