Read Ebook: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume 3 (of 3) Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads Collected in the Southern Counties of Scotland; with a Few of Modern Date Founded Upon Local Tradition by Scott Walter

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that died for me, Certes bot I may speke with that lady bright, Myd my hert will breke in three; I schal me hye with all my might, Hyr to mete at Eldyn Tree. Thomas rathly up he rase, And ran ouer mountayn hye, If it be sothe the story says, He met her euyn at Eldyn Tre. Thomas knelyd down on his kne Undir nethe the grenewood spray, And sayd, lovely lady thou rue on me, Queen of heaven as you well may be; But I am a lady of another countrie, If I be pareld most of prise, I ride after the wild fee, My ratches rinnen at my devys. If thou be pareld most of prise, And rides a lady in strang foly, Lovely lady as thou art wise, Giue you me leue to lige ye by. Do way Thomas, that wert foly, I pray ye Thomas late me be, That sin will forde all my bewtie: Lovely ladye rewe on me, And euer more I shall with ye dwell, Here my trowth I plyght to thee, Where you beleues in heuin or hell. Thomas, and you myght lyge me by, Undir nethe this grene wode spray, Thou would tell full hastely, That thou had layn by a lady gay. Lady I mote lyg by the, Under nethe the grene wode tre, For all the gold in chrystenty, Suld you neuer be wryede for me. Man on molde you will me marre, And yet bot you may haf you will, Trow you well Thomas, you cheuyst ye warre; For all my bewtie wilt you spill. Down lyghtyd that lady bryzt, Undir nethe the grene wode spray, And as ye story sayth full ryzt, Seuyn tymes by her he lay. She seyd, man you lyste thi play, What berde in bouyr may dele with thee, That maries me all this long day; I pray ye Thomas lat me be. Thomas stode up in the stede, And behelde the lady gay, Her heyre hang down about hyr hede, The tone was blak, the other gray. Her eyn semyt onte before was gray, Her gay clethyng was all away, That he before had sene in that stede; Hyr body as blow as ony bede. Thomas sighede, and sayd allas, Me thynke this a dullfull syght, That thou art fadyd in the face, Before you shone as son so bryzt. Tak thy leue Thomas, at son and mone, At gresse, and at euery tre. This twelmonth sall you with me gone, Medyl erth you sall not se. Alas he seyd, ful wo is me, I trow my dedes will werke me care, Jesu my sole tak to ye, Whedir so euyr my body sal fare. She rode furth with all her myzt, Undir nethe the derne lee, It was as derke as at mydnizt, And euyr in water unto the kne; Through the space of days thre, He herde but swowyng of a flode; Thomas sayd, ful wo is me, Nowe I spyll for fawte of fode; To a garden she lede him tyte, There was fruyte in grete plente, Peyres and appless ther were rype, The date and the damese, The figge and als fylbert tre; The nyghtyngale bredyng in her neste, The papigaye about gan fle, The throstylcok sang wold hafe no rest. He pressed to pulle fruyt with his hand As man for faute that was faynt; She seyd, Thomas lat al stand, Or els the deuyl wil the ataynt. Sche said, Thomas I the hyzt, To lay thi hede upon my kne, And thou shalt see fayrer syght, Than euyr sawe man in their kintre. Sees thou, Thomas, yon fayr way, That lyggs ouyr yone fayr playn? Yonder is the way to heuyn for ay, Whan synful sawles haf derayed their payne. Sees thou, Thomas, yon secund way, That lygges lawe undir the ryse? Streight is the way sothly to say, To the joyes of paradyce. Sees thou, Thomas, yon thyrd way, That ligges ouyr yone how? Wide is the way sothly to say, To the brynyng fyres of hell. Sees thou, Thomas, yone fayr castell, That standes ouyr yone fayr hill? Of town and tower it beereth the belle, In middell erth is non like theretill. Whan thou comyst in yone castell gaye, I pray thu curteis man to be; What so any man to you say, Soke thu answer non but me. My lord is servyd at yche messe, With xxx kniztes feir and fre; I sall say syttyng on the dese, I toke thy speche beyonde the le. Thomas stode as still as stone, And behelde that ladye gaye; Than was sche fayr and ryche anone, And also ryal on hir palfreye. The grewhoundes had fylde them on the dere, The raches coupled, by my fay, She blewe her horn Thomas to chere, To the castell she went her way. The ladye into the hall went, Thomas folowyd at her hand; Thar kept hyr mony a lady gent, With curtasy and lawe. Harp and fedyl both he fande, The getern and the sawtry, Lut and rybid ther gon gan, Thair was al maner of mynstralsy. The most fertly that Thomas thoght, When he com emyddes the flore, Fourty hertes to quarry were broght, That had ben befor both long and store. Lymors lay lappyng blode, And kokes standyng with dressyng knyfe, And dressyd dere as thai wer wode, And rewell was thair wonder Knyghtes dansyd by two and thre, All that leue long day. Ladyes that wer gret of gre, Sat and sang of rych aray. Thomas sawe much more in that place, Than I can descryve, Til on a day alas, alas, My lovelye ladye sayd to me, Busk ye Thomas you must agayn, Here you may no longer be: Hy then zerne that you were at hame, I sal ye bryng to Eldyn Tre. Thomas answerd with heuy cher, And sayd, lowely ladye lat me be, For I say ye certenly here Haf I be bot the space of dayes three. Sothely Thomas as I telle ye, You hath ben here thre yeres, And here you may no longer be; And I sal tele ye a skele, To-morowe of helle ye foule fende Amang our folke shall chuse his fee; For you art a larg man and an hende, Trowe you wele he will chuse thee. Fore all the golde that may be, Fro hens unto the worldes ende, Sall you not be betrayed for me, And thairfor sall you hens wend. She broght hym euyn to Eldon Tre, Undir nethe the grene wode spray, In Huntle bankes was fayr to be, Ther breddes syng both nyzt and day. Ferre ouyr yon montayns gray, Ther hathe my facon; Fare wele, Thomas, I wende my way.

FOOTNOTES:

ERSYLTON.

Omnibus has literas visuris vel audituris Thomas de Ercildoun filius et heres Thomae Rymour de Ercildoun salutem in Domino.--Noveritis me per fustem et baculum in pleno judicio resignasse ac per presentes quietem clamasse pro me et heredibus meis Magistro domus Sanctae Trinitatis de Soltre et fratribus ejusdem domus totam terram meam cum omnibus pertinentibus suis quam in tenemento de Ercildoun hereditarie tenui renunciando de toto pro me et heredibus meis omni jure et clameo que ego seu antecessores mei in eadem terra alioque tempore de perpetua habuimus sive de futuro habere possumus. In cujus rei testimonio presentibus his sigillum meum apposui data apud Ercildoun die Martis proximo post festum Sanctorum Apostolorum Symonis et Jude Anno Domini Millessimo cc. Nonagesimo Nono.

The lines alluded to are these:--

I hope that Tomas's prophesie, Of Erceldoun, shall truly be. In him, &c.

Henry the Minstrel, who introduces Thomas into the history of Wallace, expresses the same doubt as to the source of his prophetic knowledge:

Thomas Rhymer into the faile was than With the minister, which was a worthy man. He used oft to that religious place; The people deemed of wit he meikle can, And so he told, though that they bless or ban, Which happened sooth in many divers case; I cannot say by wrong or righteousness. In rule of war whether they tint or wan: It may be deemed by division of grace, &c.

There is a singular resemblance betwixt this tradition, and an incident occurring in the life of Merlin Caledonius, which, the reader will find a few pages onward.

THOMAS THE RHYMER.

PART SECOND.

ALTERED FROM ANCIENT PROPHECIES.

"When man is mad a kyng of a capped man; "When man is lever other mones thyng than is owen; "When londe thouys forest, ant forest is felde; "When hares kendles o' the her'ston; "When Wyt and Wille weres togedere: "When mon makes stables of kyrkes; and steles castels with styes; "When Rokesboroughe nys no burgh ant market is at Forwyleye: "When Bambourne is donged with dede men; "When men ledes men in ropes to buyen and to sellen; "When a quarter of whaty whete is chaunged for a colt of ten markes; "When prude prikes and pees is leyd in prisoun; "When a Scot ne me hym hude ase hare in forme that the English ne shall hym fynde; "When rycht ant wronge astente the togedere; "When laddes weddeth lovedies; "When Scottes flen so faste, that for faute of shep, hy drowneth hemselve; "When shall this be? "Nouther in thine tyme ne in mine; "Ah comen ant gone "Withinne twenty winter ant one."

The hare sall kittle on my hearth stane, And there will never be a laird Learmont again.

The first of these lines is obviously borrowed from that in the MS, of the Harl. Library.--"When hares kendles o' the her'stane"--an emphatic image of desolation. It is also inaccurately quoted in the prophecy of Waldhave, published by Andro Hart, 1613:

"This is a true talking that Thomas of tells, The hare shall hirple on the hard stane."

Of Bruce's left side shall spring out as a leafe, As neere as the ninth degree; And shall be fleemed of faire Scotland, In France farre beyond the sea. And then shall come againe ryding, With eyes that many men may see. At Aberladie he shall light, With hempen helteres and horse of tre. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? However it happen for to fall, The lyon shall be lord of all; The French quen shal bearre the sonne, Shal rule all Britainne to the sea; Ane from the Bruce's blood shal come also, As neere as the ninth degree. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yet shal there come a keene knight over the salt sea, A keene man of courage and bold man of armes; A duke's son dowbled , a borne mon in France, That shall our mirths augment, and mend all our harmes; After the date of our Lord 1513, and thrice three thereafter; Which shall brooke all the broad isle to himself, Between 13 and thrice three the threip shal be ended, The Saxons sall never recover after.

The prophecy, put in the name of our Thomas the Rhymer, as it stands in Hart's book, refers to a later period. The narrator meets the Rhymer upon a land beside a lee, who shows him many emblematical visions, described in no mean strain of poetry. They chiefly relate to the fields of Flodden and Pinkie, to the national distress which followed these defeats, and to future halcyon days, which are promised to Scotland. One quotation or two will be sufficient to establish this fully:

Our Scottish king sal come ful keene, The red lyon beareth he; A feddered arrow sharp, I weene, Shall make him winke and warre to see. Out of the field he shall be led, When he is bludie and woe for blood; Yet to his men shall he say, "For God's luve, turn you againe, "And give yon sutherne folk a frey! "Why should I lose the right is mine? "My date is not to die this day."--

The sternes three that day shall die, That bears the harte in silver sheen.

The well-known arms of the Douglas family are the heart and three stars. In another place, the battle of Pinkie is expressly mentioned by name:

At Pinken Cluch there shall be spilt, Much gentle blood that day; There shall the bear lose the guilt, And the eagill bear it away.

"Then to the Bairne could I say, "Where dwells thou, or in what countrie? " "In Erslingtoun I dwell at hame, "Thomas Rymour men cals me."

There is surely no one, who will not conclude, with Lord Hailes, that the eight lines, inclosed in brackets, are a clumsy interpolation, borrowed from Berlington, with such alterations as might render the supposed prophecy applicable to the union of the crowns.

While we are on this subject, it may be proper briefly to notice the scope of some of the other predictions, in Hart's Collection. As the prophecy of Berlington was intended to raise the spirits of the nation, during the regency of Albany, so those of Sybilla and Eltraine refer to that of the Earl of Arran, afterwards Duke of Chatelherault, during the minority of Mary, a period of similar calamity. This is obvious from the following verses:

Take a thousand in calculation, And the longest of the lyon, Four crescents under one crowne, With Saint Andrew's croce thrise, Then threescore and thrise three: Take tent to Merling truely, Then shall the warres ended be, And never againe rise. In that yere there shall a king, A duke, and no crowned king; Becaus the prince shall be yong, And tender of yeares.

The date, above hinted at, seems to be 1549, when the Scottish regent, by means of some succours derived from France, was endeavouring to repair the consequences of the fatal battle of Pinkie. Allusion is made to the supply given to the "Moldwarte" by the fained "hart" . The regent is described by his bearing the antelope; large supplies are promised from France, and complete conquest predicted to Scotland and her allies. Thus was the same hackneyed stratagem repeated, whenever the interest of the rulers appeared to stand in need of it. The regent was not, indeed, till after this period, created Duke of Chatelherault; but that honour was the object of his hopes and expectations.

The name of our renowned soothsayer is liberally used as an authority, throughout all the prophecies published by Andro Hart. Besides those expressly put in his name, Gildas, another assumed personage, is supposed to derive his knowledge from him; for he concludes thus:

"True Thomas me told in a troublesome time, "In a harvest morn at Eldoun hills."

In the prophecy of Berlington, already quoted, we are told,

"Marvellous Merlin, that many men of tells, "And Thomas's sayings comes all at once."

But, in a metrical history of Merlin of Caledonia, compiled by Geoffrey of Monmouth, from the traditions of the Welch bards, this mode of death is attributed to a page, whom Merlin's sister, desirous to convict the prophet of falsehood, because he had betrayed her intrigues, introduced to him, under three various disguises, enquiring each time in what manner the person should die. To the first demand Merlin answered, the party should perish by a fall from a rock; to the second, that he should die by a tree; and to the third, that he should be drowned. The youth perished, while hunting, in the mode imputed by Fordun to Merlin himself.

Fordun, contrary to the Welch authorities, confounds this person with the Merlin of Arthur; but concludes by informing us, that many believed him to be a different person. The grave of Merlin is pointed out at Drummelziar, in Tweeddale, beneath an aged thorn-tree. On the east side of the church-yard, the brook, called Pausayl, falls into the Tweed; and the following prophecy is said to have been current concerning their union:

When Tweed and Pausayl join at Merlin's grave, Scotland and England shall one monarch have.

"He was formed like a freike all his four quarters; "And then his chin and his face haired so thick, "With haire growing so grime, fearful to see."

"Go musing upon Merlin if thou wilt; "For I mean no more man at this time."

The prophecies of Rymer, Bede, and Merlin.

And we find, in Waldhave, at least one allusion to the very ancient prophecy, addressed to the countess of Dunbar:

This is a true token that Thomas of tells, When a ladde with a ladye shall go over the fields.

The original stands thus:

When laddes weddeth lovedies.

"In the mouth of Arrane a selcouth shall fall, "Two bloodie hearts shall be taken with a false traine, "And derfly dung down without any dome."

If there still remain, therefore, among these predictions, any verses having a claim to real antiquity, it seems now impossible to discover them from those which are comparatively modern. Nevertheless, as there are to be found, in these compositions, some uncommonly wild and masculine expressions, the editor has been induced to throw a few passages together, into the sort of ballad to which this disquisition is prefixed. It would, indeed, have been no difficult matter for him, by a judicious selection, to have excited, in favour of Thomas of Erceldoune, a share of the admiration, bestowed by sundry wise persons upon Mass Robert Fleming. For example:

"But then the lilye shal be loused when they least think; Then clear king's blood shal quake for fear of death; For churls shal chop off heads of their chief beirns, And carfe of the crowns that Christ hath appointed. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Thereafter, on every side, sorrow shal arise; The barges of clear barons down shal be sunken; Seculars shal sit in spiritual seats, Occupying offices anointed as they were."

Taking the lilye for the emblem of France, can there be a more plain prophecy of the murder of her monarch, the destruction of her nobility, and the desolation of her hierarchy?

But, without looking farther into the signs of the times, the editor, though the least of all the prophets, cannot help thinking, that every true Briton will approve of his application of the last prophecy quoted in the ballad.

Before leaving the subject of Thomas's predictions, it may be noticed, that sundry rhymes, passing for his prophetic effusions, are still current among the vulgar. Thus, he is said to have prophecied of the very ancient family of Haig of Bemerside,

Betide, betide, whate'er betide, Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside.

The grandfather of the present proprietor of Bemerside had twelve daughters, before his lady brought him a male heir. The common people trembled for the credit of their favourite soothsayer. The late Mr Haig was at length born, and their belief in the prophecy confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt.

Another memorable prophecy bore, that the Old Kirk at Kelso, constructed out of the ruins of the abbey, should fall when "at the fullest." At a very crowded sermon, about thirty years ago, a piece of lime fell from the roof of the church. The alarm, for the fulfilment of the words of the seer, became universal; and happy were they, who were nearest the door of the predestined edifice. The church was in consequence deserted, and has never since had an opportunity of tumbling upon a full congregation. I hope, for the sake of a beautiful specimen of Saxo-Gothick architecture, that the accomplishment of this prophecy is far distant.

Another prediction, ascribed to the Rhymer, seems to have been founded on that sort of insight into futurity, possessed by most men of a sound and combining judgement. It runs thus:

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