Lord Lovel- Gregg (Texas) 1949 Wycoco-Moore
[From: A Version of "Lord Lovel" (Child 75) by Remedios Wycoco-Moore; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 67, No. 265 (Jul. - Sep., 1954), p. 252. Notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
A VERSION OF "LORD LOVEL" (CHILD 75):-The text was secured in 1949 from Edna Gregg, of Baylor University, who learned it from her cousin, Mrs. Kelly Dawson, of Fairfield, Illinois. Mrs. Dawson, who supplemented Gregg's fragmentary rendering, could remember this one only of the many ballads sung by her grandmother, who came over from England. "They were Pikes," said Mrs. Dawson of her grandmother's family.
It belongs in the tradition of Child H, a London broadside (Coffin's Story Type A1), to which practically all the American texts belong. There is no mention of church bells and it carries the motif of twining rose and brier branches growing from the graves of the lovers (Motif E631.01, Thompson2). For a complete bibliography to date, see The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, II, 843 and T. Coffin, The British Traditional Ballad in North America, pp. 78f. Coffin likewise furnishes a consensus of textual comment on the ballad's versions to date.
Lord Lovel stood at the castle gate,
A-combing his milk-white steed, steed, steed,
A-combing his milk-white steed.
Fair Nancy Bell came a-riding by
And bade Lord Lovel good speed, speed, speed,
And bade Lord Lovel good speed.
"Oh, where are you going, Lord Lovel?" said she,
"Oh, where are you going?" said she.
"To a distant strange country is far to see,
Strange country is far to see, see, see,
Strange country is far to see."
"How long'll you be gone, Lord Lovel?" said she,
"How long'll you be gone?" said she, she, she;
"How long'll you be gone?" said she.
"A year or two, or three at most," said he.
He hadn't been gone but a year and a day
Till a strange thought came o'er his mind,
"Fair Nancy Bell I must go see, see, see,
Fair Nancy Bell I must go see."
He rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
Till he came to London town.
There he saw the people all hanging their heads,
And friends a-mourning around, round, round,
And friends all mourning around.
"Oh, what is the matter?" Lord Lovel said he,
"Oh, what is the matter?" said he.
"Some say lord's lady is dead,
Some call her Lady Nancy, see, see,
Some call her Lady Nancy."
He ordered her coffin be opened,
The shroud be folded down and there
He kissed her clay cold cheeks,
Till the tears came trickling down, down, down,
Till the tears came trickling down.
Fair Nancy Bell died today, Lord Lovel tomorrow;
Fair Nancy Bell died of grief, and Lord Lovel of sorrow.
And out of her grave there grew a red rose,
And out of Lord Lovel's a briar.
They grew and they grew to the church steeple top,
Till they could not grow any higher, any higher,
Till they could not grow any higher;
And there they stand in a true lover's knot
For all true lovers to admire, to admire, to admire,
For all true lovers to admire.
REMEDIOS WYCOCO-MOORE
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana