No. 215: Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, the Water o Gamrie
[See also the two works by John Veitch under Braes o Yarrow Recordings & Info 1) The Original ballad of Dowie Dens from Blackwood's Magazine, June 1890 and 2) Historical Ballads: The Yarrow excerpt from: The History and Poetry of the Scottish Border: Volume 2; 1893. Child included Veitch's version under 214 as L.
The few extant US & Canadian considered to be versions of Rare Willie have verses from both 214 Braes o Yarrow and 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow.
For discussion on the distinctly different versions, Child F-I, or, the 'Water o Gamery' versions, see: Recordings and Info.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (Found at the end of Child's Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-H (Changes for Bb found in End-Notes; 'Annan Water' is given as an appendix. The text of 'The Water of Gamry,' a variant of D (D b), appears in Additions and Corrections and should replace D a.)
5. End-notes
6. Appendix: 'Annan Water'
7. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 215. Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, the Water o Gamrie
A. Roud No. 206: Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, the Water o Gamrie (61 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 215. Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, the Water o Gamrie (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-H and Appendix with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative: 215. Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
A. 'Willy's rare and Willy's fair,' Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, II, 110, 1733.
B. a. Cromek's Select Scottish Songs, 1810, II, 196.
b. Stenhouse, Musical Museum, 1853, IV, 464.
C. 'The Dowie Dens o Yarrow,' Gibb Manuscript, p. 37.
D. a. Skene Manuscript, p. 47.
b. 'The Water of Gamry,' "The Old Lady's Collection," No 10.
E. 'Willie 's drowned in Gamery,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 245.
F. 'The Water o Gamery,' Buchan's Manuscripts, II, 159. Dixon, Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads, p. 66, Percy Society, vol. xvii.
G. 'The Water o Ganrie,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 637.
H. 'The Water o Gemrie,' Campbell Manuscripts, II, 78.
A was inserted in the fourth volume of The Tea-Table Miscellany, and stands in the edition of 1763 at p. 321, 'Rare Willie drowned in Yarrow,' It is given in Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 197 (with two or three trifling changes); in Johnson's Museum, p. 542, No 525. F is epitomized in Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 66, "with some changes from the way the editor has heard it sung."
The fragment in Cromek's Select Scotish Songs, 1810, II, 196, sent by Burns in a letter to William Tytler, 1790, belongs, as already said, mostly with 'The Duke of Athole's Nurse,' but has two stanzas of 'Willie drowned in Yarrow' (B).
'The Braes of Yarrow,' Ritson's Scotish Song, I, 154, composed upon the story of this ballad by the Rev. John Logan (1748-88), has two of the original lines (nearly):
They sought him east, they sought him west,
They sought him all the forest thorough.
Willie is drowned in Yarrow according to the older (southern) tradition, A; also B, C. In the northern copies, D, E, F, with which G, H, agree, the scene is transferred to Gamrie, on the coast of the Moray Frith, where, as Christie remarks, "there is no water that Willie could have been drowned in but the sea, on his way along the sands to the old kirk."[1] In the ballad which follows this, a western variety of the same story, Willie is drowned in the Clyde.
C 2, 3, 5, 6, belong to the preceding ballad, and 4 is common to that and this.
A 2 would come in better at the end of the story (as it does in C, a copy of slight authority), if it might properly find a place anywhere in the ballad. But this stanza suits only a woman who has been for some time living with her husband. A woman on her wedding-day could have no call to make her bed broad in her mother's house, whether yestreen or the morrow. I therefore conclude that A 2 does not belong to this ballad.[2]
D-H. Rare Willie has promised to marry Meggie, E (also A, C, D). His mother would give her the wale of all her other sons, but not Willie; she will have him only; D, E (cf. G 1). The bridegroom, with a large company, is mounted to ride for the bride; he tells his friends to go forward, he has forgotten to ask his mother's blessing; D, E, F, H. He receives the blessing, D, F, H; her blessing goes not with him, G; he gets her heavy curse, E; even in F his mother, after giving her blessing, says that he will never see his wedding. (The mother's curse is the characteristic feature of the next following ballad.) The bridal party come to the river, or burn, of Gamrie; all the others pass the stream safely, but Willie is washed from his saddle, D-H. The rest ride on to the kirk of Gamrie. The bride asks where is the man who was to marry her, and is told that Willie is drowned. She tears the ribbons from her hair and runs to the river, plunges in, and finds Willie in the deepest spot, the middle, the deepest weil. She will make her bed with him in Gamrie; both mothers shall be alike sorry; D-G.
In H, Willie's horse comes home with an empty saddle. His mother is sure that her son is dead; her daughter tries in vain to persuade her that all is well; Meggie takes her lover's body from the river and lays it on the grass; she will sleep with him in the same grave at Gamrie.
In A, B, the drowned body is found in the cleft of a rock, the clifting or clintin of a craig; in C 4 neath a buss of brume, that stanza belonging, as most of the copy does, to the preceding ballad; cf. J 14, K 11 of No 214. The bride ties three links of her hair, which is three quarters long, round Willie's waist, and draws him out of the water, B 2, C 5; for the hair, cf. No 214, where also it is not advantageously used. The bride's tearing the ribbons from her head, D 12, E 15, F 8, G 7, H 14, is found also in No 214, D 11, I 12, but is inappropriate there. A brother, brother John, whether the man's or the woman's, tells the bad news in No 214, A 11, E 9, I 8, L 11, N 9, 10, as here D 11, E 14, F 7, G 6, H 13.
'Annan Water,' a ballad in which a lover is drowned on his way to visit his mistress, is given in an appendix.
Footnotes:
1. Durban's note to E is, for a wonder, to the purpose. With his usual simplicity, he informs us that "the unfortunate hero of this ballad was a factor to the laird of Kinmundy." He then goes on to nay: "As the young woman to whom he was to be united in connubial wedlock resided in Gamery, a small fishing-town on the east coast of the Murray Frith, the marriage was to be solemnized in the church of that parish; to which he was on his way when over taken by some of the breakers which overflow a part of the road he had to pass, and dash with impetuous fury against the lofty and adamantine rocks with which it is skirted." I, 315.
2. Professor Veitch has remarked on the incongruousness of this stanza in Blackwood's Magazine, June, 1890, p. 739 ff. Something like it, but adjusted to the circumstances of a maid, occurs in the ballad which he there prints as the "Original Ballad of the Dowie Dens." See No 214, p. 174, L 19.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
Willie is drowned in Yarrow according to the older (southern) tradition, A; also B, C. In the northern copies, D, E, F, with which G, H, agree, the scene is transferred to Gamrie, on the coast of the Moray Frith, where "there is no water that Willie could have been drowned in but the sea, on his way along the sands to the old kirk." In No, 216, a western variety of the same story, Willie is drowned in the Clyde.
Child's Ballad Texts:
'Willy's Rare and Willy's Fair'- Version A; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, II, 110, 1733.
1 'Willy's rare, and Willy's fair,
And Willy's wondrous bony,
And Willy heght to marry me,
Gin eer he marryd ony.
2 'Yestreen I made my bed fu brade,
The night I'll make it narrow,
For a' the live-long winter's night
I lie twin'd of my marrow.
3 'O came you by yon water-side?
Pu'd you the rose or lilly?
Or came you by yon meadow green?
Or saw you my sweet Willy?'
4 She sought him east, she sought him west,
She sought him brade and narrow;
Sine, in the clifting of a craig,
She found him drownd in Yarrow.
----------
[Drownd in Yarrow']- Version B a; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
a. Cromek's Select Scotish Songs, 1810, II, 196; eighth and ninth stanzas of a fragment sent William Tytler by Burns in 1790.
b. Stenhouse's edition of the Musical Museum, 1853, IV, 464.
1 She sought him east, she sought him west,
She sought him braid and narrow,
Till in the clintin of a craig
She found him drownd in Yarrow.
2 She's taen three links of her yellow hair,
That hung down lang and yellow,
And she's tied it about sweet Willie's waist,
An drawn him out of Yarrow.
--------------
'The Dowie Dens o Yarrow'- Version C; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
Gibb Manuscript, No 7, p. 37; from recitation. "Traced to Eppie Fraser, daughter of a tramp, and unable to read, circa 1840."
1 'Willie's fair, an Willie's rare,
An Willie's wondrous bonny,
An Willie's promised to marry me,
If eer he marry ony.'
2 'O sister dear, I've dreamed a dream,
I'm afraid it's unco sorrow;
I dreamed I was pu'in the heather green,
In the dowie dens o Yarrow.'
3 'O sister dear, I'll read your dream,
I'm afraid it will be sorrow;
Ye'll get a letter ere it's een
Your lover's drowned in Yarrow.'
4 She socht him up, she socht him doun,
In mickle dule an sorrow;
She found him neath a buss o brume,
In the dowie dens o Yarrow.
5 Her hair it was three quarters lang,
Its colour it was yallow;
She tied it to his middle sma,
An pu'ed him oot o Yarrow.
6 'My bed it was made wide yestreen,
The nicht it sall be narrow;
There's neer a man lie by my side
Since Willie's drowned in Yarrow.'
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['Willie's Fair, and Willie's Rare']- Version D; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
Skene Manuscript, p. 47; taken down from recitation in the north of Scotland, 1802-3.
1 'Willie's fair, and Willie's rare,
An he is wondrous bonnie,
An Willie has promist to marry me,
Gin ever he marry ony.'
2 'Ye's get Jammie, or ye's [get] Johnnie,
Or ye's get bonny Peter;
Ye's get the wale o a' my sons,
But leave me Willie the writer.'
3 'I winna hae Jamie, I winna hae Johnie,
I winna hae bonny Peter;
I winna hae ony o a' your sons,
An I get na Willie the writer.'
4 . . . .
. . . .
There was threescore and ten brisk young men
Was boun to briddal-stool wi him:
5 'Ride on, ride on, my merry men a',
I forgot something behind me;
I forgat my mither's blessing,
To hae to bride-stool wi me.'
6 'God's blessin an mine gae wi ye,Willie,
God's blessing an mine gae wi ye;
For ye're nae ane hour but bare nineteen,
Fan ye're gauin to meet your Meggie.'
7 They rode on, and farther on,
Till they came to the water o Gamrie,
An they a' wan safe through,
Unless it was sweet Willie.
8 The first ae step that Willie's horse steppit,
He steppit to the bridle;
The next ae step that Willie's horse steppit,
Toom grew Willie's saddle.
9 They rod on, an farther on,
Till they came to the kirk of Gamrie.
. . . .
---------------
'Willie's drowned in Gamery'- Version E; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 245.
1 'O Willie is fair, and Willie is rare,
And Willie is wondrous bonny,
And willie says he'll marry me,
Gin ever he marry ony.'
2 'O ye'se get James or ye'se get George,
Or ye'se get bonny Johnnie;
Ye'se get the flower o a' my sons,
Gin ye'll forsake my Willie.'
3 'O what care I for James or George,
Or yet for bonny Peter?
I dinna value their love a leek,
An I getna Willie the writer.
4 'O Willie has a bonny hand,
And dear but it is bonny!'
'He has nae mair for a' his land;
What woud ye do wi Willie?'
5 'O Willie has a bonny face,
And dear but it is bonny!'
'But Willie has nae other grace;
What woud ye do wi Willie?'
6 'Willie's fair, and Willie's rare,
And Willie's wondrous bonny;
There's nane wi him that can compare,
I love him best of ony.'
7 On Wednesday, that fatal day,
The people were convening;
Besides all this, threescore and ten,
To gang to the bride-steel wi him.
8 'Ride on, ride on, my merry men a',
I've forgot something behind me;
I've forgot to get my mother's blessing,
To gae to the bride-steel wi me.'
9 'Your Peggy she's but bare fifteen,
And ye are scarcely twenty;
The water o Gamery is wide and braid;
My heavy curse gang wi thee!'
10 Then they rode on, and further on,
Till they came on to Gamery;
The wind was loud, the stream was proud,
And wi the stream gaed Willie.
11 Then they rode on, and further on,
Till they came to the kirk o Gamery;
And every one on high horse sat,
But Willie's horse rade toomly.
12 When they were settled at that place,
The people fell a mourning,
And a council held amo them a',
But sair, sair wept Kinmundy.
13 Then out it speaks the bride hersell,
Says, What means a' this mourning?
Where is the man amo them a'
That shoud gie me fair wedding?
14 Then out it speaks his brother John,
Says, Meg, I'll tell you plainly;
The stream was strong, the clerk rade wrong,
And Willie's drownd in Gamery.
15 She put her hand up to her head,
Where were the ribbons many;
She rave them a', let them down fa',
And straightway ran to Gamery.
16 She sought it up, she sought it down,
Till she was wet and weary;
And in the middle part o it,
There she got her deary.
17 Then she stroakd back his yellow hair,
And kissd his mou sae comely:
'My mother's heart's be as wae as thine!
We'se baith asleep in the water o Gamery.'
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'The Water o Gamery'- Version F; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
Buchan Manuscripts, II, 159.
1 Whan Willie was in his saddle set,
And all his merry men wi him,
'Stay still, stay still, my merry men all,
I've forgot something behind me.
2 'Gie me God's blessing an yours, mither,
To hae me on to Gamery;
Gie me God's blessing an yours, mither,
To gae to the bride-stool wi me.'
3 'I'll gie ye God's blessing an mine, Willie,
To hae you on to Gamery;
Ye's hae God's blessing an mine, Willie,
To gae to the bride-stool wi you.
4 . . . .
. . . .
'But Gamery it is wide and deep,
An ye'll never see your wedding;'
5 Some rede back, an some rede fore,
An some rede on to Gamery;
The bonniest knight's saddle among them all
Aught me this day for wedding?
6 Out it spake the bride hersell,
Says, What makes all this riding?
Where is the knight amongst you all
Aught me this day for wedding?
7 Out it spake the bridegroom's brother,
Says, Margaret, I'll tell you plainly;
The knight ye should hae been wedded on
Is drownd in the Water o Gamery.
8 She's torn the ribbons aff her head —
They were baith thick and mony —
She kilted up her green claithing,
And she has passed the Gamery.
9 She's plunged in, so did she down,
That was baith black an jumly,
And in the middle o that water
She found her ain sweet Willie.
10 She's taen him in her arms twa
And gied him kisses many:
'My mother's be as wae as thine!
We'll baith lie in the Water o Gamery.'
--------------
'The Water o Ganrie'- Version G; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 637; from the recitation of the wife of James Baird, forester at Dalrymple.
1 'O stay at hame, my ain son Willie,
And let your bride tak Johnie!
O stay at hame, my ain son Willie!
For my blessing gaes not wi thee.'
2 'I canna stay, nor I winna stay,
And let my bride tak Johnie;
I canna stay, nor I winna stay,
Though your blessing gaes na wi me.
3 'I have a steed in my stable
That cost me monie a pennie,
And on that steed I winna dread
To ride the water o Genrie.'
4 The firsten step that Willie stept,
He steppit to the bellie;
The wind blew loud, the stream ran proud,
And awa wi it gaed Willie.
5 And when the bride gaed to the kirk,
Into the kirk o Ganrie,
She cuist her ee among them a',
But she sawna her love Willie.
6 Out and spak her auld brither,
Saying, Peggie, I will tell thee;
The man ye should been married till
Lyes in the water o Genrie.
7 She tore the ribbons aff her head,
That were baith rich and manie,
And she has kiltit up her coat,
And ran to the water o Ganrie.
8 She's sought him up, sae did she doun,
Thro a' the water o Ganrie;
In the deepest weil in a' the burn,
Oh, there she fand her Willie!
9 She has taen him in her arms twa,
Sae fondly as she kisst him!
Said, 'My mither sall be as wae as thine,'
And she's lain doun aside him.
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'The Water o Gemrie'- Version H; Child 215 Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie
Campbell Manuscripts, II, 78.
1 They were saddled a', they were briddled a',
Bridegroom and a' was ready;
'Stop,' says he, 'My nobles a',
For I've left something behind me.
2 'It is your blessing, mother dear,
To bound [to] the bride-styl with me:'
'God's blessing now, my son,' says she,
'And mine and a' gang wi ye!
3 'For ye are scarce nineteen years of age
When ye met in wi bonny Maggie,
And I'm sure, my dear, she'll welcome you
This day in the kirk o Gemrie.'
4 It's they have ridden up, it's they have ridden down,
And joy was in their gallant company;
It's they have ridden up, and they have ridden down,
Till they came to the water o Gemrie.
5 When they came to the water, it was flooded;
In the middle Sweet William he fell;
The spray brook over his horse's mane,
And the wind sang his funeral knell.
6 'O much is the pity! O much is the pity!'
Cried that joyful company;
'O much is the pity! O much is the pity!'
But alas! now are woeful and wae.
7 Hame and hame came his stead,
And ran to its ain stable;
They've gien it corn and hay to eat,
As much as it was able.
8 His mother she was a waefu woman,
As dung as woman could be;
'My son,' says she, 'is either hurt or slain,
Or drowned in the waters of Gemrie.'
9 It's up and spak her daughter Ann:
'What needs be a' this mourning?
He's lighted at yon bonny kirk-style,
And his steed has run away from him.'
10 'O had yer tongue, my daughter Ann,
Nor scold na me about mourning;
Hadna my son there men enew
To hae taken his steed from him?'
11 They've ridden up, they've ridden down,
Till they came to the kirk o Gemrie;
There they saw his winsome bride,
Alone at the kirk-style standing.
12 'Where away is the man,' says she,
'That promised me fair wedding?
This day he vowd to meet me here,
But O he's lang o coming!'
13 Up and spak his brother John,
Says, 'Meg, I'll tell ye plainly;
The stream was strang, and we rade wrang,
And he's drownd in the water o Gemrie.'
14 She's torn the ribons frae her hair,
That were baith thick and many;
She's torn them a', lettin them fa',
And she's away to the waters o Gemrie.
15 She['s] sought him up, she's sought him down,
Until that she's gotten his body,
And she's laid it on the green, green grass,
And flung her mantle oer him.
16 'O Willie was red, but O now he's white!
And Willie was wondrous bonny,
And Willie said he'd marry me,
Gin ere he married oney.
17 'He was red, he was white, he was my delight,
And aye, aye I thought him bonny;
But now since Willie has dy'd for me,
I will sleep wi him in the same grave at Gemrie.'
End-Notes
B. b. "The editor has often heard the following additional stanza [the second], though it is omitted by Thomson."
21. links o her gowden locks.
23. She 's tied them about.
D. Not divided into stanzas in the Manuscript.
E. Variations in Christie, I, 66:
21-3. ye'll.
61. O Willie 's.
73. And there were mair than threescore and ten.
144. at Gamery.
152. Where she had ribbons.
153. And tore them a' and let
154. And syne she ran.
164. 'T was there.
171. She straiked back.
174. We'll baith sleep.
G. 61. Originally But out
H. 22. bound the bridgestyle.
Appendix 215. Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow: Annan Water
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1833, III, 282; 1802, II, 138.
The first edition lacks stanzas 5, 6, 8, 9. Two of these were inserted "from another copy of the ballad in which the conclusion proves fortunate."
"The ballad," says Scott, "is given from tradition," for which a more precise expression would perhaps be "oral repetition." It is asserted in the Minstrelsy to be "the original words of the tune of 'Allan Water,' by which name the song is mentioned in Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany" ('Allan Water, or, My love Annie's very bonny,' T. T. M., vol. I, p. 105, of the Dublin edition of 1729). This assertion is not justified by any reasons, nor does it seem pertinent, if the Allan was originally the river of the ballad, to add, as the editor does, that "the Annan and the Frith of Solway, into which it falls, are the frequent scenes of tragical accidents."
A song which may pass for the original Allan Water until an earlier is produced is among the Laing broadsides (now in the possession of Lord Rosebery), No 59. There is no date or place, but it is thought to have been printed toward the end of the seventeenth century, or the beginning of the eighteenth, and probably at Edinburgh.
The title is: 'Allan Water, or, A Lover in Captivity.' [1] A new song, sung with a pleasant new air.' There are three eight-line stanzas, and it begins:
Allan Water 's wide and deep,
and my dear Anny 's very bonny;
Wide 's the straith that lyes above 't,
if 't were mine, I 'de give it all for Anny.
Allan Cunningham says of the ballad, Songs of Scotland, II, 102: "I have heard it sung on the banks of the Annan. Like all traditional verses, there are many variations." And he cites as "from an old fragment " these couplets:
Annan water's wading deep, [i.e. wide and]
Yet I am loth to weet my feet;
But if ye'll consent to marry me,
I'll hire a horse to carry thee. [2]
It is my conviction that 'Anna Water,' in Ramsay's language, is one of the "Scots poems wrote by the ingenious before" 1800.
"By the Gatehope Slack," says Sir Walter Scott, "is perhaps meant the Gate Slack, a pass in Annandale."
1 'Annan water's wading deep,
And my love Annie 's wondrous bonny,
And I am laith she suld weet her feet,
Because I love her best of ony.
2 'Gar saddle me the bonny black,
Gar saddle sune, and make him ready,
For I will down the Gatehope- Slack,
And all to see my bonny ladye.'
3 He has loupen on the bonny black,
He stirrd him wi the spur right sairly;
But, or he wan the Gatehope-Slack,
I think the steed was wae and weary.
4 He has loupen on the bonny grey,
He rade the right gate and the ready;
I trow he would neither stint nor stay,
For he was seeking his bonny ladye.
5 O he has ridden oer field and fell,
Through muir and moss, and mony a mire;
His spurs o steel were sair to bide,
And frae her fore-feet flew the fire.
6 'Now, bonny grey, now play your part!
Gin ye be the steed that wins my deary,
Wi corn and hay ye 'se be fed for aye,
And never spur sail make you wearie.'
7 The grey was a mare, and a right good mare,
But when she wan the Annan water
She couldna hae ridden a furlong mair
Had a thousand merks been wadded at her.
8 'O boatman, boatman, put off your boat!
Put off your boat for gowden money!
I cross the druinly stream the night,
Or never mair I see my honey.'
9 'O I was sworn sae late yestreen,
And not by ae aith, but by many;
And for a' the gowd in fair Scotland
I dare na take ye through to Annie.'
10 The ride was stey, and the bottom deep,
Frae bank to brae the water pouring,
And the bonny grey mare did sweat for fear,
For she heard the water-kelpy roaring.
11 O he has poud aff his dapperpy coat,
The silver buttons glanced bonny;
The waistcoat bursted aff his breast,
He was sae full of melancholy.
12 He has taen the ford at that stream tail;
I wot he swam both strong and steady;
But the stream was broad, and his strength did fail,
And he never saw his bonny ladye!
13 'O wae betide the frush saugh wand!
And wae betide the bush of brier!
It brake into my true-love's hand,
When his strength did fail, and his limbs did tire.
14 'And wae betide ye, Annan Water,
This night that ye are a drumlie river!
For over thee I'll build a bridge,
That ye never more true love may sever.'
Footnotes for Appendix:
1. Mr. Macmath informs me that in "A Collection of Old Ballads, etc., printed at Edinburgh between the years 1660 and 1720," No 7228 of the catalogue issued by John Stevenson, Edinburgh, 1827, there is this item: "Be valiant still, etc., a new song much in request; also Logan Water, or, A Lover in Captivity."
2. "Hire a horse," in an "old fragment"? — Cunningham gives the first two stanzas of the ballad, with variations in the first, in his edition of Burns, 1834, V, 107.
Additions and Corrections
P. 180. D stands as follows in "The Old Lady's Collection," No 10, 'The Water of Gamry.'
1 'Willie is fair, an Wille's rair,
An Wille's wondres bonny,
An Wille has promised to marey me,
Gin ever he marred ony.'
2 'Ye's gett Jeamie, or ye's gett Jonny,
Or ye's gett bonny Piter;
Ye's gett the walle of a' my sins,
Bat live to me Wille the writter.'
3 'I winne ha Jamie, I winne ha Jonny,
Nor will I ha bonny Peter;
I winne ha ony of yer sins,
In I gett na Willie the writter.'
4 Ther was three score an ten brisk young men
Was boun to brid-stell we him.
5 'Ride on, ride on, my merry men a',
I forget some thing behine me;
I [ha] forgetten my mider's blissing,
To boun to bridstell we me.'
6 'God's blissing an mine gae we ye, my son Willie,
A' the blissings of God ga we ye;
For y 'er na an hour but bare ninten,
Fan y 'er gain to meet yer Meggey.'
7 They road on, an ferder on,
Till they came to the water of Gamry;
An they all wen safe throu,
Unless it was Suet Willie.
8 For the first an step att Willie's hors steped,
He steped to the bridel;
The nixt an step att Wellie's hors steped,
Toom grue Wille's sadle.
9 They rod on, an forder on,
Till they came to the kirk of Gamry,
. . .
. . .
10 . . .
. . .
'A rounin, a rouning,' she says,
'An fat means a' this rouning?'
11 Out spak the bonny bried,
Just att the kirk of Gamrie;
' Far is the man that was to gee me his han
This day att the kirk of Gamry?'
12 Out spak his breder John,
An O bat he was sorry!
'It fears me sair, my bonny brid,
He slipes our sune in Gaamry.'
13 The ribbons they wer on her hare,
They wer thik an mony;
She rive them a', late them doun faa,
An she is on to the water of Gamry.
14 She sought it up, she sought it doun,
She sought it braid an narrow,
An the depest pot in a' Gamry,
Ther she got Suit Willie.
15 She has kissed his comly mouth,
As she had don befor, O:
' Baith our miders sail be alike sory,
For we's baith slep soun in Gamry.