Lord Banner - Colville (NH) 1941 Flanders G
[From Flanders' Ancient Ballads; Notes by Coffin, 1961. This is taken from the sister of Orlon Merrill, the singer of version F
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.
G. Lord Banner. Mrs. Grant Coville, sister to Orlon Merrill (see version F) of Charlestown, New Hampshire, gave this song in her home at Pittsburg, New Hampshire. Her tune was the same as Mr. Merrill's. Compare this to F above. H. H. F., Collector
June 3, 1941.
Four and twenty ladies fair, all being at a ball,
Lord Banner's wife she being there, the fairest of them all,
And young LaGrue from Scotland, as fair as the rising sun,
She looked at him and he looked at her; the like it was never known.
Says she, "Oh, will you take a ride, oh, will you take a ride?
You shall have servants to wait on you and a fair lady by your side."
"Oh, no, oh, no, I dare not do it, no, not for all of my life,
For by your ring on your forefinger you are Lord Banner's wife."
'Oh, what if I am Lord Bannet's wife? Lord Banner is not at home.
He is gone over to Condemption to take young Henry's throne."
One of his pages being there which heard and see all that was done
And swore that his master should hear of this before the next rising sun.
He ran till he came to the river shore and he took to his heels and he swam.
He swam till he came to the other side and he took to his heels and he ran.
He ran till he came to the castle there. So loudly he rapped at the door
And who should be there so ready as Lord Banner to let him in.
"Oh, is there any of my towers down or any of my towers free,
or has there anything happened unto my fair ladee?"
"Oh, no, there is none of your towers down or none of of your towers free
But young LaGrue from Scotland is in bed with your fair ladee."
"If this be a lie which you tell to me, which I suppose it to be,
I will rig a gallows and hang-ed you shall be"'
"If this be a lie which I tell to you, which you suppose it to be,
You need not rig a gallows but hang me on a tree'"
He called to one of his merry, merry men by one, by two, by three,
Saying, "We will go over to old Scotland this fair couple for to see."
"What's this I hear so loud in my ear which sounds so loud and drear?
It is Lord Banner's shepherd boy and he will soon be here."
"Lie still, lie still and keep me warm and keep me from the cold.
It's only Lord Banner's shepherd boy a-driving the sheep to the fold."
They huddled and they cuddled till both fell fast asleep
And when they awoke in the morning Lord Banner he stood at their feet.
"Rise up, rise up, put on your clothes as quick as ever you can.
I never had it said in all Scotland that I fought with a naked man."
"Oh, no, oh, no, I dare not do it, no, not for all of my life
For by your side you have two broadswords while I have nary a knife."
"What if I have two broadswords? They cost me deep in purse.
You may have the very best one and I will take the worst,
"And you may strike the very first blow and strike it like a man
And I will strike the second blow and I will kill you if I can."
so young LaGrue he struck the very first blow which wounded Lord Banner sore.
Lord Banner he struck the second blow and laid him in his gore.
He took his lady by the lily-white hand and he gave her kisses three,
Saying, "Which of the two do you love best, young LaGrue or me?"
"Quite well I like your red rosy cheeks, quite well I like your chin,
But I ten times rather have young LaGrue or you or all of your kin."
He grabbed her by the hair of her head and split her head in two.
She sank down upon her bended knees by the side of young LaGrue.
Then he put the heel of his sword to the floor and the point unto his breast,
Saying, "Was there ever three lovers more easily laid at rest?"