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VII.
SIR PATRICK SPENCE,

Table of Contents

A Scottish Ballad,

Is given from two MS. copies transmitted from Scotland. In what age the hero of this ballad lived, or when this fatal expedition happened that proved so destructive to the Scots nobles, I have not been able to discover; yet am of opinion, that their catastrophe is not altogether without foundation in history, though it has escaped my own researches. In the infancy of navigation, such as used the northern seas were very liable to shipwreck in the wintry months: hence a law was enacted in the reign of James III. (a law which was frequently repeated afterwards), "That there be na schip frauched out of the realm with any staple gudes, fra the feast of Simons day and Jude, unto the feast of the purification of our Lady called Candelmess." Jam. III. Parlt. 2, ch. 15.

In some modern copies, instead of Patrick Spence hath been substituted the name of Sir Andrew Wood, a famous Scottish admiral who flourished in the time of our Edward IV., but whose story has nothing in common with this of the ballad. As Wood was the most noted warrior of Scotland, it is probable that, like the Theban Hercules, he hath engrossed the renown of other heroes.

[The fact that this glorious ballad was never heard of before Percy printed it in 1765, caused some to throw doubts upon its authenticity, and their scepticism was strengthened by the note at p. 102, which refers to the author of Hardyknute. It was thought that the likeness in expression and sentiment there mentioned might easily be explained if the two poems were both by Lady Wardlaw. This view, advocated by Robert Chambers in his general attack on the authenticity of all The Romantic Scottish Ballads (1859), has not met with much favour, and Professor Child thinks that the arguments against the genuineness of Sir Patrick Spence are so trivial as hardly to admit of statement. He writes, "If not ancient it has been always accepted as such by the most skilful judges, and is a solitary instance of a successful imitation in manner and spirit of the best specimens of authentic minstrelsy."469 Coleridge, no mean judge of a ballad, wrote—

"The bard be sure was weather-wise who framed

The grand old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens."

Antiquaries have objected that Spence is not an early Scottish name, but in this they are wrong, for Professor Aytoun found it in a charter of Robert III. and also in Wyntoun's Chronicle.

There has been considerable discussion as to the historical event referred to in the ballad, and the present version does not contain any mention of one of the points that may help towards a settlement of the question. The version in Scott's Minstrelsy contains the following stanza:—

"To Noroway, to Noroway

To Noroway o'er the faem

The king's daughter of Noroway

'Tis thou maun bring her hame."

Professor Aytoun would change the third line to

"The king's daughter to Noroway,"

as he agrees with Motherwell in the view that the ballad refers to the fate of the Scottish nobles who in 1281 conveyed Margaret, daughter of Alexander III., to Norway, on the occasion of her nuptials with King Eric.

Fordun relates this incident as follows:—"In the year 1281 Margaret, daughter of Alexander III., was married to the King of Norway, who, leaving Scotland in the last day of July, was conveyed thither in noble style in company with many knights and nobles. In returning home after the celebration of her nuptials, the Abbot of Balmerinoch, Bernard of Monte-alto, and many other persons, were drowned." As to the scene of the disaster, Aytoun brings forward an interesting illustration of the expression "half over to Aberdour," in line 41. He says that in the little island of Papa Stronsay one of the Orcadian group lying over against Norway, there is a large grave or tumulus which has been known to the inhabitants from time immemorial as "the grave of Sir Patrick Spens," and he adds, that as the Scottish ballads were not early current in Orkney, it is unlikely that the poem originated the name.

The other suggestions as to an historical basis for the ballad are not borne out by history. It is well, however, to note in illustration of line 1, that the Scottish kings chiefly resided in their palace of Dunfermline from the time of Malcolm Canmore to that of Alexander III.

The present copy of the ballad is the shortest of the various versions, but this is not a disadvantage, as it gains much in force by the directness of its language.

Buchan prints a ballad called Young Allan, which is somewhat like Sir Patrick Spence.]

The king sits in Dumferling toune,

Drinking the blude-reid wine:

O quhar will I get guid sailòr,

To sail this schip of mine?

Up and spak an eldern knicht,5

Sat at the kings richt kne:

Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailòr,

That sails upon the se.

The king has written a braid letter,470 And signd it wi' his hand;10 And sent it to Sir Patrick Spence, Was walking on the sand.

The first line that Sir Patrick red,

A loud lauch lauched he:

The next line that Sir Patrick red,15

The teir blinded his ee.

O quha is this has don this deid,

This ill deid don to me;

To send me out this time o'the yeir,

To sail upon the se?20

Mak hast, mak haste, my mirry men all,

Our guid schip sails the morne.471 O say na sae, my master deir, For I feir a deadlie storme.

Late late yestreen I saw the new moone25

Wi' the auld moone in hir arme;

And I feir, I feir, my deir mastèr,

That we will com to harme.

O our Scots nobles wer richt laith472 To weet their cork-heild schoone;47330 Bot lang owre474 a' the play wer playd, Thair hats they swam aboone.475

O lang, lang, may thair ladies sit

Wi' thair fans into their hand,

Or eir they se Sir Patrick Spence35

Cum sailing to the land.

O lang, lang, may the ladies stand

Wi' thair gold kems476 in their hair, Waiting for thair ain deir lords, For they'll se thame na mair.40

Have owre,477 have owre to Aberdour,478 It's fiftie fadom deip: And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spence, Wi' the Scots lords at his feit.479

FOOTNOTES:

469. [English and Scottish Ballads, vol. iii. p. 149.]

470. A braid letter, i.e. open, or patent; in opposition to close rolls.

471. [to-morrow morning.]

472. [loth.]

473. [to wet their cork-heeled shoes.]

474. [long ere.]

475. [above the water.]

476. [combs.]

477. [half over.]

478. A village lying upon the river Forth, the entrance to which is sometimes denominated De mortuo mari.

[Finlay observes that Percy's note is incorrect. The truth is that De Mortuo Mari is the designation of a family (Mortimer) who were lords of Aberdour. They are believed to have received their name from the Dead Sea, in Palestine, during the times of the Crusades.]

479. An ingenious friend thinks the author of Hardyknute has borrowed several expressions and sentiments from the foregoing and other old Scottish songs in this collection.