The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 4 (of 5)
General
The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 4 (of 5)
Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts
8
‘Gif my gude lord war here this night,
As he is with King Charlie,
Neither you, nor ony ither Scottish lord,
Durst avow to the plundering of Airlie.
9
‘Gif my gude lord war now at hame,
As he is with his king,
There durst nae a Campbell in a’ Argyll
Set fit on Airlie green.
10
‘Ten bonny sons I have born unto him,
The eleventh neer saw his daddy;
But though I had an hundred mair,
I’d gie them a’ to King Charlie.’
* * * * *
B
Kinloch MSS, V, 273.
1
It fell on a day, a clear summer day,
When the corn grew green and bonny,
That there was a combat did fall out
‘Tween Argyle and the bonny house of Airly.
2
Argyle he did raise five hundred men,
Five hundred men, so many,
And he did place them by Dunkeld,
Bade them shoot at the bonny house of Airly.
3
The lady looked over her own castle-wa,
And oh, but she looked weary!
And there she espied the gleyed Argyle,
Come to plunder the bonny house of Airly.
4
‘Come down the stair now, Madam Ogilvie,
And let me kiss thee kindly;
Or I vow and I swear, by the sword that I wear,
That I winna leave a standing stone at Airly.’
5
‘O how can I come down the stair,
And how can I kiss thee kindly,
Since you vow and you swear, by the sword that you wear,
That you winna leave a standing stone on Airly?’
6
‘Come down the stair then, Madam Ogilvie,
And let me see thy dowry;’
‘O ’tis east and it is west, and ’tis down by yon burn-side,
And it stands at the planting sae bonny.
7
‘But if my brave lord had been at hame this day,
As he is wi Prince Charlie,
There durst na a Campbell in all Scotland
Set a foot on the bowling-green of Airly
8
‘O I hae born him seven, seven sons,
And an eighth neer saw his daddy,
And tho I were to bear him as many more,
They should a’ carry arms for Prince Charlie.’
* * * * *
C
#a.# Kinloch MSS, V, 205, recited by John Rae. #b.# Cromek’s Remains
of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 226, 1810. #c.# Smith’s Scottish
Minstrel, II, 2. #d.# Christie’s Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 276,
“from the recitation of a relative.”
1
It fell on a day, on a bonny summer day,
When the corn grew green and yellow,
That there fell out a great dispute
Between Argyle and Airley.
2
The great Argyle raised five hundred men,
Five hundred men and many,
And he has led them down by the bonny Dunkeld,
Bade them shoot at the bonny house of Airley.
3
The lady was looking oer her castle-wa,
And O but she looked weary!
And there she spied the great Argyle,
Came to plunder the bonny house of Airley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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