Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume Ii Part 2

And so was seen full many a time; For the summer flowers did never spring, But every Graham, in armour bright, Would then appear before the king.

They all were dressed in armour sheen, Upon the pleasant banks of Tay; Before a king they might be seen, These gallant Grahams in their array.

At the Goukhead our camp we set, Our leaguer down there for to lay; And, in the bonnie summer light, We rode our white horse and our gray.

Our false commander sold our king Unto his deadly enemie, Who was the traitor Cromwell, then; So I care not what they do with me.

They have betrayed our n.o.ble prince, And banish'd him from his royal crown; But the gallant Grahams have ta'en in hand, For to command those traitors down.

In Glen-Prosen[A] we rendezvoused, March'd to Glens.h.i.+e by night and day, And took the town of Aberdeen, And met the Campbells in their array.

Five thousand men, in armour strong.

Did meet the gallant Grahams that day At Inverlochie, where war began, And scarce two thousand men were they.

Gallant Montrose, that chieftain bold, Courageous in the best degree, Did for the king fight well that day; The lord preserve his majestie!

Nathaniel Gordon, stout and bold, Did for king Charles wear the blue; But the cavaliers they all were sold, And brave Harthill, a cavalier too.

And Newton Gordon, burd-alone And Dalgatie, both stout and keen, And gallant Veitch upon the field, A braver face was never seen.

Now, fare ye weel, sweet Ennerdale!

Countrie and kin I quit ye free; Chear up your hearts, brave cavaliers, For the Grahams are gone to high Germany.

Now brave Montrose he went to France, And to Germany, to gather fame; And bold Aboyne is to the sea, Young Huntly is his n.o.ble name.

Montrose again, that chieftain bold, Back unto Scotland fair he came, For to redeem fair Scotland's land, The pleasant, gallant, worthy Graham!

At the water of Carron he did begin, And fought the battle to the end; Where there were killed, for our n.o.ble king, Two thousand of our Danish men.

Gilbert Menzies, of high degree, By whom the king's banner was borne; For a brave cavalier was he, But now to glory he is gone.

Then woe to Strachan, and Hacket baith!

And, Lesly, ill death may thou die!

For ye have betrayed the gallant Grahams, Who aye were true to majestic.

And the laird of a.s.sint has seized Montrose, And had him into Edinburgh town; And frae his body taken the head, And quartered him upon a trone.

And Huntly's gone the selfsame way, And our n.o.ble king is also gone; He suffered death for our nation, Our mourning tears can ne'er be done.

But our brave young king is now come home, King Charles the second in degree; The Lord send peace into his time, And G.o.d preserve his majestie!

[Footnote A: Glen-Prosen, in Angus-s.h.i.+re.]

NOTES ON THE GALLANT GRAHAMS.

_Now, fare thee weel, sweet Ennerdale._--P. 38. v. 1. A corruption of Endrickdale. The princ.i.p.al, and most ancient possessions of the Montrose family lie along the water of Endrick, in Dumbartons.h.i.+re.

_Sir John the Graham did bear the gree._--P. 39. v. 1. The faithful friend and adherent of the immortal Wallace, slain at the battle of Falkirk.

_Who was the traitor Cromwell, then._--P. 39. v. 5. This extraordinary character, to whom, in crimes and in success our days only have produced a parallel, was no favourite in Scotland. There occurs the following invective against him, in a MS. in the Advocates' Library. The humour consists in the dialect of a Highlander, speaking English, and confusing _Cromwell_ with _Gramach,_ ugly:

Te commonwelt, tat Gramagh ting.

Gar brek hem's word, gar do hem's king;

Gar pay hem's sesse, or take hem's (geers) We'l no de at, del come de leers; We'l bide a file amang te crowes, (_i.e._ in the woods) We'l scor te sword, and wiske to bowes; And fen her nen-sel se te re, (the king) Te del my care for _Gromaghee_.

The following tradition, concerning Cromwell, is preserved by an uncommonly direct line of traditional evidence; being narrated (as I am informed) by the grandson of an eye-witness. When Cromwell, in 1650, entered Glasgow, he attended divine service in the High Church; but the presbyterian divine, who officiated, poured forth, with more zeal than prudence, the vial of his indignation upon the person, principles, and cause, of the independent general. One of Cromwell's officers rose, and whispered his commander; who seemed to give him a short and stern answer, and the sermon was concluded without interruption Among the crowd, who were a.s.sembled to gaze at the general, as he came out of the church, was a shoemaker, the son of one of James the sixth's Scottish footmen. This man had been born and bred in England, but, after his father's death, had settled in Glasgow. Cromwell eyed him among the crowd, and immediately called him by his name--the man fled; but, at Cromwell's command, one of his retinue followed him, and brought him to the general's lodgings. A number of the inhabitants remained at the door, waiting the end of this extraordinary scene. The shoemaker soon came out, in high spirits, and, shewing some gold, declared, he was going to drink Cromwell's health. Many attended him to hear the particulars of his interview; among others, the grandfather of the narrator. The shoemaker said, that he had been a playfellow of Cromwell when they were both boys, their parents residing in the same street; that he had fled, when the general first called to him, thinking he might owe him some ill-will, on account of his father being in the service of the royal family. He added, that Cromwell had been so very kind and familiar with him, that he ventured to ask him, what the officer had said to him in the church. "He proposed," said Cromwell, "to pull forth the "minister by the ears; and I answered, that the preacher was "one fool, and he another." In the course of the day, Cromwell held an interview with the minister, and contrived to satisfy his scruples so effectually, that the evening discourse, by the same man, was tuned to the praise and glory of the victor of Naseby.

_Nathaniel Gordon, stout and bold, Did for King Charles wear the, blue._--P. 40. v. 5.

This gentleman was of the ancient family of Gordon of Gight. He had served, as a soldier, upon the continent, and acquired great military skill. When his chief, the marquis of Huntly, took up arms in 1640, Nathaniel Gordon, then called Major Gordon, joined him, and was of essential service during that short insurrection. But, being checked for making prize of a Danish fis.h.i.+ng buss, he left the service of the marquis, in some disgust. In 1644, he a.s.sisted at a sharp and dexterous _camisade_ (as it was then called), when the barons of Haddo, of Gight, of Drum, and other gentlemen, with only sixty men under their standard, galloped through the old town of Aberdeen, and, entering the burgh itself, about seven in the morning, made prisoners, and carried off, four of the covenanting magistrates and effected a safe retreat, though the town was then under the domination of the opposite party. After the death of the baron of Haddo, and the severe treatment of Sir George Gordon of Gight, his cousin-german, Major Nathaniel Gordon seems to have taken arms, in despair of finding mercy at the covenanters' hands. On the 24th of July, 1645, he came down, with a band of hors.e.m.e.n, upon the town of Elgin, while St James' fair was held, and pillaged the merchants of 14,000 merks of money and merchandize.[A] He seems to have joined Montrose, as soon as he raised the royal standard; and, as a bold and active partizan, rendered him great service. But, in November 1644, Gordon, now a colonel, suddenly deserted Montrose, aided the escape of Forbes of Craigievar, one of his prisoners, and reconciled himself to the kirk, by doing penance for adultery, and for the almost equally heinous crime of having scared Mr Andrew Cant,[B] the famous apostle of the covenant. This, however, seems to have been an artifice, to arrange a correspondence betwixt Montrose and Lord Gordon, a gallant young n.o.bleman, representative of the Huntley family, and inheriting their loyal spirit, though hitherto engaged in the service of the covenant.

Colonel Gordon was successful, and returned to the royal camp with his converted chief. Both followed zealously the fortunes of Montrose, until Lord Gordon fell in the battle of Alford, and Nathaniel Gordon was taken at Philiphaugh. He was one of ten loyalists, devoted upon that occasion, by the parliament, to expiate, with their blood, the crime of fidelity to their king. Nevertheless, the covenanted n.o.bles would have probably been satisfied with the death of the gallant Rollock, sharer of Montrose's dangers and glory, of Ogilvy, a youth of eighteen, whose crime was the hereditary feud betwixt his family and Argyle, and of Sir Philip Nisbet, a cavalier of the ancient stamp, had not the pulpits resounded with the cry, that G.o.d required the blood of the malignants, to expiate the sins of the people. "What meaneth," exclaimed the ministers, in the perverted language of scripture--"What meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen?" The appeal to the judgment of Samuel was decisive, and the shambles were instantly opened. Nathaniel Gordon was brought first to execution. He lamented the sins of his youth, once more (and probably with greater sincerity) requested absolution from the sentence of excommunication p.r.o.nounced on account of adultery, and was beheaded 6th January 1646.

[Footnote A: Spalding, Vol. II. pp. 151, 154, 169, 181, 221. _History of the Family of Gordon,_ Edin. 1727, Vol. II. p. 299.]

[Footnote B: He had sent him a letter, which nigh frightened him out of his wits.--SPALDING, Vol. II. p. 231.]

_And brave Harthill, a cavalier too._--P. 40, v. 5.

Leith, of Harthill, was a determined loyalist, and hated the covenanters, not without reason. His father, a haughty high-spirited baron, and chief of a clan, happened, in 1639, to sit down in the desk of provost Lesly, in the high kirk of Aberdeen He was disgracefully thrust out by the officers, and, using some threatening language to the provost, was imprisoned, like a felon, for many months, till he became furious, and nearly mad. Having got free of the shackles, with which he was loaded, he used his liberty by coming to the tolbooth window where he uttered the most violent and horrible threats against Provost Lesly, and the other covenanting magistrates, by whom he had been so severely treated. Under pretence of this new offence, he was sent to Edinburgh, and lay long in prison there; for, so fierce was his temper, that no one would give surety for his keeping the peace with his enemies, if set at liberty. At length he was delivered by Montrose, when he made himself master of Edinburgh.--SPALDING, Vol. I. pp. 201; 266. His house of Harthill was dismantled, and miserably pillaged by Forbes of Craigievar, who expelled his wife and children with the most relentless inhumanity.--_Ibid._ Vol. II. p. 225. Meanwhile, young Harthill was the companion and a.s.sociate of Nathaniel Gordon, whom he accompanied at plundering the fair of Elgin, and at most of Montrose's engagements. He retaliated severely on the covenanters, by ravaging and burning their lands. _Ibid._ Vol. II. p. 301. His fate has escaped my notice.

_And Dalgatie, both stout and keen._--P. 41. v. 1.

Sir Francis Hay, of Dalgatie, a steady cavalier, and a gentleman of great gallantry and accomplishment. He was a faithful follower of Montrose, and was taken prisoner with him at his last fatal battle. He was condemned to death, with his ill.u.s.trious general. Being a Roman catholic, he refused the a.s.sistance of the presbyterian clergy, and was not permitted, even on the scaffold, to receive ghostly comfort, in the only form in which his religion taught him to consider it as effectual.

He kissed the axe, avowed his fidelity to his sovereign, and died like a soldier.--_Montrose's Memoirs,_ p. 322.

_And Newton Gordon, burd-alone._--P. 41. v. 1.

Newton, for obvious reasons, was a common appellation of an estate, or barony, where a new edifice had been erected. Hence, for distinction's sake, it was anciently compounded with the name of the proprietor; as, Newtown-Edmonstone, Newtown-Don, Newtown-Gordon, &c. Of Gordon of Newtown, I only observe, that he was, like all his clan, a steady loyalist, and a follower of Montrose.

_And gallant Veitch, upon the field._--P. 41. v. 1.

I presume this gentleman to have been David Veitch, brother to Veitch of Dawick, who, with many other of the Peebles-s.h.i.+re gentry, was taken at Philiphaugh. The following curious accident took place, some years afterwards, in consequence of his loyal zeal.

"In the year 1653, when the loyal party did arise in arms against the English, in the North and West Highlands, some n.o.blemen and loyal gentlemen, with others, were forward to repair to them, with such forces as they could make; which the English, with marvelouse diligence, night and day, did bestir themselves to impede; making their troops of horse and dragoons to pursue the loyal party in all places, that they might not come to such a considerable number as was designed. It happened, one night, that one Captain Masoun, commander of a troop of dragoons, that came from Carlisle, in England, marching through the town of Sanquhar, in the night, was encountered by one captain Palmer, commanding a troop of horse, that came from Ayr, marching eastward; and, meeting at the tollhouse, or tolbooth, one David Veitch, brother to the laird of Dawick, in Tweeddale, and one of the loyal party, being prisoner in irons by the English, did arise, and came to the window at their meeting, and cryed out, that they should _fight valiantly for King Charles_, Where-through, they, taking each other for the loyal party, did begin a brisk fight, which continued for a while, til the dragoons, having spent their shot, and finding the hors.e.m.e.n to be too strong for them, did give ground; but yet retired, in some order, towards the castle of Sanquhar, being hotly pursued by the troop, through the whole town, above a quarter of a mile, till they came to the castle; where both parties did, to their mutual grief, become sensible of their mistake. In this skirmish there were several killed on both sides, and Captain Palmer himself dangerously wounded, with many mo wounded in each troop, who did peaceably dwell together afterward for a time, untill their wounds were cured, in Sanquhar castle."--_Account of Presbytery of Penpont, in Macfarlane's MSS._

_And bold Aboyne is to the sea, Young Huntly is his n.o.ble name._--P. 41. v. 3.

James, earl of Aboyne, who fled to France, and there died heart-broken.

It is said, his death was accelerated by the news of King Charles'

execution. He became representative of the Gordon family, or _Young Huntly_, as the ballad expresses it, in consequence of the death of his elder brother, George, who fell in the battle of Alford.--_History of Gordon Family._

_Two thousand of our Danish men._--P. 41. v. 5.

Montrose's foreign auxiliaries, who, by the way, did not exceed 600 in all.