Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw (1677-1727) was a Scottish poet, the reputed author of Hardyknute.
Ballad of Hardyknute, by Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw (1677-1727). Courtesy National Library of Scotland.
Life[]
Overview[]
Lady Wardlaw, daughter of Sir Charles Halkett of Pitfirrane, and wife of Sir Henry Wardlaw of Pitreavie, is believed to have written the pseudo-ancient ballad of "Hardyknute." The ballad of "Sir Patrick Spens" and others have also, but doubtfully, been attributed to her.[1]
Biographical details[]
Wardlaw was the 2nd daughter of Sir Charles Halket, bart., of Pitfirrane, Fifeshire; she was born in April 1677 On 13 June 1696 she married Sir Henry Wardlaw, bart., of Pitcruivie.[2]
Writing[]
The ballad of "Hardyknute," which she was the earliest to make known to the world, was originally circulated by her as the fragment of an ancient ballad discovered in a vault in Dunfermline. But no original manuscript of this fragment is forthcoming; and while the ballad is manifestly in great part modern, several of her friends, professing to be intimately acquainted with the circumstances of its production, positively ascribe to her its authorship. It was nevertheless published in 1719, during her lifetime, as an ancient poem, at the expense of Lord-president Forbes and Sir Gilbert Eliot.[2]
Lady Wardlaw is stated to have remodelled the ballad of "Gilderoy;" and the ballad of "Sir Patrick Spens," published in Percy's Reliques from 2 manuscripts sent from Scotland, has also been ascribed to her. This last hypothesis was 1st suggested by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe in additional notes to Johnson's Musical Museum, and the proposition was also supported, as regards other ballads, by Robert Chambers in his Remarks on Scottish Ballads, 1859. A feasible reason for suggesting Lady Wardlaw as the writer of "Sir Patrick Spens" is the reference to the king in Dunfermline; but it is so immensely superior to "Hardyknute" that Lady Wardlaw's authorship of this last is rather presumptive evidence against than for her authorship of "Sir Patrick Spens." It is, however, by no means improbable that Lady Wardlaw amended "Sir Patrick Spens" and other ballads.[2]
Recognition[]
In 1724 Allan Ramsay included "Hardyknute" as an ancient ballad in his anthology Evergreen.[2]
Publications[]
- Hardyknute: A fragment of an antient Scots poem. Glasgow: Robert Foulis, 1748.[3]
See also[]
References[]
Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1899) "Wardlaw, Elizabeth" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 59 London: Smith, Elder, p. 352 . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 15, 2018.
Notes[]
- ↑ John William Cousin, "Wardlaw, Elizabeth, Lady," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: Dent / New York: Dutton, 1910, 395. Wikisource, Web, Mar. 15, 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Henderson, 352.
- ↑ Hardyknute: A fragment of an antient Scots poem, Internet Archive. Web, Mar. 15, 2018.
External links[]
- Poems
- Books
- Works by or about Elizabeth Wardlaw in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Elizabeth Wardlaw at Amazon.com
- About
- Wardlaw, Elizabeth, Lady" in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- Mary Ellen Brown, ‘Wardlaw, Elizabeth, Lady Wardlaw (1677–1727)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Wardlaw, Elizabeth
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