Young Polly appeared in the form of a swan,
Crying Jimmy, young Jimmy, young Jimmy is clear,
He never shall be hung for the shooting of his dear."
And he is, of course, acquitted.
In Fone's version she appears in dream to her lover as a swan, and
comforts him, but the sequel of the story he could not recall.
The ballad is found in a fragmentary condition in Kent--
"O cursed be my uncle for lendin' of a gun.
For I've bin' and shot my true love in the room of a swan."
And the apparition of the girl says--
"With my apron tied over me, I 'peared like unto a swan,
And underneath the green tree while the showers did come on."
This was heard in 1884, sung by a very old man at a harvest supper at
Haverstall Doddington, near Faversham.
The transformation of the damsel into a swan stalking into the Court
is an early feature, and possibly the ballad may be a degraded form
of a very ancient piece.
This ballad, arranged as a song with accompaniment by Mr. Ferris
Tozer, has been published by Messrs. Weeks.
Mr. Sharp has given the song to a different air in his "Folk-Songs
from Somerset," No. 16.
63. ALL JOLLY FELLOWS THAT FOLLOW THE PLOUGH. This song is very
generally known. We have picked up four variants of the tune. Miss
Broadwood gives one from Oxfordshire and one from Hampshire, but hers
lack the chorus. Mr. C. Sharp has also gathered three. He says: "I
find that almost every singer knows it, the bad singers often know
but little else. Perhaps it is for this reason that the tune is very
corrupt, the words are almost always the same."
In the second verse we have the breakfast described as consisting
of bread and cheese and stingo. In Miss Broadwood's version the
breakfast consists of cold beef and pork; the drink is not specified.
64. THE GOLDEN VANITY. Taken down, words and air, from James Oliver.
The ballad was printed as "Sir Walter Raleigh sailing in the
Lowlands, showing how the famous ship called the _Sweet Trinity_
was taken by a false galley; and how it was recovered by the craft
of a little sea-boy, who sunk the galley," by Coles, Wright, Vere,
and Conyers (1648-80). In this it is said that the ballad is to be
sung "to the tune of The Lowlands of Holland," and in it there is
ingratitude shown to the poor sea-boy of a severe character. In this
version there are fourteen verses. It begins--
"Sir Walter Raleigh has built a ship,
In the Netherlands.
And it is called the _Sweet Trinity_,
And was taken by the false Gallaly,
Sailing in the Lowlands."
It has been reprinted in Child, No. 286, as also the earliest form of
the ballad from the Pepys Collection. By writing some of the words
as "awa'" and "couldna'," it has been turned into a Scottish ballad.
Under the form of "The Goulden Vanity," it is given with an air (of
no value) in Mrs. Gordon's "Memoirs of Christopher North," 1862, ii.
p. 317, as sung at a convivial meeting at Lord Robertson's, by Mr. P.
Fraser of Edinburgh.
We obtained the same ballad at Chagford as "The Yellow Golden Tree."
"Sir Walter Raleigh," says Mr. Ebsworth, in his introduction to the
ballad in the "Roxburgh Ballads" (v. p. 418), "never secured the
popularity, the natural affection which were frankly given to Robert
Devereux, the Earl of Essex. Raleigh was deemed arrogant, selfish,
with the airs of an upstart, insolent to superiors, unconciliating
with equals, and heartlessly indifferent to those in a lower
position. The subject of the ballad is fictitious--sheer invention,
of course. The selfishness and ingratitude displayed by Raleigh
agreed with the current estimate. He certainly had a daughter."
In the ballad in the Pepys Collection the _Sweet Trinity_, a ship
built by Sir Walter Raleigh, has been taken by a galley of a
nationality not specified. He asks whether any seaman will take the
galley and redeem his ship: the reward shall be a golden fee and his
daughter. A ship-boy volunteers and with his auger bores fifteen
holes in the galley and sinks her, and releases the _Sweet Trinity_.
Then he swims back to his ship and demands his pay. The master will
give golden fee but not his daughter. The ship-boy says, Farewell,
since you are not so good as your word.
In the stall copy of the ballad, the master refuses to take the boy
on board after he had sunk the galley, and threatens to shoot him,
and the boy is drowned. Then he is picked up, is sewed in a cow-hide
and thrown overboard.
Mr. Kidson has obtained no less than four different versions from
sailors.
A version from Sussex is in _Folk-Song Journal_, vol. i. p. 104.
Another in Miss Broadwood's "English County Songs." It is also in
Ferris Tozer's "Sailors' Songs and Chanties." The black letter ballad
of "Sir Walter Raleigh Sailing in the Lowlands low ... or the _Sweet
Trinity_" was priced in Russell Smith's catalogue, £1, 5s.
65. THE BOLD DRAGOON. Words and melody taken down by W. Crossing,
Esq., many years ago, from a labouring man on Dartmoor, now dead.
The words were very corrupt. We took down the words and tune from
Moses Cleve at Huckaby Bridge, Dartmoor. An early version of the
words as "The Jolly Trooper," in "The Lover's Garland," N.D., but of
the beginning of the 18th century. The original is too coarse for
reproduction and is lengthy. I have condensed the ballad and softened
it down. The press mark in the British Museum is 11,621, c 5.
66. TRINITY SUNDAY. Melody noted down by T.S. Cayzer, Esq., in 1849,
at Post Bridge, from a moor man. The original words were unsuitable,
a Broadside ballad of a murder.[32] I have written fresh words.
[Footnote 32: Printed on Broadside by Catnach as "Oxford City."]
In connection with this charming air, I will give Mr. Cayzer's
account of taking it down in 1849, which he has kindly extracted for
me from his diary:--"This air, together with 'As Johnny walked out'
(No. 11), I got from Dartmoor; nor shall I soon forget the occasion.
The scene was a lonely one (I think Two Bridges, but it may have been
Post Bridge). It had been raining all day. There was not a book in
the house, nor musical instrument of any kind, except two hungry pigs
and a baby that was being weaned. Towards nightfall there dropped in
several miners and shepherds, and I well remember how the appearance
of these Gentiles cheered us. We soon got up a glorious fire--such a
fire as peat only can make, and drew the benches and settles round.
By the friendly aid of sundry quarts of cyder I, before long, gained
the confidence of the whole circle, and got a song from each in
turn; and noted down two that were quite new to me: no easy matter,
considering that they were performed in a strange mixture of double
bass and falsetto. The action with which they accompanied the singing
was extremely appropriate. They always sing standing."
Many a similar evening have Mr. Sheppard, Mr. Bussell, and I spent in
like manner over the peat fire with the burly, red-faced moor men and
shepherds, standing to sing their quaint old songs, and very happy
evenings they have been.
The same melody was taken down by Miss Wyatt Edgell from an old woman
near Exeter, in 1891. The words sung to it related to the same Oxford
Tragedy, but were a version different from the stall copy.
67. THE BLUE FLAME. Melody taken down by Mr. W. Crossing, from an old
moor man, to "Rosemary Lane." Roger Luxton and James Parsons also
sang "Rosemary Lane" to the same air. The words are objectionable.
Moreover, in other parts of England, this Broadside song is always
sung to one particular air. We therefore thought it well to put to
our melody entirely fresh words.
It was a common belief in the West of England that a soul after death
appeared as a blue flame; and that a flame came from the churchyard
to the house of one doomed to die, and hovered on the doorstep till
the death-doomed expired, when the soul of the deceased was seen
returning with the other flame, also as a flame, to the churchyard.
68. STRAWBERRY FAIR. Melody taken down from James Masters. This is a
very old song. It is found with music in "Songs and Madrigals of the
15th Century," published by the Old English Plain-Song Society, 1891.
The ballad was recast "Kytt has lost her Key," which is given by
Dr. Rimbault in his "Little Book of Songs and Ballads gathered from
Ancient Music Books," 1851, p. 49. We have been forced to re-write
the words, which were very indelicate. The air was used, in or about
1835, by Beuler, a comic song writer, for "The Devil and the Hackney
Coachman"--
"Ben was a Hackney coachman sure,
Jarvey! Jarvey!--Here I am, your honour."
I have never found a singer who had any knowledge of Beuler's song,
but all have heard "Strawberry Fair," and some men of seventy or
eighty years of age say they learned it from their fathers.
69. THE COUNTRY FARMER'S SON. Taken down from James Woolrich, a
labourer, at Broadwood Widger. The original ballad, "The Constant
Farmer's Son," is found on a Broadside by Ross of Newcastle. I have
re-written the song. The fine, robust tune belongs to the end of the
18th century. See _Folk-Song Journal_, i. p. 160.
70. THE HOSTESS' DAUGHTER. Taken down from J. Masters, Bradstone. The
coarseness of the original words obliged me to re-write the song.
71. THE JOLLY GOSS-HAWK. Melody taken down from H. Westaway to "The
Nawden Song," which begins--
"I went to my lady the first of May,
A jolly Goss-hawk and his wings were grey,
Come let us see who'll win my fair ladye--you or me."
To the 2nd of May is "a two twitty bird," then "a dushy cock," a
"four-legged pig," "five steers," "six boars," "seven cows calving,"
"eight bulls roaring," "nine cocks crowing," "ten carpenters yawing,"
"eleven shepherds sawing," "twelve old women scolding." Mr. C.
Sharp has taken it down in Somersetshire. A Scottish version in
Chambers' "Popular Rhymes of Scotland," 1842; as "The Yule Days," a
Northumbrian version; "The XII. days of Christmas," with air not like
ours, in "Northumbrian Minstrelsy," Newcastle, 1882, p. 129.
A Breton version, "Gousper ou ar Ranad" in "Chansons Populaires de
la Basse Bretagne," by Luzel, 1890, p. 94. The West of England song
has got mixed up with the "Goss Hawk," another song. See "The Fond
Mother's Garland," B.M. (11,621, c 5). A companion song to this is
"The Bonny Bird," given further on in this collection, No. 106. The
song, in Devonshire, goes by the name of "The Nawden Song."
72. THE SONG OF THE MOOR. The melody was taken down at Merrivale
Bridge, Dartmoor, from a quarryman named Nankivel, commonly known as
"Old Capul." To this air he sang a farcical ballad, "The Infant,"
quite unworthy of it. I have, accordingly, written fresh words to a
really good swinging tune.
The original began as follows--
"O when I was an Infant, to London I did go,
Among the French and Spaniards my gallantry to show.
And when I reached the Eastern shore, I let my head hang down,
I tripped over Baganells (?) and never touched the ground.
Fal-de-ral-de, etc.
"So when I reached the Eastern shore, I met a giant high,
He lookèd down upon me, and bade me pass him by.
He challenged me to dance and sing, to whistle and to run,
I beat him out of all his wits, and kill'd him when I'd done.
"The people in amazement stood, to see what I had done,
They gave me silver plate, about a fifty ton.
I made myself a little box, about three acres square,
I filled it to the very top, with my bright silver ware."
And so on through a string of absurdities. It is apparently a
modernised version of "The Jovial Broomman," by R. Climsall,
published by R. Harper, 1635-1642. "Roxburgh ballads," ed. Chappell,
i. p. 500.
73. ON A MAY MORNING SO EARLY. This melody belongs to the ballad "I'm
Seventeen on Sunday." This begins--
"As I walked out one May morning,
One May morning so early,
O there I spied a fair pretty maid
All on the dew so pearly.
With a fa-la-la, with a fa-la-la,
All on the dew so pearly.
"O where are you going my fair pretty maid?
O where are you going my lambie?
Then cheerfully she answered me,
On an errand for my mammie.
"How old are you, my fair pretty maid?
How old are you, my honey?
Then cheerfully she answered me,
I'm seventeen on Sunday."
For good reasons we could not give the words as taken down, so Mr.
Sheppard wrote fresh words to the tune. The ballad was obtained from
Roger Huggins, Lydford, and from William Bickle, Bridestowe, but
it is known and sung throughout Devon and Cornwall. The original
ballad was altered by Burns to "The Waukrife Mammy" for Johnson's
"Museum," iv. p. 210, and Allan Cuningham also arranged a song on the
same theme, as the original was objectionable. Lyle gives it in his
"Ballads," 1827, saying: "This ballad, in its original dress, at one
time, from my recollection, was not only extremely popular, but a
great favourite among the young peasantry of the West of Scotland. To
suit the times, however, we have been necessitated to throw out the
intermediate stanzas, as their freedom would not bear transcription,
whilst the second and third have been slightly altered from the
recited copy." An Irish version (re-written) to the Irish air, by
Joyce, "Ancient Irish Music," 1873, No. 17. He says: "I cannot tell
when I learned the air and words of this song, for I have known
them as long as my memory can reach back. For several reasons [the
original words] could not be presented to the reader."
Burns, when forwarding the ditty to Johnson, said of it: "I picked
up this old song and tune from a country girl in Nithsdale; I
never met with it elsewhere in Scotland." The words may be found
on Broadsheets, printed by Such and by Bebbington, Manchester. Mr.
Kidson has recovered several versions in Yorkshire, and one is given
in the _Folk-Song Journal_, vol. i. p. 92, as taken down in Sussex,
and two were in vol. ii. p. 9 noted down by Mr. Sharp in Somerset.
Our tune is in the Dorian mode.
74. THE SPOTTED COW. Words and air from James Parsons, J. Helmore, H.
Smith, and J. Woodrich. Mr. Sharp has also taken it down in N. Devon
and in Somerset.
The earliest form of the words is found in a garland printed by Angus
of Newcastle, B.M. (11,621, c 4). There are later Broadside versions.
The words also in Fairburne's "Everlasting Songster," _circ._ 1825.
Mr. Kidson gives the song in his "Traditional Tunes," p. 70, but to a
melody different from ours. About 1760 Dr. Berg set the song, recast
in a Scotch form: "As Jamie gang'd blithe his way along the banks of
Tweed," to be sung at Ranelagh. As sung, the ballad consists of four
lines in a stanza, and the two last are repeated; and it is in seven
stanzas. To shorten the ballad I have made each stanza consist of six
lines. Our tune is not that of Dr. Berg. But it is redolent of the
art-music of the 18th or early 19th century, and hardly possesses the
character of folk-made song. Still, it is very freely sung by old
people in Devon and Somerset.
75. THREE JOVIAL WELSHMEN. Taken down from "Old Capul," Nankivel,
Merrivale Bridge. The song is given in Halliwell's "Nursery Rhymes
of England," 290. It is probably a very old ballad, for in a ballad,
"Choice of Inventions," printed by F. Coles, 1646-74, in the Roxburgh
Collection (ed. Chappell, i. p. 105), is given a pot-pourri of
scraps, "several sorts of the figure three," and it begins--
"There were three men of Gotham, as I've heard say,
That needs would ride a hunting upon St. David's Day.
Through all the day they hunting were, yet no sport could they see,
Untill they spide an Owle as she sate on a tree.
The first man said 'twas a Goose, the second man said Nay,
The third man said 'twas a Hawke, but his Bells were falne away."
The tune to which it was to be sung was "Rock the Cradle, sweet
John," for which, see Chappell, i. p. 189.
Another, and more modern version, is that of "The Three Jovial
Huntsmen"--
"It's of three jovial huntsmen an' a hunting they did go;
An' they hunted, an' they hallo'd, an' they blew their horns also,"
which has been illustrated by Caldecott.
The original ballad is in "The Woody Chorister," B.M. (1162, e 2).
This is one of the ballads Mr. Incledon Johns heard sung on the
outskirts of Dartmoor in 1830, mentioned in his book, already
noticed, published in 1832.
A version, "Six Jovial Welshmen," is given in vol. i. p. 128,
_Folk-Song Journal_, from Sussex. It runs--
"It's of six jovial Welshmen, six jovial men were they,
And they would all a hunting ride, upon St. David's Day.
Then fill each glass and let it pass, no sign of care betray,
We'll drink and sing, 'Long live the King!' upon St. David's Day."
"When crook-back'd Richard wore the crown, as regent of the land,
No policy could pull him down, nor his proud foe withstand.
A tribute he from them did seek, which they refused to pay,
And in their caps they wore a leek, upon St. David's Day.
Then fill each glass, and let it pass, etc."
This is probably a re-edition of the older song.
76. WELL MET, WELL MET, MY OWN TRUE LOVE. The words are a cento from
the lengthy ballad of the "Carpenter's Wife," which, as we have taken
it down, consists of twenty verses. The black letter Broadside, "The
Carpenter's Wife," is a peculiarly interesting ballad. It is the
story of one Jane Reynolds of Plymouth, who had plighted her troth
to a seaman. As they were about to be married, he was pressed and
carried off to sea. Three years later, news arrived that he was dead,
and then she married a carpenter, and lived with him for five years,
and bore him three children. At the end of seven years an evil spirit
assumed the likeness of her dead lover, and appeared to her, and
induced her to leave with him. He carried her off, and she was never
seen again. The husband, in despair, hung himself. Such is the theme
of a lengthy ballad in the Roxburgh Collection, ed. Chappell, iii.
p. 200. There are copies as well in the Pepys and Ewing Collections.
It was printed by F. Coles (1646-1674), Gilbertson (1654-1663), Vere
(1640-1680), and W. Oney (1650-1702). It was a sorry composition.
Now, the traditional ballad, as compared with the printed ballad, is
superior at every point. It begins abruptly with the address of the
sailor to the carpenter's wife, without the long story that precedes
his attempt to cajole her to elope. Moreover, there is in it no
intimation that the tempter is an evil spirit in the form of the dead
lover, and when she has eloped, she pines not for three, but for her
one babe, whom she has deserted.
Thirteen of the verses of the traditional ballad are found in "The
Rambler's Garland," B.M. (1162, c 2). A form closely resembling our
Devon ballad is in Buchan's "Ballads of the North of Scotland," i.
p. 214, but is longer, consisting of twenty-six stanzas. Kinloch,
Motherwell, and Laidlaw have also portions of it. Laidlaw, in a
letter to Scott, January 3, 1803, says of the ballad, as sung to him
by Walter Grieve: "He likewise sung part of a very beautiful ballad
which I think you will not have seen.... The tune is very solemn and
melancholy, and the effect is mixed with a considerable proportion of
horror." See Child, No. 243.
The printed ballad that is in the Roxburgh Collection is, I feel
convinced, a clumsy re-writing of the earlier ballad, so as to
convey a moral, as its title implies, "A Warning to Married Women."
James Harris is the demon lover. In the traditional ballad, when the
carpenter's wife has eloped, she falls into deep depression--
"I do not weep for your gold, she said,
Nor do I weep for your fee,
But by the masthead stands my baby dead,
And I weep, I weep for my dead babie....
"She had not a-been upon the seas
But six days of the week,
Before that she lay as cold as clay
And never a word, one word did speak.
"They had not a-been upon the seas
Of weeks but three and four,
But down to the bottom the ship did swim
And never was heard of, heard of more."
There is another ballad running on somewhat similar lines, "The
Undutiful Daughter," who is in like manner enticed away; but the ship
will not proceed, and lots are cast who is to be thrown overboard.
The lot falls on the girl, and she is cast into the sea, but the body
swims before the ship and reaches land first. This ballad we have
taken down several times.
The last verse (six) I have added to make some sort of conclusion to
the song.
What the air is to which the ballad is sung in Scotland I do not know.
77. POOR OLD HORSE. Words and melody from Matthew Baker. The song is
given in Bell's "Ballads of the English Peasantry," p. 184, as sung
by the mummers in the neighbourhood of Richmond, Yorkshire. He says:
"The rustic actor who sings this song is dressed as an old horse,
and at the end of every verse the jaws are snapped in chorus. It is
a fine composition, and is now (1864) printed for the first time."
This is not so; it has long existed on Broadside by Hodges of Seven
Dials, and Such, etc. The Midland air of the song in Mason's "Nursery
Rhymes and Country Songs," 1877. Mr. Kidston has obtained several
versions of the song in Yorkshire and Lancashire. A fine setting was
sung at the Folk-Song Competition at Kendal in 1903. It is given in
_Folk-Song Journal_, vol. i. pp. 75 and 260.
In "Sailors' Songs and Chanties," Boosey & Co., the song is given
under the title of "The Dead Horse." In Derbyshire, at Christmas,
boys and young men were wont, and may be still are wont, to go about,
one dressed as a horse, with a horse's skull in his hands or affixed
to his head; then this song was sung by the attendants and money
asked for the feeding of the beast, and the head was made to snap
its jaws. The song is also given in Topcliff's "Melodies of the Tyne
and Wear," N.D., but _circ._ 1815, and is also found on
Broadsides by Such.
Mr. Sharp has given a version in his "Folk-Songs from Somerset," No.
27.
78. THE DILLY SONG. An almost endless number of versions of this
song have been taken down, and have been sent to us. It is known
throughout Cornwall, and is, indeed, still sung in the chapels. When
a party of amateurs performed the "Songs of the West" in Cornwall,
1890, the Dilly Song always provoked laughter among the good folk at
the back of the halls. This puzzled the performers, till they learned
that folk laughed because this was their familiar chapel hymn. In
the text I have given the version of the words with least of the
religious element in them. Here are some of the other versions--
2. "God's own Son, or Christ's Natures"; or "The strangers o'er the
wide world rangers"; or "The lily-white maids."
3. "Three is all eternity"; "Three are the Thrones." The strangers
are probably the Wise Men from the East.
4. "The Gospel Preachers"; "The Evangelists."
5. "The Ferryman in the Boat"; "The Nimble Waiters."
6. "The Cherubim Watchers"; "The Crucifix"; "The Cherrybird Waiters."
7. "The Crown of Heaven"; "The Seven Stars."
8. "The Great Archangel"; "The Angels"; "The Daybreak."
9. "The Nine Delights," _i.e._ the Joys of Mary; "The Moonshine."
10. "The Commandments"; "Begin Again."
11. "The Eleven Disciples"; "They that go to Heaven."
There are similar verses in German and Flemish; a Scottish version
in Chambers' "Popular Rhymes," 1842, p. 50. Also found in Brittany:
Luzel, "Chansons Populaires," 1890, p. 88. There is a Mediæval Latin
form, beginning "Unus est Deus." A Hebrew form is printed in Mendez:
"Service for the First Night of the Passover," London, 1862; a
Moravian form in Wenzig: "Slavischer Märchen-Schatz," 1857, p. 295.
It is also sung in the Eifel, Schmitz: "Sitten u. Bräuche des Eifler
Volkes," Trier, 1856, p. 113. A Greek form is in Sanders: "Volksleben
der Neugriechen." See also: Coussemaker, "Chants populaires des
Flamands," Gand, 1850; Villemarqué, Barzas Breis, 1846, and later
editions.
The lily-white boys are probably the Gemini, or sign for Spring. In
the "Queen-like Closet, or Rich Cabinet," 1681, are instructions for
embroidering emblems of the months. "May is to be clothed in a robe
of _white and green_, and his sign must be Gemini."
"The Ferryman in the Boat" is perhaps Charon. In other versions Five
is the Dilly-bird, or the Dilly-hour, "when blooms the dilly-flower."
Some are obviously merely adopted as rhymes, as "six the crucifix."
In Cornwall and Devon the song goes by the name of "The Dilly Song."
What the meaning of "Dilly" is must remain uncertain. Possibly it
signifies the Festal Song (Welsh, _dillyn_, pretty, gay).