Bailiff's Daughter- Winters (TN) 1966 Burton
[From Burton and Manning; Folklore: Folksongs, I, 1967.
R. Matteson 2015]
THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER (Child 105) - Sung by Mrs . Margaret Winters, October 1966.
tonality: major; range: octave.
1. There was a youth and a dear beloved youth and he was the squire's son
And he loved the bailiff's daughter dear who lived in Islington.
2. And when his friends did understand his fond and foolish mind,
They sent him away to fair London Town an apprentice for to bind.
3. And there he toiled for seven long years and never did his truelove see
Until one day he went riding by where she sat in the shade of a tree.
4. Then she sprang up with a color so red taking hold of his bridle rein,
"One penny, one penny, kind sir," she said, "It will ease me of much pain. "
5. "Before I give you one penny, sweetheart, pray tell me if you know
The bailiff's daughter of Islington." "She died sair long ago."
6. "If this be true, then take my horse, my saddle, and my bridle also;
And I will to a far country where no man may me know."
7. "Oh stay, oh stay, thou goodly youth, she standeth by thy side;
she is not dead, she is here alive and is ready to be thy bride."
8. And so this youth, this goodly youth who was the squire's son,
He wed the bailiff's daughter dear--they live in Isrington.