Bluegrass Messengers

No. 85: Lady Alice (Lady Annis; Giles Collins; George Collins)

[It seems clear to me that since Child 85 is titled for Giles Collins' lover, her name should be Lady Annis (two of Child's versions in Additions and Corrections appear with that name, although one is spelled, Annice). If Child had the Shenstone version (c. 1759) and the Needham version (1790), see both immediately below, he would have used the earliest name.

Giles Collins from William Shenstone's "Miscellany" (1759-63):

Giles Collin came home unto his mother,
O Mother come bind my head
For before eight o'clock in the morning
O Mother, I shall be dead.

And if that I should dye, dear Mother!
As I foresee I shall
I will not be buried in the churchyard
Save near Lady Annis's wall.

Lady Annis was sitting in her own bow'r
And mending of her night-coif
When lo there appeared as fair a cor[p]se
As ever she saw in her life.

She dropped her needle to the ground
When she this cor[p]se did spy
She found her spirits sink apace
And sigh'd- she knew not why

What is it you bear you six tall Men,
Come lay it down & tell
We bear, we bear Giles Collin's cor[p]se
Who lov'd Lady Annis so well.

Lady Annis then viewd the young man's face
She ey'd it oer & oer
Then fell she upon his clay-cold breast
And word spake never no more

Giles Collin's was buried in the west,
Lady Annis's grave was east;
There sprung up a Lily from Giles Collins heart
That reached Lady Annis's breast.

The butcherly Parson of the place,
He cut this Lily in twain;
There never was known such a Parson before
Nor will, such a Lily again.

Here's another early text, BL G308 Vol III, 1790:

Giles Collins. In a crying style, as sung by Mr. Needham.

Giles Collins he came to his own Fathers Gate,
Where he so oft had been a
And who should come down but his own dear Mother
For to let Giles Collins in a
Oh, for to let Giles Collins in a.

Giles Collins he said to his own dear Mother,
Oh! Mother come bind up my head'en
And send for the Parson of our Parish,
For tomorrow I shall be dead en
Oh for tomorrow I shall be dead en.

Lady Annis was sat in her green Bower.
And a dressing of her night coif en,
And there she beheld and as fine an a corpse,
As ever she saw in her life en.
Oh as ever she saw in her life en.

What bear ye these ye Six tall men,
And a top of your shoulders,
We bear the body of Giles Collins,
An old true lover of yours.
Oh an old true lover of yours.

Settin down, settin down, Lady Annis she said,
On the grass that grows so green,
For to morrow morn by ten o' clock,
Oh my body shall lie by his'n,
Oh my body shall lie by his'n.

Giles Collins was laid in the East Church Yard,
lady Annis was laid in the West en
There sprung a Lilly from Giles Collins.
Which touch'd Lady Annis's breast en,
Oh which touch'd Lady Annis's breast en.

Now curse'n the Parson of our Parish,
For cutting this Lilly in twain,
For ne'er was sawn such a pair of true Lovers
No or e'er will be sawn such again.
No or e'er will be sawn such again.

According to Bronson, this ballad in some places had been reduced to a nursery burlesque by the end on the 18th century (Steve Gardham has also called it a burlesque). It was printed by both Halliwell and Mason as a nursery song and was popular among children in Appalachia (see, for example, several of Cecil Sharp's versions).

In 1906, twenty-one years after Child published No. 42 and No. 85 in his English and Scottish Popular Ballads, several versions of George Collins were collected by Gardiner in Hampshire which had elements of Child 42: Clerk Covill. These versions are similar enough that they probably came from the same source ballad. Several years later other versions similar to the Hampshire versions were collected in the United States. They were named "Johnny Collins" or sometimes "Young Collins" (not the ballad also titled, Young Collins).

The "Johnny Collins" versions were found in the US in Pennsylvania, West-Virginia, Virginia. However, similar versions have also been found as far North as Canada (Karpeles; Peacock).  No versions of Johnny Collins or Child 85- Lady Alice/George Collins were found in New England. This implies that perhaps Bayard's postulation that they are also from an Irish source may not be inaccurate. This postulation is based on the line, "The news went out in old Dublin's town" and an appearance of an Irish servant.

With the discovery of the Hampshire versions, Barbara M. Cra'ster suggested that Child 42 and Child 85 were similar and probably derived from the same source, an older ur-ballad. I believe the foreign analogues of Child 42 are not the source of this ur-ballad. We are left with three versions of Clerk Colvill, a dozen or so similar versions of The Johnny Collins Version (I'm lumping Gardiner's George Collins versions with these) and a large number of Lady Alice/George Collins ballads that begin, "George Collins rode home one cold winter's night" and tell of his death and burial.

By combining all three ballads, the plot of the ur-ballad emerges. The following outline was written by A.L. Lloyd and Vaughn Williams and is from the notes to the Penguin Book (1959):

"...The plot of  George Collins  has its secrets.  From an examination of a number of variants, the full story becomes clearer.  The girl by the stream is a water-fairy.  The young man has been in the habit of visiting her.  He is about to marry a mortal, and the fairy takes her revenge with a poisoned kiss.  The song telling that story is among the great ballads of Europe.  Its roots and branches are spread in Scandinavia¹, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and elsewhere.  An early literary form is the German poem of the Knight of Staufenberg (c. 1310).  France alone has about ninety versions, mostly in the form of the familiar  Le Roi Renaud,  though here much of the dream-quality of the tale is missing, since the girl by the stream is lost sight of, and instead the hero is mortally wounded in battle.  The first half of the George Collins story is told in the ballad called  Clerk Colvill  (Child 42), the second half in Lady Alice (Child 85).  Either these are two separate songs which have been combined to form George Collins or (which seems more likely) they are two fragments of the completer ballad.  George Collins has rarely been reported in England, though in the summer of 1906 Dr. G. B. Gardiner collected three separate versions in different Hampshire villages, two of them on the same day  (FSJ vol.III, pp.299-301).

¹ Elveskud, according to Henri Davenson (Le Livre des Chansons, 1955)." 

Child summarizes No. 42, Clerk Colvill as follows:

Clerk Colvill, newly married as we may infer, is solemnly entreated by his gay lady never to go near a well-fared may who haunts a certain spring or water. It is clear that before his marriage he had been in the habit of resorting to this mermaid, as she is afterwards called, and equally clear, from the impatient answer which he renders his dame, that he means to visit her again. His coming is hailed with pleasure by the mermaid, who, in the course of their interview, does something which gives him a strange pain in the head, —a pain only increased by a prescription which she pretends will cure it, and, as she then exultingly tells him, sure to grow worse until he is dead. He draws his sword on her, but she merrily springs into the water. He mounts his horse, rides home tristful, alights heavily, and bids his mother make his bed, for all is over with him.
(Child 1882–98, 1: 372)

The "water-sprite" (Child) or "water-fairy" (Lloyd/Williams) is clearly a "mermaid" in all three versions of Child 42, Clerk Covill. This mermaid has the ability to take human form and has other powers. There is nothing that suggests she gave him a poisoned kiss, although that is a possibility. My interpretation of the plot of the combined ballads is this: Clerk Covill's lover (it's unclear that this is his newly-wed bride, see Child's headnotes above) has forbidden him to continue his relationship with his mermaid (in 42A she's called a well-fared may). He goes to break off the relationship with the mermaid but when he arrives she is washing his sark (her intention of permanent union or marriage) on a marble stone. She seduces him in the water after she has given him the ability to temporarily become a fish (breathe under water). She gives him a choice, to become a fish and stay with her or die. When he goes home to his mortal lover, he has made his choice and she casts a spell on him. He will soon die. [The Johnny Collins version begins.] He sees the mermaid (she is called a "pretty fair maid" in the Johnny Collins versions, perhaps derived from pretty mermaid) again. She is washing a marble stone (this is related to and probably a reduction of the washing of the sark on a stone in Clerk Covill). She tells him of his impending death (the spell she cast a spell on him when he left her for his mortal love). She still loves him and seduces him in the water. He swims home and tells his father of his death and dies (his death begins the George Collins versions). His earthly lover sees his coffin coming by and stops it to kiss his cold clay lips and she dies (then or soon after). The death (in the Hampshire versions) of the six maidens (sometimes as many as sixteen) that die for his sake are a corruption of her death. She has died for his sake, not six maids. This was added/changed to balance the pall-bearers (six pretty lads) in the preceding stanza.

The Traditional Ballad Index gives this synopsis: The original story behind Johnny Collins, Clerk Colvill and Giles Collins  "fragments" then is that of a man who renounces his fairy lover for a mortal girl, meets the fairy, and learns he is to have his life exacted as revenge for his faithlessness. After embracing his mistress the young man swims ashore and goes home, where he is, quite naturally, apprehensive that he is about to die. He requests to be buried near the stone at the foot of the fairy hill.  He then dies. His mortal lover sees the funeral, stops the procession when  she learns the dead person is her lover, and states that she too will die of a  broken heart.

The Johnny Collins versions (see Bayard) which include Gardiner's "George Collins" versions (collected in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, in 1906, and was first published in the Folk Song Journal, vol.III, p.301) are the link between Clerk Covill and the standard shortened George Collin's ballad where he rides home and dies. In the Johnny Collins versions, the mermaid is now a "pretty fine maid" who is "washing a marble stone." The relationship between washing the sark on the stone (Child 42 A) and washing the marble stone (Johnny Collins) is unclear. I assume she originally was washing something on a marble stone, not washing the stone itself. So "washing on a marble stone" is an easy step from "washing a marble stone." As pointed out by Davis (MTBVa, 1960), it is difficult to connect the shorter George Collins ballad with the fuller plots of the Clerk Covill/Johnny Collins ballads. For example Johnny Collins swam home from his tryst with a mermaid but George Collins "rode home on a cold winter's night" and died. The fact that the George Collins ballad may once have been part of the Clerk Covill/Johnny Collins ballads does not mean George Collins can be reconstructed to show the entire plot. George Collins is complete, albeit a fragment of the plot.

Be sure to read the attached articles (see Recording and Info page) explaining the relationship of 85. Lady Alice (George Collins) and 42. Clerk Colvill. The articles are: (1) George Collins- Barbara M. Cra'ster 1910; (2) The "Johnny Collins" Version of Lady Alice- Bayard;  (3)  The "Clerk Colvill" Mermaid- Harbison Parker 1947 and (4) "George Collins" in Hampshire - David Atkinson. Additional commentary is found from Davis (More Traditional Ballads), Coffin, (British Traditional Ballad in North America) and Hudson (Brown Collection).

* * * *
Frank Purslow (1968, The Wanton Seed, EFDS Publications, London) wrote:

    The tune from Gardiner H 1193 - Henry Blake, Bartley, Hants. The text is a collation of five versions of the same text all noted by Dr Gardiner in the Southampton/Lyndhurst area. Reference should be made to Professor Child's "English and Scottish Popular Ballads" Nos 42 Clerk Colville and 85 Lady Alice (or Giles Collins). Child treats these as two quite separate ballads but, as Barbara Cra'ster pointed out in the "Journal of the Folk Song Society" in 1910, it is possible to see in George Collins a traditional remnant (propagated by the broadside presses[this is inaccurate since there are no broadsides]) of a ballad which was in all probability the original of both the Child Ballads. Certain elements are missing (mostly the supernatural one as usually happens in modern versions of old ballads), but it is possible to piece together the story as it might have been several centuries ago. Giles, or George, Collins [This is Child 42 and his name is Clerk Colvill or a similar name (found in Child 42A, B, and C)] is warned, either by his wife or more probably by his mistress, not to visit a certain locality if he values his life. He disregards the advice and meets with a fair maiden washing a silken shirt by the waterside. She is, unknown to him, a water-sprite - or a mermaid in some versions. He "sins with her fair body" - perhaps "And sinned with her fair body" was the original last line of verse three where the rhyme has been lost. He is on the point of leaving her when his head begins to ache violently. The water-sprite tells him to cut a piece from the shirt she is washing and bind it round his head. He does so and the pain becomes worse. He manages to reach home but dies. On hearing of his death his mistress dies of grief, as do five other young ladies who are presumably George Collins' paramours. It is interesting to note that it is the seventh victim of George Collins' evil attentions who is his undoing, just as, in The Outlandish Knight, "six pretty maidens thou hast drownded here, but the seventh has drownded thee." A Manx version of the story, quoted by Waldron in his "History of the Isle of Man" rationalizes the cause of the headache by explaining that the mermaid's lover, suspecting that she is trying to drag him into the water, forces himself away from her embraces which so annoys her that she throws a pebble after him as he runs away. Although the pebble is too small to hurt, nevertheless he is afflicted with a headache which eventually causes his death.

    Dr Gardiner noted six versions of the George Collins ballad, all from singers in a small area. The texts are so similar that they were all probably learned from a common source; all the singers could not complete the fourth verse, so I have supplied a couple of lines from an 18th century version of the story. The tune is one of the standard English ballad tune

* * * *

It was Robert Bell who fist compared Giles Collins to Lord Lovel. Then it was parroted by Child/Kittredge who called this "a counterpart to Lord Lovel." I assume this is largely because version B, 'Giles Collins and Proud Lady Anna' from Gammer Carton's Garland, p. 38, ed. 1810, is in the "Lord Lovell" form with the extended last line.

* * * *
Recently I recorded Nathan Hicks' version of George Colon [sic] collected by my grandfather, Maurice Matteson. I played Hick's dulcimer (see pic below) which had the original strings.


                          Nathan Hicks c. 1934

Collected by Maurice Matteson from Nathan Hicks of Sugar Grove, NC on July 31, 1933. Published in Beech Mountain Ballads in 1936 by G. Shirmer. Performed by Richard L. Matteson Jr. on Nathan Hicks' dulcimer made in early 1930s.

Listen: [George Colon] Performers: Richard L. Matteson Jr. -dulcimer, with Kara Pleasants- vocal, and Zach Matteson- fiddle, in December 2011. Recorded by Bob Hitchcock Dec. 2011.

CONTENTS:

1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (there are no footnotes)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-C (C is given in "Additions and Corrections" along with two other versions not assigned letters.)
5. Endnotes
6. From "Additions and Corrections"

ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):

1. Recordings & Info: 85. Lady Alice 
  A. Roud No. 147: Lady Alice/Clerk Covill (209 Listings) 
  B. George Collins- Barbara M. Cra'ster 1910
  C. The "Johnny Collins" Version of Lady Alice- Bayard
  D. The "Clerk Colvill" Mermaid- Harbison Parker 1947 
     
2. Sheet Music: 85. Lady Alice (Bronson's music examples and texts)

3. US & Canadian Versions

4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-C with additional notes)]
 

Child's Narrative: Lady Alice

A. 'Lady Alice.' 
   a. Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 127.
   b. Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 418.
   c. Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 354.

B. 'Giles Collins and Proud Lady Anna,' Gammer Gurton's Garland, p. 38, ed. 1810.

[C. 'Giles Collin,' Miss M.H. Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, p. 46]

This little ballad, which is said to be still of the regular stock of the stalls, is a sort of counterpart to 'Lord Lovel.' A writer in Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 418, says: This old song was refined and modernized by the late Richard Westall, R. A.

Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge

This little ballad, which is said to be still of the regular stock of the stalls, is a sort of counterpart to 'Lord Lovel' (No. 75).

Child Ballad Texts: Child 85

Lady Alice- Version A;  Child 85, Lady Alice
   a. Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 127, a stall copy.
   b. Edward Hawkins, in Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 418.
   c. Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 354, as heard sung forty years before 1856, "Uneda," Philadelphia.

1    Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window,
Mending her midnight quoif,
And there she saw as fine a corpse
As ever she saw in her life.

2    'What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall?
What bear ye on your shoulders?'
'We bear the corpse of Giles Collins,
An old and true lover of yours.'

3    'O lay him down gently, ye six men tall,
All on the grass so green,
And tomorrow, when the sun goes down,
Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen.

4    'And bury me in Saint Mary's church,
All for my love so true,
And make me a garland of marjoram,
And of lemon-thyme, and rue.'

5    Giles Collins was buried all in the east,
Lady Alice all in the west,
And the roses that grew on Giles Collins's grave,
They reached Lady Alice's breast.

6    The priest of the parish he chanced to pass,
And he severed those roses in twain;
Sure never were seen such true lovers before,
Nor eer will there be again.
-----------------------

'Giles Collins and Proud Lady Anna'- Version B; Child 85 Lady Alice
Gammer Carton's Garland, p. 38, ed. 1810.

1    Giles Collins he said to his old mother,
Mother, come bind up my head,
And sent to the parson of our parish,
For tomorrow I shall be dead, dead,
For tomorrow I shall be dead.

2    His mother she made him some water-gruel,
And stirrd it round with a spoon;
Giles Collins he ate up his water-gruel,
And died before 'twas noon.

3    Lady Anna was sitting at her window,
Mending her night-robe and coif;
She saw the very prettiest corpse
She'd seen in all her life.

4    'What bear ye there, ye six strong men,
Upon your shoulders so high?'
'We bear the body of Giles Collins,
Who for love of you did die.'

5    'Set him down, set him down,' Lady Anna she cry'd,
'On the grass that grows so green;
Tomorrow, before the clock strikes ten,
My body shall lye by hisn.'

6    Lady Anna was buried in the east,
Giles Collins was buried in the west;
There grew a lilly from Giles Collins
That touchd Lady Anna's breast.

7    There blew a cold north-easterly wind,
And cut this lilly in twain,
Which never there was seen before,
And it never will again.
---------------

'Giles Collin'- Version C; Child 85 Lady Alice
Miss M.H. Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, p. 46

1    Giles Collin he said to his mother one day,
Oh, mother, come bind up my head!
For tommorow morning before it is day
I'm sure I shall be dead.

2    'Oh, mother, oh, mother, if I should die,
And I am sure I shall,
I will not be buried in our churchyard,
But under Lady Alice's wall.'

3    His mother she made him some water-gruel,
And stirred it up with a spoon;
Giles Collin he ate but one spoonful,
And died before it was noon.

4    Lady Alice was sitting in her window,
All dressed in her night-coif;
She saw as pretty a corpse go by
As ever she'd seen in her life.

5    'What bear ye there, ye six tall men?
What bear ye on your shourn?'
'We bear the body of Giles Collin,
Who was a true lover of yourn.'

6    'Down with him, down with him, upon the grass,
The grass that grows so green;
For tomorrow morning before it is day
My body shall lie by him.'

7    Her mother she made her some plum-gruel,
With spices all of the best;
Lady Alice she ate but one spoonful,
And the doctor he ate up the rest.

8    Giles Collin was laid in the lower chancel,
Lady Alice all in the higher;
There grew up a rose from Lady Alice's breast,
And from Giles Collin's a briar.

9    And they grew, and they grew, to the very church-top,
Until they could grow no higher,
And twisted and twined in a true-lover's knot,
Which made all the parish admire.

End-Notes

A. a. 1². At midnight mending her quoif. 

    b. 1². Mending her midnight coif.
3³. before the sun.
4. wanting.
5³. grow, misprinted.
6¹. pass by.
6². And severd these.
6⁴. ever there will.

c.  1¹, at her.
1². A mending her midnight coif.
1³. the finest corpse.
1⁴. That ever.
2². Upon your shoulders strong.
2³. Sir Giles.
3, 4. wanting.
5¹. Lady Alice was.
5². Giles Collins all.
5³. A lily grew out of.
5⁴. And touched.
6. wanting.

Additions and Corrections

P. 279. The following version is printed by Mr. G. R. Tomson in his Ballads of the North Countrie, 1888, p. 434, from a Manuscript of Mrs. Rider Haggard.

Giles Collins and Lady Annice

1   Giles Collins said to his own mother,
'Mother, come bind up my head,
And send for the parson of our parish,
For to-morrow I shall be dead.

2   'And if that I be dead,
As I verily believe I shall,
O bury me not in our churchyard,
But under Lady Annice's wall.'

3   Lady Annice sat at her bower-window,
Mending of her night-coif,
When passing she saw as lovely a corpse
As ever she saw in her life.

4   'Set down, set down, ye six tall men,
Set down upon the plain,
That I may kiss those clay-cold lips
I neer shall kiss again.

5   'Set down, set down, ye six tall men,
That I may look thereon;
For to-morrow, before the cock it has crowd,
Giles Collins and I shall be one.

7   'What had you at Giles Collins's burying?
Very good ale and wine?
You shall have the same to-morrow night,
Much about the same time.'

7   Giles Collins died upon the eve,
This fair lady on the morrow;
Thus may you all now very well know
This couple died for sorrow.

Lt- Col. Prideaux has sent me this copy, from Fly-Leaves, London, John Miller, 1854, Second Series, p. 98.

Giles Collins

1   Lady Annis she sat in her bay-window,
A-mending of her night-coif;
As she sat, she saw the handsomest corpse
That ever she saw in her life.

2   'Who bear ye there, ye four tall men?
Who bear ye on your shouldyers?'
'It is the body of Giles Collins,
An old true lovyer of yours.'

3   'Set 'n down, set 'n down,' Lady Annis she said,
'Set 'n down on the grass so trim;
Before the clock it strikes twelve this night,
My body shall lie beside him.'

4   Lady Annis then fitted on her night-coif,
Which fitted her wondrous well;
She then pierced her throat with a sharp-edgd knife,
As the four pall-bearers can tell.

5   Lady Annis was buried in the east church-yard,
Giles Collins was laid in the west,
And a lily grew out from Giles Collins's grave
Which touched Lady Annis's breast.

6   There blew a cold north-westerly wind,
And cut this lily in twain;
Which never there was seen before,
And it never will again.

P. 279. C. Miss M.H. Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, p. 46, 'Giles Collin.'

1   Giles Collin he said to his mother one day,
Oh, mother, come bind up my head!
For tomorrow morning before it is day
I 'm sure I shall be dead.

2   'Oh, mother, oh, mother, if I should die,
And I am sure I shall,
I will not be buried in our churchyard,
But under Lady Alice's wall.'

3   His mother she made him some water-gruel,
And stirred it up with a spoon;
Giles Collin he ate but one spoonful,
And died before it was noon.

4   Lady Alice was sitting in her window,
All dressed in her night-coif;
She saw as pretty a corpse go by
As ever she 'd seen in her life.

5   'What bear ye there, ye six tall men?
What bear ye on your shourn?'
'We bear the body of Giles Collin,
Who was a true lover of yourn.'

6   'Down with him, down with him, upon the grass,
The grass that grows so green;
For tomorrow morning before it is day
My body shall lie by him.'

7   Her mother she made her some plum-gruel,
With spices all of the best;
Lady Alice she ate but one spoonful,
And the doctor he ate up the rest.

8   Giles Collin was laid in the lower chancel,
Lady Alice all in the higher;
There grew up a rose from Lady Alice's breast,
And from Giles Collin's a briar.

9   And they grew, and they grew, to the very church-top,
Until they could grow no higher,
And twisted and twined in a true-lover's knot,
Which made all the parish admire.