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 whois still living, Lady John Scott 
of Spottiswoode, widow of a brother of the late Duke of Buc- 
cleuch. The 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 off 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 Maxwelton. The song, I have said, was old. I had 
a curious confirmation of this a few years ago. A lady and 
gentleman, Mr 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 :—‘‘ When 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 in the room; 
she complimented me upon my singing, and then said—‘ But 
those are nae the words my grandfather wrote.’ She then gaye 
a slightly different version of the first verse, saying that her 
father had often repeated them to her, as taught him by his 
father, the Douglas who wrote the song.” This is strong con- 
firmatory evidence of the genuineness and authenticity of the 
song in question. So far as we know, then, there was nothing 
remarkable about Miss Anna Laurie; her first lover immortalised 
