Fiction > Book editions > New York, 1889 - Master of Ballantrae

2 THE MASTER OF BALLANTEAE.
The Duries of Durrisdeer and Ballantrae were a strong
family in the southwest from the days of David First.
A rhyme still current in the countryside —
Kittle folk are the Durrisdeers,
They ride wi' ower mony spears —
bears the mark of its antiquity ; and the name appears
in another, which common report attributes to Thomas
of Ercildoune himself — I cannot say how truly, and
which some have applied — I dare not say with how
much justice — to the events of this narration :
Twa Duries in Durrisdeer,
Ane to tie and ane to ride,
An ill day for the groom
And a waur day for the bride.
Authentic history besides is filled with their exploits
which (to our modern eyes) seem not very commendable ;
and the family suffered its full share of those ups and
downs to which the great houses of Scotland have been
ever liable. But all these I pass over, to come to that
memorable year 1745, when the foundations of this
tragedy were laid.
At that time there dwelt a family of four persons in
the house of Durrisdeer, near St. Bride's, on the Solway
shore ; a chief hold of their race since the reformation.
My old lord, eighth of the name, was not old in years, but
he suffered prematurely from the disabilities of age ; his
place was at the chimney side ; there he sat reading, in