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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20469-0.txt b/20469-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2c0950 --- /dev/null +++ b/20469-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9474 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Ballads of Romance and Chivalry, by Frank Sidgwick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ballads of Romance and Chivalry + Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series + +Author: Frank Sidgwick + +Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20469] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + + + + + + [Transcriber’s Note: + + The printed text used small capitals for emphasis. These have been + replaced with +marks+ where appopriate. Missing lines were shown + by rows of widely spaced dots (single lines) or asterisks (longer + sections). They are shown here in groups of three: + + ... ... ... + or + *** *** *** + + Variant forms such as “Maisry” : “Maisery” or “+Text(s)+” : + “+The Text+” are unchanged. Brackets are in the original, except + when enclosing footnotes or illustration markers. Errors are listed + at the end of the text.] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: Facsimile of the Percy Folio MS. (_British Museum_, + Addit. MS. 27, 879, f. 46 _verso_). +Glasgerion+, first three verses + (see p. 2), annotated by Percy. The full page is 15¼ x 6 inches.] + + + + + POPULAR BALLADS + OF THE OLDEN TIME + + SELECTED AND EDITED + BY FRANK SIDGWICK + + First Series. Ballads of + Romance and Chivalry + + + ‘What hast here? Ballads? + ‘Pray now, buy some.’ + + A. H. BULLEN + 47 Great Russell Street + London. MCMIII + + + + + ‘La rime n’est pas riche, et le style en est vieux: + Mais ne voyez-vous pas que cela vaut bien mieux + Que ces colifichets dont le bon sens murmure, + Et que la passion parle là toute pure?’ + + Molière, _Le Misanthrope_, I. 2. + + + + +CONTENTS + Page + + Preface ix + Introduction xvii + Ballads in the First Series xliii + Glossary of Ballad Commonplaces xlvi + List of Books for Ballad Study lii + Note on the Illustrations lv + + Glasgerion 1 + Young Bekie 6 + Old Robin of Portingale 13 + Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 19 + The Bonny Birdy 25 + Fair Annie 29 + The Cruel Mother 35 + Child Waters 37 + Earl Brand 44 + The Douglas Tragedy 49 + The Child of Ell 52 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + The Brown Girl 60 + Fair Margaret and Sweet William 63 + Lord Lovel 67 + Lady Maisry 70 + The Cruel Brother 76 + The Nutbrown Maid 80 + Fair Janet 94 + Brown Adam 100 + Willie o’ Winsbury 104 + The Marriage of Sir Gawaine 107 + The Boy and the Mantle 119 + Johney Scot 128 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + The Twa Sisters o’ Binnorie 141 + Young Waters 146 + Barbara Allan 150 + The Gay Goshawk 153 + Brown Robin 158 + Lady Alice 163 + Child Maurice 165 + Fause Footrage 172 + Fair Annie of Rough Royal 179 + Hind Horn 185 + Edward 189 + Lord Randal 193 + Lamkin 196 + Fair Mary of Wallington 201 + + Index of Titles 209 + Index of First Lines 211 + + + +PREFACE + + +Of making selections of ballads there is no end. As a subject for the +editor, they seem to be only less popular than Shakespeare, and every +year sees a fresh output. But of late there has sprung up a custom of +confusing the old with the new, the genuine with the imitation; and the +products of civilised days, ‘ballads’ by courtesy or convention, are set +beside the rugged and hard-featured aborigines of the tribe, just as the +delicate bust of Clytie in the British Museum has for next neighbour the +rude and bold ‘Unknown Barbarian Captive.’ To contrast by such enforced +juxtaposition a ballad of the golden world with a ballad by Mr. Kipling +is unfair to either, each being excellent in its way; and the +collocation of _Edward_ or _Lord Randal_ with a ballad of Rossetti’s is +only of interest or value as exhibiting the perennial charm of the +_refrain_. + +There exist, however, in our tongue--though not only in our +tongue--narratives in rhyme which have been handed down in oral +tradition from father to son for so many ages, that all record of their +authorship has long been lost. These are commonly called the Old +Ballads. Being traditional, each ballad may exist in more than one form; +in most cases the original story is clothed in several different forms. +The present series is designed to include all the best of these ballads +which are still extant in England and Scotland: Ireland and Wales +possess a similar class of popular literature, but each in its own +tongue. It is therefore necessary, in issuing this the first volume of +the series, to say somewhat as to the methods employed in editing and +selecting. + +Ballad editors of yore were confronted with perhaps two, perhaps twenty, +versions of each ballad; some unintelligibly fragmentary, some +intelligibly complete; some in print, some in manuscript, some, +perchance, in their own memories. Collating these, they subjected the +text to minute revision, omitting and adding, altering and inserting, to +suit their personal tastes and standards, literary or polite; and having +thus made it over, forgot to record the act, and saw no reason to +apologise therefor. + +Pioneers like Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, and Sir Walter Scott, may +well be excused the general censure. The former, living in and pandering +to an age which invented and applied those delightful literary +adjectives ‘elegant’ and ‘ingenious,’ may be pardoned with the more +sincerity if one recalls the influence exercised on English letters by +his publication. The latter, who played the part of Percy in the matter +of Scottish ballads, and was nourished from his boyhood on the +_Reliques_, printed for the first time many ballads which still are the +best of their class, and was gifted with consummate skill and taste. +Both, moreover, did their work scientifically, according to their +lights; and both have left at least some of their originals behind them. +There is, perhaps, one more exception to the general condemnation. Of +William Allingham’s _Ballad Book_, as truly a _vade mecum_ as Palgrave’s +lyrical anthology in the same ‘Golden Treasury’ series, I would speak, +perhaps only for sentimental reasons, always with respect, admiring the +results of his editing while looking askance at the method, for he mixed +his ingredients and left no recipe. + +But in the majority of cases there is no obvious excuse for this ‘omnium +gatherum’ process. The self-imposed function of most ballad editors +appears to have been the compilation of _rifacimenti_ in accordance with +their private ideas of what a ballad should be. And that such a state of +things was permissible is doubtless an indication of the then prevalent +attitude of half-interested tolerance assumed towards these memorials of +antiquity. + +To-day, however, the ballad editor is confronted with the results of the +labours, still unfinished, of a comparatively recent school in literary +science. These have lately culminated in _The English and Scottish +Popular Ballads_, edited by the late Professor Francis James Child of +Harvard University. This work, in five large volumes, issued in ten +parts at intervals from 1882 to 1898, and left by the editor at his +death complete but for the Introduction--_valde deflendus_--gives in +full all known variants of the three hundred and five ballads adjudged +by its editor to be genuinely ‘popular,’ with an essay, prefixed to each +ballad, on its history, origin, folklore, etc., and notes, glossary, +bibliographies, appendices, etc.; exhibiting as a whole unrivalled +special knowledge, great scholarly intuition, and years of patient +research, aided by correspondents, students, and transcribers in all +parts of the world, Lacking Professor Child’s Introduction, we cannot +exactly tell what his definition of a ‘popular’ ballad was, or what +qualities in a ballad implied exclusion from his collection--_e.g._ he +does not admit _The Children in the Wood_: otherwise one can find in +this monumental work the whole history and all the versions of nearly +all the ballads. + +It will be obvious that Professor Child’s academic method is suited +rather to the scholar than the general reader. As a rule, one text of +each ballad is all that is required, which must therefore be chosen--but +by what rules? To the scholar, it usually happens that the most ancient +and least handled text is the most interesting; but these are too +frequently incomplete and unintelligible. The literary dilettante may +prefer tasteful decorations by a Percy or a Scott; doubtless Buchan has +some admirers: but the student abhors this painting of the lily. + +Therefore I have compromised--always a dangerous practice--and I have +sought to give, to the best of my judgement, _that authorised text of +each ballad which tells in the best manner the completest form of the +story or plot_. I have been forced to make certain exceptions, but for +all departures from the above rule I have given reasons which, I trust, +will be found to justify the procedure; and in all cases the sources of +each text or part of the text are indicated. + +I am quite aware that it may fairly be asked: Why not assume the +immemorial privilege of a ballad editor, and concoct a text for +yourself? Why, when any text of a ballad is, as you admit, merely a +representative of parallel and similar traditional versions, should you +not compile from those other variants a text which should combine the +excellences of each, and give us the cream? + +There are several objections to this course. However incompetent, +I should not shrink from the labour involved; nor do I entirely approve +the growing demand for German minuteness and exactitude in editors. But, +firstly, the ballad should be subject to variation only while it is in +oral circulation. Secondly, editorial garnishing has been overdone +already, and my unwillingness to adopt that method is caused as much by +the failure of the majority of editors as by the success of the few. +Lastly, _chacun a son goût_; there is a kind of literary selfishness in +emending and patching to suit one’s private taste, and, if any one +wishes to do so, he will be most pleased with the result if he does it +for himself. + +This lengthy _apologia_ is necessitated by a departure from the usual +custom of ballad-editing. For the rest, my indebtedness to the work of +Professor Child will be obvious throughout. Many of his most interesting +texts were printed for the first time from manuscripts in private hands. +These I have not sought to collate, which would, indeed, insult his +accuracy and care. But in the case of texts from the Percy Folio, where +the labour is rather to decipher than to transcribe accurately, I have +resorted not only to the reprint of Hales and Furnivall, but to the +Folio itself. The whimsical spelling of this MS. pleases me as often as +it irritates, and I have ventured in certain ballads, _e.g._ +_Glasgerion_, to modernise it, and in others, _e.g._ _Old Robin of +Portingale_, to retain it _literatim_: in either case I have reduced to +uniformity the orthography of the proper names. Transcripts from other +MSS. are reproduced as they stand. + +In the general Introduction I have tried to sketch the genesis and +history of the ballad impartially in its several aspects, not for +scholars and connoisseurs, but for those ready to learn. To supply +deficiencies, I have added a list of books useful to the student of +English ballads--to go no further afield. Each ballad also is prefaced +with an introduction setting forth, besides the source of the text, as +succinctly as is consistent with accuracy, the derivation, when known, +of the story; the plot of similar foreign ballads; and points of +interest in folklore, history, or criticism attached to the particular +ballad. Where the story is fragmentary, I have added an argument. It +will be realised that such introductions at the best are but a +thousandth part of what might be written; but if they shall play the +part of _hors d’œuvres_, and whet the appetite to proceed to more solid +food, the labour will not be lost. + +Difficulties in the text are explained in footnotes. Few things are more +vexatious to a reader than constant reference to a glossary; but as +compensation for the educational value thus lost, the footnotes are, to +a certain extent, progressive; that is to say, a word already explained +in a foregoing ballad is not always explained again; and to the best of +my ability I have freed the notes from the grotesque blunders observable +in most modern editions of ballads. + +Besides my indebtedness to the books mentioned in the bibliographical +list, I have to acknowledge my thanks to the Rev. Sabine Baring Gould, +for permission to use his version of _The Brown Girl_; to Mr. E. K. +Chambers, for kindly reading the general Introduction; and to my friend +and partner Mr. A. H. Bullen, for constant suggestions and assistance. + + F. S. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + ‘Y-a-t-il donc, dans les contes populaires, quelque chose + d’intéressant pour un esprit sérieux?’--Cosquin. + + +The old ballads of England and Scotland are fine wine in cobwebbed +bottles; and many have made the error of paying too much attention to +the cobwebs and not enough attention to the wine. This error is as +blameworthy as its converse: we must take the inside and the outside +together. + + ++I. What is a Ballad?+ + +The earliest sense of the word ‘ballad,’ or rather of its French and +Provençal predecessors, _balada_, _balade_ (derived from the late Latin +_ballare_, to dance), was ‘a song intended as the accompaniment to a +dance,’ a sense long obsolete.[1] Next came the meaning, a simple song +of sentiment or romance, of two verses or more, each of which is sung to +the same air, the accompaniment being subordinate to the melody. This +sense we still use in our ‘ballad-concerts.’ Another meaning was that of +simply a popular song or ditty of the day, lyrical or narrative, of the +kind often printed as a broadsheet. Lyrical _or_ narrative, because the +Elizabethans appear not to distinguish the two. Read, for instance, the +well-known scene in _The Winter’s Tale_ (Act IV. Sc. 4); here we have +both the lyrical ballad, as sung by Dorcas and Mopsa, in which Autolycus +bears his part ‘because it is his occupation’; and also the ‘ballad in +print,’ which Mopsa says she loves--‘for then we are sure it is true.’ +Immediately after, however, we discover that the ‘ballad in print’ is +the broadside, the narrative ballad, sung of a usurer’s wife brought to +bed of twenty money-bags at a burden, or of a fish that appeared upon +the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of April: in short, as _Martin +Mar-sixtus_ says (1592), ‘scarce a cat can look out of a gutter but out +starts a halfpenny chronicler, and presently a proper new ballet of a +strange sight is indited.’ Chief amongst these ‘halfpenny chroniclers’ +were William Elderton, of whom Camden records that he ‘did arm himself +with ale (as old father Ennius did with wine) when he ballated,’ and +thereby obtained a red nose almost as celebrated as his verses; Thomas +Deloney, ‘the ballating silkweaver of Norwich’; and Richard Johnson, +maker of Garlands. Thus to Milton, to Addison, and even to Johnson, +‘ballad’ essentially implies singing; but from about the middle of the +eighteenth century the modern interpretation of the word began to come +into general use. + + [Footnote 1: For the subject of the origin of the ballad and its + refrain in the _ballatio_ of the dancing-ring, see _The Beginnings + of Poetry_, by Professor Francis B. Gummere, especially chap. v. The + beginning of the whole subject is to be found in the universal and + innate practices of accompanying manual or bodily labour by a + rhythmic chant or song, and of festal song and dance.] + +In 1783, in one of his letters, the poet Cowper says: ‘The ballad is a +species of poetry, I believe, peculiar to this country.... Simplicity +and ease are its proper characteristics.’ Here we have one of the +earliest attempts to define the modern meaning of a ‘ballad.’ Centuries +of use and misuse of the word have left us no unequivocal name for the +ballad, and we are forced to qualify it with epithets. ‘Traditional’ +might be deemed sufficient; but ‘popular’ or ‘communal’ is more +definite. Here we adopt the word used by Professor Child--‘popular.’ + +What, then, do we intend to signify by the expression ‘popular ballads’? +Far the most important point is to maintain an antithesis between the +poetry of the people and the consciously artistic poetry of the schools. +Wilhelm Grimm, the less didactic of the two famous brothers, said that +the ballad says nothing unnecessary or unreal, and despises external +adornment. Ferdinand Wolf, the great critic of the Homeric question, +said the ballad must be naïve, objective, not sentimental, lively and +erratic in its narrative, without ornamentation, yet with much +picturesque vigour. + +It is even more necessary to define sharply the line between poetry _of_ +the people and poetry _for_ the people.[2] The latter may still be +written; the making of the former is a lost art. Poetry of the people is +either lyric or narrative. This difference is roughly that between song +and ballad. ‘With us,’ says Ritson, ‘songs of sentiment, expression, or +even description, are properly termed songs, in contradistinction to +mere narrative compositions which we now denominate Ballads.’ This +definition, of course, is essentially modern; we must still insist on +the fact that genuine ballads were sung: ‘I sing Musgrove,’[3] says Sir +Thwack in Davenant’s _The Wits_, ‘and for the Chevy Chase no lark comes +near me.’ Lastly, we must emphasise that the accompaniment is +predominated by the air to which the words are sung. I have heard the +modern comic song described as ‘the kind in which you hear the words,’ +thus differentiating it from the drawing-room song, in which the words +are (happily) as a rule less audible than the melody. In the ballad, as +sung, the words are most important; but it is of vital importance to +remember that the ballads were chanted. + + [Footnote 2: See the first essay, ‘What is “Popular Poetry”?’ in + _Ideas of Good and Evil_, by W. B. Yeats (1903), where this + distinction is not recognised.] + + [Footnote 3: _Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard_ (see p. 19, etc.).] + + ++II. Poetry of the People.+ + +Now what is this ‘poetry of the people’? One theory is as follows. Every +nation or people in the natural course of its development reaches a +stage at which it consists of a homogeneous, compact community, with its +sentiments undivided by class-distinctions, so that the whole active +body forms what is practically an individual. Begging the question, that +poetry can be produced by such a body, this poetry is naturally of a +concrete and narrative character, and is previous to the poetry of art. +‘Therefore,’ says Professor Child, ‘while each ballad will be +idiosyncratic, it will not be an expression of the personality of +individuals, but of a collective sympathy; and the fundamental +characteristic of popular ballads is therefore the absence of +subjectivity and self-consciousness. Though they do not “write +themselves,” as Wilhelm Grimm has said--though a man and not a people +has composed them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by +mere accident, but with the best reason, that they have come down to us +anonymous.’ + +By stating this, the dictum of one of the latest and most erudite of +ballad-scholars, so early in our argument, we anticipate a century or +more of criticism and counter-criticism, during which the giants of +literature ranged themselves in two parties, and instituted a +battle-royal which even now is not quite finished. It will be most +convenient if we denominate the one party as that which holds to the +communal or ‘nebular’ theory of authorship, and the other as the +anti-communal or ‘artistic’ theory. The tenet of the former party has +already been set forth, namely, that the poetry of the people is a +natural and spontaneous production of a community at that stage of its +existence when it is for all practical purposes an individual. The +theory of the ‘artistic’ school is that the ballads and folk-songs are +the productions of skalds, minstrels, bards, troubadours, or other +vagrant professional singers and reciters of various periods; it is +allowed, however, that, being subject entirely to oral transmission, +these ballads and songs are open to endless variation. + +On the Continent, Herder was pioneer, both of the claims of popular +poetry and of the nebular theory of authorship. Traditions of chivalry, +he says, became poetry in the mouths of the people; but his definition +of popular poetry has rather extended bounds. Herder’s enthusiasm fired +Goethe (who, however, did not wholly accede to the ‘nebular’ theory) to +study the subject, and the effect was soon noticeable in his own poetry. +Next came the two great brothers, whose names are ever to be held in +honour wherever folklore is studied or folktales read, Jacob and Wilhelm +Grimm. Jacob, the more ardent and polemical, insisted on the communal +authorship of the poetry of the people; ballad or song ‘sings itself.’ + +Both the Grimms, and especially Jacob, were severely handled by the +critic Schlegel, who insisted on the artist. To Schlegel we owe the +famous image in which popular poetry is a tower, and the poet an +architect. Hundreds may fetch and carry, but all are useless without the +direction of the architect. This is specious argument; but we might +reply to Schlegel that an architect is only wanted when the result is +required to be an artistic whole. The tower of Babel was built by +hundreds of men under no superintendence. Schlegel’s intention, however, +is no less clear than that of Jacob Grimm, and the two are diametrically +opposed. + +In England, literary prejudice against the unpolished barbarities and +uncouthnesses of the ballad was at no time so pronounced as it was on +the Continent, and especially in Germany, during the latter half of the +eighteenth century. Indeed, at intervals, the most learned and fantastic +critics in England would call attention to the poetry of the people. Sir +Philip Sidney’s apologetic words are well known:-- ‘Certainly I must +confesse my own barbarousnes, I never heard the olde song of _Percy_ and +_Duglas_, that I found not my heart mooved more then with a Trumpet.’ +Addison was bolder. ‘It is impossible that anything should be +universally tasted and approved by a Multitude, tho’ they are only the +Rabble of a Nation, which hath not in it some peculiar Aptness to please +and gratify the Mind of Man.’ With these and other encouragements the +popular poetry of England was not lost to sight; and in 1765 the work of +the good Bishop of Dromore gave the ballads a place in literature. + +Percy’s opening remarks, attributing the ballads to the minstrels, are +as well known as the scoffs of the hard-hitting Joseph Ritson, who +contemptuously dismissed Percy’s theories,[4] and refused to believe any +ballad to be of earlier origin than the reign of Elizabeth. Sir Walter +Scott was quite ready to accept the ballads as the productions of the +minstrels, either as ‘the occasional effusions of some self-taught +bard,’ or as abridged from the tales of tradition after the days when, +as Alfred de Musset says, ‘our old romances spread their wings of gold +towards the enchanted world.’ + + [Footnote 4: ‘The truth really lay between the two, for neither + appreciated the wide variety covered by a common name’ (_The + Mediæval Stage_, E. K. Chambers, 1903). See especially chapters iii. + and iv. of this work for an admirably complete and illuminating + account of minstrelsy.] + +This brings us nearer to our own day. The argument is not closed, +although we can discern offers of concession from either side. Svend +Grundtvig, editor of the enormous collection of Danish ballads, +distinguished the ballad from all forms of artistic literature, and +would have the artist left out of sight; Nyrop and the Scandinavian +scholars, on the other hand, entirely gave up the notion of communal +authorship. Howbeit, the trend of modern criticism,[5] on the whole, is +towards a common belief regarding most ballads, which may be stated +again, in Professor Child’s words: ‘Though a man and not a people has +composed them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by +mere accident, but with the best reason, that they have come down to us +anonymous.’ + + [Footnote 5: For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, + p. lii.] + + ++III. The Growth of Ballads.+ + +Let us then picture, however vaguely and uncertainly, the growth of a +ballad. It is well known that the folklores of the various races of the +world exhibit common features, and that the beliefs, superstitions, +tales, even conventionalities of expression, of one race, are found to +present constant and remarkable similarities to those of another. +Whether these similarities are to be held mere coincidences, or whether +they are to be explained by the theory of a common ancestry in the +cradle of the world, is a side-issue into which I do not intend to +enter. Suffice it that the fact is true, especially of the peoples who +speak the Indo-European tongues. The lore which has for its foundation +permanent and universal acceptance in the hearts of mankind is preserved +by tradition, and remains independent of the criteria applied +instinctively and unconsciously to artistic compositions. The community +is one at heart, one in mind, one in method of expression. Tales are +recited, verses chanted, and the singer of a clan makes his version of a +popular story. Simultaneously other singers, it may be of other clans of +the same race, or of another race altogether, elaborate their versions +of the common theme. Meanwhile the first singer has again recited or +chanted his ballad, and, having forgotten the exact wording, has altered +it, and perhaps introduced improvements. The same happens in the other +cases. The various audiences carry away as much as they can remember, +and recite their versions, again with individual omissions, alterations, +and additions. Thus, by ever-widening circles, the tale is distributed +in countless forms over an unlimited area. The elements of the story +remain, wholly or in part, while the literary clothing is altered +according to the ‘taste and fancy’ of the reciter. The lore is now +traditional, whether it be in prose, as Märchen, or in verse, as ballad. +And so it remains in oral circulation--and therefore still liable to +variation--until it is written down or printed. It is left ‘masterless,’ +unsigned; for of the original author’s composition, may be, only a word +or two remains. It has passed through many mouths, and has been made +over countless times. But once written down it ceases _virûm volitare +per ora_; the invention of printing has spoiled the powers of man’s +memory. + +We can now take up the tale at the fifteenth century; let us henceforth +confine our attention to England. It is agreed on all sides that the +fifteenth century was the period when, in England at least, the ballads +first became a prominent feature. Of historical ballads, _The Hunting of +the Cheviot_ was probably composed as early as 1400 or thereabouts. The +romances contemporaneously underwent a change, and took on a form nearer +to that of the ballad. Whatever may be the date of the origin of the +subject-matter, the literary clothing--language, mode of expression, +colour--of no ballad, as we now have it, is much, earlier than 1400. The +only possible exceptions to this statement are one or two of the Robin +Hood ballads--attributed to the thirteenth century by Professor Child, +but _adhuc sub judice_--and a ballad of sacred legend--_Judas_--which +exists in a thirteenth-century manuscript in the library of Trinity +College, Cambridge. + +During the fifteenth century, the ballads, still purely narrative, were +cast abroad through the length and breadth of the land, undergoing +continual changes, modifications, enlargements, for better or for worse. +They told of romance and chivalry, of historical, quasi-historical, and +mythico-historical deeds, of the traditions of the Church and sacred +legend, and of the lore that gathers round the most popular of heroes, +Robin Hood. The earliest printed English ballad is the _Gest of Robyn +Hode_, which now remains in a fragment of about the end of the fifteenth +century. + +The sixteenth century continued the process of the popularisation of +ballads. Minstrels, who, as a class, had been slowly perishing ever +since the invention of printing, were now vagrants, and the profession +was decadent. Towards the end of the century we hear of Richard Sheale, +whom we may describe as the first of the so-called ‘Last of the +Minstrels.’ He describes himself as a minstrel of Tamworth, his business +being to chant ballads and tell tales. We know that the ballad of _The +Hunting of the Cheviot_ was part of his repertory, for he wrote down his +version, which is still preserved in the Ashmolean MSS. At the end of +the sixteenth century the minstrels had fallen, in England at least, +into entire degradation. In 1597, Percy notes, a statute of Elizabeth +was passed including ‘minstrels, wandering abroad,’ amongst the other +‘rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars’; and fifty years later Cromwell +made a very similar ordinance.[6] + + [Footnote 6: But these were only re-enactments of existing laws. See + Chambers, _Mediæval Stage,_ i. p. 54.] + +In Elizabeth’s reign we first meet with the ballad-mongers and +professional authors of ballads. Simultaneously, or nearly so, comes the +degradation of the word ‘ballad,’ until it signifies either the genuine +popular ballad, or a satirical song, or a broadside, or almost any ditty +of the day. Of the ballad-mongers, we have mentioned Elderton, Deloney, +and Johnson. We might add a hundred others, from Anthony Munday to +Martin Parker, and even Tom Durfey, each of whom contributed largely to +the vast mushroom-literature that sprang up and flourished vigorously +for the next century. Chappell mentions that seven hundred and +ninety-six ballads remained at the end of 1560 in the cupboards of the +council-chamber of the Stationers’ Company for transference to the new +wardens of the succeeding year. These, of course, would consist chiefly +of broadsides: the narrations of strange events, monstrosities, or ‘true +tales’ of the day. + +It is true that many of the genuine popular ballads were rewritten to +suit contemporary taste. But the style of the seventeenth century +ballads cannot be compared to the noble straightforwardness and +simplicity of the ancient ballad. Let us place side by side the first +stanza of the _Hunting of the Cheviot_ and the first few verses of _Fair +Rosamond_, a very fair specimen of Deloney’s work. + +The popular ancient ballad wastes no time on preliminaries[7]:-- + + [Footnote 7: A good notion of the way in which the old ballads + plunge _in medias res_ may be obtained by reading the Index of First + Lines.] + + ‘The Persé owt off Northombarlonde + And avowe to God mayd he, + That he wold hunte in the mowntayns + Off Chyviat within days thre, + In the magger of doughté Dogles; + And all that ever with him be.’ + +Now for the milk-and-water:-- + + ‘Whenas King Henry rulde this land, + The second of that name, + Besides the queene, he dearly lovde + A faire and comely dame. + + Most peerlesse was her beautye founde, + Her favour and her face; + A sweeter creature in this worlde + Could never prince embrace. + + Her crisped lockes like threads of golde + Appeard to each man’s sight; + Her sparkling eyes, like Orient pearles, + Did cast a heavenly light.’ + +Ritson’s taste actually led him, in comparing the above two first +verses, to prefer the latter. + +Or again we might contrast _Sir Patrick Spence_-- + + ‘The King sits in Dumferling towne + Drinking the blude reid wine: + “O whar will I get a guid sailor, + To sail this ship of mine?”’ + +with the _Children in the Wood_:-- + + ‘Now ponder well, you parents deare, + These wordes, which I shall write; + A doleful story you shall heare, + In time brought forth to light.’ + +Artificial, tedious, didactic. The author of the ancient ballad seldom +points, and never draws, a moral, and has unbounded faith in the +credulity of the audience. The seventeenth century balladists +pitchforked Nature into the midden. + +These compositions were printed as soon as written, or, to be exact, +they were written for the press. We now class them as broadsides, that +is, ballads printed on one side of the paper. The difference between +these and the true ballad is the difference between art and nature. The +broadside ballad was a form of art, and a low form of art. They were +written by hacks for the press, sold in the streets, and pasted on the +walls of houses or rooms: Jamieson had a copy of _Young Beichan_ which +he picked off a wall in Piccadilly. They were generally ornamented with +crude woodcuts, remarkable for their artistic shortcomings and +infidelity to nature. Dr. Johnson’s well-known lines--though in fact a +caricature of Percy’s _Hermit of Warkworth_--ingeniously parody their +style:-- + + ‘As with my hat upon my head, + I walk’d along the Strand, + I there did meet another man, + With his hat in his hand.’ + +Broadside ballads, including a few of the genuine ancient ballads, still +enjoy a certain popularity. The once-famous Catnach Press still survives +in Seven Dials, and Mr. Such, of Union Street in the Borough, still +maintains what is probably the largest stock of broadsides now in +existence, including _Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight_ (or _May Colvin_), +perhaps the most widely dispersed ballad of any. + +Minstrels of all sorts were by this time nearly extinct, in person if +not in name; their successors were the vendors of broadsides. +Nevertheless, survivors of the genuine itinerant reciters of ballads +have been discovered at intervals almost to the present day. Sir Walter +Scott mentions a person who ‘acquired the name of Roswal and Lillian, +from singing that romance about the streets of Edinburgh’ in 1770 or +thereabouts. He further alludes to ‘John Graeme, of Sowport in +Cumberland, commonly called the Long Quaker, very lately alive.’ Ritson +mentions a minstrel of Derbyshire, and another from Gloucester, who +chanted the ballad of _Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor_. In 1845 J. H. +Dixon wrote of several men he had met, chiefly Yorkshire dalesmen, not +vagrants, but with a local habitation, who at Christmas-tide would sing +the old ballads. One of these was Francis King, known then throughout +the western dales of Yorkshire, and still remembered, as ‘the Skipton +Minstrel.’ After a merry Christmas meeting, in the year 1844, he walked +into the river near Gargrave, in Craven, and was drowned. In Gargrave +church-yard lie the remains of perhaps the actual ‘last of the +minstrels.’[8] + + [Footnote 8: Unless we may attribute that distinction to the blind + Irish bard Raftery, who flourished sixty years ago. See various + accounts of him given by Lady Gregory (_Poets and Dreamers_) and + W. B. Yeats (_The Celtic Twilight_, 1902). But he appears to have + been more of an improviser than a reciter.] + + ++IV. Collectors and Editors.+ + +Now a word or two as to the collectors and editors. To take the +broadsides first, the largest collections are at Magdalene College, +Cambridge (eighteen hundred broadsides collected by Selden and Pepys), +in the Bodleian at Oxford, and in the British Museum. The Bodleian +contains collections made by Anthony-à-Wood, Douce, and Rawlinson; the +British Museum, the great Roxburghe and Bagford collections, which have +been reprinted and edited by William Chappell and the Rev. J. W. +Ebsworth for the Ballad Society, as well as other smaller volumes of +ballads. + +But it is not among the broadsides that our noblest ballads are found. +The first attempt to collect popular ballads was made by the compiler of +three volumes issued in 1723 and 1725. The editor is said to have been +Ambrose Phillips, whose name and style combined to produce the word +‘namby-pamby.’ Next came Allan Ramsay, with ‘the _Evergreen_, +a collection of Scots poems wrote by the ingenious before 1600.’--‘By +the ingenious,’ we note; not by the ‘elegant.’ The tide is already +beginning to turn; pitch-forked Nature will ever come back. Followed the +_Tea-Table Miscellany_, also compiled by Allan Ramsay, which contained +about twenty popular ballads, the rest being songs and ballads of modern +composition. The texts were, of course, chopped about and pruned to suit +contemporary taste. It was still necessary to adopt an apologetic +attitude on behalf of these barbarous and crude relics of antiquity. + +These books paved the way to the great literary triumph of the century. +The first edition of Percy’s _Reliques_ was issued in three volumes, in +1765. He received for it one hundred guineas, instant popularity and +patronage, and subsequently, the gratitude of succeeding centuries. + +Nevertheless, Percy himself was so far under the influence of his +contemporaries that he felt it necessary to adopt the apologetic +attitude. In his preface he wrote:-- ‘In a polished age like the +present, I am sensible that many of these reliques of antiquity will +require great allowances to be made for them.’ And again:-- ‘To atone +for the rudeness of the more obsolete poems, each volume concludes with +a few modern attempts in the same kind of writing; and to take off from +the tediousness of the longer narratives, they are everywhere +intermingled with little elegant pieces of the lyrical kind.’ In short, +he could not trust that large child, the people of England, to take its +dose of powder without the conventional treacle. To vary the metaphor, +his famous Folio Manuscript he regarded as a Cinderella, and in his +capacity as fairy godmother refused to introduce her to the world +without hiding the slut’s uncouth attire under fine raiment. To which +end, besides adding ‘little elegant pieces,’ he recast and rewrote ‘the +more obsolete poems,’ many of which came direct from the Folio +Manuscript. Are we to blame him for yielding to the taste of his day? + +He did not satisfy every one. Ritson’s immediate outcry is famous--and +Ritson stood almost alone. He did, indeed, go so far as to deny the +existence of the Folio Manuscript, and Percy was forced to confute him +by producing it. In the later editions of the _Reliques_, Percy sought +to conciliate him by revising his texts, so as to approximate them more +closely to his originals, but still Ritson cried out for the whole +truth, and nothing but the truth. And by this time he had supporters. +But the whole truth as regards the Folio was not to be divulged yet. The +manuscript was most jealously guarded. + +Meanwhile the influence of the publication was having its effect. The +poetry of the schools, the poetry of the intellect, the poetry of art, +brought to its highest pitch by writers like Dryden and Pope, was +shelved; metrically exact diction, artificiality of expression, +carefully balanced antitheses, and all the mechanical devices of the +school were placed in abeyance. There was a general return to Nature, to +simplicity, to straightforwardness--not without imagination, however. +Wordsworth, besides insisting, in a famous passage, the Preface to the +_Lyrical Ballads_, on the spontaneity of good poetry, recorded his +tribute to the _Reliques_: ‘I do not think that there is an able writer +in verse of the present day who would not be proud to acknowledge his +obligation to the _Reliques_.’ While failing often to catch the gusto of +ancient poetry--witness his translations from Chaucer--Wordsworth was +full of the spirit--witness his rifacimento of _The Owl and the +Nightingale_--and, best of all, handed it on to Coleridge.[9] These two +fought side by side against the conventions of the preceding century, +against Dryden, Addison, Pope, and last, but not least, Johnson. Some +have gone so far as to place the definite turning-point in the year +1798, the year of the publication of the _Lyrical Ballads_. Coleridge’s +_annus mirabilis_ was 1797, and the publication of _The Ancient Mariner_ +is significant of the change. But we need not bind ourselves down to any +given year. Enough that the revolution was effected, and that it is +scarcely exaggeration to say that it was almost entirely due to the +publication of the _Reliques_. + + [Footnote 9: ‘He [Coleridge] said the _Lyrical Ballads_ were an + experiment about to be tried by him and Wordsworth, to see how far + the public taste would endure poetry written in a more natural and + simple style than had hitherto been attempted; totally discarding + the artifices of poetical diction, and making use only of such words + as had probably been common in the most ordinary language since the + days of Henry II.’--_Hazlitt._] + +Sir Walter Scott remembered to the day of his death the place where he +first made acquaintance with the _Reliques_ in his thirteenth year. ‘I +remember well the spot where I read those volumes for the first time. It +was beneath a large platanus-tree, in the ruins of what had been +intended for an old-fashioned arbour in the garden I have mentioned. The +summer day sped onward so fast, that, notwithstanding the sharp appetite +of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought for with anxiety, +and was still found entranced in my intellectual banquet.’ + +Almost immediately competitors appeared in the field, and especial +attention was given to Scotland, exceedingly rich ground, as it proved. +In 1769, David Herd published his collection of _Ancient and Modern +Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc._ Then, at intervals of two or three +years only, came the compilations of Evans, Pinkerton, Ritson, Johnson; +in 1802 Sir Walter Scott’s _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, fit to +be placed side by side with the _Reliques_; in 1806 Jamieson’s _Popular +Ballads and Songs_; then Finlay, Gilchrist, Laing, and Utterson. In 1828 +the egregious Peter Buchan produced _Ancient Ballads and Songs of the +North of Scotland, hitherto unpublished_. Buchan hints that he kept a +pedlar or beggarman--‘a wight of Homer’s craft’--travelling through +Scotland to pick up ballads; and one of the two--probably Buchan--must +have been possessed of powerful inventive faculties. Each of Buchan’s +ballads is tediously spun out to enormous and unnecessary length, and is +filled with solecisms and inanities quite inconsistent with the spirit +of the true ballad. But Buchan undoubtedly gained fresh material, +however much he clothed it; and his ballads are now reprinted, as +Professor Child says, for much the same reason that thieves are +photographed. + +Scotland continued the work with two excellent students and pioneers, +George Kinloch and William Motherwell. Next, Robert Chambers published a +collection of eighty ballads, some being spurious. This was in 1829. +Thirty years later Chambers came to the conclusion that ‘the high-class +romantic ballads of Scotland ... are not older than the early part of +the eighteenth century, and are mainly, if not wholly, the production of +one mind.’ And this one mind, he thinks, was probably that of Elizabeth, +Lady Wardlaw, the acknowledged forger of the ballad _Hardyknute_, which +deceived so many. Chambers, of course, was absurdly mistaken. + +So the work of collecting and editing progressed through the nineteenth +century, till it culminated in the final edition of Professor Child’s +_English and Scottish Popular Ballads_. But even this is scarcely his +greatest benefaction to the study of ballads. We must confess that had +it not been for the insistence of this American scholar, the Percy Folio +Manuscript would remain a sealed book. For six years Professor Child +persecuted Dr. Furnivall, who persecuted in turn the owners of the +Folio, even offering sums of money, for permission to print the MS. +Eventually they succeeded, and not only succeeded in giving to the world +an exact reprint,[10] but also once for all secured the precious +original for the British Museum, where it now remains.[11] + + [Footnote 10: _Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript_, edited by J. W. + Hales and F. J. Furnivall, 4 vols., 1867-8. Printed for the Early + English Text Society and subscribers.] + + [Footnote 11: Additional MS. 27, 879.] + +And what is this manuscript? In brief, it is an example of the +commonplace books which abounded in the seventeenth century. But it is +unique in containing a large proportion of early romances and ballads, +as well as the lyrics of the day. Of the hundreds of commonplace books +made during that century, no other example is known which contains such +matter, for the obvious and simple reason that such matter was +despised.[12] The handwriting is put by experts at about 1650; it cannot +be much later, and one song in it contains a passage which fixes the +date of that song to the year 1643. Percy discovered the book ‘lying +dirty on the floor under a bureau in the parlour’ of his friend Humphrey +Pitt of Shifnal, in Shropshire, ‘being used by maids to light the fire.’ +Mr. Pitt’s fires were lighted with half-pages torn out from incomparably +early and precious versions of certain Robin Hood and other ballads. +Percy notes that he was very young when he first got possession of the +MS., and had not then learned to reverence it. When he put it into +boards to lend to Dr. Johnson, the bookbinder pared the margins, and cut +away top and bottom lines. In editing the _Reliques_, Percy actually +tore out pages ‘to save the trouble of transcribing.’ In spite of all, +it remains a unique and inestimably valuable manuscript. Its writer was +presumably a Lancashire man, from his use of certain dialect words, and +was assuredly a man of slight education; nevertheless a national +benefactor. + + [Footnote 12: Cp. _Love’s Labour’s Lost_:-- + + +Armado.+ Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar? + + +Moth.+ The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages + since; but I think now ’tis not to be found.] + +In speaking of manuscripts, we must not omit to mention the Scottish +collectors. Most of them went to work in the right way, seeking out aged +men and women in out-of-the-way corners of Scotland, and taking down +their ballads from their lips. If we condemn these editors for +subsequently adorning the traditional versions, we must be grateful to +them for preserving their manuscripts so that we can still read the +ballads as they received them. The old ladies of Scotland seem to have +possessed better memories than the old men. Besides Sir Walter Scott’s +anonymous ‘Old Lady,’ there was another to whom we owe some of the +finest versions of the Scottish ballads. This was Mrs. Brown, daughter +of Professor Gordon of Aberdeen. Born in 1747, she learned most of her +ballads before she was twelve years old, or before 1759, from the +singing of her aunt, Mrs. Farquhar of Braemar. From about twenty to +forty years later, she repeated her ballads, first to Jamieson, and +afterwards to William Tytler, each of whom compiled a manuscript. The +latter, the Tytler-Brown MS., unfortunately is lost, but the ballads are +practically all known from the other manuscript and various sources. + +Perhaps the richest part of our stock are the Scottish and Border +ballads. Beside them, most of our mawkish English ballads look pale and +withered. The reason, perhaps, may be traced to the effect of natural +surroundings on literature. The English ballads were printed or written +down at a period which is early compared with the date of collection of +the Scottish ballads. In fact, it is only during the last hundred and +thirty years that the ballads of Scotland have been recovered from oral +tradition. In mountainous districts, where means of communication and +intercourse are naturally limited, tradition dies more hard than in +countries where there are no such barriers. Moreover, as Professor Child +points out, ‘oral transmission by the unlettered is not to be feared +nearly so much as by minstrels, nor by minstrels nearly so much as +modern editors.’ Svend Grundtvig illustrates this from his twenty-nine +versions of the Danish ballad ‘Ribold and Guldborg.’ In versions from +recitation, he has shown that there occur certain verses which have +never been printed, but which are found in old manuscripts; and these +recited versions also contain verses which have never been either +printed or written down in Danish, but which are to be found still in +recitation, not only in Norwegian and Swedish versions, but even in +Icelandic tradition of two hundred years’ standing. + + +Such, then, is the history of our ballads, so far as it may be stated in +a few pages. With regard to origins, the ‘nebular’ theory cannot be +summarily dismissed;[13] but, after weighing the evidence and arguments, +the balance of probability would seem to lie with the supporters of the +‘artistic’ theory in a modified form. The ballad may say, with Topsy, +‘Spec’s I growed’; but _vires adquirit eundo_ is only true of the ballad +to a certain point; progress, which includes the invention of printing +and the absorption into cities of the unsophisticated rural population, +has since killed the oral circulation of the ballad. Thus it was not an +unmixed evil that in the Middle Ages, as a rule, the ballads were +neglected; for this neglect, while it rendered the discovery of their +sources almost impossible, gave the ballads for a time into the +safe-keeping of their natural possessors, the common people. +Civilisation, advancing more swiftly in some countries than in others, +has left rich stores here, and little there. Our close kinsmen of +Denmark, and the rest of Scandinavia, possess a ballad-literature of +which they do well to be proud; and Spain is said to have inherited even +better legacies. A study of our native ballads yields much interest, +much delight, and much regret that the gleaning is comparatively so +small. But what we still have is of immense value. The ballads may not +be required again to revoke English literature from flights into +artificiality and subjectivity; but they form a leaf in the life of the +English people, they uphold the dignity of human nature, they carry us +away to the legends, the romances, the beliefs, the traditions of our +ancestors, and take us out of ourselves to ‘fleet the time carelessly, +as they did in the golden world.’ + + [Footnote 13: Professor Gummere (_The Beginnings of Poetry_) is + perhaps the strongest champion of this theory, and takes an extreme + view.] + + + + +BALLADS IN THE FIRST SERIES + + + +The only possible method of classifying ballads is by their +subject-matter; and even thus the lines of demarcation are frequently +blurred. It is, however, possible to divide them roughly into several +main classes, such as ballads of romance and chivalry; ballads of +superstition and of the supernatural; Arthurian, historical, sacred, +domestic ballads; ballads of Robin Hood and other outlaws; and so forth. + +The present volume is concerned with ballads of romance and chivalry; +but it is useless to press too far the appropriateness of this title. +_The Nutbrown Maid_, for instance, is not a true ballad at all, but an +amœbæan idyll, or dramatic lyric. But, on the whole, these ballads +chiefly tell of life, love, death, and human passions, of revenge and +murder and heroic deed. + + ‘These things are life: + And life, some think, is worthy of the Muse.’ + +They are left unexpurgated, as they came down to us: to apologise for +things now left unsaid would be to apologise not only for the heroic +epoch in which they were born, but also for human nature. + +And how full of life that heroic epoch was! Of what stature must Lord +William’s steed have been, if Lady Maisry could hear him sneeze a mile +away! How chivalrous of Gawaine to wed an ugly bride to save his king’s +promise, and how romantic and delightful to discover her on the morrow +to have changed into a well-fared may! + +The popular Muse regards not probability. Old Robin, who hails from +Portugal, marries the daughter of the mayor of Linne, that unknown town +so dear to ballads. In _Young Bekie_, Burd Isbel’s heart is wondrous +sair to find, on liberating her lover, that the bold rats and mice have +eaten his yellow hair. We must not think of objecting that the boldest +rat would never eat a live prisoner’s hair, but only applaud the +picturesque indication of durance vile. + +In the same ballad, Burd Isbel, ‘to keep her from thinking +lang’--a prevalent complaint--is told to take ‘twa marys’ on her +journey. We suddenly realise how little there was to amuse the Burd +Isbels of yore. Twa marys provide a week’s diversion. Otherwise her only +occupation would have been to kemb her golden hair, or perhaps, like +Fair Annie, drink wan water to preserve her complexion. + +But if their occupations were few, their emotions and affections were +strong. Ellen endures insult after insult from Child Waters with the +faithful patience of a Griselda. Hector the hound recognises Burd Isbel +after years of separation. Was any lord or lady in need of a messenger, +there was sure to be a little boy at hand to run their errand soon, +faithful unto death. On receipt of painful news, they kicked over the +table, and the silver plate flew into the fire. When roused, men +murdered with a brown sword, and ladies with a penknife. We are left +uncertain whether the Cruel Mother did not also ‘howk’ a grave for her +murdered babe with that implement. + +But readers will easily pick out and enjoy for themselves other +instances of the naïve and picturesque in these ballads. + + + + +GLOSSARY OF BALLAD COMMONPLACES + + +There survive in ballads a few conventional phrases, some of which +appear to have been preserved by tradition beyond an understanding of +their import. I give here short notes on a few of the more interesting +phrases and words which appear in the present volume, the explanations +being too cumbrous for footnotes. + + ++Bow.+ + +‘bent his bow and swam,’ _Lady Maisry_, 21.2; _Johney Scot_, 10.2; _Lord +Ingram and Chiel Wyet_, 12.2; etc. + +‘set his bent bow to his breast,’ _Lady Maisry_, 22.3; _Lord Ingram and +Chiel Wyet_, 13.3; _Fause Footrage_, 33.1; etc. + + Child attempts no explanation of this striking phrase, which, + I believe, all editors have either openly or silently neglected. + Perhaps ‘bent’ may mean _un_-bent, _i.e._ with the string of the bow + slacked. If so, for what reason was it done before swimming? We can + understand that it would be of advantage to keep the string dry, but + how is it better protected when unstrung? Or, again, was it carried + unstrung, and literally ‘bent’ before swimming? Or was the bow solid + enough to be of support in the water? + + Some one of these explanations may satisfy the first phrase (as + regards swimming); but why does the messenger ‘set his bent bow to + his breast’ before leaping the castle wall? It seems to me that the + two expressions must stand or fall together; therefore the entire + lack of suggestions to explain the latter phrase drives me to + distrust of any of the explanations given for the former. + + A suggestion recently made to me appears to dispose of all + difficulties; and, once made, is convincing in its very obviousness. + It is, that ‘bow’ means ‘elbow,’ or simply ‘arm.’ The first phrase + then exhibits the commonest form of ballad-conventionalities, + picturesque redundancy: the parallel phrase is ‘he slacked his shoon + and ran.’ In the second phrase it is, indeed, necessary to suppose + the wall to be breast-high; the messenger places one elbow on the + wall, pulls himself up, and vaults across. + + Lexicographers distinguish between the Old English _bōg_ or _bōh_ + (O.H.G. buog = arm; Sanskrit, bahu-s = arm), which means arm, arch, + bough, or bow of a ship; and the Old English _boga_ (O.H.G. bogo), + which means the archer’s bow. The distinction is continued in Middle + English, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Instances of the + use of the word as equivalent to ‘arm’ may be found in Old English + in _King Alfred’s Translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care_ (E.E.T.S., + 1871, ed. H. Sweet) written in West Saxon dialect of the ninth + century. + + It is true that the word does not survive elsewhere in this meaning, + but I give the suggestion for what it is worth. + + ++Briar.+ + +‘briar and rose,’ _Douglas Tragedy_, 18, 19, 20; _Fair Margaret and +Sweet William_, 18, 19, 20; _Lord Lovel_, 9, 10; etc. + +‘briar and birk,’ _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, 29, 30; _Fair Janet_, +30; etc. + +‘roses,’ _Lady Alice_, 5, 6. (See introductory note to _Lord Lovel_, +p. 67.) + + The ballads which exhibit this pleasant conception that, after + death, the spirits of unfortunate lovers pass into plants, trees, or + flowers springing from their graves, are not confined to European + folklore. Besides appearing in English, Gaelic, Swedish, Norwegian, + Danish, German, French, Roumanian, Romaic, Portuguese, Servian, + Wendish, Breton, Italian, Albanian, Russian, etc., we find it + occurring in Afghanistan and Persia. As a rule, the branches of the + trees intertwine; but in some cases they only bend towards each + other, and kiss when the wind blows. + + In an Armenian tale a curious addition is made. A young man, + separated by her father from his sweetheart because he was of a + different religion, perished with her, and the two were buried by + their friends in one grave. Roses grew from the grave, and sought to + intertwine, but a _thorn-bush_ sprang up between them and prevented + it. The thorn here is symbolical of religious belief. + + ++Pin.+ + +‘thrilled upon a pin,’ _Glasgerion_, 10.2. + +‘knocked at the ring,’ _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_, 11.2. + +(_Cp._ ‘lifted up the pin,’ _Fair Janet_, 14.2.) + + Throughout the Scottish ballads the expression is ‘tirl’d at the pin,’ + _i.e._ rattled or twisted the pin. + + The pin appears to have been the external part of the door-latch, + attached by day thereto by means of a leathern thong, which at night + was disconnected with the latch to prevent any unbidden guest from + entering. Thus any one ‘tirling at the pin’ does not attempt to open + the door, but signifies his presence to those within. + + The ring was merely part of an ordinary knocker, and had nothing to + do with the latching of the door. + + ++Sword.+ + +‘bright brown sword,’ _Glasgerion_, 22.1; _Old Robin of Portingale_, +22.1; _Child Maurice_, 26.1, 27.1; ‘good browne sword,’ _Marriage of Sir +Gawaine_, 24.3; etc. + +‘dried it on his sleeve,’ _Glasgerion_, 22.2; _Child Maurice_, 27.2 (‘on +the grasse,’ 26.2); ‘straiked it o’er a strae,’ _Bonny Birdy_, 15.2; +‘struck it across the plain,’ _Johney Scot_, 32.2; etc. + + In Anglo-Saxon, the epithet ‘brún’ as applied to a sword has been + held to signify either that the sword was of bronze, or that the + sword gleamed. It has further been suggested that sword-blades may + have been artificially bronzed, like modern gun-barrels. + + ‘Striped it thro’ the straw’ and many similar expressions all refer + to the whetting of a sword, generally just before using it. Straw + (unless ‘strae’ and ‘straw’ mean something else) would appear to be + very poor stuff on which to sharpen swords, but Glasgerion’s sleeve + would be even less effective; perhaps, however, ‘dried’ should be + ‘tried.’ Johney Scot sharpened his sword on the ground. + + ++Miscellaneous.+ + +‘gare’ = gore, part of a woman’s dress; _Brown Robin_, 10.4; cp. +_Glasgerion_, 19.4. + + Generally of a knife, apparently on a chatelaine. But in _Lamkin_ + 12.2, of a man’s dress. + +‘Linne,’ ‘Lin,’ _Young Bekie_, 5.4; _Old Robin of Portingale_, 2.1. + + A stock ballad-locality, castle or town. Perhaps to be identified + with the city of Lincoln, perhaps with Lynn, or King’s Lynn, in + Norfolk, where pilgrims of the fourteenth century visited the Rood + Chapel of Our Lady of Lynn, on their way to Walsingham; with equal + probability it is not to be identified at all with any known town. + +‘shot-window,’ _Gay Goshawk_, 8.3; _Brown Robin_, 3.3; _Lamkin_, 7.3; +etc. + + This commonplace phrase seems to vary in meaning. It may be ‘a + shutter of timber with a few inches of glass above it’ (Wodrow’s + _History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland_, Edinburgh, + 1721-2, 2 vols., in vol. ii. p. 286); it may be simply ‘a window to + open and shut,’ as Ritson explains it; or again, as is implied in + Jamieson’s _Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, an + out-shot window, or bow-window. The last certainly seems to be + intended in certain instances. + +‘thought lang’ _Young Bekie_, 16.4; _Brown Adam_, 5.2; _Johney Scot_, +6.2; _Fause Footrage_, 25.2; etc. + + This simply means ‘thought it long,’ or ‘thought it slow,’ as we + should say in modern slang; in short, ‘was bored,’ or ‘weary.’ + +‘wild-wood swine,’ a simile for drunkenness, _Brown Robin_, 7.4; _Fause +Footrage_, 16.4. + + _Cp._ Shakespeare, _All’s Well that Ends Well_, Act IV. 3, 286: + ‘Drunkenness is his best virtue; for he will be swine-drunk.’ It + seems to be nothing more than a popular comparison. + + + + +LIST OF BOOKS FOR BALLAD STUDY FOR ENGLISH READERS + + +A.--The Literary History of Ballads + +The Introductions, etc., to the Collections of Ballads in List B. + +1861. _David Irving._ History of Scottish Poetry. + +1871. _Thomas Warton._ History of English Poetry, ed. W. Carew Hazlitt. +4 vols. + +1875. _Andrew Lang._ Article in Encyclopædia Britannica (9th edition), +vol. iii. + +1876. _Stopford Brooke._ English Literature. New edition, enlarged, +1897. + +1883. _W. W. Newell._ Games and Songs of American Children. New York. + +1887. _Andrew Lang._ Myth, Ritual, and Religion. 2 vols. + +1893. _John Veitch._ History and Poetry of the Scottish Border. 2 vols. + +1893. _F. J. Child._ Article ‘Ballads’ in Johnson’s Cyclopædia, vol. i. +pp. 464-6. + +1895-97. _W. J. Courthope._ A History of English Poetry. Vols. i. +and ii. + +1897. _G. Gregory Smith._ The Transition Period: being vol. iv. of +Periods of English Literature, ed. G. Saintsbury. + +1898. _Andrew Lang_ in _Quarterly Review_ for July. + +1901. _F. B. Gummere._ The Beginnings of Poetry. + +1903. _E. K. Chambers._ The Mediæval Stage. 2 vols. + +1903. _Andrew Lang_ in _Folk-Lore_ for June. + +1903. _J. H. Millar._ A Literary History of Scotland. + + +B.--Collections of Ballads + +[_This list does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to give the more +important collections, especially those containing trustworthy +Introductions._] + +1723-25. A Collection of Old Ballads, corrected from the best and most +ancient copies extant. 3 vols. London. + +1724. _Allan Ramsay._ The Ever-Green. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1724-27. _Allan Ramsay._ The Tea-Table Miscellany. First eight editions +in 3 vols., Edinburgh, Dublin, and London. Ninth and subsequent editions +in four volumes, or four volumes in one, London. + +1765. _Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore._ Reliques of Ancient English +Poetry. 3 vols. London. + +1769. _David Herd._ The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, +etc. Edinburgh. The second edition, 1776, under a slightly different +title. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1781. _John Pinkerton._ Scottish Tragic Ballads. London. + +1787-1803. _James Johnson._ The Scots Musical Museum. 6 vols. Edinburgh. + +1790. _Joseph Ritson._ Ancient Songs, etc. London. (Printed 1787, dated +1790, and published 1792.) + +1791. _Joseph Ritson._ Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry. London. + +1794. _Joseph Ritson._ Scotish Song. 2 vols. London. + +1795. „ „ Robin Hood. 2 vols. London. + +1802-3. _Walter Scott._ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 3 vols. Kelso +and Edinburgh. + +1806. _Robert Jamieson._ Popular Ballads and Songs from Tradition, +Manuscripts, and Scarce Editions. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1808. _John Finlay._ Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads, chiefly +ancient. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1822. _Alexander Laing._ Scarce Ancient Ballads. Aberdeen. + +1823. _Alexander Laing._ The Thistle of Scotland. Aberdeen. + +1823. _Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe._ A Ballad Book. Edinburgh. + +1824. _James Maidment._ A North Countrie Garland. Edinburgh. + +1826. _Robert Chambers._ The Popular Rhymes of Scotland. Edinburgh. + +1827. _George Kinloch._ Ancient Scottish Ballads. London and Edinburgh. + +1827. _William Motherwell._ Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern. Glasgow. + +1828. _Peter Buchan._ Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of +Scotland. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1834. The Universal Songster. 3 vols. London. + +1845. _Alexander Whitelaw._ The Book of Scottish Ballads. Glasgow, +Edinburgh, and London. + +1846. _James Henry Dixon._ Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the +Peasantry of England. London. + +1847. _John Matthew Gutch._ A Lytyll Geste of Robin Hode. 2 vols. +London. + +1855-59. _William Chappell._ Popular Music of the Olden Time. 2 vols. +London. + +1857. _Robert Bell._ Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry +of England. London. + +1857-59. _Francis James Child._ English and Scottish Ballads. 8 vols. +2nd edition, 1864. + +1864. _William Allingham._ The Ballad Book. London. + +1867-68. _J. W. Hales_ and _F. J. Furnivall_. Bishop Percy’s Folio +Manuscript. 4 vols. London. + +1882-98. _Francis James Child._ The English and Scottish Popular +Ballads. 5 vols. Boston, New York, and London. + +1895. _Andrew Lang._ Border Ballads. London: Lawrence and Bullen. + +1897. _Andrew Lang._ A Collection of Ballads. London: Chapman and Hall’s +‘Diamond Library.’ + +1897. _Francis B. Gummere._ Old English Ballads. Boston, U.S.A. Athenæum +Press Series. + +1902. _T. F. Henderson._ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, by Sir +Walter Scott. New edition. 3 vols. London. + + + + +NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The illustrations on pp. 28, 75, and 118 are taken from Royal MS. 10. E. +iv. (of the fourteenth century) in the British Museum, where they occur +on folios 34 _verso_, 215 _recto_, and 254 _recto_ respectively. The +designs in the original form a decorated margin at the foot of each +page, and are outlined in ink and roughly tinted in three or four +colours. Much use is made of them in the illustrations to J. J. +Jusserand’s _English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages_, where +M. Jusserand rightly points out that this MS. ‘has perhaps never been so +thoroughly studied as it deserves.’ + + + + +GLASGERION + + + Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe + That souned bothe wel and sharpe, + Orpheus ful craftely, + And on his syde, faste by, + Sat the harper Orion, + And Eacides Chiron, + And other harpers many oon, + And the Bret[A] Glascurion. + + --Chaucer, _Hous of Fame_, III. + + ++The Text+, from the Percy Folio, luckily is complete, saving an +omission of two lines. A few obvious corrections have been introduced, +and the Folio reading given in a footnote. Percy printed the ballad in +the _Reliques_, with far fewer alterations than usual. + ++The Story+ is also told in a milk-and-water Scotch version, +_Glenkindie_, doubtless mishandled by Jamieson, who ‘improved’ it from +two traditional sources. The admirable English ballad gives a striking +picture of the horror of ‘churlës blood’ proper to feudal days. + +In the quotation above, Chaucer places Glascurion with Orpheus, Arion, +and Chiron, four great harpers. It is not improbable that Glascurion and +Glasgerion represent the Welsh bard Glas Keraint (Keraint the Blue Bard, +the chief bard wearing a blue robe of office), said to have been an +eminent poet, the son of Owain, Prince of Glamorgan. + +The oath taken ‘by oak and ash and thorn’ (stanza 18) is a relic of very +early times. An oath ‘by corn’ is in _Young Hunting_. + + [Footnote A: From Skeat’s edition: elsewhere quoted ‘gret + Glascurion.’] + + +GLASGERION + + 1. + Glasgerion was a king’s own son, + And a harper he was good; + He harped in the king’s chamber, + Where cup and candle stood, + And so did he in the queen’s chamber, + Till ladies waxed wood. + + 2. + And then bespake the king’s daughter, + And these words thus said she: + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 3. + Said, ‘Strike on, strike on, Glasgerion, + Of thy striking do not blin; + There’s never a stroke comes over this harp + But it glads my heart within.’ + + 4. + ‘Fair might you fall, lady,’ quoth he; + ‘Who taught you now to speak? + I have loved you, lady, seven year; + My heart I durst ne’er break.’ + + 5. + ‘But come to my bower, my Glasgerion, + When all men are at rest; + As I am a lady true of my promise, + Thou shalt be a welcome guest.’ + + 6. + But home then came Glasgerion, + A glad man, Lord, was he! + ‘And come thou hither, Jack, my boy, + Come hither unto me. + + 7. + ‘For the king’s daughter of Normandy + Her love is granted me, + And before the cock have crowen + At her chamber must I be.’ + + 8. + ‘But come you hither, master,’ quoth he, + ‘Lay your head down on this stone; + For I will waken you, master dear, + Afore it be time to gone.’ + + 9. + But up then rose that lither lad, + And did on hose and shoon; + A collar he cast upon his neck, + He seemed a gentleman. + + 10. + And when he came to that lady’s chamber, + He thrilled upon a pin. + The lady was true of her promise, + Rose up, and let him in. + + 11. + He did not take the lady gay + To bolster nor no bed, + But down upon her chamber-floor + Full soon he hath her laid. + + 12. + He did not kiss that lady gay + When he came nor when he yode; + And sore mistrusted that lady gay + He was of some churlës blood. + + 13. + But home then came that lither lad, + And did off his hose and shoon. + And cast that collar from about his neck; + He was but a churlës son: + ‘Awaken,’ quoth he, ‘my master dear, + I hold it time to be gone. + + 14. + ‘For I have saddled your horse, master, + Well bridled I have your steed; + Have not I served a good breakfast? + When time comes I have need.’ + + 15. + But up then rose good Glasgerion, + And did on both hose and shoon, + And cast a collar about his neck; + He was a kingës son. + + 16. + And when he came to that lady’s chamber, + He thrilled upon a pin; + The lady was more than true of her promise, + Rose up, and let him in. + + 17. + Says, ‘Whether have you left with me + Your bracelet or your glove? + Or are you back returned again + To know more of my love?’ + + 18. + Glasgerion swore a full great oath + By oak and ash and thorn, + ‘Lady, I was never in your chamber + Sith the time that I was born.’ + + 19. + ‘O then it was your little foot-page + Falsely hath beguiled me’: + And then she pull’d forth a little pen-knife + That hanged by her knee, + Says, ‘There shall never no churlës blood + Spring within my body.’ + + 20. + But home then went Glasgerion, + A woe man, good [Lord], was he; + Says, ‘Come hither, thou Jack, my boy, + Come thou thither to me. + + 21. + ‘For if I had killed a man to-night, + Jack, I would tell it thee; + But if I have not killed a man to-night, + Jack, thou hast killed three!’ + + 22. + And he pull’d out his bright brown sword, + And dried it on his sleeve, + And he smote off that lither lad’s head, + And asked no man no leave. + + 23. + He set the sword’s point till his breast, + The pommel till a stone; + Thorough that falseness of that lither lad + These three lives were all gone. + + [Annotations: + 1.4: Folio:-- ‘where cappe & candle yoode.’ Percy in the _Reliques_ + (1767) printed ‘cuppe and _caudle_ stoode.’ + 1.6: ‘wood,’ mad, wild (with delight). + 3.2: ‘blin,’ cease. + 4.4: _i.e._ durst never speak my mind. + 6.1: ‘home’; Folio _whom_. + 7.3,4: These lines are reversed in the Folio. + 9.1: ‘lither,’ idle, wicked. + 10.2: ‘thrilled,’ twirled or rattled; cp. ‘tirled at the pin,’ a stock + ballad phrase (Scots). + 12.2: ‘yode,’ went. + 14.4: ‘time’: Folio _times_. + 17.3: Folio _you are_. + 22.2: Another commonplace of the ballads. The Scotch variant is + generally, ‘And striped it thro’ the straw.’ See special section + of the Introduction. + 23.1,2: ‘till,’ to, against.] + + + + +YOUNG BEKIE + + ++The Text+ is that of the Jamieson-Brown MS., taken down from the +recitation of Mrs. Brown about 1783. In printing the ballad, Jamieson +collated with the above two other Scottish copies, one in MS., another a +stall-copy, a third from recitation in the north of England, a fourth +‘picked off an old wall in Piccadilly’ by the editor. + ++The Story+ has several variations of detail in the numerous versions +known (Young Bicham, Brechin, Bekie, Beachen, Beichan, Bichen, Lord +Beichan, Lord Bateman, Young Bondwell, etc.), but the text here given is +one of the most complete and vivid, and contains besides one feature +(the ‘Belly Blin’) lost in all other versions but one. + +A similar story is current in the ballad-literature of Scandinavia, +Spain, and Italy; but the English tale has undoubtedly been affected by +the charming legend of Gilbert Becket, the father of Saint Thomas, who, +having been captured by Admiraud, a Saracen prince, and held in durance +vile, was freed by Admiraud’s daughter, who then followed him to +England, knowing no English but ‘London’ and ‘Gilbert’; and after much +tribulation, found him and was married to him. ‘Becket’ is sufficiently +near ‘Bekie’ to prove contamination, but not to prove that the legend is +the origin of the ballad. + +The Belly Blin (Billie Blin = billie, a man; blin’, blind, and so Billie +Blin = Blindman’s Buff, formerly called Hoodman Blind) occurs in certain +other ballads, such as _Cospatrick_, _Willie’s Lady_, and the _Knight +and the Shepherd’s Daughter_; also in a mutilated ballad of the Percy +Folio, _King Arthur and King Cornwall_, under the name Burlow Beanie. In +the latter case he is described as ‘a lodly feend, with seuen heads, and +one body,’ breathing fire; but in general he is a serviceable household +demon. Cp. German _bilwiz_, and Dutch _belewitte_. + + +YOUNG BEKIE + + 1. + Young Bekie was as brave a knight + As ever sail’d the sea; + An’ he’s doen him to the court of France, + To serve for meat and fee. + + 2. + He had nae been i’ the court of France + A twelvemonth nor sae long, + Til he fell in love with the king’s daughter, + An’ was thrown in prison strong. + + 3. + The king he had but ae daughter, + Burd Isbel was her name; + An’ she has to the prison-house gane, + To hear the prisoner’s mane. + + 4. + ‘O gin a lady woud borrow me, + At her stirrup-foot I woud rin; + Or gin a widow wad borrow me, + I woud swear to be her son. + + 5. + ‘Or gin a virgin woud borrow me, + I woud wed her wi’ a ring; + I’d gi’ her ha’s, I’d gie her bowers, + The bonny tow’rs o’ Linne.’ + + 6. + O barefoot, barefoot gaed she but, + An’ barefoot came she ben; + It was no for want o’ hose an’ shoone, + Nor time to put them on; + + 7. + But a’ for fear that her father dear, + Had heard her making din: + She’s stown the keys o’ the prison-house dor + An’ latten the prisoner gang. + + 8. + O whan she saw him, Young Bekie, + Her heart was wondrous sair! + For the mice but an’ the bold rottons + Had eaten his yallow hair. + + 9. + She’s gi’en him a shaver for his beard, + A comber till his hair, + Five hunder pound in his pocket, + To spen’, and nae to spair. + + 10. + She’s gi’en him a steed was good in need, + An’ a saddle o’ royal bone, + A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter, + An’ Hector called one. + + 11. + Atween this twa a vow was made, + ’Twas made full solemnly, + That or three years was come and gane, + Well married they shoud be. + + 12. + He had nae been in’s ain country + A twelvemonth till an end, + Till he’s forc’d to marry a duke’s daughter, + Or than lose a’ his land. + + 13. + ‘Ohon, alas!’ says Young Bekie, + ‘I know not what to dee; + For I canno win to Burd Isbel, + And she kensnae to come to me.’ + + 14. + O it fell once upon a day + Burd Isbel fell asleep, + An’ up it starts the Belly Blin, + An’ stood at her bed-feet. + + 15. + ‘O waken, waken, Burd Isbel, + How [can] you sleep so soun’, + Whan this is Bekie’s wedding day, + An’ the marriage gain’ on? + + 16. + ’Ye do ye to your mither’s bow’r, + Think neither sin nor shame; + An’ ye tak twa o’ your mither’s marys, + To keep ye frae thinking lang. + + 17. + ‘Ye dress yoursel’ in the red scarlet, + An’ your marys in dainty green, + An’ ye pit girdles about your middles + Woud buy an earldome. + + 18. + ‘O ye gang down by yon sea-side, + An’ down by yon sea-stran’; + Sae bonny will the Hollans boats + Come rowin’ till your han’. + + 19. + ‘Ye set your milk-white foot abord, + Cry, Hail ye, Domine! + An’ I shal be the steerer o’t, + To row you o’er the sea.’ + + 20. + She’s tane her till her mither’s bow’r, + Thought neither sin nor shame, + An’ she took twa o’ her mither’s marys, + To keep her frae thinking lang. + + 21. + She dress’d hersel’ i’ the red scarlet. + Her marys i’ dainty green, + And they pat girdles about their middles + Woud buy an earldome. + + 22. + An’ they gid down by yon sea-side, + An’ down by yon sea-stran’; + Sae bonny did the Hollan boats + Come rowin’ to their han’. + + 23. + She set her milk-white foot on board, + Cried ‘Hail ye, Domine!’ + An’ the Belly Blin was the steerer o’t, + To row her o’er the sea. + + 24. + Whan she came to Young Bekie’s gate, + She heard the music play; + Sae well she kent frae a’ she heard, + It was his wedding day. + + 25. + She’s pitten her han’ in her pocket, + Gin the porter guineas three; + ‘Hae, tak ye that, ye proud porter, + Bid the bride-groom speake to me.’ + + 26. + O whan that he cam up the stair, + He fell low down on his knee: + He hail’d the king, an’ he hail’d the queen, + An’ he hail’d him, Young Bekie. + + 27. + ‘O I’ve been porter at your gates + This thirty years an’ three; + But there’s three ladies at them now, + Their like I never did see. + + 28. + ‘There’s ane o’ them dress’d in red scarlet, + And twa in dainty green, + An’ they hae girdles about their middles + Woud buy an earldome.’ + + 29. + Then out it spake the bierly bride, + Was a’ goud to the chin: + ‘Gin she be braw without,’ she says, + ‘We’s be as braw within.’ + + 30. + Then up it starts him, Young Bekie, + An’ the tears was in his ee: + ‘I’ll lay my life it’s Burd Isbel, + Come o’er the sea to me.’ + + 31. + O quickly ran he down the stair, + An’ whan he saw ’twas she, + He kindly took her in his arms, + And kiss’d her tenderly. + + 32. + ‘O hae ye forgotten, Young Bekie + The vow ye made to me, + Whan I took ye out o’ the prison strong + Whan ye was condemn’d to die? + + 33. + ‘I gae you a steed was good in need, + An’ a saddle o’ royal bone, + A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter, + An’ Hector called one.’ + + 34. + It was well kent what the lady said, + That it wasnae a lee, + For at ilka word the lady spake, + The hound fell at her knee. + + 35. + ‘Tak hame, tak hame your daughter dear, + A blessing gae her wi’, + For I maun marry my Burd Isbel, + That’s come o’er the sea to me.’ + + 36. + ‘Is this the custom o’ your house, + Or the fashion o’ your lan’, + To marry a maid in a May mornin’, + An’ send her back at even?’ + + [Annotations: + 4.1: ‘borrow,’ ransom. + 6.1,2: ‘but ... ben,’ out ... in. + 7.3: ‘stown,’ stolen. + 8.3: ‘rottons,’ rats. + 15.2: The MS. reads ‘How y you.’ + 16.3: ‘marys,’ maids. + 29.1: ‘bierly,’ stately.] + + + + +OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE + + ++Text.+-- The Percy Folio is the sole authority for this excellent +ballad, and the text of the MS. is therefore given here _literatim_, in +preference to the copy served up ‘with considerable corrections’ by +Percy in the _Reliques_. I have, however, substituted a few obvious +emendations suggested by Professor Child, giving the Folio reading in a +footnote. + ++The Story+ is practically identical with that of _Little Musgrave and +Lady Barnard_; but each is so good, though in a different vein, that +neither could be excluded. + +The last stanza narrates the practice of burning a cross on the flesh of +the right shoulder when setting forth to the Holy Land--a practice which +obtained only among the very devout or superstitious of the Crusaders. +Usually a cross of red cloth attached to the right shoulder of the coat +was deemed sufficient. + + +OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE + + 1. + God! let neuer soe old a man + Marry soe yonge a wiffe + As did old Robin of Portingale! + He may rue all the dayes of his liffe. + + 2. + Ffor the Maior’s daughter of Lin, God wott, + He chose her to his wife, + & thought to haue liued in quiettnesse + With her all the dayes of his liffe. + + 3. + They had not in their wed bed laid, + Scarcly were both on sleepe, + But vpp she rose, & forth shee goes + To Sir Gyles, & fast can weepe. + + 4. + Saies, ‘Sleepe you, wake you, faire Sir Gyles + Or be not you within?’ + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 5. + ‘But I am waking, sweete,’ he said, + ‘Lady, what is your will?’ + ‘I haue vnbethought me of a wile, + How my wed lord we shall spill. + + 6. + ‘Four and twenty knights,’ she sayes, + ‘That dwells about this towne, + Eene four and twenty of my next cozens, + Will helpe to dinge him downe.’ + + 7. + With that beheard his litle foote page, + As he was watering his master’s steed, + Soe ... ... ... + His verry heart did bleed; + + 8. + He mourned, sikt, & wept full sore; + I sweare by the holy roode, + The teares he for his master wept + Were blend water & bloude. + + 9. + With that beheard his deare master + As in his garden sate; + Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, my litle page, + What causes thee to weepe? + + 10. + ’Hath any one done to thee wronge, + Any of thy fellowes here? + Or is any of thy good friends dead, + Which makes thee shed such teares? + + 11. + ‘Or if it be my head kookes man + Greiued againe he shalbe, + Nor noe man within my howse + Shall doe wrong vnto thee.’ + + 12. + ‘But it is not your head kookes man, + Nor none of his degree, + But or tomorrow ere it be noone, + You are deemed to die; + + 13. + ‘& of that thanke your head steward, + & after your gay ladie.’ + ‘If it be true, my litle foote page, + Ile make thee heyre of all my land.’ + + 14. + ‘If it be not true, my deare master, + God let me neuer thye.’ + ‘If it be not true, thou litle foot page, + A dead corse shalt thou be.’ + + 15. + He called downe his head kooke’s man: + ‘Cooke, in kitchen super to dresse’: + ‘All & anon, my deare master, + Anon att your request.’ + + 16. + ‘& call you downe my faire Lady, + This night to supp with mee.’ + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 17. + & downe then came that fayre Lady, + Was cladd all in purple & palle, + The rings that were vpon her fingers + Cast light thorrow the hall. + + 18. + ‘What is your will, my owne wed Lord, + What is your will with me?’ + ‘I am sicke, fayre Lady, + Sore sicke, & like to dye.’ + + 19. + ‘But & you be sicke, my owne wed Lord, + Soe sore it greiueth mee, + But my 5 maydens & my selfe + Will goe & make your bedd, + + 20. + ‘& at the wakening of your first sleepe, + You shall haue a hott drinke made, + & at the wakening of your next sleepe + Your sorrowes will haue a slake.’ + + 21. + He put a silke cote on his backe, + Was 13 inches folde, + & put a steele cap vpon his head, + Was gilded with good red gold; + + 22. + & he layd a bright browne sword by his side + & another att his ffeete, + & full well knew old Robin then + Whether he shold wake or sleepe. + + 23. + & about the middle time of the night + Came 24 good knights in, + Sir Gyles he was the formost man, + Soe well he knew that ginne. + + 24. + Old Robin with a bright browne sword + Sir Gyles’ head he did winne, + Soe did he all those 24, + Neuer a one went quicke out [agen]; + + 25. + None but one litle foot page + Crept forth at a window of stone, + & he had 2 armes when he came in + And [when he went out he had none]. + + 26. + Vpp then came that ladie light + With torches burning bright; + Shee thought to haue brought Sir Gyles a drinke, + But shee found her owne wedd knight; + + 27. + & the first thing that this ladye stumbled vpon, + Was of Sir Gyles his ffoote; + Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, & woe is me, + Heere lyes my sweete hart roote!’ + + 28. + & the 2d. thing that this ladie stumbled on, + Was of Sir Gyles his head; + Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, & woe is me, + Heere lyes my true loue deade!’ + + 29. + Hee cutt the papps beside her brest, + & bad her wish her will, + & he cutt the eares beside her heade, + & bade her wish on still. + + 30. + ‘Mickle is the man’s blood I haue spent + To doe thee & me some good’; + Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, my fayre Lady, + I thinke that I was woode!’ + + 31. + He call’d then vp his litle foote page, + & made him heyre of all his land, + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 32. + & he shope the crosse in his right sholder + Of the white flesh & the redd, + & he went him into the holy land, + Wheras Christ was quicke and dead. + + + [Annotations: + 2.1: ‘Lin,’ a stock ballad-locality: cp. _Young Bekie_, 5.4. + 5.3: ‘vnbethought.’ The same expression occurs in two other places + in the Percy Folio, each time apparently in the same sense of + ‘bethought [him] of.’ + 6.1,3: ‘Four and twenty’: the Folio gives ‘24’ in each case. + 8.1: ‘sikt,’ sighed. The Folio reads _sist_. + 11.1, 12.1: The Folio reads _bookes man_; but see 15.1. + 14.2: ‘thye,’ thrive: the Folio reads _dye_. + 19.1: ‘&’ = an, if. + 20.3: ‘next’: the Folio reads _first_ again; probably the copyist’s + error. + 23.4: ‘ginne,’ door-latch. + 24.4: ‘quicke,’ alive. The last word was added by Percy in the Folio. + 25.4: Added by Hales and Furnivall. + 26.1,2: _light_ and _bright_ are interchanged in the Folio. + 32.3: ‘went’: the Folio gives _sent_.] + + + + +LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD + + ++The Text+ here given is the version printed, with very few variations, +in _Wit Restor’d_, 1658, _Wit and Drollery_, 1682, Dryden’s +_Miscellany_, 1716, etc. The Percy Folio contains a fragmentary version, +consisting of some dozen stanzas. Child says that all the Scottish +versions are late, and probably derived, though taken down from oral +tradition, from printed copies. As recompense, we have the Scotch _Bonny +Birdy_. + ++The Story+ would seem to be purely English. That it was popular long +before the earliest known text is proved by quotations from it in old +plays: as from _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_. Merrythought in _The +Knight of the Burning Pestle_ (1611) sings from this ballad a version of +stanza 14, and Beaumont and Fletcher also put quotations into the mouths +of characters in _Bonduca_ (circ. 1619) and _Monsieur Thomas_ (circ. +1639). Other plays before 1650 also mention it. + +The reader should remember, once for all, that burdens are to be +repeated in every verse, though printed only in the first. + + +LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD + + 1. + As it fell one holy-day, + _Hay downe_ + As many be in the yeare, + When young men and maids together did goe, + Their mattins and masse to heare; + + 2. + Little Musgrave came to the church-dore;-- + The preist was at private masse;-- + But he had more minde of the faire women + Then he had of our lady[’s] grace. + + 3. + The one of them was clad in green, + Another was clad in pall, + And then came in my lord Barnard’s wife, + The fairest amonst them all. + + 4. + She cast an eye on Little Musgrave, + As bright as the summer sun; + And then bethought this Little Musgrave, + ‘This lady’s heart have I woonn.’ + + 5. + Quoth she, ‘I have loved thee, Little Musgrave, + Full long and many a day’; + ‘So have I loved you, fair lady, + Yet never word durst I say.’ + + 6. + ‘I have a bower at Bucklesfordbery, + Full daintyly is it deight; + If thou wilt wend thither, thou Little Musgrave, + Thou’s lig in mine armes all night.’ + + 7. + Quoth he, ‘I thank yee, fair lady, + This kindnes thou showest to me; + But whether it be to my weal or woe, + This night I will lig with thee.’ + + 8. + With that he heard, a little tynë page, + By his ladye’s coach as he ran: + ‘All though I am my ladye’s foot-page, + Yet I am Lord Barnard’s man. + + 9. + ‘My lord Barnard shall knowe of this, + Whether I sink or swim’; + And ever where the bridges were broake + He laid him downe to swimme. + + 10. + ‘A sleepe or wake, thou Lord Barnard, + As thou art a man of life, + For Little Musgrave is at Bucklesfordbery, + A bed with thy own wedded wife.’ + + 11. + ‘If this be true, thou little tinny page, + This thing thou tellest to me, + Then all the land in Bucklesfordbery + I freely will give to thee. + + 12. + ‘But if it be a ly, thou little tinny page, + This thing thou tellest to me, + On the hyest tree in Bucklesfordbery + Then hanged shalt thou be.’ + + 13. + He called up his merry men all: + ‘Come saddle me my steed; + This night must I to Bucklesfordbery, + For I never had greater need.’ + + 14. + And some of them whistled, and some of them sung, + And some these words did say, + And ever when my lord Barnard’s horn blew, + ‘Away, Musgrave, away!’ + + 15. + ‘Methinks I hear the thresel-cock, + Methinks I hear the jaye; + Methinks I hear my Lord Barnard, + And I would I were away!’ + + 16. + ‘Lye still, lye still, thou little Musgrave, + And huggell me from the cold; + ’Tis nothing but a shephard’s boy + A driving his sheep to the fold. + + 17. + ‘Is not thy hawke upon a perch, + Thy steed eats oats and hay, + And thou a fair lady in thine armes, + And wouldst thou bee away?’ + + 18. + With that my lord Barnard came to the dore, + And lit a stone upon; + He plucked out three silver keys + And he open’d the dores each one. + + 19. + He lifted up the coverlett, + He lifted up the sheet: + ‘How now, how now, thou Little Musgrave, + Doest thou find my lady sweet?’ + + 20. + ‘I find her sweet,’ quoth Little Musgrave, + ‘The more ’tis to my paine; + I would gladly give three hundred pounds + That I were on yonder plaine.’ + + 21. + ‘Arise, arise, thou Little Musgrave, + And put thy clothës on; + It shall nere be said in my country + I have killed a naked man. + + 22. + ‘I have two swords in one scabberd, + Full deere they cost my purse; + And thou shalt have the best of them, + And I will have the worse.’ + + 23. + The first stroke that Little Musgrave stroke, + He hurt Lord Barnard sore; + The next stroke that Lord Barnard stroke, + Little Musgrave nere struck more. + + 24. + With that bespake this faire lady, + In bed whereas she lay: + ‘Although thou’rt dead, thou Little Musgrave, + Yet I for thee will pray. + + 25. + ‘And wish well to thy soule will I, + So long as I have life; + So will I not for thee, Barnard, + Although I am thy wedded wife.’ + + 26. + He cut her paps from off her brest; + Great pitty it was to see + That some drops of this ladies heart’s blood + Ran trickling downe her knee. + + 27. + ‘Woe worth you, woe worth, my mery men all, + You were nere borne for my good; + Why did you not offer to stay my hand, + When you see me wax so wood? + + 28. + ‘For I have slaine the bravest sir knight + That ever rode on steed; + So have I done the fairest lady + That over did woman’s deed. + + 29. + ‘A grave, a grave,’ Lord Barnard cry’d, + ‘To put these lovers in; + But lay my lady on the upper hand, + For she came of the better kin.’ + + + [Annotations: + 3.2: ‘pall,’ a cloak: some versions read _pale_. + 6.2: ‘deight,’ _i.e._ dight, decked, dressed. + 15.1: ‘thresel-cock,’ throstle, thrush. + 27.4: ‘wood,’ wild, fierce.] + + + + +THE BONNY BIRDY + + ++Text.+--From the Jamieson-Brown MS. Jamieson, in printing this ballad, +enlarged and rewrote much of it, making the burden part of the dialogue +throughout. + ++The Story+ is much the same as that of _Little Musgrave and Lady +Barnard_; but the ballad as a whole is worthy of comparison with the +longer English ballad for the sake of its lyrical setting. + + +THE BONNY BIRDY + + 1. + There was a knight, in a summer’s night, + Was riding o’er the lee, _(diddle)_ + An’ there he saw a bonny birdy, + Was singing upon a tree. _(diddle)_ + + O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An’ dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + Gin it were day, an’ gin I were away, + For I ha’ na lang time to stay. _(diddle)_ + + 2. + ‘Make hast, make hast, ye gentle knight, + What keeps you here so late? + Gin ye kent what was doing at hame, + I fear you woud look blate.’ + + 3. + ‘O what needs I toil day an’ night, + My fair body to kill, + Whan I hae knights at my comman’, + An’ ladys at my will?’ + + 4. + ‘Ye lee, ye lee, ye gentle knight, + Sa loud’s I hear you lee; + Your lady’s a knight in her arms twa + That she lees far better nor thee.’ + + 5. + ‘Ye lee, ye lee, you bonny birdy, + How you lee upo’ my sweet! + I will tak’ out my bonny bow, + An’ in troth I will you sheet.’ + + 6. + ‘But afore ye hae your bow well bent, + An’ a’ your arrows yare, + I will flee till another tree, + Whare I can better fare.’ + + 7. + ‘O whare was you gotten, and whare was ye clecked? + My bonny birdy, tell me’; + ‘O I was clecked in good green wood, + Intill a holly tree; + A gentleman my nest herryed + An’ ga’ me to his lady. + + 8. + ’Wi’ good white bread an’ farrow-cow milk + He bade her feed me aft, + An’ ga’ her a little wee simmer-dale wanny, + To ding me sindle and saft. + + 9. + ‘Wi’ good white bread an’ farrow-cow milk + I wot she fed me nought, + But wi’ a little wee simmer-dale wanny + She dang me sair an’ aft: + Gin she had deen as ye her bade, + I wouldna tell how she has wrought.’ + + 10. + The knight he rade, and the birdy flew, + The live-lang simmer’s night, + Till he came till his lady’s bow’r-door, + Then even down he did light: + The birdy sat on the crap of a tree, + An’ I wot it sang fu’ dight. + + 11. + ‘O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An’ dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + Gin it were day, and gin I were away, + For I ha’ na lang time to stay.’ _(diddle)_ + + 12. + ‘What needs ye lang for day, _(diddle)_ + An’ wish that you were away? _(diddle)_ + Is no your hounds i’ my cellar. + Eating white meal and gray?’ _(diddle)_ + ‘O wow for day,’ _etc._ + + 13. + ‘Is nae you[r] steed in my stable, + Eating good corn an’ hay? + An’ is nae your hawk i’ my perch-tree, + Just perching for his prey? + An’ is nae yoursel i’ my arms twa? + Then how can ye lang for day?’ + + 14. + ‘O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An’ dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + For he that’s in bed wi’ anither man’s wife + Has never lang time to stay.’ _(diddle)_ + + 15. + Then out the knight has drawn his sword, + An’ straiked it o’er a strae, + An’ thro’ and thro’ the fa’se knight’s waste + He gard cauld iron gae: + An’ I hope ilk ane sal sae be serv’d + That treats ane honest man sae. + + + [Annotations: + 2.4: ‘blate,’ astonished, abashed. + 7.1: ‘clecked,’ hatched. + 8.1: ‘A Farrow Cow is a Cow that gives Milk in the second year after + her Calving, having no Calf that year.’--Holme’s _Armoury_, 1688. + 8.3: ‘wanny,’ wand, rod: ‘simmer-dale,’ apparently = summer-dale. + 8.4: ‘sindle,’ seldom. + 10.5: ‘crap,’ top. + 10.6: ‘dight,’ freely, readily. + 15.1-4: Cp. _Clerk Sanders_, 15.] + + + [Illustration] + + + + +FAIR ANNIE + + ++The Text+ is that of Scott’s _Minstrelsy_, ‘chiefly from the recitation +of an old woman.’ Scott names the ballad ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annie,’ +adding to the confusion already existing with ‘Lord Thomas and Fair +Annet.’ + ++The Story.+--Fair Annie, stolen from the home of her father, the Earl +of Wemyss, by ‘a knight out o’er the sea,’ has borne seven sons to him. +He now bids her prepare to welcome home his real bride, and she meekly +obeys, suppressing her tears with difficulty. Lord Thomas and his +new-come bride hear, through the wall of their bridal chamber, Annie +bewailing her lot, and wishing her seven sons had never been born. The +bride goes to comfort her, discovers in her a long-lost sister, and +departs, thanking heaven she goes a maiden home. + +Of this ballad, Herd printed a fragment in 1769, some stanzas being +incorporated in the present version. Similar tales abound in the +folklore of Scandinavia, Holland, and Germany. But, three hundred years +older than any version of the ballad, is the lay of Marie de France, _Le +Lai de Freisne_; which, nevertheless, is only another offshoot of some +undiscovered common origin. + +It is imperative (in 4.4) that Annie should _braid_ her hair, as a sign +of virginity: married women only bound up their hair, or wore it under a +cap. + + +FAIR ANNIE + + 1. + ‘It’s narrow, narrow, make your bed, + And learn to lie your lane; + For I’m ga’n o’er the sea, Fair Annie, + A braw bride to bring hame. + Wi’ her I will get gowd and gear; + Wi’ you I ne’er got nane. + + 2. + ‘But wha will bake my bridal bread, + Or brew my bridal ale? + And wha will welcome my brisk bride, + That I bring o’er the dale?’ + + 3. + ‘It’s I will bake your bridal bread, + And brew your bridal ale; + And I will welcome your brisk bride, + That you bring o’er the dale.’ + + 4. + ‘But she that welcomes my brisk bride + Maun gang like maiden fair; + She maun lace on her robe sae jimp, + And braid her yellow hair.’ + + 5. + ‘But how can I gang maiden-like, + When maiden I am nane? + Have I not born seven sons to thee, + And am with child again?’ + + 6. + She’s taen her young son in her arms, + Another in her hand, + And she’s up to the highest tower, + To see him come to land. + + 7. + ‘Come up, come up, my eldest son, + And look o’er yon sea-strand, + And see your father’s new-come bride, + Before she come to land.’ + + 8. + ‘Come down, come down, my mother dear, + Come frae the castle wa’! + I fear, if langer ye stand there, + Ye’ll let yoursell down fa’.’ + + 9. + And she gaed down, and farther down, + Her love’s ship for to see, + And the topmast and the mainmast + Shone like the silver free. + + 10. + And she’s gane down, and farther down, + The bride’s ship to behold, + And the topmast and the mainmast + They shone just like the gold. + + 11. + She’s taen her seven sons in her hand, + I wot she didna fail; + She met Lord Thomas and his bride, + As they came o’er the dale. + + 12. + ‘You’re welcome to your house, Lord Thomas, + You’re welcome to your land; + You’re welcome with your fair ladye, + That you lead by the hand. + + 13. + ‘You’re welcome to your ha’s, ladye, + You’re welcome to your bowers; + You’re welcome to your hame, ladye, + For a’ that’s here is yours.’ + + 14. + ‘I thank thee, Annie, I thank thee, Annie, + Sae dearly as I thank thee; + You’re the likest to my sister Annie, + That ever I did see. + + 15. + ‘There came a knight out o’er the sea, + And steal’d my sister away; + The shame scoup in his company, + And land where’er he gae!’ + + 16. + She hang ae napkin at the door, + Another in the ha’, + And a’ to wipe the trickling tears, + Sae fast as they did fa’. + + 17. + And aye she served the long tables, + With white bread and with wine; + And aye she drank the wan water, + To had her colour fine. + + 18. + And aye she served the lang tables, + With white bread and with brown; + And ay she turned her round about + Sae fast the tears fell down. + + 19. + And he’s taen down the silk napkin, + Hung on a silver pin, + And aye he wipes the tear trickling + A’ down her cheek and chin. + + 20. + And aye he turned him round about, + And smil’d amang his men; + Says, ‘Like ye best the old ladye, + Or her that’s new come hame?’ + + 21. + When bells were rung, and mass was sung, + And a’ men bound to bed, + Lord Thomas and his new-come bride + To their chamber they were gaed. + + 22. + Annie made her bed a little forbye, + To hear what they might say; + ‘And ever alas,’ Fair Annie cried, + ‘That I should see this day! + + 23. + ‘Gin my seven sons were seven young rats + Running on the castle wa’, + And I were a gray cat mysell, + I soon would worry them a’. + + 24. + ‘Gin my seven sons were seven young hares, + Running o’er yon lilly lee, + And I were a grew hound mysell, + Soon worried they a’ should be.’ + + 25. + And wae and sad Fair Annie sat, + And drearie was her sang, + And ever, as she sobb’d and grat, + ‘Wae to the man that did the wrang!’ + + 26. + ‘My gown is on,’ said the new-come bride, + ‘My shoes are on my feet, + And I will to Fair Annie’s chamber, + And see what gars her greet. + + 27. + ‘What ails ye, what ails ye, Fair Annie, + That ye make sic a moan? + Has your wine barrels cast the girds, + Or is your white bread gone? + + 28. + ‘O wha was’t was your father, Annie, + Or wha was’t was your mother? + And had ye ony sister, Annie, + Or had ye ony brother?’ + + 29. + ‘The Earl of Wemyss was my father, + The Countess of Wemyss my mother; + And a’ the folk about the house + To me were sister and brother.’ + + 30. + ‘If the Earl of Wemyss was your father, + I wot sae he was mine; + And it shall not be for lack o’ gowd + That ye your love sall tyne. + + 31. + ‘For I have seven ships o’ mine ain, + A’ loaded to the brim, + And I will gie them a’ to thee, + Wi’ four to thine eldest son: + But thanks to a’ the powers in heaven + That I gae maiden hame!’ + + + [Annotations: + 15.3: ‘scoup,’ fly, hasten. + 17.4: ‘had’ = haud, hold. + 22.1: ‘forbye,’ apart. + 24.2: ‘lilly lee,’ lovely lea. + 30.4: ‘tyne,’ lose.] + + + + +THE CRUEL MOTHER + + ++The Text+ is given from Motherwell’s _Minstrelsy_, earlier versions +being only fragmentary. + ++The Story+ has a close parallel in a Danish ballad; and another, +popular all over Germany, is a variation of the same theme, but in place +of the mother’s final doom being merely mentioned, in the German ballad +she is actually carried away by the devil. + +In a small group of ballads, the penknife appears to be the ideal weapon +for murder or suicide. See the _Twa Brothers_ and the _Bonny Hind_. + + +THE CRUEL MOTHER + + 1. + She leaned her back unto a thorn; + _Three, three, and three by three_ + And there she has her two babes born. + _Three, three, and thirty-three_. + + 2. + She took frae ’bout her ribbon-belt, + And there she bound them hand and foot. + + 3. + She has ta’en out her wee pen-knife, + And there she ended baith their life. + + 4. + She has howked a hole baith deep and wide, + She has put them in baith side by side. + + 5. + She has covered them o’er wi’ a marble stane, + Thinking she would gang maiden hame. + + 6. + As she was walking by her father’s castle wa’, + She saw twa pretty babes playing at the ba’. + + 7. + ‘O bonnie babes, gin ye were mine, + I would dress you up in satin fine. + + 8. + ‘O I would dress you in the silk, + And wash you ay in morning milk.’ + + 9. + ‘O cruel mother, we were thine, + And thou made us to wear the twine. + + 10. + ‘O cursed mother, heaven’s high, + And that’s where thou will ne’er win nigh. + + 11. + ‘O cursed mother, hell is deep, + And there thou’ll enter step by step.’ + + + [Annotations: + 9.2: ‘twine,’ coarse cloth; _i.e._ shroud.] + + + + +CHILD WATERS + + ++The Text+ is here given from the Percy Folio, with some emendations as +suggested by Child. + ++The Story+, if we omit the hard tests imposed on the maid’s affection, +is widely popular in a series of Scandinavian ballads,--Danish, Swedish, +and Norwegian; and Percy’s edition (in the _Reliques_) was popularised +in Germany by Bürger’s translation. + +The disagreeable nature of the final insult (stt. 27-29), retained here +only for the sake of fidelity to the original text, may be paralleled by +the similarly sudden lapse of taste in the _Nut-Brown Maid_. We can but +hope--as indeed is probable--that the objectionable lines are in each +case interpolated. + +‘Child,’ as in ‘Child Roland,’ etc., is a title of courtesy = Knight. + + +CHILD WATERS + + 1. + Childe Watters in his stable stoode, + & stroaket his milke-white steede; + To him came a ffaire young ladye + As ere did weare womans weede. + + 2. + Saies, ‘Christ you saue, good Chyld Waters!’ + Sayes, ‘Christ you saue and see! + My girdle of gold which was too longe + Is now to short ffor mee. + + 3. + ‘& all is with one chyld of yours, + I ffeele sturre att my side: + My gowne of greene, it is to strayght; + Before it was to wide.’ + + 4. + ‘If the child be mine, faire Ellen,’ he sayd, + ‘Be mine, as you tell mee, + Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both, + Take them your owne to bee. + + 5. + ‘If the child be mine, ffaire Ellen,’ he said, + ‘Be mine, as you doe sweare, + Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both, + & make that child your heyre.’ + + 6. + Shee saies, ‘I had rather haue one kisse, + Child Waters, of thy mouth, + Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both, + That lyes by north & south. + + 7. + ‘& I had rather haue a twinkling, + Child Waters, of your eye, + Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both, + To take them mine oune to bee!’ + + 8. + ‘To-morrow, Ellen, I must forth ryde + Soe ffar into the north countrye; + The ffairest lady that I can ffind, + Ellen, must goe with mee.’ + ‘& euer I pray you, Child Watters, + Your ffootpage let me bee!’ + + 9. + ‘If you will my ffootpage be, Ellen, + As you doe tell itt mee, + Then you must cut your gownne of greene + An inch aboue your knee. + + 10. + ‘Soe must you doe your yellow lockes + Another inch aboue your eye; + You must tell no man what is my name; + My ffootpage then you shall bee.’ + + 11. + All this long day Child Waters rode, + Shee ran bare ffoote by his side; + Yett was he neuer soe curteous a knight, + To say, ‘Ellen, will you ryde?’ + + 12. + But all this day Child Waters rode, + She ran barffoote thorow the broome! + Yett he was neuer soe curteous a knight + As to say, ‘Put on your shoone.’ + + 13. + ‘Ride softlye,’ shee said, ‘Child Watters: + Why do you ryde soe ffast? + The child, which is no mans but yours, + My bodye itt will burst.’ + + 14. + He sayes, ‘Sees thou yonder water, Ellen, + That fflowes from banke to brim?’ + ‘I trust to God, Child Waters,’ shee sayd, + ‘You will neuer see mee swime.’ + + 15. + But when shee came to the waters side, + Shee sayled to the chinne: + ‘Except the lord of heauen be my speed, + Now must I learne to swime.’ + + 16. + The salt waters bare vp Ellens clothes, + Our Ladye bare vpp her chinne, + & Child Waters was a woe man, good Lord, + To ssee faire Ellen swime. + + 17. + & when shee ouer the water was, + Shee then came to his knee: + He said, ‘Come hither, ffaire Ellen, + Loe yonder what I see! + + 18. + ‘Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen? + Of redd gold shine the yates; + There’s four and twenty ffayre ladyes, + The ffairest is my wordlye make. + + 19. + ‘Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen? + Of redd gold shineth the tower; + There is four and twenty ffaire ladyes, + The fairest is my paramoure.’ + + 20. + ‘I doe see the hall now, Child Waters, + That of redd gold shineth the yates; + God giue good then of your selfe, + & of your wordlye make! + + 21. + ‘I doe see the hall now, Child Waters, + That of redd gold shineth the tower; + God giue good then of your selfe, + And of your paramoure!’ + + 22. + There were four and twenty ladyes, + Were playing att the ball; + & Ellen, was the ffairest ladye, + Must bring his steed to the stall. + + 23. + There were four and twenty faire ladyes + Was playing att the chesse; + & Ellen, shee was the ffairest ladye, + Must bring his horsse to grasse. + + 24. + & then bespake Child Waters sister, + & these were the words said shee: + ‘You haue the prettyest ffootpage, brother, + That ever I saw with mine eye; + + 25. + ‘But that his belly it is soe bigg, + His girdle goes wonderous hye; + & euer I pray you, Child Waters, + Let him go into the chamber with me.’ + + 26. + ‘It is more meete for a litle ffootpage, + That has run through mosse and mire, + To take his supper vpon his knee + & sitt downe by the kitchin fyer, + Then to go into the chamber with any ladye + That weares so [rich] attyre.’ + + 27. + But when thé had supped euery one, + To bedd they tooke the way; + He sayd, ‘Come hither, my litle footpage, + Hearken what I doe say! + + 28. + ‘& goe thee downe into yonder towne, + & low into the street; + The ffarest ladye that thou can find, + Hyer her in mine armes to sleepe, + & take her vp in thine armes two, + For filinge of her ffeete.’ + + 29. + Ellen is gone into the towne, + & low into the streete: + The fairest ladye that shee cold find + She hyred in his armes to sleepe, + & tooke her in her armes two, + For filing of her ffeete. + + 30. + ‘I pray you now, good Child Waters, + That I may creepe in att your bedds feete, + For there is noe place about this house + Where I may say a sleepe.’ + + 31. + This [night] & itt droue on affterward + Till itt was neere the day: + He sayd, ‘Rise vp, my litle ffoote page, + & giue my steed corne & hay; + & soe doe thou the good blacke oates, + That he may carry me the better away.’ + + 32. + And vp then rose ffaire Ellen, + & gave his steed corne & hay, + & soe shee did and the good blacke oates, + That he might carry him the better away. + + 33. + Shee layned her backe to the manger side, + & greiuouslye did groane; + & that beheard his mother deere, + And heard her make her moane. + + 34. + Shee said, ‘Rise vp, thou Child Waters! + I thinke thou art a cursed man; + For yonder is a ghost in thy stable, + That greiuously doth groane, + Or else some woman laboures of child, + Shee is soe woe begone!’ + + 35. + But vp then rose Child Waters, + & did on his shirt of silke; + Then he put on his other clothes + On his body as white as milke. + + 36. + & when he came to the stable dore, + Full still that hee did stand, + That hee might heare now faire Ellen, + How shee made her monand. + + 37. + Shee said, ‘Lullabye, my owne deere child! + Lullabye, deere child, deere! + I wold thy father were a king, + Thy mother layd on a beere!’ + + 38. + ‘Peace now,’ he said, ‘good faire Ellen! + & be of good cheere, I thee pray, + & the bridall & the churching both, + They shall bee vpon one day.’ + + + [Annotations: + 2.2: ‘see,’ protect. So constantly in this phrase. + 18.2: ‘yates,’ gates. + 18.3: In each case the Folio gives ‘24’ for ‘four and twenty.’ + 18.4: ‘wordlye make,’ worldly mate. + 26.6: ‘rich’ added by Percy. + 28.6: ‘For filinge,’ to save defiling. + 30.4: ‘say,’ essay, attempt. + 31.1: ‘night.’ Child’s emendation. Percy read: ‘This done, the nighte + drove on apace.’ + 32.3: ‘and’; Folio _on_. + 36.4: ‘monand,’ moaning.] + + + + +EARL BRAND, THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY, and THE CHILD OF ELL + + +There are here put in juxtaposition three versions in ballad-form of the +same story, though fragmentary in the two latter cases, not only because +each is good, but to show the possibilities of variation in a popular +story. There is yet another ballad, _Erlinton_, printed by Sir Walter +Scott in the _Minstrelsy_, embodying an almost identical tale. _Earl +Brand_ preserves most of the features of a very ancient story with more +exactitude than any other traditional ballad. But in this case, as in +too many others, we must turn to a Scandinavian ballad for the complete +form of the story. A Danish ballad, _Ribold and Guldborg_, gives the +fine tale thus:-- + +Ribold, a king’s son, in love with Guldborg, offers to carry her away +‘to a land where death and sorrow come not, where all the birds are +cuckoos, where all the grass is leeks, where all the streams run with +wine.’ Guldborg is willing, but doubts whether she can escape the strict +watch kept over her by her family and by her betrothed lover. Ribold +disguises her in his armour and a cloak, and they ride away. On the moor +they meet an earl, who asks, ‘Whither away?’ Ribold answers that he is +taking his youngest sister from a cloister. This does not deceive the +earl, nor does a bribe close his mouth; and Guldborg’s father, learning +that she is away with Ribold, rides with his sons in pursuit. Ribold +bids Guldborg hold his horse, and prepares to fight; he tells her that, +whatever may chance, she must not call on him by name. Ribold slays her +father and some of her kin and six of her brothers; only her youngest +brother is left: Guldborg cries, ‘Ribold, spare him,’ that he may carry +tidings to her mother. Immediately Ribold receives a mortal wound. He +ceases fighting, sheathes his sword, and says to her, ‘Wilt thou go home +to thy mother again, or wilt thou follow so sad a swain?’ And she says +she will follow him. In silence they ride on. ‘Why art not thou merry as +before?’ asks Guldborg. And Ribold answers, ‘Thy brother’s sword has +been in my heart.’ They reach his house: he calls for one to take his +horse, another to fetch a priest; for his brother shall have Guldborg. +But she refuses. That night dies Ribold, and Guldborg slays herself and +dies in his arms. + +A second and even more dramatic ballad, _Hildebrand and Hilde_, tells a +similar story. + + +A comparison of the above tale with _Earl Brand_ will show a close +agreement in most of the incidents. The chief loss in the English ballad +is the request of Ribold, that Guldborg must not speak his name while he +fights. The very name ‘Brand’ is doubtless a direct derivative of +‘Hildebrand.’ Winchester (13.2), as it implies a nunnery, corresponds to +the cloister in the Danish ballad. Earl Brand directs his mother to +marry the King’s daughter to his youngest brother; but her refusal, if +she did as Guldborg did, has been lost. + + +_The Douglas Tragedy_, a beautiful but fragmentary version, is, says +Scott, ‘one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed complete +locality.’ The ascribed locality, if more complete, is no more probable +than any other: to ascribe any definite locality to a ballad is in all +cases a waste of time and labour. + +_The Child of Ell_, in the Percy Folio, _may_ have contained anything; +but immediately we approach a point where comparison would be of +interest, we meet an _hiatus valde deflendus_. Percy, in the _Reliques_, +expanded the fragment here given to about five times the length. + + +EARL BRAND + +(From +R. Bell’s+ _Ancient Poems, Ballads_, etc.) + + 1. + Oh did ye ever hear o’ brave Earl Bran’? + _Ay lally, o lilly lally_ + He courted the king’s daughter of fair England + _All i’ the night sae early_. + + 2. + She was scarcely fifteen years of age + Till sae boldly she came to his bedside. + + 3. + ‘O Earl Bran’, fain wad I see + A pack of hounds let loose on the lea.’ + + 4. + ‘O lady, I have no steeds but one, + And thou shalt ride, and I will run.’ + + 5. + ‘O Earl Bran’, my father has two, + And thou shall have the best o’ them a’.’ + + 6. + They have ridden o’er moss and moor, + And they met neither rich nor poor. + + 7. + Until they met with old Carl Hood; + He comes for ill, but never for good. + + 8. + ‘Earl Bran’, if ye love me, + Seize this old earl, and gar him die.’ + + 9. + ‘O lady fair, it wad be sair, + To slay an old man that has grey hair. + + 10. + ‘O lady fair, I’ll no do sae, + I’ll gie him a pound and let him gae.’ + + 11. + ‘O where hae ye ridden this lee lang day? + O where hae ye stolen this lady away?’ + + 12. + ‘I have not ridden this lee lang day, + Nor yet have I stolen this lady away. + + 13. + ‘She is my only, my sick sister, + Whom I have brought from Winchester.’ + + 14. + ‘If she be sick, and like to dead, + Why wears she the ribbon sae red? + + 15. + ‘If she be sick, and like to die, + Then why wears she the gold on high?’ + + 16. + When he came to this lady’s gate, + Sae rudely as he rapped at it. + + 17. + ‘O where’s the lady o’ this ha’?’ + ‘She’s out with her maids to play at the ba’.’ + + 18. + ‘Ha, ha, ha! ye are a’ mista’en: + Gae count your maidens o’er again. + + 19. + ‘I saw her far beyond the moor + Away to be the Earl o’ Bran’s whore.’ + + 20. + The father armed fifteen of his best men, + To bring his daughter back again. + + 21. + O’er her left shoulder the lady looked then: + ‘O Earl Bran’, we both are tane.’ + + 22. + ‘If they come on me ane by ane, + Ye may stand by and see them slain. + + 23. + ‘But if they come on me one and all, + Ye may stand by and see me fall.’ + + 24. + They have come on him ane by ane, + And he has killed them all but ane. + + 25. + And that ane came behind his back, + And he’s gi’en him a deadly whack. + + 26. + But for a’ sae wounded as Earl Bran’ was, + He has set his lady on her horse. + + 27. + They rode till they came to the water o’ Doune, + And then he alighted to wash his wounds. + + 28. + ‘O Earl Bran’, I see your heart’s blood!’ + ‘’Tis but the gleat o’ my scarlet hood.’ + + 29. + They rode till they came to his mother’s gate, + And sae rudely as he rapped at it. + + 30. + ‘O my son’s slain, my son’s put down, + And a’ for the sake of an English loun.’ + + 31. + ‘O say not sae, my dear mother, + But marry her to my youngest brother. + + 32. + ‘This has not been the death o’ ane, + But it’s been that o’ fair seventeen.’ + + +THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY + +(From +Scott’s+ _Minstrelsy_) + + 1. + ‘Rise up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,’ she says, + ‘And put on your armour so bright; + Let it never be said that a daughter of thine + Was married to a lord under night. + + 2. + ‘Rise up, rise up, my seven bold sons, + And put on your armour so bright; + And take better care of your youngest sister, + For your eldest’s awa’ the last night!’ + + 3. + He’s mounted her on a milk-white steed, + And himself on a dapple grey, + With a bugelet horn hung down by his side, + And lightly they rode away. + + 4. + Lord William lookit o’er his left shoulder, + To see what he could see, + And there he spy’d her seven brethren bold + Come riding over the lee. + + 5. + ‘Light down, light down, Lady Margret,’ he said, + ‘And hold my steed in your hand, + Until that against your seven brethren bold, + And your father, I mak’ a stand.’ + + 6. + She held his steed in her milk-white hand, + And never shed one tear, + Until that she saw her seven brethren fa’, + And her father hard fighting, who lov’d her so dear. + + 7. + ‘O hold your hand, Lord William!’ she said, + ‘For your strokes they are wondrous sair; + True lovers I can get many a ane, + But a father I can never get mair.’ + + 8. + O she’s ta’en out her handkerchief, + It was o’ the holland sae fine, + And aye she dighted her father’s bloody wounds, + That were redder than the wine. + + 9. + ‘O chuse, O chuse, Lady Margret,’ he said, + ‘O whether will ye gang or bide?’ + ‘I’ll gang, I’ll gang, Lord William,’ she said, + ‘For ye have left me no other guide.’ + + 10. + He’s lifted her on a milk-white steed, + And himself on a dapple grey, + With a bugelet horn hung down by his side, + And slowly they baith rade away. + + 11. + O they rade on, and on they rade, + And a’ by the light of the moon, + Until they came to yon wan water, + And there they lighted down. + + 12. + They lighted down to tak’ a drink + Of the spring that ran sae clear: + And down the stream ran his gude heart’s blood, + And sair she gan to fear. + + 13. + ‘Hold up, hold up, Lord William,’ she says, + ‘For I fear that you are slain!’ + ‘’Tis naething but the shadow of my scarlet cloak, + That shines in the water sae plain.’ + + 14. + O they rade on, and on they rade, + And a’ by the light of the moon, + Until they cam’ to his mother’s ha’ door, + And there they lighted down. + + 15. + ‘Get up, get up, lady mother,’ he says, + ‘Get up, and let me in! + Get up, get up, lady mother,’ he says, + ‘For this night my fair ladye I’ve win. + + 16. + ‘O mak’ my bed, lady mother,’ he says, + ‘O mak’ it braid and deep, + And lay Lady Margret close at my back, + And the sounder I will sleep.’ + + 17. + Lord William was dead lang ere midnight, + Lady Margret lang ere day, + And all true lovers that go thegither, + May they have mair luck than they! + + 18. + Lord William was buried in St. Mary’s kirk, + Lady Margret in Mary’s quire; + Out o’ the lady’s grave grew a bonny red rose, + And out o’ the knight’s a briar. + + 19. + And they twa met, and they twa plat, + And fain they wad be near; + And a’ the warld might ken right weel, + They were twa lovers dear. + + 20. + But bye and rade the Black Douglas, + And wow but he was rough! + For he pull’d up the bonny brier, + And flang’t in St. Mary’s Loch. + + + [Annotations: + 8.3: ‘dighted,’ dressed.] + + +THE CHILD OF ELL + + (_Fragment: from the Percy Folio_) + + 1. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + Sayes, ‘Christ thee saue, good child of Ell, + Christ saue thee & thy steede! + + 2. + ‘My father sayes he will noe meate, + Nor his drinke shall doe him noe good, + Till he haue slaine the child of Ell, + & haue seene his hart’s blood.’ + + 3. + ‘I wold I were in my sadle sett, + & a mile out of the towne, + I did not care for your father + & all his merrymen. + + 4. + ‘I wold I were in my sadle sett + & a litle space him froe, + I did not care for your father + & all that long him to!’ + + 5. + He leaned ore his saddle bow, + To kisse this lady good; + The teares that went them 2 betweene + Were blend water & blood. + + 6. + He sett himselfe on one good steed, + This lady on one palfray, + & sett his litle horne to his mouth, + & roundlie he rode away. + + 7. + He had not ridden past a mile, + A mile out of the towne, + Her father was readye with her 7 brether, + He said, ‘Sett thou my daughter downe! + For it ill beseemes thee, thou false churles sonne, + To carry her forth of this towne!’ + + 8. + ‘But lowd thou lyest, Sir Iohn the Knight, + Thou now doest lye of me; + A knight me gott, & a lady me bore; + Soe neuer did none by thee. + + 9. + ‘But light now downe, my lady gay, + Light downe & hold my horsse, + Whilest I & your father & your brether + Doe play vs at this crosse. + + 10. + ‘But light now downe, my owne trew loue, + & meeklye hold my steede, + Whilest your father [and your brether] bold + ... ... ... + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: The maiden is speaking. + 5.4: ‘blend,’ blended, mixed. + 6.2: ‘on’: the MS. gives ‘of.’ + 10.3: The rest (about nine stt.) is missing.] + + + + +LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET + + ++The Text+ is from Percy’s _Reliques_ (vol. ii., 1765: vol. iii., 1767). +In the latter edition he also gives the English version of the ballad +earlier in the same volume. + ++The Story.+--This ballad, as it is one of the most beautiful, is also +one of the most popular. It should be compared with _Fair Margaret and +Sweet William_, in which the forlorn maid dies of grief, not by the hand +of her rival. + + A series of Norse ballads tell much the same tale, but in none is the +‘friends’ will’ a crucial point. Chansons from Burgundy, Bretagne, +Provence, and northern Italy, faintly echo the story. + + Lord Thomas his mither says that Fair Annet has no ‘gowd and gear’; +yet later on we find that Annet’s father can provide her with a horse +shod with silver and gold, and four-and-twenty silver bells in his mane; +she is attended by a large company, her cleading skinkles, and her belt +is of pearl. + + +LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET + + 1. + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet + Sate a’ day on a hill; + Whan night was cum, and sun was sett, + They had not talkt their fill. + + 2. + Lord Thomas said a word in jest, + Fair Annet took it ill: + ‘A, I will nevir wed a wife + Against my ain friends’ will.’ + + 3. + ‘Gif ye wull nevir wed a wife, + A wife wull neir wed yee’: + Sae he is hame to tell his mither, + And knelt upon his knee. + + 4. + ‘O rede, O rede, mither,’ he says, + ‘A gude rede gie to mee: + O sall I tak the nut-browne bride, + And let Faire Annet bee?’ + + 5. + ‘The nut-browne bride haes gowd and gear, + Fair Annet she has gat nane; + And the little beauty Fair Annet haes, + O it wull soon be gane.’ + + 6. + And he has till his brother gane: + ‘Now, brother, rede ye mee; + A, sall I marrie the nut-browne bride, + And let Fair Annet bee?’ + + 7. + ‘The nut-browne bride has oxen, brother, + The nut-browne bride has kye: + I wad hae ye marrie the nut-browne bride, + And cast Fair Annet bye.’ + + 8. + ‘Her oxen may dye i’ the house, billie, + And her kye into the byre, + And I sall hae nothing to mysell + Bot a fat fadge by the fyre.’ + + 9. + And he has till his sister gane: + ‘Now sister, rede ye mee; + O sall I marrie the nut-browne bride, + And set Fair Annet free?’ + + 10. + ‘I’se rede ye tak Fair Annet, Thomas, + And let the browne bride alane; + Lest ye sould sigh, and say, Alace, + What is this we brought hame!’ + + 11. + ‘No, I will tak my mither’s counsel, + And marrie me owt o’ hand; + And I will tak the nut-browne bride; + Fair Annet may leive the land.’ + + 12. + Up then rose Fair Annet’s father, + Twa hours or it wer day, + And he is gane into the bower + Wherein Fair Annet lay. + + 13. + ‘Rise up, rise up, Fair Annet,’ he says, + ‘Put on your silken sheene; + Let us gae to St. Marie’s kirke, + And see that rich weddeen.’ + + 14. + ‘My maides, gae to my dressing-roome, + And dress to me my hair; + Whaireir yee laid a plait before, + See yee lay ten times mair. + + 15. + ‘My maides, gae to my dressing-room, + And dress to me my smock; + The one half is o’ the holland fine, + The other o’ needle-work.’ + + 16. + The horse Fair Annet rade upon, + He amblit like the wind; + Wi’ siller he was shod before, + Wi’ burning gowd behind. + + 17. + Four and twanty siller bells + Wer a’ tyed till his mane, + And yae tift o’ the norland wind, + They tinkled ane by ane. + + 18. + Four and twanty gay gude knichts + Rade by Fair Annet’s side, + And four and twanty fair ladies, + As gin she had bin a bride. + + 19. + And whan she cam to Marie’s kirk, + She sat on Marie’s stean: + The cleading that Fair Annet had on + It skinkled in their een. + + 20. + And whan she cam into the kirk, + She shimmered like the sun; + The belt that was about her waist, + Was a’ wi’ pearles bedone. + + 21. + She sat her by the nut-browne bride, + And her een they wer sae clear, + Lord Thomas he clean forgat the bride, + Whan Fair Annet drew near. + + 22. + He had a rose into his hand, + He gae it kisses three, + And reaching by the nut-browne bride, + Laid it on Fair Annet’s knee. + + 23. + Up than spak the nut-browne bride, + She spak wi’ meikle spite: + ‘And whair gat ye that rose-water, + That does mak yee sae white?’ + + 24. + ‘O I did get the rose-water + Whair ye wull neir get nane, + For I did get that very rose-water + Into my mither’s wame.’ + + 25. + The bride she drew a long bodkin + Frae out her gay head-gear, + And strake Fair Annet unto the heart, + That word spak nevir mair. + + 26. + Lord Thomas he saw Fair Annet wex pale, + And marvelit what mote bee; + But whan he saw her dear heart’s blude, + A’ wood-wroth wexed hee. + + 27. + He drew his dagger, that was sae sharp, + That was sae sharp and meet, + And drave it into the nut-browne bride, + That fell deid at his feit. + + 28. + ‘Now stay for me, dear Annet,’ he sed, + ‘Now stay, my dear,’ he cry’d; + Then strake the dagger untill his heart, + And fell deid by her side. + + 29. + Lord Thomas was buried without kirk-wa’, + Fair Annet within the quiere, + And o’ the tane thair grew a birk, + The other a bonny briere. + + 30. + And ay they grew, and ay they threw, + As they wad faine be neare; + And by this ye may ken right weil + They were twa luvers deare. + + + [Annotations: + 4.1: ‘rede,’ advise. + 4.3: ‘nut-browne’ here = dusky, not fair; cp.:-- + ‘In the old age black was not counted fair.’ + --Shakespeare, _Sonnet_ CXXVII. + 8.4: ‘fadge,’ _lit._ a thick cake; here figuratively for the thick-set + ‘nut-browne bride.’ + 17.3: ‘yae tift,’ [at] every puff. + 19.2: ‘stean,’ stone. + 19.3: ‘cleading,’ clothing. + 19.4: ‘skinkled,’ glittered. + 24.3,4: _i.e._ I was born fair. + 26.4: ‘wood-wroth,’ raging mad. + 29, 30: This conclusion to a tragic tale of true-love is common to + many ballads; see _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ and especially + _Lord Lovel_. + 30.1: ‘threw,’ intertwined.] + + + + +THE BROWN GIRL + + ++The Text+ of this ballad was taken down before the end of the +nineteenth century by the Rev. S. Baring Gould, from a blacksmith at +Thrushleton, Devon. + ++The Story+ is a simple little tale which recalls _Barbara Allen_, +_Clerk Sanders_, _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, and others. I have placed +it here for contrast, and in illustration of the disdain of ‘brown’ +maids. + + +THE BROWN GIRL + + 1. + ‘I am as brown as brown can be, + And my eyes as black as sloe; + I am as brisk as brisk can be, + And wild as forest doe. + + 2. + ‘My love he was so high and proud, + His fortune too so high, + He for another fair pretty maid + Me left and passed me by. + + 3. + ‘Me did he send a love-letter, + He sent it from the town, + Saying no more he loved me, + For that I was so brown. + + 4. + ‘I sent his letter back again, + Saying his love I valued not, + Whether that he would fancy me, + Whether that he would not. + + 5. + ‘When that six months were overpass’d, + Were overpass’d and gone, + Then did my lover, once so bold, + Lie on his bed and groan. + + 6. + ‘When that six months were overpass’d, + Were gone and overpass’d, + O then my lover, once so bold, + With love was sick at last. + + 7. + ‘First sent he for the doctor-man: + “You, doctor, me must cure; + The pains that now do torture me + I can not long endure.” + + 8. + ‘Next did he send from out the town, + O next did send for me; + He sent for me, the brown, brown girl + Who once his wife should be. + + 9. + ‘O ne’er a bit the doctor-man + His sufferings could relieve; + O never an one but the brown, brown girl + Who could his life reprieve.’ + + 10. + Now you shall hear what love she had + For this poor love-sick man, + How all one day, a summer’s day, + She walked and never ran. + + 11. + When that she came to his bedside, + Where he lay sick and weak, + O then for laughing she could not stand + Upright upon her feet. + + 12. + ‘You flouted me, you scouted me, + And many another one, + Now the reward is come at last, + For all that you have done.’ + + 13. + The rings she took from off her hands, + The rings by two and three: + ‘O take, O take these golden rings, + By them remember me.’ + + 14. + She had a white wand in her hand, + She strake him on the breast: + ‘My faith and troth I give back to thee, + So may thy soul have rest.’ + + 15. + ‘Prithee,’ said he, ‘forget, forget, + Prithee forget, forgive; + O grant me yet a little space, + That I may be well and live.’ + + 16. + ‘O never will I forget, forgive, + So long as I have breath; + I’ll dance above your green, green grave + Where you do lie beneath.’ + + + + +FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM + + ++The Text+ is from a broadside in the Douce Ballads, with a few +unimportant corrections from other stall-copies, as printed by Percy +and Ritson. + ++The Story+ is much the same as _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, except in +the manner of Margaret’s death. + + None of the known copies of the ballad are as early in date as _The +Knight of the Burning Pestle_ (a play by Beaumont and Fletcher, first +produced, it is said, in 1611), in which the humorous old Merrythought +sings two fragments of this ballad; stanza 5 in Act II. Sc. 8, and the +first two lines of stanza 2 in Act III. Sc. 5. As there given, the lines +are slightly different. + + The last four stanzas of this ballad again present the stock ending, +for which see the introduction to _Lord Lovel_. The last stanza condemns +itself. + + +FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM + + 1. + As it fell out on a long summer’s day, + Two lovers they sat on a hill; + They sat together that long summer’s day, + And could not talk their fill. + + 2. + ‘I see no harm by you, Margaret, + Nor you see none by me; + Before tomorrow eight a clock + A rich wedding shall you see.’ + + 3. + Fair Margaret sat in her bower-window, + A combing of her hair, + And there she spy’d Sweet William and his bride, + As they were riding near. + + 4. + Down she lay’d her ivory comb, + And up she bound her hair; + She went her way forth of her bower, + But never more did come there. + + 5. + When day was gone, and night was come, + And all men fast asleep, + Then came the spirit of Fair Margaret, + And stood at William’s feet. + + 6. + ‘God give you joy, you two true lovers, + In bride-bed fast asleep; + Loe I am going to my green grass grave, + And am in my winding-sheet.’ + + 7. + When day was come, and night was gone, + And all men wak’d from sleep, + Sweet William to his lady said, + ‘My dear, I have cause to weep. + + 8. + ‘I dream’d a dream, my dear lady; + Such dreams are never good; + I dream’d my bower was full of red swine, + And my bride-bed full of blood.’ + + 9. + ‘Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured lord, + They never do prove good, + To dream thy bower was full of swine, + And thy bride-bed full of blood.’ + + 10. + He called up his merry men all, + By one, by two, and by three, + Saying, ‘I’ll away to Fair Margaret’s bower, + By the leave of my lady.’ + + 11. + And when he came to Fair Margaret’s bower, + He knocked at the ring; + So ready was her seven brethren + To let Sweet William in. + + 12. + He turned up the covering-sheet: + ‘Pray let me see the dead; + Methinks she does look pale and wan, + She has lost her cherry red. + + 13. + ‘I’ll do more for thee, Margaret, + Than any of thy kin; + For I will kiss thy pale wan lips, + Tho’ a smile I cannot win.’ + + 14. + With that bespeak her seven brethren, + Making most pitious moan: + ‘You may go kiss your jolly brown bride, + And let our sister alone.’ + + 15. + ‘If I do kiss my jolly brown bride, + I do but what is right; + For I made no vow to your sister dear, + By day or yet by night. + + 16. + ‘Pray tell me then how much you’ll deal + Of your white bread and your wine; + So much as is dealt at her funeral today + Tomorrow shall be dealt at mine.’ + + 17. + Fair Margaret dy’d today, today, + Sweet William he dy’d the morrow; + Fair Margaret dy’d for pure true love, + Sweet William he dy’d for sorrow. + + 18. + Margaret was buried in the lower chancel, + Sweet William in the higher; + Out of her breast there sprung a rose, + And out of his a brier. + + 19. + They grew as high as the church-top, + Till they could grow no higher, + And then they grew in a true lover’s knot, + Which made all people admire. + + 20. + There came the clerk of the parish, + As you this truth shall hear, + And by misfortune cut them down, + Or they had now been there. + + + + +LORD LOVEL + + + ‘It is silly sooth, + And dallies with the innocence of love, + Like the old age.’ + + --_Twelfth Night_, II. 4. + + ++The Text.+--This ballad, concluding a small class of three--_Lord +Thomas and Fair Annet_, and _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ being the +other two--is distinguished by the fact that the lady dies of hope +deferred. It is a foolish ballad, at the opposite pole to _Lord Thomas +and Fair Annet_, and is pre-eminently one of the class meant only to be +sung, with an effective burden. The text given here, therefore, is that +of a broadside of the year 1846. + ++The Story+ in outline is extremely popular in German and Scandinavian +literature. Of the former the commonest is _Der Ritter und die Maid_, +also found north of Germany; twenty-six different versions in all, in +some of which lilies spring from the grave. In a Swedish ballad a +linden-tree grows out of their bodies; in Danish ballads, roses, lilies, +or lindens. This conclusion, a commonplace in folk-song, occurs also in +a class of Romaic ballads, where a clump of reeds rises from one of the +lovers, and a cypress or lemon-tree from the other, which bend to each +other and mingle their leaves whenever the wind blows. Classical readers +will recall the tale of Philemon and Baucis. + +For further information on this subject, consult the special section of +the Introduction. + +Various other versions of this ballad are named _Lady Ouncebell_, _Lord +Lavel_, _Lord Travell_, and _Lord Revel_. + + +LORD LOVEL + + 1. + Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate, + Combing his milk-white steed, + When up came Lady Nancy Belle, + To wish her lover good speed, speed, + To wish her lover good speed. + + 2. + ‘Where are you going, Lord Lovel?’ she said, + ‘Oh where are you going?’ said she; + ‘I’m going, my Lady Nancy Belle, + Strange countries for to see.’ + + 3. + ‘When will you be back, Lord Lovel?’ she said, + ‘Oh when will you come back?’ said she; + ‘In a year, or two, or three at the most, + I’ll return to my fair Nancy.’ + + 4. + But he had not been gone a year and a day, + Strange countries for to see, + When languishing thoughts came into his head, + Lady Nancy Belle he would go see. + + 5. + So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed, + Till he came to London town, + And there he heard St. Pancras’ bells, + And the people all mourning round. + + 6. + ‘Oh what is the matter?’ Lord Lovel he said, + ‘Oh what is the matter?’ said he; + ‘A lord’s lady is dead,’ a woman replied, + ‘And some call her Lady Nancy.’ + + 7. + So he ordered the grave to be opened wide, + And the shroud he turned down, + And there he kissed her clay-cold lips, + Till the tears came trickling down. + + 8. + Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today, + Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow; + Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief, + Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow. + + 9. + Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras’ Church, + Lord Lovel was laid in the choir; + And out of her bosom there grew a red rose, + And out of her lover’s a briar. + + 10. + They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple too, + And then they could grow no higher; + So there they entwined in a true-lovers’ knot, + For all lovers true to admire. + + 1.4,5: A similar repetition of the last line of each verse makes the + refrain throughout. + 10.1: Perhaps a misprint for ‘church-steeple top.’--+Child+. + + + + +LADY MAISRY + + ++The Text.+--From the Jamieson-Brown MS. All the other variants agree as +to the main outline of the ballad. + ++The Story.+--Lady Maisry, refusing the young lords of the north +country, and saying that her love is given to an English lord, is +suspected by her father’s kitchy-boy, who goes to tell her brother. He +charges her with her fault, reviles her for ‘drawing up with an English +lord,’ and commands her to renounce him. She refuses, and is condemned +to be burned. A bonny boy bears news of her plight to Lord William, who +leaps to boot and saddle; but he arrives too late to save her, though he +vows vengeance on all her kin, and promises to burn himself last of all. + +Burning was the penalty usually allotted in the romances to a girl +convicted of unchastity. + + +LADY MAISRY + + 1. + The young lords o’ the north country + Have all a wooing gone, + To win the love of Lady Maisry, + But o’ them she woud hae none. + + 2. + O they hae courted Lady Maisry + Wi’ a’ kin kind of things; + An’ they hae sought her Lady Maisry + Wi’ brotches an’ wi’ rings. + + 3. + An’ they ha’ sought her Lady Maisry + Frae father and frae mother; + An’ they ha’ sought her Lady Maisry + Frae sister an’ frae brother. + + 4. + An’ they ha’ follow’d her Lady Maisry + Thro’ chamber an’ thro’ ha’; + But a’ that they coud say to her, + Her answer still was Na. + + 5. + ‘O ha’d your tongues, young men,’ she says, + ‘An’ think nae mair o’ me; + For I’ve gi’en my love to an English lord, + An’ think nae mair o’ me.’ + + 6. + Her father’s kitchy-boy heard that, + An ill death may he dee! + An’ he is on to her brother, + As fast as gang coud he. + + 7. + ‘O is my father an’ my mother well, + But an’ my brothers three? + Gin my sister Lady Maisry be well, + There’s naething can ail me.’ + + 8. + ‘Your father an’ your mother is well, + But an’ your brothers three; + Your sister Lady Maisry’s well, + So big wi’ bairn gangs she.’ + + 9. + ‘Gin this be true you tell to me, + My mailison light on thee! + But gin it be a lie you tell, + You sal be hangit hie.’ + + 10. + He’s done him to his sister’s bow’r, + Wi’ meikle doole an’ care; + An’ there he saw her Lady Maisry + Kembing her yallow hair. + + 11. + ‘O wha is aught that bairn,’ he says, + ‘That ye sae big are wi’? + And gin ye winna own the truth, + This moment ye sall dee.’ + + 12. + She turn’d her right and roun’ about, + An’ the kem fell frae her han’; + A trembling seiz’d her fair body, + An’ her rosy cheek grew wan. + + 13. + ‘O pardon me, my brother dear, + An’ the truth I’ll tell to thee; + My bairn it is to Lord William, + An’ he is betroth’d to me.’ + + 14. + ‘O coud na ye gotten dukes, or lords, + Intill your ain country, + That ye draw up wi’ an English dog, + To bring this shame on me? + + 15. + ‘But ye maun gi’ up the English lord, + Whan youre young babe is born; + For, gin you keep by him an hour langer, + Your life sall be forlorn.’ + + 16. + ‘I will gi’ up this English blood, + Till my young babe be born; + But the never a day nor hour langer, + Tho’ my life should be forlorn.’ + + + 17. + ‘O whare is a’ my merry young men, + Whom I gi’ meat and fee, + To pu’ the thistle and the thorn, + To burn this wile whore wi’?’ + + 18. + ‘O whare will I get a bonny boy, + To help me in my need, + To rin wi’ hast to Lord William, + And bid him come wi’ speed?’ + + 19. + O out it spake a bonny boy, + Stood by her brother’s side: + ‘O I would run your errand, lady, + O’er a’ the world wide. + + 20. + ‘Aft have I run your errands, lady, + Whan blawn baith win’ and weet; + But now I’ll rin your errand, lady, + Wi’ sa’t tears on my cheek.’ + + 21. + O whan he came to broken briggs, + He bent his bow and swam, + An’ whan he came to the green grass growin’, + He slack’d his shoone and ran. + + 22. + O whan he came to Lord William’s gates, + He baed na to chap or ca’, + But set his bent bow till his breast, + An’ lightly lap the wa’; + An’, or the porter was at the gate, + The boy was i’ the ha’. + + 23. + ‘O is my biggins broken, boy? + Or is my towers won? + Or is my lady lighter yet, + Of a dear daughter or son?’ + + 24. + ‘Your biggin is na broken, sir, + Nor is your towers won; + But the fairest lady in a’ the lan’ + For you this day maun burn.’ + + 25. + ‘O saddle me the black, the black, + Or saddle me the brown; + O saddle me the swiftest steed + That ever rade frae a town.’ + + 26. + Or he was near a mile awa’, + She heard his wild horse sneeze: + ‘Mend up the fire, my false brother, + It’s na come to my knees.’ + + 27. + O whan he lighted at the gate, + She heard his bridle ring; + ‘Mend up the fire, my false brother, + It’s far yet frae my chin. + + 28. + ‘Mend up the fire to me, brother, + Mend up the fire to me; + For I see him comin’ hard an’ fast, + Will soon men’ ’t up to thee. + + 29. + ‘O gin my hands had been loose, Willy, + Sae hard as they are boun’, + I would have turn’d me frae the gleed, + And castin out your young son.’ + + 30. + ‘O I’ll gar burn for you, Maisry, + Your father an’ your mother; + An’ I’ll gar burn for you, Maisry, + Your sister an’ your brother. + + 31. + ‘An’ I’ll gar burn for you, Maisry, + The chief of a’ your kin; + An’ the last bonfire that I come to, + Mysel’ I will cast in.’ + + + [Annotations: + 5.1: ‘ha’d’ = _haud_, hold. + 9.2: ‘mailison,’ curse. + 11.1: ‘is aught,’ owns. + 15.4: ‘forlorn,’ forfeit. + 20.2: _i.e._ in driving wind and rain. + 21: A stock ballad-stanza. + 22.2: ‘baed,’ stayed; ‘chap,’ knock. + 22.4: ‘lap,’ leapt. + 23.1: ‘biggins,’ buildings. + 29.3: ‘gleed,’ burning coal, fire. + 30.1: ‘gar,’ make, cause.] + + + [Illustration] + + + + +THE CRUEL BROTHER + + ++The Text+ is that obtained in 1800 by Alexander Fraser Tytler from Mrs. +Brown of Falkland, and by him committed to writing. The first ten and +the last two stanzas show corruption, but the rest of the ballad is in +the best style. + ++The Story+ emphasises the necessity of asking the consent of a brother +to the marriage of his sister, and therefore the title _The Cruel +Brother_ is a misnomer. In ballad-times, the brother would have been +well within his rights; it was rather a fatal oversight of the +bridegroom that caused the tragedy. + +Danish and German ballads echo the story, though in the commonest German +ballad, _Graf Friedrich_, the bride receives an _accidental_ wound, and +that from the bridegroom’s own hand. + +The testament of the bride, by which she benefits her friends and leaves +curses on her enemies, is very characteristic of the ballad-style, and +is found in other ballads, as _Lord Ronald_ and _Edward, Edward_. In the +present case, ‘sister Grace’ obtains what would seem to be a very +doubtful benefit. + + +THE CRUEL BROTHER + + 1. + There was three ladies play’d at the ba’, + _With a hey ho and a lillie gay_ + There came a knight and played o’er them a’, + _As the primrose spreads so sweetly_. + + 2. + The eldest was baith tall and fair, + But the youngest was beyond compare. + + 3. + The midmost had a graceful mien, + But the youngest look’d like beautie’s queen. + + 4. + The knight bow’d low to a’ the three, + But to the youngest he bent his knee. + + 5. + The ladie turned her head aside; + The knight he woo’d her to be his bride. + + 6. + The ladie blush’d a rosy red, + And say’d, ‘Sir knight, I’m too young to wed.’ + + 7. + ‘O ladie fair, give me your hand, + And I’ll make you ladie of a’ my land.’ + + 8. + ‘Sir knight, ere ye my favour win, + You maun get consent frae a’ my kin.’ + + 9. + He’s got consent frae her parents dear, + And likewise frae her sisters fair. + + 10. + He’s got consent frae her kin each one, + But forgot to spiek to her brother John. + + 11. + Now, when the wedding day was come, + The knight would take his bonny bride home. + + 12. + And many a lord and many a knight + Came to behold that ladie bright. + + 13. + And there was nae man that did her see, + But wish’d himself bridegroom to be. + + 14. + Her father dear led her down the stair, + And her sisters twain they kiss’d her there. + + 15. + Her mother dear led her thro’ the closs, + And her brother John set her on her horse. + + 16. + She lean’d her o’er the saddle-bow, + To give him a kiss ere she did go. + + 17. + He has ta’en a knife, baith lang and sharp, + And stabb’d that bonny bride to the heart. + + 18. + She hadno ridden half thro’ the town, + Until her heart’s blude stain’d her gown. + + 19. + ‘Ride softly on,’ says the best young man, + ‘For I think our bonny bride looks pale and wan.’ + + 20. + ‘O lead me gently up yon hill, + And I’ll there sit down, and make my will.’ + + 21. + ‘O what will you leave to your father dear?’ + ‘The silver-shod steed that brought me here.’ + + 22. + ‘What will you leave to your mother dear?’ + ‘My velvet pall and my silken gear.’ + + 23. + ‘What will you leave to your sister Anne?’ + ‘My silken scarf and my gowden fan.’ + + 24. + ‘What will you leave to your sister Grace?’ + ‘My bloody cloaths to wash and dress.’ + + 25. + ‘What will you leave to your brother John?’ + ‘The gallows-tree to hang him on.’ + + 26. + ‘What will you leave to your brother John’s wife?’ + ‘The wilderness to end her life.’ + + 27. + This ladie fair in her grave was laid, + And many a mass was o’er her said. + + 28. + But it would have made your heart right sair, + To see the bridegroom rive his hair. + + 1.2,4: It should be remembered that the refrain is supposed to be + sung with each verse, here and elsewhere. + 15.1: ‘closs,’ close. + 28.2: ‘rive,’ tear. + + + + +THE NUTBROWN MAID + + ++The Text+ is from Arnold’s _Chronicle_, of the edition which, from +typographical evidence, is said to have been printed at Antwerp in 1502 +by John Doesborowe. Each stanza is there printed in six long lines. +Considerable variations appear in later editions. There is also a +Balliol MS. (354), which contains a contemporary version, and the Percy +Folio contains a corrupt version. + +This should not be considered as a ballad proper; it is rather a +‘dramatic lyric.’ Its history, however, is quite as curious as that of +many ballads. It occurs, as stated above, in the farrago known as the +_Chronicle_ of Richard Arnold, inserted between a list of the ‘tolls’ +due on merchandise entering or leaving the port of Antwerp, and a table +giving Flemish weights and moneys in terms of the corresponding English +measures. Why such a poem should be printed in such incongruous +surroundings, what its date or who its author was, are questions +impossible to determine. Its position here is perhaps almost as +incongruous as in its original place. + +From 3.9 to the end of the last verse but one, it is a dialogue between +an earl’s son and a baron’s daughter, in alternate stanzas; a prologue +and an epilogue are added by the author. + +Matthew Prior printed the poem in his works, in order to contrast it +with his own version, _Henry and Emma_, which appealed to contemporary +taste as more elegant than its rude original. + + +THE NUTBROWN MAID + + 1. + Be it right, or wrong, these men among + On women do complaine; + Affermyng this, how that it is + A labour spent in vaine, + To loue them wele; for neuer a dele, + They loue a man agayne; + For lete a man do what he can, + Ther fouour to attayne, + Yet, yf a newe to them pursue, + Ther furst trew louer than + Laboureth for nought; and from her though[t] + He is a bannisshed man. + + 2. + I say not nay, bat that all day + It is bothe writ and sayde + That womans fayth is as who saythe + All utterly decayed; + But neutheles, right good wytnes + In this case might be layde; + That they loue trewe, and contynew, + Recorde the Nutbrowne maide: + Which from her loue, whan, her to proue, + He cam to make his mone, + Wolde not departe, for in her herte, + She louyd but hym allone. + + 3. + Than betwene us lete us discusse, + What was all the maner + Betwene them too; we wyll also + Tell all they payne in fere, + That she was in; now I begynne, + Soo that ye me answere; + Wherfore, ye, that present be + I pray you geue an eare. + I am the knyght; I cum be nyght, + As secret as I can; + Sayng, alas! thus stondyth the cause, + I am a bannisshed man. + + 4. + And I your wylle for to fulfylle + In this wyl not refuse; + Trusting to shewe, in wordis fewe, + That men haue an ille use + To ther owne shame wymen to blame, + And causeles them accuse; + Therfore to you I answere nowe, + All wymen to excuse,-- + Myn owne hert dere, with you what chiere? + I prey you, tell anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you allon. + + 5. + It stondith so; a dede is do, + Wherfore moche harme shal growe; + My desteny is for to dey + A shamful dethe, I trowe; + Or ellis to flee: the ton must bee. + None other wey I knowe, + But to withdrawe as an outlaw, + And take me to my bowe. + Wherefore, adew, my owne hert trewe, + None other red I can: + For I muste to the grene wode goo, + Alone a bannysshed man. + + 6. + O Lorde, what is this worldis blisse, + That chaungeth as the mone! + My somers day in lusty may + Is derked before the none. + I here you saye farwel: nay, nay, + We depart not soo sone. + Why say ye so? wheder wyll ye goo? + Alas! what haue ye done? + Alle my welfare to sorow and care + Shulde chaunge, yf ye were gon; + For, in [my] mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 7. + I can beleue, it shal you greue, + And somwhat you distrayne; + But, aftyrwarde, your paynes harde + Within a day or tweyne + Shall sone aslake; and ye shall take + Comfort to you agayne. + Why shuld ye nought? for, to make thought, + Your labur were in vayne. + And thus I do; and pray you, loo, + As hertely as I can; + For I must too the grene wode goo, + Alone a banysshed man. + + 8. + Now, syth that ye haue shewed to me + The secret of your mynde, + I shalbe playne to you agayne, + Lyke as ye shal me fynde. + Syth it is so, that ye wyll goo, + I wol not leue behynde; + Shall neuer be sayd, the Nutbrowne mayd, + Was to her loue unkind: + Make you redy, for soo am I, + All though it were anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 9. + Yet I you rede take good hede + Whan men wyl thynke, and sey; + Of yonge, and olde, it shalbe tolde, + That ye be gone away, + Your wanton wylle for to fulfylle, + In grene wood you to play; + And that ye myght from your delyte + Noo lenger make delay: + Rather than ye shuld thus for me + Be called an ylle woman, + Yet wolde I to the grene wodde goo, + Alone a banyshed man. + + 10. + Though it be songe of olde and yonge, + That I shuld be to blame, + Theirs be the charge, that speke so large + In hurting of my name: + For I wyl proue that feythful loue + It is deuoyd of shame; + In your distresse and heuynesse, + To parte wyth you, the same: + And sure all thoo, that doo not so, + Trewe louers ar they noon; + But, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 11. + I councel yow, remembre howe + It is noo maydens lawe, + Nothing to dought, but to renne out + To wod with an outlawe; + For ye must there in your hande bere + A bowe to bere and drawe; + And, as a theef, thus must ye lyeue, + Euer in drede and awe, + By whiche to yow gret harme myght grow: + Yet had I leuer than, + That I had too the grenewod goo, + Alone a banysshyd man. + + 12. + I thinke not nay, but as ye saye, + It is noo maydens lore: + But loue may make me for your sake, + As ye haue said before + To com on fote, to hunte, and shote, + To gete us mete and store; + For soo that I your company + May haue, I aske noo more: + From whiche to parte, it makith myn herte + As colde as ony ston; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 13. + For an outlawe, this is the lawe, + That men hym take and binde; + Wythout pytee hanged to bee, + And wauer with the wynde. + Yf I had neede, (as God forbede!) + What rescous coude ye finde? + Forsothe, I trowe, you and your bowe + Shuld drawe for fere behynde: + And noo merueyle; for lytel auayle + Were in your councel than: + Wherfore I too the woode wyl goo + Alone a banysshd man. + + 14. + Ful wel knowe ye, that wymen bee + Ful febyl for to fyght; + Noo womanhed is it in deede + To bee bolde as a knight: + Yet, in suche fere, yf that ye were + Amonge enemys day and nyght, + I wolde wythstonde, with bowe in hande, + To greue them as I myght, + And you to saue; as wymen haue + From deth many one: + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 15. + Yet take good hede, for euer I drede + That ye coude not sustein + The thorney wayes, the depe valeis, + The snowe, the frost, the reyn, + The colde, the hete: for drye, or wete, + We must lodge on the playn; + And, us abowe, noon other roue + But a brake bussh or twayne: + Which sone shulde greue you, I beleue; + And ye wolde gladly than + That I had too the grenewode goo, + Alone a banysshyd man. + + 16. + Syth I haue here ben partynere + With you of joy and blysse, + I must also parte of your woo + Endure, as reason is: + Yet am I sure of oon plesure; + And, shortly, it is this: + That, where ye bee, me semeth, perde, + I coude not fare amysse, + Wythout more speche, I you beseche + That we were soon agone; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde, + I loue but you alone. + + 17. + Yef ye goo thedyr, ye must consider, + Whan ye haue lust to dyne + Ther shal no mete before to gete, + Nor drinke, beer, ale, ne wine; + Ne shetis clene, to lye betwene, + Made of thred and twyne; + Noon other house but leuys and bowes + To keuer your hed and myn, + Loo, myn herte swete, this ylle dyet + Shuld make you pale and wan; + Wherfore I to the wood wyl goo, + Alone, a banysshid man. + + 18. + Amonge the wylde dere, suche an archier, + As men say that ye bee, + Ne may not fayle of good vitayle + Where is so grete plente: + And watir cleere of the ryuere + Shalbe ful swete to me; + Wyth whiche in hele I shal right wele + Endure, as ye shal see; + And, or we goo, a bed or twoo + I can prouide anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 19. + Loo, yet before ye must doo more, + Yf ye wyl goo with me; + As cutte your here up by your ere, + Your kirtel by the knee; + Wyth bowe in hande, for to withstonde + Your enmys, yf nede bee: + And this same nyght before daylyght, + To woodwarde wyl I flee. + And ye wyl all this fulfylle, + Doo it shortely as ye can: + Ellis wil I to the grenewode goo, + Alone, a banysshyd man. + + 20. + I shal as now do more for you + That longeth to womanhed; + To short my here, a bowe to bere, + To shote in tyme of nede. + O my swete mod[er], before all other + For you haue I most drede: + But now, adiew! I must ensue + Wher fortune duth me leede. + All this make ye: now lete us flee; + The day cum fast upon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 21. + Nay, nay, not soo; ye shal not goo, + And I shal telle you why,-- + Your appetyte is to be lyght + Of loue, I wele aspie: + For, right as ye haue sayd to me, + In lyke wyse hardely + Ye wolde answere who so euer it were, + In way of company. + It is sayd of olde, sone hote, sone colde; + And so is a woman. + Wherfore I too the woode wly goo, + Alone, a banysshid man. + + 22. + Yef ye take hede, yet is noo nede + Suche wordis to say by me; + For ofte ye preyd, and longe assayed, + Or I you louid, parde: + And though that I of auncestry + A barons doughter bee, + Yet haue you proued how I you loued + A squyer of lowe degree; + And euer shal, whatso befalle-- + To dey therfore anoon; + For, in my mynde, of al mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 23. + A barons childe to be begyled, + It were a curssed dede; + To be felow with an outlawe, + Almyghty God forbede. + Yet bettyr were the power squyere + Alone to forest yede, + Than ye shal saye another day, + That, be [my] wyked dede, + Ye were betrayed: wherfore, good maide, + The best red that I can, + Is, that I too the grenewode goo, + Alone, a banysshed man. + + 24. + Whatso euer befalle, I neuer shal + Of this thing you upbrayd: + But yf ye goo, and leue me soo, + Than haue ye me betraied. + Remembre you wele, how that ye dele + For, yf ye as the[y] sayd, + Be so unkynde, to leue behynde + Your loue, the notbrowne maide, + Trust me truly, that I [shall] dey + Sone after ye be gone; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 25. + Yef that ye went, ye shulde repent; + For in the forest nowe + I haue purueid me of a maide, + Whom I loue more than you; + Another fayrer, than euer ye were, + I dare it wel auowe; + And of you bothe eche shulde be wrothe + With other, as I trowe; + It were myn ease, to lyue in pease, + So wyl I, yf I can: + Wherfore I to the wode wyl goo, + Alone a banysshid man. + + 26. + Though in the wood I undirstode + Ye had a paramour, + All this may nought reineue my thought, + But that I wil be your; + And she shal fynde me soft and kynde, + And curteis euery our; + Glad to fulfylle all that she wylle + Commaunde me to my power: + For had ye, loo, an hundred moo, + Yet wolde I be that one, + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde, + I loue but you alone. + + 27. + Myn owne dere loue, I see the proue + That ye be kynde and trewe, + Of mayde, and wyf, in al my lyf, + The best that euer I knewe. + Be mery and glad, be no more sad, + The case is chaunged newe; + For it were ruthe, that, for your trouth, + Ye shuld haue cause to rewe. + Be not dismayed; whatsoeuer I sayd + To you, whan I began, + I wyl not too the grene wod goo, + I am noo banysshyd man. + + 28. + This tidingis be more glad to me, + Than to be made a quene, + Yf I were sure they shuld endure; + But it is often seen, + When men wyl breke promyse, they speke + The wordis on the splene; + Ye shape some wyle me to begyle + And stele fro me, I wene: + Than were the case wurs than it was, + And I more woobegone: + For, in my mynde, of al mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 29. + Ye shal not nede further to drede; + I wyl not disparage + You, (God defende!) syth you descend + Of so grete a lynage. + Now understonde; to Westmerlande, + Whiche is my herytage, + I wyl you brynge; and wyth a rynge, + By wey of maryage + I wyl you take, and lady make, + As shortly as I can: + Thus haue ye wone an erles son + And not a banysshyd man. + + 30. + Here may ye see, that wymen be + In loue, meke, kinde, and stable; + Late neuer man repreue them than, + Or calle them variable; + But rather prey God that we may + To them be comfortable; + Whiche somtyme prouyth suche as loueth, + Yf they be charitable. + For sith men wolde that wymen sholde + Be meke to them echeon, + Moche more ought they to God obey, + And serue but Hym alone. + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: ‘among,’ from time to time. + 1.5: ‘neuer a dele,’ not at all. + 3.4: ‘they’ = the. ‘in fere,’ in company. ‘and fere’ (= fear) is + usually printed. + 5.1: ‘do,’ done. + 5.5: ‘ton,’ one. + 5.10: _i.e._ I know no other advice. + 6.4: ‘derked,’ darkened. + 6.7: ‘wheder,’ whither. + 7.2: ‘distrayne,’ affect. + 7.5: ‘aslake,’ abate. + 10.9: ‘thoo,’ those. + 11.3: ‘renne,’ run. + 11.6: A later edition of the _Chronicle_ reads-- + ‘A bowe, redy to drawe.’ + 13.6: ‘rescous,’ rescue. Another edition has ‘socurs.’ + 15.7: ‘abowe,’ above; ‘roue,’ roof. + 18.7: ‘hele,’ health. + 19.3: ‘here,’ hair; ‘ere,’ ear. + 19.9: ‘And,’ If. + 20.7: ‘ensue,’ follow. + 22.2: The type is broken in the 1502 edition, which reads ‘to say + be....’ + 23.6: ‘yede,’ went. + 25.3: ‘purueid (= purveyed) me,’ provided myself. + 26.9: ‘moo’ = mo, _i.e._ more. + 30.10: ‘echeon,’ each one.] + + + + +FAIR JANET + + ++The Text.+--Of seven or eight variants of this ballad, only three +preserve the full form of the story. On the whole, the one here +given--from Sharp’s _Ballad Book_, as sung by an old woman in +Perthshire--is the best, as the other two--from Herd’s _Scots Songs_, +and the Kinloch MSS.--are slightly contaminated by extraneous matter. + ++The Story+ is a simple ballad-tale of ‘true-love twinned’; but the +episode of the dancing forms a link with a number of German and +Scandinavian ballads, in which compulsory dancing and horse-riding is +made a test of the guilt of an accused maiden. In the Scotch ballad the +horse-riding has shrunk almost to nothing, and the dancing is not +compulsory. The resemblance is faint, and the barbarities of the +Continental versions are happily wanting in our ballad. + + +FAIR JANET + + 1. + ‘Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, + Ye maun gang to him soon; + Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, + In case that his days are dune.’ + + 2. + Janet’s awa’ to her father, + As fast as she could hie: + ‘O what’s your will wi’ me, father? + O what’s your will wi’ me?’ + + 3. + ‘My will wi’ you, Fair Janet,’ he said, + ‘It is both bed and board; + Some say that ye lo’e Sweet Willie, + But ye maun wed a French lord.’ + + 4. + ‘A French lord maun I wed, father? + A French lord maun I wed? + Then, by my sooth,’ quo’ Fair Janet, + ‘He’s ne’er enter my bed.’ + + 5. + Janet’s awa’ to her chamber, + As fast as she could go; + Wha’s the first ane that tapped there, + But Sweet Willie her jo? + + 6. + ‘O we maun part this love, Willie, + That has been lang between; + There’s a French lord coming o’er the sea, + To wed me wi’ a ring; + There’s a French lord coming o’er the sea, + To wed and tak’ me hame.’ + + 7. + ‘If we maun part this love, Janet, + It causeth mickle woe; + If we maun part this love, Janet, + It makes me into mourning go.’ + + 8. + ‘But ye maun gang to your three sisters, + Meg, Marion, and Jean; + Tell them to come to Fair Janet, + In case that her days are dune.’ + + 9. + Willie’s awa’ to his three sisters, + Meg, Marion, and Jean: + ‘O haste, and gang to Fair Janet, + I fear that her days are dune.’ + + 10. + Some drew to them their silken hose, + Some drew to them their shoon, + Some drew to them their silk manteils, + Their coverings to put on, + And they’re awa’ to Fair Janet, + By the hie light o’ the moon. + + ... ... ... + + 11. + ‘O I have born this babe, Willie, + Wi’ mickle toil and pain; + Take hame, take hame, your babe, Willie, + For nurse I dare be nane.’ + + 12. + He’s tane his young son in his arms, + And kisst him cheek and chin, + And he’s awa’ to his mother’s bower, + By the hie light o’ the moon. + + 13. + ‘O open, open, mother,’ he says, + ‘O open, and let me in; + The rain rains on my yellow hair, + And the dew drops o’er my chin, + And I hae my young son in my arms, + I fear that his days are dune.’ + + 14. + With her fingers lang and sma’ + She lifted up the pin, + And with her arms lang and sma’ + Received the baby in. + + 15. + ‘Gae back, gae back now, Sweet Willie, + And comfort your fair lady; + For where ye had but ae nourice, + Your young son shall hae three.’ + + 16. + Willie he was scarce awa’, + And the lady put to bed, + When in and came her father dear: + ‘Make haste, and busk the bride.’ + + 17. + ‘There’s a sair pain in my head, father, + There’s a sair pain in my side; + And ill, O ill, am I, father, + This day for to be a bride.’ + + 18. + ‘O ye maun busk this bonny bride, + And put a gay mantle on; + For she shall wed this auld French lord, + Gin she should die the morn.’ + + 19. + Some put on the gay green robes, + And some put on the brown; + But Janet put on the scarlet robes, + To shine foremost throw the town. + + 20. + And some they mounted the black steed, + And some mounted the brown; + But Janet mounted the milk-white steed, + To ride foremost throw the town. + + 21. + ‘O wha will guide your horse, Janet? + O wha will guide him best?’ + ‘O wha but Willie, my true love? + He kens I lo’e him best.’ + + 22. + And when they cam’ to Marie’s kirk, + To tye the haly ban’, + Fair Janet’s cheek looked pale and wan, + And her colour gaed and cam’. + + 23. + When dinner it was past and done, + And dancing to begin, + ‘O we’ll go take the bride’s maidens, + And we’ll go fill the ring.’ + + 24. + O ben then cam’ the auld French lord, + Saying, ‘Bride, will ye dance with me?’ + ‘Awa’, awa’, ye auld French Lord, + Your face I downa see.’ + + 25. + O ben then cam’ now Sweet Willie, + He cam’ with ane advance: + ‘O I’ll go tak’ the bride’s maidens, + And we’ll go tak’ a dance.’ + + 26. + ‘I’ve seen ither days wi’ you, Willie, + And so has mony mae, + Ye would hae danced wi’ me mysel’, + Let a’ my maidens gae.’ + + 27. + O ben then cam’ now Sweet Willie, + Saying, ‘Bride, will ye dance wi’ me?’ + ‘Aye, by my sooth, and that I will, + Gin my back should break in three.’ + + 28. + She had nae turned her throw the dance, + Throw the dance but thrice, + Whan she fell doun at Willie’s feet, + And up did never rise. + + 29. + Willie’s ta’en the key of his coffer, + And gi’en it to his man: + ‘Gae hame, and tell my mother dear + My horse he has me slain; + Bid her be kind to my young son, + For father has he nane.’ + + 30. + The tane was buried in Marie’s kirk, + And the tither in Marie’s quire; + Out of the tane there grew a birk, + And the tither a bonny brier. + + + [Annotations: + 5.4: ‘jo,’ sweetheart. + 15.3: ‘nourice,’ nurse. + 16.4: ‘busk,’ dress. + 24.1: ‘ben,’ into the house. + 24.4: ‘downa,’ like not to.] + + + + +BROWN ADAM + + ++The Text+ is given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. It was first printed by +Scott, with the omission of the second stanza--perhaps justifiable--and +a few minor changes. He notes that he had seen a copy printed on a +single sheet. + ++The Story+ has a remote parallel in a Danish ballad, extant in +manuscripts of the sixteenth century and later, _Den afhugne Haand_. The +tale is told as follows. Lutzelil, knowing the evil ways of Lawi +Pederson, rejects his proffered love. Lawi vows she shall repent it, and +the maiden is afraid for nine months to go to church, but goes at +Easter. Lawi meets her in a wood, and repeats his offer. She begs him to +do her no harm, feigns compliance, and makes an assignation in the +chamber of her maids. She returns home and tells her father, who watches +for Lawi. When he comes and demands admission, she denies the +assignation. Lawi breaks down the door, and discovers Lutzelil’s father +with a drawn sword, with which he cuts off Lawi’s hand. + +The reason for objecting to the second stanza as here given is not so +much the inadequacy of a golden hammer, or the unusual whiteness of the +smith’s fingers, but the rhyme in the third line. + + +BROWN ADAM + + 1. + O wha woud wish the win’ to blaw, + Or the green leaves fa’ therewith? + Or wha wad wish a leeler love + Than Brown Adam the Smith? + + 2. + His hammer’s o’ the beaten gold, + His study’s o’ the steel, + His fingers white are my delite, + He blows his bellows well. + + 3. + But they ha’ banish’d him Brown Adam + Frae father and frae mither, + An’ they ha’ banish’d him Brown Adam + Frae sister and frae brither. + + 4. + And they ha’ banish’d Brown Adam + Frae the flow’r o’ a’ his kin; + An’ he’s biggit a bow’r i’ the good green wood + Betwen his lady an’ him. + + 5. + O it fell once upon a day + Brown Adam he thought lang, + An’ he woud to the green wood gang, + To hunt some venison. + + 6. + He’s ta’en his bow his arm o’er, + His bran’ intill his han’, + And he is to the good green wood, + As fast as he coud gang. + + 7. + O he’s shot up, an’ he’s shot down, + The bird upo’ the briar, + An’ he’s sent it hame to his lady, + Bade her be of good cheer. + + 8. + O he’s shot up, an’ he’s shot down, + The bird upo’ the thorn, + And sent it hame to his lady, + And hee’d be hame the morn. + + 9. + Whan he came till his lady’s bow’r-door + He stood a little forbye, + And there he heard a fu’ fa’se knight + Temptin’ his gay lady. + + 10. + O he’s ta’en out a gay gold ring, + Had cost him mony a poun’: + ‘O grant me love for love, lady, + An’ this sal be your own.’ + + 11. + ‘I loo Brown Adam well,’ she says, + ‘I wot sae does he me; + An’ I woud na gi’ Brown Adam’s love + For nae fa’se knight I see.’ + + 12. + Out he has ta’en a purse of gold, + Was a’ fu’ to the string: + ‘Grant me but love for love, lady, + An’ a’ this sal be thine.’ + + 13. + ‘I loo Brown Adam well,’ she says, + ‘An’ I ken sae does he me; + An’ I woudna be your light leman + For mair nor ye coud gie.’ + + 14. + Then out has he drawn his lang, lang bran’, + An’ he’s flash’d it in her een: + ‘Now grant me love for love, lady, + Or thro’ you this sal gang!’ + + 15. + ‘O,’ sighing said that gay lady, + ‘Brown Adam tarrys lang!’ + Then up it starts Brown Adam, + Says, ‘I’m just at your han’.’ + + 16. + He’s gard him leave his bow, his bow, + He’s gard him leave his bran’; + He’s gard him leave a better pledge-- + Four fingers o’ his right han’. + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: ‘leeler,’ more loyal. + 2.2: ‘study,’ stithy, anvil. + 4.3: ‘biggit,’ built. + 5.2: ‘thought lang,’ thought (it) tedious; _i.e._ was bored. Cp. + _Young Bekie_, 16.4, etc.; _Johney Scot_, 6.2, and elsewhere. + 9.2: ‘forbye,’ apart. + 10.1: ‘he’ is of course the false knight. + 11.1: ‘loo,’ love. + 12.2: ‘string’: _i.e._ the top; purses were bags with a running string + to draw the top together. + 15.2: ‘lang’: the MS. reads long. + 16.1: etc., ‘gard,’ made.] + + + + +WILLIE O’ WINSBURY + + ++The Text+ is from the Campbell MSS. + ++The Story+ was imagined by Kinloch to possess a quasi-historical +foundation: James V. of Scotland, who eventually married Madeleine, +elder daughter of Francis I., having been previously betrothed ‘by +treaty’ to Marie de Bourbon, daughter of the Duke of Vendôme, returned +to Scotland in 1537. The theory is neither probable nor plausible. + + +WILLIE O’ WINSBURY + + 1. + The king he hath been a prisoner, + A prisoner lang in Spain, O, + And Willie o’ the Winsbury + Has lain lang wi’ his daughter at hame, O. + + 2. + ‘What aileth thee, my daughter Janet, + Ye look so pale and wan? + Have ye had any sore sickness, + Or have ye been lying wi’ a man? + Or is it for me, your father dear, + And biding sae lang in Spain?’ + + 3. + ‘I have not had any sore sickness, + Nor yet been lying wi’ a man; + But it is for you, my father dear, + In biding sae lang in Spain.’ + + 4. + ‘Cast ye off your berry-brown gown, + Stand straight upon the stone, + That I may ken ye by yere shape, + Whether ye be a maiden or none.’ + + 5. + She’s coosten off her berry-brown gown, + Stooden straight upo’ yon stone; + Her apron was short, her haunches were round, + Her face it was pale and wan. + + 6. + ‘Is it to a man o’ might, Janet? + Or is it to a man of fame? + Or is it to any of the rank robbers + That’s lately come out o’ Spain?’ + + 7. + ‘It is not to a man of might,’ she said, + ‘Nor is it to a man of fame; + But it is to William of Winsbury; + I could lye nae langer my lane.’ + + 8. + The king’s called on his merry men all, + By thirty and by three: + ‘Go fetch me William of Winsbury, + For hanged he shall be.’ + + 9. + But when he cam’ the king before, + He was clad o’ the red silk; + His hair was like to threeds o’ gold, + And his skin was as white as milk. + + 10. + ‘It is nae wonder,’ said the king, + ‘That my daughter’s love ye did win; + Had I been a woman, as I am a man, + My bedfellow ye should hae been. + + 11. + ‘Will ye marry my daughter Janet, + By the truth of thy right hand? + I’ll gi’e ye gold, I’ll gi’e ye money, + And I’ll gi’e ye an earldom o’ land.’ + + 12. + ‘Yes, I’ll marry yere daughter Janet, + By the truth of my right hand; + But I’ll hae nane o’ yer gold, I’ll hae nane o’ yer money, + Nor I winna hae an earldom o’ land. + + 13. + ‘For I hae eighteen corn-mills + Runs all in water clear, + And there’s as much corn in each o’ them + As they can grind in a year.’ + + + + +THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE + + ++The Text+ is from the early part of the Percy Folio, and the ballad is +therefore deficient. Where gaps are marked in the text with a row of +asterisks, about nine stanzas are lost in each case--half a page torn +out by a seventeenth-century maidservant to light a fire! Luckily we can +supply the story from other versions. + ++The Story+, also given in _The Weddynge of Sr Gawen and Dame Ragnell_ +(in the Rawlinson MS. c. 86 in the Bodleian Library), runs as follows:-- + +Shortly after Christmas, Arthur, riding by Tarn Wadling (still so +called, but now pasture-land, in the forest of Inglewood), meets a bold +baron, who challenges him to fight, unless he can win his ransom by +returning on New Year’s Day with an answer to the question, What does a +woman most desire? Arthur relates the story to Gawaine, asks him and +others for an answer to the riddle, and collects their suggestions in a +book (‘letters,’ 24.1). On his way to keep his tryst with the baron, he +meets an unspeakably ugly woman, who offers her assistance; if she will +help him, Arthur says, she shall wed with Gawaine. She gives him the +true answer, A woman will have her will. Arthur meets the baron, and +after proffering the budget of answers, confronts him with the true +answer. The baron exclaims against the ugly woman, whom he asserts to be +his sister. + +Arthur returns to his court, and tells his knights that a wife awaits +one of them on the moor. Sir Lancelot, Sir Steven (who is not mentioned +elsewhere in Arthurian tales), Sir Kay, Sir Bauier (probably Beduer or +Bedivere), Sir Bore (Bors de Gauves), Sir Garrett (Gareth), and Sir +Tristram ride forth to find her. At sight, Sir Kay, without overmuch +chivalry, expresses his disgust, and the rest are unwilling to marry +her. The king explains that he has promised to give her to Sir Gawaine, +who, it seems, bows to Arthur’s authority, and weds her. During the +bridal night, she becomes a beautiful young woman. Further to test +Gawaine, she gives him his choice: will he have her fair by day and foul +by night, or foul by day and fair by night? Fair by night, says Gawaine. +And foul to be seen of all by day? she asks. Have your way, says +Gawaine, and breaks the last thread of the spell, as she forthwith +explains: her step-mother had bewitched both her, to haunt the moor in +ugly shape, till some knight should grant her _all_ her will, and her +brother, to challenge all comers to fight him or answer the riddle. + +Similar tales, but with the important variation--undoubtedly indigenous +in the story--that the man who saves his life by answering the riddle +has himself to wed the ugly woman, are told by Gower (_Confessio +Amantis_, Book I.) and Chaucer (_The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe_). The +latter, which is also Arthurian in its setting, was made into a ballad +in the _Crown Garland of Golden Roses_ (_circ._ 1600), compiled by +Richard Johnson. A parallel is also to be found in an Icelandic saga. + + +THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE + + 1. + Kinge Arthur liues in merry Carleile, + & seemely is to see, + & there he hath with him Queene Genever, + That bride soe bright of blee. + + 2. + And there he hath with [him] Queene Genever, + That bride soe bright in bower, + & all his barons about him stoode, + That were both stiffe and stowre. + + 3. + The king kept a royall Christmasse, + Of mirth and great honor, + And when . . . + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 4. + ‘And bring me word what thing it is + That a woman [will] most desire; + This shalbe thy ransome, Arthur,’ he sayes, + ‘For I’le haue noe other hier.’ + + 5. + King Arthur then held vp his hand, + According thene as was the law; + He tooke his leaue of the baron there, + & homward can he draw. + + 6. + And when he came to merry Carlile, + To his chamber he is gone, + & ther came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine + As he did make his mone. + + 7. + And there came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine + That was a curteous knight; + ‘Why sigh you soe sore, vnckle Arthur,’ he said, + ‘Or who hath done thee vnright?’ + + 8. + ‘O peace, O peace, thou gentle Gawaine, + That faire may thee beffall! + For if thou knew my sighing soe deepe, + Thou wold not meruaile att all; + + 9. + ‘Ffor when I came to Tearne Wadling, + A bold barron there I fand, + With a great club vpon his backe, + Standing stiffe and strong; + + 10. + ‘And he asked me wether I wold fight, + Or from him I shold begone, + Or else I must him a ransome pay + & soe depart him from. + + 11. + ‘To fight with him I saw noe cause, + Methought it was not meet, + For he was stiffe & strong with-all, + His strokes were nothing sweete; + + 12. + ‘Therefor this is my ransome, Gawaine, + I ought to him to pay: + I must come againe, as I am sworne, + Vpon the Newyeer’s day. + + 13. + ‘And I must bring him word what thing it is + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 14. + Then King Arthur drest him for to ryde + In one soe rich array + Toward the fore-said Tearne Wadling, + That he might keepe his day. + + 15. + And as he rode over a more, + Hee see a lady where shee sate + Betwixt an oke & a greene hollen; + She was cladd in red scarlett. + + 16. + Then there as shold haue stood her mouth, + Then there was sett her eye, + The other was in her forhead fast + The way that she might see. + + 17. + Her nose was crooked & turnd outward, + Her mouth stood foule a-wry; + A worse formed lady than shee was, + Neuer man saw with his eye. + + 18. + To halch vpon him, King Arthur, + This lady was full faine, + But King Arthur had forgott his lesson, + What he shold say againe. + + 19. + ‘What knight art thou,’ the lady sayd, + ‘That will not speak to me? + Of me be thou nothing dismayd + Tho’ I be vgly to see; + + 20. + ‘For I haue halched you curteouslye, + & you will not me againe; + Yett I may happen, Sir Knight,’ shee said, + ‘To ease thee of thy paine.’ + + 21. + ‘Giue thou ease me, lady,’ he said, + ‘Or helpe me any thing, + Thou shalt have gentle Gawaine, my cozen, + & marry him with a ring.’ + + 22. + ‘Why, if I help thee not, thou noble King Arthur, + Of thy owne heart’s desiringe, + Of gentle Gawaine . . . + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 23. + And when he came to the Tearne Wadling + The baron there cold he finde, + With a great weapon on his backe, + Standing stiffe and stronge. + + 24. + And then he tooke King Arthur’s letters in his hands, + & away he cold them fling, + & then he puld out a good browne sword, + & cryd himselfe a king. + + 25. + And he sayd, ‘I haue thee & thy land, Arthur, + To doe as it pleaseth me, + For this is not thy ransome sure, + Therfore yeeld thee to me.’ + + 26. + And then bespoke him noble Arthur, + & bad him hold his hand; + ‘& giue me leaue to speake my mind + In defence of all my land.’ + + 27. + He said, ‘As I came over a more, + I see a lady where shee sate + Betweene an oke & a green hollen; + She was clad in red scarlett; + + 28. + ‘And she says a woman will haue her will, + & this is all her cheef desire: + Doe me right, as thou art a baron of sckill, + This is thy ransome & all thy hyer.’ + + 29. + He sayes, ‘An early vengeance light on her! + She walkes on yonder more; + It was my sister that told thee this; + & she is a misshappen hore! + + 30. + ‘But heer He make mine avow to God + To doe her an euill turne, + For an euer I may thate fowle theefe get, + In a fyer I will her burne.’ + + *** *** *** + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: ‘blee,’ complexion. + 2.4: Perhaps we should read ‘stiff in stowre,’ a constant expression + in ballads, ‘sturdy in fight.’ + 11: Arthur’s customary bravery and chivalry are not conspicuous in + this ballad. + 18.1: ‘halch upon,’ salute. + 21.1: ‘Giue,’ If. + 27.3: ‘hollen,’ holly. + 28.3: ‘sckill,’ reason, judgment.] + + ++The 2d Part+ + + 31. + Sir Lancelott & Sir Steven bold + They rode with them that day, + And the formost of the company + There rode the steward Kay. + + 32. + Soe did Sir Bauier and Sir Bore, + Sir Garrett with them soe gay, + Soe did Sir Tristeram that gentle knight, + To the forrest fresh & gay. + + 33. + And when he came to the greene fforrest, + Vnderneath a greene holly tree + Their sate that lady in red scarlet + That vnseemly was to see. + + 34. + Sir Kay beheld this ladys face, + & looked vppon her swire; + ‘Whosoeuer kisses this lady,’ he sayes, + ‘Of his kisse he stands in feare.’ + + 35. + Sir Kay beheld the lady againe, + & looked vpon her snout; + ‘Whosoeuer kisses this lady,’ he saies, + ‘Of his kisse he stands in doubt.’ + + 36. + ‘Peace, cozen Kay,’ then said Sir Gawaine, + ‘Amend thee of thy life; + For there is a knight amongst vs all + That must marry her to his wife.’ + + 37. + ‘What! wedd her to wiffe!’ then said Sir Kay, + ‘In the diuells name, anon! + Gett me a wiffe whereere I may, + For I had rather be slaine!’ + + 38. + Then some tooke vp their hawkes in hast, + & some tooke vp their hounds, + & some sware they wold not marry her + For citty nor for towne. + + 39. + And then bespake him noble King Arthur, + & sware there by this day: + ‘For a litle foule sight & misliking + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 40. + Then shee said, ‘Choose thee, gentle Gawaine, + Truth as I doe say, + Wether thou wilt haue me in this liknesse + In the night or else in the day.’ + + 41. + And then bespake him gentle Gawaine, + Was one soe mild of moode, + Sayes, ‘Well I know what I wold say, + God grant it may be good! + + 42. + ‘To haue thee fowle in the night + When I with thee shold play; + Yet I had rather, if I might, + Haue thee fowle in the day.’ + + 43. + ‘What! when Lords goe with ther feires,’ shee said, + ‘Both to the ale & wine? + Alas! then I must hyde my selfe, + I must not goe withinne.’ + + 44. + And then bespake him gentle Gawaine; + Said, ‘Lady, thats but skill; + And because thou art my owne lady, + Thou shalt haue all thy will.’ + + 45. + Then she said, ‘Blessed be thou, gentle Gawaine, + This day that I thee see, + For as thou see[st] me att this time, + From hencforth I wil be: + + 46. + ‘My father was an old knight, + & yett it chanced soe + That he marryed a younge lady + That brought me to this woe. + + 47. + ‘Shee witched me, being a faire young lady, + To the greene forrest to dwell, + & there I must walke in womans likness, + Most like a feend of hell. + + 48. + ‘She witched my brother to a carlish b . . . . . + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 49. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + That looked soe foule, & that was wont + On the wild more to goe. + + 50. + ‘Come kisse her, brother Kay,’ then said Sir Gawaine, + ‘& amend thé of thy liffe; + I sweare this is the same lady + That I marryed to my wiffe.’ + + 51. + Sir Kay kissed that lady bright, + Standing vpon his ffeete; + He swore, as he was trew knight, + The spice was neuer soe sweete. + + 52. + ‘Well, cozen Gawaine,’ sayes Sir Kay, + ‘Thy chance is fallen arright, + For thou hast gotten one of the fairest maids + I euer saw with my sight.’ + + 53. + ‘It is my fortune,’ said Sir Gawaine; + ‘For my Vnckle Arthur’s sake + I am glad as grasse wold be of raine, + Great ioy that I may take.’ + + 54. + Sir Gawaine tooke the lady by the one arme, + Sir Kay tooke her by the tother, + They led her straight to King Arthur + As they were brother & brother. + + 55. + King Arthur welcomed them there all, + & soe did lady Geneuer his queene, + With all the knights of the round table + Most seemly to be seene. + + 56. + King Arthur beheld that lady faire + That was soe faire and bright, + He thanked Christ in Trinity + For Sir Gawaine that gentle knight; + + 57. + Soe did the knights, both more and lesse; + Reioyced all that day + For the good chance that hapened was + To Sir Gawaine & his lady gay. + + + [Annotations: + 34.2: ‘swire,’ neck: the Folio reads _smire_. + 37.4: ‘slaine’: the Folio gives _shaine_. + 41.2: ‘was’ (Child’s suggestion): the Folio reads _with_. + 43.1: ‘feires,’ = feres, mates: the Folio reads _seires_. + 44.2: Folio: _but a skill_: see note on 28.3. + 48.1: ‘carlish,’ churlish.] + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE BOY AND THE MANTLE + + ++Text.+--The Percy Folio is the sole authority for this excellent lively +ballad. It is here given as it stands in the manuscript, except for +division into stanzas. Percy printed the ballad ‘_verbatim_,’--that is, +with emendations--and also a revised version. + ++The Story+, which exists in countless variations in many lands, is told +from the earliest times in connection with the Arthurian legend-cycle. +Restricting the article used as a criterion of chastity to a mantle, we +find the elements of this ballad existing in French manuscripts of the +thirteenth century (the romance called _Cort Mantel_); in a Norse +translation of this ‘fabliau’; in the Icelandic _Mantle Rhymes_ of the +fifteenth century; in the _Scalachronica_ of Sir Thomas Gray of Heton +(_circ._ 1355); in Germany, and in Gaelic (a ballad known in Irish +writings, but not in Scottish); as well as in many other versions. + +The trial by the drinking-horn is a fable equally old, as far as the +evidence goes, and equally widespread; but it is not told elsewhere in +connection with the parallel story of the mantle. Other tests used for +the purpose of discovering infidelity or unchastity are:-- a crown, a +magic bridge (German); a girdle (English; cp. Florimel’s girdle in the +_Faery Queen_, Book iv. Canto 5); a bed, a stepping-stone by the +bedside, a chair (Scandinavian); flowers (Sanskrit); a shirt (German and +Flemish); a picture (Italian, translated to England--cp. Massinger’s +_The Picture_ (1630), where he localises the story in Hungary); a ring +(French); a mirror (German, French, and Italian); and so forth. + +Caxton, in his preface to _Kyng Arthur_ (1485), says:-- ‘Item, in the +castel of Douer ye may see Gauwayn’s skull and Cradok’s mantel.’ Sir +Thomas Gray says the mantle was made into a chasuble, and was preserved +at Glastonbury. + +Thomas Love Peacock says (_The Misfortunes of Elphin_, chap. xii.), +‘Tegau Eurvron, or Tegau of the Golden Bosom, was the wife of Caradoc +[Craddocke], and one of the Three Chaste Wives of the island of +Britain.’ A similar statement is recorded by Percy at the end of his +‘revised and altered’ ballad, taking it from ‘the Rev. Evan Evans, +editor of the Specimens of Welsh Poetry.’ + + +THE BOY AND THE MANTLE + + 1. + In the third day of May + to Carleile did come + A kind curteous child + that cold much of wisdome. + + 2. + A kirtle & a mantle + this child had vppon, + With brauches and ringes + full richelye bedone. + + 3. + He had a sute of silke, + about his middle drawne; + Without he cold of curtesye, + he thought itt much shame. + + 4. + ‘God speed thee, King Arthur, + sitting at thy meate! + & the goodly Queene Gueneuer! + I canott her fforgett. + + 5. + ‘I tell you lords in this hall, + I hett you all heede, + Except you be the more surer, + is you for to dread.’ + + 6. + He plucked out of his potewer, + & longer wold not dwell, + He pulled forth a pretty mantle, + betweene two nut-shells. + + 7. + ‘Haue thou here, King Arthure, + haue thou heere of mee; + Give itt to thy comely queene, + shapen as itt is alreadye. + + 8. + ‘Itt shall neuer become that wiffe + that hath once done amisse’: + Then euery knight in the King’s court + began to care for his wiffe. + + 9. + Forth came dame Gueneuer, + to the mantle shee her bid; + The ladye shee was new-fangle, + but yett shee was affrayd. + + 10. + When shee had taken the mantle, + shee stoode as she had beene madd; + It was ffrom the top to the toe + as sheeres had itt shread. + + 11. + One while was itt gaule, + another while was itt greene; + Another while was itt wadded; + ill itt did her beseeme. + + 12. + Another while was it blacke, + & bore the worst hue; + ‘By my troth,’ quoth King Arthur, + ‘I thinke thou be not true.’ + + 13. + Shee threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + Fast with a rudd redd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 14. + Shee curst the weauer and the walker + that clothe that had wrought, + & bade a vengeance on his crowne + that hither hath itt brought. + + 15. + ‘I had rather be in a wood, + vnder a greene tree, + Then in King Arthurs court, + shamed for to bee.’ + + 16. + Kay called forth his ladye, + & bade her come neere; + Saies, ‘Madam, & thou be guiltye, + I pray thee hold thee there.’ + + 17. + Forth came his ladye + shortlye and anon, + Boldlye to the mantle + then is shee gone. + + 18. + When shee had tane the mantle, + & cast it her about, + Then was shee bare + all aboue the buttocckes. + + 19. + Then euery knight + that was in the Kings court + Talked, laug[h]ed, & showted, + full oft att that sport. + + 20. + Shee threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + Ffast with a red rudd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 21. + Forth came an old knight, + pattering ore a creede, + & he proferred to this litle boy + 20 markes to his meede, + + 22. + & all the time of the Christmasse + willinglye to ffeede; + For why this mantle might + doe his wiffe some need. + + 23. + When shee had tane the mantle, + of cloth that was made, + Shee had no more left on her + but a tassell and a threed: + Then euery knight in the Kings court + bade euill might shee speed. + + 24. + She threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + & fast with a redd rudd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 25. + Craddocke called forth his ladye, + & bade her come in; + Saith, ‘Winne this mantle, ladye, + with a litle dinne. + + 26. + ‘Winne this mantle, ladye, + & it shalbe thine + If thou neuer did amisse + since thou wast mine.’ + + 27. + Forth came Craddockes ladye + shortlye & anon, + But boldlye to the mantle + then is shee gone. + + 28. + When shee had tane the mantle, + & cast itt her about, + Vpp att her great toe + itt began to crinkle & crowt; + Shee said, ‘Bowe downe, mantle, + & shame me not for nought. + + 29. + ‘Once I did amisse, + I tell you certainlye, + When I kist Craddockes mouth + vnder a greene tree, + When I kist Craddockes mouth + before he marryed mee.’ + + 30. + When shee had her shreeuen, + & her sines shee had tolde, + The mantle stoode about her + right as shee wold, + + 31. + Seemelye of coulour, + glittering like gold; + Then euery knight in Arthurs court + did her behold. + + 32. + Then spake dame Gueneuer + to Arthur our king: + ‘She hath tane yonder mantle, + not with wright but with wronge. + + 33. + ‘See you not yonder woman + that maketh her selfe soe cleane? + I haue seene tane out of her bedd + of men fiueteene; + + 34. + ‘Preists, clarkes, & wedded men, + from her by-deene; + Yett shee taketh the mantle, + & maketh her selfe cleane!’ + + 35. + Then spake the litle boy + that kept the mantle in hold; + Sayes, ‘King, chasten thy wiffe; + of her words shee is to bold. + + 36. + ‘Shee is a bitch & a witch, + & a whore bold; + King, in thine owne hall + thou art a cuchold.’ + + 37. + A litle boy stoode + looking ouer a dore; + He was ware of a wyld bore, + wold haue werryed a man. + + 38. + He pulld forth a wood kniffe, + fast thither that he ran; + He brought in the bores head, + & quitted him like a man. + + 39. + He brought in the bores head, + and was wonderous bold; + He said there was neuer a cucholds kniffe + carue itt that cold. + + 40. + Some rubbed their k[n]iues + vppon a whetstone; + Some threw them vnder the table, + & said they had none. + + 41. + King Arthur & the child + stood looking them vpon; + All their k[n]iues edges + turned backe againe. + + 42. + Craddoccke had a litle kniue + of iron & of steele; + He birtled the bores head + wonderous weele, + That euery knight in the Kings court + had a morssell. + + 43. + The litle boy had a horne, + of red gold that ronge; + He said, ‘There was noe cuckolde + shall drinke of my horne, + But he shold itt sheede, + either behind or beforne.’ + + 44. + Some shedd on their shoulder, + & some on their knee; + He that cold not hitt his mouth + put it in his eye; + & he that was a cuckold, + euery man might him see. + + 45. + Craddoccke wan the horne + & the bores head; + His ladye wan the mantle + vnto her meede; + Euerye such a louely ladye, + God send her well to speede! + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: ‘brauches,’ brooches. + 5.2: ‘hett,’ bid; ‘heede,’ MS. heate. + 6.1: ‘potewer.’ Child says:-- Read potener, French _pautonnière_, + pouch, purse. + 8.4: Perhaps the line should end with ‘his,’ but ‘wiffe’ is the last + word in the manuscript. + 9.3: ‘new-fangle,’ desirous of novelties. + 11.1: ‘gaule,’ perhaps = gules, _i.e._ red. + 11.3: ‘wadded,’ woad-coloured, _i.e._ blue. + 13.2: ‘blee,’ colour. + 13.3: ‘rudd,’ complexion. + 14.1: ‘walker,’ fuller. + 25.4: ‘dinne,’ trouble. + 28.4: ‘crowt,’ pucker. + 34.2: ‘by-deene,’ one after another. + 37 and 38: Evidently some lines have been lost here, and the rhymes + are thereby confused. + 42.3: ‘birtled,’ cut up. + 43.2: ‘ronge,’ rang.] + + + + +JOHNEY SCOT + + ++The Text+ of this popular and excellent ballad is given from the +Jamieson-Brown MS. It was copied, with wilful alterations, into Scott’s +Abbotsford MS. called _Scottish Songs_. Professor Child prints sixteen +variants of the ballad, nearly all from manuscripts. + ++The Story+ of the duel with the Italian is given with more detail in +other versions. In two ballads from Motherwell’s MS., where ‘the +Italian’ becomes ‘the Tailliant’ or ‘the Talliant,’ the champion jumps +over Johney’s head, and descends on the point of Johney’s sword. This +exploit is paralleled in a Breton ballad, where the Seigneur Les Aubrays +of St. Brieux is ordered by the French king to combat his wild Moor, who +leaps in the air and is received on the sword of his antagonist. Again, +in Scottish tradition, James Macgill, having killed Sir Robert Balfour +about 1679, went to London to procure his pardon, which Charles +II.+ +offered him on the condition of fighting an Italian gladiator. The +Italian leaped once over James Macgill, but in attempting to repeat this +manœuvre was spitted by his opponent, who thereby procured not only his +pardon, but also knighthood. + + +JOHNEY SCOT + + 1. + O Johney was as brave a knight + As ever sail’d the sea, + An’ he’s done him to the English court, + To serve for meat and fee. + + 2. + He had nae been in fair England + But yet a little while, + Untill the kingis ae daughter + To Johney proves wi’ chil’. + + 3. + O word’s come to the king himsel’, + In his chair where he sat, + That his ae daughter was wi’ bairn + To Jack, the Little Scott. + + 4. + ‘Gin this be true that I do hear, + As I trust well it be, + Ye pit her into prison strong, + An’ starve her till she die.’ + + 5. + O Johney’s on to fair Scotland, + A wot he went wi’ speed, + An’ he has left the kingis court, + A wot good was his need. + + 6. + O it fell once upon a day + That Johney he thought lang, + An’ he’s gane to the good green wood, + As fast as he coud gang. + + 7. + ‘O whare will I get a bonny boy, + To rin my errand soon, + That will rin into fair England, + An’ haste him back again?’ + + 8. + O up it starts a bonny boy, + Gold yallow was his hair, + I wish his mother meickle joy, + His bonny love mieckle mair. + + 9. + ‘O here am I, a bonny boy, + Will rin your errand soon; + I will gang into fair England, + An’ come right soon again.’ + + 10. + O whan he came to broken briggs, + He bent his bow and swam; + An’ whan he came to the green grass growan, + He slaikid his shoone an’ ran. + + 11. + Whan he came to yon high castèl, + He ran it roun’ about, + An’ there he saw the king’s daughter, + At the window looking out. + + 12. + ‘O here’s a sark o’ silk, lady, + Your ain han’ sew’d the sleeve; + You’r bidden come to fair Scotlan’, + Speer nane o’ your parents’ leave. + + 13. + ‘Ha, take this sark o’ silk, lady, + Your ain han’ sew’d the gare; + You’re bidden come to good green wood, + Love Johney waits you there.’ + + 14. + She’s turn’d her right and roun’ about, + The tear was in her ee: + ‘How can I come to my true-love, + Except I had wings to flee? + + 15. + ‘Here am I kept wi’ bars and bolts, + Most grievous to behold; + My breast-plate’s o’ the sturdy steel, + Instead of the beaten gold. + + 16. + ‘But tak’ this purse, my bonny boy, + Ye well deserve a fee, + An’ bear this letter to my love, + An’ tell him what you see.’ + + 17. + Then quickly ran the bonny boy + Again to Scotlan’ fair, + An’ soon he reach’d Pitnachton’s tow’rs, + An’ soon found Johney there. + + 18. + He pat the letter in his han’ + An’ taul’ him what he sa’, + But eer he half the letter read, + He loote the tears doun fa’. + + 19. + ‘O I will gae back to fair Englan’, + Tho’ death shoud me betide, + An’ I will relieve the damesel + That lay last by my side.’ + + 20. + Then out it spake his father dear, + ‘My son, you are to blame; + An’ gin you’r catch’d on English groun’, + I fear you’ll ne’er win hame.’ + + 21. + Then out it spake a valiant knight, + Johny’s best friend was he; + ‘I can commaun’ five hunder men, + An’ I’ll his surety be.’ + + 22. + The firstin town that they came till, + They gard the bells be rung; + An’ the nextin town that they came till, + They gard the mess be sung. + + 23. + The thirdin town that they came till, + They gard the drums beat roun’; + The king but an’ his nobles a’ + Was startl’d at the soun’. + + 24. + Whan they came to the king’s palace + They rade it roun’ about, + An’ there they saw the king himsel’, + At the window looking out. + + 25. + ‘Is this the Duke o’ Albany, + Or James, the Scottish king? + Or are ye some great foreign lord, + That’s come a visiting?’ + + 26. + ‘I’m nae the Duke of Albany, + Nor James, the Scottish king; + But I’m a valiant Scottish knight, + Pitnachton is my name.’ + + 27. + ‘O if Pitnachton be your name, + As I trust well it be, + The morn, or I tast meat or drink, + You shall be hanged hi’.’ + + 28. + Then out it spake the valiant knight + That came brave Johney wi’; + ‘Behold five hunder bowmen bold, + Will die to set him free.’ + + 29. + Then out it spake the king again, + An’ a scornfu’ laugh laugh he; + ‘I have an Italian in my house + Will fight you three by three.’ + + 30. + ‘O grant me a boon,’ brave Johney cried; + ‘Bring your Italian here; + Then if he fall beneath my sword, + I’ve won your daughter dear.’ + + 31. + Then out it came that Italian, + An’ a gurious ghost was he; + Upo’ the point o’ Johney’s sword + This Italian did die. + + 32. + Out has he drawn his lang, lang bran’, + Struck it across the plain: + ‘Is there any more o’ your English dogs + That you want to be slain?’ + + 33. + ‘A clark, a clark,’ the king then cried, + ‘To write her tocher free’; + ‘A priest, a priest,’ says Love Johney, + ‘To marry my love and me. + + 34. + ‘I’m seeking nane o’ your gold,’ he says, + ‘Nor of your silver clear; + I only seek your daughter fair, + Whose love has cost her dear.’ + + [Annotations: + 5.2,4: ‘A wot’ = I wis. + 6.2: See _Young Bekie_, 16.4; _Brown Adam_, 5.2. + 10: See _Lady Maisry_, 21; _Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet_, 12, etc.: + a stock ballad-phrase. + 12.1: ‘sark,’ shift. + 12.4: ‘Speer’ (speir), ask. + 13.2: ‘gare,’ gore: see _Brown Robin_, 10.4. + 18.4: ‘loote,’ let. + 22.4: ‘mess,’ mass. + 27.3: ‘or,’ ere. + 29.2: The second ‘laugh’ is the past tense of the verb. + 31.2: ‘gurious,’ grim, ugly. + 33.2: ‘tocher,’ dowry.] + + + + +LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET + + ++The Text+ is taken from Motherwell’s _Minstrelsy_, a similar version +being given in Maidment’s _North Countrie Garland_. A few alterations +from the latter version are incorporated. + ++The Story+ bears tokens of confusion with _Lady Maisry_ in some of the +variants of either, but here the tragedy is that the bridegroom is +brother to the lover. The end of this ballad in all its forms is highly +unnatural in its style: why should Maisery’s remorse at having been such +an expense to Lord Ingram be three times as great as her grief for the +loss of her lover? It is by no means romantic. + + +LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET + + 1. + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet + Was baith born in one bower; + Laid baith their hearts on one lady, + The less was their honour. + + 2. + Chiel Wyet and Lord Ingram + Was baith born in one hall; + Laid baith their hearts on one lady, + The worse did them befall. + + 3. + Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery + From father and from mother; + Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery + From sister and from brother. + + 4. + Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery + With leave of a’ her kin; + And every one gave full consent, + But she said no to him. + + 5. + Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery + Into her father’s ha’; + Chiel Wyet woo’d her Lady Maisery + Amang the sheets so sma’. + + 6. + Now it fell out upon a day + She was dressing her head, + That ben did come her father dear, + Wearing the gold so red. + + 7. + He said, ‘Get up now, Lady Maisery, + Put on your wedding gown; + For Lord Ingram he will be here, + Your wedding must be done.’ + + 8. + ‘I’d rather be Chiel Wyet’s wife, + The white fish for to sell, + Before I were Lord Ingram’s wife, + To wear the silk so well. + + 9. + ‘I’d rather be Chiel Wyet’s wife, + With him to beg my bread, + Before I were Lord Ingram’s wife, + To wear the gold so red. + + 10. + ‘Where will I get a bonny boy, + Will win gold to his fee, + And will run unto Chiel Wyet’s, + With this letter from me?’ + + 11. + ‘O here I am, the boy,’ says one, + ‘Will win gold to my fee, + And carry away any letter + To Chiel Wyet from thee.’ + + 12. + And when he found the bridges broke + He bent his bow and swam; + And when he found the grass growing, + He hastened and he ran. + + 13. + And when he came to Chiel Wyet’s castle, + He did not knock nor call, + But set his bent bow to his breast, + And lightly leaped the wall; + And ere the porter open’d the gate, + The boy was in the hall. + + 14. + The first line he looked on, + A grieved man was he; + The next line he looked on, + A tear blinded his ee: + Says, ‘I wonder what ails my one brother, + He’ll not let my love be! + + 15. + ‘But I’ll send to my brother’s bridal-- + The bacon shall be mine-- + Full four and twenty buck and roe, + And ten tun of the wine; + And bid my love be blythe and glad, + And I will follow syne.’ + + 16. + There was not a groom about that castle, + But got a gown of green, + And all was blythe, and all was glad, + But Lady Maisery she was neen. + + 17. + There was no cook about that kitchen, + But got a gown of gray; + And all was blythe, and all was glad, + But Lady Maisery was wae. + + 18. + Between Mary Kirk and that castle + Was all spread ower with garl, + To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens + From tramping on the marl. + + 19. + From Mary Kirk to that castle + Was spread a cloth of gold, + To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens + From treading on the mold. + + 20. + When mass was sung, and bells was rung, + And all men bound for bed; + Then Lord Ingram and Lady Maisery + In one bed they were laid. + + 21. + When they were laid into their bed, + It was baith saft and warm, + He laid his hand over her side, + Says, ‘I think you are with bairn.’ + + 22. + ‘I told you once, so did I twice, + When ye came me to woo, + That Chiel Wyet, your only brother, + One night lay in my bower. + + 23. + ‘I told you twice, I told you thrice, + Ere ye came me to wed, + That Chiel Wyet, your one brother, + One night lay in my bed.’ + + 24. + ‘O will you father your bairn on me, + And on no other man? + And I’ll give him to his dowry + Full fifty ploughs of land.’ + + 25. + ‘I will not father my bairn on you, + Nor on no wrongeous man, + Though ye would give him to his dowry + Five thousand ploughs of land.’ + + 26. + Then up did start him Chiel Wyet, + Shed by his yellow hair, + And gave Lord Ingram to the heart + A deep wound and a sair. + + 27. + Then up did start him Lord Ingram, + Shed by his yellow hair, + And gave Chiel Wyet to the heart, + A deep wound and a sair. + + 28. + There was no pity for that two lords, + Where they were lying slain; + But all was for her Lady Maisery, + In that bower she gaed brain. + + 29. + There was no pity for that two lords, + When they were lying dead; + But all was for her Lady Maisery, + In that bower she went mad. + + 30. + Said, ‘Get to me a cloak of cloth, + A staff of good hard tree; + If I have been an evil woman, + I shall beg till I dee. + + 31. + ‘For a bit I’ll beg for Chiel Wyet, + For Lord Ingram I’ll beg three; + All for the good and honourable marriage, + At Mary Kirk he gave me.’ + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: ‘honour’: Motherwell printed _bonheur_. + 6.3: ‘ben,’ in. + 8.2: ‘sell’: Motherwell gave _kill_. + 12: Cp. _Lady Maisry_, 21. + 16.4: ‘neen,’ none, not. + 18.2: ‘garl,’ gravel. + 26.1: Motherwell gives _did stand_. + 28.4: ‘brain,’ mad. + 30.2: ‘tree,’ wood. + 31.1: ‘a’ = ae, each.] + + + + +THE TWA SISTERS O’ BINNORIE + + ++Texts.+--The version here given is compounded from two different +sources, almost of necessity. Stanzas 1-19 were given by Scott, +compounded from W. Tytler’s Brown MS. and the recitation of an old +woman. But at stanza 20 Scott’s version becomes eccentric, and he prints +such verses as:-- + + ‘A famous harper passing by + The sweet pale face he chanced to spy ... + + The strings he framed of her yellow hair, + Whose notes made sad the listening air.’ + +Stanzas 20-25, therefore, have been supplied from the Jamieson-Brown +MS., which after this point does not descend from the high level of +ballad-poetry. + ++The Story.+--This is a very old and a very popular story. An early +broadside exists, dated 1656, and the same version is printed in _Wit +Restor’d_, 1658. Of Scandinavian ballads on the same subject, nine are +Danish, two Icelandic, twelve Norwegian, four Färöe, and eight or nine +Swedish. + + +THE TWA SISTERS O’ BINNORIE + + 1. + There were twa sisters sat in a bour, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + There came a knight to be their wooer, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 2. + He courted the eldest wi’ glove and ring, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + But he lo’ed the youngest aboon a’ thing, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 3. + He courted the eldest with broach and knife, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + But he lo’ed the youngest aboon his life, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 4. + The eldest she was vexed sair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And sair envìed her sister fair, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 5. + The eldest said to the youngest ane, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘Will ye go and see our father’s ships come in?’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 6. + She’s ta’en her by the lilly hand, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And led her down to the river-strand, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 7. + The youngest stude upon a stane, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + The eldest came and pushed her in, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 8. + She took her by the middle sma’, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And dashed her bonnie back to the jaw, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie/_ + + 9. + ‘O sister, sister, reach your hand!’ + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘And ye shall be heir of half my land,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 10. + ‘O sister, I’ll not reach my hand,’ + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘And I’ll be heir of all your land,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 11. + ‘Shame fa’ the hand that I should take,’ + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘It’s twin’d me and my world’s make,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 12. + ‘O sister, reach me but your glove,’ + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘And sweet William shall be your love,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 13. + ‘Sink on, nor hope for hand or glove,’ + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘And sweet William shall better be my love,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 14. + ‘Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair,’ + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘Garr’d me gang maiden evermair,’ + _By the bonnie mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 15. + Sometimes she sunk, and sometimes she swam, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Until she came to the miller’s dam, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 16. + ‘O father, father, draw your dam!’ + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + ‘There’s either a mermaid or a milk-white swan,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 17. + The miller hasted and drew his dam, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And there he found a drowned woman, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 18. + You could not see her yellow hair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + For gowd and pearls that were sae rare, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 19. + You could na see her middle sma’, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Her gowden girdle was sae bra’, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 20. + An’ by there came a harper fine, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + That harped to the king at dine, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 21. + When he did look that lady upon, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + He sigh’d and made a heavy moan, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 22. + He’s ta’en three locks o’ her yallow hair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And wi’ them strung his harp sae fair, + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 23. + The first tune he did play and sing, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, ‘Farewell to my father the king,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 24. + The nextin tune that he play’d syne, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, ‘Farewell to my mother the queen,’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + 25. + The lasten tune that he play’d then, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, ‘Wae to my sister, fair Ellen!’ + _By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie._ + + + [Annotations: + 8.3: ‘jaw,’ wave. + 11.3: ‘my world’s make,’ my earthly mate.] + + + + +YOUNG WATERS + + ++The Text+ is that of a copy mentioned by Percy, ‘printed not long since +at Glasgow, in one sheet 8vo. The world was indebted for its publication +to the lady Jean Hume, sister to the Earle of Hume, who died lately at +Gibraltar.’ The original edition, discovered by Mr. Macmath after +Professor Child’s version (from the _Reliques_) was in print, is:-- +‘Young Waters, an Ancient Scottish Poem, never before printed. Glasgow, +printed and sold by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1755.’ This was also known +to Maidment. Hardly a word differs from Percy’s version; but here I have +substituted the spellings ‘wh’ for Percy’s ‘quh,’ in ‘quhen,’ etc., and +‘y’ for his ‘z’ in ‘zoung, zou,’ etc. + ++The Story+ has had historical foundations suggested for it by Percy and +Chambers. Percy identified Young Waters with the Earl of Murray, +murdered, according to the chronicle of Sir James Balfour, on the 7th of +February 1592. Chambers, in 1829, relying on Buchan’s version of the +ballad, had no doubt that Young Waters was one of the Scots nobles +executed by James I., and was very probably Walter Stuart, second son of +the Duke of Albany. Thirty years later, Chambers was equally certain +that the ballad was the composition of Lady Wardlaw. + +In a Scandinavian ballad, Folke Lovmandson is a favourite at court; +a little wee page makes the fatal remark and excites the king’s +jealousy. The innocent knight is rolled down a hill in a barrel set with +knives--a punishment common in Scandinavian folklore. + + +YOUNG WATERS + + 1. + About Yule, when the wind blew cule, + And the round tables began, + A there is cum to our king’s court + Mony a well-favor’d man. + + 2. + The queen luikt owre the castle-wa’, + Beheld baith dale and down, + And there she saw Young Waters + Cum riding to the town. + + 3. + His footmen they did rin before, + His horsemen rade behind; + Ane mantel of the burning gowd + Did keip him frae the wind. + + 4. + Gowden-graith’d his horse before, + And siller-shod behind; + The horse Young Waters rade upon + Was fleeter than the wind. + + 5. + Out then spack a wylie lord, + Unto the queen said he: + ‘O tell me wha ’s the fairest face + Rides in the company?’ + + 6. + ‘I’ve sene lord, and I’ve sene laird, + And knights of high degree, + Bot a fairer face than Young Waters + Mine eyne did never see.’ + + 7. + Out then spack the jealous king, + And an angry man was he: + ‘O if he had bin twice as fair, + You micht have excepted me.’ + + 8. + ‘You’re neither laird nor lord,’ she says, + ‘Bot the king that wears the crown; + There is not a knight in fair Scotland + Bot to thee maun bow down.’ + + 9. + For a’ that she coud do or say, + Appeas’d he wad nae bee, + Bot for the words which she had said, + Young Waters he maun die. + + 10. + They hae ta’en Young Waters, + And put fetters to his feet; + They hae ta’en Young Waters, and + Thrown him in dungeon deep. + + 11. + ‘Aft have I ridden thro’ Stirling town, + In the wind bot and the weit; + Bot I neir rade thro’ Stirling town + Wi’ fetters at my feet. + + 12. + ‘Aft have I ridden thro’ Stirling town, + In the wind bot and the rain; + Bot I neir rade thro’ Stirling town + Neir to return again.’ + + 13. + They hae ta’en to the heiding-hill + His young son in his craddle, + And they hae ta’en to the heiding-hill + His horse bot and his saddle. + + 14. + They hae ta’en to heiding-hill + His lady fair to see, + And for the words the queen had spoke + Young Waters he did die. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: ‘round tables,’ an unknown game. + 4.1: ‘graith’d,’ harnessed, usually; here perhaps shod. + 6.1: ‘laird,’ a landholder, below the degree of knight.--+Jamieson+. + 13.1: ‘heiding-hill’: _i.e._ heading (beheading) hill. The place of + execution was anciently an artificial hillock.--+Percy+.] + + + + +BARBARA ALLAN + + ++The Text+ is from Allan Ramsay’s _Tea-Table Miscellany_ (1763). It was +not included in the first edition (1724-1727), nor until the ninth +edition in 1740, when to the original three volumes there was added a +fourth, in which this ballad appeared. There is also a Scotch version, +_Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan_. Percy printed both in the +_Reliques_, vol. iii. + ++The Story+ of Barbara Allan’s scorn of her lover and subsequent regret +has always been popular. Pepys records of Mrs. Knipp, ‘In perfect +pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song +of Barbary Allen’ (January 2, 1665-6). Goldsmith’s words are equally +well known: ‘The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt +when an old dairymaid sung me into tears with _Johnny Armstrong’s Last +Goodnight_, or _The Cruelty of Barbara Allen_.’ The tune is excessively +popular: it is given in Chappell’s _English Song and Ballad Music_. + + +BARBARA ALLAN + + 1. + It was in and about the Martinmas time, + When the green leaves were afalling, + That Sir John Græme, in the West Country, + Fell in love with Barbara Allan. + + 2. + He sent his men down through the town, + To the place where she was dwelling; + ‘O haste and come to my master dear, + Gin ye be Barbara Allan.’ + + 3. + O hooly, hooly rose she up, + To the place where he was lying, + And when she drew the curtain by, + ‘Young man, I think you’re dying.’ + + 4. + ‘O it’s I am sick, and very, very sick, + And ’t is a’ for Barbara Allan.’ + ‘O the better for me ye ’s never be, + Tho’ your heart’s blood were aspilling.’ + + 5. + ‘O dinna ye mind, young man,’ said she, + ‘When ye was in the tavern a drinking, + That ye made the healths gae round and round, + And slighted Barbara Allan?’ + + 6. + He turn’d his face unto the wall, + And death was with him dealing; + ‘Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, + And be kind to Barbara Allan.’ + + 7. + And slowly, slowly raise she up, + And slowly, slowly left him, + And sighing, said, she coud not stay, + Since death of life had reft him. + + 8. + She had not gane a mile but twa, + When she heard the dead-bell ringing, + And every jow that the dead-bell geid, + It cry’d, ‘Woe to Barbara Allan!’ + + 9. + ‘O mother, mother, make my bed, + O make it saft and narrow! + Since my love died for me to-day, + I’ll die for him to-morrow.’ + + + + +THE GAY GOSHAWK + + ++The Text+ is from the Jamieson-Brown MS., on which version Scott drew +partly for his ballad in the _Minstrelsy_. Mrs. Brown recited the ballad +again to William Tytler in 1783, but the result is now lost, with most +of the other Tytler-Brown versions. + ++The Story.+--One point, the maid’s feint of death to escape from her +father to her lover, is the subject of a ballad very popular in France; +a version entitled _Belle Isambourg_ is printed in a collection called +_Airs de Cour_, 1607. Feigning death to escape various threats is a +common feature in many European ballads. + +It is perhaps needless to remark that no goshawk sings sweetly, much +less talks. In Buchan’s version (of forty-nine stanzas) the goshawk is +exchanged for a parrot. + + +THE GAY GOSHAWK + + 1. + ‘O well’s me o’ my gay goss-hawk, + That he can speak and flee; + He’ll carry a letter to my love, + Bring back another to me.’ + + 2. + ‘O how can I your true-love ken, + Or how can I her know? + When frae her mouth I never heard couth, + Nor wi’ my eyes her saw.’ + + 3. + ‘O well sal ye my true-love ken, + As soon as you her see; + For, of a’ the flow’rs in fair Englan’, + The fairest flow’r is she. + + 4. + ‘At even at my love’s bow’r-door + There grows a bowing birk, + An’ sit ye down and sing thereon + As she gangs to the kirk. + + 5. + ‘An’ four-and-twenty ladies fair + Will wash and go to kirk, + But well shall ye my true-love ken, + For she wears goud on her skirt. + + 6. + ‘An’ four-and-twenty gay ladies + Will to the mass repair, + But well sal ye my true-love ken, + For she wears goud on her hair.’ + + 7. + O even at that lady’s bow’r-door + There grows a bowin’ birk, + An’ she sat down and sang thereon, + As she ged to the kirk. + + 8. + ‘O eet and drink, my marys a’, + The wine flows you among, + Till I gang to my shot-window, + An’ hear yon bonny bird’s song. + + 9. + ‘Sing on, sing on, my bonny bird, + The song ye sang the streen, + For I ken by your sweet singin’, + You ’re frae my true-love sen’.’ + + 10. + O first he sang a merry song, + An’ then he sang a grave, + An’ then he peck’d his feathers gray, + To her the letter gave. + + 11. + ‘Ha, there’s a letter frae your love, + He says he sent you three; + He canna wait your love langer, + But for your sake he’ll die. + + 12. + ‘He bids you write a letter to him; + He says he’s sent you five; + He canno wait your love langer, + Tho’ you’re the fairest woman alive.’ + + 13. + ‘Ye bid him bake his bridal bread, + And brew his bridal ale, + An’ I’ll meet him in fair Scotlan’ + Lang, lang or it be stale.’ + + 14. + She’s doen her to her father dear, + Fa’n low down on her knee: + ‘A boon, a boon, my father dear, + I pray you, grant it me.’ + + 15. + ‘Ask on, ask on, my daughter, + An’ granted it sal be; + Except ae squire in fair Scotlan’, + An’ him you sall never see.’ + + 16. + ‘The only boon my father dear, + That I do crave of the, + Is, gin I die in southin lans, + In Scotland to bury me. + + 17. + ‘An’ the firstin kirk that ye come till, + Ye gar the bells be rung, + An’ the nextin kirk that ye come till, + Ye gar the mess be sung. + + 18. + ‘An’ the thirdin kirk that ye come till, + You deal gold for my sake, + An’ the fourthin kirk that ye come till, + You tarry there till night.’ + + 19. + She is doen her to her bigly bow’r, + As fast as she coud fare, + An’ she has tane a sleepy draught, + That she had mix’d wi’ care. + + 20. + She’s laid her down upon her bed, + An’ soon she’s fa’n asleep, + And soon o’er every tender limb + Cauld death began to creep. + + 21. + Whan night was flown, an’ day was come, + Nae ane that did her see + But thought she was as surely dead + As ony lady coud be. + + 22. + Her father an’ her brothers dear + Gard make to her a bier; + The tae half was o’ guid red gold, + The tither o’ silver clear. + + 23. + Her mither an’ her sisters fair + Gard work for her a sark; + The tae half was o’ cambrick fine, + The tither o’ needle wark. + + 24. + The firstin kirk that they came till, + They gard the bells be rung, + An’ the nextin kirk that they came till, + They gard the mess be sung. + + 25. + The thirdin kirk that they came till, + They dealt gold for her sake, + An’ the fourthin kirk that they came till, + Lo, there they met her make! + + 26. + ‘Lay down, lay down the bigly bier, + Lat me the dead look on’; + Wi’ cherry cheeks and ruby lips + She lay an’ smil’d on him. + + 27. + ‘O ae sheave o’ your bread, true-love, + An’ ae glass o’ your wine, + For I hae fasted for your sake + These fully days is nine. + + 28. + ‘Gang hame, gang hame, my seven bold brothers, + Gang hame and sound your horn; + An’ ye may boast in southin lan’s + Your sister’s play’d you scorn.’ + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: ‘couth,’ word.--+Jamieson+. The derivation, from Anglo-Saxon + _cwide_, is hard. + 7.3: ‘she’ is the goshawk; called ‘he’ in 1.2. + 8.3: ‘shot-window,’ here perhaps a bow-window. + 9.2: ‘streen’ = yestreen, last evening. + 19.1: ‘bigly,’ _lit._ habitable; the stock epithet of ‘bower.’ + 25.4: ‘make,’ mate, lover. + 27.1: ‘sheave,’ slice.] + + + + +BROWN ROBIN + + ++The Text+ is here given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. Versions, +lengthened and therefore less succinct and natural, are given in +Christie’s _Traditional Ballad Airs_ (_Love Robbie_) and in Buchan’s +_Ballads of the North of Scotland_ (_Brown Robyn and Mally_). + ++The Story+ is a genuine bit of romance. The proud porter is apparently +suspicious, believing that the king’s daughter would not have made him +drunk for any good purpose. In spite of that he cannot see through Brown +Robin’s disguise, though the king remarks that ‘this is a sturdy dame.’ +The king’s daughter, one would think, who conceals Robin’s bow in her +bosom, must also have been somewhat sturdy. Note the picturesque touch +in 8.2. + + +BROWN ROBIN + + 1. + The king but an’ his nobles a’ } _bis_ + Sat birling at the wine; } + He would ha’ nane but his ae daughter + To wait on them at dine. + + 2. + She’s served them butt, she’s served them ben, + Intill a gown of green, + But her e’e was ay on Brown Robin, + That stood low under the rain. + + 3. + She’s doen her to her bigly bow’r, + As fast as she coud gang, + An’ there she’s drawn her shot-window, + An’ she’s harped an’ she sang. + + 4. + ‘There sits a bird i’ my father’s garden, + An’ O but she sings sweet! + I hope to live an’ see the day + When wi’ my love I’ll meet.’ + + 5. + ‘O gin that ye like me as well + As your tongue tells to me, + What hour o’ the night, my lady bright, + At your bow’r sal I be?’ + + 6. + ‘Whan my father an’ gay Gilbert + Are baith set at the wine, + O ready, ready I will be + To lat my true-love in.’ + + 7. + O she has birl’d her father’s porter + Wi’ strong beer an’ wi’ wine, + Untill he was as beastly drunk + As ony wild-wood swine: + She’s stown the keys o’ her father’s yates + An latten her true-love in. + + 8. + When night was gane, an’ day was come, + An’ the sun shone on their feet, + Then out it spake him Brown Robin, + ‘I’ll be discover’d yet.’ + + 9. + Then out it spake that gay lady: + ‘My love ye need na doubt, + For wi’ ae wile I’ve got you in, + Wi’ anither I’ll bring you out.’ + + 10. + She’s ta’en her to her father’s cellar, + As fast as she can fare; + She’s drawn a cup o’ the gude red wine, + Hung ’t low down by her gare; + An’ she met wi’ her father dear + Just coming down the stair. + + 11. + ‘I woud na gi’ that cup, daughter, + That ye hold i’ your han’, + For a’ the wines in my cellar, + An’ gantrees whare the[y] stan’.’ + + 12. + ‘O wae be to your wine, father, + That ever ’t came o’er the sea; + ’Tis pitten my head in sic a steer + I’ my bow’r I canna be.’ + + 13. + ‘Gang out, gang out, my daughter dear, + Gang out an’ tack the air; + Gang out an’ walk i’ the good green wood, + An’ a’ your marys fair.’ + + 14. + Then out it spake the proud porter-- + Our lady wish’d him shame-- + ‘We’ll send the marys to the wood, + But we’ll keep our lady at hame.’ + + 15. + ‘There’s thirty marys i’ my bow’r, + There’s thirty o’ them an’ three; + But there ’s nae ane amo’ them a’ + Kens what flow’r gains for me.’ + + 16. + She’s doen her to her bigly bow’r + As fast as she could gang, + An’ she has dresst him Brown Robin + Like ony bow’r-woman. + + 17. + The gown she pat upon her love + Was o’ the dainty green, + His hose was o’ the saft, saft silk, + His shoon o’ the cordwain fine. + + 18. + She’s pitten his bow in her bosom, + His arrow in her sleeve, + His sturdy bran’ her body next, + Because he was her love. + + 19. + Then she is unto her bow’r-door + As fast as she coud gang; + But out it spake the proud porter-- + Our lady wish’d him shame-- + ‘We’ll count our marys to the wood, + And we’ll count them back again.’ + + 20. + The firsten mary she sent out + Was Brown Robin by name; + Then out it spake the king himsel’, + ‘This is a sturdy dame.’ + + 21. + O she went out in a May morning, + In a May morning so gay, + But she never came back again, + Her auld father to see. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: ‘birling,’ drinking: cf. 7.1. + 3.1: ‘bigly,’ commodious: see _The Gay Goshawk_, 19.1. + 3.3: ‘shot-window,’ here perhaps a shutter with a pane of glass let + in. + 7.1: ‘birl’d,’ plied: cf. 1.2. + 7.4: Cf. _Fause Footrage_ 16.4: a popular simile. + 7.5: ‘stown,’ stolen: ‘yates,’ gates. + 10.4: ‘gare,’ gore; _i.e._ by her knee: a stock ballad phrase. + 11.4: ‘gantrees,’ stands for casks. + 12.3: ‘sic,’ such: the MS. gives _sick_: ‘steer,’ disturbance. + 13.4: ‘marys,’ maids. + 15.4: ‘gains for,’ suits, is meet (Icelandic, _gegna_). Cf. Jamieson’s + version of _Sir Patrick Spence_:-- + ‘For I brought as much white money + As will gain my men and me.’ + 17.4: ‘cordwain,’ Cordovan (Spanish) leather. + 21.2: ‘gay’: the MS. gives _gray_. This is Child’s emendation, who + points out that the sun was up, 8.2.] + + + + +LADY ALICE + + ++The Text+ of this little ballad is given from Bell’s _Ancient Poems, +Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England_. + +It should be compared with _Lord Lovel_. + + +LADY ALICE + + 1. + Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window, + At midnight mending her quoif, + And there she saw as fine a corpse + As ever she saw in her life. + + 2. + ‘What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? + What bear ye on your shoulders?’ + ‘We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, + An old and true lover of yours.’ + + 3. + ‘O lay him down gently, ye six men tall, + All on the grass so green, + And to-morrow, when the sun goes down, + Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen. + + 4. + ‘And bury me in Saint Mary’s church, + All for my love so true, + And make me a garland of marjoram, + And of lemon-thyme, and rue.’ + + 5. + Giles Collins was buried all in the east, + Lady Alice all in the west, + And the roses that grew on Giles Collins’s grave, + They reached Lady Alice’s breast. + + 6. + The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, + And he severed those roses in twain; + Sure never were seen such true lovers before, + Nor e’er will there be again. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: ‘quoif,’ cap. The line should doubtless be:-- + ‘Mending her midnight quoif.’] + + + + +CHILD MAURICE + + ++The Text+ is from the Percy Folio, given _literatim_, with two +rearrangements of the lines (in stt. 4 and 22) and a few obvious +corrections, as suggested by Hales, and Furnivall, and Child. The Folio +version was printed by Jamieson in his _Popular Ballads and Songs_. + +The Scotch version, _Gil Morrice_, was printed by Percy in the +_Reliques_ in preference to the version of his Folio. He notes that the +ballad ‘has lately run through two editions in Scotland: the second was +printed at Glasgow in 1755.’ Thanks to an advertisement prefixed to +these Scottish editions, sixteen additional verses were obtained and +added by Percy, who thought that they were ‘perhaps after all only an +ingenious interpolation.’ _Gil Morrice_ introduces ‘Lord Barnard’ in +place of ‘John Steward,’ adopted, perhaps, from _Little Musgrave and +Lady Barnard_. Motherwell’s versions were variously called _Child +Noryce_, _Bob Norice_, _Gill Morice_, _Chield Morice_. Certainly the +Folio ballad is unsurpassed for its vigorous, objective style, and +forcible, vivid pictures. + ++The Story+ of this ballad gave rise to Home’s _Douglas_, a tragedy, +produced in the Concert Hall, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1756 (on which +occasion the heroine’s name was given as ‘Lady Barnard’), and +transferred to Covent Garden Theatre, in London, in 1757, the heroine’s +name being altered to ‘Lady Randolph.’ + +Perhaps in the same year in which the play was produced in London, the +poet Gray wrote from Cambridge:-- ‘I have got the old Scotch ballad on +which _Douglas_ was founded; it is divine, and as long as from hence to +Aston. Aristotle’s best rules are observed in it in a manner which shows +the author never had heard of Aristotle. It begins in the fifth act of +the play. You may read it two-thirds through without guessing what it is +about; and yet, when you come to the end, it is impossible not to +understand the whole story.’ + + +CHILD MAURICE + + 1. + Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood, + He hunted itt round about, + And noebodye that he ffound therin, + Nor none there was with-out. + + 2. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + And he tooke his siluer combe in his hand, + To kembe his yellow lockes. + + 3. + He sayes, ‘Come hither, thou litle ffoot-page, + That runneth lowlye by my knee, + Ffor thou shalt goe to Iohn Stewards wiffe + And pray her speake with mee. + + 4. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + I, and greete thou doe that ladye well, + Euer soe well ffroe mee. + + 5. + ‘And, as itt ffalls, as many times + As knotts beene knitt on a kell, + Or marchant men gone to leeue London + Either to buy ware or sell; + + 6. + ‘And, as itt ffalles, as many times + As any hart can thinke, + Or schoole-masters are in any schoole-house + Writting with pen and inke: + Ffor if I might, as well as shee may, + This night I wold with her speake. + + 7. + ‘And heere I send her a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And bid her come to the siluer wood, + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 8. + ‘And there I send her a ring of gold, + A ring of precyous stone, + And bidd her come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor no kind of man.’ + + 9. + One while this litle boy he yode, + Another while he ran, + Vntill he came to Iohn Stewards hall, + I-wis he never blan. + + 10. + And of nurture the child had good, + Hee ran vp hall and bower ffree, + And when he came to this lady ffaire, + Sayes, ‘God you saue and see! + + 11. + ‘I am come ffrom Child Maurice, + A message vnto thee; + And Child Maurice, he greetes you well, + And euer soe well ffrom mee; + + 12. + ‘And, as itt ffalls, as oftentimes + As knotts beene knitt on a kell, + Or marchant-men gone to leeue London + Either ffor to buy ware or sell; + + 13. + ‘And as oftentimes he greetes you well + As any hart can thinke, + Or schoolemasters are in any schoole, + Wryting with pen and inke. + + 14. + ‘And heere he sends a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And he bidds you come to the siluer wood, + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 15. + ‘And heere he sends you a ring of gold, + A ring of the precyous stone; + He prayes you to come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor no kind of man.’ + + 16. + ‘Now peace, now peace, thou litle ffoot-page, + Ffor Christes sake, I pray thee! + Ffor if my lord heare one of these words, + Thou must be hanged hye!’ + + 17. + Iohn Steward stood vnder the castle-wall, + And he wrote the words euerye one, + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 18. + And he called vnto his hors-keeper, + ‘Make readye you my steede!’ + I, and soe he did to his chamberlaine, + ‘Make readye thou my weede!’ + + 19. + And he cast a lease vpon his backe, + And he rode to the siluer wood, + And there he sought all about, + About the siluer wood. + + 20. + And there he ffound him Child Maurice + Sitting vpon a blocke, + With a siluer combe in his hand, + Kembing his yellow locke. + + ... ... ... + + 21. + But then stood vp him Child Maurice, + And sayd these words trulye: + ‘I doe not know your ladye,’ he said, + ‘If that I doe her see.’ + + 22. + He sayes, ‘How now, how now, Child Maurice? + Alacke, how may this bee? + Ffor thou hast sent her loue-tokens, + More now then two or three; + + 23. + ‘Ffor thou hast sent her a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And bade her come to the siluer woode + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 24. + ‘And thou [hast] sent her a ring of gold, + A ring of precyous stone, + And bade her come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor noe kind of man. + + 25. + ‘And by my ffaith, now, Child Maurice, + The tone of vs shall dye!’ + ‘Now be my troth,’ sayd Child Maurice, + ‘And that shall not be I.’ + + 26. + But hee pulled forth a bright browne sword, + And dryed itt on the grasse, + And soe ffast he smote att Iohn Steward, + I-wisse he neuer rest. + + 27. + Then hee pulled fforth his bright browne sword, + And dryed itt on his sleeue, + And the ffirst good stroke Iohn Stewart stroke, + Child Maurice head he did cleeue. + + 28. + And he pricked itt on his swords poynt, + Went singing there beside, + And he rode till he came to that ladye ffaire, + Wheras this ladye lyed. + + 29. + And sayes, ‘Dost thou know Child Maurice head, + If that thou dost itt see? + And lap itt soft, and kisse itt oft, + For thou louedst him better than mee.’ + + 30. + But when shee looked on Child Maurice head, + She neuer spake words but three: + ‘I neuer beare no child but one, + And you haue slaine him trulye.’ + + 31. + Sayes, ‘Wicked be my merrymen all, + I gaue meate, drinke, and clothe! + But cold they not haue holden me + When I was in all that wrath! + + 32. + ‘Ffor I haue slaine one of the curteousest knights + That euer bestrode a steed, + Soe haue I done one [of] the fairest ladyes + That euer ware womans weede!’ + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: ‘siluer’: the Folio gives _siluen_. + 4.3,4: These lines in the Folio precede st. 6. + 5.2: _i.e._ as many times as there are knots knit in a net for the + hair; cf. French _cale_. + 5.3: ‘leeue,’ lovely. + 8.4: ‘Let,’ fail: it is the infinitive, governed by ‘bidd.’ + 9.1: ‘yode,’ went. + 9.4: ‘blan,’ lingered. + 13.3: ‘are’: omitted in the Folio. + 18.3: ‘I,’ aye. + 19.1: ‘lease,’ leash, thong, string: perhaps for bringing back any + game he might kill. + After 20 at least one verse is lost. + 22.1,2: In the Folio these lines precede 21.1,2. + 24.1: ‘hast’ omitted in the Folio. + 25.2: ‘tone,’ the one (or other).] + + + + +FAUSE FOOTRAGE + + ++The Text+ is from Alexander Fraser Tytler’s Brown MS., which was also +the source of Scott’s version in the _Minstrelsy_. One line (31.1), +closely resembling a line in Lady Wardlaw’s forged ballad _Hardyknute_, +caused Sir Walter to investigate strictly the authenticity of the +ballad, but the evidence of Lady Douglas, that she had learned the +ballad in her childhood, and could still repeat much of it, removed his +doubts. It is, however, quite possible, as Professor Child points out, +‘that Mrs. Brown may unconsciously have adopted this verse from the +tiresome and affected _Hardyknute_, so much esteemed in her day.’ + ++The Story.+--In _The Complaynt of Scotlande_ (1549) there is mentioned +a tale ‘how the King of Estmure Land married the King’s daughter of +Westmure Land,’ and it has been suggested that there is a connection +with the ballad. + +This is another of the ballads of which the English form has become so +far corrupted that we have to seek its Scandinavian counterpart to +obtain the full form of the story. The ballad is especially popular in +Denmark, where it is found in twenty-three manuscripts, as follows:-- + +The rich Svend wooes Lisbet, who favours William for his good qualities. +Svend, ill with grief, is well-advised by his mother, not to care for a +plighted maid, and ill-advised by his sister, to kill William. Svend +takes the latter advice, and kills William. Forty weeks later, Lisbet +gives birth to a son, but Svend is told that the child is a girl. +Eighteen years later, the young William, sporting with a peasant, +quarrels with him; the peasant retorts, ‘You had better avenge your +father’s death.’ Young William asks his mother who slew his father, and +she, thinking him too young to fight, counsels him to bring Svend to a +court. William charges him in the court with the murder of his father, +and says that no compensation has been offered. Not a penny shall be +paid, says Svend. William draws his sword, and slays him. + +Icelandic, Swedish, and Färöe ballads tell a similar story. + + +FAUSE FOOTRAGE + + 1. + King Easter has courted her for her gowd, + King Wester for her fee; + King Honor for her lands sae braid, + And for her fair body. + + 2. + They had not been four months married, + As I have heard them tell, + Until the nobles of the land + Against them did rebel. + + 3. + And they cast kaivles them amang, + And kaivles them between; + And they cast kaivles them amang, + Wha shoud gae kill the king. + + 4. + O some said yea, and some said nay, + Their words did not agree; + Till up it gat him Fa’se Footrage, + And sware it shoud be he. + + 5. + When bells were rung, and mass was sung, + And a’ man boon to bed, + King Honor and his gay ladie + In a hie chamer were laid. + + 6. + Then up it raise him Fa’se Footrage, + While a’ were fast asleep, + And slew the porter in his lodge, + That watch and ward did keep. + + 7. + O four and twenty silver keys + Hang hie upon a pin, + And ay as a door he did unlock, + He has fasten’d it him behind. + + 8. + Then up it raise him King Honor, + Says, ‘What means a’ this din? + Now what’s the matter, Fa’se Footrage, + Or wha was’t loot you in?’ + + 9. + ‘O ye my errand well shall learn + Before that I depart’; + Then drew a knife baith lang and sharp + And pierced him thro’ the heart. + + 10. + Then up it got the Queen hersell, + And fell low down on her knee: + ‘O spare my life now, Fa’se Footrage! + For I never injured thee. + + 11. + ‘O spare my life now, Fa’se Footrage! + Until I lighter be! + And see gin it be lad or lass, + King Honor has left me wi’.’ + + 12. + ‘O gin it be a lass,’ he says, + ‘Weel nursed she shall be; + But gin it be a lad-bairn, + He shall be hanged hie. + + 13. + ‘I winna spare his tender age, + Nor yet his hie, hie kin; + But as soon as e’er he born is, + He shall mount the gallows-pin.’ + + 14. + O four and twenty valiant knights + Were set the Queen to guard, + And four stood ay at her bower-door, + To keep baith watch and ward. + + 15. + But when the time drew till an end + That she should lighter be, + She cast about to find a wile + To set her body free. + + 16. + O she has birled these merry young men + Wi’ strong beer and wi’ wine, + Until she made them a’ as drunk + As any wall-wood swine. + + 17. + ‘O narrow, narrow is this window, + And big, big am I grown!’ + Yet thro’ the might of Our Ladie, + Out at it she has won. + + 18. + She wander’d up, she wander’d down, + She wander’d out and in; + And at last, into the very swines’ stye, + The Queen brought forth a son. + + 19. + Then they cast kaivles them amang + Wha should gae seek the Queen; + And the kaivle fell upon Wise William, + And he’s sent his wife for him. + + 20. + O when she saw Wise William’s wife, + The Queen fell on her knee; + ‘Win up, win up, madame,’ she says, + ‘What means this courtesie?’ + + 21. + ‘O out of this I winna rise, + Till a boon ye grant to me, + To change your lass for this lad-bairn, + King Honor left me wi’. + + 22. + ‘And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke + Well how to breast a steed; + And I shall learn your turtle-dow + As well to write and read. + + 23. + ‘And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke + To wield baith bow and brand; + And I sall learn your turtle-dow + To lay gowd wi’ her hand. + + 24. + ‘At kirk and market where we meet, + We dare nae mair avow + But--“Dame, how does my gay gose-hawk?” + “Madame, how does my dow?”’ + + 25. + When days were gane, and years come on, + Wise William he thought long; + Out has he ta’en King Honor’s son, + A hunting for to gang. + + 26. + It sae fell out at their hunting, + Upon a summer’s day, + That they cam’ by a fair castle, + Stood on a sunny brae. + + 27. + ‘O dinna ye see that bonny castle + Wi’ wa’s and towers sae fair? + Gin ilka man had back his ain, + Of it you shoud be heir.’ + + 28. + ‘How I shoud be heir of that castle, + In sooth I canna see; + When it belongs to Fa’se Footrage, + And he’s nae kin to me.’ + + 29. + ‘O gin ye shoud kill him Fa’se Footrage, + You woud do what is right; + For I wot he kill’d your father dear, + Ere ever you saw the light. + + 30. + ‘Gin you shoud kill him Fa’se Footrage, + There is nae man durst you blame; + For he keeps your mother a prisoner, + And she dares no take you hame.’ + + 31. + The boy stared wild like a gray gose-hawk, + Says, ‘What may a’ this mean?’ + ‘My boy, you are King Honor’s son, + And your mother’s our lawful queen.’ + + 32. + ‘O gin I be King Honor’s son, + By Our Ladie I swear, + This day I will that traytour slay, + And relieve my mother dear!’ + + 33. + He has set his bent bow till his breast, + And lap the castle-wa’; + And soon he’s siesed on Fa’se Footrage, + Wha loud for help gan ca’. + + 34. + ‘O haud your tongue now, Fa’se Footrage, + Frae me ye shanno flee.’ + Syne pierced him through the foul fa’se heart, + And set his mother free. + + 35. + And he has rewarded Wise William + Wi’ the best half of his land; + And sae has he the turtle dow + Wi’ the truth o’ his right hand. + + + [Annotations: + 3.1: ‘kaivles,’ lots. + 13.4: ‘gallows-pin,’ the projecting beam of the gallows. + 16.1: ‘birled,’ plied. + 16.4: ‘wallwood,’ wild wood: a conventional ballad-phrase. + 25.2: A stock ballad-phrase. + 33.1: A ballad conventionality.] + + + + +FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL + + ‘Ouvre ta port’, Germin’, c’est moi qu’est ton mari.’ + ‘Donnez-moi des indic’s de la première nuit, + Et par là je croirai que vous et’s mon mari.’ + + --_Germaine._ + + ++The Text+ is Fraser Tytler’s, taken down from the recitation of Mrs. +Brown in 1800, who had previously (1783) recited a similar version to +Jamieson. The later recitation, which was used by Scott, with others, +seems to contain certain improvisations of Mrs. Brown’s which do not +appear in the earlier form. + ++The Story.+--A mother, who feigns to be her own son and demands tokens +of the girl outside the gate, turns her son’s love away, and is cursed +by him. Similar ballads exist in France, Germany, and Greece. + +There is an early eighteenth-century MS. (Elizabeth Cochrane’s +_Song-Book_) of this ballad, which gives a preliminary history. Isabel +of Rochroyal dreams of her love Gregory; she rises up, calls for a swift +steed, and rides forth till she meets a company. They ask her who she +is, and are told that she is ‘Fair Isabel of Rochroyal,’ seeking her +true-love Gregory. They direct her to ‘yon castle’; and thenceforth the +tale proceeds much as in the other versions. + +‘Lochryan,’ says Scott, ‘lies in Galloway; Roch--or Rough--royal, I have +not found, but there is a Rough castle in Stirlingshire’ (Child). + + +FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL + + 1. + ‘O wha will shoe my fu’ fair foot? + And wha will glove my hand? + And wha will lace my middle jimp, + Wi’ the new-made London band? + + 2. + ‘And wha will kaim my yellow hair, + Wi’ the new-made silver kaim? + And wha will father my young son, + Till Love Gregor come hame?’ + + 3. + ‘Your father will shoe your fu’ fair foot, + Your mother will glove your hand; + Your sister will lace your middle jimp + Wi’ the new-made London band. + + 4. + ‘Your brother will kaim your yellow hair, + Wi’ the new-made silver kaim; + And the king of heaven will father your bairn, + Till Love Gregor come haim.’ + + 5. + ‘But I will get a bonny boat, + And I will sail the sea, + For I maun gang to Love Gregor, + Since he canno come hame to me.’ + + 6. + O she has gotten a bonny boat, + And sail’d the sa’t sea fame; + She lang’d to see her ain true-love, + Since he could no come hame. + + 7. + ‘O row your boat, my mariners, + And bring me to the land, + For yonder I see my love’s castle, + Closs by the sa’t sea strand.’ + + 8. + She has ta’en her young son in her arms, + And to the door she’s gone, + And lang she’s knock’d and sair she ca’d, + But answer got she none. + + 9. + ‘O open the door, Love Gregor,’ she says, + ‘O open, and let me in; + For the wind blaws thro’ my yellow hair, + And the rain draps o’er my chin.’ + + 10. + ‘Awa’, awa’, ye ill woman, + You ’r nae come here for good; + You ’r but some witch, or wile warlock, + Or mer-maid of the flood.’ + + 11. + ‘I am neither a witch nor a wile warlock, + Nor mer-maid of the sea, + I am Fair Annie of Rough Royal; + O open the door to me.’ + + 12. + ‘Gin ye be Annie of Rough Royal-- + And I trust ye are not she-- + Now tell me some of the love-tokens + That past between you and me.’ + + 13. + ‘O dinna you mind now, Love Gregor, + When we sat at the wine, + How we changed the rings frae our fingers? + And I can show thee thine. + + 14. + ‘O yours was good, and good enneugh, + But ay the best was mine; + For yours was o’ the good red goud, + But mine o’ the dimonds fine. + + 15. + ‘But open the door now, Love Gregor, + O open the door I pray, + For your young son that is in my arms + Will be dead ere it be day.’ + + 16. + ‘Awa’, awa’, ye ill woman, + For here ye shanno win in; + Gae drown ye in the raging sea, + Or hang on the gallows-pin.’ + + 17. + When the cock had crawn, and day did dawn, + And the sun began to peep, + Then it raise him Love Gregor, + And sair, sair did he weep. + + 18. + ‘O I dream’d a dream, my mother dear, + The thoughts o’ it gars me greet, + That Fair Annie of Rough Royal + Lay cauld dead at my feet.’ + + 19. + ‘Gin it be for Annie of Rough Royal + That ye make a’ this din, + She stood a’ last night at this door, + But I trow she wan no in.’ + + 20. + ‘O wae betide ye, ill woman, + An ill dead may ye die! + That ye woudno open the door to her, + Nor yet woud waken me.’ + + 21. + O he has gone down to yon shore-side, + As fast as he could fare; + He saw Fair Annie in her boat + But the wind it toss’d her sair. + + 22. + And ‘Hey, Annie!’ and ‘How, Annie! + O Annie, winna ye bide?’ + But ay the mair that he cried ‘Annie,’ + The braider grew the tide. + + 23. + And ‘Hey, Annie!’ and ‘How, Annie! + Dear Annie, speak to me!’ + But ay the louder he cried ‘Annie,’ + The louder roar’d the sea. + + 24. + The wind blew loud, the sea grew rough, + And dash’d the boat on shore; + Fair Annie floats on the raging sea, + But her young son raise no more. + + 25. + Love Gregor tare his yellow hair, + And made a heavy moan; + Fair Annie’s corpse lay at his feet, + But his bonny young son was gone. + + 26. + O cherry, cherry was her cheek, + And gowden was her hair, + But clay cold were her rosey lips, + Nae spark of life was there. + + 27. + And first he’s kiss’d her cherry cheek, + And neist he’s kissed her chin; + And saftly press’d her rosey lips, + But there was nae breath within. + + 28. + ‘O wae betide my cruel mother, + And an ill dead may she die! + For she turn’d my true-love frae the door, + When she came sae far to me.’ + + + [Annotations: + 10.3: ‘warlock,’ wizard, magician. + 18.2: ‘gars me greet,’ makes me weep.] + + + + +HIND HORN + + ++The Text+ is from Motherwell’s MS., written from the recitation of a +Mrs. King of Kilbarchan. + ++The Story+ of the ballad is a mere remnant of the story told in the +Gest of King Horn, preserved in three manuscripts, the oldest of which +belongs to the thirteenth century. Similar stories are given in a French +romance of the fourteenth century, and an English manuscript of the same +date. The complete story in the Gest may be condensed as follows:-- + +Horn, son of Murry, King of Suddenne, was captured by Saracens, who +killed his father, and turned him and his twelve companions adrift in a +boat, which was eventually beached safely on the coast of Westerness, +and Ailmar the king took them in and brought them up. Rymenhild his +daughter, falling in love with Horn, offered herself to him. He refused, +unless she would make the king knight him. She did so, and again claimed +his love; but he said he must first prove his knighthood. She gave him a +ring set with stones, such that he could never be slain if he looked on +it and thought of her. His first feat was the slaying of a hundred +heathens; then he returned to Rymenhild. Meanwhile, however, one of his +companions had told the king that Horn meant to kill him and wed his +daughter. Ailmar ordered Horn to quit his court; and Horn, having told +Rymenhild that if he did not come back in seven years she might marry +another, sailed to the court of King Thurston in Ireland, where he +stayed for seven years, performing feats of valour with the aid of +Rymenhild’s ring. + +At the end of the allotted time, Rymenhild was to be married to King +Modi of Reynis. Horn, hearing of this, went back to Westerness, arrived +on the marriage-morn, met a palmer (the old beggar man of the ballad), +changed clothes with him, and entered the hall. According to custom, +Rymenhild served wine to the guests, and as Horn drank, he dropped her +ring into the vessel. When she discovered it, she sent for the palmer, +and questioned him. He said Horn had died on the voyage thither. +Rymenhild seized a knife she had hidden to kill King Modi and herself if +Horn came not, and set it to her breast. The palmer threw off his +disguise, saying, ‘I am Horn.’ Still he would not wed her till he had +regained his father’s kingdom of Suddenne, and went away and did so. +Meanwhile a false friend seized Rymenhild; but on the marriage-day Horn +returned, killed him, and finally made Rymenhild his wife and Queen of +Suddenne. + +Compare the story of Torello and the Saladin in the _Decameron_, Tenth +Day, Novel 9. + + +HIND HORN + + 1. + In Scotland there was a babie born, + _Lill lal, etc._ + And his name it was called young Hind Horn, + _With a fal lal, etc._ + + 2. + He sent a letter to our king + That he was in love with his daughter Jean.[A] + + ... ... ... + + 3. + He’s gi’en to her a silver wand, + With seven living lavrocks sitting thereon. + + 4. + She’s gi’en to him a diamond ring, + With seven bright diamonds set therein. + + 5. + ‘When this ring grows pale and wan, + You may know by it my love is gane.’ + + 6. + One day as he looked his ring upon, + He saw the diamonds pale and wan. + + 7. + He left the sea and came to land, + And the first that he met was an old beggar man. + + 8. + ‘What news, what news?’ said young Hind Horn; + ‘No news, no news,’ said the old beggar man. + + 9. + ‘No news,’ said the beggar, ‘no news at a’, + But there is a wedding in the king’s ha’. + + 10. + ‘But there is a wedding in the king’s ha’, + That has halden these forty days and twa.’ + + 11. + ‘Will ye lend me your begging coat? + And I’ll lend you my scarlet cloak. + + 12. + ‘Will you lend me your beggar’s rung? + And I’ll gi’e you my steed to ride upon. + + 13. + ’Will you lend me your wig o’ hair, + To cover mine, because it is fair?’ + + 14. + The auld beggar man was bound for the mill, + But young Hind Horn for the king’s hall. + + 15. + The auld beggar man was bound for to ride, + But young Hind Horn was bound for the bride. + + 16. + When he came to the king’s gate, + He sought a drink for Hind Horn’s sake. + + 17. + The bride came down with a glass of wine, + When he drank out the glass, and dropt in the ring. + + 18. + ‘O got ye this by sea or land? + Or got ye it off a dead man’s hand?’ + + 19. + ‘I got not it by sea, I got it by land, + And I got it, madam, out of your own hand.’ + + 20. + ‘O I’ll cast off my gowns of brown, + And beg wi’ you frae town to town. + + 21. + ‘O I’ll cast off my gowns of red, + And I’ll beg wi’ you to win my bread.’ + + 22. + ‘Ye needna cast off your gowns of brown, + For I’ll make you lady o’ many a town. + + 23. + ‘Ye needna cast off your gowns of red, + It’s only a sham, the begging o’ my bread.’ + + 24. + The bridegroom he had wedded the bride, + But young Hind Horn he took her to bed. + + [Footnote A: After stanza 2 there is a gap in the story. Other + versions say that Hind Horn goes, or is sent, to sea.] + + + [Annotations: + 10.2: The bride has lingered six weeks in hopes of Hind Horn’s return. + 12.1: ‘rung,’ staff.] + + + + +EDWARD + + ++The Text+ is that given by Percy in the _Reliques_ (1765), with the +substitution of _w_ for initial _qu_, and _y_ for initial _z_, as in +_Young Waters_ (see p. 146). In the fourth edition of the _Reliques_ +Percy states that ‘this curious song was transmitted to the editor by +Sir David Dalrymple, Bart., late Lord Hailes.’ + +Percy’s adoption of antique spelling in this ballad has caused some +doubt to be thrown on its authenticity; but there is also a version _Son +Davie_, given in his _Minstrelsy_ by Motherwell, who, in referring to +the version in the _Reliques_, said there was reason for believing that +Lord Hailes ‘made a few slight verbal improvements in the copy he +transmitted, and altered the hero’s name to Edward, a name which, by the +bye, never occurs in a Scottish ballad except where allusion is made to +an English king.’ + ++The Story+ has a close parallel in Swedish, the form of the ballad +remaining in dialogue. + +Motherwell points out that the verses of which _Edward_ consists +generally form the conclusion of the ballad of _The Twa Brothers_, and +also of certain versions of _Lizie Wan_; and is inclined to regard +_Edward_ as detached from one of those ballads. More probably the +reverse is the case, that the story of _Edward_ has been attached to the +other ballads. + +The present version of the ballad exhibits an unusual amplification of +the refrain. The story is told in two lines of each eight-lined stanza; +but the lyrical effect added by the elaborate refrain is almost unique. + + +EDWARD + + 1. + ‘Why dois your brand sae drap wi’ bluid, + Edward, Edward? + Why dois your brand sae drap wi’ bluid, + And why sae sad gang yee, O?’ + ‘O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid, + And I had nae mair bot hee, O.’ + + 2. + ‘Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, + Edward, Edward. + Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, + My deir son I tell thee, O.’ + ‘O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid, + That erst was sae fair and frie, O.’ + + 3. + ‘Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, + Edward, Edward: + Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, + Sum other dule ye drie, O.’ + ‘O, I hae killed my fadir deir, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my fadir deir, + Alas! and wae is mee, O!’ + + 4. + ‘And whatten penance wul ye drie for that, + Edward, Edward? + And whatten penance will ye drie for that. + My deir son, now tell me, O, + ‘Ile set my feit in yonder boat, + Mither, mither: + Ile set my feit in yonder boat, + And Ile fare ovir the sea, O.’ + + 5. + ‘And what wul ye doe wi’ your towirs and your ha’, + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye doe wi’ your towirs and your ha’, + That were sae fair to see, O?’ + ‘Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa’, + Mither, mither: + Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa’, + For here nevir mair maun I bee, O.’ + + 6. + ‘And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, + Whan ye gang ovir the sea, O?’ + ‘The warldis room, late them beg thrae life, + Mither, mither: + The warldis room, let them beg thrae life, + For thame nevir mair wul I see, O.’ + + 7. + ‘And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir, + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir? + My deir son, now tell me, O.’ + ‘The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, + Mither, mither: + The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, + Sic counseils ye gave to me, O.’ + + + [Annotations: + 3.4: ‘dule,’ grief; ‘drie,’ suffer. + 6.5,7: _i.e._ The world is wide.] + + + + +LORD RANDAL + + ++The Text+ is from Scott’s _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_ (1803). +Other forms give the name as _Lord Ronald_, but Scott retains _Randal_ +on the supposition that the ballad originated in the death of ‘Thomas +Randolph, or Randal, Earl of Murray, nephew to Robert Bruce, and +governor of Scotland,’ who died at Musselburgh in 1332. + ++The Story+ of the ballad is found in Italian tradition nearly three +hundred years ago, and also occurs in Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, +Magyar, Wendish, etc. + +Certain variants of the ballad bear the title of _The Croodlin Doo_, and +the ‘handsome young man’ is changed for a child, and the poisoner is the +child’s step-mother. Scott suggests that this change was made ‘to excite +greater interest in the nursery.’ In nearly all forms of the ballad, the +poisoning is done by the substitution of snakes (‘eels’) for fish, a +common method amongst the ancients of administering poison. + +Child gives a collation of seven versions secured in America of late +years, in each of which the name of Lord Randal has become corrupted to +‘Tiranti.’ + +The antiphonetic form of the ballad is popular, as being dramatic and +suitable for singing. Compare _Edward_, also a dialogue between mother +and son. + + +LORD RANDAL + + 1. + ‘O where hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son? + O where hae ye been, my handsome young man?’ + ‘I hae been to the wild wood; mother, make my bed soon, + For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’ + + 2. + ‘Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young man?’ + ‘I din’d wi’ my true-love; mother, make my bed soon, + For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’ + + 3. + ‘What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + What gat ye to your dinner, my handsome young man?’ + ‘I gat eels boil’d in broo’; mother, make my bed soon, + For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’ + + 4. + ‘What became of your bloodhounds, Lord Randal, my son? + What became of your bloodhounds, my handsome young man?’ + ‘O they swell’d and they died; mother, make my bed soon, + For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’ + + 5. + ‘O I fear ye are poison’d, Lord Randal, my son! + O I fear ye are poison’d, my handsome young man!’ + ‘O yes, I am poison’d; mother, make my bed soon, + For I’m sick at the heart, and I fain wald lie down.’ + + + [Annotations: + 3.3: ‘broo’,’ broth.] + + + + +LAMKIN + + ++The Text+ is from Jamieson’s _Popular Ballads_. He obtained it from +Mrs. Brown. It is by far the best version of a score or so in existence. +The name of the hero varies from Lamkin, Lankin, Lonkin, etc., to Rankin +and Balcanqual. I have been informed by Andrew McDowall, Esq., of an +incomplete version in which Lamkin’s name has become ‘Bold Hang’em.’ + +Finlay (_Scottish Ballads_) remarks:-- ‘All reciters agree that +Lammikin, or Lambkin, is not the name of the hero, but merely an +epithet.’ + ++The Story+ varies little throughout all the versions, though in some, +as in one known to Percy, it lacks much of the detail here given. + + +LAMKIN + + 1. + It’s Lamkin was a mason good + As ever built wi’ stane; + He built Lord Wearie’s castle, + But payment got he nane. + + 2. + ‘O pay me, Lord Wearie, + Come, pay me my fee’: + ‘I canna pay you, Lamkin, + For I maun gang o’er the sea.’ + + 3. + ‘O pay me now, Lord Wearie, + Come, pay me out o’ hand’: + ‘I canna pay you, Lamkin, + Unless I sell my land.’ + + 4. + ‘O gin ye winna pay me, + I here sail mak’ a vow, + Before that ye come hame again, + Ye sall hae cause to rue.’ + + 5. + Lord Wearie got a bonny ship, + To sail the saut sea faem; + Bade his lady weel the castle keep, + Ay till he should come hame. + + 6. + But the nourice was a fause limmer + As e’er hung on a tree; + She laid a plot wi’ Lamkin, + Whan her lord was o’er the sea. + + 7. + She laid a plot wi’ Lamkin, + When the servants were awa’, + Loot him in at a little shot-window, + And brought him to the ha’. + + 8. + ‘O whare’s a’ the men o’ this house, + That ca’ me Lamkin?’ + ‘They’re at the barn-well thrashing; + ’Twill be lang ere they come in.’ + + 9. + ‘And whare’s the women o’ this house, + That ca’ me Lamkin?’ + ‘They’re at the far well washing; + ’Twill be lang ere they come in.’ + + 10. + ‘And whare’s the bairns o’ this house, + That ca’ me Lamkin?’ + ‘They’re at the school reading; + ’Twill be night or they come hame.’ + + 11. + ‘O whare’s the lady o’ this house, + That ca’s me Lamkin?’ + ‘She’s up in her bower sewing, + But we soon can bring her down.’ + + 12. + Then Lamkin’s tane a sharp knife, + That hung down by his gaire, + And he has gi’en the bonny babe + A deep wound and a sair. + + 13. + Then Lamkin he rocked, + And the fause nourice sang, + Till frae ilkae bore o’ the cradle + The red blood out sprang. + + 14. + Then out it spak’ the lady, + As she stood on the stair: + ‘What ails my bairn, nourice, + That he’s greeting sae sair? + + 15. + ‘O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi’ the pap!’ + ‘He winna still, lady, + For this nor for that.’ + + 16. + ‘O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi’ the wand!’ + ‘He winna still, lady, + For a’ his father’s land.’ + + 17. + ‘O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi’ the bell!’ + ‘He winna still, lady, + Till ye come down yoursel’.’ + + 18. + O the firsten step she steppit, + She steppit on a stane; + But the neisten step she steppit, + She met him Lamkin. + + 19. + ‘O mercy, mercy, Lamkin, + Hae mercy upon me! + Though you’ve ta’en my young son’s life, + Ye may let mysel’ be.’ + + 20. + ‘O sall I kill her, nourice, + Or sall I lat her be?’ + ‘O kill her, kill her, Lamkin, + For she ne’er was good to me.’ + + 21. + ‘O scour the bason, nourice, + And mak’ it fair and clean, + For to keep this lady’s heart’s blood, + For she’s come o’ noble kin.’ + + 22. + ‘There need nae bason, Lamkin, + Lat it run through the floor; + What better is the heart’s blood + O’ the rich than o’ the poor?’ + + 23. + But ere three months were at an end, + Lord Wearie came again; + But dowie, dowie was his heart + When first he came hame. + + 24. + ‘O wha’s blood is this,’ he says, + ‘That lies in the chamer?’ + ‘It is your lady’s heart’s blood; + ’T is as clear as the lamer.’ + + 25. + ‘And wha’s blood is this,’ he says, + ‘That lies in my ha’?’ + ‘It is your young son’s heart’s blood; + ’Tis the clearest ava.’ + + 26. + O sweetly sang the black-bird + That sat upon the tree; + But sairer grat Lamkin, + When he was condemn’d to die. + + 27. + And bonny sang the mavis + Out o’ the thorny brake; + But sairer grat the nourice, + When she was tied to the stake. + + + [Annotations: + 6.1: ‘limmer,’ wretch, rascal. + 7.3: ‘shot-window’: see special section of the Introduction. + 12.2: ‘gaire’; _i.e._ by his knee: see special section of the + Introduction. + 13.3: ‘bore,’ hole, crevice. + 14.4: ‘greeting,’ crying. + 23.3: ‘dowie,’ sad. + 24.2: ‘chamer,’ chamber. + 24.4: ‘lamer,’ amber. + 25.4: ‘ava,’ at all. + 26.3: ‘grat,’ greeted, wept.] + + + + +FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON + + ++The Text+ is from _Lovely Jenny’s Garland_, as given with emendations +by Professor Child. There is also a curiously perverted version in +Herd’s manuscript, in which the verses require rearrangement before +becoming intelligible. + ++The Story+ can be gathered from the version here given without much +difficulty. It turns on the marriage of Fair Mary, who is one of seven +sisters fated to die of their first child. Fair Mary seems to be a +fatalist, and, after vowing never to marry, accepts as her destiny the +hand of Sir William Fenwick of Wallington. Three-quarters of a year +later she sends to fair Pudlington for her mother. Her mother is much +affected at the news (st. 22), and goes to Wallington. Her daughter, in +travail, lays the blame on her, cuts open her side to give birth to an +heir, and dies. + +In a Breton ballad Pontplancoat thrice marries a Marguerite, and each of +his three sons costs his mother her life. + +In the Scottish ballad, a ‘scope’ is put in Mary’s mouth when the +operation takes place. In the Breton ballad it is a silver spoon or a +silver ball. ‘Scope,’ or ‘scobs’ as it appears in Herd, means a gag, and +was apparently used to prevent her from crying out. But the silver spoon +and ball in the Breton ballad would appear to have been used for +Marguerite to bite on in her anguish, just as sailors chewed bullets +while being flogged. + + +FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON + + 1. + When we were silly sisters seven, + Sisters were so fair, + Five of us were brave knights’ wives, + And died in childbed lair. + + 2. + Up then spake Fair Mary, + Marry woud she nane; + If ever she came in man’s bed, + The same gate wad she gang. + + 3. + ‘Make no vows, Fair Mary, + For fear they broken be; + Here’s been the Knight of Wallington, + Asking good will of thee.’ + + 4. + ‘If here’s been the knight, mother, + Asking good will of me, + Within three quarters of a year + You may come bury me.’ + + 5. + When she came to Wallington, + And into Wallington hall, + There she spy’d her mother dear, + Walking about the wall. + + 6. + ‘You’re welcome, daughter dear, + To thy castle and thy bowers’; + ‘I thank you kindly, mother, + I hope they’ll soon be yours.’ + + 7. + She had not been in Wallington + Three quarters and a day, + Till upon the ground she could not walk, + She was a weary prey. + + 8. + She had not been in Wallington + Three quarters and a night, + Till on the ground she coud not walk, + She was a weary wight. + + 9. + ‘Is there ne’er a boy in this town, + Who’ll win hose and shun, + That will run to fair Pudlington, + And bid my mother come?’ + + 10. + Up then spake a little boy, + Near unto a-kin; + ‘Full oft I have your errands gone, + But now I will it run.’ + + 11. + Then she call’d her waiting-maid + To bring up bread and wine; + ‘Eat and drink, my bonny boy, + Thou’ll ne’er eat more of mine. + + 12. + ‘Give my respects to my mother, + She sits in her chair of stone, + And ask her how she likes the news, + Of seven to have but one. + + 13. + ‘Give my respects to my mother, + As she sits in her chair of oak, + And bid her come to my sickening, + Or my merry lake-wake. + + 14. + ‘Give my love to my brother + William, Ralph, and John, + And to my sister Betty fair, + And to her white as bone: + + 15. + ‘And bid her keep her maidenhead, + Be sure make much on ’t, + For if e’er she come in man’s bed, + The same gate will she gang.’ + + 16. + Away this little boy is gone, + As fast as he could run; + When he came where brigs were broke, + He lay down and swum. + + 17. + When he saw the lady, he said, + ‘Lord may your keeper be!’ + ‘What news, my pretty boy, + Hast thou to tell to me?’ + + 18. + ‘Your daughter Mary orders me, + As you sit in a chair of stone, + To ask you how you like the news, + Of seven to have but one. + + 19. + ‘Your daughter gives commands, + As you sit in a chair of oak, + And bids you come to her sickening, + Or her merry lake-wake. + + 20. + ‘She gives command to her brother + William, Ralph, and John, + [And] to her sister Betty fair, + And to her white as bone. + + 21. + ‘She bids her keep her maidenhead, + Be sure make much on ’t, + For if e’er she came in man’s bed, + The same gate woud she gang.’ + + 22. + She kickt the table with her foot, + She kickt it with her knee, + The silver plate into the fire, + So far she made it flee. + + 23. + Then she call’d her waiting-maid + To bring her riding-hood, + So did she on her stable-groom + To bring her riding-steed. + + 24. + ‘Go saddle to me the black, [the black,] + Go saddle to me the brown, + Go saddle to me the swiftest steed + That e’er rid [to] Wallington.’ + + 25. + When they came to Wallington, + And into Wallington hall, + There she spy’d her son Fenwick, + Walking about the wall. + + 26. + ‘God save you, dear son, + Lord may your keeper be! + Where is my daughter fair, + That used to walk with thee?’ + + 27. + He turn’d his head round about, + The tears did fill his e’e: + ‘’Tis a month’ he said, ‘since she + Took her chambers from me.’ + + 28. + She went on . . . + And there were in the hall + Four and twenty ladies, + Letting the tears down fall. + + 29. + Her daughter had a scope + Into her cheek and into her chin, + All to keep her life + Till her dear mother came. + + 30. + ‘Come take the rings off my fingers, + The skin it is so white, + And give them to my mother dear, + For she was all the wite. + + 31. + ‘Come take the rings off my fingers, + The veins they are so red, + Give them to Sir William Fenwick, + I’m sure his heart will bleed.’ + + 32. + She took out a razor + That was both sharp and fine, + And out of her left side has taken + The heir of Wallington. + + 33. + There is a race in Wallington, + And that I rue full sare; + Tho’ the cradle it be full spread up + The bride-bed is left bare. + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: ‘silly,’ simple. + 1.4: ‘lair,’ lying-in. + 2.4: ‘gate,’ way. + 5.3: ‘her mother’ is, of course, her mother-in-law. + 9.2: ‘shun’ = shoon, shoes. + 13: This stanza is not in the original, but is supplied from the boy’s + repetition, st. 19. + 13.4: ‘lake-wake’ = lyke-wake: watching by a corpse. + 22: This, in ballads, is a customary method of giving expression to + strong emotion. + 29.1: ‘scope,’ a gag. + 30.4: ‘wite,’ blame: _i.e._ her mother was the cause of all her + trouble.] + + + + +END OF THE FIRST SERIES + + + + +INDEX OF TITLES + + Page + + Barbara Allan 150 + Brown Adam 100 + Brown Robin 158 + + Child Maurice 165 + Child Waters 37 + + Earl Brand 44 + Edward 189 + + Fair Annie 29 + Fair Annie of Rough Royal 179 + Fair Janet 94 + Fair Margaret and Sweet William 63 + Fair Mary of Wallington 201 + Fause Footrage 172 + + Glasgerion 1 + + Hind Horn 185 + + Johney Scot 128 + + Lady Alice 163 + Lady Maisry 70 + Lamkin 196 + Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 19 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + Lord Lovel 67 + Lord Randal 193 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + + Old Robin of Portingale 13 + + The Bonny Birdy 25 + The Boy and the Mantle 119 + The Brown Girl 60 + The Child of Ell 52 + The Cruel Brother 76 + The Cruel Mother 35 + The Douglas Tragedy 49 + The Gay Goshawk 153 + The Marriage of Sir Gawaine 107 + The Nutbrown Maid 80 + The Twa Sisters o’ Binnorie 141 + + Willie o’ Winsbury 104 + + Young Bekie 6 + Young Waters 146 + + + + +INDEX OF FIRST LINES + Page + + About Yule, when the wind blew cule 147 + As it fell one holy-day 19 + As it fell out on a long summer’s day 63 + + Be it right, or wrong, these men among 81 + + Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood 166 + Childe Watters in his stable stoode 37 + + Glasgerion was a king’s own son 2 + God! let neuer soe old a man 13 + + ‘I am as brown as brown can be 60 + In Scotland there was a babie born 186 + In the third day of May 120 + It’s Lamkin was a mason good 196 + ‘It’s narrow, narrow, make your bed 30 + It was in and about the Martinmas time 150 + + Kinge Arthur liues in merry Carleile 109 + King Easter has courted her for her gowd 173 + + Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window 163 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate 68 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + + O Johney was as brave a knight 129 + ‘O well’s me o’ my gay goss-hawk 153 + ‘O wha will shoe my fu’ fair foot? 180 + O wha woud wish the win’ to blaw 101 + ‘O where hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son? 194 + ‘Oh did ye ever hear o’ brave Earl Bran’? 46 + + ‘Rise up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,’ she says 49 + + Sayes, ‘Christ thee saue, good child of Ell 52 + She leaned her back unto a thorn 35 + + The king but an’ his nobles a’ 158 + The king he hath been a prisoner 104 + The young lords o’ the north country 70 + There was a knight, in a summer’s night 25 + There was three ladies play’d at the ba’ 77 + There were twa sisters sat in a bour 141 + + When we were silly sisters seven 202 + ‘Why dois your brand sae drap wi’ bluid 190 + + ‘Ye maun gang to your father, Janet 94 + Young Bekie was as brave a knight 7 + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Errata: + +Introduction: + +[Footnote 3: _Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard_ (see p. 19, etc.).] + _footnote marker missing from text_ +[Footnote 5: For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, + p. lii.] + _footnote marker missing or invisible_ +carefully balanced antitheses, and all the mechanical devices + _text reads “aud”_ +Coleridge’s _annus mirabilis_ was 1797 + _“Cole/ridge’s” printed at line break without visible hyphen_ +his friend Humphrey Pitt of Shifnal, in Shropshire, + _text has extra close quote after “Shropshire,”_ +1794. _Joseph Ritson._ Scotish Song. 2 vols. London. + _spelling unchanged_ + +Ballads: + +The Douglas Tragedy + [Stanza 5.] + ‘Light down, light down, Lady Margret,’ he said, + _close quote after “Lady Margret,” not visible_ + [Annotation to 8.3] + ‘dighted,’ dressed. + _reference “8.3” missing in text_ +Lord Lovel + [Introduction] + Of the former the commonest is _Der Ritter und die Maid_ + _spelling unchanged_ +Fair Annie of Rough Royal + [Introduction] + ‘Lochryan,’ says Scott, ‘lies in Galloway; + _text has extra close quote after “Galloway”_ +Lord Randal + [Stanza 2.] + ‘Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young man?’ + _text has empty line where “man?’” is expected_ + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ballads of Romance and Chivalry, by Frank Sidgwick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + +***** This file should be named 20469-0.txt or 20469-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/4/6/20469/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/20469-0.zip b/20469-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fa1bc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/20469-0.zip diff --git a/20469-8.txt b/20469-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..348028f --- /dev/null +++ b/20469-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9474 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Ballads of Romance and Chivalry, by Frank Sidgwick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ballads of Romance and Chivalry + Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series + +Author: Frank Sidgwick + +Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20469] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + The printed text used small capitals for emphasis. These have been + replaced with +marks+ where appopriate. Missing lines were shown + by rows of widely spaced dots (single lines) or asterisks (longer + sections). They are shown here in groups of three: + + ... ... ... + or + *** *** *** + + Variant forms such as "Maisry" : "Maisery" or "+Text(s)+" : + "+The Text+" are unchanged. Brackets are in the original, except + when enclosing footnotes or illustration markers. Errors are listed + at the end of the text.] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: Facsimile of the Percy Folio MS. (_British Museum_, + Addit. MS. 27, 879, f. 46 _verso_). +Glasgerion+, first three verses + (see p. 2), annotated by Percy. The full page is 15 x 6 inches.] + + + + + POPULAR BALLADS + OF THE OLDEN TIME + + SELECTED AND EDITED + BY FRANK SIDGWICK + + First Series. Ballads of + Romance and Chivalry + + + 'What hast here? Ballads? + 'Pray now, buy some.' + + A. H. BULLEN + 47 Great Russell Street + London. MCMIII + + + + + 'La rime n'est pas riche, et le style en est vieux: + Mais ne voyez-vous pas que cela vaut bien mieux + Que ces colifichets dont le bon sens murmure, + Et que la passion parle l toute pure?' + + Molire, _Le Misanthrope_, I. 2. + + + + +CONTENTS + Page + + Preface ix + Introduction xvii + Ballads in the First Series xliii + Glossary of Ballad Commonplaces xlvi + List of Books for Ballad Study lii + Note on the Illustrations lv + + Glasgerion 1 + Young Bekie 6 + Old Robin of Portingale 13 + Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 19 + The Bonny Birdy 25 + Fair Annie 29 + The Cruel Mother 35 + Child Waters 37 + Earl Brand 44 + The Douglas Tragedy 49 + The Child of Ell 52 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + The Brown Girl 60 + Fair Margaret and Sweet William 63 + Lord Lovel 67 + Lady Maisry 70 + The Cruel Brother 76 + The Nutbrown Maid 80 + Fair Janet 94 + Brown Adam 100 + Willie o' Winsbury 104 + The Marriage of Sir Gawaine 107 + The Boy and the Mantle 119 + Johney Scot 128 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + The Twa Sisters o' Binnorie 141 + Young Waters 146 + Barbara Allan 150 + The Gay Goshawk 153 + Brown Robin 158 + Lady Alice 163 + Child Maurice 165 + Fause Footrage 172 + Fair Annie of Rough Royal 179 + Hind Horn 185 + Edward 189 + Lord Randal 193 + Lamkin 196 + Fair Mary of Wallington 201 + + Index of Titles 209 + Index of First Lines 211 + + + +PREFACE + + +Of making selections of ballads there is no end. As a subject for the +editor, they seem to be only less popular than Shakespeare, and every +year sees a fresh output. But of late there has sprung up a custom of +confusing the old with the new, the genuine with the imitation; and the +products of civilised days, 'ballads' by courtesy or convention, are set +beside the rugged and hard-featured aborigines of the tribe, just as the +delicate bust of Clytie in the British Museum has for next neighbour the +rude and bold 'Unknown Barbarian Captive.' To contrast by such enforced +juxtaposition a ballad of the golden world with a ballad by Mr. Kipling +is unfair to either, each being excellent in its way; and the +collocation of _Edward_ or _Lord Randal_ with a ballad of Rossetti's is +only of interest or value as exhibiting the perennial charm of the +_refrain_. + +There exist, however, in our tongue--though not only in our +tongue--narratives in rhyme which have been handed down in oral +tradition from father to son for so many ages, that all record of their +authorship has long been lost. These are commonly called the Old +Ballads. Being traditional, each ballad may exist in more than one form; +in most cases the original story is clothed in several different forms. +The present series is designed to include all the best of these ballads +which are still extant in England and Scotland: Ireland and Wales +possess a similar class of popular literature, but each in its own +tongue. It is therefore necessary, in issuing this the first volume of +the series, to say somewhat as to the methods employed in editing and +selecting. + +Ballad editors of yore were confronted with perhaps two, perhaps twenty, +versions of each ballad; some unintelligibly fragmentary, some +intelligibly complete; some in print, some in manuscript, some, +perchance, in their own memories. Collating these, they subjected the +text to minute revision, omitting and adding, altering and inserting, to +suit their personal tastes and standards, literary or polite; and having +thus made it over, forgot to record the act, and saw no reason to +apologise therefor. + +Pioneers like Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, and Sir Walter Scott, may +well be excused the general censure. The former, living in and pandering +to an age which invented and applied those delightful literary +adjectives 'elegant' and 'ingenious,' may be pardoned with the more +sincerity if one recalls the influence exercised on English letters by +his publication. The latter, who played the part of Percy in the matter +of Scottish ballads, and was nourished from his boyhood on the +_Reliques_, printed for the first time many ballads which still are the +best of their class, and was gifted with consummate skill and taste. +Both, moreover, did their work scientifically, according to their +lights; and both have left at least some of their originals behind them. +There is, perhaps, one more exception to the general condemnation. Of +William Allingham's _Ballad Book_, as truly a _vade mecum_ as Palgrave's +lyrical anthology in the same 'Golden Treasury' series, I would speak, +perhaps only for sentimental reasons, always with respect, admiring the +results of his editing while looking askance at the method, for he mixed +his ingredients and left no recipe. + +But in the majority of cases there is no obvious excuse for this 'omnium +gatherum' process. The self-imposed function of most ballad editors +appears to have been the compilation of _rifacimenti_ in accordance with +their private ideas of what a ballad should be. And that such a state of +things was permissible is doubtless an indication of the then prevalent +attitude of half-interested tolerance assumed towards these memorials of +antiquity. + +To-day, however, the ballad editor is confronted with the results of the +labours, still unfinished, of a comparatively recent school in literary +science. These have lately culminated in _The English and Scottish +Popular Ballads_, edited by the late Professor Francis James Child of +Harvard University. This work, in five large volumes, issued in ten +parts at intervals from 1882 to 1898, and left by the editor at his +death complete but for the Introduction--_valde deflendus_--gives in +full all known variants of the three hundred and five ballads adjudged +by its editor to be genuinely 'popular,' with an essay, prefixed to each +ballad, on its history, origin, folklore, etc., and notes, glossary, +bibliographies, appendices, etc.; exhibiting as a whole unrivalled +special knowledge, great scholarly intuition, and years of patient +research, aided by correspondents, students, and transcribers in all +parts of the world, Lacking Professor Child's Introduction, we cannot +exactly tell what his definition of a 'popular' ballad was, or what +qualities in a ballad implied exclusion from his collection--_e.g._ he +does not admit _The Children in the Wood_: otherwise one can find in +this monumental work the whole history and all the versions of nearly +all the ballads. + +It will be obvious that Professor Child's academic method is suited +rather to the scholar than the general reader. As a rule, one text of +each ballad is all that is required, which must therefore be chosen--but +by what rules? To the scholar, it usually happens that the most ancient +and least handled text is the most interesting; but these are too +frequently incomplete and unintelligible. The literary dilettante may +prefer tasteful decorations by a Percy or a Scott; doubtless Buchan has +some admirers: but the student abhors this painting of the lily. + +Therefore I have compromised--always a dangerous practice--and I have +sought to give, to the best of my judgement, _that authorised text of +each ballad which tells in the best manner the completest form of the +story or plot_. I have been forced to make certain exceptions, but for +all departures from the above rule I have given reasons which, I trust, +will be found to justify the procedure; and in all cases the sources of +each text or part of the text are indicated. + +I am quite aware that it may fairly be asked: Why not assume the +immemorial privilege of a ballad editor, and concoct a text for +yourself? Why, when any text of a ballad is, as you admit, merely a +representative of parallel and similar traditional versions, should you +not compile from those other variants a text which should combine the +excellences of each, and give us the cream? + +There are several objections to this course. However incompetent, +I should not shrink from the labour involved; nor do I entirely approve +the growing demand for German minuteness and exactitude in editors. But, +firstly, the ballad should be subject to variation only while it is in +oral circulation. Secondly, editorial garnishing has been overdone +already, and my unwillingness to adopt that method is caused as much by +the failure of the majority of editors as by the success of the few. +Lastly, _chacun a son got_; there is a kind of literary selfishness in +emending and patching to suit one's private taste, and, if any one +wishes to do so, he will be most pleased with the result if he does it +for himself. + +This lengthy _apologia_ is necessitated by a departure from the usual +custom of ballad-editing. For the rest, my indebtedness to the work of +Professor Child will be obvious throughout. Many of his most interesting +texts were printed for the first time from manuscripts in private hands. +These I have not sought to collate, which would, indeed, insult his +accuracy and care. But in the case of texts from the Percy Folio, where +the labour is rather to decipher than to transcribe accurately, I have +resorted not only to the reprint of Hales and Furnivall, but to the +Folio itself. The whimsical spelling of this MS. pleases me as often as +it irritates, and I have ventured in certain ballads, _e.g._ +_Glasgerion_, to modernise it, and in others, _e.g._ _Old Robin of +Portingale_, to retain it _literatim_: in either case I have reduced to +uniformity the orthography of the proper names. Transcripts from other +MSS. are reproduced as they stand. + +In the general Introduction I have tried to sketch the genesis and +history of the ballad impartially in its several aspects, not for +scholars and connoisseurs, but for those ready to learn. To supply +deficiencies, I have added a list of books useful to the student of +English ballads--to go no further afield. Each ballad also is prefaced +with an introduction setting forth, besides the source of the text, as +succinctly as is consistent with accuracy, the derivation, when known, +of the story; the plot of similar foreign ballads; and points of +interest in folklore, history, or criticism attached to the particular +ballad. Where the story is fragmentary, I have added an argument. It +will be realised that such introductions at the best are but a +thousandth part of what might be written; but if they shall play the +part of _hors d'oeuvres_, and whet the appetite to proceed to more solid +food, the labour will not be lost. + +Difficulties in the text are explained in footnotes. Few things are more +vexatious to a reader than constant reference to a glossary; but as +compensation for the educational value thus lost, the footnotes are, to +a certain extent, progressive; that is to say, a word already explained +in a foregoing ballad is not always explained again; and to the best of +my ability I have freed the notes from the grotesque blunders observable +in most modern editions of ballads. + +Besides my indebtedness to the books mentioned in the bibliographical +list, I have to acknowledge my thanks to the Rev. Sabine Baring Gould, +for permission to use his version of _The Brown Girl_; to Mr. E. K. +Chambers, for kindly reading the general Introduction; and to my friend +and partner Mr. A. H. Bullen, for constant suggestions and assistance. + + F. S. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + 'Y-a-t-il donc, dans les contes populaires, quelque chose + d'intressant pour un esprit srieux?'--Cosquin. + + +The old ballads of England and Scotland are fine wine in cobwebbed +bottles; and many have made the error of paying too much attention to +the cobwebs and not enough attention to the wine. This error is as +blameworthy as its converse: we must take the inside and the outside +together. + + ++I. What is a Ballad?+ + +The earliest sense of the word 'ballad,' or rather of its French and +Provenal predecessors, _balada_, _balade_ (derived from the late Latin +_ballare_, to dance), was 'a song intended as the accompaniment to a +dance,' a sense long obsolete.[1] Next came the meaning, a simple song +of sentiment or romance, of two verses or more, each of which is sung to +the same air, the accompaniment being subordinate to the melody. This +sense we still use in our 'ballad-concerts.' Another meaning was that of +simply a popular song or ditty of the day, lyrical or narrative, of the +kind often printed as a broadsheet. Lyrical _or_ narrative, because the +Elizabethans appear not to distinguish the two. Read, for instance, the +well-known scene in _The Winter's Tale_ (Act IV. Sc. 4); here we have +both the lyrical ballad, as sung by Dorcas and Mopsa, in which Autolycus +bears his part 'because it is his occupation'; and also the 'ballad in +print,' which Mopsa says she loves--'for then we are sure it is true.' +Immediately after, however, we discover that the 'ballad in print' is +the broadside, the narrative ballad, sung of a usurer's wife brought to +bed of twenty money-bags at a burden, or of a fish that appeared upon +the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of April: in short, as _Martin +Mar-sixtus_ says (1592), 'scarce a cat can look out of a gutter but out +starts a halfpenny chronicler, and presently a proper new ballet of a +strange sight is indited.' Chief amongst these 'halfpenny chroniclers' +were William Elderton, of whom Camden records that he 'did arm himself +with ale (as old father Ennius did with wine) when he ballated,' and +thereby obtained a red nose almost as celebrated as his verses; Thomas +Deloney, 'the ballating silkweaver of Norwich'; and Richard Johnson, +maker of Garlands. Thus to Milton, to Addison, and even to Johnson, +'ballad' essentially implies singing; but from about the middle of the +eighteenth century the modern interpretation of the word began to come +into general use. + + [Footnote 1: For the subject of the origin of the ballad and its + refrain in the _ballatio_ of the dancing-ring, see _The Beginnings + of Poetry_, by Professor Francis B. Gummere, especially chap. v. The + beginning of the whole subject is to be found in the universal and + innate practices of accompanying manual or bodily labour by a + rhythmic chant or song, and of festal song and dance.] + +In 1783, in one of his letters, the poet Cowper says: 'The ballad is a +species of poetry, I believe, peculiar to this country.... Simplicity +and ease are its proper characteristics.' Here we have one of the +earliest attempts to define the modern meaning of a 'ballad.' Centuries +of use and misuse of the word have left us no unequivocal name for the +ballad, and we are forced to qualify it with epithets. 'Traditional' +might be deemed sufficient; but 'popular' or 'communal' is more +definite. Here we adopt the word used by Professor Child--'popular.' + +What, then, do we intend to signify by the expression 'popular ballads'? +Far the most important point is to maintain an antithesis between the +poetry of the people and the consciously artistic poetry of the schools. +Wilhelm Grimm, the less didactic of the two famous brothers, said that +the ballad says nothing unnecessary or unreal, and despises external +adornment. Ferdinand Wolf, the great critic of the Homeric question, +said the ballad must be nave, objective, not sentimental, lively and +erratic in its narrative, without ornamentation, yet with much +picturesque vigour. + +It is even more necessary to define sharply the line between poetry _of_ +the people and poetry _for_ the people.[2] The latter may still be +written; the making of the former is a lost art. Poetry of the people is +either lyric or narrative. This difference is roughly that between song +and ballad. 'With us,' says Ritson, 'songs of sentiment, expression, or +even description, are properly termed songs, in contradistinction to +mere narrative compositions which we now denominate Ballads.' This +definition, of course, is essentially modern; we must still insist on +the fact that genuine ballads were sung: 'I sing Musgrove,'[3] says Sir +Thwack in Davenant's _The Wits_, 'and for the Chevy Chase no lark comes +near me.' Lastly, we must emphasise that the accompaniment is +predominated by the air to which the words are sung. I have heard the +modern comic song described as 'the kind in which you hear the words,' +thus differentiating it from the drawing-room song, in which the words +are (happily) as a rule less audible than the melody. In the ballad, as +sung, the words are most important; but it is of vital importance to +remember that the ballads were chanted. + + [Footnote 2: See the first essay, 'What is "Popular Poetry"?' in + _Ideas of Good and Evil_, by W. B. Yeats (1903), where this + distinction is not recognised.] + + [Footnote 3: _Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard_ (see p. 19, etc.).] + + ++II. Poetry of the People.+ + +Now what is this 'poetry of the people'? One theory is as follows. Every +nation or people in the natural course of its development reaches a +stage at which it consists of a homogeneous, compact community, with its +sentiments undivided by class-distinctions, so that the whole active +body forms what is practically an individual. Begging the question, that +poetry can be produced by such a body, this poetry is naturally of a +concrete and narrative character, and is previous to the poetry of art. +'Therefore,' says Professor Child, 'while each ballad will be +idiosyncratic, it will not be an expression of the personality of +individuals, but of a collective sympathy; and the fundamental +characteristic of popular ballads is therefore the absence of +subjectivity and self-consciousness. Though they do not "write +themselves," as Wilhelm Grimm has said--though a man and not a people +has composed them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by +mere accident, but with the best reason, that they have come down to us +anonymous.' + +By stating this, the dictum of one of the latest and most erudite of +ballad-scholars, so early in our argument, we anticipate a century or +more of criticism and counter-criticism, during which the giants of +literature ranged themselves in two parties, and instituted a +battle-royal which even now is not quite finished. It will be most +convenient if we denominate the one party as that which holds to the +communal or 'nebular' theory of authorship, and the other as the +anti-communal or 'artistic' theory. The tenet of the former party has +already been set forth, namely, that the poetry of the people is a +natural and spontaneous production of a community at that stage of its +existence when it is for all practical purposes an individual. The +theory of the 'artistic' school is that the ballads and folk-songs are +the productions of skalds, minstrels, bards, troubadours, or other +vagrant professional singers and reciters of various periods; it is +allowed, however, that, being subject entirely to oral transmission, +these ballads and songs are open to endless variation. + +On the Continent, Herder was pioneer, both of the claims of popular +poetry and of the nebular theory of authorship. Traditions of chivalry, +he says, became poetry in the mouths of the people; but his definition +of popular poetry has rather extended bounds. Herder's enthusiasm fired +Goethe (who, however, did not wholly accede to the 'nebular' theory) to +study the subject, and the effect was soon noticeable in his own poetry. +Next came the two great brothers, whose names are ever to be held in +honour wherever folklore is studied or folktales read, Jacob and Wilhelm +Grimm. Jacob, the more ardent and polemical, insisted on the communal +authorship of the poetry of the people; ballad or song 'sings itself.' + +Both the Grimms, and especially Jacob, were severely handled by the +critic Schlegel, who insisted on the artist. To Schlegel we owe the +famous image in which popular poetry is a tower, and the poet an +architect. Hundreds may fetch and carry, but all are useless without the +direction of the architect. This is specious argument; but we might +reply to Schlegel that an architect is only wanted when the result is +required to be an artistic whole. The tower of Babel was built by +hundreds of men under no superintendence. Schlegel's intention, however, +is no less clear than that of Jacob Grimm, and the two are diametrically +opposed. + +In England, literary prejudice against the unpolished barbarities and +uncouthnesses of the ballad was at no time so pronounced as it was on +the Continent, and especially in Germany, during the latter half of the +eighteenth century. Indeed, at intervals, the most learned and fantastic +critics in England would call attention to the poetry of the people. Sir +Philip Sidney's apologetic words are well known:-- 'Certainly I must +confesse my own barbarousnes, I never heard the olde song of _Percy_ and +_Duglas_, that I found not my heart mooved more then with a Trumpet.' +Addison was bolder. 'It is impossible that anything should be +universally tasted and approved by a Multitude, tho' they are only the +Rabble of a Nation, which hath not in it some peculiar Aptness to please +and gratify the Mind of Man.' With these and other encouragements the +popular poetry of England was not lost to sight; and in 1765 the work of +the good Bishop of Dromore gave the ballads a place in literature. + +Percy's opening remarks, attributing the ballads to the minstrels, are +as well known as the scoffs of the hard-hitting Joseph Ritson, who +contemptuously dismissed Percy's theories,[4] and refused to believe any +ballad to be of earlier origin than the reign of Elizabeth. Sir Walter +Scott was quite ready to accept the ballads as the productions of the +minstrels, either as 'the occasional effusions of some self-taught +bard,' or as abridged from the tales of tradition after the days when, +as Alfred de Musset says, 'our old romances spread their wings of gold +towards the enchanted world.' + + [Footnote 4: 'The truth really lay between the two, for neither + appreciated the wide variety covered by a common name' (_The + Medival Stage_, E. K. Chambers, 1903). See especially chapters iii. + and iv. of this work for an admirably complete and illuminating + account of minstrelsy.] + +This brings us nearer to our own day. The argument is not closed, +although we can discern offers of concession from either side. Svend +Grundtvig, editor of the enormous collection of Danish ballads, +distinguished the ballad from all forms of artistic literature, and +would have the artist left out of sight; Nyrop and the Scandinavian +scholars, on the other hand, entirely gave up the notion of communal +authorship. Howbeit, the trend of modern criticism,[5] on the whole, is +towards a common belief regarding most ballads, which may be stated +again, in Professor Child's words: 'Though a man and not a people has +composed them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by +mere accident, but with the best reason, that they have come down to us +anonymous.' + + [Footnote 5: For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, + p. lii.] + + ++III. The Growth of Ballads.+ + +Let us then picture, however vaguely and uncertainly, the growth of a +ballad. It is well known that the folklores of the various races of the +world exhibit common features, and that the beliefs, superstitions, +tales, even conventionalities of expression, of one race, are found to +present constant and remarkable similarities to those of another. +Whether these similarities are to be held mere coincidences, or whether +they are to be explained by the theory of a common ancestry in the +cradle of the world, is a side-issue into which I do not intend to +enter. Suffice it that the fact is true, especially of the peoples who +speak the Indo-European tongues. The lore which has for its foundation +permanent and universal acceptance in the hearts of mankind is preserved +by tradition, and remains independent of the criteria applied +instinctively and unconsciously to artistic compositions. The community +is one at heart, one in mind, one in method of expression. Tales are +recited, verses chanted, and the singer of a clan makes his version of a +popular story. Simultaneously other singers, it may be of other clans of +the same race, or of another race altogether, elaborate their versions +of the common theme. Meanwhile the first singer has again recited or +chanted his ballad, and, having forgotten the exact wording, has altered +it, and perhaps introduced improvements. The same happens in the other +cases. The various audiences carry away as much as they can remember, +and recite their versions, again with individual omissions, alterations, +and additions. Thus, by ever-widening circles, the tale is distributed +in countless forms over an unlimited area. The elements of the story +remain, wholly or in part, while the literary clothing is altered +according to the 'taste and fancy' of the reciter. The lore is now +traditional, whether it be in prose, as Mrchen, or in verse, as ballad. +And so it remains in oral circulation--and therefore still liable to +variation--until it is written down or printed. It is left 'masterless,' +unsigned; for of the original author's composition, may be, only a word +or two remains. It has passed through many mouths, and has been made +over countless times. But once written down it ceases _virm volitare +per ora_; the invention of printing has spoiled the powers of man's +memory. + +We can now take up the tale at the fifteenth century; let us henceforth +confine our attention to England. It is agreed on all sides that the +fifteenth century was the period when, in England at least, the ballads +first became a prominent feature. Of historical ballads, _The Hunting of +the Cheviot_ was probably composed as early as 1400 or thereabouts. The +romances contemporaneously underwent a change, and took on a form nearer +to that of the ballad. Whatever may be the date of the origin of the +subject-matter, the literary clothing--language, mode of expression, +colour--of no ballad, as we now have it, is much, earlier than 1400. The +only possible exceptions to this statement are one or two of the Robin +Hood ballads--attributed to the thirteenth century by Professor Child, +but _adhuc sub judice_--and a ballad of sacred legend--_Judas_--which +exists in a thirteenth-century manuscript in the library of Trinity +College, Cambridge. + +During the fifteenth century, the ballads, still purely narrative, were +cast abroad through the length and breadth of the land, undergoing +continual changes, modifications, enlargements, for better or for worse. +They told of romance and chivalry, of historical, quasi-historical, and +mythico-historical deeds, of the traditions of the Church and sacred +legend, and of the lore that gathers round the most popular of heroes, +Robin Hood. The earliest printed English ballad is the _Gest of Robyn +Hode_, which now remains in a fragment of about the end of the fifteenth +century. + +The sixteenth century continued the process of the popularisation of +ballads. Minstrels, who, as a class, had been slowly perishing ever +since the invention of printing, were now vagrants, and the profession +was decadent. Towards the end of the century we hear of Richard Sheale, +whom we may describe as the first of the so-called 'Last of the +Minstrels.' He describes himself as a minstrel of Tamworth, his business +being to chant ballads and tell tales. We know that the ballad of _The +Hunting of the Cheviot_ was part of his repertory, for he wrote down his +version, which is still preserved in the Ashmolean MSS. At the end of +the sixteenth century the minstrels had fallen, in England at least, +into entire degradation. In 1597, Percy notes, a statute of Elizabeth +was passed including 'minstrels, wandering abroad,' amongst the other +'rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars'; and fifty years later Cromwell +made a very similar ordinance.[6] + + [Footnote 6: But these were only re-enactments of existing laws. See + Chambers, _Medival Stage,_ i. p. 54.] + +In Elizabeth's reign we first meet with the ballad-mongers and +professional authors of ballads. Simultaneously, or nearly so, comes the +degradation of the word 'ballad,' until it signifies either the genuine +popular ballad, or a satirical song, or a broadside, or almost any ditty +of the day. Of the ballad-mongers, we have mentioned Elderton, Deloney, +and Johnson. We might add a hundred others, from Anthony Munday to +Martin Parker, and even Tom Durfey, each of whom contributed largely to +the vast mushroom-literature that sprang up and flourished vigorously +for the next century. Chappell mentions that seven hundred and +ninety-six ballads remained at the end of 1560 in the cupboards of the +council-chamber of the Stationers' Company for transference to the new +wardens of the succeeding year. These, of course, would consist chiefly +of broadsides: the narrations of strange events, monstrosities, or 'true +tales' of the day. + +It is true that many of the genuine popular ballads were rewritten to +suit contemporary taste. But the style of the seventeenth century +ballads cannot be compared to the noble straightforwardness and +simplicity of the ancient ballad. Let us place side by side the first +stanza of the _Hunting of the Cheviot_ and the first few verses of _Fair +Rosamond_, a very fair specimen of Deloney's work. + +The popular ancient ballad wastes no time on preliminaries[7]:-- + + [Footnote 7: A good notion of the way in which the old ballads + plunge _in medias res_ may be obtained by reading the Index of First + Lines.] + + 'The Pers owt off Northombarlonde + And avowe to God mayd he, + That he wold hunte in the mowntayns + Off Chyviat within days thre, + In the magger of dought Dogles; + And all that ever with him be.' + +Now for the milk-and-water:-- + + 'Whenas King Henry rulde this land, + The second of that name, + Besides the queene, he dearly lovde + A faire and comely dame. + + Most peerlesse was her beautye founde, + Her favour and her face; + A sweeter creature in this worlde + Could never prince embrace. + + Her crisped lockes like threads of golde + Appeard to each man's sight; + Her sparkling eyes, like Orient pearles, + Did cast a heavenly light.' + +Ritson's taste actually led him, in comparing the above two first +verses, to prefer the latter. + +Or again we might contrast _Sir Patrick Spence_-- + + 'The King sits in Dumferling towne + Drinking the blude reid wine: + "O whar will I get a guid sailor, + To sail this ship of mine?"' + +with the _Children in the Wood_:-- + + 'Now ponder well, you parents deare, + These wordes, which I shall write; + A doleful story you shall heare, + In time brought forth to light.' + +Artificial, tedious, didactic. The author of the ancient ballad seldom +points, and never draws, a moral, and has unbounded faith in the +credulity of the audience. The seventeenth century balladists +pitchforked Nature into the midden. + +These compositions were printed as soon as written, or, to be exact, +they were written for the press. We now class them as broadsides, that +is, ballads printed on one side of the paper. The difference between +these and the true ballad is the difference between art and nature. The +broadside ballad was a form of art, and a low form of art. They were +written by hacks for the press, sold in the streets, and pasted on the +walls of houses or rooms: Jamieson had a copy of _Young Beichan_ which +he picked off a wall in Piccadilly. They were generally ornamented with +crude woodcuts, remarkable for their artistic shortcomings and +infidelity to nature. Dr. Johnson's well-known lines--though in fact a +caricature of Percy's _Hermit of Warkworth_--ingeniously parody their +style:-- + + 'As with my hat upon my head, + I walk'd along the Strand, + I there did meet another man, + With his hat in his hand.' + +Broadside ballads, including a few of the genuine ancient ballads, still +enjoy a certain popularity. The once-famous Catnach Press still survives +in Seven Dials, and Mr. Such, of Union Street in the Borough, still +maintains what is probably the largest stock of broadsides now in +existence, including _Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight_ (or _May Colvin_), +perhaps the most widely dispersed ballad of any. + +Minstrels of all sorts were by this time nearly extinct, in person if +not in name; their successors were the vendors of broadsides. +Nevertheless, survivors of the genuine itinerant reciters of ballads +have been discovered at intervals almost to the present day. Sir Walter +Scott mentions a person who 'acquired the name of Roswal and Lillian, +from singing that romance about the streets of Edinburgh' in 1770 or +thereabouts. He further alludes to 'John Graeme, of Sowport in +Cumberland, commonly called the Long Quaker, very lately alive.' Ritson +mentions a minstrel of Derbyshire, and another from Gloucester, who +chanted the ballad of _Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor_. In 1845 J. H. +Dixon wrote of several men he had met, chiefly Yorkshire dalesmen, not +vagrants, but with a local habitation, who at Christmas-tide would sing +the old ballads. One of these was Francis King, known then throughout +the western dales of Yorkshire, and still remembered, as 'the Skipton +Minstrel.' After a merry Christmas meeting, in the year 1844, he walked +into the river near Gargrave, in Craven, and was drowned. In Gargrave +church-yard lie the remains of perhaps the actual 'last of the +minstrels.'[8] + + [Footnote 8: Unless we may attribute that distinction to the blind + Irish bard Raftery, who flourished sixty years ago. See various + accounts of him given by Lady Gregory (_Poets and Dreamers_) and + W. B. Yeats (_The Celtic Twilight_, 1902). But he appears to have + been more of an improviser than a reciter.] + + ++IV. Collectors and Editors.+ + +Now a word or two as to the collectors and editors. To take the +broadsides first, the largest collections are at Magdalene College, +Cambridge (eighteen hundred broadsides collected by Selden and Pepys), +in the Bodleian at Oxford, and in the British Museum. The Bodleian +contains collections made by Anthony--Wood, Douce, and Rawlinson; the +British Museum, the great Roxburghe and Bagford collections, which have +been reprinted and edited by William Chappell and the Rev. J. W. +Ebsworth for the Ballad Society, as well as other smaller volumes of +ballads. + +But it is not among the broadsides that our noblest ballads are found. +The first attempt to collect popular ballads was made by the compiler of +three volumes issued in 1723 and 1725. The editor is said to have been +Ambrose Phillips, whose name and style combined to produce the word +'namby-pamby.' Next came Allan Ramsay, with 'the _Evergreen_, +a collection of Scots poems wrote by the ingenious before 1600.'--'By +the ingenious,' we note; not by the 'elegant.' The tide is already +beginning to turn; pitch-forked Nature will ever come back. Followed the +_Tea-Table Miscellany_, also compiled by Allan Ramsay, which contained +about twenty popular ballads, the rest being songs and ballads of modern +composition. The texts were, of course, chopped about and pruned to suit +contemporary taste. It was still necessary to adopt an apologetic +attitude on behalf of these barbarous and crude relics of antiquity. + +These books paved the way to the great literary triumph of the century. +The first edition of Percy's _Reliques_ was issued in three volumes, in +1765. He received for it one hundred guineas, instant popularity and +patronage, and subsequently, the gratitude of succeeding centuries. + +Nevertheless, Percy himself was so far under the influence of his +contemporaries that he felt it necessary to adopt the apologetic +attitude. In his preface he wrote:-- 'In a polished age like the +present, I am sensible that many of these reliques of antiquity will +require great allowances to be made for them.' And again:-- 'To atone +for the rudeness of the more obsolete poems, each volume concludes with +a few modern attempts in the same kind of writing; and to take off from +the tediousness of the longer narratives, they are everywhere +intermingled with little elegant pieces of the lyrical kind.' In short, +he could not trust that large child, the people of England, to take its +dose of powder without the conventional treacle. To vary the metaphor, +his famous Folio Manuscript he regarded as a Cinderella, and in his +capacity as fairy godmother refused to introduce her to the world +without hiding the slut's uncouth attire under fine raiment. To which +end, besides adding 'little elegant pieces,' he recast and rewrote 'the +more obsolete poems,' many of which came direct from the Folio +Manuscript. Are we to blame him for yielding to the taste of his day? + +He did not satisfy every one. Ritson's immediate outcry is famous--and +Ritson stood almost alone. He did, indeed, go so far as to deny the +existence of the Folio Manuscript, and Percy was forced to confute him +by producing it. In the later editions of the _Reliques_, Percy sought +to conciliate him by revising his texts, so as to approximate them more +closely to his originals, but still Ritson cried out for the whole +truth, and nothing but the truth. And by this time he had supporters. +But the whole truth as regards the Folio was not to be divulged yet. The +manuscript was most jealously guarded. + +Meanwhile the influence of the publication was having its effect. The +poetry of the schools, the poetry of the intellect, the poetry of art, +brought to its highest pitch by writers like Dryden and Pope, was +shelved; metrically exact diction, artificiality of expression, +carefully balanced antitheses, and all the mechanical devices of the +school were placed in abeyance. There was a general return to Nature, to +simplicity, to straightforwardness--not without imagination, however. +Wordsworth, besides insisting, in a famous passage, the Preface to the +_Lyrical Ballads_, on the spontaneity of good poetry, recorded his +tribute to the _Reliques_: 'I do not think that there is an able writer +in verse of the present day who would not be proud to acknowledge his +obligation to the _Reliques_.' While failing often to catch the gusto of +ancient poetry--witness his translations from Chaucer--Wordsworth was +full of the spirit--witness his rifacimento of _The Owl and the +Nightingale_--and, best of all, handed it on to Coleridge.[9] These two +fought side by side against the conventions of the preceding century, +against Dryden, Addison, Pope, and last, but not least, Johnson. Some +have gone so far as to place the definite turning-point in the year +1798, the year of the publication of the _Lyrical Ballads_. Coleridge's +_annus mirabilis_ was 1797, and the publication of _The Ancient Mariner_ +is significant of the change. But we need not bind ourselves down to any +given year. Enough that the revolution was effected, and that it is +scarcely exaggeration to say that it was almost entirely due to the +publication of the _Reliques_. + + [Footnote 9: 'He [Coleridge] said the _Lyrical Ballads_ were an + experiment about to be tried by him and Wordsworth, to see how far + the public taste would endure poetry written in a more natural and + simple style than had hitherto been attempted; totally discarding + the artifices of poetical diction, and making use only of such words + as had probably been common in the most ordinary language since the + days of Henry II.'--_Hazlitt._] + +Sir Walter Scott remembered to the day of his death the place where he +first made acquaintance with the _Reliques_ in his thirteenth year. 'I +remember well the spot where I read those volumes for the first time. It +was beneath a large platanus-tree, in the ruins of what had been +intended for an old-fashioned arbour in the garden I have mentioned. The +summer day sped onward so fast, that, notwithstanding the sharp appetite +of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought for with anxiety, +and was still found entranced in my intellectual banquet.' + +Almost immediately competitors appeared in the field, and especial +attention was given to Scotland, exceedingly rich ground, as it proved. +In 1769, David Herd published his collection of _Ancient and Modern +Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc._ Then, at intervals of two or three +years only, came the compilations of Evans, Pinkerton, Ritson, Johnson; +in 1802 Sir Walter Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, fit to +be placed side by side with the _Reliques_; in 1806 Jamieson's _Popular +Ballads and Songs_; then Finlay, Gilchrist, Laing, and Utterson. In 1828 +the egregious Peter Buchan produced _Ancient Ballads and Songs of the +North of Scotland, hitherto unpublished_. Buchan hints that he kept a +pedlar or beggarman--'a wight of Homer's craft'--travelling through +Scotland to pick up ballads; and one of the two--probably Buchan--must +have been possessed of powerful inventive faculties. Each of Buchan's +ballads is tediously spun out to enormous and unnecessary length, and is +filled with solecisms and inanities quite inconsistent with the spirit +of the true ballad. But Buchan undoubtedly gained fresh material, +however much he clothed it; and his ballads are now reprinted, as +Professor Child says, for much the same reason that thieves are +photographed. + +Scotland continued the work with two excellent students and pioneers, +George Kinloch and William Motherwell. Next, Robert Chambers published a +collection of eighty ballads, some being spurious. This was in 1829. +Thirty years later Chambers came to the conclusion that 'the high-class +romantic ballads of Scotland ... are not older than the early part of +the eighteenth century, and are mainly, if not wholly, the production of +one mind.' And this one mind, he thinks, was probably that of Elizabeth, +Lady Wardlaw, the acknowledged forger of the ballad _Hardyknute_, which +deceived so many. Chambers, of course, was absurdly mistaken. + +So the work of collecting and editing progressed through the nineteenth +century, till it culminated in the final edition of Professor Child's +_English and Scottish Popular Ballads_. But even this is scarcely his +greatest benefaction to the study of ballads. We must confess that had +it not been for the insistence of this American scholar, the Percy Folio +Manuscript would remain a sealed book. For six years Professor Child +persecuted Dr. Furnivall, who persecuted in turn the owners of the +Folio, even offering sums of money, for permission to print the MS. +Eventually they succeeded, and not only succeeded in giving to the world +an exact reprint,[10] but also once for all secured the precious +original for the British Museum, where it now remains.[11] + + [Footnote 10: _Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript_, edited by J. W. + Hales and F. J. Furnivall, 4 vols., 1867-8. Printed for the Early + English Text Society and subscribers.] + + [Footnote 11: Additional MS. 27, 879.] + +And what is this manuscript? In brief, it is an example of the +commonplace books which abounded in the seventeenth century. But it is +unique in containing a large proportion of early romances and ballads, +as well as the lyrics of the day. Of the hundreds of commonplace books +made during that century, no other example is known which contains such +matter, for the obvious and simple reason that such matter was +despised.[12] The handwriting is put by experts at about 1650; it cannot +be much later, and one song in it contains a passage which fixes the +date of that song to the year 1643. Percy discovered the book 'lying +dirty on the floor under a bureau in the parlour' of his friend Humphrey +Pitt of Shifnal, in Shropshire, 'being used by maids to light the fire.' +Mr. Pitt's fires were lighted with half-pages torn out from incomparably +early and precious versions of certain Robin Hood and other ballads. +Percy notes that he was very young when he first got possession of the +MS., and had not then learned to reverence it. When he put it into +boards to lend to Dr. Johnson, the bookbinder pared the margins, and cut +away top and bottom lines. In editing the _Reliques_, Percy actually +tore out pages 'to save the trouble of transcribing.' In spite of all, +it remains a unique and inestimably valuable manuscript. Its writer was +presumably a Lancashire man, from his use of certain dialect words, and +was assuredly a man of slight education; nevertheless a national +benefactor. + + [Footnote 12: Cp. _Love's Labour's Lost_:-- + + +Armado.+ Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar? + + +Moth.+ The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages + since; but I think now 'tis not to be found.] + +In speaking of manuscripts, we must not omit to mention the Scottish +collectors. Most of them went to work in the right way, seeking out aged +men and women in out-of-the-way corners of Scotland, and taking down +their ballads from their lips. If we condemn these editors for +subsequently adorning the traditional versions, we must be grateful to +them for preserving their manuscripts so that we can still read the +ballads as they received them. The old ladies of Scotland seem to have +possessed better memories than the old men. Besides Sir Walter Scott's +anonymous 'Old Lady,' there was another to whom we owe some of the +finest versions of the Scottish ballads. This was Mrs. Brown, daughter +of Professor Gordon of Aberdeen. Born in 1747, she learned most of her +ballads before she was twelve years old, or before 1759, from the +singing of her aunt, Mrs. Farquhar of Braemar. From about twenty to +forty years later, she repeated her ballads, first to Jamieson, and +afterwards to William Tytler, each of whom compiled a manuscript. The +latter, the Tytler-Brown MS., unfortunately is lost, but the ballads are +practically all known from the other manuscript and various sources. + +Perhaps the richest part of our stock are the Scottish and Border +ballads. Beside them, most of our mawkish English ballads look pale and +withered. The reason, perhaps, may be traced to the effect of natural +surroundings on literature. The English ballads were printed or written +down at a period which is early compared with the date of collection of +the Scottish ballads. In fact, it is only during the last hundred and +thirty years that the ballads of Scotland have been recovered from oral +tradition. In mountainous districts, where means of communication and +intercourse are naturally limited, tradition dies more hard than in +countries where there are no such barriers. Moreover, as Professor Child +points out, 'oral transmission by the unlettered is not to be feared +nearly so much as by minstrels, nor by minstrels nearly so much as +modern editors.' Svend Grundtvig illustrates this from his twenty-nine +versions of the Danish ballad 'Ribold and Guldborg.' In versions from +recitation, he has shown that there occur certain verses which have +never been printed, but which are found in old manuscripts; and these +recited versions also contain verses which have never been either +printed or written down in Danish, but which are to be found still in +recitation, not only in Norwegian and Swedish versions, but even in +Icelandic tradition of two hundred years' standing. + + +Such, then, is the history of our ballads, so far as it may be stated in +a few pages. With regard to origins, the 'nebular' theory cannot be +summarily dismissed;[13] but, after weighing the evidence and arguments, +the balance of probability would seem to lie with the supporters of the +'artistic' theory in a modified form. The ballad may say, with Topsy, +'Spec's I growed'; but _vires adquirit eundo_ is only true of the ballad +to a certain point; progress, which includes the invention of printing +and the absorption into cities of the unsophisticated rural population, +has since killed the oral circulation of the ballad. Thus it was not an +unmixed evil that in the Middle Ages, as a rule, the ballads were +neglected; for this neglect, while it rendered the discovery of their +sources almost impossible, gave the ballads for a time into the +safe-keeping of their natural possessors, the common people. +Civilisation, advancing more swiftly in some countries than in others, +has left rich stores here, and little there. Our close kinsmen of +Denmark, and the rest of Scandinavia, possess a ballad-literature of +which they do well to be proud; and Spain is said to have inherited even +better legacies. A study of our native ballads yields much interest, +much delight, and much regret that the gleaning is comparatively so +small. But what we still have is of immense value. The ballads may not +be required again to revoke English literature from flights into +artificiality and subjectivity; but they form a leaf in the life of the +English people, they uphold the dignity of human nature, they carry us +away to the legends, the romances, the beliefs, the traditions of our +ancestors, and take us out of ourselves to 'fleet the time carelessly, +as they did in the golden world.' + + [Footnote 13: Professor Gummere (_The Beginnings of Poetry_) is + perhaps the strongest champion of this theory, and takes an extreme + view.] + + + + +BALLADS IN THE FIRST SERIES + + + +The only possible method of classifying ballads is by their +subject-matter; and even thus the lines of demarcation are frequently +blurred. It is, however, possible to divide them roughly into several +main classes, such as ballads of romance and chivalry; ballads of +superstition and of the supernatural; Arthurian, historical, sacred, +domestic ballads; ballads of Robin Hood and other outlaws; and so forth. + +The present volume is concerned with ballads of romance and chivalry; +but it is useless to press too far the appropriateness of this title. +_The Nutbrown Maid_, for instance, is not a true ballad at all, but an +amoeban idyll, or dramatic lyric. But, on the whole, these ballads +chiefly tell of life, love, death, and human passions, of revenge and +murder and heroic deed. + + 'These things are life: + And life, some think, is worthy of the Muse.' + +They are left unexpurgated, as they came down to us: to apologise for +things now left unsaid would be to apologise not only for the heroic +epoch in which they were born, but also for human nature. + +And how full of life that heroic epoch was! Of what stature must Lord +William's steed have been, if Lady Maisry could hear him sneeze a mile +away! How chivalrous of Gawaine to wed an ugly bride to save his king's +promise, and how romantic and delightful to discover her on the morrow +to have changed into a well-fared may! + +The popular Muse regards not probability. Old Robin, who hails from +Portugal, marries the daughter of the mayor of Linne, that unknown town +so dear to ballads. In _Young Bekie_, Burd Isbel's heart is wondrous +sair to find, on liberating her lover, that the bold rats and mice have +eaten his yellow hair. We must not think of objecting that the boldest +rat would never eat a live prisoner's hair, but only applaud the +picturesque indication of durance vile. + +In the same ballad, Burd Isbel, 'to keep her from thinking +lang'--a prevalent complaint--is told to take 'twa marys' on her +journey. We suddenly realise how little there was to amuse the Burd +Isbels of yore. Twa marys provide a week's diversion. Otherwise her only +occupation would have been to kemb her golden hair, or perhaps, like +Fair Annie, drink wan water to preserve her complexion. + +But if their occupations were few, their emotions and affections were +strong. Ellen endures insult after insult from Child Waters with the +faithful patience of a Griselda. Hector the hound recognises Burd Isbel +after years of separation. Was any lord or lady in need of a messenger, +there was sure to be a little boy at hand to run their errand soon, +faithful unto death. On receipt of painful news, they kicked over the +table, and the silver plate flew into the fire. When roused, men +murdered with a brown sword, and ladies with a penknife. We are left +uncertain whether the Cruel Mother did not also 'howk' a grave for her +murdered babe with that implement. + +But readers will easily pick out and enjoy for themselves other +instances of the nave and picturesque in these ballads. + + + + +GLOSSARY OF BALLAD COMMONPLACES + + +There survive in ballads a few conventional phrases, some of which +appear to have been preserved by tradition beyond an understanding of +their import. I give here short notes on a few of the more interesting +phrases and words which appear in the present volume, the explanations +being too cumbrous for footnotes. + + ++Bow.+ + +'bent his bow and swam,' _Lady Maisry_, 21.2; _Johney Scot_, 10.2; _Lord +Ingram and Chiel Wyet_, 12.2; etc. + +'set his bent bow to his breast,' _Lady Maisry_, 22.3; _Lord Ingram and +Chiel Wyet_, 13.3; _Fause Footrage_, 33.1; etc. + + Child attempts no explanation of this striking phrase, which, + I believe, all editors have either openly or silently neglected. + Perhaps 'bent' may mean _un_-bent, _i.e._ with the string of the bow + slacked. If so, for what reason was it done before swimming? We can + understand that it would be of advantage to keep the string dry, but + how is it better protected when unstrung? Or, again, was it carried + unstrung, and literally 'bent' before swimming? Or was the bow solid + enough to be of support in the water? + + Some one of these explanations may satisfy the first phrase (as + regards swimming); but why does the messenger 'set his bent bow to + his breast' before leaping the castle wall? It seems to me that the + two expressions must stand or fall together; therefore the entire + lack of suggestions to explain the latter phrase drives me to + distrust of any of the explanations given for the former. + + A suggestion recently made to me appears to dispose of all + difficulties; and, once made, is convincing in its very obviousness. + It is, that 'bow' means 'elbow,' or simply 'arm.' The first phrase + then exhibits the commonest form of ballad-conventionalities, + picturesque redundancy: the parallel phrase is 'he slacked his shoon + and ran.' In the second phrase it is, indeed, necessary to suppose + the wall to be breast-high; the messenger places one elbow on the + wall, pulls himself up, and vaults across. + + Lexicographers distinguish between the Old English _b[-o]g_ or + _b[-o]h_ (O.H.G. buog = arm; Sanskrit, bahu-s = arm), which means arm, + arch, bough, or bow of a ship; and the Old English _boga_ (O.H.G. + bogo), which means the archer's bow. The distinction is continued in + Middle English, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Instances + of the use of the word as equivalent to 'arm' may be found in Old + English in _King Alfred's Translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care_ + (E.E.T.S., 1871, ed. H. Sweet) written in West Saxon dialect of the + ninth century. + + It is true that the word does not survive elsewhere in this meaning, + but I give the suggestion for what it is worth. + + ++Briar.+ + +'briar and rose,' _Douglas Tragedy_, 18, 19, 20; _Fair Margaret and +Sweet William_, 18, 19, 20; _Lord Lovel_, 9, 10; etc. + +'briar and birk,' _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, 29, 30; _Fair Janet_, +30; etc. + +'roses,' _Lady Alice_, 5, 6. (See introductory note to _Lord Lovel_, +p. 67.) + + The ballads which exhibit this pleasant conception that, after + death, the spirits of unfortunate lovers pass into plants, trees, or + flowers springing from their graves, are not confined to European + folklore. Besides appearing in English, Gaelic, Swedish, Norwegian, + Danish, German, French, Roumanian, Romaic, Portuguese, Servian, + Wendish, Breton, Italian, Albanian, Russian, etc., we find it + occurring in Afghanistan and Persia. As a rule, the branches of the + trees intertwine; but in some cases they only bend towards each + other, and kiss when the wind blows. + + In an Armenian tale a curious addition is made. A young man, + separated by her father from his sweetheart because he was of a + different religion, perished with her, and the two were buried by + their friends in one grave. Roses grew from the grave, and sought to + intertwine, but a _thorn-bush_ sprang up between them and prevented + it. The thorn here is symbolical of religious belief. + + ++Pin.+ + +'thrilled upon a pin,' _Glasgerion_, 10.2. + +'knocked at the ring,' _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_, 11.2. + +(_Cp._ 'lifted up the pin,' _Fair Janet_, 14.2.) + + Throughout the Scottish ballads the expression is 'tirl'd at the pin,' + _i.e._ rattled or twisted the pin. + + The pin appears to have been the external part of the door-latch, + attached by day thereto by means of a leathern thong, which at night + was disconnected with the latch to prevent any unbidden guest from + entering. Thus any one 'tirling at the pin' does not attempt to open + the door, but signifies his presence to those within. + + The ring was merely part of an ordinary knocker, and had nothing to + do with the latching of the door. + + ++Sword.+ + +'bright brown sword,' _Glasgerion_, 22.1; _Old Robin of Portingale_, +22.1; _Child Maurice_, 26.1, 27.1; 'good browne sword,' _Marriage of Sir +Gawaine_, 24.3; etc. + +'dried it on his sleeve,' _Glasgerion_, 22.2; _Child Maurice_, 27.2 ('on +the grasse,' 26.2); 'straiked it o'er a strae,' _Bonny Birdy_, 15.2; +'struck it across the plain,' _Johney Scot_, 32.2; etc. + + In Anglo-Saxon, the epithet 'brn' as applied to a sword has been + held to signify either that the sword was of bronze, or that the + sword gleamed. It has further been suggested that sword-blades may + have been artificially bronzed, like modern gun-barrels. + + 'Striped it thro' the straw' and many similar expressions all refer + to the whetting of a sword, generally just before using it. Straw + (unless 'strae' and 'straw' mean something else) would appear to be + very poor stuff on which to sharpen swords, but Glasgerion's sleeve + would be even less effective; perhaps, however, 'dried' should be + 'tried.' Johney Scot sharpened his sword on the ground. + + ++Miscellaneous.+ + +'gare' = gore, part of a woman's dress; _Brown Robin_, 10.4; cp. +_Glasgerion_, 19.4. + + Generally of a knife, apparently on a chatelaine. But in _Lamkin_ + 12.2, of a man's dress. + +'Linne,' 'Lin,' _Young Bekie_, 5.4; _Old Robin of Portingale_, 2.1. + + A stock ballad-locality, castle or town. Perhaps to be identified + with the city of Lincoln, perhaps with Lynn, or King's Lynn, in + Norfolk, where pilgrims of the fourteenth century visited the Rood + Chapel of Our Lady of Lynn, on their way to Walsingham; with equal + probability it is not to be identified at all with any known town. + +'shot-window,' _Gay Goshawk_, 8.3; _Brown Robin_, 3.3; _Lamkin_, 7.3; +etc. + + This commonplace phrase seems to vary in meaning. It may be 'a + shutter of timber with a few inches of glass above it' (Wodrow's + _History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland_, Edinburgh, + 1721-2, 2 vols., in vol. ii. p. 286); it may be simply 'a window to + open and shut,' as Ritson explains it; or again, as is implied in + Jamieson's _Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, an + out-shot window, or bow-window. The last certainly seems to be + intended in certain instances. + +'thought lang' _Young Bekie_, 16.4; _Brown Adam_, 5.2; _Johney Scot_, +6.2; _Fause Footrage_, 25.2; etc. + + This simply means 'thought it long,' or 'thought it slow,' as we + should say in modern slang; in short, 'was bored,' or 'weary.' + +'wild-wood swine,' a simile for drunkenness, _Brown Robin_, 7.4; _Fause +Footrage_, 16.4. + + _Cp._ Shakespeare, _All's Well that Ends Well_, Act IV. 3, 286: + 'Drunkenness is his best virtue; for he will be swine-drunk.' It + seems to be nothing more than a popular comparison. + + + + +LIST OF BOOKS FOR BALLAD STUDY FOR ENGLISH READERS + + +A.--The Literary History of Ballads + +The Introductions, etc., to the Collections of Ballads in List B. + +1861. _David Irving._ History of Scottish Poetry. + +1871. _Thomas Warton._ History of English Poetry, ed. W. Carew Hazlitt. +4 vols. + +1875. _Andrew Lang._ Article in Encyclopdia Britannica (9th edition), +vol. iii. + +1876. _Stopford Brooke._ English Literature. New edition, enlarged, +1897. + +1883. _W. W. Newell._ Games and Songs of American Children. New York. + +1887. _Andrew Lang._ Myth, Ritual, and Religion. 2 vols. + +1893. _John Veitch._ History and Poetry of the Scottish Border. 2 vols. + +1893. _F. J. Child._ Article 'Ballads' in Johnson's Cyclopdia, vol. i. +pp. 464-6. + +1895-97. _W. J. Courthope._ A History of English Poetry. Vols. i. +and ii. + +1897. _G. Gregory Smith._ The Transition Period: being vol. iv. of +Periods of English Literature, ed. G. Saintsbury. + +1898. _Andrew Lang_ in _Quarterly Review_ for July. + +1901. _F. B. Gummere._ The Beginnings of Poetry. + +1903. _E. K. Chambers._ The Medival Stage. 2 vols. + +1903. _Andrew Lang_ in _Folk-Lore_ for June. + +1903. _J. H. Millar._ A Literary History of Scotland. + + +B.--Collections of Ballads + +[_This list does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to give the more +important collections, especially those containing trustworthy +Introductions._] + +1723-25. A Collection of Old Ballads, corrected from the best and most +ancient copies extant. 3 vols. London. + +1724. _Allan Ramsay._ The Ever-Green. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1724-27. _Allan Ramsay._ The Tea-Table Miscellany. First eight editions +in 3 vols., Edinburgh, Dublin, and London. Ninth and subsequent editions +in four volumes, or four volumes in one, London. + +1765. _Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore._ Reliques of Ancient English +Poetry. 3 vols. London. + +1769. _David Herd._ The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, +etc. Edinburgh. The second edition, 1776, under a slightly different +title. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1781. _John Pinkerton._ Scottish Tragic Ballads. London. + +1787-1803. _James Johnson._ The Scots Musical Museum. 6 vols. Edinburgh. + +1790. _Joseph Ritson._ Ancient Songs, etc. London. (Printed 1787, dated +1790, and published 1792.) + +1791. _Joseph Ritson._ Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry. London. + +1794. _Joseph Ritson._ Scotish Song. 2 vols. London. + +1795. " " Robin Hood. 2 vols. London. + +1802-3. _Walter Scott._ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 3 vols. Kelso +and Edinburgh. + +1806. _Robert Jamieson._ Popular Ballads and Songs from Tradition, +Manuscripts, and Scarce Editions. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1808. _John Finlay._ Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads, chiefly +ancient. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1822. _Alexander Laing._ Scarce Ancient Ballads. Aberdeen. + +1823. _Alexander Laing._ The Thistle of Scotland. Aberdeen. + +1823. _Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe._ A Ballad Book. Edinburgh. + +1824. _James Maidment._ A North Countrie Garland. Edinburgh. + +1826. _Robert Chambers._ The Popular Rhymes of Scotland. Edinburgh. + +1827. _George Kinloch._ Ancient Scottish Ballads. London and Edinburgh. + +1827. _William Motherwell._ Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern. Glasgow. + +1828. _Peter Buchan._ Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of +Scotland. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1834. The Universal Songster. 3 vols. London. + +1845. _Alexander Whitelaw._ The Book of Scottish Ballads. Glasgow, +Edinburgh, and London. + +1846. _James Henry Dixon._ Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the +Peasantry of England. London. + +1847. _John Matthew Gutch._ A Lytyll Geste of Robin Hode. 2 vols. +London. + +1855-59. _William Chappell._ Popular Music of the Olden Time. 2 vols. +London. + +1857. _Robert Bell._ Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry +of England. London. + +1857-59. _Francis James Child._ English and Scottish Ballads. 8 vols. +2nd edition, 1864. + +1864. _William Allingham._ The Ballad Book. London. + +1867-68. _J. W. Hales_ and _F. J. Furnivall_. Bishop Percy's Folio +Manuscript. 4 vols. London. + +1882-98. _Francis James Child._ The English and Scottish Popular +Ballads. 5 vols. Boston, New York, and London. + +1895. _Andrew Lang._ Border Ballads. London: Lawrence and Bullen. + +1897. _Andrew Lang._ A Collection of Ballads. London: Chapman and Hall's +'Diamond Library.' + +1897. _Francis B. Gummere._ Old English Ballads. Boston, U.S.A. Athenum +Press Series. + +1902. _T. F. Henderson._ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, by Sir +Walter Scott. New edition. 3 vols. London. + + + + +NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The illustrations on pp. 28, 75, and 118 are taken from Royal MS. 10. E. +iv. (of the fourteenth century) in the British Museum, where they occur +on folios 34 _verso_, 215 _recto_, and 254 _recto_ respectively. The +designs in the original form a decorated margin at the foot of each +page, and are outlined in ink and roughly tinted in three or four +colours. Much use is made of them in the illustrations to J. J. +Jusserand's _English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages_, where +M. Jusserand rightly points out that this MS. 'has perhaps never been so +thoroughly studied as it deserves.' + + + + +GLASGERION + + + Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe + That souned bothe wel and sharpe, + Orpheus ful craftely, + And on his syde, faste by, + Sat the harper Orion, + And Eacides Chiron, + And other harpers many oon, + And the Bret[A] Glascurion. + + --Chaucer, _Hous of Fame_, III. + + ++The Text+, from the Percy Folio, luckily is complete, saving an +omission of two lines. A few obvious corrections have been introduced, +and the Folio reading given in a footnote. Percy printed the ballad in +the _Reliques_, with far fewer alterations than usual. + ++The Story+ is also told in a milk-and-water Scotch version, +_Glenkindie_, doubtless mishandled by Jamieson, who 'improved' it from +two traditional sources. The admirable English ballad gives a striking +picture of the horror of 'churls blood' proper to feudal days. + +In the quotation above, Chaucer places Glascurion with Orpheus, Arion, +and Chiron, four great harpers. It is not improbable that Glascurion and +Glasgerion represent the Welsh bard Glas Keraint (Keraint the Blue Bard, +the chief bard wearing a blue robe of office), said to have been an +eminent poet, the son of Owain, Prince of Glamorgan. + +The oath taken 'by oak and ash and thorn' (stanza 18) is a relic of very +early times. An oath 'by corn' is in _Young Hunting_. + + [Footnote A: From Skeat's edition: elsewhere quoted 'gret + Glascurion.'] + + +GLASGERION + + 1. + Glasgerion was a king's own son, + And a harper he was good; + He harped in the king's chamber, + Where cup and candle stood, + And so did he in the queen's chamber, + Till ladies waxed wood. + + 2. + And then bespake the king's daughter, + And these words thus said she: + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 3. + Said, 'Strike on, strike on, Glasgerion, + Of thy striking do not blin; + There's never a stroke comes over this harp + But it glads my heart within.' + + 4. + 'Fair might you fall, lady,' quoth he; + 'Who taught you now to speak? + I have loved you, lady, seven year; + My heart I durst ne'er break.' + + 5. + 'But come to my bower, my Glasgerion, + When all men are at rest; + As I am a lady true of my promise, + Thou shalt be a welcome guest.' + + 6. + But home then came Glasgerion, + A glad man, Lord, was he! + 'And come thou hither, Jack, my boy, + Come hither unto me. + + 7. + 'For the king's daughter of Normandy + Her love is granted me, + And before the cock have crowen + At her chamber must I be.' + + 8. + 'But come you hither, master,' quoth he, + 'Lay your head down on this stone; + For I will waken you, master dear, + Afore it be time to gone.' + + 9. + But up then rose that lither lad, + And did on hose and shoon; + A collar he cast upon his neck, + He seemed a gentleman. + + 10. + And when he came to that lady's chamber, + He thrilled upon a pin. + The lady was true of her promise, + Rose up, and let him in. + + 11. + He did not take the lady gay + To bolster nor no bed, + But down upon her chamber-floor + Full soon he hath her laid. + + 12. + He did not kiss that lady gay + When he came nor when he yode; + And sore mistrusted that lady gay + He was of some churls blood. + + 13. + But home then came that lither lad, + And did off his hose and shoon. + And cast that collar from about his neck; + He was but a churls son: + 'Awaken,' quoth he, 'my master dear, + I hold it time to be gone. + + 14. + 'For I have saddled your horse, master, + Well bridled I have your steed; + Have not I served a good breakfast? + When time comes I have need.' + + 15. + But up then rose good Glasgerion, + And did on both hose and shoon, + And cast a collar about his neck; + He was a kings son. + + 16. + And when he came to that lady's chamber, + He thrilled upon a pin; + The lady was more than true of her promise, + Rose up, and let him in. + + 17. + Says, 'Whether have you left with me + Your bracelet or your glove? + Or are you back returned again + To know more of my love?' + + 18. + Glasgerion swore a full great oath + By oak and ash and thorn, + 'Lady, I was never in your chamber + Sith the time that I was born.' + + 19. + 'O then it was your little foot-page + Falsely hath beguiled me': + And then she pull'd forth a little pen-knife + That hanged by her knee, + Says, 'There shall never no churls blood + Spring within my body.' + + 20. + But home then went Glasgerion, + A woe man, good [Lord], was he; + Says, 'Come hither, thou Jack, my boy, + Come thou thither to me. + + 21. + 'For if I had killed a man to-night, + Jack, I would tell it thee; + But if I have not killed a man to-night, + Jack, thou hast killed three!' + + 22. + And he pull'd out his bright brown sword, + And dried it on his sleeve, + And he smote off that lither lad's head, + And asked no man no leave. + + 23. + He set the sword's point till his breast, + The pommel till a stone; + Thorough that falseness of that lither lad + These three lives were all gone. + + [Annotations: + 1.4: Folio:-- 'where cappe & candle yoode.' Percy in the _Reliques_ + (1767) printed 'cuppe and _caudle_ stoode.' + 1.6: 'wood,' mad, wild (with delight). + 3.2: 'blin,' cease. + 4.4: _i.e._ durst never speak my mind. + 6.1: 'home'; Folio _whom_. + 7.3,4: These lines are reversed in the Folio. + 9.1: 'lither,' idle, wicked. + 10.2: 'thrilled,' twirled or rattled; cp. 'tirled at the pin,' a stock + ballad phrase (Scots). + 12.2: 'yode,' went. + 14.4: 'time': Folio _times_. + 17.3: Folio _you are_. + 22.2: Another commonplace of the ballads. The Scotch variant is + generally, 'And striped it thro' the straw.' See special section + of the Introduction. + 23.1,2: 'till,' to, against.] + + + + +YOUNG BEKIE + + ++The Text+ is that of the Jamieson-Brown MS., taken down from the +recitation of Mrs. Brown about 1783. In printing the ballad, Jamieson +collated with the above two other Scottish copies, one in MS., another a +stall-copy, a third from recitation in the north of England, a fourth +'picked off an old wall in Piccadilly' by the editor. + ++The Story+ has several variations of detail in the numerous versions +known (Young Bicham, Brechin, Bekie, Beachen, Beichan, Bichen, Lord +Beichan, Lord Bateman, Young Bondwell, etc.), but the text here given is +one of the most complete and vivid, and contains besides one feature +(the 'Belly Blin') lost in all other versions but one. + +A similar story is current in the ballad-literature of Scandinavia, +Spain, and Italy; but the English tale has undoubtedly been affected by +the charming legend of Gilbert Becket, the father of Saint Thomas, who, +having been captured by Admiraud, a Saracen prince, and held in durance +vile, was freed by Admiraud's daughter, who then followed him to +England, knowing no English but 'London' and 'Gilbert'; and after much +tribulation, found him and was married to him. 'Becket' is sufficiently +near 'Bekie' to prove contamination, but not to prove that the legend is +the origin of the ballad. + +The Belly Blin (Billie Blin = billie, a man; blin', blind, and so Billie +Blin = Blindman's Buff, formerly called Hoodman Blind) occurs in certain +other ballads, such as _Cospatrick_, _Willie's Lady_, and the _Knight +and the Shepherd's Daughter_; also in a mutilated ballad of the Percy +Folio, _King Arthur and King Cornwall_, under the name Burlow Beanie. In +the latter case he is described as 'a lodly feend, with seuen heads, and +one body,' breathing fire; but in general he is a serviceable household +demon. Cp. German _bilwiz_, and Dutch _belewitte_. + + +YOUNG BEKIE + + 1. + Young Bekie was as brave a knight + As ever sail'd the sea; + An' he's doen him to the court of France, + To serve for meat and fee. + + 2. + He had nae been i' the court of France + A twelvemonth nor sae long, + Til he fell in love with the king's daughter, + An' was thrown in prison strong. + + 3. + The king he had but ae daughter, + Burd Isbel was her name; + An' she has to the prison-house gane, + To hear the prisoner's mane. + + 4. + 'O gin a lady woud borrow me, + At her stirrup-foot I woud rin; + Or gin a widow wad borrow me, + I woud swear to be her son. + + 5. + 'Or gin a virgin woud borrow me, + I woud wed her wi' a ring; + I'd gi' her ha's, I'd gie her bowers, + The bonny tow'rs o' Linne.' + + 6. + O barefoot, barefoot gaed she but, + An' barefoot came she ben; + It was no for want o' hose an' shoone, + Nor time to put them on; + + 7. + But a' for fear that her father dear, + Had heard her making din: + She's stown the keys o' the prison-house dor + An' latten the prisoner gang. + + 8. + O whan she saw him, Young Bekie, + Her heart was wondrous sair! + For the mice but an' the bold rottons + Had eaten his yallow hair. + + 9. + She's gi'en him a shaver for his beard, + A comber till his hair, + Five hunder pound in his pocket, + To spen', and nae to spair. + + 10. + She's gi'en him a steed was good in need, + An' a saddle o' royal bone, + A leash o' hounds o' ae litter, + An' Hector called one. + + 11. + Atween this twa a vow was made, + 'Twas made full solemnly, + That or three years was come and gane, + Well married they shoud be. + + 12. + He had nae been in's ain country + A twelvemonth till an end, + Till he's forc'd to marry a duke's daughter, + Or than lose a' his land. + + 13. + 'Ohon, alas!' says Young Bekie, + 'I know not what to dee; + For I canno win to Burd Isbel, + And she kensnae to come to me.' + + 14. + O it fell once upon a day + Burd Isbel fell asleep, + An' up it starts the Belly Blin, + An' stood at her bed-feet. + + 15. + 'O waken, waken, Burd Isbel, + How [can] you sleep so soun', + Whan this is Bekie's wedding day, + An' the marriage gain' on? + + 16. + 'Ye do ye to your mither's bow'r, + Think neither sin nor shame; + An' ye tak twa o' your mither's marys, + To keep ye frae thinking lang. + + 17. + 'Ye dress yoursel' in the red scarlet, + An' your marys in dainty green, + An' ye pit girdles about your middles + Woud buy an earldome. + + 18. + 'O ye gang down by yon sea-side, + An' down by yon sea-stran'; + Sae bonny will the Hollans boats + Come rowin' till your han'. + + 19. + 'Ye set your milk-white foot abord, + Cry, Hail ye, Domine! + An' I shal be the steerer o't, + To row you o'er the sea.' + + 20. + She's tane her till her mither's bow'r, + Thought neither sin nor shame, + An' she took twa o' her mither's marys, + To keep her frae thinking lang. + + 21. + She dress'd hersel' i' the red scarlet. + Her marys i' dainty green, + And they pat girdles about their middles + Woud buy an earldome. + + 22. + An' they gid down by yon sea-side, + An' down by yon sea-stran'; + Sae bonny did the Hollan boats + Come rowin' to their han'. + + 23. + She set her milk-white foot on board, + Cried 'Hail ye, Domine!' + An' the Belly Blin was the steerer o't, + To row her o'er the sea. + + 24. + Whan she came to Young Bekie's gate, + She heard the music play; + Sae well she kent frae a' she heard, + It was his wedding day. + + 25. + She's pitten her han' in her pocket, + Gin the porter guineas three; + 'Hae, tak ye that, ye proud porter, + Bid the bride-groom speake to me.' + + 26. + O whan that he cam up the stair, + He fell low down on his knee: + He hail'd the king, an' he hail'd the queen, + An' he hail'd him, Young Bekie. + + 27. + 'O I've been porter at your gates + This thirty years an' three; + But there's three ladies at them now, + Their like I never did see. + + 28. + 'There's ane o' them dress'd in red scarlet, + And twa in dainty green, + An' they hae girdles about their middles + Woud buy an earldome.' + + 29. + Then out it spake the bierly bride, + Was a' goud to the chin: + 'Gin she be braw without,' she says, + 'We's be as braw within.' + + 30. + Then up it starts him, Young Bekie, + An' the tears was in his ee: + 'I'll lay my life it's Burd Isbel, + Come o'er the sea to me.' + + 31. + O quickly ran he down the stair, + An' whan he saw 'twas she, + He kindly took her in his arms, + And kiss'd her tenderly. + + 32. + 'O hae ye forgotten, Young Bekie + The vow ye made to me, + Whan I took ye out o' the prison strong + Whan ye was condemn'd to die? + + 33. + 'I gae you a steed was good in need, + An' a saddle o' royal bone, + A leash o' hounds o' ae litter, + An' Hector called one.' + + 34. + It was well kent what the lady said, + That it wasnae a lee, + For at ilka word the lady spake, + The hound fell at her knee. + + 35. + 'Tak hame, tak hame your daughter dear, + A blessing gae her wi', + For I maun marry my Burd Isbel, + That's come o'er the sea to me.' + + 36. + 'Is this the custom o' your house, + Or the fashion o' your lan', + To marry a maid in a May mornin', + An' send her back at even?' + + [Annotations: + 4.1: 'borrow,' ransom. + 6.1,2: 'but ... ben,' out ... in. + 7.3: 'stown,' stolen. + 8.3: 'rottons,' rats. + 15.2: The MS. reads 'How y you.' + 16.3: 'marys,' maids. + 29.1: 'bierly,' stately.] + + + + +OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE + + ++Text.+-- The Percy Folio is the sole authority for this excellent +ballad, and the text of the MS. is therefore given here _literatim_, in +preference to the copy served up 'with considerable corrections' by +Percy in the _Reliques_. I have, however, substituted a few obvious +emendations suggested by Professor Child, giving the Folio reading in a +footnote. + ++The Story+ is practically identical with that of _Little Musgrave and +Lady Barnard_; but each is so good, though in a different vein, that +neither could be excluded. + +The last stanza narrates the practice of burning a cross on the flesh of +the right shoulder when setting forth to the Holy Land--a practice which +obtained only among the very devout or superstitious of the Crusaders. +Usually a cross of red cloth attached to the right shoulder of the coat +was deemed sufficient. + + +OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE + + 1. + God! let neuer soe old a man + Marry soe yonge a wiffe + As did old Robin of Portingale! + He may rue all the dayes of his liffe. + + 2. + Ffor the Maior's daughter of Lin, God wott, + He chose her to his wife, + & thought to haue liued in quiettnesse + With her all the dayes of his liffe. + + 3. + They had not in their wed bed laid, + Scarcly were both on sleepe, + But vpp she rose, & forth shee goes + To Sir Gyles, & fast can weepe. + + 4. + Saies, 'Sleepe you, wake you, faire Sir Gyles + Or be not you within?' + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 5. + 'But I am waking, sweete,' he said, + 'Lady, what is your will?' + 'I haue vnbethought me of a wile, + How my wed lord we shall spill. + + 6. + 'Four and twenty knights,' she sayes, + 'That dwells about this towne, + Eene four and twenty of my next cozens, + Will helpe to dinge him downe.' + + 7. + With that beheard his litle foote page, + As he was watering his master's steed, + Soe ... ... ... + His verry heart did bleed; + + 8. + He mourned, sikt, & wept full sore; + I sweare by the holy roode, + The teares he for his master wept + Were blend water & bloude. + + 9. + With that beheard his deare master + As in his garden sate; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, my litle page, + What causes thee to weepe? + + 10. + 'Hath any one done to thee wronge, + Any of thy fellowes here? + Or is any of thy good friends dead, + Which makes thee shed such teares? + + 11. + 'Or if it be my head kookes man + Greiued againe he shalbe, + Nor noe man within my howse + Shall doe wrong vnto thee.' + + 12. + 'But it is not your head kookes man, + Nor none of his degree, + But or tomorrow ere it be noone, + You are deemed to die; + + 13. + '& of that thanke your head steward, + & after your gay ladie.' + 'If it be true, my litle foote page, + Ile make thee heyre of all my land.' + + 14. + 'If it be not true, my deare master, + God let me neuer thye.' + 'If it be not true, thou litle foot page, + A dead corse shalt thou be.' + + 15. + He called downe his head kooke's man: + 'Cooke, in kitchen super to dresse': + 'All & anon, my deare master, + Anon att your request.' + + 16. + '& call you downe my faire Lady, + This night to supp with mee.' + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 17. + & downe then came that fayre Lady, + Was cladd all in purple & palle, + The rings that were vpon her fingers + Cast light thorrow the hall. + + 18. + 'What is your will, my owne wed Lord, + What is your will with me?' + 'I am sicke, fayre Lady, + Sore sicke, & like to dye.' + + 19. + 'But & you be sicke, my owne wed Lord, + Soe sore it greiueth mee, + But my 5 maydens & my selfe + Will goe & make your bedd, + + 20. + '& at the wakening of your first sleepe, + You shall haue a hott drinke made, + & at the wakening of your next sleepe + Your sorrowes will haue a slake.' + + 21. + He put a silke cote on his backe, + Was 13 inches folde, + & put a steele cap vpon his head, + Was gilded with good red gold; + + 22. + & he layd a bright browne sword by his side + & another att his ffeete, + & full well knew old Robin then + Whether he shold wake or sleepe. + + 23. + & about the middle time of the night + Came 24 good knights in, + Sir Gyles he was the formost man, + Soe well he knew that ginne. + + 24. + Old Robin with a bright browne sword + Sir Gyles' head he did winne, + Soe did he all those 24, + Neuer a one went quicke out [agen]; + + 25. + None but one litle foot page + Crept forth at a window of stone, + & he had 2 armes when he came in + And [when he went out he had none]. + + 26. + Vpp then came that ladie light + With torches burning bright; + Shee thought to haue brought Sir Gyles a drinke, + But shee found her owne wedd knight; + + 27. + & the first thing that this ladye stumbled vpon, + Was of Sir Gyles his ffoote; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, & woe is me, + Heere lyes my sweete hart roote!' + + 28. + & the 2d. thing that this ladie stumbled on, + Was of Sir Gyles his head; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, & woe is me, + Heere lyes my true loue deade!' + + 29. + Hee cutt the papps beside her brest, + & bad her wish her will, + & he cutt the eares beside her heade, + & bade her wish on still. + + 30. + 'Mickle is the man's blood I haue spent + To doe thee & me some good'; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, my fayre Lady, + I thinke that I was woode!' + + 31. + He call'd then vp his litle foote page, + & made him heyre of all his land, + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 32. + & he shope the crosse in his right sholder + Of the white flesh & the redd, + & he went him into the holy land, + Wheras Christ was quicke and dead. + + + [Annotations: + 2.1: 'Lin,' a stock ballad-locality: cp. _Young Bekie_, 5.4. + 5.3: 'vnbethought.' The same expression occurs in two other places + in the Percy Folio, each time apparently in the same sense of + 'bethought [him] of.' + 6.1,3: 'Four and twenty': the Folio gives '24' in each case. + 8.1: 'sikt,' sighed. The Folio reads _sist_. + 11.1, 12.1: The Folio reads _bookes man_; but see 15.1. + 14.2: 'thye,' thrive: the Folio reads _dye_. + 19.1: '&' = an, if. + 20.3: 'next': the Folio reads _first_ again; probably the copyist's + error. + 23.4: 'ginne,' door-latch. + 24.4: 'quicke,' alive. The last word was added by Percy in the Folio. + 25.4: Added by Hales and Furnivall. + 26.1,2: _light_ and _bright_ are interchanged in the Folio. + 32.3: 'went': the Folio gives _sent_.] + + + + +LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD + + ++The Text+ here given is the version printed, with very few variations, +in _Wit Restor'd_, 1658, _Wit and Drollery_, 1682, Dryden's +_Miscellany_, 1716, etc. The Percy Folio contains a fragmentary version, +consisting of some dozen stanzas. Child says that all the Scottish +versions are late, and probably derived, though taken down from oral +tradition, from printed copies. As recompense, we have the Scotch _Bonny +Birdy_. + ++The Story+ would seem to be purely English. That it was popular long +before the earliest known text is proved by quotations from it in old +plays: as from _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_. Merrythought in _The +Knight of the Burning Pestle_ (1611) sings from this ballad a version of +stanza 14, and Beaumont and Fletcher also put quotations into the mouths +of characters in _Bonduca_ (circ. 1619) and _Monsieur Thomas_ (circ. +1639). Other plays before 1650 also mention it. + +The reader should remember, once for all, that burdens are to be +repeated in every verse, though printed only in the first. + + +LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD + + 1. + As it fell one holy-day, + _Hay downe_ + As many be in the yeare, + When young men and maids together did goe, + Their mattins and masse to heare; + + 2. + Little Musgrave came to the church-dore;-- + The preist was at private masse;-- + But he had more minde of the faire women + Then he had of our lady['s] grace. + + 3. + The one of them was clad in green, + Another was clad in pall, + And then came in my lord Barnard's wife, + The fairest amonst them all. + + 4. + She cast an eye on Little Musgrave, + As bright as the summer sun; + And then bethought this Little Musgrave, + 'This lady's heart have I woonn.' + + 5. + Quoth she, 'I have loved thee, Little Musgrave, + Full long and many a day'; + 'So have I loved you, fair lady, + Yet never word durst I say.' + + 6. + 'I have a bower at Bucklesfordbery, + Full daintyly is it deight; + If thou wilt wend thither, thou Little Musgrave, + Thou's lig in mine armes all night.' + + 7. + Quoth he, 'I thank yee, fair lady, + This kindnes thou showest to me; + But whether it be to my weal or woe, + This night I will lig with thee.' + + 8. + With that he heard, a little tyn page, + By his ladye's coach as he ran: + 'All though I am my ladye's foot-page, + Yet I am Lord Barnard's man. + + 9. + 'My lord Barnard shall knowe of this, + Whether I sink or swim'; + And ever where the bridges were broake + He laid him downe to swimme. + + 10. + 'A sleepe or wake, thou Lord Barnard, + As thou art a man of life, + For Little Musgrave is at Bucklesfordbery, + A bed with thy own wedded wife.' + + 11. + 'If this be true, thou little tinny page, + This thing thou tellest to me, + Then all the land in Bucklesfordbery + I freely will give to thee. + + 12. + 'But if it be a ly, thou little tinny page, + This thing thou tellest to me, + On the hyest tree in Bucklesfordbery + Then hanged shalt thou be.' + + 13. + He called up his merry men all: + 'Come saddle me my steed; + This night must I to Bucklesfordbery, + For I never had greater need.' + + 14. + And some of them whistled, and some of them sung, + And some these words did say, + And ever when my lord Barnard's horn blew, + 'Away, Musgrave, away!' + + 15. + 'Methinks I hear the thresel-cock, + Methinks I hear the jaye; + Methinks I hear my Lord Barnard, + And I would I were away!' + + 16. + 'Lye still, lye still, thou little Musgrave, + And huggell me from the cold; + 'Tis nothing but a shephard's boy + A driving his sheep to the fold. + + 17. + 'Is not thy hawke upon a perch, + Thy steed eats oats and hay, + And thou a fair lady in thine armes, + And wouldst thou bee away?' + + 18. + With that my lord Barnard came to the dore, + And lit a stone upon; + He plucked out three silver keys + And he open'd the dores each one. + + 19. + He lifted up the coverlett, + He lifted up the sheet: + 'How now, how now, thou Little Musgrave, + Doest thou find my lady sweet?' + + 20. + 'I find her sweet,' quoth Little Musgrave, + 'The more 'tis to my paine; + I would gladly give three hundred pounds + That I were on yonder plaine.' + + 21. + 'Arise, arise, thou Little Musgrave, + And put thy cloths on; + It shall nere be said in my country + I have killed a naked man. + + 22. + 'I have two swords in one scabberd, + Full deere they cost my purse; + And thou shalt have the best of them, + And I will have the worse.' + + 23. + The first stroke that Little Musgrave stroke, + He hurt Lord Barnard sore; + The next stroke that Lord Barnard stroke, + Little Musgrave nere struck more. + + 24. + With that bespake this faire lady, + In bed whereas she lay: + 'Although thou'rt dead, thou Little Musgrave, + Yet I for thee will pray. + + 25. + 'And wish well to thy soule will I, + So long as I have life; + So will I not for thee, Barnard, + Although I am thy wedded wife.' + + 26. + He cut her paps from off her brest; + Great pitty it was to see + That some drops of this ladies heart's blood + Ran trickling downe her knee. + + 27. + 'Woe worth you, woe worth, my mery men all, + You were nere borne for my good; + Why did you not offer to stay my hand, + When you see me wax so wood? + + 28. + 'For I have slaine the bravest sir knight + That ever rode on steed; + So have I done the fairest lady + That over did woman's deed. + + 29. + 'A grave, a grave,' Lord Barnard cry'd, + 'To put these lovers in; + But lay my lady on the upper hand, + For she came of the better kin.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.2: 'pall,' a cloak: some versions read _pale_. + 6.2: 'deight,' _i.e._ dight, decked, dressed. + 15.1: 'thresel-cock,' throstle, thrush. + 27.4: 'wood,' wild, fierce.] + + + + +THE BONNY BIRDY + + ++Text.+--From the Jamieson-Brown MS. Jamieson, in printing this ballad, +enlarged and rewrote much of it, making the burden part of the dialogue +throughout. + ++The Story+ is much the same as that of _Little Musgrave and Lady +Barnard_; but the ballad as a whole is worthy of comparison with the +longer English ballad for the sake of its lyrical setting. + + +THE BONNY BIRDY + + 1. + There was a knight, in a summer's night, + Was riding o'er the lee, _(diddle)_ + An' there he saw a bonny birdy, + Was singing upon a tree. _(diddle)_ + + O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An' dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + Gin it were day, an' gin I were away, + For I ha' na lang time to stay. _(diddle)_ + + 2. + 'Make hast, make hast, ye gentle knight, + What keeps you here so late? + Gin ye kent what was doing at hame, + I fear you woud look blate.' + + 3. + 'O what needs I toil day an' night, + My fair body to kill, + Whan I hae knights at my comman', + An' ladys at my will?' + + 4. + 'Ye lee, ye lee, ye gentle knight, + Sa loud's I hear you lee; + Your lady's a knight in her arms twa + That she lees far better nor thee.' + + 5. + 'Ye lee, ye lee, you bonny birdy, + How you lee upo' my sweet! + I will tak' out my bonny bow, + An' in troth I will you sheet.' + + 6. + 'But afore ye hae your bow well bent, + An' a' your arrows yare, + I will flee till another tree, + Whare I can better fare.' + + 7. + 'O whare was you gotten, and whare was ye clecked? + My bonny birdy, tell me'; + 'O I was clecked in good green wood, + Intill a holly tree; + A gentleman my nest herryed + An' ga' me to his lady. + + 8. + 'Wi' good white bread an' farrow-cow milk + He bade her feed me aft, + An' ga' her a little wee simmer-dale wanny, + To ding me sindle and saft. + + 9. + 'Wi' good white bread an' farrow-cow milk + I wot she fed me nought, + But wi' a little wee simmer-dale wanny + She dang me sair an' aft: + Gin she had deen as ye her bade, + I wouldna tell how she has wrought.' + + 10. + The knight he rade, and the birdy flew, + The live-lang simmer's night, + Till he came till his lady's bow'r-door, + Then even down he did light: + The birdy sat on the crap of a tree, + An' I wot it sang fu' dight. + + 11. + 'O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An' dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + Gin it were day, and gin I were away, + For I ha' na lang time to stay.' _(diddle)_ + + 12. + 'What needs ye lang for day, _(diddle)_ + An' wish that you were away? _(diddle)_ + Is no your hounds i' my cellar. + Eating white meal and gray?' _(diddle)_ + 'O wow for day,' _etc._ + + 13. + 'Is nae you[r] steed in my stable, + Eating good corn an' hay? + An' is nae your hawk i' my perch-tree, + Just perching for his prey? + An' is nae yoursel i' my arms twa? + Then how can ye lang for day?' + + 14. + 'O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An' dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + For he that's in bed wi' anither man's wife + Has never lang time to stay.' _(diddle)_ + + 15. + Then out the knight has drawn his sword, + An' straiked it o'er a strae, + An' thro' and thro' the fa'se knight's waste + He gard cauld iron gae: + An' I hope ilk ane sal sae be serv'd + That treats ane honest man sae. + + + [Annotations: + 2.4: 'blate,' astonished, abashed. + 7.1: 'clecked,' hatched. + 8.1: 'A Farrow Cow is a Cow that gives Milk in the second year after + her Calving, having no Calf that year.'--Holme's _Armoury_, 1688. + 8.3: 'wanny,' wand, rod: 'simmer-dale,' apparently = summer-dale. + 8.4: 'sindle,' seldom. + 10.5: 'crap,' top. + 10.6: 'dight,' freely, readily. + 15.1-4: Cp. _Clerk Sanders_, 15.] + + + [Illustration] + + + + +FAIR ANNIE + + ++The Text+ is that of Scott's _Minstrelsy_, 'chiefly from the recitation +of an old woman.' Scott names the ballad 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annie,' +adding to the confusion already existing with 'Lord Thomas and Fair +Annet.' + ++The Story.+--Fair Annie, stolen from the home of her father, the Earl +of Wemyss, by 'a knight out o'er the sea,' has borne seven sons to him. +He now bids her prepare to welcome home his real bride, and she meekly +obeys, suppressing her tears with difficulty. Lord Thomas and his +new-come bride hear, through the wall of their bridal chamber, Annie +bewailing her lot, and wishing her seven sons had never been born. The +bride goes to comfort her, discovers in her a long-lost sister, and +departs, thanking heaven she goes a maiden home. + +Of this ballad, Herd printed a fragment in 1769, some stanzas being +incorporated in the present version. Similar tales abound in the +folklore of Scandinavia, Holland, and Germany. But, three hundred years +older than any version of the ballad, is the lay of Marie de France, _Le +Lai de Freisne_; which, nevertheless, is only another offshoot of some +undiscovered common origin. + +It is imperative (in 4.4) that Annie should _braid_ her hair, as a sign +of virginity: married women only bound up their hair, or wore it under a +cap. + + +FAIR ANNIE + + 1. + 'It's narrow, narrow, make your bed, + And learn to lie your lane; + For I'm ga'n o'er the sea, Fair Annie, + A braw bride to bring hame. + Wi' her I will get gowd and gear; + Wi' you I ne'er got nane. + + 2. + 'But wha will bake my bridal bread, + Or brew my bridal ale? + And wha will welcome my brisk bride, + That I bring o'er the dale?' + + 3. + 'It's I will bake your bridal bread, + And brew your bridal ale; + And I will welcome your brisk bride, + That you bring o'er the dale.' + + 4. + 'But she that welcomes my brisk bride + Maun gang like maiden fair; + She maun lace on her robe sae jimp, + And braid her yellow hair.' + + 5. + 'But how can I gang maiden-like, + When maiden I am nane? + Have I not born seven sons to thee, + And am with child again?' + + 6. + She's taen her young son in her arms, + Another in her hand, + And she's up to the highest tower, + To see him come to land. + + 7. + 'Come up, come up, my eldest son, + And look o'er yon sea-strand, + And see your father's new-come bride, + Before she come to land.' + + 8. + 'Come down, come down, my mother dear, + Come frae the castle wa'! + I fear, if langer ye stand there, + Ye'll let yoursell down fa'.' + + 9. + And she gaed down, and farther down, + Her love's ship for to see, + And the topmast and the mainmast + Shone like the silver free. + + 10. + And she's gane down, and farther down, + The bride's ship to behold, + And the topmast and the mainmast + They shone just like the gold. + + 11. + She's taen her seven sons in her hand, + I wot she didna fail; + She met Lord Thomas and his bride, + As they came o'er the dale. + + 12. + 'You're welcome to your house, Lord Thomas, + You're welcome to your land; + You're welcome with your fair ladye, + That you lead by the hand. + + 13. + 'You're welcome to your ha's, ladye, + You're welcome to your bowers; + You're welcome to your hame, ladye, + For a' that's here is yours.' + + 14. + 'I thank thee, Annie, I thank thee, Annie, + Sae dearly as I thank thee; + You're the likest to my sister Annie, + That ever I did see. + + 15. + 'There came a knight out o'er the sea, + And steal'd my sister away; + The shame scoup in his company, + And land where'er he gae!' + + 16. + She hang ae napkin at the door, + Another in the ha', + And a' to wipe the trickling tears, + Sae fast as they did fa'. + + 17. + And aye she served the long tables, + With white bread and with wine; + And aye she drank the wan water, + To had her colour fine. + + 18. + And aye she served the lang tables, + With white bread and with brown; + And ay she turned her round about + Sae fast the tears fell down. + + 19. + And he's taen down the silk napkin, + Hung on a silver pin, + And aye he wipes the tear trickling + A' down her cheek and chin. + + 20. + And aye he turned him round about, + And smil'd amang his men; + Says, 'Like ye best the old ladye, + Or her that's new come hame?' + + 21. + When bells were rung, and mass was sung, + And a' men bound to bed, + Lord Thomas and his new-come bride + To their chamber they were gaed. + + 22. + Annie made her bed a little forbye, + To hear what they might say; + 'And ever alas,' Fair Annie cried, + 'That I should see this day! + + 23. + 'Gin my seven sons were seven young rats + Running on the castle wa', + And I were a gray cat mysell, + I soon would worry them a'. + + 24. + 'Gin my seven sons were seven young hares, + Running o'er yon lilly lee, + And I were a grew hound mysell, + Soon worried they a' should be.' + + 25. + And wae and sad Fair Annie sat, + And drearie was her sang, + And ever, as she sobb'd and grat, + 'Wae to the man that did the wrang!' + + 26. + 'My gown is on,' said the new-come bride, + 'My shoes are on my feet, + And I will to Fair Annie's chamber, + And see what gars her greet. + + 27. + 'What ails ye, what ails ye, Fair Annie, + That ye make sic a moan? + Has your wine barrels cast the girds, + Or is your white bread gone? + + 28. + 'O wha was't was your father, Annie, + Or wha was't was your mother? + And had ye ony sister, Annie, + Or had ye ony brother?' + + 29. + 'The Earl of Wemyss was my father, + The Countess of Wemyss my mother; + And a' the folk about the house + To me were sister and brother.' + + 30. + 'If the Earl of Wemyss was your father, + I wot sae he was mine; + And it shall not be for lack o' gowd + That ye your love sall tyne. + + 31. + 'For I have seven ships o' mine ain, + A' loaded to the brim, + And I will gie them a' to thee, + Wi' four to thine eldest son: + But thanks to a' the powers in heaven + That I gae maiden hame!' + + + [Annotations: + 15.3: 'scoup,' fly, hasten. + 17.4: 'had' = haud, hold. + 22.1: 'forbye,' apart. + 24.2: 'lilly lee,' lovely lea. + 30.4: 'tyne,' lose.] + + + + +THE CRUEL MOTHER + + ++The Text+ is given from Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, earlier versions +being only fragmentary. + ++The Story+ has a close parallel in a Danish ballad; and another, +popular all over Germany, is a variation of the same theme, but in place +of the mother's final doom being merely mentioned, in the German ballad +she is actually carried away by the devil. + +In a small group of ballads, the penknife appears to be the ideal weapon +for murder or suicide. See the _Twa Brothers_ and the _Bonny Hind_. + + +THE CRUEL MOTHER + + 1. + She leaned her back unto a thorn; + _Three, three, and three by three_ + And there she has her two babes born. + _Three, three, and thirty-three_. + + 2. + She took frae 'bout her ribbon-belt, + And there she bound them hand and foot. + + 3. + She has ta'en out her wee pen-knife, + And there she ended baith their life. + + 4. + She has howked a hole baith deep and wide, + She has put them in baith side by side. + + 5. + She has covered them o'er wi' a marble stane, + Thinking she would gang maiden hame. + + 6. + As she was walking by her father's castle wa', + She saw twa pretty babes playing at the ba'. + + 7. + 'O bonnie babes, gin ye were mine, + I would dress you up in satin fine. + + 8. + 'O I would dress you in the silk, + And wash you ay in morning milk.' + + 9. + 'O cruel mother, we were thine, + And thou made us to wear the twine. + + 10. + 'O cursed mother, heaven's high, + And that's where thou will ne'er win nigh. + + 11. + 'O cursed mother, hell is deep, + And there thou'll enter step by step.' + + + [Annotations: + 9.2: 'twine,' coarse cloth; _i.e._ shroud.] + + + + +CHILD WATERS + + ++The Text+ is here given from the Percy Folio, with some emendations as +suggested by Child. + ++The Story+, if we omit the hard tests imposed on the maid's affection, +is widely popular in a series of Scandinavian ballads,--Danish, Swedish, +and Norwegian; and Percy's edition (in the _Reliques_) was popularised +in Germany by Brger's translation. + +The disagreeable nature of the final insult (stt. 27-29), retained here +only for the sake of fidelity to the original text, may be paralleled by +the similarly sudden lapse of taste in the _Nut-Brown Maid_. We can but +hope--as indeed is probable--that the objectionable lines are in each +case interpolated. + +'Child,' as in 'Child Roland,' etc., is a title of courtesy = Knight. + + +CHILD WATERS + + 1. + Childe Watters in his stable stoode, + & stroaket his milke-white steede; + To him came a ffaire young ladye + As ere did weare womans weede. + + 2. + Saies, 'Christ you saue, good Chyld Waters!' + Sayes, 'Christ you saue and see! + My girdle of gold which was too longe + Is now to short ffor mee. + + 3. + '& all is with one chyld of yours, + I ffeele sturre att my side: + My gowne of greene, it is to strayght; + Before it was to wide.' + + 4. + 'If the child be mine, faire Ellen,' he sayd, + 'Be mine, as you tell mee, + Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both, + Take them your owne to bee. + + 5. + 'If the child be mine, ffaire Ellen,' he said, + 'Be mine, as you doe sweare, + Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both, + & make that child your heyre.' + + 6. + Shee saies, 'I had rather haue one kisse, + Child Waters, of thy mouth, + Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both, + That lyes by north & south. + + 7. + '& I had rather haue a twinkling, + Child Waters, of your eye, + Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both, + To take them mine oune to bee!' + + 8. + 'To-morrow, Ellen, I must forth ryde + Soe ffar into the north countrye; + The ffairest lady that I can ffind, + Ellen, must goe with mee.' + '& euer I pray you, Child Watters, + Your ffootpage let me bee!' + + 9. + 'If you will my ffootpage be, Ellen, + As you doe tell itt mee, + Then you must cut your gownne of greene + An inch aboue your knee. + + 10. + 'Soe must you doe your yellow lockes + Another inch aboue your eye; + You must tell no man what is my name; + My ffootpage then you shall bee.' + + 11. + All this long day Child Waters rode, + Shee ran bare ffoote by his side; + Yett was he neuer soe curteous a knight, + To say, 'Ellen, will you ryde?' + + 12. + But all this day Child Waters rode, + She ran barffoote thorow the broome! + Yett he was neuer soe curteous a knight + As to say, 'Put on your shoone.' + + 13. + 'Ride softlye,' shee said, 'Child Watters: + Why do you ryde soe ffast? + The child, which is no mans but yours, + My bodye itt will burst.' + + 14. + He sayes, 'Sees thou yonder water, Ellen, + That fflowes from banke to brim?' + 'I trust to God, Child Waters,' shee sayd, + 'You will neuer see mee swime.' + + 15. + But when shee came to the waters side, + Shee sayled to the chinne: + 'Except the lord of heauen be my speed, + Now must I learne to swime.' + + 16. + The salt waters bare vp Ellens clothes, + Our Ladye bare vpp her chinne, + & Child Waters was a woe man, good Lord, + To ssee faire Ellen swime. + + 17. + & when shee ouer the water was, + Shee then came to his knee: + He said, 'Come hither, ffaire Ellen, + Loe yonder what I see! + + 18. + 'Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen? + Of redd gold shine the yates; + There's four and twenty ffayre ladyes, + The ffairest is my wordlye make. + + 19. + 'Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen? + Of redd gold shineth the tower; + There is four and twenty ffaire ladyes, + The fairest is my paramoure.' + + 20. + 'I doe see the hall now, Child Waters, + That of redd gold shineth the yates; + God giue good then of your selfe, + & of your wordlye make! + + 21. + 'I doe see the hall now, Child Waters, + That of redd gold shineth the tower; + God giue good then of your selfe, + And of your paramoure!' + + 22. + There were four and twenty ladyes, + Were playing att the ball; + & Ellen, was the ffairest ladye, + Must bring his steed to the stall. + + 23. + There were four and twenty faire ladyes + Was playing att the chesse; + & Ellen, shee was the ffairest ladye, + Must bring his horsse to grasse. + + 24. + & then bespake Child Waters sister, + & these were the words said shee: + 'You haue the prettyest ffootpage, brother, + That ever I saw with mine eye; + + 25. + 'But that his belly it is soe bigg, + His girdle goes wonderous hye; + & euer I pray you, Child Waters, + Let him go into the chamber with me.' + + 26. + 'It is more meete for a litle ffootpage, + That has run through mosse and mire, + To take his supper vpon his knee + & sitt downe by the kitchin fyer, + Then to go into the chamber with any ladye + That weares so [rich] attyre.' + + 27. + But when th had supped euery one, + To bedd they tooke the way; + He sayd, 'Come hither, my litle footpage, + Hearken what I doe say! + + 28. + '& goe thee downe into yonder towne, + & low into the street; + The ffarest ladye that thou can find, + Hyer her in mine armes to sleepe, + & take her vp in thine armes two, + For filinge of her ffeete.' + + 29. + Ellen is gone into the towne, + & low into the streete: + The fairest ladye that shee cold find + She hyred in his armes to sleepe, + & tooke her in her armes two, + For filing of her ffeete. + + 30. + 'I pray you now, good Child Waters, + That I may creepe in att your bedds feete, + For there is noe place about this house + Where I may say a sleepe.' + + 31. + This [night] & itt droue on affterward + Till itt was neere the day: + He sayd, 'Rise vp, my litle ffoote page, + & giue my steed corne & hay; + & soe doe thou the good blacke oates, + That he may carry me the better away.' + + 32. + And vp then rose ffaire Ellen, + & gave his steed corne & hay, + & soe shee did and the good blacke oates, + That he might carry him the better away. + + 33. + Shee layned her backe to the manger side, + & greiuouslye did groane; + & that beheard his mother deere, + And heard her make her moane. + + 34. + Shee said, 'Rise vp, thou Child Waters! + I thinke thou art a cursed man; + For yonder is a ghost in thy stable, + That greiuously doth groane, + Or else some woman laboures of child, + Shee is soe woe begone!' + + 35. + But vp then rose Child Waters, + & did on his shirt of silke; + Then he put on his other clothes + On his body as white as milke. + + 36. + & when he came to the stable dore, + Full still that hee did stand, + That hee might heare now faire Ellen, + How shee made her monand. + + 37. + Shee said, 'Lullabye, my owne deere child! + Lullabye, deere child, deere! + I wold thy father were a king, + Thy mother layd on a beere!' + + 38. + 'Peace now,' he said, 'good faire Ellen! + & be of good cheere, I thee pray, + & the bridall & the churching both, + They shall bee vpon one day.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.2: 'see,' protect. So constantly in this phrase. + 18.2: 'yates,' gates. + 18.3: In each case the Folio gives '24' for 'four and twenty.' + 18.4: 'wordlye make,' worldly mate. + 26.6: 'rich' added by Percy. + 28.6: 'For filinge,' to save defiling. + 30.4: 'say,' essay, attempt. + 31.1: 'night.' Child's emendation. Percy read: 'This done, the nighte + drove on apace.' + 32.3: 'and'; Folio _on_. + 36.4: 'monand,' moaning.] + + + + +EARL BRAND, THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY, and THE CHILD OF ELL + + +There are here put in juxtaposition three versions in ballad-form of the +same story, though fragmentary in the two latter cases, not only because +each is good, but to show the possibilities of variation in a popular +story. There is yet another ballad, _Erlinton_, printed by Sir Walter +Scott in the _Minstrelsy_, embodying an almost identical tale. _Earl +Brand_ preserves most of the features of a very ancient story with more +exactitude than any other traditional ballad. But in this case, as in +too many others, we must turn to a Scandinavian ballad for the complete +form of the story. A Danish ballad, _Ribold and Guldborg_, gives the +fine tale thus:-- + +Ribold, a king's son, in love with Guldborg, offers to carry her away +'to a land where death and sorrow come not, where all the birds are +cuckoos, where all the grass is leeks, where all the streams run with +wine.' Guldborg is willing, but doubts whether she can escape the strict +watch kept over her by her family and by her betrothed lover. Ribold +disguises her in his armour and a cloak, and they ride away. On the moor +they meet an earl, who asks, 'Whither away?' Ribold answers that he is +taking his youngest sister from a cloister. This does not deceive the +earl, nor does a bribe close his mouth; and Guldborg's father, learning +that she is away with Ribold, rides with his sons in pursuit. Ribold +bids Guldborg hold his horse, and prepares to fight; he tells her that, +whatever may chance, she must not call on him by name. Ribold slays her +father and some of her kin and six of her brothers; only her youngest +brother is left: Guldborg cries, 'Ribold, spare him,' that he may carry +tidings to her mother. Immediately Ribold receives a mortal wound. He +ceases fighting, sheathes his sword, and says to her, 'Wilt thou go home +to thy mother again, or wilt thou follow so sad a swain?' And she says +she will follow him. In silence they ride on. 'Why art not thou merry as +before?' asks Guldborg. And Ribold answers, 'Thy brother's sword has +been in my heart.' They reach his house: he calls for one to take his +horse, another to fetch a priest; for his brother shall have Guldborg. +But she refuses. That night dies Ribold, and Guldborg slays herself and +dies in his arms. + +A second and even more dramatic ballad, _Hildebrand and Hilde_, tells a +similar story. + + +A comparison of the above tale with _Earl Brand_ will show a close +agreement in most of the incidents. The chief loss in the English ballad +is the request of Ribold, that Guldborg must not speak his name while he +fights. The very name 'Brand' is doubtless a direct derivative of +'Hildebrand.' Winchester (13.2), as it implies a nunnery, corresponds to +the cloister in the Danish ballad. Earl Brand directs his mother to +marry the King's daughter to his youngest brother; but her refusal, if +she did as Guldborg did, has been lost. + + +_The Douglas Tragedy_, a beautiful but fragmentary version, is, says +Scott, 'one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed complete +locality.' The ascribed locality, if more complete, is no more probable +than any other: to ascribe any definite locality to a ballad is in all +cases a waste of time and labour. + +_The Child of Ell_, in the Percy Folio, _may_ have contained anything; +but immediately we approach a point where comparison would be of +interest, we meet an _hiatus valde deflendus_. Percy, in the _Reliques_, +expanded the fragment here given to about five times the length. + + +EARL BRAND + +(From +R. Bell's+ _Ancient Poems, Ballads_, etc.) + + 1. + Oh did ye ever hear o' brave Earl Bran'? + _Ay lally, o lilly lally_ + He courted the king's daughter of fair England + _All i' the night sae early_. + + 2. + She was scarcely fifteen years of age + Till sae boldly she came to his bedside. + + 3. + 'O Earl Bran', fain wad I see + A pack of hounds let loose on the lea.' + + 4. + 'O lady, I have no steeds but one, + And thou shalt ride, and I will run.' + + 5. + 'O Earl Bran', my father has two, + And thou shall have the best o' them a'.' + + 6. + They have ridden o'er moss and moor, + And they met neither rich nor poor. + + 7. + Until they met with old Carl Hood; + He comes for ill, but never for good. + + 8. + 'Earl Bran', if ye love me, + Seize this old earl, and gar him die.' + + 9. + 'O lady fair, it wad be sair, + To slay an old man that has grey hair. + + 10. + 'O lady fair, I'll no do sae, + I'll gie him a pound and let him gae.' + + 11. + 'O where hae ye ridden this lee lang day? + O where hae ye stolen this lady away?' + + 12. + 'I have not ridden this lee lang day, + Nor yet have I stolen this lady away. + + 13. + 'She is my only, my sick sister, + Whom I have brought from Winchester.' + + 14. + 'If she be sick, and like to dead, + Why wears she the ribbon sae red? + + 15. + 'If she be sick, and like to die, + Then why wears she the gold on high?' + + 16. + When he came to this lady's gate, + Sae rudely as he rapped at it. + + 17. + 'O where's the lady o' this ha'?' + 'She's out with her maids to play at the ba'.' + + 18. + 'Ha, ha, ha! ye are a' mista'en: + Gae count your maidens o'er again. + + 19. + 'I saw her far beyond the moor + Away to be the Earl o' Bran's whore.' + + 20. + The father armed fifteen of his best men, + To bring his daughter back again. + + 21. + O'er her left shoulder the lady looked then: + 'O Earl Bran', we both are tane.' + + 22. + 'If they come on me ane by ane, + Ye may stand by and see them slain. + + 23. + 'But if they come on me one and all, + Ye may stand by and see me fall.' + + 24. + They have come on him ane by ane, + And he has killed them all but ane. + + 25. + And that ane came behind his back, + And he's gi'en him a deadly whack. + + 26. + But for a' sae wounded as Earl Bran' was, + He has set his lady on her horse. + + 27. + They rode till they came to the water o' Doune, + And then he alighted to wash his wounds. + + 28. + 'O Earl Bran', I see your heart's blood!' + ''Tis but the gleat o' my scarlet hood.' + + 29. + They rode till they came to his mother's gate, + And sae rudely as he rapped at it. + + 30. + 'O my son's slain, my son's put down, + And a' for the sake of an English loun.' + + 31. + 'O say not sae, my dear mother, + But marry her to my youngest brother. + + 32. + 'This has not been the death o' ane, + But it's been that o' fair seventeen.' + + +THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY + +(From +Scott's+ _Minstrelsy_) + + 1. + 'Rise up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,' she says, + 'And put on your armour so bright; + Let it never be said that a daughter of thine + Was married to a lord under night. + + 2. + 'Rise up, rise up, my seven bold sons, + And put on your armour so bright; + And take better care of your youngest sister, + For your eldest's awa' the last night!' + + 3. + He's mounted her on a milk-white steed, + And himself on a dapple grey, + With a bugelet horn hung down by his side, + And lightly they rode away. + + 4. + Lord William lookit o'er his left shoulder, + To see what he could see, + And there he spy'd her seven brethren bold + Come riding over the lee. + + 5. + 'Light down, light down, Lady Margret,' he said, + 'And hold my steed in your hand, + Until that against your seven brethren bold, + And your father, I mak' a stand.' + + 6. + She held his steed in her milk-white hand, + And never shed one tear, + Until that she saw her seven brethren fa', + And her father hard fighting, who lov'd her so dear. + + 7. + 'O hold your hand, Lord William!' she said, + 'For your strokes they are wondrous sair; + True lovers I can get many a ane, + But a father I can never get mair.' + + 8. + O she's ta'en out her handkerchief, + It was o' the holland sae fine, + And aye she dighted her father's bloody wounds, + That were redder than the wine. + + 9. + 'O chuse, O chuse, Lady Margret,' he said, + 'O whether will ye gang or bide?' + 'I'll gang, I'll gang, Lord William,' she said, + 'For ye have left me no other guide.' + + 10. + He's lifted her on a milk-white steed, + And himself on a dapple grey, + With a bugelet horn hung down by his side, + And slowly they baith rade away. + + 11. + O they rade on, and on they rade, + And a' by the light of the moon, + Until they came to yon wan water, + And there they lighted down. + + 12. + They lighted down to tak' a drink + Of the spring that ran sae clear: + And down the stream ran his gude heart's blood, + And sair she gan to fear. + + 13. + 'Hold up, hold up, Lord William,' she says, + 'For I fear that you are slain!' + ''Tis naething but the shadow of my scarlet cloak, + That shines in the water sae plain.' + + 14. + O they rade on, and on they rade, + And a' by the light of the moon, + Until they cam' to his mother's ha' door, + And there they lighted down. + + 15. + 'Get up, get up, lady mother,' he says, + 'Get up, and let me in! + Get up, get up, lady mother,' he says, + 'For this night my fair ladye I've win. + + 16. + 'O mak' my bed, lady mother,' he says, + 'O mak' it braid and deep, + And lay Lady Margret close at my back, + And the sounder I will sleep.' + + 17. + Lord William was dead lang ere midnight, + Lady Margret lang ere day, + And all true lovers that go thegither, + May they have mair luck than they! + + 18. + Lord William was buried in St. Mary's kirk, + Lady Margret in Mary's quire; + Out o' the lady's grave grew a bonny red rose, + And out o' the knight's a briar. + + 19. + And they twa met, and they twa plat, + And fain they wad be near; + And a' the warld might ken right weel, + They were twa lovers dear. + + 20. + But bye and rade the Black Douglas, + And wow but he was rough! + For he pull'd up the bonny brier, + And flang't in St. Mary's Loch. + + + [Annotations: + 8.3: 'dighted,' dressed.] + + +THE CHILD OF ELL + + (_Fragment: from the Percy Folio_) + + 1. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + Sayes, 'Christ thee saue, good child of Ell, + Christ saue thee & thy steede! + + 2. + 'My father sayes he will noe meate, + Nor his drinke shall doe him noe good, + Till he haue slaine the child of Ell, + & haue seene his hart's blood.' + + 3. + 'I wold I were in my sadle sett, + & a mile out of the towne, + I did not care for your father + & all his merrymen. + + 4. + 'I wold I were in my sadle sett + & a litle space him froe, + I did not care for your father + & all that long him to!' + + 5. + He leaned ore his saddle bow, + To kisse this lady good; + The teares that went them 2 betweene + Were blend water & blood. + + 6. + He sett himselfe on one good steed, + This lady on one palfray, + & sett his litle horne to his mouth, + & roundlie he rode away. + + 7. + He had not ridden past a mile, + A mile out of the towne, + Her father was readye with her 7 brether, + He said, 'Sett thou my daughter downe! + For it ill beseemes thee, thou false churles sonne, + To carry her forth of this towne!' + + 8. + 'But lowd thou lyest, Sir Iohn the Knight, + Thou now doest lye of me; + A knight me gott, & a lady me bore; + Soe neuer did none by thee. + + 9. + 'But light now downe, my lady gay, + Light downe & hold my horsse, + Whilest I & your father & your brether + Doe play vs at this crosse. + + 10. + 'But light now downe, my owne trew loue, + & meeklye hold my steede, + Whilest your father [and your brether] bold + ... ... ... + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: The maiden is speaking. + 5.4: 'blend,' blended, mixed. + 6.2: 'on': the MS. gives 'of.' + 10.3: The rest (about nine stt.) is missing.] + + + + +LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET + + ++The Text+ is from Percy's _Reliques_ (vol. ii., 1765: vol. iii., 1767). +In the latter edition he also gives the English version of the ballad +earlier in the same volume. + ++The Story.+--This ballad, as it is one of the most beautiful, is also +one of the most popular. It should be compared with _Fair Margaret and +Sweet William_, in which the forlorn maid dies of grief, not by the hand +of her rival. + + A series of Norse ballads tell much the same tale, but in none is the +'friends' will' a crucial point. Chansons from Burgundy, Bretagne, +Provence, and northern Italy, faintly echo the story. + + Lord Thomas his mither says that Fair Annet has no 'gowd and gear'; +yet later on we find that Annet's father can provide her with a horse +shod with silver and gold, and four-and-twenty silver bells in his mane; +she is attended by a large company, her cleading skinkles, and her belt +is of pearl. + + +LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET + + 1. + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet + Sate a' day on a hill; + Whan night was cum, and sun was sett, + They had not talkt their fill. + + 2. + Lord Thomas said a word in jest, + Fair Annet took it ill: + 'A, I will nevir wed a wife + Against my ain friends' will.' + + 3. + 'Gif ye wull nevir wed a wife, + A wife wull neir wed yee': + Sae he is hame to tell his mither, + And knelt upon his knee. + + 4. + 'O rede, O rede, mither,' he says, + 'A gude rede gie to mee: + O sall I tak the nut-browne bride, + And let Faire Annet bee?' + + 5. + 'The nut-browne bride haes gowd and gear, + Fair Annet she has gat nane; + And the little beauty Fair Annet haes, + O it wull soon be gane.' + + 6. + And he has till his brother gane: + 'Now, brother, rede ye mee; + A, sall I marrie the nut-browne bride, + And let Fair Annet bee?' + + 7. + 'The nut-browne bride has oxen, brother, + The nut-browne bride has kye: + I wad hae ye marrie the nut-browne bride, + And cast Fair Annet bye.' + + 8. + 'Her oxen may dye i' the house, billie, + And her kye into the byre, + And I sall hae nothing to mysell + Bot a fat fadge by the fyre.' + + 9. + And he has till his sister gane: + 'Now sister, rede ye mee; + O sall I marrie the nut-browne bride, + And set Fair Annet free?' + + 10. + 'I'se rede ye tak Fair Annet, Thomas, + And let the browne bride alane; + Lest ye sould sigh, and say, Alace, + What is this we brought hame!' + + 11. + 'No, I will tak my mither's counsel, + And marrie me owt o' hand; + And I will tak the nut-browne bride; + Fair Annet may leive the land.' + + 12. + Up then rose Fair Annet's father, + Twa hours or it wer day, + And he is gane into the bower + Wherein Fair Annet lay. + + 13. + 'Rise up, rise up, Fair Annet,' he says, + 'Put on your silken sheene; + Let us gae to St. Marie's kirke, + And see that rich weddeen.' + + 14. + 'My maides, gae to my dressing-roome, + And dress to me my hair; + Whaireir yee laid a plait before, + See yee lay ten times mair. + + 15. + 'My maides, gae to my dressing-room, + And dress to me my smock; + The one half is o' the holland fine, + The other o' needle-work.' + + 16. + The horse Fair Annet rade upon, + He amblit like the wind; + Wi' siller he was shod before, + Wi' burning gowd behind. + + 17. + Four and twanty siller bells + Wer a' tyed till his mane, + And yae tift o' the norland wind, + They tinkled ane by ane. + + 18. + Four and twanty gay gude knichts + Rade by Fair Annet's side, + And four and twanty fair ladies, + As gin she had bin a bride. + + 19. + And whan she cam to Marie's kirk, + She sat on Marie's stean: + The cleading that Fair Annet had on + It skinkled in their een. + + 20. + And whan she cam into the kirk, + She shimmered like the sun; + The belt that was about her waist, + Was a' wi' pearles bedone. + + 21. + She sat her by the nut-browne bride, + And her een they wer sae clear, + Lord Thomas he clean forgat the bride, + Whan Fair Annet drew near. + + 22. + He had a rose into his hand, + He gae it kisses three, + And reaching by the nut-browne bride, + Laid it on Fair Annet's knee. + + 23. + Up than spak the nut-browne bride, + She spak wi' meikle spite: + 'And whair gat ye that rose-water, + That does mak yee sae white?' + + 24. + 'O I did get the rose-water + Whair ye wull neir get nane, + For I did get that very rose-water + Into my mither's wame.' + + 25. + The bride she drew a long bodkin + Frae out her gay head-gear, + And strake Fair Annet unto the heart, + That word spak nevir mair. + + 26. + Lord Thomas he saw Fair Annet wex pale, + And marvelit what mote bee; + But whan he saw her dear heart's blude, + A' wood-wroth wexed hee. + + 27. + He drew his dagger, that was sae sharp, + That was sae sharp and meet, + And drave it into the nut-browne bride, + That fell deid at his feit. + + 28. + 'Now stay for me, dear Annet,' he sed, + 'Now stay, my dear,' he cry'd; + Then strake the dagger untill his heart, + And fell deid by her side. + + 29. + Lord Thomas was buried without kirk-wa', + Fair Annet within the quiere, + And o' the tane thair grew a birk, + The other a bonny briere. + + 30. + And ay they grew, and ay they threw, + As they wad faine be neare; + And by this ye may ken right weil + They were twa luvers deare. + + + [Annotations: + 4.1: 'rede,' advise. + 4.3: 'nut-browne' here = dusky, not fair; cp.:-- + 'In the old age black was not counted fair.' + --Shakespeare, _Sonnet_ CXXVII. + 8.4: 'fadge,' _lit._ a thick cake; here figuratively for the thick-set + 'nut-browne bride.' + 17.3: 'yae tift,' [at] every puff. + 19.2: 'stean,' stone. + 19.3: 'cleading,' clothing. + 19.4: 'skinkled,' glittered. + 24.3,4: _i.e._ I was born fair. + 26.4: 'wood-wroth,' raging mad. + 29, 30: This conclusion to a tragic tale of true-love is common to + many ballads; see _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ and especially + _Lord Lovel_. + 30.1: 'threw,' intertwined.] + + + + +THE BROWN GIRL + + ++The Text+ of this ballad was taken down before the end of the +nineteenth century by the Rev. S. Baring Gould, from a blacksmith at +Thrushleton, Devon. + ++The Story+ is a simple little tale which recalls _Barbara Allen_, +_Clerk Sanders_, _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, and others. I have placed +it here for contrast, and in illustration of the disdain of 'brown' +maids. + + +THE BROWN GIRL + + 1. + 'I am as brown as brown can be, + And my eyes as black as sloe; + I am as brisk as brisk can be, + And wild as forest doe. + + 2. + 'My love he was so high and proud, + His fortune too so high, + He for another fair pretty maid + Me left and passed me by. + + 3. + 'Me did he send a love-letter, + He sent it from the town, + Saying no more he loved me, + For that I was so brown. + + 4. + 'I sent his letter back again, + Saying his love I valued not, + Whether that he would fancy me, + Whether that he would not. + + 5. + 'When that six months were overpass'd, + Were overpass'd and gone, + Then did my lover, once so bold, + Lie on his bed and groan. + + 6. + 'When that six months were overpass'd, + Were gone and overpass'd, + O then my lover, once so bold, + With love was sick at last. + + 7. + 'First sent he for the doctor-man: + "You, doctor, me must cure; + The pains that now do torture me + I can not long endure." + + 8. + 'Next did he send from out the town, + O next did send for me; + He sent for me, the brown, brown girl + Who once his wife should be. + + 9. + 'O ne'er a bit the doctor-man + His sufferings could relieve; + O never an one but the brown, brown girl + Who could his life reprieve.' + + 10. + Now you shall hear what love she had + For this poor love-sick man, + How all one day, a summer's day, + She walked and never ran. + + 11. + When that she came to his bedside, + Where he lay sick and weak, + O then for laughing she could not stand + Upright upon her feet. + + 12. + 'You flouted me, you scouted me, + And many another one, + Now the reward is come at last, + For all that you have done.' + + 13. + The rings she took from off her hands, + The rings by two and three: + 'O take, O take these golden rings, + By them remember me.' + + 14. + She had a white wand in her hand, + She strake him on the breast: + 'My faith and troth I give back to thee, + So may thy soul have rest.' + + 15. + 'Prithee,' said he, 'forget, forget, + Prithee forget, forgive; + O grant me yet a little space, + That I may be well and live.' + + 16. + 'O never will I forget, forgive, + So long as I have breath; + I'll dance above your green, green grave + Where you do lie beneath.' + + + + +FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM + + ++The Text+ is from a broadside in the Douce Ballads, with a few +unimportant corrections from other stall-copies, as printed by Percy +and Ritson. + ++The Story+ is much the same as _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, except in +the manner of Margaret's death. + + None of the known copies of the ballad are as early in date as _The +Knight of the Burning Pestle_ (a play by Beaumont and Fletcher, first +produced, it is said, in 1611), in which the humorous old Merrythought +sings two fragments of this ballad; stanza 5 in Act II. Sc. 8, and the +first two lines of stanza 2 in Act III. Sc. 5. As there given, the lines +are slightly different. + + The last four stanzas of this ballad again present the stock ending, +for which see the introduction to _Lord Lovel_. The last stanza condemns +itself. + + +FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM + + 1. + As it fell out on a long summer's day, + Two lovers they sat on a hill; + They sat together that long summer's day, + And could not talk their fill. + + 2. + 'I see no harm by you, Margaret, + Nor you see none by me; + Before tomorrow eight a clock + A rich wedding shall you see.' + + 3. + Fair Margaret sat in her bower-window, + A combing of her hair, + And there she spy'd Sweet William and his bride, + As they were riding near. + + 4. + Down she lay'd her ivory comb, + And up she bound her hair; + She went her way forth of her bower, + But never more did come there. + + 5. + When day was gone, and night was come, + And all men fast asleep, + Then came the spirit of Fair Margaret, + And stood at William's feet. + + 6. + 'God give you joy, you two true lovers, + In bride-bed fast asleep; + Loe I am going to my green grass grave, + And am in my winding-sheet.' + + 7. + When day was come, and night was gone, + And all men wak'd from sleep, + Sweet William to his lady said, + 'My dear, I have cause to weep. + + 8. + 'I dream'd a dream, my dear lady; + Such dreams are never good; + I dream'd my bower was full of red swine, + And my bride-bed full of blood.' + + 9. + 'Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured lord, + They never do prove good, + To dream thy bower was full of swine, + And thy bride-bed full of blood.' + + 10. + He called up his merry men all, + By one, by two, and by three, + Saying, 'I'll away to Fair Margaret's bower, + By the leave of my lady.' + + 11. + And when he came to Fair Margaret's bower, + He knocked at the ring; + So ready was her seven brethren + To let Sweet William in. + + 12. + He turned up the covering-sheet: + 'Pray let me see the dead; + Methinks she does look pale and wan, + She has lost her cherry red. + + 13. + 'I'll do more for thee, Margaret, + Than any of thy kin; + For I will kiss thy pale wan lips, + Tho' a smile I cannot win.' + + 14. + With that bespeak her seven brethren, + Making most pitious moan: + 'You may go kiss your jolly brown bride, + And let our sister alone.' + + 15. + 'If I do kiss my jolly brown bride, + I do but what is right; + For I made no vow to your sister dear, + By day or yet by night. + + 16. + 'Pray tell me then how much you'll deal + Of your white bread and your wine; + So much as is dealt at her funeral today + Tomorrow shall be dealt at mine.' + + 17. + Fair Margaret dy'd today, today, + Sweet William he dy'd the morrow; + Fair Margaret dy'd for pure true love, + Sweet William he dy'd for sorrow. + + 18. + Margaret was buried in the lower chancel, + Sweet William in the higher; + Out of her breast there sprung a rose, + And out of his a brier. + + 19. + They grew as high as the church-top, + Till they could grow no higher, + And then they grew in a true lover's knot, + Which made all people admire. + + 20. + There came the clerk of the parish, + As you this truth shall hear, + And by misfortune cut them down, + Or they had now been there. + + + + +LORD LOVEL + + + 'It is silly sooth, + And dallies with the innocence of love, + Like the old age.' + + --_Twelfth Night_, II. 4. + + ++The Text.+--This ballad, concluding a small class of three--_Lord +Thomas and Fair Annet_, and _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ being the +other two--is distinguished by the fact that the lady dies of hope +deferred. It is a foolish ballad, at the opposite pole to _Lord Thomas +and Fair Annet_, and is pre-eminently one of the class meant only to be +sung, with an effective burden. The text given here, therefore, is that +of a broadside of the year 1846. + ++The Story+ in outline is extremely popular in German and Scandinavian +literature. Of the former the commonest is _Der Ritter und die Maid_, +also found north of Germany; twenty-six different versions in all, in +some of which lilies spring from the grave. In a Swedish ballad a +linden-tree grows out of their bodies; in Danish ballads, roses, lilies, +or lindens. This conclusion, a commonplace in folk-song, occurs also in +a class of Romaic ballads, where a clump of reeds rises from one of the +lovers, and a cypress or lemon-tree from the other, which bend to each +other and mingle their leaves whenever the wind blows. Classical readers +will recall the tale of Philemon and Baucis. + +For further information on this subject, consult the special section of +the Introduction. + +Various other versions of this ballad are named _Lady Ouncebell_, _Lord +Lavel_, _Lord Travell_, and _Lord Revel_. + + +LORD LOVEL + + 1. + Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate, + Combing his milk-white steed, + When up came Lady Nancy Belle, + To wish her lover good speed, speed, + To wish her lover good speed. + + 2. + 'Where are you going, Lord Lovel?' she said, + 'Oh where are you going?' said she; + 'I'm going, my Lady Nancy Belle, + Strange countries for to see.' + + 3. + 'When will you be back, Lord Lovel?' she said, + 'Oh when will you come back?' said she; + 'In a year, or two, or three at the most, + I'll return to my fair Nancy.' + + 4. + But he had not been gone a year and a day, + Strange countries for to see, + When languishing thoughts came into his head, + Lady Nancy Belle he would go see. + + 5. + So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed, + Till he came to London town, + And there he heard St. Pancras' bells, + And the people all mourning round. + + 6. + 'Oh what is the matter?' Lord Lovel he said, + 'Oh what is the matter?' said he; + 'A lord's lady is dead,' a woman replied, + 'And some call her Lady Nancy.' + + 7. + So he ordered the grave to be opened wide, + And the shroud he turned down, + And there he kissed her clay-cold lips, + Till the tears came trickling down. + + 8. + Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today, + Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow; + Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief, + Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow. + + 9. + Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras' Church, + Lord Lovel was laid in the choir; + And out of her bosom there grew a red rose, + And out of her lover's a briar. + + 10. + They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple too, + And then they could grow no higher; + So there they entwined in a true-lovers' knot, + For all lovers true to admire. + + 1.4,5: A similar repetition of the last line of each verse makes the + refrain throughout. + 10.1: Perhaps a misprint for 'church-steeple top.'--+Child+. + + + + +LADY MAISRY + + ++The Text.+--From the Jamieson-Brown MS. All the other variants agree as +to the main outline of the ballad. + ++The Story.+--Lady Maisry, refusing the young lords of the north +country, and saying that her love is given to an English lord, is +suspected by her father's kitchy-boy, who goes to tell her brother. He +charges her with her fault, reviles her for 'drawing up with an English +lord,' and commands her to renounce him. She refuses, and is condemned +to be burned. A bonny boy bears news of her plight to Lord William, who +leaps to boot and saddle; but he arrives too late to save her, though he +vows vengeance on all her kin, and promises to burn himself last of all. + +Burning was the penalty usually allotted in the romances to a girl +convicted of unchastity. + + +LADY MAISRY + + 1. + The young lords o' the north country + Have all a wooing gone, + To win the love of Lady Maisry, + But o' them she woud hae none. + + 2. + O they hae courted Lady Maisry + Wi' a' kin kind of things; + An' they hae sought her Lady Maisry + Wi' brotches an' wi' rings. + + 3. + An' they ha' sought her Lady Maisry + Frae father and frae mother; + An' they ha' sought her Lady Maisry + Frae sister an' frae brother. + + 4. + An' they ha' follow'd her Lady Maisry + Thro' chamber an' thro' ha'; + But a' that they coud say to her, + Her answer still was Na. + + 5. + 'O ha'd your tongues, young men,' she says, + 'An' think nae mair o' me; + For I've gi'en my love to an English lord, + An' think nae mair o' me.' + + 6. + Her father's kitchy-boy heard that, + An ill death may he dee! + An' he is on to her brother, + As fast as gang coud he. + + 7. + 'O is my father an' my mother well, + But an' my brothers three? + Gin my sister Lady Maisry be well, + There's naething can ail me.' + + 8. + 'Your father an' your mother is well, + But an' your brothers three; + Your sister Lady Maisry's well, + So big wi' bairn gangs she.' + + 9. + 'Gin this be true you tell to me, + My mailison light on thee! + But gin it be a lie you tell, + You sal be hangit hie.' + + 10. + He's done him to his sister's bow'r, + Wi' meikle doole an' care; + An' there he saw her Lady Maisry + Kembing her yallow hair. + + 11. + 'O wha is aught that bairn,' he says, + 'That ye sae big are wi'? + And gin ye winna own the truth, + This moment ye sall dee.' + + 12. + She turn'd her right and roun' about, + An' the kem fell frae her han'; + A trembling seiz'd her fair body, + An' her rosy cheek grew wan. + + 13. + 'O pardon me, my brother dear, + An' the truth I'll tell to thee; + My bairn it is to Lord William, + An' he is betroth'd to me.' + + 14. + 'O coud na ye gotten dukes, or lords, + Intill your ain country, + That ye draw up wi' an English dog, + To bring this shame on me? + + 15. + 'But ye maun gi' up the English lord, + Whan youre young babe is born; + For, gin you keep by him an hour langer, + Your life sall be forlorn.' + + 16. + 'I will gi' up this English blood, + Till my young babe be born; + But the never a day nor hour langer, + Tho' my life should be forlorn.' + + + 17. + 'O whare is a' my merry young men, + Whom I gi' meat and fee, + To pu' the thistle and the thorn, + To burn this wile whore wi'?' + + 18. + 'O whare will I get a bonny boy, + To help me in my need, + To rin wi' hast to Lord William, + And bid him come wi' speed?' + + 19. + O out it spake a bonny boy, + Stood by her brother's side: + 'O I would run your errand, lady, + O'er a' the world wide. + + 20. + 'Aft have I run your errands, lady, + Whan blawn baith win' and weet; + But now I'll rin your errand, lady, + Wi' sa't tears on my cheek.' + + 21. + O whan he came to broken briggs, + He bent his bow and swam, + An' whan he came to the green grass growin', + He slack'd his shoone and ran. + + 22. + O whan he came to Lord William's gates, + He baed na to chap or ca', + But set his bent bow till his breast, + An' lightly lap the wa'; + An', or the porter was at the gate, + The boy was i' the ha'. + + 23. + 'O is my biggins broken, boy? + Or is my towers won? + Or is my lady lighter yet, + Of a dear daughter or son?' + + 24. + 'Your biggin is na broken, sir, + Nor is your towers won; + But the fairest lady in a' the lan' + For you this day maun burn.' + + 25. + 'O saddle me the black, the black, + Or saddle me the brown; + O saddle me the swiftest steed + That ever rade frae a town.' + + 26. + Or he was near a mile awa', + She heard his wild horse sneeze: + 'Mend up the fire, my false brother, + It's na come to my knees.' + + 27. + O whan he lighted at the gate, + She heard his bridle ring; + 'Mend up the fire, my false brother, + It's far yet frae my chin. + + 28. + 'Mend up the fire to me, brother, + Mend up the fire to me; + For I see him comin' hard an' fast, + Will soon men' 't up to thee. + + 29. + 'O gin my hands had been loose, Willy, + Sae hard as they are boun', + I would have turn'd me frae the gleed, + And castin out your young son.' + + 30. + 'O I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, + Your father an' your mother; + An' I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, + Your sister an' your brother. + + 31. + 'An' I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, + The chief of a' your kin; + An' the last bonfire that I come to, + Mysel' I will cast in.' + + + [Annotations: + 5.1: 'ha'd' = _haud_, hold. + 9.2: 'mailison,' curse. + 11.1: 'is aught,' owns. + 15.4: 'forlorn,' forfeit. + 20.2: _i.e._ in driving wind and rain. + 21: A stock ballad-stanza. + 22.2: 'baed,' stayed; 'chap,' knock. + 22.4: 'lap,' leapt. + 23.1: 'biggins,' buildings. + 29.3: 'gleed,' burning coal, fire. + 30.1: 'gar,' make, cause.] + + + [Illustration] + + + + +THE CRUEL BROTHER + + ++The Text+ is that obtained in 1800 by Alexander Fraser Tytler from Mrs. +Brown of Falkland, and by him committed to writing. The first ten and +the last two stanzas show corruption, but the rest of the ballad is in +the best style. + ++The Story+ emphasises the necessity of asking the consent of a brother +to the marriage of his sister, and therefore the title _The Cruel +Brother_ is a misnomer. In ballad-times, the brother would have been +well within his rights; it was rather a fatal oversight of the +bridegroom that caused the tragedy. + +Danish and German ballads echo the story, though in the commonest German +ballad, _Graf Friedrich_, the bride receives an _accidental_ wound, and +that from the bridegroom's own hand. + +The testament of the bride, by which she benefits her friends and leaves +curses on her enemies, is very characteristic of the ballad-style, and +is found in other ballads, as _Lord Ronald_ and _Edward, Edward_. In the +present case, 'sister Grace' obtains what would seem to be a very +doubtful benefit. + + +THE CRUEL BROTHER + + 1. + There was three ladies play'd at the ba', + _With a hey ho and a lillie gay_ + There came a knight and played o'er them a', + _As the primrose spreads so sweetly_. + + 2. + The eldest was baith tall and fair, + But the youngest was beyond compare. + + 3. + The midmost had a graceful mien, + But the youngest look'd like beautie's queen. + + 4. + The knight bow'd low to a' the three, + But to the youngest he bent his knee. + + 5. + The ladie turned her head aside; + The knight he woo'd her to be his bride. + + 6. + The ladie blush'd a rosy red, + And say'd, 'Sir knight, I'm too young to wed.' + + 7. + 'O ladie fair, give me your hand, + And I'll make you ladie of a' my land.' + + 8. + 'Sir knight, ere ye my favour win, + You maun get consent frae a' my kin.' + + 9. + He's got consent frae her parents dear, + And likewise frae her sisters fair. + + 10. + He's got consent frae her kin each one, + But forgot to spiek to her brother John. + + 11. + Now, when the wedding day was come, + The knight would take his bonny bride home. + + 12. + And many a lord and many a knight + Came to behold that ladie bright. + + 13. + And there was nae man that did her see, + But wish'd himself bridegroom to be. + + 14. + Her father dear led her down the stair, + And her sisters twain they kiss'd her there. + + 15. + Her mother dear led her thro' the closs, + And her brother John set her on her horse. + + 16. + She lean'd her o'er the saddle-bow, + To give him a kiss ere she did go. + + 17. + He has ta'en a knife, baith lang and sharp, + And stabb'd that bonny bride to the heart. + + 18. + She hadno ridden half thro' the town, + Until her heart's blude stain'd her gown. + + 19. + 'Ride softly on,' says the best young man, + 'For I think our bonny bride looks pale and wan.' + + 20. + 'O lead me gently up yon hill, + And I'll there sit down, and make my will.' + + 21. + 'O what will you leave to your father dear?' + 'The silver-shod steed that brought me here.' + + 22. + 'What will you leave to your mother dear?' + 'My velvet pall and my silken gear.' + + 23. + 'What will you leave to your sister Anne?' + 'My silken scarf and my gowden fan.' + + 24. + 'What will you leave to your sister Grace?' + 'My bloody cloaths to wash and dress.' + + 25. + 'What will you leave to your brother John?' + 'The gallows-tree to hang him on.' + + 26. + 'What will you leave to your brother John's wife?' + 'The wilderness to end her life.' + + 27. + This ladie fair in her grave was laid, + And many a mass was o'er her said. + + 28. + But it would have made your heart right sair, + To see the bridegroom rive his hair. + + 1.2,4: It should be remembered that the refrain is supposed to be + sung with each verse, here and elsewhere. + 15.1: 'closs,' close. + 28.2: 'rive,' tear. + + + + +THE NUTBROWN MAID + + ++The Text+ is from Arnold's _Chronicle_, of the edition which, from +typographical evidence, is said to have been printed at Antwerp in 1502 +by John Doesborowe. Each stanza is there printed in six long lines. +Considerable variations appear in later editions. There is also a +Balliol MS. (354), which contains a contemporary version, and the Percy +Folio contains a corrupt version. + +This should not be considered as a ballad proper; it is rather a +'dramatic lyric.' Its history, however, is quite as curious as that of +many ballads. It occurs, as stated above, in the farrago known as the +_Chronicle_ of Richard Arnold, inserted between a list of the 'tolls' +due on merchandise entering or leaving the port of Antwerp, and a table +giving Flemish weights and moneys in terms of the corresponding English +measures. Why such a poem should be printed in such incongruous +surroundings, what its date or who its author was, are questions +impossible to determine. Its position here is perhaps almost as +incongruous as in its original place. + +From 3.9 to the end of the last verse but one, it is a dialogue between +an earl's son and a baron's daughter, in alternate stanzas; a prologue +and an epilogue are added by the author. + +Matthew Prior printed the poem in his works, in order to contrast it +with his own version, _Henry and Emma_, which appealed to contemporary +taste as more elegant than its rude original. + + +THE NUTBROWN MAID + + 1. + Be it right, or wrong, these men among + On women do complaine; + Affermyng this, how that it is + A labour spent in vaine, + To loue them wele; for neuer a dele, + They loue a man agayne; + For lete a man do what he can, + Ther fouour to attayne, + Yet, yf a newe to them pursue, + Ther furst trew louer than + Laboureth for nought; and from her though[t] + He is a bannisshed man. + + 2. + I say not nay, bat that all day + It is bothe writ and sayde + That womans fayth is as who saythe + All utterly decayed; + But neutheles, right good wytnes + In this case might be layde; + That they loue trewe, and contynew, + Recorde the Nutbrowne maide: + Which from her loue, whan, her to proue, + He cam to make his mone, + Wolde not departe, for in her herte, + She louyd but hym allone. + + 3. + Than betwene us lete us discusse, + What was all the maner + Betwene them too; we wyll also + Tell all they payne in fere, + That she was in; now I begynne, + Soo that ye me answere; + Wherfore, ye, that present be + I pray you geue an eare. + I am the knyght; I cum be nyght, + As secret as I can; + Sayng, alas! thus stondyth the cause, + I am a bannisshed man. + + 4. + And I your wylle for to fulfylle + In this wyl not refuse; + Trusting to shewe, in wordis fewe, + That men haue an ille use + To ther owne shame wymen to blame, + And causeles them accuse; + Therfore to you I answere nowe, + All wymen to excuse,-- + Myn owne hert dere, with you what chiere? + I prey you, tell anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you allon. + + 5. + It stondith so; a dede is do, + Wherfore moche harme shal growe; + My desteny is for to dey + A shamful dethe, I trowe; + Or ellis to flee: the ton must bee. + None other wey I knowe, + But to withdrawe as an outlaw, + And take me to my bowe. + Wherefore, adew, my owne hert trewe, + None other red I can: + For I muste to the grene wode goo, + Alone a bannysshed man. + + 6. + O Lorde, what is this worldis blisse, + That chaungeth as the mone! + My somers day in lusty may + Is derked before the none. + I here you saye farwel: nay, nay, + We depart not soo sone. + Why say ye so? wheder wyll ye goo? + Alas! what haue ye done? + Alle my welfare to sorow and care + Shulde chaunge, yf ye were gon; + For, in [my] mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 7. + I can beleue, it shal you greue, + And somwhat you distrayne; + But, aftyrwarde, your paynes harde + Within a day or tweyne + Shall sone aslake; and ye shall take + Comfort to you agayne. + Why shuld ye nought? for, to make thought, + Your labur were in vayne. + And thus I do; and pray you, loo, + As hertely as I can; + For I must too the grene wode goo, + Alone a banysshed man. + + 8. + Now, syth that ye haue shewed to me + The secret of your mynde, + I shalbe playne to you agayne, + Lyke as ye shal me fynde. + Syth it is so, that ye wyll goo, + I wol not leue behynde; + Shall neuer be sayd, the Nutbrowne mayd, + Was to her loue unkind: + Make you redy, for soo am I, + All though it were anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 9. + Yet I you rede take good hede + Whan men wyl thynke, and sey; + Of yonge, and olde, it shalbe tolde, + That ye be gone away, + Your wanton wylle for to fulfylle, + In grene wood you to play; + And that ye myght from your delyte + Noo lenger make delay: + Rather than ye shuld thus for me + Be called an ylle woman, + Yet wolde I to the grene wodde goo, + Alone a banyshed man. + + 10. + Though it be songe of olde and yonge, + That I shuld be to blame, + Theirs be the charge, that speke so large + In hurting of my name: + For I wyl proue that feythful loue + It is deuoyd of shame; + In your distresse and heuynesse, + To parte wyth you, the same: + And sure all thoo, that doo not so, + Trewe louers ar they noon; + But, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 11. + I councel yow, remembre howe + It is noo maydens lawe, + Nothing to dought, but to renne out + To wod with an outlawe; + For ye must there in your hande bere + A bowe to bere and drawe; + And, as a theef, thus must ye lyeue, + Euer in drede and awe, + By whiche to yow gret harme myght grow: + Yet had I leuer than, + That I had too the grenewod goo, + Alone a banysshyd man. + + 12. + I thinke not nay, but as ye saye, + It is noo maydens lore: + But loue may make me for your sake, + As ye haue said before + To com on fote, to hunte, and shote, + To gete us mete and store; + For soo that I your company + May haue, I aske noo more: + From whiche to parte, it makith myn herte + As colde as ony ston; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 13. + For an outlawe, this is the lawe, + That men hym take and binde; + Wythout pytee hanged to bee, + And wauer with the wynde. + Yf I had neede, (as God forbede!) + What rescous coude ye finde? + Forsothe, I trowe, you and your bowe + Shuld drawe for fere behynde: + And noo merueyle; for lytel auayle + Were in your councel than: + Wherfore I too the woode wyl goo + Alone a banysshd man. + + 14. + Ful wel knowe ye, that wymen bee + Ful febyl for to fyght; + Noo womanhed is it in deede + To bee bolde as a knight: + Yet, in suche fere, yf that ye were + Amonge enemys day and nyght, + I wolde wythstonde, with bowe in hande, + To greue them as I myght, + And you to saue; as wymen haue + From deth many one: + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 15. + Yet take good hede, for euer I drede + That ye coude not sustein + The thorney wayes, the depe valeis, + The snowe, the frost, the reyn, + The colde, the hete: for drye, or wete, + We must lodge on the playn; + And, us abowe, noon other roue + But a brake bussh or twayne: + Which sone shulde greue you, I beleue; + And ye wolde gladly than + That I had too the grenewode goo, + Alone a banysshyd man. + + 16. + Syth I haue here ben partynere + With you of joy and blysse, + I must also parte of your woo + Endure, as reason is: + Yet am I sure of oon plesure; + And, shortly, it is this: + That, where ye bee, me semeth, perde, + I coude not fare amysse, + Wythout more speche, I you beseche + That we were soon agone; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde, + I loue but you alone. + + 17. + Yef ye goo thedyr, ye must consider, + Whan ye haue lust to dyne + Ther shal no mete before to gete, + Nor drinke, beer, ale, ne wine; + Ne shetis clene, to lye betwene, + Made of thred and twyne; + Noon other house but leuys and bowes + To keuer your hed and myn, + Loo, myn herte swete, this ylle dyet + Shuld make you pale and wan; + Wherfore I to the wood wyl goo, + Alone, a banysshid man. + + 18. + Amonge the wylde dere, suche an archier, + As men say that ye bee, + Ne may not fayle of good vitayle + Where is so grete plente: + And watir cleere of the ryuere + Shalbe ful swete to me; + Wyth whiche in hele I shal right wele + Endure, as ye shal see; + And, or we goo, a bed or twoo + I can prouide anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 19. + Loo, yet before ye must doo more, + Yf ye wyl goo with me; + As cutte your here up by your ere, + Your kirtel by the knee; + Wyth bowe in hande, for to withstonde + Your enmys, yf nede bee: + And this same nyght before daylyght, + To woodwarde wyl I flee. + And ye wyl all this fulfylle, + Doo it shortely as ye can: + Ellis wil I to the grenewode goo, + Alone, a banysshyd man. + + 20. + I shal as now do more for you + That longeth to womanhed; + To short my here, a bowe to bere, + To shote in tyme of nede. + O my swete mod[er], before all other + For you haue I most drede: + But now, adiew! I must ensue + Wher fortune duth me leede. + All this make ye: now lete us flee; + The day cum fast upon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 21. + Nay, nay, not soo; ye shal not goo, + And I shal telle you why,-- + Your appetyte is to be lyght + Of loue, I wele aspie: + For, right as ye haue sayd to me, + In lyke wyse hardely + Ye wolde answere who so euer it were, + In way of company. + It is sayd of olde, sone hote, sone colde; + And so is a woman. + Wherfore I too the woode wly goo, + Alone, a banysshid man. + + 22. + Yef ye take hede, yet is noo nede + Suche wordis to say by me; + For ofte ye preyd, and longe assayed, + Or I you louid, parde: + And though that I of auncestry + A barons doughter bee, + Yet haue you proued how I you loued + A squyer of lowe degree; + And euer shal, whatso befalle-- + To dey therfore anoon; + For, in my mynde, of al mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 23. + A barons childe to be begyled, + It were a curssed dede; + To be felow with an outlawe, + Almyghty God forbede. + Yet bettyr were the power squyere + Alone to forest yede, + Than ye shal saye another day, + That, be [my] wyked dede, + Ye were betrayed: wherfore, good maide, + The best red that I can, + Is, that I too the grenewode goo, + Alone, a banysshed man. + + 24. + Whatso euer befalle, I neuer shal + Of this thing you upbrayd: + But yf ye goo, and leue me soo, + Than haue ye me betraied. + Remembre you wele, how that ye dele + For, yf ye as the[y] sayd, + Be so unkynde, to leue behynde + Your loue, the notbrowne maide, + Trust me truly, that I [shall] dey + Sone after ye be gone; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 25. + Yef that ye went, ye shulde repent; + For in the forest nowe + I haue purueid me of a maide, + Whom I loue more than you; + Another fayrer, than euer ye were, + I dare it wel auowe; + And of you bothe eche shulde be wrothe + With other, as I trowe; + It were myn ease, to lyue in pease, + So wyl I, yf I can: + Wherfore I to the wode wyl goo, + Alone a banysshid man. + + 26. + Though in the wood I undirstode + Ye had a paramour, + All this may nought reineue my thought, + But that I wil be your; + And she shal fynde me soft and kynde, + And curteis euery our; + Glad to fulfylle all that she wylle + Commaunde me to my power: + For had ye, loo, an hundred moo, + Yet wolde I be that one, + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde, + I loue but you alone. + + 27. + Myn owne dere loue, I see the proue + That ye be kynde and trewe, + Of mayde, and wyf, in al my lyf, + The best that euer I knewe. + Be mery and glad, be no more sad, + The case is chaunged newe; + For it were ruthe, that, for your trouth, + Ye shuld haue cause to rewe. + Be not dismayed; whatsoeuer I sayd + To you, whan I began, + I wyl not too the grene wod goo, + I am noo banysshyd man. + + 28. + This tidingis be more glad to me, + Than to be made a quene, + Yf I were sure they shuld endure; + But it is often seen, + When men wyl breke promyse, they speke + The wordis on the splene; + Ye shape some wyle me to begyle + And stele fro me, I wene: + Than were the case wurs than it was, + And I more woobegone: + For, in my mynde, of al mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 29. + Ye shal not nede further to drede; + I wyl not disparage + You, (God defende!) syth you descend + Of so grete a lynage. + Now understonde; to Westmerlande, + Whiche is my herytage, + I wyl you brynge; and wyth a rynge, + By wey of maryage + I wyl you take, and lady make, + As shortly as I can: + Thus haue ye wone an erles son + And not a banysshyd man. + + 30. + Here may ye see, that wymen be + In loue, meke, kinde, and stable; + Late neuer man repreue them than, + Or calle them variable; + But rather prey God that we may + To them be comfortable; + Whiche somtyme prouyth suche as loueth, + Yf they be charitable. + For sith men wolde that wymen sholde + Be meke to them echeon, + Moche more ought they to God obey, + And serue but Hym alone. + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'among,' from time to time. + 1.5: 'neuer a dele,' not at all. + 3.4: 'they' = the. 'in fere,' in company. 'and fere' (= fear) is + usually printed. + 5.1: 'do,' done. + 5.5: 'ton,' one. + 5.10: _i.e._ I know no other advice. + 6.4: 'derked,' darkened. + 6.7: 'wheder,' whither. + 7.2: 'distrayne,' affect. + 7.5: 'aslake,' abate. + 10.9: 'thoo,' those. + 11.3: 'renne,' run. + 11.6: A later edition of the _Chronicle_ reads-- + 'A bowe, redy to drawe.' + 13.6: 'rescous,' rescue. Another edition has 'socurs.' + 15.7: 'abowe,' above; 'roue,' roof. + 18.7: 'hele,' health. + 19.3: 'here,' hair; 'ere,' ear. + 19.9: 'And,' If. + 20.7: 'ensue,' follow. + 22.2: The type is broken in the 1502 edition, which reads 'to say + be....' + 23.6: 'yede,' went. + 25.3: 'purueid (= purveyed) me,' provided myself. + 26.9: 'moo' = mo, _i.e._ more. + 30.10: 'echeon,' each one.] + + + + +FAIR JANET + + ++The Text.+--Of seven or eight variants of this ballad, only three +preserve the full form of the story. On the whole, the one here +given--from Sharp's _Ballad Book_, as sung by an old woman in +Perthshire--is the best, as the other two--from Herd's _Scots Songs_, +and the Kinloch MSS.--are slightly contaminated by extraneous matter. + ++The Story+ is a simple ballad-tale of 'true-love twinned'; but the +episode of the dancing forms a link with a number of German and +Scandinavian ballads, in which compulsory dancing and horse-riding is +made a test of the guilt of an accused maiden. In the Scotch ballad the +horse-riding has shrunk almost to nothing, and the dancing is not +compulsory. The resemblance is faint, and the barbarities of the +Continental versions are happily wanting in our ballad. + + +FAIR JANET + + 1. + 'Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, + Ye maun gang to him soon; + Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, + In case that his days are dune.' + + 2. + Janet's awa' to her father, + As fast as she could hie: + 'O what's your will wi' me, father? + O what's your will wi' me?' + + 3. + 'My will wi' you, Fair Janet,' he said, + 'It is both bed and board; + Some say that ye lo'e Sweet Willie, + But ye maun wed a French lord.' + + 4. + 'A French lord maun I wed, father? + A French lord maun I wed? + Then, by my sooth,' quo' Fair Janet, + 'He's ne'er enter my bed.' + + 5. + Janet's awa' to her chamber, + As fast as she could go; + Wha's the first ane that tapped there, + But Sweet Willie her jo? + + 6. + 'O we maun part this love, Willie, + That has been lang between; + There's a French lord coming o'er the sea, + To wed me wi' a ring; + There's a French lord coming o'er the sea, + To wed and tak' me hame.' + + 7. + 'If we maun part this love, Janet, + It causeth mickle woe; + If we maun part this love, Janet, + It makes me into mourning go.' + + 8. + 'But ye maun gang to your three sisters, + Meg, Marion, and Jean; + Tell them to come to Fair Janet, + In case that her days are dune.' + + 9. + Willie's awa' to his three sisters, + Meg, Marion, and Jean: + 'O haste, and gang to Fair Janet, + I fear that her days are dune.' + + 10. + Some drew to them their silken hose, + Some drew to them their shoon, + Some drew to them their silk manteils, + Their coverings to put on, + And they're awa' to Fair Janet, + By the hie light o' the moon. + + ... ... ... + + 11. + 'O I have born this babe, Willie, + Wi' mickle toil and pain; + Take hame, take hame, your babe, Willie, + For nurse I dare be nane.' + + 12. + He's tane his young son in his arms, + And kisst him cheek and chin, + And he's awa' to his mother's bower, + By the hie light o' the moon. + + 13. + 'O open, open, mother,' he says, + 'O open, and let me in; + The rain rains on my yellow hair, + And the dew drops o'er my chin, + And I hae my young son in my arms, + I fear that his days are dune.' + + 14. + With her fingers lang and sma' + She lifted up the pin, + And with her arms lang and sma' + Received the baby in. + + 15. + 'Gae back, gae back now, Sweet Willie, + And comfort your fair lady; + For where ye had but ae nourice, + Your young son shall hae three.' + + 16. + Willie he was scarce awa', + And the lady put to bed, + When in and came her father dear: + 'Make haste, and busk the bride.' + + 17. + 'There's a sair pain in my head, father, + There's a sair pain in my side; + And ill, O ill, am I, father, + This day for to be a bride.' + + 18. + 'O ye maun busk this bonny bride, + And put a gay mantle on; + For she shall wed this auld French lord, + Gin she should die the morn.' + + 19. + Some put on the gay green robes, + And some put on the brown; + But Janet put on the scarlet robes, + To shine foremost throw the town. + + 20. + And some they mounted the black steed, + And some mounted the brown; + But Janet mounted the milk-white steed, + To ride foremost throw the town. + + 21. + 'O wha will guide your horse, Janet? + O wha will guide him best?' + 'O wha but Willie, my true love? + He kens I lo'e him best.' + + 22. + And when they cam' to Marie's kirk, + To tye the haly ban', + Fair Janet's cheek looked pale and wan, + And her colour gaed and cam'. + + 23. + When dinner it was past and done, + And dancing to begin, + 'O we'll go take the bride's maidens, + And we'll go fill the ring.' + + 24. + O ben then cam' the auld French lord, + Saying, 'Bride, will ye dance with me?' + 'Awa', awa', ye auld French Lord, + Your face I downa see.' + + 25. + O ben then cam' now Sweet Willie, + He cam' with ane advance: + 'O I'll go tak' the bride's maidens, + And we'll go tak' a dance.' + + 26. + 'I've seen ither days wi' you, Willie, + And so has mony mae, + Ye would hae danced wi' me mysel', + Let a' my maidens gae.' + + 27. + O ben then cam' now Sweet Willie, + Saying, 'Bride, will ye dance wi' me?' + 'Aye, by my sooth, and that I will, + Gin my back should break in three.' + + 28. + She had nae turned her throw the dance, + Throw the dance but thrice, + Whan she fell doun at Willie's feet, + And up did never rise. + + 29. + Willie's ta'en the key of his coffer, + And gi'en it to his man: + 'Gae hame, and tell my mother dear + My horse he has me slain; + Bid her be kind to my young son, + For father has he nane.' + + 30. + The tane was buried in Marie's kirk, + And the tither in Marie's quire; + Out of the tane there grew a birk, + And the tither a bonny brier. + + + [Annotations: + 5.4: 'jo,' sweetheart. + 15.3: 'nourice,' nurse. + 16.4: 'busk,' dress. + 24.1: 'ben,' into the house. + 24.4: 'downa,' like not to.] + + + + +BROWN ADAM + + ++The Text+ is given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. It was first printed by +Scott, with the omission of the second stanza--perhaps justifiable--and +a few minor changes. He notes that he had seen a copy printed on a +single sheet. + ++The Story+ has a remote parallel in a Danish ballad, extant in +manuscripts of the sixteenth century and later, _Den afhugne Haand_. The +tale is told as follows. Lutzelil, knowing the evil ways of Lawi +Pederson, rejects his proffered love. Lawi vows she shall repent it, and +the maiden is afraid for nine months to go to church, but goes at +Easter. Lawi meets her in a wood, and repeats his offer. She begs him to +do her no harm, feigns compliance, and makes an assignation in the +chamber of her maids. She returns home and tells her father, who watches +for Lawi. When he comes and demands admission, she denies the +assignation. Lawi breaks down the door, and discovers Lutzelil's father +with a drawn sword, with which he cuts off Lawi's hand. + +The reason for objecting to the second stanza as here given is not so +much the inadequacy of a golden hammer, or the unusual whiteness of the +smith's fingers, but the rhyme in the third line. + + +BROWN ADAM + + 1. + O wha woud wish the win' to blaw, + Or the green leaves fa' therewith? + Or wha wad wish a leeler love + Than Brown Adam the Smith? + + 2. + His hammer's o' the beaten gold, + His study's o' the steel, + His fingers white are my delite, + He blows his bellows well. + + 3. + But they ha' banish'd him Brown Adam + Frae father and frae mither, + An' they ha' banish'd him Brown Adam + Frae sister and frae brither. + + 4. + And they ha' banish'd Brown Adam + Frae the flow'r o' a' his kin; + An' he's biggit a bow'r i' the good green wood + Betwen his lady an' him. + + 5. + O it fell once upon a day + Brown Adam he thought lang, + An' he woud to the green wood gang, + To hunt some venison. + + 6. + He's ta'en his bow his arm o'er, + His bran' intill his han', + And he is to the good green wood, + As fast as he coud gang. + + 7. + O he's shot up, an' he's shot down, + The bird upo' the briar, + An' he's sent it hame to his lady, + Bade her be of good cheer. + + 8. + O he's shot up, an' he's shot down, + The bird upo' the thorn, + And sent it hame to his lady, + And hee'd be hame the morn. + + 9. + Whan he came till his lady's bow'r-door + He stood a little forbye, + And there he heard a fu' fa'se knight + Temptin' his gay lady. + + 10. + O he's ta'en out a gay gold ring, + Had cost him mony a poun': + 'O grant me love for love, lady, + An' this sal be your own.' + + 11. + 'I loo Brown Adam well,' she says, + 'I wot sae does he me; + An' I woud na gi' Brown Adam's love + For nae fa'se knight I see.' + + 12. + Out he has ta'en a purse of gold, + Was a' fu' to the string: + 'Grant me but love for love, lady, + An' a' this sal be thine.' + + 13. + 'I loo Brown Adam well,' she says, + 'An' I ken sae does he me; + An' I woudna be your light leman + For mair nor ye coud gie.' + + 14. + Then out has he drawn his lang, lang bran', + An' he's flash'd it in her een: + 'Now grant me love for love, lady, + Or thro' you this sal gang!' + + 15. + 'O,' sighing said that gay lady, + 'Brown Adam tarrys lang!' + Then up it starts Brown Adam, + Says, 'I'm just at your han'.' + + 16. + He's gard him leave his bow, his bow, + He's gard him leave his bran'; + He's gard him leave a better pledge-- + Four fingers o' his right han'. + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: 'leeler,' more loyal. + 2.2: 'study,' stithy, anvil. + 4.3: 'biggit,' built. + 5.2: 'thought lang,' thought (it) tedious; _i.e._ was bored. Cp. + _Young Bekie_, 16.4, etc.; _Johney Scot_, 6.2, and elsewhere. + 9.2: 'forbye,' apart. + 10.1: 'he' is of course the false knight. + 11.1: 'loo,' love. + 12.2: 'string': _i.e._ the top; purses were bags with a running string + to draw the top together. + 15.2: 'lang': the MS. reads long. + 16.1: etc., 'gard,' made.] + + + + +WILLIE O' WINSBURY + + ++The Text+ is from the Campbell MSS. + ++The Story+ was imagined by Kinloch to possess a quasi-historical +foundation: James V. of Scotland, who eventually married Madeleine, +elder daughter of Francis I., having been previously betrothed 'by +treaty' to Marie de Bourbon, daughter of the Duke of Vendme, returned +to Scotland in 1537. The theory is neither probable nor plausible. + + +WILLIE O' WINSBURY + + 1. + The king he hath been a prisoner, + A prisoner lang in Spain, O, + And Willie o' the Winsbury + Has lain lang wi' his daughter at hame, O. + + 2. + 'What aileth thee, my daughter Janet, + Ye look so pale and wan? + Have ye had any sore sickness, + Or have ye been lying wi' a man? + Or is it for me, your father dear, + And biding sae lang in Spain?' + + 3. + 'I have not had any sore sickness, + Nor yet been lying wi' a man; + But it is for you, my father dear, + In biding sae lang in Spain.' + + 4. + 'Cast ye off your berry-brown gown, + Stand straight upon the stone, + That I may ken ye by yere shape, + Whether ye be a maiden or none.' + + 5. + She's coosten off her berry-brown gown, + Stooden straight upo' yon stone; + Her apron was short, her haunches were round, + Her face it was pale and wan. + + 6. + 'Is it to a man o' might, Janet? + Or is it to a man of fame? + Or is it to any of the rank robbers + That's lately come out o' Spain?' + + 7. + 'It is not to a man of might,' she said, + 'Nor is it to a man of fame; + But it is to William of Winsbury; + I could lye nae langer my lane.' + + 8. + The king's called on his merry men all, + By thirty and by three: + 'Go fetch me William of Winsbury, + For hanged he shall be.' + + 9. + But when he cam' the king before, + He was clad o' the red silk; + His hair was like to threeds o' gold, + And his skin was as white as milk. + + 10. + 'It is nae wonder,' said the king, + 'That my daughter's love ye did win; + Had I been a woman, as I am a man, + My bedfellow ye should hae been. + + 11. + 'Will ye marry my daughter Janet, + By the truth of thy right hand? + I'll gi'e ye gold, I'll gi'e ye money, + And I'll gi'e ye an earldom o' land.' + + 12. + 'Yes, I'll marry yere daughter Janet, + By the truth of my right hand; + But I'll hae nane o' yer gold, I'll hae nane o' yer money, + Nor I winna hae an earldom o' land. + + 13. + 'For I hae eighteen corn-mills + Runs all in water clear, + And there's as much corn in each o' them + As they can grind in a year.' + + + + +THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE + + ++The Text+ is from the early part of the Percy Folio, and the ballad is +therefore deficient. Where gaps are marked in the text with a row of +asterisks, about nine stanzas are lost in each case--half a page torn +out by a seventeenth-century maidservant to light a fire! Luckily we can +supply the story from other versions. + ++The Story+, also given in _The Weddynge of Sr Gawen and Dame Ragnell_ +(in the Rawlinson MS. c. 86 in the Bodleian Library), runs as follows:-- + +Shortly after Christmas, Arthur, riding by Tarn Wadling (still so +called, but now pasture-land, in the forest of Inglewood), meets a bold +baron, who challenges him to fight, unless he can win his ransom by +returning on New Year's Day with an answer to the question, What does a +woman most desire? Arthur relates the story to Gawaine, asks him and +others for an answer to the riddle, and collects their suggestions in a +book ('letters,' 24.1). On his way to keep his tryst with the baron, he +meets an unspeakably ugly woman, who offers her assistance; if she will +help him, Arthur says, she shall wed with Gawaine. She gives him the +true answer, A woman will have her will. Arthur meets the baron, and +after proffering the budget of answers, confronts him with the true +answer. The baron exclaims against the ugly woman, whom he asserts to be +his sister. + +Arthur returns to his court, and tells his knights that a wife awaits +one of them on the moor. Sir Lancelot, Sir Steven (who is not mentioned +elsewhere in Arthurian tales), Sir Kay, Sir Bauier (probably Beduer or +Bedivere), Sir Bore (Bors de Gauves), Sir Garrett (Gareth), and Sir +Tristram ride forth to find her. At sight, Sir Kay, without overmuch +chivalry, expresses his disgust, and the rest are unwilling to marry +her. The king explains that he has promised to give her to Sir Gawaine, +who, it seems, bows to Arthur's authority, and weds her. During the +bridal night, she becomes a beautiful young woman. Further to test +Gawaine, she gives him his choice: will he have her fair by day and foul +by night, or foul by day and fair by night? Fair by night, says Gawaine. +And foul to be seen of all by day? she asks. Have your way, says +Gawaine, and breaks the last thread of the spell, as she forthwith +explains: her step-mother had bewitched both her, to haunt the moor in +ugly shape, till some knight should grant her _all_ her will, and her +brother, to challenge all comers to fight him or answer the riddle. + +Similar tales, but with the important variation--undoubtedly indigenous +in the story--that the man who saves his life by answering the riddle +has himself to wed the ugly woman, are told by Gower (_Confessio +Amantis_, Book I.) and Chaucer (_The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe_). The +latter, which is also Arthurian in its setting, was made into a ballad +in the _Crown Garland of Golden Roses_ (_circ._ 1600), compiled by +Richard Johnson. A parallel is also to be found in an Icelandic saga. + + +THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE + + 1. + Kinge Arthur liues in merry Carleile, + & seemely is to see, + & there he hath with him Queene Genever, + That bride soe bright of blee. + + 2. + And there he hath with [him] Queene Genever, + That bride soe bright in bower, + & all his barons about him stoode, + That were both stiffe and stowre. + + 3. + The king kept a royall Christmasse, + Of mirth and great honor, + And when . . . + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 4. + 'And bring me word what thing it is + That a woman [will] most desire; + This shalbe thy ransome, Arthur,' he sayes, + 'For I'le haue noe other hier.' + + 5. + King Arthur then held vp his hand, + According thene as was the law; + He tooke his leaue of the baron there, + & homward can he draw. + + 6. + And when he came to merry Carlile, + To his chamber he is gone, + & ther came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine + As he did make his mone. + + 7. + And there came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine + That was a curteous knight; + 'Why sigh you soe sore, vnckle Arthur,' he said, + 'Or who hath done thee vnright?' + + 8. + 'O peace, O peace, thou gentle Gawaine, + That faire may thee beffall! + For if thou knew my sighing soe deepe, + Thou wold not meruaile att all; + + 9. + 'Ffor when I came to Tearne Wadling, + A bold barron there I fand, + With a great club vpon his backe, + Standing stiffe and strong; + + 10. + 'And he asked me wether I wold fight, + Or from him I shold begone, + Or else I must him a ransome pay + & soe depart him from. + + 11. + 'To fight with him I saw noe cause, + Methought it was not meet, + For he was stiffe & strong with-all, + His strokes were nothing sweete; + + 12. + 'Therefor this is my ransome, Gawaine, + I ought to him to pay: + I must come againe, as I am sworne, + Vpon the Newyeer's day. + + 13. + 'And I must bring him word what thing it is + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 14. + Then King Arthur drest him for to ryde + In one soe rich array + Toward the fore-said Tearne Wadling, + That he might keepe his day. + + 15. + And as he rode over a more, + Hee see a lady where shee sate + Betwixt an oke & a greene hollen; + She was cladd in red scarlett. + + 16. + Then there as shold haue stood her mouth, + Then there was sett her eye, + The other was in her forhead fast + The way that she might see. + + 17. + Her nose was crooked & turnd outward, + Her mouth stood foule a-wry; + A worse formed lady than shee was, + Neuer man saw with his eye. + + 18. + To halch vpon him, King Arthur, + This lady was full faine, + But King Arthur had forgott his lesson, + What he shold say againe. + + 19. + 'What knight art thou,' the lady sayd, + 'That will not speak to me? + Of me be thou nothing dismayd + Tho' I be vgly to see; + + 20. + 'For I haue halched you curteouslye, + & you will not me againe; + Yett I may happen, Sir Knight,' shee said, + 'To ease thee of thy paine.' + + 21. + 'Giue thou ease me, lady,' he said, + 'Or helpe me any thing, + Thou shalt have gentle Gawaine, my cozen, + & marry him with a ring.' + + 22. + 'Why, if I help thee not, thou noble King Arthur, + Of thy owne heart's desiringe, + Of gentle Gawaine . . . + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 23. + And when he came to the Tearne Wadling + The baron there cold he finde, + With a great weapon on his backe, + Standing stiffe and stronge. + + 24. + And then he tooke King Arthur's letters in his hands, + & away he cold them fling, + & then he puld out a good browne sword, + & cryd himselfe a king. + + 25. + And he sayd, 'I haue thee & thy land, Arthur, + To doe as it pleaseth me, + For this is not thy ransome sure, + Therfore yeeld thee to me.' + + 26. + And then bespoke him noble Arthur, + & bad him hold his hand; + '& giue me leaue to speake my mind + In defence of all my land.' + + 27. + He said, 'As I came over a more, + I see a lady where shee sate + Betweene an oke & a green hollen; + She was clad in red scarlett; + + 28. + 'And she says a woman will haue her will, + & this is all her cheef desire: + Doe me right, as thou art a baron of sckill, + This is thy ransome & all thy hyer.' + + 29. + He sayes, 'An early vengeance light on her! + She walkes on yonder more; + It was my sister that told thee this; + & she is a misshappen hore! + + 30. + 'But heer He make mine avow to God + To doe her an euill turne, + For an euer I may thate fowle theefe get, + In a fyer I will her burne.' + + *** *** *** + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: 'blee,' complexion. + 2.4: Perhaps we should read 'stiff in stowre,' a constant expression + in ballads, 'sturdy in fight.' + 11: Arthur's customary bravery and chivalry are not conspicuous in + this ballad. + 18.1: 'halch upon,' salute. + 21.1: 'Giue,' If. + 27.3: 'hollen,' holly. + 28.3: 'sckill,' reason, judgment.] + + ++The 2d Part+ + + 31. + Sir Lancelott & Sir Steven bold + They rode with them that day, + And the formost of the company + There rode the steward Kay. + + 32. + Soe did Sir Bauier and Sir Bore, + Sir Garrett with them soe gay, + Soe did Sir Tristeram that gentle knight, + To the forrest fresh & gay. + + 33. + And when he came to the greene fforrest, + Vnderneath a greene holly tree + Their sate that lady in red scarlet + That vnseemly was to see. + + 34. + Sir Kay beheld this ladys face, + & looked vppon her swire; + 'Whosoeuer kisses this lady,' he sayes, + 'Of his kisse he stands in feare.' + + 35. + Sir Kay beheld the lady againe, + & looked vpon her snout; + 'Whosoeuer kisses this lady,' he saies, + 'Of his kisse he stands in doubt.' + + 36. + 'Peace, cozen Kay,' then said Sir Gawaine, + 'Amend thee of thy life; + For there is a knight amongst vs all + That must marry her to his wife.' + + 37. + 'What! wedd her to wiffe!' then said Sir Kay, + 'In the diuells name, anon! + Gett me a wiffe whereere I may, + For I had rather be slaine!' + + 38. + Then some tooke vp their hawkes in hast, + & some tooke vp their hounds, + & some sware they wold not marry her + For citty nor for towne. + + 39. + And then bespake him noble King Arthur, + & sware there by this day: + 'For a litle foule sight & misliking + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 40. + Then shee said, 'Choose thee, gentle Gawaine, + Truth as I doe say, + Wether thou wilt haue me in this liknesse + In the night or else in the day.' + + 41. + And then bespake him gentle Gawaine, + Was one soe mild of moode, + Sayes, 'Well I know what I wold say, + God grant it may be good! + + 42. + 'To haue thee fowle in the night + When I with thee shold play; + Yet I had rather, if I might, + Haue thee fowle in the day.' + + 43. + 'What! when Lords goe with ther feires,' shee said, + 'Both to the ale & wine? + Alas! then I must hyde my selfe, + I must not goe withinne.' + + 44. + And then bespake him gentle Gawaine; + Said, 'Lady, thats but skill; + And because thou art my owne lady, + Thou shalt haue all thy will.' + + 45. + Then she said, 'Blessed be thou, gentle Gawaine, + This day that I thee see, + For as thou see[st] me att this time, + From hencforth I wil be: + + 46. + 'My father was an old knight, + & yett it chanced soe + That he marryed a younge lady + That brought me to this woe. + + 47. + 'Shee witched me, being a faire young lady, + To the greene forrest to dwell, + & there I must walke in womans likness, + Most like a feend of hell. + + 48. + 'She witched my brother to a carlish b . . . . . + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 49. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + That looked soe foule, & that was wont + On the wild more to goe. + + 50. + 'Come kisse her, brother Kay,' then said Sir Gawaine, + '& amend th of thy liffe; + I sweare this is the same lady + That I marryed to my wiffe.' + + 51. + Sir Kay kissed that lady bright, + Standing vpon his ffeete; + He swore, as he was trew knight, + The spice was neuer soe sweete. + + 52. + 'Well, cozen Gawaine,' sayes Sir Kay, + 'Thy chance is fallen arright, + For thou hast gotten one of the fairest maids + I euer saw with my sight.' + + 53. + 'It is my fortune,' said Sir Gawaine; + 'For my Vnckle Arthur's sake + I am glad as grasse wold be of raine, + Great ioy that I may take.' + + 54. + Sir Gawaine tooke the lady by the one arme, + Sir Kay tooke her by the tother, + They led her straight to King Arthur + As they were brother & brother. + + 55. + King Arthur welcomed them there all, + & soe did lady Geneuer his queene, + With all the knights of the round table + Most seemly to be seene. + + 56. + King Arthur beheld that lady faire + That was soe faire and bright, + He thanked Christ in Trinity + For Sir Gawaine that gentle knight; + + 57. + Soe did the knights, both more and lesse; + Reioyced all that day + For the good chance that hapened was + To Sir Gawaine & his lady gay. + + + [Annotations: + 34.2: 'swire,' neck: the Folio reads _smire_. + 37.4: 'slaine': the Folio gives _shaine_. + 41.2: 'was' (Child's suggestion): the Folio reads _with_. + 43.1: 'feires,' = feres, mates: the Folio reads _seires_. + 44.2: Folio: _but a skill_: see note on 28.3. + 48.1: 'carlish,' churlish.] + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE BOY AND THE MANTLE + + ++Text.+--The Percy Folio is the sole authority for this excellent lively +ballad. It is here given as it stands in the manuscript, except for +division into stanzas. Percy printed the ballad '_verbatim_,'--that is, +with emendations--and also a revised version. + ++The Story+, which exists in countless variations in many lands, is told +from the earliest times in connection with the Arthurian legend-cycle. +Restricting the article used as a criterion of chastity to a mantle, we +find the elements of this ballad existing in French manuscripts of the +thirteenth century (the romance called _Cort Mantel_); in a Norse +translation of this 'fabliau'; in the Icelandic _Mantle Rhymes_ of the +fifteenth century; in the _Scalachronica_ of Sir Thomas Gray of Heton +(_circ._ 1355); in Germany, and in Gaelic (a ballad known in Irish +writings, but not in Scottish); as well as in many other versions. + +The trial by the drinking-horn is a fable equally old, as far as the +evidence goes, and equally widespread; but it is not told elsewhere in +connection with the parallel story of the mantle. Other tests used for +the purpose of discovering infidelity or unchastity are:-- a crown, a +magic bridge (German); a girdle (English; cp. Florimel's girdle in the +_Faery Queen_, Book iv. Canto 5); a bed, a stepping-stone by the +bedside, a chair (Scandinavian); flowers (Sanskrit); a shirt (German and +Flemish); a picture (Italian, translated to England--cp. Massinger's +_The Picture_ (1630), where he localises the story in Hungary); a ring +(French); a mirror (German, French, and Italian); and so forth. + +Caxton, in his preface to _Kyng Arthur_ (1485), says:-- 'Item, in the +castel of Douer ye may see Gauwayn's skull and Cradok's mantel.' Sir +Thomas Gray says the mantle was made into a chasuble, and was preserved +at Glastonbury. + +Thomas Love Peacock says (_The Misfortunes of Elphin_, chap. xii.), +'Tegau Eurvron, or Tegau of the Golden Bosom, was the wife of Caradoc +[Craddocke], and one of the Three Chaste Wives of the island of +Britain.' A similar statement is recorded by Percy at the end of his +'revised and altered' ballad, taking it from 'the Rev. Evan Evans, +editor of the Specimens of Welsh Poetry.' + + +THE BOY AND THE MANTLE + + 1. + In the third day of May + to Carleile did come + A kind curteous child + that cold much of wisdome. + + 2. + A kirtle & a mantle + this child had vppon, + With brauches and ringes + full richelye bedone. + + 3. + He had a sute of silke, + about his middle drawne; + Without he cold of curtesye, + he thought itt much shame. + + 4. + 'God speed thee, King Arthur, + sitting at thy meate! + & the goodly Queene Gueneuer! + I canott her fforgett. + + 5. + 'I tell you lords in this hall, + I hett you all heede, + Except you be the more surer, + is you for to dread.' + + 6. + He plucked out of his potewer, + & longer wold not dwell, + He pulled forth a pretty mantle, + betweene two nut-shells. + + 7. + 'Haue thou here, King Arthure, + haue thou heere of mee; + Give itt to thy comely queene, + shapen as itt is alreadye. + + 8. + 'Itt shall neuer become that wiffe + that hath once done amisse': + Then euery knight in the King's court + began to care for his wiffe. + + 9. + Forth came dame Gueneuer, + to the mantle shee her bid; + The ladye shee was new-fangle, + but yett shee was affrayd. + + 10. + When shee had taken the mantle, + shee stoode as she had beene madd; + It was ffrom the top to the toe + as sheeres had itt shread. + + 11. + One while was itt gaule, + another while was itt greene; + Another while was itt wadded; + ill itt did her beseeme. + + 12. + Another while was it blacke, + & bore the worst hue; + 'By my troth,' quoth King Arthur, + 'I thinke thou be not true.' + + 13. + Shee threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + Fast with a rudd redd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 14. + Shee curst the weauer and the walker + that clothe that had wrought, + & bade a vengeance on his crowne + that hither hath itt brought. + + 15. + 'I had rather be in a wood, + vnder a greene tree, + Then in King Arthurs court, + shamed for to bee.' + + 16. + Kay called forth his ladye, + & bade her come neere; + Saies, 'Madam, & thou be guiltye, + I pray thee hold thee there.' + + 17. + Forth came his ladye + shortlye and anon, + Boldlye to the mantle + then is shee gone. + + 18. + When shee had tane the mantle, + & cast it her about, + Then was shee bare + all aboue the buttocckes. + + 19. + Then euery knight + that was in the Kings court + Talked, laug[h]ed, & showted, + full oft att that sport. + + 20. + Shee threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + Ffast with a red rudd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 21. + Forth came an old knight, + pattering ore a creede, + & he proferred to this litle boy + 20 markes to his meede, + + 22. + & all the time of the Christmasse + willinglye to ffeede; + For why this mantle might + doe his wiffe some need. + + 23. + When shee had tane the mantle, + of cloth that was made, + Shee had no more left on her + but a tassell and a threed: + Then euery knight in the Kings court + bade euill might shee speed. + + 24. + She threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + & fast with a redd rudd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 25. + Craddocke called forth his ladye, + & bade her come in; + Saith, 'Winne this mantle, ladye, + with a litle dinne. + + 26. + 'Winne this mantle, ladye, + & it shalbe thine + If thou neuer did amisse + since thou wast mine.' + + 27. + Forth came Craddockes ladye + shortlye & anon, + But boldlye to the mantle + then is shee gone. + + 28. + When shee had tane the mantle, + & cast itt her about, + Vpp att her great toe + itt began to crinkle & crowt; + Shee said, 'Bowe downe, mantle, + & shame me not for nought. + + 29. + 'Once I did amisse, + I tell you certainlye, + When I kist Craddockes mouth + vnder a greene tree, + When I kist Craddockes mouth + before he marryed mee.' + + 30. + When shee had her shreeuen, + & her sines shee had tolde, + The mantle stoode about her + right as shee wold, + + 31. + Seemelye of coulour, + glittering like gold; + Then euery knight in Arthurs court + did her behold. + + 32. + Then spake dame Gueneuer + to Arthur our king: + 'She hath tane yonder mantle, + not with wright but with wronge. + + 33. + 'See you not yonder woman + that maketh her selfe soe cleane? + I haue seene tane out of her bedd + of men fiueteene; + + 34. + 'Preists, clarkes, & wedded men, + from her by-deene; + Yett shee taketh the mantle, + & maketh her selfe cleane!' + + 35. + Then spake the litle boy + that kept the mantle in hold; + Sayes, 'King, chasten thy wiffe; + of her words shee is to bold. + + 36. + 'Shee is a bitch & a witch, + & a whore bold; + King, in thine owne hall + thou art a cuchold.' + + 37. + A litle boy stoode + looking ouer a dore; + He was ware of a wyld bore, + wold haue werryed a man. + + 38. + He pulld forth a wood kniffe, + fast thither that he ran; + He brought in the bores head, + & quitted him like a man. + + 39. + He brought in the bores head, + and was wonderous bold; + He said there was neuer a cucholds kniffe + carue itt that cold. + + 40. + Some rubbed their k[n]iues + vppon a whetstone; + Some threw them vnder the table, + & said they had none. + + 41. + King Arthur & the child + stood looking them vpon; + All their k[n]iues edges + turned backe againe. + + 42. + Craddoccke had a litle kniue + of iron & of steele; + He birtled the bores head + wonderous weele, + That euery knight in the Kings court + had a morssell. + + 43. + The litle boy had a horne, + of red gold that ronge; + He said, 'There was noe cuckolde + shall drinke of my horne, + But he shold itt sheede, + either behind or beforne.' + + 44. + Some shedd on their shoulder, + & some on their knee; + He that cold not hitt his mouth + put it in his eye; + & he that was a cuckold, + euery man might him see. + + 45. + Craddoccke wan the horne + & the bores head; + His ladye wan the mantle + vnto her meede; + Euerye such a louely ladye, + God send her well to speede! + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: 'brauches,' brooches. + 5.2: 'hett,' bid; 'heede,' MS. heate. + 6.1: 'potewer.' Child says:-- Read potener, French _pautonnire_, + pouch, purse. + 8.4: Perhaps the line should end with 'his,' but 'wiffe' is the last + word in the manuscript. + 9.3: 'new-fangle,' desirous of novelties. + 11.1: 'gaule,' perhaps = gules, _i.e._ red. + 11.3: 'wadded,' woad-coloured, _i.e._ blue. + 13.2: 'blee,' colour. + 13.3: 'rudd,' complexion. + 14.1: 'walker,' fuller. + 25.4: 'dinne,' trouble. + 28.4: 'crowt,' pucker. + 34.2: 'by-deene,' one after another. + 37 and 38: Evidently some lines have been lost here, and the rhymes + are thereby confused. + 42.3: 'birtled,' cut up. + 43.2: 'ronge,' rang.] + + + + +JOHNEY SCOT + + ++The Text+ of this popular and excellent ballad is given from the +Jamieson-Brown MS. It was copied, with wilful alterations, into Scott's +Abbotsford MS. called _Scottish Songs_. Professor Child prints sixteen +variants of the ballad, nearly all from manuscripts. + ++The Story+ of the duel with the Italian is given with more detail in +other versions. In two ballads from Motherwell's MS., where 'the +Italian' becomes 'the Tailliant' or 'the Talliant,' the champion jumps +over Johney's head, and descends on the point of Johney's sword. This +exploit is paralleled in a Breton ballad, where the Seigneur Les Aubrays +of St. Brieux is ordered by the French king to combat his wild Moor, who +leaps in the air and is received on the sword of his antagonist. Again, +in Scottish tradition, James Macgill, having killed Sir Robert Balfour +about 1679, went to London to procure his pardon, which Charles +II.+ +offered him on the condition of fighting an Italian gladiator. The +Italian leaped once over James Macgill, but in attempting to repeat this +manoeuvre was spitted by his opponent, who thereby procured not only his +pardon, but also knighthood. + + +JOHNEY SCOT + + 1. + O Johney was as brave a knight + As ever sail'd the sea, + An' he's done him to the English court, + To serve for meat and fee. + + 2. + He had nae been in fair England + But yet a little while, + Untill the kingis ae daughter + To Johney proves wi' chil'. + + 3. + O word's come to the king himsel', + In his chair where he sat, + That his ae daughter was wi' bairn + To Jack, the Little Scott. + + 4. + 'Gin this be true that I do hear, + As I trust well it be, + Ye pit her into prison strong, + An' starve her till she die.' + + 5. + O Johney's on to fair Scotland, + A wot he went wi' speed, + An' he has left the kingis court, + A wot good was his need. + + 6. + O it fell once upon a day + That Johney he thought lang, + An' he's gane to the good green wood, + As fast as he coud gang. + + 7. + 'O whare will I get a bonny boy, + To rin my errand soon, + That will rin into fair England, + An' haste him back again?' + + 8. + O up it starts a bonny boy, + Gold yallow was his hair, + I wish his mother meickle joy, + His bonny love mieckle mair. + + 9. + 'O here am I, a bonny boy, + Will rin your errand soon; + I will gang into fair England, + An' come right soon again.' + + 10. + O whan he came to broken briggs, + He bent his bow and swam; + An' whan he came to the green grass growan, + He slaikid his shoone an' ran. + + 11. + Whan he came to yon high castl, + He ran it roun' about, + An' there he saw the king's daughter, + At the window looking out. + + 12. + 'O here's a sark o' silk, lady, + Your ain han' sew'd the sleeve; + You'r bidden come to fair Scotlan', + Speer nane o' your parents' leave. + + 13. + 'Ha, take this sark o' silk, lady, + Your ain han' sew'd the gare; + You're bidden come to good green wood, + Love Johney waits you there.' + + 14. + She's turn'd her right and roun' about, + The tear was in her ee: + 'How can I come to my true-love, + Except I had wings to flee? + + 15. + 'Here am I kept wi' bars and bolts, + Most grievous to behold; + My breast-plate's o' the sturdy steel, + Instead of the beaten gold. + + 16. + 'But tak' this purse, my bonny boy, + Ye well deserve a fee, + An' bear this letter to my love, + An' tell him what you see.' + + 17. + Then quickly ran the bonny boy + Again to Scotlan' fair, + An' soon he reach'd Pitnachton's tow'rs, + An' soon found Johney there. + + 18. + He pat the letter in his han' + An' taul' him what he sa', + But eer he half the letter read, + He loote the tears doun fa'. + + 19. + 'O I will gae back to fair Englan', + Tho' death shoud me betide, + An' I will relieve the damesel + That lay last by my side.' + + 20. + Then out it spake his father dear, + 'My son, you are to blame; + An' gin you'r catch'd on English groun', + I fear you'll ne'er win hame.' + + 21. + Then out it spake a valiant knight, + Johny's best friend was he; + 'I can commaun' five hunder men, + An' I'll his surety be.' + + 22. + The firstin town that they came till, + They gard the bells be rung; + An' the nextin town that they came till, + They gard the mess be sung. + + 23. + The thirdin town that they came till, + They gard the drums beat roun'; + The king but an' his nobles a' + Was startl'd at the soun'. + + 24. + Whan they came to the king's palace + They rade it roun' about, + An' there they saw the king himsel', + At the window looking out. + + 25. + 'Is this the Duke o' Albany, + Or James, the Scottish king? + Or are ye some great foreign lord, + That's come a visiting?' + + 26. + 'I'm nae the Duke of Albany, + Nor James, the Scottish king; + But I'm a valiant Scottish knight, + Pitnachton is my name.' + + 27. + 'O if Pitnachton be your name, + As I trust well it be, + The morn, or I tast meat or drink, + You shall be hanged hi'.' + + 28. + Then out it spake the valiant knight + That came brave Johney wi'; + 'Behold five hunder bowmen bold, + Will die to set him free.' + + 29. + Then out it spake the king again, + An' a scornfu' laugh laugh he; + 'I have an Italian in my house + Will fight you three by three.' + + 30. + 'O grant me a boon,' brave Johney cried; + 'Bring your Italian here; + Then if he fall beneath my sword, + I've won your daughter dear.' + + 31. + Then out it came that Italian, + An' a gurious ghost was he; + Upo' the point o' Johney's sword + This Italian did die. + + 32. + Out has he drawn his lang, lang bran', + Struck it across the plain: + 'Is there any more o' your English dogs + That you want to be slain?' + + 33. + 'A clark, a clark,' the king then cried, + 'To write her tocher free'; + 'A priest, a priest,' says Love Johney, + 'To marry my love and me. + + 34. + 'I'm seeking nane o' your gold,' he says, + 'Nor of your silver clear; + I only seek your daughter fair, + Whose love has cost her dear.' + + [Annotations: + 5.2,4: 'A wot' = I wis. + 6.2: See _Young Bekie_, 16.4; _Brown Adam_, 5.2. + 10: See _Lady Maisry_, 21; _Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet_, 12, etc.: + a stock ballad-phrase. + 12.1: 'sark,' shift. + 12.4: 'Speer' (speir), ask. + 13.2: 'gare,' gore: see _Brown Robin_, 10.4. + 18.4: 'loote,' let. + 22.4: 'mess,' mass. + 27.3: 'or,' ere. + 29.2: The second 'laugh' is the past tense of the verb. + 31.2: 'gurious,' grim, ugly. + 33.2: 'tocher,' dowry.] + + + + +LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET + + ++The Text+ is taken from Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, a similar version +being given in Maidment's _North Countrie Garland_. A few alterations +from the latter version are incorporated. + ++The Story+ bears tokens of confusion with _Lady Maisry_ in some of the +variants of either, but here the tragedy is that the bridegroom is +brother to the lover. The end of this ballad in all its forms is highly +unnatural in its style: why should Maisery's remorse at having been such +an expense to Lord Ingram be three times as great as her grief for the +loss of her lover? It is by no means romantic. + + +LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET + + 1. + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet + Was baith born in one bower; + Laid baith their hearts on one lady, + The less was their honour. + + 2. + Chiel Wyet and Lord Ingram + Was baith born in one hall; + Laid baith their hearts on one lady, + The worse did them befall. + + 3. + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + From father and from mother; + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + From sister and from brother. + + 4. + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + With leave of a' her kin; + And every one gave full consent, + But she said no to him. + + 5. + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + Into her father's ha'; + Chiel Wyet woo'd her Lady Maisery + Amang the sheets so sma'. + + 6. + Now it fell out upon a day + She was dressing her head, + That ben did come her father dear, + Wearing the gold so red. + + 7. + He said, 'Get up now, Lady Maisery, + Put on your wedding gown; + For Lord Ingram he will be here, + Your wedding must be done.' + + 8. + 'I'd rather be Chiel Wyet's wife, + The white fish for to sell, + Before I were Lord Ingram's wife, + To wear the silk so well. + + 9. + 'I'd rather be Chiel Wyet's wife, + With him to beg my bread, + Before I were Lord Ingram's wife, + To wear the gold so red. + + 10. + 'Where will I get a bonny boy, + Will win gold to his fee, + And will run unto Chiel Wyet's, + With this letter from me?' + + 11. + 'O here I am, the boy,' says one, + 'Will win gold to my fee, + And carry away any letter + To Chiel Wyet from thee.' + + 12. + And when he found the bridges broke + He bent his bow and swam; + And when he found the grass growing, + He hastened and he ran. + + 13. + And when he came to Chiel Wyet's castle, + He did not knock nor call, + But set his bent bow to his breast, + And lightly leaped the wall; + And ere the porter open'd the gate, + The boy was in the hall. + + 14. + The first line he looked on, + A grieved man was he; + The next line he looked on, + A tear blinded his ee: + Says, 'I wonder what ails my one brother, + He'll not let my love be! + + 15. + 'But I'll send to my brother's bridal-- + The bacon shall be mine-- + Full four and twenty buck and roe, + And ten tun of the wine; + And bid my love be blythe and glad, + And I will follow syne.' + + 16. + There was not a groom about that castle, + But got a gown of green, + And all was blythe, and all was glad, + But Lady Maisery she was neen. + + 17. + There was no cook about that kitchen, + But got a gown of gray; + And all was blythe, and all was glad, + But Lady Maisery was wae. + + 18. + Between Mary Kirk and that castle + Was all spread ower with garl, + To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens + From tramping on the marl. + + 19. + From Mary Kirk to that castle + Was spread a cloth of gold, + To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens + From treading on the mold. + + 20. + When mass was sung, and bells was rung, + And all men bound for bed; + Then Lord Ingram and Lady Maisery + In one bed they were laid. + + 21. + When they were laid into their bed, + It was baith saft and warm, + He laid his hand over her side, + Says, 'I think you are with bairn.' + + 22. + 'I told you once, so did I twice, + When ye came me to woo, + That Chiel Wyet, your only brother, + One night lay in my bower. + + 23. + 'I told you twice, I told you thrice, + Ere ye came me to wed, + That Chiel Wyet, your one brother, + One night lay in my bed.' + + 24. + 'O will you father your bairn on me, + And on no other man? + And I'll give him to his dowry + Full fifty ploughs of land.' + + 25. + 'I will not father my bairn on you, + Nor on no wrongeous man, + Though ye would give him to his dowry + Five thousand ploughs of land.' + + 26. + Then up did start him Chiel Wyet, + Shed by his yellow hair, + And gave Lord Ingram to the heart + A deep wound and a sair. + + 27. + Then up did start him Lord Ingram, + Shed by his yellow hair, + And gave Chiel Wyet to the heart, + A deep wound and a sair. + + 28. + There was no pity for that two lords, + Where they were lying slain; + But all was for her Lady Maisery, + In that bower she gaed brain. + + 29. + There was no pity for that two lords, + When they were lying dead; + But all was for her Lady Maisery, + In that bower she went mad. + + 30. + Said, 'Get to me a cloak of cloth, + A staff of good hard tree; + If I have been an evil woman, + I shall beg till I dee. + + 31. + 'For a bit I'll beg for Chiel Wyet, + For Lord Ingram I'll beg three; + All for the good and honourable marriage, + At Mary Kirk he gave me.' + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: 'honour': Motherwell printed _bonheur_. + 6.3: 'ben,' in. + 8.2: 'sell': Motherwell gave _kill_. + 12: Cp. _Lady Maisry_, 21. + 16.4: 'neen,' none, not. + 18.2: 'garl,' gravel. + 26.1: Motherwell gives _did stand_. + 28.4: 'brain,' mad. + 30.2: 'tree,' wood. + 31.1: 'a' = ae, each.] + + + + +THE TWA SISTERS O' BINNORIE + + ++Texts.+--The version here given is compounded from two different +sources, almost of necessity. Stanzas 1-19 were given by Scott, +compounded from W. Tytler's Brown MS. and the recitation of an old +woman. But at stanza 20 Scott's version becomes eccentric, and he prints +such verses as:-- + + 'A famous harper passing by + The sweet pale face he chanced to spy ... + + The strings he framed of her yellow hair, + Whose notes made sad the listening air.' + +Stanzas 20-25, therefore, have been supplied from the Jamieson-Brown +MS., which after this point does not descend from the high level of +ballad-poetry. + ++The Story.+--This is a very old and a very popular story. An early +broadside exists, dated 1656, and the same version is printed in _Wit +Restor'd_, 1658. Of Scandinavian ballads on the same subject, nine are +Danish, two Icelandic, twelve Norwegian, four Fre, and eight or nine +Swedish. + + +THE TWA SISTERS O' BINNORIE + + 1. + There were twa sisters sat in a bour, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + There came a knight to be their wooer, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 2. + He courted the eldest wi' glove and ring, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + But he lo'ed the youngest aboon a' thing, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 3. + He courted the eldest with broach and knife, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + But he lo'ed the youngest aboon his life, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 4. + The eldest she was vexed sair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And sair enved her sister fair, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 5. + The eldest said to the youngest ane, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'Will ye go and see our father's ships come in?' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 6. + She's ta'en her by the lilly hand, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And led her down to the river-strand, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 7. + The youngest stude upon a stane, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + The eldest came and pushed her in, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 8. + She took her by the middle sma', + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And dashed her bonnie back to the jaw, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie/_ + + 9. + 'O sister, sister, reach your hand!' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And ye shall be heir of half my land,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 10. + 'O sister, I'll not reach my hand,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And I'll be heir of all your land,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 11. + 'Shame fa' the hand that I should take,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'It's twin'd me and my world's make,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 12. + 'O sister, reach me but your glove,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And sweet William shall be your love,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 13. + 'Sink on, nor hope for hand or glove,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And sweet William shall better be my love,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 14. + 'Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'Garr'd me gang maiden evermair,' + _By the bonnie mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 15. + Sometimes she sunk, and sometimes she swam, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Until she came to the miller's dam, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 16. + 'O father, father, draw your dam!' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'There's either a mermaid or a milk-white swan,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 17. + The miller hasted and drew his dam, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And there he found a drowned woman, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 18. + You could not see her yellow hair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + For gowd and pearls that were sae rare, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 19. + You could na see her middle sma', + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Her gowden girdle was sae bra', + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 20. + An' by there came a harper fine, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + That harped to the king at dine, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 21. + When he did look that lady upon, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + He sigh'd and made a heavy moan, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 22. + He's ta'en three locks o' her yallow hair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And wi' them strung his harp sae fair, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 23. + The first tune he did play and sing, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, 'Farewell to my father the king,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 24. + The nextin tune that he play'd syne, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, 'Farewell to my mother the queen,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 25. + The lasten tune that he play'd then, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, 'Wae to my sister, fair Ellen!' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + + [Annotations: + 8.3: 'jaw,' wave. + 11.3: 'my world's make,' my earthly mate.] + + + + +YOUNG WATERS + + ++The Text+ is that of a copy mentioned by Percy, 'printed not long since +at Glasgow, in one sheet 8vo. The world was indebted for its publication +to the lady Jean Hume, sister to the Earle of Hume, who died lately at +Gibraltar.' The original edition, discovered by Mr. Macmath after +Professor Child's version (from the _Reliques_) was in print, is:-- +'Young Waters, an Ancient Scottish Poem, never before printed. Glasgow, +printed and sold by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1755.' This was also known +to Maidment. Hardly a word differs from Percy's version; but here I have +substituted the spellings 'wh' for Percy's 'quh,' in 'quhen,' etc., and +'y' for his 'z' in 'zoung, zou,' etc. + ++The Story+ has had historical foundations suggested for it by Percy and +Chambers. Percy identified Young Waters with the Earl of Murray, +murdered, according to the chronicle of Sir James Balfour, on the 7th of +February 1592. Chambers, in 1829, relying on Buchan's version of the +ballad, had no doubt that Young Waters was one of the Scots nobles +executed by James I., and was very probably Walter Stuart, second son of +the Duke of Albany. Thirty years later, Chambers was equally certain +that the ballad was the composition of Lady Wardlaw. + +In a Scandinavian ballad, Folke Lovmandson is a favourite at court; +a little wee page makes the fatal remark and excites the king's +jealousy. The innocent knight is rolled down a hill in a barrel set with +knives--a punishment common in Scandinavian folklore. + + +YOUNG WATERS + + 1. + About Yule, when the wind blew cule, + And the round tables began, + A there is cum to our king's court + Mony a well-favor'd man. + + 2. + The queen luikt owre the castle-wa', + Beheld baith dale and down, + And there she saw Young Waters + Cum riding to the town. + + 3. + His footmen they did rin before, + His horsemen rade behind; + Ane mantel of the burning gowd + Did keip him frae the wind. + + 4. + Gowden-graith'd his horse before, + And siller-shod behind; + The horse Young Waters rade upon + Was fleeter than the wind. + + 5. + Out then spack a wylie lord, + Unto the queen said he: + 'O tell me wha 's the fairest face + Rides in the company?' + + 6. + 'I've sene lord, and I've sene laird, + And knights of high degree, + Bot a fairer face than Young Waters + Mine eyne did never see.' + + 7. + Out then spack the jealous king, + And an angry man was he: + 'O if he had bin twice as fair, + You micht have excepted me.' + + 8. + 'You're neither laird nor lord,' she says, + 'Bot the king that wears the crown; + There is not a knight in fair Scotland + Bot to thee maun bow down.' + + 9. + For a' that she coud do or say, + Appeas'd he wad nae bee, + Bot for the words which she had said, + Young Waters he maun die. + + 10. + They hae ta'en Young Waters, + And put fetters to his feet; + They hae ta'en Young Waters, and + Thrown him in dungeon deep. + + 11. + 'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, + In the wind bot and the weit; + Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town + Wi' fetters at my feet. + + 12. + 'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, + In the wind bot and the rain; + Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town + Neir to return again.' + + 13. + They hae ta'en to the heiding-hill + His young son in his craddle, + And they hae ta'en to the heiding-hill + His horse bot and his saddle. + + 14. + They hae ta'en to heiding-hill + His lady fair to see, + And for the words the queen had spoke + Young Waters he did die. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'round tables,' an unknown game. + 4.1: 'graith'd,' harnessed, usually; here perhaps shod. + 6.1: 'laird,' a landholder, below the degree of knight.--+Jamieson+. + 13.1: 'heiding-hill': _i.e._ heading (beheading) hill. The place of + execution was anciently an artificial hillock.--+Percy+.] + + + + +BARBARA ALLAN + + ++The Text+ is from Allan Ramsay's _Tea-Table Miscellany_ (1763). It was +not included in the first edition (1724-1727), nor until the ninth +edition in 1740, when to the original three volumes there was added a +fourth, in which this ballad appeared. There is also a Scotch version, +_Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan_. Percy printed both in the +_Reliques_, vol. iii. + ++The Story+ of Barbara Allan's scorn of her lover and subsequent regret +has always been popular. Pepys records of Mrs. Knipp, 'In perfect +pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song +of Barbary Allen' (January 2, 1665-6). Goldsmith's words are equally +well known: 'The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt +when an old dairymaid sung me into tears with _Johnny Armstrong's Last +Goodnight_, or _The Cruelty of Barbara Allen_.' The tune is excessively +popular: it is given in Chappell's _English Song and Ballad Music_. + + +BARBARA ALLAN + + 1. + It was in and about the Martinmas time, + When the green leaves were afalling, + That Sir John Grme, in the West Country, + Fell in love with Barbara Allan. + + 2. + He sent his men down through the town, + To the place where she was dwelling; + 'O haste and come to my master dear, + Gin ye be Barbara Allan.' + + 3. + O hooly, hooly rose she up, + To the place where he was lying, + And when she drew the curtain by, + 'Young man, I think you're dying.' + + 4. + 'O it's I am sick, and very, very sick, + And 't is a' for Barbara Allan.' + 'O the better for me ye 's never be, + Tho' your heart's blood were aspilling.' + + 5. + 'O dinna ye mind, young man,' said she, + 'When ye was in the tavern a drinking, + That ye made the healths gae round and round, + And slighted Barbara Allan?' + + 6. + He turn'd his face unto the wall, + And death was with him dealing; + 'Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, + And be kind to Barbara Allan.' + + 7. + And slowly, slowly raise she up, + And slowly, slowly left him, + And sighing, said, she coud not stay, + Since death of life had reft him. + + 8. + She had not gane a mile but twa, + When she heard the dead-bell ringing, + And every jow that the dead-bell geid, + It cry'd, 'Woe to Barbara Allan!' + + 9. + 'O mother, mother, make my bed, + O make it saft and narrow! + Since my love died for me to-day, + I'll die for him to-morrow.' + + + + +THE GAY GOSHAWK + + ++The Text+ is from the Jamieson-Brown MS., on which version Scott drew +partly for his ballad in the _Minstrelsy_. Mrs. Brown recited the ballad +again to William Tytler in 1783, but the result is now lost, with most +of the other Tytler-Brown versions. + ++The Story.+--One point, the maid's feint of death to escape from her +father to her lover, is the subject of a ballad very popular in France; +a version entitled _Belle Isambourg_ is printed in a collection called +_Airs de Cour_, 1607. Feigning death to escape various threats is a +common feature in many European ballads. + +It is perhaps needless to remark that no goshawk sings sweetly, much +less talks. In Buchan's version (of forty-nine stanzas) the goshawk is +exchanged for a parrot. + + +THE GAY GOSHAWK + + 1. + 'O well's me o' my gay goss-hawk, + That he can speak and flee; + He'll carry a letter to my love, + Bring back another to me.' + + 2. + 'O how can I your true-love ken, + Or how can I her know? + When frae her mouth I never heard couth, + Nor wi' my eyes her saw.' + + 3. + 'O well sal ye my true-love ken, + As soon as you her see; + For, of a' the flow'rs in fair Englan', + The fairest flow'r is she. + + 4. + 'At even at my love's bow'r-door + There grows a bowing birk, + An' sit ye down and sing thereon + As she gangs to the kirk. + + 5. + 'An' four-and-twenty ladies fair + Will wash and go to kirk, + But well shall ye my true-love ken, + For she wears goud on her skirt. + + 6. + 'An' four-and-twenty gay ladies + Will to the mass repair, + But well sal ye my true-love ken, + For she wears goud on her hair.' + + 7. + O even at that lady's bow'r-door + There grows a bowin' birk, + An' she sat down and sang thereon, + As she ged to the kirk. + + 8. + 'O eet and drink, my marys a', + The wine flows you among, + Till I gang to my shot-window, + An' hear yon bonny bird's song. + + 9. + 'Sing on, sing on, my bonny bird, + The song ye sang the streen, + For I ken by your sweet singin', + You 're frae my true-love sen'.' + + 10. + O first he sang a merry song, + An' then he sang a grave, + An' then he peck'd his feathers gray, + To her the letter gave. + + 11. + 'Ha, there's a letter frae your love, + He says he sent you three; + He canna wait your love langer, + But for your sake he'll die. + + 12. + 'He bids you write a letter to him; + He says he's sent you five; + He canno wait your love langer, + Tho' you're the fairest woman alive.' + + 13. + 'Ye bid him bake his bridal bread, + And brew his bridal ale, + An' I'll meet him in fair Scotlan' + Lang, lang or it be stale.' + + 14. + She's doen her to her father dear, + Fa'n low down on her knee: + 'A boon, a boon, my father dear, + I pray you, grant it me.' + + 15. + 'Ask on, ask on, my daughter, + An' granted it sal be; + Except ae squire in fair Scotlan', + An' him you sall never see.' + + 16. + 'The only boon my father dear, + That I do crave of the, + Is, gin I die in southin lans, + In Scotland to bury me. + + 17. + 'An' the firstin kirk that ye come till, + Ye gar the bells be rung, + An' the nextin kirk that ye come till, + Ye gar the mess be sung. + + 18. + 'An' the thirdin kirk that ye come till, + You deal gold for my sake, + An' the fourthin kirk that ye come till, + You tarry there till night.' + + 19. + She is doen her to her bigly bow'r, + As fast as she coud fare, + An' she has tane a sleepy draught, + That she had mix'd wi' care. + + 20. + She's laid her down upon her bed, + An' soon she's fa'n asleep, + And soon o'er every tender limb + Cauld death began to creep. + + 21. + Whan night was flown, an' day was come, + Nae ane that did her see + But thought she was as surely dead + As ony lady coud be. + + 22. + Her father an' her brothers dear + Gard make to her a bier; + The tae half was o' guid red gold, + The tither o' silver clear. + + 23. + Her mither an' her sisters fair + Gard work for her a sark; + The tae half was o' cambrick fine, + The tither o' needle wark. + + 24. + The firstin kirk that they came till, + They gard the bells be rung, + An' the nextin kirk that they came till, + They gard the mess be sung. + + 25. + The thirdin kirk that they came till, + They dealt gold for her sake, + An' the fourthin kirk that they came till, + Lo, there they met her make! + + 26. + 'Lay down, lay down the bigly bier, + Lat me the dead look on'; + Wi' cherry cheeks and ruby lips + She lay an' smil'd on him. + + 27. + 'O ae sheave o' your bread, true-love, + An' ae glass o' your wine, + For I hae fasted for your sake + These fully days is nine. + + 28. + 'Gang hame, gang hame, my seven bold brothers, + Gang hame and sound your horn; + An' ye may boast in southin lan's + Your sister's play'd you scorn.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: 'couth,' word.--+Jamieson+. The derivation, from Anglo-Saxon + _cwide_, is hard. + 7.3: 'she' is the goshawk; called 'he' in 1.2. + 8.3: 'shot-window,' here perhaps a bow-window. + 9.2: 'streen' = yestreen, last evening. + 19.1: 'bigly,' _lit._ habitable; the stock epithet of 'bower.' + 25.4: 'make,' mate, lover. + 27.1: 'sheave,' slice.] + + + + +BROWN ROBIN + + ++The Text+ is here given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. Versions, +lengthened and therefore less succinct and natural, are given in +Christie's _Traditional Ballad Airs_ (_Love Robbie_) and in Buchan's +_Ballads of the North of Scotland_ (_Brown Robyn and Mally_). + ++The Story+ is a genuine bit of romance. The proud porter is apparently +suspicious, believing that the king's daughter would not have made him +drunk for any good purpose. In spite of that he cannot see through Brown +Robin's disguise, though the king remarks that 'this is a sturdy dame.' +The king's daughter, one would think, who conceals Robin's bow in her +bosom, must also have been somewhat sturdy. Note the picturesque touch +in 8.2. + + +BROWN ROBIN + + 1. + The king but an' his nobles a' } _bis_ + Sat birling at the wine; } + He would ha' nane but his ae daughter + To wait on them at dine. + + 2. + She's served them butt, she's served them ben, + Intill a gown of green, + But her e'e was ay on Brown Robin, + That stood low under the rain. + + 3. + She's doen her to her bigly bow'r, + As fast as she coud gang, + An' there she's drawn her shot-window, + An' she's harped an' she sang. + + 4. + 'There sits a bird i' my father's garden, + An' O but she sings sweet! + I hope to live an' see the day + When wi' my love I'll meet.' + + 5. + 'O gin that ye like me as well + As your tongue tells to me, + What hour o' the night, my lady bright, + At your bow'r sal I be?' + + 6. + 'Whan my father an' gay Gilbert + Are baith set at the wine, + O ready, ready I will be + To lat my true-love in.' + + 7. + O she has birl'd her father's porter + Wi' strong beer an' wi' wine, + Untill he was as beastly drunk + As ony wild-wood swine: + She's stown the keys o' her father's yates + An latten her true-love in. + + 8. + When night was gane, an' day was come, + An' the sun shone on their feet, + Then out it spake him Brown Robin, + 'I'll be discover'd yet.' + + 9. + Then out it spake that gay lady: + 'My love ye need na doubt, + For wi' ae wile I've got you in, + Wi' anither I'll bring you out.' + + 10. + She's ta'en her to her father's cellar, + As fast as she can fare; + She's drawn a cup o' the gude red wine, + Hung 't low down by her gare; + An' she met wi' her father dear + Just coming down the stair. + + 11. + 'I woud na gi' that cup, daughter, + That ye hold i' your han', + For a' the wines in my cellar, + An' gantrees whare the[y] stan'.' + + 12. + 'O wae be to your wine, father, + That ever 't came o'er the sea; + 'Tis pitten my head in sic a steer + I' my bow'r I canna be.' + + 13. + 'Gang out, gang out, my daughter dear, + Gang out an' tack the air; + Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, + An' a' your marys fair.' + + 14. + Then out it spake the proud porter-- + Our lady wish'd him shame-- + 'We'll send the marys to the wood, + But we'll keep our lady at hame.' + + 15. + 'There's thirty marys i' my bow'r, + There's thirty o' them an' three; + But there 's nae ane amo' them a' + Kens what flow'r gains for me.' + + 16. + She's doen her to her bigly bow'r + As fast as she could gang, + An' she has dresst him Brown Robin + Like ony bow'r-woman. + + 17. + The gown she pat upon her love + Was o' the dainty green, + His hose was o' the saft, saft silk, + His shoon o' the cordwain fine. + + 18. + She's pitten his bow in her bosom, + His arrow in her sleeve, + His sturdy bran' her body next, + Because he was her love. + + 19. + Then she is unto her bow'r-door + As fast as she coud gang; + But out it spake the proud porter-- + Our lady wish'd him shame-- + 'We'll count our marys to the wood, + And we'll count them back again.' + + 20. + The firsten mary she sent out + Was Brown Robin by name; + Then out it spake the king himsel', + 'This is a sturdy dame.' + + 21. + O she went out in a May morning, + In a May morning so gay, + But she never came back again, + Her auld father to see. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'birling,' drinking: cf. 7.1. + 3.1: 'bigly,' commodious: see _The Gay Goshawk_, 19.1. + 3.3: 'shot-window,' here perhaps a shutter with a pane of glass let + in. + 7.1: 'birl'd,' plied: cf. 1.2. + 7.4: Cf. _Fause Footrage_ 16.4: a popular simile. + 7.5: 'stown,' stolen: 'yates,' gates. + 10.4: 'gare,' gore; _i.e._ by her knee: a stock ballad phrase. + 11.4: 'gantrees,' stands for casks. + 12.3: 'sic,' such: the MS. gives _sick_: 'steer,' disturbance. + 13.4: 'marys,' maids. + 15.4: 'gains for,' suits, is meet (Icelandic, _gegna_). Cf. Jamieson's + version of _Sir Patrick Spence_:-- + 'For I brought as much white money + As will gain my men and me.' + 17.4: 'cordwain,' Cordovan (Spanish) leather. + 21.2: 'gay': the MS. gives _gray_. This is Child's emendation, who + points out that the sun was up, 8.2.] + + + + +LADY ALICE + + ++The Text+ of this little ballad is given from Bell's _Ancient Poems, +Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England_. + +It should be compared with _Lord Lovel_. + + +LADY ALICE + + 1. + Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window, + At midnight mending her quoif, + And there she saw as fine a corpse + As ever she saw in her life. + + 2. + 'What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? + What bear ye on your shoulders?' + 'We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, + An old and true lover of yours.' + + 3. + 'O lay him down gently, ye six men tall, + All on the grass so green, + And to-morrow, when the sun goes down, + Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen. + + 4. + 'And bury me in Saint Mary's church, + All for my love so true, + And make me a garland of marjoram, + And of lemon-thyme, and rue.' + + 5. + Giles Collins was buried all in the east, + Lady Alice all in the west, + And the roses that grew on Giles Collins's grave, + They reached Lady Alice's breast. + + 6. + The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, + And he severed those roses in twain; + Sure never were seen such true lovers before, + Nor e'er will there be again. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'quoif,' cap. The line should doubtless be:-- + 'Mending her midnight quoif.'] + + + + +CHILD MAURICE + + ++The Text+ is from the Percy Folio, given _literatim_, with two +rearrangements of the lines (in stt. 4 and 22) and a few obvious +corrections, as suggested by Hales, and Furnivall, and Child. The Folio +version was printed by Jamieson in his _Popular Ballads and Songs_. + +The Scotch version, _Gil Morrice_, was printed by Percy in the +_Reliques_ in preference to the version of his Folio. He notes that the +ballad 'has lately run through two editions in Scotland: the second was +printed at Glasgow in 1755.' Thanks to an advertisement prefixed to +these Scottish editions, sixteen additional verses were obtained and +added by Percy, who thought that they were 'perhaps after all only an +ingenious interpolation.' _Gil Morrice_ introduces 'Lord Barnard' in +place of 'John Steward,' adopted, perhaps, from _Little Musgrave and +Lady Barnard_. Motherwell's versions were variously called _Child +Noryce_, _Bob Norice_, _Gill Morice_, _Chield Morice_. Certainly the +Folio ballad is unsurpassed for its vigorous, objective style, and +forcible, vivid pictures. + ++The Story+ of this ballad gave rise to Home's _Douglas_, a tragedy, +produced in the Concert Hall, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1756 (on which +occasion the heroine's name was given as 'Lady Barnard'), and +transferred to Covent Garden Theatre, in London, in 1757, the heroine's +name being altered to 'Lady Randolph.' + +Perhaps in the same year in which the play was produced in London, the +poet Gray wrote from Cambridge:-- 'I have got the old Scotch ballad on +which _Douglas_ was founded; it is divine, and as long as from hence to +Aston. Aristotle's best rules are observed in it in a manner which shows +the author never had heard of Aristotle. It begins in the fifth act of +the play. You may read it two-thirds through without guessing what it is +about; and yet, when you come to the end, it is impossible not to +understand the whole story.' + + +CHILD MAURICE + + 1. + Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood, + He hunted itt round about, + And noebodye that he ffound therin, + Nor none there was with-out. + + 2. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + And he tooke his siluer combe in his hand, + To kembe his yellow lockes. + + 3. + He sayes, 'Come hither, thou litle ffoot-page, + That runneth lowlye by my knee, + Ffor thou shalt goe to Iohn Stewards wiffe + And pray her speake with mee. + + 4. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + I, and greete thou doe that ladye well, + Euer soe well ffroe mee. + + 5. + 'And, as itt ffalls, as many times + As knotts beene knitt on a kell, + Or marchant men gone to leeue London + Either to buy ware or sell; + + 6. + 'And, as itt ffalles, as many times + As any hart can thinke, + Or schoole-masters are in any schoole-house + Writting with pen and inke: + Ffor if I might, as well as shee may, + This night I wold with her speake. + + 7. + 'And heere I send her a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And bid her come to the siluer wood, + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 8. + 'And there I send her a ring of gold, + A ring of precyous stone, + And bidd her come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor no kind of man.' + + 9. + One while this litle boy he yode, + Another while he ran, + Vntill he came to Iohn Stewards hall, + I-wis he never blan. + + 10. + And of nurture the child had good, + Hee ran vp hall and bower ffree, + And when he came to this lady ffaire, + Sayes, 'God you saue and see! + + 11. + 'I am come ffrom Child Maurice, + A message vnto thee; + And Child Maurice, he greetes you well, + And euer soe well ffrom mee; + + 12. + 'And, as itt ffalls, as oftentimes + As knotts beene knitt on a kell, + Or marchant-men gone to leeue London + Either ffor to buy ware or sell; + + 13. + 'And as oftentimes he greetes you well + As any hart can thinke, + Or schoolemasters are in any schoole, + Wryting with pen and inke. + + 14. + 'And heere he sends a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And he bidds you come to the siluer wood, + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 15. + 'And heere he sends you a ring of gold, + A ring of the precyous stone; + He prayes you to come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor no kind of man.' + + 16. + 'Now peace, now peace, thou litle ffoot-page, + Ffor Christes sake, I pray thee! + Ffor if my lord heare one of these words, + Thou must be hanged hye!' + + 17. + Iohn Steward stood vnder the castle-wall, + And he wrote the words euerye one, + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 18. + And he called vnto his hors-keeper, + 'Make readye you my steede!' + I, and soe he did to his chamberlaine, + 'Make readye thou my weede!' + + 19. + And he cast a lease vpon his backe, + And he rode to the siluer wood, + And there he sought all about, + About the siluer wood. + + 20. + And there he ffound him Child Maurice + Sitting vpon a blocke, + With a siluer combe in his hand, + Kembing his yellow locke. + + ... ... ... + + 21. + But then stood vp him Child Maurice, + And sayd these words trulye: + 'I doe not know your ladye,' he said, + 'If that I doe her see.' + + 22. + He sayes, 'How now, how now, Child Maurice? + Alacke, how may this bee? + Ffor thou hast sent her loue-tokens, + More now then two or three; + + 23. + 'Ffor thou hast sent her a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And bade her come to the siluer woode + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 24. + 'And thou [hast] sent her a ring of gold, + A ring of precyous stone, + And bade her come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor noe kind of man. + + 25. + 'And by my ffaith, now, Child Maurice, + The tone of vs shall dye!' + 'Now be my troth,' sayd Child Maurice, + 'And that shall not be I.' + + 26. + But hee pulled forth a bright browne sword, + And dryed itt on the grasse, + And soe ffast he smote att Iohn Steward, + I-wisse he neuer rest. + + 27. + Then hee pulled fforth his bright browne sword, + And dryed itt on his sleeue, + And the ffirst good stroke Iohn Stewart stroke, + Child Maurice head he did cleeue. + + 28. + And he pricked itt on his swords poynt, + Went singing there beside, + And he rode till he came to that ladye ffaire, + Wheras this ladye lyed. + + 29. + And sayes, 'Dost thou know Child Maurice head, + If that thou dost itt see? + And lap itt soft, and kisse itt oft, + For thou louedst him better than mee.' + + 30. + But when shee looked on Child Maurice head, + She neuer spake words but three: + 'I neuer beare no child but one, + And you haue slaine him trulye.' + + 31. + Sayes, 'Wicked be my merrymen all, + I gaue meate, drinke, and clothe! + But cold they not haue holden me + When I was in all that wrath! + + 32. + 'Ffor I haue slaine one of the curteousest knights + That euer bestrode a steed, + Soe haue I done one [of] the fairest ladyes + That euer ware womans weede!' + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'siluer': the Folio gives _siluen_. + 4.3,4: These lines in the Folio precede st. 6. + 5.2: _i.e._ as many times as there are knots knit in a net for the + hair; cf. French _cale_. + 5.3: 'leeue,' lovely. + 8.4: 'Let,' fail: it is the infinitive, governed by 'bidd.' + 9.1: 'yode,' went. + 9.4: 'blan,' lingered. + 13.3: 'are': omitted in the Folio. + 18.3: 'I,' aye. + 19.1: 'lease,' leash, thong, string: perhaps for bringing back any + game he might kill. + After 20 at least one verse is lost. + 22.1,2: In the Folio these lines precede 21.1,2. + 24.1: 'hast' omitted in the Folio. + 25.2: 'tone,' the one (or other).] + + + + +FAUSE FOOTRAGE + + ++The Text+ is from Alexander Fraser Tytler's Brown MS., which was also +the source of Scott's version in the _Minstrelsy_. One line (31.1), +closely resembling a line in Lady Wardlaw's forged ballad _Hardyknute_, +caused Sir Walter to investigate strictly the authenticity of the +ballad, but the evidence of Lady Douglas, that she had learned the +ballad in her childhood, and could still repeat much of it, removed his +doubts. It is, however, quite possible, as Professor Child points out, +'that Mrs. Brown may unconsciously have adopted this verse from the +tiresome and affected _Hardyknute_, so much esteemed in her day.' + ++The Story.+--In _The Complaynt of Scotlande_ (1549) there is mentioned +a tale 'how the King of Estmure Land married the King's daughter of +Westmure Land,' and it has been suggested that there is a connection +with the ballad. + +This is another of the ballads of which the English form has become so +far corrupted that we have to seek its Scandinavian counterpart to +obtain the full form of the story. The ballad is especially popular in +Denmark, where it is found in twenty-three manuscripts, as follows:-- + +The rich Svend wooes Lisbet, who favours William for his good qualities. +Svend, ill with grief, is well-advised by his mother, not to care for a +plighted maid, and ill-advised by his sister, to kill William. Svend +takes the latter advice, and kills William. Forty weeks later, Lisbet +gives birth to a son, but Svend is told that the child is a girl. +Eighteen years later, the young William, sporting with a peasant, +quarrels with him; the peasant retorts, 'You had better avenge your +father's death.' Young William asks his mother who slew his father, and +she, thinking him too young to fight, counsels him to bring Svend to a +court. William charges him in the court with the murder of his father, +and says that no compensation has been offered. Not a penny shall be +paid, says Svend. William draws his sword, and slays him. + +Icelandic, Swedish, and Fre ballads tell a similar story. + + +FAUSE FOOTRAGE + + 1. + King Easter has courted her for her gowd, + King Wester for her fee; + King Honor for her lands sae braid, + And for her fair body. + + 2. + They had not been four months married, + As I have heard them tell, + Until the nobles of the land + Against them did rebel. + + 3. + And they cast kaivles them amang, + And kaivles them between; + And they cast kaivles them amang, + Wha shoud gae kill the king. + + 4. + O some said yea, and some said nay, + Their words did not agree; + Till up it gat him Fa'se Footrage, + And sware it shoud be he. + + 5. + When bells were rung, and mass was sung, + And a' man boon to bed, + King Honor and his gay ladie + In a hie chamer were laid. + + 6. + Then up it raise him Fa'se Footrage, + While a' were fast asleep, + And slew the porter in his lodge, + That watch and ward did keep. + + 7. + O four and twenty silver keys + Hang hie upon a pin, + And ay as a door he did unlock, + He has fasten'd it him behind. + + 8. + Then up it raise him King Honor, + Says, 'What means a' this din? + Now what's the matter, Fa'se Footrage, + Or wha was't loot you in?' + + 9. + 'O ye my errand well shall learn + Before that I depart'; + Then drew a knife baith lang and sharp + And pierced him thro' the heart. + + 10. + Then up it got the Queen hersell, + And fell low down on her knee: + 'O spare my life now, Fa'se Footrage! + For I never injured thee. + + 11. + 'O spare my life now, Fa'se Footrage! + Until I lighter be! + And see gin it be lad or lass, + King Honor has left me wi'.' + + 12. + 'O gin it be a lass,' he says, + 'Weel nursed she shall be; + But gin it be a lad-bairn, + He shall be hanged hie. + + 13. + 'I winna spare his tender age, + Nor yet his hie, hie kin; + But as soon as e'er he born is, + He shall mount the gallows-pin.' + + 14. + O four and twenty valiant knights + Were set the Queen to guard, + And four stood ay at her bower-door, + To keep baith watch and ward. + + 15. + But when the time drew till an end + That she should lighter be, + She cast about to find a wile + To set her body free. + + 16. + O she has birled these merry young men + Wi' strong beer and wi' wine, + Until she made them a' as drunk + As any wall-wood swine. + + 17. + 'O narrow, narrow is this window, + And big, big am I grown!' + Yet thro' the might of Our Ladie, + Out at it she has won. + + 18. + She wander'd up, she wander'd down, + She wander'd out and in; + And at last, into the very swines' stye, + The Queen brought forth a son. + + 19. + Then they cast kaivles them amang + Wha should gae seek the Queen; + And the kaivle fell upon Wise William, + And he's sent his wife for him. + + 20. + O when she saw Wise William's wife, + The Queen fell on her knee; + 'Win up, win up, madame,' she says, + 'What means this courtesie?' + + 21. + 'O out of this I winna rise, + Till a boon ye grant to me, + To change your lass for this lad-bairn, + King Honor left me wi'. + + 22. + 'And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke + Well how to breast a steed; + And I shall learn your turtle-dow + As well to write and read. + + 23. + 'And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke + To wield baith bow and brand; + And I sall learn your turtle-dow + To lay gowd wi' her hand. + + 24. + 'At kirk and market where we meet, + We dare nae mair avow + But--"Dame, how does my gay gose-hawk?" + "Madame, how does my dow?"' + + 25. + When days were gane, and years come on, + Wise William he thought long; + Out has he ta'en King Honor's son, + A hunting for to gang. + + 26. + It sae fell out at their hunting, + Upon a summer's day, + That they cam' by a fair castle, + Stood on a sunny brae. + + 27. + 'O dinna ye see that bonny castle + Wi' wa's and towers sae fair? + Gin ilka man had back his ain, + Of it you shoud be heir.' + + 28. + 'How I shoud be heir of that castle, + In sooth I canna see; + When it belongs to Fa'se Footrage, + And he's nae kin to me.' + + 29. + 'O gin ye shoud kill him Fa'se Footrage, + You woud do what is right; + For I wot he kill'd your father dear, + Ere ever you saw the light. + + 30. + 'Gin you shoud kill him Fa'se Footrage, + There is nae man durst you blame; + For he keeps your mother a prisoner, + And she dares no take you hame.' + + 31. + The boy stared wild like a gray gose-hawk, + Says, 'What may a' this mean?' + 'My boy, you are King Honor's son, + And your mother's our lawful queen.' + + 32. + 'O gin I be King Honor's son, + By Our Ladie I swear, + This day I will that traytour slay, + And relieve my mother dear!' + + 33. + He has set his bent bow till his breast, + And lap the castle-wa'; + And soon he's siesed on Fa'se Footrage, + Wha loud for help gan ca'. + + 34. + 'O haud your tongue now, Fa'se Footrage, + Frae me ye shanno flee.' + Syne pierced him through the foul fa'se heart, + And set his mother free. + + 35. + And he has rewarded Wise William + Wi' the best half of his land; + And sae has he the turtle dow + Wi' the truth o' his right hand. + + + [Annotations: + 3.1: 'kaivles,' lots. + 13.4: 'gallows-pin,' the projecting beam of the gallows. + 16.1: 'birled,' plied. + 16.4: 'wallwood,' wild wood: a conventional ballad-phrase. + 25.2: A stock ballad-phrase. + 33.1: A ballad conventionality.] + + + + +FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL + + 'Ouvre ta port', Germin', c'est moi qu'est ton mari.' + 'Donnez-moi des indic's de la premire nuit, + Et par l je croirai que vous et's mon mari.' + + --_Germaine._ + + ++The Text+ is Fraser Tytler's, taken down from the recitation of Mrs. +Brown in 1800, who had previously (1783) recited a similar version to +Jamieson. The later recitation, which was used by Scott, with others, +seems to contain certain improvisations of Mrs. Brown's which do not +appear in the earlier form. + ++The Story.+--A mother, who feigns to be her own son and demands tokens +of the girl outside the gate, turns her son's love away, and is cursed +by him. Similar ballads exist in France, Germany, and Greece. + +There is an early eighteenth-century MS. (Elizabeth Cochrane's +_Song-Book_) of this ballad, which gives a preliminary history. Isabel +of Rochroyal dreams of her love Gregory; she rises up, calls for a swift +steed, and rides forth till she meets a company. They ask her who she +is, and are told that she is 'Fair Isabel of Rochroyal,' seeking her +true-love Gregory. They direct her to 'yon castle'; and thenceforth the +tale proceeds much as in the other versions. + +'Lochryan,' says Scott, 'lies in Galloway; Roch--or Rough--royal, I have +not found, but there is a Rough castle in Stirlingshire' (Child). + + +FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL + + 1. + 'O wha will shoe my fu' fair foot? + And wha will glove my hand? + And wha will lace my middle jimp, + Wi' the new-made London band? + + 2. + 'And wha will kaim my yellow hair, + Wi' the new-made silver kaim? + And wha will father my young son, + Till Love Gregor come hame?' + + 3. + 'Your father will shoe your fu' fair foot, + Your mother will glove your hand; + Your sister will lace your middle jimp + Wi' the new-made London band. + + 4. + 'Your brother will kaim your yellow hair, + Wi' the new-made silver kaim; + And the king of heaven will father your bairn, + Till Love Gregor come haim.' + + 5. + 'But I will get a bonny boat, + And I will sail the sea, + For I maun gang to Love Gregor, + Since he canno come hame to me.' + + 6. + O she has gotten a bonny boat, + And sail'd the sa't sea fame; + She lang'd to see her ain true-love, + Since he could no come hame. + + 7. + 'O row your boat, my mariners, + And bring me to the land, + For yonder I see my love's castle, + Closs by the sa't sea strand.' + + 8. + She has ta'en her young son in her arms, + And to the door she's gone, + And lang she's knock'd and sair she ca'd, + But answer got she none. + + 9. + 'O open the door, Love Gregor,' she says, + 'O open, and let me in; + For the wind blaws thro' my yellow hair, + And the rain draps o'er my chin.' + + 10. + 'Awa', awa', ye ill woman, + You 'r nae come here for good; + You 'r but some witch, or wile warlock, + Or mer-maid of the flood.' + + 11. + 'I am neither a witch nor a wile warlock, + Nor mer-maid of the sea, + I am Fair Annie of Rough Royal; + O open the door to me.' + + 12. + 'Gin ye be Annie of Rough Royal-- + And I trust ye are not she-- + Now tell me some of the love-tokens + That past between you and me.' + + 13. + 'O dinna you mind now, Love Gregor, + When we sat at the wine, + How we changed the rings frae our fingers? + And I can show thee thine. + + 14. + 'O yours was good, and good enneugh, + But ay the best was mine; + For yours was o' the good red goud, + But mine o' the dimonds fine. + + 15. + 'But open the door now, Love Gregor, + O open the door I pray, + For your young son that is in my arms + Will be dead ere it be day.' + + 16. + 'Awa', awa', ye ill woman, + For here ye shanno win in; + Gae drown ye in the raging sea, + Or hang on the gallows-pin.' + + 17. + When the cock had crawn, and day did dawn, + And the sun began to peep, + Then it raise him Love Gregor, + And sair, sair did he weep. + + 18. + 'O I dream'd a dream, my mother dear, + The thoughts o' it gars me greet, + That Fair Annie of Rough Royal + Lay cauld dead at my feet.' + + 19. + 'Gin it be for Annie of Rough Royal + That ye make a' this din, + She stood a' last night at this door, + But I trow she wan no in.' + + 20. + 'O wae betide ye, ill woman, + An ill dead may ye die! + That ye woudno open the door to her, + Nor yet woud waken me.' + + 21. + O he has gone down to yon shore-side, + As fast as he could fare; + He saw Fair Annie in her boat + But the wind it toss'd her sair. + + 22. + And 'Hey, Annie!' and 'How, Annie! + O Annie, winna ye bide?' + But ay the mair that he cried 'Annie,' + The braider grew the tide. + + 23. + And 'Hey, Annie!' and 'How, Annie! + Dear Annie, speak to me!' + But ay the louder he cried 'Annie,' + The louder roar'd the sea. + + 24. + The wind blew loud, the sea grew rough, + And dash'd the boat on shore; + Fair Annie floats on the raging sea, + But her young son raise no more. + + 25. + Love Gregor tare his yellow hair, + And made a heavy moan; + Fair Annie's corpse lay at his feet, + But his bonny young son was gone. + + 26. + O cherry, cherry was her cheek, + And gowden was her hair, + But clay cold were her rosey lips, + Nae spark of life was there. + + 27. + And first he's kiss'd her cherry cheek, + And neist he's kissed her chin; + And saftly press'd her rosey lips, + But there was nae breath within. + + 28. + 'O wae betide my cruel mother, + And an ill dead may she die! + For she turn'd my true-love frae the door, + When she came sae far to me.' + + + [Annotations: + 10.3: 'warlock,' wizard, magician. + 18.2: 'gars me greet,' makes me weep.] + + + + +HIND HORN + + ++The Text+ is from Motherwell's MS., written from the recitation of a +Mrs. King of Kilbarchan. + ++The Story+ of the ballad is a mere remnant of the story told in the +Gest of King Horn, preserved in three manuscripts, the oldest of which +belongs to the thirteenth century. Similar stories are given in a French +romance of the fourteenth century, and an English manuscript of the same +date. The complete story in the Gest may be condensed as follows:-- + +Horn, son of Murry, King of Suddenne, was captured by Saracens, who +killed his father, and turned him and his twelve companions adrift in a +boat, which was eventually beached safely on the coast of Westerness, +and Ailmar the king took them in and brought them up. Rymenhild his +daughter, falling in love with Horn, offered herself to him. He refused, +unless she would make the king knight him. She did so, and again claimed +his love; but he said he must first prove his knighthood. She gave him a +ring set with stones, such that he could never be slain if he looked on +it and thought of her. His first feat was the slaying of a hundred +heathens; then he returned to Rymenhild. Meanwhile, however, one of his +companions had told the king that Horn meant to kill him and wed his +daughter. Ailmar ordered Horn to quit his court; and Horn, having told +Rymenhild that if he did not come back in seven years she might marry +another, sailed to the court of King Thurston in Ireland, where he +stayed for seven years, performing feats of valour with the aid of +Rymenhild's ring. + +At the end of the allotted time, Rymenhild was to be married to King +Modi of Reynis. Horn, hearing of this, went back to Westerness, arrived +on the marriage-morn, met a palmer (the old beggar man of the ballad), +changed clothes with him, and entered the hall. According to custom, +Rymenhild served wine to the guests, and as Horn drank, he dropped her +ring into the vessel. When she discovered it, she sent for the palmer, +and questioned him. He said Horn had died on the voyage thither. +Rymenhild seized a knife she had hidden to kill King Modi and herself if +Horn came not, and set it to her breast. The palmer threw off his +disguise, saying, 'I am Horn.' Still he would not wed her till he had +regained his father's kingdom of Suddenne, and went away and did so. +Meanwhile a false friend seized Rymenhild; but on the marriage-day Horn +returned, killed him, and finally made Rymenhild his wife and Queen of +Suddenne. + +Compare the story of Torello and the Saladin in the _Decameron_, Tenth +Day, Novel 9. + + +HIND HORN + + 1. + In Scotland there was a babie born, + _Lill lal, etc._ + And his name it was called young Hind Horn, + _With a fal lal, etc._ + + 2. + He sent a letter to our king + That he was in love with his daughter Jean.[A] + + ... ... ... + + 3. + He's gi'en to her a silver wand, + With seven living lavrocks sitting thereon. + + 4. + She's gi'en to him a diamond ring, + With seven bright diamonds set therein. + + 5. + 'When this ring grows pale and wan, + You may know by it my love is gane.' + + 6. + One day as he looked his ring upon, + He saw the diamonds pale and wan. + + 7. + He left the sea and came to land, + And the first that he met was an old beggar man. + + 8. + 'What news, what news?' said young Hind Horn; + 'No news, no news,' said the old beggar man. + + 9. + 'No news,' said the beggar, 'no news at a', + But there is a wedding in the king's ha'. + + 10. + 'But there is a wedding in the king's ha', + That has halden these forty days and twa.' + + 11. + 'Will ye lend me your begging coat? + And I'll lend you my scarlet cloak. + + 12. + 'Will you lend me your beggar's rung? + And I'll gi'e you my steed to ride upon. + + 13. + 'Will you lend me your wig o' hair, + To cover mine, because it is fair?' + + 14. + The auld beggar man was bound for the mill, + But young Hind Horn for the king's hall. + + 15. + The auld beggar man was bound for to ride, + But young Hind Horn was bound for the bride. + + 16. + When he came to the king's gate, + He sought a drink for Hind Horn's sake. + + 17. + The bride came down with a glass of wine, + When he drank out the glass, and dropt in the ring. + + 18. + 'O got ye this by sea or land? + Or got ye it off a dead man's hand?' + + 19. + 'I got not it by sea, I got it by land, + And I got it, madam, out of your own hand.' + + 20. + 'O I'll cast off my gowns of brown, + And beg wi' you frae town to town. + + 21. + 'O I'll cast off my gowns of red, + And I'll beg wi' you to win my bread.' + + 22. + 'Ye needna cast off your gowns of brown, + For I'll make you lady o' many a town. + + 23. + 'Ye needna cast off your gowns of red, + It's only a sham, the begging o' my bread.' + + 24. + The bridegroom he had wedded the bride, + But young Hind Horn he took her to bed. + + [Footnote A: After stanza 2 there is a gap in the story. Other + versions say that Hind Horn goes, or is sent, to sea.] + + + [Annotations: + 10.2: The bride has lingered six weeks in hopes of Hind Horn's return. + 12.1: 'rung,' staff.] + + + + +EDWARD + + ++The Text+ is that given by Percy in the _Reliques_ (1765), with the +substitution of _w_ for initial _qu_, and _y_ for initial _z_, as in +_Young Waters_ (see p. 146). In the fourth edition of the _Reliques_ +Percy states that 'this curious song was transmitted to the editor by +Sir David Dalrymple, Bart., late Lord Hailes.' + +Percy's adoption of antique spelling in this ballad has caused some +doubt to be thrown on its authenticity; but there is also a version _Son +Davie_, given in his _Minstrelsy_ by Motherwell, who, in referring to +the version in the _Reliques_, said there was reason for believing that +Lord Hailes 'made a few slight verbal improvements in the copy he +transmitted, and altered the hero's name to Edward, a name which, by the +bye, never occurs in a Scottish ballad except where allusion is made to +an English king.' + ++The Story+ has a close parallel in Swedish, the form of the ballad +remaining in dialogue. + +Motherwell points out that the verses of which _Edward_ consists +generally form the conclusion of the ballad of _The Twa Brothers_, and +also of certain versions of _Lizie Wan_; and is inclined to regard +_Edward_ as detached from one of those ballads. More probably the +reverse is the case, that the story of _Edward_ has been attached to the +other ballads. + +The present version of the ballad exhibits an unusual amplification of +the refrain. The story is told in two lines of each eight-lined stanza; +but the lyrical effect added by the elaborate refrain is almost unique. + + +EDWARD + + 1. + 'Why dois your brand sae drap wi' bluid, + Edward, Edward? + Why dois your brand sae drap wi' bluid, + And why sae sad gang yee, O?' + 'O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid, + And I had nae mair bot hee, O.' + + 2. + 'Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, + Edward, Edward. + Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, + My deir son I tell thee, O.' + 'O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid, + That erst was sae fair and frie, O.' + + 3. + 'Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, + Edward, Edward: + Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, + Sum other dule ye drie, O.' + 'O, I hae killed my fadir deir, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my fadir deir, + Alas! and wae is mee, O!' + + 4. + 'And whatten penance wul ye drie for that, + Edward, Edward? + And whatten penance will ye drie for that. + My deir son, now tell me, O, + 'Ile set my feit in yonder boat, + Mither, mither: + Ile set my feit in yonder boat, + And Ile fare ovir the sea, O.' + + 5. + 'And what wul ye doe wi' your towirs and your ha', + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye doe wi' your towirs and your ha', + That were sae fair to see, O?' + 'Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa', + Mither, mither: + Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa', + For here nevir mair maun I bee, O.' + + 6. + 'And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, + Whan ye gang ovir the sea, O?' + 'The warldis room, late them beg thrae life, + Mither, mither: + The warldis room, let them beg thrae life, + For thame nevir mair wul I see, O.' + + 7. + 'And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir, + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir? + My deir son, now tell me, O.' + 'The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, + Mither, mither: + The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, + Sic counseils ye gave to me, O.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.4: 'dule,' grief; 'drie,' suffer. + 6.5,7: _i.e._ The world is wide.] + + + + +LORD RANDAL + + ++The Text+ is from Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_ (1803). +Other forms give the name as _Lord Ronald_, but Scott retains _Randal_ +on the supposition that the ballad originated in the death of 'Thomas +Randolph, or Randal, Earl of Murray, nephew to Robert Bruce, and +governor of Scotland,' who died at Musselburgh in 1332. + ++The Story+ of the ballad is found in Italian tradition nearly three +hundred years ago, and also occurs in Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, +Magyar, Wendish, etc. + +Certain variants of the ballad bear the title of _The Croodlin Doo_, and +the 'handsome young man' is changed for a child, and the poisoner is the +child's step-mother. Scott suggests that this change was made 'to excite +greater interest in the nursery.' In nearly all forms of the ballad, the +poisoning is done by the substitution of snakes ('eels') for fish, a +common method amongst the ancients of administering poison. + +Child gives a collation of seven versions secured in America of late +years, in each of which the name of Lord Randal has become corrupted to +'Tiranti.' + +The antiphonetic form of the ballad is popular, as being dramatic and +suitable for singing. Compare _Edward_, also a dialogue between mother +and son. + + +LORD RANDAL + + 1. + 'O where hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son? + O where hae ye been, my handsome young man?' + 'I hae been to the wild wood; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 2. + 'Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young man?' + 'I din'd wi' my true-love; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 3. + 'What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + What gat ye to your dinner, my handsome young man?' + 'I gat eels boil'd in broo'; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 4. + 'What became of your bloodhounds, Lord Randal, my son? + What became of your bloodhounds, my handsome young man?' + 'O they swell'd and they died; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 5. + 'O I fear ye are poison'd, Lord Randal, my son! + O I fear ye are poison'd, my handsome young man!' + 'O yes, I am poison'd; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wald lie down.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.3: 'broo',' broth.] + + + + +LAMKIN + + ++The Text+ is from Jamieson's _Popular Ballads_. He obtained it from +Mrs. Brown. It is by far the best version of a score or so in existence. +The name of the hero varies from Lamkin, Lankin, Lonkin, etc., to Rankin +and Balcanqual. I have been informed by Andrew McDowall, Esq., of an +incomplete version in which Lamkin's name has become 'Bold Hang'em.' + +Finlay (_Scottish Ballads_) remarks:-- 'All reciters agree that +Lammikin, or Lambkin, is not the name of the hero, but merely an +epithet.' + ++The Story+ varies little throughout all the versions, though in some, +as in one known to Percy, it lacks much of the detail here given. + + +LAMKIN + + 1. + It's Lamkin was a mason good + As ever built wi' stane; + He built Lord Wearie's castle, + But payment got he nane. + + 2. + 'O pay me, Lord Wearie, + Come, pay me my fee': + 'I canna pay you, Lamkin, + For I maun gang o'er the sea.' + + 3. + 'O pay me now, Lord Wearie, + Come, pay me out o' hand': + 'I canna pay you, Lamkin, + Unless I sell my land.' + + 4. + 'O gin ye winna pay me, + I here sail mak' a vow, + Before that ye come hame again, + Ye sall hae cause to rue.' + + 5. + Lord Wearie got a bonny ship, + To sail the saut sea faem; + Bade his lady weel the castle keep, + Ay till he should come hame. + + 6. + But the nourice was a fause limmer + As e'er hung on a tree; + She laid a plot wi' Lamkin, + Whan her lord was o'er the sea. + + 7. + She laid a plot wi' Lamkin, + When the servants were awa', + Loot him in at a little shot-window, + And brought him to the ha'. + + 8. + 'O whare's a' the men o' this house, + That ca' me Lamkin?' + 'They're at the barn-well thrashing; + 'Twill be lang ere they come in.' + + 9. + 'And whare's the women o' this house, + That ca' me Lamkin?' + 'They're at the far well washing; + 'Twill be lang ere they come in.' + + 10. + 'And whare's the bairns o' this house, + That ca' me Lamkin?' + 'They're at the school reading; + 'Twill be night or they come hame.' + + 11. + 'O whare's the lady o' this house, + That ca's me Lamkin?' + 'She's up in her bower sewing, + But we soon can bring her down.' + + 12. + Then Lamkin's tane a sharp knife, + That hung down by his gaire, + And he has gi'en the bonny babe + A deep wound and a sair. + + 13. + Then Lamkin he rocked, + And the fause nourice sang, + Till frae ilkae bore o' the cradle + The red blood out sprang. + + 14. + Then out it spak' the lady, + As she stood on the stair: + 'What ails my bairn, nourice, + That he's greeting sae sair? + + 15. + 'O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi' the pap!' + 'He winna still, lady, + For this nor for that.' + + 16. + 'O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi' the wand!' + 'He winna still, lady, + For a' his father's land.' + + 17. + 'O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi' the bell!' + 'He winna still, lady, + Till ye come down yoursel'.' + + 18. + O the firsten step she steppit, + She steppit on a stane; + But the neisten step she steppit, + She met him Lamkin. + + 19. + 'O mercy, mercy, Lamkin, + Hae mercy upon me! + Though you've ta'en my young son's life, + Ye may let mysel' be.' + + 20. + 'O sall I kill her, nourice, + Or sall I lat her be?' + 'O kill her, kill her, Lamkin, + For she ne'er was good to me.' + + 21. + 'O scour the bason, nourice, + And mak' it fair and clean, + For to keep this lady's heart's blood, + For she's come o' noble kin.' + + 22. + 'There need nae bason, Lamkin, + Lat it run through the floor; + What better is the heart's blood + O' the rich than o' the poor?' + + 23. + But ere three months were at an end, + Lord Wearie came again; + But dowie, dowie was his heart + When first he came hame. + + 24. + 'O wha's blood is this,' he says, + 'That lies in the chamer?' + 'It is your lady's heart's blood; + 'T is as clear as the lamer.' + + 25. + 'And wha's blood is this,' he says, + 'That lies in my ha'?' + 'It is your young son's heart's blood; + 'Tis the clearest ava.' + + 26. + O sweetly sang the black-bird + That sat upon the tree; + But sairer grat Lamkin, + When he was condemn'd to die. + + 27. + And bonny sang the mavis + Out o' the thorny brake; + But sairer grat the nourice, + When she was tied to the stake. + + + [Annotations: + 6.1: 'limmer,' wretch, rascal. + 7.3: 'shot-window': see special section of the Introduction. + 12.2: 'gaire'; _i.e._ by his knee: see special section of the + Introduction. + 13.3: 'bore,' hole, crevice. + 14.4: 'greeting,' crying. + 23.3: 'dowie,' sad. + 24.2: 'chamer,' chamber. + 24.4: 'lamer,' amber. + 25.4: 'ava,' at all. + 26.3: 'grat,' greeted, wept.] + + + + +FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON + + ++The Text+ is from _Lovely Jenny's Garland_, as given with emendations +by Professor Child. There is also a curiously perverted version in +Herd's manuscript, in which the verses require rearrangement before +becoming intelligible. + ++The Story+ can be gathered from the version here given without much +difficulty. It turns on the marriage of Fair Mary, who is one of seven +sisters fated to die of their first child. Fair Mary seems to be a +fatalist, and, after vowing never to marry, accepts as her destiny the +hand of Sir William Fenwick of Wallington. Three-quarters of a year +later she sends to fair Pudlington for her mother. Her mother is much +affected at the news (st. 22), and goes to Wallington. Her daughter, in +travail, lays the blame on her, cuts open her side to give birth to an +heir, and dies. + +In a Breton ballad Pontplancoat thrice marries a Marguerite, and each of +his three sons costs his mother her life. + +In the Scottish ballad, a 'scope' is put in Mary's mouth when the +operation takes place. In the Breton ballad it is a silver spoon or a +silver ball. 'Scope,' or 'scobs' as it appears in Herd, means a gag, and +was apparently used to prevent her from crying out. But the silver spoon +and ball in the Breton ballad would appear to have been used for +Marguerite to bite on in her anguish, just as sailors chewed bullets +while being flogged. + + +FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON + + 1. + When we were silly sisters seven, + Sisters were so fair, + Five of us were brave knights' wives, + And died in childbed lair. + + 2. + Up then spake Fair Mary, + Marry woud she nane; + If ever she came in man's bed, + The same gate wad she gang. + + 3. + 'Make no vows, Fair Mary, + For fear they broken be; + Here's been the Knight of Wallington, + Asking good will of thee.' + + 4. + 'If here's been the knight, mother, + Asking good will of me, + Within three quarters of a year + You may come bury me.' + + 5. + When she came to Wallington, + And into Wallington hall, + There she spy'd her mother dear, + Walking about the wall. + + 6. + 'You're welcome, daughter dear, + To thy castle and thy bowers'; + 'I thank you kindly, mother, + I hope they'll soon be yours.' + + 7. + She had not been in Wallington + Three quarters and a day, + Till upon the ground she could not walk, + She was a weary prey. + + 8. + She had not been in Wallington + Three quarters and a night, + Till on the ground she coud not walk, + She was a weary wight. + + 9. + 'Is there ne'er a boy in this town, + Who'll win hose and shun, + That will run to fair Pudlington, + And bid my mother come?' + + 10. + Up then spake a little boy, + Near unto a-kin; + 'Full oft I have your errands gone, + But now I will it run.' + + 11. + Then she call'd her waiting-maid + To bring up bread and wine; + 'Eat and drink, my bonny boy, + Thou'll ne'er eat more of mine. + + 12. + 'Give my respects to my mother, + She sits in her chair of stone, + And ask her how she likes the news, + Of seven to have but one. + + 13. + 'Give my respects to my mother, + As she sits in her chair of oak, + And bid her come to my sickening, + Or my merry lake-wake. + + 14. + 'Give my love to my brother + William, Ralph, and John, + And to my sister Betty fair, + And to her white as bone: + + 15. + 'And bid her keep her maidenhead, + Be sure make much on 't, + For if e'er she come in man's bed, + The same gate will she gang.' + + 16. + Away this little boy is gone, + As fast as he could run; + When he came where brigs were broke, + He lay down and swum. + + 17. + When he saw the lady, he said, + 'Lord may your keeper be!' + 'What news, my pretty boy, + Hast thou to tell to me?' + + 18. + 'Your daughter Mary orders me, + As you sit in a chair of stone, + To ask you how you like the news, + Of seven to have but one. + + 19. + 'Your daughter gives commands, + As you sit in a chair of oak, + And bids you come to her sickening, + Or her merry lake-wake. + + 20. + 'She gives command to her brother + William, Ralph, and John, + [And] to her sister Betty fair, + And to her white as bone. + + 21. + 'She bids her keep her maidenhead, + Be sure make much on 't, + For if e'er she came in man's bed, + The same gate woud she gang.' + + 22. + She kickt the table with her foot, + She kickt it with her knee, + The silver plate into the fire, + So far she made it flee. + + 23. + Then she call'd her waiting-maid + To bring her riding-hood, + So did she on her stable-groom + To bring her riding-steed. + + 24. + 'Go saddle to me the black, [the black,] + Go saddle to me the brown, + Go saddle to me the swiftest steed + That e'er rid [to] Wallington.' + + 25. + When they came to Wallington, + And into Wallington hall, + There she spy'd her son Fenwick, + Walking about the wall. + + 26. + 'God save you, dear son, + Lord may your keeper be! + Where is my daughter fair, + That used to walk with thee?' + + 27. + He turn'd his head round about, + The tears did fill his e'e: + ''Tis a month' he said, 'since she + Took her chambers from me.' + + 28. + She went on . . . + And there were in the hall + Four and twenty ladies, + Letting the tears down fall. + + 29. + Her daughter had a scope + Into her cheek and into her chin, + All to keep her life + Till her dear mother came. + + 30. + 'Come take the rings off my fingers, + The skin it is so white, + And give them to my mother dear, + For she was all the wite. + + 31. + 'Come take the rings off my fingers, + The veins they are so red, + Give them to Sir William Fenwick, + I'm sure his heart will bleed.' + + 32. + She took out a razor + That was both sharp and fine, + And out of her left side has taken + The heir of Wallington. + + 33. + There is a race in Wallington, + And that I rue full sare; + Tho' the cradle it be full spread up + The bride-bed is left bare. + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'silly,' simple. + 1.4: 'lair,' lying-in. + 2.4: 'gate,' way. + 5.3: 'her mother' is, of course, her mother-in-law. + 9.2: 'shun' = shoon, shoes. + 13: This stanza is not in the original, but is supplied from the boy's + repetition, st. 19. + 13.4: 'lake-wake' = lyke-wake: watching by a corpse. + 22: This, in ballads, is a customary method of giving expression to + strong emotion. + 29.1: 'scope,' a gag. + 30.4: 'wite,' blame: _i.e._ her mother was the cause of all her + trouble.] + + + + +END OF THE FIRST SERIES + + + + +INDEX OF TITLES + + Page + + Barbara Allan 150 + Brown Adam 100 + Brown Robin 158 + + Child Maurice 165 + Child Waters 37 + + Earl Brand 44 + Edward 189 + + Fair Annie 29 + Fair Annie of Rough Royal 179 + Fair Janet 94 + Fair Margaret and Sweet William 63 + Fair Mary of Wallington 201 + Fause Footrage 172 + + Glasgerion 1 + + Hind Horn 185 + + Johney Scot 128 + + Lady Alice 163 + Lady Maisry 70 + Lamkin 196 + Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 19 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + Lord Lovel 67 + Lord Randal 193 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + + Old Robin of Portingale 13 + + The Bonny Birdy 25 + The Boy and the Mantle 119 + The Brown Girl 60 + The Child of Ell 52 + The Cruel Brother 76 + The Cruel Mother 35 + The Douglas Tragedy 49 + The Gay Goshawk 153 + The Marriage of Sir Gawaine 107 + The Nutbrown Maid 80 + The Twa Sisters o' Binnorie 141 + + Willie o' Winsbury 104 + + Young Bekie 6 + Young Waters 146 + + + + +INDEX OF FIRST LINES + Page + + About Yule, when the wind blew cule 147 + As it fell one holy-day 19 + As it fell out on a long summer's day 63 + + Be it right, or wrong, these men among 81 + + Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood 166 + Childe Watters in his stable stoode 37 + + Glasgerion was a king's own son 2 + God! let neuer soe old a man 13 + + 'I am as brown as brown can be 60 + In Scotland there was a babie born 186 + In the third day of May 120 + It's Lamkin was a mason good 196 + 'It's narrow, narrow, make your bed 30 + It was in and about the Martinmas time 150 + + Kinge Arthur liues in merry Carleile 109 + King Easter has courted her for her gowd 173 + + Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window 163 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate 68 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + + O Johney was as brave a knight 129 + 'O well's me o' my gay goss-hawk 153 + 'O wha will shoe my fu' fair foot? 180 + O wha woud wish the win' to blaw 101 + 'O where hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son? 194 + 'Oh did ye ever hear o' brave Earl Bran'? 46 + + 'Rise up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,' she says 49 + + Sayes, 'Christ thee saue, good child of Ell 52 + She leaned her back unto a thorn 35 + + The king but an' his nobles a' 158 + The king he hath been a prisoner 104 + The young lords o' the north country 70 + There was a knight, in a summer's night 25 + There was three ladies play'd at the ba' 77 + There were twa sisters sat in a bour 141 + + When we were silly sisters seven 202 + 'Why dois your brand sae drap wi' bluid 190 + + 'Ye maun gang to your father, Janet 94 + Young Bekie was as brave a knight 7 + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Errata: + +Introduction: + +[Footnote 3: _Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard_ (see p. 19, etc.).] + _footnote marker missing from text_ +[Footnote 5: For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, + p. lii.] + _footnote marker missing or invisible_ +carefully balanced antitheses, and all the mechanical devices + _text reads "aud"_ +Coleridge's _annus mirabilis_ was 1797 + _"Cole/ridge's" printed at line break without visible hyphen_ +his friend Humphrey Pitt of Shifnal, in Shropshire, + _text has extra close quote after "Shropshire,"_ +1794. _Joseph Ritson._ Scotish Song. 2 vols. London. + _spelling unchanged_ + +Ballads: + +The Douglas Tragedy + [Stanza 5.] + 'Light down, light down, Lady Margret,' he said, + _close quote after "Lady Margret," not visible_ + [Annotation to 8.3] + 'dighted,' dressed. + _reference "8.3" missing in text_ +Lord Lovel + [Introduction] + Of the former the commonest is _Der Ritter und die Maid_ + _spelling unchanged_ +Fair Annie of Rough Royal + [Introduction] + 'Lochryan,' says Scott, 'lies in Galloway; + _text has extra close quote after "Galloway"_ +Lord Randal + [Stanza 2.] + 'Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young man?' + _text has empty line where "man?'" is expected_ + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ballads of Romance and Chivalry, by Frank Sidgwick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + +***** This file should be named 20469-8.txt or 20469-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/4/6/20469/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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text-indent: 0em;} + +</style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Ballads of Romance and Chivalry, by Frank Sidgwick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ballads of Romance and Chivalry + Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series + +Author: Frank Sidgwick + +Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20469] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote"> + +<p>This e-text uses UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding. If the quotation +marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible +browser or unavailable fonts. First, make sure that the browser’s +“character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may +also need to change your browser’s default font.</p> + +<p>A few typographical errors have been corrected. They have been +marked in the text with <ins class = "correction" title = +"like this">mouse-hover popups</ins>. Variant forms such as +“Maisry” : “Maisery” or “<span class = +"smallcaps">Text(s)</span>” : “<span class = "smallcaps">The +Text</span>” were left unchanged.</p> + +<p>All brackets [ ] are in the original.</p> + +</div> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic001.png" width = "386" height = "241" +alt = "see caption" title = "see caption"> +</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +Facsimile of the Percy Folio <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> +(<i>British Museum</i>, Addit. <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> 27, +879, f. 46 <i>verso</i>). <span class = "smallcaps">Glasgerion</span>, +first three verses (see p. 2), annotated by Percy. The full page is +15¼ x 6 inches. +<span class = "sans"><a href = "images/pic001large.png">larger +view</a></span></p> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<h1>POPULAR BALLADS</h1> +<h2>OF THE OLDEN TIME</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>SELECTED AND EDITED<br> +BY FRANK SIDGWICK</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>First Series. Ballads of<br> +Romance and Chivalry</h3> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h6>‘What hast here? Ballads?<br> +‘Pray now, buy some.’</h6> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h5 class = "extended">A. H. BULLEN</h5> +<h5>47 Great Russell Street<br> +London. MCMIII</h5> + +</div> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<table class = "poem" summary = "centered poem"> +<tr><td> +<p>‘La rime n’est pas riche, et le style en est vieux:</p> +<p>Mais ne voyez-vous pas que cela vaut bien mieux</p> +<p>Que ces colifichets dont le bon sens murmure,</p> +<p>Et que la passion parle là toute pure?’</p> +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<p align = "right"><span class = "smallcaps">Molière</span>, <i>Le +Misanthrope</i>, <span class = "smallroman">I.</span> 2.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">vii</span> +<a name = "pagevii" id = "pagevii"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">CONTENTS</h4> + +<table class = "toc" summary = "table of contents"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class = "number smallroman">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#preface"> +Preface</a></td> +<td class = "number">ix</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#intro"> +Introduction</a></td> +<td class = "number">xvii</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#firstseries"> +Ballads in the First Series</a></td> +<td class = "number">xliii</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#glossary"> +Glossary of Ballad Commonplaces</a></td> +<td class = "number">xlvi</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#books"> +List of Books for Ballad Study</a></td> +<td class = "number">lii</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#illus"> +Note on the Illustrations</a></td> +<td class = "number">lv</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "sans"><a href = "#footnotes"> +Footnotes</a></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman" colspan = "2"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +GLASGERION</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +YOUNG BEKIE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page6">6</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page13">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page19">19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE BONNY BIRDY</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page25">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +FAIR ANNIE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page29">29</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE CRUEL MOTHER</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page35">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +CHILD WATERS</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page37">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +EARL BRAND</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page44">44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "inset"> +The Douglas Tragedy</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page49">49</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "inset"> +The Child of Ell</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page52">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page54">54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE BROWN GIRL</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page60">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page63">63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LORD LOVEL</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page67">67</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LADY MAISRY</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page70">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +<span class = "pagenum">viii</span> +<a name = "pageviii" id = "pageviii"> </a> +THE CRUEL BROTHER</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page76">76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE NUTBROWN MAID</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page80">80</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +FAIR JANET</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page94">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +BROWN ADAM</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page100">100</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +WILLIE O’ WINSBURY</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page104">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page107">107</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE BOY AND THE MANTLE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page119">119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +JOHNEY SCOT</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page128">128</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page135">135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE TWA SISTERS O’ BINNORIE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page141">141</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +YOUNG WATERS</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page146">146</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +BARBARA ALLAN</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page150">150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +THE GAY GOSHAWK</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page153">153</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +BROWN ROBIN</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page158">158</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LADY ALICE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page163">163</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +CHILD MAURICE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page165">165</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +FAUSE FOOTRAGE</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page172">172</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page179">179</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +HIND HORN</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page185">185</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +EDWARD</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page189">189</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LORD RANDAL</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page193">193</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +LAMKIN</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page196">196</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman"> +FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page201">201</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class = "gap"> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#titles"> +Index of Titles</a></td> +<td class = "number">209</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "smallcaps"><a href = "#firstlines"> +Index of First Lines</a></td> +<td class = "number">211</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<span class = "pagenum">ix</span> +<a name = "pageix" id = "pageix"> </a> + +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "preface" id = "preface"> +PREFACE</a></h4> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">Of</span> making selections of ballads +there is no end. As a subject for the editor, they seem to be only less +popular than Shakespeare, and every year sees a fresh output. But of +late there has sprung up a custom of confusing the old with the new, the +genuine with the imitation; and the products of civilised days, +‘ballads’ by courtesy or convention, are set beside the rugged and +hard-featured aborigines of the tribe, just as the delicate bust of +Clytie in the British Museum has for next neighbour the rude and bold +‘Unknown Barbarian Captive.’ To contrast by such enforced juxtaposition +a ballad of the golden world with a ballad by Mr. Kipling is unfair to +either, each being excellent in its way; and the collocation of +<i>Edward</i> or <i>Lord Randal</i> with a ballad of Rossetti’s is only +of interest or value as exhibiting the perennial charm of the +<i>refrain</i>.</p> + +<p>There exist, however, in our tongue—though +<span class = "pagenum">x</span> +<a name = "pagex" id = "pagex"> </a> +not only in our tongue—narratives in rhyme which have been handed +down in oral tradition from father to son for so many ages, that all +record of their authorship has long been lost. These are commonly called +the Old Ballads. Being traditional, each ballad may exist in more than +one form; in most cases the original story is clothed in several +different forms. The present series is designed to include all the best +of these ballads which are still extant in England and Scotland: Ireland +and Wales possess a similar class of popular literature, but each in its +own tongue. It is therefore necessary, in issuing this the first volume +of the series, to say somewhat as to the methods employed in editing and +selecting.</p> + +<p>Ballad editors of yore were confronted with perhaps two, perhaps +twenty, versions of each ballad; some unintelligibly fragmentary, some +intelligibly complete; some in print, some in manuscript, some, +perchance, in their own memories. Collating these, they subjected the +text to minute revision, omitting and adding, altering and inserting, to +suit their personal tastes and standards, literary or polite; and having +thus made it over, forgot to record the act, and saw no reason to +apologise therefor.</p> + +<p>Pioneers like Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, +<span class = "pagenum">xi</span> +<a name = "pagexi" id = "pagexi"> </a> +and Sir Walter Scott, may well be excused the general censure. The +former, living in and pandering to an age which invented and applied +those delightful literary adjectives ‘elegant’ and ‘ingenious,’ may be +pardoned with the more sincerity if one recalls the influence exercised +on English letters by his publication. The latter, who played the part +of Percy in the matter of Scottish ballads, and was nourished from his +boyhood on the <i>Reliques</i>, printed for the first time many ballads +which still are the best of their class, and was gifted with consummate +skill and taste. Both, moreover, did their work scientifically, +according to their lights; and both have left at least some of their +originals behind them. There is, perhaps, one more exception to the +general condemnation. Of William Allingham’s <i>Ballad Book</i>, as +truly a <i>vade mecum</i> as Palgrave’s lyrical anthology in the same +‘Golden Treasury’ series, I would speak, perhaps only for +sentimental reasons, always with respect, admiring the results of his +editing while looking askance at the method, for he mixed his +ingredients and left no recipe.</p> + +<p>But in the majority of cases there is no obvious excuse for this +‘omnium gatherum’ process. The self-imposed function of most ballad +editors appears to have been the compilation +<span class = "pagenum">xii</span> +<a name = "pagexii" id = "pagexii"> </a> +of <i>rifacimenti</i> in accordance with their private ideas of what a +ballad should be. And that such a state of things was permissible is +doubtless an indication of the then prevalent attitude of +half-interested tolerance assumed towards these memorials of +antiquity.</p> + +<p>To-day, however, the ballad editor is confronted with the results of +the labours, still unfinished, of a comparatively recent school in +literary science. These have lately culminated in <i>The English and +Scottish Popular Ballads</i>, edited by the late Professor Francis James +Child of Harvard University. This work, in five large volumes, issued in +ten parts at intervals from 1882 to 1898, and left by the editor at his +death complete but for the Introduction—<i>valde +deflendus</i>—gives in full all known variants of the three +hundred and five ballads adjudged by its editor to be genuinely +‘popular,’ with an essay, prefixed to each ballad, on its history, +origin, folklore, etc., and notes, glossary, bibliographies, appendices, +etc.; exhibiting as a whole unrivalled special knowledge, great +scholarly intuition, and years of patient research, aided by +correspondents, students, and transcribers in all parts of the world, +Lacking Professor Child’s Introduction, we cannot exactly tell what his +definition of a ‘popular’ ballad was, or what qualities in a ballad +implied +<span class = "pagenum">xiii</span> +<a name = "pagexiii" id = "pagexiii"> </a> +exclusion from his collection—<i>e.g.</i> he does not admit <i>The +Children in the Wood</i>: otherwise one can find in this monumental work +the whole history and all the versions of nearly all the ballads.</p> + +<p>It will be obvious that Professor Child’s academic method is suited +rather to the scholar than the general reader. As a rule, one text of +each ballad is all that is required, which must therefore be +chosen—but by what rules? To the scholar, it usually happens that +the most ancient and least handled text is the most interesting; but +these are too frequently incomplete and unintelligible. The literary +dilettante may prefer tasteful decorations by a Percy or a Scott; +doubtless Buchan has some admirers: but the student abhors this painting +of the lily.</p> + +<p>Therefore I have compromised—always a dangerous +practice—and I have sought to give, to the best of my judgement, +<i>that authorised text of each ballad which tells in the best manner +the completest form of the story or plot</i>. I have been forced to +make certain exceptions, but for all departures from the above rule I +have given reasons which, I trust, will be found to justify the +procedure; and in all cases the sources of each text or part of the text +are indicated.</p> + +<p>I am quite aware that it may fairly be asked: +<span class = "pagenum">xiv</span> +<a name = "pagexiv" id = "pagexiv"> </a> +Why not assume the immemorial privilege of a ballad editor, and concoct +a text for yourself? Why, when any text of a ballad is, as you admit, +merely a representative of parallel and similar traditional versions, +should you not compile from those other variants a text which should +combine the excellences of each, and give us the cream?</p> + +<p>There are several objections to this course. However incompetent, +I should not shrink from the labour involved; nor do I entirely +approve the growing demand for German minuteness and exactitude in +editors. But, firstly, the ballad should be subject to variation only +while it is in oral circulation. Secondly, editorial garnishing has been +overdone already, and my unwillingness to adopt that method is caused as +much by the failure of the majority of editors as by the success of the +few. Lastly, <i>chacun a son goût</i>; there is a kind of literary +selfishness in emending and patching to suit one’s private taste, and, +if any one wishes to do so, he will be most pleased with the result if +he does it for himself.</p> + +<p>This lengthy <i>apologia</i> is necessitated by a departure from the +usual custom of ballad-editing. For the rest, my indebtedness to the +work of Professor Child will be obvious throughout. Many of his most +interesting texts were +<span class = "pagenum">xv</span> +<a name = "pagexv" id = "pagexv"> </a> +printed for the first time from manuscripts in private hands. These I +have not sought to collate, which would, indeed, insult his accuracy and +care. But in the case of texts from the Percy Folio, where the labour is +rather to decipher than to transcribe accurately, I have resorted +not only to the reprint of Hales and Furnivall, but to the Folio itself. +The whimsical spelling of this <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> +pleases me as often as it irritates, and I have ventured in certain +ballads, <i>e.g.</i> <i>Glasgerion</i>, to modernise it, and in others, +<i>e.g.</i> <i>Old Robin of Portingale</i>, to retain it +<i>literatim</i>: in either case I have reduced to uniformity the +orthography of the proper names. Transcripts from other <span class = +"smallroman">MSS.</span> are reproduced as they stand.</p> + +<p>In the general Introduction I have tried to sketch the genesis and +history of the ballad impartially in its several aspects, not for +scholars and connoisseurs, but for those ready to learn. To supply +deficiencies, I have added a list of books useful to the student of +English ballads—to go no further afield. Each ballad also is +prefaced with an introduction setting forth, besides the source of the +text, as succinctly as is consistent with accuracy, the derivation, when +known, of the story; the plot of similar foreign ballads; and points of +interest in folklore, history, or criticism attached to the particular +<span class = "pagenum">xvi</span> +<a name = "pagexvi" id = "pagexvi"> </a> +ballad. Where the story is fragmentary, I have added an argument. +It will be realised that such introductions at the best are but a +thousandth part of what might be written; but if they shall play the +part of <i>hors d’œuvres</i>, and whet the appetite to proceed to more +solid food, the labour will not be lost.</p> + +<p>Difficulties in the text are explained in footnotes. Few things are +more vexatious to a reader than constant reference to a glossary; but as +compensation for the educational value thus lost, the footnotes are, to +a certain extent, progressive; that is to say, a word already +explained in a foregoing ballad is not always explained again; and to +the best of my ability I have freed the notes from the grotesque +blunders observable in most modern editions of ballads.</p> + +<p>Besides my indebtedness to the books mentioned in the bibliographical +list, I have to acknowledge my thanks to the Rev. Sabine Baring +Gould, for permission to use his version of <i>The Brown Girl</i>; to +Mr. E. K. Chambers, for kindly reading the general Introduction; +and to my friend and partner Mr. A. H. Bullen, for constant +suggestions and assistance.</p> + +<p align = "right">F. S.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">xvii</span> +<a name = "pagexvii" id = "pagexvii"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "intro" id = "intro"> +INTRODUCTION</a></h4> + +<blockquote> +‘Y-a-t-il donc, dans les contes populaires, quelque chose +d’intéressant pour un esprit sérieux?’—<span class = +"smallcaps">Cosquin.</span> +</blockquote> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> old ballads of England and +Scotland are fine wine in cobwebbed bottles; and many have made the +error of paying too much attention to the cobwebs and not enough +attention to the wine. This error is as blameworthy as its converse: we +must take the inside and the outside together.</p> + + +<h5 class = "section">I. What is a Ballad?</h5> + +<p>The earliest sense of the word ‘ballad,’ or rather of its French and +Provençal predecessors, <i>balada</i>, <i>balade</i> (derived from the +late Latin <i>ballare</i>, to dance), was ‘a song intended as the +accompaniment to a dance,’ a sense long obsolete.<a class = "tag" name = +"tag1" id = "tag1" href = "#note1">1</a> Next came the meaning, +a simple song of sentiment or romance, of two verses or more, each +of which is sung to the same air, the accompaniment being +<span class = "pagenum">xviii</span> +<a name = "pagexviii" id = "pagexviii"> </a> +subordinate to the melody. This sense we still use in our +‘ballad-concerts.’ Another meaning was that of simply a popular song or +ditty of the day, lyrical or narrative, of the kind often printed as a +broadsheet. Lyrical <i>or</i> narrative, because the Elizabethans appear +not to distinguish the two. Read, for instance, the well-known scene in +<i>The Winter’s Tale</i> (Act <span class = "smallroman">IV.</span> +Sc. 4); here we have both the lyrical ballad, as sung by Dorcas and +Mopsa, in which Autolycus bears his part ‘because it is his occupation’; +and also the ‘ballad in print,’ which Mopsa says she loves—‘for +then we are sure it is true.’ Immediately after, however, we discover +that the ‘ballad in print’ is the broadside, the narrative ballad, sung +of a usurer’s wife brought to bed of twenty money-bags at a burden, or +of a fish that appeared upon the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of +April: in short, as <i>Martin Mar-sixtus</i> says (1592), ‘scarce a cat +can look out of a gutter but out starts a halfpenny chronicler, and +presently a proper new ballet of a strange sight is indited.’ Chief +amongst these ‘halfpenny chroniclers’ were William Elderton, of whom +Camden records that he ‘did arm himself with ale (as old father Ennius +did with wine) when he ballated,’ and thereby obtained a red nose almost +as celebrated as his verses; Thomas Deloney, ‘the ballating silkweaver +of Norwich’; and Richard Johnson, maker of Garlands. Thus to Milton, to +Addison, and even to Johnson, ‘ballad’ essentially implies singing; but +from about the middle of the +<span class = "pagenum">xix</span> +<a name = "pagexix" id = "pagexix"> </a> +eighteenth century the modern interpretation of the word began to come +into general use.</p> + +<p>In 1783, in one of his letters, the poet Cowper says: ‘The ballad is +a species of poetry, I believe, peculiar to this country.... +Simplicity and ease are its proper characteristics.’ Here we have one of +the earliest attempts to define the modern meaning of a ‘ballad.’ +Centuries of use and misuse of the word have left us no unequivocal name +for the ballad, and we are forced to qualify it with epithets. +‘Traditional’ might be deemed sufficient; but ‘popular’ or ‘communal’ is +more definite. Here we adopt the word used by Professor +Child—‘popular.’</p> + +<p>What, then, do we intend to signify by the expression ‘popular +ballads’? Far the most important point is to maintain an antithesis +between the poetry of the people and the consciously artistic poetry of +the schools. Wilhelm Grimm, the less didactic of the two famous +brothers, said that the ballad says nothing unnecessary or unreal, and +despises external adornment. Ferdinand Wolf, the great critic of the +Homeric question, said the ballad must be naïve, objective, not +sentimental, lively and erratic in its narrative, without ornamentation, +yet with much picturesque vigour.</p> + +<p>It is even more necessary to define sharply the line between poetry +<i>of</i> the people and poetry <i>for</i> the people.<a class = "tag" +name = "tag2" id = "tag2" href = "#note2">2</a> The latter may still be +written; +<span class = "pagenum">xx</span> +<a name = "pagexx" id = "pagexx"> </a> +the making of the former is a lost art. Poetry of the people is either +lyric or narrative. This difference is roughly that between song and +ballad. ‘With us,’ says Ritson, ‘songs of sentiment, expression, or even +description, are properly termed songs, in contradistinction to mere +narrative compositions which we now denominate Ballads.’ This +definition, of course, is essentially modern; we must still insist on +the fact that genuine ballads were sung: ‘I sing Musgrove,’<a class = +"tag" name = "tag3" id = "tag3" href = "#note3">3</a> says Sir Thwack in +Davenant’s <i>The Wits</i>, ‘and for the Chevy Chase no lark comes near +me.’ Lastly, we must emphasise that the accompaniment is predominated by +the air to which the words are sung. I have heard the modern comic +song described as ‘the kind in which you hear the words,’ thus +differentiating it from the drawing-room song, in which the words are +(happily) as a rule less audible than the melody. In the ballad, as +sung, the words are most important; but it is of vital importance to +remember that the ballads were chanted.</p> + + +<h5 class = "section">II. Poetry of the People.</h5> + +<p>Now what is this ‘poetry of the people’? One theory is as follows. +Every nation or people in the natural course of its development reaches +a stage at which it consists of a homogeneous, compact community, with +its sentiments +<span class = "pagenum">xxi</span> +<a name = "pagexxi" id = "pagexxi"> </a> +undivided by class-distinctions, so that the whole active body forms +what is practically an individual. Begging the question, that poetry can +be produced by such a body, this poetry is naturally of a concrete and +narrative character, and is previous to the poetry of art. ‘Therefore,’ +says Professor Child, ‘while each ballad will be idiosyncratic, it will +not be an expression of the personality of individuals, but of a +collective sympathy; and the fundamental characteristic of popular +ballads is therefore the absence of subjectivity and self-consciousness. +Though they do not “write themselves,” as Wilhelm Grimm has +said—though a man and not a people has composed them, still the +author counts for nothing, and it is not by mere accident, but with the +best reason, that they have come down to us anonymous.’</p> + +<p>By stating this, the dictum of one of the latest and most erudite of +ballad-scholars, so early in our argument, we anticipate a century or +more of criticism and counter-criticism, during which the giants of +literature ranged themselves in two parties, and instituted a +battle-royal which even now is not quite finished. It will be most +convenient if we denominate the one party as that which holds to the +communal or ‘nebular’ theory of authorship, and the other as the +anti-communal or ‘artistic’ theory. The tenet of the former party has +already been set forth, namely, that the poetry of the people is a +natural and spontaneous production of a community at that stage +<span class = "pagenum">xxii</span> +<a name = "pagexxii" id = "pagexxii"> </a> +of its existence when it is for all practical purposes an individual. +The theory of the ‘artistic’ school is that the ballads and folk-songs +are the productions of skalds, minstrels, bards, troubadours, or other +vagrant professional singers and reciters of various periods; it is +allowed, however, that, being subject entirely to oral transmission, +these ballads and songs are open to endless variation.</p> + +<p>On the Continent, Herder was pioneer, both of the claims of popular +poetry and of the nebular theory of authorship. Traditions of chivalry, +he says, became poetry in the mouths of the people; but his definition +of popular poetry has rather extended bounds. Herder’s enthusiasm fired +Goethe (who, however, did not wholly accede to the ‘nebular’ theory) to +study the subject, and the effect was soon noticeable in his own poetry. +Next came the two great brothers, whose names are ever to be held in +honour wherever folklore is studied or folktales read, Jacob and Wilhelm +Grimm. Jacob, the more ardent and polemical, insisted on the communal +authorship of the poetry of the people; ballad or song ‘sings +itself.’</p> + +<p>Both the Grimms, and especially Jacob, were severely handled by the +critic Schlegel, who insisted on the artist. To Schlegel we owe the +famous image in which popular poetry is a tower, and the poet an +architect. Hundreds may fetch and carry, but all are useless without the +direction of the architect. This is specious argument; +<span class = "pagenum">xxiii</span> +<a name = "pagexxiii" id = "pagexxiii"> </a> +but we might reply to Schlegel that an architect is only wanted when the +result is required to be an artistic whole. The tower of Babel was built +by hundreds of men under no superintendence. Schlegel’s intention, +however, is no less clear than that of Jacob Grimm, and the two are +diametrically opposed.</p> + +<p>In England, literary prejudice against the unpolished barbarities and +uncouthnesses of the ballad was at no time so pronounced as it was on +the Continent, and especially in Germany, during the latter half of the +eighteenth century. Indeed, at intervals, the most learned and fantastic +critics in England would call attention to the poetry of the people. Sir +Philip Sidney’s apologetic words are well known:— ‘Certainly I +must confesse my own barbarousnes, I never heard the olde song of +<i>Percy</i> and <i>Duglas</i>, that I found not my heart mooved more +then with a Trumpet.’ Addison was bolder. ‘It is impossible that +anything should be universally tasted and approved by a Multitude, tho’ +they are only the Rabble of a Nation, which hath not in it some peculiar +Aptness to please and gratify the Mind of Man.’ With these and other +encouragements the popular poetry of England was not lost to sight; and +in 1765 the work of the good Bishop of Dromore gave the ballads a place +in literature.</p> + +<p>Percy’s opening remarks, attributing the ballads to the minstrels, +are as well known as the scoffs of the hard-hitting Joseph Ritson, who +<span class = "pagenum">xxiv</span> +<a name = "pagexxiv" id = "pagexxiv"> </a> +contemptuously dismissed Percy’s theories,<a class = "tag" name = "tag4" +id = "tag4" href = "#note4">4</a> and refused to believe any ballad to +be of earlier origin than the reign of Elizabeth. Sir Walter Scott was +quite ready to accept the ballads as the productions of the minstrels, +either as ‘the occasional effusions of some self-taught bard,’ or as +abridged from the tales of tradition after the days when, as Alfred de +Musset says, ‘our old romances spread their wings of gold towards the +enchanted world.’</p> + +<p>This brings us nearer to our own day. The argument is not closed, +although we can discern offers of concession from either side. Svend +Grundtvig, editor of the enormous collection of Danish ballads, +distinguished the ballad from all forms of artistic literature, and +would have the artist left out of sight; Nyrop and the Scandinavian +scholars, on the other hand, entirely gave up the notion of communal +authorship. Howbeit, the trend of modern criticism,<a class = "tag" name += "tag5" id = "tag5" href = "#note5">5</a> on the whole, is towards a +common belief regarding most ballads, which may be stated again, in +Professor Child’s words: ‘Though a man and not a people has composed +them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by mere +accident, but with the best reason, that they have come down to us +anonymous.’</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">xxv</span> +<a name = "pagexxv" id = "pagexxv"> </a> +<h5 class = "section">III. The Growth of Ballads.</h5> + +<p>Let us then picture, however vaguely and uncertainly, the growth of a +ballad. It is well known that the folklores of the various races of the +world exhibit common features, and that the beliefs, superstitions, +tales, even conventionalities of expression, of one race, are found to +present constant and remarkable similarities to those of another. +Whether these similarities are to be held mere coincidences, or whether +they are to be explained by the theory of a common ancestry in the +cradle of the world, is a side-issue into which I do not intend to +enter. Suffice it that the fact is true, especially of the peoples who +speak the Indo-European tongues. The lore which has for its foundation +permanent and universal acceptance in the hearts of mankind is preserved +by tradition, and remains independent of the criteria applied +instinctively and unconsciously to artistic compositions. The community +is one at heart, one in mind, one in method of expression. Tales are +recited, verses chanted, and the singer of a clan makes his version of a +popular story. Simultaneously other singers, it may be of other clans of +the same race, or of another race altogether, elaborate their versions +of the common theme. Meanwhile the first singer has again recited or +chanted his ballad, and, having forgotten the exact wording, has altered +it, and perhaps introduced improvements. The same happens in the other +cases. +<span class = "pagenum">xxvi</span> +<a name = "pagexxvi" id = "pagexxvi"> </a> +The various audiences carry away as much as they can remember, and +recite their versions, again with individual omissions, alterations, and +additions. Thus, by ever-widening circles, the tale is distributed in +countless forms over an unlimited area. The elements of the story +remain, wholly or in part, while the literary clothing is altered +according to the ‘taste and fancy’ of the reciter. The lore is now +traditional, whether it be in prose, as Märchen, or in verse, as ballad. +And so it remains in oral circulation—and therefore still liable +to variation—until it is written down or printed. It is left +‘masterless,’ unsigned; for of the original author’s composition, may +be, only a word or two remains. It has passed through many mouths, and +has been made over countless times. But once written down it ceases +<i>virûm volitare per ora</i>; the invention of printing has spoiled the +powers of man’s memory.</p> + +<p>We can now take up the tale at the fifteenth century; let us +henceforth confine our attention to England. It is agreed on all sides +that the fifteenth century was the period when, in England at least, the +ballads first became a prominent feature. Of historical ballads, <i>The +Hunting of the Cheviot</i> was probably composed as early as 1400 or +thereabouts. The romances contemporaneously underwent a change, and took +on a form nearer to that of the ballad. Whatever may be the date of the +origin of the subject-matter, the literary clothing—language, mode +of expression, colour—of no ballad, as we +<span class = "pagenum">xxvii</span> +<a name = "pagexxvii" id = "pagexxvii"> </a> +now have it, is much, earlier than 1400. The only possible exceptions to +this statement are one or two of the Robin Hood ballads—attributed +to the thirteenth century by Professor Child, but <i>adhuc sub +judice</i>—and a ballad of sacred +legend—<i>Judas</i>—which exists in a thirteenth-century +manuscript in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge.</p> + +<p>During the fifteenth century, the ballads, still purely narrative, +were cast abroad through the length and breadth of the land, undergoing +continual changes, modifications, enlargements, for better or for worse. +They told of romance and chivalry, of historical, quasi-historical, and +mythico-historical deeds, of the traditions of the Church and sacred +legend, and of the lore that gathers round the most popular of heroes, +Robin Hood. The earliest printed English ballad is the <i>Gest of Robyn +Hode</i>, which now remains in a fragment of about the end of the +fifteenth century.</p> + +<p>The sixteenth century continued the process of the popularisation of +ballads. Minstrels, who, as a class, had been slowly perishing ever +since the invention of printing, were now vagrants, and the profession +was decadent. Towards the end of the century we hear of Richard Sheale, +whom we may describe as the first of the so-called ‘Last of the +Minstrels.’ He describes himself as a minstrel of Tamworth, his business +being to chant ballads and tell tales. We know that the ballad of <i>The +Hunting of the Cheviot</i> was +<span class = "pagenum">xxviii</span> +<a name = "pagexxviii" id = "pagexxviii"> </a> +part of his repertory, for he wrote down his version, which is still +preserved in the Ashmolean <span class = "smallroman">MSS.</span> At the +end of the sixteenth century the minstrels had fallen, in England at +least, into entire degradation. In 1597, Percy notes, a statute of +Elizabeth was passed including ‘minstrels, wandering abroad,’ amongst +the other ‘rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars’; and fifty years later +Cromwell made a very similar ordinance.<a class = "tag" name = "tag6" id += "tag6" href = "#note6">6</a></p> + +<p>In Elizabeth’s reign we first meet with the ballad-mongers and +professional authors of ballads. Simultaneously, or nearly so, comes the +degradation of the word ‘ballad,’ until it signifies either the genuine +popular ballad, or a satirical song, or a broadside, or almost any ditty +of the day. Of the ballad-mongers, we have mentioned Elderton, Deloney, +and Johnson. We might add a hundred others, from Anthony Munday to +Martin Parker, and even Tom Durfey, each of whom contributed largely to +the vast mushroom-literature that sprang up and flourished vigorously +for the next century. Chappell mentions that seven hundred and +ninety-six ballads remained at the end of 1560 in the cupboards of the +council-chamber of the Stationers’ Company for transference to the new +wardens of the succeeding year. These, of course, would consist chiefly +of broadsides: the narrations of strange events, monstrosities, or ‘true +tales’ of the day.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">xxix</span> +<a name = "pagexxix" id = "pagexxix"> </a> +It is true that many of the genuine popular ballads were rewritten to +suit contemporary taste. But the style of the seventeenth century +ballads cannot be compared to the noble straightforwardness and +simplicity of the ancient ballad. Let us place side by side the first +stanza of the <i>Hunting of the Cheviot</i> and the first few verses of +<i>Fair Rosamond</i>, a very fair specimen of Deloney’s work.</p> + +<p>The popular ancient ballad wastes no time on preliminaries<a class = +"tag" name = "tag7" id = "tag7" href = "#note7">7</a>:—</p> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>‘The Persé owt off Northombarlonde</p> +<p class = "inset">And avowe to God mayd he,</p> +<p>That he wold hunte in the mowntayns</p> +<p class = "inset">Off Chyviat within days thre,</p> +<p>In the magger of doughté Dogles;</p> +<p class = "inset">And all that ever with him be.’</p> +</div> + +<p>Now for the milk-and-water:—</p> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>‘Whenas King Henry rulde this land,</p> +<p class = "inset">The second of that name,</p> +<p>Besides the queene, he dearly lovde</p> +<p class = "inset">A faire and comely dame.</p> + +<p class = "first">Most peerlesse was her beautye founde,</p> +<p class = "inset">Her favour and her face;</p> +<p>A sweeter creature in this worlde</p> +<p class = "inset">Could never prince embrace.</p> + +<p class = "first">Her crisped lockes like threads of golde</p> +<p class = "inset">Appeard to each man’s sight;</p> +<p>Her sparkling eyes, like Orient pearles,</p> +<p class = "inset">Did cast a heavenly light.’</p> +</div> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">xxx</span> +<a name = "pagexxx" id = "pagexxx"> </a> +Ritson’s taste actually led him, in comparing the above two first +verses, to prefer the latter.</p> + +<p>Or again we might contrast <i>Sir Patrick Spence</i>—</p> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>‘The King sits in Dumferling towne</p> +<p class = "inset">Drinking the blude reid wine:</p> +“O whar will I get a guid sailor, +<p class = "inset">To sail this ship of mine?”’</p> +</div> + +<p>with the <i>Children in the Wood</i>:—</p> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>‘Now ponder well, you parents deare,</p> +<p class = "inset">These wordes, which I shall write;</p> +<p>A doleful story you shall heare,</p> +<p class = "inset">In time brought forth to light.’</p> +</div> + +<p>Artificial, tedious, didactic. The author of the ancient ballad +seldom points, and never draws, a moral, and has unbounded faith in +the credulity of the audience. The seventeenth century balladists +pitchforked Nature into the midden.</p> + +<p>These compositions were printed as soon as written, or, to be exact, +they were written for the press. We now class them as broadsides, that +is, ballads printed on one side of the paper. The difference between +these and the true ballad is the difference between art and nature. The +broadside ballad was a form of art, and a low form of art. They were +written by hacks for the press, sold in the streets, and pasted on the +walls of houses or rooms: Jamieson had a copy of <i>Young Beichan</i> +which he picked off a wall in Piccadilly. They were generally ornamented +with crude woodcuts, remarkable for their artistic shortcomings and +infidelity to nature. +<span class = "pagenum">xxxi</span> +<a name = "pagexxxi" id = "pagexxxi"> </a> +Dr. Johnson’s well-known lines—though in fact a caricature of +Percy’s <i>Hermit of Warkworth</i>—ingeniously parody their +style:—</p> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>‘As with my hat upon my head,</p> +<p class = "inset">I walk’d along the Strand,</p> +<p>I there did meet another man,</p> +<p class = "inset">With his hat in his hand.’</p> +</div> + +<p>Broadside ballads, including a few of the genuine ancient ballads, +still enjoy a certain popularity. The once-famous Catnach Press still +survives in Seven Dials, and Mr. Such, of Union Street in the Borough, +still maintains what is probably the largest stock of broadsides now in +existence, including <i>Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight</i> (or <i>May +Colvin</i>), perhaps the most widely dispersed ballad of any.</p> + +<p>Minstrels of all sorts were by this time nearly extinct, in person if +not in name; their successors were the vendors of broadsides. +Nevertheless, survivors of the genuine itinerant reciters of ballads +have been discovered at intervals almost to the present day. Sir Walter +Scott mentions a person who ‘acquired the name of Roswal and Lillian, +from singing that romance about the streets of Edinburgh’ in 1770 or +thereabouts. He further alludes to ‘John Graeme, of Sowport in +Cumberland, commonly called the Long Quaker, very lately alive.’ Ritson +mentions a minstrel of Derbyshire, and another from Gloucester, who +chanted the ballad of <i>Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor</i>. In 1845 +J. H. Dixon wrote of several men he had met, chiefly Yorkshire +dalesmen, +<span class = "pagenum">xxxii</span> +<a name = "pagexxxii" id = "pagexxxii"> </a> +not vagrants, but with a local habitation, who at Christmas-tide would +sing the old ballads. One of these was Francis King, known then +throughout the western dales of Yorkshire, and still remembered, as ‘the +Skipton Minstrel.’ After a merry Christmas meeting, in the year 1844, he +walked into the river near Gargrave, in Craven, and was drowned. In +Gargrave church-yard lie the remains of perhaps the actual ‘last of the +minstrels.’<a class = "tag" name = "tag8" id = "tag8" href = +"#note8">8</a></p> + + +<h5 class = "section">IV. Collectors and Editors.</h5> + +<p>Now a word or two as to the collectors and editors. To take the +broadsides first, the largest collections are at Magdalene College, +Cambridge (eighteen hundred broadsides collected by Selden and Pepys), +in the Bodleian at Oxford, and in the British Museum. The Bodleian +contains collections made by Anthony-à-Wood, Douce, and Rawlinson; the +British Museum, the great Roxburghe and Bagford collections, which have +been reprinted and edited by William Chappell and the Rev. J. W. +Ebsworth for the Ballad Society, as well as other smaller volumes of +ballads.</p> + +<p>But it is not among the broadsides that our +<span class = "pagenum">xxxiii</span> +<a name = "pagexxxiii" id = "pagexxxiii"> </a> +noblest ballads are found. The first attempt to collect popular ballads +was made by the compiler of three volumes issued in 1723 and 1725. The +editor is said to have been Ambrose Phillips, whose name and style +combined to produce the word ‘namby-pamby.’ Next came Allan Ramsay, with +‘the <i>Evergreen</i>, a collection of Scots poems wrote by the +ingenious before 1600.’—‘By the ingenious,’ we note; not by the +‘elegant.’ The tide is already beginning to turn; pitch-forked Nature +will ever come back. Followed the <i>Tea-Table Miscellany</i>, also +compiled by Allan Ramsay, which contained about twenty popular ballads, +the rest being songs and ballads of modern composition. The texts were, +of course, chopped about and pruned to suit contemporary taste. It was +still necessary to adopt an apologetic attitude on behalf of these +barbarous and crude relics of antiquity.</p> + +<p>These books paved the way to the great literary triumph of the +century. The first edition of Percy’s <i>Reliques</i> was issued in +three volumes, in 1765. He received for it one hundred guineas, instant +popularity and patronage, and subsequently, the gratitude of succeeding +centuries.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Percy himself was so far under the influence of his +contemporaries that he felt it necessary to adopt the apologetic +attitude. In his preface he wrote:— ‘In a polished age like the +present, I am sensible that many of these reliques of antiquity +will require great allowances +<span class = "pagenum">xxxiv</span> +<a name = "pagexxxiv" id = "pagexxxiv"> </a> +to be made for them.’ And again:— ‘To atone for the rudeness of +the more obsolete poems, each volume concludes with a few modern +attempts in the same kind of writing; and to take off from the +tediousness of the longer narratives, they are everywhere intermingled +with little elegant pieces of the lyrical kind.’ In short, he could not +trust that large child, the people of England, to take its dose of +powder without the conventional treacle. To vary the metaphor, his +famous Folio Manuscript he regarded as a Cinderella, and in his capacity +as fairy godmother refused to introduce her to the world without hiding +the slut’s uncouth attire under fine raiment. To which end, besides +adding ‘little elegant pieces,’ he recast and rewrote ‘the more obsolete +poems,’ many of which came direct from the Folio Manuscript. Are we to +blame him for yielding to the taste of his day?</p> + +<p>He did not satisfy every one. Ritson’s immediate outcry is +famous—and Ritson stood almost alone. He did, indeed, go so far as +to deny the existence of the Folio Manuscript, and Percy was forced to +confute him by producing it. In the later editions of the +<i>Reliques</i>, Percy sought to conciliate him by revising his texts, +so as to approximate them more closely to his originals, but still +Ritson cried out for the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And by +this time he had supporters. But the whole truth as regards the Folio +was not to be divulged yet. The manuscript was most jealously +guarded.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">xxxv</span> +<a name = "pagexxxv" id = "pagexxxv"> </a> +Meanwhile the influence of the publication was having its effect. The +poetry of the schools, the poetry of the intellect, the poetry of art, +brought to its highest pitch by writers like Dryden and Pope, was +shelved; metrically exact diction, artificiality of expression, +carefully balanced antitheses, <ins class = "correction" title = +"text reads ‘aud’">and</ins> all the mechanical devices of the school were +placed in abeyance. There was a general return to Nature, to simplicity, +to straightforwardness—not without imagination, however. +Wordsworth, besides insisting, in a famous passage, the Preface to the +<i>Lyrical Ballads</i>, on the spontaneity of good poetry, recorded his +tribute to the <i>Reliques</i>: ‘I do not think that there is an able +writer in verse of the present day who would not be proud to acknowledge +his obligation to the <i>Reliques</i>.’ While failing often to catch the +gusto of ancient poetry—witness his translations from +Chaucer—Wordsworth was full of the spirit—witness his +rifacimento of <i>The Owl and the Nightingale</i>—and, best of +all, handed it on to Coleridge.<a class = "tag" name = "tag9" id = +"tag9" href = "#note9">9</a> These two fought side by side against the +conventions of the preceding century, against Dryden, Addison, Pope, and +last, but not least, Johnson. Some have gone so far as to place the +definite turning-point in the year 1798, the year +<span class = "pagenum">xxxvi</span> +<a name = "pagexxxvi" id = "pagexxxvi"> </a> +of the publication of the <i>Lyrical Ballads</i>. <ins class = +"correction" title = "invisible hyphen at line break">Coleridge’s</ins> +<i>annus mirabilis</i> was 1797, and the publication of <i>The Ancient +Mariner</i> is significant of the change. But we need not bind ourselves +down to any given year. Enough that the revolution was effected, and +that it is scarcely exaggeration to say that it was almost entirely due +to the publication of the <i>Reliques</i>.</p> + +<p>Sir Walter Scott remembered to the day of his death the place where +he first made acquaintance with the <i>Reliques</i> in his thirteenth +year. ‘I remember well the spot where I read those volumes for the first +time. It was beneath a large platanus-tree, in the ruins of what had +been intended for an old-fashioned arbour in the garden I have +mentioned. The summer day sped onward so fast, that, notwithstanding the +sharp appetite of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought +for with anxiety, and was still found entranced in my intellectual +banquet.’</p> + +<p>Almost immediately competitors appeared in the field, and especial +attention was given to Scotland, exceedingly rich ground, as it proved. +In 1769, David Herd published his collection of <i>Ancient and Modern +Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc.</i> Then, at intervals of two or three +years only, came the compilations of Evans, Pinkerton, Ritson, Johnson; +in 1802 Sir Walter Scott’s <i>Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border</i>, fit +to be placed side by side with the <i>Reliques</i>; in 1806 Jamieson’s +<i>Popular Ballads and Songs</i>; then Finlay, Gilchrist, Laing, and +Utterson. In 1828 the +<span class = "pagenum">xxxvii</span> +<a name = "pagexxxvii" id = "pagexxxvii"> </a> +egregious Peter Buchan produced <i>Ancient Ballads and Songs of the +North of Scotland, hitherto unpublished</i>. Buchan hints that he kept a +pedlar or beggarman—‘a wight of Homer’s craft’—travelling +through Scotland to pick up ballads; and one of the two—probably +Buchan—must have been possessed of powerful inventive faculties. +Each of Buchan’s ballads is tediously spun out to enormous and +unnecessary length, and is filled with solecisms and inanities quite +inconsistent with the spirit of the true ballad. But Buchan undoubtedly +gained fresh material, however much he clothed it; and his ballads are +now reprinted, as Professor Child says, for much the same reason that +thieves are photographed.</p> + +<p>Scotland continued the work with two excellent students and pioneers, +George Kinloch and William Motherwell. Next, Robert Chambers published a +collection of eighty ballads, some being spurious. This was in 1829. +Thirty years later Chambers came to the conclusion that ‘the high-class +romantic ballads of Scotland ... are not older than the early part of +the eighteenth century, and are mainly, if not wholly, the production of +one mind.’ And this one mind, he thinks, was probably that of Elizabeth, +Lady Wardlaw, the acknowledged forger of the ballad <i>Hardyknute</i>, +which deceived so many. Chambers, of course, was absurdly mistaken.</p> + +<p>So the work of collecting and editing progressed through the +nineteenth century, till it culminated in the final edition of Professor +Child’s <i>English</i> +<span class = "pagenum">xxxviii</span> +<a name = "pagexxxviii" id = "pagexxxviii"> </a> +<i>and Scottish Popular Ballads</i>. But even this is scarcely his +greatest benefaction to the study of ballads. We must confess that had +it not been for the insistence of this American scholar, the Percy Folio +Manuscript would remain a sealed book. For six years Professor Child +persecuted Dr. Furnivall, who persecuted in turn the owners of the +Folio, even offering sums of money, for permission to print the <span +class = "smallroman">MS.</span> Eventually they succeeded, and not only +succeeded in giving to the world an exact reprint,<a class = "tag" name += "tag10" id = "tag10" href = "#note10">10</a> but also once for all +secured the precious original for the British Museum, where it now +remains.<a class = "tag" name = "tag11" id = "tag11" href = +"#note11">11</a></p> + +<p>And what is this manuscript? In brief, it is an example of the +commonplace books which abounded in the seventeenth century. But it is +unique in containing a large proportion of early romances and ballads, +as well as the lyrics of the day. Of the hundreds of commonplace books +made during that century, no other example is known which contains such +matter, for the obvious and simple reason that such matter was +despised.<a class = "tag" name = "tag12" id = "tag12" href = +"#note12">12</a> The handwriting is put by experts at about 1650; it +cannot be much later, and one song in it contains a passage which fixes +the date of that song +<span class = "pagenum">xxxix</span> +<a name = "pagexxxix" id = "pagexxxix"> </a> +to the year 1643. Percy discovered the book ‘lying dirty on the floor +under a bureau in the parlour’ of his friend Humphrey Pitt of Shifnal, +in Shropshire<ins class = "correction" title = "text has extra close quote">, +</ins>‘being used by maids to light the fire.’ Mr. Pitt’s fires +were lighted with half-pages torn out from incomparably early and +precious versions of certain Robin Hood and other ballads. Percy notes +that he was very young when he first got possession of the <span class = +"smallroman">MS.</span>, and had not then learned to reverence it. When +he put it into boards to lend to Dr. Johnson, the bookbinder pared the +margins, and cut away top and bottom lines. In editing the +<i>Reliques</i>, Percy actually tore out pages ‘to save the trouble of +transcribing.’ In spite of all, it remains a unique and inestimably +valuable manuscript. Its writer was presumably a Lancashire man, from +his use of certain dialect words, and was assuredly a man of slight +education; nevertheless a national benefactor.</p> + +<p>In speaking of manuscripts, we must not omit to mention the Scottish +collectors. Most of them went to work in the right way, seeking out aged +men and women in out-of-the-way corners of Scotland, and taking down +their ballads from their lips. If we condemn these editors for +subsequently adorning the traditional versions, we must be grateful to +them for preserving their manuscripts so that we can still read the +ballads as they received them. The old ladies of Scotland seem to have +possessed better memories than the old men. Besides Sir Walter Scott’s +anonymous ‘Old Lady,’ there was another to +<span class = "pagenum">xl</span> +<a name = "pagexl" id = "pagexl"> </a> +whom we owe some of the finest versions of the Scottish ballads. This +was Mrs. Brown, daughter of Professor Gordon of Aberdeen. Born in 1747, +she learned most of her ballads before she was twelve years old, or +before 1759, from the singing of her aunt, Mrs. Farquhar of Braemar. +From about twenty to forty years later, she repeated her ballads, first +to Jamieson, and afterwards to William Tytler, each of whom compiled a +manuscript. The latter, the Tytler-Brown <span class = +"smallroman">MS.</span>, unfortunately is lost, but the ballads are +practically all known from the other manuscript and various sources.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the richest part of our stock are the Scottish and Border +ballads. Beside them, most of our mawkish English ballads look pale and +withered. The reason, perhaps, may be traced to the effect of natural +surroundings on literature. The English ballads were printed or written +down at a period which is early compared with the date of collection of +the Scottish ballads. In fact, it is only during the last hundred and +thirty years that the ballads of Scotland have been recovered from oral +tradition. In mountainous districts, where means of communication and +intercourse are naturally limited, tradition dies more hard than in +countries where there are no such barriers. Moreover, as Professor Child +points out, ‘oral transmission by the unlettered is not to be feared +nearly so much as by minstrels, nor by minstrels nearly so much as +modern editors.’ Svend Grundtvig illustrates this from his +<span class = "pagenum">xli</span> +<a name = "pagexli" id = "pagexli"> </a> +twenty-nine versions of the Danish ballad ‘Ribold and Guldborg.’ In +versions from recitation, he has shown that there occur certain verses +which have never been printed, but which are found in old manuscripts; +and these recited versions also contain verses which have never been +either printed or written down in Danish, but which are to be found +still in recitation, not only in Norwegian and Swedish versions, but +even in Icelandic tradition of two hundred years’ standing.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Such, then, is the history of our ballads, so far as it may be stated +in a few pages. With regard to origins, the ‘nebular’ theory cannot be +summarily dismissed;<a class = "tag" name = "tag13" id = "tag13" href = +"#note13">13</a> but, after weighing the evidence and arguments, the +balance of probability would seem to lie with the supporters of the +‘artistic’ theory in a modified form. The ballad may say, with Topsy, +‘Spec’s I growed’; but <i>vires adquirit eundo</i> is only true of the +ballad to a certain point; progress, which includes the invention of +printing and the absorption into cities of the unsophisticated rural +population, has since killed the oral circulation of the ballad. Thus it +was not an unmixed evil that in the Middle Ages, as a rule, the ballads +were neglected; for this neglect, while it rendered the discovery of +their sources almost impossible, gave the ballads for a time into the +safe-keeping +<span class = "pagenum">xlii</span> +<a name = "pagexlii" id = "pagexlii"> </a> +of their natural possessors, the common people. Civilisation, advancing +more swiftly in some countries than in others, has left rich stores +here, and little there. Our close kinsmen of Denmark, and the rest of +Scandinavia, possess a ballad-literature of which they do well to be +proud; and Spain is said to have inherited even better legacies. +A study of our native ballads yields much interest, much delight, +and much regret that the gleaning is comparatively so small. But what we +still have is of immense value. The ballads may not be required again to +revoke English literature from flights into artificiality and +subjectivity; but they form a leaf in the life of the English people, +they uphold the dignity of human nature, they carry us away to the +legends, the romances, the beliefs, the traditions of our ancestors, and +take us out of ourselves to ‘fleet the time carelessly, as they did in +the golden world.’</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">xliii</span> +<a name = "pagexliii" id = "pagexliii"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "firstseries" id = "firstseries"> +BALLADS IN THE FIRST SERIES</a></h4> + +<p><span class = "firstword">The</span> only possible method of +classifying ballads is by their subject-matter; and even thus the lines +of demarcation are frequently blurred. It is, however, possible to +divide them roughly into several main classes, such as ballads of +romance and chivalry; ballads of superstition and of the supernatural; +Arthurian, historical, sacred, domestic ballads; ballads of Robin Hood +and other outlaws; and so forth.</p> + +<p>The present volume is concerned with ballads of romance and chivalry; +but it is useless to press too far the appropriateness of this title. +<i>The Nutbrown Maid</i>, for instance, is not a true ballad at all, but +an amœbæan idyll, or dramatic lyric. But, on the whole, these ballads +chiefly tell of life, love, death, and human passions, of revenge and +murder and heroic deed.</p> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p class = "inset6">‘These things are life:</p> +<p>And life, some think, is worthy of the Muse.’</p> +</div> + +<p>They are left unexpurgated, as they came down to us: to apologise for +things now left unsaid would be to apologise not only for the heroic +epoch in which they were born, but also for human nature.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">xliv</span> +<a name = "pagexliv" id = "pagexliv"> </a> +And how full of life that heroic epoch was! Of what stature must Lord +William’s steed have been, if Lady Maisry could hear him sneeze a mile +away! How chivalrous of Gawaine to wed an ugly bride to save his king’s +promise, and how romantic and delightful to discover her on the morrow +to have changed into a well-fared may!</p> + +<p>The popular Muse regards not probability. Old Robin, who hails from +Portugal, marries the daughter of the mayor of Linne, that unknown town +so dear to ballads. In <i>Young Bekie</i>, Burd Isbel’s heart is +wondrous sair to find, on liberating her lover, that the bold rats and +mice have eaten his yellow hair. We must not think of objecting that the +boldest rat would never eat a live prisoner’s hair, but only applaud the +picturesque indication of durance vile.</p> + +<p>In the same ballad, Burd Isbel, ‘to keep her from thinking +lang’—a prevalent complaint—is told to take ‘twa marys’ +on her journey. We suddenly realise how little there was to amuse the +Burd Isbels of yore. Twa marys provide a week’s diversion. Otherwise her +only occupation would have been to kemb her golden hair, or perhaps, +like Fair Annie, drink wan water to preserve her complexion.</p> + +<p>But if their occupations were few, their emotions and affections were +strong. Ellen endures insult after insult from Child Waters with the +faithful patience of a Griselda. Hector the hound recognises Burd Isbel +after years of separation. Was any lord or lady in need of +<span class = "pagenum">xlv</span> +<a name = "pagexlv" id = "pagexlv"> </a> +a messenger, there was sure to be a little boy at hand to run their +errand soon, faithful unto death. On receipt of painful news, they +kicked over the table, and the silver plate flew into the fire. When +roused, men murdered with a brown sword, and ladies with a penknife. We +are left uncertain whether the Cruel Mother did not also ‘howk’ a grave +for her murdered babe with that implement.</p> + +<p>But readers will easily pick out and enjoy for themselves other +instances of the naïve and picturesque in these ballads.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">xlvi</span> +<a name = "pagexlvi" id = "pagexlvi"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "glossary" id = "glossary"> +GLOSSARY OF BALLAD<br> +COMMONPLACES</a></h4> + + +<p>There survive in ballads a few conventional phrases, some of which +appear to have been preserved by tradition beyond an understanding of +their import. I give here short notes on a few of the more +interesting phrases and words which appear in the present volume, the +explanations being too cumbrous for footnotes.</p> + + +<h5 class = "section">Bow.</h5> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘bent his bow and swam,’ <i>Lady Maisry</i>, 21.<sup>2</sup>; <i>Johney +Scot</i>, 10.<sup>2</sup>; <i>Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet</i>, +12.<sup>2</sup>; etc.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘set his bent bow to his breast,’ <i>Lady Maisry</i>, 22.<sup>3</sup>; +<i>Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet</i>, 13.<sup>3</sup>; <i>Fause +Footrage</i>, 33.<sup>1</sup>; etc.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +Child attempts no explanation of this striking phrase, which, +I believe, all editors have either openly or silently neglected. +Perhaps ‘bent’ may mean <i>un</i>-bent, <i>i.e.</i> with the string of +the bow slacked. If so, for what reason was it done before swimming? We +can understand that it would be of advantage to keep the string dry, but +how is it better protected when unstrung? Or, again, was it carried +unstrung, +<span class = "pagenum">xlvii</span> +<a name = "pagexlvii" id = "pagexlvii"> </a> +and literally ‘bent’ before swimming? Or was the bow solid enough to be +of support in the water?</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +Some one of these explanations may satisfy the first phrase (as regards +swimming); but why does the messenger ‘set his bent bow to his breast’ +before leaping the castle wall? It seems to me that the two expressions +must stand or fall together; therefore the entire lack of suggestions to +explain the latter phrase drives me to distrust of any of the +explanations given for the former.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +A suggestion recently made to me appears to dispose of all difficulties; +and, once made, is convincing in its very obviousness. It is, that ‘bow’ +means ‘elbow,’ or simply ‘arm.’ The first phrase then exhibits the +commonest form of ballad-conventionalities, picturesque redundancy: the +parallel phrase is ‘he slacked his shoon and ran.’ In the second phrase +it is, indeed, necessary to suppose the wall to be breast-high; the +messenger places one elbow on the wall, pulls himself up, and vaults +across.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +Lexicographers distinguish between the Old English <i>bōg</i> or +<i>bōh</i> (O.H.G. buog = arm; Sanskrit, bahu-s = arm), which means arm, +arch, bough, or bow of a ship; and the Old English <i>boga</i> (O.H.G. +bogo), which means the archer’s bow. The distinction is continued in +Middle English, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Instances of +the use of the word as equivalent to ‘arm’ may be found in Old English +in <i>King Alfred’s Translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care</i> +(E.E.T.S., 1871, ed. H. Sweet) written in West Saxon dialect of the +ninth century.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +It is true that the word does not survive elsewhere in this meaning, but +I give the suggestion for what it is worth.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">xlviii</span> +<a name = "pagexlviii" id = "pagexlviii"> </a> +<h5 class = "section">Briar.</h5> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘briar and rose,’ <i>Douglas Tragedy</i>, 18, 19, 20; <i>Fair Margaret +and Sweet William</i>, 18, 19, 20; <i>Lord Lovel</i>, 9, 10; +etc.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘briar and birk,’ <i>Lord Thomas and Fair Annet</i>, 29, 30; <i>Fair +Janet</i>, 30; etc.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘roses,’ <i>Lady Alice</i>, 5, 6. (See introductory note to <i>Lord +Lovel</i>, p. 67.)</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +The ballads which exhibit this pleasant conception that, after death, +the spirits of unfortunate lovers pass into plants, trees, or flowers +springing from their graves, are not confined to European folklore. +Besides appearing in English, Gaelic, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, +German, French, Roumanian, Romaic, Portuguese, Servian, Wendish, Breton, +Italian, Albanian, Russian, etc., we find it occurring in Afghanistan +and Persia. As a rule, the branches of the trees intertwine; but in some +cases they only bend towards each other, and kiss when the wind +blows.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +In an Armenian tale a curious addition is made. A young man, +separated by her father from his sweetheart because he was of a +different religion, perished with her, and the two were buried by their +friends in one grave. Roses grew from the grave, and sought to +intertwine, but a <i>thorn-bush</i> sprang up between them and prevented +it. The thorn here is symbolical of religious belief.</p> + + +<h5 class = "section">Pin.</h5> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘thrilled upon a pin,’ <i>Glasgerion</i>, 10.<sup>2</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘knocked at the ring,’ <i>Fair Margaret and Sweet William</i>, +11.<sup>2</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +(<i>Cp.</i> ‘lifted up the pin,’ <i>Fair Janet</i>, +14.<sup>2</sup>.)</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">xlix</span> +<a name = "pagexlix" id = "pagexlix"> </a> + +<p class = "glossary"> +Throughout the Scottish ballads the expression is ‘tirl’d at the pin,’ +<i>i.e.</i> rattled or twisted the pin.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +The pin appears to have been the external part of the door-latch, +attached by day thereto by means of a leathern thong, which at night was +disconnected with the latch to prevent any unbidden guest from entering. +Thus any one ‘tirling at the pin’ does not attempt to open the door, but +signifies his presence to those within.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +The ring was merely part of an ordinary knocker, and had nothing to do +with the latching of the door.</p> + + +<h5 class = "section">Sword.</h5> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘bright brown sword,’ <i>Glasgerion</i>, 22.<sup>1</sup>; <i>Old Robin +of Portingale</i>, 22.<sup>1</sup>; <i>Child Maurice</i>, +26.<sup>1</sup>, 27.<sup>1</sup>; ‘good browne sword,’ <i>Marriage of +Sir Gawaine</i>, 24.<sup>3</sup>; etc.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘dried it on his sleeve,’ <i>Glasgerion</i>, 22.<sup>2</sup>; <i>Child +Maurice</i>, 27.<sup>2</sup> (‘on the grasse,’ 26.<sup>2</sup>); +‘straiked it o’er a strae,’ <i>Bonny Birdy</i>, 15.<sup>2</sup>; ‘struck +it across the plain,’ <i>Johney Scot</i>, 32.<sup>2</sup>; etc.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +In Anglo-Saxon, the epithet ‘brún’ as applied to a sword has been held +to signify either that the sword was of bronze, or that the sword +gleamed. It has further been suggested that sword-blades may have been +artificially bronzed, like modern gun-barrels.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +‘Striped it thro’ the straw’ and many similar expressions all refer to +the whetting of a sword, generally just before using it. Straw (unless +‘strae’ and ‘straw’ mean something else) would appear to be very poor +stuff on which to sharpen swords, but Glasgerion’s sleeve would be even +less effective; +<span class = "pagenum">l</span> +<a name = "pagel" id = "pagel"> </a> +perhaps, however, ‘dried’ should be ‘tried.’ Johney Scot sharpened his +sword on the ground.</p> + + +<h5 class = "section">Miscellaneous.</h5> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘gare’ = gore, part of a woman’s dress; <i>Brown Robin</i>, +10.<sup>4</sup>; cp. <i>Glasgerion</i>, 19.<sup>4</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +Generally of a knife, apparently on a chatelaine. But in <i>Lamkin</i> +12.<sup>2</sup>, of a man’s dress.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘Linne,’ ‘Lin,’ <i>Young Bekie</i>, 5.<sup>4</sup>; <i>Old Robin of +Portingale</i>, 2.<sup>1</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +A stock ballad-locality, castle or town. Perhaps to be identified with +the city of Lincoln, perhaps with Lynn, or King’s Lynn, in Norfolk, +where pilgrims of the fourteenth century visited the Rood Chapel of Our +Lady of Lynn, on their way to Walsingham; with equal probability it is +not to be identified at all with any known town.</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘shot-window,’ <i>Gay Goshawk</i>, 8.<sup>3</sup>; <i>Brown Robin</i>, +3.<sup>3</sup>; <i>Lamkin</i>, 7.<sup>3</sup>; etc.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +This commonplace phrase seems to vary in meaning. It may be ‘a shutter +of timber with a few inches of glass above it’ (Wodrow’s <i>History of +the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland</i>, Edinburgh, 1721-2, +2 vols., in vol. ii. p. 286); it may be simply ‘a window to +open and shut,’ as Ritson explains it; or again, as is implied in +Jamieson’s <i>Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language</i>, an +out-shot window, or bow-window. The last certainly seems to be intended +in certain instances.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">li</span> +<a name = "pageli" id = "pageli"> </a> +<p class = "hanging"> +‘thought lang’ <i>Young Bekie</i>, 16.<sup>4</sup>; <i>Brown Adam</i>, +5.<sup>2</sup>; <i>Johney Scot</i>, 6.<sup>2</sup>; <i>Fause +Footrage</i>, 25.<sup>2</sup>; etc.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +This simply means ‘thought it long,’ or ‘thought it slow,’ as we should +say in modern slang; in short, ‘was bored,’ or ‘weary.’</p> + +<p class = "hanging"> +‘wild-wood swine,’ a simile for drunkenness, <i>Brown Robin</i>, +7.<sup>4</sup>; <i>Fause Footrage</i>, 16.<sup>4</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "glossary"> +<i>Cp.</i> Shakespeare, <i>All’s Well that Ends Well</i>, Act <span +class = "smallroman">IV.</span> 3, 286: ‘Drunkenness is his best virtue; +for he will be swine-drunk.’ It seems to be nothing more than a popular +comparison.</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">lii</span> +<a name = "pagelii" id = "pagelii"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "books" id = "books"> +LIST OF BOOKS FOR BALLAD STUDY<br> +FOR ENGLISH READERS</a></h4> + + +<h5 class = "section">A.—The Literary History of Ballads</h5> + +<table class = "booklist" summary = "list of books"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td> +<p>The Introductions, etc., to the Collections of Ballads in List +B.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1861.</td> +<td><p><i>David Irving.</i> History of Scottish Poetry.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1871.</td> +<td><p><i>Thomas Warton.</i> History of English Poetry, ed. +W. Carew Hazlitt. 4 vols.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1875.</td> +<td><p><i>Andrew Lang.</i> Article in Encyclopædia Britannica (9th +edition), vol. iii.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1876.</td> +<td><p><i>Stopford Brooke.</i> English Literature. New edition, +enlarged, 1897.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1883.</td> +<td><p><i>W. W. Newell.</i> Games and Songs of American Children. New +York.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1887.</td> +<td><p><i>Andrew Lang.</i> Myth, Ritual, and Religion. +2 vols.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1893.</td> +<td><p><i>John Veitch.</i> History and Poetry of the Scottish Border. +2 vols.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1893.</td> +<td><p><i>F. J. Child.</i> Article ‘Ballads’ in Johnson’s Cyclopædia, +vol. i. pp. 464‑6.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1895‑97.</td> +<td><p><i>W. J. Courthope.</i> A History of English Poetry. Vols. i. +and ii.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1897.</td> +<td><p><i>G. Gregory Smith.</i> The Transition Period: being vol. iv. of +Periods of English Literature, ed. G. Saintsbury.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1898.</td> +<td><p><i>Andrew Lang</i> in <i>Quarterly Review</i> for July.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1901.</td> +<td><p><i>F. B. Gummere.</i> The Beginnings of Poetry.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1903.</td> +<td><p><i>E. K. Chambers.</i> The Mediæval Stage. 2 vols.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1903.</td> +<td><p><i>Andrew Lang</i> in <i>Folk-Lore</i> for June.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1903.</td> +<td><p><i>J. H. Millar.</i> A Literary History of Scotland.</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<span class = "pagenum">liii</span> +<a name = "pageliii" id = "pageliii"> </a> +<h5 class = "section">B.—Collections of Ballads</h5> + +<table class = "booklist" summary = "list of books"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +[<i>This list does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to give the more +important collections, especially those containing trustworthy +Introductions.</i>] +</td> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td class = "number">1723‑25.</td> +<td><p>A Collection of Old Ballads, corrected from the best and most +ancient copies extant. 3 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1724.</td> +<td><p><i>Allan Ramsay.</i> The Ever-Green. 2 vols. +Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1724‑27.</td> +<td><p><i>Allan Ramsay.</i> The Tea-Table Miscellany. First eight +editions in 3 vols., Edinburgh, Dublin, and London. Ninth and subsequent +editions in four volumes, or four volumes in one, London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1765.</td> +<td><p><i>Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore.</i> Reliques of Ancient +English Poetry. 3 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1769.</td> +<td><p><i>David Herd.</i> The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, Heroic +Ballads, etc. Edinburgh. The second edition, 1776, under a slightly +different title. 2 vols. Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1781.</td> +<td><p><i>John Pinkerton.</i> Scottish Tragic Ballads. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1787‑1803.</td> +<td><p><i>James Johnson.</i> The Scots Musical Museum. 6 vols. +Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1790.</td> +<td><p><i>Joseph Ritson.</i> Ancient Songs, etc. London. (Printed 1787, +dated 1790, and published 1792.)</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1791.</td> +<td><p><i>Joseph Ritson.</i> Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry. +London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1794.</td> +<td><p><i>Joseph Ritson.</i> +<ins class = "correction" title = "spelling unchanged">Scotish</ins> +Song. 2 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1795.</td> +<td><p> „ „ +Robin Hood. 2 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1802‑3.</td> +<td><p><i>Walter Scott.</i> Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. +3 vols. Kelso and Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1806.</td> +<td><p><i>Robert Jamieson.</i> Popular Ballads and Songs from Tradition, +Manuscripts, and Scarce Editions. 2 vols. Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1808.</td> +<td><p><i>John Finlay.</i> Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads, +chiefly ancient. 2 vols. Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1822.</td> +<td><p><i>Alexander Laing.</i> Scarce Ancient Ballads. +Aberdeen.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1823.</td> +<td><p><i>Alexander Laing.</i> The Thistle of Scotland. +Aberdeen.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number"> +<span class = "pagenum">liv</span> +<a name = "pageliv" id = "pageliv"> </a> +1823.</td> +<td><p><i>Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.</i> A Ballad Book. +Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1824.</td> +<td><p><i>James Maidment.</i> A North Countrie Garland. +Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1826.</td> +<td><p><i>Robert Chambers.</i> The Popular Rhymes of Scotland. +Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1827.</td> +<td><p><i>George Kinloch.</i> Ancient Scottish Ballads. London and +Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1827.</td> +<td><p><i>William Motherwell.</i> Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern. +Glasgow.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1828.</td> +<td><p><i>Peter Buchan.</i> Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of +Scotland. 2 vols. Edinburgh.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1834.</td> +<td><p>The Universal Songster. 3 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1845.</td> +<td><p><i>Alexander Whitelaw.</i> The Book of Scottish Ballads. Glasgow, +Edinburgh, and London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1846.</td> +<td><p><i>James Henry Dixon.</i> Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of +the Peasantry of England. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1847.</td> +<td><p><i>John Matthew Gutch.</i> A Lytyll Geste of Robin Hode. +2 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1855‑59.</td> +<td><p><i>William Chappell.</i> Popular Music of the Olden Time. +2 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1857.</td> +<td><p><i>Robert Bell.</i> Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the +Peasantry of England. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1857‑59.</td> +<td><p><i>Francis James Child.</i> English and Scottish Ballads. +8 vols. 2nd edition, 1864.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1864.</td> +<td><p><i>William Allingham.</i> The Ballad Book. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1867‑68.</td> +<td><p><i>J. W. Hales</i> and <i>F. J. Furnivall</i>. Bishop +Percy’s Folio Manuscript. 4 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1882-98.</td> +<td><p><i>Francis James Child.</i> The English and Scottish Popular +Ballads. 5 vols. Boston, New York, and London.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1895.</td> +<td><p><i>Andrew Lang.</i> Border Ballads. London: Lawrence and +Bullen.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1897.</td> +<td><p><i>Andrew Lang.</i> A Collection of Ballads. London: Chapman and +Hall’s ‘Diamond Library.’</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1897.</td> +<td><p><i>Francis B. Gummere.</i> Old English Ballads. Boston, U.S.A. +Athenæum Press Series.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">1902.</td> +<td><p><i>T. F. Henderson.</i> Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, by Sir +Walter Scott. New edition. 3 vols. London.</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<span class = "pagenum">lv</span> +<a name = "pagelv" id = "pagelv"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "illus" id = "illus"> +NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS</a></h4> + + +<p>The illustrations on pp. <a href = "#picture28">28</a>, <a href = +"#picture75">75</a>, and <a href = "#picture118">118</a> are taken from +Royal <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> 10. <span class = +"smallroman">E.</span> iv. (of the fourteenth century) in the British +Museum, where they occur on folios 34 <i>verso</i>, 215 <i>recto</i>, +and 254 <i>recto</i> respectively. The designs in the original form a +decorated margin at the foot of each page, and are outlined in ink and +roughly tinted in three or four colours. Much use is made of them in the +illustrations to J. J. Jusserand’s <i>English Wayfaring Life in the +Middle Ages</i>, where M. Jusserand rightly points out that this +<span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> ‘has perhaps never been so +thoroughly studied as it deserves.’</p> + +<p> </p> + +<hr> + +<a name = "pagelvi" id = "pagelvi"> </a> + +<h4><a name = "footnotes" id = "footnotes"> +Footnotes</a></h4> + +<div class = "footnotes"> + +<p><a name = "note1" id = "note1" href = "#tag1">1.</a> +For the subject of the origin of the ballad and its refrain in the +<i>ballatio</i> of the dancing-ring, see <i>The Beginnings of +Poetry</i>, by Professor Francis B. Gummere, especially chap. v. +The beginning of the whole subject is to be found in the universal and +innate practices of accompanying manual or bodily labour by a rhythmic +chant or song, and of festal song and dance.</p> + +<p><a name = "note2" id = "note2" href = "#tag2">2.</a> +See the first essay, ‘What is “Popular Poetry”?’ in <i>Ideas of Good and +Evil</i>, by W. B. Yeats (1903), where this distinction is not +recognised.</p> + +<p><a name = "note3" id = "note3" href = "#tag3"><ins class = +"correction" title = "marker missing in text">3.</ins></a> +<i>Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard</i> (see p. 19, etc.).</p> + +<p><a name = "note4" id = "note4" href = "#tag4">4.</a> +‘The truth really lay between the two, for neither appreciated the wide +variety covered by a common name’ (<i>The Mediæval Stage</i>, E. K. +Chambers, 1903). See especially chapters iii. and iv. of this work for +an admirably complete and illuminating account of minstrelsy.</p> + +<p><a name = "note5" id = "note5" href = "#tag5"><ins class = +"correction" title = "marker missing in text">5.</ins></a> +For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, p. lii.</p> + +<p><a name = "note6" id = "note6" href = "#tag6">6.</a> +But these were only re-enactments of existing laws. See Chambers, +<i>Mediæval Stage,</i> i. p. 54.</p> + +<p><a name = "note7" id = "note7" href = "#tag7">7.</a> +A good notion of the way in which the old ballads plunge <i>in medias +res</i> may be obtained by reading the Index of First Lines.</p> + +<p><a name = "note8" id = "note8" href = "#tag8">8.</a> +Unless we may attribute that distinction to the blind Irish bard +Raftery, who flourished sixty years ago. See various accounts of him +given by Lady Gregory (<i>Poets and Dreamers</i>) and W. B. Yeats +(<i>The Celtic Twilight</i>, 1902). But he appears to have been more of +an improviser than a reciter.</p> + +<p><a name = "note9" id = "note9" href = "#tag9">9.</a> +‘He [Coleridge] said the <i>Lyrical Ballads</i> were an experiment about +to be tried by him and Wordsworth, to see how far the public taste would +endure poetry written in a more natural and simple style than had +hitherto been attempted; totally discarding the artifices of poetical +diction, and making use only of such words as had probably been common +in the most ordinary language since the days of Henry <span class = +"smallroman">II</span>.’—<i>Hazlitt.</i></p> + +<p><a name = "note10" id = "note10" href = "#tag10">10.</a> +<i>Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript</i>, edited by J. W. Hales and +F. J. Furnivall, 4 vols., 1867-8. Printed for the Early +English Text Society and subscribers.</p> + +<p><a name = "note11" id = "note11" href = "#tag11">11.</a> +Additional <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> 27, 879.</p> + +<p><a name = "note12" id = "note12" href = "#tag12">12.</a> +Cp. <i>Love’s Labour’s Lost</i>:—<br> +<span class = "smallcaps">Armado.</span> Is there not a ballad, boy, of +the King and the Beggar?<br> +<span class = "smallcaps">Moth.</span> The world was very guilty of such +a ballad some three ages since; but I think now ’tis not to be +found.</p> + +<p><a name = "note13" id = "note13" href = "#tag13">13.</a> +Professor Gummere (<i>The Beginnings of Poetry</i>) is perhaps the +strongest champion of this theory, and takes an extreme view.</p> + +</div> + +<hr> + +<span class = "pagenum">1</span> +<a name = "page1" id = "page1"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">GLASGERION</h4> + + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe</p> +<p>That souned bothe wel and sharpe,</p> +<p>Orpheus ful craftely,</p> +<p>And on his syde, faste by,</p> +<p>Sat the harper Orion,</p> +<p>And Eacides Chiron,</p> +<p>And other harpers many oon,</p> +<p>And the Bret<a class = "tag" name = "tagA" id = "tagA" href = +"#noteA">A</a> Glascurion.</p> + +<p class = "first" align = "right"> +—<span class = "smallcaps">Chaucer</span>, <i>Hous of Fame</i>, +<span class = "smallroman">III</span>.</p> +</div> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span>, from the Percy Folio, +luckily is complete, saving an omission of two lines. A few obvious +corrections have been introduced, and the Folio reading given in a +footnote. Percy printed the ballad in the <i>Reliques</i>, with far +fewer alterations than usual.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> is also told in a +milk-and-water Scotch version, <i>Glenkindie</i>, doubtless mishandled +by Jamieson, who ‘improved’ it from two traditional sources. The +admirable English ballad gives a striking picture of the horror of +‘churlës blood’ proper to feudal days.</p> + +<p>In the quotation above, Chaucer places Glascurion with Orpheus, +Arion, and Chiron, four great harpers. It is not improbable that +Glascurion and Glasgerion represent the Welsh bard Glas Keraint (Keraint +the Blue Bard, the chief bard wearing a blue robe of office), said to +have been an eminent poet, the son of Owain, Prince of Glamorgan.</p> + +<p>The oath taken ‘by oak and ash and thorn’ (stanza 18) is a relic +of very early times. An oath ‘by corn’ is in <i>Young Hunting</i>.</p> + +<p class = "footnote"> +<a name = "noteA" id = "noteA" href = "#tagA">A.</a> +From Skeat’s edition: elsewhere quoted ‘gret Glascurion.’</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">2</span> +<a name = "page2" id = "page2"> </a> + +<h6 class = "section">GLASGERION</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> + +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>4</sup> Folio:— ‘where cappe & candle yoode.’ Percy in +the <i>Reliques</i> (1767) printed ‘cuppe and <i>caudle</i> stoode.’</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>6</sup> ‘wood,’ mad, wild (with delight).</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Glasgerion</span> was a king’s own son,</p> +<p class = "inset">And a harper he was good;</p> +<p>He harped in the king’s chamber,</p> +<p class = "inset">Where cup and candle stood,</p> +<p>And so did he in the queen’s chamber,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till ladies waxed wood.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And then bespake the king’s daughter,</p> +<p class = "inset">And these words thus said she:</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>2</sup> ‘blin,’ cease.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Said, ‘Strike on, strike on, Glasgerion,</p> +<p class = "inset">Of thy striking do not blin;</p> +<p>There’s never a stroke comes over this harp</p> +<p class = "inset">But it glads my heart within.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +4.<sup>4</sup> <i>i.e.</i> durst never speak my mind.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Fair might you fall, lady,’ quoth he;</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Who taught you now to speak?</p> +<p>I have loved you, lady, seven year;</p> +<p class = "inset">My heart I durst ne’er break.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But come to my bower, my Glasgerion,</p> +<p class = "inset">When all men are at rest;</p> +<p>As I am a lady true of my promise,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thou shalt be a welcome guest.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">3</span> +<a name = "page3" id = "page3"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>1</sup> ‘home’; Folio <i>whom</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +But home then came Glasgerion,</p> +<p class = "inset">A glad man, Lord, was he!</p> +<p>‘And come thou hither, Jack, my boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Come hither unto me.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>3,4</sup> These lines are reversed in the Folio.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘For the king’s daughter of Normandy</p> +<p class = "inset">Her love is granted me,</p> +<p>And before the cock have crowen</p> +<p class = "inset">At her chamber must I be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But come you hither, master,’ quoth he,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Lay your head down on this stone;</p> +<p>For I will waken you, master dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Afore it be time to gone.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>1</sup> ‘lither,’ idle, wicked.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +But up then rose that lither lad,</p> +<p class = "inset">And did on hose and shoon;</p> +<p>A collar he cast upon his neck,</p> +<p class = "inset">He seemed a gentleman.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>2</sup> ‘thrilled,’ twirled or rattled; cp. ‘tirled at the pin,’ +a stock ballad phrase (Scots).</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And when he came to that lady’s chamber,</p> +<p class = "inset">He thrilled upon a pin.</p> +<p>The lady was true of her promise,</p> +<p class = "inset">Rose up, and let him in.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He did not take the lady gay</p> +<p class = "inset">To bolster nor no bed,</p> +<p>But down upon her chamber-floor</p> +<p class = "inset">Full soon he hath her laid.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">4</span> +<a name = "page4" id = "page4"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +12.<sup>2</sup> ‘yode,’ went.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He did not kiss that lady gay</p> +<p class = "inset">When he came nor when he yode;</p> +<p>And sore mistrusted that lady gay</p> +<p class = "inset">He was of some churlës blood.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But home then came that lither lad,</p> +<p class = "inset">And did off his hose and shoon.</p> +<p>And cast that collar from about his neck;</p> +<p class = "inset">He was but a churlës son:</p> +<p>‘Awaken,’ quoth he, ‘my master dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">I hold it time to be gone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +14.<sup>4</sup> ‘time’: Folio <i>times</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘For I have saddled your horse, master,</p> +<p class = "inset">Well bridled I have your steed;</p> +<p>Have not I served a good breakfast?</p> +<p class = "inset">When time comes I have need.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But up then rose good Glasgerion,</p> +<p class = "inset">And did on both hose and shoon,</p> +<p>And cast a collar about his neck;</p> +<p class = "inset">He was a kingës son.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And when he came to that lady’s chamber,</p> +<p class = "inset">He thrilled upon a pin;</p> +<p>The lady was more than true of her promise,</p> +<p class = "inset">Rose up, and let him in.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +17.<sup>3</sup> Folio <i>you are</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Says, ‘Whether have you left with me</p> +<p class = "inset">Your bracelet or your glove?</p> +<p>Or are you back returned again</p> +<p class = "inset">To know more of my love?’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">5</span> +<a name = "page5" id = "page5"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Glasgerion swore a full great oath</p> +<p class = "inset">By oak and ash and thorn,</p> +<p>‘Lady, I was never in your chamber</p> +<p class = "inset">Sith the time that I was born.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O then it was your little foot-page</p> +<p class = "inset">Falsely hath beguiled me’:</p> +<p>And then she pull’d forth a little pen-knife</p> +<p class = "inset">That hanged by her knee,</p> +<p>Says, ‘There shall never no churlës blood</p> +<p class = "inset">Spring within my body.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But home then went Glasgerion,</p> +<p class = "inset">A woe man, good [Lord], was he;</p> +<p>Says, ‘Come hither, thou Jack, my boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Come thou thither to me.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘For if I had killed a man to-night,</p> +<p class = "inset">Jack, I would tell it thee;</p> +<p>But if I have not killed a man to-night,</p> +<p class = "inset">Jack, thou hast killed three!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22.<sup>2</sup> Another commonplace of the ballads. The Scotch variant +is generally, ‘And striped it thro’ the straw.’ See special section of +the Introduction.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And he pull’d out his bright brown sword,</p> +<p class = "inset">And dried it on his sleeve,</p> +<p>And he smote off that lither lad’s head,</p> +<p class = "inset">And asked no man no leave.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +23.<sup>1,2</sup> ‘till,’ to, against.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He set the sword’s point till his breast,</p> +<p class = "inset">The pommel till a stone;</p> +<p>Thorough that falseness of that lither lad</p> +<p class = "inset">These three lives were all gone.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">6</span> +<a name = "page6" id = "page6"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">YOUNG BEKIE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is that of the +Jamieson-Brown <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span>, taken down from +the recitation of Mrs. Brown about 1783. In printing the ballad, +Jamieson collated with the above two other Scottish copies, one in <span +class = "smallroman">MS.</span>, another a stall-copy, a third from +recitation in the north of England, a fourth ‘picked off an old +wall in Piccadilly’ by the editor.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> has several variations of +detail in the numerous versions known (Young Bicham, Brechin, Bekie, +Beachen, Beichan, Bichen, Lord Beichan, Lord Bateman, Young Bondwell, +etc.), but the text here given is one of the most complete and vivid, +and contains besides one feature (the ‘Belly Blin’) lost in all other +versions but one.</p> + +<p>A similar story is current in the ballad-literature of Scandinavia, +Spain, and Italy; but the English tale has undoubtedly been affected by +the charming legend of Gilbert Becket, the father of Saint Thomas, who, +having been captured by Admiraud, a Saracen prince, and held in +durance vile, was freed by Admiraud’s daughter, who then followed him to +England, knowing no English but ‘London’ and ‘Gilbert’; and after much +tribulation, found him and was married to him. ‘Becket’ is sufficiently +near ‘Bekie’ to prove contamination, but not to prove that the legend is +the origin of the ballad.</p> + +<p>The Belly Blin (Billie Blin = billie, a man; blin’, blind, and +so Billie Blin = Blindman’s Buff, formerly +<span class = "pagenum">7</span> +<a name = "page7" id = "page7"> </a> +called Hoodman Blind) occurs in certain other ballads, such as +<i>Cospatrick</i>, <i>Willie’s Lady</i>, and the <i>Knight and the +Shepherd’s Daughter</i>; also in a mutilated ballad of the Percy Folio, +<i>King Arthur and King Cornwall</i>, under the name Burlow Beanie. In +the latter case he is described as ‘a lodly feend, with seuen heads, and +one body,’ breathing fire; but in general he is a serviceable household +demon. Cp. German <i>bilwiz</i>, and Dutch <i>belewitte</i>.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">YOUNG BEKIE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Young Bekie</span> +was as brave a knight</p> +<p class = "inset">As ever sail’d the sea;</p> +<p>An’ he’s doen him to the court of France,</p> +<p class = "inset">To serve for meat and fee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He had nae been i’ the court of France</p> +<p class = "inset">A twelvemonth nor sae long,</p> +<p>Til he fell in love with the king’s daughter,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ was thrown in prison strong.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The king he had but ae daughter,</p> +<p class = "inset">Burd Isbel was her name;</p> +<p>An’ she has to the prison-house gane,</p> +<p class = "inset">To hear the prisoner’s mane.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +4.<sup>1</sup> ‘borrow,’ ransom.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O gin a lady woud borrow me,</p> +<p class = "inset">At her stirrup-foot I woud rin;</p> +<p>Or gin a widow wad borrow me,</p> +<p class = "inset">I woud swear to be her son.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">8</span> +<a name = "page8" id = "page8"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Or gin a virgin woud borrow me,</p> +<p class = "inset">I woud wed her wi’ a ring;</p> +<p>I’d gi’ her ha’s, I’d gie her bowers,</p> +<p class = "inset">The bonny tow’rs o’ Linne.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>1,2</sup> ‘but ... ben,’ out ... in.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O barefoot, barefoot gaed she but,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ barefoot came she ben;</p> +<p>It was no for want o’ hose an’ shoone,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor time to put them on;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>3</sup> ‘stown,’ stolen.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +But a’ for fear that her father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Had heard her making din:</p> +<p>She’s stown the keys o’ the prison-house dor</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ latten the prisoner gang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>3</sup> ‘rottons,’ rats.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O whan she saw him, Young Bekie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Her heart was wondrous sair!</p> +<p>For the mice but an’ the bold rottons</p> +<p class = "inset">Had eaten his yallow hair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s gi’en him a shaver for his beard,</p> +<p class = "inset">A comber till his hair,</p> +<p>Five hunder pound in his pocket,</p> +<p class = "inset">To spen’, and nae to spair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s gi’en him a steed was good in need,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ a saddle o’ royal bone,</p> +<p>A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ Hector called one.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Atween this twa a vow was made,</p> +<p class = "inset">’Twas made full solemnly,</p> +<p>That or three years was come and gane,</p> +<p class = "inset">Well married they shoud be.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">9</span> +<a name = "page9" id = "page9"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He had nae been in’s ain country</p> +<p class = "inset">A twelvemonth till an end,</p> +<p>Till he’s forc’d to marry a duke’s daughter,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or than lose a’ his land.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ohon, alas!’ says Young Bekie,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘I know not what to dee;</p> +<p>For I canno win to Burd Isbel,</p> +<p class = "inset">And she kensnae to come to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O it fell once upon a day</p> +<p class = "inset">Burd Isbel fell asleep,</p> +<p>An’ up it starts the Belly Blin,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ stood at her bed-feet.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>2</sup> The <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> reads ‘How y +you.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O waken, waken, Burd Isbel,</p> +<p class = "inset">How [can] you sleep so soun’,</p> +<p>Whan this is Bekie’s wedding day,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ the marriage gain’ on?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +16.<sup>3</sup> ‘marys,’ maids.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +’Ye do ye to your mither’s bow’r,</p> +<p class = "inset">Think neither sin nor shame;</p> +<p>An’ ye tak twa o’ your mither’s marys,</p> +<p class = "inset">To keep ye frae thinking lang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ye dress yoursel’ in the red scarlet,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ your marys in dainty green,</p> +<p>An’ ye pit girdles about your middles</p> +<p class = "inset">Woud buy an earldome.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O ye gang down by yon sea-side,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ down by yon sea-stran’;</p> +<p>Sae bonny will the Hollans boats</p> +<p class = "inset">Come rowin’ till your han’.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">10</span> +<a name = "page10" id = "page10"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ye set your milk-white foot abord,</p> +<p class = "inset">Cry, Hail ye, Domine!</p> +<p>An’ I shal be the steerer o’t,</p> +<p class = "inset">To row you o’er the sea.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s tane her till her mither’s bow’r,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thought neither sin nor shame,</p> +<p>An’ she took twa o’ her mither’s marys,</p> +<p class = "inset">To keep her frae thinking lang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She dress’d hersel’ i’ the red scarlet.</p> +<p class = "inset">Her marys i’ dainty green,</p> +<p>And they pat girdles about their middles</p> +<p class = "inset">Woud buy an earldome.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +An’ they gid down by yon sea-side,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ down by yon sea-stran’;</p> +<p>Sae bonny did the Hollan boats</p> +<p class = "inset">Come rowin’ to their han’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She set her milk-white foot on board,</p> +<p class = "inset">Cried ‘Hail ye, Domine!’</p> +<p>An’ the Belly Blin was the steerer o’t,</p> +<p class = "inset">To row her o’er the sea.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Whan she came to Young Bekie’s gate,</p> +<p class = "inset">She heard the music play;</p> +<p>Sae well she kent frae a’ she heard,</p> +<p class = "inset">It was his wedding day.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s pitten her han’ in her pocket,</p> +<p class = "inset">Gin the porter guineas three;</p> +<p>‘Hae, tak ye that, ye proud porter,</p> +<p class = "inset">Bid the bride-groom speake to me.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">11</span> +<a name = "page11" id = "page11"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O whan that he cam up the stair,</p> +<p class = "inset">He fell low down on his knee:</p> +<p>He hail’d the king, an’ he hail’d the queen,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ he hail’d him, Young Bekie.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O I’ve been porter at your gates</p> +<p class = "inset">This thirty years an’ three;</p> +<p>But there’s three ladies at them now,</p> +<p class = "inset">Their like I never did see.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘There’s ane o’ them dress’d in red scarlet,</p> +<p class = "inset">And twa in dainty green,</p> +<p>An’ they hae girdles about their middles</p> +<p class = "inset">Woud buy an earldome.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +29.<sup>1</sup> ‘bierly,’ stately.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spake the bierly bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was a’ goud to the chin:</p> +<p>‘Gin she be braw without,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘We’s be as braw within.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then up it starts him, Young Bekie,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ the tears was in his ee:</p> +<p>‘I’ll lay my life it’s Burd Isbel,</p> +<p class = "inset">Come o’er the sea to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O quickly ran he down the stair,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ whan he saw ’twas she,</p> +<p>He kindly took her in his arms,</p> +<p class = "inset">And kiss’d her tenderly.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O hae ye forgotten, Young Bekie</p> +<p class = "inset">The vow ye made to me,</p> +<p>Whan I took ye out o’ the prison strong</p> +<p class = "inset">Whan ye was condemn’d to die?</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">12</span> +<a name = "page12" id = "page12"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">33.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I gae you a steed was good in need,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ a saddle o’ royal bone,</p> +<p>A leash o’ hounds o’ ae litter,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ Hector called one.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">34.</p> +<p class = "first"> +It was well kent what the lady said,</p> +<p class = "inset">That it wasnae a lee,</p> +<p>For at ilka word the lady spake,</p> +<p class = "inset">The hound fell at her knee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">35.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Tak hame, tak hame your daughter dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">A blessing gae her wi’,</p> +<p>For I maun marry my Burd Isbel,</p> +<p class = "inset">That’s come o’er the sea to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">36.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Is this the custom o’ your house,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or the fashion o’ your lan’,</p> +<p>To marry a maid in a May mornin’,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ send her back at even?’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">13</span> +<a name = "page13" id = "page13"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Text.</span>— The Percy Folio is the +sole authority for this excellent ballad, and the text of the <span +class = "smallroman">MS.</span> is therefore given here +<i>literatim</i>, in preference to the copy served up ‘with considerable +corrections’ by Percy in the <i>Reliques</i>. I have, however, +substituted a few obvious emendations suggested by Professor Child, +giving the Folio reading in a footnote.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> is practically identical +with that of <i>Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard</i>; but each is so +good, though in a different vein, that neither could be excluded.</p> + +<p>The last stanza narrates the practice of burning a cross on the flesh +of the right shoulder when setting forth to the Holy +Land—a practice which obtained only among the very devout or +superstitious of the Crusaders. Usually a cross of red cloth attached to +the right shoulder of the coat was deemed sufficient.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">God!</span> +let neuer soe old a man</p> +<p class = "inset">Marry soe yonge a wiffe</p> +<p>As did old Robin of Portingale!</p> +<p class = "inset">He may rue all the dayes of his liffe.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>1</sup> ‘Lin,’ a stock ballad-locality: cp. <i>Young Bekie</i>, +5.<sup>4</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Ffor the Maior’s daughter of Lin, God wott,</p> +<p class = "inset">He chose her to his wife,</p> +<p>& thought to haue liued in quiettnesse</p> +<p class = "inset">With her all the dayes of his liffe.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">14</span> +<a name = "page14" id = "page14"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They had not in their wed bed laid,</p> +<p class = "inset">Scarcly were both on sleepe,</p> +<p>But vpp she rose, & forth shee goes</p> +<p class = "inset">To Sir Gyles, & fast can weepe.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Saies, ‘Sleepe you, wake you, faire Sir Gyles</p> +<p class = "inset">Or be not you within?’</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>3</sup> ‘vnbethought.’ The same expression occurs in two other +places in the Percy Folio, each time apparently in the same sense of +‘bethought [him] of.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘But I am waking, sweete,’ he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Lady, what is your will?’</p> +<p>‘I haue vnbethought me of a wile,</p> +<p class = "inset">How my wed lord we shall spill.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>1,3</sup> ‘Four and twenty’: the Folio gives ‘24’ in each +case.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Four and twenty knights,’ she sayes,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘That dwells about this towne,</p> +<p>Eene four and twenty of my next cozens,</p> +<p class = "inset">Will helpe to dinge him downe.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +With that beheard his litle foote page,</p> +<p class = "inset">As he was watering his master’s steed,</p> +<p>Soe<span class = "missing"> .....</span></p> +<p class = "inset">His verry heart did bleed;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>1</sup> ‘sikt,’ sighed. The Folio reads <i>sist</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He mourned, sikt, & wept full sore;</p> +<p class = "inset">I sweare by the holy roode,</p> +<p>The teares he for his master wept</p> +<p class = "inset">Were blend water & bloude.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">15</span> +<a name = "page15" id = "page15"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +With that beheard his deare master</p> +<p class = "inset">As in his garden sate;</p> +<p>Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, my litle page,</p> +<p class = "inset">What causes thee to weepe?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +’Hath any one done to thee wronge,</p> +<p class = "inset">Any of thy fellowes here?</p> +<p>Or is any of thy good friends dead,</p> +<p class = "inset">Which makes thee shed such teares?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>1</sup>, 12.<sup>1</sup> The Folio reads <i>bookes man</i>; but +see 15.<sup>1</sup></p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Or if it be my head kookes man</p> +<p class = "inset">Greiued againe he shalbe,</p> +<p>Nor noe man within my howse</p> +<p class = "inset">Shall doe wrong vnto thee.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But it is not your head kookes man,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor none of his degree,</p> +<p>But or tomorrow ere it be noone,</p> +<p class = "inset">You are deemed to die;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘& of that thanke your head steward,</p> +<p class = "inset">& after your gay ladie.’</p> +<p>‘If it be true, my litle foote page,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ile make thee heyre of all my land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +14.<sup>2</sup> ‘thye,’ thrive: the Folio reads <i>dye</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘If it be not true, my deare master,</p> +<p class = "inset">God let me neuer thye.’</p> +<p>‘If it be not true, thou litle foot page,</p> +<p class = "inset">A dead corse shalt thou be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He called downe his head kooke’s man:</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Cooke, in kitchen super to dresse’:</p> +<p>‘All & anon, my deare master,</p> +<p class = "inset">Anon att your request.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">16</span> +<a name = "page16" id = "page16"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘& call you downe my faire Lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">This night to supp with mee.’</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +& downe then came that fayre Lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was cladd all in purple & palle,</p> +<p>The rings that were vpon her fingers</p> +<p class = "inset">Cast light thorrow the hall.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What is your will, my owne wed Lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">What is your will with me?’</p> +<p>‘I am sicke, fayre Lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sore sicke, & like to dye.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>1</sup> ‘&’ = an, if.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘But & you be sicke, my owne wed Lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">Soe sore it greiueth mee,</p> +<p>But my 5 maydens & my selfe</p> +<p class = "inset">Will goe & make your bedd,</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +20.<sup>3</sup> ‘next’: the Folio reads <i>first</i> again; probably the +copyist’s error.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘& at the wakening of your first sleepe,</p> +<p class = "inset">You shall haue a hott drinke made,</p> +<p>& at the wakening of your next sleepe</p> +<p class = "inset">Your sorrowes will haue a slake.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He put a silke cote on his backe,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was 13 inches folde,</p> +<p>& put a steele cap vpon his head,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was gilded with good red gold;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +& he layd a bright browne sword by his side</p> +<p class = "inset">& another att his ffeete,</p> +<p>& full well knew old Robin then</p> +<p class = "inset">Whether he shold wake or sleepe.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">17</span> +<a name = "page17" id = "page17"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +23.<sup>4</sup> ‘ginne,’ door-latch.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +& about the middle time of the night</p> +<p class = "inset">Came 24 good knights in,</p> +<p>Sir Gyles he was the formost man,</p> +<p class = "inset">Soe well he knew that ginne.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>4</sup> ‘quicke,’ alive. The last word was added by Percy in the +Folio.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Old Robin with a bright browne sword</p> +<p class = "inset">Sir Gyles’ head he did winne,</p> +<p>Soe did he all those 24,</p> +<p class = "inset">Neuer a one went quicke out [agen];</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +25.<sup>4</sup> Added by Hales and Furnivall.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +None but one litle foot page</p> +<p class = "inset">Crept forth at a window of stone,</p> +<p>& he had 2 armes when he came in</p> +<p class = "inset">And [when he went out he had none].</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +26.<sup>1,2</sup> <i>light</i> and <i>bright</i> are interchanged in the +Folio.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Vpp then came that ladie light</p> +<p class = "inset">With torches burning bright;</p> +<p>Shee thought to haue brought Sir Gyles a drinke,</p> +<p class = "inset">But shee found her owne wedd knight;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +& the first thing that this ladye stumbled vpon,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was of Sir Gyles his ffoote;</p> +<p>Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, & woe is me,</p> +<p class = "inset">Heere lyes my sweete hart roote!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +& the 2d. thing that this ladie stumbled on,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was of Sir Gyles his head;</p> +<p>Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, & woe is me,</p> +<p class = "inset">Heere lyes my true loue deade!’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">18</span> +<a name = "page18" id = "page18"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Hee cutt the papps beside her brest,</p> +<p class = "inset">& bad her wish her will,</p> +<p>& he cutt the eares beside her heade,</p> +<p class = "inset">& bade her wish on still.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Mickle is the man’s blood I haue spent</p> +<p class = "inset">To doe thee & me some good’;</p> +<p>Sayes, ‘Euer alacke, my fayre Lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">I thinke that I was woode!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He call’d then vp his litle foote page,</p> +<p class = "inset">& made him heyre of all his land,</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +32.<sup>3</sup> ‘went’: the Folio gives <i>sent</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +& he shope the crosse in his right sholder</p> +<p class = "inset">Of the white flesh & the redd,</p> +<p>& he went him into the holy land,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wheras Christ was quicke and dead.</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">19</span> +<a name = "page19" id = "page19"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> here given is the version +printed, with very few variations, in <i>Wit Restor’d</i>, 1658, <i>Wit +and Drollery</i>, 1682, Dryden’s <i>Miscellany</i>, 1716, etc. The Percy +Folio contains a fragmentary version, consisting of some dozen stanzas. +Child says that all the Scottish versions are late, and probably +derived, though taken down from oral tradition, from printed copies. As +recompense, we have the Scotch <i>Bonny Birdy</i>.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> would seem to be purely +English. That it was popular long before the earliest known text is +proved by quotations from it in old plays: as from <i>Fair Margaret and +Sweet William</i>. Merrythought in <i>The Knight of the Burning +Pestle</i> (1611) sings from this ballad a version of stanza 14, and +Beaumont and Fletcher also put quotations into the mouths of characters +in <i>Bonduca</i> (circ. 1619) and <i>Monsieur Thomas</i> (circ. 1639). +Other plays before 1650 also mention it.</p> + +<p>The reader should remember, once for all, that burdens are to be +repeated in every verse, though printed only in the first.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">As</span> it fell one holy-day,</p> +<p class = "inset3"><i>Hay downe</i></p> +<p class = "inset">As many be in the yeare,</p> +<p>When young men and maids together did goe,</p> +<p class = "inset">Their mattins and masse to heare;</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">20</span> +<a name = "page20" id = "page20"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Little Musgrave came to the church-dore;—</p> +<p class = "inset">The preist was at private masse;—</p> +<p>But he had more minde of the faire women</p> +<p class = "inset">Then he had of our lady[’s] grace.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>2</sup> ‘pall,’ a cloak: some versions read <i>pale</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +The one of them was clad in green,</p> +<p class = "inset">Another was clad in pall,</p> +<p>And then came in my lord Barnard’s wife,</p> +<p class = "inset">The fairest amonst them all.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She cast an eye on Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">As bright as the summer sun;</p> +<p>And then bethought this Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘This lady’s heart have I woonn.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Quoth she, ‘I have loved thee, Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">Full long and many a day’;</p> +<p>‘So have I loved you, fair lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Yet never word durst I say.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>2</sup> ‘deight,’ <i>i.e.</i> dight, decked, dressed.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I have a bower at Bucklesfordbery,</p> +<p class = "inset">Full daintyly is it deight;</p> +<p>If thou wilt wend thither, thou Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thou’s lig in mine armes all night.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Quoth he, ‘I thank yee, fair lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">This kindnes thou showest to me;</p> +<p>But whether it be to my weal or woe,</p> +<p class = "inset">This night I will lig with thee.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">21</span> +<a name = "page21" id = "page21"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +With that he heard, a little tynë page,</p> +<p class = "inset">By his ladye’s coach as he ran:</p> +<p>‘All though I am my ladye’s foot-page,</p> +<p class = "inset">Yet I am Lord Barnard’s man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My lord Barnard shall knowe of this,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whether I sink or swim’;</p> +<p>And ever where the bridges were broake</p> +<p class = "inset">He laid him downe to swimme.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘A sleepe or wake, thou Lord Barnard,</p> +<p class = "inset">As thou art a man of life,</p> +<p>For Little Musgrave is at Bucklesfordbery,</p> +<p class = "inset">A bed with thy own wedded wife.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If this be true, thou little tinny page,</p> +<p class = "inset">This thing thou tellest to me,</p> +<p>Then all the land in Bucklesfordbery</p> +<p class = "inset">I freely will give to thee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But if it be a ly, thou little tinny page,</p> +<p class = "inset">This thing thou tellest to me,</p> +<p>On the hyest tree in Bucklesfordbery</p> +<p class = "inset">Then hanged shalt thou be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He called up his merry men all:</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Come saddle me my steed;</p> +<p>This night must I to Bucklesfordbery,</p> +<p class = "inset">For I never had greater need.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And some of them whistled, and some of them sung,</p> +<p class = "inset">And some these words did say,</p> +<p>And ever when my lord Barnard’s horn blew,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Away, Musgrave, away!’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">22</span> +<a name = "page22" id = "page22"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>1</sup> ‘thresel-cock,’ throstle, thrush.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Methinks I hear the thresel-cock,</p> +<p class = "inset">Methinks I hear the jaye;</p> +<p>Methinks I hear my Lord Barnard,</p> +<p class = "inset">And I would I were away!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Lye still, lye still, thou little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">And huggell me from the cold;</p> +<p>’Tis nothing but a shephard’s boy</p> +<p class = "inset">A driving his sheep to the fold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Is not thy hawke upon a perch,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thy steed eats oats and hay,</p> +<p>And thou a fair lady in thine armes,</p> +<p class = "inset">And wouldst thou bee away?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +With that my lord Barnard came to the dore,</p> +<p class = "inset">And lit a stone upon;</p> +<p>He plucked out three silver keys</p> +<p class = "inset">And he open’d the dores each one.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He lifted up the coverlett,</p> +<p class = "inset">He lifted up the sheet:</p> +<p>‘How now, how now, thou Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">Doest thou find my lady sweet?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I find her sweet,’ quoth Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘The more ’tis to my paine;</p> +<p>I would gladly give three hundred pounds</p> +<p class = "inset">That I were on yonder plaine.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Arise, arise, thou Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">And put thy clothës on;</p> +<p>It shall nere be said in my country</p> +<p class = "inset">I have killed a naked man.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">23</span> +<a name = "page23" id = "page23"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I have two swords in one scabberd,</p> +<p class = "inset">Full deere they cost my purse;</p> +<p>And thou shalt have the best of them,</p> +<p class = "inset">And I will have the worse.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The first stroke that Little Musgrave stroke,</p> +<p class = "inset">He hurt Lord Barnard sore;</p> +<p>The next stroke that Lord Barnard stroke,</p> +<p class = "inset">Little Musgrave nere struck more.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +With that bespake this faire lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">In bed whereas she lay:</p> +<p>‘Although thou’rt dead, thou Little Musgrave,</p> +<p class = "inset">Yet I for thee will pray.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And wish well to thy soule will I,</p> +<p class = "inset">So long as I have life;</p> +<p>So will I not for thee, Barnard,</p> +<p class = "inset">Although I am thy wedded wife.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He cut her paps from off her brest;</p> +<p class = "inset">Great pitty it was to see</p> +<p>That some drops of this ladies heart’s blood</p> +<p class = "inset">Ran trickling downe her knee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +27.<sup>4</sup> ‘wood,’ wild, fierce.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Woe worth you, woe worth, my mery men all,</p> +<p class = "inset">You were nere borne for my good;</p> +<p>Why did you not offer to stay my hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">When you see me wax so wood?</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">24</span> +<a name = "page24" id = "page24"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘For I have slaine the bravest sir knight</p> +<p class = "inset">That ever rode on steed;</p> +<p>So have I done the fairest lady</p> +<p class = "inset">That over did woman’s deed.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘A grave, a grave,’ Lord Barnard cry’d,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘To put these lovers in;</p> +<p>But lay my lady on the upper hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">For she came of the better kin.’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">25</span> +<a name = "page25" id = "page25"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE BONNY BIRDY</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Text.</span>—From the Jamieson-Brown +<span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> Jamieson, in printing this ballad, +enlarged and rewrote much of it, making the burden part of the dialogue +throughout.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> is much the same as that +of <i>Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard</i>; but the ballad as a whole is +worthy of comparison with the longer English ballad for the sake of its +lyrical setting.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">THE BONNY BIRDY</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">There</span> was a knight, in a summer’s +night,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was riding o’er the lee, (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p>An’ there he saw a bonny birdy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was singing upon a tree. (<i>diddle</i>)</p> + +<p class = "inset3 first">O wow for day! (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p class = "inset3">An’ dear gin it were day! (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p class = "inset3">Gin it were day, an’ gin I were away,</p> +<p class = "inset3">For I ha’ na lang time to stay. (<i>diddle</i>)</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>4</sup> ‘blate,’ astonished, abashed.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Make hast, make hast, ye gentle knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">What keeps you here so late?</p> +<p>Gin ye kent what was doing at hame,</p> +<p class = "inset">I fear you woud look blate.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">26</span> +<a name = "page26" id = "page26"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O what needs I toil day an’ night,</p> +<p class = "inset">My fair body to kill,</p> +<p>Whan I hae knights at my comman’,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ ladys at my will?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ye lee, ye lee, ye gentle knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sa loud’s I hear you lee;</p> +<p>Your lady’s a knight in her arms twa</p> +<p class = "inset">That she lees far better nor thee.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ye lee, ye lee, you bonny birdy,</p> +<p class = "inset">How you lee upo’ my sweet!</p> +<p>I will tak’ out my bonny bow,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ in troth I will you sheet.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But afore ye hae your bow well bent,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ a’ your arrows yare,</p> +<p>I will flee till another tree,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whare I can better fare.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>1</sup> ‘clecked,’ hatched.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O whare was you gotten, and whare was ye clecked?</p> +<p class = "inset">My bonny birdy, tell me’;</p> +<p>‘O I was clecked in good green wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">Intill a holly tree;</p> +<p>A gentleman my nest herryed</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ ga’ me to his lady.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">27</span> +<a name = "page27" id = "page27"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>1</sup> ‘A Farrow Cow is a Cow that gives Milk in the second year +after her Calving, having no Calf that year.’—Holme’s +<i>Armoury</i>, 1688.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +’Wi’ good white bread an’ farrow-cow milk</p> +<p class = "inset">He bade her feed me aft,</p> +<p>An’ ga’ her a little wee simmer-dale wanny,</p> +<p class = "inset">To ding me sindle and saft.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>3</sup> ‘wanny,’ wand, rod: ‘simmer-dale,’ apparently = +summer-dale.</p> <!--positioned for overflow--> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>4</sup> ‘sindle,’ seldom.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Wi’ good white bread an’ farrow-cow milk</p> +<p class = "inset">I wot she fed me nought,</p> +<p>But wi’ a little wee simmer-dale wanny</p> +<p class = "inset">She dang me sair an’ aft:</p> +<p>Gin she had deen as ye her bade,</p> +<p class = "inset">I wouldna tell how she has wrought.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>5</sup> ‘crap,’ top.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>6</sup> ‘dight,’ freely, readily.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +The knight he rade, and the birdy flew,</p> +<p class = "inset">The live-lang simmer’s night,</p> +<p>Till he came till his lady’s bow’r-door,</p> +<p class = "inset">Then even down he did light:</p> +<p>The birdy sat on the crap of a tree,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ I wot it sang fu’ dight.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O wow for day! (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ dear gin it were day! (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p>Gin it were day, and gin I were away,</p> +<p class = "inset">For I ha’ na lang time to stay.’ (<i>diddle</i>)</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What needs ye lang for day, (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ wish that you were away? (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p>Is no your hounds i’ my cellar.</p> +<p class = "inset">Eating white meal and gray?’ (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p class = "inset5">‘O wow for day,’ <i>etc.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Is nae you[r] steed in my stable,</p> +<p class = "inset">Eating good corn an’ hay?</p> +<p>An’ is nae your hawk i’ my perch-tree,</p> +<p class = "inset">Just perching for his prey?</p> +<p>An’ is nae yoursel i’ my arms twa?</p> +<p class = "inset">Then how can ye lang for day?’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">28</span> +<a name = "page28" id = "page28"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O wow for day! (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ dear gin it were day! (<i>diddle</i>)</p> +<p>For he that’s in bed wi’ anither man’s wife</p> +<p class = "inset">Has never lang time to stay.’ (<i>diddle</i>)</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>1-4</sup> Cp. <i>Clerk Sanders</i>, 15.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then out the knight has drawn his sword,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ straiked it o’er a strae,</p> +<p>An’ thro’ and thro’ the fa’se knight’s waste</p> +<p class = "inset">He gard cauld iron gae:</p> +<p>An’ I hope ilk ane sal sae be serv’d</p> +<p class = "inset">That treats ane honest man sae.</p> + +</div> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "picture28" id = "picture28"> </a> +<img src = "images/pic028.png" width = "440" height = "273" +alt = "picture"> +</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">29</span> +<a name = "page29" id = "page29"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">FAIR ANNIE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is that of Scott’s +<i>Minstrelsy</i>, ‘chiefly from the recitation of an old woman.’ Scott +names the ballad ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annie,’ adding to the confusion +already existing with ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annet.’</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story.</span>—Fair Annie, stolen +from the home of her father, the Earl of Wemyss, by ‘a knight out o’er +the sea,’ has borne seven sons to him. He now bids her prepare to +welcome home his real bride, and she meekly obeys, suppressing her tears +with difficulty. Lord Thomas and his new-come bride hear, through the +wall of their bridal chamber, Annie bewailing her lot, and wishing her +seven sons had never been born. The bride goes to comfort her, discovers +in her a long-lost sister, and departs, thanking heaven she goes a +maiden home.</p> + +<p>Of this ballad, Herd printed a fragment in 1769, some stanzas being +incorporated in the present version. Similar tales abound in the +folklore of Scandinavia, Holland, and Germany. But, three hundred years +older than any version of the ballad, is the lay of Marie de France, +<i>Le Lai de Freisne</i>; which, nevertheless, is only another offshoot +of some undiscovered common origin.</p> + +<p>It is imperative (in 4.<sup>4</sup>) that Annie should +<i>braid</i> her hair, as a sign of virginity: married women only bound +up their hair, or wore it under a cap.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">30</span> +<a name = "page30" id = "page30"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">FAIR ANNIE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘It’s</span> narrow, narrow, make your +bed,</p> +<p class = "inset">And learn to lie your lane;</p> +<p>For I’m ga’n o’er the sea, Fair Annie,</p> +<p class = "inset">A braw bride to bring hame.</p> +<p>Wi’ her I will get gowd and gear;</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ you I ne’er got nane.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But wha will bake my bridal bread,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or brew my bridal ale?</p> +<p>And wha will welcome my brisk bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">That I bring o’er the dale?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘It’s I will bake your bridal bread,</p> +<p class = "inset">And brew your bridal ale;</p> +<p>And I will welcome your brisk bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">That you bring o’er the dale.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But she that welcomes my brisk bride</p> +<p class = "inset">Maun gang like maiden fair;</p> +<p>She maun lace on her robe sae jimp,</p> +<p class = "inset">And braid her yellow hair.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But how can I gang maiden-like,</p> +<p class = "inset">When maiden I am nane?</p> +<p>Have I not born seven sons to thee,</p> +<p class = "inset">And am with child again?’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">31</span> +<a name = "page31" id = "page31"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s taen her young son in her arms,</p> +<p class = "inset">Another in her hand,</p> +<p>And she’s up to the highest tower,</p> +<p class = "inset">To see him come to land.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Come up, come up, my eldest son,</p> +<p class = "inset">And look o’er yon sea-strand,</p> +<p>And see your father’s new-come bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">Before she come to land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Come down, come down, my mother dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Come frae the castle wa’!</p> +<p>I fear, if langer ye stand there,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye’ll let yoursell down fa’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And she gaed down, and farther down,</p> +<p class = "inset">Her love’s ship for to see,</p> +<p>And the topmast and the mainmast</p> +<p class = "inset">Shone like the silver free.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And she’s gane down, and farther down,</p> +<p class = "inset">The bride’s ship to behold,</p> +<p>And the topmast and the mainmast</p> +<p class = "inset">They shone just like the gold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s taen her seven sons in her hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">I wot she didna fail;</p> +<p>She met Lord Thomas and his bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">As they came o’er the dale.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘You’re welcome to your house, Lord Thomas,</p> +<p class = "inset">You’re welcome to your land;</p> +<p>You’re welcome with your fair ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">That you lead by the hand.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">32</span> +<a name = "page32" id = "page32"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘You’re welcome to your ha’s, ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">You’re welcome to your bowers;</p> +<p>You’re welcome to your hame, ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">For a’ that’s here is yours.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I thank thee, Annie, I thank thee, Annie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sae dearly as I thank thee;</p> +<p>You’re the likest to my sister Annie,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ever I did see.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>3</sup> ‘scoup,’ fly, hasten.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘There came a knight out o’er the sea,</p> +<p class = "inset">And steal’d my sister away;</p> +<p>The shame scoup in his company,</p> +<p class = "inset">And land where’er he gae!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She hang ae napkin at the door,</p> +<p class = "inset">Another in the ha’,</p> +<p>And a’ to wipe the trickling tears,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sae fast as they did fa’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +17.<sup>4</sup> ‘had’ = haud, hold.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And aye she served the long tables,</p> +<p class = "inset">With white bread and with wine;</p> +<p>And aye she drank the wan water,</p> +<p class = "inset">To had her colour fine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And aye she served the lang tables,</p> +<p class = "inset">With white bread and with brown;</p> +<p>And ay she turned her round about</p> +<p class = "inset">Sae fast the tears fell down.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And he’s taen down the silk napkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hung on a silver pin,</p> +<p>And aye he wipes the tear trickling</p> +<p class = "inset">A’ down her cheek and chin.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">33</span> +<a name = "page33" id = "page33"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And aye he turned him round about,</p> +<p class = "inset">And smil’d amang his men;</p> +<p>Says, ‘Like ye best the old ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or her that’s new come hame?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When bells were rung, and mass was sung,</p> +<p class = "inset">And a’ men bound to bed,</p> +<p>Lord Thomas and his new-come bride</p> +<p class = "inset">To their chamber they were gaed.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22.<sup>1</sup> ‘forbye,’ apart.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Annie made her bed a little forbye,</p> +<p class = "inset">To hear what they might say;</p> +<p>‘And ever alas,’ Fair Annie cried,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘That I should see this day!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Gin my seven sons were seven young rats</p> +<p class = "inset">Running on the castle wa’,</p> +<p>And I were a gray cat mysell,</p> +<p class = "inset">I soon would worry them a’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>2</sup> ‘lilly lee,’ lovely lea.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Gin my seven sons were seven young hares,</p> +<p class = "inset">Running o’er yon lilly lee,</p> +<p>And I were a grew hound mysell,</p> +<p class = "inset">Soon worried they a’ should be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And wae and sad Fair Annie sat,</p> +<p class = "inset">And drearie was her sang,</p> +<p>And ever, as she sobb’d and grat,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Wae to the man that did the wrang!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My gown is on,’ said the new-come bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘My shoes are on my feet,</p> +<p>And I will to Fair Annie’s chamber,</p> +<p class = "inset">And see what gars her greet.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">34</span> +<a name = "page34" id = "page34"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What ails ye, what ails ye, Fair Annie,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ye make sic a moan?</p> +<p>Has your wine barrels cast the girds,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or is your white bread gone?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O wha was’t was your father, Annie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or wha was’t was your mother?</p> +<p>And had ye ony sister, Annie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or had ye ony brother?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘The Earl of Wemyss was my father,</p> +<p class = "inset">The Countess of Wemyss my mother;</p> +<p>And a’ the folk about the house</p> +<p class = "inset">To me were sister and brother.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +30.<sup>4</sup> ‘tyne,’ lose.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘If the Earl of Wemyss was your father,</p> +<p class = "inset">I wot sae he was mine;</p> +<p>And it shall not be for lack o’ gowd</p> +<p class = "inset">That ye your love sall tyne.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘For I have seven ships o’ mine ain,</p> +<p class = "inset">A’ loaded to the brim,</p> +<p>And I will gie them a’ to thee,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ four to thine eldest son:</p> +<p>But thanks to a’ the powers in heaven</p> +<p class = "inset">That I gae maiden hame!’</p> + +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">35</span> +<a name = "page35" id = "page35"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE CRUEL MOTHER</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is given from Motherwell’s +<i>Minstrelsy</i>, earlier versions being only fragmentary.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> has a close parallel in a +Danish ballad; and another, popular all over Germany, is a variation of +the same theme, but in place of the mother’s final doom being merely +mentioned, in the German ballad she is actually carried away by the +devil.</p> + +<p>In a small group of ballads, the penknife appears to be the ideal +weapon for murder or suicide. See the <i>Twa Brothers</i> and the +<i>Bonny Hind</i>.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">THE CRUEL MOTHER</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">She</span> leaned her back unto a thorn;</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Three, three, and three by three</i></p> +<p>And there she has her two babes born.</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Three, three, and thirty-three.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She took frae ’bout her ribbon-belt,</p> +<p>And there she bound them hand and foot.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She has ta’en out her wee pen-knife,</p> +<p>And there she ended baith their life.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She has howked a hole baith deep and wide,</p> +<p>She has put them in baith side by side.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">36</span> +<a name = "page36" id = "page36"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She has covered them o’er wi’ a marble stane,</p> +<p>Thinking she would gang maiden hame.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +As she was walking by her father’s castle wa’,</p> +<p>She saw twa pretty babes playing at the ba’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O bonnie babes, gin ye were mine,</p> +<p>I would dress you up in satin fine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O I would dress you in the silk,</p> +<p>And wash you ay in morning milk.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>2</sup> ‘twine,’ coarse cloth; <i>i.e.</i> shroud.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O cruel mother, we were thine,</p> +<p>And thou made us to wear the twine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O cursed mother, heaven’s high,</p> +<p>And that’s where thou will ne’er win nigh.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O cursed mother, hell is deep,</p> +<p>And there thou’ll enter step by step.’</p> + +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">37</span> +<a name = "page37" id = "page37"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">CHILD WATERS</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is here given from the +Percy Folio, with some emendations as suggested by Child.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span>, if we omit the hard tests +imposed on the maid’s affection, is widely popular in a series of +Scandinavian ballads,—Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian; and Percy’s +edition (in the <i>Reliques</i>) was popularised in Germany by Bürger’s +translation.</p> + +<p>The disagreeable nature of the final insult (stt. 27-29), retained +here only for the sake of fidelity to the original text, may be +paralleled by the similarly sudden lapse of taste in the <i>Nut-Brown +Maid</i>. We can but hope—as indeed is probable—that the +objectionable lines are in each case interpolated.</p> + +<p>‘Child,’ as in ‘Child Roland,’ etc., is a title of courtesy = +Knight.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">CHILD WATERS</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Childe Watters</span> in his stable +stoode,</p> +<p class = "inset">& stroaket his milke-white steede;</p> +<p>To him came a ffaire young ladye</p> +<p class = "inset">As ere did weare womans weede.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>2</sup> ‘see,’ protect. So constantly in this phrase.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Saies, ‘Christ you saue, good Chyld Waters!’</p> +<p class = "inset">Sayes, ‘Christ you saue and see!</p> +<p>My girdle of gold which was too longe</p> +<p class = "inset">Is now to short ffor mee.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">38</span> +<a name = "page38" id = "page38"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘& all is with one chyld of yours,</p> +<p class = "inset">I ffeele sturre att my side:</p> +<p>My gowne of greene, it is to strayght;</p> +<p class = "inset">Before it was to wide.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If the child be mine, faire Ellen,’ he sayd,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Be mine, as you tell mee,</p> +<p>Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both,</p> +<p class = "inset">Take them your owne to bee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If the child be mine, ffaire Ellen,’ he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Be mine, as you doe sweare,</p> +<p>Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both,</p> +<p class = "inset">& make that child your heyre.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Shee saies, ‘I had rather haue one kisse,</p> +<p class = "inset">Child Waters, of thy mouth,</p> +<p>Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both,</p> +<p class = "inset">That lyes by north & south.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘& I had rather haue a twinkling,</p> +<p class = "inset">Child Waters, of your eye,</p> +<p>Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both,</p> +<p class = "inset">To take them mine oune to bee!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘To-morrow, Ellen, I must forth ryde</p> +<p class = "inset">Soe ffar into the north countrye;</p> +<p>The ffairest lady that I can ffind,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ellen, must goe with mee.’</p> +<p>‘& euer I pray you, Child Watters,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your ffootpage let me bee!’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">39</span> +<a name = "page39" id = "page39"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If you will my ffootpage be, Ellen,</p> +<p class = "inset">As you doe tell itt mee,</p> +<p>Then you must cut your gownne of greene</p> +<p class = "inset">An inch aboue your knee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Soe must you doe your yellow lockes</p> +<p class = "inset">Another inch aboue your eye;</p> +<p>You must tell no man what is my name;</p> +<p class = "inset">My ffootpage then you shall bee.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +All this long day Child Waters rode,</p> +<p class = "inset">Shee ran bare ffoote by his side;</p> +<p>Yett was he neuer soe curteous a knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">To say, ‘Ellen, will you ryde?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But all this day Child Waters rode,</p> +<p class = "inset">She ran barffoote thorow the broome!</p> +<p>Yett he was neuer soe curteous a knight</p> +<p class = "inset">As to say, ‘Put on your shoone.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ride softlye,’ shee said, ‘Child Watters:</p> +<p class = "inset">Why do you ryde soe ffast?</p> +<p>The child, which is no mans but yours,</p> +<p class = "inset">My bodye itt will burst.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He sayes, ‘Sees thou yonder water, Ellen,</p> +<p class = "inset">That fflowes from banke to brim?’</p> +<p>‘I trust to God, Child Waters,’ shee sayd,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘You will neuer see mee swime.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But when shee came to the waters side,</p> +<p class = "inset">Shee sayled to the chinne:</p> +<p>‘Except the lord of heauen be my speed,</p> +<p class = "inset">Now must I learne to swime.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">40</span> +<a name = "page40" id = "page40"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The salt waters bare vp Ellens clothes,</p> +<p class = "inset">Our Ladye bare vpp her chinne,</p> +<p>& Child Waters was a woe man, good Lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">To ssee faire Ellen swime.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +& when shee ouer the water was,</p> +<p class = "inset">Shee then came to his knee:</p> +<p>He said, ‘Come hither, ffaire Ellen,</p> +<p class = "inset">Loe yonder what I see!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>2</sup> ‘yates,’ gates.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>3</sup> In each case the Folio gives ‘24’ for ‘four and +twenty.’</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>4</sup> ‘wordlye make,’ worldly mate.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen?</p> +<p class = "inset">Of redd gold shine the yates;</p> +<p>There’s four and twenty ffayre ladyes,</p> +<p class = "inset">The ffairest is my wordlye make.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen?</p> +<p class = "inset">Of redd gold shineth the tower;</p> +<p>There is four and twenty ffaire ladyes,</p> +<p class = "inset">The fairest is my paramoure.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I doe see the hall now, Child Waters,</p> +<p class = "inset">That of redd gold shineth the yates;</p> +<p>God giue good then of your selfe,</p> +<p class = "inset">& of your wordlye make!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I doe see the hall now, Child Waters,</p> +<p class = "inset">That of redd gold shineth the tower;</p> +<p>God giue good then of your selfe,</p> +<p class = "inset">And of your paramoure!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +There were four and twenty ladyes,</p> +<p class = "inset">Were playing att the ball;</p> +<p>& Ellen, was the ffairest ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">Must bring his steed to the stall.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">41</span> +<a name = "page41" id = "page41"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +There were four and twenty faire ladyes</p> +<p class = "inset">Was playing att the chesse;</p> +<p>& Ellen, shee was the ffairest ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">Must bring his horsse to grasse.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +& then bespake Child Waters sister,</p> +<p class = "inset">& these were the words said shee:</p> +<p>‘You haue the prettyest ffootpage, brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ever I saw with mine eye;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But that his belly it is soe bigg,</p> +<p class = "inset">His girdle goes wonderous hye;</p> +<p>& euer I pray you, Child Waters,</p> +<p class = "inset">Let him go into the chamber with me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +26.<sup>6</sup> ‘rich’ added by Percy.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +28.<sup>6</sup> ‘For filinge,’ to save defiling.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘It is more meete for a litle ffootpage,</p> +<p class = "inset">That has run through mosse and mire,</p> +<p>To take his supper vpon his knee</p> +<p class = "inset">& sitt downe by the kitchin fyer,</p> +<p>Then to go into the chamber with any ladye</p> +<p class = "inset">That weares so [rich] attyre.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But when thé had supped euery one,</p> +<p class = "inset">To bedd they tooke the way;</p> +<p>He sayd, ‘Come hither, my litle footpage,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hearken what I doe say!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘& goe thee downe into yonder towne,</p> +<p class = "inset">& low into the street;</p> +<p>The ffarest ladye that thou can find,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hyer her in mine armes to sleepe,</p> +<p>& take her vp in thine armes two,</p> +<p class = "inset">For filinge of her ffeete.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">42</span> +<a name = "page42" id = "page42"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Ellen is gone into the towne,</p> +<p class = "inset">& low into the streete:</p> +<p>The fairest ladye that shee cold find</p> +<p class = "inset">She hyred in his armes to sleepe,</p> +<p>& tooke her in her armes two,</p> +<p class = "inset">For filing of her ffeete.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +30.<sup>4</sup> ‘say,’ essay, attempt.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I pray you now, good Child Waters,</p> +<p class = "inset">That I may creepe in att your bedds feete,</p> +<p>For there is noe place about this house</p> +<p class = "inset">Where I may say a sleepe.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +31.<sup>1</sup> ‘night.’ Child’s emendation. Percy read: ‘This done, the +nighte drove on apace.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +This [night] & itt droue on affterward</p> +<p class = "inset">Till itt was neere the day:</p> +<p>He sayd, ‘Rise vp, my litle ffoote page,</p> +<p class = "inset">& giue my steed corne & hay;</p> +<p>& soe doe thou the good blacke oates,</p> +<p class = "inset">That he may carry me the better away.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +32.<sup>3</sup> ‘and’; Folio <i>on</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And vp then rose ffaire Ellen,</p> +<p class = "inset">& gave his steed corne & hay,</p> +<p>& soe shee did and the good blacke oates,</p> +<p class = "inset">That he might carry him the better away.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">33.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Shee layned her backe to the manger side,</p> +<p class = "inset">& greiuouslye did groane;</p> +<p>& that beheard his mother deere,</p> +<p class = "inset">And heard her make her moane.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">43</span> +<a name = "page43" id = "page43"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">34.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Shee said, ‘Rise vp, thou Child Waters!</p> +<p class = "inset">I thinke thou art a cursed man;</p> +<p>For yonder is a ghost in thy stable,</p> +<p class = "inset">That greiuously doth groane,</p> +<p>Or else some woman laboures of child,</p> +<p class = "inset">Shee is soe woe begone!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">35.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But vp then rose Child Waters,</p> +<p class = "inset">& did on his shirt of silke;</p> +<p>Then he put on his other clothes</p> +<p class = "inset">On his body as white as milke.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">36.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +36.<sup>4</sup> ‘monand,’ moaning.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +& when he came to the stable dore,</p> +<p class = "inset">Full still that hee did stand,</p> +<p>That hee might heare now faire Ellen,</p> +<p class = "inset">How shee made her monand.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">37.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Shee said, ‘Lullabye, my owne deere child!</p> +<p class = "inset">Lullabye, deere child, deere!</p> +<p>I wold thy father were a king,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thy mother layd on a beere!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">38.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Peace now,’ he said, ‘good faire Ellen!</p> +<p class = "inset">& be of good cheere, I thee pray,</p> +<p>& the bridall & the churching both,</p> +<p class = "inset">They shall bee vpon one day.’</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">44</span> +<a name = "page44" id = "page44"> </a> + +<h4 class = "chapter smallcaps">EARL BRAND, THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY, and THE +CHILD OF ELL</h4> + + +<p><span class = "firstword">There</span> are here put in juxtaposition +three versions in ballad-form of the same story, though fragmentary in +the two latter cases, not only because each is good, but to show the +possibilities of variation in a popular story. There is yet another +ballad, <i>Erlinton</i>, printed by Sir Walter Scott in the +<i>Minstrelsy</i>, embodying an almost identical tale. <i>Earl Brand</i> +preserves most of the features of a very ancient story with more +exactitude than any other traditional ballad. But in this case, as in +too many others, we must turn to a Scandinavian ballad for the complete +form of the story. A Danish ballad, <i>Ribold and Guldborg</i>, +gives the fine tale thus:—</p> + +<p>Ribold, a king’s son, in love with Guldborg, offers to carry her away +‘to a land where death and sorrow come not, where all the birds are +cuckoos, where all the grass is leeks, where all the streams run with +wine.’ Guldborg is willing, but doubts whether she can escape the strict +watch kept over her by her family and by her betrothed lover. Ribold +disguises her in his armour and a cloak, and they ride away. On the moor +they meet an earl, who asks, ‘Whither away?’ Ribold answers that he is +taking his youngest sister from a cloister. This does not deceive the +earl, nor does a bribe close his mouth; and Guldborg’s father, learning +that she is away with Ribold, rides with his sons in pursuit. Ribold +bids Guldborg hold his horse, and prepares to fight; he tells her that, +whatever may +<span class = "pagenum">45</span> +<a name = "page45" id = "page45"> </a> +chance, she must not call on him by name. Ribold slays her father and +some of her kin and six of her brothers; only her youngest brother is +left: Guldborg cries, ‘Ribold, spare him,’ that he may carry tidings to +her mother. Immediately Ribold receives a mortal wound. He ceases +fighting, sheathes his sword, and says to her, ‘Wilt thou go home to thy +mother again, or wilt thou follow so sad a swain?’ And she says she will +follow him. In silence they ride on. ‘Why art not thou merry as before?’ +asks Guldborg. And Ribold answers, ‘Thy brother’s sword has been in my +heart.’ They reach his house: he calls for one to take his horse, +another to fetch a priest; for his brother shall have Guldborg. But she +refuses. That night dies Ribold, and Guldborg slays herself and dies in +his arms.</p> + +<p>A second and even more dramatic ballad, <i>Hildebrand and Hilde</i>, +tells a similar story.</p> + +<p>A comparison of the above tale with <i>Earl Brand</i> will show a +close agreement in most of the incidents. The chief loss in the English +ballad is the request of Ribold, that Guldborg must not speak his name +while he fights. The very name ‘Brand’ is doubtless a direct derivative +of ‘Hildebrand.’ Winchester (13.<sup>2</sup>), as it implies a nunnery, +corresponds to the cloister in the Danish ballad. Earl Brand directs his +mother to marry the King’s daughter to his youngest brother; but her +refusal, if she did as Guldborg did, has been lost.</p> + +<p><i>The Douglas Tragedy</i>, a beautiful but fragmentary version, is, +says Scott, ‘one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed +complete locality.’ The ascribed locality, if more complete, is no more +probable than any other: to ascribe any definite locality to a ballad is +in all cases a waste of time and labour.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">46</span> +<a name = "page46" id = "page46"> </a> +<i>The Child of Ell</i>, in the Percy Folio, <i>may</i> have contained +anything; but immediately we approach a point where comparison would be +of interest, we meet an <i>hiatus valde deflendus</i>. Percy, in the +<i>Reliques</i>, expanded the fragment here given to about five times +the length.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">EARL BRAND</h6> + +<h6>(From <span class = "smallcaps">R. Bell’s</span> <i>Ancient Poems, +Ballads</i>, etc.)</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Oh</span> did ye ever hear o’ brave Earl +Bran’?</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Ay lally, o lilly lally</i></p> +<p>He courted the king’s daughter of fair England</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>All i’ the night sae early</i>.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She was scarcely fifteen years of age</p> +<p>Till sae boldly she came to his bedside.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O Earl Bran’, fain wad I see</p> +<p>A pack of hounds let loose on the lea.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O lady, I have no steeds but one,</p> +<p>And thou shalt ride, and I will run.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O Earl Bran’, my father has two,</p> +<p>And thou shall have the best o’ them a’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They have ridden o’er moss and moor,</p> +<p>And they met neither rich nor poor.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Until they met with old Carl Hood;</p> +<p>He comes for ill, but never for good.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Earl Bran’, if ye love me,</p> +<p>Seize this old earl, and gar him die.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">47</span> +<a name = "page47" id = "page47"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O lady fair, it wad be sair,</p> +<p>To slay an old man that has grey hair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O lady fair, I’ll no do sae,</p> +<p>I’ll gie him a pound and let him gae.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O where hae ye ridden this lee lang day?</p> +<p>O where hae ye stolen this lady away?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I have not ridden this lee lang day,</p> +<p>Nor yet have I stolen this lady away.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘She is my only, my sick sister,</p> +<p>Whom I have brought from Winchester.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If she be sick, and like to dead,</p> +<p>Why wears she the ribbon sae red?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If she be sick, and like to die,</p> +<p>Then why wears she the gold on high?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When he came to this lady’s gate,</p> +<p>Sae rudely as he rapped at it.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O where’s the lady o’ this ha’?’</p> +<p>‘She’s out with her maids to play at the ba’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ha, ha, ha! ye are a’ mista’en:</p> +<p>Gae count your maidens o’er again.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I saw her far beyond the moor</p> +<p>Away to be the Earl o’ Bran’s whore.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The father armed fifteen of his best men,</p> +<p>To bring his daughter back again.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">48</span> +<a name = "page48" id = "page48"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O’er her left shoulder the lady looked then:</p> +<p>‘O Earl Bran’, we both are tane.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If they come on me ane by ane,</p> +<p>Ye may stand by and see them slain.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But if they come on me one and all,</p> +<p>Ye may stand by and see me fall.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They have come on him ane by ane,</p> +<p>And he has killed them all but ane.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And that ane came behind his back,</p> +<p>And he’s gi’en him a deadly whack.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But for a’ sae wounded as Earl Bran’ was,</p> +<p>He has set his lady on her horse.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They rode till they came to the water o’ Doune,</p> +<p>And then he alighted to wash his wounds.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O Earl Bran’, I see your heart’s blood!’</p> +<p>‘’Tis but the gleat o’ my scarlet hood.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They rode till they came to his mother’s gate,</p> +<p>And sae rudely as he rapped at it.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O my son’s slain, my son’s put down,</p> +<p>And a’ for the sake of an English loun.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O say not sae, my dear mother,</p> +<p>But marry her to my youngest brother.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘This has not been the death o’ ane,</p> +<p>But it’s been that o’ fair seventeen.’</p> +</div> + + +<span class = "pagenum">49</span> +<a name = "page49" id = "page49"> </a> + +<h6 class = "section">THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY</h6> + +<h6>(From <span class = "smallcaps">Scott’s</span> +<i>Minstrelsy</i>)</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘Rise</span> up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,’ +she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘And put on your armour so bright;</p> +<p>Let it never be said that a daughter of thine</p> +<p class = "inset">Was married to a lord under night.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Rise up, rise up, my seven bold sons,</p> +<p class = "inset">And put on your armour so bright;</p> +<p>And take better care of your youngest sister,</p> +<p class = "inset">For your eldest’s awa’ the last night!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s mounted her on a milk-white steed,</p> +<p class = "inset">And himself on a dapple grey,</p> +<p>With a bugelet horn hung down by his side,</p> +<p class = "inset">And lightly they rode away.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord William lookit o’er his left shoulder,</p> +<p class = "inset">To see what he could see,</p> +<p>And there he spy’d her seven brethren bold</p> +<p class = "inset">Come riding over the lee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Light down, light down, Lady Margret<ins class = "correction" title = +"close quote invisible">,’ </ins>he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘And hold my steed in your hand,</p> +<p>Until that against your seven brethren bold,</p> +<p class = "inset">And your father, I mak’ a stand.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She held his steed in her milk-white hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">And never shed one tear,</p> +<p>Until that she saw her seven brethren fa’,</p> +<p class = "inset">And her father hard fighting, who lov’d her so +dear.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">50</span> +<a name = "page50" id = "page50"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O hold your hand, Lord William!’ she said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘For your strokes they are wondrous sair;</p> +<p>True lovers I can get many a ane,</p> +<p class = "inset">But a father I can never get mair.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +<ins class = "correction" title = "numbers missing in original">8.<sup>3</sup></ins> +‘dighted,’ dressed.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O she’s ta’en out her handkerchief,</p> +<p class = "inset">It was o’ the holland sae fine,</p> +<p>And aye she dighted her father’s bloody wounds,</p> +<p class = "inset">That were redder than the wine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O chuse, O chuse, Lady Margret,’ he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘O whether will ye gang or bide?’</p> +<p>‘I’ll gang, I’ll gang, Lord William,’ she said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘For ye have left me no other guide.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s lifted her on a milk-white steed,</p> +<p class = "inset">And himself on a dapple grey,</p> +<p>With a bugelet horn hung down by his side,</p> +<p class = "inset">And slowly they baith rade away.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O they rade on, and on they rade,</p> +<p class = "inset">And a’ by the light of the moon,</p> +<p>Until they came to yon wan water,</p> +<p class = "inset">And there they lighted down.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They lighted down to tak’ a drink</p> +<p class = "inset">Of the spring that ran sae clear:</p> +<p>And down the stream ran his gude heart’s blood,</p> +<p class = "inset">And sair she gan to fear.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">51</span> +<a name = "page51" id = "page51"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Hold up, hold up, Lord William,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘For I fear that you are slain!’</p> +<p>‘’Tis naething but the shadow of my scarlet cloak,</p> +<p class = "inset">That shines in the water sae plain.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O they rade on, and on they rade,</p> +<p class = "inset">And a’ by the light of the moon,</p> +<p>Until they cam’ to his mother’s ha’ door,</p> +<p class = "inset">And there they lighted down.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Get up, get up, lady mother,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Get up, and let me in!</p> +<p>Get up, get up, lady mother,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘For this night my fair ladye I’ve win.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O mak’ my bed, lady mother,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘O mak’ it braid and deep,</p> +<p>And lay Lady Margret close at my back,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the sounder I will sleep.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord William was dead lang ere midnight,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lady Margret lang ere day,</p> +<p>And all true lovers that go thegither,</p> +<p class = "inset">May they have mair luck than they!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord William was buried in St. Mary’s kirk,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lady Margret in Mary’s quire;</p> +<p>Out o’ the lady’s grave grew a bonny red rose,</p> +<p class = "inset">And out o’ the knight’s a briar.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And they twa met, and they twa plat,</p> +<p class = "inset">And fain they wad be near;</p> +<p>And a’ the warld might ken right weel,</p> +<p class = "inset">They were twa lovers dear.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">52</span> +<a name = "page52" id = "page52"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But bye and rade the Black Douglas,</p> +<p class = "inset">And wow but he was rough!</p> +<p>For he pull’d up the bonny brier,</p> +<p class = "inset">And flang’t in St. Mary’s Loch.</p> +</div> + + +<h6 class = "section">THE CHILD OF ELL</h6> + +<h6>(<i>Fragment: from the Percy Folio</i>)</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>3</sup> The maiden is speaking.</p> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "missing first"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p>Sayes, ‘Christ thee saue, good child of Ell,</p> +<p class = "inset">Christ saue thee & thy steede!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My father sayes he will noe meate,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor his drinke shall doe him noe good,</p> +<p>Till he haue slaine the child of Ell,</p> +<p class = "inset">& haue seene his hart’s blood.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I wold I were in my sadle sett,</p> +<p class = "inset">& a mile out of the towne,</p> +<p>I did not care for your father</p> +<p class = "inset">& all his merrymen.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I wold I were in my sadle sett</p> +<p class = "inset">& a litle space him froe,</p> +<p>I did not care for your father</p> +<p class = "inset">& all that long him to!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>4</sup> ‘blend,’ blended, mixed.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He leaned ore his saddle bow,</p> +<p class = "inset">To kisse this lady good;</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">53</span> +<a name = "page53" id = "page53"> </a> + +<p>The teares that went them 2 betweene</p> +<p class = "inset">Were blend water & blood.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>2</sup> ‘on’: the <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> gives +‘of.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He sett himselfe on one good steed,</p> +<p class = "inset">This lady on one palfray,</p> +<p>& sett his litle horne to his mouth,</p> +<p class = "inset">& roundlie he rode away.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He had not ridden past a mile,</p> +<p class = "inset">A mile out of the towne,</p> +<p>Her father was readye with her 7 brether,</p> +<p class = "inset">He said, ‘Sett thou my daughter downe!</p> +<p>For it ill beseemes thee, thou false churles sonne,</p> +<p class = "inset">To carry her forth of this towne!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But lowd thou lyest, Sir Iohn the Knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thou now doest lye of me;</p> +<p>A knight me gott, & a lady me bore;</p> +<p class = "inset">Soe neuer did none by thee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But light now downe, my lady gay,</p> +<p class = "inset">Light downe & hold my horsse,</p> +<p>Whilest I & your father & your brether</p> +<p class = "inset">Doe play vs at this crosse.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>3</sup> The rest (about nine stt.) is missing.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘But light now downe, my owne trew loue,</p> +<p class = "inset">& meeklye hold my steede,</p> +<p>Whilest your father [and your brether] bold</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">54</span> +<a name = "page54" id = "page54"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from Percy’s +<i>Reliques</i> (vol. ii., 1765: vol. iii., 1767). In the latter edition +he also gives the English version of the ballad earlier in the same +volume.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story.</span>—This ballad, as it +is one of the most beautiful, is also one of the most popular. It should +be compared with <i>Fair Margaret and Sweet William</i>, in which the +forlorn maid dies of grief, not by the hand of her rival.</p> + +<p>A series of Norse ballads tell much the same tale, but in none is the +‘friends’ will’ a crucial point. Chansons from Burgundy, Bretagne, +Provence, and northern Italy, faintly echo the story.</p> + +<p>Lord Thomas his mither says that Fair Annet has no ‘gowd and gear’; +yet later on we find that Annet’s father can provide her with a horse +shod with silver and gold, and four-and-twenty silver bells in his mane; +she is attended by a large company, her cleading skinkles, and her belt +is of pearl.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Lord Thomas</span> and Fair Annet</p> +<p class = "inset">Sate a’ day on a hill;</p> +<p>Whan night was cum, and sun was sett,</p> +<p class = "inset">They had not talkt their fill.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">55</span> +<a name = "page55" id = "page55"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord Thomas said a word in jest,</p> +<p class = "inset">Fair Annet took it ill:</p> +<p>‘A, I will nevir wed a wife</p> +<p class = "inset">Against my ain friends’ will.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Gif ye wull nevir wed a wife,</p> +<p class = "inset">A wife wull neir wed yee’:</p> +<p>Sae he is hame to tell his mither,</p> +<p class = "inset">And knelt upon his knee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +4.<sup>1</sup> ‘rede,’ advise.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +4.<sup>3</sup> ‘nut-browne’ here = dusky, not fair; cp.:—<br> +‘In the old age black was not counted fair.’<br> +—<span class = "smallcaps">Shakespeare</span>, <i>Sonnet</i> <span +class = "smallroman">CXXVII</span>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O rede, O rede, mither,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘A gude rede gie to mee:</p> +<p>O sall I tak the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">And let Faire Annet bee?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘The nut-browne bride haes gowd and gear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Fair Annet she has gat nane;</p> +<p>And the little beauty Fair Annet haes,</p> +<p class = "inset">O it wull soon be gane.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And he has till his brother gane:</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Now, brother, rede ye mee;</p> +<p>A, sall I marrie the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">And let Fair Annet bee?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘The nut-browne bride has oxen, brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">The nut-browne bride has kye:</p> +<p>I wad hae ye marrie the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">And cast Fair Annet bye.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">56</span> +<a name = "page56" id = "page56"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>4</sup> ‘fadge,’ <i>lit.</i> a thick cake; here figuratively for +the thick-set ‘nut-browne bride.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Her oxen may dye i’ the house, billie,</p> +<p class = "inset">And her kye into the byre,</p> +<p>And I sall hae nothing to mysell</p> +<p class = "inset">Bot a fat fadge by the fyre.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And he has till his sister gane:</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Now sister, rede ye mee;</p> +<p>O sall I marrie the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">And set Fair Annet free?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I’se rede ye tak Fair Annet, Thomas,</p> +<p class = "inset">And let the browne bride alane;</p> +<p>Lest ye sould sigh, and say, Alace,</p> +<p class = "inset">What is this we brought hame!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘No, I will tak my mither’s counsel,</p> +<p class = "inset">And marrie me owt o’ hand;</p> +<p>And I will tak the nut-browne bride;</p> +<p class = "inset">Fair Annet may leive the land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Up then rose Fair Annet’s father,</p> +<p class = "inset">Twa hours or it wer day,</p> +<p>And he is gane into the bower</p> +<p class = "inset">Wherein Fair Annet lay.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Rise up, rise up, Fair Annet,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Put on your silken sheene;</p> +<p>Let us gae to St. Marie’s kirke,</p> +<p class = "inset">And see that rich weddeen.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My maides, gae to my dressing-roome,</p> +<p class = "inset">And dress to me my hair;</p> +<p>Whaireir yee laid a plait before,</p> +<p class = "inset">See yee lay ten times mair.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">57</span> +<a name = "page57" id = "page57"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My maides, gae to my dressing-room,</p> +<p class = "inset">And dress to me my smock;</p> +<p>The one half is o’ the holland fine,</p> +<p class = "inset">The other o’ needle-work.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The horse Fair Annet rade upon,</p> +<p class = "inset">He amblit like the wind;</p> +<p>Wi’ siller he was shod before,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ burning gowd behind.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +17.<sup>3</sup> ‘yae tift,’ [at] every puff.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Four and twanty siller bells</p> +<p class = "inset">Wer a’ tyed till his mane,</p> +<p>And yae tift o’ the norland wind,</p> +<p class = "inset">They tinkled ane by ane.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Four and twanty gay gude knichts</p> +<p class = "inset">Rade by Fair Annet’s side,</p> +<p>And four and twanty fair ladies,</p> +<p class = "inset">As gin she had bin a bride.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>2</sup> ‘stean,’ stone.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>3</sup> ‘cleading,’ clothing.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>4</sup> ‘skinkled,’ glittered.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And whan she cam to Marie’s kirk,</p> +<p class = "inset">She sat on Marie’s stean:</p> +<p>The cleading that Fair Annet had on</p> +<p class = "inset">It skinkled in their een.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And whan she cam into the kirk,</p> +<p class = "inset">She shimmered like the sun;</p> +<p>The belt that was about her waist,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was a’ wi’ pearles bedone.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">58</span> +<a name = "page58" id = "page58"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She sat her by the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">And her een they wer sae clear,</p> +<p>Lord Thomas he clean forgat the bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whan Fair Annet drew near.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He had a rose into his hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">He gae it kisses three,</p> +<p>And reaching by the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">Laid it on Fair Annet’s knee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Up than spak the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">She spak wi’ meikle spite:</p> +<p>‘And whair gat ye that rose-water,</p> +<p class = "inset">That does mak yee sae white?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>3,4</sup> <i>i.e.</i> I was born fair.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O I did get the rose-water</p> +<p class = "inset">Whair ye wull neir get nane,</p> +<p>For I did get that very rose-water</p> +<p class = "inset">Into my mither’s wame.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The bride she drew a long bodkin</p> +<p class = "inset">Frae out her gay head-gear,</p> +<p>And strake Fair Annet unto the heart,</p> +<p class = "inset">That word spak nevir mair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +26.<sup>4</sup> ‘wood-wroth,’ raging mad.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Lord Thomas he saw Fair Annet wex pale,</p> +<p class = "inset">And marvelit what mote bee;</p> +<p>But whan he saw her dear heart’s blude,</p> +<p class = "inset">A’ wood-wroth wexed hee.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">59</span> +<a name = "page59" id = "page59"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He drew his dagger, that was sae sharp,</p> +<p class = "inset">That was sae sharp and meet,</p> +<p>And drave it into the nut-browne bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">That fell deid at his feit.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Now stay for me, dear Annet,’ he sed,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Now stay, my dear,’ he cry’d;</p> +<p>Then strake the dagger untill his heart,</p> +<p class = "inset">And fell deid by her side.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +29, 30. This conclusion to a tragic tale of true-love is common to many +ballads; see <i>Fair Margaret and Sweet William</i> and especially +<i>Lord Lovel</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Lord Thomas was buried without kirk-wa’,</p> +<p class = "inset">Fair Annet within the quiere,</p> +<p>And o’ the tane thair grew a birk,</p> +<p class = "inset">The other a bonny briere.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +30.<sup>1</sup> ‘threw,’ intertwined.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And ay they grew, and ay they threw,</p> +<p class = "inset">As they wad faine be neare;</p> +<p>And by this ye may ken right weil</p> +<p class = "inset">They were twa luvers deare.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">60</span> +<a name = "page60" id = "page60"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE BROWN GIRL</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> of this ballad was taken +down before the end of the nineteenth century by the Rev. S. Baring +Gould, from a blacksmith at Thrushleton, Devon.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> is a simple little tale +which recalls <i>Barbara Allen</i>, <i>Clerk Sanders</i>, <i>Lord Thomas +and Fair Annet</i>, and others. I have placed it here for contrast, +and in illustration of the disdain of ‘brown’ maids.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">THE BROWN GIRL</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘I am</span> as brown as brown can be,</p> +<p class = "inset">And my eyes as black as sloe;</p> +<p>I am as brisk as brisk can be,</p> +<p class = "inset">And wild as forest doe.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My love he was so high and proud,</p> +<p class = "inset">His fortune too so high,</p> +<p>He for another fair pretty maid</p> +<p class = "inset">Me left and passed me by.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Me did he send a love-letter,</p> +<p class = "inset">He sent it from the town,</p> +<p>Saying no more he loved me,</p> +<p class = "inset">For that I was so brown.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">61</span> +<a name = "page61" id = "page61"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I sent his letter back again,</p> +<p class = "inset">Saying his love I valued not,</p> +<p>Whether that he would fancy me,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whether that he would not.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘When that six months were overpass’d,</p> +<p class = "inset">Were overpass’d and gone,</p> +<p>Then did my lover, once so bold,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lie on his bed and groan.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘When that six months were overpass’d,</p> +<p class = "inset">Were gone and overpass’d,</p> +<p>O then my lover, once so bold,</p> +<p class = "inset">With love was sick at last.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘First sent he for the doctor-man:</p> +<p class = "inset">“You, doctor, me must cure;</p> +<p>The pains that now do torture me</p> +<p class = "inset">I can not long endure.”</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Next did he send from out the town,</p> +<p class = "inset">O next did send for me;</p> +<p>He sent for me, the brown, brown girl</p> +<p class = "inset">Who once his wife should be.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O ne’er a bit the doctor-man</p> +<p class = "inset">His sufferings could relieve;</p> +<p>O never an one but the brown, brown girl</p> +<p class = "inset">Who could his life reprieve.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Now you shall hear what love she had</p> +<p class = "inset">For this poor love-sick man,</p> +<p>How all one day, a summer’s day,</p> +<p class = "inset">She walked and never ran.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">62</span> +<a name = "page62" id = "page62"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When that she came to his bedside,</p> +<p class = "inset">Where he lay sick and weak,</p> +<p>O then for laughing she could not stand</p> +<p class = "inset">Upright upon her feet.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘You flouted me, you scouted me,</p> +<p class = "inset">And many another one,</p> +<p>Now the reward is come at last,</p> +<p class = "inset">For all that you have done.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The rings she took from off her hands,</p> +<p class = "inset">The rings by two and three:</p> +<p>‘O take, O take these golden rings,</p> +<p class = "inset">By them remember me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She had a white wand in her hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">She strake him on the breast:</p> +<p>‘My faith and troth I give back to thee,</p> +<p class = "inset">So may thy soul have rest.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Prithee,’ said he, ‘forget, forget,</p> +<p class = "inset">Prithee forget, forgive;</p> +<p>O grant me yet a little space,</p> +<p class = "inset">That I may be well and live.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O never will I forget, forgive,</p> +<p class = "inset">So long as I have breath;</p> +<p>I’ll dance above your green, green grave</p> +<p class = "inset">Where you do lie beneath.’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">63</span> +<a name = "page63" id = "page63"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from a broadside in the +Douce Ballads, with a few unimportant corrections from other +stall-copies, as printed by Percy and Ritson.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> is much the same as +<i>Lord Thomas and Fair Annet</i>, except in the manner of Margaret’s +death.</p> + +<p>None of the known copies of the ballad are as early in date as <i>The +Knight of the Burning Pestle</i> (a play by Beaumont and Fletcher, +first produced, it is said, in 1611), in which the humorous old +Merrythought sings two fragments of this ballad; stanza 5 in +Act <span class = "smallroman">II</span>. Sc. 8, and the first +two lines of stanza 2 in Act <span class = "smallroman">III</span>. +Sc. 5. As there given, the lines are slightly different.</p> + +<p>The last four stanzas of this ballad again present the stock ending, +for which see the introduction to <i>Lord Lovel</i>. The last stanza +condemns itself.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">As</span> it fell out on a long summer’s +day,</p> +<p class = "inset">Two lovers they sat on a hill;</p> +<p>They sat together that long summer’s day,</p> +<p class = "inset">And could not talk their fill.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I see no harm by you, Margaret,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor you see none by me;</p> +<p>Before tomorrow eight a clock</p> +<p class = "inset">A rich wedding shall you see.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">64</span> +<a name = "page64" id = "page64"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Fair Margaret sat in her bower-window,</p> +<p class = "inset">A combing of her hair,</p> +<p>And there she spy’d Sweet William and his bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">As they were riding near.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Down she lay’d her ivory comb,</p> +<p class = "inset">And up she bound her hair;</p> +<p>She went her way forth of her bower,</p> +<p class = "inset">But never more did come there.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When day was gone, and night was come,</p> +<p class = "inset">And all men fast asleep,</p> +<p>Then came the spirit of Fair Margaret,</p> +<p class = "inset">And stood at William’s feet.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘God give you joy, you two true lovers,</p> +<p class = "inset">In bride-bed fast asleep;</p> +<p>Loe I am going to my green grass grave,</p> +<p class = "inset">And am in my winding-sheet.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When day was come, and night was gone,</p> +<p class = "inset">And all men wak’d from sleep,</p> +<p>Sweet William to his lady said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘My dear, I have cause to weep.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I dream’d a dream, my dear lady;</p> +<p class = "inset">Such dreams are never good;</p> +<p>I dream’d my bower was full of red swine,</p> +<p class = "inset">And my bride-bed full of blood.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">They never do prove good,</p> +<p>To dream thy bower was full of swine,</p> +<p class = "inset">And thy bride-bed full of blood.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">65</span> +<a name = "page65" id = "page65"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He called up his merry men all,</p> +<p class = "inset">By one, by two, and by three,</p> +<p>Saying, ‘I’ll away to Fair Margaret’s bower,</p> +<p class = "inset">By the leave of my lady.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And when he came to Fair Margaret’s bower,</p> +<p class = "inset">He knocked at the ring;</p> +<p>So ready was her seven brethren</p> +<p class = "inset">To let Sweet William in.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He turned up the covering-sheet:</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Pray let me see the dead;</p> +<p>Methinks she does look pale and wan,</p> +<p class = "inset">She has lost her cherry red.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I’ll do more for thee, Margaret,</p> +<p class = "inset">Than any of thy kin;</p> +<p>For I will kiss thy pale wan lips,</p> +<p class = "inset">Tho’ a smile I cannot win.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +With that bespeak her seven brethren,</p> +<p class = "inset">Making most pitious moan:</p> +<p>‘You may go kiss your jolly brown bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">And let our sister alone.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If I do kiss my jolly brown bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">I do but what is right;</p> +<p>For I made no vow to your sister dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">By day or yet by night.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Pray tell me then how much you’ll deal</p> +<p class = "inset">Of your white bread and your wine;</p> +<p>So much as is dealt at her funeral today</p> +<p class = "inset">Tomorrow shall be dealt at mine.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">66</span> +<a name = "page66" id = "page66"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Fair Margaret dy’d today, today,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sweet William he dy’d the morrow;</p> +<p>Fair Margaret dy’d for pure true love,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sweet William he dy’d for sorrow.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Margaret was buried in the lower chancel,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sweet William in the higher;</p> +<p>Out of her breast there sprung a rose,</p> +<p class = "inset">And out of his a brier.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They grew as high as the church-top,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till they could grow no higher,</p> +<p>And then they grew in a true lover’s knot,</p> +<p class = "inset">Which made all people admire.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +There came the clerk of the parish,</p> +<p class = "inset">As you this truth shall hear,</p> +<p>And by misfortune cut them down,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or they had now been there.</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">67</span> +<a name = "page67" id = "page67"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LORD LOVEL</h4> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p class = "inset6">‘It is silly sooth, +<p>And dallies with the innocence of love,</p> +<p>Like the old age.’</p> + +<p align = "right"> +—<i>Twelfth Night</i>, <span class = +"smallroman">II.</span> 4.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text.</span>—This ballad, +concluding a small class of three—<i>Lord Thomas and Fair +Annet</i>, and <i>Fair Margaret and Sweet William</i> being the other +two—is distinguished by the fact that the lady dies of hope +deferred. It is a foolish ballad, at the opposite pole to <i>Lord Thomas +and Fair Annet</i>, and is pre-eminently one of the class meant only to +be sung, with an effective burden. The text given here, therefore, is +that of a broadside of the year 1846.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> in outline is extremely +popular in German and Scandinavian literature. Of the former the +commonest is <i>Der Ritter und die <ins class= "correction" title= +"spelling unchanged">Maid</ins></i>, also found north of Germany; +twenty-six different versions in all, in some of which lilies spring +from the grave. In a Swedish ballad a linden-tree grows out of their +bodies; in Danish ballads, roses, lilies, or lindens. This conclusion, +a commonplace in folk-song, occurs also in a class of Romaic +ballads, where a clump of reeds rises from one of the lovers, and a +cypress or lemon-tree from the other, which bend to each other and +mingle their leaves whenever the wind blows. Classical readers will +recall the tale of Philemon and Baucis.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">68</span> +<a name = "page68" id = "page68"> </a> + +<p>For further information on this subject, consult the special section +of the Introduction.</p> + +<p>Various other versions of this ballad are named <i>Lady +Ouncebell</i>, <i>Lord Lavel</i>, <i>Lord Travell</i>, and <i>Lord +Revel</i>.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">LORD LOVEL</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>4,5</sup> A similar repetition of the last line of each verse +makes the refrain throughout.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Lord Lovel</span> he stood at his +castle-gate,</p> +<p class = "inset">Combing his milk-white steed,</p> +<p>When up came Lady Nancy Belle,</p> +<p class = "inset">To wish her lover good speed, speed,</p> +<p class = "inset">To wish her lover good speed.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Where are you going, Lord Lovel?’ she said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Oh where are you going?’ said she;</p> +<p>‘I’m going, my Lady Nancy Belle,</p> +<p class = "inset">Strange countries for to see.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘When will you be back, Lord Lovel?’ she said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Oh when will you come back?’ said she;</p> +<p>‘In a year, or two, or three at the most,</p> +<p class = "inset">I’ll return to my fair Nancy.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But he had not been gone a year and a day,</p> +<p class = "inset">Strange countries for to see,</p> +<p>When languishing thoughts came into his head,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lady Nancy Belle he would go see.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">69</span> +<a name = "page69" id = "page69"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till he came to London town,</p> +<p>And there he heard St. Pancras’ bells,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the people all mourning round.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Oh what is the matter?’ Lord Lovel he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Oh what is the matter?’ said he;</p> +<p>‘A lord’s lady is dead,’ a woman replied,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘And some call her Lady Nancy.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +So he ordered the grave to be opened wide,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the shroud he turned down,</p> +<p>And there he kissed her clay-cold lips,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till the tears came trickling down.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow;</p> +<p>Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras’ Church,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lord Lovel was laid in the choir;</p> +<p>And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,</p> +<p class = "inset">And out of her lover’s a briar.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>1</sup> Perhaps a misprint for ‘church-steeple top.’—<span +class = "smallcaps">Child.</span></p> + +<p class = "first"> +They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple too,</p> +<p class = "inset">And then they could grow no higher;</p> +<p>So there they entwined in a true-lovers’ knot,</p> +<p class = "inset">For all lovers true to admire.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">70</span> +<a name = "page70" id = "page70"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LADY MAISRY</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text.</span>—From the +Jamieson-Brown <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> All the other +variants agree as to the main outline of the ballad.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story.</span>—Lady Maisry, +refusing the young lords of the north country, and saying that her love +is given to an English lord, is suspected by her father’s kitchy-boy, +who goes to tell her brother. He charges her with her fault, reviles her +for ‘drawing up with an English lord,’ and commands her to renounce him. +She refuses, and is condemned to be burned. A bonny boy bears news +of her plight to Lord William, who leaps to boot and saddle; but he +arrives too late to save her, though he vows vengeance on all her kin, +and promises to burn himself last of all.</p> + +<p>Burning was the penalty usually allotted in the romances to a girl +convicted of unchastity.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">LADY MAISRY</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">The</span> young lords o’ the north +country</p> +<p class = "inset">Have all a wooing gone,</p> +<p>To win the love of Lady Maisry,</p> +<p class = "inset">But o’ them she woud hae none.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O they hae courted Lady Maisry</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ a’ kin kind of things;</p> +<p>An’ they hae sought her Lady Maisry</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ brotches an’ wi’ rings.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">71</span> +<a name = "page71" id = "page71"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +An’ they ha’ sought her Lady Maisry</p> +<p class = "inset">Frae father and frae mother;</p> +<p>An’ they ha’ sought her Lady Maisry</p> +<p class = "inset">Frae sister an’ frae brother.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +An’ they ha’ follow’d her Lady Maisry</p> +<p class = "inset">Thro’ chamber an’ thro’ ha’;</p> +<p>But a’ that they coud say to her,</p> +<p class = "inset">Her answer still was Na.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>1</sup> ‘ha’d’ = <i>haud</i>, hold.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O ha’d your tongues, young men,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘An’ think nae mair o’ me;</p> +<p>For I’ve gi’en my love to an English lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ think nae mair o’ me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Her father’s kitchy-boy heard that,</p> +<p class = "inset">An ill death may he dee!</p> +<p>An’ he is on to her brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as gang coud he.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O is my father an’ my mother well,</p> +<p class = "inset">But an’ my brothers three?</p> +<p>Gin my sister Lady Maisry be well,</p> +<p class = "inset">There’s naething can ail me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your father an’ your mother is well,</p> +<p class = "inset">But an’ your brothers three;</p> +<p>Your sister Lady Maisry’s well,</p> +<p class = "inset">So big wi’ bairn gangs she.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>2</sup> ‘mailison,’ curse.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Gin this be true you tell to me,</p> +<p class = "inset">My mailison light on thee!</p> +<p>But gin it be a lie you tell,</p> +<p class = "inset">You sal be hangit hie.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">72</span> +<a name = "page72" id = "page72"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s done him to his sister’s bow’r,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ meikle doole an’ care;</p> +<p>An’ there he saw her Lady Maisry</p> +<p class = "inset">Kembing her yallow hair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>1</sup> ‘is aught,’ owns.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O wha is aught that bairn,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘That ye sae big are wi’?</p> +<p>And gin ye winna own the truth,</p> +<p class = "inset">This moment ye sall dee.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She turn’d her right and roun’ about,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ the kem fell frae her han’;</p> +<p>A trembling seiz’d her fair body,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ her rosy cheek grew wan.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O pardon me, my brother dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ the truth I’ll tell to thee;</p> +<p>My bairn it is to Lord William,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ he is betroth’d to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O coud na ye gotten dukes, or lords,</p> +<p class = "inset">Intill your ain country,</p> +<p>That ye draw up wi’ an English dog,</p> +<p class = "inset">To bring this shame on me?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>4</sup> ‘forlorn,’ forfeit.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘But ye maun gi’ up the English lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whan youre young babe is born;</p> +<p>For, gin you keep by him an hour langer,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your life sall be forlorn.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I will gi’ up this English blood,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till my young babe be born;</p> +<p>But the never a day nor hour langer,</p> +<p class = "inset">Tho’ my life should be forlorn.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">73</span> +<a name = "page73" id = "page73"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O whare is a’ my merry young men,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whom I gi’ meat and fee,</p> +<p>To pu’ the thistle and the thorn,</p> +<p class = "inset">To burn this wile whore wi’?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O whare will I get a bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">To help me in my need,</p> +<p>To rin wi’ hast to Lord William,</p> +<p class = "inset">And bid him come wi’ speed?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O out it spake a bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Stood by her brother’s side:</p> +<p>‘O I would run your errand, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">O’er a’ the world wide.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +20.<sup>2</sup> <i>i.e.</i> in driving wind and rain.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Aft have I run your errands, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whan blawn baith win’ and weet;</p> +<p>But now I’ll rin your errand, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ sa’t tears on my cheek.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +21. A stock ballad-stanza.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O whan he came to broken briggs,</p> +<p class = "inset">He bent his bow and swam,</p> +<p>An’ whan he came to the green grass growin’,</p> +<p class = "inset">He slack’d his shoone and ran.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22.<sup>2</sup> ‘baed,’ stayed; ‘chap,’ knock.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22.<sup>4</sup> ‘lap,’ leapt.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O whan he came to Lord William’s gates,</p> +<p class = "inset">He baed na to chap or ca’,</p> +<p>But set his bent bow till his breast,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ lightly lap the wa’;</p> +<p>An’, or the porter was at the gate,</p> +<p class = "inset">The boy was i’ the ha’.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">74</span> +<a name = "page74" id = "page74"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +23.<sup>1</sup> ‘biggins,’ buildings.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O is my biggins broken, boy?</p> +<p class = "inset">Or is my towers won?</p> +<p>Or is my lady lighter yet,</p> +<p class = "inset">Of a dear daughter or son?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your biggin is na broken, sir,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor is your towers won;</p> +<p>But the fairest lady in a’ the lan’</p> +<p class = "inset">For you this day maun burn.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O saddle me the black, the black,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or saddle me the brown;</p> +<p>O saddle me the swiftest steed</p> +<p class = "inset">That ever rade frae a town.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Or he was near a mile awa’,</p> +<p class = "inset">She heard his wild horse sneeze:</p> +<p>‘Mend up the fire, my false brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">It’s na come to my knees.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O whan he lighted at the gate,</p> +<p class = "inset">She heard his bridle ring;</p> +<p>‘Mend up the fire, my false brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">It’s far yet frae my chin.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Mend up the fire to me, brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">Mend up the fire to me;</p> +<p>For I see him comin’ hard an’ fast,</p> +<p class = "inset">Will soon men’ ’t up to thee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +29.<sup>3</sup> ‘gleed,’ burning coal, fire.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O gin my hands had been loose, Willy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sae hard as they are boun’,</p> +<span class = "pagenum">75</span> +<a name = "page75" id = "page75"> </a> +<p>I would have turn’d me frae the gleed,</p> +<p class = "inset">And castin out your young son.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +30.<sup>1</sup> ‘gar,’ make, cause.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O I’ll gar burn for you, Maisry,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your father an’ your mother;</p> +<p>An’ I’ll gar burn for you, Maisry,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your sister an’ your brother.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘An’ I’ll gar burn for you, Maisry,</p> +<p class = "inset">The chief of a’ your kin;</p> +<p>An’ the last bonfire that I come to,</p> +<p class = "inset">Mysel’ I will cast in.’</p> + +</div> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "picture75" id = "picture75"> </a> +<img src = "images/pic075.png" width = "331" height = "245" +alt = "picture"> +</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">76</span> +<a name = "page76" id = "page76"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE CRUEL BROTHER</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is that obtained in 1800 by +Alexander Fraser Tytler from Mrs. Brown of Falkland, and by him +committed to writing. The first ten and the last two stanzas show +corruption, but the rest of the ballad is in the best style.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> emphasises the necessity +of asking the consent of a brother to the marriage of his sister, and +therefore the title <i>The Cruel Brother</i> is a misnomer. In +ballad-times, the brother would have been well within his rights; it was +rather a fatal oversight of the bridegroom that caused the tragedy.</p> + +<p>Danish and German ballads echo the story, though in the commonest +German ballad, <i>Graf Friedrich</i>, the bride receives an +<i>accidental</i> wound, and that from the bridegroom’s own hand.</p> + +<p>The testament of the bride, by which she benefits her friends and +leaves curses on her enemies, is very characteristic of the +ballad-style, and is found in other ballads, as <i>Lord Ronald</i> and +<i>Edward, Edward</i>. In the present case, ‘sister Grace’ obtains what +would seem to be a very doubtful benefit.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">77</span> +<a name = "page77" id = "page77"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">THE CRUEL BROTHER</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>2,4</sup> It should be remembered that the refrain is supposed to +be sung with each verse, here and elsewhere.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">There</span> was three ladies play’d at the +ba’,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>With a hey ho and a lillie gay</i></p> +<p>There came a knight and played o’er them a’,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>As the primrose spreads so sweetly</i>.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The eldest was baith tall and fair,</p> +<p>But the youngest was beyond compare.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The midmost had a graceful mien,</p> +<p>But the youngest look’d like beautie’s queen.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The knight bow’d low to a’ the three,</p> +<p>But to the youngest he bent his knee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The ladie turned her head aside;</p> +<p>The knight he woo’d her to be his bride.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The ladie blush’d a rosy red,</p> +<p>And say’d, ‘Sir knight, I’m too young to wed.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O ladie fair, give me your hand,</p> +<p>And I’ll make you ladie of a’ my land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Sir knight, ere ye my favour win,</p> +<p>You maun get consent frae a’ my kin.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s got consent frae her parents dear,</p> +<p>And likewise frae her sisters fair.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">78</span> +<a name = "page78" id = "page78"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s got consent frae her kin each one,</p> +<p>But forgot to spiek to her brother John.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Now, when the wedding day was come,</p> +<p>The knight would take his bonny bride home.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And many a lord and many a knight</p> +<p>Came to behold that ladie bright.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And there was nae man that did her see,</p> +<p>But wish’d himself bridegroom to be.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Her father dear led her down the stair,</p> +<p>And her sisters twain they kiss’d her there.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>1</sup> ‘closs,’ close.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Her mother dear led her thro’ the closs,</p> +<p>And her brother John set her on her horse.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She lean’d her o’er the saddle-bow,</p> +<p>To give him a kiss ere she did go.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He has ta’en a knife, baith lang and sharp,</p> +<p>And stabb’d that bonny bride to the heart.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She hadno ridden half thro’ the town,</p> +<p>Until her heart’s blude stain’d her gown.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ride softly on,’ says the best young man,</p> +<p>‘For I think our bonny bride looks pale and wan.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O lead me gently up yon hill,</p> +<p>And I’ll there sit down, and make my will.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">79</span> +<a name = "page79" id = "page79"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O what will you leave to your father dear?’</p> +<p>‘The silver-shod steed that brought me here.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What will you leave to your mother dear?’</p> +<p>‘My velvet pall and my silken gear.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What will you leave to your sister Anne?’</p> +<p>‘My silken scarf and my gowden fan.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What will you leave to your sister Grace?’</p> +<p>‘My bloody cloaths to wash and dress.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What will you leave to your brother John?’</p> +<p>‘The gallows-tree to hang him on.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What will you leave to your brother John’s wife?’</p> +<p>‘The wilderness to end her life.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +This ladie fair in her grave was laid,</p> +<p>And many a mass was o’er her said.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +28.<sup>2</sup> ‘rive,’ tear.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +But it would have made your heart right sair,</p> +<p>To see the bridegroom rive his hair.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">80</span> +<a name = "page80" id = "page80"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE NUTBROWN MAID</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from Arnold’s +<i>Chronicle</i>, of the edition which, from typographical evidence, is +said to have been printed at Antwerp in 1502 by John Doesborowe. Each +stanza is there printed in six long lines. Considerable variations +appear in later editions. There is also a Balliol <span class = +"smallroman">MS.</span> (354), which contains a contemporary version, +and the Percy Folio contains a corrupt version.</p> + +<p>This should not be considered as a ballad proper; it is rather a +‘dramatic lyric.’ Its history, however, is quite as curious as that of +many ballads. It occurs, as stated above, in the farrago known as the +<i>Chronicle</i> of Richard Arnold, inserted between a list of the +‘tolls’ due on merchandise entering or leaving the port of Antwerp, and +a table giving Flemish weights and moneys in terms of the corresponding +English measures. Why such a poem should be printed in such incongruous +surroundings, what its date or who its author was, are questions +impossible to determine. Its position here is perhaps almost as +incongruous as in its original place.</p> + +<p>From 3.<sup>9</sup> to the end of the last verse but one, it is a +dialogue between an earl’s son and a baron’s daughter, in alternate +stanzas; a prologue and an epilogue are added by the author.</p> + +<p>Matthew Prior printed the poem in his works, in order to contrast it +with his own version, <i>Henry and Emma</i>, which appealed to +contemporary taste as more elegant than its rude original.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">81</span> +<a name = "page81" id = "page81"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">THE NUTBROWN MAID</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> + +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>1</sup> ‘among,’ from time to time.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>5</sup> ‘neuer a dele,’ not at all.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Be</span> it right, or wrong, these men +among</p> +<p class = "inset">On women do complaine;</p> +<p>Affermyng this, how that it is</p> +<p class = "inset">A labour spent in vaine,</p> +<p>To loue them wele; for neuer a dele,</p> +<p class = "inset">They loue a man agayne;</p> +<p>For lete a man do what he can,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ther fouour to attayne,</p> +<p>Yet, yf a newe to them pursue,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ther furst trew louer than</p> +<p>Laboureth for nought; and from her though[t]</p> +<p class = "inset">He is a bannisshed man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +I say not nay, bat that all day</p> +<p class = "inset">It is bothe writ and sayde</p> +<p>That womans fayth is as who saythe</p> +<p class = "inset">All utterly decayed;</p> +<p>But neutheles, right good wytnes</p> +<p class = "inset">In this case might be layde;</p> +<p>That they loue trewe, and contynew,</p> +<p class = "inset">Recorde the Nutbrowne maide:</p> +<p>Which from her loue, whan, her to proue,</p> +<p class = "inset">He cam to make his mone,</p> +<p>Wolde not departe, for in her herte,</p> +<p class = "inset">She louyd but hym allone.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">82</span> +<a name = "page82" id = "page82"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>4</sup> ‘they’ = the. ‘in fere,’ in company. ‘and fere’ +(= fear) is usually printed.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Than betwene us lete us discusse,</p> +<p class = "inset">What was all the maner</p> +<p>Betwene them too; we wyll also</p> +<p class = "inset">Tell all they payne in fere,</p> +<p>That she was in; now I begynne,</p> +<p class = "inset">Soo that ye me answere;</p> +<p>Wherfore, ye, that present be</p> +<p class = "inset">I pray you geue an eare.</p> +<p>I am the knyght; I cum be nyght,</p> +<p class = "inset">As secret as I can;</p> +<p>Sayng, alas! thus stondyth the cause,</p> +<p class = "inset">I am a bannisshed man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And I your wylle for to fulfylle</p> +<p class = "inset">In this wyl not refuse;</p> +<p>Trusting to shewe, in wordis fewe,</p> +<p class = "inset">That men haue an ille use</p> +<p>To ther owne shame wymen to blame,</p> +<p class = "inset">And causeles them accuse;</p> +<p>Therfore to you I answere nowe,</p> +<p class = "inset">All wymen to excuse,—</p> +<p>Myn owne hert dere, with you what chiere?</p> +<p class = "inset">I prey you, tell anoon;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you allon.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>1</sup> ‘do,’ done.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>5</sup> ‘ton,’ one.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>10</sup> <i>i.e.</i> I know no other advice.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +It stondith so; a dede is do,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wherfore moche harme shal growe;</p> +<p>My desteny is for to dey</p> +<p class = "inset">A shamful dethe, I trowe;</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">83</span> +<a name = "page83" id = "page83"> </a> + +<p>Or ellis to flee: the ton must bee.</p> +<p class = "inset">None other wey I knowe,</p> +<p>But to withdrawe as an outlaw,</p> +<p class = "inset">And take me to my bowe.</p> +<p>Wherefore, adew, my owne hert trewe,</p> +<p class = "inset">None other red I can:</p> +<p>For I muste to the grene wode goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone a bannysshed man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>4</sup> ‘derked,’ darkened.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>7</sup> ‘wheder,’ whither.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O Lorde, what is this worldis blisse,</p> +<p class = "inset">That chaungeth as the mone!</p> +<p>My somers day in lusty may</p> +<p class = "inset">Is derked before the none.</p> +<p>I here you saye farwel: nay, nay,</p> +<p class = "inset">We depart not soo sone.</p> +<p>Why say ye so? wheder wyll ye goo?</p> +<p class = "inset">Alas! what haue ye done?</p> +<p>Alle my welfare to sorow and care</p> +<p class = "inset">Shulde chaunge, yf ye were gon;</p> +<p>For, in [my] mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>2</sup> ‘distrayne,’ affect.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>5</sup> ‘aslake,’ abate.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +I can beleue, it shal you greue,</p> +<p class = "inset">And somwhat you distrayne;</p> +<p>But, aftyrwarde, your paynes harde</p> +<p class = "inset">Within a day or tweyne</p> +<p>Shall sone aslake; and ye shall take</p> +<p class = "inset">Comfort to you agayne.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">84</span> +<a name = "page84" id = "page84"> </a> + +<p>Why shuld ye nought? for, to make thought,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your labur were in vayne.</p> +<p>And thus I do; and pray you, loo,</p> +<p class = "inset">As hertely as I can;</p> +<p>For I must too the grene wode goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone a banysshed man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Now, syth that ye haue shewed to me</p> +<p class = "inset">The secret of your mynde,</p> +<p>I shalbe playne to you agayne,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lyke as ye shal me fynde.</p> +<p>Syth it is so, that ye wyll goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">I wol not leue behynde;</p> +<p>Shall neuer be sayd, the Nutbrowne mayd,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was to her loue unkind:</p> +<p>Make you redy, for soo am I,</p> +<p class = "inset">All though it were anoon;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Yet I you rede take good hede</p> +<p class = "inset">Whan men wyl thynke, and sey;</p> +<p>Of yonge, and olde, it shalbe tolde,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ye be gone away,</p> +<p>Your wanton wylle for to fulfylle,</p> +<p class = "inset">In grene wood you to play;</p> +<p>And that ye myght from your delyte</p> +<p class = "inset">Noo lenger make delay:</p> +<p>Rather than ye shuld thus for me</p> +<p class = "inset">Be called an ylle woman,</p> +<p>Yet wolde I to the grene wodde goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone a banyshed man.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">85</span> +<a name = "page85" id = "page85"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>9</sup> ‘thoo,’ those.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Though it be songe of olde and yonge,</p> +<p class = "inset">That I shuld be to blame,</p> +<p>Theirs be the charge, that speke so large</p> +<p class = "inset">In hurting of my name:</p> +<p>For I wyl proue that feythful loue</p> +<p class = "inset">It is deuoyd of shame;</p> +<p>In your distresse and heuynesse,</p> +<p class = "inset">To parte wyth you, the same:</p> +<p>And sure all thoo, that doo not so,</p> +<p class = "inset">Trewe louers ar they noon;</p> +<p>But, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>3</sup> ‘renne,’ run.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>6</sup> A later edition of the <i>Chronicle</i> reads— ‘A +bowe, redy to drawe.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +I councel yow, remembre howe</p> +<p class = "inset">It is noo maydens lawe,</p> +<p>Nothing to dought, but to renne out</p> +<p class = "inset">To wod with an outlawe;</p> +<p>For ye must there in your hande bere</p> +<p class = "inset">A bowe to bere and drawe;</p> +<p>And, as a theef, thus must ye lyeue,</p> +<p class = "inset">Euer in drede and awe,</p> +<p>By whiche to yow gret harme myght grow:</p> +<p class = "inset">Yet had I leuer than,</p> +<p>That I had too the grenewod goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone a banysshyd man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +I thinke not nay, but as ye saye,</p> +<p class = "inset">It is noo maydens lore:</p> +<p>But loue may make me for your sake,</p> +<p class = "inset">As ye haue said before</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">86</span> +<a name = "page86" id = "page86"> </a> + +<p>To com on fote, to hunte, and shote,</p> +<p class = "inset">To gete us mete and store;</p> +<p>For soo that I your company</p> +<p class = "inset">May haue, I aske noo more:</p> +<p>From whiche to parte, it makith myn herte</p> +<p class = "inset">As colde as ony ston;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>6</sup> ‘rescous,’ rescue. Another edition has ‘socurs.’</p> +<p class = "first"> +For an outlawe, this is the lawe,</p> +<p class = "inset">That men hym take and binde;</p> +<p>Wythout pytee hanged to bee,</p> +<p class = "inset">And wauer with the wynde.</p> +<p>Yf I had neede, (as God forbede!)</p> +<p class = "inset">What rescous coude ye finde?</p> +<p>Forsothe, I trowe, you and your bowe</p> +<p class = "inset">Shuld drawe for fere behynde:</p> +<p>And noo merueyle; for lytel auayle</p> +<p class = "inset">Were in your councel than:</p> +<p>Wherfore I too the woode wyl goo</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone a banysshd man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Ful wel knowe ye, that wymen bee</p> +<p class = "inset">Ful febyl for to fyght;</p> +<p>Noo womanhed is it in deede</p> +<p class = "inset">To bee bolde as a knight:</p> +<p>Yet, in suche fere, yf that ye were</p> +<p class = "inset">Amonge enemys day and nyght,</p> +<p>I wolde wythstonde, with bowe in hande,</p> +<p class = "inset">To greue them as I myght,</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">87</span> +<a name = "page87" id = "page87"> </a> + +<p>And you to saue; as wymen haue</p> +<p class = "inset">From deth many one:</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>7</sup> ‘abowe,’ above; ‘roue,’ roof.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Yet take good hede, for euer I drede</p> +<p class = "inset">That ye coude not sustein</p> +<p>The thorney wayes, the depe valeis,</p> +<p class = "inset">The snowe, the frost, the reyn,</p> +<p>The colde, the hete: for drye, or wete,</p> +<p class = "inset">We must lodge on the playn;</p> +<p>And, us abowe, noon other roue</p> +<p class = "inset">But a brake bussh or twayne:</p> +<p>Which sone shulde greue you, I beleue;</p> +<p class = "inset">And ye wolde gladly than</p> +<p>That I had too the grenewode goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone a banysshyd man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Syth I haue here ben partynere</p> +<p class = "inset">With you of joy and blysse,</p> +<p>I must also parte of your woo</p> +<p class = "inset">Endure, as reason is:</p> +<p>Yet am I sure of oon plesure;</p> +<p class = "inset">And, shortly, it is this:</p> +<p>That, where ye bee, me semeth, perde,</p> +<p class = "inset">I coude not fare amysse,</p> +<p>Wythout more speche, I you beseche</p> +<p class = "inset">That we were soon agone;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde,</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">88</span> +<a name = "page88" id = "page88"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Yef ye goo thedyr, ye must consider,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whan ye haue lust to dyne</p> +<p>Ther shal no mete before to gete,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor drinke, beer, ale, ne wine;</p> +<p>Ne shetis clene, to lye betwene,</p> +<p class = "inset">Made of thred and twyne;</p> +<p>Noon other house but leuys and bowes</p> +<p class = "inset">To keuer your hed and myn,</p> +<p>Loo, myn herte swete, this ylle dyet</p> +<p class = "inset">Shuld make you pale and wan;</p> +<p>Wherfore I to the wood wyl goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone, a banysshid man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>7</sup> ‘hele,’ health.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Amonge the wylde dere, suche an archier,</p> +<p class = "inset">As men say that ye bee,</p> +<p>Ne may not fayle of good vitayle</p> +<p class = "inset">Where is so grete plente:</p> +<p>And watir cleere of the ryuere</p> +<p class = "inset">Shalbe ful swete to me;</p> +<p>Wyth whiche in hele I shal right wele</p> +<p class = "inset">Endure, as ye shal see;</p> +<p>And, or we goo, a bed or twoo</p> +<p class = "inset">I can prouide anoon;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>3</sup> ‘here,’ hair; ‘ere,’ ear.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>9</sup> ‘And,’ If.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Loo, yet before ye must doo more,</p> +<p class = "inset">Yf ye wyl goo with me;</p> +<p>As cutte your here up by your ere,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your kirtel by the knee;</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">89</span> +<a name = "page89" id = "page89"> </a> + +<p>Wyth bowe in hande, for to withstonde</p> +<p class = "inset">Your enmys, yf nede bee:</p> +<p>And this same nyght before daylyght,</p> +<p class = "inset">To woodwarde wyl I flee.</p> +<p>And ye wyl all this fulfylle,</p> +<p class = "inset">Doo it shortely as ye can:</p> +<p>Ellis wil I to the grenewode goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone, a banysshyd man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +20.<sup>7</sup> ‘ensue,’ follow.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +I shal as now do more for you</p> +<p class = "inset">That longeth to womanhed;</p> +<p>To short my here, a bowe to bere,</p> +<p class = "inset">To shote in tyme of nede.</p> +<p>O my swete mod[er], before all other</p> +<p class = "inset">For you haue I most drede:</p> +<p>But now, adiew! I must ensue</p> +<p class = "inset">Wher fortune duth me leede.</p> +<p>All this make ye: now lete us flee;</p> +<p class = "inset">The day cum fast upon;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Nay, nay, not soo; ye shal not goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">And I shal telle you why,—</p> +<p>Your appetyte is to be lyght</p> +<p class = "inset">Of loue, I wele aspie:</p> +<p>For, right as ye haue sayd to me,</p> +<p class = "inset">In lyke wyse hardely</p> +<p>Ye wolde answere who so euer it were,</p> +<p class = "inset">In way of company.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">90</span> +<a name = "page90" id = "page90"> </a> + +<p>It is sayd of olde, sone hote, sone colde;</p> +<p class = "inset">And so is a woman.</p> +<p>Wherfore I too the woode wly goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone, a banysshid man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22.<sup>2</sup> The type is broken in the 1502 edition, which reads ‘to +say be....’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Yef ye take hede, yet is noo nede</p> +<p class = "inset">Suche wordis to say by me;</p> +<p>For ofte ye preyd, and longe assayed,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or I you louid, parde:</p> +<p>And though that I of auncestry</p> +<p class = "inset">A barons doughter bee,</p> +<p>Yet haue you proued how I you loued</p> +<p class = "inset">A squyer of lowe degree;</p> +<p>And euer shal, whatso befalle—</p> +<p class = "inset">To dey therfore anoon;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of al mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +23.<sup>6</sup> ‘yede,’ went.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +A barons childe to be begyled,</p> +<p class = "inset">It were a curssed dede;</p> +<p>To be felow with an outlawe,</p> +<p class = "inset">Almyghty God forbede.</p> +<p>Yet bettyr were the power squyere</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone to forest yede,</p> +<p>Than ye shal saye another day,</p> +<p class = "inset">That, be [my] wyked dede,</p> +<p>Ye were betrayed: wherfore, good maide,</p> +<p class = "inset">The best red that I can,</p> +<p>Is, that I too the grenewode goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone, a banysshed man.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">91</span> +<a name = "page91" id = "page91"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Whatso euer befalle, I neuer shal</p> +<p class = "inset">Of this thing you upbrayd:</p> +<p>But yf ye goo, and leue me soo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Than haue ye me betraied.</p> +<p>Remembre you wele, how that ye dele</p> +<p class = "inset">For, yf ye as the[y] sayd,</p> +<p>Be so unkynde, to leue behynde</p> +<p class = "inset">Your loue, the notbrowne maide,</p> +<p>Trust me truly, that I [shall] dey</p> +<p class = "inset">Sone after ye be gone;</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +25.<sup>3</sup> ‘purueid (= purveyed) me,’ provided myself.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Yef that ye went, ye shulde repent;</p> +<p class = "inset">For in the forest nowe</p> +<p>I haue purueid me of a maide,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whom I loue more than you;</p> +<p>Another fayrer, than euer ye were,</p> +<p class = "inset">I dare it wel auowe;</p> +<p>And of you bothe eche shulde be wrothe</p> +<p class = "inset">With other, as I trowe;</p> +<p>It were myn ease, to lyue in pease,</p> +<p class = "inset">So wyl I, yf I can:</p> +<p>Wherfore I to the wode wyl goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Alone a banysshid man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +26.<sup>9</sup> ‘moo’ = mo, <i>i.e.</i> more.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Though in the wood I undirstode</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye had a paramour,</p> +<p>All this may nought reineue my thought,</p> +<p class = "inset">But that I wil be your;</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">92</span> +<a name = "page92" id = "page92"> </a> + +<p>And she shal fynde me soft and kynde,</p> +<p class = "inset">And curteis euery our;</p> +<p>Glad to fulfylle all that she wylle</p> +<p class = "inset">Commaunde me to my power:</p> +<p>For had ye, loo, an hundred moo,</p> +<p class = "inset">Yet wolde I be that one,</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of all mankynde,</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Myn owne dere loue, I see the proue</p> +<p class = "inset">That ye be kynde and trewe,</p> +<p>Of mayde, and wyf, in al my lyf,</p> +<p class = "inset">The best that euer I knewe.</p> +<p>Be mery and glad, be no more sad,</p> +<p class = "inset">The case is chaunged newe;</p> +<p>For it were ruthe, that, for your trouth,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye shuld haue cause to rewe.</p> +<p>Be not dismayed; whatsoeuer I sayd</p> +<p class = "inset">To you, whan I began,</p> +<p>I wyl not too the grene wod goo,</p> +<p class = "inset">I am noo banysshyd man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +This tidingis be more glad to me,</p> +<p class = "inset">Than to be made a quene,</p> +<p>Yf I were sure they shuld endure;</p> +<p class = "inset">But it is often seen,</p> +<p>When men wyl breke promyse, they speke</p> +<p class = "inset">The wordis on the splene;</p> +<p>Ye shape some wyle me to begyle</p> +<p class = "inset">And stele fro me, I wene:</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">93</span> +<a name = "page93" id = "page93"> </a> + +<p>Than were the case wurs than it was,</p> +<p class = "inset">And I more woobegone:</p> +<p>For, in my mynde, of al mankynde</p> +<p class = "inset">I loue but you alone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Ye shal not nede further to drede;</p> +<p class = "inset">I wyl not disparage</p> +<p>You, (God defende!) syth you descend</p> +<p class = "inset">Of so grete a lynage.</p> +<p>Now understonde; to Westmerlande,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whiche is my herytage,</p> +<p>I wyl you brynge; and wyth a rynge,</p> +<p class = "inset">By wey of maryage</p> +<p>I wyl you take, and lady make,</p> +<p class = "inset">As shortly as I can:</p> +<p>Thus haue ye wone an erles son</p> +<p class = "inset">And not a banysshyd man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +30.<sup>10</sup> ‘echeon,’ each one.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Here may ye see, that wymen be</p> +<p class = "inset">In loue, meke, kinde, and stable;</p> +<p>Late neuer man repreue them than,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or calle them variable;</p> +<p>But rather prey God that we may</p> +<p class = "inset">To them be comfortable;</p> +<p>Whiche somtyme prouyth suche as loueth,</p> +<p class = "inset">Yf they be charitable.</p> +<p>For sith men wolde that wymen sholde</p> +<p class = "inset">Be meke to them echeon,</p> +<p>Moche more ought they to God obey,</p> +<p class = "inset">And serue but Hym alone.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">94</span> +<a name = "page94" id = "page94"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">FAIR JANET</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text.</span>—Of seven or eight +variants of this ballad, only three preserve the full form of the story. +On the whole, the one here given—from Sharp’s <i>Ballad Book</i>, +as sung by an old woman in Perthshire—is the best, as the other +two—from Herd’s <i>Scots Songs</i>, and the Kinloch <span class = +"smallroman">MSS.</span>—are slightly contaminated by extraneous +matter.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> is a simple ballad-tale of +‘true-love twinned’; but the episode of the dancing forms a link with a +number of German and Scandinavian ballads, in which compulsory dancing +and horse-riding is made a test of the guilt of an accused maiden. In +the Scotch ballad the horse-riding has shrunk almost to nothing, and the +dancing is not compulsory. The resemblance is faint, and the barbarities +of the Continental versions are happily wanting in our ballad.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">FAIR JANET</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘Ye</span> maun gang to your father, +Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye maun gang to him soon;</p> +<p>Ye maun gang to your father, Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">In case that his days are dune.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Janet’s awa’ to her father,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as she could hie:</p> +<p>‘O what’s your will wi’ me, father?</p> +<p class = "inset">O what’s your will wi’ me?’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">95</span> +<a name = "page95" id = "page95"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My will wi’ you, Fair Janet,’ he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘It is both bed and board;</p> +<p>Some say that ye lo’e Sweet Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">But ye maun wed a French lord.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘A French lord maun I wed, father?</p> +<p class = "inset">A French lord maun I wed?</p> +<p>Then, by my sooth,’ quo’ Fair Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘He’s ne’er enter my bed.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>4</sup> ‘jo,’ sweetheart.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Janet’s awa’ to her chamber,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as she could go;</p> +<p>Wha’s the first ane that tapped there,</p> +<p class = "inset">But Sweet Willie her jo?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O we maun part this love, Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">That has been lang between;</p> +<p>There’s a French lord coming o’er the sea,</p> +<p class = "inset">To wed me wi’ a ring;</p> +<p>There’s a French lord coming o’er the sea,</p> +<p class = "inset">To wed and tak’ me hame.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If we maun part this love, Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">It causeth mickle woe;</p> +<p>If we maun part this love, Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">It makes me into mourning go.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But ye maun gang to your three sisters,</p> +<p class = "inset">Meg, Marion, and Jean;</p> +<p>Tell them to come to Fair Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">In case that her days are dune.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Willie’s awa’ to his three sisters,</p> +<p class = "inset">Meg, Marion, and Jean:</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">96</span> +<a name = "page96" id = "page96"> </a> + +<p>‘O haste, and gang to Fair Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">I fear that her days are dune.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Some drew to them their silken hose,</p> +<p class = "inset">Some drew to them their shoon,</p> +<p>Some drew to them their silk manteils,</p> +<p class = "inset">Their coverings to put on,</p> +<p>And they’re awa’ to Fair Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">By the hie light o’ the moon. +</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> .....</p> +<!--note dots, not asterisks--> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O I have born this babe, Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ mickle toil and pain;</p> +<p>Take hame, take hame, your babe, Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">For nurse I dare be nane.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s tane his young son in his arms,</p> +<p class = "inset">And kisst him cheek and chin,</p> +<p>And he’s awa’ to his mother’s bower,</p> +<p class = "inset">By the hie light o’ the moon.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O open, open, mother,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘O open, and let me in;</p> +<p>The rain rains on my yellow hair,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the dew drops o’er my chin,</p> +<p>And I hae my young son in my arms,</p> +<p class = "inset">I fear that his days are dune.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +With her fingers lang and sma’</p> +<p class = "inset">She lifted up the pin,</p> +<p>And with her arms lang and sma’</p> +<p class = "inset">Received the baby in.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">97</span> +<a name = "page97" id = "page97"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>3</sup> ‘nourice,’ nurse.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Gae back, gae back now, Sweet Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">And comfort your fair lady;</p> +<p>For where ye had but ae nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your young son shall hae three.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +16.<sup>4</sup> ‘busk,’ dress.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Willie he was scarce awa’,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the lady put to bed,</p> +<p>When in and came her father dear:</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Make haste, and busk the bride.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘There’s a sair pain in my head, father,</p> +<p class = "inset">There’s a sair pain in my side;</p> +<p>And ill, O ill, am I, father,</p> +<p class = "inset">This day for to be a bride.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O ye maun busk this bonny bride,</p> +<p class = "inset">And put a gay mantle on;</p> +<p>For she shall wed this auld French lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">Gin she should die the morn.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Some put on the gay green robes,</p> +<p class = "inset">And some put on the brown;</p> +<p>But Janet put on the scarlet robes,</p> +<p class = "inset">To shine foremost throw the town.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And some they mounted the black steed,</p> +<p class = "inset">And some mounted the brown;</p> +<p>But Janet mounted the milk-white steed,</p> +<p class = "inset">To ride foremost throw the town.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O wha will guide your horse, Janet?</p> +<p class = "inset">O wha will guide him best?’</p> +<p>‘O wha but Willie, my true love?</p> +<p class = "inset">He kens I lo’e him best.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">98</span> +<a name = "page98" id = "page98"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And when they cam’ to Marie’s kirk,</p> +<p class = "inset">To tye the haly ban’,</p> +<p>Fair Janet’s cheek looked pale and wan,</p> +<p class = "inset">And her colour gaed and cam’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When dinner it was past and done,</p> +<p class = "inset">And dancing to begin,</p> +<p>‘O we’ll go take the bride’s maidens,</p> +<p class = "inset">And we’ll go fill the ring.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>1</sup> ‘ben,’ into the house.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>4</sup> ‘downa,’ like not to.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O ben then cam’ the auld French lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">Saying, ‘Bride, will ye dance with me?’</p> +<p>‘Awa’, awa’, ye auld French Lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your face I downa see.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O ben then cam’ now Sweet Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">He cam’ with ane advance:</p> +<p>‘O I’ll go tak’ the bride’s maidens,</p> +<p class = "inset">And we’ll go tak’ a dance.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I’ve seen ither days wi’ you, Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">And so has mony mae,</p> +<p>Ye would hae danced wi’ me mysel’,</p> +<p class = "inset">Let a’ my maidens gae.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O ben then cam’ now Sweet Willie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Saying, ‘Bride, will ye dance wi’ me?’</p> +<p>‘Aye, by my sooth, and that I will,</p> +<p class = "inset">Gin my back should break in three.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She had nae turned her throw the dance,</p> +<p class = "inset">Throw the dance but thrice,</p> +<p>Whan she fell doun at Willie’s feet,</p> +<p class = "inset">And up did never rise.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">99</span> +<a name = "page99" id = "page99"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Willie’s ta’en the key of his coffer,</p> +<p class = "inset">And gi’en it to his man:</p> +<p>‘Gae hame, and tell my mother dear</p> +<p class = "inset">My horse he has me slain;</p> +<p>Bid her be kind to my young son,</p> +<p class = "inset">For father has he nane.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The tane was buried in Marie’s kirk,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the tither in Marie’s quire;</p> +<p>Out of the tane there grew a birk,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the tither a bonny brier.</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">100</span> +<a name = "page100" id = "page100"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">BROWN ADAM</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is given from the +Jamieson-Brown <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> It was first +printed by Scott, with the omission of the second stanza—perhaps +justifiable—and a few minor changes. He notes that he had seen a +copy printed on a single sheet.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> has a remote parallel in a +Danish ballad, extant in manuscripts of the sixteenth century and later, +<i>Den afhugne Haand</i>. The tale is told as follows. Lutzelil, knowing +the evil ways of Lawi Pederson, rejects his proffered love. Lawi vows +she shall repent it, and the maiden is afraid for nine months to go to +church, but goes at Easter. Lawi meets her in a wood, and repeats his +offer. She begs him to do her no harm, feigns compliance, and makes an +assignation in the chamber of her maids. She returns home and tells her +father, who watches for Lawi. When he comes and demands admission, she +denies the assignation. Lawi breaks down the door, and discovers +Lutzelil’s father with a drawn sword, with which he cuts off Lawi’s +hand.</p> + +<p>The reason for objecting to the second stanza as here given is not so +much the inadequacy of a golden hammer, or the unusual whiteness of the +smith’s fingers, but the rhyme in the third line.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">101</span> +<a name = "page101" id = "page101"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">BROWN ADAM</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>3</sup> ‘leeler,’ more loyal.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">O wha</span> woud wish the win’ to blaw,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or the green leaves fa’ therewith?</p> +<p>Or wha wad wish a leeler love</p> +<p class = "inset">Than Brown Adam the Smith?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>2</sup> ‘study,’ stithy, anvil.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +His hammer’s o’ the beaten gold,</p> +<p class = "inset">His study’s o’ the steel,</p> +<p>His fingers white are my delite,</p> +<p class = "inset">He blows his bellows well.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But they ha’ banish’d him Brown Adam</p> +<p class = "inset">Frae father and frae mither,</p> +<p>An’ they ha’ banish’d him Brown Adam</p> +<p class = "inset">Frae sister and frae brither.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +4.<sup>3</sup> ‘biggit,’ built.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And they ha’ banish’d Brown Adam</p> +<p class = "inset">Frae the flow’r o’ a’ his kin;</p> +<p>An’ he’s biggit a bow’r i’ the good green wood</p> +<p class = "inset">Betwen his lady an’ him.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>2</sup> ‘thought lang,’ thought (it) tedious; <i>i.e.</i> was +bored. Cp. <i>Young Bekie</i>, 16.<sup>4</sup>, etc.; <i>Johney +Scot</i>, 6.<sup>2</sup>, and elsewhere.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O it fell once upon a day</p> +<p class = "inset">Brown Adam he thought lang,</p> +<p>An’ he woud to the green wood gang,</p> +<p class = "inset">To hunt some venison.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">102</span> +<a name = "page102" id = "page102"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s ta’en his bow his arm o’er,</p> +<p class = "inset">His bran’ intill his han’,</p> +<p>And he is to the good green wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as he coud gang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O he’s shot up, an’ he’s shot down,</p> +<p class = "inset">The bird upo’ the briar,</p> +<p>An’ he’s sent it hame to his lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Bade her be of good cheer.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O he’s shot up, an’ he’s shot down,</p> +<p class = "inset">The bird upo’ the thorn,</p> +<p>And sent it hame to his lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">And hee’d be hame the morn.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>2</sup> ‘forbye,’ apart.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Whan he came till his lady’s bow’r-door</p> +<p class = "inset">He stood a little forbye,</p> +<p>And there he heard a fu’ fa’se knight</p> +<p class = "inset">Temptin’ his gay lady.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>1</sup> ‘he’ is of course the false knight.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O he’s ta’en out a gay gold ring,</p> +<p class = "inset">Had cost him mony a poun’:</p> +<p>‘O grant me love for love, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ this sal be your own.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>1</sup> ‘loo,’ love.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I loo Brown Adam well,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘I wot sae does he me;</p> +<p>An’ I woud na gi’ Brown Adam’s love</p> +<p class = "inset">For nae fa’se knight I see.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">103</span> +<a name = "page103" id = "page103"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +12.<sup>2</sup> ‘string’: <i>i.e.</i> the top; purses were bags with a +running string to draw the top together.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Out he has ta’en a purse of gold,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was a’ fu’ to the string:</p> +<p>‘Grant me but love for love, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ a’ this sal be thine.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I loo Brown Adam well,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘An’ I ken sae does he me;</p> +<p>An’ I woudna be your light leman</p> +<p class = "inset">For mair nor ye coud gie.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then out has he drawn his lang, lang bran’,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ he’s flash’d it in her een:</p> +<p>‘Now grant me love for love, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or thro’ you this sal gang!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>2</sup> ‘lang’: the <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> reads +long.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O,’ sighing said that gay lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Brown Adam tarrys lang!’</p> +<p>Then up it starts Brown Adam,</p> +<p class = "inset">Says, ‘I’m just at your han’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +16.<sup>1</sup> etc., ‘gard,’ made.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He’s gard him leave his bow, his bow,</p> +<p class = "inset">He’s gard him leave his bran’;</p> +<p>He’s gard him leave a better pledge—</p> +<p class = "inset">Four fingers o’ his right han’.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">104</span> +<a name = "page104" id = "page104"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">WILLIE O’ WINSBURY</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from the Campbell <span +class = "smallroman">MSS</span>.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> was imagined by Kinloch to +possess a quasi-historical foundation: James <span class = +"smallroman">V.</span> of Scotland, who eventually married Madeleine, +elder daughter of Francis <span class = "smallroman">I.</span>, having +been previously betrothed ‘by treaty’ to Marie de Bourbon, daughter of +the Duke of Vendôme, returned to Scotland in 1537. The theory is neither +probable nor plausible.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">WILLIE O’ WINSBURY</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">The</span> king he hath been a prisoner,</p> +<p class = "inset">A prisoner lang in Spain, O,</p> +<p>And Willie o’ the Winsbury</p> +<p class = "inset">Has lain lang wi’ his daughter at hame, O.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What aileth thee, my daughter Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye look so pale and wan?</p> +<p>Have ye had any sore sickness,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or have ye been lying wi’ a man?</p> +<p>Or is it for me, your father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">And biding sae lang in Spain?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I have not had any sore sickness,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor yet been lying wi’ a man;</p> +<p>But it is for you, my father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">In biding sae lang in Spain.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">105</span> +<a name = "page105" id = "page105"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Cast ye off your berry-brown gown,</p> +<p class = "inset">Stand straight upon the stone,</p> +<p>That I may ken ye by yere shape,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whether ye be a maiden or none.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s coosten off her berry-brown gown,</p> +<p class = "inset">Stooden straight upo’ yon stone;</p> +<p>Her apron was short, her haunches were round,</p> +<p class = "inset">Her face it was pale and wan.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Is it to a man o’ might, Janet?</p> +<p class = "inset">Or is it to a man of fame?</p> +<p>Or is it to any of the rank robbers</p> +<p class = "inset">That’s lately come out o’ Spain?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘It is not to a man of might,’ she said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Nor is it to a man of fame;</p> +<p>But it is to William of Winsbury;</p> +<p class = "inset">I could lye nae langer my lane.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The king’s called on his merry men all,</p> +<p class = "inset">By thirty and by three:</p> +<p>‘Go fetch me William of Winsbury,</p> +<p class = "inset">For hanged he shall be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But when he cam’ the king before,</p> +<p class = "inset">He was clad o’ the red silk;</p> +<p>His hair was like to threeds o’ gold,</p> +<p class = "inset">And his skin was as white as milk.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘It is nae wonder,’ said the king,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘That my daughter’s love ye did win;</p> +<p>Had I been a woman, as I am a man,</p> +<p class = "inset">My bedfellow ye should hae been.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">106</span> +<a name = "page106" id = "page106"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Will ye marry my daughter Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">By the truth of thy right hand?</p> +<p>I’ll gi’e ye gold, I’ll gi’e ye money,</p> +<p class = "inset">And I’ll gi’e ye an earldom o’ land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Yes, I’ll marry yere daughter Janet,</p> +<p class = "inset">By the truth of my right hand;</p> +<p>But I’ll hae nane o’ yer gold, I’ll hae nane o’ yer money,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor I winna hae an earldom o’ land.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘For I hae eighteen corn-mills</p> +<p class = "inset">Runs all in water clear,</p> +<p>And there’s as much corn in each o’ them</p> +<p class = "inset">As they can grind in a year.’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">107</span> +<a name = "page107" id = "page107"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from the early part of +the Percy Folio, and the ballad is therefore deficient. Where gaps are +marked in the text with a row of asterisks, about nine stanzas are lost +in each case—half a page torn out by a seventeenth-century +maidservant to light a fire! Luckily we can supply the story from other +versions.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span>, also given in <i>The +Weddynge of S<sup>r</sup> Gawen and Dame Ragnell</i> (in the Rawlinson +<span class = "smallroman">MS. C.</span> 86 in the Bodleian Library), +runs as follows:—</p> + +<p>Shortly after Christmas, Arthur, riding by Tarn Wadling (still so +called, but now pasture-land, in the forest of Inglewood), meets a bold +baron, who challenges him to fight, unless he can win his ransom by +returning on New Year’s Day with an answer to the question, What does a +woman most desire? Arthur relates the story to Gawaine, asks him and +others for an answer to the riddle, and collects their suggestions in a +book (‘letters,’ 24.<sup>1</sup>). On his way to keep his tryst with the +baron, he meets an unspeakably ugly woman, who offers her assistance; if +she will help him, Arthur says, she shall wed with Gawaine. She gives +him the true answer, A woman will have her will. Arthur meets the +baron, and after proffering the budget of answers, confronts him with +the true answer. The baron exclaims against the ugly woman, whom he +asserts to be his sister.</p> + +<p>Arthur returns to his court, and tells his knights that a wife awaits +one of them on the moor. Sir +<span class = "pagenum">108</span> +<a name = "page108" id = "page108"> </a> +Lancelot, Sir Steven (who is not mentioned elsewhere in Arthurian +tales), Sir Kay, Sir Bauier (probably Beduer or Bedivere), Sir Bore +(Bors de Gauves), Sir Garrett (Gareth), and Sir Tristram ride forth to +find her. At sight, Sir Kay, without overmuch chivalry, expresses his +disgust, and the rest are unwilling to marry her. The king explains that +he has promised to give her to Sir Gawaine, who, it seems, bows to +Arthur’s authority, and weds her. During the bridal night, she becomes a +beautiful young woman. Further to test Gawaine, she gives him his +choice: will he have her fair by day and foul by night, or foul by day +and fair by night? Fair by night, says Gawaine. And foul to be seen of +all by day? she asks. Have your way, says Gawaine, and breaks the last +thread of the spell, as she forthwith explains: her step-mother had +bewitched both her, to haunt the moor in ugly shape, till some knight +should grant her <i>all</i> her will, and her brother, to challenge all +comers to fight him or answer the riddle.</p> + +<p>Similar tales, but with the important variation—undoubtedly +indigenous in the story—that the man who saves his life by +answering the riddle has himself to wed the ugly woman, are told by +Gower (<i>Confessio Amantis</i>, Book <span class = +"smallroman">I</span>.) and Chaucer (<i>The Tale of the Wyf of +Bathe</i>). The latter, which is also Arthurian in its setting, was made +into a ballad in the <i>Crown Garland of Golden Roses</i> (<i>circ.</i> +1600), compiled by Richard Johnson. A parallel is also to be found +in an Icelandic saga.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">109</span> +<a name = "page109" id = "page109"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>4</sup> ‘blee,’ complexion.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Kinge Arthur</span> liues in merry +Carleile,</p> +<p class = "inset">& seemely is to see,</p> +<p>& there he hath with him Queene Genever,</p> +<p class = "inset">That bride soe bright of blee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>4</sup> Perhaps we should read ‘stiff in stowre,’ a constant +expression in ballads, ‘sturdy in fight.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And there he hath with [him] Queene Genever,</p> +<p class = "inset">That bride soe bright in bower,</p> +<p>& all his barons about him stoode,</p> +<p class = "inset">That were both stiffe and stowre.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The king kept a royall Christmasse,</p> +<p class = "inset">Of mirth and great honor,</p> +<p>And when<span class = "missing short"> ...</span></p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And bring me word what thing it is</p> +<p class = "inset">That a woman [will] most desire;</p> +<p>This shalbe thy ransome, Arthur,’ he sayes,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘For I’le haue noe other hier.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +King Arthur then held vp his hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">According thene as was the law;</p> +<p>He tooke his leaue of the baron there,</p> +<p class = "inset">& homward can he draw.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">110</span> +<a name = "page110" id = "page110"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And when he came to merry Carlile,</p> +<p class = "inset">To his chamber he is gone,</p> +<p>& ther came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine</p> +<p class = "inset">As he did make his mone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And there came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine</p> +<p class = "inset">That was a curteous knight;</p> +<p>‘Why sigh you soe sore, vnckle Arthur,’ he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Or who hath done thee vnright?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O peace, O peace, thou gentle Gawaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">That faire may thee beffall!</p> +<p>For if thou knew my sighing soe deepe,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thou wold not meruaile att all;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ffor when I came to Tearne Wadling,</p> +<p class = "inset">A bold barron there I fand,</p> +<p>With a great club vpon his backe,</p> +<p class = "inset">Standing stiffe and strong;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And he asked me wether I wold fight,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or from him I shold begone,</p> +<p>Or else I must him a ransome pay</p> +<p class = "inset">& soe depart him from.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11. Arthur’s customary bravery and chivalry are not conspicuous in this +ballad.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘To fight with him I saw noe cause,</p> +<p class = "inset">Methought it was not meet,</p> +<p>For he was stiffe & strong with-all,</p> +<p class = "inset">His strokes were nothing sweete;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Therefor this is my ransome, Gawaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">I ought to him to pay:</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">111</span> +<a name = "page111" id = "page111"> </a> + +<p>I must come againe, as I am sworne,</p> +<p class = "inset">Vpon the Newyeer’s day.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And I must bring him word what thing it is</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then King Arthur drest him for to ryde</p> +<p class = "inset">In one soe rich array</p> +<p>Toward the fore-said Tearne Wadling,</p> +<p class = "inset">That he might keepe his day.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And as he rode over a more,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hee see a lady where shee sate</p> +<p>Betwixt an oke & a greene hollen;</p> +<p class = "inset">She was cladd in red scarlett.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then there as shold haue stood her mouth,</p> +<p class = "inset">Then there was sett her eye,</p> +<p>The other was in her forhead fast</p> +<p class = "inset">The way that she might see.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Her nose was crooked & turnd outward,</p> +<p class = "inset">Her mouth stood foule a-wry;</p> +<p>A worse formed lady than shee was,</p> +<p class = "inset">Neuer man saw with his eye.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>1</sup> ‘halch upon,’ salute.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +To halch vpon him, King Arthur,</p> +<p class = "inset">This lady was full faine,</p> +<p>But King Arthur had forgott his lesson,</p> +<p class = "inset">What he shold say againe.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">112</span> +<a name = "page112" id = "page112"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What knight art thou,’ the lady sayd,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘That will not speak to me?</p> +<p>Of me be thou nothing dismayd</p> +<p class = "inset">Tho’ I be vgly to see;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘For I haue halched you curteouslye,</p> +<p class = "inset">& you will not me againe;</p> +<p>Yett I may happen, Sir Knight,’ shee said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘To ease thee of thy paine.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +21.<sup>1</sup> ‘Giue,’ If.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Giue thou ease me, lady,’ he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Or helpe me any thing,</p> +<p>Thou shalt have gentle Gawaine, my cozen,</p> +<p class = "inset">& marry him with a ring.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Why, if I help thee not, thou noble King Arthur,</p> +<p class = "inset">Of thy owne heart’s desiringe,</p> +<p>Of gentle Gawaine<span class = "missing short"> ...</span></p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And when he came to the Tearne Wadling</p> +<p class = "inset">The baron there cold he finde,</p> +<p>With a great weapon on his backe,</p> +<p class = "inset">Standing stiffe and stronge.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And then he tooke King Arthur’s letters in his hands,</p> +<p class = "inset">& away he cold them fling,</p> +<p>& then he puld out a good browne sword,</p> +<p class = "inset">& cryd himselfe a king.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">113</span> +<a name = "page113" id = "page113"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And he sayd, ‘I haue thee & thy land, Arthur,</p> +<p class = "inset">To doe as it pleaseth me,</p> +<p>For this is not thy ransome sure,</p> +<p class = "inset">Therfore yeeld thee to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And then bespoke him noble Arthur,</p> +<p class = "inset">& bad him hold his hand;</p> +<p>‘& giue me leaue to speake my mind</p> +<p class = "inset">In defence of all my land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +27.<sup>3</sup> ‘hollen,’ holly.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He said, ‘As I came over a more,</p> +<p class = "inset">I see a lady where shee sate</p> +<p>Betweene an oke & a green hollen;</p> +<p class = "inset">She was clad in red scarlett;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +28.<sup>3</sup> ‘sckill,’ reason, judgment.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘And she says a woman will haue her will,</p> +<p class = "inset">& this is all her cheef desire:</p> +<p>Doe me right, as thou art a baron of sckill,</p> +<p class = "inset">This is thy ransome & all thy hyer.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He sayes, ‘An early vengeance light on her!</p> +<p class = "inset">She walkes on yonder more;</p> +<p>It was my sister that told thee this;</p> +<p class = "inset">& she is a misshappen hore!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But heer He make mine avow to God</p> +<p class = "inset">To doe her an euill turne,</p> +<p>For an euer I may thate fowle theefe get,</p> +<p class = "inset">In a fyer I will her burne.’ +</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">114</span> +<a name = "page114" id = "page114"> </a> + + +<h5 class = "section">The 2d Part</h5> + + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Sir Lancelott & Sir Steven bold</p> +<p class = "inset">They rode with them that day,</p> +<p>And the formost of the company</p> +<p class = "inset">There rode the steward Kay.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Soe did Sir Bauier and Sir Bore,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sir Garrett with them soe gay,</p> +<p>Soe did Sir Tristeram that gentle knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">To the forrest fresh & gay.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">33.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And when he came to the greene fforrest,</p> +<p class = "inset">Vnderneath a greene holly tree</p> +<p>Their sate that lady in red scarlet</p> +<p class = "inset">That vnseemly was to see.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">34.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +34.<sup>2</sup> ‘swire,’ neck: the Folio reads <i>smire</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Sir Kay beheld this ladys face,</p> +<p class = "inset">& looked vppon her swire;</p> +<p>‘Whosoeuer kisses this lady,’ he sayes,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Of his kisse he stands in feare.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">35.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Sir Kay beheld the lady againe,</p> +<p class = "inset">& looked vpon her snout;</p> +<p>‘Whosoeuer kisses this lady,’ he saies,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Of his kisse he stands in doubt.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">36.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Peace, cozen Kay,’ then said Sir Gawaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Amend thee of thy life;</p> +<p>For there is a knight amongst vs all</p> +<p class = "inset">That must marry her to his wife.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">115</span> +<a name = "page115" id = "page115"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">37.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +37.<sup>4</sup> ‘slaine’: the Folio gives <i>shaine</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘What! wedd her to wiffe!’ then said Sir Kay,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘In the diuells name, anon!</p> +<p>Gett me a wiffe whereere I may,</p> +<p class = "inset">For I had rather be slaine!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">38.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then some tooke vp their hawkes in hast,</p> +<p class = "inset">& some tooke vp their hounds,</p> +<p>& some sware they wold not marry her</p> +<p class = "inset">For citty nor for towne.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">39.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And then bespake him noble King Arthur,</p> +<p class = "inset">& sware there by this day:</p> +<p>‘For a litle foule sight & misliking</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<p class = "stanza">40.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then shee said, ‘Choose thee, gentle Gawaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">Truth as I doe say,</p> +<p>Wether thou wilt haue me in this liknesse</p> +<p class = "inset">In the night or else in the day.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">41.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +41.<sup>2</sup> ‘was’ (Child’s suggestion): the Folio reads +<i>with</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And then bespake him gentle Gawaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">Was one soe mild of moode,</p> +<p>Sayes, ‘Well I know what I wold say,</p> +<p class = "inset">God grant it may be good!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">42.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘To haue thee fowle in the night</p> +<p class = "inset">When I with thee shold play;</p> +<p>Yet I had rather, if I might,</p> +<p class = "inset">Haue thee fowle in the day.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">116</span> +<a name = "page116" id = "page116"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">43.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +43.<sup>1</sup> ‘feires,’ = feres, mates: the Folio reads +<i>seires</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘What! when Lords goe with ther feires,’ shee said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Both to the ale & wine?</p> +<p>Alas! then I must hyde my selfe,</p> +<p class = "inset">I must not goe withinne.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">44.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +44.<sup>2</sup> Folio: <i>but a skill</i>: see note on +28.<sup>3</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And then bespake him gentle Gawaine;</p> +<p class = "inset">Said, ‘Lady, thats but skill;</p> +<p>And because thou art my owne lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thou shalt haue all thy will.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">45.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then she said, ‘Blessed be thou, gentle Gawaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">This day that I thee see,</p> +<p>For as thou see[st] me att this time,</p> +<p class = "inset">From hencforth I wil be:</p> + +<p class = "stanza">46.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘My father was an old knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">& yett it chanced soe</p> +<p>That he marryed a younge lady</p> +<p class = "inset">That brought me to this woe.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">47.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Shee witched me, being a faire young lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">To the greene forrest to dwell,</p> +<p>& there I must walke in womans likness,</p> +<p class = "inset">Most like a feend of hell.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">48.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +48.<sup>1</sup> ‘carlish,’ churlish.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘She witched my brother to a carlish b<span class = "missing +short"> .....</span></p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">117</span> +<a name = "page117" id = "page117"> </a> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<p class = "stanza">49.</p> +<p class = "missing first"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p>That looked soe foule, & that was wont</p> +<p class = "inset">On the wild more to goe.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">50.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Come kisse her, brother Kay,’ then said Sir Gawaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘& amend thé of thy liffe;</p> +<p>I sweare this is the same lady</p> +<p class = "inset">That I marryed to my wiffe.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">51.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Sir Kay kissed that lady bright,</p> +<p class = "inset">Standing vpon his ffeete;</p> +<p>He swore, as he was trew knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">The spice was neuer soe sweete.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">52.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Well, cozen Gawaine,’ sayes Sir Kay,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Thy chance is fallen arright,</p> +<p>For thou hast gotten one of the fairest maids</p> +<p class = "inset">I euer saw with my sight.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">53.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘It is my fortune,’ said Sir Gawaine;</p> +<p class = "inset">‘For my Vnckle Arthur’s sake</p> +<p>I am glad as grasse wold be of raine,</p> +<p class = "inset">Great ioy that I may take.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">54.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Sir Gawaine tooke the lady by the one arme,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sir Kay tooke her by the tother,</p> +<p>They led her straight to King Arthur</p> +<p class = "inset">As they were brother & brother.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">118</span> +<a name = "page118" id = "page118"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">55.</p> +<p class = "first"> +King Arthur welcomed them there all,</p> +<p class = "inset">& soe did lady Geneuer his queene,</p> +<p>With all the knights of the round table</p> +<p class = "inset">Most seemly to be seene.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">56.</p> +<p class = "first"> +King Arthur beheld that lady faire</p> +<p class = "inset">That was soe faire and bright,</p> +<p>He thanked Christ in Trinity</p> +<p class = "inset">For Sir Gawaine that gentle knight;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">57.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Soe did the knights, both more and lesse;</p> +<p class = "inset">Reioyced all that day</p> +<p>For the good chance that hapened was</p> +<p class = "inset">To Sir Gawaine & his lady gay.</p> +</div> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "picture118" id = "picture118"> </a> +<img src = "images/pic118.png" width = "432" height = "348" +alt = "picture"> +</p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">119</span> +<a name = "page119" id = "page119"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE BOY AND THE MANTLE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Text.</span>—The Percy Folio is the +sole authority for this excellent lively ballad. It is here given as it +stands in the manuscript, except for division into stanzas. Percy +printed the ballad ‘<i>verbatim</i>,’—that is, with +emendations—and also a revised version.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span>, which exists in countless +variations in many lands, is told from the earliest times in connection +with the Arthurian legend-cycle. Restricting the article used as a +criterion of chastity to a mantle, we find the elements of this ballad +existing in French manuscripts of the thirteenth century (the romance +called <i>Cort Mantel</i>); in a Norse translation of this ‘fabliau’; in +the Icelandic <i>Mantle Rhymes</i> of the fifteenth century; in the +<i>Scalachronica</i> of Sir Thomas Gray of Heton (<i>circ.</i> 1355); in +Germany, and in Gaelic (a ballad known in Irish writings, but not +in Scottish); as well as in many other versions.</p> + +<p>The trial by the drinking-horn is a fable equally old, as far as the +evidence goes, and equally widespread; but it is not told elsewhere in +connection with the parallel story of the mantle. Other tests used for +the purpose of discovering infidelity or unchastity are:— a crown, +a magic bridge (German); a girdle (English; cp. Florimel’s girdle +in the <i>Faery Queen</i>, Book iv. Canto 5); a bed, +a stepping-stone by the bedside, a chair (Scandinavian); +flowers (Sanskrit); a shirt (German and Flemish); a picture +(Italian, translated to England—cp. Massinger’s <i>The Picture</i> +(1630), where he localises +<span class = "pagenum">120</span> +<a name = "page120" id = "page120"> </a> +the story in Hungary); a ring (French); a mirror (German, French, +and Italian); and so forth.</p> + +<p>Caxton, in his preface to <i>Kyng Arthur</i> (1485), says:— +‘Item, in the castel of Douer ye may see Gauwayn’s skull and Cradok’s +mantel.’ Sir Thomas Gray says the mantle was made into a chasuble, and +was preserved at Glastonbury.</p> + +<p>Thomas Love Peacock says (<i>The Misfortunes of Elphin</i>, chap. +xii.), ‘Tegau Eurvron, or Tegau of the Golden Bosom, was the wife of +Caradoc [Craddocke], and one of the Three Chaste Wives of the island of +Britain.’ A similar statement is recorded by Percy at the end of his +‘revised and altered’ ballad, taking it from ‘the Rev. Evan Evans, +editor of the Specimens of Welsh Poetry.’</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">THE BOY AND THE MANTLE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">In</span> the third day of May</p> +<p class = "inset">to Carleile did come</p> +<p>A kind curteous child</p> +<p class = "inset">that cold much of wisdome.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>3</sup> ‘brauches,’ brooches.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +A kirtle & a mantle</p> +<p class = "inset">this child had vppon,</p> +<p>With brauches and ringes</p> +<p class = "inset">full richelye bedone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He had a sute of silke,</p> +<p class = "inset">about his middle drawne;</p> +<p>Without he cold of curtesye,</p> +<p class = "inset">he thought itt much shame.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">121</span> +<a name = "page121" id = "page121"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘God speed thee, King Arthur,</p> +<p class = "inset">sitting at thy meate!</p> +<p>& the goodly Queene Gueneuer!</p> +<p class = "inset">I canott her fforgett.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>2</sup> ‘hett,’ bid; ‘heede,’ <span class = +"smallroman">MS.</span> heate.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I tell you lords in this hall,</p> +<p class = "inset">I hett you all heede,</p> +<p>Except you be the more surer,</p> +<p class = "inset">is you for to dread.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>1</sup> ‘potewer.’ Child says:— Read potener, French +<i>pautonnière</i>, pouch, purse.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He plucked out of his potewer,</p> +<p class = "inset">& longer wold not dwell,</p> +<p>He pulled forth a pretty mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">betweene two nut-shells.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Haue thou here, King Arthure,</p> +<p class = "inset">haue thou heere of mee;</p> +<p>Give itt to thy comely queene,</p> +<p class = "inset">shapen as itt is alreadye.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>4</sup> Perhaps the line should end with ‘his,’ but ‘wiffe’ is +the last word in the manuscript.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Itt shall neuer become that wiffe</p> +<p class = "inset">that hath once done amisse’:</p> +<p>Then euery knight in the King’s court</p> +<p class = "inset">began to care for his wiffe.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>3</sup> ‘new-fangle,’ desirous of novelties.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Forth came dame Gueneuer,</p> +<p class = "inset">to the mantle shee her bid;</p> +<p>The ladye shee was new-fangle,</p> +<p class = "inset">but yett shee was affrayd.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">122</span> +<a name = "page122" id = "page122"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When shee had taken the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">shee stoode as she had beene madd;</p> +<p>It was ffrom the top to the toe</p> +<p class = "inset">as sheeres had itt shread.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>1</sup> ‘gaule,’ perhaps = gules, <i>i.e.</i> red.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>3</sup> ‘wadded,’ woad-coloured, <i>i.e.</i> blue.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +One while was itt gaule,</p> +<p class = "inset">another while was itt greene;</p> +<p>Another while was itt wadded;</p> +<p class = "inset">ill itt did her beseeme.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Another while was it blacke,</p> +<p class = "inset">& bore the worst hue;</p> +<p>‘By my troth,’ quoth King Arthur,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘I thinke thou be not true.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>2</sup> ‘blee,’ colour.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>3</sup> ‘rudd,’ complexion.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Shee threw downe the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">that bright was of blee,</p> +<p>Fast with a rudd redd</p> +<p class = "inset">to her chamber can shee flee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +14.<sup>1</sup> ‘walker,’ fuller.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Shee curst the weauer and the walker</p> +<p class = "inset">that clothe that had wrought,</p> +<p>& bade a vengeance on his crowne</p> +<p class = "inset">that hither hath itt brought.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I had rather be in a wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">vnder a greene tree,</p> +<p>Then in King Arthurs court,</p> +<p class = "inset">shamed for to bee.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">123</span> +<a name = "page123" id = "page123"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Kay called forth his ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">& bade her come neere;</p> +<p>Saies, ‘Madam, & thou be guiltye,</p> +<p class = "inset">I pray thee hold thee there.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Forth came his ladye</p> +<p class = "inset">shortlye and anon,</p> +<p>Boldlye to the mantle</p> +<p class = "inset">then is shee gone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When shee had tane the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">& cast it her about,</p> +<p>Then was shee bare</p> +<p class = "inset">all aboue the buttocckes.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then euery knight</p> +<p class = "inset">that was in the Kings court</p> +<p>Talked, laug[h]ed, & showted,</p> +<p class = "inset">full oft att that sport.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Shee threw downe the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">that bright was of blee,</p> +<p>Ffast with a red rudd</p> +<p class = "inset">to her chamber can shee flee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Forth came an old knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">pattering ore a creede,</p> +<p>& he proferred to this litle boy</p> +<p class = "inset">20 markes to his meede,</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +& all the time of the Christmasse</p> +<p class = "inset">willinglye to ffeede;</p> +<p>For why this mantle might</p> +<p class = "inset">doe his wiffe some need.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">124</span> +<a name = "page124" id = "page124"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When shee had tane the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">of cloth that was made,</p> +<p>Shee had no more left on her</p> +<p class = "inset">but a tassell and a threed:</p> +<p>Then euery knight in the Kings court</p> +<p class = "inset">bade euill might shee speed.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She threw downe the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">that bright was of blee,</p> +<p>& fast with a redd rudd</p> +<p class = "inset">to her chamber can shee flee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +25.<sup>4</sup> ‘dinne,’ trouble.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Craddocke called forth his ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">& bade her come in;</p> +<p>Saith, ‘Winne this mantle, ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">with a litle dinne.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Winne this mantle, ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">& it shalbe thine</p> +<p>If thou neuer did amisse</p> +<p class = "inset">since thou wast mine.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Forth came Craddockes ladye</p> +<p class = "inset">shortlye & anon,</p> +<p>But boldlye to the mantle</p> +<p class = "inset">then is shee gone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +28.<sup>4</sup> ‘crowt,’ pucker.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +When shee had tane the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">& cast itt her about,</p> +<p>Vpp att her great toe</p> +<p class = "inset">itt began to crinkle & crowt;</p> +<p>Shee said, ‘Bowe downe, mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">& shame me not for nought.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">125</span> +<a name = "page125" id = "page125"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Once I did amisse,</p> +<p class = "inset">I tell you certainlye,</p> +<p>When I kist Craddockes mouth</p> +<p class = "inset">vnder a greene tree,</p> +<p>When I kist Craddockes mouth</p> +<p class = "inset">before he marryed mee.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When shee had her shreeuen,</p> +<p class = "inset">& her sines shee had tolde,</p> +<p>The mantle stoode about her</p> +<p class = "inset">right as shee wold,</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Seemelye of coulour,</p> +<p class = "inset">glittering like gold;</p> +<p>Then euery knight in Arthurs court</p> +<p class = "inset">did her behold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then spake dame Gueneuer</p> +<p class = "inset">to Arthur our king:</p> +<p>‘She hath tane yonder mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">not with wright but with wronge.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">33.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘See you not yonder woman</p> +<p class = "inset">that maketh her selfe soe cleane?</p> +<p>I haue seene tane out of her bedd</p> +<p class = "inset">of men fiueteene;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">34.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +34.<sup>2</sup> ‘by-deene,’ one after another.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Preists, clarkes, & wedded men,</p> +<p class = "inset">from her by-deene;</p> +<p>Yett shee taketh the mantle,</p> +<p class = "inset">& maketh her selfe cleane!’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">126</span> +<a name = "page126" id = "page126"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">35.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then spake the litle boy</p> +<p class = "inset">that kept the mantle in hold;</p> +<p>Sayes, ‘King, chasten thy wiffe;</p> +<p class = "inset">of her words shee is to bold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">36.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Shee is a bitch & a witch,</p> +<p class = "inset">& a whore bold;</p> +<p>King, in thine owne hall</p> +<p class = "inset">thou art a cuchold.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">37.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +37 and 38: Evidently some lines have been lost here, and the rhymes are +thereby confused.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +A litle boy stoode</p> +<p class = "inset">looking ouer a dore;</p> +<p>He was ware of a wyld bore,</p> +<p class = "inset">wold haue werryed a man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">38.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He pulld forth a wood kniffe,</p> +<p class = "inset">fast thither that he ran;</p> +<p>He brought in the bores head,</p> +<p class = "inset">& quitted him like a man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">39.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He brought in the bores head,</p> +<p class = "inset">and was wonderous bold;</p> +<p>He said there was neuer a cucholds kniffe</p> +<p class = "inset">carue itt that cold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">40.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Some rubbed their k[n]iues</p> +<p class = "inset">vppon a whetstone;</p> +<p>Some threw them vnder the table,</p> +<p class = "inset">& said they had none.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">41.</p> +<p class = "first"> +King Arthur & the child</p> +<p class = "inset">stood looking them vpon;</p> +<p>All their k[n]iues edges</p> +<p class = "inset">turned backe againe.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">127</span> +<a name = "page127" id = "page127"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">42.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +42.<sup>3</sup> ‘birtled,’ cut up.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Craddoccke had a litle kniue</p> +<p class = "inset">of iron & of steele;</p> +<p>He birtled the bores head</p> +<p class = "inset">wonderous weele,</p> +<p>That euery knight in the Kings court</p> +<p class = "inset">had a morssell.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">43.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +43.<sup>2</sup> ‘ronge,’ rang.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +The litle boy had a horne,</p> +<p class = "inset">of red gold that ronge;</p> +<p>He said, ‘There was noe cuckolde</p> +<p class = "inset">shall drinke of my horne,</p> +<p>But he shold itt sheede,</p> +<p class = "inset">either behind or beforne.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">44.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Some shedd on their shoulder,</p> +<p class = "inset">& some on their knee;</p> +<p>He that cold not hitt his mouth</p> +<p class = "inset">put it in his eye;</p> +<p>& he that was a cuckold,</p> +<p class = "inset">euery man might him see.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">45.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Craddoccke wan the horne</p> +<p class = "inset">& the bores head;</p> +<p>His ladye wan the mantle</p> +<p class = "inset">vnto her meede;</p> +<p>Euerye such a louely ladye,</p> +<p class = "inset">God send her well to speede!</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">128</span> +<a name = "page128" id = "page128"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">JOHNEY SCOT</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> of this popular and +excellent ballad is given from the Jamieson-Brown <span class = +"smallroman">MS.</span> It was copied, with wilful alterations, into +Scott’s Abbotsford <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> called +<i>Scottish Songs</i>. Professor Child prints sixteen variants of the +ballad, nearly all from manuscripts.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> of the duel with the +Italian is given with more detail in other versions. In two ballads from +Motherwell’s <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span>, where ‘the Italian’ +becomes ‘the Tailliant’ or ‘the Talliant,’ the champion jumps over +Johney’s head, and descends on the point of Johney’s sword. This exploit +is paralleled in a Breton ballad, where the Seigneur Les Aubrays of St. +Brieux is ordered by the French king to combat his wild Moor, who leaps +in the air and is received on the sword of his antagonist. Again, in +Scottish tradition, James Macgill, having killed Sir Robert Balfour +about 1679, went to London to procure his pardon, which Charles <span +class = "smallroman">II.</span> offered him on the condition of fighting +an Italian gladiator. The Italian leaped once over James Macgill, but in +attempting to repeat this manœuvre was spitted by his opponent, who +thereby procured not only his pardon, but also knighthood.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">129</span> +<a name = "page129" id = "page129"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">JOHNEY SCOT</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">O Johney</span> was as brave a knight</p> +<p class = "inset">As ever sail’d the sea,</p> +<p>An’ he’s done him to the English court,</p> +<p class = "inset">To serve for meat and fee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He had nae been in fair England</p> +<p class = "inset">But yet a little while,</p> +<p>Untill the kingis ae daughter</p> +<p class = "inset">To Johney proves wi’ chil’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O word’s come to the king himsel’,</p> +<p class = "inset">In his chair where he sat,</p> +<p>That his ae daughter was wi’ bairn</p> +<p class = "inset">To Jack, the Little Scott.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Gin this be true that I do hear,</p> +<p class = "inset">As I trust well it be,</p> +<p>Ye pit her into prison strong,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ starve her till she die.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>2,4</sup> ‘A wot’ = I wis.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O Johney’s on to fair Scotland,</p> +<p class = "inset">A wot he went wi’ speed,</p> +<p>An’ he has left the kingis court,</p> +<p class = "inset">A wot good was his need.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>2</sup> See <i>Young Bekie</i>, 16.<sup>4</sup>; <i>Brown +Adam</i>, 5.<sup>2</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O it fell once upon a day</p> +<p class = "inset">That Johney he thought lang,</p> +<p>An’ he’s gane to the good green wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as he coud gang.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">130</span> +<a name = "page130" id = "page130"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O whare will I get a bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">To rin my errand soon,</p> +<p>That will rin into fair England,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ haste him back again?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O up it starts a bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Gold yallow was his hair,</p> +<p>I wish his mother meickle joy,</p> +<p class = "inset">His bonny love mieckle mair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O here am I, a bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Will rin your errand soon;</p> +<p>I will gang into fair England,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ come right soon again.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10. See <i>Lady Maisry</i>, 21; <i>Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet</i>, 12, +etc.: a stock ballad-phrase.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O whan he came to broken briggs,</p> +<p class = "inset">He bent his bow and swam;</p> +<p>An’ whan he came to the green grass growan,</p> +<p class = "inset">He slaikid his shoone an’ ran.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Whan he came to yon high castèl,</p> +<p class = "inset">He ran it roun’ about,</p> +<p>An’ there he saw the king’s daughter,</p> +<p class = "inset">At the window looking out.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +12.<sup>1</sup> ‘sark,’ shift.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +12.<sup>4</sup> ‘Speer’ (speir), ask.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O here’s a sark o’ silk, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your ain han’ sew’d the sleeve;</p> +<p>You’r bidden come to fair Scotlan’,</p> +<p class = "inset">Speer nane o’ your parents’ leave.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">131</span> +<a name = "page131" id = "page131"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>2</sup> ‘gare,’ gore: see <i>Brown Robin</i>, +10.<sup>4</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Ha, take this sark o’ silk, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your ain han’ sew’d the gare;</p> +<p>You’re bidden come to good green wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">Love Johney waits you there.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s turn’d her right and roun’ about,</p> +<p class = "inset">The tear was in her ee:</p> +<p>‘How can I come to my true-love,</p> +<p class = "inset">Except I had wings to flee?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Here am I kept wi’ bars and bolts,</p> +<p class = "inset">Most grievous to behold;</p> +<p>My breast-plate’s o’ the sturdy steel,</p> +<p class = "inset">Instead of the beaten gold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But tak’ this purse, my bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye well deserve a fee,</p> +<p>An’ bear this letter to my love,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ tell him what you see.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then quickly ran the bonny boy</p> +<p class = "inset">Again to Scotlan’ fair,</p> +<p>An’ soon he reach’d Pitnachton’s tow’rs,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ soon found Johney there.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>4</sup> ‘loote,’ let.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He pat the letter in his han’</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ taul’ him what he sa’,</p> +<p>But eer he half the letter read,</p> +<p class = "inset">He loote the tears doun fa’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O I will gae back to fair Englan’,</p> +<p class = "inset">Tho’ death shoud me betide,</p> +<p>An’ I will relieve the damesel</p> +<p class = "inset">That lay last by my side.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">132</span> +<a name = "page132" id = "page132"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spake his father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘My son, you are to blame;</p> +<p>An’ gin you’r catch’d on English groun’,</p> +<p class = "inset">I fear you’ll ne’er win hame.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spake a valiant knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">Johny’s best friend was he;</p> +<p>‘I can commaun’ five hunder men,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ I’ll his surety be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22.<sup>4</sup> ‘mess,’ mass.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +The firstin town that they came till,</p> +<p class = "inset">They gard the bells be rung;</p> +<p>An’ the nextin town that they came till,</p> +<p class = "inset">They gard the mess be sung.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The thirdin town that they came till,</p> +<p class = "inset">They gard the drums beat roun’;</p> +<p>The king but an’ his nobles a’</p> +<p class = "inset">Was startl’d at the soun’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Whan they came to the king’s palace</p> +<p class = "inset">They rade it roun’ about,</p> +<p>An’ there they saw the king himsel’,</p> +<p class = "inset">At the window looking out.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Is this the Duke o’ Albany,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or James, the Scottish king?</p> +<p>Or are ye some great foreign lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">That’s come a visiting?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I’m nae the Duke of Albany,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor James, the Scottish king;</p> +<p>But I’m a valiant Scottish knight,</p> +<p class = "inset">Pitnachton is my name.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">133</span> +<a name = "page133" id = "page133"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +27.<sup>3</sup> ‘or,’ ere.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O if Pitnachton be your name,</p> +<p class = "inset">As I trust well it be,</p> +<p>The morn, or I tast meat or drink,</p> +<p class = "inset">You shall be hanged hi’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spake the valiant knight</p> +<p class = "inset">That came brave Johney wi’;</p> +<p>‘Behold five hunder bowmen bold,</p> +<p class = "inset">Will die to set him free.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +29.<sup>2</sup> The second ‘laugh’ is the past tense of the verb.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spake the king again,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ a scornfu’ laugh laugh he;</p> +<p>‘I have an Italian in my house</p> +<p class = "inset">Will fight you three by three.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O grant me a boon,’ brave Johney cried;</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Bring your Italian here;</p> +<p>Then if he fall beneath my sword,</p> +<p class = "inset">I’ve won your daughter dear.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +31.<sup>2</sup> ‘gurious,’ grim, ugly.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then out it came that Italian,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ a gurious ghost was he;</p> +<p>Upo’ the point o’ Johney’s sword</p> +<p class = "inset">This Italian did die.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Out has he drawn his lang, lang bran’,</p> +<p class = "inset">Struck it across the plain:</p> +<p>‘Is there any more o’ your English dogs</p> +<p class = "inset">That you want to be slain?’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">134</span> +<a name = "page134" id = "page134"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">33.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +33.<sup>2</sup> ‘tocher,’ dowry.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘A clark, a clark,’ the king then cried,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘To write her tocher free’;</p> +<p>‘A priest, a priest,’ says Love Johney,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘To marry my love and me.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">34.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I’m seeking nane o’ your gold,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Nor of your silver clear;</p> +<p>I only seek your daughter fair,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whose love has cost her dear.’</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">135</span> +<a name = "page135" id = "page135"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is taken from Motherwell’s +<i>Minstrelsy</i>, a similar version being given in Maidment’s <i>North +Countrie Garland</i>. A few alterations from the latter version are +incorporated.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> bears tokens of confusion +with <i>Lady Maisry</i> in some of the variants of either, but here the +tragedy is that the bridegroom is brother to the lover. The end of this +ballad in all its forms is highly unnatural in its style: why should +Maisery’s remorse at having been such an expense to Lord Ingram be three +times as great as her grief for the loss of her lover? It is by no means +romantic.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>4</sup> ‘honour’: Motherwell printed <i>bonheur</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Lord Ingram</span> and Chiel Wyet</p> +<p class = "inset">Was baith born in one bower;</p> +<p>Laid baith their hearts on one lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">The less was their honour.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Chiel Wyet and Lord Ingram</p> +<p class = "inset">Was baith born in one hall;</p> +<p>Laid baith their hearts on one lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">The worse did them befall.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">136</span> +<a name = "page136" id = "page136"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery</p> +<p class = "inset">From father and from mother;</p> +<p>Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery</p> +<p class = "inset">From sister and from brother.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery</p> +<p class = "inset">With leave of a’ her kin;</p> +<p>And every one gave full consent,</p> +<p class = "inset">But she said no to him.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord Ingram woo’d her Lady Maisery</p> +<p class = "inset">Into her father’s ha’;</p> +<p>Chiel Wyet woo’d her Lady Maisery</p> +<p class = "inset">Amang the sheets so sma’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>3</sup> ‘ben,’ in.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Now it fell out upon a day</p> +<p class = "inset">She was dressing her head,</p> +<p>That ben did come her father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wearing the gold so red.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He said, ‘Get up now, Lady Maisery,</p> +<p class = "inset">Put on your wedding gown;</p> +<p>For Lord Ingram he will be here,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your wedding must be done.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>2</sup> ‘sell’: Motherwell gave <i>kill</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I’d rather be Chiel Wyet’s wife,</p> +<p class = "inset">The white fish for to sell,</p> +<p>Before I were Lord Ingram’s wife,</p> +<p class = "inset">To wear the silk so well.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I’d rather be Chiel Wyet’s wife,</p> +<p class = "inset">With him to beg my bread,</p> +<p>Before I were Lord Ingram’s wife,</p> +<p class = "inset">To wear the gold so red.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">137</span> +<a name = "page137" id = "page137"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Where will I get a bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Will win gold to his fee,</p> +<p>And will run unto Chiel Wyet’s,</p> +<p class = "inset">With this letter from me?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O here I am, the boy,’ says one,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Will win gold to my fee,</p> +<p>And carry away any letter</p> +<p class = "inset">To Chiel Wyet from thee.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +12. Cp. <i>Lady Maisry</i>, 21.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And when he found the bridges broke</p> +<p class = "inset">He bent his bow and swam;</p> +<p>And when he found the grass growing,</p> +<p class = "inset">He hastened and he ran.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And when he came to Chiel Wyet’s castle,</p> +<p class = "inset">He did not knock nor call,</p> +<p>But set his bent bow to his breast,</p> +<p class = "inset">And lightly leaped the wall;</p> +<p>And ere the porter open’d the gate,</p> +<p class = "inset">The boy was in the hall.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The first line he looked on,</p> +<p class = "inset">A grieved man was he;</p> +<p>The next line he looked on,</p> +<p class = "inset">A tear blinded his ee:</p> +<p>Says, ‘I wonder what ails my one brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">He’ll not let my love be!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But I’ll send to my brother’s bridal—</p> +<p class = "inset">The bacon shall be mine—</p> +<p>Full four and twenty buck and roe,</p> +<p class = "inset">And ten tun of the wine;</p> +<p>And bid my love be blythe and glad,</p> +<p class = "inset">And I will follow syne.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">138</span> +<a name = "page138" id = "page138"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +16.<sup>4</sup> ‘neen,’ none, not.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +There was not a groom about that castle,</p> +<p class = "inset">But got a gown of green,</p> +<p>And all was blythe, and all was glad,</p> +<p class = "inset">But Lady Maisery she was neen.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +There was no cook about that kitchen,</p> +<p class = "inset">But got a gown of gray;</p> +<p>And all was blythe, and all was glad,</p> +<p class = "inset">But Lady Maisery was wae.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>2</sup> ‘garl,’ gravel.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Between Mary Kirk and that castle</p> +<p class = "inset">Was all spread ower with garl,</p> +<p>To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens</p> +<p class = "inset">From tramping on the marl.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +From Mary Kirk to that castle</p> +<p class = "inset">Was spread a cloth of gold,</p> +<p>To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens</p> +<p class = "inset">From treading on the mold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When mass was sung, and bells was rung,</p> +<p class = "inset">And all men bound for bed;</p> +<p>Then Lord Ingram and Lady Maisery</p> +<p class = "inset">In one bed they were laid.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When they were laid into their bed,</p> +<p class = "inset">It was baith saft and warm,</p> +<p>He laid his hand over her side,</p> +<p class = "inset">Says, ‘I think you are with bairn.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I told you once, so did I twice,</p> +<p class = "inset">When ye came me to woo,</p> +<p>That Chiel Wyet, your only brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">One night lay in my bower.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">139</span> +<a name = "page139" id = "page139"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I told you twice, I told you thrice,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ere ye came me to wed,</p> +<p>That Chiel Wyet, your one brother,</p> +<p class = "inset">One night lay in my bed.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O will you father your bairn on me,</p> +<p class = "inset">And on no other man?</p> +<p>And I’ll give him to his dowry</p> +<p class = "inset">Full fifty ploughs of land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I will not father my bairn on you,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor on no wrongeous man,</p> +<p>Though ye would give him to his dowry</p> +<p class = "inset">Five thousand ploughs of land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +26.<sup>1</sup> Motherwell gives <i>did stand</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then up did start him Chiel Wyet,</p> +<p class = "inset">Shed by his yellow hair,</p> +<p>And gave Lord Ingram to the heart</p> +<p class = "inset">A deep wound and a sair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then up did start him Lord Ingram,</p> +<p class = "inset">Shed by his yellow hair,</p> +<p>And gave Chiel Wyet to the heart,</p> +<p class = "inset">A deep wound and a sair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +28.<sup>4</sup> ‘brain,’ mad.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +There was no pity for that two lords,</p> +<p class = "inset">Where they were lying slain;</p> +<p>But all was for her Lady Maisery,</p> +<p class = "inset">In that bower she gaed brain.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +There was no pity for that two lords,</p> +<p class = "inset">When they were lying dead;</p> +<p>But all was for her Lady Maisery,</p> +<p class = "inset">In that bower she went mad.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">140</span> +<a name = "page140" id = "page140"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +30.<sup>2</sup> ‘tree,’ wood.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Said, ‘Get to me a cloak of cloth,</p> +<p class = "inset">A staff of good hard tree;</p> +<p>If I have been an evil woman,</p> +<p class = "inset">I shall beg till I dee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +31.<sup>1</sup> ‘a’ = ae, each.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘For a bit I’ll beg for Chiel Wyet,</p> +<p class = "inset">For Lord Ingram I’ll beg three;</p> +<p>All for the good and honourable marriage,</p> +<p class = "inset">At Mary Kirk he gave me.’</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">141</span> +<a name = "page141" id = "page141"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE TWA SISTERS O’ BINNORIE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Texts.</span>—The version here given +is compounded from two different sources, almost of necessity. Stanzas +1-19 were given by Scott, compounded from W. Tytler’s Brown <span +class = "smallroman">MS.</span> and the recitation of an old woman. But +at stanza 20 Scott’s version becomes eccentric, and he prints such +verses as:—</p> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>‘A famous harper passing by</p> +<p>The sweet pale face he chanced to spy<span class = "missing +short"> ...</span></p> + +<p class = "first">The strings he framed of her yellow hair,</p> +<p>Whose notes made sad the listening air.’</p> +</div> + +<p>Stanzas 20-25, therefore, have been supplied from the Jamieson-Brown +<span class = "smallroman">MS.</span>, which after this point does not +descend from the high level of ballad-poetry.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story.</span>—This is a very old +and a very popular story. An early broadside exists, dated 1656, and the +same version is printed in <i>Wit Restor’d</i>, 1658. Of Scandinavian +ballads on the same subject, nine are Danish, two Icelandic, twelve +Norwegian, four Färöe, and eight or nine Swedish.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">THE TWA SISTERS O’ BINNORIE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">There</span> were twa sisters sat in a +bour,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>There came a knight to be their wooer,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">142</span> +<a name = "page142" id = "page142"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He courted the eldest wi’ glove and ring,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>But he lo’ed the youngest aboon a’ thing,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He courted the eldest with broach and knife,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>But he lo’ed the youngest aboon his life,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The eldest she was vexed sair,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>And sair envìed her sister fair,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The eldest said to the youngest ane,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘Will ye go and see our father’s ships come in?’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s ta’en her by the lilly hand,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>And led her down to the river-strand,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The youngest stude upon a stane,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>The eldest came and pushed her in,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>3</sup> ‘jaw,’ wave.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +She took her by the middle sma’,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">143</span> +<a name = "page143" id = "page143"> </a> + +<p>And dashed her bonnie back to the jaw,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie/</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O sister, sister, reach your hand!’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘And ye shall be heir of half my land,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O sister, I’ll not reach my hand,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘And I’ll be heir of all your land,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>3</sup> ‘my world’s make,’ my earthly mate.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Shame fa’ the hand that I should take,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘It’s twin’d me and my world’s make,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O sister, reach me but your glove,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘And sweet William shall be your love,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Sink on, nor hope for hand or glove,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘And sweet William shall better be my love,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘Garr’d me gang maiden evermair,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonnie mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">144</span> +<a name = "page144" id = "page144"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Sometimes she sunk, and sometimes she swam,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>Until she came to the miller’s dam,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O father, father, draw your dam!’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>‘There’s either a mermaid or a milk-white swan,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The miller hasted and drew his dam,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>And there he found a drowned woman,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +You could not see her yellow hair,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>For gowd and pearls that were sae rare,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +You could na see her middle sma’,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>Her gowden girdle was sae bra’,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +An’ by there came a harper fine,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>That harped to the king at dine,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">145</span> +<a name = "page145" id = "page145"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When he did look that lady upon,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>He sigh’d and made a heavy moan,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He’s ta’en three locks o’ her yallow hair,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>And wi’ them strung his harp sae fair,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The first tune he did play and sing,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>Was, ‘Farewell to my father the king,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The nextin tune that he play’d syne,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>Was, ‘Farewell to my mother the queen,’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The lasten tune that he play’d then,</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>Binnorie, O Binnorie!</i></p> +<p>Was, ‘Wae to my sister, fair Ellen!’</p> +<p class = "inset"><i>By the bonny mill-dams o’ Binnorie.</i></p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">146</span> +<a name = "page146" id = "page146"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">YOUNG WATERS</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is that of a copy mentioned +by Percy, ‘printed not long since at Glasgow, in one sheet 8vo. The +world was indebted for its publication to the lady Jean Hume, sister to +the Earle of Hume, who died lately at Gibraltar.’ The original edition, +discovered by Mr. Macmath after Professor Child’s version (from the +<i>Reliques</i>) was in print, is:— ‘Young Waters, an Ancient +Scottish Poem, never before printed. Glasgow, printed and sold by Robert +and Andrew Foulis, 1755.’ This was also known to Maidment. Hardly a word +differs from Percy’s version; but here I have substituted the spellings +‘wh’ for Percy’s ‘quh,’ in ‘quhen,’ etc., and ‘y’ for his ‘z’ in ‘zoung, +zou,’ etc.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> has had historical +foundations suggested for it by Percy and Chambers. Percy identified +Young Waters with the Earl of Murray, murdered, according to the +chronicle of Sir James Balfour, on the 7th of February 1592. Chambers, +in 1829, relying on Buchan’s version of the ballad, had no doubt that +Young Waters was one of the Scots nobles executed by James <span class = +"smallroman">I.</span>, and was very probably Walter Stuart, second son +of the Duke of Albany. Thirty years later, Chambers was equally certain +that the ballad was the composition of Lady Wardlaw.</p> + +<p>In a Scandinavian ballad, Folke Lovmandson is a favourite at court; +a little wee page makes the fatal remark and excites the king’s +jealousy. The innocent knight is rolled down a hill in a barrel set with +knives—a punishment common in Scandinavian folklore.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">147</span> +<a name = "page147" id = "page147"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">YOUNG WATERS</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>2</sup> ‘round tables,’ an unknown game.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">About</span> Yule, when the wind blew +cule,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the round tables began,</p> +<p>A there is cum to our king’s court</p> +<p class = "inset">Mony a well-favor’d man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The queen luikt owre the castle-wa’,</p> +<p class = "inset">Beheld baith dale and down,</p> +<p>And there she saw Young Waters</p> +<p class = "inset">Cum riding to the town.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +His footmen they did rin before,</p> +<p class = "inset">His horsemen rade behind;</p> +<p>Ane mantel of the burning gowd</p> +<p class = "inset">Did keip him frae the wind.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +4.<sup>1</sup> ‘graith’d,’ harnessed, usually; here perhaps shod.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Gowden-graith’d his horse before,</p> +<p class = "inset">And siller-shod behind;</p> +<p>The horse Young Waters rade upon</p> +<p class = "inset">Was fleeter than the wind.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Out then spack a wylie lord,</p> +<p class = "inset">Unto the queen said he:</p> +<p>‘O tell me wha ’s the fairest face</p> +<p class = "inset">Rides in the company?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>1</sup> ‘laird,’ a landholder, below the degree of +knight.—<span class = "smallcaps">Jamieson.</span></p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I’ve sene lord, and I’ve sene laird,</p> +<p class = "inset">And knights of high degree,</p> +<p>Bot a fairer face than Young Waters</p> +<p class = "inset">Mine eyne did never see.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">148</span> +<a name = "page148" id = "page148"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Out then spack the jealous king,</p> +<p class = "inset">And an angry man was he:</p> +<p>‘O if he had bin twice as fair,</p> +<p class = "inset">You micht have excepted me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘You’re neither laird nor lord,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Bot the king that wears the crown;</p> +<p>There is not a knight in fair Scotland</p> +<p class = "inset">Bot to thee maun bow down.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +For a’ that she coud do or say,</p> +<p class = "inset">Appeas’d he wad nae bee,</p> +<p>Bot for the words which she had said,</p> +<p class = "inset">Young Waters he maun die.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They hae ta’en Young Waters,</p> +<p class = "inset">And put fetters to his feet;</p> +<p>They hae ta’en Young Waters, and</p> +<p class = "inset">Thrown him in dungeon deep.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Aft have I ridden thro’ Stirling town,</p> +<p class = "inset">In the wind bot and the weit;</p> +<p>Bot I neir rade thro’ Stirling town</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ fetters at my feet.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Aft have I ridden thro’ Stirling town,</p> +<p class = "inset">In the wind bot and the rain;</p> +<p>Bot I neir rade thro’ Stirling town</p> +<p class = "inset">Neir to return again.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>1</sup> ‘heiding-hill’: <i>i.e.</i> heading (beheading) hill. +The place of execution was anciently an artificial hillock.—<span +class = "smallcaps">Percy.</span></p> + +<p class = "first"> +They hae ta’en to the heiding-hill</p> +<p class = "inset">His young son in his craddle,</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">149</span> +<a name = "page149" id = "page149"> </a> + +<p>And they hae ta’en to the heiding-hill</p> +<p class = "inset">His horse bot and his saddle.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They hae ta’en to heiding-hill</p> +<p class = "inset">His lady fair to see,</p> +<p>And for the words the queen had spoke</p> +<p class = "inset">Young Waters he did die.</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">150</span> +<a name = "page150" id = "page150"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">BARBARA ALLAN</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from Allan Ramsay’s +<i>Tea-Table Miscellany</i> (1763). It was not included in the first +edition (1724-1727), nor until the ninth edition in 1740, when to the +original three volumes there was added a fourth, in which this ballad +appeared. There is also a Scotch version, <i>Sir John Grehme and Barbara +Allan</i>. Percy printed both in the <i>Reliques</i>, vol. iii.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> of Barbara Allan’s scorn +of her lover and subsequent regret has always been popular. Pepys +records of Mrs. Knipp, ‘In perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and +especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen’ (January 2, 1665-6). +Goldsmith’s words are equally well known: ‘The music of the finest +singer is dissonance to what I felt when an old dairymaid sung me into +tears with <i>Johnny Armstrong’s Last Goodnight</i>, or <i>The Cruelty +of Barbara Allen</i>.’ The tune is excessively popular: it is given in +Chappell’s <i>English Song and Ballad Music</i>.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">BARBARA ALLAN</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">It</span> was in and about the Martinmas +time,</p> +<p class = "inset">When the green leaves were afalling,</p> +<p>That Sir John Græme, in the West Country,</p> +<p class = "inset">Fell in love with Barbara Allan.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">151</span> +<a name = "page151" id = "page151"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He sent his men down through the town,</p> +<p class = "inset">To the place where she was dwelling;</p> +<p>‘O haste and come to my master dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Gin ye be Barbara Allan.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O hooly, hooly rose she up,</p> +<p class = "inset">To the place where he was lying,</p> +<p>And when she drew the curtain by,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Young man, I think you’re dying.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O it’s I am sick, and very, very sick,</p> +<p class = "inset">And ’t is a’ for Barbara Allan.’</p> +<p>‘O the better for me ye ’s never be,</p> +<p class = "inset">Tho’ your heart’s blood were aspilling.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O dinna ye mind, young man,’ said she,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘When ye was in the tavern a drinking,</p> +<p>That ye made the healths gae round and round,</p> +<p class = "inset">And slighted Barbara Allan?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He turn’d his face unto the wall,</p> +<p class = "inset">And death was with him dealing;</p> +<p>‘Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all,</p> +<p class = "inset">And be kind to Barbara Allan.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And slowly, slowly raise she up,</p> +<p class = "inset">And slowly, slowly left him,</p> +<p>And sighing, said, she coud not stay,</p> +<p class = "inset">Since death of life had reft him.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She had not gane a mile but twa,</p> +<p class = "inset">When she heard the dead-bell ringing,</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">152</span> +<a name = "page152" id = "page152"> </a> + +<p>And every jow that the dead-bell geid,</p> +<p class = "inset">It cry’d, ‘Woe to Barbara Allan!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O mother, mother, make my bed,</p> +<p class = "inset">O make it saft and narrow!</p> +<p>Since my love died for me to-day,</p> +<p class = "inset">I’ll die for him to-morrow.’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">153</span> +<a name = "page153" id = "page153"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">THE GAY GOSHAWK</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from the Jamieson-Brown +<span class = "smallroman">MS.</span>, on which version Scott drew +partly for his ballad in the <i>Minstrelsy</i>. Mrs. Brown recited the +ballad again to William Tytler in 1783, but the result is now lost, with +most of the other Tytler-Brown versions.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story.</span>—One point, the +maid’s feint of death to escape from her father to her lover, is the +subject of a ballad very popular in France; a version entitled +<i>Belle Isambourg</i> is printed in a collection called <i>Airs de +Cour</i>, 1607. Feigning death to escape various threats is a common +feature in many European ballads.</p> + +<p>It is perhaps needless to remark that no goshawk sings sweetly, much +less talks. In Buchan’s version (of forty-nine stanzas) the goshawk is +exchanged for a parrot.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">THE GAY GOSHAWK</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘O well</span>’s me o’ my gay goss-hawk,</p> +<p class = "inset">That he can speak and flee;</p> +<p>He’ll carry a letter to my love,</p> +<p class = "inset">Bring back another to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>3</sup> ‘couth,’ word.—<span class = +"smallcaps">Jamieson.</span> The derivation, from Anglo-Saxon +<i>cwide</i>, is hard.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O how can I your true-love ken,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or how can I her know?</p> +<p>When frae her mouth I never heard couth,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor wi’ my eyes her saw.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">154</span> +<a name = "page154" id = "page154"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O well sal ye my true-love ken,</p> +<p class = "inset">As soon as you her see;</p> +<p>For, of a’ the flow’rs in fair Englan’,</p> +<p class = "inset">The fairest flow’r is she.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘At even at my love’s bow’r-door</p> +<p class = "inset">There grows a bowing birk,</p> +<p>An’ sit ye down and sing thereon</p> +<p class = "inset">As she gangs to the kirk.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘An’ four-and-twenty ladies fair</p> +<p class = "inset">Will wash and go to kirk,</p> +<p>But well shall ye my true-love ken,</p> +<p class = "inset">For she wears goud on her skirt.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘An’ four-and-twenty gay ladies</p> +<p class = "inset">Will to the mass repair,</p> +<p>But well sal ye my true-love ken,</p> +<p class = "inset">For she wears goud on her hair.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>3</sup> ‘she’ is the goshawk; called ‘he’ in 1.<sup>2</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O even at that lady’s bow’r-door</p> +<p class = "inset">There grows a bowin’ birk,</p> +<p>An’ she sat down and sang thereon,</p> +<p class = "inset">As she ged to the kirk.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>3</sup> ‘shot-window,’ here perhaps a bow-window.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O eet and drink, my marys a’,</p> +<p class = "inset">The wine flows you among,</p> +<p>Till I gang to my shot-window,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ hear yon bonny bird’s song.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">155</span> +<a name = "page155" id = "page155"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>2</sup> ‘streen’ = yestreen, last evening.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Sing on, sing on, my bonny bird,</p> +<p class = "inset">The song ye sang the streen,</p> +<p>For I ken by your sweet singin’,</p> +<p class = "inset">You ’re frae my true-love sen’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O first he sang a merry song,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ then he sang a grave,</p> +<p>An’ then he peck’d his feathers gray,</p> +<p class = "inset">To her the letter gave.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ha, there’s a letter frae your love,</p> +<p class = "inset">He says he sent you three;</p> +<p>He canna wait your love langer,</p> +<p class = "inset">But for your sake he’ll die.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘He bids you write a letter to him;</p> +<p class = "inset">He says he’s sent you five;</p> +<p>He canno wait your love langer,</p> +<p class = "inset">Tho’ you’re the fairest woman alive.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ye bid him bake his bridal bread,</p> +<p class = "inset">And brew his bridal ale,</p> +<p>An’ I’ll meet him in fair Scotlan’</p> +<p class = "inset">Lang, lang or it be stale.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s doen her to her father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Fa’n low down on her knee:</p> +<p>‘A boon, a boon, my father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">I pray you, grant it me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ask on, ask on, my daughter,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ granted it sal be;</p> +<p>Except ae squire in fair Scotlan’,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ him you sall never see.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">156</span> +<a name = "page156" id = "page156"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘The only boon my father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">That I do crave of the,</p> +<p>Is, gin I die in southin lans,</p> +<p class = "inset">In Scotland to bury me.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘An’ the firstin kirk that ye come till,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye gar the bells be rung,</p> +<p>An’ the nextin kirk that ye come till,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye gar the mess be sung.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘An’ the thirdin kirk that ye come till,</p> +<p class = "inset">You deal gold for my sake,</p> +<p>An’ the fourthin kirk that ye come till,</p> +<p class = "inset">You tarry there till night.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>1</sup> ‘bigly,’ <i>lit.</i> habitable; the stock epithet of +‘bower.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +She is doen her to her bigly bow’r,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as she coud fare,</p> +<p>An’ she has tane a sleepy draught,</p> +<p class = "inset">That she had mix’d wi’ care.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s laid her down upon her bed,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ soon she’s fa’n asleep,</p> +<p>And soon o’er every tender limb</p> +<p class = "inset">Cauld death began to creep.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Whan night was flown, an’ day was come,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nae ane that did her see</p> +<p>But thought she was as surely dead</p> +<p class = "inset">As ony lady coud be.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Her father an’ her brothers dear</p> +<p class = "inset">Gard make to her a bier;</p> +<p>The tae half was o’ guid red gold,</p> +<p class = "inset">The tither o’ silver clear.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">157</span> +<a name = "page157" id = "page157"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Her mither an’ her sisters fair</p> +<p class = "inset">Gard work for her a sark;</p> +<p>The tae half was o’ cambrick fine,</p> +<p class = "inset">The tither o’ needle wark.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The firstin kirk that they came till,</p> +<p class = "inset">They gard the bells be rung,</p> +<p>An’ the nextin kirk that they came till,</p> +<p class = "inset">They gard the mess be sung.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +25.<sup>4</sup> ‘make,’ mate, lover.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +The thirdin kirk that they came till,</p> +<p class = "inset">They dealt gold for her sake,</p> +<p>An’ the fourthin kirk that they came till,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lo, there they met her make!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Lay down, lay down the bigly bier,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lat me the dead look on’;</p> +<p>Wi’ cherry cheeks and ruby lips</p> +<p class = "inset">She lay an’ smil’d on him.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +27.<sup>1</sup> ‘sheave,’ slice.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O ae sheave o’ your bread, true-love,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ ae glass o’ your wine,</p> +<p>For I hae fasted for your sake</p> +<p class = "inset">These fully days is nine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Gang hame, gang hame, my seven bold brothers,</p> +<p class = "inset">Gang hame and sound your horn;</p> +<p>An’ ye may boast in southin lan’s</p> +<p class = "inset">Your sister’s play’d you scorn.’</p> + +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">158</span> +<a name = "page158" id = "page158"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">BROWN ROBIN</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is here given from the +Jamieson-Brown <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> Versions, +lengthened and therefore less succinct and natural, are given in +Christie’s <i>Traditional Ballad Airs</i> (<i>Love Robbie</i>) and in +Buchan’s <i>Ballads of the North of Scotland</i> (<i>Brown Robyn and +Mally</i>).</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> is a genuine bit of +romance. The proud porter is apparently suspicious, believing that the +king’s daughter would not have made him drunk for any good purpose. In +spite of that he cannot see through Brown Robin’s disguise, though the +king remarks that ‘this is a sturdy dame.’ The king’s daughter, one +would think, who conceals Robin’s bow in her bosom, must also have been +somewhat sturdy. Note the picturesque touch in 8.<sup>2</sup>.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">BROWN ROBIN</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> + +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>2</sup> ‘birling,’ drinking: cf. 7.<sup>1</sup>.</p> + +<table class = "null" summary = "text with bracket"> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">The</span> king but an’ his nobles a’</p> +<p class = "inset">Sat birling at the wine;</p> +</td> +<td class = "bottom"> + +<img src = "images/bracket.png" width = "6" height= "28" +alt = "}" title = "}"> + +</td> +<td class = "middle"> +<i>bis</i> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "3"> +<p>He would ha’ nane but his ae daughter</p> +<p class = "inset">To wait on them at dine.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s served them butt, she’s served them ben,</p> +<p class = "inset">Intill a gown of green,</p> +<p>But her e’e was ay on Brown Robin,</p> +<p class = "inset">That stood low under the rain.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">159</span> +<a name = "page159" id = "page159"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>1</sup> ‘bigly,’ commodious: see <i>The Gay Goshawk</i>, +19.<sup>1</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>3</sup> ‘shot-window,’ here perhaps a shutter with a pane of +glass let in.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +She’s doen her to her bigly bow’r,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as she coud gang,</p> +<p>An’ there she’s drawn her shot-window,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ she’s harped an’ she sang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘There sits a bird i’ my father’s garden,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ O but she sings sweet!</p> +<p>I hope to live an’ see the day</p> +<p class = "inset">When wi’ my love I’ll meet.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O gin that ye like me as well</p> +<p class = "inset">As your tongue tells to me,</p> +<p>What hour o’ the night, my lady bright,</p> +<p class = "inset">At your bow’r sal I be?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Whan my father an’ gay Gilbert</p> +<p class = "inset">Are baith set at the wine,</p> +<p>O ready, ready I will be</p> +<p class = "inset">To lat my true-love in.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>1</sup> ‘birl’d,’ plied: cf. 1.<sup>2</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>4</sup> Cf. <i>Fause Footrage</i> 16.<sup>4</sup>: a popular +simile.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>5</sup> ‘stown,’ stolen: ‘yates,’ gates.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O she has birl’d her father’s porter</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ strong beer an’ wi’ wine,</p> +<p>Untill he was as beastly drunk</p> +<p class = "inset">As ony wild-wood swine:</p> +<p>She’s stown the keys o’ her father’s yates</p> +<p class = "inset">An latten her true-love in.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">160</span> +<a name = "page160" id = "page160"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When night was gane, an’ day was come,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ the sun shone on their feet,</p> +<p>Then out it spake him Brown Robin,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘I’ll be discover’d yet.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spake that gay lady:</p> +<p class = "inset">‘My love ye need na doubt,</p> +<p>For wi’ ae wile I’ve got you in,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ anither I’ll bring you out.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>4</sup> ‘gare,’ gore; <i>i.e.</i> by her knee: a stock ballad +phrase.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +She’s ta’en her to her father’s cellar,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as she can fare;</p> +<p>She’s drawn a cup o’ the gude red wine,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hung ’t low down by her gare;</p> +<p>An’ she met wi’ her father dear</p> +<p class = "inset">Just coming down the stair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +11.<sup>4</sup> ‘gantrees,’ stands for casks.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I woud na gi’ that cup, daughter,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ye hold i’ your han’,</p> +<p>For a’ the wines in my cellar,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ gantrees whare the[y] stan’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +12.<sup>3</sup> ‘sic,’ such: the <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> +gives <i>sick</i>: ‘steer,’ disturbance.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O wae be to your wine, father,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ever ’t came o’er the sea;</p> +<p>’Tis pitten my head in sic a steer</p> +<p class = "inset">I’ my bow’r I canna be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>4</sup> ‘marys,’ maids.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Gang out, gang out, my daughter dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Gang out an’ tack the air;</p> +<p>Gang out an’ walk i’ the good green wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">An’ a’ your marys fair.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">161</span> +<a name = "page161" id = "page161"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spake the proud porter—</p> +<p class = "inset">Our lady wish’d him shame—</p> +<p>‘We’ll send the marys to the wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">But we’ll keep our lady at hame.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +15.<sup>4</sup> ‘gains for,’ suits, is meet (Icelandic, <i>gegna</i>). +Cf. Jamieson’s version of <i>Sir Patrick Spence</i>:—<br> +‘For I brought as much white money<br> +As will gain my men and me.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘There’s thirty marys i’ my bow’r,</p> +<p class = "inset">There’s thirty o’ them an’ three;</p> +<p>But there ’s nae ane amo’ them a’</p> +<p class = "inset">Kens what flow’r gains for me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s doen her to her bigly bow’r</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as she could gang,</p> +<p>An’ she has dresst him Brown Robin</p> +<p class = "inset">Like ony bow’r-woman.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +17.<sup>4</sup> ‘cordwain,’ Cordovan (Spanish) leather.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +The gown she pat upon her love</p> +<p class = "inset">Was o’ the dainty green,</p> +<p>His hose was o’ the saft, saft silk,</p> +<p class = "inset">His shoon o’ the cordwain fine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s pitten his bow in her bosom,</p> +<p class = "inset">His arrow in her sleeve,</p> +<p>His sturdy bran’ her body next,</p> +<p class = "inset">Because he was her love.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then she is unto her bow’r-door</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as she coud gang;</p> +<p>But out it spake the proud porter—</p> +<p class = "inset">Our lady wish’d him shame—</p> +<p>‘We’ll count our marys to the wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">And we’ll count them back again.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">162</span> +<a name = "page162" id = "page162"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The firsten mary she sent out</p> +<p class = "inset">Was Brown Robin by name;</p> +<p>Then out it spake the king himsel’,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘This is a sturdy dame.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +21.<sup>2</sup> ‘gay’: the <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span> gives +<i>gray</i>. This is Child’s emendation, who points out that the sun was +up, 8.<sup>2</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O she went out in a May morning,</p> +<p class = "inset">In a May morning so gay,</p> +<p>But she never came back again,</p> +<p class = "inset">Her auld father to see.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">163</span> +<a name = "page163" id = "page163"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LADY ALICE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> of this little ballad is +given from Bell’s <i>Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry +of England</i>.</p> + +<p>It should be compared with <i>Lord Lovel</i>.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">LADY ALICE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>2</sup> ‘quoif,’ cap. The line should doubtless be:— +‘Mending her midnight quoif.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Lady Alice</span> was sitting in her +bower-window,</p> +<p class = "inset">At midnight mending her quoif,</p> +<p>And there she saw as fine a corpse</p> +<p class = "inset">As ever she saw in her life.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall?</p> +<p class = "inset">What bear ye on your shoulders?’</p> +<p>‘We bear the corpse of Giles Collins,</p> +<p class = "inset">An old and true lover of yours.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O lay him down gently, ye six men tall,</p> +<p class = "inset">All on the grass so green,</p> +<p>And to-morrow, when the sun goes down,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And bury me in Saint Mary’s church,</p> +<p class = "inset">All for my love so true,</p> +<p>And make me a garland of marjoram,</p> +<p class = "inset">And of lemon-thyme, and rue.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">164</span> +<a name = "page164" id = "page164"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Giles Collins was buried all in the east,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lady Alice all in the west,</p> +<p>And the roses that grew on Giles Collins’s grave,</p> +<p class = "inset">They reached Lady Alice’s breast.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The priest of the parish he chanced to pass,</p> +<p class = "inset">And he severed those roses in twain;</p> +<p>Sure never were seen such true lovers before,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor e’er will there be again.</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">165</span> +<a name = "page165" id = "page165"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">CHILD MAURICE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from the Percy Folio, +given <i>literatim</i>, with two rearrangements of the lines (in stt. 4 +and 22) and a few obvious corrections, as suggested by Hales, and +Furnivall, and Child. The Folio version was printed by Jamieson in his +<i>Popular Ballads and Songs</i>.</p> + +<p>The Scotch version, <i>Gil Morrice</i>, was printed by Percy in the +<i>Reliques</i> in preference to the version of his Folio. He notes that +the ballad ‘has lately run through two editions in Scotland: the second +was printed at Glasgow in 1755.’ Thanks to an advertisement prefixed to +these Scottish editions, sixteen additional verses were obtained and +added by Percy, who thought that they were ‘perhaps after all only an +ingenious interpolation.’ <i>Gil Morrice</i> introduces ‘Lord Barnard’ +in place of ‘John Steward,’ adopted, perhaps, from <i>Little Musgrave +and Lady Barnard</i>. Motherwell’s versions were variously called +<i>Child Noryce</i>, <i>Bob Norice</i>, <i>Gill Morice</i>, <i>Chield +Morice</i>. Certainly the Folio ballad is unsurpassed for its vigorous, +objective style, and forcible, vivid pictures.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> of this ballad gave rise +to Home’s <i>Douglas</i>, a tragedy, produced in the Concert Hall, +Canongate, Edinburgh, 1756 (on which occasion the heroine’s name was +given as ‘Lady Barnard’), and transferred to Covent Garden Theatre, in +London, in 1757, the heroine’s name being altered to ‘Lady +Randolph.’</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">166</span> +<a name = "page166" id = "page166"> </a> +<p>Perhaps in the same year in which the play was produced in London, +the poet Gray wrote from Cambridge:— ‘I have got the old +Scotch ballad on which <i>Douglas</i> was founded; it is divine, and as +long as from hence to Aston. Aristotle’s best rules are observed in it +in a manner which shows the author never had heard of Aristotle. It +begins in the fifth act of the play. You may read it two-thirds through +without guessing what it is about; and yet, when you come to the end, it +is impossible not to understand the whole story.’</p> + +<h6 class = "section">CHILD MAURICE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>1</sup> ‘siluer’: the Folio gives <i>siluen</i>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">Child Maurice</span> hunted ithe siluer +wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">He hunted itt round about,</p> +<p>And noebodye that he ffound therin,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor none there was with-out.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "missing first"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p>And he tooke his siluer combe in his hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">To kembe his yellow lockes.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He sayes, ‘Come hither, thou litle ffoot-page,</p> +<p class = "inset">That runneth lowlye by my knee,</p> +<p>Ffor thou shalt goe to Iohn Stewards wiffe</p> +<p class = "inset">And pray her speake with mee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +4.<sup>3,4</sup> These lines in the Folio precede st. 6.</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p>I, and greete thou doe that ladye well,</p> +<p class = "inset">Euer soe well ffroe mee.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">167</span> +<a name = "page167" id = "page167"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>2</sup> <i>i.e.</i> as many times as there are knots knit in a +net for the hair; cf. French <i>cale</i>.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>3</sup> ‘leeue,’ lovely.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘And, as itt ffalls, as many times</p> +<p class = "inset">As knotts beene knitt on a kell,</p> +<p>Or marchant men gone to leeue London</p> +<p class = "inset">Either to buy ware or sell;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And, as itt ffalles, as many times</p> +<p class = "inset">As any hart can thinke,</p> +<p>Or schoole-masters are in any schoole-house</p> +<p class = "inset">Writting with pen and inke:</p> +<p>Ffor if I might, as well as shee may,</p> +<p class = "inset">This night I wold with her speake.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And heere I send her a mantle of greene,</p> +<p class = "inset">As greene as any grasse,</p> +<p>And bid her come to the siluer wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">To hunt with Child Maurice.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +8.<sup>4</sup> ‘Let,’ fail: it is the infinitive, governed by +‘bidd.’</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘And there I send her a ring of gold,</p> +<p class = "inset">A ring of precyous stone,</p> +<p>And bidd her come to the siluer wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">Let ffor no kind of man.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>1</sup> ‘yode,’ went.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>4</sup> ‘blan,’ lingered.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +One while this litle boy he yode,</p> +<p class = "inset">Another while he ran,</p> +<p>Vntill he came to Iohn Stewards hall,</p> +<p class = "inset">I-wis he never blan.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And of nurture the child had good,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hee ran vp hall and bower ffree,</p> +<p>And when he came to this lady ffaire,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sayes, ‘God you saue and see!</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">168</span> +<a name = "page168" id = "page168"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I am come ffrom Child Maurice,</p> +<p class = "inset">A message vnto thee;</p> +<p>And Child Maurice, he greetes you well,</p> +<p class = "inset">And euer soe well ffrom mee;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And, as itt ffalls, as oftentimes</p> +<p class = "inset">As knotts beene knitt on a kell,</p> +<p>Or marchant-men gone to leeue London</p> +<p class = "inset">Either ffor to buy ware or sell;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>3</sup> ‘are’: omitted in the Folio.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘And as oftentimes he greetes you well</p> +<p class = "inset">As any hart can thinke,</p> +<p>Or schoolemasters are in any schoole,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wryting with pen and inke.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And heere he sends a mantle of greene,</p> +<p class = "inset">As greene as any grasse,</p> +<p>And he bidds you come to the siluer wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">To hunt with Child Maurice.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And heere he sends you a ring of gold,</p> +<p class = "inset">A ring of the precyous stone;</p> +<p>He prayes you to come to the siluer wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">Let ffor no kind of man.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Now peace, now peace, thou litle ffoot-page,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ffor Christes sake, I pray thee!</p> +<p>Ffor if my lord heare one of these words,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thou must be hanged hye!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Iohn Steward stood vnder the castle-wall,</p> +<p class = "inset">And he wrote the words euerye one,</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> +<p class = "missing"> .....</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">169</span> +<a name = "page169" id = "page169"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>3</sup> ‘I,’ aye.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And he called vnto his hors-keeper,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Make readye you my steede!’</p> +<p>I, and soe he did to his chamberlaine,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Make readye thou my weede!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +19.<sup>1</sup> ‘lease,’ leash, thong, string: perhaps for bringing back +any game he might kill.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And he cast a lease vpon his backe,</p> +<p class = "inset">And he rode to the siluer wood,</p> +<p>And there he sought all about,</p> +<p class = "inset">About the siluer wood.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And there he ffound him Child Maurice</p> +<p class = "inset">Sitting vpon a blocke,</p> +<p>With a siluer combe in his hand,</p> +<p class = "inset">Kembing his yellow locke. +</p> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +After 20 at least one verse is lost.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +But then stood vp him Child Maurice,</p> +<p class = "inset">And sayd these words trulye:</p> +<p>‘I doe not know your ladye,’ he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘If that I doe her see.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22.<sup>1,2</sup> In the Folio these lines precede +21.<sup>1,2</sup>.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He sayes, ‘How now, how now, Child Maurice?</p> +<p class = "inset">Alacke, how may this bee?</p> +<p>Ffor thou hast sent her loue-tokens,</p> +<p class = "inset">More now then two or three;</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ffor thou hast sent her a mantle of greene,</p> +<p class = "inset">As greene as any grasse,</p> +<p>And bade her come to the siluer woode</p> +<p class = "inset">To hunt with Child Maurice.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">170</span> +<a name = "page170" id = "page170"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>1</sup> ‘hast’ omitted in the Folio.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘And thou [hast] sent her a ring of gold,</p> +<p class = "inset">A ring of precyous stone,</p> +<p>And bade her come to the siluer wood,</p> +<p class = "inset">Let ffor noe kind of man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +25.<sup>2</sup> ‘tone,’ the one (or other).</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘And by my ffaith, now, Child Maurice,</p> +<p class = "inset">The tone of vs shall dye!’</p> +<p>‘Now be my troth,’ sayd Child Maurice,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘And that shall not be I.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But hee pulled forth a bright browne sword,</p> +<p class = "inset">And dryed itt on the grasse,</p> +<p>And soe ffast he smote att Iohn Steward,</p> +<p class = "inset">I-wisse he neuer rest.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then hee pulled fforth his bright browne sword,</p> +<p class = "inset">And dryed itt on his sleeue,</p> +<p>And the ffirst good stroke Iohn Stewart stroke,</p> +<p class = "inset">Child Maurice head he did cleeue.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And he pricked itt on his swords poynt,</p> +<p class = "inset">Went singing there beside,</p> +<p>And he rode till he came to that ladye ffaire,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wheras this ladye lyed.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And sayes, ‘Dost thou know Child Maurice head,</p> +<p class = "inset">If that thou dost itt see?</p> +<p>And lap itt soft, and kisse itt oft,</p> +<p class = "inset">For thou louedst him better than mee.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">171</span> +<a name = "page171" id = "page171"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But when shee looked on Child Maurice head,</p> +<p class = "inset">She neuer spake words but three:</p> +<p>‘I neuer beare no child but one,</p> +<p class = "inset">And you haue slaine him trulye.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Sayes, ‘Wicked be my merrymen all,</p> +<p class = "inset">I gaue meate, drinke, and clothe!</p> +<p>But cold they not haue holden me</p> +<p class = "inset">When I was in all that wrath!</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ffor I haue slaine one of the curteousest knights</p> +<p class = "inset">That euer bestrode a steed,</p> +<p>Soe haue I done one [of] the fairest ladyes</p> +<p class = "inset">That euer ware womans weede!’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">172</span> +<a name = "page172" id = "page172"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">FAUSE FOOTRAGE</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from Alexander Fraser +Tytler’s Brown <span class = "smallroman">MS.</span>, which was also the +source of Scott’s version in the <i>Minstrelsy</i>. One line +(31.<sup>1</sup>), closely resembling a line in Lady Wardlaw’s forged +ballad <i>Hardyknute</i>, caused Sir Walter to investigate strictly the +authenticity of the ballad, but the evidence of Lady Douglas, that she +had learned the ballad in her childhood, and could still repeat much of +it, removed his doubts. It is, however, quite possible, as Professor +Child points out, ‘that Mrs. Brown may unconsciously have adopted this +verse from the tiresome and affected <i>Hardyknute</i>, so much esteemed +in her day.’</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story.</span>—In <i>The Complaynt +of Scotlande</i> (1549) there is mentioned a tale ‘how the King of +Estmure Land married the King’s daughter of Westmure Land,’ and it has +been suggested that there is a connection with the ballad.</p> + +<p>This is another of the ballads of which the English form has become +so far corrupted that we have to seek its Scandinavian counterpart to +obtain the full form of the story. The ballad is especially popular in +Denmark, where it is found in twenty-three manuscripts, as +follows:—</p> + +<p>The rich Svend wooes Lisbet, who favours William for his good +qualities. Svend, ill with grief, is well-advised by his mother, not to +care for a plighted maid, and ill-advised by his sister, to kill +William. Svend +<span class = "pagenum">173</span> +<a name = "page173" id = "page173"> </a> +takes the latter advice, and kills William. Forty weeks later, Lisbet +gives birth to a son, but Svend is told that the child is a girl. +Eighteen years later, the young William, sporting with a peasant, +quarrels with him; the peasant retorts, ‘You had better avenge your +father’s death.’ Young William asks his mother who slew his father, and +she, thinking him too young to fight, counsels him to bring Svend to a +court. William charges him in the court with the murder of his father, +and says that no compensation has been offered. Not a penny shall be +paid, says Svend. William draws his sword, and slays him.</p> + +<p>Icelandic, Swedish, and Färöe ballads tell a similar story.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">FAUSE FOOTRAGE</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">King Easter</span> has courted her for her +gowd,</p> +<p class = "inset">King Wester for her fee;</p> +<p>King Honor for her lands sae braid,</p> +<p class = "inset">And for her fair body.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +They had not been four months married,</p> +<p class = "inset">As I have heard them tell,</p> +<p>Until the nobles of the land</p> +<p class = "inset">Against them did rebel.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>1</sup> ‘kaivles,’ lots.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +And they cast kaivles them amang,</p> +<p class = "inset">And kaivles them between;</p> +<p>And they cast kaivles them amang,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wha shoud gae kill the king.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">174</span> +<a name = "page174" id = "page174"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O some said yea, and some said nay,</p> +<p class = "inset">Their words did not agree;</p> +<p>Till up it gat him Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">And sware it shoud be he.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When bells were rung, and mass was sung,</p> +<p class = "inset">And a’ man boon to bed,</p> +<p>King Honor and his gay ladie</p> +<p class = "inset">In a hie chamer were laid.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then up it raise him Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">While a’ were fast asleep,</p> +<p>And slew the porter in his lodge,</p> +<p class = "inset">That watch and ward did keep.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O four and twenty silver keys</p> +<p class = "inset">Hang hie upon a pin,</p> +<p>And ay as a door he did unlock,</p> +<p class = "inset">He has fasten’d it him behind.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then up it raise him King Honor,</p> +<p class = "inset">Says, ‘What means a’ this din?</p> +<p>Now what’s the matter, Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or wha was’t loot you in?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O ye my errand well shall learn</p> +<p class = "inset">Before that I depart’;</p> +<p>Then drew a knife baith lang and sharp</p> +<p class = "inset">And pierced him thro’ the heart.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then up it got the Queen hersell,</p> +<p class = "inset">And fell low down on her knee:</p> +<p>‘O spare my life now, Fa’se Footrage!</p> +<p class = "inset">For I never injured thee.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">175</span> +<a name = "page175" id = "page175"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O spare my life now, Fa’se Footrage!</p> +<p class = "inset">Until I lighter be!</p> +<p>And see gin it be lad or lass,</p> +<p class = "inset">King Honor has left me wi’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O gin it be a lass,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Weel nursed she shall be;</p> +<p>But gin it be a lad-bairn,</p> +<p class = "inset">He shall be hanged hie.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>4</sup> ‘gallows-pin,’ the projecting beam of the gallows.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘I winna spare his tender age,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor yet his hie, hie kin;</p> +<p>But as soon as e’er he born is,</p> +<p class = "inset">He shall mount the gallows-pin.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O four and twenty valiant knights</p> +<p class = "inset">Were set the Queen to guard,</p> +<p>And four stood ay at her bower-door,</p> +<p class = "inset">To keep baith watch and ward.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +But when the time drew till an end</p> +<p class = "inset">That she should lighter be,</p> +<p>She cast about to find a wile</p> +<p class = "inset">To set her body free.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +16.<sup>1</sup> ‘birled,’ plied.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +16.<sup>4</sup> ‘wallwood,’ wild wood: a conventional ballad-phrase.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O she has birled these merry young men</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ strong beer and wi’ wine,</p> +<p>Until she made them a’ as drunk</p> +<p class = "inset">As any wall-wood swine.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">176</span> +<a name = "page176" id = "page176"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O narrow, narrow is this window,</p> +<p class = "inset">And big, big am I grown!’</p> +<p>Yet thro’ the might of Our Ladie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Out at it she has won.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She wander’d up, she wander’d down,</p> +<p class = "inset">She wander’d out and in;</p> +<p>And at last, into the very swines’ stye,</p> +<p class = "inset">The Queen brought forth a son.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then they cast kaivles them amang</p> +<p class = "inset">Wha should gae seek the Queen;</p> +<p>And the kaivle fell upon Wise William,</p> +<p class = "inset">And he’s sent his wife for him.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O when she saw Wise William’s wife,</p> +<p class = "inset">The Queen fell on her knee;</p> +<p>‘Win up, win up, madame,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘What means this courtesie?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O out of this I winna rise,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till a boon ye grant to me,</p> +<p>To change your lass for this lad-bairn,</p> +<p class = "inset">King Honor left me wi’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke</p> +<p class = "inset">Well how to breast a steed;</p> +<p>And I shall learn your turtle-dow</p> +<p class = "inset">As well to write and read.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke</p> +<p class = "inset">To wield baith bow and brand;</p> +<p>And I sall learn your turtle-dow</p> +<p class = "inset">To lay gowd wi’ her hand.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">177</span> +<a name = "page177" id = "page177"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘At kirk and market where we meet,</p> +<p class = "inset">We dare nae mair avow</p> +<p>But—“Dame, how does my gay gose-hawk?”</p> +<p class = "inset">“Madame, how does my dow?”’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +25.<sup>2</sup> A stock ballad-phrase.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +When days were gane, and years come on,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wise William he thought long;</p> +<p>Out has he ta’en King Honor’s son,</p> +<p class = "inset">A hunting for to gang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +It sae fell out at their hunting,</p> +<p class = "inset">Upon a summer’s day,</p> +<p>That they cam’ by a fair castle,</p> +<p class = "inset">Stood on a sunny brae.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O dinna ye see that bonny castle</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ wa’s and towers sae fair?</p> +<p>Gin ilka man had back his ain,</p> +<p class = "inset">Of it you shoud be heir.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘How I shoud be heir of that castle,</p> +<p class = "inset">In sooth I canna see;</p> +<p>When it belongs to Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">And he’s nae kin to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O gin ye shoud kill him Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">You woud do what is right;</p> +<p>For I wot he kill’d your father dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ere ever you saw the light.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Gin you shoud kill him Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">There is nae man durst you blame;</p> +<p>For he keeps your mother a prisoner,</p> +<p class = "inset">And she dares no take you hame.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">178</span> +<a name = "page178" id = "page178"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The boy stared wild like a gray gose-hawk,</p> +<p class = "inset">Says, ‘What may a’ this mean?’</p> +<p>‘My boy, you are King Honor’s son,</p> +<p class = "inset">And your mother’s our lawful queen.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O gin I be King Honor’s son,</p> +<p class = "inset">By Our Ladie I swear,</p> +<p>This day I will that traytour slay,</p> +<p class = "inset">And relieve my mother dear!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">33.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +33.<sup>1</sup> A ballad conventionality.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He has set his bent bow till his breast,</p> +<p class = "inset">And lap the castle-wa’;</p> +<p>And soon he’s siesed on Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wha loud for help gan ca’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">34.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O haud your tongue now, Fa’se Footrage,</p> +<p class = "inset">Frae me ye shanno flee.’</p> +<p>Syne pierced him through the foul fa’se heart,</p> +<p class = "inset">And set his mother free.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">35.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And he has rewarded Wise William</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ the best half of his land;</p> +<p>And sae has he the turtle dow</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ the truth o’ his right hand.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">179</span> +<a name = "page179" id = "page179"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL</h4> + +<div class = "poem intro"> +<p>‘Ouvre ta port’, Germin’, c’est moi qu’est ton mari.’</p> +<p>‘Donnez-moi des indic’s de la première nuit,</p> +<p>Et par là je croirai que vous et’s mon mari.’</p> + +<p align = "right">—<i>Germaine.</i></p> +</div> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is Fraser Tytler’s, taken +down from the recitation of Mrs. Brown in 1800, who had previously +(1783) recited a similar version to Jamieson. The later recitation, +which was used by Scott, with others, seems to contain certain +improvisations of Mrs. Brown’s which do not appear in the earlier +form.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story.</span>—A mother, who +feigns to be her own son and demands tokens of the girl outside the +gate, turns her son’s love away, and is cursed by him. Similar ballads +exist in France, Germany, and Greece.</p> + +<p>There is an early eighteenth-century <span class = +"smallroman">MS.</span> (Elizabeth Cochrane’s <i>Song-Book</i>) of this +ballad, which gives a preliminary history. Isabel of Rochroyal dreams of +her love Gregory; she rises up, calls for a swift steed, and rides forth +till she meets a company. They ask her who she is, and are told that she +is ‘Fair Isabel of Rochroyal,’ seeking her true-love Gregory. They +direct her to ‘yon castle’; and thenceforth the tale proceeds much as in +the other versions.</p> + +<p>‘Lochryan,’ says Scott, ‘lies in Galloway<ins class = "correction" +title = "text has extra close quote">; </ins>Roch—or +Rough—royal, I have not found, but there is a Rough castle in +Stirlingshire’ (Child).</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">180</span> +<a name = "page180" id = "page180"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘O wha</span> will shoe my fu’ fair foot?</p> +<p class = "inset">And wha will glove my hand?</p> +<p>And wha will lace my middle jimp,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ the new-made London band?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And wha will kaim my yellow hair,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ the new-made silver kaim?</p> +<p>And wha will father my young son,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till Love Gregor come hame?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your father will shoe your fu’ fair foot,</p> +<p class = "inset">Your mother will glove your hand;</p> +<p>Your sister will lace your middle jimp</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ the new-made London band.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your brother will kaim your yellow hair,</p> +<p class = "inset">Wi’ the new-made silver kaim;</p> +<p>And the king of heaven will father your bairn,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till Love Gregor come haim.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But I will get a bonny boat,</p> +<p class = "inset">And I will sail the sea,</p> +<p>For I maun gang to Love Gregor,</p> +<p class = "inset">Since he canno come hame to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O she has gotten a bonny boat,</p> +<p class = "inset">And sail’d the sa’t sea fame;</p> +<p>She lang’d to see her ain true-love,</p> +<p class = "inset">Since he could no come hame.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">181</span> +<a name = "page181" id = "page181"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O row your boat, my mariners,</p> +<p class = "inset">And bring me to the land,</p> +<p>For yonder I see my love’s castle,</p> +<p class = "inset">Closs by the sa’t sea strand.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She has ta’en her young son in her arms,</p> +<p class = "inset">And to the door she’s gone,</p> +<p>And lang she’s knock’d and sair she ca’d,</p> +<p class = "inset">But answer got she none.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O open the door, Love Gregor,’ she says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘O open, and let me in;</p> +<p>For the wind blaws thro’ my yellow hair,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the rain draps o’er my chin.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>3</sup> ‘warlock,’ wizard, magician.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Awa’, awa’, ye ill woman,</p> +<p class = "inset">You ’r nae come here for good;</p> +<p>You ’r but some witch, or wile warlock,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or mer-maid of the flood.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I am neither a witch nor a wile warlock,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor mer-maid of the sea,</p> +<p>I am Fair Annie of Rough Royal;</p> +<p class = "inset">O open the door to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Gin ye be Annie of Rough Royal—</p> +<p class = "inset">And I trust ye are not she—</p> +<p>Now tell me some of the love-tokens</p> +<p class = "inset">That past between you and me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O dinna you mind now, Love Gregor,</p> +<p class = "inset">When we sat at the wine,</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">182</span> +<a name = "page182" id = "page182"> </a> + +<p>How we changed the rings frae our fingers?</p> +<p class = "inset">And I can show thee thine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O yours was good, and good enneugh,</p> +<p class = "inset">But ay the best was mine;</p> +<p>For yours was o’ the good red goud,</p> +<p class = "inset">But mine o’ the dimonds fine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘But open the door now, Love Gregor,</p> +<p class = "inset">O open the door I pray,</p> +<p>For your young son that is in my arms</p> +<p class = "inset">Will be dead ere it be day.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Awa’, awa’, ye ill woman,</p> +<p class = "inset">For here ye shanno win in;</p> +<p>Gae drown ye in the raging sea,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or hang on the gallows-pin.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When the cock had crawn, and day did dawn,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the sun began to peep,</p> +<p>Then it raise him Love Gregor,</p> +<p class = "inset">And sair, sair did he weep.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +18.<sup>2</sup> ‘gars me greet,’ makes me weep.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O I dream’d a dream, my mother dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">The thoughts o’ it gars me greet,</p> +<p>That Fair Annie of Rough Royal</p> +<p class = "inset">Lay cauld dead at my feet.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Gin it be for Annie of Rough Royal</p> +<p class = "inset">That ye make a’ this din,</p> +<p>She stood a’ last night at this door,</p> +<p class = "inset">But I trow she wan no in.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">183</span> +<a name = "page183" id = "page183"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O wae betide ye, ill woman,</p> +<p class = "inset">An ill dead may ye die!</p> +<p>That ye woudno open the door to her,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nor yet woud waken me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O he has gone down to yon shore-side,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as he could fare;</p> +<p>He saw Fair Annie in her boat</p> +<p class = "inset">But the wind it toss’d her sair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And ‘Hey, Annie!’ and ‘How, Annie!</p> +<p class = "inset">O Annie, winna ye bide?’</p> +<p>But ay the mair that he cried ‘Annie,’</p> +<p class = "inset">The braider grew the tide.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And ‘Hey, Annie!’ and ‘How, Annie!</p> +<p class = "inset">Dear Annie, speak to me!’</p> +<p>But ay the louder he cried ‘Annie,’</p> +<p class = "inset">The louder roar’d the sea.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The wind blew loud, the sea grew rough,</p> +<p class = "inset">And dash’d the boat on shore;</p> +<p>Fair Annie floats on the raging sea,</p> +<p class = "inset">But her young son raise no more.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Love Gregor tare his yellow hair,</p> +<p class = "inset">And made a heavy moan;</p> +<p>Fair Annie’s corpse lay at his feet,</p> +<p class = "inset">But his bonny young son was gone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O cherry, cherry was her cheek,</p> +<p class = "inset">And gowden was her hair,</p> +<p>But clay cold were her rosey lips,</p> +<p class = "inset">Nae spark of life was there.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">184</span> +<a name = "page184" id = "page184"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And first he’s kiss’d her cherry cheek,</p> +<p class = "inset">And neist he’s kissed her chin;</p> +<p>And saftly press’d her rosey lips,</p> +<p class = "inset">But there was nae breath within.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O wae betide my cruel mother,</p> +<p class = "inset">And an ill dead may she die!</p> +<p>For she turn’d my true-love frae the door,</p> +<p class = "inset">When she came sae far to me.’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">185</span> +<a name = "page185" id = "page185"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">HIND HORN</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from Motherwell’s <span +class = "smallroman">MS.</span>, written from the recitation of a Mrs. +King of Kilbarchan.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> of the ballad is a mere +remnant of the story told in the Gest of King Horn, preserved in three +manuscripts, the oldest of which belongs to the thirteenth century. +Similar stories are given in a French romance of the fourteenth century, +and an English manuscript of the same date. The complete story in the +Gest may be condensed as follows:—</p> + +<p>Horn, son of Murry, King of Suddenne, was captured by Saracens, who +killed his father, and turned him and his twelve companions adrift in a +boat, which was eventually beached safely on the coast of Westerness, +and Ailmar the king took them in and brought them up. Rymenhild his +daughter, falling in love with Horn, offered herself to him. He refused, +unless she would make the king knight him. She did so, and again claimed +his love; but he said he must first prove his knighthood. She gave him a +ring set with stones, such that he could never be slain if he looked on +it and thought of her. His first feat was the slaying of a hundred +heathens; then he returned to Rymenhild. Meanwhile, however, one of his +companions had told the king that Horn meant to kill him and wed his +daughter. Ailmar ordered Horn to quit his court; and Horn, having told +Rymenhild that if he did not come back in seven years she might marry +another, sailed to the court of King Thurston in Ireland, where he +stayed for seven years, performing feats of valour with the aid of +Rymenhild’s ring.</p> + +<p><span class = "pagenum">186</span> +<a name = "page186" id = "page186"> </a> +At the end of the allotted time, Rymenhild was to be married to King +Modi of Reynis. Horn, hearing of this, went back to Westerness, arrived +on the marriage-morn, met a palmer (the old beggar man of the ballad), +changed clothes with him, and entered the hall. According to custom, +Rymenhild served wine to the guests, and as Horn drank, he dropped her +ring into the vessel. When she discovered it, she sent for the palmer, +and questioned him. He said Horn had died on the voyage thither. +Rymenhild seized a knife she had hidden to kill King Modi and herself if +Horn came not, and set it to her breast. The palmer threw off his +disguise, saying, ‘I am Horn.’ Still he would not wed her till he had +regained his father’s kingdom of Suddenne, and went away and did so. +Meanwhile a false friend seized Rymenhild; but on the marriage-day Horn +returned, killed him, and finally made Rymenhild his wife and Queen of +Suddenne.</p> + +<p>Compare the story of Torello and the Saladin in the <i>Decameron</i>, +Tenth Day, Novel 9.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">HIND HORN</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> + +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">In</span> Scotland there was a babie born,</p> +<p class = "inset2"><i>Lill lal, etc.</i></p> +<p>And his name it was called young Hind Horn,</p> +<p class = "inset2"><i>With a fal lal, etc.</i></p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He sent a letter to our king</p> +<p>That he was in love with his daughter Jean.<sup>B</sup></p> + +<p class = "missing first"> *****</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">187</span> +<a name = "page187" id = "page187"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +<sup>B</sup> +After stanza 2 there is a gap in the story. Other versions say that Hind +Horn goes, or is sent, to sea.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +He’s gi’en to her a silver wand,</p> +<p>With seven living lavrocks sitting thereon.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She’s gi’en to him a diamond ring,</p> +<p>With seven bright diamonds set therein.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘When this ring grows pale and wan,</p> +<p>You may know by it my love is gane.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +One day as he looked his ring upon,</p> +<p>He saw the diamonds pale and wan.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He left the sea and came to land,</p> +<p>And the first that he met was an old beggar man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What news, what news?’ said young Hind Horn;</p> +<p>‘No news, no news,’ said the old beggar man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘No news,’ said the beggar, ‘no news at a’,</p> +<p>But there is a wedding in the king’s ha’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +10.<sup>2</sup> The bride has lingered six weeks in hopes of Hind Horn’s +return.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘But there is a wedding in the king’s ha’,</p> +<p>That has halden these forty days and twa.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Will ye lend me your begging coat?</p> +<p>And I’ll lend you my scarlet cloak.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +12.<sup>1</sup> ‘rung,’ staff.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Will you lend me your beggar’s rung?</p> +<p>And I’ll gi’e you my steed to ride upon.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">188</span> +<a name = "page188" id = "page188"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "first"> +’Will you lend me your wig o’ hair,</p> +<p>To cover mine, because it is fair?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The auld beggar man was bound for the mill,</p> +<p>But young Hind Horn for the king’s hall.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The auld beggar man was bound for to ride,</p> +<p>But young Hind Horn was bound for the bride.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When he came to the king’s gate,</p> +<p>He sought a drink for Hind Horn’s sake.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The bride came down with a glass of wine,</p> +<p>When he drank out the glass, and dropt in the ring.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O got ye this by sea or land?</p> +<p>Or got ye it off a dead man’s hand?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘I got not it by sea, I got it by land,</p> +<p>And I got it, madam, out of your own hand.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O I’ll cast off my gowns of brown,</p> +<p>And beg wi’ you frae town to town.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O I’ll cast off my gowns of red,</p> +<p>And I’ll beg wi’ you to win my bread.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ye needna cast off your gowns of brown,</p> +<p>For I’ll make you lady o’ many a town.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Ye needna cast off your gowns of red,</p> +<p>It’s only a sham, the begging o’ my bread.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +The bridegroom he had wedded the bride,</p> +<p>But young Hind Horn he took her to bed.</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">189</span> +<a name = "page189" id = "page189"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">EDWARD</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is that given by Percy in +the <i>Reliques</i> (1765), with the substitution of <i>w</i> for +initial <i>qu</i>, and <i>y</i> for initial <i>z</i>, as in <i>Young +Waters</i> (see p. 146). In the fourth edition of the <i>Reliques</i> +Percy states that ‘this curious song was transmitted to the editor by +Sir David Dalrymple, Bart., late Lord Hailes.’</p> + +<p>Percy’s adoption of antique spelling in this ballad has caused some +doubt to be thrown on its authenticity; but there is also a version +<i>Son Davie</i>, given in his <i>Minstrelsy</i> by Motherwell, who, in +referring to the version in the <i>Reliques</i>, said there was reason +for believing that Lord Hailes ‘made a few slight verbal improvements in +the copy he transmitted, and altered the hero’s name to Edward, +a name which, by the bye, never occurs in a Scottish ballad except +where allusion is made to an English king.’</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> has a close parallel in +Swedish, the form of the ballad remaining in dialogue.</p> + +<p>Motherwell points out that the verses of which <i>Edward</i> consists +generally form the conclusion of the ballad of <i>The Twa Brothers</i>, +and also of certain versions of <i>Lizie Wan</i>; and is inclined to +regard <i>Edward</i> as detached from one of those ballads. More +probably the reverse is the case, that the story of <i>Edward</i> has +been attached to the other ballads.</p> + +<p>The present version of the ballad exhibits an unusual amplification +of the refrain. The story is told in two lines of each eight-lined +stanza; but the lyrical effect added by the elaborate refrain is almost +unique.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">190</span> +<a name = "page190" id = "page190"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">EDWARD</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘Why</span> dois your brand sae drap wi’ +bluid,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Edward, Edward?</p> +<p>Why dois your brand sae drap wi’ bluid,</p> +<p class = "inset2">And why sae sad gang yee, O?’</p> +<p>‘O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Mither, mither:</p> +<p>O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid,</p> +<p class = "inset2">And I had nae mair bot hee, O.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Edward, Edward.</p> +<p>Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid,</p> +<p class = "inset2">My deir son I tell thee, O.’</p> +<p>‘O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Mither, mither:</p> +<p>O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid,</p> +<p class = "inset2">That erst was sae fair and frie, O.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>4</sup> ‘dule,’ grief; ‘drie,’ suffer.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Edward, Edward:</p> +<p>Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair,</p> +<p class = "inset2">Sum other dule ye drie, O.’</p> +<p>‘O, I hae killed my fadir deir,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Mither, mither:</p> +<p>O, I hae killed my fadir deir,</p> +<p class = "inset2">Alas! and wae is mee, O!’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And whatten penance wul ye drie for that,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Edward, Edward?</p> +<p>And whatten penance will ye drie for that.</p> +<p class = "inset2">My deir son, now tell me, O,</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">191</span> +<a name = "page191" id = "page191"> </a> + +<p>‘Ile set my feit in yonder boat,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Mither, mither:</p> +<p>Ile set my feit in yonder boat,</p> +<p class = "inset2">And Ile fare ovir the sea, O.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And what wul ye doe wi’ your towirs and your ha’,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Edward, Edward?</p> +<p>And what wul ye doe wi’ your towirs and your ha’,</p> +<p class = "inset2">That were sae fair to see, O?’</p> +<p>‘Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa’,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Mither, mither:</p> +<p>Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa’,</p> +<p class = "inset2">For here nevir mair maun I bee, O.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>5,7</sup> <i>i.e.</i> The world is wide.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Edward, Edward?</p> +<p>And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife,</p> +<p class = "inset2">Whan ye gang ovir the sea, O?’</p> +<p>‘The warldis room, late them beg thrae life,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Mither, mither:</p> +<p>The warldis room, let them beg thrae life,</p> +<p class = "inset2">For thame nevir mair wul I see, O.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Edward, Edward?</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">192</span> +<a name = "page192" id = "page192"> </a> + +<p>And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir?</p> +<p class = "inset2">My deir son, now tell me, O.’</p> +<p>‘The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir,</p> +<p class = "inset6">Mither, mither:</p> +<p>The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir,</p> +<p class = "inset2">Sic counseils ye gave to me, O.’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">193</span> +<a name = "page193" id = "page193"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LORD RANDAL</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from Scott’s +<i>Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border</i> (1803). Other forms give the +name as <i>Lord Ronald</i>, but Scott retains <i>Randal</i> on the +supposition that the ballad originated in the death of ‘Thomas Randolph, +or Randal, Earl of Murray, nephew to Robert Bruce, and governor of +Scotland,’ who died at Musselburgh in 1332.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> of the ballad is found in +Italian tradition nearly three hundred years ago, and also occurs in +Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, Magyar, Wendish, etc.</p> + +<p>Certain variants of the ballad bear the title of <i>The Croodlin +Doo</i>, and the ‘handsome young man’ is changed for a child, and the +poisoner is the child’s step-mother. Scott suggests that this change was +made ‘to excite greater interest in the nursery.’ In nearly all forms of +the ballad, the poisoning is done by the substitution of snakes (‘eels’) +for fish, a common method amongst the ancients of administering +poison.</p> + +<p>Child gives a collation of seven versions secured in America of late +years, in each of which the name of Lord Randal has become corrupted to +‘Tiranti.’</p> + +<p>The antiphonetic form of the ballad is popular, as being dramatic and +suitable for singing. Compare <i>Edward</i>, also a dialogue between +mother and son.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">194</span> +<a name = "page194" id = "page194"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">LORD RANDAL</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">‘O where</span> hae ye been, Lord Randal, my +son?</p> +<p>O where hae ye been, my handsome young man?’</p> +<p>‘I hae been to the wild wood; mother, make my bed soon,</p> +<p>For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son?</p> +<p>Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young <ins class = "correction" +title = "blank line in text">man?‘</ins></p> +<p>‘I din’d wi’ my true-love; mother, make my bed soon,</p> +<p>For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +3.<sup>3</sup> ‘broo’,’ broth.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Randal, my son?</p> +<p>What gat ye to your dinner, my handsome young man?’</p> +<p>‘I gat eels boil’d in broo’; mother, make my bed soon,</p> +<p>For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">195</span> +<a name = "page195" id = "page195"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘What became of your bloodhounds, Lord Randal, my son?</p> +<p>What became of your bloodhounds, my handsome young man?’</p> +<p>‘O they swell’d and they died; mother, make my bed soon,</p> +<p>For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O I fear ye are poison’d, Lord Randal, my son!</p> +<p>O I fear ye are poison’d, my handsome young man!’</p> +<p>‘O yes, I am poison’d; mother, make my bed soon,</p> +<p>For I’m sick at the heart, and I fain wald lie down.’</p> +</div> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum">196</span> +<a name = "page196" id = "page196"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">LAMKIN</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from Jamieson’s +<i>Popular Ballads</i>. He obtained it from Mrs. Brown. It is by far the +best version of a score or so in existence. The name of the hero varies +from Lamkin, Lankin, Lonkin, etc., to Rankin and Balcanqual. I have +been informed by Andrew McDowall, Esq., of an incomplete version in +which Lamkin’s name has become ‘Bold Hang’em.’</p> + +<p>Finlay (<i>Scottish Ballads</i>) remarks:— ‘All reciters agree +that Lammikin, or Lambkin, is not the name of the hero, but merely an +epithet.’</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> varies little throughout +all the versions, though in some, as in one known to Percy, it lacks +much of the detail here given.</p> + + +<h6 class = "section">LAMKIN</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">It</span>’s Lamkin was a mason good</p> +<p class = "inset">As ever built wi’ stane;</p> +<p>He built Lord Wearie’s castle,</p> +<p class = "inset">But payment got he nane.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O pay me, Lord Wearie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Come, pay me my fee’:</p> +<p>‘I canna pay you, Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">For I maun gang o’er the sea.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">197</span> +<a name = "page197" id = "page197"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O pay me now, Lord Wearie,</p> +<p class = "inset">Come, pay me out o’ hand’:</p> +<p>‘I canna pay you, Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">Unless I sell my land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O gin ye winna pay me,</p> +<p class = "inset">I here sail mak’ a vow,</p> +<p>Before that ye come hame again,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye sall hae cause to rue.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Lord Wearie got a bonny ship,</p> +<p class = "inset">To sail the saut sea faem;</p> +<p>Bade his lady weel the castle keep,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ay till he should come hame.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +6.<sup>1</sup> ‘limmer,’ wretch, rascal.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +But the nourice was a fause limmer</p> +<p class = "inset">As e’er hung on a tree;</p> +<p>She laid a plot wi’ Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">Whan her lord was o’er the sea.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +7.<sup>3</sup> ‘shot-window’: see special section of the +Introduction.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She laid a plot wi’ Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">When the servants were awa’,</p> +<p>Loot him in at a little shot-window,</p> +<p class = "inset">And brought him to the ha’.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O whare’s a’ the men o’ this house,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ca’ me Lamkin?’</p> +<p>‘They’re at the barn-well thrashing;</p> +<p class = "inset">’Twill be lang ere they come in.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And whare’s the women o’ this house,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ca’ me Lamkin?’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">198</span> +<a name = "page198" id = "page198"> </a> + +<p>‘They’re at the far well washing;</p> +<p class = "inset">’Twill be lang ere they come in.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And whare’s the bairns o’ this house,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ca’ me Lamkin?’</p> +<p>‘They’re at the school reading;</p> +<p class = "inset">’Twill be night or they come hame.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O whare’s the lady o’ this house,</p> +<p class = "inset">That ca’s me Lamkin?’</p> +<p>‘She’s up in her bower sewing,</p> +<p class = "inset">But we soon can bring her down.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +12.<sup>2</sup> ‘gaire’; <i>i.e.</i> by his knee: see special section of +the Introduction.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then Lamkin’s tane a sharp knife,</p> +<p class = "inset">That hung down by his gaire,</p> +<p>And he has gi’en the bonny babe</p> +<p class = "inset">A deep wound and a sair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>3</sup> ‘bore,’ hole, crevice.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then Lamkin he rocked,</p> +<p class = "inset">And the fause nourice sang,</p> +<p>Till frae ilkae bore o’ the cradle</p> +<p class = "inset">The red blood out sprang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +14.<sup>4</sup> ‘greeting,’ crying.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Then out it spak’ the lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">As she stood on the stair:</p> +<p>‘What ails my bairn, nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">That he’s greeting sae sair?</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O still my bairn, nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">O still him wi’ the pap!’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">199</span> +<a name = "page199" id = "page199"> </a> + +<p>‘He winna still, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">For this nor for that.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O still my bairn, nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">O still him wi’ the wand!’</p> +<p>‘He winna still, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">For a’ his father’s land.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O still my bairn, nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">O still him wi’ the bell!’</p> +<p>‘He winna still, lady,</p> +<p class = "inset">Till ye come down yoursel’.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +O the firsten step she steppit,</p> +<p class = "inset">She steppit on a stane;</p> +<p>But the neisten step she steppit,</p> +<p class = "inset">She met him Lamkin.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O mercy, mercy, Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hae mercy upon me!</p> +<p>Though you’ve ta’en my young son’s life,</p> +<p class = "inset">Ye may let mysel’ be.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O sall I kill her, nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or sall I lat her be?’</p> +<p>‘O kill her, kill her, Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">For she ne’er was good to me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘O scour the bason, nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">And mak’ it fair and clean,</p> +<p>For to keep this lady’s heart’s blood,</p> +<p class = "inset">For she’s come o’ noble kin.’</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">200</span> +<a name = "page200" id = "page200"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘There need nae bason, Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lat it run through the floor;</p> +<p>What better is the heart’s blood</p> +<p class = "inset">O’ the rich than o’ the poor?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +23.<sup>3</sup> ‘dowie,’ sad.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +But ere three months were at an end,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lord Wearie came again;</p> +<p>But dowie, dowie was his heart</p> +<p class = "inset">When first he came hame.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>2</sup> ‘chamer,’ chamber.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +24.<sup>4</sup> ‘lamer,’ amber.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘O wha’s blood is this,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘That lies in the chamer?’</p> +<p>‘It is your lady’s heart’s blood;</p> +<p class = "inset">’T is as clear as the lamer.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +25.<sup>4</sup> ‘ava,’ at all.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘And wha’s blood is this,’ he says,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘That lies in my ha’?’</p> +<p>‘It is your young son’s heart’s blood;</p> +<p class = "inset">’Tis the clearest ava.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +26.<sup>3</sup> ‘grat,’ greeted, wept.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +O sweetly sang the black-bird</p> +<p class = "inset">That sat upon the tree;</p> +<p>But sairer grat Lamkin,</p> +<p class = "inset">When he was condemn’d to die.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +And bonny sang the mavis</p> +<p class = "inset">Out o’ the thorny brake;</p> +<p>But sairer grat the nourice,</p> +<p class = "inset">When she was tied to the stake.</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">201</span> +<a name = "page201" id = "page201"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter">FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON</h4> + + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Text</span> is from <i>Lovely Jenny’s +Garland</i>, as given with emendations by Professor Child. There is also +a curiously perverted version in Herd’s manuscript, in which the verses +require rearrangement before becoming intelligible.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">The Story</span> can be gathered from the +version here given without much difficulty. It turns on the marriage of +Fair Mary, who is one of seven sisters fated to die of their first +child. Fair Mary seems to be a fatalist, and, after vowing never to +marry, accepts as her destiny the hand of Sir William Fenwick of +Wallington. Three-quarters of a year later she sends to fair Pudlington +for her mother. Her mother is much affected at the news (st. 22), +and goes to Wallington. Her daughter, in travail, lays the blame on her, +cuts open her side to give birth to an heir, and dies.</p> + +<p>In a Breton ballad Pontplancoat thrice marries a Marguerite, and each +of his three sons costs his mother her life.</p> + +<p>In the Scottish ballad, a ‘scope’ is put in Mary’s mouth when the +operation takes place. In the Breton ballad it is a silver spoon or a +silver ball. ‘Scope,’ or ‘scobs’ as it appears in Herd, means a gag, and +was apparently used to prevent her from crying out. But the silver spoon +and ball in the Breton ballad would appear to have been used for +Marguerite to bite on in her anguish, just as sailors chewed bullets +while being flogged.</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">202</span> +<a name = "page202" id = "page202"> </a> +<h6 class = "section">FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON</h6> + +<div class = "poem"> +<p class = "stanza">1.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>1</sup> ‘silly,’ simple.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +1.<sup>4</sup> ‘lair,’ lying-in.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword">When</span> we were silly sisters seven,</p> +<p class = "inset">Sisters were so fair,</p> +<p>Five of us were brave knights’ wives,</p> +<p class = "inset">And died in childbed lair.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">2.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +2.<sup>4</sup> ‘gate,’ way.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Up then spake Fair Mary,</p> +<p class = "inset">Marry woud she nane;</p> +<p>If ever she came in man’s bed,</p> +<p class = "inset">The same gate wad she gang.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">3.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Make no vows, Fair Mary,</p> +<p class = "inset">For fear they broken be;</p> +<p>Here’s been the Knight of Wallington,</p> +<p class = "inset">Asking good will of thee.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">4.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘If here’s been the knight, mother,</p> +<p class = "inset">Asking good will of me,</p> +<p>Within three quarters of a year</p> +<p class = "inset">You may come bury me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">5.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +5.<sup>3</sup> ‘her mother’ is, of course, her mother-in-law.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +When she came to Wallington,</p> +<p class = "inset">And into Wallington hall,</p> +<p>There she spy’d her mother dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">Walking about the wall.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">6.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘You’re welcome, daughter dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">To thy castle and thy bowers’;</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">203</span> +<a name = "page203" id = "page203"> </a> + +<p>‘I thank you kindly, mother,</p> +<p class = "inset">I hope they’ll soon be yours.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">7.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She had not been in Wallington</p> +<p class = "inset">Three quarters and a day,</p> +<p>Till upon the ground she could not walk,</p> +<p class = "inset">She was a weary prey.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">8.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She had not been in Wallington</p> +<p class = "inset">Three quarters and a night,</p> +<p>Till on the ground she coud not walk,</p> +<p class = "inset">She was a weary wight.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">9.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +9.<sup>2</sup> ‘shun’ = shoon, shoes.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Is there ne’er a boy in this town,</p> +<p class = "inset">Who’ll win hose and shun,</p> +<p>That will run to fair Pudlington,</p> +<p class = "inset">And bid my mother come?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">10.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Up then spake a little boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Near unto a-kin;</p> +<p>‘Full oft I have your errands gone,</p> +<p class = "inset">But now I will it run.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">11.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then she call’d her waiting-maid</p> +<p class = "inset">To bring up bread and wine;</p> +<p>‘Eat and drink, my bonny boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Thou’ll ne’er eat more of mine.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">12.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Give my respects to my mother,</p> +<p class = "inset">She sits in her chair of stone,</p> +<p>And ask her how she likes the news,</p> +<p class = "inset">Of seven to have but one.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">204</span> +<a name = "page204" id = "page204"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">13.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +13. This stanza is not in the original, but is supplied from the boy’s +repetition, st. 19.</p> + +<p class = "notes"> +13.<sup>4</sup> ‘lake-wake’ = lyke-wake: watching by a corpse.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +‘Give my respects to my mother,</p> +<p class = "inset">As she sits in her chair of oak,</p> +<p>And bid her come to my sickening,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or my merry lake-wake.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">14.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Give my love to my brother</p> +<p class = "inset">William, Ralph, and John,</p> +<p>And to my sister Betty fair,</p> +<p class = "inset">And to her white as bone:</p> + +<p class = "stanza">15.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘And bid her keep her maidenhead,</p> +<p class = "inset">Be sure make much on ’t,</p> +<p>For if e’er she come in man’s bed,</p> +<p class = "inset">The same gate will she gang.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">16.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Away this little boy is gone,</p> +<p class = "inset">As fast as he could run;</p> +<p>When he came where brigs were broke,</p> +<p class = "inset">He lay down and swum.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">17.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When he saw the lady, he said,</p> +<p class = "inset">‘Lord may your keeper be!’</p> +<p>‘What news, my pretty boy,</p> +<p class = "inset">Hast thou to tell to me?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">18.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your daughter Mary orders me,</p> +<p class = "inset">As you sit in a chair of stone,</p> +<p>To ask you how you like the news,</p> +<p class = "inset">Of seven to have but one.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">205</span> +<a name = "page205" id = "page205"> </a> + +<p class = "stanza">19.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Your daughter gives commands,</p> +<p class = "inset">As you sit in a chair of oak,</p> +<p>And bids you come to her sickening,</p> +<p class = "inset">Or her merry lake-wake.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">20.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘She gives command to her brother</p> +<p class = "inset">William, Ralph, and John,</p> +[And] to her sister Betty fair, +<p class = "inset">And to her white as bone.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">21.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘She bids her keep her maidenhead,</p> +<p class = "inset">Be sure make much on ’t,</p> +<p>For if e’er she came in man’s bed,</p> +<p class = "inset">The same gate woud she gang.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">22.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +22. This, in ballads, is a customary method of giving expression to +strong emotion.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +She kickt the table with her foot,</p> +<p class = "inset">She kickt it with her knee,</p> +<p>The silver plate into the fire,</p> +<p class = "inset">So far she made it flee.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">23.</p> +<p class = "first"> +Then she call’d her waiting-maid</p> +<p class = "inset">To bring her riding-hood,</p> +<p>So did she on her stable-groom</p> +<p class = "inset">To bring her riding-steed.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">24.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Go saddle to me the black, [the black,]</p> +<p class = "inset">Go saddle to me the brown,</p> +<p>Go saddle to me the swiftest steed</p> +<p class = "inset">That e’er rid [to] Wallington.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">25.</p> +<p class = "first"> +When they came to Wallington,</p> +<p class = "inset">And into Wallington hall,</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">206</span> +<a name = "page206" id = "page206"> </a> + +<p>There she spy’d her son Fenwick,</p> +<p class = "inset">Walking about the wall.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">26.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘God save you, dear son,</p> +<p class = "inset">Lord may your keeper be!</p> +<p>Where is my daughter fair,</p> +<p class = "inset">That used to walk with thee?’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">27.</p> +<p class = "first"> +He turn’d his head round about,</p> +<p class = "inset">The tears did fill his e’e:</p> +<p>‘’Tis a month’ he said, ‘since she</p> +<p class = "inset">Took her chambers from me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">28.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She went on<span class = "missing short"> ...</span></p> +<p class = "inset">And there were in the hall</p> +<p>Four and twenty ladies,</p> +<p class = "inset">Letting the tears down fall.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">29.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +29.<sup>1</sup> ‘scope,’ a gag.</p> + +<p class = "first"> +Her daughter had a scope</p> +<p class = "inset">Into her cheek and into her chin,</p> +<p>All to keep her life</p> +<p class = "inset">Till her dear mother came.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">30.</p> +<p class = "notes"> +30.<sup>4</sup> ‘wite,’ blame: <i>i.e.</i> her mother was the cause of +all her trouble.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Come take the rings off my fingers,</p> +<p class = "inset">The skin it is so white,</p> +<p>And give them to my mother dear,</p> +<p class = "inset">For she was all the wite.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">31.</p> +<p class = "first"> +‘Come take the rings off my fingers,</p> +<p class = "inset">The veins they are so red,</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">207</span> +<a name = "page207" id = "page207"> </a> + +<p>Give them to Sir William Fenwick,</p> +<p class = "inset">I’m sure his heart will bleed.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza">32.</p> +<p class = "first"> +She took out a razor</p> +<p class = "inset">That was both sharp and fine,</p> +<p>And out of her left side has taken</p> +<p class = "inset">The heir of Wallington.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">33.</p> +<p class = "first"> +There is a race in Wallington,</p> +<p class = "inset">And that I rue full sare;</p> +<p>Tho’ the cradle it be full spread up</p> +<p class = "inset">The bride-bed is left bare.</p> +</div> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h6>END OF THE FIRST SERIES</h6> + + +<a name = "page208" id = "page208"> </a> + + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum">209</span> +<a name = "page209" id = "page209"> </a> +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "titles" id = "titles"> +INDEX OF TITLES</a></h4> + +<table class = "index" summary = "index of ballad titles"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class = "number smallroman">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Barbara Allan</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page150">150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Brown Adam</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page100">100</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Brown Robin</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page158">158</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Child Maurice</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page165">165</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Child Waters</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page37">37</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Earl Brand</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page44">44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Edward</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page189">189</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Fair Annie</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page29">29</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fair Annie of Rough Royal</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page179">179</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fair Janet</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page94">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fair Margaret and Sweet William</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page63">63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fair Mary of Wallington</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page201">201</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fause Footrage</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page172">172</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Glasgerion</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page1">1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Hind Horn</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page185">185</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Johney Scot</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page128">128</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Lady Alice</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page163">163</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lady Maisry</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page70">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lamkin</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page196">196</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page19">19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page135">135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lord Lovel</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page67">67</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lord Randal</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page193">193</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lord Thomas and Fair Annet</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page54">54</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">210</span> +<a name = "page210" id = "page210"> </a> +<p>Old Robin of Portingale</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page13">13</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>The Bonny Birdy</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page25">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Boy and the Mantle</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page119">119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Brown Girl</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page60">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Child of Ell</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page52">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Cruel Brother</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page76">76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Cruel Mother</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page35">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Douglas Tragedy</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page49">49</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Gay Goshawk</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page153">153</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Marriage of Sir Gawaine</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page107">107</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Nutbrown Maid</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page80">80</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Twa Sisters o’ Binnorie</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page141">141</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Willie o’ Winsbury</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page104">104</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Young Bekie</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page6">6</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Young Waters</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page146">146</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">211</span> +<a name = "page211" id = "page211"> </a> + +<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "firstlines" id = "firstlines"> +INDEX OF FIRST LINES</a></h4> + +<table class = "index" summary = "index of ballad first lines"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class = "number smallroman">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>About Yule, when the wind blew cule</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page147">147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>As it fell one holy-day</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page19">19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>As it fell out on a long summer’s day</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page63">63</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Be it right, or wrong, these men among</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page81">81</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page166">166</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Childe Watters in his stable stoode</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page37">37</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Glasgerion was a king’s own son</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page2">2</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>God! let neuer soe old a man</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page13">13</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>‘I am as brown as brown can be</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page60">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>In Scotland there was a babie born</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page186">186</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>In the third day of May</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page120">120</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>It’s Lamkin was a mason good</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page196">196</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>‘It’s narrow, narrow, make your bed</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page30">30</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>It was in and about the Martinmas time</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page150">150</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Kinge Arthur liues in merry Carleile</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page109">109</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>King Easter has courted her for her gowd</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page173">173</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page163">163</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page135">135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page68">68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lord Thomas and Fair Annet</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page54">54</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>O Johney was as brave a knight</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page129">129</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>‘O well’s me o’ my gay goss-hawk</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page153">153</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>‘O wha will shoe my fu’ fair foot?</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page180">180</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<span class = "pagenum">212</span> +<a name = "page212" id = "page212"> </a> +<p>O wha woud wish the win’ to blaw</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page101">101</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>‘O where hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son?</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page194">194</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>‘Oh did ye ever hear o’ brave Earl Bran’?</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page46">46</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>‘Rise up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,’ she says</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page49">49</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>Sayes, ‘Christ thee saue, good child of Ell</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page52">52</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>She leaned her back unto a thorn</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page35">35</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>The king but an’ his nobles a’</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page158">158</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The king he hath been a prisoner</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page104">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The young lords o’ the north country</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page70">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>There was a knight, in a summer’s night</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page25">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>There was three ladies play’d at the ba’</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page77">77</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>There were twa sisters sat in a bour</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page141">141</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>When we were silly sisters seven</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page202">202</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>‘Why dois your brand sae drap wi’ bluid</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page190">190</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr class = "gap"> +<td><p>‘Ye maun gang to your father, Janet</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page94">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Young Bekie was as brave a knight</p></td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#page7">7</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<hr> + +<h6>Printed by T. and A. <span class = +"smallcaps">Constable</span>, Printers to His Majesty<br> +at the Edinburgh University Press</h6> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ballads of Romance and Chivalry, by Frank Sidgwick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + +***** This file should be named 20469-h.htm or 20469-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/4/6/20469/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ballads of Romance and Chivalry + Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series + +Author: Frank Sidgwick + +Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20469] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + The printed text used small capitals for emphasis. These have been + replaced with +marks+ where appopriate. Missing lines were shown + by rows of widely spaced dots (single lines) or asterisks (longer + sections). They are shown here in groups of three: + + ... ... ... + or + *** *** *** + + Variant forms such as "Maisry" : "Maisery" or "+Text(s)+" : + "+The Text+" are unchanged. Brackets are in the original, except + when enclosing footnotes or illustration markers. Errors are listed + at the end of the text.] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: Facsimile of the Percy Folio MS. (_British Museum_, + Addit. MS. 27, 879, f. 46 _verso_). +Glasgerion+, first three verses + (see p. 2), annotated by Percy. The full page is 15 1/4 x 6 inches.] + + + + + POPULAR BALLADS + OF THE OLDEN TIME + + SELECTED AND EDITED + BY FRANK SIDGWICK + + First Series. Ballads of + Romance and Chivalry + + + 'What hast here? Ballads? + 'Pray now, buy some.' + + A. H. BULLEN + 47 Great Russell Street + London. MCMIII + + + + + 'La rime n'est pas riche, et le style en est vieux: + Mais ne voyez-vous pas que cela vaut bien mieux + Que ces colifichets dont le bon sens murmure, + Et que la passion parle la toute pure?' + + Moliere, _Le Misanthrope_, I. 2. + + + + +CONTENTS + Page + + Preface ix + Introduction xvii + Ballads in the First Series xliii + Glossary of Ballad Commonplaces xlvi + List of Books for Ballad Study lii + Note on the Illustrations lv + + Glasgerion 1 + Young Bekie 6 + Old Robin of Portingale 13 + Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 19 + The Bonny Birdy 25 + Fair Annie 29 + The Cruel Mother 35 + Child Waters 37 + Earl Brand 44 + The Douglas Tragedy 49 + The Child of Ell 52 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + The Brown Girl 60 + Fair Margaret and Sweet William 63 + Lord Lovel 67 + Lady Maisry 70 + The Cruel Brother 76 + The Nutbrown Maid 80 + Fair Janet 94 + Brown Adam 100 + Willie o' Winsbury 104 + The Marriage of Sir Gawaine 107 + The Boy and the Mantle 119 + Johney Scot 128 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + The Twa Sisters o' Binnorie 141 + Young Waters 146 + Barbara Allan 150 + The Gay Goshawk 153 + Brown Robin 158 + Lady Alice 163 + Child Maurice 165 + Fause Footrage 172 + Fair Annie of Rough Royal 179 + Hind Horn 185 + Edward 189 + Lord Randal 193 + Lamkin 196 + Fair Mary of Wallington 201 + + Index of Titles 209 + Index of First Lines 211 + + + +PREFACE + + +Of making selections of ballads there is no end. As a subject for the +editor, they seem to be only less popular than Shakespeare, and every +year sees a fresh output. But of late there has sprung up a custom of +confusing the old with the new, the genuine with the imitation; and the +products of civilised days, 'ballads' by courtesy or convention, are set +beside the rugged and hard-featured aborigines of the tribe, just as the +delicate bust of Clytie in the British Museum has for next neighbour the +rude and bold 'Unknown Barbarian Captive.' To contrast by such enforced +juxtaposition a ballad of the golden world with a ballad by Mr. Kipling +is unfair to either, each being excellent in its way; and the +collocation of _Edward_ or _Lord Randal_ with a ballad of Rossetti's is +only of interest or value as exhibiting the perennial charm of the +_refrain_. + +There exist, however, in our tongue--though not only in our +tongue--narratives in rhyme which have been handed down in oral +tradition from father to son for so many ages, that all record of their +authorship has long been lost. These are commonly called the Old +Ballads. Being traditional, each ballad may exist in more than one form; +in most cases the original story is clothed in several different forms. +The present series is designed to include all the best of these ballads +which are still extant in England and Scotland: Ireland and Wales +possess a similar class of popular literature, but each in its own +tongue. It is therefore necessary, in issuing this the first volume of +the series, to say somewhat as to the methods employed in editing and +selecting. + +Ballad editors of yore were confronted with perhaps two, perhaps twenty, +versions of each ballad; some unintelligibly fragmentary, some +intelligibly complete; some in print, some in manuscript, some, +perchance, in their own memories. Collating these, they subjected the +text to minute revision, omitting and adding, altering and inserting, to +suit their personal tastes and standards, literary or polite; and having +thus made it over, forgot to record the act, and saw no reason to +apologise therefor. + +Pioneers like Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, and Sir Walter Scott, may +well be excused the general censure. The former, living in and pandering +to an age which invented and applied those delightful literary +adjectives 'elegant' and 'ingenious,' may be pardoned with the more +sincerity if one recalls the influence exercised on English letters by +his publication. The latter, who played the part of Percy in the matter +of Scottish ballads, and was nourished from his boyhood on the +_Reliques_, printed for the first time many ballads which still are the +best of their class, and was gifted with consummate skill and taste. +Both, moreover, did their work scientifically, according to their +lights; and both have left at least some of their originals behind them. +There is, perhaps, one more exception to the general condemnation. Of +William Allingham's _Ballad Book_, as truly a _vade mecum_ as Palgrave's +lyrical anthology in the same 'Golden Treasury' series, I would speak, +perhaps only for sentimental reasons, always with respect, admiring the +results of his editing while looking askance at the method, for he mixed +his ingredients and left no recipe. + +But in the majority of cases there is no obvious excuse for this 'omnium +gatherum' process. The self-imposed function of most ballad editors +appears to have been the compilation of _rifacimenti_ in accordance with +their private ideas of what a ballad should be. And that such a state of +things was permissible is doubtless an indication of the then prevalent +attitude of half-interested tolerance assumed towards these memorials of +antiquity. + +To-day, however, the ballad editor is confronted with the results of the +labours, still unfinished, of a comparatively recent school in literary +science. These have lately culminated in _The English and Scottish +Popular Ballads_, edited by the late Professor Francis James Child of +Harvard University. This work, in five large volumes, issued in ten +parts at intervals from 1882 to 1898, and left by the editor at his +death complete but for the Introduction--_valde deflendus_--gives in +full all known variants of the three hundred and five ballads adjudged +by its editor to be genuinely 'popular,' with an essay, prefixed to each +ballad, on its history, origin, folklore, etc., and notes, glossary, +bibliographies, appendices, etc.; exhibiting as a whole unrivalled +special knowledge, great scholarly intuition, and years of patient +research, aided by correspondents, students, and transcribers in all +parts of the world, Lacking Professor Child's Introduction, we cannot +exactly tell what his definition of a 'popular' ballad was, or what +qualities in a ballad implied exclusion from his collection--_e.g._ he +does not admit _The Children in the Wood_: otherwise one can find in +this monumental work the whole history and all the versions of nearly +all the ballads. + +It will be obvious that Professor Child's academic method is suited +rather to the scholar than the general reader. As a rule, one text of +each ballad is all that is required, which must therefore be chosen--but +by what rules? To the scholar, it usually happens that the most ancient +and least handled text is the most interesting; but these are too +frequently incomplete and unintelligible. The literary dilettante may +prefer tasteful decorations by a Percy or a Scott; doubtless Buchan has +some admirers: but the student abhors this painting of the lily. + +Therefore I have compromised--always a dangerous practice--and I have +sought to give, to the best of my judgement, _that authorised text of +each ballad which tells in the best manner the completest form of the +story or plot_. I have been forced to make certain exceptions, but for +all departures from the above rule I have given reasons which, I trust, +will be found to justify the procedure; and in all cases the sources of +each text or part of the text are indicated. + +I am quite aware that it may fairly be asked: Why not assume the +immemorial privilege of a ballad editor, and concoct a text for +yourself? Why, when any text of a ballad is, as you admit, merely a +representative of parallel and similar traditional versions, should you +not compile from those other variants a text which should combine the +excellences of each, and give us the cream? + +There are several objections to this course. However incompetent, +I should not shrink from the labour involved; nor do I entirely approve +the growing demand for German minuteness and exactitude in editors. But, +firstly, the ballad should be subject to variation only while it is in +oral circulation. Secondly, editorial garnishing has been overdone +already, and my unwillingness to adopt that method is caused as much by +the failure of the majority of editors as by the success of the few. +Lastly, _chacun a son gout_; there is a kind of literary selfishness in +emending and patching to suit one's private taste, and, if any one +wishes to do so, he will be most pleased with the result if he does it +for himself. + +This lengthy _apologia_ is necessitated by a departure from the usual +custom of ballad-editing. For the rest, my indebtedness to the work of +Professor Child will be obvious throughout. Many of his most interesting +texts were printed for the first time from manuscripts in private hands. +These I have not sought to collate, which would, indeed, insult his +accuracy and care. But in the case of texts from the Percy Folio, where +the labour is rather to decipher than to transcribe accurately, I have +resorted not only to the reprint of Hales and Furnivall, but to the +Folio itself. The whimsical spelling of this MS. pleases me as often as +it irritates, and I have ventured in certain ballads, _e.g._ +_Glasgerion_, to modernise it, and in others, _e.g._ _Old Robin of +Portingale_, to retain it _literatim_: in either case I have reduced to +uniformity the orthography of the proper names. Transcripts from other +MSS. are reproduced as they stand. + +In the general Introduction I have tried to sketch the genesis and +history of the ballad impartially in its several aspects, not for +scholars and connoisseurs, but for those ready to learn. To supply +deficiencies, I have added a list of books useful to the student of +English ballads--to go no further afield. Each ballad also is prefaced +with an introduction setting forth, besides the source of the text, as +succinctly as is consistent with accuracy, the derivation, when known, +of the story; the plot of similar foreign ballads; and points of +interest in folklore, history, or criticism attached to the particular +ballad. Where the story is fragmentary, I have added an argument. It +will be realised that such introductions at the best are but a +thousandth part of what might be written; but if they shall play the +part of _hors d'oeuvres_, and whet the appetite to proceed to more solid +food, the labour will not be lost. + +Difficulties in the text are explained in footnotes. Few things are more +vexatious to a reader than constant reference to a glossary; but as +compensation for the educational value thus lost, the footnotes are, to +a certain extent, progressive; that is to say, a word already explained +in a foregoing ballad is not always explained again; and to the best of +my ability I have freed the notes from the grotesque blunders observable +in most modern editions of ballads. + +Besides my indebtedness to the books mentioned in the bibliographical +list, I have to acknowledge my thanks to the Rev. Sabine Baring Gould, +for permission to use his version of _The Brown Girl_; to Mr. E. K. +Chambers, for kindly reading the general Introduction; and to my friend +and partner Mr. A. H. Bullen, for constant suggestions and assistance. + + F. S. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + 'Y-a-t-il donc, dans les contes populaires, quelque chose + d'interessant pour un esprit serieux?'--Cosquin. + + +The old ballads of England and Scotland are fine wine in cobwebbed +bottles; and many have made the error of paying too much attention to +the cobwebs and not enough attention to the wine. This error is as +blameworthy as its converse: we must take the inside and the outside +together. + + ++I. What is a Ballad?+ + +The earliest sense of the word 'ballad,' or rather of its French and +Provencal predecessors, _balada_, _balade_ (derived from the late Latin +_ballare_, to dance), was 'a song intended as the accompaniment to a +dance,' a sense long obsolete.[1] Next came the meaning, a simple song +of sentiment or romance, of two verses or more, each of which is sung to +the same air, the accompaniment being subordinate to the melody. This +sense we still use in our 'ballad-concerts.' Another meaning was that of +simply a popular song or ditty of the day, lyrical or narrative, of the +kind often printed as a broadsheet. Lyrical _or_ narrative, because the +Elizabethans appear not to distinguish the two. Read, for instance, the +well-known scene in _The Winter's Tale_ (Act IV. Sc. 4); here we have +both the lyrical ballad, as sung by Dorcas and Mopsa, in which Autolycus +bears his part 'because it is his occupation'; and also the 'ballad in +print,' which Mopsa says she loves--'for then we are sure it is true.' +Immediately after, however, we discover that the 'ballad in print' is +the broadside, the narrative ballad, sung of a usurer's wife brought to +bed of twenty money-bags at a burden, or of a fish that appeared upon +the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of April: in short, as _Martin +Mar-sixtus_ says (1592), 'scarce a cat can look out of a gutter but out +starts a halfpenny chronicler, and presently a proper new ballet of a +strange sight is indited.' Chief amongst these 'halfpenny chroniclers' +were William Elderton, of whom Camden records that he 'did arm himself +with ale (as old father Ennius did with wine) when he ballated,' and +thereby obtained a red nose almost as celebrated as his verses; Thomas +Deloney, 'the ballating silkweaver of Norwich'; and Richard Johnson, +maker of Garlands. Thus to Milton, to Addison, and even to Johnson, +'ballad' essentially implies singing; but from about the middle of the +eighteenth century the modern interpretation of the word began to come +into general use. + + [Footnote 1: For the subject of the origin of the ballad and its + refrain in the _ballatio_ of the dancing-ring, see _The Beginnings + of Poetry_, by Professor Francis B. Gummere, especially chap. v. The + beginning of the whole subject is to be found in the universal and + innate practices of accompanying manual or bodily labour by a + rhythmic chant or song, and of festal song and dance.] + +In 1783, in one of his letters, the poet Cowper says: 'The ballad is a +species of poetry, I believe, peculiar to this country.... Simplicity +and ease are its proper characteristics.' Here we have one of the +earliest attempts to define the modern meaning of a 'ballad.' Centuries +of use and misuse of the word have left us no unequivocal name for the +ballad, and we are forced to qualify it with epithets. 'Traditional' +might be deemed sufficient; but 'popular' or 'communal' is more +definite. Here we adopt the word used by Professor Child--'popular.' + +What, then, do we intend to signify by the expression 'popular ballads'? +Far the most important point is to maintain an antithesis between the +poetry of the people and the consciously artistic poetry of the schools. +Wilhelm Grimm, the less didactic of the two famous brothers, said that +the ballad says nothing unnecessary or unreal, and despises external +adornment. Ferdinand Wolf, the great critic of the Homeric question, +said the ballad must be naive, objective, not sentimental, lively and +erratic in its narrative, without ornamentation, yet with much +picturesque vigour. + +It is even more necessary to define sharply the line between poetry _of_ +the people and poetry _for_ the people.[2] The latter may still be +written; the making of the former is a lost art. Poetry of the people is +either lyric or narrative. This difference is roughly that between song +and ballad. 'With us,' says Ritson, 'songs of sentiment, expression, or +even description, are properly termed songs, in contradistinction to +mere narrative compositions which we now denominate Ballads.' This +definition, of course, is essentially modern; we must still insist on +the fact that genuine ballads were sung: 'I sing Musgrove,'[3] says Sir +Thwack in Davenant's _The Wits_, 'and for the Chevy Chase no lark comes +near me.' Lastly, we must emphasise that the accompaniment is +predominated by the air to which the words are sung. I have heard the +modern comic song described as 'the kind in which you hear the words,' +thus differentiating it from the drawing-room song, in which the words +are (happily) as a rule less audible than the melody. In the ballad, as +sung, the words are most important; but it is of vital importance to +remember that the ballads were chanted. + + [Footnote 2: See the first essay, 'What is "Popular Poetry"?' in + _Ideas of Good and Evil_, by W. B. Yeats (1903), where this + distinction is not recognised.] + + [Footnote 3: _Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard_ (see p. 19, etc.).] + + ++II. Poetry of the People.+ + +Now what is this 'poetry of the people'? One theory is as follows. Every +nation or people in the natural course of its development reaches a +stage at which it consists of a homogeneous, compact community, with its +sentiments undivided by class-distinctions, so that the whole active +body forms what is practically an individual. Begging the question, that +poetry can be produced by such a body, this poetry is naturally of a +concrete and narrative character, and is previous to the poetry of art. +'Therefore,' says Professor Child, 'while each ballad will be +idiosyncratic, it will not be an expression of the personality of +individuals, but of a collective sympathy; and the fundamental +characteristic of popular ballads is therefore the absence of +subjectivity and self-consciousness. Though they do not "write +themselves," as Wilhelm Grimm has said--though a man and not a people +has composed them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by +mere accident, but with the best reason, that they have come down to us +anonymous.' + +By stating this, the dictum of one of the latest and most erudite of +ballad-scholars, so early in our argument, we anticipate a century or +more of criticism and counter-criticism, during which the giants of +literature ranged themselves in two parties, and instituted a +battle-royal which even now is not quite finished. It will be most +convenient if we denominate the one party as that which holds to the +communal or 'nebular' theory of authorship, and the other as the +anti-communal or 'artistic' theory. The tenet of the former party has +already been set forth, namely, that the poetry of the people is a +natural and spontaneous production of a community at that stage of its +existence when it is for all practical purposes an individual. The +theory of the 'artistic' school is that the ballads and folk-songs are +the productions of skalds, minstrels, bards, troubadours, or other +vagrant professional singers and reciters of various periods; it is +allowed, however, that, being subject entirely to oral transmission, +these ballads and songs are open to endless variation. + +On the Continent, Herder was pioneer, both of the claims of popular +poetry and of the nebular theory of authorship. Traditions of chivalry, +he says, became poetry in the mouths of the people; but his definition +of popular poetry has rather extended bounds. Herder's enthusiasm fired +Goethe (who, however, did not wholly accede to the 'nebular' theory) to +study the subject, and the effect was soon noticeable in his own poetry. +Next came the two great brothers, whose names are ever to be held in +honour wherever folklore is studied or folktales read, Jacob and Wilhelm +Grimm. Jacob, the more ardent and polemical, insisted on the communal +authorship of the poetry of the people; ballad or song 'sings itself.' + +Both the Grimms, and especially Jacob, were severely handled by the +critic Schlegel, who insisted on the artist. To Schlegel we owe the +famous image in which popular poetry is a tower, and the poet an +architect. Hundreds may fetch and carry, but all are useless without the +direction of the architect. This is specious argument; but we might +reply to Schlegel that an architect is only wanted when the result is +required to be an artistic whole. The tower of Babel was built by +hundreds of men under no superintendence. Schlegel's intention, however, +is no less clear than that of Jacob Grimm, and the two are diametrically +opposed. + +In England, literary prejudice against the unpolished barbarities and +uncouthnesses of the ballad was at no time so pronounced as it was on +the Continent, and especially in Germany, during the latter half of the +eighteenth century. Indeed, at intervals, the most learned and fantastic +critics in England would call attention to the poetry of the people. Sir +Philip Sidney's apologetic words are well known:-- 'Certainly I must +confesse my own barbarousnes, I never heard the olde song of _Percy_ and +_Duglas_, that I found not my heart mooved more then with a Trumpet.' +Addison was bolder. 'It is impossible that anything should be +universally tasted and approved by a Multitude, tho' they are only the +Rabble of a Nation, which hath not in it some peculiar Aptness to please +and gratify the Mind of Man.' With these and other encouragements the +popular poetry of England was not lost to sight; and in 1765 the work of +the good Bishop of Dromore gave the ballads a place in literature. + +Percy's opening remarks, attributing the ballads to the minstrels, are +as well known as the scoffs of the hard-hitting Joseph Ritson, who +contemptuously dismissed Percy's theories,[4] and refused to believe any +ballad to be of earlier origin than the reign of Elizabeth. Sir Walter +Scott was quite ready to accept the ballads as the productions of the +minstrels, either as 'the occasional effusions of some self-taught +bard,' or as abridged from the tales of tradition after the days when, +as Alfred de Musset says, 'our old romances spread their wings of gold +towards the enchanted world.' + + [Footnote 4: 'The truth really lay between the two, for neither + appreciated the wide variety covered by a common name' (_The + Mediaeval Stage_, E. K. Chambers, 1903). See especially chapters iii. + and iv. of this work for an admirably complete and illuminating + account of minstrelsy.] + +This brings us nearer to our own day. The argument is not closed, +although we can discern offers of concession from either side. Svend +Grundtvig, editor of the enormous collection of Danish ballads, +distinguished the ballad from all forms of artistic literature, and +would have the artist left out of sight; Nyrop and the Scandinavian +scholars, on the other hand, entirely gave up the notion of communal +authorship. Howbeit, the trend of modern criticism,[5] on the whole, is +towards a common belief regarding most ballads, which may be stated +again, in Professor Child's words: 'Though a man and not a people has +composed them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by +mere accident, but with the best reason, that they have come down to us +anonymous.' + + [Footnote 5: For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, + p. lii.] + + ++III. The Growth of Ballads.+ + +Let us then picture, however vaguely and uncertainly, the growth of a +ballad. It is well known that the folklores of the various races of the +world exhibit common features, and that the beliefs, superstitions, +tales, even conventionalities of expression, of one race, are found to +present constant and remarkable similarities to those of another. +Whether these similarities are to be held mere coincidences, or whether +they are to be explained by the theory of a common ancestry in the +cradle of the world, is a side-issue into which I do not intend to +enter. Suffice it that the fact is true, especially of the peoples who +speak the Indo-European tongues. The lore which has for its foundation +permanent and universal acceptance in the hearts of mankind is preserved +by tradition, and remains independent of the criteria applied +instinctively and unconsciously to artistic compositions. The community +is one at heart, one in mind, one in method of expression. Tales are +recited, verses chanted, and the singer of a clan makes his version of a +popular story. Simultaneously other singers, it may be of other clans of +the same race, or of another race altogether, elaborate their versions +of the common theme. Meanwhile the first singer has again recited or +chanted his ballad, and, having forgotten the exact wording, has altered +it, and perhaps introduced improvements. The same happens in the other +cases. The various audiences carry away as much as they can remember, +and recite their versions, again with individual omissions, alterations, +and additions. Thus, by ever-widening circles, the tale is distributed +in countless forms over an unlimited area. The elements of the story +remain, wholly or in part, while the literary clothing is altered +according to the 'taste and fancy' of the reciter. The lore is now +traditional, whether it be in prose, as Maerchen, or in verse, as ballad. +And so it remains in oral circulation--and therefore still liable to +variation--until it is written down or printed. It is left 'masterless,' +unsigned; for of the original author's composition, may be, only a word +or two remains. It has passed through many mouths, and has been made +over countless times. But once written down it ceases _virum volitare +per ora_; the invention of printing has spoiled the powers of man's +memory. + +We can now take up the tale at the fifteenth century; let us henceforth +confine our attention to England. It is agreed on all sides that the +fifteenth century was the period when, in England at least, the ballads +first became a prominent feature. Of historical ballads, _The Hunting of +the Cheviot_ was probably composed as early as 1400 or thereabouts. The +romances contemporaneously underwent a change, and took on a form nearer +to that of the ballad. Whatever may be the date of the origin of the +subject-matter, the literary clothing--language, mode of expression, +colour--of no ballad, as we now have it, is much, earlier than 1400. The +only possible exceptions to this statement are one or two of the Robin +Hood ballads--attributed to the thirteenth century by Professor Child, +but _adhuc sub judice_--and a ballad of sacred legend--_Judas_--which +exists in a thirteenth-century manuscript in the library of Trinity +College, Cambridge. + +During the fifteenth century, the ballads, still purely narrative, were +cast abroad through the length and breadth of the land, undergoing +continual changes, modifications, enlargements, for better or for worse. +They told of romance and chivalry, of historical, quasi-historical, and +mythico-historical deeds, of the traditions of the Church and sacred +legend, and of the lore that gathers round the most popular of heroes, +Robin Hood. The earliest printed English ballad is the _Gest of Robyn +Hode_, which now remains in a fragment of about the end of the fifteenth +century. + +The sixteenth century continued the process of the popularisation of +ballads. Minstrels, who, as a class, had been slowly perishing ever +since the invention of printing, were now vagrants, and the profession +was decadent. Towards the end of the century we hear of Richard Sheale, +whom we may describe as the first of the so-called 'Last of the +Minstrels.' He describes himself as a minstrel of Tamworth, his business +being to chant ballads and tell tales. We know that the ballad of _The +Hunting of the Cheviot_ was part of his repertory, for he wrote down his +version, which is still preserved in the Ashmolean MSS. At the end of +the sixteenth century the minstrels had fallen, in England at least, +into entire degradation. In 1597, Percy notes, a statute of Elizabeth +was passed including 'minstrels, wandering abroad,' amongst the other +'rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars'; and fifty years later Cromwell +made a very similar ordinance.[6] + + [Footnote 6: But these were only re-enactments of existing laws. See + Chambers, _Mediaeval Stage,_ i. p. 54.] + +In Elizabeth's reign we first meet with the ballad-mongers and +professional authors of ballads. Simultaneously, or nearly so, comes the +degradation of the word 'ballad,' until it signifies either the genuine +popular ballad, or a satirical song, or a broadside, or almost any ditty +of the day. Of the ballad-mongers, we have mentioned Elderton, Deloney, +and Johnson. We might add a hundred others, from Anthony Munday to +Martin Parker, and even Tom Durfey, each of whom contributed largely to +the vast mushroom-literature that sprang up and flourished vigorously +for the next century. Chappell mentions that seven hundred and +ninety-six ballads remained at the end of 1560 in the cupboards of the +council-chamber of the Stationers' Company for transference to the new +wardens of the succeeding year. These, of course, would consist chiefly +of broadsides: the narrations of strange events, monstrosities, or 'true +tales' of the day. + +It is true that many of the genuine popular ballads were rewritten to +suit contemporary taste. But the style of the seventeenth century +ballads cannot be compared to the noble straightforwardness and +simplicity of the ancient ballad. Let us place side by side the first +stanza of the _Hunting of the Cheviot_ and the first few verses of _Fair +Rosamond_, a very fair specimen of Deloney's work. + +The popular ancient ballad wastes no time on preliminaries[7]:-- + + [Footnote 7: A good notion of the way in which the old ballads + plunge _in medias res_ may be obtained by reading the Index of First + Lines.] + + 'The Perse owt off Northombarlonde + And avowe to God mayd he, + That he wold hunte in the mowntayns + Off Chyviat within days thre, + In the magger of doughte Dogles; + And all that ever with him be.' + +Now for the milk-and-water:-- + + 'Whenas King Henry rulde this land, + The second of that name, + Besides the queene, he dearly lovde + A faire and comely dame. + + Most peerlesse was her beautye founde, + Her favour and her face; + A sweeter creature in this worlde + Could never prince embrace. + + Her crisped lockes like threads of golde + Appeard to each man's sight; + Her sparkling eyes, like Orient pearles, + Did cast a heavenly light.' + +Ritson's taste actually led him, in comparing the above two first +verses, to prefer the latter. + +Or again we might contrast _Sir Patrick Spence_-- + + 'The King sits in Dumferling towne + Drinking the blude reid wine: + "O whar will I get a guid sailor, + To sail this ship of mine?"' + +with the _Children in the Wood_:-- + + 'Now ponder well, you parents deare, + These wordes, which I shall write; + A doleful story you shall heare, + In time brought forth to light.' + +Artificial, tedious, didactic. The author of the ancient ballad seldom +points, and never draws, a moral, and has unbounded faith in the +credulity of the audience. The seventeenth century balladists +pitchforked Nature into the midden. + +These compositions were printed as soon as written, or, to be exact, +they were written for the press. We now class them as broadsides, that +is, ballads printed on one side of the paper. The difference between +these and the true ballad is the difference between art and nature. The +broadside ballad was a form of art, and a low form of art. They were +written by hacks for the press, sold in the streets, and pasted on the +walls of houses or rooms: Jamieson had a copy of _Young Beichan_ which +he picked off a wall in Piccadilly. They were generally ornamented with +crude woodcuts, remarkable for their artistic shortcomings and +infidelity to nature. Dr. Johnson's well-known lines--though in fact a +caricature of Percy's _Hermit of Warkworth_--ingeniously parody their +style:-- + + 'As with my hat upon my head, + I walk'd along the Strand, + I there did meet another man, + With his hat in his hand.' + +Broadside ballads, including a few of the genuine ancient ballads, still +enjoy a certain popularity. The once-famous Catnach Press still survives +in Seven Dials, and Mr. Such, of Union Street in the Borough, still +maintains what is probably the largest stock of broadsides now in +existence, including _Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight_ (or _May Colvin_), +perhaps the most widely dispersed ballad of any. + +Minstrels of all sorts were by this time nearly extinct, in person if +not in name; their successors were the vendors of broadsides. +Nevertheless, survivors of the genuine itinerant reciters of ballads +have been discovered at intervals almost to the present day. Sir Walter +Scott mentions a person who 'acquired the name of Roswal and Lillian, +from singing that romance about the streets of Edinburgh' in 1770 or +thereabouts. He further alludes to 'John Graeme, of Sowport in +Cumberland, commonly called the Long Quaker, very lately alive.' Ritson +mentions a minstrel of Derbyshire, and another from Gloucester, who +chanted the ballad of _Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor_. In 1845 J. H. +Dixon wrote of several men he had met, chiefly Yorkshire dalesmen, not +vagrants, but with a local habitation, who at Christmas-tide would sing +the old ballads. One of these was Francis King, known then throughout +the western dales of Yorkshire, and still remembered, as 'the Skipton +Minstrel.' After a merry Christmas meeting, in the year 1844, he walked +into the river near Gargrave, in Craven, and was drowned. In Gargrave +church-yard lie the remains of perhaps the actual 'last of the +minstrels.'[8] + + [Footnote 8: Unless we may attribute that distinction to the blind + Irish bard Raftery, who flourished sixty years ago. See various + accounts of him given by Lady Gregory (_Poets and Dreamers_) and + W. B. Yeats (_The Celtic Twilight_, 1902). But he appears to have + been more of an improviser than a reciter.] + + ++IV. Collectors and Editors.+ + +Now a word or two as to the collectors and editors. To take the +broadsides first, the largest collections are at Magdalene College, +Cambridge (eighteen hundred broadsides collected by Selden and Pepys), +in the Bodleian at Oxford, and in the British Museum. The Bodleian +contains collections made by Anthony-a-Wood, Douce, and Rawlinson; the +British Museum, the great Roxburghe and Bagford collections, which have +been reprinted and edited by William Chappell and the Rev. J. W. +Ebsworth for the Ballad Society, as well as other smaller volumes of +ballads. + +But it is not among the broadsides that our noblest ballads are found. +The first attempt to collect popular ballads was made by the compiler of +three volumes issued in 1723 and 1725. The editor is said to have been +Ambrose Phillips, whose name and style combined to produce the word +'namby-pamby.' Next came Allan Ramsay, with 'the _Evergreen_, +a collection of Scots poems wrote by the ingenious before 1600.'--'By +the ingenious,' we note; not by the 'elegant.' The tide is already +beginning to turn; pitch-forked Nature will ever come back. Followed the +_Tea-Table Miscellany_, also compiled by Allan Ramsay, which contained +about twenty popular ballads, the rest being songs and ballads of modern +composition. The texts were, of course, chopped about and pruned to suit +contemporary taste. It was still necessary to adopt an apologetic +attitude on behalf of these barbarous and crude relics of antiquity. + +These books paved the way to the great literary triumph of the century. +The first edition of Percy's _Reliques_ was issued in three volumes, in +1765. He received for it one hundred guineas, instant popularity and +patronage, and subsequently, the gratitude of succeeding centuries. + +Nevertheless, Percy himself was so far under the influence of his +contemporaries that he felt it necessary to adopt the apologetic +attitude. In his preface he wrote:-- 'In a polished age like the +present, I am sensible that many of these reliques of antiquity will +require great allowances to be made for them.' And again:-- 'To atone +for the rudeness of the more obsolete poems, each volume concludes with +a few modern attempts in the same kind of writing; and to take off from +the tediousness of the longer narratives, they are everywhere +intermingled with little elegant pieces of the lyrical kind.' In short, +he could not trust that large child, the people of England, to take its +dose of powder without the conventional treacle. To vary the metaphor, +his famous Folio Manuscript he regarded as a Cinderella, and in his +capacity as fairy godmother refused to introduce her to the world +without hiding the slut's uncouth attire under fine raiment. To which +end, besides adding 'little elegant pieces,' he recast and rewrote 'the +more obsolete poems,' many of which came direct from the Folio +Manuscript. Are we to blame him for yielding to the taste of his day? + +He did not satisfy every one. Ritson's immediate outcry is famous--and +Ritson stood almost alone. He did, indeed, go so far as to deny the +existence of the Folio Manuscript, and Percy was forced to confute him +by producing it. In the later editions of the _Reliques_, Percy sought +to conciliate him by revising his texts, so as to approximate them more +closely to his originals, but still Ritson cried out for the whole +truth, and nothing but the truth. And by this time he had supporters. +But the whole truth as regards the Folio was not to be divulged yet. The +manuscript was most jealously guarded. + +Meanwhile the influence of the publication was having its effect. The +poetry of the schools, the poetry of the intellect, the poetry of art, +brought to its highest pitch by writers like Dryden and Pope, was +shelved; metrically exact diction, artificiality of expression, +carefully balanced antitheses, and all the mechanical devices of the +school were placed in abeyance. There was a general return to Nature, to +simplicity, to straightforwardness--not without imagination, however. +Wordsworth, besides insisting, in a famous passage, the Preface to the +_Lyrical Ballads_, on the spontaneity of good poetry, recorded his +tribute to the _Reliques_: 'I do not think that there is an able writer +in verse of the present day who would not be proud to acknowledge his +obligation to the _Reliques_.' While failing often to catch the gusto of +ancient poetry--witness his translations from Chaucer--Wordsworth was +full of the spirit--witness his rifacimento of _The Owl and the +Nightingale_--and, best of all, handed it on to Coleridge.[9] These two +fought side by side against the conventions of the preceding century, +against Dryden, Addison, Pope, and last, but not least, Johnson. Some +have gone so far as to place the definite turning-point in the year +1798, the year of the publication of the _Lyrical Ballads_. Coleridge's +_annus mirabilis_ was 1797, and the publication of _The Ancient Mariner_ +is significant of the change. But we need not bind ourselves down to any +given year. Enough that the revolution was effected, and that it is +scarcely exaggeration to say that it was almost entirely due to the +publication of the _Reliques_. + + [Footnote 9: 'He [Coleridge] said the _Lyrical Ballads_ were an + experiment about to be tried by him and Wordsworth, to see how far + the public taste would endure poetry written in a more natural and + simple style than had hitherto been attempted; totally discarding + the artifices of poetical diction, and making use only of such words + as had probably been common in the most ordinary language since the + days of Henry II.'--_Hazlitt._] + +Sir Walter Scott remembered to the day of his death the place where he +first made acquaintance with the _Reliques_ in his thirteenth year. 'I +remember well the spot where I read those volumes for the first time. It +was beneath a large platanus-tree, in the ruins of what had been +intended for an old-fashioned arbour in the garden I have mentioned. The +summer day sped onward so fast, that, notwithstanding the sharp appetite +of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought for with anxiety, +and was still found entranced in my intellectual banquet.' + +Almost immediately competitors appeared in the field, and especial +attention was given to Scotland, exceedingly rich ground, as it proved. +In 1769, David Herd published his collection of _Ancient and Modern +Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc._ Then, at intervals of two or three +years only, came the compilations of Evans, Pinkerton, Ritson, Johnson; +in 1802 Sir Walter Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, fit to +be placed side by side with the _Reliques_; in 1806 Jamieson's _Popular +Ballads and Songs_; then Finlay, Gilchrist, Laing, and Utterson. In 1828 +the egregious Peter Buchan produced _Ancient Ballads and Songs of the +North of Scotland, hitherto unpublished_. Buchan hints that he kept a +pedlar or beggarman--'a wight of Homer's craft'--travelling through +Scotland to pick up ballads; and one of the two--probably Buchan--must +have been possessed of powerful inventive faculties. Each of Buchan's +ballads is tediously spun out to enormous and unnecessary length, and is +filled with solecisms and inanities quite inconsistent with the spirit +of the true ballad. But Buchan undoubtedly gained fresh material, +however much he clothed it; and his ballads are now reprinted, as +Professor Child says, for much the same reason that thieves are +photographed. + +Scotland continued the work with two excellent students and pioneers, +George Kinloch and William Motherwell. Next, Robert Chambers published a +collection of eighty ballads, some being spurious. This was in 1829. +Thirty years later Chambers came to the conclusion that 'the high-class +romantic ballads of Scotland ... are not older than the early part of +the eighteenth century, and are mainly, if not wholly, the production of +one mind.' And this one mind, he thinks, was probably that of Elizabeth, +Lady Wardlaw, the acknowledged forger of the ballad _Hardyknute_, which +deceived so many. Chambers, of course, was absurdly mistaken. + +So the work of collecting and editing progressed through the nineteenth +century, till it culminated in the final edition of Professor Child's +_English and Scottish Popular Ballads_. But even this is scarcely his +greatest benefaction to the study of ballads. We must confess that had +it not been for the insistence of this American scholar, the Percy Folio +Manuscript would remain a sealed book. For six years Professor Child +persecuted Dr. Furnivall, who persecuted in turn the owners of the +Folio, even offering sums of money, for permission to print the MS. +Eventually they succeeded, and not only succeeded in giving to the world +an exact reprint,[10] but also once for all secured the precious +original for the British Museum, where it now remains.[11] + + [Footnote 10: _Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript_, edited by J. W. + Hales and F. J. Furnivall, 4 vols., 1867-8. Printed for the Early + English Text Society and subscribers.] + + [Footnote 11: Additional MS. 27, 879.] + +And what is this manuscript? In brief, it is an example of the +commonplace books which abounded in the seventeenth century. But it is +unique in containing a large proportion of early romances and ballads, +as well as the lyrics of the day. Of the hundreds of commonplace books +made during that century, no other example is known which contains such +matter, for the obvious and simple reason that such matter was +despised.[12] The handwriting is put by experts at about 1650; it cannot +be much later, and one song in it contains a passage which fixes the +date of that song to the year 1643. Percy discovered the book 'lying +dirty on the floor under a bureau in the parlour' of his friend Humphrey +Pitt of Shifnal, in Shropshire, 'being used by maids to light the fire.' +Mr. Pitt's fires were lighted with half-pages torn out from incomparably +early and precious versions of certain Robin Hood and other ballads. +Percy notes that he was very young when he first got possession of the +MS., and had not then learned to reverence it. When he put it into +boards to lend to Dr. Johnson, the bookbinder pared the margins, and cut +away top and bottom lines. In editing the _Reliques_, Percy actually +tore out pages 'to save the trouble of transcribing.' In spite of all, +it remains a unique and inestimably valuable manuscript. Its writer was +presumably a Lancashire man, from his use of certain dialect words, and +was assuredly a man of slight education; nevertheless a national +benefactor. + + [Footnote 12: Cp. _Love's Labour's Lost_:-- + + +Armado.+ Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar? + + +Moth.+ The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages + since; but I think now 'tis not to be found.] + +In speaking of manuscripts, we must not omit to mention the Scottish +collectors. Most of them went to work in the right way, seeking out aged +men and women in out-of-the-way corners of Scotland, and taking down +their ballads from their lips. If we condemn these editors for +subsequently adorning the traditional versions, we must be grateful to +them for preserving their manuscripts so that we can still read the +ballads as they received them. The old ladies of Scotland seem to have +possessed better memories than the old men. Besides Sir Walter Scott's +anonymous 'Old Lady,' there was another to whom we owe some of the +finest versions of the Scottish ballads. This was Mrs. Brown, daughter +of Professor Gordon of Aberdeen. Born in 1747, she learned most of her +ballads before she was twelve years old, or before 1759, from the +singing of her aunt, Mrs. Farquhar of Braemar. From about twenty to +forty years later, she repeated her ballads, first to Jamieson, and +afterwards to William Tytler, each of whom compiled a manuscript. The +latter, the Tytler-Brown MS., unfortunately is lost, but the ballads are +practically all known from the other manuscript and various sources. + +Perhaps the richest part of our stock are the Scottish and Border +ballads. Beside them, most of our mawkish English ballads look pale and +withered. The reason, perhaps, may be traced to the effect of natural +surroundings on literature. The English ballads were printed or written +down at a period which is early compared with the date of collection of +the Scottish ballads. In fact, it is only during the last hundred and +thirty years that the ballads of Scotland have been recovered from oral +tradition. In mountainous districts, where means of communication and +intercourse are naturally limited, tradition dies more hard than in +countries where there are no such barriers. Moreover, as Professor Child +points out, 'oral transmission by the unlettered is not to be feared +nearly so much as by minstrels, nor by minstrels nearly so much as +modern editors.' Svend Grundtvig illustrates this from his twenty-nine +versions of the Danish ballad 'Ribold and Guldborg.' In versions from +recitation, he has shown that there occur certain verses which have +never been printed, but which are found in old manuscripts; and these +recited versions also contain verses which have never been either +printed or written down in Danish, but which are to be found still in +recitation, not only in Norwegian and Swedish versions, but even in +Icelandic tradition of two hundred years' standing. + + +Such, then, is the history of our ballads, so far as it may be stated in +a few pages. With regard to origins, the 'nebular' theory cannot be +summarily dismissed;[13] but, after weighing the evidence and arguments, +the balance of probability would seem to lie with the supporters of the +'artistic' theory in a modified form. The ballad may say, with Topsy, +'Spec's I growed'; but _vires adquirit eundo_ is only true of the ballad +to a certain point; progress, which includes the invention of printing +and the absorption into cities of the unsophisticated rural population, +has since killed the oral circulation of the ballad. Thus it was not an +unmixed evil that in the Middle Ages, as a rule, the ballads were +neglected; for this neglect, while it rendered the discovery of their +sources almost impossible, gave the ballads for a time into the +safe-keeping of their natural possessors, the common people. +Civilisation, advancing more swiftly in some countries than in others, +has left rich stores here, and little there. Our close kinsmen of +Denmark, and the rest of Scandinavia, possess a ballad-literature of +which they do well to be proud; and Spain is said to have inherited even +better legacies. A study of our native ballads yields much interest, +much delight, and much regret that the gleaning is comparatively so +small. But what we still have is of immense value. The ballads may not +be required again to revoke English literature from flights into +artificiality and subjectivity; but they form a leaf in the life of the +English people, they uphold the dignity of human nature, they carry us +away to the legends, the romances, the beliefs, the traditions of our +ancestors, and take us out of ourselves to 'fleet the time carelessly, +as they did in the golden world.' + + [Footnote 13: Professor Gummere (_The Beginnings of Poetry_) is + perhaps the strongest champion of this theory, and takes an extreme + view.] + + + + +BALLADS IN THE FIRST SERIES + + + +The only possible method of classifying ballads is by their +subject-matter; and even thus the lines of demarcation are frequently +blurred. It is, however, possible to divide them roughly into several +main classes, such as ballads of romance and chivalry; ballads of +superstition and of the supernatural; Arthurian, historical, sacred, +domestic ballads; ballads of Robin Hood and other outlaws; and so forth. + +The present volume is concerned with ballads of romance and chivalry; +but it is useless to press too far the appropriateness of this title. +_The Nutbrown Maid_, for instance, is not a true ballad at all, but an +amoebaean idyll, or dramatic lyric. But, on the whole, these ballads +chiefly tell of life, love, death, and human passions, of revenge and +murder and heroic deed. + + 'These things are life: + And life, some think, is worthy of the Muse.' + +They are left unexpurgated, as they came down to us: to apologise for +things now left unsaid would be to apologise not only for the heroic +epoch in which they were born, but also for human nature. + +And how full of life that heroic epoch was! Of what stature must Lord +William's steed have been, if Lady Maisry could hear him sneeze a mile +away! How chivalrous of Gawaine to wed an ugly bride to save his king's +promise, and how romantic and delightful to discover her on the morrow +to have changed into a well-fared may! + +The popular Muse regards not probability. Old Robin, who hails from +Portugal, marries the daughter of the mayor of Linne, that unknown town +so dear to ballads. In _Young Bekie_, Burd Isbel's heart is wondrous +sair to find, on liberating her lover, that the bold rats and mice have +eaten his yellow hair. We must not think of objecting that the boldest +rat would never eat a live prisoner's hair, but only applaud the +picturesque indication of durance vile. + +In the same ballad, Burd Isbel, 'to keep her from thinking +lang'--a prevalent complaint--is told to take 'twa marys' on her +journey. We suddenly realise how little there was to amuse the Burd +Isbels of yore. Twa marys provide a week's diversion. Otherwise her only +occupation would have been to kemb her golden hair, or perhaps, like +Fair Annie, drink wan water to preserve her complexion. + +But if their occupations were few, their emotions and affections were +strong. Ellen endures insult after insult from Child Waters with the +faithful patience of a Griselda. Hector the hound recognises Burd Isbel +after years of separation. Was any lord or lady in need of a messenger, +there was sure to be a little boy at hand to run their errand soon, +faithful unto death. On receipt of painful news, they kicked over the +table, and the silver plate flew into the fire. When roused, men +murdered with a brown sword, and ladies with a penknife. We are left +uncertain whether the Cruel Mother did not also 'howk' a grave for her +murdered babe with that implement. + +But readers will easily pick out and enjoy for themselves other +instances of the naive and picturesque in these ballads. + + + + +GLOSSARY OF BALLAD COMMONPLACES + + +There survive in ballads a few conventional phrases, some of which +appear to have been preserved by tradition beyond an understanding of +their import. I give here short notes on a few of the more interesting +phrases and words which appear in the present volume, the explanations +being too cumbrous for footnotes. + + ++Bow.+ + +'bent his bow and swam,' _Lady Maisry_, 21.2; _Johney Scot_, 10.2; _Lord +Ingram and Chiel Wyet_, 12.2; etc. + +'set his bent bow to his breast,' _Lady Maisry_, 22.3; _Lord Ingram and +Chiel Wyet_, 13.3; _Fause Footrage_, 33.1; etc. + + Child attempts no explanation of this striking phrase, which, + I believe, all editors have either openly or silently neglected. + Perhaps 'bent' may mean _un_-bent, _i.e._ with the string of the bow + slacked. If so, for what reason was it done before swimming? We can + understand that it would be of advantage to keep the string dry, but + how is it better protected when unstrung? Or, again, was it carried + unstrung, and literally 'bent' before swimming? Or was the bow solid + enough to be of support in the water? + + Some one of these explanations may satisfy the first phrase (as + regards swimming); but why does the messenger 'set his bent bow to + his breast' before leaping the castle wall? It seems to me that the + two expressions must stand or fall together; therefore the entire + lack of suggestions to explain the latter phrase drives me to + distrust of any of the explanations given for the former. + + A suggestion recently made to me appears to dispose of all + difficulties; and, once made, is convincing in its very obviousness. + It is, that 'bow' means 'elbow,' or simply 'arm.' The first phrase + then exhibits the commonest form of ballad-conventionalities, + picturesque redundancy: the parallel phrase is 'he slacked his shoon + and ran.' In the second phrase it is, indeed, necessary to suppose + the wall to be breast-high; the messenger places one elbow on the + wall, pulls himself up, and vaults across. + + Lexicographers distinguish between the Old English _b[-o]g_ or + _b[-o]h_ (O.H.G. buog = arm; Sanskrit, bahu-s = arm), which means arm, + arch, bough, or bow of a ship; and the Old English _boga_ (O.H.G. + bogo), which means the archer's bow. The distinction is continued in + Middle English, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Instances + of the use of the word as equivalent to 'arm' may be found in Old + English in _King Alfred's Translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care_ + (E.E.T.S., 1871, ed. H. Sweet) written in West Saxon dialect of the + ninth century. + + It is true that the word does not survive elsewhere in this meaning, + but I give the suggestion for what it is worth. + + ++Briar.+ + +'briar and rose,' _Douglas Tragedy_, 18, 19, 20; _Fair Margaret and +Sweet William_, 18, 19, 20; _Lord Lovel_, 9, 10; etc. + +'briar and birk,' _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, 29, 30; _Fair Janet_, +30; etc. + +'roses,' _Lady Alice_, 5, 6. (See introductory note to _Lord Lovel_, +p. 67.) + + The ballads which exhibit this pleasant conception that, after + death, the spirits of unfortunate lovers pass into plants, trees, or + flowers springing from their graves, are not confined to European + folklore. Besides appearing in English, Gaelic, Swedish, Norwegian, + Danish, German, French, Roumanian, Romaic, Portuguese, Servian, + Wendish, Breton, Italian, Albanian, Russian, etc., we find it + occurring in Afghanistan and Persia. As a rule, the branches of the + trees intertwine; but in some cases they only bend towards each + other, and kiss when the wind blows. + + In an Armenian tale a curious addition is made. A young man, + separated by her father from his sweetheart because he was of a + different religion, perished with her, and the two were buried by + their friends in one grave. Roses grew from the grave, and sought to + intertwine, but a _thorn-bush_ sprang up between them and prevented + it. The thorn here is symbolical of religious belief. + + ++Pin.+ + +'thrilled upon a pin,' _Glasgerion_, 10.2. + +'knocked at the ring,' _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_, 11.2. + +(_Cp._ 'lifted up the pin,' _Fair Janet_, 14.2.) + + Throughout the Scottish ballads the expression is 'tirl'd at the pin,' + _i.e._ rattled or twisted the pin. + + The pin appears to have been the external part of the door-latch, + attached by day thereto by means of a leathern thong, which at night + was disconnected with the latch to prevent any unbidden guest from + entering. Thus any one 'tirling at the pin' does not attempt to open + the door, but signifies his presence to those within. + + The ring was merely part of an ordinary knocker, and had nothing to + do with the latching of the door. + + ++Sword.+ + +'bright brown sword,' _Glasgerion_, 22.1; _Old Robin of Portingale_, +22.1; _Child Maurice_, 26.1, 27.1; 'good browne sword,' _Marriage of Sir +Gawaine_, 24.3; etc. + +'dried it on his sleeve,' _Glasgerion_, 22.2; _Child Maurice_, 27.2 ('on +the grasse,' 26.2); 'straiked it o'er a strae,' _Bonny Birdy_, 15.2; +'struck it across the plain,' _Johney Scot_, 32.2; etc. + + In Anglo-Saxon, the epithet 'brun' as applied to a sword has been + held to signify either that the sword was of bronze, or that the + sword gleamed. It has further been suggested that sword-blades may + have been artificially bronzed, like modern gun-barrels. + + 'Striped it thro' the straw' and many similar expressions all refer + to the whetting of a sword, generally just before using it. Straw + (unless 'strae' and 'straw' mean something else) would appear to be + very poor stuff on which to sharpen swords, but Glasgerion's sleeve + would be even less effective; perhaps, however, 'dried' should be + 'tried.' Johney Scot sharpened his sword on the ground. + + ++Miscellaneous.+ + +'gare' = gore, part of a woman's dress; _Brown Robin_, 10.4; cp. +_Glasgerion_, 19.4. + + Generally of a knife, apparently on a chatelaine. But in _Lamkin_ + 12.2, of a man's dress. + +'Linne,' 'Lin,' _Young Bekie_, 5.4; _Old Robin of Portingale_, 2.1. + + A stock ballad-locality, castle or town. Perhaps to be identified + with the city of Lincoln, perhaps with Lynn, or King's Lynn, in + Norfolk, where pilgrims of the fourteenth century visited the Rood + Chapel of Our Lady of Lynn, on their way to Walsingham; with equal + probability it is not to be identified at all with any known town. + +'shot-window,' _Gay Goshawk_, 8.3; _Brown Robin_, 3.3; _Lamkin_, 7.3; +etc. + + This commonplace phrase seems to vary in meaning. It may be 'a + shutter of timber with a few inches of glass above it' (Wodrow's + _History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland_, Edinburgh, + 1721-2, 2 vols., in vol. ii. p. 286); it may be simply 'a window to + open and shut,' as Ritson explains it; or again, as is implied in + Jamieson's _Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, an + out-shot window, or bow-window. The last certainly seems to be + intended in certain instances. + +'thought lang' _Young Bekie_, 16.4; _Brown Adam_, 5.2; _Johney Scot_, +6.2; _Fause Footrage_, 25.2; etc. + + This simply means 'thought it long,' or 'thought it slow,' as we + should say in modern slang; in short, 'was bored,' or 'weary.' + +'wild-wood swine,' a simile for drunkenness, _Brown Robin_, 7.4; _Fause +Footrage_, 16.4. + + _Cp._ Shakespeare, _All's Well that Ends Well_, Act IV. 3, 286: + 'Drunkenness is his best virtue; for he will be swine-drunk.' It + seems to be nothing more than a popular comparison. + + + + +LIST OF BOOKS FOR BALLAD STUDY FOR ENGLISH READERS + + +A.--The Literary History of Ballads + +The Introductions, etc., to the Collections of Ballads in List B. + +1861. _David Irving._ History of Scottish Poetry. + +1871. _Thomas Warton._ History of English Poetry, ed. W. Carew Hazlitt. +4 vols. + +1875. _Andrew Lang._ Article in Encyclopaedia Britannica (9th edition), +vol. iii. + +1876. _Stopford Brooke._ English Literature. New edition, enlarged, +1897. + +1883. _W. W. Newell._ Games and Songs of American Children. New York. + +1887. _Andrew Lang._ Myth, Ritual, and Religion. 2 vols. + +1893. _John Veitch._ History and Poetry of the Scottish Border. 2 vols. + +1893. _F. J. Child._ Article 'Ballads' in Johnson's Cyclopaedia, vol. i. +pp. 464-6. + +1895-97. _W. J. Courthope._ A History of English Poetry. Vols. i. +and ii. + +1897. _G. Gregory Smith._ The Transition Period: being vol. iv. of +Periods of English Literature, ed. G. Saintsbury. + +1898. _Andrew Lang_ in _Quarterly Review_ for July. + +1901. _F. B. Gummere._ The Beginnings of Poetry. + +1903. _E. K. Chambers._ The Mediaeval Stage. 2 vols. + +1903. _Andrew Lang_ in _Folk-Lore_ for June. + +1903. _J. H. Millar._ A Literary History of Scotland. + + +B.--Collections of Ballads + +[_This list does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to give the more +important collections, especially those containing trustworthy +Introductions._] + +1723-25. A Collection of Old Ballads, corrected from the best and most +ancient copies extant. 3 vols. London. + +1724. _Allan Ramsay._ The Ever-Green. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1724-27. _Allan Ramsay._ The Tea-Table Miscellany. First eight editions +in 3 vols., Edinburgh, Dublin, and London. Ninth and subsequent editions +in four volumes, or four volumes in one, London. + +1765. _Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore._ Reliques of Ancient English +Poetry. 3 vols. London. + +1769. _David Herd._ The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, Heroic Ballads, +etc. Edinburgh. The second edition, 1776, under a slightly different +title. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1781. _John Pinkerton._ Scottish Tragic Ballads. London. + +1787-1803. _James Johnson._ The Scots Musical Museum. 6 vols. Edinburgh. + +1790. _Joseph Ritson._ Ancient Songs, etc. London. (Printed 1787, dated +1790, and published 1792.) + +1791. _Joseph Ritson._ Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry. London. + +1794. _Joseph Ritson._ Scotish Song. 2 vols. London. + +1795. " " Robin Hood. 2 vols. London. + +1802-3. _Walter Scott._ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 3 vols. Kelso +and Edinburgh. + +1806. _Robert Jamieson._ Popular Ballads and Songs from Tradition, +Manuscripts, and Scarce Editions. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1808. _John Finlay._ Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads, chiefly +ancient. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1822. _Alexander Laing._ Scarce Ancient Ballads. Aberdeen. + +1823. _Alexander Laing._ The Thistle of Scotland. Aberdeen. + +1823. _Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe._ A Ballad Book. Edinburgh. + +1824. _James Maidment._ A North Countrie Garland. Edinburgh. + +1826. _Robert Chambers._ The Popular Rhymes of Scotland. Edinburgh. + +1827. _George Kinloch._ Ancient Scottish Ballads. London and Edinburgh. + +1827. _William Motherwell._ Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern. Glasgow. + +1828. _Peter Buchan._ Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of +Scotland. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + +1834. The Universal Songster. 3 vols. London. + +1845. _Alexander Whitelaw._ The Book of Scottish Ballads. Glasgow, +Edinburgh, and London. + +1846. _James Henry Dixon._ Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the +Peasantry of England. London. + +1847. _John Matthew Gutch._ A Lytyll Geste of Robin Hode. 2 vols. +London. + +1855-59. _William Chappell._ Popular Music of the Olden Time. 2 vols. +London. + +1857. _Robert Bell._ Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry +of England. London. + +1857-59. _Francis James Child._ English and Scottish Ballads. 8 vols. +2nd edition, 1864. + +1864. _William Allingham._ The Ballad Book. London. + +1867-68. _J. W. Hales_ and _F. J. Furnivall_. Bishop Percy's Folio +Manuscript. 4 vols. London. + +1882-98. _Francis James Child._ The English and Scottish Popular +Ballads. 5 vols. Boston, New York, and London. + +1895. _Andrew Lang._ Border Ballads. London: Lawrence and Bullen. + +1897. _Andrew Lang._ A Collection of Ballads. London: Chapman and Hall's +'Diamond Library.' + +1897. _Francis B. Gummere._ Old English Ballads. Boston, U.S.A. Athenaeum +Press Series. + +1902. _T. F. Henderson._ Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, by Sir +Walter Scott. New edition. 3 vols. London. + + + + +NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The illustrations on pp. 28, 75, and 118 are taken from Royal MS. 10. E. +iv. (of the fourteenth century) in the British Museum, where they occur +on folios 34 _verso_, 215 _recto_, and 254 _recto_ respectively. The +designs in the original form a decorated margin at the foot of each +page, and are outlined in ink and roughly tinted in three or four +colours. Much use is made of them in the illustrations to J. J. +Jusserand's _English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages_, where +M. Jusserand rightly points out that this MS. 'has perhaps never been so +thoroughly studied as it deserves.' + + + + +GLASGERION + + + Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe + That souned bothe wel and sharpe, + Orpheus ful craftely, + And on his syde, faste by, + Sat the harper Orion, + And Eacides Chiron, + And other harpers many oon, + And the Bret[A] Glascurion. + + --Chaucer, _Hous of Fame_, III. + + ++The Text+, from the Percy Folio, luckily is complete, saving an +omission of two lines. A few obvious corrections have been introduced, +and the Folio reading given in a footnote. Percy printed the ballad in +the _Reliques_, with far fewer alterations than usual. + ++The Story+ is also told in a milk-and-water Scotch version, +_Glenkindie_, doubtless mishandled by Jamieson, who 'improved' it from +two traditional sources. The admirable English ballad gives a striking +picture of the horror of 'churles blood' proper to feudal days. + +In the quotation above, Chaucer places Glascurion with Orpheus, Arion, +and Chiron, four great harpers. It is not improbable that Glascurion and +Glasgerion represent the Welsh bard Glas Keraint (Keraint the Blue Bard, +the chief bard wearing a blue robe of office), said to have been an +eminent poet, the son of Owain, Prince of Glamorgan. + +The oath taken 'by oak and ash and thorn' (stanza 18) is a relic of very +early times. An oath 'by corn' is in _Young Hunting_. + + [Footnote A: From Skeat's edition: elsewhere quoted 'gret + Glascurion.'] + + +GLASGERION + + 1. + Glasgerion was a king's own son, + And a harper he was good; + He harped in the king's chamber, + Where cup and candle stood, + And so did he in the queen's chamber, + Till ladies waxed wood. + + 2. + And then bespake the king's daughter, + And these words thus said she: + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 3. + Said, 'Strike on, strike on, Glasgerion, + Of thy striking do not blin; + There's never a stroke comes over this harp + But it glads my heart within.' + + 4. + 'Fair might you fall, lady,' quoth he; + 'Who taught you now to speak? + I have loved you, lady, seven year; + My heart I durst ne'er break.' + + 5. + 'But come to my bower, my Glasgerion, + When all men are at rest; + As I am a lady true of my promise, + Thou shalt be a welcome guest.' + + 6. + But home then came Glasgerion, + A glad man, Lord, was he! + 'And come thou hither, Jack, my boy, + Come hither unto me. + + 7. + 'For the king's daughter of Normandy + Her love is granted me, + And before the cock have crowen + At her chamber must I be.' + + 8. + 'But come you hither, master,' quoth he, + 'Lay your head down on this stone; + For I will waken you, master dear, + Afore it be time to gone.' + + 9. + But up then rose that lither lad, + And did on hose and shoon; + A collar he cast upon his neck, + He seemed a gentleman. + + 10. + And when he came to that lady's chamber, + He thrilled upon a pin. + The lady was true of her promise, + Rose up, and let him in. + + 11. + He did not take the lady gay + To bolster nor no bed, + But down upon her chamber-floor + Full soon he hath her laid. + + 12. + He did not kiss that lady gay + When he came nor when he yode; + And sore mistrusted that lady gay + He was of some churles blood. + + 13. + But home then came that lither lad, + And did off his hose and shoon. + And cast that collar from about his neck; + He was but a churles son: + 'Awaken,' quoth he, 'my master dear, + I hold it time to be gone. + + 14. + 'For I have saddled your horse, master, + Well bridled I have your steed; + Have not I served a good breakfast? + When time comes I have need.' + + 15. + But up then rose good Glasgerion, + And did on both hose and shoon, + And cast a collar about his neck; + He was a kinges son. + + 16. + And when he came to that lady's chamber, + He thrilled upon a pin; + The lady was more than true of her promise, + Rose up, and let him in. + + 17. + Says, 'Whether have you left with me + Your bracelet or your glove? + Or are you back returned again + To know more of my love?' + + 18. + Glasgerion swore a full great oath + By oak and ash and thorn, + 'Lady, I was never in your chamber + Sith the time that I was born.' + + 19. + 'O then it was your little foot-page + Falsely hath beguiled me': + And then she pull'd forth a little pen-knife + That hanged by her knee, + Says, 'There shall never no churles blood + Spring within my body.' + + 20. + But home then went Glasgerion, + A woe man, good [Lord], was he; + Says, 'Come hither, thou Jack, my boy, + Come thou thither to me. + + 21. + 'For if I had killed a man to-night, + Jack, I would tell it thee; + But if I have not killed a man to-night, + Jack, thou hast killed three!' + + 22. + And he pull'd out his bright brown sword, + And dried it on his sleeve, + And he smote off that lither lad's head, + And asked no man no leave. + + 23. + He set the sword's point till his breast, + The pommel till a stone; + Thorough that falseness of that lither lad + These three lives were all gone. + + [Annotations: + 1.4: Folio:-- 'where cappe & candle yoode.' Percy in the _Reliques_ + (1767) printed 'cuppe and _caudle_ stoode.' + 1.6: 'wood,' mad, wild (with delight). + 3.2: 'blin,' cease. + 4.4: _i.e._ durst never speak my mind. + 6.1: 'home'; Folio _whom_. + 7.3,4: These lines are reversed in the Folio. + 9.1: 'lither,' idle, wicked. + 10.2: 'thrilled,' twirled or rattled; cp. 'tirled at the pin,' a stock + ballad phrase (Scots). + 12.2: 'yode,' went. + 14.4: 'time': Folio _times_. + 17.3: Folio _you are_. + 22.2: Another commonplace of the ballads. The Scotch variant is + generally, 'And striped it thro' the straw.' See special section + of the Introduction. + 23.1,2: 'till,' to, against.] + + + + +YOUNG BEKIE + + ++The Text+ is that of the Jamieson-Brown MS., taken down from the +recitation of Mrs. Brown about 1783. In printing the ballad, Jamieson +collated with the above two other Scottish copies, one in MS., another a +stall-copy, a third from recitation in the north of England, a fourth +'picked off an old wall in Piccadilly' by the editor. + ++The Story+ has several variations of detail in the numerous versions +known (Young Bicham, Brechin, Bekie, Beachen, Beichan, Bichen, Lord +Beichan, Lord Bateman, Young Bondwell, etc.), but the text here given is +one of the most complete and vivid, and contains besides one feature +(the 'Belly Blin') lost in all other versions but one. + +A similar story is current in the ballad-literature of Scandinavia, +Spain, and Italy; but the English tale has undoubtedly been affected by +the charming legend of Gilbert Becket, the father of Saint Thomas, who, +having been captured by Admiraud, a Saracen prince, and held in durance +vile, was freed by Admiraud's daughter, who then followed him to +England, knowing no English but 'London' and 'Gilbert'; and after much +tribulation, found him and was married to him. 'Becket' is sufficiently +near 'Bekie' to prove contamination, but not to prove that the legend is +the origin of the ballad. + +The Belly Blin (Billie Blin = billie, a man; blin', blind, and so Billie +Blin = Blindman's Buff, formerly called Hoodman Blind) occurs in certain +other ballads, such as _Cospatrick_, _Willie's Lady_, and the _Knight +and the Shepherd's Daughter_; also in a mutilated ballad of the Percy +Folio, _King Arthur and King Cornwall_, under the name Burlow Beanie. In +the latter case he is described as 'a lodly feend, with seuen heads, and +one body,' breathing fire; but in general he is a serviceable household +demon. Cp. German _bilwiz_, and Dutch _belewitte_. + + +YOUNG BEKIE + + 1. + Young Bekie was as brave a knight + As ever sail'd the sea; + An' he's doen him to the court of France, + To serve for meat and fee. + + 2. + He had nae been i' the court of France + A twelvemonth nor sae long, + Til he fell in love with the king's daughter, + An' was thrown in prison strong. + + 3. + The king he had but ae daughter, + Burd Isbel was her name; + An' she has to the prison-house gane, + To hear the prisoner's mane. + + 4. + 'O gin a lady woud borrow me, + At her stirrup-foot I woud rin; + Or gin a widow wad borrow me, + I woud swear to be her son. + + 5. + 'Or gin a virgin woud borrow me, + I woud wed her wi' a ring; + I'd gi' her ha's, I'd gie her bowers, + The bonny tow'rs o' Linne.' + + 6. + O barefoot, barefoot gaed she but, + An' barefoot came she ben; + It was no for want o' hose an' shoone, + Nor time to put them on; + + 7. + But a' for fear that her father dear, + Had heard her making din: + She's stown the keys o' the prison-house dor + An' latten the prisoner gang. + + 8. + O whan she saw him, Young Bekie, + Her heart was wondrous sair! + For the mice but an' the bold rottons + Had eaten his yallow hair. + + 9. + She's gi'en him a shaver for his beard, + A comber till his hair, + Five hunder pound in his pocket, + To spen', and nae to spair. + + 10. + She's gi'en him a steed was good in need, + An' a saddle o' royal bone, + A leash o' hounds o' ae litter, + An' Hector called one. + + 11. + Atween this twa a vow was made, + 'Twas made full solemnly, + That or three years was come and gane, + Well married they shoud be. + + 12. + He had nae been in's ain country + A twelvemonth till an end, + Till he's forc'd to marry a duke's daughter, + Or than lose a' his land. + + 13. + 'Ohon, alas!' says Young Bekie, + 'I know not what to dee; + For I canno win to Burd Isbel, + And she kensnae to come to me.' + + 14. + O it fell once upon a day + Burd Isbel fell asleep, + An' up it starts the Belly Blin, + An' stood at her bed-feet. + + 15. + 'O waken, waken, Burd Isbel, + How [can] you sleep so soun', + Whan this is Bekie's wedding day, + An' the marriage gain' on? + + 16. + 'Ye do ye to your mither's bow'r, + Think neither sin nor shame; + An' ye tak twa o' your mither's marys, + To keep ye frae thinking lang. + + 17. + 'Ye dress yoursel' in the red scarlet, + An' your marys in dainty green, + An' ye pit girdles about your middles + Woud buy an earldome. + + 18. + 'O ye gang down by yon sea-side, + An' down by yon sea-stran'; + Sae bonny will the Hollans boats + Come rowin' till your han'. + + 19. + 'Ye set your milk-white foot abord, + Cry, Hail ye, Domine! + An' I shal be the steerer o't, + To row you o'er the sea.' + + 20. + She's tane her till her mither's bow'r, + Thought neither sin nor shame, + An' she took twa o' her mither's marys, + To keep her frae thinking lang. + + 21. + She dress'd hersel' i' the red scarlet. + Her marys i' dainty green, + And they pat girdles about their middles + Woud buy an earldome. + + 22. + An' they gid down by yon sea-side, + An' down by yon sea-stran'; + Sae bonny did the Hollan boats + Come rowin' to their han'. + + 23. + She set her milk-white foot on board, + Cried 'Hail ye, Domine!' + An' the Belly Blin was the steerer o't, + To row her o'er the sea. + + 24. + Whan she came to Young Bekie's gate, + She heard the music play; + Sae well she kent frae a' she heard, + It was his wedding day. + + 25. + She's pitten her han' in her pocket, + Gin the porter guineas three; + 'Hae, tak ye that, ye proud porter, + Bid the bride-groom speake to me.' + + 26. + O whan that he cam up the stair, + He fell low down on his knee: + He hail'd the king, an' he hail'd the queen, + An' he hail'd him, Young Bekie. + + 27. + 'O I've been porter at your gates + This thirty years an' three; + But there's three ladies at them now, + Their like I never did see. + + 28. + 'There's ane o' them dress'd in red scarlet, + And twa in dainty green, + An' they hae girdles about their middles + Woud buy an earldome.' + + 29. + Then out it spake the bierly bride, + Was a' goud to the chin: + 'Gin she be braw without,' she says, + 'We's be as braw within.' + + 30. + Then up it starts him, Young Bekie, + An' the tears was in his ee: + 'I'll lay my life it's Burd Isbel, + Come o'er the sea to me.' + + 31. + O quickly ran he down the stair, + An' whan he saw 'twas she, + He kindly took her in his arms, + And kiss'd her tenderly. + + 32. + 'O hae ye forgotten, Young Bekie + The vow ye made to me, + Whan I took ye out o' the prison strong + Whan ye was condemn'd to die? + + 33. + 'I gae you a steed was good in need, + An' a saddle o' royal bone, + A leash o' hounds o' ae litter, + An' Hector called one.' + + 34. + It was well kent what the lady said, + That it wasnae a lee, + For at ilka word the lady spake, + The hound fell at her knee. + + 35. + 'Tak hame, tak hame your daughter dear, + A blessing gae her wi', + For I maun marry my Burd Isbel, + That's come o'er the sea to me.' + + 36. + 'Is this the custom o' your house, + Or the fashion o' your lan', + To marry a maid in a May mornin', + An' send her back at even?' + + [Annotations: + 4.1: 'borrow,' ransom. + 6.1,2: 'but ... ben,' out ... in. + 7.3: 'stown,' stolen. + 8.3: 'rottons,' rats. + 15.2: The MS. reads 'How y you.' + 16.3: 'marys,' maids. + 29.1: 'bierly,' stately.] + + + + +OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE + + ++Text.+-- The Percy Folio is the sole authority for this excellent +ballad, and the text of the MS. is therefore given here _literatim_, in +preference to the copy served up 'with considerable corrections' by +Percy in the _Reliques_. I have, however, substituted a few obvious +emendations suggested by Professor Child, giving the Folio reading in a +footnote. + ++The Story+ is practically identical with that of _Little Musgrave and +Lady Barnard_; but each is so good, though in a different vein, that +neither could be excluded. + +The last stanza narrates the practice of burning a cross on the flesh of +the right shoulder when setting forth to the Holy Land--a practice which +obtained only among the very devout or superstitious of the Crusaders. +Usually a cross of red cloth attached to the right shoulder of the coat +was deemed sufficient. + + +OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE + + 1. + God! let neuer soe old a man + Marry soe yonge a wiffe + As did old Robin of Portingale! + He may rue all the dayes of his liffe. + + 2. + Ffor the Maior's daughter of Lin, God wott, + He chose her to his wife, + & thought to haue liued in quiettnesse + With her all the dayes of his liffe. + + 3. + They had not in their wed bed laid, + Scarcly were both on sleepe, + But vpp she rose, & forth shee goes + To Sir Gyles, & fast can weepe. + + 4. + Saies, 'Sleepe you, wake you, faire Sir Gyles + Or be not you within?' + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 5. + 'But I am waking, sweete,' he said, + 'Lady, what is your will?' + 'I haue vnbethought me of a wile, + How my wed lord we shall spill. + + 6. + 'Four and twenty knights,' she sayes, + 'That dwells about this towne, + Eene four and twenty of my next cozens, + Will helpe to dinge him downe.' + + 7. + With that beheard his litle foote page, + As he was watering his master's steed, + Soe ... ... ... + His verry heart did bleed; + + 8. + He mourned, sikt, & wept full sore; + I sweare by the holy roode, + The teares he for his master wept + Were blend water & bloude. + + 9. + With that beheard his deare master + As in his garden sate; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, my litle page, + What causes thee to weepe? + + 10. + 'Hath any one done to thee wronge, + Any of thy fellowes here? + Or is any of thy good friends dead, + Which makes thee shed such teares? + + 11. + 'Or if it be my head kookes man + Greiued againe he shalbe, + Nor noe man within my howse + Shall doe wrong vnto thee.' + + 12. + 'But it is not your head kookes man, + Nor none of his degree, + But or tomorrow ere it be noone, + You are deemed to die; + + 13. + '& of that thanke your head steward, + & after your gay ladie.' + 'If it be true, my litle foote page, + Ile make thee heyre of all my land.' + + 14. + 'If it be not true, my deare master, + God let me neuer thye.' + 'If it be not true, thou litle foot page, + A dead corse shalt thou be.' + + 15. + He called downe his head kooke's man: + 'Cooke, in kitchen super to dresse': + 'All & anon, my deare master, + Anon att your request.' + + 16. + '& call you downe my faire Lady, + This night to supp with mee.' + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 17. + & downe then came that fayre Lady, + Was cladd all in purple & palle, + The rings that were vpon her fingers + Cast light thorrow the hall. + + 18. + 'What is your will, my owne wed Lord, + What is your will with me?' + 'I am sicke, fayre Lady, + Sore sicke, & like to dye.' + + 19. + 'But & you be sicke, my owne wed Lord, + Soe sore it greiueth mee, + But my 5 maydens & my selfe + Will goe & make your bedd, + + 20. + '& at the wakening of your first sleepe, + You shall haue a hott drinke made, + & at the wakening of your next sleepe + Your sorrowes will haue a slake.' + + 21. + He put a silke cote on his backe, + Was 13 inches folde, + & put a steele cap vpon his head, + Was gilded with good red gold; + + 22. + & he layd a bright browne sword by his side + & another att his ffeete, + & full well knew old Robin then + Whether he shold wake or sleepe. + + 23. + & about the middle time of the night + Came 24 good knights in, + Sir Gyles he was the formost man, + Soe well he knew that ginne. + + 24. + Old Robin with a bright browne sword + Sir Gyles' head he did winne, + Soe did he all those 24, + Neuer a one went quicke out [agen]; + + 25. + None but one litle foot page + Crept forth at a window of stone, + & he had 2 armes when he came in + And [when he went out he had none]. + + 26. + Vpp then came that ladie light + With torches burning bright; + Shee thought to haue brought Sir Gyles a drinke, + But shee found her owne wedd knight; + + 27. + & the first thing that this ladye stumbled vpon, + Was of Sir Gyles his ffoote; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, & woe is me, + Heere lyes my sweete hart roote!' + + 28. + & the 2d. thing that this ladie stumbled on, + Was of Sir Gyles his head; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, & woe is me, + Heere lyes my true loue deade!' + + 29. + Hee cutt the papps beside her brest, + & bad her wish her will, + & he cutt the eares beside her heade, + & bade her wish on still. + + 30. + 'Mickle is the man's blood I haue spent + To doe thee & me some good'; + Sayes, 'Euer alacke, my fayre Lady, + I thinke that I was woode!' + + 31. + He call'd then vp his litle foote page, + & made him heyre of all his land, + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 32. + & he shope the crosse in his right sholder + Of the white flesh & the redd, + & he went him into the holy land, + Wheras Christ was quicke and dead. + + + [Annotations: + 2.1: 'Lin,' a stock ballad-locality: cp. _Young Bekie_, 5.4. + 5.3: 'vnbethought.' The same expression occurs in two other places + in the Percy Folio, each time apparently in the same sense of + 'bethought [him] of.' + 6.1,3: 'Four and twenty': the Folio gives '24' in each case. + 8.1: 'sikt,' sighed. The Folio reads _sist_. + 11.1, 12.1: The Folio reads _bookes man_; but see 15.1. + 14.2: 'thye,' thrive: the Folio reads _dye_. + 19.1: '&' = an, if. + 20.3: 'next': the Folio reads _first_ again; probably the copyist's + error. + 23.4: 'ginne,' door-latch. + 24.4: 'quicke,' alive. The last word was added by Percy in the Folio. + 25.4: Added by Hales and Furnivall. + 26.1,2: _light_ and _bright_ are interchanged in the Folio. + 32.3: 'went': the Folio gives _sent_.] + + + + +LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD + + ++The Text+ here given is the version printed, with very few variations, +in _Wit Restor'd_, 1658, _Wit and Drollery_, 1682, Dryden's +_Miscellany_, 1716, etc. The Percy Folio contains a fragmentary version, +consisting of some dozen stanzas. Child says that all the Scottish +versions are late, and probably derived, though taken down from oral +tradition, from printed copies. As recompense, we have the Scotch _Bonny +Birdy_. + ++The Story+ would seem to be purely English. That it was popular long +before the earliest known text is proved by quotations from it in old +plays: as from _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_. Merrythought in _The +Knight of the Burning Pestle_ (1611) sings from this ballad a version of +stanza 14, and Beaumont and Fletcher also put quotations into the mouths +of characters in _Bonduca_ (circ. 1619) and _Monsieur Thomas_ (circ. +1639). Other plays before 1650 also mention it. + +The reader should remember, once for all, that burdens are to be +repeated in every verse, though printed only in the first. + + +LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD + + 1. + As it fell one holy-day, + _Hay downe_ + As many be in the yeare, + When young men and maids together did goe, + Their mattins and masse to heare; + + 2. + Little Musgrave came to the church-dore;-- + The preist was at private masse;-- + But he had more minde of the faire women + Then he had of our lady['s] grace. + + 3. + The one of them was clad in green, + Another was clad in pall, + And then came in my lord Barnard's wife, + The fairest amonst them all. + + 4. + She cast an eye on Little Musgrave, + As bright as the summer sun; + And then bethought this Little Musgrave, + 'This lady's heart have I woonn.' + + 5. + Quoth she, 'I have loved thee, Little Musgrave, + Full long and many a day'; + 'So have I loved you, fair lady, + Yet never word durst I say.' + + 6. + 'I have a bower at Bucklesfordbery, + Full daintyly is it deight; + If thou wilt wend thither, thou Little Musgrave, + Thou's lig in mine armes all night.' + + 7. + Quoth he, 'I thank yee, fair lady, + This kindnes thou showest to me; + But whether it be to my weal or woe, + This night I will lig with thee.' + + 8. + With that he heard, a little tyne page, + By his ladye's coach as he ran: + 'All though I am my ladye's foot-page, + Yet I am Lord Barnard's man. + + 9. + 'My lord Barnard shall knowe of this, + Whether I sink or swim'; + And ever where the bridges were broake + He laid him downe to swimme. + + 10. + 'A sleepe or wake, thou Lord Barnard, + As thou art a man of life, + For Little Musgrave is at Bucklesfordbery, + A bed with thy own wedded wife.' + + 11. + 'If this be true, thou little tinny page, + This thing thou tellest to me, + Then all the land in Bucklesfordbery + I freely will give to thee. + + 12. + 'But if it be a ly, thou little tinny page, + This thing thou tellest to me, + On the hyest tree in Bucklesfordbery + Then hanged shalt thou be.' + + 13. + He called up his merry men all: + 'Come saddle me my steed; + This night must I to Bucklesfordbery, + For I never had greater need.' + + 14. + And some of them whistled, and some of them sung, + And some these words did say, + And ever when my lord Barnard's horn blew, + 'Away, Musgrave, away!' + + 15. + 'Methinks I hear the thresel-cock, + Methinks I hear the jaye; + Methinks I hear my Lord Barnard, + And I would I were away!' + + 16. + 'Lye still, lye still, thou little Musgrave, + And huggell me from the cold; + 'Tis nothing but a shephard's boy + A driving his sheep to the fold. + + 17. + 'Is not thy hawke upon a perch, + Thy steed eats oats and hay, + And thou a fair lady in thine armes, + And wouldst thou bee away?' + + 18. + With that my lord Barnard came to the dore, + And lit a stone upon; + He plucked out three silver keys + And he open'd the dores each one. + + 19. + He lifted up the coverlett, + He lifted up the sheet: + 'How now, how now, thou Little Musgrave, + Doest thou find my lady sweet?' + + 20. + 'I find her sweet,' quoth Little Musgrave, + 'The more 'tis to my paine; + I would gladly give three hundred pounds + That I were on yonder plaine.' + + 21. + 'Arise, arise, thou Little Musgrave, + And put thy clothes on; + It shall nere be said in my country + I have killed a naked man. + + 22. + 'I have two swords in one scabberd, + Full deere they cost my purse; + And thou shalt have the best of them, + And I will have the worse.' + + 23. + The first stroke that Little Musgrave stroke, + He hurt Lord Barnard sore; + The next stroke that Lord Barnard stroke, + Little Musgrave nere struck more. + + 24. + With that bespake this faire lady, + In bed whereas she lay: + 'Although thou'rt dead, thou Little Musgrave, + Yet I for thee will pray. + + 25. + 'And wish well to thy soule will I, + So long as I have life; + So will I not for thee, Barnard, + Although I am thy wedded wife.' + + 26. + He cut her paps from off her brest; + Great pitty it was to see + That some drops of this ladies heart's blood + Ran trickling downe her knee. + + 27. + 'Woe worth you, woe worth, my mery men all, + You were nere borne for my good; + Why did you not offer to stay my hand, + When you see me wax so wood? + + 28. + 'For I have slaine the bravest sir knight + That ever rode on steed; + So have I done the fairest lady + That over did woman's deed. + + 29. + 'A grave, a grave,' Lord Barnard cry'd, + 'To put these lovers in; + But lay my lady on the upper hand, + For she came of the better kin.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.2: 'pall,' a cloak: some versions read _pale_. + 6.2: 'deight,' _i.e._ dight, decked, dressed. + 15.1: 'thresel-cock,' throstle, thrush. + 27.4: 'wood,' wild, fierce.] + + + + +THE BONNY BIRDY + + ++Text.+--From the Jamieson-Brown MS. Jamieson, in printing this ballad, +enlarged and rewrote much of it, making the burden part of the dialogue +throughout. + ++The Story+ is much the same as that of _Little Musgrave and Lady +Barnard_; but the ballad as a whole is worthy of comparison with the +longer English ballad for the sake of its lyrical setting. + + +THE BONNY BIRDY + + 1. + There was a knight, in a summer's night, + Was riding o'er the lee, _(diddle)_ + An' there he saw a bonny birdy, + Was singing upon a tree. _(diddle)_ + + O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An' dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + Gin it were day, an' gin I were away, + For I ha' na lang time to stay. _(diddle)_ + + 2. + 'Make hast, make hast, ye gentle knight, + What keeps you here so late? + Gin ye kent what was doing at hame, + I fear you woud look blate.' + + 3. + 'O what needs I toil day an' night, + My fair body to kill, + Whan I hae knights at my comman', + An' ladys at my will?' + + 4. + 'Ye lee, ye lee, ye gentle knight, + Sa loud's I hear you lee; + Your lady's a knight in her arms twa + That she lees far better nor thee.' + + 5. + 'Ye lee, ye lee, you bonny birdy, + How you lee upo' my sweet! + I will tak' out my bonny bow, + An' in troth I will you sheet.' + + 6. + 'But afore ye hae your bow well bent, + An' a' your arrows yare, + I will flee till another tree, + Whare I can better fare.' + + 7. + 'O whare was you gotten, and whare was ye clecked? + My bonny birdy, tell me'; + 'O I was clecked in good green wood, + Intill a holly tree; + A gentleman my nest herryed + An' ga' me to his lady. + + 8. + 'Wi' good white bread an' farrow-cow milk + He bade her feed me aft, + An' ga' her a little wee simmer-dale wanny, + To ding me sindle and saft. + + 9. + 'Wi' good white bread an' farrow-cow milk + I wot she fed me nought, + But wi' a little wee simmer-dale wanny + She dang me sair an' aft: + Gin she had deen as ye her bade, + I wouldna tell how she has wrought.' + + 10. + The knight he rade, and the birdy flew, + The live-lang simmer's night, + Till he came till his lady's bow'r-door, + Then even down he did light: + The birdy sat on the crap of a tree, + An' I wot it sang fu' dight. + + 11. + 'O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An' dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + Gin it were day, and gin I were away, + For I ha' na lang time to stay.' _(diddle)_ + + 12. + 'What needs ye lang for day, _(diddle)_ + An' wish that you were away? _(diddle)_ + Is no your hounds i' my cellar. + Eating white meal and gray?' _(diddle)_ + 'O wow for day,' _etc._ + + 13. + 'Is nae you[r] steed in my stable, + Eating good corn an' hay? + An' is nae your hawk i' my perch-tree, + Just perching for his prey? + An' is nae yoursel i' my arms twa? + Then how can ye lang for day?' + + 14. + 'O wow for day! _(diddle)_ + An' dear gin it were day! _(diddle)_ + For he that's in bed wi' anither man's wife + Has never lang time to stay.' _(diddle)_ + + 15. + Then out the knight has drawn his sword, + An' straiked it o'er a strae, + An' thro' and thro' the fa'se knight's waste + He gard cauld iron gae: + An' I hope ilk ane sal sae be serv'd + That treats ane honest man sae. + + + [Annotations: + 2.4: 'blate,' astonished, abashed. + 7.1: 'clecked,' hatched. + 8.1: 'A Farrow Cow is a Cow that gives Milk in the second year after + her Calving, having no Calf that year.'--Holme's _Armoury_, 1688. + 8.3: 'wanny,' wand, rod: 'simmer-dale,' apparently = summer-dale. + 8.4: 'sindle,' seldom. + 10.5: 'crap,' top. + 10.6: 'dight,' freely, readily. + 15.1-4: Cp. _Clerk Sanders_, 15.] + + + [Illustration] + + + + +FAIR ANNIE + + ++The Text+ is that of Scott's _Minstrelsy_, 'chiefly from the recitation +of an old woman.' Scott names the ballad 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annie,' +adding to the confusion already existing with 'Lord Thomas and Fair +Annet.' + ++The Story.+--Fair Annie, stolen from the home of her father, the Earl +of Wemyss, by 'a knight out o'er the sea,' has borne seven sons to him. +He now bids her prepare to welcome home his real bride, and she meekly +obeys, suppressing her tears with difficulty. Lord Thomas and his +new-come bride hear, through the wall of their bridal chamber, Annie +bewailing her lot, and wishing her seven sons had never been born. The +bride goes to comfort her, discovers in her a long-lost sister, and +departs, thanking heaven she goes a maiden home. + +Of this ballad, Herd printed a fragment in 1769, some stanzas being +incorporated in the present version. Similar tales abound in the +folklore of Scandinavia, Holland, and Germany. But, three hundred years +older than any version of the ballad, is the lay of Marie de France, _Le +Lai de Freisne_; which, nevertheless, is only another offshoot of some +undiscovered common origin. + +It is imperative (in 4.4) that Annie should _braid_ her hair, as a sign +of virginity: married women only bound up their hair, or wore it under a +cap. + + +FAIR ANNIE + + 1. + 'It's narrow, narrow, make your bed, + And learn to lie your lane; + For I'm ga'n o'er the sea, Fair Annie, + A braw bride to bring hame. + Wi' her I will get gowd and gear; + Wi' you I ne'er got nane. + + 2. + 'But wha will bake my bridal bread, + Or brew my bridal ale? + And wha will welcome my brisk bride, + That I bring o'er the dale?' + + 3. + 'It's I will bake your bridal bread, + And brew your bridal ale; + And I will welcome your brisk bride, + That you bring o'er the dale.' + + 4. + 'But she that welcomes my brisk bride + Maun gang like maiden fair; + She maun lace on her robe sae jimp, + And braid her yellow hair.' + + 5. + 'But how can I gang maiden-like, + When maiden I am nane? + Have I not born seven sons to thee, + And am with child again?' + + 6. + She's taen her young son in her arms, + Another in her hand, + And she's up to the highest tower, + To see him come to land. + + 7. + 'Come up, come up, my eldest son, + And look o'er yon sea-strand, + And see your father's new-come bride, + Before she come to land.' + + 8. + 'Come down, come down, my mother dear, + Come frae the castle wa'! + I fear, if langer ye stand there, + Ye'll let yoursell down fa'.' + + 9. + And she gaed down, and farther down, + Her love's ship for to see, + And the topmast and the mainmast + Shone like the silver free. + + 10. + And she's gane down, and farther down, + The bride's ship to behold, + And the topmast and the mainmast + They shone just like the gold. + + 11. + She's taen her seven sons in her hand, + I wot she didna fail; + She met Lord Thomas and his bride, + As they came o'er the dale. + + 12. + 'You're welcome to your house, Lord Thomas, + You're welcome to your land; + You're welcome with your fair ladye, + That you lead by the hand. + + 13. + 'You're welcome to your ha's, ladye, + You're welcome to your bowers; + You're welcome to your hame, ladye, + For a' that's here is yours.' + + 14. + 'I thank thee, Annie, I thank thee, Annie, + Sae dearly as I thank thee; + You're the likest to my sister Annie, + That ever I did see. + + 15. + 'There came a knight out o'er the sea, + And steal'd my sister away; + The shame scoup in his company, + And land where'er he gae!' + + 16. + She hang ae napkin at the door, + Another in the ha', + And a' to wipe the trickling tears, + Sae fast as they did fa'. + + 17. + And aye she served the long tables, + With white bread and with wine; + And aye she drank the wan water, + To had her colour fine. + + 18. + And aye she served the lang tables, + With white bread and with brown; + And ay she turned her round about + Sae fast the tears fell down. + + 19. + And he's taen down the silk napkin, + Hung on a silver pin, + And aye he wipes the tear trickling + A' down her cheek and chin. + + 20. + And aye he turned him round about, + And smil'd amang his men; + Says, 'Like ye best the old ladye, + Or her that's new come hame?' + + 21. + When bells were rung, and mass was sung, + And a' men bound to bed, + Lord Thomas and his new-come bride + To their chamber they were gaed. + + 22. + Annie made her bed a little forbye, + To hear what they might say; + 'And ever alas,' Fair Annie cried, + 'That I should see this day! + + 23. + 'Gin my seven sons were seven young rats + Running on the castle wa', + And I were a gray cat mysell, + I soon would worry them a'. + + 24. + 'Gin my seven sons were seven young hares, + Running o'er yon lilly lee, + And I were a grew hound mysell, + Soon worried they a' should be.' + + 25. + And wae and sad Fair Annie sat, + And drearie was her sang, + And ever, as she sobb'd and grat, + 'Wae to the man that did the wrang!' + + 26. + 'My gown is on,' said the new-come bride, + 'My shoes are on my feet, + And I will to Fair Annie's chamber, + And see what gars her greet. + + 27. + 'What ails ye, what ails ye, Fair Annie, + That ye make sic a moan? + Has your wine barrels cast the girds, + Or is your white bread gone? + + 28. + 'O wha was't was your father, Annie, + Or wha was't was your mother? + And had ye ony sister, Annie, + Or had ye ony brother?' + + 29. + 'The Earl of Wemyss was my father, + The Countess of Wemyss my mother; + And a' the folk about the house + To me were sister and brother.' + + 30. + 'If the Earl of Wemyss was your father, + I wot sae he was mine; + And it shall not be for lack o' gowd + That ye your love sall tyne. + + 31. + 'For I have seven ships o' mine ain, + A' loaded to the brim, + And I will gie them a' to thee, + Wi' four to thine eldest son: + But thanks to a' the powers in heaven + That I gae maiden hame!' + + + [Annotations: + 15.3: 'scoup,' fly, hasten. + 17.4: 'had' = haud, hold. + 22.1: 'forbye,' apart. + 24.2: 'lilly lee,' lovely lea. + 30.4: 'tyne,' lose.] + + + + +THE CRUEL MOTHER + + ++The Text+ is given from Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, earlier versions +being only fragmentary. + ++The Story+ has a close parallel in a Danish ballad; and another, +popular all over Germany, is a variation of the same theme, but in place +of the mother's final doom being merely mentioned, in the German ballad +she is actually carried away by the devil. + +In a small group of ballads, the penknife appears to be the ideal weapon +for murder or suicide. See the _Twa Brothers_ and the _Bonny Hind_. + + +THE CRUEL MOTHER + + 1. + She leaned her back unto a thorn; + _Three, three, and three by three_ + And there she has her two babes born. + _Three, three, and thirty-three_. + + 2. + She took frae 'bout her ribbon-belt, + And there she bound them hand and foot. + + 3. + She has ta'en out her wee pen-knife, + And there she ended baith their life. + + 4. + She has howked a hole baith deep and wide, + She has put them in baith side by side. + + 5. + She has covered them o'er wi' a marble stane, + Thinking she would gang maiden hame. + + 6. + As she was walking by her father's castle wa', + She saw twa pretty babes playing at the ba'. + + 7. + 'O bonnie babes, gin ye were mine, + I would dress you up in satin fine. + + 8. + 'O I would dress you in the silk, + And wash you ay in morning milk.' + + 9. + 'O cruel mother, we were thine, + And thou made us to wear the twine. + + 10. + 'O cursed mother, heaven's high, + And that's where thou will ne'er win nigh. + + 11. + 'O cursed mother, hell is deep, + And there thou'll enter step by step.' + + + [Annotations: + 9.2: 'twine,' coarse cloth; _i.e._ shroud.] + + + + +CHILD WATERS + + ++The Text+ is here given from the Percy Folio, with some emendations as +suggested by Child. + ++The Story+, if we omit the hard tests imposed on the maid's affection, +is widely popular in a series of Scandinavian ballads,--Danish, Swedish, +and Norwegian; and Percy's edition (in the _Reliques_) was popularised +in Germany by Buerger's translation. + +The disagreeable nature of the final insult (stt. 27-29), retained here +only for the sake of fidelity to the original text, may be paralleled by +the similarly sudden lapse of taste in the _Nut-Brown Maid_. We can but +hope--as indeed is probable--that the objectionable lines are in each +case interpolated. + +'Child,' as in 'Child Roland,' etc., is a title of courtesy = Knight. + + +CHILD WATERS + + 1. + Childe Watters in his stable stoode, + & stroaket his milke-white steede; + To him came a ffaire young ladye + As ere did weare womans weede. + + 2. + Saies, 'Christ you saue, good Chyld Waters!' + Sayes, 'Christ you saue and see! + My girdle of gold which was too longe + Is now to short ffor mee. + + 3. + '& all is with one chyld of yours, + I ffeele sturre att my side: + My gowne of greene, it is to strayght; + Before it was to wide.' + + 4. + 'If the child be mine, faire Ellen,' he sayd, + 'Be mine, as you tell mee, + Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both, + Take them your owne to bee. + + 5. + 'If the child be mine, ffaire Ellen,' he said, + 'Be mine, as you doe sweare, + Take you Cheshire & Lancashire both, + & make that child your heyre.' + + 6. + Shee saies, 'I had rather haue one kisse, + Child Waters, of thy mouth, + Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both, + That lyes by north & south. + + 7. + '& I had rather haue a twinkling, + Child Waters, of your eye, + Then I would have Cheshire & Lancashire both, + To take them mine oune to bee!' + + 8. + 'To-morrow, Ellen, I must forth ryde + Soe ffar into the north countrye; + The ffairest lady that I can ffind, + Ellen, must goe with mee.' + '& euer I pray you, Child Watters, + Your ffootpage let me bee!' + + 9. + 'If you will my ffootpage be, Ellen, + As you doe tell itt mee, + Then you must cut your gownne of greene + An inch aboue your knee. + + 10. + 'Soe must you doe your yellow lockes + Another inch aboue your eye; + You must tell no man what is my name; + My ffootpage then you shall bee.' + + 11. + All this long day Child Waters rode, + Shee ran bare ffoote by his side; + Yett was he neuer soe curteous a knight, + To say, 'Ellen, will you ryde?' + + 12. + But all this day Child Waters rode, + She ran barffoote thorow the broome! + Yett he was neuer soe curteous a knight + As to say, 'Put on your shoone.' + + 13. + 'Ride softlye,' shee said, 'Child Watters: + Why do you ryde soe ffast? + The child, which is no mans but yours, + My bodye itt will burst.' + + 14. + He sayes, 'Sees thou yonder water, Ellen, + That fflowes from banke to brim?' + 'I trust to God, Child Waters,' shee sayd, + 'You will neuer see mee swime.' + + 15. + But when shee came to the waters side, + Shee sayled to the chinne: + 'Except the lord of heauen be my speed, + Now must I learne to swime.' + + 16. + The salt waters bare vp Ellens clothes, + Our Ladye bare vpp her chinne, + & Child Waters was a woe man, good Lord, + To ssee faire Ellen swime. + + 17. + & when shee ouer the water was, + Shee then came to his knee: + He said, 'Come hither, ffaire Ellen, + Loe yonder what I see! + + 18. + 'Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen? + Of redd gold shine the yates; + There's four and twenty ffayre ladyes, + The ffairest is my wordlye make. + + 19. + 'Seest thou not yonder hall, Ellen? + Of redd gold shineth the tower; + There is four and twenty ffaire ladyes, + The fairest is my paramoure.' + + 20. + 'I doe see the hall now, Child Waters, + That of redd gold shineth the yates; + God giue good then of your selfe, + & of your wordlye make! + + 21. + 'I doe see the hall now, Child Waters, + That of redd gold shineth the tower; + God giue good then of your selfe, + And of your paramoure!' + + 22. + There were four and twenty ladyes, + Were playing att the ball; + & Ellen, was the ffairest ladye, + Must bring his steed to the stall. + + 23. + There were four and twenty faire ladyes + Was playing att the chesse; + & Ellen, shee was the ffairest ladye, + Must bring his horsse to grasse. + + 24. + & then bespake Child Waters sister, + & these were the words said shee: + 'You haue the prettyest ffootpage, brother, + That ever I saw with mine eye; + + 25. + 'But that his belly it is soe bigg, + His girdle goes wonderous hye; + & euer I pray you, Child Waters, + Let him go into the chamber with me.' + + 26. + 'It is more meete for a litle ffootpage, + That has run through mosse and mire, + To take his supper vpon his knee + & sitt downe by the kitchin fyer, + Then to go into the chamber with any ladye + That weares so [rich] attyre.' + + 27. + But when the had supped euery one, + To bedd they tooke the way; + He sayd, 'Come hither, my litle footpage, + Hearken what I doe say! + + 28. + '& goe thee downe into yonder towne, + & low into the street; + The ffarest ladye that thou can find, + Hyer her in mine armes to sleepe, + & take her vp in thine armes two, + For filinge of her ffeete.' + + 29. + Ellen is gone into the towne, + & low into the streete: + The fairest ladye that shee cold find + She hyred in his armes to sleepe, + & tooke her in her armes two, + For filing of her ffeete. + + 30. + 'I pray you now, good Child Waters, + That I may creepe in att your bedds feete, + For there is noe place about this house + Where I may say a sleepe.' + + 31. + This [night] & itt droue on affterward + Till itt was neere the day: + He sayd, 'Rise vp, my litle ffoote page, + & giue my steed corne & hay; + & soe doe thou the good blacke oates, + That he may carry me the better away.' + + 32. + And vp then rose ffaire Ellen, + & gave his steed corne & hay, + & soe shee did and the good blacke oates, + That he might carry him the better away. + + 33. + Shee layned her backe to the manger side, + & greiuouslye did groane; + & that beheard his mother deere, + And heard her make her moane. + + 34. + Shee said, 'Rise vp, thou Child Waters! + I thinke thou art a cursed man; + For yonder is a ghost in thy stable, + That greiuously doth groane, + Or else some woman laboures of child, + Shee is soe woe begone!' + + 35. + But vp then rose Child Waters, + & did on his shirt of silke; + Then he put on his other clothes + On his body as white as milke. + + 36. + & when he came to the stable dore, + Full still that hee did stand, + That hee might heare now faire Ellen, + How shee made her monand. + + 37. + Shee said, 'Lullabye, my owne deere child! + Lullabye, deere child, deere! + I wold thy father were a king, + Thy mother layd on a beere!' + + 38. + 'Peace now,' he said, 'good faire Ellen! + & be of good cheere, I thee pray, + & the bridall & the churching both, + They shall bee vpon one day.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.2: 'see,' protect. So constantly in this phrase. + 18.2: 'yates,' gates. + 18.3: In each case the Folio gives '24' for 'four and twenty.' + 18.4: 'wordlye make,' worldly mate. + 26.6: 'rich' added by Percy. + 28.6: 'For filinge,' to save defiling. + 30.4: 'say,' essay, attempt. + 31.1: 'night.' Child's emendation. Percy read: 'This done, the nighte + drove on apace.' + 32.3: 'and'; Folio _on_. + 36.4: 'monand,' moaning.] + + + + +EARL BRAND, THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY, and THE CHILD OF ELL + + +There are here put in juxtaposition three versions in ballad-form of the +same story, though fragmentary in the two latter cases, not only because +each is good, but to show the possibilities of variation in a popular +story. There is yet another ballad, _Erlinton_, printed by Sir Walter +Scott in the _Minstrelsy_, embodying an almost identical tale. _Earl +Brand_ preserves most of the features of a very ancient story with more +exactitude than any other traditional ballad. But in this case, as in +too many others, we must turn to a Scandinavian ballad for the complete +form of the story. A Danish ballad, _Ribold and Guldborg_, gives the +fine tale thus:-- + +Ribold, a king's son, in love with Guldborg, offers to carry her away +'to a land where death and sorrow come not, where all the birds are +cuckoos, where all the grass is leeks, where all the streams run with +wine.' Guldborg is willing, but doubts whether she can escape the strict +watch kept over her by her family and by her betrothed lover. Ribold +disguises her in his armour and a cloak, and they ride away. On the moor +they meet an earl, who asks, 'Whither away?' Ribold answers that he is +taking his youngest sister from a cloister. This does not deceive the +earl, nor does a bribe close his mouth; and Guldborg's father, learning +that she is away with Ribold, rides with his sons in pursuit. Ribold +bids Guldborg hold his horse, and prepares to fight; he tells her that, +whatever may chance, she must not call on him by name. Ribold slays her +father and some of her kin and six of her brothers; only her youngest +brother is left: Guldborg cries, 'Ribold, spare him,' that he may carry +tidings to her mother. Immediately Ribold receives a mortal wound. He +ceases fighting, sheathes his sword, and says to her, 'Wilt thou go home +to thy mother again, or wilt thou follow so sad a swain?' And she says +she will follow him. In silence they ride on. 'Why art not thou merry as +before?' asks Guldborg. And Ribold answers, 'Thy brother's sword has +been in my heart.' They reach his house: he calls for one to take his +horse, another to fetch a priest; for his brother shall have Guldborg. +But she refuses. That night dies Ribold, and Guldborg slays herself and +dies in his arms. + +A second and even more dramatic ballad, _Hildebrand and Hilde_, tells a +similar story. + + +A comparison of the above tale with _Earl Brand_ will show a close +agreement in most of the incidents. The chief loss in the English ballad +is the request of Ribold, that Guldborg must not speak his name while he +fights. The very name 'Brand' is doubtless a direct derivative of +'Hildebrand.' Winchester (13.2), as it implies a nunnery, corresponds to +the cloister in the Danish ballad. Earl Brand directs his mother to +marry the King's daughter to his youngest brother; but her refusal, if +she did as Guldborg did, has been lost. + + +_The Douglas Tragedy_, a beautiful but fragmentary version, is, says +Scott, 'one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed complete +locality.' The ascribed locality, if more complete, is no more probable +than any other: to ascribe any definite locality to a ballad is in all +cases a waste of time and labour. + +_The Child of Ell_, in the Percy Folio, _may_ have contained anything; +but immediately we approach a point where comparison would be of +interest, we meet an _hiatus valde deflendus_. Percy, in the _Reliques_, +expanded the fragment here given to about five times the length. + + +EARL BRAND + +(From +R. Bell's+ _Ancient Poems, Ballads_, etc.) + + 1. + Oh did ye ever hear o' brave Earl Bran'? + _Ay lally, o lilly lally_ + He courted the king's daughter of fair England + _All i' the night sae early_. + + 2. + She was scarcely fifteen years of age + Till sae boldly she came to his bedside. + + 3. + 'O Earl Bran', fain wad I see + A pack of hounds let loose on the lea.' + + 4. + 'O lady, I have no steeds but one, + And thou shalt ride, and I will run.' + + 5. + 'O Earl Bran', my father has two, + And thou shall have the best o' them a'.' + + 6. + They have ridden o'er moss and moor, + And they met neither rich nor poor. + + 7. + Until they met with old Carl Hood; + He comes for ill, but never for good. + + 8. + 'Earl Bran', if ye love me, + Seize this old earl, and gar him die.' + + 9. + 'O lady fair, it wad be sair, + To slay an old man that has grey hair. + + 10. + 'O lady fair, I'll no do sae, + I'll gie him a pound and let him gae.' + + 11. + 'O where hae ye ridden this lee lang day? + O where hae ye stolen this lady away?' + + 12. + 'I have not ridden this lee lang day, + Nor yet have I stolen this lady away. + + 13. + 'She is my only, my sick sister, + Whom I have brought from Winchester.' + + 14. + 'If she be sick, and like to dead, + Why wears she the ribbon sae red? + + 15. + 'If she be sick, and like to die, + Then why wears she the gold on high?' + + 16. + When he came to this lady's gate, + Sae rudely as he rapped at it. + + 17. + 'O where's the lady o' this ha'?' + 'She's out with her maids to play at the ba'.' + + 18. + 'Ha, ha, ha! ye are a' mista'en: + Gae count your maidens o'er again. + + 19. + 'I saw her far beyond the moor + Away to be the Earl o' Bran's whore.' + + 20. + The father armed fifteen of his best men, + To bring his daughter back again. + + 21. + O'er her left shoulder the lady looked then: + 'O Earl Bran', we both are tane.' + + 22. + 'If they come on me ane by ane, + Ye may stand by and see them slain. + + 23. + 'But if they come on me one and all, + Ye may stand by and see me fall.' + + 24. + They have come on him ane by ane, + And he has killed them all but ane. + + 25. + And that ane came behind his back, + And he's gi'en him a deadly whack. + + 26. + But for a' sae wounded as Earl Bran' was, + He has set his lady on her horse. + + 27. + They rode till they came to the water o' Doune, + And then he alighted to wash his wounds. + + 28. + 'O Earl Bran', I see your heart's blood!' + ''Tis but the gleat o' my scarlet hood.' + + 29. + They rode till they came to his mother's gate, + And sae rudely as he rapped at it. + + 30. + 'O my son's slain, my son's put down, + And a' for the sake of an English loun.' + + 31. + 'O say not sae, my dear mother, + But marry her to my youngest brother. + + 32. + 'This has not been the death o' ane, + But it's been that o' fair seventeen.' + + +THE DOUGLAS TRAGEDY + +(From +Scott's+ _Minstrelsy_) + + 1. + 'Rise up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,' she says, + 'And put on your armour so bright; + Let it never be said that a daughter of thine + Was married to a lord under night. + + 2. + 'Rise up, rise up, my seven bold sons, + And put on your armour so bright; + And take better care of your youngest sister, + For your eldest's awa' the last night!' + + 3. + He's mounted her on a milk-white steed, + And himself on a dapple grey, + With a bugelet horn hung down by his side, + And lightly they rode away. + + 4. + Lord William lookit o'er his left shoulder, + To see what he could see, + And there he spy'd her seven brethren bold + Come riding over the lee. + + 5. + 'Light down, light down, Lady Margret,' he said, + 'And hold my steed in your hand, + Until that against your seven brethren bold, + And your father, I mak' a stand.' + + 6. + She held his steed in her milk-white hand, + And never shed one tear, + Until that she saw her seven brethren fa', + And her father hard fighting, who lov'd her so dear. + + 7. + 'O hold your hand, Lord William!' she said, + 'For your strokes they are wondrous sair; + True lovers I can get many a ane, + But a father I can never get mair.' + + 8. + O she's ta'en out her handkerchief, + It was o' the holland sae fine, + And aye she dighted her father's bloody wounds, + That were redder than the wine. + + 9. + 'O chuse, O chuse, Lady Margret,' he said, + 'O whether will ye gang or bide?' + 'I'll gang, I'll gang, Lord William,' she said, + 'For ye have left me no other guide.' + + 10. + He's lifted her on a milk-white steed, + And himself on a dapple grey, + With a bugelet horn hung down by his side, + And slowly they baith rade away. + + 11. + O they rade on, and on they rade, + And a' by the light of the moon, + Until they came to yon wan water, + And there they lighted down. + + 12. + They lighted down to tak' a drink + Of the spring that ran sae clear: + And down the stream ran his gude heart's blood, + And sair she gan to fear. + + 13. + 'Hold up, hold up, Lord William,' she says, + 'For I fear that you are slain!' + ''Tis naething but the shadow of my scarlet cloak, + That shines in the water sae plain.' + + 14. + O they rade on, and on they rade, + And a' by the light of the moon, + Until they cam' to his mother's ha' door, + And there they lighted down. + + 15. + 'Get up, get up, lady mother,' he says, + 'Get up, and let me in! + Get up, get up, lady mother,' he says, + 'For this night my fair ladye I've win. + + 16. + 'O mak' my bed, lady mother,' he says, + 'O mak' it braid and deep, + And lay Lady Margret close at my back, + And the sounder I will sleep.' + + 17. + Lord William was dead lang ere midnight, + Lady Margret lang ere day, + And all true lovers that go thegither, + May they have mair luck than they! + + 18. + Lord William was buried in St. Mary's kirk, + Lady Margret in Mary's quire; + Out o' the lady's grave grew a bonny red rose, + And out o' the knight's a briar. + + 19. + And they twa met, and they twa plat, + And fain they wad be near; + And a' the warld might ken right weel, + They were twa lovers dear. + + 20. + But bye and rade the Black Douglas, + And wow but he was rough! + For he pull'd up the bonny brier, + And flang't in St. Mary's Loch. + + + [Annotations: + 8.3: 'dighted,' dressed.] + + +THE CHILD OF ELL + + (_Fragment: from the Percy Folio_) + + 1. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + Sayes, 'Christ thee saue, good child of Ell, + Christ saue thee & thy steede! + + 2. + 'My father sayes he will noe meate, + Nor his drinke shall doe him noe good, + Till he haue slaine the child of Ell, + & haue seene his hart's blood.' + + 3. + 'I wold I were in my sadle sett, + & a mile out of the towne, + I did not care for your father + & all his merrymen. + + 4. + 'I wold I were in my sadle sett + & a litle space him froe, + I did not care for your father + & all that long him to!' + + 5. + He leaned ore his saddle bow, + To kisse this lady good; + The teares that went them 2 betweene + Were blend water & blood. + + 6. + He sett himselfe on one good steed, + This lady on one palfray, + & sett his litle horne to his mouth, + & roundlie he rode away. + + 7. + He had not ridden past a mile, + A mile out of the towne, + Her father was readye with her 7 brether, + He said, 'Sett thou my daughter downe! + For it ill beseemes thee, thou false churles sonne, + To carry her forth of this towne!' + + 8. + 'But lowd thou lyest, Sir Iohn the Knight, + Thou now doest lye of me; + A knight me gott, & a lady me bore; + Soe neuer did none by thee. + + 9. + 'But light now downe, my lady gay, + Light downe & hold my horsse, + Whilest I & your father & your brether + Doe play vs at this crosse. + + 10. + 'But light now downe, my owne trew loue, + & meeklye hold my steede, + Whilest your father [and your brether] bold + ... ... ... + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: The maiden is speaking. + 5.4: 'blend,' blended, mixed. + 6.2: 'on': the MS. gives 'of.' + 10.3: The rest (about nine stt.) is missing.] + + + + +LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET + + ++The Text+ is from Percy's _Reliques_ (vol. ii., 1765: vol. iii., 1767). +In the latter edition he also gives the English version of the ballad +earlier in the same volume. + ++The Story.+--This ballad, as it is one of the most beautiful, is also +one of the most popular. It should be compared with _Fair Margaret and +Sweet William_, in which the forlorn maid dies of grief, not by the hand +of her rival. + + A series of Norse ballads tell much the same tale, but in none is the +'friends' will' a crucial point. Chansons from Burgundy, Bretagne, +Provence, and northern Italy, faintly echo the story. + + Lord Thomas his mither says that Fair Annet has no 'gowd and gear'; +yet later on we find that Annet's father can provide her with a horse +shod with silver and gold, and four-and-twenty silver bells in his mane; +she is attended by a large company, her cleading skinkles, and her belt +is of pearl. + + +LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET + + 1. + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet + Sate a' day on a hill; + Whan night was cum, and sun was sett, + They had not talkt their fill. + + 2. + Lord Thomas said a word in jest, + Fair Annet took it ill: + 'A, I will nevir wed a wife + Against my ain friends' will.' + + 3. + 'Gif ye wull nevir wed a wife, + A wife wull neir wed yee': + Sae he is hame to tell his mither, + And knelt upon his knee. + + 4. + 'O rede, O rede, mither,' he says, + 'A gude rede gie to mee: + O sall I tak the nut-browne bride, + And let Faire Annet bee?' + + 5. + 'The nut-browne bride haes gowd and gear, + Fair Annet she has gat nane; + And the little beauty Fair Annet haes, + O it wull soon be gane.' + + 6. + And he has till his brother gane: + 'Now, brother, rede ye mee; + A, sall I marrie the nut-browne bride, + And let Fair Annet bee?' + + 7. + 'The nut-browne bride has oxen, brother, + The nut-browne bride has kye: + I wad hae ye marrie the nut-browne bride, + And cast Fair Annet bye.' + + 8. + 'Her oxen may dye i' the house, billie, + And her kye into the byre, + And I sall hae nothing to mysell + Bot a fat fadge by the fyre.' + + 9. + And he has till his sister gane: + 'Now sister, rede ye mee; + O sall I marrie the nut-browne bride, + And set Fair Annet free?' + + 10. + 'I'se rede ye tak Fair Annet, Thomas, + And let the browne bride alane; + Lest ye sould sigh, and say, Alace, + What is this we brought hame!' + + 11. + 'No, I will tak my mither's counsel, + And marrie me owt o' hand; + And I will tak the nut-browne bride; + Fair Annet may leive the land.' + + 12. + Up then rose Fair Annet's father, + Twa hours or it wer day, + And he is gane into the bower + Wherein Fair Annet lay. + + 13. + 'Rise up, rise up, Fair Annet,' he says, + 'Put on your silken sheene; + Let us gae to St. Marie's kirke, + And see that rich weddeen.' + + 14. + 'My maides, gae to my dressing-roome, + And dress to me my hair; + Whaireir yee laid a plait before, + See yee lay ten times mair. + + 15. + 'My maides, gae to my dressing-room, + And dress to me my smock; + The one half is o' the holland fine, + The other o' needle-work.' + + 16. + The horse Fair Annet rade upon, + He amblit like the wind; + Wi' siller he was shod before, + Wi' burning gowd behind. + + 17. + Four and twanty siller bells + Wer a' tyed till his mane, + And yae tift o' the norland wind, + They tinkled ane by ane. + + 18. + Four and twanty gay gude knichts + Rade by Fair Annet's side, + And four and twanty fair ladies, + As gin she had bin a bride. + + 19. + And whan she cam to Marie's kirk, + She sat on Marie's stean: + The cleading that Fair Annet had on + It skinkled in their een. + + 20. + And whan she cam into the kirk, + She shimmered like the sun; + The belt that was about her waist, + Was a' wi' pearles bedone. + + 21. + She sat her by the nut-browne bride, + And her een they wer sae clear, + Lord Thomas he clean forgat the bride, + Whan Fair Annet drew near. + + 22. + He had a rose into his hand, + He gae it kisses three, + And reaching by the nut-browne bride, + Laid it on Fair Annet's knee. + + 23. + Up than spak the nut-browne bride, + She spak wi' meikle spite: + 'And whair gat ye that rose-water, + That does mak yee sae white?' + + 24. + 'O I did get the rose-water + Whair ye wull neir get nane, + For I did get that very rose-water + Into my mither's wame.' + + 25. + The bride she drew a long bodkin + Frae out her gay head-gear, + And strake Fair Annet unto the heart, + That word spak nevir mair. + + 26. + Lord Thomas he saw Fair Annet wex pale, + And marvelit what mote bee; + But whan he saw her dear heart's blude, + A' wood-wroth wexed hee. + + 27. + He drew his dagger, that was sae sharp, + That was sae sharp and meet, + And drave it into the nut-browne bride, + That fell deid at his feit. + + 28. + 'Now stay for me, dear Annet,' he sed, + 'Now stay, my dear,' he cry'd; + Then strake the dagger untill his heart, + And fell deid by her side. + + 29. + Lord Thomas was buried without kirk-wa', + Fair Annet within the quiere, + And o' the tane thair grew a birk, + The other a bonny briere. + + 30. + And ay they grew, and ay they threw, + As they wad faine be neare; + And by this ye may ken right weil + They were twa luvers deare. + + + [Annotations: + 4.1: 'rede,' advise. + 4.3: 'nut-browne' here = dusky, not fair; cp.:-- + 'In the old age black was not counted fair.' + --Shakespeare, _Sonnet_ CXXVII. + 8.4: 'fadge,' _lit._ a thick cake; here figuratively for the thick-set + 'nut-browne bride.' + 17.3: 'yae tift,' [at] every puff. + 19.2: 'stean,' stone. + 19.3: 'cleading,' clothing. + 19.4: 'skinkled,' glittered. + 24.3,4: _i.e._ I was born fair. + 26.4: 'wood-wroth,' raging mad. + 29, 30: This conclusion to a tragic tale of true-love is common to + many ballads; see _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ and especially + _Lord Lovel_. + 30.1: 'threw,' intertwined.] + + + + +THE BROWN GIRL + + ++The Text+ of this ballad was taken down before the end of the +nineteenth century by the Rev. S. Baring Gould, from a blacksmith at +Thrushleton, Devon. + ++The Story+ is a simple little tale which recalls _Barbara Allen_, +_Clerk Sanders_, _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, and others. I have placed +it here for contrast, and in illustration of the disdain of 'brown' +maids. + + +THE BROWN GIRL + + 1. + 'I am as brown as brown can be, + And my eyes as black as sloe; + I am as brisk as brisk can be, + And wild as forest doe. + + 2. + 'My love he was so high and proud, + His fortune too so high, + He for another fair pretty maid + Me left and passed me by. + + 3. + 'Me did he send a love-letter, + He sent it from the town, + Saying no more he loved me, + For that I was so brown. + + 4. + 'I sent his letter back again, + Saying his love I valued not, + Whether that he would fancy me, + Whether that he would not. + + 5. + 'When that six months were overpass'd, + Were overpass'd and gone, + Then did my lover, once so bold, + Lie on his bed and groan. + + 6. + 'When that six months were overpass'd, + Were gone and overpass'd, + O then my lover, once so bold, + With love was sick at last. + + 7. + 'First sent he for the doctor-man: + "You, doctor, me must cure; + The pains that now do torture me + I can not long endure." + + 8. + 'Next did he send from out the town, + O next did send for me; + He sent for me, the brown, brown girl + Who once his wife should be. + + 9. + 'O ne'er a bit the doctor-man + His sufferings could relieve; + O never an one but the brown, brown girl + Who could his life reprieve.' + + 10. + Now you shall hear what love she had + For this poor love-sick man, + How all one day, a summer's day, + She walked and never ran. + + 11. + When that she came to his bedside, + Where he lay sick and weak, + O then for laughing she could not stand + Upright upon her feet. + + 12. + 'You flouted me, you scouted me, + And many another one, + Now the reward is come at last, + For all that you have done.' + + 13. + The rings she took from off her hands, + The rings by two and three: + 'O take, O take these golden rings, + By them remember me.' + + 14. + She had a white wand in her hand, + She strake him on the breast: + 'My faith and troth I give back to thee, + So may thy soul have rest.' + + 15. + 'Prithee,' said he, 'forget, forget, + Prithee forget, forgive; + O grant me yet a little space, + That I may be well and live.' + + 16. + 'O never will I forget, forgive, + So long as I have breath; + I'll dance above your green, green grave + Where you do lie beneath.' + + + + +FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM + + ++The Text+ is from a broadside in the Douce Ballads, with a few +unimportant corrections from other stall-copies, as printed by Percy +and Ritson. + ++The Story+ is much the same as _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, except in +the manner of Margaret's death. + + None of the known copies of the ballad are as early in date as _The +Knight of the Burning Pestle_ (a play by Beaumont and Fletcher, first +produced, it is said, in 1611), in which the humorous old Merrythought +sings two fragments of this ballad; stanza 5 in Act II. Sc. 8, and the +first two lines of stanza 2 in Act III. Sc. 5. As there given, the lines +are slightly different. + + The last four stanzas of this ballad again present the stock ending, +for which see the introduction to _Lord Lovel_. The last stanza condemns +itself. + + +FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM + + 1. + As it fell out on a long summer's day, + Two lovers they sat on a hill; + They sat together that long summer's day, + And could not talk their fill. + + 2. + 'I see no harm by you, Margaret, + Nor you see none by me; + Before tomorrow eight a clock + A rich wedding shall you see.' + + 3. + Fair Margaret sat in her bower-window, + A combing of her hair, + And there she spy'd Sweet William and his bride, + As they were riding near. + + 4. + Down she lay'd her ivory comb, + And up she bound her hair; + She went her way forth of her bower, + But never more did come there. + + 5. + When day was gone, and night was come, + And all men fast asleep, + Then came the spirit of Fair Margaret, + And stood at William's feet. + + 6. + 'God give you joy, you two true lovers, + In bride-bed fast asleep; + Loe I am going to my green grass grave, + And am in my winding-sheet.' + + 7. + When day was come, and night was gone, + And all men wak'd from sleep, + Sweet William to his lady said, + 'My dear, I have cause to weep. + + 8. + 'I dream'd a dream, my dear lady; + Such dreams are never good; + I dream'd my bower was full of red swine, + And my bride-bed full of blood.' + + 9. + 'Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured lord, + They never do prove good, + To dream thy bower was full of swine, + And thy bride-bed full of blood.' + + 10. + He called up his merry men all, + By one, by two, and by three, + Saying, 'I'll away to Fair Margaret's bower, + By the leave of my lady.' + + 11. + And when he came to Fair Margaret's bower, + He knocked at the ring; + So ready was her seven brethren + To let Sweet William in. + + 12. + He turned up the covering-sheet: + 'Pray let me see the dead; + Methinks she does look pale and wan, + She has lost her cherry red. + + 13. + 'I'll do more for thee, Margaret, + Than any of thy kin; + For I will kiss thy pale wan lips, + Tho' a smile I cannot win.' + + 14. + With that bespeak her seven brethren, + Making most pitious moan: + 'You may go kiss your jolly brown bride, + And let our sister alone.' + + 15. + 'If I do kiss my jolly brown bride, + I do but what is right; + For I made no vow to your sister dear, + By day or yet by night. + + 16. + 'Pray tell me then how much you'll deal + Of your white bread and your wine; + So much as is dealt at her funeral today + Tomorrow shall be dealt at mine.' + + 17. + Fair Margaret dy'd today, today, + Sweet William he dy'd the morrow; + Fair Margaret dy'd for pure true love, + Sweet William he dy'd for sorrow. + + 18. + Margaret was buried in the lower chancel, + Sweet William in the higher; + Out of her breast there sprung a rose, + And out of his a brier. + + 19. + They grew as high as the church-top, + Till they could grow no higher, + And then they grew in a true lover's knot, + Which made all people admire. + + 20. + There came the clerk of the parish, + As you this truth shall hear, + And by misfortune cut them down, + Or they had now been there. + + + + +LORD LOVEL + + + 'It is silly sooth, + And dallies with the innocence of love, + Like the old age.' + + --_Twelfth Night_, II. 4. + + ++The Text.+--This ballad, concluding a small class of three--_Lord +Thomas and Fair Annet_, and _Fair Margaret and Sweet William_ being the +other two--is distinguished by the fact that the lady dies of hope +deferred. It is a foolish ballad, at the opposite pole to _Lord Thomas +and Fair Annet_, and is pre-eminently one of the class meant only to be +sung, with an effective burden. The text given here, therefore, is that +of a broadside of the year 1846. + ++The Story+ in outline is extremely popular in German and Scandinavian +literature. Of the former the commonest is _Der Ritter und die Maid_, +also found north of Germany; twenty-six different versions in all, in +some of which lilies spring from the grave. In a Swedish ballad a +linden-tree grows out of their bodies; in Danish ballads, roses, lilies, +or lindens. This conclusion, a commonplace in folk-song, occurs also in +a class of Romaic ballads, where a clump of reeds rises from one of the +lovers, and a cypress or lemon-tree from the other, which bend to each +other and mingle their leaves whenever the wind blows. Classical readers +will recall the tale of Philemon and Baucis. + +For further information on this subject, consult the special section of +the Introduction. + +Various other versions of this ballad are named _Lady Ouncebell_, _Lord +Lavel_, _Lord Travell_, and _Lord Revel_. + + +LORD LOVEL + + 1. + Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate, + Combing his milk-white steed, + When up came Lady Nancy Belle, + To wish her lover good speed, speed, + To wish her lover good speed. + + 2. + 'Where are you going, Lord Lovel?' she said, + 'Oh where are you going?' said she; + 'I'm going, my Lady Nancy Belle, + Strange countries for to see.' + + 3. + 'When will you be back, Lord Lovel?' she said, + 'Oh when will you come back?' said she; + 'In a year, or two, or three at the most, + I'll return to my fair Nancy.' + + 4. + But he had not been gone a year and a day, + Strange countries for to see, + When languishing thoughts came into his head, + Lady Nancy Belle he would go see. + + 5. + So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed, + Till he came to London town, + And there he heard St. Pancras' bells, + And the people all mourning round. + + 6. + 'Oh what is the matter?' Lord Lovel he said, + 'Oh what is the matter?' said he; + 'A lord's lady is dead,' a woman replied, + 'And some call her Lady Nancy.' + + 7. + So he ordered the grave to be opened wide, + And the shroud he turned down, + And there he kissed her clay-cold lips, + Till the tears came trickling down. + + 8. + Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today, + Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow; + Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief, + Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow. + + 9. + Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras' Church, + Lord Lovel was laid in the choir; + And out of her bosom there grew a red rose, + And out of her lover's a briar. + + 10. + They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple too, + And then they could grow no higher; + So there they entwined in a true-lovers' knot, + For all lovers true to admire. + + 1.4,5: A similar repetition of the last line of each verse makes the + refrain throughout. + 10.1: Perhaps a misprint for 'church-steeple top.'--+Child+. + + + + +LADY MAISRY + + ++The Text.+--From the Jamieson-Brown MS. All the other variants agree as +to the main outline of the ballad. + ++The Story.+--Lady Maisry, refusing the young lords of the north +country, and saying that her love is given to an English lord, is +suspected by her father's kitchy-boy, who goes to tell her brother. He +charges her with her fault, reviles her for 'drawing up with an English +lord,' and commands her to renounce him. She refuses, and is condemned +to be burned. A bonny boy bears news of her plight to Lord William, who +leaps to boot and saddle; but he arrives too late to save her, though he +vows vengeance on all her kin, and promises to burn himself last of all. + +Burning was the penalty usually allotted in the romances to a girl +convicted of unchastity. + + +LADY MAISRY + + 1. + The young lords o' the north country + Have all a wooing gone, + To win the love of Lady Maisry, + But o' them she woud hae none. + + 2. + O they hae courted Lady Maisry + Wi' a' kin kind of things; + An' they hae sought her Lady Maisry + Wi' brotches an' wi' rings. + + 3. + An' they ha' sought her Lady Maisry + Frae father and frae mother; + An' they ha' sought her Lady Maisry + Frae sister an' frae brother. + + 4. + An' they ha' follow'd her Lady Maisry + Thro' chamber an' thro' ha'; + But a' that they coud say to her, + Her answer still was Na. + + 5. + 'O ha'd your tongues, young men,' she says, + 'An' think nae mair o' me; + For I've gi'en my love to an English lord, + An' think nae mair o' me.' + + 6. + Her father's kitchy-boy heard that, + An ill death may he dee! + An' he is on to her brother, + As fast as gang coud he. + + 7. + 'O is my father an' my mother well, + But an' my brothers three? + Gin my sister Lady Maisry be well, + There's naething can ail me.' + + 8. + 'Your father an' your mother is well, + But an' your brothers three; + Your sister Lady Maisry's well, + So big wi' bairn gangs she.' + + 9. + 'Gin this be true you tell to me, + My mailison light on thee! + But gin it be a lie you tell, + You sal be hangit hie.' + + 10. + He's done him to his sister's bow'r, + Wi' meikle doole an' care; + An' there he saw her Lady Maisry + Kembing her yallow hair. + + 11. + 'O wha is aught that bairn,' he says, + 'That ye sae big are wi'? + And gin ye winna own the truth, + This moment ye sall dee.' + + 12. + She turn'd her right and roun' about, + An' the kem fell frae her han'; + A trembling seiz'd her fair body, + An' her rosy cheek grew wan. + + 13. + 'O pardon me, my brother dear, + An' the truth I'll tell to thee; + My bairn it is to Lord William, + An' he is betroth'd to me.' + + 14. + 'O coud na ye gotten dukes, or lords, + Intill your ain country, + That ye draw up wi' an English dog, + To bring this shame on me? + + 15. + 'But ye maun gi' up the English lord, + Whan youre young babe is born; + For, gin you keep by him an hour langer, + Your life sall be forlorn.' + + 16. + 'I will gi' up this English blood, + Till my young babe be born; + But the never a day nor hour langer, + Tho' my life should be forlorn.' + + + 17. + 'O whare is a' my merry young men, + Whom I gi' meat and fee, + To pu' the thistle and the thorn, + To burn this wile whore wi'?' + + 18. + 'O whare will I get a bonny boy, + To help me in my need, + To rin wi' hast to Lord William, + And bid him come wi' speed?' + + 19. + O out it spake a bonny boy, + Stood by her brother's side: + 'O I would run your errand, lady, + O'er a' the world wide. + + 20. + 'Aft have I run your errands, lady, + Whan blawn baith win' and weet; + But now I'll rin your errand, lady, + Wi' sa't tears on my cheek.' + + 21. + O whan he came to broken briggs, + He bent his bow and swam, + An' whan he came to the green grass growin', + He slack'd his shoone and ran. + + 22. + O whan he came to Lord William's gates, + He baed na to chap or ca', + But set his bent bow till his breast, + An' lightly lap the wa'; + An', or the porter was at the gate, + The boy was i' the ha'. + + 23. + 'O is my biggins broken, boy? + Or is my towers won? + Or is my lady lighter yet, + Of a dear daughter or son?' + + 24. + 'Your biggin is na broken, sir, + Nor is your towers won; + But the fairest lady in a' the lan' + For you this day maun burn.' + + 25. + 'O saddle me the black, the black, + Or saddle me the brown; + O saddle me the swiftest steed + That ever rade frae a town.' + + 26. + Or he was near a mile awa', + She heard his wild horse sneeze: + 'Mend up the fire, my false brother, + It's na come to my knees.' + + 27. + O whan he lighted at the gate, + She heard his bridle ring; + 'Mend up the fire, my false brother, + It's far yet frae my chin. + + 28. + 'Mend up the fire to me, brother, + Mend up the fire to me; + For I see him comin' hard an' fast, + Will soon men' 't up to thee. + + 29. + 'O gin my hands had been loose, Willy, + Sae hard as they are boun', + I would have turn'd me frae the gleed, + And castin out your young son.' + + 30. + 'O I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, + Your father an' your mother; + An' I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, + Your sister an' your brother. + + 31. + 'An' I'll gar burn for you, Maisry, + The chief of a' your kin; + An' the last bonfire that I come to, + Mysel' I will cast in.' + + + [Annotations: + 5.1: 'ha'd' = _haud_, hold. + 9.2: 'mailison,' curse. + 11.1: 'is aught,' owns. + 15.4: 'forlorn,' forfeit. + 20.2: _i.e._ in driving wind and rain. + 21: A stock ballad-stanza. + 22.2: 'baed,' stayed; 'chap,' knock. + 22.4: 'lap,' leapt. + 23.1: 'biggins,' buildings. + 29.3: 'gleed,' burning coal, fire. + 30.1: 'gar,' make, cause.] + + + [Illustration] + + + + +THE CRUEL BROTHER + + ++The Text+ is that obtained in 1800 by Alexander Fraser Tytler from Mrs. +Brown of Falkland, and by him committed to writing. The first ten and +the last two stanzas show corruption, but the rest of the ballad is in +the best style. + ++The Story+ emphasises the necessity of asking the consent of a brother +to the marriage of his sister, and therefore the title _The Cruel +Brother_ is a misnomer. In ballad-times, the brother would have been +well within his rights; it was rather a fatal oversight of the +bridegroom that caused the tragedy. + +Danish and German ballads echo the story, though in the commonest German +ballad, _Graf Friedrich_, the bride receives an _accidental_ wound, and +that from the bridegroom's own hand. + +The testament of the bride, by which she benefits her friends and leaves +curses on her enemies, is very characteristic of the ballad-style, and +is found in other ballads, as _Lord Ronald_ and _Edward, Edward_. In the +present case, 'sister Grace' obtains what would seem to be a very +doubtful benefit. + + +THE CRUEL BROTHER + + 1. + There was three ladies play'd at the ba', + _With a hey ho and a lillie gay_ + There came a knight and played o'er them a', + _As the primrose spreads so sweetly_. + + 2. + The eldest was baith tall and fair, + But the youngest was beyond compare. + + 3. + The midmost had a graceful mien, + But the youngest look'd like beautie's queen. + + 4. + The knight bow'd low to a' the three, + But to the youngest he bent his knee. + + 5. + The ladie turned her head aside; + The knight he woo'd her to be his bride. + + 6. + The ladie blush'd a rosy red, + And say'd, 'Sir knight, I'm too young to wed.' + + 7. + 'O ladie fair, give me your hand, + And I'll make you ladie of a' my land.' + + 8. + 'Sir knight, ere ye my favour win, + You maun get consent frae a' my kin.' + + 9. + He's got consent frae her parents dear, + And likewise frae her sisters fair. + + 10. + He's got consent frae her kin each one, + But forgot to spiek to her brother John. + + 11. + Now, when the wedding day was come, + The knight would take his bonny bride home. + + 12. + And many a lord and many a knight + Came to behold that ladie bright. + + 13. + And there was nae man that did her see, + But wish'd himself bridegroom to be. + + 14. + Her father dear led her down the stair, + And her sisters twain they kiss'd her there. + + 15. + Her mother dear led her thro' the closs, + And her brother John set her on her horse. + + 16. + She lean'd her o'er the saddle-bow, + To give him a kiss ere she did go. + + 17. + He has ta'en a knife, baith lang and sharp, + And stabb'd that bonny bride to the heart. + + 18. + She hadno ridden half thro' the town, + Until her heart's blude stain'd her gown. + + 19. + 'Ride softly on,' says the best young man, + 'For I think our bonny bride looks pale and wan.' + + 20. + 'O lead me gently up yon hill, + And I'll there sit down, and make my will.' + + 21. + 'O what will you leave to your father dear?' + 'The silver-shod steed that brought me here.' + + 22. + 'What will you leave to your mother dear?' + 'My velvet pall and my silken gear.' + + 23. + 'What will you leave to your sister Anne?' + 'My silken scarf and my gowden fan.' + + 24. + 'What will you leave to your sister Grace?' + 'My bloody cloaths to wash and dress.' + + 25. + 'What will you leave to your brother John?' + 'The gallows-tree to hang him on.' + + 26. + 'What will you leave to your brother John's wife?' + 'The wilderness to end her life.' + + 27. + This ladie fair in her grave was laid, + And many a mass was o'er her said. + + 28. + But it would have made your heart right sair, + To see the bridegroom rive his hair. + + 1.2,4: It should be remembered that the refrain is supposed to be + sung with each verse, here and elsewhere. + 15.1: 'closs,' close. + 28.2: 'rive,' tear. + + + + +THE NUTBROWN MAID + + ++The Text+ is from Arnold's _Chronicle_, of the edition which, from +typographical evidence, is said to have been printed at Antwerp in 1502 +by John Doesborowe. Each stanza is there printed in six long lines. +Considerable variations appear in later editions. There is also a +Balliol MS. (354), which contains a contemporary version, and the Percy +Folio contains a corrupt version. + +This should not be considered as a ballad proper; it is rather a +'dramatic lyric.' Its history, however, is quite as curious as that of +many ballads. It occurs, as stated above, in the farrago known as the +_Chronicle_ of Richard Arnold, inserted between a list of the 'tolls' +due on merchandise entering or leaving the port of Antwerp, and a table +giving Flemish weights and moneys in terms of the corresponding English +measures. Why such a poem should be printed in such incongruous +surroundings, what its date or who its author was, are questions +impossible to determine. Its position here is perhaps almost as +incongruous as in its original place. + +From 3.9 to the end of the last verse but one, it is a dialogue between +an earl's son and a baron's daughter, in alternate stanzas; a prologue +and an epilogue are added by the author. + +Matthew Prior printed the poem in his works, in order to contrast it +with his own version, _Henry and Emma_, which appealed to contemporary +taste as more elegant than its rude original. + + +THE NUTBROWN MAID + + 1. + Be it right, or wrong, these men among + On women do complaine; + Affermyng this, how that it is + A labour spent in vaine, + To loue them wele; for neuer a dele, + They loue a man agayne; + For lete a man do what he can, + Ther fouour to attayne, + Yet, yf a newe to them pursue, + Ther furst trew louer than + Laboureth for nought; and from her though[t] + He is a bannisshed man. + + 2. + I say not nay, bat that all day + It is bothe writ and sayde + That womans fayth is as who saythe + All utterly decayed; + But neutheles, right good wytnes + In this case might be layde; + That they loue trewe, and contynew, + Recorde the Nutbrowne maide: + Which from her loue, whan, her to proue, + He cam to make his mone, + Wolde not departe, for in her herte, + She louyd but hym allone. + + 3. + Than betwene us lete us discusse, + What was all the maner + Betwene them too; we wyll also + Tell all they payne in fere, + That she was in; now I begynne, + Soo that ye me answere; + Wherfore, ye, that present be + I pray you geue an eare. + I am the knyght; I cum be nyght, + As secret as I can; + Sayng, alas! thus stondyth the cause, + I am a bannisshed man. + + 4. + And I your wylle for to fulfylle + In this wyl not refuse; + Trusting to shewe, in wordis fewe, + That men haue an ille use + To ther owne shame wymen to blame, + And causeles them accuse; + Therfore to you I answere nowe, + All wymen to excuse,-- + Myn owne hert dere, with you what chiere? + I prey you, tell anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you allon. + + 5. + It stondith so; a dede is do, + Wherfore moche harme shal growe; + My desteny is for to dey + A shamful dethe, I trowe; + Or ellis to flee: the ton must bee. + None other wey I knowe, + But to withdrawe as an outlaw, + And take me to my bowe. + Wherefore, adew, my owne hert trewe, + None other red I can: + For I muste to the grene wode goo, + Alone a bannysshed man. + + 6. + O Lorde, what is this worldis blisse, + That chaungeth as the mone! + My somers day in lusty may + Is derked before the none. + I here you saye farwel: nay, nay, + We depart not soo sone. + Why say ye so? wheder wyll ye goo? + Alas! what haue ye done? + Alle my welfare to sorow and care + Shulde chaunge, yf ye were gon; + For, in [my] mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 7. + I can beleue, it shal you greue, + And somwhat you distrayne; + But, aftyrwarde, your paynes harde + Within a day or tweyne + Shall sone aslake; and ye shall take + Comfort to you agayne. + Why shuld ye nought? for, to make thought, + Your labur were in vayne. + And thus I do; and pray you, loo, + As hertely as I can; + For I must too the grene wode goo, + Alone a banysshed man. + + 8. + Now, syth that ye haue shewed to me + The secret of your mynde, + I shalbe playne to you agayne, + Lyke as ye shal me fynde. + Syth it is so, that ye wyll goo, + I wol not leue behynde; + Shall neuer be sayd, the Nutbrowne mayd, + Was to her loue unkind: + Make you redy, for soo am I, + All though it were anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 9. + Yet I you rede take good hede + Whan men wyl thynke, and sey; + Of yonge, and olde, it shalbe tolde, + That ye be gone away, + Your wanton wylle for to fulfylle, + In grene wood you to play; + And that ye myght from your delyte + Noo lenger make delay: + Rather than ye shuld thus for me + Be called an ylle woman, + Yet wolde I to the grene wodde goo, + Alone a banyshed man. + + 10. + Though it be songe of olde and yonge, + That I shuld be to blame, + Theirs be the charge, that speke so large + In hurting of my name: + For I wyl proue that feythful loue + It is deuoyd of shame; + In your distresse and heuynesse, + To parte wyth you, the same: + And sure all thoo, that doo not so, + Trewe louers ar they noon; + But, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 11. + I councel yow, remembre howe + It is noo maydens lawe, + Nothing to dought, but to renne out + To wod with an outlawe; + For ye must there in your hande bere + A bowe to bere and drawe; + And, as a theef, thus must ye lyeue, + Euer in drede and awe, + By whiche to yow gret harme myght grow: + Yet had I leuer than, + That I had too the grenewod goo, + Alone a banysshyd man. + + 12. + I thinke not nay, but as ye saye, + It is noo maydens lore: + But loue may make me for your sake, + As ye haue said before + To com on fote, to hunte, and shote, + To gete us mete and store; + For soo that I your company + May haue, I aske noo more: + From whiche to parte, it makith myn herte + As colde as ony ston; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 13. + For an outlawe, this is the lawe, + That men hym take and binde; + Wythout pytee hanged to bee, + And wauer with the wynde. + Yf I had neede, (as God forbede!) + What rescous coude ye finde? + Forsothe, I trowe, you and your bowe + Shuld drawe for fere behynde: + And noo merueyle; for lytel auayle + Were in your councel than: + Wherfore I too the woode wyl goo + Alone a banysshd man. + + 14. + Ful wel knowe ye, that wymen bee + Ful febyl for to fyght; + Noo womanhed is it in deede + To bee bolde as a knight: + Yet, in suche fere, yf that ye were + Amonge enemys day and nyght, + I wolde wythstonde, with bowe in hande, + To greue them as I myght, + And you to saue; as wymen haue + From deth many one: + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 15. + Yet take good hede, for euer I drede + That ye coude not sustein + The thorney wayes, the depe valeis, + The snowe, the frost, the reyn, + The colde, the hete: for drye, or wete, + We must lodge on the playn; + And, us abowe, noon other roue + But a brake bussh or twayne: + Which sone shulde greue you, I beleue; + And ye wolde gladly than + That I had too the grenewode goo, + Alone a banysshyd man. + + 16. + Syth I haue here ben partynere + With you of joy and blysse, + I must also parte of your woo + Endure, as reason is: + Yet am I sure of oon plesure; + And, shortly, it is this: + That, where ye bee, me semeth, perde, + I coude not fare amysse, + Wythout more speche, I you beseche + That we were soon agone; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde, + I loue but you alone. + + 17. + Yef ye goo thedyr, ye must consider, + Whan ye haue lust to dyne + Ther shal no mete before to gete, + Nor drinke, beer, ale, ne wine; + Ne shetis clene, to lye betwene, + Made of thred and twyne; + Noon other house but leuys and bowes + To keuer your hed and myn, + Loo, myn herte swete, this ylle dyet + Shuld make you pale and wan; + Wherfore I to the wood wyl goo, + Alone, a banysshid man. + + 18. + Amonge the wylde dere, suche an archier, + As men say that ye bee, + Ne may not fayle of good vitayle + Where is so grete plente: + And watir cleere of the ryuere + Shalbe ful swete to me; + Wyth whiche in hele I shal right wele + Endure, as ye shal see; + And, or we goo, a bed or twoo + I can prouide anoon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 19. + Loo, yet before ye must doo more, + Yf ye wyl goo with me; + As cutte your here up by your ere, + Your kirtel by the knee; + Wyth bowe in hande, for to withstonde + Your enmys, yf nede bee: + And this same nyght before daylyght, + To woodwarde wyl I flee. + And ye wyl all this fulfylle, + Doo it shortely as ye can: + Ellis wil I to the grenewode goo, + Alone, a banysshyd man. + + 20. + I shal as now do more for you + That longeth to womanhed; + To short my here, a bowe to bere, + To shote in tyme of nede. + O my swete mod[er], before all other + For you haue I most drede: + But now, adiew! I must ensue + Wher fortune duth me leede. + All this make ye: now lete us flee; + The day cum fast upon; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 21. + Nay, nay, not soo; ye shal not goo, + And I shal telle you why,-- + Your appetyte is to be lyght + Of loue, I wele aspie: + For, right as ye haue sayd to me, + In lyke wyse hardely + Ye wolde answere who so euer it were, + In way of company. + It is sayd of olde, sone hote, sone colde; + And so is a woman. + Wherfore I too the woode wly goo, + Alone, a banysshid man. + + 22. + Yef ye take hede, yet is noo nede + Suche wordis to say by me; + For ofte ye preyd, and longe assayed, + Or I you louid, parde: + And though that I of auncestry + A barons doughter bee, + Yet haue you proued how I you loued + A squyer of lowe degree; + And euer shal, whatso befalle-- + To dey therfore anoon; + For, in my mynde, of al mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 23. + A barons childe to be begyled, + It were a curssed dede; + To be felow with an outlawe, + Almyghty God forbede. + Yet bettyr were the power squyere + Alone to forest yede, + Than ye shal saye another day, + That, be [my] wyked dede, + Ye were betrayed: wherfore, good maide, + The best red that I can, + Is, that I too the grenewode goo, + Alone, a banysshed man. + + 24. + Whatso euer befalle, I neuer shal + Of this thing you upbrayd: + But yf ye goo, and leue me soo, + Than haue ye me betraied. + Remembre you wele, how that ye dele + For, yf ye as the[y] sayd, + Be so unkynde, to leue behynde + Your loue, the notbrowne maide, + Trust me truly, that I [shall] dey + Sone after ye be gone; + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 25. + Yef that ye went, ye shulde repent; + For in the forest nowe + I haue purueid me of a maide, + Whom I loue more than you; + Another fayrer, than euer ye were, + I dare it wel auowe; + And of you bothe eche shulde be wrothe + With other, as I trowe; + It were myn ease, to lyue in pease, + So wyl I, yf I can: + Wherfore I to the wode wyl goo, + Alone a banysshid man. + + 26. + Though in the wood I undirstode + Ye had a paramour, + All this may nought reineue my thought, + But that I wil be your; + And she shal fynde me soft and kynde, + And curteis euery our; + Glad to fulfylle all that she wylle + Commaunde me to my power: + For had ye, loo, an hundred moo, + Yet wolde I be that one, + For, in my mynde, of all mankynde, + I loue but you alone. + + 27. + Myn owne dere loue, I see the proue + That ye be kynde and trewe, + Of mayde, and wyf, in al my lyf, + The best that euer I knewe. + Be mery and glad, be no more sad, + The case is chaunged newe; + For it were ruthe, that, for your trouth, + Ye shuld haue cause to rewe. + Be not dismayed; whatsoeuer I sayd + To you, whan I began, + I wyl not too the grene wod goo, + I am noo banysshyd man. + + 28. + This tidingis be more glad to me, + Than to be made a quene, + Yf I were sure they shuld endure; + But it is often seen, + When men wyl breke promyse, they speke + The wordis on the splene; + Ye shape some wyle me to begyle + And stele fro me, I wene: + Than were the case wurs than it was, + And I more woobegone: + For, in my mynde, of al mankynde + I loue but you alone. + + 29. + Ye shal not nede further to drede; + I wyl not disparage + You, (God defende!) syth you descend + Of so grete a lynage. + Now understonde; to Westmerlande, + Whiche is my herytage, + I wyl you brynge; and wyth a rynge, + By wey of maryage + I wyl you take, and lady make, + As shortly as I can: + Thus haue ye wone an erles son + And not a banysshyd man. + + 30. + Here may ye see, that wymen be + In loue, meke, kinde, and stable; + Late neuer man repreue them than, + Or calle them variable; + But rather prey God that we may + To them be comfortable; + Whiche somtyme prouyth suche as loueth, + Yf they be charitable. + For sith men wolde that wymen sholde + Be meke to them echeon, + Moche more ought they to God obey, + And serue but Hym alone. + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'among,' from time to time. + 1.5: 'neuer a dele,' not at all. + 3.4: 'they' = the. 'in fere,' in company. 'and fere' (= fear) is + usually printed. + 5.1: 'do,' done. + 5.5: 'ton,' one. + 5.10: _i.e._ I know no other advice. + 6.4: 'derked,' darkened. + 6.7: 'wheder,' whither. + 7.2: 'distrayne,' affect. + 7.5: 'aslake,' abate. + 10.9: 'thoo,' those. + 11.3: 'renne,' run. + 11.6: A later edition of the _Chronicle_ reads-- + 'A bowe, redy to drawe.' + 13.6: 'rescous,' rescue. Another edition has 'socurs.' + 15.7: 'abowe,' above; 'roue,' roof. + 18.7: 'hele,' health. + 19.3: 'here,' hair; 'ere,' ear. + 19.9: 'And,' If. + 20.7: 'ensue,' follow. + 22.2: The type is broken in the 1502 edition, which reads 'to say + be....' + 23.6: 'yede,' went. + 25.3: 'purueid (= purveyed) me,' provided myself. + 26.9: 'moo' = mo, _i.e._ more. + 30.10: 'echeon,' each one.] + + + + +FAIR JANET + + ++The Text.+--Of seven or eight variants of this ballad, only three +preserve the full form of the story. On the whole, the one here +given--from Sharp's _Ballad Book_, as sung by an old woman in +Perthshire--is the best, as the other two--from Herd's _Scots Songs_, +and the Kinloch MSS.--are slightly contaminated by extraneous matter. + ++The Story+ is a simple ballad-tale of 'true-love twinned'; but the +episode of the dancing forms a link with a number of German and +Scandinavian ballads, in which compulsory dancing and horse-riding is +made a test of the guilt of an accused maiden. In the Scotch ballad the +horse-riding has shrunk almost to nothing, and the dancing is not +compulsory. The resemblance is faint, and the barbarities of the +Continental versions are happily wanting in our ballad. + + +FAIR JANET + + 1. + 'Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, + Ye maun gang to him soon; + Ye maun gang to your father, Janet, + In case that his days are dune.' + + 2. + Janet's awa' to her father, + As fast as she could hie: + 'O what's your will wi' me, father? + O what's your will wi' me?' + + 3. + 'My will wi' you, Fair Janet,' he said, + 'It is both bed and board; + Some say that ye lo'e Sweet Willie, + But ye maun wed a French lord.' + + 4. + 'A French lord maun I wed, father? + A French lord maun I wed? + Then, by my sooth,' quo' Fair Janet, + 'He's ne'er enter my bed.' + + 5. + Janet's awa' to her chamber, + As fast as she could go; + Wha's the first ane that tapped there, + But Sweet Willie her jo? + + 6. + 'O we maun part this love, Willie, + That has been lang between; + There's a French lord coming o'er the sea, + To wed me wi' a ring; + There's a French lord coming o'er the sea, + To wed and tak' me hame.' + + 7. + 'If we maun part this love, Janet, + It causeth mickle woe; + If we maun part this love, Janet, + It makes me into mourning go.' + + 8. + 'But ye maun gang to your three sisters, + Meg, Marion, and Jean; + Tell them to come to Fair Janet, + In case that her days are dune.' + + 9. + Willie's awa' to his three sisters, + Meg, Marion, and Jean: + 'O haste, and gang to Fair Janet, + I fear that her days are dune.' + + 10. + Some drew to them their silken hose, + Some drew to them their shoon, + Some drew to them their silk manteils, + Their coverings to put on, + And they're awa' to Fair Janet, + By the hie light o' the moon. + + ... ... ... + + 11. + 'O I have born this babe, Willie, + Wi' mickle toil and pain; + Take hame, take hame, your babe, Willie, + For nurse I dare be nane.' + + 12. + He's tane his young son in his arms, + And kisst him cheek and chin, + And he's awa' to his mother's bower, + By the hie light o' the moon. + + 13. + 'O open, open, mother,' he says, + 'O open, and let me in; + The rain rains on my yellow hair, + And the dew drops o'er my chin, + And I hae my young son in my arms, + I fear that his days are dune.' + + 14. + With her fingers lang and sma' + She lifted up the pin, + And with her arms lang and sma' + Received the baby in. + + 15. + 'Gae back, gae back now, Sweet Willie, + And comfort your fair lady; + For where ye had but ae nourice, + Your young son shall hae three.' + + 16. + Willie he was scarce awa', + And the lady put to bed, + When in and came her father dear: + 'Make haste, and busk the bride.' + + 17. + 'There's a sair pain in my head, father, + There's a sair pain in my side; + And ill, O ill, am I, father, + This day for to be a bride.' + + 18. + 'O ye maun busk this bonny bride, + And put a gay mantle on; + For she shall wed this auld French lord, + Gin she should die the morn.' + + 19. + Some put on the gay green robes, + And some put on the brown; + But Janet put on the scarlet robes, + To shine foremost throw the town. + + 20. + And some they mounted the black steed, + And some mounted the brown; + But Janet mounted the milk-white steed, + To ride foremost throw the town. + + 21. + 'O wha will guide your horse, Janet? + O wha will guide him best?' + 'O wha but Willie, my true love? + He kens I lo'e him best.' + + 22. + And when they cam' to Marie's kirk, + To tye the haly ban', + Fair Janet's cheek looked pale and wan, + And her colour gaed and cam'. + + 23. + When dinner it was past and done, + And dancing to begin, + 'O we'll go take the bride's maidens, + And we'll go fill the ring.' + + 24. + O ben then cam' the auld French lord, + Saying, 'Bride, will ye dance with me?' + 'Awa', awa', ye auld French Lord, + Your face I downa see.' + + 25. + O ben then cam' now Sweet Willie, + He cam' with ane advance: + 'O I'll go tak' the bride's maidens, + And we'll go tak' a dance.' + + 26. + 'I've seen ither days wi' you, Willie, + And so has mony mae, + Ye would hae danced wi' me mysel', + Let a' my maidens gae.' + + 27. + O ben then cam' now Sweet Willie, + Saying, 'Bride, will ye dance wi' me?' + 'Aye, by my sooth, and that I will, + Gin my back should break in three.' + + 28. + She had nae turned her throw the dance, + Throw the dance but thrice, + Whan she fell doun at Willie's feet, + And up did never rise. + + 29. + Willie's ta'en the key of his coffer, + And gi'en it to his man: + 'Gae hame, and tell my mother dear + My horse he has me slain; + Bid her be kind to my young son, + For father has he nane.' + + 30. + The tane was buried in Marie's kirk, + And the tither in Marie's quire; + Out of the tane there grew a birk, + And the tither a bonny brier. + + + [Annotations: + 5.4: 'jo,' sweetheart. + 15.3: 'nourice,' nurse. + 16.4: 'busk,' dress. + 24.1: 'ben,' into the house. + 24.4: 'downa,' like not to.] + + + + +BROWN ADAM + + ++The Text+ is given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. It was first printed by +Scott, with the omission of the second stanza--perhaps justifiable--and +a few minor changes. He notes that he had seen a copy printed on a +single sheet. + ++The Story+ has a remote parallel in a Danish ballad, extant in +manuscripts of the sixteenth century and later, _Den afhugne Haand_. The +tale is told as follows. Lutzelil, knowing the evil ways of Lawi +Pederson, rejects his proffered love. Lawi vows she shall repent it, and +the maiden is afraid for nine months to go to church, but goes at +Easter. Lawi meets her in a wood, and repeats his offer. She begs him to +do her no harm, feigns compliance, and makes an assignation in the +chamber of her maids. She returns home and tells her father, who watches +for Lawi. When he comes and demands admission, she denies the +assignation. Lawi breaks down the door, and discovers Lutzelil's father +with a drawn sword, with which he cuts off Lawi's hand. + +The reason for objecting to the second stanza as here given is not so +much the inadequacy of a golden hammer, or the unusual whiteness of the +smith's fingers, but the rhyme in the third line. + + +BROWN ADAM + + 1. + O wha woud wish the win' to blaw, + Or the green leaves fa' therewith? + Or wha wad wish a leeler love + Than Brown Adam the Smith? + + 2. + His hammer's o' the beaten gold, + His study's o' the steel, + His fingers white are my delite, + He blows his bellows well. + + 3. + But they ha' banish'd him Brown Adam + Frae father and frae mither, + An' they ha' banish'd him Brown Adam + Frae sister and frae brither. + + 4. + And they ha' banish'd Brown Adam + Frae the flow'r o' a' his kin; + An' he's biggit a bow'r i' the good green wood + Betwen his lady an' him. + + 5. + O it fell once upon a day + Brown Adam he thought lang, + An' he woud to the green wood gang, + To hunt some venison. + + 6. + He's ta'en his bow his arm o'er, + His bran' intill his han', + And he is to the good green wood, + As fast as he coud gang. + + 7. + O he's shot up, an' he's shot down, + The bird upo' the briar, + An' he's sent it hame to his lady, + Bade her be of good cheer. + + 8. + O he's shot up, an' he's shot down, + The bird upo' the thorn, + And sent it hame to his lady, + And hee'd be hame the morn. + + 9. + Whan he came till his lady's bow'r-door + He stood a little forbye, + And there he heard a fu' fa'se knight + Temptin' his gay lady. + + 10. + O he's ta'en out a gay gold ring, + Had cost him mony a poun': + 'O grant me love for love, lady, + An' this sal be your own.' + + 11. + 'I loo Brown Adam well,' she says, + 'I wot sae does he me; + An' I woud na gi' Brown Adam's love + For nae fa'se knight I see.' + + 12. + Out he has ta'en a purse of gold, + Was a' fu' to the string: + 'Grant me but love for love, lady, + An' a' this sal be thine.' + + 13. + 'I loo Brown Adam well,' she says, + 'An' I ken sae does he me; + An' I woudna be your light leman + For mair nor ye coud gie.' + + 14. + Then out has he drawn his lang, lang bran', + An' he's flash'd it in her een: + 'Now grant me love for love, lady, + Or thro' you this sal gang!' + + 15. + 'O,' sighing said that gay lady, + 'Brown Adam tarrys lang!' + Then up it starts Brown Adam, + Says, 'I'm just at your han'.' + + 16. + He's gard him leave his bow, his bow, + He's gard him leave his bran'; + He's gard him leave a better pledge-- + Four fingers o' his right han'. + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: 'leeler,' more loyal. + 2.2: 'study,' stithy, anvil. + 4.3: 'biggit,' built. + 5.2: 'thought lang,' thought (it) tedious; _i.e._ was bored. Cp. + _Young Bekie_, 16.4, etc.; _Johney Scot_, 6.2, and elsewhere. + 9.2: 'forbye,' apart. + 10.1: 'he' is of course the false knight. + 11.1: 'loo,' love. + 12.2: 'string': _i.e._ the top; purses were bags with a running string + to draw the top together. + 15.2: 'lang': the MS. reads long. + 16.1: etc., 'gard,' made.] + + + + +WILLIE O' WINSBURY + + ++The Text+ is from the Campbell MSS. + ++The Story+ was imagined by Kinloch to possess a quasi-historical +foundation: James V. of Scotland, who eventually married Madeleine, +elder daughter of Francis I., having been previously betrothed 'by +treaty' to Marie de Bourbon, daughter of the Duke of Vendome, returned +to Scotland in 1537. The theory is neither probable nor plausible. + + +WILLIE O' WINSBURY + + 1. + The king he hath been a prisoner, + A prisoner lang in Spain, O, + And Willie o' the Winsbury + Has lain lang wi' his daughter at hame, O. + + 2. + 'What aileth thee, my daughter Janet, + Ye look so pale and wan? + Have ye had any sore sickness, + Or have ye been lying wi' a man? + Or is it for me, your father dear, + And biding sae lang in Spain?' + + 3. + 'I have not had any sore sickness, + Nor yet been lying wi' a man; + But it is for you, my father dear, + In biding sae lang in Spain.' + + 4. + 'Cast ye off your berry-brown gown, + Stand straight upon the stone, + That I may ken ye by yere shape, + Whether ye be a maiden or none.' + + 5. + She's coosten off her berry-brown gown, + Stooden straight upo' yon stone; + Her apron was short, her haunches were round, + Her face it was pale and wan. + + 6. + 'Is it to a man o' might, Janet? + Or is it to a man of fame? + Or is it to any of the rank robbers + That's lately come out o' Spain?' + + 7. + 'It is not to a man of might,' she said, + 'Nor is it to a man of fame; + But it is to William of Winsbury; + I could lye nae langer my lane.' + + 8. + The king's called on his merry men all, + By thirty and by three: + 'Go fetch me William of Winsbury, + For hanged he shall be.' + + 9. + But when he cam' the king before, + He was clad o' the red silk; + His hair was like to threeds o' gold, + And his skin was as white as milk. + + 10. + 'It is nae wonder,' said the king, + 'That my daughter's love ye did win; + Had I been a woman, as I am a man, + My bedfellow ye should hae been. + + 11. + 'Will ye marry my daughter Janet, + By the truth of thy right hand? + I'll gi'e ye gold, I'll gi'e ye money, + And I'll gi'e ye an earldom o' land.' + + 12. + 'Yes, I'll marry yere daughter Janet, + By the truth of my right hand; + But I'll hae nane o' yer gold, I'll hae nane o' yer money, + Nor I winna hae an earldom o' land. + + 13. + 'For I hae eighteen corn-mills + Runs all in water clear, + And there's as much corn in each o' them + As they can grind in a year.' + + + + +THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE + + ++The Text+ is from the early part of the Percy Folio, and the ballad is +therefore deficient. Where gaps are marked in the text with a row of +asterisks, about nine stanzas are lost in each case--half a page torn +out by a seventeenth-century maidservant to light a fire! Luckily we can +supply the story from other versions. + ++The Story+, also given in _The Weddynge of Sr Gawen and Dame Ragnell_ +(in the Rawlinson MS. c. 86 in the Bodleian Library), runs as follows:-- + +Shortly after Christmas, Arthur, riding by Tarn Wadling (still so +called, but now pasture-land, in the forest of Inglewood), meets a bold +baron, who challenges him to fight, unless he can win his ransom by +returning on New Year's Day with an answer to the question, What does a +woman most desire? Arthur relates the story to Gawaine, asks him and +others for an answer to the riddle, and collects their suggestions in a +book ('letters,' 24.1). On his way to keep his tryst with the baron, he +meets an unspeakably ugly woman, who offers her assistance; if she will +help him, Arthur says, she shall wed with Gawaine. She gives him the +true answer, A woman will have her will. Arthur meets the baron, and +after proffering the budget of answers, confronts him with the true +answer. The baron exclaims against the ugly woman, whom he asserts to be +his sister. + +Arthur returns to his court, and tells his knights that a wife awaits +one of them on the moor. Sir Lancelot, Sir Steven (who is not mentioned +elsewhere in Arthurian tales), Sir Kay, Sir Bauier (probably Beduer or +Bedivere), Sir Bore (Bors de Gauves), Sir Garrett (Gareth), and Sir +Tristram ride forth to find her. At sight, Sir Kay, without overmuch +chivalry, expresses his disgust, and the rest are unwilling to marry +her. The king explains that he has promised to give her to Sir Gawaine, +who, it seems, bows to Arthur's authority, and weds her. During the +bridal night, she becomes a beautiful young woman. Further to test +Gawaine, she gives him his choice: will he have her fair by day and foul +by night, or foul by day and fair by night? Fair by night, says Gawaine. +And foul to be seen of all by day? she asks. Have your way, says +Gawaine, and breaks the last thread of the spell, as she forthwith +explains: her step-mother had bewitched both her, to haunt the moor in +ugly shape, till some knight should grant her _all_ her will, and her +brother, to challenge all comers to fight him or answer the riddle. + +Similar tales, but with the important variation--undoubtedly indigenous +in the story--that the man who saves his life by answering the riddle +has himself to wed the ugly woman, are told by Gower (_Confessio +Amantis_, Book I.) and Chaucer (_The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe_). The +latter, which is also Arthurian in its setting, was made into a ballad +in the _Crown Garland of Golden Roses_ (_circ._ 1600), compiled by +Richard Johnson. A parallel is also to be found in an Icelandic saga. + + +THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE + + 1. + Kinge Arthur liues in merry Carleile, + & seemely is to see, + & there he hath with him Queene Genever, + That bride soe bright of blee. + + 2. + And there he hath with [him] Queene Genever, + That bride soe bright in bower, + & all his barons about him stoode, + That were both stiffe and stowre. + + 3. + The king kept a royall Christmasse, + Of mirth and great honor, + And when . . . + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 4. + 'And bring me word what thing it is + That a woman [will] most desire; + This shalbe thy ransome, Arthur,' he sayes, + 'For I'le haue noe other hier.' + + 5. + King Arthur then held vp his hand, + According thene as was the law; + He tooke his leaue of the baron there, + & homward can he draw. + + 6. + And when he came to merry Carlile, + To his chamber he is gone, + & ther came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine + As he did make his mone. + + 7. + And there came to him his cozen Sir Gawaine + That was a curteous knight; + 'Why sigh you soe sore, vnckle Arthur,' he said, + 'Or who hath done thee vnright?' + + 8. + 'O peace, O peace, thou gentle Gawaine, + That faire may thee beffall! + For if thou knew my sighing soe deepe, + Thou wold not meruaile att all; + + 9. + 'Ffor when I came to Tearne Wadling, + A bold barron there I fand, + With a great club vpon his backe, + Standing stiffe and strong; + + 10. + 'And he asked me wether I wold fight, + Or from him I shold begone, + Or else I must him a ransome pay + & soe depart him from. + + 11. + 'To fight with him I saw noe cause, + Methought it was not meet, + For he was stiffe & strong with-all, + His strokes were nothing sweete; + + 12. + 'Therefor this is my ransome, Gawaine, + I ought to him to pay: + I must come againe, as I am sworne, + Vpon the Newyeer's day. + + 13. + 'And I must bring him word what thing it is + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 14. + Then King Arthur drest him for to ryde + In one soe rich array + Toward the fore-said Tearne Wadling, + That he might keepe his day. + + 15. + And as he rode over a more, + Hee see a lady where shee sate + Betwixt an oke & a greene hollen; + She was cladd in red scarlett. + + 16. + Then there as shold haue stood her mouth, + Then there was sett her eye, + The other was in her forhead fast + The way that she might see. + + 17. + Her nose was crooked & turnd outward, + Her mouth stood foule a-wry; + A worse formed lady than shee was, + Neuer man saw with his eye. + + 18. + To halch vpon him, King Arthur, + This lady was full faine, + But King Arthur had forgott his lesson, + What he shold say againe. + + 19. + 'What knight art thou,' the lady sayd, + 'That will not speak to me? + Of me be thou nothing dismayd + Tho' I be vgly to see; + + 20. + 'For I haue halched you curteouslye, + & you will not me againe; + Yett I may happen, Sir Knight,' shee said, + 'To ease thee of thy paine.' + + 21. + 'Giue thou ease me, lady,' he said, + 'Or helpe me any thing, + Thou shalt have gentle Gawaine, my cozen, + & marry him with a ring.' + + 22. + 'Why, if I help thee not, thou noble King Arthur, + Of thy owne heart's desiringe, + Of gentle Gawaine . . . + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 23. + And when he came to the Tearne Wadling + The baron there cold he finde, + With a great weapon on his backe, + Standing stiffe and stronge. + + 24. + And then he tooke King Arthur's letters in his hands, + & away he cold them fling, + & then he puld out a good browne sword, + & cryd himselfe a king. + + 25. + And he sayd, 'I haue thee & thy land, Arthur, + To doe as it pleaseth me, + For this is not thy ransome sure, + Therfore yeeld thee to me.' + + 26. + And then bespoke him noble Arthur, + & bad him hold his hand; + '& giue me leaue to speake my mind + In defence of all my land.' + + 27. + He said, 'As I came over a more, + I see a lady where shee sate + Betweene an oke & a green hollen; + She was clad in red scarlett; + + 28. + 'And she says a woman will haue her will, + & this is all her cheef desire: + Doe me right, as thou art a baron of sckill, + This is thy ransome & all thy hyer.' + + 29. + He sayes, 'An early vengeance light on her! + She walkes on yonder more; + It was my sister that told thee this; + & she is a misshappen hore! + + 30. + 'But heer He make mine avow to God + To doe her an euill turne, + For an euer I may thate fowle theefe get, + In a fyer I will her burne.' + + *** *** *** + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: 'blee,' complexion. + 2.4: Perhaps we should read 'stiff in stowre,' a constant expression + in ballads, 'sturdy in fight.' + 11: Arthur's customary bravery and chivalry are not conspicuous in + this ballad. + 18.1: 'halch upon,' salute. + 21.1: 'Giue,' If. + 27.3: 'hollen,' holly. + 28.3: 'sckill,' reason, judgment.] + + ++The 2d Part+ + + 31. + Sir Lancelott & Sir Steven bold + They rode with them that day, + And the formost of the company + There rode the steward Kay. + + 32. + Soe did Sir Bauier and Sir Bore, + Sir Garrett with them soe gay, + Soe did Sir Tristeram that gentle knight, + To the forrest fresh & gay. + + 33. + And when he came to the greene fforrest, + Vnderneath a greene holly tree + Their sate that lady in red scarlet + That vnseemly was to see. + + 34. + Sir Kay beheld this ladys face, + & looked vppon her swire; + 'Whosoeuer kisses this lady,' he sayes, + 'Of his kisse he stands in feare.' + + 35. + Sir Kay beheld the lady againe, + & looked vpon her snout; + 'Whosoeuer kisses this lady,' he saies, + 'Of his kisse he stands in doubt.' + + 36. + 'Peace, cozen Kay,' then said Sir Gawaine, + 'Amend thee of thy life; + For there is a knight amongst vs all + That must marry her to his wife.' + + 37. + 'What! wedd her to wiffe!' then said Sir Kay, + 'In the diuells name, anon! + Gett me a wiffe whereere I may, + For I had rather be slaine!' + + 38. + Then some tooke vp their hawkes in hast, + & some tooke vp their hounds, + & some sware they wold not marry her + For citty nor for towne. + + 39. + And then bespake him noble King Arthur, + & sware there by this day: + 'For a litle foule sight & misliking + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 40. + Then shee said, 'Choose thee, gentle Gawaine, + Truth as I doe say, + Wether thou wilt haue me in this liknesse + In the night or else in the day.' + + 41. + And then bespake him gentle Gawaine, + Was one soe mild of moode, + Sayes, 'Well I know what I wold say, + God grant it may be good! + + 42. + 'To haue thee fowle in the night + When I with thee shold play; + Yet I had rather, if I might, + Haue thee fowle in the day.' + + 43. + 'What! when Lords goe with ther feires,' shee said, + 'Both to the ale & wine? + Alas! then I must hyde my selfe, + I must not goe withinne.' + + 44. + And then bespake him gentle Gawaine; + Said, 'Lady, thats but skill; + And because thou art my owne lady, + Thou shalt haue all thy will.' + + 45. + Then she said, 'Blessed be thou, gentle Gawaine, + This day that I thee see, + For as thou see[st] me att this time, + From hencforth I wil be: + + 46. + 'My father was an old knight, + & yett it chanced soe + That he marryed a younge lady + That brought me to this woe. + + 47. + 'Shee witched me, being a faire young lady, + To the greene forrest to dwell, + & there I must walke in womans likness, + Most like a feend of hell. + + 48. + 'She witched my brother to a carlish b . . . . . + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + *** *** *** + + 49. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + That looked soe foule, & that was wont + On the wild more to goe. + + 50. + 'Come kisse her, brother Kay,' then said Sir Gawaine, + '& amend the of thy liffe; + I sweare this is the same lady + That I marryed to my wiffe.' + + 51. + Sir Kay kissed that lady bright, + Standing vpon his ffeete; + He swore, as he was trew knight, + The spice was neuer soe sweete. + + 52. + 'Well, cozen Gawaine,' sayes Sir Kay, + 'Thy chance is fallen arright, + For thou hast gotten one of the fairest maids + I euer saw with my sight.' + + 53. + 'It is my fortune,' said Sir Gawaine; + 'For my Vnckle Arthur's sake + I am glad as grasse wold be of raine, + Great ioy that I may take.' + + 54. + Sir Gawaine tooke the lady by the one arme, + Sir Kay tooke her by the tother, + They led her straight to King Arthur + As they were brother & brother. + + 55. + King Arthur welcomed them there all, + & soe did lady Geneuer his queene, + With all the knights of the round table + Most seemly to be seene. + + 56. + King Arthur beheld that lady faire + That was soe faire and bright, + He thanked Christ in Trinity + For Sir Gawaine that gentle knight; + + 57. + Soe did the knights, both more and lesse; + Reioyced all that day + For the good chance that hapened was + To Sir Gawaine & his lady gay. + + + [Annotations: + 34.2: 'swire,' neck: the Folio reads _smire_. + 37.4: 'slaine': the Folio gives _shaine_. + 41.2: 'was' (Child's suggestion): the Folio reads _with_. + 43.1: 'feires,' = feres, mates: the Folio reads _seires_. + 44.2: Folio: _but a skill_: see note on 28.3. + 48.1: 'carlish,' churlish.] + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE BOY AND THE MANTLE + + ++Text.+--The Percy Folio is the sole authority for this excellent lively +ballad. It is here given as it stands in the manuscript, except for +division into stanzas. Percy printed the ballad '_verbatim_,'--that is, +with emendations--and also a revised version. + ++The Story+, which exists in countless variations in many lands, is told +from the earliest times in connection with the Arthurian legend-cycle. +Restricting the article used as a criterion of chastity to a mantle, we +find the elements of this ballad existing in French manuscripts of the +thirteenth century (the romance called _Cort Mantel_); in a Norse +translation of this 'fabliau'; in the Icelandic _Mantle Rhymes_ of the +fifteenth century; in the _Scalachronica_ of Sir Thomas Gray of Heton +(_circ._ 1355); in Germany, and in Gaelic (a ballad known in Irish +writings, but not in Scottish); as well as in many other versions. + +The trial by the drinking-horn is a fable equally old, as far as the +evidence goes, and equally widespread; but it is not told elsewhere in +connection with the parallel story of the mantle. Other tests used for +the purpose of discovering infidelity or unchastity are:-- a crown, a +magic bridge (German); a girdle (English; cp. Florimel's girdle in the +_Faery Queen_, Book iv. Canto 5); a bed, a stepping-stone by the +bedside, a chair (Scandinavian); flowers (Sanskrit); a shirt (German and +Flemish); a picture (Italian, translated to England--cp. Massinger's +_The Picture_ (1630), where he localises the story in Hungary); a ring +(French); a mirror (German, French, and Italian); and so forth. + +Caxton, in his preface to _Kyng Arthur_ (1485), says:-- 'Item, in the +castel of Douer ye may see Gauwayn's skull and Cradok's mantel.' Sir +Thomas Gray says the mantle was made into a chasuble, and was preserved +at Glastonbury. + +Thomas Love Peacock says (_The Misfortunes of Elphin_, chap. xii.), +'Tegau Eurvron, or Tegau of the Golden Bosom, was the wife of Caradoc +[Craddocke], and one of the Three Chaste Wives of the island of +Britain.' A similar statement is recorded by Percy at the end of his +'revised and altered' ballad, taking it from 'the Rev. Evan Evans, +editor of the Specimens of Welsh Poetry.' + + +THE BOY AND THE MANTLE + + 1. + In the third day of May + to Carleile did come + A kind curteous child + that cold much of wisdome. + + 2. + A kirtle & a mantle + this child had vppon, + With brauches and ringes + full richelye bedone. + + 3. + He had a sute of silke, + about his middle drawne; + Without he cold of curtesye, + he thought itt much shame. + + 4. + 'God speed thee, King Arthur, + sitting at thy meate! + & the goodly Queene Gueneuer! + I canott her fforgett. + + 5. + 'I tell you lords in this hall, + I hett you all heede, + Except you be the more surer, + is you for to dread.' + + 6. + He plucked out of his potewer, + & longer wold not dwell, + He pulled forth a pretty mantle, + betweene two nut-shells. + + 7. + 'Haue thou here, King Arthure, + haue thou heere of mee; + Give itt to thy comely queene, + shapen as itt is alreadye. + + 8. + 'Itt shall neuer become that wiffe + that hath once done amisse': + Then euery knight in the King's court + began to care for his wiffe. + + 9. + Forth came dame Gueneuer, + to the mantle shee her bid; + The ladye shee was new-fangle, + but yett shee was affrayd. + + 10. + When shee had taken the mantle, + shee stoode as she had beene madd; + It was ffrom the top to the toe + as sheeres had itt shread. + + 11. + One while was itt gaule, + another while was itt greene; + Another while was itt wadded; + ill itt did her beseeme. + + 12. + Another while was it blacke, + & bore the worst hue; + 'By my troth,' quoth King Arthur, + 'I thinke thou be not true.' + + 13. + Shee threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + Fast with a rudd redd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 14. + Shee curst the weauer and the walker + that clothe that had wrought, + & bade a vengeance on his crowne + that hither hath itt brought. + + 15. + 'I had rather be in a wood, + vnder a greene tree, + Then in King Arthurs court, + shamed for to bee.' + + 16. + Kay called forth his ladye, + & bade her come neere; + Saies, 'Madam, & thou be guiltye, + I pray thee hold thee there.' + + 17. + Forth came his ladye + shortlye and anon, + Boldlye to the mantle + then is shee gone. + + 18. + When shee had tane the mantle, + & cast it her about, + Then was shee bare + all aboue the buttocckes. + + 19. + Then euery knight + that was in the Kings court + Talked, laug[h]ed, & showted, + full oft att that sport. + + 20. + Shee threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + Ffast with a red rudd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 21. + Forth came an old knight, + pattering ore a creede, + & he proferred to this litle boy + 20 markes to his meede, + + 22. + & all the time of the Christmasse + willinglye to ffeede; + For why this mantle might + doe his wiffe some need. + + 23. + When shee had tane the mantle, + of cloth that was made, + Shee had no more left on her + but a tassell and a threed: + Then euery knight in the Kings court + bade euill might shee speed. + + 24. + She threw downe the mantle, + that bright was of blee, + & fast with a redd rudd + to her chamber can shee flee. + + 25. + Craddocke called forth his ladye, + & bade her come in; + Saith, 'Winne this mantle, ladye, + with a litle dinne. + + 26. + 'Winne this mantle, ladye, + & it shalbe thine + If thou neuer did amisse + since thou wast mine.' + + 27. + Forth came Craddockes ladye + shortlye & anon, + But boldlye to the mantle + then is shee gone. + + 28. + When shee had tane the mantle, + & cast itt her about, + Vpp att her great toe + itt began to crinkle & crowt; + Shee said, 'Bowe downe, mantle, + & shame me not for nought. + + 29. + 'Once I did amisse, + I tell you certainlye, + When I kist Craddockes mouth + vnder a greene tree, + When I kist Craddockes mouth + before he marryed mee.' + + 30. + When shee had her shreeuen, + & her sines shee had tolde, + The mantle stoode about her + right as shee wold, + + 31. + Seemelye of coulour, + glittering like gold; + Then euery knight in Arthurs court + did her behold. + + 32. + Then spake dame Gueneuer + to Arthur our king: + 'She hath tane yonder mantle, + not with wright but with wronge. + + 33. + 'See you not yonder woman + that maketh her selfe soe cleane? + I haue seene tane out of her bedd + of men fiueteene; + + 34. + 'Preists, clarkes, & wedded men, + from her by-deene; + Yett shee taketh the mantle, + & maketh her selfe cleane!' + + 35. + Then spake the litle boy + that kept the mantle in hold; + Sayes, 'King, chasten thy wiffe; + of her words shee is to bold. + + 36. + 'Shee is a bitch & a witch, + & a whore bold; + King, in thine owne hall + thou art a cuchold.' + + 37. + A litle boy stoode + looking ouer a dore; + He was ware of a wyld bore, + wold haue werryed a man. + + 38. + He pulld forth a wood kniffe, + fast thither that he ran; + He brought in the bores head, + & quitted him like a man. + + 39. + He brought in the bores head, + and was wonderous bold; + He said there was neuer a cucholds kniffe + carue itt that cold. + + 40. + Some rubbed their k[n]iues + vppon a whetstone; + Some threw them vnder the table, + & said they had none. + + 41. + King Arthur & the child + stood looking them vpon; + All their k[n]iues edges + turned backe againe. + + 42. + Craddoccke had a litle kniue + of iron & of steele; + He birtled the bores head + wonderous weele, + That euery knight in the Kings court + had a morssell. + + 43. + The litle boy had a horne, + of red gold that ronge; + He said, 'There was noe cuckolde + shall drinke of my horne, + But he shold itt sheede, + either behind or beforne.' + + 44. + Some shedd on their shoulder, + & some on their knee; + He that cold not hitt his mouth + put it in his eye; + & he that was a cuckold, + euery man might him see. + + 45. + Craddoccke wan the horne + & the bores head; + His ladye wan the mantle + vnto her meede; + Euerye such a louely ladye, + God send her well to speede! + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: 'brauches,' brooches. + 5.2: 'hett,' bid; 'heede,' MS. heate. + 6.1: 'potewer.' Child says:-- Read potener, French _pautonniere_, + pouch, purse. + 8.4: Perhaps the line should end with 'his,' but 'wiffe' is the last + word in the manuscript. + 9.3: 'new-fangle,' desirous of novelties. + 11.1: 'gaule,' perhaps = gules, _i.e._ red. + 11.3: 'wadded,' woad-coloured, _i.e._ blue. + 13.2: 'blee,' colour. + 13.3: 'rudd,' complexion. + 14.1: 'walker,' fuller. + 25.4: 'dinne,' trouble. + 28.4: 'crowt,' pucker. + 34.2: 'by-deene,' one after another. + 37 and 38: Evidently some lines have been lost here, and the rhymes + are thereby confused. + 42.3: 'birtled,' cut up. + 43.2: 'ronge,' rang.] + + + + +JOHNEY SCOT + + ++The Text+ of this popular and excellent ballad is given from the +Jamieson-Brown MS. It was copied, with wilful alterations, into Scott's +Abbotsford MS. called _Scottish Songs_. Professor Child prints sixteen +variants of the ballad, nearly all from manuscripts. + ++The Story+ of the duel with the Italian is given with more detail in +other versions. In two ballads from Motherwell's MS., where 'the +Italian' becomes 'the Tailliant' or 'the Talliant,' the champion jumps +over Johney's head, and descends on the point of Johney's sword. This +exploit is paralleled in a Breton ballad, where the Seigneur Les Aubrays +of St. Brieux is ordered by the French king to combat his wild Moor, who +leaps in the air and is received on the sword of his antagonist. Again, +in Scottish tradition, James Macgill, having killed Sir Robert Balfour +about 1679, went to London to procure his pardon, which Charles +II.+ +offered him on the condition of fighting an Italian gladiator. The +Italian leaped once over James Macgill, but in attempting to repeat this +manoeuvre was spitted by his opponent, who thereby procured not only his +pardon, but also knighthood. + + +JOHNEY SCOT + + 1. + O Johney was as brave a knight + As ever sail'd the sea, + An' he's done him to the English court, + To serve for meat and fee. + + 2. + He had nae been in fair England + But yet a little while, + Untill the kingis ae daughter + To Johney proves wi' chil'. + + 3. + O word's come to the king himsel', + In his chair where he sat, + That his ae daughter was wi' bairn + To Jack, the Little Scott. + + 4. + 'Gin this be true that I do hear, + As I trust well it be, + Ye pit her into prison strong, + An' starve her till she die.' + + 5. + O Johney's on to fair Scotland, + A wot he went wi' speed, + An' he has left the kingis court, + A wot good was his need. + + 6. + O it fell once upon a day + That Johney he thought lang, + An' he's gane to the good green wood, + As fast as he coud gang. + + 7. + 'O whare will I get a bonny boy, + To rin my errand soon, + That will rin into fair England, + An' haste him back again?' + + 8. + O up it starts a bonny boy, + Gold yallow was his hair, + I wish his mother meickle joy, + His bonny love mieckle mair. + + 9. + 'O here am I, a bonny boy, + Will rin your errand soon; + I will gang into fair England, + An' come right soon again.' + + 10. + O whan he came to broken briggs, + He bent his bow and swam; + An' whan he came to the green grass growan, + He slaikid his shoone an' ran. + + 11. + Whan he came to yon high castel, + He ran it roun' about, + An' there he saw the king's daughter, + At the window looking out. + + 12. + 'O here's a sark o' silk, lady, + Your ain han' sew'd the sleeve; + You'r bidden come to fair Scotlan', + Speer nane o' your parents' leave. + + 13. + 'Ha, take this sark o' silk, lady, + Your ain han' sew'd the gare; + You're bidden come to good green wood, + Love Johney waits you there.' + + 14. + She's turn'd her right and roun' about, + The tear was in her ee: + 'How can I come to my true-love, + Except I had wings to flee? + + 15. + 'Here am I kept wi' bars and bolts, + Most grievous to behold; + My breast-plate's o' the sturdy steel, + Instead of the beaten gold. + + 16. + 'But tak' this purse, my bonny boy, + Ye well deserve a fee, + An' bear this letter to my love, + An' tell him what you see.' + + 17. + Then quickly ran the bonny boy + Again to Scotlan' fair, + An' soon he reach'd Pitnachton's tow'rs, + An' soon found Johney there. + + 18. + He pat the letter in his han' + An' taul' him what he sa', + But eer he half the letter read, + He loote the tears doun fa'. + + 19. + 'O I will gae back to fair Englan', + Tho' death shoud me betide, + An' I will relieve the damesel + That lay last by my side.' + + 20. + Then out it spake his father dear, + 'My son, you are to blame; + An' gin you'r catch'd on English groun', + I fear you'll ne'er win hame.' + + 21. + Then out it spake a valiant knight, + Johny's best friend was he; + 'I can commaun' five hunder men, + An' I'll his surety be.' + + 22. + The firstin town that they came till, + They gard the bells be rung; + An' the nextin town that they came till, + They gard the mess be sung. + + 23. + The thirdin town that they came till, + They gard the drums beat roun'; + The king but an' his nobles a' + Was startl'd at the soun'. + + 24. + Whan they came to the king's palace + They rade it roun' about, + An' there they saw the king himsel', + At the window looking out. + + 25. + 'Is this the Duke o' Albany, + Or James, the Scottish king? + Or are ye some great foreign lord, + That's come a visiting?' + + 26. + 'I'm nae the Duke of Albany, + Nor James, the Scottish king; + But I'm a valiant Scottish knight, + Pitnachton is my name.' + + 27. + 'O if Pitnachton be your name, + As I trust well it be, + The morn, or I tast meat or drink, + You shall be hanged hi'.' + + 28. + Then out it spake the valiant knight + That came brave Johney wi'; + 'Behold five hunder bowmen bold, + Will die to set him free.' + + 29. + Then out it spake the king again, + An' a scornfu' laugh laugh he; + 'I have an Italian in my house + Will fight you three by three.' + + 30. + 'O grant me a boon,' brave Johney cried; + 'Bring your Italian here; + Then if he fall beneath my sword, + I've won your daughter dear.' + + 31. + Then out it came that Italian, + An' a gurious ghost was he; + Upo' the point o' Johney's sword + This Italian did die. + + 32. + Out has he drawn his lang, lang bran', + Struck it across the plain: + 'Is there any more o' your English dogs + That you want to be slain?' + + 33. + 'A clark, a clark,' the king then cried, + 'To write her tocher free'; + 'A priest, a priest,' says Love Johney, + 'To marry my love and me. + + 34. + 'I'm seeking nane o' your gold,' he says, + 'Nor of your silver clear; + I only seek your daughter fair, + Whose love has cost her dear.' + + [Annotations: + 5.2,4: 'A wot' = I wis. + 6.2: See _Young Bekie_, 16.4; _Brown Adam_, 5.2. + 10: See _Lady Maisry_, 21; _Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet_, 12, etc.: + a stock ballad-phrase. + 12.1: 'sark,' shift. + 12.4: 'Speer' (speir), ask. + 13.2: 'gare,' gore: see _Brown Robin_, 10.4. + 18.4: 'loote,' let. + 22.4: 'mess,' mass. + 27.3: 'or,' ere. + 29.2: The second 'laugh' is the past tense of the verb. + 31.2: 'gurious,' grim, ugly. + 33.2: 'tocher,' dowry.] + + + + +LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET + + ++The Text+ is taken from Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, a similar version +being given in Maidment's _North Countrie Garland_. A few alterations +from the latter version are incorporated. + ++The Story+ bears tokens of confusion with _Lady Maisry_ in some of the +variants of either, but here the tragedy is that the bridegroom is +brother to the lover. The end of this ballad in all its forms is highly +unnatural in its style: why should Maisery's remorse at having been such +an expense to Lord Ingram be three times as great as her grief for the +loss of her lover? It is by no means romantic. + + +LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET + + 1. + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet + Was baith born in one bower; + Laid baith their hearts on one lady, + The less was their honour. + + 2. + Chiel Wyet and Lord Ingram + Was baith born in one hall; + Laid baith their hearts on one lady, + The worse did them befall. + + 3. + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + From father and from mother; + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + From sister and from brother. + + 4. + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + With leave of a' her kin; + And every one gave full consent, + But she said no to him. + + 5. + Lord Ingram woo'd her Lady Maisery + Into her father's ha'; + Chiel Wyet woo'd her Lady Maisery + Amang the sheets so sma'. + + 6. + Now it fell out upon a day + She was dressing her head, + That ben did come her father dear, + Wearing the gold so red. + + 7. + He said, 'Get up now, Lady Maisery, + Put on your wedding gown; + For Lord Ingram he will be here, + Your wedding must be done.' + + 8. + 'I'd rather be Chiel Wyet's wife, + The white fish for to sell, + Before I were Lord Ingram's wife, + To wear the silk so well. + + 9. + 'I'd rather be Chiel Wyet's wife, + With him to beg my bread, + Before I were Lord Ingram's wife, + To wear the gold so red. + + 10. + 'Where will I get a bonny boy, + Will win gold to his fee, + And will run unto Chiel Wyet's, + With this letter from me?' + + 11. + 'O here I am, the boy,' says one, + 'Will win gold to my fee, + And carry away any letter + To Chiel Wyet from thee.' + + 12. + And when he found the bridges broke + He bent his bow and swam; + And when he found the grass growing, + He hastened and he ran. + + 13. + And when he came to Chiel Wyet's castle, + He did not knock nor call, + But set his bent bow to his breast, + And lightly leaped the wall; + And ere the porter open'd the gate, + The boy was in the hall. + + 14. + The first line he looked on, + A grieved man was he; + The next line he looked on, + A tear blinded his ee: + Says, 'I wonder what ails my one brother, + He'll not let my love be! + + 15. + 'But I'll send to my brother's bridal-- + The bacon shall be mine-- + Full four and twenty buck and roe, + And ten tun of the wine; + And bid my love be blythe and glad, + And I will follow syne.' + + 16. + There was not a groom about that castle, + But got a gown of green, + And all was blythe, and all was glad, + But Lady Maisery she was neen. + + 17. + There was no cook about that kitchen, + But got a gown of gray; + And all was blythe, and all was glad, + But Lady Maisery was wae. + + 18. + Between Mary Kirk and that castle + Was all spread ower with garl, + To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens + From tramping on the marl. + + 19. + From Mary Kirk to that castle + Was spread a cloth of gold, + To keep Lady Maisery and her maidens + From treading on the mold. + + 20. + When mass was sung, and bells was rung, + And all men bound for bed; + Then Lord Ingram and Lady Maisery + In one bed they were laid. + + 21. + When they were laid into their bed, + It was baith saft and warm, + He laid his hand over her side, + Says, 'I think you are with bairn.' + + 22. + 'I told you once, so did I twice, + When ye came me to woo, + That Chiel Wyet, your only brother, + One night lay in my bower. + + 23. + 'I told you twice, I told you thrice, + Ere ye came me to wed, + That Chiel Wyet, your one brother, + One night lay in my bed.' + + 24. + 'O will you father your bairn on me, + And on no other man? + And I'll give him to his dowry + Full fifty ploughs of land.' + + 25. + 'I will not father my bairn on you, + Nor on no wrongeous man, + Though ye would give him to his dowry + Five thousand ploughs of land.' + + 26. + Then up did start him Chiel Wyet, + Shed by his yellow hair, + And gave Lord Ingram to the heart + A deep wound and a sair. + + 27. + Then up did start him Lord Ingram, + Shed by his yellow hair, + And gave Chiel Wyet to the heart, + A deep wound and a sair. + + 28. + There was no pity for that two lords, + Where they were lying slain; + But all was for her Lady Maisery, + In that bower she gaed brain. + + 29. + There was no pity for that two lords, + When they were lying dead; + But all was for her Lady Maisery, + In that bower she went mad. + + 30. + Said, 'Get to me a cloak of cloth, + A staff of good hard tree; + If I have been an evil woman, + I shall beg till I dee. + + 31. + 'For a bit I'll beg for Chiel Wyet, + For Lord Ingram I'll beg three; + All for the good and honourable marriage, + At Mary Kirk he gave me.' + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: 'honour': Motherwell printed _bonheur_. + 6.3: 'ben,' in. + 8.2: 'sell': Motherwell gave _kill_. + 12: Cp. _Lady Maisry_, 21. + 16.4: 'neen,' none, not. + 18.2: 'garl,' gravel. + 26.1: Motherwell gives _did stand_. + 28.4: 'brain,' mad. + 30.2: 'tree,' wood. + 31.1: 'a' = ae, each.] + + + + +THE TWA SISTERS O' BINNORIE + + ++Texts.+--The version here given is compounded from two different +sources, almost of necessity. Stanzas 1-19 were given by Scott, +compounded from W. Tytler's Brown MS. and the recitation of an old +woman. But at stanza 20 Scott's version becomes eccentric, and he prints +such verses as:-- + + 'A famous harper passing by + The sweet pale face he chanced to spy ... + + The strings he framed of her yellow hair, + Whose notes made sad the listening air.' + +Stanzas 20-25, therefore, have been supplied from the Jamieson-Brown +MS., which after this point does not descend from the high level of +ballad-poetry. + ++The Story.+--This is a very old and a very popular story. An early +broadside exists, dated 1656, and the same version is printed in _Wit +Restor'd_, 1658. Of Scandinavian ballads on the same subject, nine are +Danish, two Icelandic, twelve Norwegian, four Faeroee, and eight or nine +Swedish. + + +THE TWA SISTERS O' BINNORIE + + 1. + There were twa sisters sat in a bour, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + There came a knight to be their wooer, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 2. + He courted the eldest wi' glove and ring, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + But he lo'ed the youngest aboon a' thing, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 3. + He courted the eldest with broach and knife, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + But he lo'ed the youngest aboon his life, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 4. + The eldest she was vexed sair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And sair envied her sister fair, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 5. + The eldest said to the youngest ane, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'Will ye go and see our father's ships come in?' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 6. + She's ta'en her by the lilly hand, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And led her down to the river-strand, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 7. + The youngest stude upon a stane, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + The eldest came and pushed her in, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 8. + She took her by the middle sma', + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And dashed her bonnie back to the jaw, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie/_ + + 9. + 'O sister, sister, reach your hand!' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And ye shall be heir of half my land,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 10. + 'O sister, I'll not reach my hand,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And I'll be heir of all your land,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 11. + 'Shame fa' the hand that I should take,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'It's twin'd me and my world's make,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 12. + 'O sister, reach me but your glove,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And sweet William shall be your love,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 13. + 'Sink on, nor hope for hand or glove,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'And sweet William shall better be my love,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 14. + 'Your cherry cheeks and your yellow hair,' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'Garr'd me gang maiden evermair,' + _By the bonnie mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 15. + Sometimes she sunk, and sometimes she swam, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Until she came to the miller's dam, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 16. + 'O father, father, draw your dam!' + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + 'There's either a mermaid or a milk-white swan,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 17. + The miller hasted and drew his dam, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And there he found a drowned woman, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 18. + You could not see her yellow hair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + For gowd and pearls that were sae rare, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 19. + You could na see her middle sma', + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Her gowden girdle was sae bra', + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 20. + An' by there came a harper fine, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + That harped to the king at dine, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 21. + When he did look that lady upon, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + He sigh'd and made a heavy moan, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 22. + He's ta'en three locks o' her yallow hair, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + And wi' them strung his harp sae fair, + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 23. + The first tune he did play and sing, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, 'Farewell to my father the king,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 24. + The nextin tune that he play'd syne, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, 'Farewell to my mother the queen,' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + 25. + The lasten tune that he play'd then, + _Binnorie, O Binnorie!_ + Was, 'Wae to my sister, fair Ellen!' + _By the bonny mill-dams o' Binnorie._ + + + [Annotations: + 8.3: 'jaw,' wave. + 11.3: 'my world's make,' my earthly mate.] + + + + +YOUNG WATERS + + ++The Text+ is that of a copy mentioned by Percy, 'printed not long since +at Glasgow, in one sheet 8vo. The world was indebted for its publication +to the lady Jean Hume, sister to the Earle of Hume, who died lately at +Gibraltar.' The original edition, discovered by Mr. Macmath after +Professor Child's version (from the _Reliques_) was in print, is:-- +'Young Waters, an Ancient Scottish Poem, never before printed. Glasgow, +printed and sold by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1755.' This was also known +to Maidment. Hardly a word differs from Percy's version; but here I have +substituted the spellings 'wh' for Percy's 'quh,' in 'quhen,' etc., and +'y' for his 'z' in 'zoung, zou,' etc. + ++The Story+ has had historical foundations suggested for it by Percy and +Chambers. Percy identified Young Waters with the Earl of Murray, +murdered, according to the chronicle of Sir James Balfour, on the 7th of +February 1592. Chambers, in 1829, relying on Buchan's version of the +ballad, had no doubt that Young Waters was one of the Scots nobles +executed by James I., and was very probably Walter Stuart, second son of +the Duke of Albany. Thirty years later, Chambers was equally certain +that the ballad was the composition of Lady Wardlaw. + +In a Scandinavian ballad, Folke Lovmandson is a favourite at court; +a little wee page makes the fatal remark and excites the king's +jealousy. The innocent knight is rolled down a hill in a barrel set with +knives--a punishment common in Scandinavian folklore. + + +YOUNG WATERS + + 1. + About Yule, when the wind blew cule, + And the round tables began, + A there is cum to our king's court + Mony a well-favor'd man. + + 2. + The queen luikt owre the castle-wa', + Beheld baith dale and down, + And there she saw Young Waters + Cum riding to the town. + + 3. + His footmen they did rin before, + His horsemen rade behind; + Ane mantel of the burning gowd + Did keip him frae the wind. + + 4. + Gowden-graith'd his horse before, + And siller-shod behind; + The horse Young Waters rade upon + Was fleeter than the wind. + + 5. + Out then spack a wylie lord, + Unto the queen said he: + 'O tell me wha 's the fairest face + Rides in the company?' + + 6. + 'I've sene lord, and I've sene laird, + And knights of high degree, + Bot a fairer face than Young Waters + Mine eyne did never see.' + + 7. + Out then spack the jealous king, + And an angry man was he: + 'O if he had bin twice as fair, + You micht have excepted me.' + + 8. + 'You're neither laird nor lord,' she says, + 'Bot the king that wears the crown; + There is not a knight in fair Scotland + Bot to thee maun bow down.' + + 9. + For a' that she coud do or say, + Appeas'd he wad nae bee, + Bot for the words which she had said, + Young Waters he maun die. + + 10. + They hae ta'en Young Waters, + And put fetters to his feet; + They hae ta'en Young Waters, and + Thrown him in dungeon deep. + + 11. + 'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, + In the wind bot and the weit; + Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town + Wi' fetters at my feet. + + 12. + 'Aft have I ridden thro' Stirling town, + In the wind bot and the rain; + Bot I neir rade thro' Stirling town + Neir to return again.' + + 13. + They hae ta'en to the heiding-hill + His young son in his craddle, + And they hae ta'en to the heiding-hill + His horse bot and his saddle. + + 14. + They hae ta'en to heiding-hill + His lady fair to see, + And for the words the queen had spoke + Young Waters he did die. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'round tables,' an unknown game. + 4.1: 'graith'd,' harnessed, usually; here perhaps shod. + 6.1: 'laird,' a landholder, below the degree of knight.--+Jamieson+. + 13.1: 'heiding-hill': _i.e._ heading (beheading) hill. The place of + execution was anciently an artificial hillock.--+Percy+.] + + + + +BARBARA ALLAN + + ++The Text+ is from Allan Ramsay's _Tea-Table Miscellany_ (1763). It was +not included in the first edition (1724-1727), nor until the ninth +edition in 1740, when to the original three volumes there was added a +fourth, in which this ballad appeared. There is also a Scotch version, +_Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan_. Percy printed both in the +_Reliques_, vol. iii. + ++The Story+ of Barbara Allan's scorn of her lover and subsequent regret +has always been popular. Pepys records of Mrs. Knipp, 'In perfect +pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song +of Barbary Allen' (January 2, 1665-6). Goldsmith's words are equally +well known: 'The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt +when an old dairymaid sung me into tears with _Johnny Armstrong's Last +Goodnight_, or _The Cruelty of Barbara Allen_.' The tune is excessively +popular: it is given in Chappell's _English Song and Ballad Music_. + + +BARBARA ALLAN + + 1. + It was in and about the Martinmas time, + When the green leaves were afalling, + That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country, + Fell in love with Barbara Allan. + + 2. + He sent his men down through the town, + To the place where she was dwelling; + 'O haste and come to my master dear, + Gin ye be Barbara Allan.' + + 3. + O hooly, hooly rose she up, + To the place where he was lying, + And when she drew the curtain by, + 'Young man, I think you're dying.' + + 4. + 'O it's I am sick, and very, very sick, + And 't is a' for Barbara Allan.' + 'O the better for me ye 's never be, + Tho' your heart's blood were aspilling.' + + 5. + 'O dinna ye mind, young man,' said she, + 'When ye was in the tavern a drinking, + That ye made the healths gae round and round, + And slighted Barbara Allan?' + + 6. + He turn'd his face unto the wall, + And death was with him dealing; + 'Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, + And be kind to Barbara Allan.' + + 7. + And slowly, slowly raise she up, + And slowly, slowly left him, + And sighing, said, she coud not stay, + Since death of life had reft him. + + 8. + She had not gane a mile but twa, + When she heard the dead-bell ringing, + And every jow that the dead-bell geid, + It cry'd, 'Woe to Barbara Allan!' + + 9. + 'O mother, mother, make my bed, + O make it saft and narrow! + Since my love died for me to-day, + I'll die for him to-morrow.' + + + + +THE GAY GOSHAWK + + ++The Text+ is from the Jamieson-Brown MS., on which version Scott drew +partly for his ballad in the _Minstrelsy_. Mrs. Brown recited the ballad +again to William Tytler in 1783, but the result is now lost, with most +of the other Tytler-Brown versions. + ++The Story.+--One point, the maid's feint of death to escape from her +father to her lover, is the subject of a ballad very popular in France; +a version entitled _Belle Isambourg_ is printed in a collection called +_Airs de Cour_, 1607. Feigning death to escape various threats is a +common feature in many European ballads. + +It is perhaps needless to remark that no goshawk sings sweetly, much +less talks. In Buchan's version (of forty-nine stanzas) the goshawk is +exchanged for a parrot. + + +THE GAY GOSHAWK + + 1. + 'O well's me o' my gay goss-hawk, + That he can speak and flee; + He'll carry a letter to my love, + Bring back another to me.' + + 2. + 'O how can I your true-love ken, + Or how can I her know? + When frae her mouth I never heard couth, + Nor wi' my eyes her saw.' + + 3. + 'O well sal ye my true-love ken, + As soon as you her see; + For, of a' the flow'rs in fair Englan', + The fairest flow'r is she. + + 4. + 'At even at my love's bow'r-door + There grows a bowing birk, + An' sit ye down and sing thereon + As she gangs to the kirk. + + 5. + 'An' four-and-twenty ladies fair + Will wash and go to kirk, + But well shall ye my true-love ken, + For she wears goud on her skirt. + + 6. + 'An' four-and-twenty gay ladies + Will to the mass repair, + But well sal ye my true-love ken, + For she wears goud on her hair.' + + 7. + O even at that lady's bow'r-door + There grows a bowin' birk, + An' she sat down and sang thereon, + As she ged to the kirk. + + 8. + 'O eet and drink, my marys a', + The wine flows you among, + Till I gang to my shot-window, + An' hear yon bonny bird's song. + + 9. + 'Sing on, sing on, my bonny bird, + The song ye sang the streen, + For I ken by your sweet singin', + You 're frae my true-love sen'.' + + 10. + O first he sang a merry song, + An' then he sang a grave, + An' then he peck'd his feathers gray, + To her the letter gave. + + 11. + 'Ha, there's a letter frae your love, + He says he sent you three; + He canna wait your love langer, + But for your sake he'll die. + + 12. + 'He bids you write a letter to him; + He says he's sent you five; + He canno wait your love langer, + Tho' you're the fairest woman alive.' + + 13. + 'Ye bid him bake his bridal bread, + And brew his bridal ale, + An' I'll meet him in fair Scotlan' + Lang, lang or it be stale.' + + 14. + She's doen her to her father dear, + Fa'n low down on her knee: + 'A boon, a boon, my father dear, + I pray you, grant it me.' + + 15. + 'Ask on, ask on, my daughter, + An' granted it sal be; + Except ae squire in fair Scotlan', + An' him you sall never see.' + + 16. + 'The only boon my father dear, + That I do crave of the, + Is, gin I die in southin lans, + In Scotland to bury me. + + 17. + 'An' the firstin kirk that ye come till, + Ye gar the bells be rung, + An' the nextin kirk that ye come till, + Ye gar the mess be sung. + + 18. + 'An' the thirdin kirk that ye come till, + You deal gold for my sake, + An' the fourthin kirk that ye come till, + You tarry there till night.' + + 19. + She is doen her to her bigly bow'r, + As fast as she coud fare, + An' she has tane a sleepy draught, + That she had mix'd wi' care. + + 20. + She's laid her down upon her bed, + An' soon she's fa'n asleep, + And soon o'er every tender limb + Cauld death began to creep. + + 21. + Whan night was flown, an' day was come, + Nae ane that did her see + But thought she was as surely dead + As ony lady coud be. + + 22. + Her father an' her brothers dear + Gard make to her a bier; + The tae half was o' guid red gold, + The tither o' silver clear. + + 23. + Her mither an' her sisters fair + Gard work for her a sark; + The tae half was o' cambrick fine, + The tither o' needle wark. + + 24. + The firstin kirk that they came till, + They gard the bells be rung, + An' the nextin kirk that they came till, + They gard the mess be sung. + + 25. + The thirdin kirk that they came till, + They dealt gold for her sake, + An' the fourthin kirk that they came till, + Lo, there they met her make! + + 26. + 'Lay down, lay down the bigly bier, + Lat me the dead look on'; + Wi' cherry cheeks and ruby lips + She lay an' smil'd on him. + + 27. + 'O ae sheave o' your bread, true-love, + An' ae glass o' your wine, + For I hae fasted for your sake + These fully days is nine. + + 28. + 'Gang hame, gang hame, my seven bold brothers, + Gang hame and sound your horn; + An' ye may boast in southin lan's + Your sister's play'd you scorn.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: 'couth,' word.--+Jamieson+. The derivation, from Anglo-Saxon + _cwide_, is hard. + 7.3: 'she' is the goshawk; called 'he' in 1.2. + 8.3: 'shot-window,' here perhaps a bow-window. + 9.2: 'streen' = yestreen, last evening. + 19.1: 'bigly,' _lit._ habitable; the stock epithet of 'bower.' + 25.4: 'make,' mate, lover. + 27.1: 'sheave,' slice.] + + + + +BROWN ROBIN + + ++The Text+ is here given from the Jamieson-Brown MS. Versions, +lengthened and therefore less succinct and natural, are given in +Christie's _Traditional Ballad Airs_ (_Love Robbie_) and in Buchan's +_Ballads of the North of Scotland_ (_Brown Robyn and Mally_). + ++The Story+ is a genuine bit of romance. The proud porter is apparently +suspicious, believing that the king's daughter would not have made him +drunk for any good purpose. In spite of that he cannot see through Brown +Robin's disguise, though the king remarks that 'this is a sturdy dame.' +The king's daughter, one would think, who conceals Robin's bow in her +bosom, must also have been somewhat sturdy. Note the picturesque touch +in 8.2. + + +BROWN ROBIN + + 1. + The king but an' his nobles a' } _bis_ + Sat birling at the wine; } + He would ha' nane but his ae daughter + To wait on them at dine. + + 2. + She's served them butt, she's served them ben, + Intill a gown of green, + But her e'e was ay on Brown Robin, + That stood low under the rain. + + 3. + She's doen her to her bigly bow'r, + As fast as she coud gang, + An' there she's drawn her shot-window, + An' she's harped an' she sang. + + 4. + 'There sits a bird i' my father's garden, + An' O but she sings sweet! + I hope to live an' see the day + When wi' my love I'll meet.' + + 5. + 'O gin that ye like me as well + As your tongue tells to me, + What hour o' the night, my lady bright, + At your bow'r sal I be?' + + 6. + 'Whan my father an' gay Gilbert + Are baith set at the wine, + O ready, ready I will be + To lat my true-love in.' + + 7. + O she has birl'd her father's porter + Wi' strong beer an' wi' wine, + Untill he was as beastly drunk + As ony wild-wood swine: + She's stown the keys o' her father's yates + An latten her true-love in. + + 8. + When night was gane, an' day was come, + An' the sun shone on their feet, + Then out it spake him Brown Robin, + 'I'll be discover'd yet.' + + 9. + Then out it spake that gay lady: + 'My love ye need na doubt, + For wi' ae wile I've got you in, + Wi' anither I'll bring you out.' + + 10. + She's ta'en her to her father's cellar, + As fast as she can fare; + She's drawn a cup o' the gude red wine, + Hung 't low down by her gare; + An' she met wi' her father dear + Just coming down the stair. + + 11. + 'I woud na gi' that cup, daughter, + That ye hold i' your han', + For a' the wines in my cellar, + An' gantrees whare the[y] stan'.' + + 12. + 'O wae be to your wine, father, + That ever 't came o'er the sea; + 'Tis pitten my head in sic a steer + I' my bow'r I canna be.' + + 13. + 'Gang out, gang out, my daughter dear, + Gang out an' tack the air; + Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, + An' a' your marys fair.' + + 14. + Then out it spake the proud porter-- + Our lady wish'd him shame-- + 'We'll send the marys to the wood, + But we'll keep our lady at hame.' + + 15. + 'There's thirty marys i' my bow'r, + There's thirty o' them an' three; + But there 's nae ane amo' them a' + Kens what flow'r gains for me.' + + 16. + She's doen her to her bigly bow'r + As fast as she could gang, + An' she has dresst him Brown Robin + Like ony bow'r-woman. + + 17. + The gown she pat upon her love + Was o' the dainty green, + His hose was o' the saft, saft silk, + His shoon o' the cordwain fine. + + 18. + She's pitten his bow in her bosom, + His arrow in her sleeve, + His sturdy bran' her body next, + Because he was her love. + + 19. + Then she is unto her bow'r-door + As fast as she coud gang; + But out it spake the proud porter-- + Our lady wish'd him shame-- + 'We'll count our marys to the wood, + And we'll count them back again.' + + 20. + The firsten mary she sent out + Was Brown Robin by name; + Then out it spake the king himsel', + 'This is a sturdy dame.' + + 21. + O she went out in a May morning, + In a May morning so gay, + But she never came back again, + Her auld father to see. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'birling,' drinking: cf. 7.1. + 3.1: 'bigly,' commodious: see _The Gay Goshawk_, 19.1. + 3.3: 'shot-window,' here perhaps a shutter with a pane of glass let + in. + 7.1: 'birl'd,' plied: cf. 1.2. + 7.4: Cf. _Fause Footrage_ 16.4: a popular simile. + 7.5: 'stown,' stolen: 'yates,' gates. + 10.4: 'gare,' gore; _i.e._ by her knee: a stock ballad phrase. + 11.4: 'gantrees,' stands for casks. + 12.3: 'sic,' such: the MS. gives _sick_: 'steer,' disturbance. + 13.4: 'marys,' maids. + 15.4: 'gains for,' suits, is meet (Icelandic, _gegna_). Cf. Jamieson's + version of _Sir Patrick Spence_:-- + 'For I brought as much white money + As will gain my men and me.' + 17.4: 'cordwain,' Cordovan (Spanish) leather. + 21.2: 'gay': the MS. gives _gray_. This is Child's emendation, who + points out that the sun was up, 8.2.] + + + + +LADY ALICE + + ++The Text+ of this little ballad is given from Bell's _Ancient Poems, +Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England_. + +It should be compared with _Lord Lovel_. + + +LADY ALICE + + 1. + Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window, + At midnight mending her quoif, + And there she saw as fine a corpse + As ever she saw in her life. + + 2. + 'What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? + What bear ye on your shoulders?' + 'We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, + An old and true lover of yours.' + + 3. + 'O lay him down gently, ye six men tall, + All on the grass so green, + And to-morrow, when the sun goes down, + Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen. + + 4. + 'And bury me in Saint Mary's church, + All for my love so true, + And make me a garland of marjoram, + And of lemon-thyme, and rue.' + + 5. + Giles Collins was buried all in the east, + Lady Alice all in the west, + And the roses that grew on Giles Collins's grave, + They reached Lady Alice's breast. + + 6. + The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, + And he severed those roses in twain; + Sure never were seen such true lovers before, + Nor e'er will there be again. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'quoif,' cap. The line should doubtless be:-- + 'Mending her midnight quoif.'] + + + + +CHILD MAURICE + + ++The Text+ is from the Percy Folio, given _literatim_, with two +rearrangements of the lines (in stt. 4 and 22) and a few obvious +corrections, as suggested by Hales, and Furnivall, and Child. The Folio +version was printed by Jamieson in his _Popular Ballads and Songs_. + +The Scotch version, _Gil Morrice_, was printed by Percy in the +_Reliques_ in preference to the version of his Folio. He notes that the +ballad 'has lately run through two editions in Scotland: the second was +printed at Glasgow in 1755.' Thanks to an advertisement prefixed to +these Scottish editions, sixteen additional verses were obtained and +added by Percy, who thought that they were 'perhaps after all only an +ingenious interpolation.' _Gil Morrice_ introduces 'Lord Barnard' in +place of 'John Steward,' adopted, perhaps, from _Little Musgrave and +Lady Barnard_. Motherwell's versions were variously called _Child +Noryce_, _Bob Norice_, _Gill Morice_, _Chield Morice_. Certainly the +Folio ballad is unsurpassed for its vigorous, objective style, and +forcible, vivid pictures. + ++The Story+ of this ballad gave rise to Home's _Douglas_, a tragedy, +produced in the Concert Hall, Canongate, Edinburgh, 1756 (on which +occasion the heroine's name was given as 'Lady Barnard'), and +transferred to Covent Garden Theatre, in London, in 1757, the heroine's +name being altered to 'Lady Randolph.' + +Perhaps in the same year in which the play was produced in London, the +poet Gray wrote from Cambridge:-- 'I have got the old Scotch ballad on +which _Douglas_ was founded; it is divine, and as long as from hence to +Aston. Aristotle's best rules are observed in it in a manner which shows +the author never had heard of Aristotle. It begins in the fifth act of +the play. You may read it two-thirds through without guessing what it is +about; and yet, when you come to the end, it is impossible not to +understand the whole story.' + + +CHILD MAURICE + + 1. + Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood, + He hunted itt round about, + And noebodye that he ffound therin, + Nor none there was with-out. + + 2. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + And he tooke his siluer combe in his hand, + To kembe his yellow lockes. + + 3. + He sayes, 'Come hither, thou litle ffoot-page, + That runneth lowlye by my knee, + Ffor thou shalt goe to Iohn Stewards wiffe + And pray her speake with mee. + + 4. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + I, and greete thou doe that ladye well, + Euer soe well ffroe mee. + + 5. + 'And, as itt ffalls, as many times + As knotts beene knitt on a kell, + Or marchant men gone to leeue London + Either to buy ware or sell; + + 6. + 'And, as itt ffalles, as many times + As any hart can thinke, + Or schoole-masters are in any schoole-house + Writting with pen and inke: + Ffor if I might, as well as shee may, + This night I wold with her speake. + + 7. + 'And heere I send her a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And bid her come to the siluer wood, + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 8. + 'And there I send her a ring of gold, + A ring of precyous stone, + And bidd her come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor no kind of man.' + + 9. + One while this litle boy he yode, + Another while he ran, + Vntill he came to Iohn Stewards hall, + I-wis he never blan. + + 10. + And of nurture the child had good, + Hee ran vp hall and bower ffree, + And when he came to this lady ffaire, + Sayes, 'God you saue and see! + + 11. + 'I am come ffrom Child Maurice, + A message vnto thee; + And Child Maurice, he greetes you well, + And euer soe well ffrom mee; + + 12. + 'And, as itt ffalls, as oftentimes + As knotts beene knitt on a kell, + Or marchant-men gone to leeue London + Either ffor to buy ware or sell; + + 13. + 'And as oftentimes he greetes you well + As any hart can thinke, + Or schoolemasters are in any schoole, + Wryting with pen and inke. + + 14. + 'And heere he sends a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And he bidds you come to the siluer wood, + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 15. + 'And heere he sends you a ring of gold, + A ring of the precyous stone; + He prayes you to come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor no kind of man.' + + 16. + 'Now peace, now peace, thou litle ffoot-page, + Ffor Christes sake, I pray thee! + Ffor if my lord heare one of these words, + Thou must be hanged hye!' + + 17. + Iohn Steward stood vnder the castle-wall, + And he wrote the words euerye one, + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 18. + And he called vnto his hors-keeper, + 'Make readye you my steede!' + I, and soe he did to his chamberlaine, + 'Make readye thou my weede!' + + 19. + And he cast a lease vpon his backe, + And he rode to the siluer wood, + And there he sought all about, + About the siluer wood. + + 20. + And there he ffound him Child Maurice + Sitting vpon a blocke, + With a siluer combe in his hand, + Kembing his yellow locke. + + ... ... ... + + 21. + But then stood vp him Child Maurice, + And sayd these words trulye: + 'I doe not know your ladye,' he said, + 'If that I doe her see.' + + 22. + He sayes, 'How now, how now, Child Maurice? + Alacke, how may this bee? + Ffor thou hast sent her loue-tokens, + More now then two or three; + + 23. + 'Ffor thou hast sent her a mantle of greene, + As greene as any grasse, + And bade her come to the siluer woode + To hunt with Child Maurice. + + 24. + 'And thou [hast] sent her a ring of gold, + A ring of precyous stone, + And bade her come to the siluer wood, + Let ffor noe kind of man. + + 25. + 'And by my ffaith, now, Child Maurice, + The tone of vs shall dye!' + 'Now be my troth,' sayd Child Maurice, + 'And that shall not be I.' + + 26. + But hee pulled forth a bright browne sword, + And dryed itt on the grasse, + And soe ffast he smote att Iohn Steward, + I-wisse he neuer rest. + + 27. + Then hee pulled fforth his bright browne sword, + And dryed itt on his sleeue, + And the ffirst good stroke Iohn Stewart stroke, + Child Maurice head he did cleeue. + + 28. + And he pricked itt on his swords poynt, + Went singing there beside, + And he rode till he came to that ladye ffaire, + Wheras this ladye lyed. + + 29. + And sayes, 'Dost thou know Child Maurice head, + If that thou dost itt see? + And lap itt soft, and kisse itt oft, + For thou louedst him better than mee.' + + 30. + But when shee looked on Child Maurice head, + She neuer spake words but three: + 'I neuer beare no child but one, + And you haue slaine him trulye.' + + 31. + Sayes, 'Wicked be my merrymen all, + I gaue meate, drinke, and clothe! + But cold they not haue holden me + When I was in all that wrath! + + 32. + 'Ffor I haue slaine one of the curteousest knights + That euer bestrode a steed, + Soe haue I done one [of] the fairest ladyes + That euer ware womans weede!' + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'siluer': the Folio gives _siluen_. + 4.3,4: These lines in the Folio precede st. 6. + 5.2: _i.e._ as many times as there are knots knit in a net for the + hair; cf. French _cale_. + 5.3: 'leeue,' lovely. + 8.4: 'Let,' fail: it is the infinitive, governed by 'bidd.' + 9.1: 'yode,' went. + 9.4: 'blan,' lingered. + 13.3: 'are': omitted in the Folio. + 18.3: 'I,' aye. + 19.1: 'lease,' leash, thong, string: perhaps for bringing back any + game he might kill. + After 20 at least one verse is lost. + 22.1,2: In the Folio these lines precede 21.1,2. + 24.1: 'hast' omitted in the Folio. + 25.2: 'tone,' the one (or other).] + + + + +FAUSE FOOTRAGE + + ++The Text+ is from Alexander Fraser Tytler's Brown MS., which was also +the source of Scott's version in the _Minstrelsy_. One line (31.1), +closely resembling a line in Lady Wardlaw's forged ballad _Hardyknute_, +caused Sir Walter to investigate strictly the authenticity of the +ballad, but the evidence of Lady Douglas, that she had learned the +ballad in her childhood, and could still repeat much of it, removed his +doubts. It is, however, quite possible, as Professor Child points out, +'that Mrs. Brown may unconsciously have adopted this verse from the +tiresome and affected _Hardyknute_, so much esteemed in her day.' + ++The Story.+--In _The Complaynt of Scotlande_ (1549) there is mentioned +a tale 'how the King of Estmure Land married the King's daughter of +Westmure Land,' and it has been suggested that there is a connection +with the ballad. + +This is another of the ballads of which the English form has become so +far corrupted that we have to seek its Scandinavian counterpart to +obtain the full form of the story. The ballad is especially popular in +Denmark, where it is found in twenty-three manuscripts, as follows:-- + +The rich Svend wooes Lisbet, who favours William for his good qualities. +Svend, ill with grief, is well-advised by his mother, not to care for a +plighted maid, and ill-advised by his sister, to kill William. Svend +takes the latter advice, and kills William. Forty weeks later, Lisbet +gives birth to a son, but Svend is told that the child is a girl. +Eighteen years later, the young William, sporting with a peasant, +quarrels with him; the peasant retorts, 'You had better avenge your +father's death.' Young William asks his mother who slew his father, and +she, thinking him too young to fight, counsels him to bring Svend to a +court. William charges him in the court with the murder of his father, +and says that no compensation has been offered. Not a penny shall be +paid, says Svend. William draws his sword, and slays him. + +Icelandic, Swedish, and Faeroee ballads tell a similar story. + + +FAUSE FOOTRAGE + + 1. + King Easter has courted her for her gowd, + King Wester for her fee; + King Honor for her lands sae braid, + And for her fair body. + + 2. + They had not been four months married, + As I have heard them tell, + Until the nobles of the land + Against them did rebel. + + 3. + And they cast kaivles them amang, + And kaivles them between; + And they cast kaivles them amang, + Wha shoud gae kill the king. + + 4. + O some said yea, and some said nay, + Their words did not agree; + Till up it gat him Fa'se Footrage, + And sware it shoud be he. + + 5. + When bells were rung, and mass was sung, + And a' man boon to bed, + King Honor and his gay ladie + In a hie chamer were laid. + + 6. + Then up it raise him Fa'se Footrage, + While a' were fast asleep, + And slew the porter in his lodge, + That watch and ward did keep. + + 7. + O four and twenty silver keys + Hang hie upon a pin, + And ay as a door he did unlock, + He has fasten'd it him behind. + + 8. + Then up it raise him King Honor, + Says, 'What means a' this din? + Now what's the matter, Fa'se Footrage, + Or wha was't loot you in?' + + 9. + 'O ye my errand well shall learn + Before that I depart'; + Then drew a knife baith lang and sharp + And pierced him thro' the heart. + + 10. + Then up it got the Queen hersell, + And fell low down on her knee: + 'O spare my life now, Fa'se Footrage! + For I never injured thee. + + 11. + 'O spare my life now, Fa'se Footrage! + Until I lighter be! + And see gin it be lad or lass, + King Honor has left me wi'.' + + 12. + 'O gin it be a lass,' he says, + 'Weel nursed she shall be; + But gin it be a lad-bairn, + He shall be hanged hie. + + 13. + 'I winna spare his tender age, + Nor yet his hie, hie kin; + But as soon as e'er he born is, + He shall mount the gallows-pin.' + + 14. + O four and twenty valiant knights + Were set the Queen to guard, + And four stood ay at her bower-door, + To keep baith watch and ward. + + 15. + But when the time drew till an end + That she should lighter be, + She cast about to find a wile + To set her body free. + + 16. + O she has birled these merry young men + Wi' strong beer and wi' wine, + Until she made them a' as drunk + As any wall-wood swine. + + 17. + 'O narrow, narrow is this window, + And big, big am I grown!' + Yet thro' the might of Our Ladie, + Out at it she has won. + + 18. + She wander'd up, she wander'd down, + She wander'd out and in; + And at last, into the very swines' stye, + The Queen brought forth a son. + + 19. + Then they cast kaivles them amang + Wha should gae seek the Queen; + And the kaivle fell upon Wise William, + And he's sent his wife for him. + + 20. + O when she saw Wise William's wife, + The Queen fell on her knee; + 'Win up, win up, madame,' she says, + 'What means this courtesie?' + + 21. + 'O out of this I winna rise, + Till a boon ye grant to me, + To change your lass for this lad-bairn, + King Honor left me wi'. + + 22. + 'And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke + Well how to breast a steed; + And I shall learn your turtle-dow + As well to write and read. + + 23. + 'And ye maun learn my gay gos-hawke + To wield baith bow and brand; + And I sall learn your turtle-dow + To lay gowd wi' her hand. + + 24. + 'At kirk and market where we meet, + We dare nae mair avow + But--"Dame, how does my gay gose-hawk?" + "Madame, how does my dow?"' + + 25. + When days were gane, and years come on, + Wise William he thought long; + Out has he ta'en King Honor's son, + A hunting for to gang. + + 26. + It sae fell out at their hunting, + Upon a summer's day, + That they cam' by a fair castle, + Stood on a sunny brae. + + 27. + 'O dinna ye see that bonny castle + Wi' wa's and towers sae fair? + Gin ilka man had back his ain, + Of it you shoud be heir.' + + 28. + 'How I shoud be heir of that castle, + In sooth I canna see; + When it belongs to Fa'se Footrage, + And he's nae kin to me.' + + 29. + 'O gin ye shoud kill him Fa'se Footrage, + You woud do what is right; + For I wot he kill'd your father dear, + Ere ever you saw the light. + + 30. + 'Gin you shoud kill him Fa'se Footrage, + There is nae man durst you blame; + For he keeps your mother a prisoner, + And she dares no take you hame.' + + 31. + The boy stared wild like a gray gose-hawk, + Says, 'What may a' this mean?' + 'My boy, you are King Honor's son, + And your mother's our lawful queen.' + + 32. + 'O gin I be King Honor's son, + By Our Ladie I swear, + This day I will that traytour slay, + And relieve my mother dear!' + + 33. + He has set his bent bow till his breast, + And lap the castle-wa'; + And soon he's siesed on Fa'se Footrage, + Wha loud for help gan ca'. + + 34. + 'O haud your tongue now, Fa'se Footrage, + Frae me ye shanno flee.' + Syne pierced him through the foul fa'se heart, + And set his mother free. + + 35. + And he has rewarded Wise William + Wi' the best half of his land; + And sae has he the turtle dow + Wi' the truth o' his right hand. + + + [Annotations: + 3.1: 'kaivles,' lots. + 13.4: 'gallows-pin,' the projecting beam of the gallows. + 16.1: 'birled,' plied. + 16.4: 'wallwood,' wild wood: a conventional ballad-phrase. + 25.2: A stock ballad-phrase. + 33.1: A ballad conventionality.] + + + + +FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL + + 'Ouvre ta port', Germin', c'est moi qu'est ton mari.' + 'Donnez-moi des indic's de la premiere nuit, + Et par la je croirai que vous et's mon mari.' + + --_Germaine._ + + ++The Text+ is Fraser Tytler's, taken down from the recitation of Mrs. +Brown in 1800, who had previously (1783) recited a similar version to +Jamieson. The later recitation, which was used by Scott, with others, +seems to contain certain improvisations of Mrs. Brown's which do not +appear in the earlier form. + ++The Story.+--A mother, who feigns to be her own son and demands tokens +of the girl outside the gate, turns her son's love away, and is cursed +by him. Similar ballads exist in France, Germany, and Greece. + +There is an early eighteenth-century MS. (Elizabeth Cochrane's +_Song-Book_) of this ballad, which gives a preliminary history. Isabel +of Rochroyal dreams of her love Gregory; she rises up, calls for a swift +steed, and rides forth till she meets a company. They ask her who she +is, and are told that she is 'Fair Isabel of Rochroyal,' seeking her +true-love Gregory. They direct her to 'yon castle'; and thenceforth the +tale proceeds much as in the other versions. + +'Lochryan,' says Scott, 'lies in Galloway; Roch--or Rough--royal, I have +not found, but there is a Rough castle in Stirlingshire' (Child). + + +FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL + + 1. + 'O wha will shoe my fu' fair foot? + And wha will glove my hand? + And wha will lace my middle jimp, + Wi' the new-made London band? + + 2. + 'And wha will kaim my yellow hair, + Wi' the new-made silver kaim? + And wha will father my young son, + Till Love Gregor come hame?' + + 3. + 'Your father will shoe your fu' fair foot, + Your mother will glove your hand; + Your sister will lace your middle jimp + Wi' the new-made London band. + + 4. + 'Your brother will kaim your yellow hair, + Wi' the new-made silver kaim; + And the king of heaven will father your bairn, + Till Love Gregor come haim.' + + 5. + 'But I will get a bonny boat, + And I will sail the sea, + For I maun gang to Love Gregor, + Since he canno come hame to me.' + + 6. + O she has gotten a bonny boat, + And sail'd the sa't sea fame; + She lang'd to see her ain true-love, + Since he could no come hame. + + 7. + 'O row your boat, my mariners, + And bring me to the land, + For yonder I see my love's castle, + Closs by the sa't sea strand.' + + 8. + She has ta'en her young son in her arms, + And to the door she's gone, + And lang she's knock'd and sair she ca'd, + But answer got she none. + + 9. + 'O open the door, Love Gregor,' she says, + 'O open, and let me in; + For the wind blaws thro' my yellow hair, + And the rain draps o'er my chin.' + + 10. + 'Awa', awa', ye ill woman, + You 'r nae come here for good; + You 'r but some witch, or wile warlock, + Or mer-maid of the flood.' + + 11. + 'I am neither a witch nor a wile warlock, + Nor mer-maid of the sea, + I am Fair Annie of Rough Royal; + O open the door to me.' + + 12. + 'Gin ye be Annie of Rough Royal-- + And I trust ye are not she-- + Now tell me some of the love-tokens + That past between you and me.' + + 13. + 'O dinna you mind now, Love Gregor, + When we sat at the wine, + How we changed the rings frae our fingers? + And I can show thee thine. + + 14. + 'O yours was good, and good enneugh, + But ay the best was mine; + For yours was o' the good red goud, + But mine o' the dimonds fine. + + 15. + 'But open the door now, Love Gregor, + O open the door I pray, + For your young son that is in my arms + Will be dead ere it be day.' + + 16. + 'Awa', awa', ye ill woman, + For here ye shanno win in; + Gae drown ye in the raging sea, + Or hang on the gallows-pin.' + + 17. + When the cock had crawn, and day did dawn, + And the sun began to peep, + Then it raise him Love Gregor, + And sair, sair did he weep. + + 18. + 'O I dream'd a dream, my mother dear, + The thoughts o' it gars me greet, + That Fair Annie of Rough Royal + Lay cauld dead at my feet.' + + 19. + 'Gin it be for Annie of Rough Royal + That ye make a' this din, + She stood a' last night at this door, + But I trow she wan no in.' + + 20. + 'O wae betide ye, ill woman, + An ill dead may ye die! + That ye woudno open the door to her, + Nor yet woud waken me.' + + 21. + O he has gone down to yon shore-side, + As fast as he could fare; + He saw Fair Annie in her boat + But the wind it toss'd her sair. + + 22. + And 'Hey, Annie!' and 'How, Annie! + O Annie, winna ye bide?' + But ay the mair that he cried 'Annie,' + The braider grew the tide. + + 23. + And 'Hey, Annie!' and 'How, Annie! + Dear Annie, speak to me!' + But ay the louder he cried 'Annie,' + The louder roar'd the sea. + + 24. + The wind blew loud, the sea grew rough, + And dash'd the boat on shore; + Fair Annie floats on the raging sea, + But her young son raise no more. + + 25. + Love Gregor tare his yellow hair, + And made a heavy moan; + Fair Annie's corpse lay at his feet, + But his bonny young son was gone. + + 26. + O cherry, cherry was her cheek, + And gowden was her hair, + But clay cold were her rosey lips, + Nae spark of life was there. + + 27. + And first he's kiss'd her cherry cheek, + And neist he's kissed her chin; + And saftly press'd her rosey lips, + But there was nae breath within. + + 28. + 'O wae betide my cruel mother, + And an ill dead may she die! + For she turn'd my true-love frae the door, + When she came sae far to me.' + + + [Annotations: + 10.3: 'warlock,' wizard, magician. + 18.2: 'gars me greet,' makes me weep.] + + + + +HIND HORN + + ++The Text+ is from Motherwell's MS., written from the recitation of a +Mrs. King of Kilbarchan. + ++The Story+ of the ballad is a mere remnant of the story told in the +Gest of King Horn, preserved in three manuscripts, the oldest of which +belongs to the thirteenth century. Similar stories are given in a French +romance of the fourteenth century, and an English manuscript of the same +date. The complete story in the Gest may be condensed as follows:-- + +Horn, son of Murry, King of Suddenne, was captured by Saracens, who +killed his father, and turned him and his twelve companions adrift in a +boat, which was eventually beached safely on the coast of Westerness, +and Ailmar the king took them in and brought them up. Rymenhild his +daughter, falling in love with Horn, offered herself to him. He refused, +unless she would make the king knight him. She did so, and again claimed +his love; but he said he must first prove his knighthood. She gave him a +ring set with stones, such that he could never be slain if he looked on +it and thought of her. His first feat was the slaying of a hundred +heathens; then he returned to Rymenhild. Meanwhile, however, one of his +companions had told the king that Horn meant to kill him and wed his +daughter. Ailmar ordered Horn to quit his court; and Horn, having told +Rymenhild that if he did not come back in seven years she might marry +another, sailed to the court of King Thurston in Ireland, where he +stayed for seven years, performing feats of valour with the aid of +Rymenhild's ring. + +At the end of the allotted time, Rymenhild was to be married to King +Modi of Reynis. Horn, hearing of this, went back to Westerness, arrived +on the marriage-morn, met a palmer (the old beggar man of the ballad), +changed clothes with him, and entered the hall. According to custom, +Rymenhild served wine to the guests, and as Horn drank, he dropped her +ring into the vessel. When she discovered it, she sent for the palmer, +and questioned him. He said Horn had died on the voyage thither. +Rymenhild seized a knife she had hidden to kill King Modi and herself if +Horn came not, and set it to her breast. The palmer threw off his +disguise, saying, 'I am Horn.' Still he would not wed her till he had +regained his father's kingdom of Suddenne, and went away and did so. +Meanwhile a false friend seized Rymenhild; but on the marriage-day Horn +returned, killed him, and finally made Rymenhild his wife and Queen of +Suddenne. + +Compare the story of Torello and the Saladin in the _Decameron_, Tenth +Day, Novel 9. + + +HIND HORN + + 1. + In Scotland there was a babie born, + _Lill lal, etc._ + And his name it was called young Hind Horn, + _With a fal lal, etc._ + + 2. + He sent a letter to our king + That he was in love with his daughter Jean.[A] + + ... ... ... + + 3. + He's gi'en to her a silver wand, + With seven living lavrocks sitting thereon. + + 4. + She's gi'en to him a diamond ring, + With seven bright diamonds set therein. + + 5. + 'When this ring grows pale and wan, + You may know by it my love is gane.' + + 6. + One day as he looked his ring upon, + He saw the diamonds pale and wan. + + 7. + He left the sea and came to land, + And the first that he met was an old beggar man. + + 8. + 'What news, what news?' said young Hind Horn; + 'No news, no news,' said the old beggar man. + + 9. + 'No news,' said the beggar, 'no news at a', + But there is a wedding in the king's ha'. + + 10. + 'But there is a wedding in the king's ha', + That has halden these forty days and twa.' + + 11. + 'Will ye lend me your begging coat? + And I'll lend you my scarlet cloak. + + 12. + 'Will you lend me your beggar's rung? + And I'll gi'e you my steed to ride upon. + + 13. + 'Will you lend me your wig o' hair, + To cover mine, because it is fair?' + + 14. + The auld beggar man was bound for the mill, + But young Hind Horn for the king's hall. + + 15. + The auld beggar man was bound for to ride, + But young Hind Horn was bound for the bride. + + 16. + When he came to the king's gate, + He sought a drink for Hind Horn's sake. + + 17. + The bride came down with a glass of wine, + When he drank out the glass, and dropt in the ring. + + 18. + 'O got ye this by sea or land? + Or got ye it off a dead man's hand?' + + 19. + 'I got not it by sea, I got it by land, + And I got it, madam, out of your own hand.' + + 20. + 'O I'll cast off my gowns of brown, + And beg wi' you frae town to town. + + 21. + 'O I'll cast off my gowns of red, + And I'll beg wi' you to win my bread.' + + 22. + 'Ye needna cast off your gowns of brown, + For I'll make you lady o' many a town. + + 23. + 'Ye needna cast off your gowns of red, + It's only a sham, the begging o' my bread.' + + 24. + The bridegroom he had wedded the bride, + But young Hind Horn he took her to bed. + + [Footnote A: After stanza 2 there is a gap in the story. Other + versions say that Hind Horn goes, or is sent, to sea.] + + + [Annotations: + 10.2: The bride has lingered six weeks in hopes of Hind Horn's return. + 12.1: 'rung,' staff.] + + + + +EDWARD + + ++The Text+ is that given by Percy in the _Reliques_ (1765), with the +substitution of _w_ for initial _qu_, and _y_ for initial _z_, as in +_Young Waters_ (see p. 146). In the fourth edition of the _Reliques_ +Percy states that 'this curious song was transmitted to the editor by +Sir David Dalrymple, Bart., late Lord Hailes.' + +Percy's adoption of antique spelling in this ballad has caused some +doubt to be thrown on its authenticity; but there is also a version _Son +Davie_, given in his _Minstrelsy_ by Motherwell, who, in referring to +the version in the _Reliques_, said there was reason for believing that +Lord Hailes 'made a few slight verbal improvements in the copy he +transmitted, and altered the hero's name to Edward, a name which, by the +bye, never occurs in a Scottish ballad except where allusion is made to +an English king.' + ++The Story+ has a close parallel in Swedish, the form of the ballad +remaining in dialogue. + +Motherwell points out that the verses of which _Edward_ consists +generally form the conclusion of the ballad of _The Twa Brothers_, and +also of certain versions of _Lizie Wan_; and is inclined to regard +_Edward_ as detached from one of those ballads. More probably the +reverse is the case, that the story of _Edward_ has been attached to the +other ballads. + +The present version of the ballad exhibits an unusual amplification of +the refrain. The story is told in two lines of each eight-lined stanza; +but the lyrical effect added by the elaborate refrain is almost unique. + + +EDWARD + + 1. + 'Why dois your brand sae drap wi' bluid, + Edward, Edward? + Why dois your brand sae drap wi' bluid, + And why sae sad gang yee, O?' + 'O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my hauke sae guid, + And I had nae mair bot hee, O.' + + 2. + 'Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, + Edward, Edward. + Your haukis bluid was nevir sae reid, + My deir son I tell thee, O.' + 'O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my reid-roan steid, + That erst was sae fair and frie, O.' + + 3. + 'Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, + Edward, Edward: + Your steid was auld, and ye hae gat mair, + Sum other dule ye drie, O.' + 'O, I hae killed my fadir deir, + Mither, mither: + O, I hae killed my fadir deir, + Alas! and wae is mee, O!' + + 4. + 'And whatten penance wul ye drie for that, + Edward, Edward? + And whatten penance will ye drie for that. + My deir son, now tell me, O, + 'Ile set my feit in yonder boat, + Mither, mither: + Ile set my feit in yonder boat, + And Ile fare ovir the sea, O.' + + 5. + 'And what wul ye doe wi' your towirs and your ha', + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye doe wi' your towirs and your ha', + That were sae fair to see, O?' + 'Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa', + Mither, mither: + Ile let thame stand tul they doun fa', + For here nevir mair maun I bee, O.' + + 6. + 'And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye leive to your bairns and your wife, + Whan ye gang ovir the sea, O?' + 'The warldis room, late them beg thrae life, + Mither, mither: + The warldis room, let them beg thrae life, + For thame nevir mair wul I see, O.' + + 7. + 'And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir, + Edward, Edward? + And what wul ye leive to your ain mither deir? + My deir son, now tell me, O.' + 'The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, + Mither, mither: + The curse of hell frae me sall ye beir, + Sic counseils ye gave to me, O.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.4: 'dule,' grief; 'drie,' suffer. + 6.5,7: _i.e._ The world is wide.] + + + + +LORD RANDAL + + ++The Text+ is from Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_ (1803). +Other forms give the name as _Lord Ronald_, but Scott retains _Randal_ +on the supposition that the ballad originated in the death of 'Thomas +Randolph, or Randal, Earl of Murray, nephew to Robert Bruce, and +governor of Scotland,' who died at Musselburgh in 1332. + ++The Story+ of the ballad is found in Italian tradition nearly three +hundred years ago, and also occurs in Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, +Magyar, Wendish, etc. + +Certain variants of the ballad bear the title of _The Croodlin Doo_, and +the 'handsome young man' is changed for a child, and the poisoner is the +child's step-mother. Scott suggests that this change was made 'to excite +greater interest in the nursery.' In nearly all forms of the ballad, the +poisoning is done by the substitution of snakes ('eels') for fish, a +common method amongst the ancients of administering poison. + +Child gives a collation of seven versions secured in America of late +years, in each of which the name of Lord Randal has become corrupted to +'Tiranti.' + +The antiphonetic form of the ballad is popular, as being dramatic and +suitable for singing. Compare _Edward_, also a dialogue between mother +and son. + + +LORD RANDAL + + 1. + 'O where hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son? + O where hae ye been, my handsome young man?' + 'I hae been to the wild wood; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 2. + 'Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young man?' + 'I din'd wi' my true-love; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 3. + 'What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + What gat ye to your dinner, my handsome young man?' + 'I gat eels boil'd in broo'; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 4. + 'What became of your bloodhounds, Lord Randal, my son? + What became of your bloodhounds, my handsome young man?' + 'O they swell'd and they died; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down.' + + 5. + 'O I fear ye are poison'd, Lord Randal, my son! + O I fear ye are poison'd, my handsome young man!' + 'O yes, I am poison'd; mother, make my bed soon, + For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wald lie down.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.3: 'broo',' broth.] + + + + +LAMKIN + + ++The Text+ is from Jamieson's _Popular Ballads_. He obtained it from +Mrs. Brown. It is by far the best version of a score or so in existence. +The name of the hero varies from Lamkin, Lankin, Lonkin, etc., to Rankin +and Balcanqual. I have been informed by Andrew McDowall, Esq., of an +incomplete version in which Lamkin's name has become 'Bold Hang'em.' + +Finlay (_Scottish Ballads_) remarks:-- 'All reciters agree that +Lammikin, or Lambkin, is not the name of the hero, but merely an +epithet.' + ++The Story+ varies little throughout all the versions, though in some, +as in one known to Percy, it lacks much of the detail here given. + + +LAMKIN + + 1. + It's Lamkin was a mason good + As ever built wi' stane; + He built Lord Wearie's castle, + But payment got he nane. + + 2. + 'O pay me, Lord Wearie, + Come, pay me my fee': + 'I canna pay you, Lamkin, + For I maun gang o'er the sea.' + + 3. + 'O pay me now, Lord Wearie, + Come, pay me out o' hand': + 'I canna pay you, Lamkin, + Unless I sell my land.' + + 4. + 'O gin ye winna pay me, + I here sail mak' a vow, + Before that ye come hame again, + Ye sall hae cause to rue.' + + 5. + Lord Wearie got a bonny ship, + To sail the saut sea faem; + Bade his lady weel the castle keep, + Ay till he should come hame. + + 6. + But the nourice was a fause limmer + As e'er hung on a tree; + She laid a plot wi' Lamkin, + Whan her lord was o'er the sea. + + 7. + She laid a plot wi' Lamkin, + When the servants were awa', + Loot him in at a little shot-window, + And brought him to the ha'. + + 8. + 'O whare's a' the men o' this house, + That ca' me Lamkin?' + 'They're at the barn-well thrashing; + 'Twill be lang ere they come in.' + + 9. + 'And whare's the women o' this house, + That ca' me Lamkin?' + 'They're at the far well washing; + 'Twill be lang ere they come in.' + + 10. + 'And whare's the bairns o' this house, + That ca' me Lamkin?' + 'They're at the school reading; + 'Twill be night or they come hame.' + + 11. + 'O whare's the lady o' this house, + That ca's me Lamkin?' + 'She's up in her bower sewing, + But we soon can bring her down.' + + 12. + Then Lamkin's tane a sharp knife, + That hung down by his gaire, + And he has gi'en the bonny babe + A deep wound and a sair. + + 13. + Then Lamkin he rocked, + And the fause nourice sang, + Till frae ilkae bore o' the cradle + The red blood out sprang. + + 14. + Then out it spak' the lady, + As she stood on the stair: + 'What ails my bairn, nourice, + That he's greeting sae sair? + + 15. + 'O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi' the pap!' + 'He winna still, lady, + For this nor for that.' + + 16. + 'O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi' the wand!' + 'He winna still, lady, + For a' his father's land.' + + 17. + 'O still my bairn, nourice, + O still him wi' the bell!' + 'He winna still, lady, + Till ye come down yoursel'.' + + 18. + O the firsten step she steppit, + She steppit on a stane; + But the neisten step she steppit, + She met him Lamkin. + + 19. + 'O mercy, mercy, Lamkin, + Hae mercy upon me! + Though you've ta'en my young son's life, + Ye may let mysel' be.' + + 20. + 'O sall I kill her, nourice, + Or sall I lat her be?' + 'O kill her, kill her, Lamkin, + For she ne'er was good to me.' + + 21. + 'O scour the bason, nourice, + And mak' it fair and clean, + For to keep this lady's heart's blood, + For she's come o' noble kin.' + + 22. + 'There need nae bason, Lamkin, + Lat it run through the floor; + What better is the heart's blood + O' the rich than o' the poor?' + + 23. + But ere three months were at an end, + Lord Wearie came again; + But dowie, dowie was his heart + When first he came hame. + + 24. + 'O wha's blood is this,' he says, + 'That lies in the chamer?' + 'It is your lady's heart's blood; + 'T is as clear as the lamer.' + + 25. + 'And wha's blood is this,' he says, + 'That lies in my ha'?' + 'It is your young son's heart's blood; + 'Tis the clearest ava.' + + 26. + O sweetly sang the black-bird + That sat upon the tree; + But sairer grat Lamkin, + When he was condemn'd to die. + + 27. + And bonny sang the mavis + Out o' the thorny brake; + But sairer grat the nourice, + When she was tied to the stake. + + + [Annotations: + 6.1: 'limmer,' wretch, rascal. + 7.3: 'shot-window': see special section of the Introduction. + 12.2: 'gaire'; _i.e._ by his knee: see special section of the + Introduction. + 13.3: 'bore,' hole, crevice. + 14.4: 'greeting,' crying. + 23.3: 'dowie,' sad. + 24.2: 'chamer,' chamber. + 24.4: 'lamer,' amber. + 25.4: 'ava,' at all. + 26.3: 'grat,' greeted, wept.] + + + + +FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON + + ++The Text+ is from _Lovely Jenny's Garland_, as given with emendations +by Professor Child. There is also a curiously perverted version in +Herd's manuscript, in which the verses require rearrangement before +becoming intelligible. + ++The Story+ can be gathered from the version here given without much +difficulty. It turns on the marriage of Fair Mary, who is one of seven +sisters fated to die of their first child. Fair Mary seems to be a +fatalist, and, after vowing never to marry, accepts as her destiny the +hand of Sir William Fenwick of Wallington. Three-quarters of a year +later she sends to fair Pudlington for her mother. Her mother is much +affected at the news (st. 22), and goes to Wallington. Her daughter, in +travail, lays the blame on her, cuts open her side to give birth to an +heir, and dies. + +In a Breton ballad Pontplancoat thrice marries a Marguerite, and each of +his three sons costs his mother her life. + +In the Scottish ballad, a 'scope' is put in Mary's mouth when the +operation takes place. In the Breton ballad it is a silver spoon or a +silver ball. 'Scope,' or 'scobs' as it appears in Herd, means a gag, and +was apparently used to prevent her from crying out. But the silver spoon +and ball in the Breton ballad would appear to have been used for +Marguerite to bite on in her anguish, just as sailors chewed bullets +while being flogged. + + +FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON + + 1. + When we were silly sisters seven, + Sisters were so fair, + Five of us were brave knights' wives, + And died in childbed lair. + + 2. + Up then spake Fair Mary, + Marry woud she nane; + If ever she came in man's bed, + The same gate wad she gang. + + 3. + 'Make no vows, Fair Mary, + For fear they broken be; + Here's been the Knight of Wallington, + Asking good will of thee.' + + 4. + 'If here's been the knight, mother, + Asking good will of me, + Within three quarters of a year + You may come bury me.' + + 5. + When she came to Wallington, + And into Wallington hall, + There she spy'd her mother dear, + Walking about the wall. + + 6. + 'You're welcome, daughter dear, + To thy castle and thy bowers'; + 'I thank you kindly, mother, + I hope they'll soon be yours.' + + 7. + She had not been in Wallington + Three quarters and a day, + Till upon the ground she could not walk, + She was a weary prey. + + 8. + She had not been in Wallington + Three quarters and a night, + Till on the ground she coud not walk, + She was a weary wight. + + 9. + 'Is there ne'er a boy in this town, + Who'll win hose and shun, + That will run to fair Pudlington, + And bid my mother come?' + + 10. + Up then spake a little boy, + Near unto a-kin; + 'Full oft I have your errands gone, + But now I will it run.' + + 11. + Then she call'd her waiting-maid + To bring up bread and wine; + 'Eat and drink, my bonny boy, + Thou'll ne'er eat more of mine. + + 12. + 'Give my respects to my mother, + She sits in her chair of stone, + And ask her how she likes the news, + Of seven to have but one. + + 13. + 'Give my respects to my mother, + As she sits in her chair of oak, + And bid her come to my sickening, + Or my merry lake-wake. + + 14. + 'Give my love to my brother + William, Ralph, and John, + And to my sister Betty fair, + And to her white as bone: + + 15. + 'And bid her keep her maidenhead, + Be sure make much on 't, + For if e'er she come in man's bed, + The same gate will she gang.' + + 16. + Away this little boy is gone, + As fast as he could run; + When he came where brigs were broke, + He lay down and swum. + + 17. + When he saw the lady, he said, + 'Lord may your keeper be!' + 'What news, my pretty boy, + Hast thou to tell to me?' + + 18. + 'Your daughter Mary orders me, + As you sit in a chair of stone, + To ask you how you like the news, + Of seven to have but one. + + 19. + 'Your daughter gives commands, + As you sit in a chair of oak, + And bids you come to her sickening, + Or her merry lake-wake. + + 20. + 'She gives command to her brother + William, Ralph, and John, + [And] to her sister Betty fair, + And to her white as bone. + + 21. + 'She bids her keep her maidenhead, + Be sure make much on 't, + For if e'er she came in man's bed, + The same gate woud she gang.' + + 22. + She kickt the table with her foot, + She kickt it with her knee, + The silver plate into the fire, + So far she made it flee. + + 23. + Then she call'd her waiting-maid + To bring her riding-hood, + So did she on her stable-groom + To bring her riding-steed. + + 24. + 'Go saddle to me the black, [the black,] + Go saddle to me the brown, + Go saddle to me the swiftest steed + That e'er rid [to] Wallington.' + + 25. + When they came to Wallington, + And into Wallington hall, + There she spy'd her son Fenwick, + Walking about the wall. + + 26. + 'God save you, dear son, + Lord may your keeper be! + Where is my daughter fair, + That used to walk with thee?' + + 27. + He turn'd his head round about, + The tears did fill his e'e: + ''Tis a month' he said, 'since she + Took her chambers from me.' + + 28. + She went on . . . + And there were in the hall + Four and twenty ladies, + Letting the tears down fall. + + 29. + Her daughter had a scope + Into her cheek and into her chin, + All to keep her life + Till her dear mother came. + + 30. + 'Come take the rings off my fingers, + The skin it is so white, + And give them to my mother dear, + For she was all the wite. + + 31. + 'Come take the rings off my fingers, + The veins they are so red, + Give them to Sir William Fenwick, + I'm sure his heart will bleed.' + + 32. + She took out a razor + That was both sharp and fine, + And out of her left side has taken + The heir of Wallington. + + 33. + There is a race in Wallington, + And that I rue full sare; + Tho' the cradle it be full spread up + The bride-bed is left bare. + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'silly,' simple. + 1.4: 'lair,' lying-in. + 2.4: 'gate,' way. + 5.3: 'her mother' is, of course, her mother-in-law. + 9.2: 'shun' = shoon, shoes. + 13: This stanza is not in the original, but is supplied from the boy's + repetition, st. 19. + 13.4: 'lake-wake' = lyke-wake: watching by a corpse. + 22: This, in ballads, is a customary method of giving expression to + strong emotion. + 29.1: 'scope,' a gag. + 30.4: 'wite,' blame: _i.e._ her mother was the cause of all her + trouble.] + + + + +END OF THE FIRST SERIES + + + + +INDEX OF TITLES + + Page + + Barbara Allan 150 + Brown Adam 100 + Brown Robin 158 + + Child Maurice 165 + Child Waters 37 + + Earl Brand 44 + Edward 189 + + Fair Annie 29 + Fair Annie of Rough Royal 179 + Fair Janet 94 + Fair Margaret and Sweet William 63 + Fair Mary of Wallington 201 + Fause Footrage 172 + + Glasgerion 1 + + Hind Horn 185 + + Johney Scot 128 + + Lady Alice 163 + Lady Maisry 70 + Lamkin 196 + Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 19 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + Lord Lovel 67 + Lord Randal 193 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + + Old Robin of Portingale 13 + + The Bonny Birdy 25 + The Boy and the Mantle 119 + The Brown Girl 60 + The Child of Ell 52 + The Cruel Brother 76 + The Cruel Mother 35 + The Douglas Tragedy 49 + The Gay Goshawk 153 + The Marriage of Sir Gawaine 107 + The Nutbrown Maid 80 + The Twa Sisters o' Binnorie 141 + + Willie o' Winsbury 104 + + Young Bekie 6 + Young Waters 146 + + + + +INDEX OF FIRST LINES + Page + + About Yule, when the wind blew cule 147 + As it fell one holy-day 19 + As it fell out on a long summer's day 63 + + Be it right, or wrong, these men among 81 + + Child Maurice hunted ithe siluer wood 166 + Childe Watters in his stable stoode 37 + + Glasgerion was a king's own son 2 + God! let neuer soe old a man 13 + + 'I am as brown as brown can be 60 + In Scotland there was a babie born 186 + In the third day of May 120 + It's Lamkin was a mason good 196 + 'It's narrow, narrow, make your bed 30 + It was in and about the Martinmas time 150 + + Kinge Arthur liues in merry Carleile 109 + King Easter has courted her for her gowd 173 + + Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window 163 + Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet 135 + Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate 68 + Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 54 + + O Johney was as brave a knight 129 + 'O well's me o' my gay goss-hawk 153 + 'O wha will shoe my fu' fair foot? 180 + O wha woud wish the win' to blaw 101 + 'O where hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son? 194 + 'Oh did ye ever hear o' brave Earl Bran'? 46 + + 'Rise up, rise up now, Lord Douglas,' she says 49 + + Sayes, 'Christ thee saue, good child of Ell 52 + She leaned her back unto a thorn 35 + + The king but an' his nobles a' 158 + The king he hath been a prisoner 104 + The young lords o' the north country 70 + There was a knight, in a summer's night 25 + There was three ladies play'd at the ba' 77 + There were twa sisters sat in a bour 141 + + When we were silly sisters seven 202 + 'Why dois your brand sae drap wi' bluid 190 + + 'Ye maun gang to your father, Janet 94 + Young Bekie was as brave a knight 7 + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Errata: + +Introduction: + +[Footnote 3: _Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard_ (see p. 19, etc.).] + _footnote marker missing from text_ +[Footnote 5: For the most recent discussions, see Bibliography, + p. lii.] + _footnote marker missing or invisible_ +carefully balanced antitheses, and all the mechanical devices + _text reads "aud"_ +Coleridge's _annus mirabilis_ was 1797 + _"Cole/ridge's" printed at line break without visible hyphen_ +his friend Humphrey Pitt of Shifnal, in Shropshire, + _text has extra close quote after "Shropshire,"_ +1794. _Joseph Ritson._ Scotish Song. 2 vols. London. + _spelling unchanged_ + +Ballads: + +The Douglas Tragedy + [Stanza 5.] + 'Light down, light down, Lady Margret,' he said, + _close quote after "Lady Margret," not visible_ + [Annotation to 8.3] + 'dighted,' dressed. + _reference "8.3" missing in text_ +Lord Lovel + [Introduction] + Of the former the commonest is _Der Ritter und die Maid_ + _spelling unchanged_ +Fair Annie of Rough Royal + [Introduction] + 'Lochryan,' says Scott, 'lies in Galloway; + _text has extra close quote after "Galloway"_ +Lord Randal + [Stanza 2.] + 'Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son? + Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young man?' + _text has empty line where "man?'" is expected_ + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ballads of Romance and Chivalry, by Frank Sidgwick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF ROMANCE AND CHIVALRY *** + +***** This file should be named 20469.txt or 20469.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/4/6/20469/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.ne + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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