Annotation:Inch of Perth
X:1 T:Insh [sic] of Perth M:C L:1/8 R:Reel S:Bremner - Scots Reels (1757) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Amix f | eaca e/e/e g2 | dgBg d/d/d Tf2 | dgcg e/e/e T(fe) | dfec A/A/A A :| |: f | ecAc e/e/e f2 | d/c/B/A/ GB d/d/d Tf2 | ecAc e/e/e T(fe) | dfec A/A/A A2 :|
INCH OF PERTH, THE. AKA and see "When You've Hooked Him Hold Him Fast." Scottish, Reel. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the tune in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection, though it also appears in the (James) Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768). The Inch of Perth is a level area (inch means level field in Gaelic) partially defined by the river Tay. It was on the north part of this feature that a rather bizarre incident occurred around the year 1396, in the reign of King Robert III. Stories vary and details differ, but it appears that two clans from a confederation of clans, Clan Chatten, specifically the MacPhersons and the Davidsons, were in a bitter decade long dispute as to who should have the place of honor, the right flank, during Clan Chatten military engagements. The rivalry became so acrimonious that King Robert arranged to bring the matter to a conclusion by a trial of combat with picked champions from each side contesting as a group with one another at the North Inch of Perth. Thirty men was selected from each clan to participate, although when the time came the MacPhersons were one man short, due to the cowardice or prudence of one of its members. The Davidsons were asked to reduce their numbers by one, but none of them could be induced to relinquish the honor of defending their clan in the upcoming melee. Finally, a commoner and no clan member, a huge blacksmith named Henry Wynd, agreed for a sum of money to participate in the struggle on the side of the MacPhersons, once again evening the numbers.
The battle commenced with the King and a gathered assemblage as witnesses (there was even a grandstand built). Swords, maces and axes were wielded skillfully by both sides, but eventually Clan MacPherson whittled away the Davidson numbers, not the least by the efforts of the hired blacksmith, Wynd. Finally, a lone Davidson was left to face a score of MacPhersons, and legend has it that rather than face certain death he jumped into the Tay to try to swim to safety on the other side-it is not known whether he survived. The MacPhersons thus carried the day and ever after were placed in the right side of Clan Chatten engagements. Wynd, who survived almost unscathed, was adopted by the MacPherson clan as one of their own. Today the North Inch of Perth is the location of a public park.
Joseph Lowe's "When You've Hooked Him Hold Him Fast" is a variant of "Inch of Perth."
