4: Transactions. 



even in this part of Scotland, not from any peculiarity of struc- 

 ture, not from any part that it has played in history ; but from 

 its association with the name of Annie Laurie ; .and that lady 

 owes her fame, such as it is, not to any accident of birth or to 

 anything remarkable in her character or career, but simply to 

 the song composed by the man she threw over. The air was, as 

 you know, composed by a lady who is still living, Lady John Scott 

 of Spottiswoode, widow of a brother of the late Duke of Buc- 

 cleuch. Tiie song, however, is old. Annie, or more correctly, 

 Anna Laurie was born at Barjarg in December, 1682. She was 

 the youngest of four daughters of Sir Robert Laurie and Jean 

 Riddell, daughter of Riddell of Minto. In due course she 

 became engaged to Douglas of Fingland, who composed the song 

 in her honour. For what reason history does not tell ; whether 

 the engagement went off on the settlements, or was ofi' by mutual 

 consent, or was a simple case of jilting, I know not ; but in spite 

 of the lyric, in .spite of " her promise true," in spite of the per- 

 sonality of her lover. Miss Anna threw him over, and married 

 Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch. Douglas, however, seems 

 to have survived the disappointment ; he did not " lay him doun 

 and dee," but married one Betty Clark of Glenboig. His poetic 

 phrenzy, however, must have died out, for there is no second 

 lyric handed down descriptive of the swan-like neck and dark 

 blue e'e of Betty Clark ; possibly she could not compete in beauty 

 with her rival, possibly the braes of Glenboig were not as bonnie 

 as those of ^laxwelton. The song, I have said, was old. I had 

 a curious confirmation of this a few years ago. A lady and 

 gentleman, ]\[r and Mrs Bennoch, of London (he was a native of 

 Durisdeer), spent a day at Maxwelton. In the course of con- 

 versation ]Mrs Bennoch, then a lady of perhaps 70, told me 

 the following anecdote : — " AVhen I was a girl I was staying in 

 Yorkshire, and being asked to sing I .sang the song of Annie 

 Laurie. An old lady, a Miss Douglas, aged 90, was iu the room; 

 she complimented me upon my singing, and then said — ' But 

 those are nae the words my grandfather wrote.' She then gave 

 a slightly different version of the first verse, saying that her 

 father liad often repeated them to her, as taught him by his 

 fatlier, the Douglas who wrote the song." This is strong con- 

 firmatory evidence of the genuineness and authenticity of the 

 son" in question. So far as we know, then, there was nothing 

 remarkable about Miss Anna Laurie; her first lover immortalised 



