No. 106: The Famous Flower of Serving-Men
["The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" is not a local title but rather is taken from the broadside also titled "The Lady turnd Serving-man." Child gives 3 version of the same broadside as well as three fragments in his headnotes. According to Chappell, the Wood broadside, Child A a, was printed as early as 1660. Child gives a fragment of a version from the Dean of Derry which Percy regards as a "fragment of an older copy than that printed of 'The Lady turnd Serving-Man' (See Child's 2nd footnote)."
This older version has been found in North America in a tradition that Coffin believes was based on print. One such print version is the version found in 1845 Black-Bird Songster (NY, Cozans) titled, "Fair Eleanor" given by Barry in BBM, 1929. Another almost identical print version is found in the 1858 "The Humming Bird Songster" which may be viewed at Google Books. Barry concludes that this print version "must have been derived from tradition," citing the incident where the step-mother (also "mother" in some versions) sends the thieves/robbers to slay her knight (and sometimes baby). Barry also mentions that heroine's name is Fair Eleanor (or Fair Ellen) which is the same name as the Dean of Derry version, not the name, Fair Elise, as found in the broadside.
A version of Sir Walter Scot's fragment (6 1/2 stanzas given him by the Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg) was collected in Oklahoma by Ethel and Chauncey Moore from a Scottish source. According to Child (see Additions and Corrections), Scot rewrote only the last (7th) stanza. Hogg's source is unknown.
Child comments that parts of the ballad are found in "six couplets in Johnson's Museum, p. 90, No 89, called, from the burden, 'Oh ono chrio,' which have a little of The Border Widow, and incidentally of The Flower of Serving-Men." Child later says, "Dr. Blacklock informed Burns that this song . . . was composed on the horrid massacre at Glencoe": Stenhouse's note, IV, 92. The Massacre at Glencoe was in early 1692 and the first ballad based on the massacre was c. 1715. Therefore the Massacre is not the incident that "The Famous Flower" is based on. The ballad, "Oh ono chrio" also predates the Massacre, as Laurence Price's version of the ballad was entered in the Stationers' Register on July 14, 1656.
The difficulty lies in determining the original ballad, or ur-ballad, of which Child says, "The English broadside, which may reasonably be believed to be formed upon a predecessor in the popular style . . .," implying that this "predecessor" is the ur-ballad that the broadside is based on. Percy says that the Dean of Derry version is a fragment of an older version, making it the oldest extant traditional version. Barry places the US print versions from c. 1840s as traditional versions similar to the Dean of Derry versions. The traditional versions that are similar to the Dean of Derry (also the Black-Bird Songster version) may be based on print but also may be based on the tradition of that version.
R. Matteson 2015]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (Found at the end of Child's Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts for A (Variations of A, b-c found in "End-Notes")
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 106. The Famous Flower of Serving-Men
A. Roud No. 199: The Famous Flower of Serving-Men (86 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 106. The Famous Flower of Serving-Men (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A a-c with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative: The Famous Flower of Serving-Men
A. a. Wood, E. 25, fol. 75, Bodleian Library.
b. Pepys, III, 142, No 140, Magdalen College Library, Cambridge.
c. A Collection of Old Ballads, I, 216, 1723.
This ballad was given in Percy's Reliques, III, 87, 1765, "from a written copy, containing some improvements (perhaps modern ones)." These improvements are execrable in style and in matter, so far as there is new matter, but not in so glaring contrast with the groundwork as literary emendations of traditional ballads. Ritson reprinted in A Select Collection of English Songs, II, 244, 1783, some broadside like that which was followed by c.[1]
'Sweet Willie' in Kinloch Manuscripts, V, 407 and VII, 197 (the latter printed in Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 96), and also a fragment with the same title in the Harris Manuscript, fol. 20 f, No 15, are derived from the broadside through recitation. A copy in Buchan's Manuscripts, I, 150, is taken directly from print.
In other cases portions of the broadside appear to have entered into combination with traditional verses belonging to some other story, or possibly to some older form of this.
The Dean of Derry communicated to Percy in 1776 the following stanzas, which he wrote down from the recitation of his mother, Mrs. Barnard, wife of the Bishop of Derry.[2]
1 My mother showd me a deadly spight;
She sent three thieves at darksome night;
They put my servants all to flight,
They robd my bower, and they slew my knight.
2 They could not do me much more harm,
But they slew my baby on my arm;
They left me nothing to wrap it in
But the bloody, bloody sheet that it lay in.
3 They left me nothing to make a grave
But the bloody sword that slew my babe;
All alone the grave I made,
And all alone salt tears I shed.
4 All alone the bell I rung,
And all alone sweet psalms I sung;
I leant my head against a block,
And there I cut my lovely locks.
5 I cut my locks, and chang'd my name
From Fair Eleanore to Sweet William.
Scott inserted in his Border Minstrelsy, III, 83, 1803, seven stanzas under the title of 'The Lament of the Border Widow,' which show broader traces of the sheet-ballad (1-3), and also, as Aytoun has remarked, agreements with 'The Three Ravens' and with 'Fair Helen of Kirconnell' (57). 'The Lament of the Border Widow,' "obtained from recitation in the Forest of Ettrick," has been thought to relate to the execution of Cokburne, a border-free booter, by James V. Those who are interested in such random inventions (as, under pardon, they must be called) will find particulars in Scott's introduction, and a repetition of the same in Maidment's Scotish Ballads and Songs, Historical and Traditionary, II, 170.[3]
1 My love he built me a bonny bower,
And clad it a' wi lilye-flour;
A brawer bower ye neer did see
Than my true-love he built for me.
2 There came a man, by middle day,
He spied his sport and went away,
And brought the king that very night,
Who brake my bower, and slew my knight.
3 He slew my knight, to me sae dear;
He slew my knight, and poind his gear;
My servants all for life did flee,
And left me in extremitie.
4 I sewd his sheet, making my mane;
I watched the corpse, myself alane;
I watched his body, night and day;
No living creature came that way.
5 I took his body on my back,
And whiles I gaed, and whiles I sate;
I diggd a grave, and laid him in,
And happd him with the sod sae green.
6 But think na ye my heart was sair,
When I laid the moul on his yellow hair?
O think na ye my heart was wae,
When I turnd about, away to gae?
7 Nae living man I'll love again,
Since that my lovely knight is slain;
Wi ae lock of his yellow hair
I'll chain my heart for evermair.
Again, there are six couplets in Johnson's Museum, p. 90, No 89, called, from the burden, 'Oh ono chrio,' which have a little of The Border Widow, and incidentally of The Flower of Serving-Men, winding up with sentiments of transcendent elegance.
Oh was I not a weary wight,
Maid, wife and widow in one night!
When in my soft and yielding arms,
When most I thought him free from harms,
Even at the dead time of the night,
They broke my bower, and slew my knight.
With ae lock of his jet-black hair
I'll tye my heart for ever mair.
Nae sly-tongued youth, or flattering swain,
Shall eer untye this knott again.
Thine still, dear youth, that heart shall be,
Nor pant for aught save heaven and thee.
"Dr. Blacklock informed Burns that this song ... was composed on the horrid massacre at Glencoe": Stenhouse's note, IV, 92.
The English broadside, which may reasonably be believed to be formed upon a predecessor in the popular style, has been held to have a common origin with the Scandinavian ballad 'Maid and Stable Boy,' already spoken of under 'Child Waters' at p. 84 f of this volume. The points of resemblance are that a maid cuts her hair, dons man's clothes, and seeks service with a king. In the end she is married to the king's son, or to a nobleman of his court. The differences, in other respects, are considerable.
Percy's ballad is translated by Bodmer, I, 160; by Merk, Ursinus, p. 79, and Bothe, p. 307; by Döring, p. 329.
Footnotes:
1. Heber had a copy printed by J. Andrews, who flourished 1655-60.
2. Mrs. Barnard makes this note: I remember to have seen a printed ballad, at least seventy years since, in which this was containd, as sung by a youth, overheard by a king he servd, and exalted to become his queen. I fancy these scenes were in Germany, by the names. Percy regards the verses as a "fragment of an older copy than that printed of 'The Lady turnd Serving-Man.'"
3. The Border Widow's Lament has received extraordinary favor. It has been translated by Schubart, p. 209; Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 570; Fiedler, Geschichte der schottischen Liederdichtung, p. 29; Freiligrath, Zwischen den Garben, II, 229, Stuttgart, 1877; Doenniges, p. 77; Knortz, L. u. R. Alt-Englands, p. 195, No 58. Cunningham furbished up the verses a little in The Sougs of Scotland, II, 97. The copy in Chambers's Scottish Songs, 1, 174, is Cunningham's, all but the sixth stanza, which is from Scott. — A great deal of nonsense passes in ballads, but I am impelled to ask just here how a lover would go about to clothe a bower with lily-flower. Is the ballad lily a climbing plant?
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
This ballad was given in Percy's Reliques, III, 87, 1765, "from a written copy, containing some improvements (perhaps modern ones)." These improvements are execrable in style and matter, so far as there is new matter, but not in so glaring contrast with the groundwork as literary emendations of traditional ballads. The Roxburghe copy is in the Ballad Society's edition, vi, 567.
Child's Ballad Text
The Famous Flower of Serving Men- Version A; Child 106 The Famous Flower of Serving Men
a. Wood, E. 25, fol. 75, Bodleian Library.
b. Pepys, III, 142, No 140, Magdalen College Library, Cambridge.
c. A Collection of Old Ballads, I, 216, 1723.
1 You beautious ladies, great and small,
I write unto you one and all,
Whereby that you may understand
What I have suffered in this land.
2 I was by birth a lady fair,
My father's chief and onely heir,
But when my good old father dy'd,
Then was I made a young knight's bride.
3 And then my love built me a bower,
Bedeckt with many a fragrant flower;
A braver bower you never did see
Then my true-love did build for me.
4 But there came thieves late in the night,
They rob'd my bower, and slew my knight,
And after that my knight was slain,
I could no longer there remain.
5 My servants all from me did flye,
In the midst of my extremity,
And left me by my self alone,
With a heart more cold then any stone.
6 Yet, though my heart was full of care,
Heaven would not suffer me to despair;
Wherefore in hast I chang'd my name
From Fair Elise to Sweet William.
7 And therewithal I cut my hair,
And drest my self in man's attire,
My doublet, hose, and bever-hat,
And a golden band about my neck.
8 With a silver rapier by my side,
So like a gallant I did ride;
The thing that I delighted on,
Was for to be a serving-man.
9 Thus in my sumptuous man's array,
I bravely rode along the way;
And at the last it chanced so
That I unto the king's court did go.
10 Then to the king I bowed full low,
My love and duty for to show,
And so much favour I did crave
That I a serving-man's place might have.
11 'Stand up, brave youth, the king replyd,
'Thy service shall not be denyd;
But tell me first what thou canst do;
Thou shalt be fitted thereunto.
12 'Wilt thou be usher of my hall,
To wait upon my nobles all?
Or wilt thou be taster of my wine,
To wait on me when I shall dine?
13 'Or wilt thou be my chamberlain,
To make my bed both soft and fine?
Or wilt thou be one of my guard?
And I will give thee thy reward.'
14 Sweet William, with a smiling face,
Said to the king, If't please your grace
To show such favour unto me,
Your chamberlain I fain would be.
15 The king then did the nobles call,
To ask the counsel of them all,
Who gave consent Sweet William he
The king's own chamberlain should be.
16 Now mark what strange things come to pass:
As the king one day a hunting was,
With all his lords and noble train,
Sweet William did at home remain.
17 Sweet William had no company then
With him at home but an old man;
And when he saw the coast was clear,
He took a lute which he had there.
18 Upon the lute Sweet William plaid,
And to the same he sung and said,
With a pleasant and most noble voice,
Which made the old man to rejoyce:
19 'My father was as brave a lord
As ever Europe did afford;
My mother was a lady bright,
My husband was a valiant knight.
20 'And I my self a lady gay,
Bedeckt with gorgious rich array;
The bravest lady in the land
Had not more pleasures to command.
21 'I had my musick every day,
Harmonious lessons for to play;
I had my virgins fair and free,
Continually to wait on me.
22 'But now, alas! my husband's dead,
And all my friends are from me fled;
My former joys are past and gone,
For now I am a serving-man.'
23 At last the king from hunting came,
And presently upon the same
He called for the good old man,
And thus to speak the king began.
24 'What news, what news, old man?' quod he;
'What news hast thou to tell to me?'
'Brave news,' the old man he did say;
'Sweet William is a lady gay.'
25 'If this be true thou tellest me
I'le make thee a lord of high degree;
But if thy words do prove a lye,
Thou shalt be hanged up presently.'
26 But when the king the truth had found,
His joys did more and more abound;
According as the old man did say,
Sweet William was a lady gay.
27 Therefore the king without delay
Put on her glorious rich array,
And upon her head a crown of gold,
Which was most famous to behold.
28 And then, for fear of further strife,
He took Sweet William for his wife;
The like before was never seen,
A serving-man to be a queen.
End-Notes
a. Printed for J. Hose, next door but one to the Rose Inn, near Holbourn-bridge. John Hose, over against Staples-Inn, near Gray's Inn Lane, printed, according to Chappell, 1660-1675.
b. Printed for W. Thackeray and T. Passinger. W. Thackeray's date, Chappell, is 1660-1689; T. Passinger's, 1670-1682.
a, b. have for title and preface:
The Famous Flower of Serving-men, or, The Lady turnd Serving-man.
Her lover being slain, her father dead,
Her bower robd, her servants fled,
She drest her self in mans attire,
She trim'd her locks, she cut her hair,
And therupon she changde her name
From Fair Elise to Sweet William.
To a dainty tune, or Flora Farewel, SummerTime, or Love's Tide.
Before 19: Sweet William's Song.
After 22: The end of Sweet William's Song.
a. After 8: The Second Part, to the same tune.
b. 84. It was to.
124. I do.
204. pleasure.
c. 24. I was.
84. It was to.
94. I to.
124. I do.
161. thing.
173. the house.
183. a sweet and noble voice.
204. pleasure.
233. this good.
251. tellst to.
Additions and Corrections
P. 428. The Roxburghe copy, III, 762, Aldermary Church-Yard, is in the Ballad Society's edition, VI, 567. The Euing copy, printed for John Andrews, is signed L. P., for Laurence Price: Mr. J. W. Ebsworth, at p. 570.
P. 429. The fragment printed by Scott was given him by the Ettrick Shepherd. It was printed with no important change except in the last stanza, all of which is the editor's but the second line. The two lines of stanza 7 are scored through in the Manuscript.
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 133 b, Abbotsford; in the handwriting of James Hogg.
1 My love he built me a bonny bowr,
An cled it a' wi lily-flowr;
A brawer bowr ye neer did see
Than my true-love he built to me.
2 There came a man by middle day,
He spy'd his sport an went away,
An brought the king that very night,
Who brak my bowr, an slew my knight.
3 He slew my knight, to me sae dear;
He slew my knight, an poind his gear;
My servants all for life did flee,
An left me in extremity.
4 I sewd his sheet, making my moan;
I watchd the corpse, mysel alone;
I'watchd his body night and day;
No living creature came that way.
5 I took the corpse then on my back,
And whiles I gaed, and whiles I sat;
I digd a grave, and laid him in,
And hapd him wi the sod sae green.
6 But thinkna ye my heart was sair
"When I laid the mool on his yellow hair?
O thinkna ye my heart was wae
When I turnd about, away to gae?
7 Nae langer there I could remain
Since that my lovely knight was slain;
. . .
. . .
To be Corrected in the Print.
428 b, e. Read 34 for 31.
To be Corrected in the Print.
429 a, last line but three of text. Read 80 for 83.