sion for more than fifty years, the lands of Balgray were sold by the Maltmen, for 18,600 merks, to John Orr of Barrowfield. These notes were culled from a portion only of the earliest manuscript volume belonging to the Maltmen Incorporation. They have five or six large minute books containing their transactions in regular rotation down to the present date. An idea may be formed from that statement of the great quantity of material which might be extracted from the books, and turned to account in a series of papers. Moreover most of the other incorporations-the Merchants' House, the Trades' House, and Hutchesons' Hospital-possess valuable records, and if extracts judiciously selected from them were published, they would shed much light on the doings of the citizens in long bygone years. Many a quaint custom would emerge, or receive a new illustration; many useful facts be learned, and the story of many a good deed be told for our edification and delight. TRANSACTIONS OF THE GLASGOW ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. NO. XXX. EARLY SCOTTISH BALLADS: BY JAS. HUTTON WATKINS, Esq. [Read at a Meeting of the Society held at Glasgow on 8th January, 1866.] AN inquiry into the early ballad literature of our country cannot fail to carry along with it a certain amount of interest to all. To the poet it is a laying bare the first efforts and productions of his favourite art; to the archæologist and to the historian it affords an insight into early manners and customs, illustrating facts otherwise obscure in the roll of bygone ages, and to the general student it affords a view of the theory and structure of language, and provides means for illustrating and comparing the various epochs in a state, showing its gradual advances towards civilization. In the earliest ages of a nation's history we find poetry occupying a prominent position; its laws and its religion are enunciated, and what history it has is frequently set forth in the form of verse; in the want of the pen and the press, legal dicta and the doctrines of religion (however brief and curt these may be) when assuming this shape, are more readily marked in the minds and preserved in the memories of men; and a nation's history, the records of its wars, its victories and its defeats, its legends, embodying its tales of superstition or love, can alone be handed down, in the absence of written annals, through the assistance of numbers and cadence. As the tide of civilization advances, incidents occur which are deemed worthy of record, and a desire is expressed to hand down the tale from one generation to another; a metrical composition is found best suited for the mnemonic effort, hence arises ballad poetry. In every country where any degree of civilization has taken place we find this to be the case, and through the ingenuity and labours of those interested in the work, we have now collections of the ballad literature of almost every European nation. Of our own ballad literature, valuable col lections have been made through the exertions of Ramsay, Percy, Evans, Herd, Pinkerton, Ritson, Laing, Scott, Jamieson, Hogg, Sharp, Maidment, Buchan, Kinloch, Motherwell, Cunningham, Child, Aytoun, and others. It is in regard to a very small portion of the labours of these English and Scotch collectors that I draw your attention this evening, and as the subject is exceedingly comprehensive, and the time allowed me very brief, I trust you will excuse me, if, after I have concluded my remarks, you shall rise with a feeling of dissatisfaction, under the impression that my labours seem to partake too much of a sketchy attribute. Keeping in mind, then, the chief object of ballad literature, viz.: x the handing down of story from one generation to another through oral tradition, in ages and circumstances when the press or pen is not available for such purposes, it will readily be perceived that it must possess some striking characteristics distinguishing it from other classes of composition. The main object is to assist oral tradition: this is attained greatly by the aid of versification and the flow of numbers. All must have experienced the truth of this, and know that it is much easier to retain in the mind a metrical than a prosaic composition. After reading Mr. Campbell of Islay's "Tales of the West Highlands," which are traditional, and some of which are very ancient, I thought it a peculiar feature in such tales to be handed down orally without the assistance of verse, -they are presented in a prosaic form. I drew his attention to this, and stated my doubts of their antiquity, as they could not long be handed down without cadence of some kind, when he informed me that "numerous passages occur, which," to use his own expression, แ are a kind of bewitched prose." He further informed me that he has no MSS., and that they are all handed down orally. As a farther assistance to the reciter, the repetition of the same words or x terms is of frequent occurrence. Homer, who has been called the "Father of Ballad Poetry," affords innumerable instances;-Atrides is "the king of men," or the "far ruler;" Achilles, "the divine," or "swift footed;" Apollo, "the far shooter," or "bearer of the silver bow;" the Greeks, "the well-greaved," so the "horse-taming Trojans," &c.; and as instances of wider expression when "men" are spoken of, they are generally termed "mortal men;" ships are called "hollow ships," "black ships," or "swift ships." The use of these terms assists the memory; and on the same principle we find that on delivering a message the same words are used by the messenger as those given to him. I take Homer again, his poem or collection affording good examples of the characteristics of ballad poetry. In the beginning of the Second Book of the Iliad we find an instance of a messenger using the same words to the person to whom he was sent as those given to him. Jove, the only one of the gods awake after a banquet, reflecting how he can assist Achilles, thinks he can do so by causing Agamemnon to dream that he would take "the wide-pathed city of Troy from the long-haired Greeks, the gods assisting him." Jupiter calls the god of sleep or dreams to fulfil his wish, and this messenger repeats to Agamemnon, in a dream, the exact words used by the king of the gods. Agamemnon in turn relates to his council the event, repeating the very words of the divine messenger. Juno, in the same book, sends Minerva as a messenger to Ulysses, who uses the same words in delivering the message as those given to her. So in Scotch ballad poetry do we find a repetition of particular epithets to certain objects; "blood-red wine;""the white monie;" "the gude red gowd." When a horse is referred to it is "a milk-white steed" in one set of ballads, or "the black," or "the grey," in another. A page is "a bonnie boy." Letters are generally "braid." A girl's hair is almost always The repe "yellow hair," her cheek "a cherry cheek," and so on. tition of numbers is peculiarly noticeable in our ballads. So distances, "a mile, a mile," or "a league, a league;" but "barely three," is of constant occurrence. In "Tamlane," a maiden "Had na pu'd a red, red rose, A rose but barely three." If one laughs, he gives "loud laughters three." In the "Mother's Malison," the number of chambers in a house are described as "Nae ane, but barely three." Fair Janet "dances through the dance but thrice." Dick o' the Cow hamstrings a certain number of horses, "but barely three." In listening to a preacher he marks "ne'er a word but three." This number three, is a peculiarly favourite one in our ballads, to such an extent that it sometimes appears a little absurd; a mother, or a frail damsel, has occasionally the liberal allowance of "babies three," and, as an expression of intense misery, a hero or heroine, instead of using the expression we daily hear, "my heart will break in two," says it will break "in three," as in "Hynde Etin," or that the same tripartite division will happen to the back of the unfortunate individual, as in "Fair Janet." But again, in the same ballad, a re petition of the same number is of constant occurrence. In "Johnie Armstrong," a ballad affording instances of repetition of verse after verse, the hero offers as a ransom first, "twenty-four milk-white steeds," then "twenty-four mills," then "twenty-four sisters' sons," to fight for the king. This is also a favourite number to denote a gathering of knights or fair ladies. In the beautiful ballad of "Kinmont Willie," we have a good example of the repetition of the same number in the two verses describing the disposition of the men who went to relieve "Kinmont Willie," viz. : "There were five and five before them a', "And five and five, like a mason's gang, And so they reached the Woodhouselee." This repetition goes far to assist the reciter in retaining a collection of compositions in his memory, and in course of time we find it gradually extending; certain expressions became common property, and in particular circumstances are always used. I believe that one of the main objects of the composer of early ballad poetry is to narrate events in such words that they will be readily handed down to posterity, and I consider that the reiteration well effects his purpose. Sir Walter Scott appears to me not to have seen the object of the "maker" in this repetition, when he tells us that it arises from the indolence of ballad-mongers, who avail themselves of every opportunity "of prolonging their pieces, .... without the labour of actual composition," and I do not entirely agree with him. in the theory which he holds in another part of his well-known essay upon "Popular Poetry," viz., that this reiteration was for the benefit of the audience, "to enable their comprehension to keep up with the voice of the singer or reciter, and supply the gaps which in general must have taken place, either through a failure in attention in the hearers, or of voice and distinct enunciation on the part of the minstrel." The "repetition" I hold was mainly to assist the memory of the reciter. But let me give some more instances of expressions and of phraseology common to numerous ballads. If one is greatly grieved, "the tear," sometimes "the saut tear blinds his e'e." One is accused of prevaricating thus plainly : "Ye lie, ye lie, ye liar loud, Fu' loud (or sae loud) I hear ye lie." |