7B. Love Has Brought Me To Despair (The Constant Lady and False-hearted Squire; Near Woostock; False Lovyer Brought Me to Despair)
Antecedent of "Constant Lady." Printed by the Assignes of Thomas Symcocke c. 1628
Aa. The Constant Lady and False-hearted Squire (Roxburghe Ballads I 260-2 and VIII 635-6) Also titled "Oxfordshire Tragedy" by Chappell/Ebsworth, c. 1686.
b. Near Woodstock, from: The New Standard Song Book. Edited by J. E. Carpenter, London 1866.
B. "Slighted Love" sung by Mary Macqueen, originally from Ireland; Lyle-Crawfurd 43 dated 1827.
C. "Love Has Brought Me To Despair" Communicated by Mrs. Walter Parker, New Haven, Mason County, July 29, 1916. She writes: "I have copied this song from a quaint old manuscript dated February 20, 1859, and signed Robert B. Welch. From Cox, Folk Songs from the South, 1925.
D. "Love Has Brought Me To Despair," sung by Salley A. Hubbard of Salt Lake City, Sept. 2, 1942; from Hubbard, Ballads and Songs from Utah, 1961. She leaned it when she was a child from her aunt, Mrs. Sarah Call, of Willard about 1874.
E. "False Lover (Has Brought Me to Despair)," sung by Mr. Broomfield of Herongate Essex on 22 February, 1904. Tune noted by R. Vaughan Williams Feb. 22nd, 1904.
F. "False Lovyer (Brought Me to Despair)," sung by James Punt of East Horndon, Essex on 23 April, 1904. Tune noted by R. Vaughan Williams.
G. "In Halifax Town," sung by David Lyall, shoemaker, of Skene, Aberdeenshire about 1908; Grieg/Duncan Collection.
H. "The Auxville Love" Contributed by Mrs. Robin Cornett; Hindman, Kentucky, c.1922. Combs, Folk Songs of the Southern United States, 1925.
I. "False Lover." Contributed by Mrs. A. J. Hopkins, of Boonville, Indiana, Warrick County on May 22, 1935 as learned from her mother and sisters. From Brewster (version A): Ballads and Songs of Indiana; Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series, 1940.
J. "False Lover." Contributed by Mrs. T. M. Bryant. Obtained from her aunt, Mrs. Mary J. Shriver, of East St. Louis, Illinois. November 15, 1935. From Brewster (version B): Ballads and Songs of Indiana; Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series, 1940.
K. "Love has Brought Me to Despair" sung by Berzilla Wallin c.1963 of Madison County, NC. From the Album Old Love Songs & Ballads from the Big Laurel, North Carolina, 1964. Listen to the bluegrass cover version of Wallin's "Love has Brought me to Despair" by The Hotmud Family on "Live, As We Know It" (Flying Fish 087- LP vinyl record) in 1979.
Love Has Brought Me To Despair
[The ballad, "Love Has Brought Me To Despair," is derived from, and is a reduction of Aa, the broadside ballad that William Chappell called, "Oxfordshire Tragedy, or, The Death of Four Lovers" . The original title is "The Constant Lady and False-Hearted Squire" from Roxburghe Ballads I 260-2 and VIII 635-6 (hereby abbreviated as "Constant Lady"). Because of its importance as the antecedent ballad, the text is given in full.
1. Near Woodstock town in Oxfordshire,
As I walk'd forth to take the air,
To view the fields and meadows round,
Methought I heard a mournful sound.
2. Down by a crystal river side,
A gallant Bower I espied,
Where a fair Lady made great moan,
With many a bitter sigh and groan.
3. "Alas!" (quoth she), "my Love's unkind;
My sighs and tears he will not mind;
But he is cruel unto me,
Which causes all my misery.
4. "My Father is a worthy Knight,
My Mother is a Lady bright;
And I their only child and heir:
Yet Love has brought me to despair.
5. "A wealthy 'Squire lived nigh,
Who on my beauty cast an eye;
He courted me, both day and night,
To be his Jewel and Delight.
6. "To me these words he often said:
'Fair, beauteous, handsome, comely Maid,
Oh! pity me, I do implore,
For it is you whom I adore.'
7. ''He still did beg me to be kind,
And ease his love-tormented mind;
'For if,' said he, 'you should deny,
For love of you I soon shall die.'
8. "These words did pierce my tender heart:
I soon did yield, to ease his smart;
And unto him made this reply:
'For love of me you shall not die.'
9. ''With that he flew into my arms,
And swore I had a thousand charms;
He call'd me Angel, Saint:
And he, for ever true to me would be.
10. "Soon after he had gain'd my heart,
He cruelly did from me part;
Another Maid he does pursue,
And to his vows he bids adieu.
11. " 'Tis he that makes my heart lament,
He causes all my discontent;
He hath caus'd my sad despair,
And now occasions this my care."
12. The Lady round the meadow run,
"And gather'd flowers as they sprung;
Of every sort she there did pull,
Until she got her apron full.
13. "Now there's a flower," she did say,
"Is named Heart's-ease, night and day;
I wish I could that flower find,
For to ease my love-sick mind.
14. "But oh, alas! 'tis all in vain
For me to sigh and to complain;
There 's nothing that can ease my smart,
For his disdain will break my heart."
15. The green ground served as a bed,
And flowers, a pillow for her head;
She laid her down, and nothing spoke:
Alas! for love her heart was broke.
16. But when I found her body cold,
I went to her false love, and told
What unto her had just befel:
"I 'm glad," said he, "she is so well.
17. "Did she think I so fond could be,
That I could fancy none but she?
Man was not made for one alone;
I took delight to hear her moan."
18. O wicked man! I find thou art,
Thus to break a Lady's heart:
In Abraham's bosom may she sleep,
While thy wicked soul doth weep!
The Constant Lady appears to have been constructed from two different yet parallel ballads, "The Deceased Maiden Lover," and "The Faithlesse Lover"(see woodcut above) which were printed together on a single sheet by "the Assignes of Thomas Symcocke" about 1628. The nine stanza "Deceased Maiden Lover" is likely an expansion of the four stanza, "A Forlorn Lover’s Complaint" (As I walked forth one summer's day) by lutenist Robert Johnson, c. 1611[1]. "As I walked forth" had a two stanza chorus. The concluding stanza and chorus are very similar to stanza 15 of "Constant Lady":
When she had fill'd her Apron full,
Of such green things as she could cull,
The green leaves serv'd her for a Bed,
The Flowers were the Pillows for her head:
[Chorus] Then down she laid, ne'er more did speak;
Alas! Alas! with Love her heart did break.
This same stanza (with chorus) is found in "The Deceased Maiden Lover." Constant Lady's stanza 16 and 17 appear to be borrowed and reworked from one of the companion broadsides, "Faithlesse Lover" which in turn was based on "A Forlorn Lover’s Complaint." It's clear that Constant Lady is a recreation of parts of "The Deceased Maiden Lover," and "The Faithlesse Lover."
"The Deceased Maiden Lover," c. 1628
Constant Lady also was reduced and in that shortened form was renamed "Near Woodstock Town" or "In Woodstock Town" after the opening line. In The New Standard Song Book. edited by J. E. Carpenter, London 1866, is one reduction of Constant Lady, my Ab:
NEAR WOODSTOCK TOWN.
[Old English ditty.]
NEAR Woodstock town, in Oxfordshire,
As I walk'd forth to take the air,
To view the fields and meadows round,
Methought I heard a mournful sound.
Down by a crystal river side,
A gallant bower I espied,
Where a fair lady made great moan,
With many a bitter sigh and groan.
“Alas!” quoth she, “my love’s unkind,
My sighs and tears he will not mind;
But he is cruel unto me,
Which causes all my misery.
Soon after he had gain'd my heart,
He cruelly did from me part;
Another maid he does pursue,
And to his vows he bids adieu."
The lady round the meadow run,
And gather'd flowers as they sprung,
Of ev’ry sort she there did pull,
Until she got her apron full.
The green ground serv'd her as a bed,
And flow’rs a pillow for her head;
She laid her down, and nothing spoke,
Alas ! for love her heart was broke.
Not found in this reduction is one of the most widely borrowed stanzas from Constant Lady:
13. "Now there's a flower," she did say,
"Is named Heart's-ease, night and day;
I wish I could that flower find,
For to ease my love-sick mind.
The most commonly used and borrowed stanzas are 12-15 which appear in a number of related ballads and broadsides. Stanza 4 is the main identifier of this ballad and the stanza from which this ballad is named:
4. "My Father is a worthy Knight,
My Mother is a Lady bright;
And I their only child and heir:
Yet Love has brought me to despair.
The reduction Ab, is also missing stanza 4 and because of that omission is not actually a version of Love Has Brought Me To Despair but is rather a version of "Constant Lady." It is included as an example of a reduction[2] of A. Version B, "Slighted Love" is similar to Ab and is also missing stanza 4. I'm including both so noted-- that they are both reductions of "Constant Lady[3]."
The last parallel ballad in this introduction showing the underlying older broadsides that "Love Had Left Me To Despair" is similar to or based on, is the broadside "Unfortunate Swain," also know as "Picking Lilies." Since the maid in Constant Lady is in a meadow picking flowers to make a bed for her final rest-- several stanzas of Unfortunate Swain sometimes appear. The most common stanza is:
Down in yon Meadow fresh and gay,
Picking of Flowers the other day,
Picking of Lillies red and blue:
I little thought what Love could do.
The Unfortunate Swain stanza may be altered but if the stanza begins, "Down in the meadow," it's probably derived from The Unfortunate Swain. These early broadsides are mixed with the standard text. The fundamental broadside is Constant Lady/Oxfordshire Tragedy which is about a knight's daughter who is abandoned by her lover, a wealthy squire. The ballad has been found in a Ms Songbook by Timothy O Connor dated c.1778 "In Woodstock Town" ("in Oxford shore") and reductions titled "In Woodstock Town" were published in the 1800s. Although versions are rare in tradition, several stanzas have become attached to broadsides and ballads found in tradition. The most notable is the Pitt's broadside "Sheffield Park" of the early 1800s. Categorization of the broadside "Sheffield Park" and subsequent traditional versions based thereon caused a great deal of confusion by ballad scholars in the 1900s largely due to the new ending (circa early 1800s) based on stanzas from Constant Lady. Here is the end of Pitts broadside, "Sheffield Park":
7. How can she think how fond I'd be,
That I could fancy none but she,
Man was not made for one alone,
I take delight to hear her mourn.
8. Then she return'd immediately,
And found her maid as cold as clay;
Beware young maids don't love in vain,
For love has broke her heart in twain.
9. She gather'd the green grass for her bed,
And a flowery pillow for her head,
The leaves that blow from tree to tree,
Shall be a covering over thee.
10. O cruel man, I find thou art,
For breaking my own child's heart,
Now she in Abraham's bosom sleep,
While thy tormented soul shall weep.
Although "Sheffield Park" is a parallel ballad with a similar theme, the broadside writer of Pitts' "Sheffield Park" borrowed substantially from "Constant Lady" to create a new ending. This next example is from the Grieg/Duncan Collection:
IN HALIFAX TOWN- sung by David Lyall, shoemaker, of Skene, Aberdeenshire about 1908. Grieg/Duncan
In Halifax toon a fair lady did dwell
As deep in love as love can excel
As deep in love as could be
Alas poor girl no cure could be.
Her father was a gentleman
My mother was a lady fair
And I myself the only one
My true love's left me in despair.
This would be an example of a Died for Love/Love has Brought Me to Despair composite which could be classified as either or both[4]. Only the first two stanzas are given here-- the first stanza has elements of "Deep in Love" (see Deep in Love also Unfortunate Swain) and is corrupt; the second stanza is similar to Stanza 4 of Constant Lady. The last three stanzas are Constant Lady (totaling 4 stanzas) and only three are Died in Love.
The Traditional Ballad Index has listed a number of versions of the Died for Love family that have a stanza or two similar to, or based on, the broadside "Constant Lady." This is wrong. The criteria for inclusion for any ballad to be listed as a "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" ballad must be the Constant Lady's 4th stanza with the last line: "Yet Love has brought me to despair." If these words from the 4th stanza are missing then the ballad can only be based on the broadside, "Constant Lady and the False-hearted Squire."
Belden in this "Songs and Ballads" notes, 1940, addresses the issue, although it should be noted that "The Deceased Maiden Love" does not adequately compare to "Constant Lady" and that the ending of Pitts' "Sheffield Park" is a borrowing from Consant Lady." Here are Belden's notes[5]:
One other feature, frequent in English ballads having a similar story but not found in any text1 of The Butcher Boy, should be mentioned. In two seventeenth century broadsides, The Deceased Maiden Lover and The Constant Lady and False-hearted Squire (Roxburghe Ballads I 260-2 and VIII 635-6), in Sheffield, Park (Pitts; also in oral tradition in Hampshire, see above), in Lancashire and Hertfordshire texts of A Brisk Young Sailor (JFSS V 183-9), in the Dorset There was Three Worms on Yonder Hill, in an Essex text of Died for Love (JFSS II 158-9)--all having a story something like that of The Butcher Boy--the girl does not hang herself but, like Ophelia, goes in search of flowers to cure the wounds of love makes a bed of them, and dies thereon (or, sometimes, dies and is covered with flowers and grass by her loving mistress). This element appears also in an otherwise unrelated song from North Carolina, Dearest Billie (MSNC 7).
Belden's first footnote (see; last paragraph) present evidence of the "heart's-ease" flower found in Constant Lady stanza 13:
1. Rather, in any printed text. In two texts privately communicated to me by Barry in 1917, one from, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and one from Deerfieid, Massachusetts, the girl runs thru the meadows gathering flowers, for
There is a flower that I've heard say
'Tis called hearts-ease both night and day,
And if that flower I could find,
'Twould ease my heart and please my mind.
The former of these has also the 'apron high' motif.
While this evidence shows the influence of "Constant Lady" and its inclusion in a "Died for Love" song, Belden does not say they are all versions of "Love Had Brought Me to Despair" which is exactly my point: "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" is "Constant Lady" with the fourth stanza present.
Cox, in his lengthy notes to "Love Had Brought Me to Despair" in Folk Songs from the South (1925), fails to identify the antecedent "Constant Lady" as the ballad's source. The same problem occurs in Brewster's notes (1940) and the Traditional Ballad Index notes.
My conclusions are:
1) Constant Lady is a different ballad than Died for Love.
2) Some Died for Love ballads have borrowed stanzas from Constant Lady which has also provided one common ending: "She laid her down, and nothing spoke:/ Alas! for love her heart was broke" which ultimately comes from the chorus of "A Forlorn Lover’s Complaint" (As I walked forth one summer's day) by lutenist Robert Johnson, c. 1611.
3) Versions similar to, or based on, the "Constant Lady" broadside that are missing stanza 4 (the Love Has Brought Me to Despair stanza) are versions of "Constant Lady[6]."
4) Versions with stanzas from "Constant Lady" that include stanza 4 (the Love Has Brought Me to Despair stanza) are versions of "Love Has Brought Me to Despair."
Another well known ballad from Canada "She's Like The Swallow" is also based mainly on "Constant Lady." It is identified by an added first stanza that begins "She's like the swallow" and has the sentiment of the "Died for Love" songs. If you compare "She's Like The Swallow" to James Punt's version "False Lovyer" collected by R. Vaughan Williams in 1904, you'll find 3 common stanzas.
An excellent bluegrass recording was made of "Love has Brought me to Despair" by The Hotmud Family on "Live, As We Know It" (Flying Fish 087- LP vinyl record) in 1979. It is a cover of the unaccompanied solo vocal version sung by Berzilla Wallin which was recorded by John Cohen c.1963.
R. Matteson 2017]
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Footnotes:
1. My date. This was composed by Robert Johnson (c. 1583-1633) during the cavalier song period, which began in early 1600s.
2. I'm aware of two other assumed reductions which I have not obtained: one is found in Ms Songbook by Timothy O Connor dated c.1778 "In Woodstock Town" ("in Oxford shore") and the other is a recent recording "In Woodstock Town" collected by Mike Yates.
3. The decision to include B, Slighted Love, is based on the whole version as compared to other versions of "Love Has Brought."
4. I've included it under both, so noted.
5. From Ballads and Songs, 1940. Belden's first footnote is also included but the second footnote which doesn't pertain specifically to this study has been omitted.
6. I've made an exception for B. There are other versions (see footnote 2) based primary on "Constant Lady," although I have not made a study of these versions.