290

THE WYLIE WIFE OF THE HIE TOUN HIE

A. ‘My lady ye shall be,’ “Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” Thomas Wilkie’s MS., p. 74, Abbotsford.

B. John Struthers, The British Minstrel, 1821, I, XXV.

C. ‘The Bonnie Lass o the Hie Toun End.’ Communicated by Mr David Louden, of Morham, Haddington, 1873.

D. ‘The Flowers of Edinburgh,’ Gibb MS., No 14, p. 57.

This ballad, which Motherwell pronounces to be “of some antiquity and of considerable popularity,” is of the same pernicious tenor as ‘The Broom o Cowdenknows,’ with the aggravation of treachery. The dénoûment is similar in ‘The Dainty Downby,’ Herd’s MSS, I, 45, printed in his Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 232, ‘The Laird o the Dainty Downby,’ Kinloch MSS, V, 145, and in ‘The Laird o Keltie,’ Kinloch MSS, I, 363, ‘The Young Laird o Keltie,’ III, 107, Motherwell MS., p. 21, both of one pattern, and that quite trashy.

A

“Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No 72, Thomas Wilkie’s MS., 1813-15, p. 74, Abbotsford; taken down from the recitation of a female friend, who sang it to a lively air.

1
It fell about the Martinmas,
When the gentlemen were drinking there wine,
And a’ the discourse that they had
Was about the ladies they gude fine.
2
It’s up an spake a tall young man,
The tallest o the companie;
‘The bonniest lass that I ken off
She lives into the hee toun hee.
3
‘O I would give a guinea of gold,
A guinea and a pint of wine,
I would give it to the hostler’s wife,
For to wile that bonny lassie in.’
4
The hostler’s wife gaed down the stair,
And she’s looked hersell round near by,
And there she spied the bonny handsom girl,
Coming walking down the hee town high.
5
‘Come in, come in, my bonny handsom girl,
Come speak one word with me;
Come taste a little of our wine,
For it’s new come out of Italie.’
6
So willillie she wil’d her up,
And so willillie she wil’d her in,
And so cunningly she’s locked the door,
And she’s comd down the stair again.
7
One of them took her by the milk-white hand,
And he’s laid her body on the ground,
And aye she sightd, and said, Alass,
’Tis a sin to do me wrong!
8
‘But since ye hae done sae muckle to me,
And brought me to so muckle shame,
O wad ye be so kind to me
As to tell to me your name.’
9
‘O if I tell to you my name,
It’s a thing I never did to none;
But I will tell to the, my dear;
I am the Earl of Beaton’s son.’

10
When two years were past and gone,
This gentleman came walking by,
And there he spied the bonny handsome girl,
Coming walking down the hie town high.
11
‘To whom belongs that pretty child,
That blinks with its pretty eye?’
‘His father’s from home and has left me alone,
And I have been at the fold milking my ky.’
12
‘You lie, you lie, my bonny handsome girl,
So loudlie I hear you lie;
O do not you mind that happie day
When ye was drinking the wine wi me?’
13
He’s lighted off his milk-white steed,
He’s kissd her both cheeck and chin;
He’s made a’ the servants in Beaton castle
To welcome this fair lady in.

B

Struthers’s British Minstrel, I, XXV., from recitation.

1
It fell about the Martinmas time,
When the nobles were drinking wine,
And the matter of their discourse it was,
‘O the ladies they go fine:’
2
Up then spake a brave gentleman,
The best in the companie;
‘The bonniest lass that eer I saw,
She dwells in the hie town hie.
3
‘I wad give a guinea of red gold,
Sae wad I a pint of wine,
To onie of the hostler-wives
That wad wyle to me the bonnie lassie in.’
4
Up then spake the hostler’s wife,
And an ill death may she die!
‘An ye’ll gie me a guinea of gold,
I will wyle the bonnie lassie in to thee.’
5
The hostler’s wife stood on the stair-head,
To see what she could see,
And there she saw this fair creature,
Coming down frae the hie town hie.
6
‘Come in, come in, my bonnie, bonnie lass,
Come in and speak with me;
Come in and drink a glass of wine,
That’s new come aff the raging sea.’
7
‘My father’s out upon the plain,
And I am waiting his incoming;
And I’m a girl so neat and trim
That I’m afraid of your merry men.’
8
‘My merry men are all gone out,
And they will not be in till nine,
And, if ye would my favour win,
Come in and drink a glass of wine.’
9
Sae cunningly she wyld her in,
And sae cunningly she led her round,
Till she wyld her to the room where he was,
And she locked the door the bonnie lass behind.
10
First he kissd her cherry cheeks,
And than he kissd her cherry chin,
And than he kissd her ruby lips,
Saying, Indeed ye’re a weel-faurd thing.
*   *   *   *   *   *
11
‘O since ye’ve got your will o me,
And brought me unto public shame,
I pray, kind sir, ye’ll marry me,
Or that ye’ll tell me what’s your name.’
12
‘If I tell my name to you, bonnie lassie,
It’s mair than ever I telld ane;
But I will tell to you, bonnie lassie;
I am an earl’s second son.
13
‘I am an earl’s second son,
My father has more children than me;
My eldest brother he heirs the land,
And my father he sent me to the sea.’
14
He put his hand into his pocket,
And he gave her sixty guineas and three,
Saying, Fare thee weel, my lovely young creature,
Ye’ll never get mair of me.
15
As she went down through Edinburgh streets,
The bonnie bells as they did ring,
‘Farewell, fareweel, my bonnie, bonnie lassie,
Ye’ve got the clod that winna cling.’
*   *   *   *   *   *
16
He hadna been ae week at the sea,
Not a week but only five,
Till the king made him a captain sae brave,
And he made the bonnie lassie his wife.

C

Communicated, February, 1873, by Mr David Louden, of Morham, Haddington, as recited by Mrs Richard Dodds, Morham, Loanhead, “aged over seventy.”

1
In Edinburgh, on a summer evening,
Our gentlemen sat drinking wine,
And every one to the window went,
To view the ladies, they went so fine.
2
They drank the wine, and they spilt the beer,
So merrily as the reel went round,
And a’ the healths that was drucken there
Was to the bonnie lass o the hie toun end.
3
Up then spoke a young squire’s son,
And as he spoke it all alone;
‘Oh, I would give a guinea of gold,
And so would I a pint of wine,
And I would make them their licence free
That would welcome this bonnie lassie in.’
4
The ostler’s wife, on hearin this,
So nimbly down the stairs she ran,
And the first toun’s-body that she met
Was the bonnie lass o the hie toun end.
5
‘Mistress, ye maun gang wi me
And get a cup o oor claret wine;
It’s new come oer the ragin sea,
Awat it is baith gude and fine.’
6
‘To gang wi you I daurna stay,
My mither’s wearyin for me in;
I am so beautiful and fine
I am a prey to all young men.’
7
Wi sattin slippers on her feet,
So nimbly up the stair she ran,
And wha so ready as this young squire
To welcome the bonny lassie in.
8
He[’s] taen her by the milk-white hand,
He’s gently led her through the room,
And aye she sighed, and aye she said,
It would be a pity to do me wrong.
9
‘Now, since you’ve taken your will o me,
I pray, kind sir, tell me your name;’
‘Oh yes, my dear, indeed,’ he said
‘But it’s more than I ever did to one.
10
‘I am a squire and a squire’s son,
My faither has fifty ploughs o land,
And I’m a man in the militrie,
And I must away and rank up my men.
11
‘And Jamie Lumsdaine is my name,
From the North Countrie, love, I really came.’
12
About a twelvemonth after that,
He sent a letter owre the main,
And muckle writin was therein,
To the bonnie lass o the hie toun end.
13
About a twelvemonth after that,
He himsel cam owre the main;
He made her Duchess o Douglas Dale,
And to him she’s had a fine young son.

D

Gibb MS., No 14, p. 57. From the recitation of Eppie Fraser, daughter of a tramp, and unable to read, about 1840.

1
All the soldiers in Edinburgh town
Were sitting drinking at the wine,
An all the toasts that were among them
Was a health to the lassie that goes sae fine.
2
Up then spake an officier,
The bravest in the company;
‘To every one I will give a guinea,
A guinea and a pint of wine,
To the ostler’s wife I wald double it a’,
If she’d entice that young lassie in.’
3
The old wife tripped down the stair,
And aye she said, ‘A good morrow, dame!’
And aye she said, an the maid replied,
‘What is your will wi me, madam?’
4
‘It’s not to do you any harm,
Or yet your body any ill,
But, if you would my favour gain,
Come up an taste one glass of wine.’
5
‘My father stands on the stair-head,
Just lookin for me to come in;
I am so proper and so tall
I’m much afraid of your merry men.’

6
‘My merry men, they are all gone out,
An they will not be in till dine;
So, if you would my favour gain,
Come up an taste a glass of wine.’
7
The fair maid tripped up the stair,
The old wife bolted the door behind;
He’s tane her in his arms twa,
Says, O but ye are a bonny thing!
8
Twenty times he kissed her cheek,
An twenty times her bonny chin,
An twenty times her ruby lips:
‘O but ye are a bonny thing!’
*   *   *   *   *   *
9
‘Noo, since ye’ve got your wills o me,
What is your name, I pray you tell;
.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
.   .   .   . where you dwell.’
10
.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
‘My eldest brother, he heirs the land;
I was forced to be a highwayman,
Or else a soldier, as I am.’
11
An aye the lassie she sat an grat,
An aye thae words spak them atween,
An aye the lassie she sat an grat,
And cursed the auld wife that brocht her in.
12
They had na been in Edinburgh
A month, a month but only nine,
When they have got the royal commission
For to march to Aberdeen.
13
An aye the lassie she sat an grat,
An aye thae words spak them atween,
An aye the lassie she sat an grat,
And cursed the auld wife that brocht her in.
14
They had na been in Aberdeen
A month, a month but only one,
When he got on the captain’s coat,
An made her lady o his land.
15
An aye the lassie she sat an sang,
An aye thae words spak them atween,
An aye the lassie she sat an sang,
An hersed the auld wife that brocht her in.

A.

14. Qy, gade?

31. Written and af pint gold, with pint struck out (anticipation of the next line).

54. now come.

B.

Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. xci, supplies, from a recited version, after 15:

Aye she sat, and aye she grat,
And kaimd her yellow hair,
And aye she cursd the hostler’s wife,
That wysit her in at the door.

And after 16:

Aye she sat, and aye she sang,
And kaimd her yellow hair,
And aye she blessd the hostler’s wife,
That wysit her in at the door.

Compare D 13, 15.