The Bonny House of Airley; or,
Young Airly; or, The Bonny House o Airlie; or,
The Bonny House o Airlie
THE BONNIE HOUSE O AIRLIE—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.
4
‘Come down stairs now, Madam,’ he says,
‘Now come down and kiss me fairly;’
‘I'll neither come down nor kiss you,’ she says,
‘Tho you should na leave a standing stane in Airley.’
5
‘I ask but one favour of you, Argyle,
And I hope you'll grant me fairly
To tak me to some dark dowey glen,
That I may na see the plundering of Airley.’
6
He has taen her by the left shoulder,
And O but she looked weary!
And he has led her down to the top of the town,
Bade her look at the plundering of Airley.
7
‘Fire on, fire on, my merry men all,
And see that ye fire clearly;
For I vow and I swear by the broad sword I wear
That I winna leave a standing stane in Airley.
8
‘You may tell it to your lord,’ he says,
‘You may tell it to Lord Airley,
That one kiss o his gay lady
Wad hae sav'd all the plundering of Airley.’
9
‘If the great Sir John had been but at hame,
As he is this night wi Prince Charlie,
Neither Argyle nor no Scottish lord
Durst hae plundered the bonny house of Airley.
10
‘Seven, seven sons hae I born unto him,
And the eight neer saw his dady,
And altho I were to have a hundred more,
The should a' draw their sword for Prince Charlie.’
