"Love pines away, love dwines away, For the love o' thee, now I maun die- 105 FAIR HELEN OF KIRCONNELL. "THE following very popular ballad has been handed down by tradition in its present imperfect state. The affecting incident on which it is founded is well known. A lady, of the name of Helen Irving, or Bell, (for this is disputed by the two clans,) daughter of the Laird of Kirconnell, in Dumfries-shire, and celebrated for her beauty, was beloved by two gentlemen in the neighbourhood. The name of the favoured suitor was Adam Fleming of Kirkpatrick; that of the other has escaped tradition: though it has been alleged that he was a Bell, of Blacket House. The addresses of the latter were, however, favoured by the friends of the lady, and the lovers were therefore obliged to meet in secret, and by night, in the churchyard of Kirconnell, a romantic spot, almost surrounded by the river Kirtle. During one of these private interviews, the jealous and despised lover suddenly appeared on the opposite bank of the stream, and levelled his carabine at the breast of his rival. Helen threw herself before her lover, received in her bosom the bullet, and died in his arms. A desperate and mortal combat ensued between Fleming and the murderer, in which the latter was cut to pieces. Other accounts say, that Fleming pursued his enemy to Spain, and slew him in the streets of Madrid. "The ballad, as now published, consists of two parts. The first seems to be an address, either by Fleming or his rival, to the lady; if, indeed, it constituted any portion of the original poem. For the Editor cannot help suspecting, that these verses have been the production of a different and inferior bard, and only adapted to the original measure and tune. But this suspicion being unwarranted by any copy he has been able to procure, he does not venture to do more than intimate his own opinion. The second part, by far the most beautiful, and which is unquestionably original, forms the lament of Fleming over the grave of fair Helen. “The ballad is here given, without alteration or improvement, from the most accurate copy which could be recovered. The fate of Helen has not, however, remained unsung by modern bards. A lament, of great poetical merit, by the learned historian, Mr. Pinkerton, with several other poems on this subject, have been printed in various forms.1 "The grave of the lovers is yet shown in the churchyard of Kirconnell, near Springkell. Upon the tombstone can still be read-Hic jacet Adamus Fleming ; 1 For Pinkerton's elegy, see his Select Scottish Ballads, i. 109; for Mayne's, the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 86, Part ii. 64. Jamieson has enfeebled the story in Popular Ballads, i. 205, and Wordsworth's Ellen Irwin hardly deserves more praise. ED. a cross and sword are sculptured on the stone. The former is called by the country people, the gun with which Helen was murdered; and the latter the avenging sword of her lover. Sit illis terra levis ! A heap of stones is raised on the spot where the murder was committed; a token of abhorrence common to most nations." Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, iii. 98. Versions of the Second Part, (which alone deserves notice,) nearly agreeing with Scott's, are given in the Illustrations to the new edition of Johnson's Museum, p. 143, by Mr. Stenhouse, p. 210, by Mr. Sharpe. Inferior and fragmentary ones in Herd's Scottish Songs, i. 257; Johnson's Museum, 163; Ritson's Scottish Song, i. 145; Jamieson's Popular Ballads, i. 203. FAIR HELEN. PART FIRST. O! SWEETEST sweet, and fairest fair, Yet God hath given to me a mind, Of high or low degree. The shallowest water makes maist din, 10 Yet, nevertheless, I am content, O! Helen sweet, and maist complete, Thy captive cruelly? O! Helen brave! but this I crave, 15 20 |