The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border

Now, fare thee weel, sweet Ennerdale.—­P. 38. v. 1.  A corruption of Endrickdale.  The principal, and most ancient possessions of the Montrose family lie along the water of Endrick, in Dumbartonshire.

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 assembled 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 fishing buss, he left the service of the marquis, in some disgust.  In 1644, he assisted 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 horsemen, 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 nobleman, 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 nobles 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 God 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 pronounced 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 associate 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 illustrious general.  Being a Roman catholic, he refused the assistance 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-shire 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 noblemen 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 horsemen 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 noble 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.

  Gilbert Menzies, of high degree,
    By whom the king’s banner was borne.—­P. 42. v. 1.

Gilbert Menzies, younger of Pitfoddells, carried the royal banner in Montrose’s last battle.  It bore the headless corpse of Charles I., with this motto, “Judge and revenge my cause, O Lord!” Menzies proved himself worthy of this noble trust, and, obstinately refusing quarter, died in defence of his charge. Montrose’s Memoirs.

  Then woe to Strachan, and Hacket baith.—­P. 42. v. 2.

Sir Charles Hacket, an officer in the service of the estates.

  And Huntly’s gone, the self-same way.—­P. 42. v. 4.

George Gordon, second marquis of Huntley, one of the very few nobles in Scotland, who had uniformly adhered to the king from the very beginning of the troubles, was beheaded by the sentence of the parliament of Scotland (so calling themselves), upon the 22d March, 1649, one month and twenty-two days after the martyrdom of his master.  He has been much blamed for not cordially co-operating with Montrose; and Bishop Wishart, in the zeal of partiality for his hero, accuses Huntley of direct treachery.  But he is a true believer, who seals, with his blood, his creed, religious or political; and there are many reasons, short of this foul charge, which may have dictated the backward conduct of Huntley towards Montrose.  He could not forget, that, when he first stood out for the king, Montrose, then the soldier of the covenant, had actually made him prisoner:  and we cannot suppose Huntley to have been so sensible of Montrose’s superior military talents, as not to think himself, as equal in rank, superior in power, and more uniform in loyalty entitled to equally high marks of royal trust and favour.  This much is certain, that the gallant clan of Gordon contributed greatly to Montrose’s success; for the gentlemen of that name, with the brave and loyal Ogilvies, composed the principal part of his cavalry.