Lord Banner- Walker (ME) 1942 Flanders D
[From Flanders' Ancient Ballads; 1961. Notes from Coffin follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard
(Child 81)
This ballad has a vigorous American oral tradition but, in spite of the fact that Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 173, reports his H version to have been learned in Scotland, seems to have died out in Britain. Here it is known everywhere, from Nova Scotia to Jamaica and west. Barry, op. cit., 180 f., and Helen Pettigrew, University of West Virginia Studies, III philological papers, II, 8 f., both spent much effort on the American heritage of Child 81. Barry feels there-was a pre-American split in the tradition of the ballad, one form featuring the "away, Musgrave, away" lines and the "bugle-blowing" scene, the other retaining mention of King Henry. The Henry type he believes to date back to the time of Henry VIII and to be the progenitor of almost all the American texts. The "away, Musgrave" type, he feels, gave birth to the Anglo-Scottish texts and a few late American arrivals. Pettigrew attacks this thesis vigorously, among other things, attributing the visit to King Henry to romanticization and citing a host of American texts, such as the Flanders ones below, that retain "bugle-blowing" scenes. Whoever is right, one thing seems sure: Barry was nor far wrong in stating the song has been in America a long time and that the texts here are more vivid and generally better than those in Child, some of which are pretty old.
The Flanders texts demonstrate Barry's two types. Flanders A includes a strong "bugle-blowing" scene, the "away" lines (stanzas 18-20), and opt"s with a church-gathering like Child A, C, H, and many of the southern American texts. This version is similar to the one in Belden, 58 (also printed in British BaIIads from Maine, 177), but is unusual for the New World in its inclusion of Lady Barnard's effort to bribe the page as in Child C-F, H-L, and O. Edwards it should be noted, wanted to leave these lines and some of the "bugle" material out (see the letter below). The Flanders B-J series is more typical of the northern tradition of the ballad and starts like-Child D, E, K, L with a "ball-playing" scene. The "bugle-blowing" is presented, but briefly, and there are no "away, Musgrave" lines.
See Coffin, 84-86, for the bibliography of the American texts and summaries of the scholarship done on the song. It is interesting that American versions do not mention any past relationship between the lovers, although Musgrave needs no encouraging when the Lady flirts with him in one Southeastern text. He embraces her at once. PMLA xxxlx,4ssf.,contains a report on the Jamaican tradition of Child 81. The ballad as known in the West Indies is closer to Child A-C than it is to the American material. In Act V, scene 3, of Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Merrythought quotes lines from the song.
The seven tunes given are related except for the Edwards tune, which seems separate. The rest fall into two related groups: 1) Colsie and Walker, and 2) Syphers, Merrill, Finnemore, and Burditt. The following runes show general relationship to the second of these related groups: Sharp I, 166 (D), 181 (L); and BES, 150. The New England tunes seem more closely related to the second group, while those in the collections from the southern United States seem largely to belong to another family exemplified by the majority of the tunes in Sharp I.
Lord Banner- Sung by Arthur Walker of Littleton, Maine; Sept. 1, 1942; Collected M. Olney.
Four and twenty gay ladies
Was dancing at a ball.
Lord Banner's wife, oh, she was there,
The gayest of them all.
And Young Magrue from Scotland, too,
He being at that ball,
She looked at him, and he winked at her;
The like was never saw.
"Oh, will you take a walk with me,
Or will you take a ride,
Or will you come to my chamber
And lay down by my side?"
"Oh, to take a walk with you
I dare nor for my life,
For by the rings on your finger,
You are Lord Banner's wife."
"Oh, what if I am Lord Banner's wife,
Lord Banner's not at home;
He's gone over to old England
For to take in King Henery's throne."
Oh, some [one] of his pages being there
And seeing what was done,"
He said, "My master shall hear of this
Before the rise of the sun."
He ran till he came to the river banks;
There he jumped in and he swam.
He swam till he came to the other side;
He took to his heels and ran.
It's when he got to Lord Banner's hall,
He knocked both loud and shrill.
There seemed to be nobody ready
To let his foot-page in.
"Oh, is there any of my castles down,
Or any of my towers three,
Or is there anything has happened
Unto my gay ladye?"
"oh, no, there's none of your castles down,
And none of your towers three
But young Magrue from Scotland,
He is in bed with your gay ladye."[1]
"If this is a lie you tell to me,
As I suppose it to be,
For I shall build a gallers high
And hanged on it you will be."
"If this is a lie that I tell to you,
As you suppose it to be,
You need not build a gallers high;
You can hang me to a tree."
He called his arm-ed men out,
By one, by two, and by three,
Saying, "We'll go over to old Scotland;
I'm anxious to see what's happened to my gay ladye."
They put their bugles to their lips,
They played as they marched along,
And at the turn of every tune,
It was "Young Magrue to be gone."
"Oh, what is that that I do hear,
That's ringing in my ears?"
"Luy down, lay down, and keep me warm,
And shield me from the cold.[2]
That is Lord Banner's shepherd boy
Driving his sheep to the fold."
They huddled down, they cuddled down,
They soon fell fast asleep,
And early the next morning
Lord Banner stood there at their feet.
"Oh, how do you like my blankets warm,
And how do you like my sheet?
And how do you like my gay lady
Who lays in your arms and sleeps?"
"Very well I like your blankets warm,
Very well I like your sheet,
Much better I like that young lady
Than you or any of your kin."
"Git up, git up, and put on your clothes,
As quickly as ever you can;
It will never be said in old Scotland that
I have fought with a naked man."
"Oh, to get up and put on my clothes,
I dare not for my life,
For by your side you have two broadswords,
And I've not a single knife."
"If by my side I have two broadswords,
They've cost me deep in purse.
To you I give the very best one,
And I shall take the worst.
"And you can strike the very first blow,
And strike it like a man;
I will strike the second blow
And I'll kill you if I can."
"Oh, young Magrue struck the very first blow,
He wounded Lord Banner sore.
Lord Banner struck the second blow
And he laid Magrue to the floor.
He took his lady by the waist,
He gave her kisses three,
saying, "which one of these men do you love the best,
This young Magrue or me?"
"Very well I like your rosy cheeks,
Very well your dimpled chin;
Much better I like that young Magrue
Than you or any of your kin."
He grabbed her by the hair of the head,
He dashed her brains in twain.
He placed the butt of his sword to the floor,
And the point of it to his breast,
And never was three lovyers
That ever went quicker to rest.
1. I've rearranged the text here.
2. Lines 3 and 4 are sung to the same air as lines 1 and 2