September, 1808.
Set to Music by Mr. John Ross, Organist, Aberdeen.
THRO Cruikston Castle's lanely wa's
The wintry wind howls wild and dreary ;
Tho mirk the cheerless e'ening fa's,
Yet I ha'e vow'd to meet my Mary :
Ah ! Mary, tho the wind should rave
Wi jealous spite to keep me frae thee,
The darkest stormy night I'd brave,
For ae sweet secret moment wi thee
Loud, o'er Cardonald's rocky steep,
Rude Cartha [1] pours in boundless measure ;
But I will ford the whirling deep,
That roars between me an my treasure :
Yes, Mary, tho the torrent rave
Wi jealous spite to keep me frae thee,
Its deepest floods I'll bauldly brave,
For ae sweet secret moment wi thee.
The watch-dog's howling loads the blast,
And makes the nightly wand'rer eerie,
But when the lanesome way is past,
I'll to this bosom clasp my Mary.
Yes, Mary, tho stern Winter rave
Wi a his storms to keep me frae thee,
The wildest dreary night I'll brave,
For ae sweet secret moment wi thee.
This song first appeared in the September number of the Scots Magazine for 1808, and it was set to music by Mr. John Ross of Aberdeen. Ramsay, however, says it was “arranged by Smith.” We have given a fac-simile of the song in the handwriting of the Author in the frontispiece, containing Mr. Ross's name as the composer of the music—Ed.
Note by Ramsay.—“So early as the 12th century, the baronies of Crookston, Darnley, and Neilston, belonged to a family of the name of Croc, from whom it passed by marriage in the following century to a younger brother of the house of Stewart, ancestor of Lord Darnley, husband of Queen Mary. At Crookston Castle, according to a questionable tradition, that princess occasionally resided; and near it she awaited the issue of the Battle of Langside, which was fought in the neighbourhood, and ended in the defeat of her adherents, and in her flight to England. This ancient edifice now belongs to Sir John Maxwell, who takes great care to prevent the further dilapidation of ‘the ruins grey.’ ‘Hard by the Castle’ (said Crawfurd, the historian of the County, who wrote in 1710) ‘is to be seen that noble monument the Yew Tree, called the 'Tree of Crockston;’’ of so large a trunk and well spread in its branches that ‘tis seen at several miles distance from the ground where it stands.’ From its traditional connexion with the history of ‘the most unhappy of an unhappy race,’ this venerable tree was regarded with great interest. The withered trunk was removed only about twenty years ago. Its memory is preserved in relics, such as quaighs and snuff-boxes.”
Crocston, Cruxton, Crookston, or Cruikston Castle, the oldest baronial building in the Barony of Renfrew, erected about 1150 by Robert Croc, the Anglo-Norman companion of the first High Steward, both of whose lineal descendants were the unfortunate Henry, Lord Darnley, and the still more unfortunate Queen Marie. The Castle was inhabited by Matthew, 2nd Earl of Lennox, married to Elizabeth Hamilton, sister of James, 1st Earl of Arran, till 1506, when he abandoned the Castle, and removed to the Palace he had erected on the lands of Inchinnan. He was slain at the battle of Flodden Field on 9th September, 1513. His grandson, Matthew, 4th Earl of Lennox, in March, 1544, fled to England, and was married there in July thereof to Margaret Douglas, aunt uterine of Queen Marie. In 1545, the Earl of Lennox was declared a traitor, and his estates in Renfrewshire forfeited, and conferred on Lord Sempill. After nineteen years' exile, the Earl was restored by Queen Marie, and he returned to Scotland on 23rd September, 1563. Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, his second son, born in 1546, named after King Henry VIII., arrived in Scotland on 13th February, 1564-5, and was murdered on 9th February, 1566-7; and, therefore, only resided one year and 361 days in Scotland. The tradition that the courtship of Queen Marie and Lord Darnley took place at Crocston under the “Yew Tree” is not correct. Their first meeting took place at Weemys Castle, Fifeshire, on 16th February, 1564-5 ; and the Queen was not at Crocston—not even in the west country—between that date and the marriage on 19th July, 1565. The other doubtful tradition of the Royal pair passing the honeymoon at Crocston is equally incorrect. Who would believe that a King and Queen would retire to spend their happiest days in acastle that bad been abandoned for sixty years,—the latter nineteen of which had been passed in exile by Matthew, 4th Earl of Lennox, the forfeited owner, father of Lord Darnley? Signor David Rizzio, the Queen's French Secretary, was murdered on 9th March, 1565-6, which led to the complete estrangement of the Royal couple ; so that the period between their first meeting in Scotland and that occurrence was only one year and twenty-one days. Every day and night can be accounted for where the Queen resided during that space, and she was not at Crocston Castle. When Darnley came to visit his father, who resided in Glasgow, in December, 1566, be lodged with William Erskine, Parson of Campsey (afterwards Commendator of Paisley), in his manse in the Drygait, and not at the deserted and dilapidated Castle of Crocston. There is no evidence whatever of Queen Marie visiting Crocston, and as little proof of Darnley being there. The tradition of the “Crookston Dollar,” with the “Yew Tree,” which has also got into print, is without foundation. The Privy Council on and December, 1565. appointed a new coinage, to consist of three sizes,—the largest size to bear " on the ane side ane palm-tree crownit,” and the coin accordingly bears a “Palm Tree,” and not a Yew Tree. Ricinus Communis, the common palm tree, was introduced into Britain in 1548, and it was that species of the palm which was ordered to be represented on the crownpiece. A yew tree—a large yew tree—no doubt grew at Crocston, but it neither shaded the King and Queen during their courtship or honeymoon, nor was it represented on the coinage. Sir Walter Scott, in his romance of the “Abbot,” published in 1820 (Abbot Hamilton of Paisley, Archbishop of Saint Andrews), in addition to making Queen Marie spend her bridal days and hold her first court after her marriage at Crocston Castle, made her view the Battle of Langside, and rout of her army, from the “Yew Tree” of Crocston. These romantic visits are downright fictions. The yew tree was in the rear of the enemy—the Regent Murray's warriors ; and the Darnley and Crocston tenants—the Lennox men—were commanded by Lord Sempill, their recent martial chief, in the Regent's interest. The great novelist may have borrowed the idea of his fiction of separating the Queen from her own army, and placing her in the awkward position behind her enemy's rear, from the spectral illusions of the peasantry mentioned in John Wilson's poem descriptive of the Clyde, written in 1764, where the poet, in reference to Crocston Castle, says :
“Here, when the moon rides dimly through the sky,
The peasant sees broad dancing standards fly
And one bright Female form with sword and crown,
Still grieves to see her banners beaten down.”
The Queen was a fearless equestrian ; and mounted on her charger, standing on a small eminence in the rear of her own army, beheld the confusion and complete disaster of her supporters, when she fled and rode to Dundrennan Abbey, sixty miles from the scene of action. The ruins of Crocston Castle are the most picturesque in Renfrewshire, and have always formed a favourite subject for artists. One of the towers, which is still standing, is twenty-one feet square and fifty-four feet high, and, being built on an eminence, commands an extensive view of the country. The late Sir John Maxwell, Bart. of Pollok, the Laird of Crocston, built a new stair to the top of the “Castle's lanely wa's,” that real female forms may ascend to the corbels to flaunt their scarfs in the sunshine of day and view the peaceful valley, —leaving the peasant's moonlight phantom of night to grieve over the horrid scene of war—the beaten banners, and the dying and dead of a defeated army. The ruins—the superb ruins of the ancient Castle and Norman towers of Croc—will become more interesting to the antiquary when freed from the fiction of 1565, that this was the scene of the faithless vows of a facile foolish boy who was murdered before his majority.—Ed.
[1] Note by Ramsay.—“Tannahill here, and Burns in his song of ‘Where Cart rins rowin to the sea,’ describes the appearance which this usually sluggish stream presents during ‘a spate.’ Grahame, the author of ‘The Sabbath,’ who in childhood lived amongst the
——rura, qua Liris quiets
Mordet qua, taciturnis amnia.
exhibits it in a more pleasing aspect:—
‘Forth, from my low-roofed home, I wandered blithe
Down to thy side, sweet Cart, where, cross the stream,
A range of stones below a shallow fords
Stood in the place of the now-spanning arch.’
‘The Birds of Scotland,’ p. 27.”
Cardonald lies on the opposite side of the River Cart from Crocston lands. Cartha is the Latinised word of the Gaelic name of Cairt ; Norman name Kert, and the modern name Cart.—Ed.
When we were correcting the proof sheets of this Song and Notes, a Royal event occurred in Paisley,—the arrival of a lineal descendant of Queen Marie. We thought we might be permitted to add a Note to the last stanza recording the occurrence, to prevent mistakes afterwards, that on Tuesday, 21st September, 1875, at five o'clock afternoon, His Royal Highness Prince Leopold George Duncan Albert, youngest son of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, arrived at the Railway Station, County Square, Paisley, en route for Blythswood, the seat of Colonel Archibald Campbell (now Lord Blythswood), three miles from Paisley. The Railway Station and County Buildings were decorated with flags. The Prince was received by Colonel Campbell, and introduced to Provost Murray, Colonel Helms, M.P., and Sheriff Cowan. The Prince then entered an open carriage at the station, and proceeded through County Square, Gilmour Street, where we saw the Prince and suite pass our windows. They drove down High Street, Smithhills Street, turned into Lawn Street, and onwards to Blythswood. The streets had become densely crowded in a few minutes, and the Prince was received with great demonstrations of joy and respect, which he frequently acknowledged.
GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF DESCENT FROM QUEEN MARIE.
1542. Queen MARIE, born 1542.
1567. King JAMES VI., born 1566.
—Princess Elizabeth, his eldest daughter, Queen of Bohemia, born 1596.
—Princess Sophia, her youngest daughter, Duchess of Hanover, born 1630.
1714. King George I., born 1660.
1727. King George IL, born 1633.
—Frederick, Prince of Wales, born 1706.
1760. King George III., born 1733.
—Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, born 1767.
1837. Queen Victoria, born 1819.
—Prince Leopold, born 14th April, 1353.
ROYAL VISITS TO PAISLEY.
King James IV. and Queen Margaret visited Paisley on 20th July, 1507.
Queen Marie, in July, 1563.
Queen Margaret, consort of King James VI., July, 1597.
King James VI., on 23rd July, 1617.
Prince Leopold, on 21st Sept., 1875.
On Saturday, 25th September, 1875, the Prince and suite came to Paisley again, and visited the shawl manufacturing establishments of Messrs. Robert Kerr & Son in Seedhills and Thread Street, where the Prince was presented with a beautiful Victoria tartan shawl and a fancy velvet rug.
The Prince also visited the venerable Abbey, of which the Charter of foundation was granted in July, 1163, by his illustrious ancestor, WALTER,
High Steward of Scotland.
In passing the artistic bronze statue of Alexander Wilson, Poet and Ornithologist, it was much admired by the Prince and his party. See Note
at page 63.
The Prince left Blythswood on Tuesday, 28th September, 1875. —Ed.
Her Majesty the Queen visited Paisley on 23rd August, 1888, when she was the guest of Lord Blythswood. Prince Leopold died on 28th March, 1884.
[Semple 89]