This ballad was No 10 of the fifteen of Mrs. Brown's which were obtained by William Tytler from Professor Thomas Gordon in 1783: Anderson to Percy, December 29, 1800, in Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 177, where the first stanza (of twelve) is cited. These transcripts were accompanied with the airs. In b, which is now ascertained to be in the handwriting of Walter Scott,[foot-note] there is a mawkish stanza after 4, and another after 9, which do not occur in a, and many verbal variations. These two stanzas are not likely to have been inserted by Scott, for, so far as we know, the ballad has been preserved only by Mrs. Brown. As for the other variations, we are not in a condition to say which are Mrs. Brown's, which Scott's.
An appointment for an elopement made by Lady Elspat with Sweet William is revealed to her mother by an eavesdropping page. William is bound with his own bow-string and brought before the Lord Justice. The mother accuses him of stealing her jewels; Lady Elspat denies this, and says that his only crime is too small an estate. The judge sees no fault in the young man (whom he discovers to be his sister's son!), hands him over to Lady Elspat, and promises the pair as much land as a valuable horse of his can ride about in a summer's day.
Truly not impressive in story or style, and very fit to have been forgotten by Mrs. Brown.
Translated from Jamieson by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 196, No 30; by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder, p. 118, No 26; by Loève-Veimars, p. 337.
This page most recently updated on 24-Apr-2011, 18:08:06. Return to main index
