The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Edited by Francis James Child. |
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The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | ||
56
The Bonnie House o Airly; or, The Bonny House of Airly; or, The Bonny House of Airly; or, The Bonny House o Airly
THE BONNIE HOUSE O AIRLIE—A
[_]
a. Sharpe's Ballad Book, p. 59, No 20, 1823. b. Finlay's Ballads, II, 25, 1808, from two recited copies and “one printed about twenty years ago on a single sheet.” c. Skene MS., pp. 28, 54, from recitation in the north of Scotland, 1802-3. d. Campbell MSS, II, 113, probably from a stallcopy. e, f. Aberdeen stall copies, “printed for the booksellers.” g. Hogg's Jacobite Relics, II, 152, No 76, “Cromek and a street ballad collated, 1821.” h. Kinloch MSS, VI, 5, one stanza, taken down from an old woman's recitation by J. Robertson.
1
It fell on a day, and a bonny simmer day,When green grew aits and barley,
That there fell out a great dispute
Between Argyll and Airlie.
2
Argyll has raised an hunder men,An hunder harnessd rarely,
And he's awa by the back of Dunkell,
To plunder the castle of Airlie.
3
Lady Ogilvie looks oer her bower-window.And oh, but she looks weary!
And there she spy'd the great Argyll,
Come to plunder the bonny house of Airlie.
4
‘Come down, come down, my Lady Ogilvie,Come down, and kiss me fairly:’
‘O I winna kiss the fause Argyll,
If he should na leave a standing stane in Airlie.’
5
He hath taken her by the left shoulder,Says, Dame where lies thy dowry?
‘O it's east and west yon wan water side,
And it's down by the banks of the Airlie.’
6
They hae sought it up, they hae sought it down,They hae sought it maist severely,
Till they fand it in the fair plumb-tree
That shines on the bowling-green of Airlie.
7
He hath taken her by the middle sae small,And O but she grat sairly!
And laid her down by the bonny burn-side,
Till they plundered the castle of Airlie.
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.’
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | ||