+The Story+ of the ballad as here told is nevertheless quite simple and straightforward. It is spoken in the first person by the daughter of the Earl of Mar. (She also says she is sister to the Duke of York, 7.4, a person often introduced into ballads.) Blacklaywood, the lady complains, has spoken calumniously of her to her lord, and she leaves him, saying farewell to her children, and taking her youngest son with her.
The ballad is historical in so far as that Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of the Earl of Mar, was married in 1670 to James, second Marquis of Douglas, and was formally separated from him in 1681. Further, tradition puts the blame of the separation on William Lawrie, factor to the Marquis, often styled the laird of Blackwood ('Blacklaywood,' 2.3), from his wife's family estate.
The non-historical points in the ballad are minor ones. The couple had only one child; and the lady's father could not have come to fetch her away (9.2), as the Earl of Mar died in 1668, before his daughter's wedding.
I have printed the song _Waly, waly_ not because it can be considered a ballad, but simply because it is so closely interwoven with _Jamie Douglas_. Stanza 6 is reminiscent of the beautiful English quatrain beginning:
See Chappell's _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, i. 57.
1. Waly, waly up the bank, And waly, waly down the brae! And waly, waly to yon burn-side, Where me and my love wunt to gae!
2. As I lay sick, and very sick, And sick was I, and like to die, And Blacklaywood put in my love's ears That he staid in bower too lang wi' me.
3. As I lay sick, and very sick, And sick was I, and like to die, And walking into my garden green, I heard my good lord lichtlie me.
4. Now woe betide ye, Blacklaywood! I'm sure an ill death you must die; Ye'll part me and my ain good lord, And his face again I'll never see.
5. 'Come down stairs now, Jamie Douglas, Come down stairs and drink wine wi' me; I'll set thee into a chair of gold, And not one farthing shall it cost thee.'
6. 'When cockle-shells turn silver bells, And muscles grow on every tree, When frost and snow turn fiery baas, I'll come down the stair and drink wine wi' thee.'
7. 'What's needs me value you, Jamie Douglas, More than you do value me? The Earl of Mar is my father, The Duke of York is my brother gay.