"Some traditionary copies of the ballad have
this stanza, which is the 19th in order:
And four and twenty milk-white swans,
Wi their wings stretchd out wide,
To blaw the stour aff the highway,
To let Fair Annie ride."
(Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. lxviii, 19.)
C.
63, 103. silk.
131. The maidens.
D. a.
A Tragical Story of Lord Thomas and Fair
Ellinor. Together with the downfall of the
Brown Girl.
34. And bring.
91. many of your.
94, 121. Thomas his.
104. Thomas's his.
153. But betwixt.
b.
A Tragical Ballad on the unfortunate Love
of Lord Thomas and fair Ellinor, together
with the Downfal of the Brown Girl.
13. a fine.
23. marry with.
31. land.
34. Bring me.
41. As it.
42. many more did.
64. for thee.
74. bridegroom.
91. many that are.
94, 104, 121. Thomas's.
102. And if.
113. through.
114. to be some.
131. Ellinor said.
132. wonderful.
133. mightst.
142. now wanting.
153. And.
163. Thou us'd to look.
184. he wanting.
193. There never were three lovers met.
194. That sooner did.
c.
13. a fine.
23. marry with.
32. And wanting.
33. thee on.
34. To bring.
54. For wanting.
64. for thee.
74. bridegroom.
91. many that are.
83, 94, 104, 121. Thomases.
103. or betide.
113. through.
133. You might.
142. now wanting.
153. And.
154. She prickd.
162. wain.
d.
32. she's got land, she says.
42. many more do.
52. at the pin.
84. I shall let it alone.
92. foes.
102. If a thousand were our foes.
103. me life, me death.
104. To Lord Thomas's I'll go.
122. at the pin.
After 12:
He took her by the lily-white hand,
And led her through the hall;
He set her in the noblest chair,
Among the ladies all.
152. both keen.
161. now save me.
163. usest to look as good a colour.
After 17:
'O dig my grave,' Lord Thomas replied,
'Dig it both wide and deep,
And lay Fair Eleanor by my side
And the brown girl at my feet.'
There never were three lovers sure
That sooner did depart.
e.
Motherwell's MS., p. 293, from the recitation
of Widow McCormick, February 23,
1825; learned of an old woman in Dumbarton,
thirty years before.
1
'Come riddle me, riddle me, mother,' he says,
'Come riddle me all in one,
Whether I'll goe to court Fair Helen
Or fetch you the brown girl home.'
2
'It's many's the ones your friends,' she says,
'And many's the ones your fone;
My blessing be on you, dear son,' she says,
'Go fetch me the brown girl home.'
3
He dressed himself all in green,
Thorough the road he went,
And every village that he came to,
They took him to be a king.
4
Till that he came to Fair Helen's gate;
He tinkled low at the ring;
Who was so ready as Fair Helen herself
To let Lord Thomas in.
5
'You're welcome, you're welcome, Lord Thomas,' she says,
'What news have you brought to me?'
'I've come to bid you to my wedding,
And that is bad news to thee.'
6
'It's God forbid, Lord Thomas,' she said,
'That sic an a thing should be,
But I for to be the body of the bride,
And you to be the bridegroom.
7
'Come riddle me, riddle me, mother,' she says,
'Come riddle me all in one,
Whether I'll go to Lord Thomas' wedding,
Or mourn all day at home.'
8
'Many's the ones your friend,' she says,
'And many's the ones your fone;
'My blessing be on you, dear daughter,' she says,
'And mourn all day at home.'
9
'Many's the ones my friends, mother,' she says,
'And many's the ones my fae,
But I will go to Lord Thomas' wedding
Should I lose my life by the way.'
10
She dressed herself all in green,
Thorow the road she went,
And every village that she came to,
They took her for to be a queen.
11
Till that she came to Lord Thomas' gates;
She tinkled low at the ring;
Who was so ready as Lord Thomas himself
To let Fair Helen in.
12
'Where have you got this brown girl?' she says,
'I think she looks wonderful brown;
You might have had as pretty a bride
As ever the sun shined on.'
13
It's up and starts the brown girl's mother,
And an angry woman was she:
'Where have you got the roseberry-water
That washes your face so clear?'
14
'It's I have gotten that roseberry-water
Where that she could get none;
For I have got it in my mother's womb,
Where in her mother's womb there was none.'
15
She took up a little pen-knife,
That was baith sharp and small,
She stuck Fair Helen fornents the heart,
And down the blood did fall.
16
'What ailes you, Fair Helen?' he says,
'I think you look wonderful pale:
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
17
'What ailes you, Lord Thomas?' she says,
'Or don't you very well see?
O don't you see my very heart's blood
Coming trinkling down by my knee?'
18
He took up a little small sword,
That hung low by his knee,
And he cut off the brown girl's head,
And dashed it against the wall.
19
He set the sword all in the ground,
And on it he did fall;
So there was an end of these three lovers,
Thro spite and malice all.
82. foe in the margin.
194. All thro spite and malice is noted as
if it were what was recited.
f.
From Miss Clara Mackay, Woodstock, New
Brunswick, 1881, derived from her great
grandmother. The title is 'Lord Thomas.'
12. The keeper of our king's gear.
4, 7 are wanting.
112. Her merry maids all in green.
After 12:
He took her by the lily-white hand,
And led her through the hall,
And sat her in a chair of gold,
Amidst her merry maids all.
152. both clean and sharp.
After 17:
'No, I am not blind,' Lord Thomas he said,
'But I can plainly see,
And I can see your dear heart's blood
Runs trickling down your knee.'
182. It was both keen and small.
184. And flung.
After 19, as in d:
'Oh dig me a grave,' Lord Thomas he said,
'And dig it both wide and deep,
And lay Fair Ellinor at my side,
The brown girl at my feet.'
g. Recited to me by Ellen Healy, 1881, as
learned by her of a young girl living near
Killarney, Ireland, about 1867.
22. come riddle me oer and oer: so 82.
24, 34. the pretty brown girl bring home.
After 3:
He dressed himself up in a suit of green,
And his merrymen all in white;
There was not a town that he rode through
But they took him to be a knight.
9
'Lord Thomas has got company enough,
Fair Ellinor, you have none;
Therefore I charge you with my blessing,
Fair Ellinor, stay at home.'
11
She dressed herself up in a suit of white,
And her merrymen all in green;
There was not a town that she rode through
But they took her to be a queen.
He took her by the lily-white hand,
And by the waist so small,
And set her at the head of the table,
. . . . . . .
Up spoke the pretty brown girl,
She said ...
'Where did you get the water
That washed your skin so white?'
'There is a well in my father's land,
A place you'll never see,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
14 wanting.
19. Imperfectly remembered.
Lord Thomas he stabbed the pretty brown
girl, and then he stabbed himself; and
he said, Bury the pretty brown girl at
my feet, and Fair Ellinor in my arms.
A red rose grew out of Fair Ellinor, and
a sweet briar out of Lord Thomas's
grave, and they grew until they met.
h. An Irish version, recited by Ellen Daily,
Taunton, Massachusetts.
22. Come riddle me all at once.
24. Or the bonny brown girl.
4.
He dressed himself up in a suit of fine clothes,
With merry men all in white;
And there was not a town that he rode through
But they took him to be a knight.
52. very low at her ring.
103, 4.
'Let the wind blow high or low,
To Lord Thomas's wedding I'll go.'
11.
She dressed herself up in a suit of fine clothes,
With merry maids all in green;
And there was not a town that she rode through
But they took her to be a queen.
122. very low at his ring.
After 12:
He took her by the lily-white hand,
And led her along the hall;
He handed her to the head of the table,
Among the ladies all.
After 13:
Then out spoke the bonny brown girl some
words with spirit, saying:
'Where did you get the water so clear,
That washed your face so white?'
'There is a well in my father's yard
That is both clear and spring,
And if you were to live till the day you die
That doon you never shall see.'
'Bury my mother at my head,
Fair Ellenor by my side,
And bury the bonny brown girl at the end of the church,
Where she will be far from me.'
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
Out of Fair Ellen there grew a red rose,
And out of Lord Thomas there grew a sweet-briar.
They grew so tall, they sprung so broad,
They grew to a steeple top;
Twelve o'clock every night
They grew to a true lover's knot.
i. Communicated by Mr W. W. Newell, as
recited by an Irish maid-servant in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1, 4-7, 10 are wanting.
After 12:
He took her by the lily-white hand,
And led her through the hall,
Until he put her sitting at the head of the table,
Amongst the gentleman all.
13, 14.
'Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?' they said,
Or is this your bride?' said they
'O 't is better I love her little finger
Than all her whole boday.'
The stanza which describes Lord Thomas's
dress and the effect he produced occurs in
e, g, h; that in which Lord Thomas
leads Ellinor through the hall and conducts
her to her place is found in d, f, g,
h, i; the colloquy about the water which
washes Ellinor so white in e, g, h; Lord
Thomas's directions about the burial in
d, f, h; the plants growing from the
grave in g, h. None of these are in the
English broadside.
A fragment in Pitcairn's MSS, III, 35, is
derived from the English broadside.
F.
The copy in Kinloch MSS, V, 339, b, seems to
be a revision of the other. The two portions
of that which is apparently the earlier, a,
became separated by some accident or oversight.
For stanzas 18-37 I have not the
original, but a transcript. After 1, b inserts
Jamieson's second stanza, E 2.
4. ye merry twice.
53. altered to What's metter, son Willie, to
conform to 63: b, And what's the matter.
121. Ye'll tell her to come.
123. Yer bidden come.
131. Yer forbidden. Anticipating
14, 15. Corrected in b as here, and partly
in a.
182. a, gold engraved, b, golden graved: cf. H,
16, 20.
223. Oh is it: corrected in b.
253. She has by far struck out and Fair Annie
written above: b, Fair Annie hes oer.
G.
The division of stanzas and of verses has in
some cases required regulation. The handwriting
is in places difficult, and I cannot
be sure that the spelling in every case is what
the writer intended.
74. mann?
165. Willie.
202. fett?
213. ser brunt (?)
214. faett?
231. Whan.
253. perhaps dreams.
281. deal illegible, a conjecture.
293. grave?
74
FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM
A. a. 'Fair Margaret's Misfortune,' etc., Douce Ballads,
I, fol. 72. b. 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William,'
Ritson, A Select Collection of English Songs,
1783, II, 190. c. 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William,'
Percy's Reliques, 1765, III, 121. d. Percy's
Reliques, 1767, III, 119.
B. Percy Papers; communicated by the Dean of Derry,
February, 1776.
C. Percy Papers; communicated by Rev. P. Parsons,
April 7, 1770.
A, a, b, c are broadside or stall copies, a of
the end of the seventeenth century, b "modern"
in Percy's time, and they differ inconsiderably,
except that a has corrupted an important
line.[118] Of d, Percy says, Since the first
edition some improvements have been inserted,
which were communicated by a lady of the
first distinction, as she had heard this song repeated
in her infancy. Herd, in The Ancient
and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 295, follows
Percy. As Percy has remarked, the ballad is
twice quoted in Beaumont and Fletcher's
'Knight of the Burning Pestle,' 1611. Stanza
5 runs thus in Act 2, Scene 8, Dyce, II, 170:
When it was grown to dark midnight,
And all were fast asleep,
In came Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.
The first half of stanza 2 is given, in Act 3,
Scene 5, Dyce, p. 196, with more propriety
than in the broadsides, thus:
You are no love for me, Margaret,
I am no love for you.
The fifth stanza of the ballad, as cited in
'The Knight of the Burning Pestle,' says the
editor of the Reliques, has "acquired an importance
by giving birth to one of the most
beautiful ballads in our own or any language"
[that is, 'Margaret's Ghost'], "the elegant
production of David Mallet, Esq., who, in the
last edition of his poems, 3 vols, 1759, informs
us that the plan was suggested by the four
verses quoted above, which he supposed to be
the beginning of some ballad now lost."[119] The
ballad supposed to be lost has been lately recovered,
in a copy of the date 1711, with the
title 'William and Margaret, an Old Ballad,'
and turns out to be substantially the piece
which Mallet published as his own in 1724,
Mallet's changes being comparatively slight.
'William and Margaret' is simply 'Fair Margaret
and Sweet William' rewritten in what
used to be called an elegant style. Nine of
the seventeen stanzas are taken up with a
rhetorical address of Margaret to false William,
who then leaves his bed, raving, stretches
himself on Margaret's grave, thrice calls her
name, thrice weeps full sore, and dies. See
The Roxburghe Ballads, in the Ballad Society's
reprint, III, 671, with Mr Chappell's remarks
there, and in the Antiquary, January, 1880.
The ballad of 1711 seems to have been founded
upon some copy of the popular form earlier
than any we now possess, or than any known
to me, for the last half of stanza 5 runs nearly
as it occurs in Beaumont and Fletcher (see also
B 7), thus:
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.
'Fair Margaret and Sweet William' begins
like 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet,' and from
the fifth stanza on is blended with a form of
that ballad represented by versions E-H. The
brown girl, characteristic of 'Lord Thomas
and Fair Annet,' has slipped into A 14, 15,
B 8, of 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William.'
The catastrophe of 'Fair Margaret and Sweet
William' is repeated in 'Lord Lovel,' and it
will be convenient to notice under the head of
the latter, which immediately follows, some
ballads out of English which resemble both,
especially in the conclusion.
A c is translated by Bodmer, II, 31, Döring,
p. 199; A d by Herder, 1778, I, 124, von Marées,
p. 40, Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands,
No 61.
A
a. Douce Ballads, I, fol. 72. b. Ritson, A Select Collection
of English Songs, 1783, II, 190. c. Percy's Reliques,
1765, III, 121. d. Percy's Reliques, 1767, III, 119.
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 layd 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 dreamd a dream, my dear lady;
Such dreams are never good;
I dreamd 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.
B
Communicated to Percy by the Dean of Derry, as written
down from memory by his mother, Mrs Bernard; February,
1776.
1
Sweet William would a wooing ride,
His steed was lovely brown;
A fairer creature than Lady Margaret
Sweet William could find none.
2
Sweet William came to Lady Margaret's bower,
And knocked at the ring,
And who so ready as Lady Margaret
To rise and to let him in.
3
Down then came her father dear,
Clothed all in blue:
'I pray, Sweet William, tell to me
What love's between my daughter and you?'
4
'I know none by her,' he said,
'And she knows none by me;
Before tomorrow at this time
Another bride you shall see.'
5
Lady Margaret at her bower-window,
Combing of her hair,
She saw Sweet William and his brown bride
Unto the church repair.
6
Down she cast her iv'ry comb,
And up she tossd her hair,
She went out from her bowr alive,
But never so more came there.
7
When day was gone, and night was come,
All people were asleep,
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.
8
'How d'ye like your bed, Sweet William?
How d'ye like your sheet?
And how d'ye like that brown lady,
That lies in your arms asleep?'
9
'Well I like my bed, Lady Margaret,
And well I like my sheet;
But better I like that fair lady
That stands at my bed's feet.'
10
When night was gone, and day was come,
All people were awake,
The lady waket out of her sleep,
And thus to her lord she spake.
11
'I dreamd a dream, my wedded lord,
That seldom comes to good;
I dreamd that our bowr was lin'd with white swine,
And our brid-chamber full of blood.'
12
He called up his merry men all,
By one, by two, by three,
'We will go to Lady Margaret's bower,
With the leave of my wedded lady.'
13
When he came to Lady Margaret's bower,
He knocked at the ring,
And who were so ready as her brethren
To rise and let him in.
14
'Oh is she in the parlor,' he said,
'Or is she in the hall?
Or is she in the long chamber,
Amongst her merry maids all?'
15
'She's not in the parlor,' they said,
'Nor is she in the hall;
But she is in the long chamber,
Laid out against the wall.'
16
'Open the winding sheet,' he cry'd,
'That I may kiss the dead;
That I may kiss her pale and wan
Whose lips used to look so red.'
17
Lady Margaret [died] on the over night,
Sweet William died on the morrow;
Lady Margaret died for pure, pure love,
Sweet William died for sorrow.
18
On Margaret's grave there grew a rose,
On Sweet William's grew a briar;
They grew till they joind in a true lover's knot,
And then they died both together.
C
Communicated to Percy by Rev. P. Parsons, of Wye,
April 7, 1770.
1
As Margaret stood at her window so clear,
A combing back her hair,
She saw Sweet William and his gay bride
Unto the church draw near.
2
Then down she threw her ivory comb,
She turned back her hair;
There was a fair maid at that window,
She's gone, she'll come no more there.
3
In the night, in the middle of the night,
When all men were asleep,
There walkd a ghost, Fair Margaret's ghost,
And stood at his bed's feet.
4
Sweet William he dremed a dream, and he said,
'I wish it prove for good;
My chamber was full of wild men's wine,
And my bride-bed stood in blood.'
5
Then he calld up his stable-groom,
To saddle his nag with speed:
'This night will I ride to Fair Margaret's bowr,
With the leave of my lady.
6
'Oh is Fair Margaret in the kitchen?
Or is she in the hall?
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
7
'No, she is not in the kitchen,' they cryed,
'Nor is she in the hall;
But she is in the long chamber,
Laid up against the wall.'
8
Go with your right side to Newcastle,
And come with your left side home,
There you will see those two lovers
Lie printed on one stone.
A. a.