Lord Banner - Colsie (ME) 1941 Flanders B
[From Flanders' Ancient Ballads; Notes by Coffin, 1961.
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 betow). 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 emblaces 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 rhe 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.
B. Lord Banner. Sung by Eldin Colsie of Stacyville, Maine, as he has always known the song. Incomplete tune. Structure: A B B (4,4,4,4); Rhythm B; Scale: hexatonic; H. H. F., Collector. July 15 , 1941. t.c. G. For mel. rel. see BES, 154.
Four and twenty ladies
Were playing at a ball.
Lord Banner's wife was there, too,
The fairest of them all,
And young Magrue from Scotland, too,
As fair as the rising sun.
Oh, she looked at him and he winked at her
And the like, it was never done.
Saying, "How would you like to ride with me?"
Saying, "How would you like to ride?
You will have servants to wait upon you
And a fair lady by your side."
"For me to take a ride with you,
I dare not for all my life,
For by the ring upon your finger
You are Lord Banner's wife."
"Oh, what if I am Lord Banner's wife?
Lord Banner is not at home.
He's gone away to Redemption;
He's taking King Henry's throne."
Oh, one of his foot-pages standing by
Saying, "Master, he will hear of this
Before the rising sun."
So he ran till he came to the riverside
And he plunged in and he swam.
He swam till he came to the other side
And he took to his heels and he ran.
Oh, he ran till he came to Lord Banner's door
And he knocked about in vim
But no one there was so ready
To let his foot-page in.
"Oh, are there any of my towers down
Or any of my castles three
Or has there anything happened
Unto my gay ladee?"
"Oh, no, there's none of your towers down
Or none of your castles three
But young Magrue from Scotland, too,
Is in bed with your gay ladee."
"If this be a lie you tell to me
As I suppose would be,
I will have a gallows rigged
And it's hanged you shall be."
"If this be a lie I tell to you
As you suppose 't would be,
You need not have a gallus rigged.
You can hang me on a tree."
Lord Banner called his men all down
By one and by two and by three,
Saying, "Let us ride to fair Scotland
Some fancy for to see."
They put the bugle to their mouths
And they blew both loud and long,
And at the turning of every tune
It was, "Young Magrue, do begone."
"Oh, what is that I hear," said he,
"That sounds so loud and clear?
I think it is Lord Banner's
Bugle that I hear."
"Oh, lay down, lay down. Pray keep me warm.
Pray keep me from the cold,
It is Lord Banner's shepherd,
He's calling the sheep to the fold."
So they both lay down in their pillows warm
And soon fell fast asleep,
It was early the next morning
Lord Banner stood at their feet.
Saying, "How do you like my blankets warm?
Oh, how do you like my sheets
And how do you like my false ladee
Who lies in your arms and sleeps?"
"Right well do I like your blankets warm
And right well do I like your sheets
But better than all your false ladee
Who lies in my arms and sleeps."
"Rise up, rise up and put on your clothes
As quick as ever You can
For never to say in fair Scotland
I fought with a bare naked man."
"For me to rise up and put on my clothes,
I dare not for all my life
For by your side are two glittering swords
And I, not a single knife."
"If by my side are two glittering swords,
They cost me deep in purse.
It's you can have the very best one,
And I will take the worst.
"And you can strike the very first blow
And strike it like a man
And I will strike the second one
And I'll kill you if I can."
So young Magrue struck the very first blow.
It wounded Lord Banner sore.
Lord Banner struck the second one
And he laid him in his gore.
Caught his fair lady by the waist
And he gave her kisses three,
Saying, "Now which one do you like the best--
The slain Magrue or me?"
"Right well do I like your rosy cheeks,
Right well your dimpled chin,
But better than all, the slain Magrue
Than you and all of your kin."
He caught her by the hair of the head
And he split her brains in twain.
He threw her down upon the floor
And she never arose again.
The tail of the sword down on the floor
And the point of it to his breast.
There was never three lovers
So quickly sent to rest.