SIR HUGH; OR, THE JEW'S DAUGHTER. 113 Then out and spak his auld mother, "Ye wad nae be warned, my son Johnnie, "Aft hae I brought to Breadislee "But wae betyde that silly auld carle! For the highest tree in Merriemass Now Johnnie's gude bend bow is broke, SIR HUGH; OR, THE JEW'S DAUGHTER. Two copies of this ballad appeared in Herd's Collection, Edin., 1776, under the above title; a third is printed in Dr Percy's Reliques; and Mr Jamieson has given another copy of the same ballad, taken down from recitation. To this last, which differs in a few particulars from those already published, its learned Editor has prefixed some interesting notices, which may be consulted with advantage. The present edition is likewise given as taken down from the recitation of a lady; and as it contains some additional circumstances not to be found in any of the copies mentioned above, it has been deemed proper to publish it as it stands, without attempting to incorporate it with any other version. -MOTHERWELL. H YESTERDAY was brave Hallowday, He kicked the ball with his foot, Out then came the Jew's daughter- "Throw down that ball to me, maiden, Throw down the ball to me.' "I winna throw down your ball, Sir Hugh, Till ye come up to me." She pu'd the apple frae the tree, She wiled him into ae chamber, She wiled him into the third chamber, She took out a little penknife, Hung low down by her spare, She twined this young thing o' his life, SIR HUGH; OR, THE JEW'S DAUGHTER. 115 And first came out the thick, thick blood, And syne came out the bonnie heart's blood- She laid him on a dressing-table, She dress'd him like a swine,* She put him in a case of lead, A schoolboy walking in the garden, Says, "Bonnie Sir Hugh, and pretty Sir Hugh, I pray you speak to me; If you speak to any body in this world, I pray you speak to me." When bells were rung and mass was sung, And every body went hame, Then every lady had her son, "She dressed him like a 'Swan was the reading we got; but, in deference to former editions, we have substituted "Swine," though it is questionable how far a Jewess could be skilled in the cookery of an animal abominated by her people.-W. M. She rolled her mantle her about, She cries, "Bonnie Sir Hugh, O pretty Sir I pray you speak to me; If you speak to any body in this world, "Lady Helen, if ye want your son, She ran away to the deep draw-well, Saying, "Bonnie Sir Hugh, O pretty Sir Hugh, If ye speak to any body in the world, I pray ye speak to me." "Oh! the lead it is wondrous heavy, mother, The well it is wondrous deep, The little penknife sticks in my throat, "But lift me out o' this deep draw-well, And bury me in yon churchyard; Put a Bible at my head," he says, "And a Testament at my feet, And and ink at every side, pen And I'll lie still and sleep. "And go to the back of Maitland town, For it's at the back of Maitland town O the broom, the bonny, bonny broom, THE LAIRD O' LOGIE; OR, MAY MARGARET, Appears to be founded on an incident which is detailed at some length in Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland, see ed. Lond. 1668, b. vi. p. 389; and also in "The Historie of King James the Sext," quoted by the editor of "The Border Minstrelsy." The common printed edition of this ballad goes under the title of The Laird of Ochiltree, but the copy here followed is that recovered by Sir Walter Scott, which is preferable to the other, as agreeing more closely, both in the name and in the circumstance, with the real fact. The third stanza in the present copy was obtained from recitation; and, as it describes very naturally the agitated behaviour of a person who, like May Margaret, had high interests at stake, it was considered worthy of being preserved.— MOTHERWELL. I WILL sing, if ye will hearken, The wanton laird o' young Logie. * This stanza, though meant for a moral, seems to have little business here, and we are at a loss to make sense of the second line.-W. M. |