Sir Hugh In The Grime's Downfall

The Text given here is comparatively a late one, from the Roxburghe collection (iii. 456). An earlier broadside, in the same and other collections, gives a longer but curiously corrupted version, exhibiting such perversions as 'Screw' for 'Scroop,' and 'Garlard' for 'Carlisle.'


The Story in its full form relates that Sir Hugh in the Grime (Hughie Graeme or Graham) stole a mare from the Bishop of Carlisle, by way of retaliation for the Bishop's seduction of his wife. He was pursued by Lord Scroop, taken, and conveyed to Carlisle and hanged.

Scott suggested that Hugh Graham may have been one of four hundred Borderers accused to the Bishop of Carlisle of various murders and thefts about 1548.


SIR HUGH IN THE GRIME'S DOWNFALL

    1.
    Good Lord John is a hunting gone,
        Over the hills and dales so far,
    For to take Sir Hugh in the Grime,
        For stealing of the bishop's mare.
            He derry derry down

    2.
    Hugh in the Grime was taken then
        And carried to Carlisle town;
    The merry women came out amain,
        Saying, 'The name of Grime shall never go down.'

    3.
    O then a jury of women was brought,
        Of the best that could be found;
    Eleven of them spoke all at once,
        Saying 'The name of Grime shall never go down.'

    4.
    And then a jury of men was brought,
        More the pity for to be!
    Eleven of them spoke all at once,
        Saying 'Hugh in the Grime, you are guilty.'

    5.
    Hugh in the Grime was cast to be hang'd,
        Many of his friends did for him lack;
    For fifteen foot in the prisin he did jump,
        With his hands tyed fast behind his back.

    6.
    Then bespoke our good Lady Ward,
        As she set on the bench so high;
    'A peck of white pennys I'll give to my lord,
        If he'll grant Hugh Grime to me.

    7.
    'And if it be not full enough,
        I'll stroke it up with my silver fan;
    And if it be not full enough,
        I'll heap it up with my own hand.'

    8.
    'Hold your tongue now, Lady Ward,
        And of your talkitive let it be!
    There is never a Grime came in this court
        That at thy bidding shall saved be.'

    9.
    Then bespoke our good Lady Moor,
        As she sat on the bench so high;
    'A yoke of fat oxen I'll give to my lord,
        If he'll grant Hugh Grime to me.'

    10.
    'Hold your tongue now, good Lady Moor,
        And of your talkitive let it be!
    There is never a Grime came to this court
        That at thy bidding saved shall be.'

    11.
    Sir Hugh in the Grime look'd out of the door,
        With his hand out of the bar;
    There he spy'd his father dear,
        Tearing of his golden hair.

    12.
    'Hold your tongue, good father dear,
        And of your weeping let it be!
    For if they bereave me of my life,
        They cannot bereave me of the heavens so high.'

    13.
    Sir Hugh in the Grime look'd out at the door;
        Oh, what a sorry heart had he!
    There he spy'd his mother dear,
        Weeping and wailing 'Oh, woe is me!'

    14.
    'Hold your tongue now, mother dear,
        And of your weeping let it be!
    For if they bereave me of my life,
        They cannot bereave me of heaven's fee.

    15.
    'I'll leave my sword to Johnny Armstrong,
        That is made of mettal so fine,
    That when he comes to the border-side
        He may think of Hugh in the Grime.'

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

Glasgerion

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

The Wife Of Usher's Well

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Sir Hugh, Or The Jew's Daughter

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

Cospatrick

Frank Sidgwick, Simple Poetry

English

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Sir Hugh, Or The Jew's Daughter

The Text is given from Jamieson's Popular Ballads, as taken down by him from Mrs. Brown's recitation.


The Story of the ballad is told at length in at least two ancient monastic records; in the Annals of the Monastery of Waverley, the first Cistercian house in England, near Farnham, Surrey (edited by Luard, vol. ii. p. 346, etc., from MS. Cotton Vesp, A. xvi. fol. 150, etc.); more fully in the Annals of the Monastery at Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire (edited by Luard, vol. i. pp. 340, etc., from MS. Cotton Vesp. E. iii. fol. 53, etc.). Both of these give the date as 1255, the latter adding July 31. Matthew Paris also tells the tale as a contemporary event. The details may be condensed as follows.

All the principal Jews in England being collected at the end of July 1255 at Lincoln, Hugh, a sc...

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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 ...

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Bewick And Grahame

The Text is from several broadsides and chap-books, but mainly depends on a stall-copy entitled The Song of Bewick and Grahame, approximately dated 1740. Sir Walter Scott considered this ballad 'remarkable, as containing probably the very latest allusion to the institution of brotherhood in arms' (see 14.4, and the use of the word 'bully'); but Child strongly suspects there was an older and better copy than those extant, none of which is earlier than the eighteenth century.


The Story is concerned with two fathers, who boast about their sons, and cause the two lads to fight. Christy Graham is faced with the dilemma of fighting either his father or his brother-in-arms, and decides to meet the latter; but, should he kill his friend, he determines not to return alive. Young Bewick takes a similar vow. They fight two ho...

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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,...

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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...

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Sir James The Rose

The Text is from Motherwell's Minstrelsy (1827). It is based on a stall-copy, presumably similar to one preserved by Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, combined with a version from recitation, which Child none the less calls 'well remembered from print.'


The Story has no historical foundation, as far as can be discovered; and for once we have a traditional tale inculcating a moral, though we do not understand why the 'nourice' betrays Sir James to his enemies.

Michael Bruce wrote a version of the story of this ballad, which seems to have become more popular than the ballad itself. It may be seen in A. B. Grosart's edition of his works (1865), p. 197.


SIR JAMES THE ROSE

    1.
    O heard ye of Sir James the Rose,
        The young heir of Buleighan?
    For he has ...

Frank Sidgwick