James Hogg 1770 -1835

Lock the Door, Lariston by James Hogg - A ballad of border warfare 

Oil painting by W. Nicholson

: © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons

The Border Reiver in front of the War Memorial in Galashiels. The statue known as the Reiver monument was sculpted by Thomas J. Clapperton (1879 - 1962).

Lock the Door, Lariston 

This is a border ballad published in 1811 by James Hogg, describing a call to arms to Jock Elliot of Lariston and his men to block a raid  into the lands of Liddesdale by forces from Northumberland, Teesdale and Cumberland. Jock gathers the Elliot clan of riders along with the followers of Mangerton, Ogilvie, Raeburn, Netherby, and Old Sim of Whitram and repulses the raid at Brechin or Breaken Tower in Liddlesdale, which is identified as the old Elliot stronghold of Prickenhaugh.

Between the late 13th century, and up to 1603 the borders were battlegrounds between Scottish and English armies. The dominant powers on the borders were the different clans and gangs known as the Border Reivers, who relied on raiding and pillaging to retain their power.  The Elliots were the second strongest clan within Liddlesdale after the Armstrongs. This ballad describes a battle on the border, and although it hasn't been placed or dated, the term 'carbiniere' describes riflemen who carried the carbine arquebus. The battle therefore belongs sometime in the 16th century, and possibly during the latter half when such weapons began to replace the longbow and became common amongst the border raiders.

The ballad is an example of border history and folklore dramatically set to song and music by the genius hand of James Hogg.

Lock the door, Lariston

Lock the door, Lariston
Lion of Liddesdale
Lock the door, Lariston
Lowther comes on
The Armstrongs are flying
The widows are crying
Castletown is burning and Oliver is gone

Lock the door, Lariston
High on the weather gleam
See how the Saxon plumes
They bob on the sky
Yeoman and carbiniere
Billman and halberdiere
Fierce is the battle and far is the cry

Bewcastle brandishes high his broad scimitar
Ridley is riding his fleet-footed grey
Hidley and Howard there
Wandale and Windermere
Lock the door, Lariston
Hold them at bay

Why dae ye smile noble Elliot of Lariston
Why does the joy candle gleam in your eye?
You bold border ranger
Beware of your danger
Your foes are relentless
Determined and nigh

I hae Mangerton and Ogilvie
Raeburn and Netherby
Old Sym O'Whitram and all his array
Come all Northumberland
Teesdale and Cumberland
Here at the Brechin Tower end the affray

See how they wane the proud file 'o the Windermere
Howard a woe tae yer hopes o' the day
Hear the rude welking rend
While the Scots' shouts ascend
Elliot O'Lariston! Elliot for aye!

James Hogg (1770-1835)

MacLean's Welcome

(The lyrics describe the offering of loyalty and friendship to Bonnie Prince Charlie by Jacobite MacLeans during the 1745/46 Jacobite Campaign. Those MacLeans that supported Charlie would fight courageously at Culloden).

MacLean's Welcome

Come o'er the stream, Charlie
    Dear Charlie, brave Charlie
    Come o'er the stream, Charlie
    And dine with MacLean
    And though you be weary
    We'll mak' your heart cheery
    And welcome our Charlie
    And his loyal train

We'll bring down the track deer, we'll bring down the black steer
The lamb from the breckan and doe from the glen
The salt sea we'll harry and bring to our Charlie
The cream from the bothy, and curd from the pen

And you shall drink freely the dews of Glen-Sheerly
That stream in the starlight when kings dinna ken
And deep be your meed of the wine that is red
To drink to your sire, and his friend Maclean

Our heath-bells shall trace you the maids to embrace you
And deck your blue bonnet wi' flowers of the brae
And the loveliest Mari in all Glen-M'Quarry
Shall lie in your bosom till break of the day

If aught will invite you or more will delight you
'Tis ready a troop of our bold Highlandmen 
Shall range on the heather with bonnet and feather
Strong arms and broad claymores, three hundred and ten

The Skylark

by James Hogg

Bird of the wilderness,
Blithesome and cumberless,
Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!
Emblem of happiness,
Blest is thy dwelling-place -
O to abide in the desert with thee!

Wild is thy lay and loud,
Far in the downy cloud,
Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.
Where, on thy dewy wing,
Where art thou journeying?
Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth.

O'er fell and fountain sheen,
O'er moor and mountain green,
O'er the red streamer that heralds the day,
Over the cloudlet dim,
Over the rainbow's rim,
Musical cherub, soar, singing, away!

Then, when the gloaming comes,
Low in the heather blooms
Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!
Emblem of happiness,
Blest is thy dwelling-place -
O to abide in the desert with thee!

When the Kye come home

Come, all ye jolly shepherds,

That whistle through the glen,

I'll tell ye o' a secret that courtiers dinna ken.

What is the greatest bliss that the tongue o' man can name?

'Tis to woo a bonnie lassie, when the kye come hame,

When the kye come hame, when the kye come hame,

Tween the gloamin' and the mirk,

When the kye come hame.

'Tis not beneath the burgonet

Nor yet beneath the crown,

'Tis not on couch of velvet

Nor yet on bed of down;

'Tis beneath the spreading birch

In the dell without a name,

Wi' a bonnie, bonnie lassie

When the kye come hame.

Awa' wi' fame and fortune:

What comforts can they gi'e?

And a' the arts that prey upon

Man's life and liberty!

Gi'e me the highest joy

That the heart o' man can frame:

My bonnie, bonnie lassie

When the kye come hame.

Meaning of unusual words:

Kye=cattle

gloamin'=dusk, twilight

mirk=dark, night

Killiecrankie

Whare hae ye been sae braw, lad?
Whare hae ye been sae brankie, O?
Whare hae ye been sae braw, lad?
Came ye by Killicrankie, O?

Chorus
An ye had been whare I hae been,
Ye wadna been sae cantie, O;
An ye had seen what I hae seen,
I' the braes o' Killicrankie, O.

I faught at land, I faught at sea,
At hame I faught my auntie, O;
But I met the devil and Dundee
On the braes o' Killicrankie, O.

(Chorus)

The bauld Pitcur fell in a furr,
And Clavers got a clankie, O,
Or I had fed an Athol gled
On the braes o' Killicrankie, O.

(Chorus)

O fie, Mackay, what gart ye lie
I' the bush ayont the brankie, O?
Ye'd better kiss'd King Willie's loof,
Than come to Killicrankie, O.

It's nae shame, it's nae shame,
It's nae shame to shank ye, O;
There's sour slaes on Athol braes,
And deils at Killicrankie, O.

Cam' ye by Athol

 Lyrics by James Hogg possibly derived from old Jacobite song of the 45. Set to music by Neil Gow Jnr. (1794–1823), son of Nathaniel Gow.

Cam' ye by Athol

Cam' ye by Athol lad wi' the philabeg,
Down by the Tummel, or banks of the Garry?
Saw ye the lads, wi' their bonnets an' white cockades,
Leaving their mountains to follow Prince Charlie

Chorus
Follow thee, follow thee, wha wadna follow thee?
Long has thou lov'd an' trusted us fairly!
Charlie, Charlie, wha wadna follow thee?
King o' the Highland hearts, bonnie Charlie.

I hae but ae son, my gallant young Donald;
But if I had ten, they should follow Glengarry,
Health to MacDonald and gallant Clanranald,
For these are the men that will die for their Charlie.

Chorus

I'll go to Lochiel, and Appin, and kneel to them;
Down by Lord Murray and Roy of Kildarlie;
Brave Mackintosh, he shall fly to the field wi' them;
These are the lads I can trust wi' my Charlie.

Chorus

Down by thro' the Lowlands, down wi' the whigamore,
Loyal true Highlanders, down wi' them rarely;
Ronald and Donald drive on wi' the braid claymore,
Over the necks o' the foes o' Prince Charlie.

Chorus

James Hogg was a author and poet who was known as the ‘Ettrick Shepherd’. He got to know Sir Walter Scott through sending poems to The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border publication. Hogg came to Edinburgh in 1810, and made his reputation in poetry with The Queen’s Wake (1813). He became friends with Lord Byron, John Murray, Wordsworth and Southey, and was asked on to the editorial board of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Hogg returned to the Borders in 1817 where he took up farming as well as continuing with writing. He would produce a collection of Jacobite songs under the title Jacobite Relics (1819) as well as several novels such as the influencial book The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. 

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