No. 295: The Brown Girl (Sailor from Dover)
[This ballad is not to be confused with the popular ballad, Child No. 73 Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, which is known in the US, England and Canada as "The Brown Bride" and also, "The Brown Girl."
It has been pointed out to me by Steve Gardham, who has been helping me with my Child ballad research, that The Cruel Nymph is a broadside which Child No. 295 (Version A) The Brown Girl was based. This broadside with two additional verses, was unknown to Child. Here's some information from Steve:
"Here is the earliest copy I have of 295A. As far as I know this has never been published except in my paper. I have this 1st version in two separate printings of the 18th century, both titled 'The Cruel Nymph' and practically identical (The other is on a no imprint slip in the Madden Collection). There are some minor differences as you will be able to see between The Cruel Nymph and the slightly later 8 st 'The Bonny Brown Girl' of which there are a few more copies, all in the BL. Stanzas 8 and 10 are not in TBBG.
BL 11621 e 6. songster 12, item 1. The Songster is titled 'The Tom Tit Part II' with 16 songs in it of which this is the first. This whole bound book of songsters is full of songs sung at the pleasure gardens like Vauxhall and Ranelagh. They were all printed at Aldermary Churchyard which means by either Marshall or the Dicey Brothers or both c1750-1770."
The Cruel Nymph
I am as brown as brown can be
And my eyes as black as a sloe;
I am as brisk as a nightingale,
And as wild as any doe.
My love sent me a letter,
Far from yonders town;
He could not fancy me,
Because I was so brown.
I sent his letter back again;
His love I value not,
Whether he could fancy me,
Or whether he could not.
My love sent me another letter
That he lay dangerous sick,
And I must needs go presently,
And give my love physick.
But now you shall hear what a love I had,
And a love for that sick man;
That I was whole summer's day,
One mile a going on.
When I came to my love's bed-side,
Where he lay dangerous sick,
I could not then for laughing stand
Upright upon my feet.
I sat me down by his bed side,
And laid a white wand on his breast.
And then cry'd I since you are well,
I hope your soul's at rest.
No sooner had I spoke these words,
He lifted up his eyes;
But since you see how bad I am,
'Tis you your love denies.
I'll do as much for my true love,
As any pretty maiden may:
I'll dance and sing upon your grave,
For a twelvemonth and a day.
When I have done what I can do,
I'll sit me down and cry,
And every tear that I do shed,
I'll hang them up to dry.
There is one version of Child 295A (with verses also from 295B) collected in West Virginia in 1969 that was published in Singa Hypsy Doodle (1971). Until recently the ballad was not known to exist. This rare find, dating back perhaps to c. 1784, established the ballad as traditional instead of only appearing as a broadside. Here are Boette's notes:
"According to Winnifred Brown Scott, who sang this song in 1969, her aunt, Sarah Brown Connolly, and her father, Emery Ellsworth Brown of Ritchie County, sang it too. They said the brothers in the family sang it to tease their sisters. The song went back to the family of John Brown who came to what is now Lewis County in 1784 and built the old Fort Mongue on White Oak Flats."
The Bonny Brown Girl- Winnifred Brown Scott; 1969. Collected by Juanita Dawson.
1- I am as brown as brown can be, my eyes are black as a sloe,
I am as brisk as a nightingale and as wild as any doe.
2- My love he was so high and proud, his fortune too so high,
He for another fair pretty maid, he left me and passed me by.
3- Me did he send a love letter, he sent it from the town,
Saying no more he loved me for that I was so brown.
4- I sent his letter back again saying his love I valued not;
Whether that he would fancy me, whether that he would not.
5- When a six months were overpassed and gone
Then did my lover, once so bold, lie on his bed and groan.
6- First sent he for the doctor-man; "You, Doctor, me must cure,
These terrible pains do torture me, I can not long endure."
7- Next did he send from out the town, oh next he sent for me.
He sent for me the brown, brown girl who once his wife should be.
8- When I came to my sick love's bedside where he lay so dang'rous sick,
I could not for laughing stand upright upon my feet.
9- The white wand I held in my hand and stroked it on his breast;
"My faith and troth I give back to thee, so may thy soul have rest.
10- I've done as much for my true love as other maidens may,
I'll dance and sing on your grave a whole twelve month and a day."
This "discovery" validates Child's decision to include this ballad as his 295. Steve Gardham has argued about the weakness of the ballad saying, "295A only survived as a fragment of the Cruel Nymph, and 295B is a blatant forgery by Baring-Gould," he says. "Baring Gould welded together two late 18th century broadside ballads to make 295B. If you wish I can easily set out which stanzas came from The Cruel Nymph/Brown Girl and which came from Sally and Billy to make the forgery [See Steve's article in Folk Song Tradition, Revival and Re-Creation, edited by Ian Russell and David Atkinson, University of Aberdeen 2004, Chapter 28]. Child spotted other forgeries Baring Gould sent him but by the time he got to 295 he knew he was on the way out and personally I think he was sick of the stuff he was having to print in the final volumes and just wanted to get it out of the way. Read Dover volume 5 p. 182. That will give you his final feelings."
Professor Child (Last paragraph, narrative for 304. Young Ronald): "If any lover of ballads should feel his understanding insulted by the presentation of such a piece as this, I can have no quarrel with him. There is certainly much in it that is exasperating, — the greeters in the school, the lifting of the hat, and, most of all, perhaps, the mint in meadows. These are, however, the writer's own property; the nicking with nay and the giant are borrowed from romances. In this and not a very few other cases, I have suppressed disgust, and admitted an actually worthless and a manifestly — at least in part — spurious ballad, because of a remote possibility that it might contain relics, or be a debased representative, of something genuine and better. Such was the advice of my lamented friend, Grundtvig, in more instances than those in which I have brought myself to defer to his judgment."
Gardham says, "The secondary versions related to 295B come from the late 18th century broadside 'The Sailor from Dover/Sally and her Truelove Billy' of which there are hundreds of broadside versions. 'Sally and Billy' is very common and continued to be printed throughout the 19th century. American collectors were so anxious to collect Child ballads in the early 20th century that they accepted Baring-Gould's forgery without question. It wasn't until about 1950 that they began to realize their mistake."
In his book, The Late Victorian Folksong Revival: The Persistence of English Melody, 1878–1903, E. David Gregory explores Gardham's article and comments that Baring-Gould's 295B, ascribed to John Woodrich, could have been combined with "Pretty Dorothy" another ballad that John Woodrich knew. "Pretty Dorothy" is a version of the "Sally and her True Love Billy" songs and begins, "Once I was a bachelor, from London town I came."
Regardless of whether this was an intentional combination of ballads or an accidental mixture by a confused informant- the result is the same- "Sally" is a different but similar ballad and should not be classified with "The Brown Girl."
In 1917 Sharp published his book, EFSSA, which categorized the "Rich Irish Lady" versions he collected in the Appalachians as "The Brown Girl." Child's No. 295, "The Brown Girl," was used as the heading for versions of the various US "Rich Irish Lady" ballads. The only US version that mentions "the brown girl" was "collected" by Patrick Gainer and is also of questionable authenticity and probably partially manufactured. Many American collectors, perhaps following the steps of Cecil Sharp (EFSSA), have classified the related versions from the Sally and Billy/Sally and her True Love Billy/The Sailor from Dover group of songs as versions of Child 295. See Recordings and Info for more.
The question remains about what to do with the versions of "The Rich Irish Lady/Sally and Billy/ The Sailor from Dover. Child makes no connection with "Sailor from Dover" songs. His inclusion of Baring-Gould's ballad (Child B), a recent acquisition, proved to be his mistake-- as he associated it with Child A. Bronson makes no comment about the legitimacy of Child's B version, which introduces these ballads, he includes all "Sailor from Dover/Sally" ballads under 295. I'm simply going to include them here under the proper heading which is The Sailor From Dover.
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2.
Footnotes (There are no footnotes for this ballad)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts
A-B
5. End-Notes
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 295. The Brown Girl
A. Roud No. 180: The Brown Girl (189 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 295. The Brown Girl (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child version
A-B)
4. US & Canada Versions
Harding Broadside of Sally and her True Lover Billy
----The popular song that became Child 295----
Child's Narrative: 295. The Brown Girl
A. 'The bonny Brown Girl,' 'The Brown Girl,' The Brown Girl's Garland, British Museum, 11621. c. 3 (10).
B. As lately taken down in Devon by Rev. S. Baring Gould.
A young man who has been attached to a girl sends her word by letter that he cannot fancy her because she is so brown (he has left her for another maid in B). She sends a disdainful reply. He writes again that he is dangerously ill (he is love-sick in B), and begs her come to him quickly and give him back his faith. She takes her time in going, and when she comes to the sick man's bedside, cannot stand for laughing. She has, however, brought a white wand with her, which she strokes on his breast, in sign that she gives him back the faith which he had given her. But as to forgetting and forgiving, that she will never do; she will dance upon his grave.
This little ballad recalls 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet' ('Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor, with the downfall of the Brown Girl' ), 'Sweet William's Ghost,' 'Clerk Saunders,' 'The Unquiet Grave,' 'Bonny Barbara Allan,' and has something of all of them. Compare No 73; No 77, A 4, B 2, 9, C 6, 14, D 4, 13, E 6, 14; No 84 (for the laughing, B 12); No 69, A 20-22, D 11, 14, E 17-20, G 23-25; No (78, B 2, E 2, F 2. Still it is not deliberately and mechanically patched together (as are some pieces in Part VIII), and in the point of the proud and unrelenting character of the Brown Girl it is original.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
This little ballad recalls Nos. 69, 73, 77, 78, 84, and has something of them all. Still it is not deliberately and mechanically patched together, and in the point of the proud and unrelenting character of the Brown Girl it is original.
Child's Ballad Texts
'The bonny Brown Girl'- Version A; Child 295 The Brown Girl
The Brown Girl's Garland, British Museum, 11621. c. 3 (10), n.d., before 1788.
1 'I am as brown as brown can be,
My eyes as black as a sloe;
I am as brisk as a nightingale,
And as wilde as any doe.
2 'My love has sent me a love-letter,
Not far from yonder town,
That he could not fancy me,
Because I was so brown.
3 'I sent him his letter back again,
For his love I valu'd not,
Whether that he could fancy me
Or whether he could not.
4 'He sent me his letter back again,
That he lay dangerous sick,
That I might then go speedily
To give him up his faith.'
5 Now you shall hear what love she had
Then for this love-sick man;
She was a whole long summer's day
In a mile a going on.
6 When she came to her love's bed-side,
Where he lay dangerous sick,
She could not for laughing stand
Upright upon her feet.
7 She had a white wand all in her hand,
And smooth'd it all on his breast;
'In faith and troth come pardon me,
I hope your soul's at rest.
8 'I'll do as much for my true-love
As other maidens may;
I'll dance and sing on my love's grave
A whole twelvemonth and a day.'
-----------
'The brown, brown girl'- Version B; Child 295 The Brown Girl
Taken down lately by Rev. S. Baring-Gould from a blacksmith, [John Woodrich] parish of Thrushleton, Devon. [1888]
1 'I am as brown as brown can be,
And my eyes as black as sloe;
I am as brisk as brisk can be,
And wild as forest doe.
2 'My love he was so high and proud,
His fortune too so high,
He for another fair pretty maid
Me left and passed me by.
3 'Me did he send a love-letter,
He sent it from the town,
Saying no more he loved me,
For that I was so brown.
4 'I sent his letter back again,
Saying his love I valued not,
Whether that he would fancy me,
Whether that he would not.
5 'When that six months were overpassd,
Were overpassd and gone,
Then did my lover, once so bold,
Lie on his bed and groan.
6 'When that six months were overpassd,
Were gone and overpassd,
O then my lover, once so bold,
With love was sick at last.
7 'First sent he for the doctor-man:
'You, doctor, me must cure;
The pains that now do torture me
I can not long endure.'
8 'Next did he send from out the town,
O next did send for me;
He sent for me, the brown, brown girl
Who once his wife should be.
9 'O neer a bit the doctor-man
His sufferings could relieve;
O never an one but the brown, brown girl
Who could his life reprieve.'
10 Now you shall hear what love she had
For this poor love-sick man,
How all one day, a summer's day,
She walked and never ran.
11 When that she came to his bedside,
Where he lay sick and weak,
O then for laughing she could not stand
Upright upon her feet.
12 'You flouted me, you scouted me,
And many another one;
Now the reward is come at last,
For all that you have done.'
13 The rings she took from off her hands,
The rings by two and three:
'O take, O take these golden rings,
By them remember me.'
14 She had a white wand in her hand,
She strake him on the breast:
'My faith and troth I give back to thee,
So may thy soul have rest.'
15 'Prithee,' said he, 'Forget, forget,
Prithee forget, forgive;
O grant me yet a little space,
That I may be well and live.'
16 'O never will I forget, forgive,
So long as I have breath;
I'll dance above your green, green grave
Where you do lie beneath.'
End-Notes
A. Heading. The Brown Girl; to an excellent tune.
B. From A right merry book of Garlands. Collected by J. Bell, on the Quay, Newcastle upon Tyne. A slip inserted after the 6th Garland bears these words: The old garlands in these volumes [11621. c. 3, c. 4] are printed by J. White, who died in 1769, and by T. Saint, who died in 1788. . . . Letter of J. Bell.
The Brown Girl's Garland, composed of four extraordinary new songs.
The bonny Brown Girl, etc., etc.
44. his Eilk.