THERE Gilderoy. HERE are two distinct versions of the Gilderoy ballad. One of these (A) is the five octave-verse " Scotch Song, called Gilderoy," in Westminster Drollery, 1671, Part 1st, p. 112. It begins thus: 1. Was ever grief so great as mine? Then speak, dear Bearn, I prethee, Good speed be with you then Sir, she said, And gone is he whom I love best, My handsom Gilderoy. Then follows what is our Bagford 5th verse, "In mickle joy," etc. (but with "Then wantonly he ligg'd," instead of "Then gently he did lay," etc.; and "I gate my Goon, and I followed him," in place of "But ever since I loved the Man"). The other three verses are quite distinct from those in the Bagford copy, and run thus: 3. Now Gilderoy was a bonny Boy, Would needs to th' King be gone, For on a Gallow-tree they hung 4. When they had ta'ne this lad so strong, For ever more my Benison Gang with my Gilderoy 5. Wo worth the man that made those Laws, To hang a man for geare, For neither stealing Ox nor Ass, Or bony Horse or Meere : Had not their Laws a bin so strict, I might have got my joy : [misprinted "genee"] And ne'er had need tull a wat my cheek For my dear Gilderoy. . This earliest printed version of 1671 has been little used, but it reappears in the 1716 edition of "Miscellany Poems By the most eminent Hands, Published by Mr. Dryden. The Third Part," p. 321. It is virtually identical with the WestminsterDrollery copy. (See the present Editor's Reprint, Drolleries of the Restoration, Westm.-D., 1875, i. p. 112, and its Appendix, p. xliii.) The other early version (B) is the one before us, contained in the Bagford Collection, beginning "Gilderoy was a bonny Boy." Here we have the original, or earliest copy extant (dating about 1685), of the version which, with corruptions and expurgations calling themselves "improvements," has come down in unceasing popularity through all the Scottish Song-books to the present day. We attach no weight whatever to the declaration of Mr. Stenhouse, to the effect that a black-letter copy exists dated 1650: it will be time enough to believe this when some more trustworthy authority asserts as much, and produces the printed broadsheet. We find this (B) version, with the music attached, in Pills to P. Melancholy, v. 39; 1719 (and also, it is said, in the "first edition of vol. iii. printed in 1703," which we have never seen). The chief difference is in the seventh verse, which, instead of ""Tis pity," etc., flows thus: : O never, never shall I see Though just and fair were the designs As to the prudish Lady Wardlaw, née Halket, who bears the credit, or discredit, of tampering with this and other old ballads or songs in Scotland, her share in remodelling "Gilderoy" must have been infinitesimally small. According to the generallyaccurate Alex. Whitelaw :-"She was born in 1677, married in 1696, and died in 1727. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Halket of Pitferran" (Bk. of Scot. Sgs., 1843, p. 560). Whitelaw's version, from her's, grounded on (B), has thirteen stanzas. Many writers, finding themselves insecure if claiming Gilderoy for her, attribute the song to "Sir Alexander Halket, her brother" but, we learn, "entirely through a mistake, there being in reality no such person,' says Dr. Robt. Chambers (Songs of Scotland prior to Burns, p. 27, n.d.); who was earlier the assertor of what is known as the "Wardlaw Heresy," in regard to her supposititious claim as author of many other Scottish ballads. (See Norval Clyne,' exposing these errors.) 1 The Romantic Scottish Ballads, and the Lady Wardlaw Heresy. [By Norval Clyne.] A. Brown & Co., Aberdeen, 1859, pp. 49. Norval Clyne returned to the assault in the additional notes to his spirited Ballads from Scottish History. Edmonston & Douglas, 1863. Robert Chambers's claim advanced for Lady Wardlaw's authorship of Sir Patrick Spens, and "upwards of a score of other popular Scottish ballads," was made in extenso in 1859: The Romantic Scottish Ballads, their Epoch and Authorship: Edinburgh Papers, First Series, pp. 46. That she wrote the first part of the stilted and over-rated "Hardyknute" seems probable enough (the second part, inferior, was John Pinkerton's manufacture, not to say forgery). And that she cobbled here and there at " Gilderoy' "much later than the Bagford printed version may be conceded to her admirers. But the version (A) had been extensively in print six years before she was born; and the other version (B) appeared when she was not more than eight years old: and in one or other of these is everything that is valuable of "Gilderoy." So perhaps it may be deemed time now to let her "claims" pass into oblivion. No wonder that "words, phrases, and even whole lines from the (A) version, as well as (B), appear in the Halketized "Gilderoy." A duplicate of (B) is in Pepys, v. 354. In W. Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, 1733, words and music of Gilderoy meet us, in vol. ii. p. 106. But among its seven verses there are three new ones inexpressibly silly, worthy of Wardlawism or Halketism; such as "Rhyming Wattie" in his coat of many colours, a century later, could have easily surpassed. They are merely curious now as being obsolete innovations, with their far-fetched rhymes of "Dalmahoy," "Foy," and "Croy;" and coarser language than the ballad heretofore possessed. So much for the refined taste of W. Thomson and the LondonScotch Song-men in 1733.1 1 Orpheus Caledonius being somewhat scarce, these wretched verses are here given, verbatim et literatim, degraded to a foot-note. They are the 3rd, 5th, and 6th: When Gilderoy went to the Glen, He always choos'd the Fat; He never mist to get a Clout, The Queen of Scots possessed nought, But ah! they catch'd him on a Hill, But Sons of Whores they lyed: Before he went for Edinburgh, My dearest Gilderoy. To Edinburgh I followed fast; But long e'er I came there, His Relicks there were mair esteem'd, Alas! that e'er such Laws were made Had not the Laws then been so strict, But now he lodges with auld Nick, This is what comes of feminine pruning and eking-out our literature. We remember the Ecclesiazusa and the Thesmophoriazusa. With variations, chiefly from the (B) version, "Gilderoy" reappears in Old Bds., i. 271, 1723; Percy's Reliques; Herd; Child's Bds., vi. 198; and Maidment's Scot. Bds., ii. 226, 1869, with most valuable remarks, and extracts from Spalding's Mems. of the Troubles in Scotland, Bannatyne Club. Professor Aytoun (Bds. of Scotland, ii. 151) gives the ballad in its composite bulk, 13 verses, with two apocryphal Chambers' renderings, "which Mr. Chambers mentions to have seen on a broadside ("Lord, lord, how this world is given to lying!" said a practical authority), evidently further "adapted" from the Orpheus Caledonius. To Captain Alexander Smith's Compleat History of the Lives and Robberies of the most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, &c., for about a hundred years past, etc., London, 1719, vol. ii., 297, readers must turn for an account of Gilderoy, or Gillie Roy, the Red Youth. This narrative (seemingly unknown to, and unsuspected by, Professor Aytoun; who is generally most accurate of the composite-ballad advocates) bears clear proof of exaggeration, and such falsehood as terror-stricken Lowland citizens indulge in, when vilifying the depredators who have plundered them, even to "the theftuous stealing of foure hens" belonging to the master of Calquharnie. Gilderoy was conveniently hanged, without much formal trial. His execution took place along with seven of his gang (he being honoured with a tenfeet higher gibbet), in July, 1636. If Capt. Alex. Smith does not belie her, the freebooter's lady-love, Peg Cunningham, had a hand in betraying him, and paid for her treachery by being "ript-up" by Gilderoy when he was captured. We prefer to think of her as a "hempen-widow," indulging in this pathetic Lament. 1 The place of execution, some fields between Edinburgh and Leith, has been kept known by tradition. It is now occupied by Nos. 14 and 16, Montgomery Street, Leith Walk, built in recent years. The present Editor knew it well, both as a field play-ground and a residence, during part of his boyhood spent in absence from his native land. To those years he owes his earliest acquaintance with the Songs of Scotland, and the breezy hills of "Caledonia stern and wild." Captain Alex. Smith gives the date of execution as being April, 1658, but he is habitually inaccurate. The alleged robbery of Cromwell is seen to have been impossible, with the true date, 1636. The sacrilegious robbery of Richelieu also is apocryphal: the story is told elsewhere, of a courtier whose pocket was picked of a gold snuff-box, in presence of Charles II., the thief winked at his observing Majesty, thus binding him over to secrecy (Jesse, Mem. Court of Eng., 1840, iii. 317). Gilderoy's alleged outrages at his mother's house are asserted without evidence: no witnesses remained, living or dead, the house being burnt, and he is not proved to have confessed any such crimes. Idle assertions all. [Bagford Collection, I. 102.] The Scorch Lover's Lamentation; Gilderoy's Last Fa[r]ewe[l]. To an excellent new Tune, much in request. Gilderoy was a bonny Boy, had roses tull his shun, His Stockings made of the finest silk, It was a comely sight to see, He was my Joy and Heart's Delight, Oh, sike a charming Eyen he had, He never wore a Highland plad, My Gilderoy and I was born, 8 12 16 both in one Town together: 1 Pills to P. Mel. version reads, "Not past seven years of Age, Since," etc. 28 |