Baillie, Grizel (1665–1746)

Scottish songwriter. Name variations: Grisell, Grizelda, Lady Grizel Baillie, Lady Grizel Hume. Born Grizel Hume at Redbraes Castle, Berwickshire, on December 25, 1665; died on December 6, 1746; eldest daughter of Sir Patrick Hume (or Home) of Polwarth, afterwards earl of Marchmont; married George Baillie, in 1602; children: two daughters, Grizel (who married Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope and was known asLady Murray of Stanhope ) andRachel, Lady Binning .

In 1677, the 12-year-old Grizel carried letters from her father Sir Patrick Hume to the imprisoned Scottish patriot Robert Baillie of Jervis-wood. Hume's friendship with Baillie made him a suspect of treason, and the troops of England's King Charles II took over Hume's Redbraes Castle. Hume remained in hiding for some time in a nearby churchyard, where his daughter supplied him with food. When he heard of the execution of Robert Baillie in 1684, Hume fled to Holland. Though his family soon joined him, they returned to Scotland after the successful invasion of William of Orange in 1688.

In 1692, Lady Grizel married George Baillie, son of the executed patriot. She had two daughters, Lady Murray of Stanhope and Rachel, Lady Binning. At the time of Lady Grizel's death, Lady Murray possessed a manuscript of her mother's in prose and verse. Some of the songs had been printed in Allan Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany. The most famous of Lady Grizel's songs, "And werena my heart light I wad dee," originally appeared in the 1725 Orpheus Caledonius. Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of the Right Hon. George Baillie of Jerviswood and Lady Grisell Baillie, by their daughter, Lady Murray of Stanhope, were printed in 1822. Two decades later, in 1842, George Baillie's Correspondence (1702–1708) was edited by Lord Minto for the Bannatyne Club. "The Legend of Lady Grizelda Baillie" forms one of Joanna Baillie 's Metrical Legends of Exalted Character.