Lord Bateman- Carr (ME-MA) c.1868 Barry A
[From British Ballads from Maine; Barry Eckstorm, Smyth; 1929. Sung and from a manuscript book compiled at least twenty-five (1904) years ago by Mrs. Susie Carr Young of Brewer to preserve the old songs sung by her grandmother, mother, and others of the family. Mrs. Young likely learned this song at least sixty years ago from her Grandmother Carr (b. 1793), the wife of Hugh Hill Carr of Bucksport, who was born Mary Soper of Orland, where the Sopers were very early settlers. It has been traditional in that family for several generations.
Cf. Coverly broadside c. 1810. Barry postulates that this is older than the print versions (c.1790), Because of the minor changes from the Coverly broadside (India=England and Indian=Turkish). His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
LORD BATEMAN
(Young Beichan, Child 53)
This is clearly a traditional rendering of the text known as the Cloverly broadside, in the Isaiah Thomas Collection, in the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. The characteristic of that text is the first line, "In India lived a noble lord;" but Mrs. Young says she never heard it sung so, but always "In England, lived a noble lord. . ." Tnis point of difference may carry Mrs. Young's version well back into the eighteenth century, as will be seen later. It has been supposed that all copies derived from the Coverly text would show the word "India" in the first line; but, considering the age of other ballads which have
descended in the Soper-Carr families, this variation may point to an original in this country long before Coverly's day. Our B-text of "Lord Bateman" is closely related to the Coverly print and was probably reinforced by that, if not learned from it. Our C-text is a hitherto unknown broadside, from which Coverly must have copied his, unless he took it traditionally. Coverly has two lines (compare B, stanza 13, lines 1, 2), lacking in the old broadside, and a variant line (compare B, 23).
A. "Lord Bateman." Written down by Mrs. Susie Carr Young, as the form traditional in her family for several generations. Melody recorded by Mr. George Herzog.
[music]
1. In England lived a noble lord,
His riches were beyond compare;
He was the darling of his parents
And of their estates the only heir.
He had gold and he had silver,
He had houses of high degree;
But yet he never could be contented
Until a voyage he had been to sea.
He sailed east and he sailed west
Until he came to the Turkish shore,
Where he was taken and put in prison,
Where he could neither see nor hear.
The jailer had an only daughter
And she was a lady of high degree;
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
Saying: "Lord Bateman I will set free!"
And they made a solemn promise
For seven long years it should stand,
That he would wed with no other woman
And she would wed with no other man.
When seven long years had come and gone,
When seven long years had passed away,
She.packu4 op all of her richest clothing,
Saying: "Lord Bateman, I'll go and see."
She sailed east and she sailed west
[Until she came to a foreign land,
And to a city full of strange people
Whose words she hardly could understand.] [1]
8 She inquired for Lord Bateman's palace
At every corner of the street,
She inquired for Lord Bateman's palace
Of ev'ry person she chanced to meet.
9 And when she came to Lord Bateman's palace
And knocked loudly at the ring,
There was none so ready as a young porter
To rise and let the fair lady in.
"Oh! is not this Lord Bateman's palace ?
And is the noble Lord within ?"
"Oh! yes," replied this brisk young porter,
"He and his new bride have just walked in."
"Tell him to send me an ounce of bread
And a bottle of his wine so strong;
And ask him if he has forgot that lady
Who set him free from his iron chains.'o
"There is a lady at your door;
She asks you for to let her in;
She wears more gold about her clothing
Than your new bride and all her kin.
"She asks you to send her an ounce of bread
And a bottle of your wine so strong,
And asks if you have forgot that lady
That set you free from your iron chains."
He stamped his foot upon the floor,
He broke the table in pieces three,
Saying: "Since my fair one has arrived
A second wedding there shall be."
Then upspake his new bride's mother,
And she was a lady of high degree,
Saying: "Will you forsake my only daughter
And so disgrace my family?"
"Your daughter came with a horse and saddle;
She may go home with a coach and three ;
And here's Adieu to my new bride,
For a second wedding there shall be."
He took the lady by the hand
And led her into his palace home;
He changed her name to Susannah Fair
And she's the wife of Lord Bateman.
1. Mrs. Young feels uncertain as to the authenticity of the words in brackets.