Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847

We wonder whether "Robin Hood, that archer good," is as great a favourite in the nursery now as he was in our younger days? We are afraid not. Our Robin was a mysterious sort of personage, something between an outlaw and an earl,—a kind of Judge Lynch, who distributed arbitrary justice beneath the shade of an enormous oak-tree, and who was perpetually confiscating the moveables of abbots for the exclusive benefit of the poor. Maid Marian we could never distinctly realise. Sometimes she appeared to us as a soft flaxen-haired beauty, not unlike a lay-figure, once the property of Mr Giannetti, which we loved in our youth, and to whose memory we still are constant. Green as emerald was the garb she wore, and the sun loved to shine upon her as she glided from the shadow of the trysting-tree. But then this fairy personage did not tally well with the other figures of the group. We could not conceive her associating familiarly with the gaunt but good-natured Scathelock, and Mutch the miller's son. Summer, too, must pass away from Sherwood as it does from every sublunary scene. The leaves fall—the birds are mute—the grass has withered down—and there is snow lying two feet deep in the forest,—and then, wo is me for poor Marian, shivering in her slight silken kirtle in the midst of a faded bower! So that we were sometimes compelled per-force to change our fancy, metamorphose Marian into a formidable Girzy, and provide her with a suit of linsey-woolsey against the weather, and a pair of pattens big enough to have frightened all the fallow-deer of the forest with their clatter.

Ivanhoe, however, has played the deuce with our ideal creations, and Robin Hood is now fixed to us for ever in the guise of the yeoman Locksley. We do not like him half so well as we did before. He has, in some degree, compromised his character as an outlaw, by entering into an arrangement with him of the Lion-heart, and he now shoots deer under cover of the kingly license. The old warfare between Little John and the Sheriff of Nottingham is over, and the amicable diacylon conceals the last vestige of their feud. Allan-a-Dale has become a gentleman, and Friar Tuck laid down the quarter-staff, if he has not taken up the breviary.

But if any one wants to know bold Robin as he really was, let him straightway possess himself of those two delightful volumes for which we are indebted to Mr Gutch. We have here not only the consecutive series of ballads known as "The Lytell Geste of Robin Hode," but every ballad, tale, and song, relating to the famous outlaw; and the whole are beautifully illustrated. Mr Gutch thoroughly understands the duty of an editor, and has applied himself heart and soul to the task: in consequence, he has given us by far the best collection of English ballads which for years has issued from the press.

We have said that the English ballads, as a whole, are decidedly inferior to the Scottish. They are neither, in their individual kinds, so stirring, so earnest, so plaintive, nor so imaginative, and Chevy Chase is a tame concern when weighed against the Battle of Otterbourne. But many of them are of great merit, and amongst the very best are those which relate to Robin Hood, and the three stout bowmen of the North, Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudeslee. Robin has a fair right to be considered the yeoman hero of England, and the representative of what must have been a tolerably large class of persons throughout the wars of the Roses. In his history, we can trace a kind of tacit protest against absolute despotism and feudal oppression. He is the daring freeman of the soil, who will not live under arbitrary law, and who, in consequence, ends by setting all laws whatever at defiance. He is not a thief, but a free-booter, and is entitled to receive from posterity whatever credit may be attachable to such a character. His is, in many respects, a parallel case to that of Rob Roy Macgregor, though there is far more of deep tragedy as well as of patriotism, interwoven with the history of the Highland outlaw. Robin asserts no tangible principles beyond active opposition to the church, and determined hostility to the game-laws. For the first of these tenets Baines would have fallen down and worshipped him: for the second, John Bright would have clothed his whole company gratuitously in drab. He is fond of fighting, and ready to take up the cudgels with any chance customer; but, somehow or other, he has invariably the worst of the encounter. Tinker, beggar-man, tanner, shepherd, and curtail friar, in succession, bring him to his knees, and his life would have been many times a forfeit, but for the timely assistance of his horn, which brought Little John and the rest to the rescue. Guy of Gisborne was, we believe, the only champion whom he slew unaided, and even in that meeting he was placed in sore jeopardy.

"Robin was reachless on a root,And stumbled at that tide,And Guy was quick and nimble withall,And hit him upon the side.Oh dear Ladye! said Robin Hood,That art both mother and may,I think it was never man's destinyTo dye before his day.Robin thought on our Ladye dear,And soon leapt up againe,And straight he came with a backward strokeAnd he Sir Guy hath slaine."

But there is a fine jovial rollocking spirit about the outlawed hero of Sherwood, which endears Robin to the popular heart of England: and we firmly believe that Shakspeare, when he went out poaching of a moonlight night, was more actuated by poetical precept and impulse than by any sensual covetise for the venison of old Sir Thomas Lucy.

Many ingenious persons—nay many excellent poets, have in modern times attempted to imitate the ancient Scottish ballad, but in no single case has there been a perfect fac-simile produced. The reason of the failure is obvious. An ingenious person, who is not a poet, could not for the dear life of him construct a ditty which, in order to resemble its original, must embody a strain of music, and a burst of heroic or of plaintive passion. It is not, however, by any means so difficult to imitate the diction: of which we have a notable example in the ballad of "Childe Ether," which is included in several of the collections. "Childe Alcohol," perhaps, would have been the better name, if all the circumstances which we have heard relating to its composition be true; nevertheless it is undeniable that our facetious friends who are chargeable with this literary sin, have succeeded in producing a very passable imitation, and that their phraseology at least is faultless. A poet, again, neither can nor ought to imitate, and when he is writing in earnest the attempt is absolutely hopeless. For every poet has his own style, and his own unmistakeable manner of thought and of expression, which he cannot cast off at will. If he imitates, he ceases for the time to be a poet, degenerates into a rhymster, and his flowers upon close inspection will be found to have been fabricated from muslin.

Very blind indeed must be the man who could mistake "Sir James the Rose" for an ancient Scottish ballad. Michael Bruce, the author, was more than an ingenious person: he was also a poet, and had he lived a little longer, and at a period when simplicity in composition was rated at its true value, he would in all probability have executed something better. But he wanted power, and that pathos which is indispensable for the composition of a perfect ballad. Even Scott, when he attempted too close an imitation, failed. The glorious fragment which we have already quoted, "The Eve of Saint John," "Lochinvar," and others, are not to be considered in the light of imitations, but as pure outbursts of his own high chivalrous and romantic imagination. But the third part of "Thomas the Rhymer" is an adaptation to, or continuation of the ancient fragment, with which, however, in no respect can it possibly compare. Indeed the old ballad stands almost isolated in poetry, for its wild imaginative strain.

"She's mounted on her milk-white steed,She's ta'en true Thomas up behind;And aye, whene'er her bridle rung,The steed flew swifter than the wind.O they rade on, and further on;The steed gaed swifter than the wind,Until they reached a desart wide,And every land was left behind."Light down, light down, now, true Thomas,And lean your head upon my knee,Abide and rest a little space,And I will show you ferlies three."O see ye not yon narrow road,So thick beset with thorns and briers?That is the path of righteousnessTho' after it but few inquires."And see ye not that braid, braid road,That lies across the lily leven?That is the path of wickedness,Tho' some call it the road to heaven."And see ye not that bonny roadThat winds about the fernie brae?That is the road to fair Elf land,Where thou and I this night maun gae."But, Thomas, ye maun hold your tongue,Whatever ye may hear or see;For if ye speak word in Elfin landYe'll ne'er get back to your ain countrie."O they rade on and farther on,And they waded through rivers aboon the knee,And they saw neither the sun nor moon,But they heard the roaring of the sea.It was mirk mirk night, and there was nae stern-light,And they waded through red blude to the knee,For a' the blude that's shed on earthRins through the springs o' that countrie."

The late ingenious Mr Cromek was not, so far as we know, physically blind, but most assuredly there hung a heavy cloud over his mental light, since he could not discern the burning stamp of original genius in the fragments which were communicated to him by Allan Cunningham, and which he published under the title of "Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song." Poor Allan Cunningham has passed away from amongst us, not unknown indeed, nor unhonoured, but without having received that full meed of praise and fame which was justly his due. For Allan, though a most industrious man, was far too careless of his poetic reputation, and never could be prevailed on to collect together those scattered snatches of song, which he had sown with too liberal a hand in detached and distant places. But the service which he would not render to himself, has been performed by filial piety; and we now congratulate the public on their possessing, in a cheap and elegant form, the works of the most tender and pathetic of the Scottish Minstrels who have arisen since the death of Burns. If this little book does not become a favourite, and if it does not speedily make its way, not only into every library, but into every farm-steading of Scotland—if the poems of Allan Cunningham do not become as familiar to the lips, and as dear to the hearts, of our shepherds and our peasantry, as those of his great predecessor—then we shall be constrained to believe that the age is indeed an iron one, that the heart of our beloved country has at last grown cold, and its impulses less fervid than of yore. It is now nearly thirty years ago—a long, long time to us—since Cromek's collection of Remains was noticed in this Magazine. Cunningham was then in the flush and zenith of his genius, with years, as we had fondly hoped, of fame before him, and all the early difficulties which beset the path of a youthful poet overcome. He was then urged to a diligent cultivation of the glorious talent he possessed, and to a further development of the seeds of poetry which lay within his own bosom, and in the spirit of his native land. And surely had Allan acted thus, and confined himself to the range of literature within which he had few equals and no superior, he would ere now have gained a lofty and imperishable name. But a mistaken ambition diverted him to other tasks. He left the field of song to wander through the forest of romance, and we fear that he lost himself amidst its mazes.

It is upon the present collection of his poems and songs that Cunningham's fame must rest; and small as is the bulk of the volume, we yet do not hesitate to say that it would be difficult to point out another containing more lyrics of exquisite beauty, with fewer palpable blemishes. Cunningham's poetical style is both rare and remarkable. With a singular simplicity of diction, he combines imagery of the highest kind, and a pathos which at once finds its way to the heart of every reader. To many of our friends the following ballad may be familiar; but as a new generation who know less of Allan has arisen since the days of Cromek, we may be excused for transferring once more to our pages a gem of such purity and lustre.

"She's gane to dwall in heaven, my lassie,She's gane to dwall in heaven;'Ye're owre pure,' quo' the voice o' God,'For dwalling out o' heaven!'O what'll she do in heaven, my lassie?O what'll she do in heaven?She'll mix her ain thoughts wi' angel's sangs,An' make them mair meet for heaven.She was beloved by a', my lassie,She was beloved by a';But an angel fell in love wi' her,An' took her frae us a'.Lowly there thou lies, my lassie,Lowly there thou lies;A bonnier form ne'er went to the yirdNor frae it will arise!Fu' soon I'll follow thee, my lassie,Fu' soon I'll follow thee;Thou left me nought to covet ahin',But took gudeness sel' wi' thee.I look'd in thy death-cold face, my lassie,I look'd in thy death-cold face;Thou seem'd a lily new cut i' the bud,An' fading in its place.I look'd on thy death-shut eye, my lassie,I look'd on thy death-shut eye;And a lovelier light, in the brow of heaven,Fell Time shall ne'er destroy.Thy lips were ruddy and calm, my lassie,Thy lips were ruddy and calm;But gane was the holy breath o' heavenThat sang the evening psalm.There's naught but dust now mine, lassie,There's naught but dust now mine;My soul's wi' thee i' the cauld grave,An' why should I stay behin'!"

We really must find fault with Mr Peter Cunningham for calling this, and others of his father's choicest productions, "imitations of the old ballad." They are no more imitations than the finest poems of Burns, or Hogg, or Motherwell. They are, it is true, written in the Scots dialect, and they share, along with the old traditional strains, the charm of a sweet simplicity; but every one of them came direct from the heart of our beloved Allan, and are, in their way, as truly original compositions as any burst that ever yet was uttered by inspired poet under the canopy of heaven. Poor old Cromek, who knew as little about the Scottish ballads as Mr Sheldon, believed them to be ancient, and, we dare say, died in that belief. But every man here, who knew or cared about the matter, saw at once that such poems as "The Lord's Marie," or "Bonnie Lady Anne," were neither ancient nor imitated; and accordingly, by the common consent of his brethren, Allan Cunningham was at once enrolled on the list of the sweet singers of Scotland—and long and distant be the day when his name shall be forgotten on the flowery braes of Nithsdale, or the pleasant holms of Dalswinton, which in life he loved so well.

The last work which we have to notice is the collected edition of Motherwell's Poems, which has just issued from the Glasgow Press, under the auspices of Mr James M'Conechy. William Motherwell must always stand very high in the list of the minor Scottish poets, and one lyric of his, "Jeanie Morrison," is as pathetic as any in the language. But of him so much has already been said in former numbers of Maga, that we may dispense with present criticism: and we shall merely draw the attention of the lovers of the supernatural to a more terrific temptation of Saint Anthony than ever was painted by Teniers. Motherwell was a noted ghost-seer, and few could beat him in the magic circle. Witness "Elfinland Wud," which is enough to frighten, not a nursery of children, but a score of bearded callants out of their wits, if they heard it chanted, on an eerie night, in the dim forests of Glenmore.

THE DEMON LADY

"Again in my chamber!Again at my bed!With thy smile sweet as sunshine,And hand cold as lead!I know thee! I know thee!Nay, start not, my sweet!These golden robes shrunk upAnd showed me thy feet;These golden robes shrunk up,And taffety thin,While out crept the emblemsOf Death and of Sin.Bright beautiful devil!Pass, pass from me now;For the damp dew of deathGathers thick on my brow;And bind up thy girdle,Nor beauties disclose,More dazzlingly whiteThan the wreath-drifted snows:And away with thy kisses;My heart waxes sick,As thy red lips, like worms,Travel over my cheek!Ha! press me no more withThat passionless hand,'Tis whiter than milk, orThe foam on the strand;'Tis softer than down, orThe silken-leafed flower;But colder than ice thrillsIts touch at this hour.Like the finger of death,From cerements unroll'd,Thy hand on my heart fallsDull, clammy, and cold.Nor bend o'er my pillow—Thy raven-black hairO'ershadows my brow withA deeper despair;These ringlets, thick falling,Spread fear through my brain,And my temples are throbbingWith madness again.The moonlight! the moonlight!The deep-winding bay!There are two on that strand,And a ship far away!In its silence and beauty,Its passion and power,Love breathed o'er the landLike the soul of a flower.The billows were chimingOn pale yellow sands,And moonshine was gleamingOn small ivory hands.There were bow'rs by the brook's brink,And flowers bursting free;There were hot lips to suck forthA lost soul from me.Now mountain and meadow,Frith, forest, and river,Are mingling with shadows—Are lost to me ever.The sunlight is fading,Small birds seek their nest;While happy hearts, flower-like,Sink sinless to rest.But I!-'tis no matter;Ay, kiss cheek and chin;Kiss—kiss—thou hast won me,Bright, beautiful Sin!"

And now we shall lay down our pen, and bid farewell for a season both to poet and to poetaster. If any of our young friends who are now setting up as ballad-writers upon their own account, have a spark of genius within them—and we do think that, with proper training, something might be made of the lads—let them study the distinctions which we have drawn above, and cultivate energy and simplicity as the cardinal virtues of composition. Also let them study, but not copy, the ancient ballad-book: for it is a domain which we have long preserved from poachers, and if we catch any of them appropriating, remodelling, or transferring from it, we shall beg an afternoon's loan of the crutch, and lay the delinquent as low as Sheldon. It may be that some do not know what is in that ballad-book: if so—let them read the Death of the Douglas at Otterbourne, and then, if they dare, indulge us with the catastrophe of Harry Hotspur.

"And then he called his little foot-page,And said, 'Run speedilie,And fetch my ae dear sister's son,Sir Hugh Montgomerie.''My nephew gude,' the Douglas said,'What recks the death o' ane!Last nicht I dreimed a drearie dreim,And I ken the day's thy ain.'My wound is deep, I fain wad sleep;Tak thou the vanguard o' the three,And bury me by the braken-bushThat grows on yonder lily-lee.O bury me by the braken-bushBeneath the bluming brier;Let never living mortal kenThat a kindly Scot lies here!'He lifted up that noble lord,Wi' the saut tear in his e'e;He laid him in the braken-bush,That his merrie-men might not see.The moon was clear, the day drew near,The spears in flinders flew;And mony a gallant EnglishmanEre day the Scotsmen slew.The Gordons gude in English bludeThey steep'd their hose and shoon;The Lindsays flew like fire aboutTill a' the fray was dune.The Percy and Montgomery met,That either of other were fain;They swappet swords, and they twa swat,Till the blude ran down like rain.'Now yield thee, yield thee, Percy,' he said,'Or else I shall lay thee low.''To whom shall I yield?' Earl Percy said,'Sin' I see it maun be so.'Thou shalt not yield to lord nor loun,Nor yet shalt thou yield to me;But yield thee to the braken-bushThat grows on yon lily-lee.'This deed was dune at the OtterbourneAbout the breaking o' the day.Earl Douglas was buriet at the braken-bush,And Percy led captive away."

So died in his harness the doughty Earl of Douglas, and never was the fall of a warrior more greatly commemorated by minstrel, be his age, his land, his birth, or his language what they may!

EPITAPH OF CONSTANTINE KANARIS

FROM THE GERMAN OF WILHELM MÜLLER

I am Constantine Kanaris:I, who lie beneath this stone,Twice into the air in thunderHave the Turkish galleys blown.In my bed I died, a Christian,Hoping straight with Christ to be;Yet one earthly wish is buriedDeep within the grave with me.That upon the open oceanWhen the third Armada came,They and I had died together.Whirled aloft on wings of flame.Yet 'tis something that they've laid meIn a land without a stain:Keep it thus, my God and Saviour,Till I rise from earth again!W. E. A.

SCOTTISH MELODIES. BY DELTA

THE MAID OF ULVA

The hyacinth bathed in the beauty of spring,The raven when autumn hath darken'd his wing,Were bluest and blackest, if either could vieWith the night of thy hair, or the morn of thine eye,—Fair maid of the mountain, whose home, far away,Looks down on the islands of Ulva's blue bay;May nought from its Eden thy footsteps allure,To grieve what is happy, or dim what is pure!Between us a foam-sheet impassable flows—The wrath and the hatred of clans who are foes;But love, like the oak, while the tempest it braves,The firmer will root it, the fiercer it raves.Not seldom thine eye from the watch-tower shall hail,In the red of the sunrise the gleam of my sail,And lone is the valley, and thick is the grove,And green is the bower, that is sacred to love!The snows shall turn black on high Cruachan Ben,And the heath cease to purple fair Sonachan glen,And the breakers to foam, as they dash on Tiree,When the heart in this bosom beats faithless to thee!

LAMENT FOR MACRIMMON

Mist wreathes stern Coolin like a cloud,The water-wraith is shrieking loud,And blue eyes gush with tears that burn,For thee—who shall no more return!Macrimmon shall no more return,Oh never, never more return!Earth, wrapt in doomsday flames, shall burn,Before Macrimmon home return!The wild winds wail themselves asleep,The rills drop tear-like down the steep,In forest glooms the songsters mourn,For thee—who shall no more return!Macrimmon shall no more return, &c.Even hoar old Ocean joins our wail,Nor moves the boat, though bent with sail;Fierce shrieking gales the breakers churn,For thee—who shall no more return!Macrimmon shall no more return, &c.No more, at eve, thy harp in hallShall from the tower faint echoes call;There songless circles vainly mournFor thee—who shall no more return!Macrimmon shall no more return, &c.Thou shalt return not from afarWith wreaths of peace, or spoils of war;Each breast is but affection's urnFor thee—who shall no more return!Macrimmon shall no more return,Oh never, never more return!Earth, wrapt in doomsday flames, shall burn,Before Macrimmon home return!

THE SCOTCH MARRIAGE BILL

We trust we have no blind or bigoted admiration of our native institutions, and we willingly allow that the marriage law of Scotland is not incapable of amendment. Any measure, therefore, professing to have that object, would receive our attentive consideration; but we should expect it to be framed with a care and caution corresponding to the grave importance of the social relations which are to be affected, and in a spirit congenial to the deep moral and religious convictions which have always been cherished among our countrymen, and which, on this subject above all others, it is important to preserve unimpaired.

The Bill recently introduced into Parliament "to amend the law of Scotland affecting the constitution of marriage," appears to us not to possess the recommendations which we think essential to such an attempt. We consider it, though well intended, to proceed on a partial and imperfect view of the subject, and to threaten us with the introduction of greater evils than those which it professes to remedy. We regard it as calculated to destroy or deaden the sacred character of the conjugal union, and to diminish the solemnity of its obligations; to give new and dangerous encouragements to precipitate and improper connections; and, more especially as regards young persons, to create formidable temptations to imprudence or immorality, and fatal facilities to the designs of adventurers who may seek by marriage to obtain wealth or advancement.

As the Bill is short, we shall insert it as the text of our observations:

"A BILL to amend the Law of Scotland affecting the Constitution of Marriage.

"Whereas it is expedient that the law of marriage in Scotland should be amended as far as the same affects the constitution of marriage in that country; be it enacted, by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the last day of March, One thousand eight hundred and Forty-eight, excepting as hereinafter excepted and provided, no marriage to be contracted in Scotland shall be valid or effectual unless it shall be registered by the parties contracting the same, in terms of an act passed in the present session of Parliament, intituled, "An Act for registering births, deaths and marriages in Scotland," by the said parties appearing in presence of the registrar, and then and there signing before witnesses the entry of their marriage in the register, and having the same otherwise registered in the manner provided by the said act, in the case of the registration of marriages by the parties themselves contracting marriage; upon which registration only the marriage shall be held to be contracted or valid or effectual to any effect or purpose whatever; and it is hereby declared that such registration shall of itself constitute marriage, and such parties shall thereafter be held and deemed to be married parties to all effects and purposes whatever.