Popular Rhymes of Scotland : Original Poems

'OM/^ I ^ ROBERT CHAMBKJaS, POPULAR RHYMES OF SCOTLAND. THIRD EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS. Original %um. ROBERT CHAMBERS. EDINBURGH: W. k R. CHAMBERS MDCCCLVIII. POPULAR RHYMES. PREFACE. The purpose of this work is to supply a presumed desidera- tum in popular antiquities. The various collections of Percy, Evans, Scott, and others, have now probably given to the world nearly all that is worth preserving of the songs and ballads of our island ; and this section of British traditionary poetry has been received amongst the cultivated intellects of the country with a degree of favour which could not have been dreamt of in the days of Milton and Dryden. Careless unaffected graces, simple pathos and humour, the total absence of all those marks of the chisel of the literary workman, and of all those strainings after effect, which mar the merits of so much elegant literature, have secured for these wildings of the national intellect an affectionate admiration and regard, of which many modern writers of native and acquired skill might well be envious. Reared amidst friends to whom popular poetry furnished a daUy enjojTnent, and led by a tendency of my own mind to delight in whatever is quaint, whimsical, and old, I formed the wish, at an early period of life, to complete, as I considered it, the collection of the traditionary verse of Scotland, by gather- ing together and publisliing all that remained of a multitude of rhymes and short snatches of verse applicable to places, families, natural objects, amusements, &c. wherewith, not less than by song and ballad, the cottage fireside was amused in days gone past, while yet printed books were only familiar to comparatively few. This task was executed as well as circum- stances would pennit, and a portion of the ' Popular Rhymes of Scotland' was published in 1826. Other objects have since occupied me, generally of a graver kind ; yet, amidst them all, I have never lost my wish to complete the publication of these relics of the old natural literature of my native country. When now about to perfect this wish, I cannot help feeling anxious that the articles collected may be viewed in a proper light. It is to be observed, first of all, tliat they are, in most — instances, the production of rustic wits, in some the whimsies of mere children, and originally were designed for no higher purpose than to convey the wisdom or the humours of the cottage, to soothe the murmurs of the cradle, or enliven the sports of the village green. The reader is therefore not to expect here anything profound, or sublime, or elegant, or affecting. But if he can so far upon occasion undo his mature man, as to enter again into the almost meaningless frolics of children if to him the absence of high--\\TOught literary grace is com- pensated by a simplicity coming direct from nature—if to him there be a poetry in the very consideration that such a thing, though a trifle, was perhaps the same trifle to many human beings like himself himdreds of years ago, and has, times with- out number, been trolled or chanted by hearts light as his own, long since resolved into dust—then it is possible that he may find something in this volume which he will consider worthy of his attention. In one respect only can the volume have the least claim upon a less gentle class of readers. In some instances a remarkable resemblance is made out between rhymes prevalent over Scot- land and others which exist in England and Gemiany; thus adding a curious illustration with regard to the common origin of these nations, as well as sho-n-ing at how early a period the ideas of these rhjTnes had originated. In some instances more direct proofs are adduced of the great antiquity of even the simplest and most puerUe of these popular verses. I greatly regret that it has not been in my power to investigate the subject of kindred foreign rhjTues further ; but it may be hoped that the present volume, showing what are those which exist, or have recently existed, in Scotland, will enable inquii*ers in France, Holland, Germany, and other countries containing a Teutonic population, to make out such tallies as may exist in those countries, and thus complete the investigation in a satisfactory manner. Edinburgh, November 24, 1841. CONTENTS. RHY3IES ON PLACES, ..... 7 CHARACTERISTICS OF PLACES AND THEIR INHABITANTS, . 64 POPULAR REPROACHES, .... 70 RHYMES UPON FAMILIES OF DISTINCTION, . 81 FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS, .... 93 RHYMES CONNECTED WITH SUPERSTITIONS, . .105 SLOGANS, . 130 RHYMES RESPECTING WEATHER, . .138 RHYMES UPON NATURAL OBJECTS, . 155 RHYMES OF THE NURSERY, . ,174 FIRESIDE NURSERY STORIES, .... 202 RHYMES APPROPRIATE TO CHILDREN'S AMUSEMENTS, . 253 3IISCELLANEOUS PUERILE RHYMES, . 279 RHYMES CONNECTED WITH NEW-YEAR OBSERVANCES, . 292 MISCELLANEOUS RHYJIES, . 311 POPULAR EHYMES OF SCOTLAND. RHYMES ON PLACES. Natural objects of a conspicuous kind, as mountains and rivers, attract the attention of the rudest people, and probably are the lirst which receive names in the infancy of a newly-settled country. There is a disposition in Scotland, and probably in other countries, to work up the names of such objects in verse, sometimes with associated circum- stances, but often with little besides a bare enumeration or list. Thus arises a large class of what may be called Topo- graphical Rhymes. In some instances the ideas introduced are of a striking- and poetical nature ; and it is worthy of remark, that, even where the names alone are given in the versified list, there is usually a euphony in the structure of the verse, which makes it tell on the simple ear like a strain of one of our pastoral melodies. In other instances, these rhymes are curious on account of the grotesque words which they introduce to notice. It would almost appear as if the composers of such verses had addressed themselves on some occasions to select a set of the most whimsical names of places and men in their vicinity, for the amuse- ment of strangers. Another section of our topographical rhymes contain allusions to events of a public or private nature, or pre- dictions of events expected yet to come. Others relate to things for which the places were remarkable. ' ! — —— — POPULAR RHYMES OF SCOTLAND. BERWICKSHIRE. TWEED AXD TILL, The Tweed is, in g-eneral, a broad, shallow, clear, and rapid river, not ill-provided with fords. Its English tribu- tary, the Till, is, on the contrary, narrow, deep, and slow, with few or no fords. The comparatively greater danger of the Till to those attempting to cross it is expressed in the following lines, which, when I first heard them pronounced by the deep voice of Sir Walter Scott, seemed to me to possess a solemnity approaching to poetry : Tweed said to Till, * What gars ye rin sae still ?' Till said to Tweed, ' Though ye rin wi' speed, And I rin slaw. Yet where ye droun ae man, I droun twa ! EYEMOUTH FORT, &C. Near the sea-side village of Eyemouth, in Berwickshire, is a promontory marked with a succession of grassy mounds, the remains of a fort built there in the regency of Mary of Lorraine. In the following rhyme, a number of places are represented (by poetical license) as visible from the fort : I stood upon Eyemouth fort, And guess ye what I saw ? Fairnieside and Flemington, Newhouses and Cocklaw ; The fairy fouk o' Fosterland, The witches o' Edincraw, The rye-riggs o' Reston But Dunse dings a' There is a variation on the two last lines The bogle-bo o' Billy Myre, Wha kills our bairns a'. Fairnieside, Flemington, and Cocklaw, are farm-places in Ayton parish ; Fosterland is a similar place in that of Bunkle, once remarkable for the visits of fairies. Edin- craw, properly Auchencraw, a small decayed village in the ; — RHYMES ON PLACES. 9 parish of Coldingham, was equally noted in the seventeenth century for another class of supernaturalities. In Edincraw, Where the witches bide a', was a common saying of obloquy respecting it. ' It has been supposed that the greater number of the seven or eight unfortunate women whom Home of Renton, sheriff of Ber- wickshire, some time previous to the Revolution, caused to be burnt for witchcraft at Coldingham, belonged to this village. In the session records of Chirnside, it is found that, in May 1700, Thomas Cook, servant in Blackburn, was indicted for scoring a woman in Auchencraw above the breath [that is, drawing a gash across her brow], in order to the cure of a disease that he laboured under.' The Billy Myre, a morass between Auchencraw and Chirnside, was long infested by a ghost, the bogle-bo of the rhyme, and which bore the cognomen of Jock o' the Mp^e.* ST abb's church, &c. St Abb, St Helen, and St Bey, They a' built kirks which to be nearest the sea St Abb's, upon the nabs ; St Helen's, on the lea St Ann's, upon Dunbar sands, Stands nearest to the sea. St Abb, St Helen, and St Ann were, according to the country tradition, three princesses, the daughters and heiresses of a king of Northumberland. Being very pious, and taking a disgust at the world, they resolved to employ their dowries in the erection of churches, and the rest of their lives in devotion. They all tried which should find a situation for their buildings nearest to the sea, and St Ann succeeded—her church being built upon a level space close to the water-mark, while St Abb placed her structure upon the points, or nabs, of a high rock overhanging the German Ocean ; and St Helen pitched hers upon a plain near, but not exactly bordering upon the shore.

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