No. 77: Sweet William's Ghost
[This ballad is rare on both sides of the Atlantic and Bronson only found 11 tunes, which he divided into four groups A-D. Since then (1962) a number of versions with tunes, collected by Peacock and Leach, have been published and at least two (by Leach. See US/Canada versions) can be listened to on-line. The ballad was found in tradition mainly in one place, Newfoundland. Karpeles collected nine melodies and seven texts- it was also collected there by Leach, Peacock and Greenleaf.
"Sweet William's Ghost" is not a local title but is the Child title. Since local titles of this ballad are similar or identical to Child 7 (Earl Brand)-- "Sweet William," "Sweet Willie" and Child 75-- "Fair Margaret and Sweet William," "Lady Margaret and Sweet William" and "Lady Margaret," versions of "Sweet William's Ghost" have been misplaced by title.
As usual, Margaret is always sung "Marg'ret" and should be thought of as such. The name is sung as two syllables and can be also be written "Margret."
The ballad is associated with the ending stanzas of some versions of Clerk Saunders (Child 69) and Child says in his headnotes to that ballad: "The ghostly visitation at the end blends 'Proud Lady Margaret' with 'Sweet William's Ghost,' and this conclusion, not being worth transferring, has been allowed to stand."
Excerpt from 'Clerk Sandy'-Version G; Child 69 Clerk Saunders; Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 160.
30 When she had sitten intill her bower
A twalmonth lang and weary day,
Even below her bower-window
She heard a ghaist to knock an cry.
31 She says, Ye're thief or bauld robber,
Or biggin come to burn or brake;
Or are you ony masterfu man,
That is come seeking ony make?
32 'I am not thief nor bauld robber,
Nor bigging come to burn nor brake;
Nor am I ony masterfu man,
That is come seeking ony make;
But I'm Clerk Sandy, your first love,
And wants wi you again to speak.
Another ballad, Willie-O, which is sometimes attached to "The Grey Cock" is also related to "Sweet William's Ghost." According to Malcolm Douglas: "Bay of Biscay (more usually Willy O) is a (probably 19th century) re-write of Sweet William's Ghost, and as such is generally categorized under Child 77 (Roud 50). It was particularly popular in Ireland, where it appeared on a number of broadsides."
According to John Moorish: Hugh Shields ('The Grey Cock') argues that the supernatural element has in fact been borrowed from a different song - an Anglo-Irish broadside song called ' Willy-O' which is a reworking of 'Sweet William's Ghost' (Child 77; Roud 50).
See: Recordings and Info No. 248 The Grey Cock for more details on Willie-O.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (Found at the end of the Narrative)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-G
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: Sweet William's Ghost
A. Roud No. 50: Sweet William's Ghost (64 Listings)
B. The Ballad of Sweet William's Ghost- Ker 1898
2. Sheet Music: Sweet William's Ghost (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-G with additional notes)]
Vernon Hill's 1912 illustration of "Sweet William's Ghost."
Child's Narrative
A. 'Sweet William's Ghost,' Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany, "4th volume, 1740;" here from the London edition of 1763, p. 324.
B. Herd's Manuscripts, I, 177, II, 49, stanzas 27 ff.
C. 'Marjorie and William,' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 262, 'William and Marjorie,' Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 186.
D. Dr. Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, Adversaria,' p. 86.
E. 'Sweet William and May Margaret,' Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 241.
F. Jamieson's Popular Ballads, I, 83, stanzas 26 ff.
G. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, III, 183, ed. 1833.
Ramsay's copy, A, was reprinted by Percy, Reliques, 1765, III, 128, and by Herd, 1769, p. 194, 1776, I, 76. Percy remarks that the concluding stanza seems modern. There can be no doubt that both that and the one before it are modern; but, to the extent of Margaret's dying on her lover's grave, they are very likely to represent original verses not remembered in form. B constitutes, in Herd's Manuscripts, and F, in Jamieson's Popular Ballads, the termination of a copy of 'Clerk Saunders.' Scott appended the three stanzas given as G to the later edition of his rifacimento of the copies of 'Clerk Saunders' in Herd's Manuscripts, and says of them: "I am informed by the reciter that it was usual to separate from the rest that part of the ballad which follows the death of the lovers, as belonging to another story." The first part of F was evidently derived from 'Proud Lady Margaret,' No. 47.
Motherwell notes, Minstrelsy, p. lxiii, 6, that in recited copies he had heard this stanza repeated, "which does not occur in printed copies" (and can easily be spared), after A 14.[1]
My meikle tae is my gavil-post,
My nose is my roof-tree,
My ribs are kebars to my house,
And there is nae room for thee.
The story of this ballad seems to have become disordered in most of the versions. A alone, the first published, has perhaps retained the original form. The principal idea is, however, preserved in all the full versions, A-E; the dead lover returns to ask back his unfulfilled troth-plight. His mistress, not knowing that he is dead, demands that he shall first come within her bower and kiss her, A, B, C. He answers that if he does this her days will not be long. She persists; he shall take her to kirk,[2] and wed her with a ring, A, E. He then tells her distinctly that he is dead, and she returns to him his faith and troth. She streaks her troth on a long wand and gives it to him through a window, B. In A she stretches out her white hand, "to do her best;" in C "takes up" her white hand, and strikes him on the breast; in E takes her white hand and smooths it on his breast; all of which are possibly corruptions of the ceremony performed in B. In D she takes a silver key and strikes him three times on the breast. She follows the dead till he comes to his grave, A, B, C, D (?) F, which is wrongly said in A, E to be far beyond the sea. She asks if there is room for her in his grave, and is told there is not, A, F [there is room, B, D]. She dies at his grave, A; is told that her days will not be long, F; in G, goes weeping away.
Margaret will not give William back his faith and troth, in B, D, E, unless he resolves certain questions about the state of the dead; what becomes of women that die in travail; where the women go who hang themselves for sin; where unbaptized children. Mere curiosity does not sort well with this very seriously conceived ballad, and these passages have probably grown out of a not unnatural inquiry on the part of Margaret as to her lover's personal state, extended in E 12 to "tell me the pleasures o heaven, and pains o hell how they be." The scene at the grave in C 11-13 may be judged grotesque, but is not trivial or unimpressive. These verses may be supposed not to have belonged to the earliest form of the ballad, and one does not miss them from A, but they cannot be an accretion of modern date.
Sir Walter Scott informs us, in the Advertisement to The Pirate, that the lady whose affections had been engaged by Goff, the historical prototype of Cleveland, "went up to London to see him before his death, and that, arriving too late, she had the courage to request a sight of his body; and then touching the hand of the corpse, she formally resumed the troth-plight which she had bestowed." "Without going through this ceremony," Scott goes on to say, "she could not, according to the superstition of the country, have escaped a visit from the ghost of her departed lover, in the event of her bestowing upon any living suitor the faith which she had plighted to the dead."[3]
'Sweet William's Ghost' has much in common with one of the most beautiful and celebrated of the Scandinavian ballads, and may well be a different development of the same story:
Danish. 'Fæstemanden i Graven' ('Aage og Else'), Grundtvig, No 90, II, 492-97, III, 870-74, A from a manuscript of the seventeenth century, B from about 1700, C from recent tradition.
Swedish. 'Sorgens Magt,' A, B, Afzelius, No 6, I, 29, II, 204; C, Arwidsson, No 91, II, 103; D, Wigström, Skånska Visor, No 8, the same, Folkdiktning, I, 17, No 6, 'Den dode brudgummen:' all from recent tradition.
According to the oldest version, Danish A,[4] from which the others do not materially vary, a man dies just as he is to be married. His love grieves for him passionately. The dead hears her under the ground, comes to her bower with his coffin on his back, and knocks. She lets him in after he has proved himself to be "a spirit of health" by uttering the name of Jesus, combs his hair, and asks him how it is under the black earth (cf. English, E 12). It is like the bliss of heaven. May she follow him into his grave? It is like blackest hell. Every time she weeps for him his coffin is filled with lappered blood. But when she sings and is happy, his grave is all hung with rose-leaves. The cock crows, the white, the red, the black; he takes up his coffin and goes wearily back to the graveyard. His love follows through the mirk wood (so Swedish A 9, cf. English B 11), to the churchyard, and into the church. Then his yellow hair falls away, his rosy color wans. He bids her go home and never weep for him more. "Look up at the sky, the night is going;" and as she looks he slips into his grave. She goes sadly home, prays God that she may not live out a year and a day, falls sick, and dies within a month.
The Scandinavian ballad agrees in many particulars with the conclusion of the second lay of Helgi Hundingsbani in the older Edda. Helgi, having been slain by Sigrún's brother, is bitterly be wailed by Sigrún. He quits his barrow to come to her. Sigrún will kiss him, but his hair is thick with hoar-frost, he is drenched in blood, and how is this? These are the grim tears that Sigrún has shed, every one of which falls on his breast. Sigrún says she will sleep in his arms as though he were alive, and goes into the barrow with him. The end of the story is lost; according to a prose tradition which professes to supply the close, Sigrún soon died of grief. The source of the later ballads is perceptible here.
In the English ballad the dead lover returns of his own motion, simply to ask back his troth; in the Scandinavian, his betrothed grieves him out of his grave, "hon sörjer sin fästeman ur graf,' and the object of his visit is to admonish her to restrain her tears, which prevent his happy repose. A fragmentary story with this turn, which perhaps may even have been a variety of 'Sweet William's Ghost,' will be found in the ballad which follows this.
In a somewhat popular German ballad, 'Der todte Freier,' a dead man comes to the window of his betrothed in the night and calls her. She does not recognize him; says he smells of the ground. He has been eight years in the ground, and that may be. He bids her summon father, mother, and friends, for her bridegroom has come. She is decked as for her wedding; at the first sound of the bell makes her will or receives the sacrament, and dies at the second.[5]
A young man goes to the grave of his betrothed and asks his love-tokens back; she refers him to her mother, and tells him she will join him in a year: Haupt u. Schmaler, I, 88, No 55. This returning of gifts by the dead is not an infrequent phenomenon: Čelakowský, I, 4, No 2 = Wenzig, Slawische Volkslieder, p. 57, and III, 16, No 6; Beaurepaire, p. 53, Le Héricher, Lit. pop. de Normandie, p. 160 f; Briz y Candi, I, 140, Milá, Observaciones, p. 155, No 50, Milá, Romancerillo, pp 320-22, No 337, D, E, A 11, B 11.
A is translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 34, No 4; by Herder, Book III, No 8; Bodmer, II, 36; Wackernagel, Altdeutsche Blätter, I, 189; Döring, p. 391; Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen Alt-Englands, p. 86, No 23; von Marées, p. 24. C by Grundtvig, p. 319, No 90; Wolff, Halle der Völker, I, 30, Hausschatz, p. 205; Knortz, as above, p. 179, No 49. A compound of D, C, A, by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder, p. 53, No 12.
Footnotes:
1. Motherwell probably meant 13.
2. So E 10; A 9 has, in Ramsay, kirk-yard, which obviously requires to be corrected.
3. In a note in the Kinloch Manuscripts, VII, 277, Kinloch says that Sir Walter Scott told him that he had received this story from an old woman in Shetland.
4. The ballad has been often translated, mostly after the compounded form in the Danske Viser, No 29: Prior, III, 76 (Danish A), 81; "London Magazine, 1820, I, 152;" Borrow, Foreign Quarterly Review, 1830, VI, 62, and p. 47 of his Romantic Ballads; Buchanan, p. 112.
5. Hoffmann von Fallersleben in Deutsches Museum, 1852, II, 162 = Erk's Wunderhorn, IV, 73, and Liederhort, p. 75, No 24a, Mittler, No 545; Wagner in Deutsches Museum, 1862, II, 802, 803; Liederhort, No 24, p. 74; Ditfurth, II, 1, No 2; Meier, p. 355, No 201; Peter, I, 199, No 14; A. Müller, p. 95; Meinert, p. 3 = Erlach, IV, 196, Erk's Wunderhorn, IV, 74, Liederhort, p. 76, No 24b, Zuccalmaglio, p. 130, No 60, Mittler, No 544; Schleicher, Volkstümliches aus Sonneberg, p. 112, No 22.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
The story of this ballad seems to have become disordered in most of the versions. A alone, the first published, has perhaps retained the original form. The principal idea is, however, preserved in all the full versions: the dead lover returns to ask back his unfulfilled troth-plight. His grave is wrongly said in A to be far beyond the sea. B constitutes, in Herd's Manuscripts, and F, in Jamieson's Popular Ballads, the termination of a copy of 'Clerk Saunders' (No 69).
'Sweet William's Ghost' has much in common with one of the most beautiful and celebrated of the Scandinavian ballads, 'The Betrothed in the Grave' (Grundtvig, No. 90), and may well be a different development of the same story. A man dies as he is to be married. His love grieves for him passionately. The dead hears her under the ground, comes to her bower with his coffin on his back, and knocks. She lets him in after he has proved himself to be "a spirit of health" by uttering the name of Jesus, combs his hair, and asks him how it is under the black earth. It is like the bliss of heaven. May she follow him into the grave? It is like blackest hell. Every time she weeps for him his coffin is filled with lappered blood. But when she sings and is happy, his grave is all hung with rose-leaves. The cock crows, the white, the red, the black; he takes up his coffin and goes wearily back to the graveyard. His love follows through the mirk wood, to the churchyard and into the church. Then his yellow hair falls away, his rosy color wanes. He bids her go home and never weep for him more. "Look up at the sky, the night is going!" and as she looks he slips into his grave. She goes sadly home, prays God that she may not live out a year and a day, falls sick, and dies within a month. The Scandinavian ballad agrees in many particulars with the conclusion of the second lay of Helgi Hundingsbani in the Elder Edda.
Child's Ballad Texts A-G
'Sweet William's Ghost'- Version A; Child 77 Sweet William's Ghost
Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany, "4th volume, 1740;" here from the London edition of 1763, p. 324.
1 There came a ghost to Margret's door,
With many a grievous groan,
And ay he tirled at the pin,
But answer made she none.
2 'Is that my father Philip,
Or is't my brother John?
Or is't my true-love, Willy,
From Scotland new come home?'
3 ''Tis not thy father Philip,
Nor yet thy brother John;
But 'tis thy true-love, Willy,
From Scotland new come home.
4 'O sweet Margret, O dear Margret,
I pray thee speak to me;
Give me my faith and troth, Margret,
As I gave it to thee.'
5 'Thy faith and troth thou's never get,
Nor yet will I thee lend,
Till that thou come within my bower,
And kiss my cheek and chin.'
6 'If I shoud come within thy bower,
I am no earthly man;
And shoud I kiss thy rosy lips,
Thy days will not be lang.
7 'O sweet Margret, O dear Margret,
I pray thee speak to me;
Give me my faith and troth, Margret,
As I gave it to thee.'
8 'Thy faith and troth thou's never get,
Nor yet will I thee lend,
Till you take me to yon kirk,
And wed me with a ring.'
9 'My bones are buried in yon kirk-yard,
Afar beyond the sea,
And it is but my spirit, Margret,
That's now speaking to thee.'
10 She stretchd out her lilly-white hand,
And, for to do her best,
'Hae, there's your faith and troth, Willy,
God send your soul good rest.'
11 Now she has kilted her robes of green
A piece below her knee,
And a' the live-lang winter night
The dead corp followed she.
12 'Is there any room at your head, Willy?
Or any room at your feet?
Or any room at your side, Willy,
Wherein that I may creep?'
13 'There's no room at my head, Margret,
There's no room at my feet;
There's no room at my side, Margret,
My coffin's made so meet.'
14 Then up and crew the red, red cock,
And up then crew the gray:
'Tis time, tis time, my dear Margret,
That you were going away.'
15 No more the ghost to Margret said,
But, with a grievous groan,
Evanishd in a cloud of mist,
And left her all alone.
16 'O stay, my only true-love, stay,'
The constant Margret cry'd;
Wan grew her cheeks, she closd her een,
Stretchd her soft limbs, and dy'd.
--------------
['Clark Sanders' Ghost'] Version B; Child 77 Sweet William's Ghost
Herd's Manuscripts, I, 177, II, 49, stanzas 27 ff.
1 Whan bells war rung, an mass was sung,
A wat a' man to bed were gone,
Clark Sanders came to Margret's window,
With mony a sad sigh and groan.
2 'Are ye sleeping, Margret,' he says,
'Or are ye waking, presentlie?
Give me my faith and trouthe again,
A wat, trew-love, I gied to thee.'
3 'Your faith and trouth ye's never get,
Nor our trew love shall never twain,
Till ye come with me in my bower,
And kiss me both cheek and chin.'
4 'My mouth it is full cold, Margret,
It has the smell now of the ground;
And if I kiss thy comely mouth,
Thy life-days will not be long.
5 'Cocks are crowing a merry mid-larf,
I wat the wild fule boded day;
Gie me my faith and trouthe again,
And let me fare me on my way.'
6 'Thy faith and trouth thou shall na get,
Nor our trew love shall never twin,
Till ye tell me what comes of women
Awat that dy's in strong traveling.'
7 'Their beds are made in the heavens high,
Down at the foot of our good Lord's knee,
Well set about wi gilly-flowers,
A wat sweet company for to see.
8 'O cocks are crowing a merry midd-larf,
A wat the wilde foule boded day;
The salms of Heaven will be sung,
And ere now I'le be misst away.'
9 Up she has tain a bright long wand,
And she has straked her trouth thereon;
She has given [it] him out at the shot-window,
Wi many a sad sigh and heavy groan.
10 'I thank you, Margret, I thank you, Margret,
And I thank you hartilie;
Gine ever the dead come for the quick,
Be sure, Margret, I'll come again for thee.'
11 It's hose an shoon an gound alane
She clame the wall and followed him,
Untill she came to a green forest,
On this she lost the sight of him.
12 'Is their any room at your head, Sanders?
Is their any room at your feet?
Or any room at your twa sides?
Whare fain, fain woud I sleep.'
13 'Their is na room at my head, Margret,
Their is na room at my feet;
There is room at my twa sides,
For ladys for to sleep.
14 'Cold meal is my covering owre,
But an my winding sheet;
My bed it is full low, I say,
Down among the hongerey worms I sleep.
15 'Cold meal is my covering owre,
But an my winding sheet;
The dew it falls na sooner down
Then ay it is full weet.'
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'Marjorie and William'- Version C; Child 77 Sweet William's Ghost
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 262, Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 186, from the recitation of Mrs. McCormick, and learned by her in Dumbarton, from an old woman, thirty years before: January 19, 1825.
1 Lady Marjorie, Lady Marjorie,
Sat sewing her silken seam;
By her came a pale, pale ghost,
With many a sich and mane.
2 'Are ye my father, the king?' she says,
'Or are ye my brother John?
Or are you my true-love, Sweet William,
From England newly come?'
3 'I'm not your father, the king,' he says,
'No, no, nor your brother John;
But I'm your true love, Sweet William,
From England that's newly come.'
4 'Have ye brought me any scarlets so red?
Or any silks so fine?
Or have ye brought me any precious things,
That merchants have for sale?'
5 'I have not brought you any scarlets sae red,
No, no, nor the silks so fine;
But I have brought you my winding-sheet,
Oer many's the rock and hill.
6 'O Lady Marjory, Lady Marjory,
For faith and charitie,
Will you give to me my faith and troth,
That I gave once to thee?'
7 'O your faith and troth I'll not give thee,
No, no, that will not I,
Until I get one kiss of your ruby lips,
And in my arms you come [lye].'
8 'My lips they are so bitter,' he says,
'My breath it is so strong,
If you get one kiss of my ruby lips,
Your days will not be long.
9 'The cocks they are crowing, Marjory,' he says,
'The cocks they are crawing again;
It's time the deid should part the quick,
Marjorie, I must be gane.'
10 She followed him high, she followed him low,
Till she came to yon church-yard;
O there the grave did open up,
And young William he lay down.
11 'What three things are these, Sweet William,' she says,
'That stands here at your head?'
'It's three maidens, Marjorie,' he says,
'That I promised once to wed.'
12 'What three things are these, Sweet William,' she says,
'That stands here at your side?'
'It is three babes, Marjorie,' he says,
'That these three maidens had.'
13 'What three things are these, Sweet William,' she says,
'That stands here at your feet?'
It is three hell-hounds, Marjorie,' he says,
'That's waiting my soul to keep.'
14 She took up her white, white hand,
And she struck him in the breast,
Saying, Have there again your faith and troth,
And I wish your soul good rest.
-----------
'Lady Margaret'- Version D; Child 77 Sweet William's Ghost
From tradition: Dr. Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, "Adversaria," p. 86.
1 Lady Margaret was in her wearie room,
Sewin her silken seam,
And in cam Willie, her true-love,
Frae Lundin new come hame.
2 'O are ye my father Philip,
Or are ye my brither John?
Or are ye my true-love, Willie,
Frae London new come home?'
3 'I'm nae your father Philip,
Nor am I your brother John;
But I am your true-love, Willie,
An I'm nae a levin man.
4 'But gie me my faith and troth, Margrat,
An let me pass on my way;
For the bells o heaven will be rung,
An I'll be mist away.'
5 'Yere faith and troth ye'se never get,
Till ye tell me this ane;
Till ye tell me where the women go
That hang themsell for sin.'
6 'O they gang till the low, low hell,
Just by the devil's knee;
It's a' clad ower wi burnin pitch,
A dreadfu sicht to see.'
7 'But your faith and troth ye'se never get,
Till you tell me again;
Till you tell me where the children go
That die without a name.'
8 'O they gang till the high, high heaven,
Just by our Saviour's knee,
An it's a' clad ower wi roses red,
A lovelie sicht to see.
9 'But gie me my faith and troth, Margrat,
And let me pass on my way;
For the psalms o heaven will be sung,
An I'll be mist away.'
10 'But your faith and troth yese never get
Till ye tell me again;
Till ye tell me where the women go
That die in child-beddin.'
11 'O they gang till the hie, hie heaven,
Just by our Saviour's knee,
And every day at twal o clock
They're dipped oer the head.
12 'But gie me my faith and troth, Margret,
And let me pass on my way;
For the gates o heaven will be shut,
And I'll be mist away.'
13 Then she has taen a silver key,
Gien him three times on the breast;
Says, There's your faith and troth, Willie,
I hope your soul will rest.
14 'But is there room at your head, Willie?
Or is there room at your feet?
Or is there room at any o your sides,
To let in a lover sweet?'
15 'There is nae room at my head, Margrat,
There's nae room at my feet,
But there is room at baith my sides,
To lat in a lover sweet.'
-------------
'Sweet William and May Margaret'- Version E; Child 77 Sweet William's Ghost
Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 241.
1 'As May Margret sat in her bouerie,
In her bouer all alone,
At the very parting o midnicht
She heard a mournfu moan.
2 'O is it my father? O is it my mother?
Or is it my brother John?
Or is it Sweet William, my ain true-love,
To Scotland new come home?'
3 'It is na your father, it is na your mother,
It is na your brother John;
But it is Sweet William, your ain true-love,
To Scotland new come home.'
4 'Hae ye brought me onie fine things,
Onie new thing for to wear?
Or hae ye brought me a braid o lace,
To snood up my gowden hair?'
5 'I've brought ye na fine things at all,
Nor onie new thing to wear,
Nor hae I brought ye a braid of lace,
To snood up your gowden hair.
6 'But Margaret, dear Margaret,
I pray ye speak to me;
O gie me back my faith and troth,
As dear as I gied it thee.'
7 'Your faith and troth ye sanna get,
Nor will I wi ye twin,
Till ye come within my bouer,
And kiss me, cheek and chin.'
8 'O should I come within your bouer,
I am na earthly man;
If I should kiss your red, red lips,
Your days wad na be lang.
9 'O Margaret, dear Margaret,
I pray ye speak to me;
O gie me back my faith and troth,
As dear as I gied it thee.'
10 'Your faith and troth ye sanna get,
Nor will I wi ye twin,
Till ye tak me to yonder kirk,
And wed me wi a ring.'
11 'My banes are buried in yon kirk-yard,
It's far ayont the sea;
And it is my spirit, Margaret,
That's speaking unto thee.'
12 'Your faith and troth ye sanna get,
Nor will I twin wi thee,
Till ye tell me the pleasures o heaven,
And pains of hell how they be.'
13 'The pleasures of heaven I wat not of,
But the pains of hell I dree;
There some are hie hangd for huring,
And some for adulterie.'
14 'Then Margret took her milk-white hand,
And smoothd it on his breast:
'Tak your faith and troth, William,
God send your soul good rest!'
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['Clerk Saunders']- Version F; Child 77 Sweet William's Ghost
Jamieson's Popular Ballads, I, 83, stanzas 26 ff.
1 When seven years were come and gane,
Lady Margaret she thought lang;
And she is up to the hichest tower,
By the lee licht o the moon.
2 She was lookin oer her castle high,
To see what she might fa,
And there she saw a grieved ghost,
Comin waukin oer the wa.
3 'O are ye a man of mean,' she says,
'Seekin ony o my meat?
Or are you a rank robber,
Come in my bower to break?'
4 'O I'm Clerk Saunders, your true-love,
Behold, Margaret, and see,
And mind, for a' your meikle pride,
Sae will become of thee.'
5 'Gin ye be Clerk Saunders, my true-love,
This meikle marvels me;
O wherein is your bonny arms,
That wont to embrace me?'
6 'By worms they're eaten, in mools they're rotten,
Behold, Margaret, and see,
And mind, for a' your mickle pride,
Sae will become o thee.'
* * * * *
* * * * *
7 'O, bonny, bonny sang the bird,
Sat on the coil o hay;
But dowie, dowie was the maid
That followd the corpse o clay.
8 'Is there ony room at your head, Saunders?
Is there ony room at your feet?
Is there ony room at your twa sides,
For a lady to lie and sleep?'
9 'There is nae room at my head, Margaret,
As little at my feet;
There is nae room at my twa sides,
For a lady to lie and sleep.
10 'But gae hame, gae hame now, May Margaret,
Gae hame and sew your seam;
For if ye were laid in your weel made bed,
Your days will nae be lang.'
-------------
['Clerk Saunders'] Version G; Child 77 Sweet William's Ghost
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, III, 183, ed. 1833, the last three stanzas.
* * * *
1 But plait a wand o bonny birk,
And lay it on my breast,
And shed a tear upon my grave,
And wish my saul gude rest.
2 'And fair Margret, and rare Margret,
And Margret o veritie,
Gin eer ye love another man,
Neer love him as ye did me.'
3 Then up and crew the milk-white cock,
And up and crew the grey;
The lover vanishd in the air,
And she gaed weeping away.
End-Notes
A. 83. yon kirk-yard.
B. 12. And every one is substituted for A wat a' man, no doubt by a reviser.
14, 94. grown.
51, 81. mid larf, midd larf I retain, though I do not understand larf. [Mid larf= Middle earth]
92. on it struck out at the end of the line, and thereon written over. Qy it on?
144. A line is drawn through Down and the.
151. is my bed, written after weet, is struck out.
The copy in Herd's second volume is a transcript of the other, and its variations have no apparent authority.
C. 74. Manuscript come (lye).
94. away written over be gane.
102. Motherwell prints churchyard green.
141. white thrice.
Motherwell makes not a few slight changes in printing.
D. 151. at my head, Willie.
E. 8 follows 10 in Kinloch.
Additions and Corrections
P. 227, note ‡. Sir Walter Scott, in his Introduction to The Pirate, ed. 1846, p. viii, and note, p, 136, informs us that the old woman was Bessie Millie, living at Stromness, Pomona, Orkney (not Shetland). W. Macmath.
227 b. Asking back troth. The Child of Bristow's father, who has been charged by his son to come back from purgatory at intervals of a fortnight, asks back his troth three times, and gets it after he is ransomed by his son: Hazlitt, Early Popular Poetry, I, 120, 124, 128.
To be Corrected in the Print.
226 a, 229 a, 'Sweet William's Ghost,' A. Read 1750 for 1763.
P. 233. G. These three stanzas, which Scott annexed to 'Clerk Saunders' in the second edition of the Minstrelsy, 1803, II, 41, were contributed by the Ettrick Shepherd, who writes, not quite lucidly: "Altho this ballad [Clerk Saunders] is mixed with another, according to my mother's edition, in favour of whose originality I am strongly prepossessed, yet, as the one does in no sense disgrace the other in their present form, according to her it ends thus."
"Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy," No 141, Abbotsford; in the handwriting of James Hogg.
1 'But plett a wand o bonnie birk
An lay it on my breast,
An drap a tear upon my grave,
An wiss my saul gude rest.
2 'But fair Marget, an rare Marget,
An Marget, o verity,
If eer ye loe another man,
Neer loe him as ye did me.'
3 But up then crew the milk-white cock,
An up then crew the grey;
Her lover vanishd in the air,
An she gaed weepin away.
P. 228, note †. Add: Zingerle, in Zeitschrift für Volkskunde, II, 147.
229. C is translated by Pröhle, G. A. Bürger, Sein Leben u. seine Dichtungen, p. 106.
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P. 228 f., 233, 239, III, 514, IV, 474. Of the succession of three cocks, white, red, black (reduced to two in English ballads), see R. Köhler, Der weisse, der rothe und der schwarze Hahn, Germania, XI, 85-92. [So in the tale 'L'Andromède et les Démons,' Georgeakis et Pineau, Folk-lore de Lesbos, p. 82 f.]
228, note †. Two or three additions in Böhme's Erk, I, 598 ff., No 197, c, d, g.
To be Corrected in the Print.
234 a, 5th line, larf is dropped in Herd II