XVII.

The Bonny Earl of Murray.

A SCOTTISH SONG.

In December, 1591, Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, had made an attempt to seize on the person of his sovereign, James VI., but beiny disappointed, had retired towards the north. The king unadvisedly gave a commission to George Gordon, Earl of Huntley, to pursue Bothwell and his followers with fire and sword. Huntley, under cover of executing that commission, took occasion to revenge a private quarrel he had against James Stewart, Earl of Murray, a relation of Bothwell's. In the night of Feb. 7, 1592, he beset Murray's house, burnt it to the ground, and slew Murray himself: a young nobleman of the most promising virtues, and the very darling of the people. See Robertson's History.

The present Lord Murray hath now in his possession a picture of his ancestor naked and covered with wounds, which had been carried about, according to the custom of that age, in order to inflame the populace to revenge his death. If this picture did not flatter, he well deserved the name of the BONNY EARL, for he is there represented as a tall and comely personage. It is a tradition in the family, that Gordon of Bucky gave him a wound in the face: Murray, half expiring, said You hae spilt a better face than your awin." Upon this, Bucky, pointing his dagger at Huntley's breast, swore, "You shall be as deep as I;" and forced him to pierce the poor defenceless body.

King James, who took no care to punish the murderers, is said by some to have privately countenanced and abetted them, being stimulated by jealousy for some indiscreet praises which his queen had too lavishly bestowed on this unfortunate youth. See the preface to the ballad. See also Mr. Walpole's Catalogue of Royal Authors, vol. i.p. 42 YE highlands and ye lawlands, Oh! quhair hae ye been?

They hae slaine the Earl of Murray,
And hae laid him on the green.

Now wae be to thee, Huntley!
And quhairfore did you sae!
I bade you bring him wi' you,
But forbade you him to slay.
He was a braw gallant,

And he rid at the ring;
And the bunny Earl of Murray,
Oh! he might hae been a king.

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He was a braw gallant,

And he played at the ba';

And the bonny Earl of Murray

Was the flower among them a’.

He was a braw gallant,

And he playd at the gluve;
And the bonny Earl of Murray,
Oh! he was the Queenes luve.

Oh! lang will his lady

Luke owre the castle downe,1
Ere she see the Earl of Murray

Cum sounding throw the towne.

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1 Castle downe here has been thought to mean the Castle of Downe, a seat belonging to the family of Murray.

XVIII.

Young Waters.

A SCOTTISH BALLAD.

It has been suggested to the Editor, that this ballad covertly alludes to the indiscreet partiality which Queen Anne of Denmark is said to have shown for the bonny Earl of Murray; and which is supposed to have influenced the fate of that unhappy nobleman. Let the reader judge for

himself.

The following account of the murder is given by a contemporary writer, and a person of credit,-Sir James Balfour, knight, Lyon King of Arms, whose MS. of the Annals of Scotland is in the Advocates' library at Edinburgh.

"The seventh of Febry, this zeire, 1592, the Earle of Murray was cruelly murthered by the Earle of Huntley at his house in Dunibrissel in Fyffe-shyre, and with him Dunbar, sheriffe of Murray. It was given out and publickly talkt, that the Earle of Huntley was only the instrument of perpetrating this facte, to satisfie the King's jealousie of Murray, quhum the Queene, more rashely than wisely, some few days before had commendit in the King's hearing, with too many epithets of a proper and gallant man. The reasons of these surmises proceedit from a proclamatione of the Kings, the 13 of Marche following; inhibiteine the zoung Earle of Murray to persue the Earle of Huntley, for his father's slaughter, in respect he being wardeit [imprisoned] in the castell of

Blacknesse for the same murther, was willing to abide a tryall, averring that he had done nothing but by the King's majesties commissione ; and was neither airt nor part in the murther."

The following ballad is here given from a copy printed not long since at Glasgow, in one sheet, 8vo. The world was indebted for its publication to the Lady Jean Hume, sister to the Earle of Hume, who died at Gibraltar.

ABOUT Zule, quhen the wind blew cule,

And the round tables began,

A'! there is cum to our kings court
Mony a well-favourd man.

The queen luikt owre the castle wa,

Beheld baith dale and down,

And then she saw zoung Waters
Cum riding to the town,

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1 This extract is copied from the Critical Review.

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"Zou're neither laird nor lord," she says,
"Bot the king that wears the crown;
Theris not a knight in fair Scotland'

Bot to thee maun bow down."

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"Aft I have ridden thro' Stirling town,

In the wind both and the weit;

Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town

Wi fetters at my feet.

“Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town,

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Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town

In the wind both and the rain;

Neir to return again."

Heiding-hill; i. e. heading [beheading] hill. The place of execution was

anciently an artificial hillock.

XIX.

Mary Ambree.

In the year 1584, the Spaniards, under the command of Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, began to gain great advantages in Flanders and Brabant, by recovering many strong-holds and cities from the Hollanders, as Ghent, (called then by the English Gaunt,) Antwerp, Mechlin, &c. See Stow's Annals, p. 711. Some attempt made, with the assistance of English volunteers, to retrieve the former of those places, probably gave occasion to this ballad. I can find no mention of our heroine in history, but the following rhymes rendered her famous among our poets. Ben Jonson often mentions her and calls any remarkable virago by her name. See his Epicane, first acted in 1609, act 4, sc. 2: his Tale of a Tub, act 1, sc. 4: and his masque entitled the Fortunate Isles, 1626, where he quotes the very words of the ballad :— -Mary Ambree,

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(Who marched so free
To the siege of Gaunt,
And death could not daunt,
As the ballad doth vaunt)
Were a braver wight," &c.

She is also mentioned in Fletcher's Scornful Lady, act 5, sub finem My large gentlewoman, my Mary Ambree, had I but seen into you, you should have had another bedfellow.

It is likewise evident, that she is the virago intended by Butler in Hudibras, (p. i. c. iii. v. 365,) by her being coupled with Joan d'Arc, the celebrated Pucelle d'Orleans.

"A bold virago stout and tall

As Joan of France, or English Mall.”

This ballad is printed from a black-letter copy in the Pepys collection, improved from the Editor's folio MS. and by conjecture. The full title is, "the valorous acts performed at Gaunt by the brave bonnie lass Mary Ambree, who in revenge of her lovers death did play her part most gallantly. The tune is The Blind Beggar, &c.

WHEN captaines couragious, whom death cold not daunte,
Did march to the siege of the citty of Gaunt,
They mustred their souldiers by two and by three,
And the formost in battle was Mary Ambree.

When brave Sir John Major1 was slaine in her sight,
Who was her true lover, her joy, and delight,
Because he was slaine most treacherouslie,
Then vowd to revenge him Mary Ambree.

1 So MS. Serjeant Major, in P.C.

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