Dance Duke of Perth 1792

Since time immemorial the Drummonds, the family of the Earls and Dukes of Perth, allied themselves with the Stewarts and their fortunes rose and fell with Scotland’s royal family.

Tradition has it that the first Drummond ancestor was a younger son of Andrew I, King of Hungary, who arrived with Edgar Atheling (c.1050–1130), heir to the English throne, and after having been shipwrecked this early Drummond settled in the Lowlands. Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm III, was Edgar’s sister. Some sources credit Gilbert de Dromond, who swore fealty to the English king, Edward I (1239–1307), with being the progenitor of the Drummond family. In general, though, it is felt that the actual founder of the family was Maelcolum Beg who was steward to the ancient Earldom of Lennox from about 1225 to 1250. HIs son took the name Drummond which is derived from Drymen or Drummane in Stirlingshire. Sir Malcolm Drummond supported Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314 and he won a good deal of distinction in that battle for having sown the field liberally with caltraps or barbed iron spikes which put large numbers of the English cavalry out of commission. These caltraps figure in the coat of arms of the Drummond Earls of Perth for the two savage supporters of the arms are standing on a ground strewn with them. The motto below their feet is “Gang Warily”.

Two 14th century Drummond ladies married Stewart kings. Margaret, great-granddaughter of the original Malcolm, widow of Sir John Logie, was first the mistress and then the second wife and then the divorcee of David II (1324–1371). In 1365 Annabella, daughter of John Drummond of Stobhall, a beauty like her aunt, Queen Margaret, married John Stewart of Kyle, Earl of Atholl and Carrick (1340–1406), who succeeded to the throne in 1390 as Robert III, having changed his given name because of unpopular association in Scottish minds with John Balliol. (See “The Auld Alliance”) Their son was James I.

With royal marriages and the acquisition of the stewardship of Strathearn in Perthshire and the property of Stobhall on the banks of the River Tay to the north of the town of Perth, the future looked bright indeed. In 1487 Sir John Drummond was created Lord Drummond. In 1502, however, Lord Drummond’s three daughters, Margaret, Sybilla and Euphemia, died violently from food poisoning, or as some said, poison intended for Margaret alone who was the mistress, and perhaps the secret wife, of James IV to whom she had borne a daughter in 1497. James had desired to marry Margaret Drummond, but some of the more powerful nobles argued against a third Drummond queen and he married, instead, Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England and sister of Henry VIII. It was Lord Drummond who began building Drummond Castle near Crieff, some twenty miles west of Stobhall. (See “Crieff Fair”) During this period a violent feud began between the Drummonds and the Perthshire Murrays. Loyalty to the royal family continued on through the second Lord Drummond, who supported Queen Mary, down to James, the fourth Lord Drummond who was created Earl of Perth in 1605 by James VI (I of England).

The first Duke of Perth was James, the 4th Earl (1648–1716). He and his brother, Lord Melfort, were men of immense power in Scotland under Charles II and James VII (II of England), the earl being Justice General and Extraordinary Lord of Session. Upon the death of Sir George Carteret, the Earl of Perth with William Penn became one of the twenty-four proprietors of the colony of New Jersey in America. Perth Amboy, the colony’s seat of government in 1686, was called Amboy for an Indian chief and Perth for the earl. When James VII founded the Order of the Thistle in 1687, the Earl of Perth was one of the original eight knight companions. From 1684 to 1688 he was Lord Chancellor while his brother, Melfort, became Secretary of State for Scotland. The brothers converted to Roman Catholicism and as such they took part in James’ attempt to return Scotland to that faith, an effort that turned into the Revolution of 1688–89. In 1688 the earl, who was the king’s chief Roman Catholic agent in Scotland, was imprisoned in Stirling Castle and when he was released he joined James in exile at St. Germain. It was there that the earl was created Duke of Perth, a title confirmed by Louis XIV and, strangely, recognised by the people of Perthshire. After the death of James in 1701, however, the dukedom became purely titular.

James, 2nd Duke of Perth (1675–1720), led the Jacobite cavalry at Sheriffmuir (1715) and in 1716 he escaped to the Continent with James Francis Edward, “The Old Pretender” to the Hanoverians or, by Jacobite reckoning, James VIII.

The 3rd Duke, James (1713–1746), commanded the left wing of Prince Charles Edward’s army at Culloden and died at sea on his way to exile. The reel, called “The Duke of Perth”, is contained in the Drummond Castle manuscript of 1734, one volume of which is dedicated by David Young as A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of His Grace the Duke of Perth. Although he had lived over twenty years in France, he had, prior to “the '45”, been living with his mother at Drummond Castle. At his death the title, with little meaning and no estates, passed to his brother, John, who had arrived in Scotland with the 1,000 French troops under the Marquis d’Eguilles who landed at Stonehaven and Montrose in December of 1745. Lord John played a decisive role in the Jacobite victory at Falkirk and at Culloden he held the centre of the line with his brother on the left wing and Lord George Murray on the right wing. The 4th Duke died in exile in 1747 and in 1760, after having passed to two uncles, the title of Duke of Perth became extinct. The forfeited estates were restored to the Drummonds in 1784, but it was not until 1853 that George Drummond was decreed by Parliament to be the 14th Earl of Perth.

The country swain that haunts the plain,
  And drives the lightsome plow;
At night though tir’d, with love all fir’d,
  He views the lassie’s brow.
When morning comes, instead of drums,
  The flails flap merrilie;
To raise the maids out o’ their beds,
  To shake the pease-strae.

Fair Jenny raise, pat on her claise,
  Syne tuned her voice to sing;
She sang sae sweet, wi’ notes compleat,
  Gard a’ the echoes ring;
And a’ the maids lay by their flails,
  And dance most merrilie;
And bless the hour that she had power
  To shake the pease-strae.

The musing swain disturb’d in brain,
  Fast to her arms he flew,
And strave a while, then wi’ a smile,
  Sweet Jenny red in hue,
She said right aft, I think ye’re daft,
  That tempts a lassie sae;
Ye’ll do me wrang, pray let me gang,
  And shake the pease-strae.

My heart, said he, sair wounded be,
  For thee, my Jenny fair;
Without a jest, I get nae rest,
  My bed it proves a snare;
Thy image fine, presents me syne,
  And takes a’ rest me frae;
And while I dream, in your esteem
  You reckon me your fae.

Which is a sign ye will be mine,
  Dear Jenny say nae na;
But soon comply, or else I die,
  Sae tell me but a flaw,
If you can love, for none above
  Thee I can fancy sae;
I would be blest if I but wist,
  That you would shake my strae.

Then Jenny smil’d, said, you’re beguil’d,
  I canna fancy thee;
My minny, bauld, she would me scauld,
  Sae dinna die for me.
But yet I own I am near grown,
  A woman; since its sae,
I’ll marry thee, syne you’ll get me
  To shake your pease-strae.

This old anonymous song was discovered by David Herd and was included in his Ancient and Modern Songs, published in 1776. It also appeared in James Johnson’s The Scots Musical Museum, Volume 4, of 1792. Stenhouse stated that “the tune had long been a favourite reel in the Lowlands of Scotland, and is printed in many collections.”

To avoid confusion it should be explained here that very often a single dance was performed to different tunes and was called by the name of the tune with little or no variation in figures. “Duke of Perth”, “Pease Strae” and “Broun’s Reel” fall into this category.