IN THE BATTLE OF OTTERBOURNE. Pag. 20. ver. 101. Mentaye] At the time of this battle the Earldom of Menteith was possessed by Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife, third son of K. Robert II. who, according to Buchanan, commanded the Scots that entered by Carlisle. But our Minstrel had probably an eye to the family of Graham, who had this Earldom when the ballad was written. See Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 1764, fol. Ver. 103. Huntlay.] This shews this ballad was not composed before 1449; for in that year Alexander Lord of Gordon and Huntley, was created Earl of Huntley by K. James II. Ver. 105. Bowghan.] The Earl of Buchan at that time was Alexander Stewart, fourth son of K. Robert II. Ver. 107. Jhonstone-Maxwell.] These two families of Johnstone Lord of Johnston, and Maxwell Lord of Maxwell, were always very powerful on the borders. Of the former family was Johnston Marquis of Annandale: of the latter was Maxwell Earl of Nithsdale. I cannot find that any chief of this family was named Sir Hugh; but Sir Herbert Maxwell was about this time much distinguished. (See Doug.) This might have been originally written Sir H. Maxwell, and by transcribers converted into Sir Hugh. So above in No I. v. 90. Richard is contracted into Ric. Ver. 109. Swynton] i. e. The Laird of Swintone: a small village within the Scottish border, three miles from Norham. This family still subsists, and is very ancient. Ver. 111. Scotte.] The illustrious family of Scot, ancestors of the Duke of Buccleugh, always made a great figure on the borders. Sir Walter Scot was at the head of this family when the battle was fought; but his great-grandson, Sir David Scot, was the hero of that house, when the Ballad was written. Ibid. Stewarde] The person here designed was probably Sir Walter Stewart, Lord of Dalswinton and Gairlies, who was eminent at that time. (See Doug.) From him is descended the present Earl of Galloway. Ver. 112. Agurstone.] The seat of this family was sometimes subject to the kings of Scotland. Thus Richardus Hagerstoun miles, is one of the Scottish knights who signed a treaty with the English in 1249. temp. Hen. III. (Nicholson, p. 2. note.)-It was the fate of many parts of Northumberland often to change their masters, according as the Scottish or English arms prevailed. Pag. 25, ver. 129. Morrey.] The person here meant was probably Sir Charles Murray of Cockpoole, who flourished at that time, and was ancestor of the Murrays, sometime Earls of Annandale. See Doug. Peerage. Ver. 139. Fitz-hughe.] Dugdale (in his Baron. V. I. p. 403., informs us, that John, son of Henry Lord Fitz-hugh, was This was a Northumberland killed at the battle of Otterbourne. family. Vid. Dugd. p. 403. col. 1.; and Nicholson, pp. 33. 60. Ver. 141. Harebotell] Harbottle is a village upon the river Coquet, about ten miles west of Rothbury. The family of Harbottle was once considerable in Northumberland. (See Fuller, pp. 312, 313.) A daughter of Guischard Harbottle, Esq. married Sir Thomas Percy, Knt. son of Henry the Fifth,-and father of Thomas seventh, Earls of Northumberland. III. THE JEW'S DAUGHTER, A SCOTTISH BALLAD, -Is founded upon the supposed practice of the Jews in crucifying or otherwise murthering Christian children, out of hatred to the religion of their parents: a practice which hath been always alledged in excuse for the cruelties exercised upon that wretched people, but which probably never happened in a single instance. For, if we consider, on the one hand, the ignorance and superstition of the times when such stories took their rise, the virulent prejudices of the monks who record them, and the eagerness with which they would be catched up by the barbarous populace as a pretence for plunder; on the other hand, the great danger incurred by the perpetrators, and the inadequate motives they could have to excite them to a crime of so much horror; we may reasonably conclude the whole charge to be groundless and malicious. The following ballad is probably built upon some Italian Legend, and bears a great resemblance to the Prioresse's Tale in Chaucer: the poet seems also to have had an eye to the known story of "Hugh of Lincoln," a child said to have been there murthered by the Jews in the reign of Henry III. The conclusion of this ballad appears to be wanting: what it probably contained may be seen in Chaucer. As for "Mirryland Toun," it is probably a corruption of Milan (called by the Dutch Meylandt) Town: the Pa is evidently the river Po; altho' the Adige, not the Po, runs thro' Milan. Printed from a MS. copy sent from Scotland. THE rain rins doun through Mirry-land toune, Sae dois the lads of Mirry-land toune, Than out and cam the Jewis dochtèr, Said, "Will ye cum in and dine?" "I winnae cum in, I cannae cum in, Without my play-feres nine." Scho powd an apple reid and white And that the sweit bairne did win. And scho has taine out a little pen-knife, And low down by her gair, Scho has twin'd the zong thing and his life; And out and cam the thick thick bluid, And out and cam the thin; And out and cam the bonny herts bluid: Scho laid him on a dressing borde, And laughing said, "Gae nou and pley With zour sweit play-feres nine." Scho rowd him in a cake of lead, Bade him lie stil and sleip. Scho cast him in a deip draw-well, Was fifty fadom deip. Quhan bells wer rung, and mass was sung, And every lady went hame : Than ilka lady had her zong sonne, Scho rowd hir mantil hir about, Aud sair sair gan she weip: 5 10 15 20 30 And she ran into the Jewis castèl, 35 "My bonny sir Hew, my pretty sir Hew, "O lady, rinn to the deip draw-well, Lady Helen ran to the deip draw-well, "My bonny sir Hew, an ze be here, "The lead is wondrous heavy, mither, A keen pen-knife sticks in my hert, Gae hame, gae hame, my mither deir, And at the back o' Mirry-land toun, 4.5 50 IV. SIR CAULINE. THIS old romantic tale was preserved in the editor's folio MS. but in so very defective and mutilated a condition (not from any chasm in the MS. but from great omission in the transcript, probably copied from the faulty recitation of some illiterate minstrel), and the whole appeared so far short of the perfection it seemed to deserve, that the editor was tempted to add several stanzas in the first part, and still more in the second, to connect and complete the story in the manner which appeared to him most interesting and affecting. There is something peculiar in the metre of this old ballad: it is not unusual to meet with redundant stanzas of six lines; but the occasional insertion of a double third or fourth line, as ver. 31, &c. is an irregularity I do not remember to have seen elsewhere. It may be proper to inform the reader before he comes to Pt. 2, v. 110, 111, that the round table was not peculiar to the reign of K. Arthur, but was common in all the ages of Chivalry. The proclaiming a great turnament (probably with some peculiar solemnities) was called "holding a Round Table." Dugdale tells us, that the great baron Roger de Mortimer " having procured the honour of knighthood to be conferred on his three sons' by K. Edw. I. he, at his own costs, caused a tourneament to be held at Kenilworth; where he sumptuously entertained an hundred knights, and as many ladies, for three days; the like whereof was never before in England; and there began the round table, (so called by reason that the place wherein they practised those feats was environed with a strong wall made in a round form :) And upon the fourth day, the golden lion, in sign of triumph, being yielded to him; he carried it (with all the company) to Warwick."-It may further be added, that Matthew Paris frequently calls justs and turnaments "Hastiludia Mensæ Rotundæ." As to what will be observed in this ballad of the art of healing being practised by a young princess; it is no more than what is usual in all the old romances, and was conformable to real manners: it being a practice derived from the earliest times among all the Gothic and Celtic nations, for women, even of the highest rank, to exercise the art of surgery. In the Northern Chronicles we always find the young damsels stanching the wounds of their lovers, and the wives those of their husbands. * And even so late as the time of Q. Elizabeth, it is mentioned among the accomplishments of the ladies of her court, that the "eldest of them are skilful in surgery." See Harrison's Description of England, prefixed to Holingshed's Chronicle, &c. THE FIRST PART. IN Ireland, ferr over the sea, And with him a yong and comlye knighte, The kinge had a ladye to his daughter, And princely wightes that ladye wooed 5 * See "Northern Antiquities," &c. vol. i. p. 318. vol. ii. p. 100. "Memoires de la Chevalerie." Tom. i. p. 44. |