by
seizing some cattle or horses--accounts differ--by way of fines due for
taking fish out of season. This eventually led to the slaying of
Brackley and certain of his adherents.

Professor Child suspects a commixture of the two episodes in the one
ballad, or more probably, a grafting of a later ballad on to an earlier
one. The character of the Baron as revealed in the ballad more closely
resembles that of the 1592 episode, while the details of the fray are in
keeping with the later story.

'Peggy,' the Baron's wife, was Margaret Burnet, cousin to Gilbert,
Bishop of Salisbury. After Brackley's death she married again, but not
her husband's murderer, as the end of our ballad scandalously suggests.

Brackley is near Ballater, about forty miles west of Aberdeen.

THE BARON OF BRACKLEY

1.
Inverey cam doun Deeside, whistlin' and playin',
He was at brave Braikley's yett ere it was dawin'.

2.
He rappit fu' loudly an' wi' a great roar,
Cried, 'Cum doun, cum doun, Braikley, and open the door.

3.
'Are ye sleepin', Baronne, or are ye wakin'?
Ther's sharpe swords at your yett, will gar your blood spin.

4.
'Open the yett, Braikley, and lat us within,
Till we on the green turf gar your bluid rin.'

5.
Out spak the brave baronne, owre the castell-wa';
'Are ye cum to spulyie and plunder mi ha'?

6.
'But gin ye be gentlemen, licht and cum in:
Gin ye drink o' my wine, ye'll nae gar my bluid spin.

7.
'Gin ye be hir'd widifu's, ye may gang by,
Ye may gang to the lowlands and steal their fat ky.

8.
'Ther spulyie like rievers o' wyld ketterin clan,
Who plunder unsparing baith houses and lan'.

9.
'Gin ye be gentlemen, licht and cum [in],
Ther's meat and drink i' my ha' for every man.

10.
'Gin ye be hired widifu's, ye may gang by,
Gang doun to the lowlands, and steal horse and ky.'

11.
Up spak his ladie, at his bak where she lay,
'Get up, get up, Braikley, an be not afraid;
The'r but young hir'd widifu's wi' belted plaids.'

12.
'Cum kiss me, mi Peggy, I'le nae langer stay,
For I will go out and meet Inverey.

13.
'But haud your tongue, Peggy, and mak nae sic din,
For yon same hir'd widifu's will prove themselves men.'

14.
She called on her marys, they cam to her hand;
Cries, 'Bring me your rocks, lassies, we will them command.

15.
'Get up, get up, Braikley, and turn bak your ky,
Or me and mi women w