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DICK O' THE COW. |
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" He is either himsell a devil frae hell, Or else his mother a witch maun be;
I wadna have ridden that wan water For a* the gowd in Christentie." |
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DICK 0' THE COW.
From Caw's Poetical Museum, p. 22.
The personage from whom this ballad is named was jester to Lord Scroop, who was warden of the West Marches of England from 1590 to 1603. The Laird's Jock, that is John, the son of the Laird of Mangerton, " appears as one of the men of name in Liddesdale, in the list of the Border Clans, 1597."
Dick o' the Cow is closely connected with Jock o' the Side and Hobie Noble, which follow shortly after. All three were first printed in Caw's Museum, and seem to have been contributed by a Mr. Elliot, a Liddesdale gentleman, to whom Sir W. Scott acknowlÂedges many obligations. We are told that both Dick o' the Cow anil Jock o' the Side were until lately so popular in Liddesdale with all classes of people, that they were invariably sung, from beginning to end, at every festive meeting.
The ballad of Dick o' the Cow was well known in England as early as 1596. |
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