The next step that she steppit in, O, sichin', says this ladye fair, 'They sud gar twa luves twin." "Seven king's dochters I've drounèd there, "Sin' I am standin' here," she says, One kiss o' your comelie mouth He louted him o'er his saddle bow, "Sin' seven king's daughters ye've drounèd there, I' the water o' Wearie's Well, I'll mak ye the bridegroom to them a', An' aye she warsled, and aye she swam, An' she swam to dry lan'; An' thankit God most cheerfullie, For the dangers she o'ercam. THE BROOM BLOOMS BONNIE AND SAYS IT IS FAIR. The revolting nature of the subject of this ballad might, in the opinion of many readers, have been a sufficient reason for withholding its publication; but as tales of this kind abound in the traditionary poetry of Scotland, a collection like the present would have been incomplete without at least one solitary specimen. In its details, too, the Editor conceives it to be less abhorrent than either the ballad of Lizie Wan,* or that of The Bonny Hynd;† he also preferred it to the fragment of another ballad, on a similar subject, which, like the present, he obtained from recitation. The fragment begins thus :— "Lady Margaret sits in her bow window, She dropt her thimble at her toe, Her scissars at her heel, And she's awa to the merry green wood, To see the leaves grow green;". and in its principal features bear a strong resemblance to The Bonny Hynd. With the exception of three verses, which appeared in Johnson's "Musical Museum," vol. v. p. 474, under the title of The broom blooms bonny, the broom blooms fair, the present ballad is for the first time printed. It is evidently a composition of considerable antiquity; and, in poetical merit, it may stand a comparison with either of the ballads above referred to. The alternate lines The broom blooms bonnie and says it is fair, And we'll never gang down to the broom onie mair. are repeated in each stanza.-MOTHERWELL. IT is talked, it is talked, the warld all over, And we'll never gang down to the broom onie mair. * Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, &c., Edin. 1776, vol. i. p. 98. + Border Minstrelsy, fifth edition, vol. iii. p. 102. He's ta'en his sister down to her father's deer park, Wi' his yew tree bow and arrows fast slung at his back. "O when that ye hear me gie a loud, loud cry, Shoot an arrow frae thy bow, and there let me lye. "And when that ye see I am lying cauld and dead, Then ye'll put me in a grave wi' a turf at my head." Now when he heard her gie a loud, loud cry, He has houkit a grave that was lang and was deep, And he has buried his sister wi' her baby at her feet. And when he came hame to his father's court ha', There was music and minstrels and dancing 'mang them a'. O Willie! O Willie! what makes thee in pain?" I have lost a sheath and knife that I'll never see again." There are ships o' your father's sailing on the sea, That will bring as good a sheath and a knife unto thee." "There are ships o' my father's sailing on the sea, But sic a sheath and knife they can never bring to me!" P YOUNG JOHNSTONE. For the first complete copy of this ballad the public is indebted to Mr Finlay of Glasgow, in whose collection it appeared, prefaced with the following notice :-“A fragment of this fine old ballad has been repeatedly published, under the title of The Cruel Knight. The present edition has been completed from two recited copies. Young Johnstone's reason for being 'sae late a coming in' has been suppressed, as well as a concluding stanza of inferior merit, in which the catastrophe is described in a manner quite satisfactory, but not very poetical." The present copy of this excellent ballad was obtained from recitation; for a few verbal emendations recourse has been had to Mr Finlay's copy; but those parts which that gentleman's taste led him to reject, the Editor of this compilation did not conceive himself warranted to suppress. Refinement in matters of taste may be carried to a pernicious extreme; and, in an editor of ancient poetry, too much delicacy in this respect may oftentimes be a very questionable virtue. The reciters of old ballads frequently supply the best commentaries upon them, when any obscurity or want of connexion appears in the poetical narrative. This ballad, as it stands, throws no light on young Johnstone's motive for stabbing his lady; but the person from whose lips it was taken down alleged that the barbarous act was committed unwittingly, through young Johnstone's suddenly waking from sleep, and in that moment of confusion and alarm unhappily mistaking his mistress for one of his pursuers. It is not improbable but the ballad may have had at one time a stanza to the above effect, the substance of which is still remembered, though the words in which it was couched have been forgotten. At all events, it is a more likely inference than that which Mr Gilchrist has chosen to draw from the premises. See a "Collection of Ancient and Modern Scottish Ballads, Tales, and Songs, with Explanatory Notes and Observations, by John Gilchrist," vol. i. p. 185, Edin. 1815.-MOTHERWELL. YOUNG Johnstone and the young Col'nel Sat drinking at the wine; "O gin ye wad marry my sister, It's I wad marry thine." "I wadna marry your sister, "I wadna marry your sister, Young Johnstone had a nut-brown sword, And he ritted it through the young Col❜nel, But he's awa' to his sister's bower, He's tirled at the pin; "Whare hae ye been, my dear brither, Sae late a coming in? "I've dreamed a dream this night," she says, "I wish it may be for good; They were seeking you with hawks and hounds, And the young Col'nel was dead.” * "Ritted:" thrust violently. In Sir Tristrem it is used simply to cut. Vide Fytte I. Stanza xliv. In the copy obtained by the Editor, the word "ritted" did not occur; instead of which the word "stabbed" was used. The "nut-brown sword" was also changed into "a little small sword." |