O TELL ME HOW TO WOO THEE.

Ir doughty deeds my ladye please,
Right soon I'll mount my steed;
And strong his arm, and fast his seat,
That bears frae me the meed.
I'll wear thy colours in my cap,

Thy picture in my heart;
And he that bends not to thine eye
Shall rue it to his smart.

Then tell me how to woo thee, love
O tell me how to woo thee!
For thy dear sake, nae care I'll take,
Tho' ne'er another trow me.

If gay attire delight thine eye,
I'll dight me in array;
I'll tend thy chamber door all night,
And squire thee all the day.
If sweetest sounds can win thy ear,
These sounds I'll strive to catch;
Thy voice I'll steal to woo thysell,
That voice that nane can match.

Then tell me how to woo thee, love;
O tell me how to woo thee!
For thy dear sake, nae care I'll take,
Tho' ne'er another trow me.

But if fond love thy heart can gain,
I never broke a vow;

Nae maiden lays her skaith to me,
I never loved but you.

For you alone I ride the ring,
For you I wear the blue;
For you alone I strive to sing,
O tell me how to woo!

O tell me how to woo thee, love;
O tell me how to woo thee!
For thy dear sake, nae care I'll take,
Tho' ne'er another trow me.

THE SOUTERS OF SELKIRK.

THIS little lyric piece, with those which immediately follow in the collection, relates to the fatal battle of Flodden, in which the flower of the Scottish nobility fell around their sovereign, James IV. The ancient and received tradition of the burgh of Selkirk affirms, that the citizens of that town distinguished themselves by their gallantry on that disastrous occasion. Eighty in number, and headed by their town-clerk, they joined their monarch on his entrance into England. James, pleased with the appearance of this gallant troop, knighted their leader, William Brydone, upon the field of battle, from which few of the men of Selkirk were destined to return. They distinguished themselves in the conflict, and were almost all slain. The few survivors, on their return home, found, by the side of LadyWood Edge, the corpse of a female, wife to one of their fallen comrades, with a child sucking at her breast. In memory of this latter event, continues the tradition, the present arms of the burgh bear a female, holding a child in her arms, and seated on a sarcophagus, decorated with the Scottish lion; in the background a wood.

A learned antiquary,t whose judgment and accuracy claim respect, has made some observations upon the probability of this tradition, which the Editor

[When these verses were included in the first edition of the Minstrelsy, Sir W. Scott told me he believed them to have been the composition of a nobler Grahame-the great Marquis of Montrose -ED.1 [The late Mr. Joseph Ritson.]

"That the souters of Selkirk should, in 1513, amount to fourscore fighting men, is a circumstance utterly incredible. It is scarcely to be supposed that all the shoemakers in Scotland could have produced such an army, at a period when shoes must have been still less worn than they are at present. Dr. Johnson, indeed, was told at Aberdeen, that the people learned the art of making shoes from Cromwell's soldiers. The numbers,' he adds, that go barefoot, are still sufficient to show that shoes may be spared; they are not yet considered as necessaries of life; for tall boys, not otherwise meanly dressed, run without them in the streets; and, in the islands, the sons of gentlemen pass several of their first years with naked feet.'-(Journey to the Western Islands, p. 55.) Away, then, with the fable of the Souters of Selkirk! Mr. Tytler, though he mentions it as the subject of a song, or ballad, 'does not remember ever to have seen the original genuine words,' as he obligingly acknowledged in a letter to the Editor. Mr. Robertson, however, who gives the Statistical Account of the Parish of Selkirk, seems to know something more of the matter,'Some,' says he, 'have very falsely attributed to this event (the battle of Flowden,) that song,

'Up wi' the souters of Selkirk,

And down with the Earl of Home.' "There was no Earl of Home,' he adds, 'at that time, nor was this song composed till long after. It arose from a bet betwixt the Philiphaugh and Home families; the souters (or shoemakers) of Selkirk, against the men of Home, at a match of football, in which the souters of Selkirk completely gained, and afterwards perpetuated their victory in that song." This is decisive; and so much for Scottish tradition." -Note to Historical Essay on Scottish Song, prefixed to Scottish Songs, in 2 vols. 1794.

It is proper to remark, that the passage of Mr. Robertson's Statistical Account, above quoted, does not relate to the authenticity of the tradition, but to the origin of the song, which is obviously a separate and distinct question. The entire passage in the Statistical Account (of which a part only is quoted in the essay) runs thus :

"Here, too, the inhabitants of the town of Selkirk, who breathed the manly spirit of real freedom, justly merit particular attention. Of one hundred citizens, who followed the fortunes of James IV. on the plains of Flowden, a few returned, loaded with the spoils taken from the enemy. Some of these trophies still survive the rust of time, and the effects of negligence. The desperate valour of the citizens of Selkirk, which, on that fatal day, was eminently conspicuous to both armies, produced very opposite effects. The implacable resentment of the English reduced their defenceless town to ashes; while their grateful sovereign (James V.) showed his sense of their valour, by a grant of an extensive portion of the forest, the trees for building their houses, and the property as the reward of their heroism."--A note is added by Mr. Robertson:-"A standard, the appearance of which bespeaks its antiquity, is still carried annually (on the day of riding their common) by the corporation of weavers, by a member of which it was taken from the English in the field of Flowden., It may be added, that the sword of William Brydone, the town-clerk, who led the citizens to the battle, (and who is said to have been knighted for his valour,) is still in the possession of John Brydone, a citizen of Selkirk, his lineal descendant." An additional note contains the passage quoted in the Essay on Scottish Song.

If the testimony of Mr. Robertson is to be received as decisive of the question, the learned author of the essay will surely admit, upon re-perusal, that the passage in the Statistical Account contains the most positive and unequivocal declaration of his belief in the tradition.

Neither does the story itself, upon close examina

clerico-apud Edinburgh octavo die mensis Aprilis Anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo trigesimo octavo et regni nostri vicesimo quinto."

From these extracts, which are accurately copied from the original charters, it may be safely concluded, 1st, that Selkirk was a place of importance before it was ruined by the English; and, 2d, that the voice of merchants had ceased in her streets," in consequence of the fatal field of Flodden. But further, it seems reasonable to infer, that so many marks of royal favour, granted within so short a time of each other, evince the gratitude, as well as the compassion, of the monarch, and were intended to reward the valour, as well as to relieve the distress, of the men of Selkirk. Thus every circumstance of the written evidence, as far as it goes, tallies with the oral tradition of the inhabitants; and, therefore, though the latter may be exaggerated, it surely cannot be dismissed as entirely void of foundation. That William Brydone actually enjoyed the honour of knighthood, is ascertained by many of the deeds, in which his name appears as a notary public. John Brydone, lineal descendant of the gallant town-clerk, is still alive, and possessed of the relics mentioned by Mr. Robertson. The old man, though in an inferior station of life, receives considerable attention from his fellow-citizens, and claims no small merit to himself on account of his brave ancestor.t

Thus far concerning the tradition of the exploits of the men of Selkirk, at Flodden field. Whether the following verses do, or do not, bear any allusion to that event, is a separate and less interesting question. The opinion of Mr. Robertson, referring them to a different origin, has been already mentioned; but his authority, though highly respectable, is not absolutely decisive of the question.

The late Mr. Plummer, sheriff depute of the county of Selkirk, a faithful and accurate antiquary, entertained a very opposite opinion. He has thus expressed himself upon the subject, in the course of his literary correspondence with Mr. Herd: "Of the souters of Selkirk, I never heard any words but the following verse:

'Up with the Souters of Selkirk,
And down wi' the Earl of Home;
And up wi' a' the bra' lads

That sew the single-soled shoon.'

"It is evident that these words cannot be so ancient as to come near the time when the battle was fought; as Lord Home was not created an Earl till near a century after that period.

66

Our clergyman, in the Statistical Account,' vol. ii. p. 48, note, says, that these words were composed upon a match at foot-ball, between the Philiphaugh and Home families. I was five years at school at Selkirk, have lived all my days within two miles of that town, and never once heard a tradition of this imaginary contest till I saw it in print.

"Although the words are not very ancient, there is every reason to believe, that they allude to the battle of Flodden, and to the different behaviour of the souters, and Lord Home, upon that occasion. At election dinners, &c., when the Selkirk folks begin to get fou' (merry,) they always call for music, and for that tune in particular.§ At such times I never heard a souter hint at the foot-ball, but many times speak of the battle of Flodden."--Letter from Mr. Plummer to Mr. Herd, 13th January, 1793.

The Editor has taken every opportunity, which his situation has afforded him, to obtain information The charters are preserved in the records of the burgh. ↑ This person is lately dead, but his son is in possession of the weapons in question. 1810.

Andrew Plummer, Esq., of Sunderland Hall, Selkirkshire. <-ED.]

SA singular custom is observed at conferring the freedom of the burgh. Four or five bristles, such as are used by shoemakers, are attached to the seal of the burgess ticket. These the new made burgess must dip in his wine, and pass through his mouth, in token of respect for the souters of Selkirk. This ceremony is on no account dispensed with.

"That the Editor succeeded Mr. Plummer in his office of she riff-depute, and has himself the honour to bo a souter of Selkirk, may perhaps form the best apology for the length of this disser

tation.

on this point, and has been enabled to recover two additional verses of the song.

The yellow and green, mentioned in the second verse, are the liveries of the house of Home. When the Lord Home came to attend the governor, Albany, his attendants were arrayed in Kendal Green.GODSCROFT.

THE SOUTERS OF SELKIRK.

Up wi' the Souters of Selkirk,
And down wi' the Earl of Home;
And up wi' a' the braw lads,
That sew the single-soled shoon.
Fye upon yellow and yellow,
And fye upon yellow and green,
But up wi' the true blue and scarlet,
And
up wi' the single-soled sheen.
Up wi' the Souters o' Selkirk,

For they are baith trusty and leal;
And up wi' the Men o' the Forest, T

And down wi' the Mersett to the deil.‡‡

THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.

FIRST PART.

were composed, many years ago, by a lady of family THE following well-known and beautiful stanzas in Roxburghshire. The manner of the ancient minstrels is so happily imitated, that it required the most positive evidence to convince the Editor that the song was of modern date. Such evidence, however, he has been able to procure: having been favoured, through the kind intervention of Dr. Somerville, (well known to the literary world, as

Selkirkshire, otherwise called Ettrick Forest. ** Berwickshire, otherwise called the Merse.

* It is unnecessary here to enter into a formal refutation of the derer of his sovereign, and the cause of the defeat at Flodden. popular calumny, which taxed Lord Home with being the mur So far from exhibiting any marks of cowardice or disaffection, the division beaded by that unfortunate nobleman, was the only part of the Scottish army which was conducted with common prudence on that fatal day. This body formed the vanguard, and entirely routed the division of Sir Edmund Howard, to which they were opposed; but the reserve of the English cavalry rendered it impossible for Home, notwithstanding his success, to come to the aid of the king, who was irretrievably ruined by his own impetuosity of temper. PINKERTON'S History, vol. ii. p. 105.— The escape of James from the field of battle has long been deservedly ranked with that of King Sebastian, and similar speciosa miracula with which the vulgar have been amused in all ages. Indeed the Scottish nation were so very unwilling to admit any advantage on the English part, that they seem actually to have set up pretensions to the victory.* The same temper of mind led to any cause, rather than to his own misconduct, and the superior them eagerly to ascribe the loss of their monarch, and his army, military skill of the English. There can be no doubt, that James actually fell on the field of battle, the slaughter-place of his nobles.-PINKERTON, Ibid. His dead body was interred in the mohastery of Sheen, in Surry; and Stowe mentions, with regard to it, the following degrading circumstances:

"After the battle the bodie of the said king, being found, was closed in lead, and conveyed from thence to London, and to the monasterie of Sheyne, in Surry, where it remained for a time. in what order I am not certaine; but, since the dissolution of that house, in the reign of Edward VI., Henry Gray, Duke of Norfolke, being lodged, and keeping house there, I have been showed the same bodie, so lapped in lead, close to the bead and bodie, throwne Since the which time, workmen there, for their foolish pleasure, into a waste room, amongst the old timber, lead, and other rubble. hewed off his head and Lancelot Young, master glazier to Queen Elizabeth, feeling a sweet savour to come from thence, and seeing the same dried from all moisture, and yet the form re maining, with haire of the head, and beard red, brought it to London, to his house in Wood-street, where, for a time, he kept it, for its sweetness, but, in the end, caused the sexton of that church (St. Michael's, Wood-street) to bury it amongst other bones taken out of their charnel."-STOWE'S Survey of London, p. 539.

"Against the proud Scott's clatternig,
That never wyll leave their trattly ing;
Wan they the field and lost theyr king 7
They may well say, fie on that winning!

"Lo these fond sottes and trattly ing Scottes,
Howe they are blinde in their own minde,
And will not know theyr overthrow.
At Branxton moore they are so stowre,
So frantike mod, and say they had,
And wan the field with speare and shielde
That is as true as black is blue," &c.

Skelton Laureate against the Seottes.

THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.

PART SECOND.

THE following verses, adapted to the ancient air of the Flowers of the Forest, are, like the elegy which precedes them, the production of a lady. The late Mrs. Cockburn, daughter of Rutherford of Fairnalie, in Selkirkshire, and relict of Mr. CockClerk of Scotland,) was the authoress. Mrs. Cockburn of Ormiston, (whose father was Lord Justiceburn has been dead but a few years. Even at an age, advanced beyond the usual bounds of humanity, she retained a play of imagination, and an activity of intellect, which must have been attractive and delightful in youth, but were almost preternatural at her period of life. Her active benevolence, keeping pace with her genius, rendered her equally an object of love and admiration. The Editor, who knew her well, takes this opportunity of doing justice to his own feelings; and they are in unison with those of all who knew his regretted friend.

The verses which follow were written at an early period of life, and without peculiar relation to any event, unless it were the depopulation of Ettrick Forest.

THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.

PART SECOND.

I'VE seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling, I've tasted her favours, and felt her decay:

scorning;

Lasses are lonely, and dowie, and wae;

Nae daffing, nae gabbing, but sighing and sabbing; Ilk ane lifts her leglin, and hies her awae.

In har'st, at the shearing, nae youths now are jeering;

Bandsters are runkled, and lyart or gray;

But soon it is fled-it is fled far away.

I've seen the forest adorn'd of the foremost,
With flowers of the fairest, both pleasant and gay;
Full sweet was their blooming, their scent the air
perfuming,

But now are they wither'd, and a' wede awae.

The prime of our land, are cauld in the clay. We'll hear na mair lilting, at the ewe-milking; Women and bairns are heartless and wae: Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning

The flowers of the forest are a' wede awae.t

* The following explanation of provincial terms may be found meful.

Luting-Singing cheerfully. Loaning-A broad lane. Wede mese-Werded out. Scorning-Rallying. Doncic-Dreary.Defing and gebbing-Joking and chatting. Leglin-Milk pail. Har'st-Harvest Shearing Reaping. Bandsters-Sheaf bind ers. Runkled-Wrinkled. Lyart Inclining to gray. Fleeching Coaxing. Gloaming-Twilight.

These lines have been said to contain an anachronism; the apposed date of the lamentation being about the period of the Field of Fludden. The Editor can see no ground for this charge. Fairs were held in Scotland from the most remote antiquity; and are, from their very nature, scenes of pleasure and gallantry. The preachings of the friars were, indeed, professedly, meetings for a grave purpose; but we have the authority of the Wife of Bath, surely most unquestionable in such a point,) that they were frequently perverted to places of rendezvous:

"I had the better leisur for to pleie,
And for to sec, and eke to be seie

Of lusty folk. What wist 1 where my grace
Was shapen for to be, or in what place
Therefore I made my visitations

To vizilies and to processions;

To preachings cke, and to thise pilgrimages,
To plays of iniracles, and marriages," &c.
Canterbury Tales.

[It is the business of poetry to delineate feeling; and where shall we look for feeling so undisguised and powerful, as in those early periods of civilization, which have already excited men to W

And the red storin roaring, before the parting day: I've seen Tweed's silver streams, glittering in the

sunny beams,

Turn drumly and dark, as they roll'd on'their way. O fickle Fortune! why this cruel sporting? Why thus perplex us poor sons of a day? Thy frowns cannot fear me, thy smiles cannot cheer

This Ballad is a fragment from Mr. HERD'S MS., communicated to him by J. GROSSETT MUIRHEAD, Esq. of Breadesholm, near Glasgow; who stated that he extracted it, as relating to his own family, from the complete Song, in which the names of twenty or thirty gentlemen were mentioned, contained in a large Collection, belonging to Mr. ALEXANDER MONRO, merchant in Lisbon, but supposed now to be lost.

It appears, from the appendix to NISBET's Heraldry, p. 261, that MUIRHEAD of Lachop and Bullis, the person here called the Laird of MUIRHEAD, was a man of rank, being rentaller, or perhaps feuar, of the cultivation of their intellectual energies-but have not yet fettered them with that multiplicity of rules which forms them into the mere machines of polished society? The minds of men in such a state are indeed less delicate, less attractive of general sympathy, than in succeeding periods; but they are more poetic, more interesting in particular contemplation, more distinctly marked and intelligible. We are not, then, to view these poems as facta ad unguem-high-polished and elaborate specimens of art--but as exhibiting the true sparks and flashes of individual nature. Hence we shall find a savage wildness in the superstition of the Lyrke-wake Dirge, and in the tumultuous rage of the Fray of Suport; but we may trace gradations from these to the exquisite tenderness of the Flowers of the Forest."-Edinburgh Review, 1503.]

§ Edition of 1803.

[Mrs. Cockburn was an intimate friend of Mrs. Scott, and among the first persons who discovered the expanding genius of her son. Ep.1

Drumley-Discoloured.

many crown lands in Galloway; and was, in truth, slain in "Campo Belli de Northumberland sub vexillo Regis," i. e. in the Field of Flodden.

*

AFORE the King in order stude

The stout laird of Muirhead,

Wi' that same twa-hand muckle sword
That Bartram fell'd stark dead.

He sware he wadna lose his right
To fight in ilka field;

Nor budge him from his liege's sight,
Till his last gasp should yield.
Twa hunder mair, of his ain name,
Frae Torwood and the Clyde,
Sware they would never gang to hame,
But a' die by his syde.

And wondrous weel they kept their troth;
This sturdy royal band

Rush'd down the brae, wi' sic a pith,
That nane could them withstand.
Mony a bloody blow they dealt,
The like was never seen;

And hadna that braw leader fall'n,
They ne'er had slain the king.

ODE, ON VISITING FLODDEN.
BY J. LEYDEN.*

GREEN FLODDEN! on thy blood-stain'd head
Descend no rain nor vernal dew;
But still thou charnel of the dead,

May whitening bones thy surface strew!
Soon as I tread thy rush-clad vale,
Wild fancy feels the clasping mail;
The rancour of a thousand years

Glows in my breast; again I burn

To see the banner'd pomp of war return,

And mark, beneath the moon, the silver light of

spears.

Lo! bursting from their common tomb,

The spirits of the ancient dead

Dimily streak the parted gloom

With awful faces, ghastly red;

As once, around their martial king,

They closed the death-devoted ring,

With dauntless hearts, unknown to yield;

In slow procession round the pile

Of heaving corses, moves each shadowy file,

And chants, in solemn strain, the dirge of Flodden field.

What youth, of graceful form and mien,
Foremost leads the spectred brave,
While o'er his mantle's folds of green
His amber locks redundant wave?
When slow returns the fated day,
That view'd their chieftain's long array,

* [These verses of Dr. Leyden appear to have been introduced in this place, as forming a sort of note on the Flowers of the Forest. Among them are the four beautiful lines which were se lected for the motto to Marmion

Alas! that Scottish maid should sing." &c.-ED.] Under the vigorous administration of James IV, the young Earl of Caithness incurred the penalty of outlawry and forfeiture, for revenging an ancient feud. On the evening, preceding the battle of Flodden, accompanied by 300 young warriors, arrayed in green, he presented himself before the King, and submitted to his mercy. This mark of attachment was so agreeable to that warlike prince, that he granted an immunity to the Earl and all his followers. The parchment on which this immunity was inscribed, is said to be still preserved in the archives of the Earls of Caithness, and is marked with the drum-strings, having been cut out of a drum-head, as no other parchment could be found in the army. The Earl and his gallant band perished to a man in the battle of Flodden; since which period, it has been reckoned unlucky in Caithness to wear green or cross the Ord on a Monday, the day of the week on which the Chieftain advanced into Sutherland.

Wild to the harp's deep plaintive string,
The virgins raise the funeral strain,

From Ord's black mountain to the northern main, And mourn the emerald hue which paints the vest of spring.t

Alas! that Scottish maid should sing

The combat where her lover fell!
That Scottish bard should wake the string,
The triumph of our foes to tell!

Yet Teviot's sons, with high disdain,
Have kindled at the thrilling strain,
That mourn'd their martial father's bier;
And at the sacred font, the priest

Through ages left the master-hand unblest,
To urge, with keener aim, the blood-encrusted spear.
Red Flodden! when thy plaintive strain
In early youth rose soft and sweet,
My life-blood through each throbbing vein,
With wild tumultuous passion beat;
And oft, in fancied might, I trode
The spear-strewn path to Fame's abode,
Encircled with a sanguine flood;

And thought I heard the mingling hum,
When, croaking hoarse, the birds of carrion

Afar, on rustling wing, to feast on English blood.
Rude Border Chiefs, of mighty name,
And iron soul, who sternly tore

The blossoms from the tree of fame,

And purpled deep their tints with gore, Rush from brown ruins, scarr'd with age, That frown o'er haunted Hermitage; Where, long by spells mysterious bound, They pace their round, with lifeless smile, And shake, with restless foot, the guilty pile, Till sink the mouldering towers beneath the burden'd ground.§

Shades of the dead! on Alfer's plain

Who scorned with backward step to move,

But struggling mid the hills of slain,

Against the Sacred Standard strove ;!!

Amid the lanes of war I trace

Each broad claymore and ponderous mace: Where'er the surge of arms is tost,

Your glittering spears in close array,

Sweep like the spider's filmy web, away

The flower of Norman pride, and England's victor

host.

But distant fleets each warrior ghost,

With surly sounds that murmur far;

Such sounds were heard when Syria's host
Roll'd from the walls of proud Samàr.

Around my solitary head

Gleam the blue lightnings of the dead, While murmur low the shadowy band

"Lament no more the warrior's doom!

Blood, blood alone should dew the hero's tomb, Who falls, mid circling spears, to save his native land."

of the land they used a damnable superstition, leaving the right armes of their infants, males, unchristened, (as they termed it,) to the end it might give a more ungracious and deadly blow."-P. 15. $ Popular superstition in Scotland still retains so formidable an idea of the guilt of blood, that those ancient edifices, or castles, where enormous crimes have been committed, are supposed to sink gradually into the ground. With regard to the castle of Hermitage, in particular, the common people believe, that thirty feet of the walls sunk, thirty feet fell, and thirty feet remain standing.

The fatal battle of the Standard was fought on Cowton Moor, near Northallerton, (A. S. Ealfertun,) in Yorkshire, 1138. David I. commanded the Scottish army. He was opposed by Thurston, Archbishop of York, who, to animate his followers, had recourse to the impressions of religious enthusiasm. The mast of a ship was fitted into the perch of a four-wheeled car riage; on its top was placed a little casket, containing a conse crated host. It also contained the banner of St. Cuthbert, round which were displayed those of St. Peter of York, St. John of Beverley, and St. Wilfred of Rippon. This was the English standard, and was stationed in the centre of the army. Prince Cumberland and Teviotdale, charged, broke, and completely dis persed the centre; but unfortunately was not supported by the other divisions of the Scottish army. The expression of Alfred, (p. 345,) describing this encounter, is more spirited than the general tenor of monkish historians;--Ipsa globi australis parte instar cassis aranea dissipata"-that division of the phalanx was dispersed like a cobweb.