Ye highlands, and ye lawlands,
Oh! whair hae ye been?
They hae slaine the earl of Murray,
And hae layd him on the green.
Now wae be to thee, Huntley!
And whairfore did you sae!
I bade you bring him wi' you,
But forbade you him to slay.
He was a braw gallant,
And he rid at the ring;
And the bonny earl of Murray,
Oh! he might hae been a king.
He was a braw gallant,
And he playd at the ba';
And the bonny earl of Murray
Was the flower among them a'.
He was a braw gallant,
And he playd at the gluve;
And the bonny earl of Murray,
Oh! he was the queenes luve.
Oh! lang will his lady
Luke owre the castle downe,
Ere she see the earl of Murray
Cum sounding throw the towne.
Notes
NOTES
Form:
abcb
1.
In 1765, Thomas Percy, later Bishop of Dromore, published in three
volumes his collection of "old heroic ballads, songs and other pieces
of our earlier poets together with some few of later date," under the
title Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, The edition contained,
in addition to a dedication to the Countess of Northumberland and a
preface, an "Essay on the Ancient English Minstrels" which was, in
part, responsible for the increasing interest in the ballad and minstrel
literature of the past. It encouraged one poet at least, James Beattie
(1735-1803), to write one of the century's best poems in the Spenserian
stanza, The Minstrel (1771-74). Percy collected his materials
from old manuscripts, from English and Scottish correspondents, from
earlier printings of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century ballads, from
the archives of various antiquarian societies, and from earlier collections
of ballads, especially the Pepys collection, "near 2000 in number, which
he has left pasted in five volumes in folio," in the Library of Magdalen
College, Cambridge. This poem is sub-titled "A Scottish Song." "In December,
1591, Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, had made an attempt to seize on the
person of his sovereign James VI., but being disappointed, had retired
towards the north. The king unadvisedly gave a commission to George
Gordon, Earl of Huntley, to pursue Bothwell and his followers with
fire and sword. Huntley, under cover of executing that commission,
took occasion to revenge a private quarrel he had against James
Stewart, Earl of Murray, a relation of Bothwell's. In the night of
Feb. 7, 1592, he beset Murray's house, burnt it to the ground, and
slew Murray himself\; a young nobleman of the most promising virtues,
and the very darling of the people. See Robertson's Hist." (Percy's note).
9.
braw: brave.
20.
"King James, who took no care to punish the murderers, is said by some
to have privately countenanced and abetted them, being stimulated by jealousy
for some indiscreet praises which his Queen had too lavishly bestowed on this
unfortunate youth" (Percy's note).
22.
luke owre: look o'er.
castle downe. "Castle downe here has been thought to mean the
Castle of Downe, a seat belonging to the family of Murray" (Percy's note).
24.
throw: through.
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