No. 105: The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
[The earliest record of this ballad is a seventeenth century broadside ballad published by Phillip Brooksby (Child A a). According to Chappell, it dates between 1672 and 1680. Child gives six versions of the broadside, Child A a as reprinted by Chappell is the oldest.
It is similar to the ballad theme of Hind Horn (without the ring) and other "Lover's Return" ballads. In the US there is a similar ballad, sometimes titled "Mary and Willie" (Laws N28; Meade I-A31) that perhaps could be an appendix to the "Bailiff's Daughter." Other titles include "Little Mary," "Sailor's Bride," "Single Sailor," and "William and Mary" and it has been collected by Randolph, Flanders and others. Rawn (1916) has noted the similarity of the ballad, "A Pretty Fair Maid/Miss" also called "The Maiden in the Garden" or "The Broken Token" which is Laws N42, to "The Bailiff's Daughter."
R. Matteson 2015]
Woodcut of Bailiff's Daughter; c. 1672
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (There are no footnotes)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A (Variations of A, b-f found in "End-Notes")
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
A. Roud No. 483: The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington (159 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child version A a-f with additional notes)
Child's Narrative: The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
A. a. Printed for P. Brooksby, Roxburghe Ballads, II, 457.
b. Printed for J. Walter, Douce Ballads, II, fol. 229.
c. Printed for P. Brooksby, Pepys Ballads, III, 258, No 256.
d. Printed for P. Brooksby, Roxburghe Ballads, IV, 56.
e. Printed for P. Brooksby, Douce Ballads, II, fol. 230.
f. An Aldermary Churchyard copy.
Reprinted in Percy's Reliques, III, 133, 1765, from the Pepys copy, c, but "with some improvements, communicated by a lady as she heard the same repeated in her youth;" that is, in fact, a few casual verbal variations, attributable to imperfect recollection of a broadside. There are much better in a copy which I have received from an Irish lady, partly made over by secondary tradition. Reprinted also by Ritson, A Select Collection of English Songs, II, 234, 1783, apparently from a, with an arbitrary change in st. 82, and one or two other variations. Mr. F.H. Stoddard informs me that 'The Bailiff's Daughter' is still very much sung, and may be heard any day at a country cricket-match.
A fond youth and a coy maid, a bailiff's daughter, having been parted seven years, the maid disguises herself to go in quest of her lover, and meets him on her way. He asks her whether she knows the bailiff's daughter. The bailiff's daughter is dead long ago, she replies. Then he will go into a far country. The maid, assured of his faith, reveals herself, and is ready to be his bride.
This is the counterpart of a ballad found in other languages (and represented in English by Percy's cento 'The Friar of Orders Gray,' Reliques, I, 225, 1765), in which a man tells a woman that the object of her affection, lover, or more commonly husband, is dead. So runs the story in the following:
Italian. Marcoaldi, Canti popolari umbri, etc., p. 151, 'La prova d'amore,' Piedmontese; Gianandrea, C. p. marchigiani, p. 270, No 7, 'La prova d'amore;' Ferraro, C. p. monferrini, p. 60, No 41, 'II ritorno,' and C. p. di Ferrara, Cento e Pontelagoscuro, p. 16, No 4, p. 105, No 18; Bernoni, C. p. veneziani, Punt. IX, No 1, 'Il ritorno dalla guerra;' Wolf, Volkslieder aus Venetien, No 91, 'La ragazza ed i soldati;' Bolza, Canzoni p. comasche, No 53, 'II riconoscimento;' Finamore, Storie p. abruzzesi, Archivio, I, 91, No 6, 'Rusine e Ddiamóre; ' Kestner, in Reifferscheid, Westfälische V. 1., p. 156, Roman.
Spanish. 'Caballero de lejas tierras,' Juan de Ribera, Nueve Romances, 1605, in Duran, I, 175, No 318, Wolf y Hofmann, Primavera, II, 88, No 156, and a traditional version in a note of Duran, as above, repeated in Primavera. Catalan. 'La vuelta del peregrino,' Milá, Observaciones, p. 111, No 12, 'El peregrine,' Romancerillo, p. 154, No 203; 'La tornada del pelegri,' Briz, V, 65.
Portuguese. 'Bella Infanta,' Almeida-Garrett, II, 7; Bellermann, p. 100, No 12; Braga, C. p. do Archipelago aoriano, p. 298, No 41, Romanceiro Geral, p. 1, 'Dona Infanta,' p. 4, 'Dona Catherina;' Coelho, in Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, III, 63, 1879 (imperfect).
Romaic. 'Ἡ ἀναγνὡρισις,' Zambelios, p. 718, No 5, Kind, Anthologie, 1861, p. 126, No 5, Passow, No 442: 'Ἡ πιστὴ σὑζυγος,' Evlambios, p. 58, Marcellus, I, 332, Passow, No 444; Tommaseo, III, 148, Passow, No. 445, and III, 150, Passow, No 446; Schmidt, Griechische M., S., u. V.l., p.192, No. 57 (see note, p. 272); Marcellus, I, 328, Passow, No 441; 'Ἀναγνωρισμὁς,' Chasiotis, p. 89, No 28; Aravandinos, Nos. 347-349, pp. 209-211; 'Τὸ γὑρισμα,' Oikonomides, p. 132; Jeannaraki, p. 237, No 300, with perverted conclusion; Fauriel, II, 396, Passow, No. 447 (fragment). Aravandinos, No 348, is translated by Miss Garnett, Greek Folk Songs, p. 163.
Translated by Bodmer, I, 82; Döring, p. 85; Arndt, p. 193; Von Marées, p. 45; Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, No 64.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
This ballad is the counterpart of one found in other languages (and represented in English by Percy's canto 'The Friar of Orders Gray,' Reliques, I, 225, 1765), in which a man tells a woman that the object of her affection, lover, or more commonly husband, is dead. It is found in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romaic.
Child's Ballad Text
'The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington'- Version A a; Child 105 The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
a. Printed for P. Brooksby, Roxburghe Ballads, II, 457.
b. Printed for J. Walter, Douce Ballads, II, fol. 229.
c. Printed for P. Brooksby, Pepys Ballads, III, 258, No 256.
d. Printed for P. Brooksby, Roxburghe Ballads, IV, 56.
e. Printed for P. Brooksby, Douce Ballads, II, fol. 230.
f. An Aldermary Churchyard copy.
1 There was a youth, and a well belovd youth,
And he was a esquire's son,
He loved the bayliff's daughter dear,
That lived in Islington.
2 She was coy, and she would not believe
That he did love her so,
No, nor at any time she would
Any countenance to him show.
3 But when his friends did understand
His fond and foolish mind,
They sent him up to fair London,
An apprentice for to bind.
4 And when he had been seven long years,
And his love he had not seen,
'Many a tear have I shed for her sake
When she little thought of me.'
5 All the maids of Islington
Went forth to sport and play;
All but the bayliff's daughter dear;
She secretly stole away.
6 She put off her gown of gray,
And put on her puggish attire;
She's up to fair London gone,
Her true-love to require.
7 As she went along the road,
The weather being hot and dry,
There was she aware of her true-love,
At length came riding by.
8 She stept to him, as red as any rose,
And took him by the bridle-ring:
'I pray you, kind sir, give me one penny,
To ease my weary limb.'
9 'I prithee, sweetheart, canst thou tell me
Where that thou wast born?'
'At Islington, kind sir,' said she,
Where I have had many a scorn.'
10 'I prithee, sweetheart, canst thou tell me
Whether thou dost know
The bailiff's daughter of Islington?'
'She's dead, sir, long ago.'
11 'Then will I sell my goodly steed,
My saddle and my bow;
I will into some far countrey,
Where no man doth me know.'
12 'O stay, O stay, thou goodly youth!
She's alive, she is not dead;
Here she standeth by thy side,
And is ready to be thy bride.'
13 'O farewel grief, and welcome joy,
Ten thousand times and more!
For now I have seen my own true-love,
That I thought I should have seen no more.'
End-Notes
a-f True Love Requited, or, The Bayliff's Daughter of Islington.
The young man's friends the maid did scorn,
Cause she was poor, and left forlorn;
They sent the esquire to London fair,
To be an apprentice seven year.
And when he out on 's time was come,
He met his love, a going home,
And then, to end all further strife,
He took the maid to be his wife.
To a North Countrey Tune, or, I have a good old mother at home.
e, f. have of 's, of his, in verse 5.
a. 82. bridal ring, and so all but f.
At the end: Printed for P. Brooksby, at the Golden Ball in Pye-Corner. Brooksby printed 1672-95: Chappell.
b. 12, a squire's.
Printed for J. Walter, at the Golden Bal[l] in Pye-Corner. J. Walter's time is 1690-1720: Chappell.
c. 12, a wanting.
62. her wanting.
Printed for P. Brooksby, at the Golden Ball in Py-Corner.
d. 34. a apprentice.
62. her wanting.
92. was.
121. thou well belovd.
Printed for P. Brooksby, at the Golden Ball in West Smithfield.
e. 31. a apprentice.
62. her wanting.
64. inquire.
83. a penny.
92. was.
111. I sell wanting.
121. thou well belovd.
Printed for P. Brooksby, at the Golde[n] Ball, near the Bear Tavern, in Pye Corner.
f. 11, was was youth.
12, a squire's.
21. He was.
23. would she.
51. When all ... of fair.
62. her ragged.
63. And she is.
64. After her ... enquire.
71. And as.
81. a rose.
82. bridle.
84. For to.
92. Whereat.
102. Whether that.
111. I will.
113. And travel into.
133. I see.
134. should neer see more.
Printed and sold in Aldermary Churchyard, Bow Lane, London. "1700, or a little later."
Additions and Corrections
II, 426 b, 428. The tune of 105 b is, I have a good old woman at home: of f, I have a good old wife at home.
Italian. 'La Prova,' Nigra, No 54, p. 314, A-D. 'Il Ritorno,' Giannini, p. 154.
P. 426 f. Of the Italian ballad there are many more versions, but it is needless to cite them. Add for Spanish: 'La Ausencia,' Pidal, Asturian Romances, Nos 31, 32, p. 152 f.