66 Then Poor Maggy's tears and clamour 66 'Through the yirth I'll waunder wi' you— Stay, O Watty! stay at hame; Here, upon my knees, I'll gie you "See your poor young lammies pleadin', Will ye gang and break our heart? No a house to put our head in, Ilka word came like a bullet, "If ance mair I could by writing, "Yes, O Watty! yes, I will.” 'Then," quo' Watty, "mind, be honest ; Gin ye break this dreadfu' promise, "Marg'et Howe! this hour ye solemn "That ye'll ne'er in Mungo's seek me, Never gloom when I come hame. "That ye'll ne'er, like Bessy Miller, This upon your saul you swear ? " "O-h!" quo' Meg; Aweel," quo' Watty, "O stand still," quo' Meg, and grat aye; Maggy syne, because he prest her, Swore to a' thing owre again : Down he threw his staff victorious; Bessie Bell and Mary Gray. The story on which this popular ballad is founded has been often told, and is so charged with tender pathos that it never fails to command attentive hearing. It belongs to the time of the great plague, or pestilence, which, down to the year 1665, was the terror of Scotland, and which at one time reduced the city of l'erth of about one-sixth of its population. The common tradition is that Bessie Bell and Mary Gray were the daughters of two country gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Perth, and an intimate friendship subsisted between them. Bessie Bell, daughter of the laird of Kinvaid, was on a visit to Mary Gray, at her father's house of Lednock, now called Lynedoch, when the plague of 1666 broke out in the country. To avoid the infection, the two young ladies built themselves a bower in a very retired and romantic spot known as the Burn-braes, on the side of the Brachie Burn, situated about three-quar ters of a mile west from Lynedoch House. Here they lived for some time; but the plague raging with great fury, they caught the infection from a young gentleman of Perth who, it is said, was in love with the one or the other, or with them both; and who, having discovered their rural habitation and the scanty fare it afforded, had made it his daily duty to supply them with provisions from the " Borough toun. According to a traditionary story which I have received at various times from the lips of old persons in Perthshire, the provisions were not the vehicle by which the pestilence was conveyed. But the young gentleman on one of his visits having brought with him, among other presents for their gratification, a rare necklace which he had purchased of a Jew, and which had unhappily been originally the property of one who had died of the plague, the infection was in this way communicated to the young ladies, and proved fatal to them both. According to custom in cases of the plague, they were not buried in the ordinary place of sepulture, but in a secluded spot called the Dronach-haugh, at the foot of the brae of the same name, and near to the bank of the river Almond. The young man having also died of the plague, was laid at their feet. Dranoch, or Dronoch, in the Gaelic means sorrowful, therefore the likelihood is that this piece of ground takes its name from the fact of these hapless young persons being buried in it. The earliest authentic information concerning the grave of Bessie Bell and Mary Gray is found contained in a letter dated 21st June, 1781, written by Major Barry of Lednock, and published in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. II., 1822. This gentleman explains that when he came first to Lednock he was shown in a part of the grounds called the Dronach-haugh, a heap of stones almost covered with briers, thorn, and fern, and which he was assured was the bnrial place of the hapless ladies whose names are immortalised in the fragment of ballad poetry bearing their names as its title. Major Barry caused all the rubbish to be removed from the little spot of classic ground, and inclosed it with a wall, planted it round with flowering shrubs, made up the grave double, and fixed a stone in the wall, on which were engraved the names of Bessie Bell and Mary Gray. In 1787 Lynedoch estate passed into the possession of Mr. Thomas Graham of Balgowan, afterwards Lord Lynedoch, and the wall erected round the graves in the Dron " ach-haugh by Major Barry half a century before, being discoved by this later proprietor, on his return from a lengthened pilgrimage abroad, to have fallen into a dilapi dated state, he had the remains of the wall removed and a neat stone parapet and iron railings five feet high placed round the spot. He also covered the graves with a stone slab, on which were inscribed the words, They lived, they loved, they died." This railing still stands; but the stone slab within the railing is not visible to the eye, being covered with stones heaped up cairn-wise, brought hither by the many visitors who have made pilgrimages to this famous Scottish shrine. 66 The original verses-two in number-were first printed by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, under the title of "The Twa Lasses" ; and, one or two necessary corrections excepted, are as follows: O, Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, They war twa bonnie lassies! They theekit it o'er wi' rashies green, They theekit it o'er wi' heather, But the pest cam' frae the Borough's toun They thocht to lie in Methven kirkyard But they maun lie in Dronach-haugh And beik fornent the sun. And Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, They war twa bonnie lassies! They biggit a bower on yon burn-brae, Starting with the first four lines of the above, Allan Ramsay produced a song which is sometimes printed in the collections. It is a performance not without merit, but as the author has dared to transform the burden of the verses from tender pathos to lively humour, we give him credit for it with a grudge, for the good reason that in so far as his version gains popularity a sweetly-pathetic historic romance loses its hold on the public mind. The subjoined beautiful rendering of the tradition in ballad verse will be welcome to many. The author, James Duff, known as "the Methven poet," was a gardener to trade, and flourished in the early part of the present century. He was the author of the popular song,`“Lassie wi' the yellow coatie." His volume of poems, published at Perth in 1816, and which contains the following ballad, is now very scarce. Duff, it will be seen, does not adhere to the traditionary story, but gives free rein to his poetic fancy. Unlike Allan Ramsay, however, he maintains the original spirit of the tender romance. WHEN plague and death, a dreary space, Pervaded Britain's isle ; When sorrow sat on many a face, And few were seen to smile. On Almond side, as poets tell, Fast knit in close relation's bands, Thus Bessie Bell and Mary Gray By fear impress'd, it struck their mind To build a bower on Almond side, Where herbs and nuts and fruit supplied |