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.

Frank Sidgwick

Frank Sidgwick was an English writer, publisher, and scholarly editor. He was instrumental in popularizing ballad and folklore studies in the early 20th century. Sidgwick co-founded the publishing company Sidgwick & Jackson, which became known for its contributions to literature and scholarship. Though not primarily known as a poet, his editorial and publishing efforts significantly impacted the literary culture of his time, emphasizing the academic study of traditional songs and verses.

Frank Sidgwick

Johney Scot

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Little Musgrave And Lady Barnard

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Sir Hugh, Or The Jew's Daughter

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Old Robin Of Portingale

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

English

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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-...

Frank Sidgwick

The Gardener

The Text of this pretty little song is taken from Kinloch's MSS., where it is in James Beattie's handwriting. In Five Excellent New Songs, printed at Edinburgh in 1766, there is an older but much corrupted version of this song, confused with two other songs, a 'Thyme' song and the favourite 'I sowed the seeds of love.' It is printed as two songs, The New Lover's Garland and The Young Maid's Answer, both with the following refrain:--

    'Brave sailing here, my dear,
        And better sailing there,
    And brave sailing in my love's arms,
        O if I were there!'


The Story is so slight that the song can scarcely be counted as a narrative. But it is one of the lyrical dialogues covered by the word 'ballad,' and was not ruled out by Professor Child. There seems to be a loss...

Frank Sidgwick

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 (c...

Frank Sidgwick

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 g...

Frank Sidgwick

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 ...

Frank Sidgwick

Lady Isabel And The Elf-Knight

The Text is taken from Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, where it is entitled The Gowans sae gay. This ballad is much better known in another form, May Colvin (Collin, Collean).


The Story.--Professor Child says, 'Of all ballads this has perhaps obtained the widest circulation,' and devotes thirty-two pages to its introduction. Known in the south as well as in the north of Europe, the Germans and Scandinavians preserve it in fuller and more ancient forms than the Latin nations.

In the still popular Dutch ballad Halewijn, Heer Halewijn sings so sweetly that the king's daughter asks leave to go to him. Her father, mother, and sister remind her that those who have gone to him have never returned; her brother says he does not care where she goes, if she retains her honour....

Frank Sidgwick