Recordings & Info 173. Mary Hamilton
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection Index
4) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
5) Folk Index
6) Summary: Malcolm Douglas from Mudcat Forum
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 79: Mary Hamilton (146 Listings)
2) On Child 76 and 173 in Divers Hands
3) "Mary Hamilton" and the Anglo-American Ballad
4) Mary Hamilton; The Group Authorship of Ballads
5) The Mystery of "The Queen's Marie"- Andrew Lang 1895
Alternative Titles
The Queen's Marie
The Four Maries
The Four Marys
The Purple Dress
Mary Mild
The Duke o' York's Dother
Traditional Ballad Index: Mary Hamilton [Child 173]
NAME: Mary Hamilton [Child 173]
DESCRIPTION: Mary Hamilton, servant to the queen, is pregnant (by the queen's husband). She tries to hide her guilt by casting the boy out to sea, but is seen and convicted. She is condemned to die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1790
KEYWORDS: pregnancy murder abandonment punishment execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1542 - Accession of Mary Stewart
1548 - Mary Stewart sent to France (later married to King Francis II)
1561 - Mary Stewart returns to Scotland
1567 - Death of Lord Darnley. Mary Stewart deposed
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord)) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (29 citations)
Child 173, "Mary Hamilton" (27 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's#5}
Bronson 173, "Mary Hamilton" (12 versions+1 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 258-264, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts plus some variants and a verse of "Peter Amberley" they claim floated in from this song, 1 tune plus some cited extracts) {Bronson's #7; the first short excerpt is from Bronson's #6}
Randolph 26, "The Four Maries" (1 fragment)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 79-80, "The Four Marys" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 163-169, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts plus a fragment, with the fragment containing parts of "MacPherson's Lament"; 3 tunes) {B=Bronson's #7}
Davis-Ballads 36, "Mary Hamilton" (2 fragments from the same informant, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Davis-More 32, pp. 245-252, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Leach, pp. 481-483, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 184, "Mary Hamilton"; p. 219, "Mary Hamilton's Last Goodnight" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 22-23, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 3, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 83, "The Queen's Marie" (1 text)
PBB 61, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Niles 51, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 159-161+334-335, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 32, pp. 124-126, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 138, "Marie Hamilton" (1 text)
DBuchan 33, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 195, "The Four Maries" (4 texts, 3 tunes) {B=#6, C=#11}
GlenbuchatBallads, pp. 27-29, "The Queen's Mary" (1 text)
Lyle-Crawfurd2 123, "Marie Hamilton" (1 text)
Ord, p. 457, "The Queen's Maries" (1 text)
TBB 23, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 117-119, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 49-52, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Silber-FSWB, p. 211, "The Four Maries" (1 text)
DT 173, MARYHAM1* MARYHAM2 MARYHAM3* MARYHAM4*
ADDITIONAL: Andrew Lang, "The Mystery of 'The Queen's Marie,'" article published 1895 in _Blackwoods Magazine_; republished on pp. 19-28 of Norm Cohen, editor, _All This for a Song_, Southern Folklife Collection, 2009
Roud #79
RECORDINGS:
Jeannie Robertson, "Mary Hamilton (The Four Marys)" (on FSB5 [as "The Four Maries"], FSBBAL2)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Purple Dress
Mary Mild
The Duke o' York's Dother
NOTES: Mary Stewart (the French used the spelling "Stuart") became Queen of Scotland when she was eight days old (1542).
Scotland being the chaotic place that it was, she was only a child when she was sent abroad to marry into and be brought up at the court of France (1548). To keep her good company, four well-bred Scots girls were sent with her to keep her company (it should be noted, though, that none of them was named Hamilton). Her husband Francis II died in 1560, however, and Mary Stewart went home.
There she married her cousin, Henry, Lord Darnley. It does not seem to have been an overly happy match, so Darnley might well have engaged in extracurricular activities. In any case, Darnley was murdered in 1567. Soon after, Mary was (forcibly?) married by the Earl of Bothwell; in that same year she was deposed in favor of her son.
Nowhere in her troubled reign do we find reference to a serving girl's pregnancy; one theory has it that the story arose with the troubles of a Mary Hamilton at the Russian court. Another theory, first advanced by Scott, connects it with members of Mary Stuart's court *other than* the four Maries and Lord Darnley.
It also occurs to me that there is the case of the son of George III, who in due time would become George IV. According to Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, _Blood Royal: The Illustrious House of Hanover_ (Doubleday, 1980), p. 118, Prince George at one time "had fallen in love with Mary Hamilton, one of his sisters' governesses." Whether this is relevant depends of course on the earliest date of the song. There are a number of mentions in the early nineteenth century. If we can push it before about 1780, then of course this Mary Hamilton is out of the question. Of course George IV's Mary Hamilton didn't kill her baby, but her affair with the Prince of Wales might have influenced the character in this song.
For extensive discussion of the matter (which is, however, rather more theoretical than practical) see Davis-More, pp. 246-248. - RBW
Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Mary Mild" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
Child Collection Ballad 173: Mary Hamilton
Child ---Artist--- Title-- Album-- Year-- Length--- Have
173 Alastair McDonald The Queen's Maries Oor Ally's Red Yoyo - and Other Songs for the Young (Of All Ages) 2005 No
173 Alex Campbell Marie Hamilton At His Best 1972 No
173 Alex Campbell Marie Hamilton Favourite Songs of Bonnie Scotland 1965 No
173 Alex Campbell Mary Hamilton The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
173 Alfred Deller Queen's Maries The Three Ravens - Elizabethan Folk and Minstrels Songs 1994 1:50 Yes
173 All in the Merry Month of May Mary Hamilton Root Bramble Stone 2011 No
173 Almeda Riddle Four Marys The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection 4:39 Yes
173 Almeda Riddle The Four Marys The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection - Ozark Folksongs 9:38 Yes
173 Almeda Riddle The Four Marys Ballads and Hymns from the Ozarks 1972 No
173 Andrew Rowan Summers The Ballad of Mary Hamilton (The Four Marys) The Faulse Lady 1954 No
173 Angelo Branduardi Ninna Nanna Canzoni D'Amore 1984 No
173 Angelo Branduardi Ninna Nanna Cogli La Prima Mela 1979 7:23 Yes
173 Angelo Branduardi L'enfant Clandestin (Ninna Nanna) Senza Spina 2009 4:39 Yes
173 Anne Byrne, Mick Crotty & Paddy Roche Mary Hamilton I Chose the Green 1968 3:18 Yes
173 Ariella Uliano Mary Hamilton Tanto Gentile E Tanto Onesta Pare 2006 No
173 Atwater-Donnelly Four Marys And Then I'm Going Home: Atwater-Donnelly Live 2001 4:46 Yes
173 Bell Duncan Mary Hamilton The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
173 Brownie McNeil Mary Hamilton Ballads 1948 No
173 Brownie McNeil Mary Hamilton Folksongs By Brownie McNeil 1967 No
173 Carl Peterson Mary Hamilton Drifting with Michener 2006 No
173 Carl Peterson & The Drambeauties Mary Hamilton Playing Nice Together 2007 No
173 Carole Outwater Four Marys Faces - The Quilted Fabric of Life's Song 2003 No
173 Celia Briar Mary Hamilton Her Mantle So Green 1996 1:29 Yes
173 Charlotte MacInnes The Four Maries California Gold - Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected By Sidney Robertson Cowell 193? :48 Yes
173 Cynthia Gooding Mary Hamilton (The Four Maries) Queen of Hearts - Early English Folk Songs 1953 4:53 Yes
173 Dan McGonigle Mary Hamilton An Hour of Song 1991 No
173 Dan McGonigle Mary Hamilton Bob & Jacqueline Patten Collection 1970-1999 No
173 Dave Gunning The Four Marys A Tribute to John Allan Cameron 2010 3:21 Yes
173 Dee Strickland Johnson Mary Hamilton The Unquiet Grave and Other British Ballads 1976 No
173 Deirdre Campbell-Shaw The Queen's Maries My Heart's in the Highlands 2002 3:13 Yes
173 Duncan Williamson The Four Marys John Howson Collection 1970-1995 No
173 Ed Miller Mary Hamilton Never Frae My Mind 2006 5:52 Yes
173 Ellen Mitchell Mary Mild On Yonder Lea - Scots Songs & Ballads 2002 No
173 Ethel Findlater The Four Maries The Baffled Knight - The Classic Ballads 2 1976 No
173 Ethel Findlater The Four Maries The Lover's Stone 1975 No
173 Evelyne Beers Four Marys The Gentle Art 1972 No
173 Finn MacCuill Mary Hamilton Sink Ye-Swim Ye 1978 4:08 Yes
173 Gill Bowman The Ballad of the Four Marys City Love 1993 No
173 Harvey Reid Four Marys Chestnuts - Grand Old Songs from Long Ago 1994 2:46 Yes
173 Helen Woodall Mary Hamilton Waifs & Wenches - Traditional and Original Folk Songs 2007 4:01 Yes
173 Hermes Nye Mary Hamilton Ballads Reliques - Early English Ballads from the Percy and Child Collections 1957 1:57 Yes
173 Ina Miller The Queen's Maries Songs of Scotland [Ina Miller] 2009 No
173 Isabel Sutherland The Four Maries Vagrant Songs of Scotland 1966 3:52 Yes
173 Isabel Sutherland The Four Maries The Licht Bob's Lassie 1975 No
173 Isla St. Clair Marie Hamilton Royal Lovers & Scandals 2000 6:05 Yes
173 Isla St. Clair Marie Hamilton Great Songs and Ballads of Scotland 2009 No
173 Isobel Buchanan The Queen's Mairies Songs of Scotland 1995 2:45 Yes
173 Jacqui & Bridie The Four Maries 'Tis a Gift to Be Simple 1977 3:36 Yes
173 Jane Robinson Mary Hamilton The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection 2:48 Yes
173 Jean & Edna Ritchie The Four Marys <website> 1966 2:33 Yes
173 Jean Redpath & Abby Newton Mary Hamilton Lowlands 1980 3:57 Yes
173 Jean Ritchie Four Marys The Most Dulcimer 1992 2:44 Yes
173 Jeannie Higgins (Robertson) The Four Maries BBC Recordings No
173 Jeannie Robertson Mary Hamilton (The Four Marys) Classic Ballads of Britain & Ireland - Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales, Vol 2 2000 4:11 Yes
173 Jeannie Robertson The Four Maries What a Voice 1975 No
173 Jeannie Robertson The Four Maries (Mary Hamilton) The Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 5: The Child Ballads 2 1961 4:06 Yes
173 Jeannie Robertson The Four Marys Songs of a Scots Tinker Lady - Traditional Scots Ballads and Songs 1960 No
173 Jennifer Rose Ballad of Mary Hamilton Morning Will Come 1999 3:08 Yes
173 Jeremy Stuart Mary Hamilton Lonesome Road 2000 5:55 Yes
173 Jessie Davidson Mary Hamilton The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
173 Jim Skinger Mary Hamilton Many Roads 2001 2:58 Yes
173 Jimmie Rodgers Four Marys Jimmie Rodgers Sings Folk Songs + The Folk Song World of Jimmie Rodgers 2001 No
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton Joan Baez 2001 5:51 Yes
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton The First 10 Years 1970 5:51 Yes
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton The Joan Baez Ballad Book 1972 5:48 Yes
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton American Folk Singers and Balladeers - The Classics Record Library 1964 5:50 Yes
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton Vanguard Visionaries 2007 No
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton Joan Baez in Concert - BBC 1965 1965 6:12 Yes
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton Queen of Hearts 1989 5:54 Yes
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton Songbird 2011 5:53 Yes
173 Joan Baez Mary Hamilton The Debut Album Plus 2011 5:57 Yes
173 John Allan Cameron The Four Mary's Wind Willow 1991 4:09 Yes
173 John Jacob Niles Mary Hamilton My Precarious Life in the Public Domain [Folk Balladeer] 2006 5:23 Yes
173 John Jacob Niles Mary Hamilton The Ballads of John Jacob Niles 1960 4:22 Yes
173 John Jacob Niles Mary Hamilton Child Ballads 2008 No
173 John Jacob Niles Mary Hamilton 50th Anniversary Album 1956 No
173 John Laurie & Isla Cameron Mary Hamilton The Jupiter Book of Ballads 1962 5:11 Yes
173 John Stewart & Buffy Ford The Four Marys Live at the Turf Inn, Scotland [The Essential John & Buffy] 1994 3:16 Yes
173 Julie O'Rielly Mary Hamilton The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection 5:29 Yes
173 Katherine Campbell Mary Hamilton The Songs of Amelia and Jane Harris - Scots Songs and Ballads from Perthshire Tradition 2004 4:25 Yes
173 Kevin & Ellen Mitchell Mary Mild Have a Drop Mair 2001 3:11 Yes
173 Larkin Bryant Cohen The Mary Suite: Mary Hamilton + Lady Mary Lark in the Twilight 1998 No
173 Linda Sigismondi Four Marys Appalachian Ballads and Songs for the Mountain Dulcimer Companion CD 2005 No
173 Linda Wilcox Mary Hamilton Librivox Folk Ballad Collection 001 2007 4:19 Yes
173 Lionel Long The Four Marys Troubadour [Folk Songs of the British Isles] 1965 3:08 Yes
173 Lori Holland Mary Hamilton Scottish Folksongs for Women 1958 No
173 Lynna Jackson Four Marys DulciTunes 1:23 Yes
173 Marcoacca Mary Hamilton <website> 2008- 6:22 Yes
173 Marie Laforêt Mary Hamilton Marie Laforêt 1972 2:43 Yes
173 Marie McLaughlin The Queen's Maries Songs of Scotland 2000 No
173 Marion Paterson Mary Hamilton The Blair Tapes - Recordings from Blairgowrie Folk Festival 1986-1995 2000 No
173 Mary Smith The Four Marys Of Rogues and Lovers 2003 6:57 Yes
173 Mary Strachan The Four Marys Celtic Harp 1999 5:22 Yes
173 Mary Taylor The Four Maries Unto Brigg Fair - Grainger, Delius & the Lincolnshire Singers 1979 No
173 Maureen Jelks Mary Mild Eence Upon a Time - Scots Songs & Ballads 2000 4:57 Yes
173 Miss Marguerite Letson Mary Hamilton The Helen Creighton Collection No
173 Moira Kerr The Queen's Four Marys Bravest Heart 2000 No
173 Mrs Baird The Four Marys The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
173 Mrs Cameron Mary Hamilton The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
173 Mrs. Charles Lansing Four Marys The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
173 Mrs. Charlotte MacInnes The Four Maries The Library of Congress No
173 Mrs. Frances Kilbride Mary Hamilton The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
173 Mrs. Isaac Ireland The Four Marys The Edith Fowke Collection No
173 Mrs. Isaac Ireland The Queen's Maries The Edith Fowke Collection No
173 Mrs. Jeannie Leslie Mary Hamilton The Helen Creighton Collection No
173 Mrs. T. The Four Marys The John Mehlberg Collection 5:15 Yes
173 Nic Hambas Four Marys Three Dulcimers 1:52 Yes
173 Odetta Four Marys Odetta Sings of Many Things 1964 No
173 Ogham The Queen's Maries The Aughmore Lassie 1993 3:51 Yes
173 Paul Clayton Mary Hamilton Dulcimer Songs and Solos 1957 5:10 Yes
173 Peggy Seeger Mary Hamilton A Song for You and Me 1960 3:03 Yes
173 Peggy Seeger Mary Hamilton Blood and Roses - Vol. 4 1986 4:19 Yes
173 Raymond Crooke Four Marys (1) <website> 2007 2:10 Yes
173 Raymond Crooke Four Marys (2) <website> 2007- 2:58 Yes
173 Rebecca Pidgeon The Four Marys Four Marys 1998 3:05 Yes
173 Rebecca Pidgeon The Four Marys Retrospective 2003 3:06 Yes
173 Robin Hall Mary Mild Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads 1960 No
173 Robin Hall & Jimmie MacGregor The Queen's Four Maries Scotch and Irish Folk Songs 1964 2:43 Yes
173 Robin Roberts Mary Hamilton Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies 1959 4:26 Yes
173 Rolf Cahn The Four Maries California Folk Concert with Rolf Cahn 1959 6:34 Yes
173 Ronnie Browne Mary Hamilton Scottish Love Songs 1995 2:39 Yes
173 Ronnie Browne Mary Hamilton The West Highland Way Song Collection 2007 No
173 Ronnie Browne The Queen's Maries Scottish Love Songs 1995 2:31 Yes
173 Ronnie Browne The Queen's Maries The West Highland Way Song Collection 2007 No
173 Rory & Alex McEwen Marie Hamilton Great Scottish Ballads 1956 2:00 Yes
173 Rossettistone Mary Hamilton Deirdre's Song 2000 7:15 Yes
173 Sam Hinton Mary Hamilton The Library of Congress Recordings, March 25, 1947 1999 No
173 Sara Banleigh Mary Hamilton The Folk EP 2011 No
173 Sarah Hook Mary Hamilton Tenpenny 2010 No
173 Scocha The Queen's Maries Bordering on .. 2001 3:05 Yes
173 Shanna Beth McGee & David Johnson Mary Hamilton Love Is Teasing - Scottish and English Early Ballads 1980 4:37 Yes
173 Sheena Andrew The Four Marys The Home I Love 1969 2:43 Yes
173 Shirley & Larry Peterson Four Maries Isles Asleep 2007 No
173 Tarneybackle The Four Marys Winds of Freedom 2008 No
173 Terrea Lea Mary Hamilton Terrea Lea, By Popular Demand 2004 No
173 Terrea Lea Mary Hamilton Folk Songs & Ballads 1957 3:08 Yes
173 Texas Gladden Mary Hamilton Ballad Legacy 2001 3:48 Yes
173 Texas Gladden The Four Marys The Library of Congress - Archive of Folk Culture: Anglo-American Ballads, Vol. 2 1999 3:48 Yes
173 The Browne Sisters & George Cavanaugh The Four Mairis Bringing Down the House - Live 2000 2:29 Yes
173 The Corrie Folk Trio & Paddie Bell The Queen's Maries Yon Folk Songs Is for the Burds 1963 1:56 Yes
173 The Corries The Queen's Four Maries The Lads Among Heather - Vol 1 2004 3:41 Yes
173 The Corries The Queen's Maries The Silver Collection 1966-1991 1991 3:36 Yes
173 The Ian Campbell Folk Group Mary Mild This Is The Ian Campbell Folk Group + Across the Hills 1996 2:15 Yes
173 The Simmons Family Four Marys Ozark Mountain & Stone County Dulcimer Instrumentals 197? No
173 The Simmons Family Four Marys Ozark Mountain & Stone County Dulcimer Instrumentals 197? No
173 The Singing Milkmaids Mary Hamilton On the Wash 2005 3:38 Yes
173 Tina Lawton Mary Hamilton Fair and Tender 1967 5:08 Yes
173 Wendy Stewart & Gary West Marie Hamilton Hinterlands 2009 4:57 Yes
173 William Mathieson Mary Hamilton The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
173 William Walker The Queen's Four Mary The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
173. MARY HAMILTON
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 258 / BFSSNE, III, 8 / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 141 / Davis, Trd Sid Va, 4.2,1 / Franklin Square Song Collection (J. P. McCaskey), VI, 75 / no Scotch Songs, Thomas a Becket, Jr. (Ditson, Boston) / Randolph, OzF-S, 1, 151 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old WrU Bids, 42.
Local litles: Mary Hamilton, The Four Marys.
Story Types: A: Mary Hamilton, one of Queen Mary of Scotland's four servants named Marie, is with child by a member of- the court. She throws the baby in the sea when it is born, but Queen Mary suspects and discovers the truth. Mary Hamilton is condemned to burn at the stake or hang. After telling the people not to weep for her and drinking a toast or two, Mary Hamilton rues the outcome of her life before she dies.
Examples: Combs.
B: A lyric lament at the stake or gallows, with almost no trace of the story, has been found.
Examples : Barry (A), Davis (A).
Discussion: The Type A text from West Virginia is close to Child A. The lyric laments (Type B) come from the end of the ballad where Mary makes her last piteous remarks before the execution. They resemble Child BB. The events narrated in the ballad may be based on either the story of an incident in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1563 in which a French woman servant and the Queen's apothecary were concerned or the affair in Czar Peter of Russia's court in 1718 19 involving one Mary Hamilton and an officer named Orloff, or both. See Child, III, sSoff., and Tolman, PMLA, XLII, 422.
Folk Index: Mary Hamilton [Ch 173]
Rt - Mary Hamilton's Last Goodnight
At - Four Marys/Maries
Abrahams, Roger; & George Foss / Anglo-American Folksong Style, Prentice-Hall, Sof (1968), 3-5 [1820s]
Shekerjian, Haig and Regina (eds.) / Book of Ballads, Songs and Snatches, Harper, sof (1966), p 12
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p184 [1823/1920s]
Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swingin' Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p239 (Four Marys/Maries)
Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof, 5, p59 (1963) (Four Marys/Maries)
Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Hootenanny Tonight!, Gold Medal Books, sof (1964), p139 (Four Marys/Maries)
Wells, Evelyn Kendrick (ed.) / The Ballad Tree, Ronald, Bk (1950), p 48
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p 13
Sandburg, Helga (ed.) / Sweet Music, Dial, Bk (1963), p 94 (Four Marys/Maries)
Luboff, Norman; and Win Stracke (eds.) / Songs of Man, Prentice-Hall, Bk (1966), p 82 (Four Marys/Maries)
Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Folk Song Abecedary, Bonanza, Bk (1966), p108 (Four Marys/Maries)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p482
Leach, MacEdward / The Heritage Book of Ballads, Heritage, Bk (1967), P 82 (Four Marys/Maries)
Baez, Joan. Joan Baez, Vanguard VRS 9078, CD/ (1960), trk# 11
Baez, Joan. Siegmeister, Elie (arr.) / Joan Baez Song Book, Ryerson Music, Sof (1971/1964), P 53
Beers, Evelyne Anderson. Gentle Art, Prestige International INT 13053, LP (196?), trk# B.06 (Four Marys/Maries)
Bryant, Larkin. Bryant, Larkin / Larkin's Dulcimer Book, Ivory Palaces, Fol (1982), p65
Bullard, Linnie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p151/# 26 [1926/07/07] (Four Marys/Maries)
Chalmers, Mrs. Jimmie. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p 93/# 35 [1940s] (Four Marys/Maries)
Clayton, Paul. Dulcimer Songs and Solos, Folkways FG 3571, LP (1962), trk# 8
Cohen, Larkin Bryant. Lark in the Twilight, Riverlark RLCS 103, Cas (1998), trk# A.03a
Gladden, Texas. Anglo American Ballads, Vol. 2, Rounder 1516, CD (1999), trk# 4 [1941] (Four Marys/Maries)
Gladden, Texas. Emrich, Duncan / Folklore on the American Land, Little, Brown, sof (1972), p593 [1941]
Gladden, Texas. Ballad Legacy, Rounder 1800, CD (2001/1941), trk# 4 [1941/08]
Gooding, Cynthia. Queen of Hearts, Elektra EKL 131, LP (1953), trk# B.08
Harmon, Myrtle. Abrahams, Roger; & George Foss / Anglo-American Folksong Style, Prentice-Hall, Sof (1968), 3-6 [1930s]
Jenkins, Tim. Bonnie Sue Cleland; Tales of Love and Death, Jenkins, CD (2011), trk# 10
Lea, Terrea. Folk Songs & Ballads, HiFiRecord R-404, LP (195?), trk# B.01
Matesby, Annie. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p279/N 51B [1934/08] (Purple Dress)
McNeil, Brownie. Folksongs, Sonic, LP (195?), trk# 3
McSpadden, Lynn. McSpadden, Lynn / Four and Twenty Songs for the Mountain Dulcimer, Dulcimer Shoppe, sof (1970), p37 (Four Marys/Maries)
Niles, John Jacob. Best of John Jacob Niles, Tradition S 2055, LP (196?), trk# A.02
Niles, John Thomas. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p277/N 51A [1916/12]
Odetta. Odetta Sings of Many Things, RCA (Victor) LSP 2923, LP (1964), trk# B.03 (Four Marys/Maries)
Redpath, Jean. Lowlands, Philo 1066, CD/ (1980), trk# B.01
Reid, Harvey. Chestnuts, Woodpecker WP 109, Cas (1994), trk# B.04 (Four Marys/Maries)
Riddle, Almeda. Ballads and Hymns from the Ozarks, Rounder 0017, LP (1972), trk# 8 (Four Marys/Maries)
Riddle, Almeda. Abrahams, Roger D.(ed.) / A Singer and Her Songs. Almeda Riddle's Book o, Louisiana State U. Press, Bk (1970), p133 [1964-67] (Four Marys/Maries)
Ritchie, Jean. Most Dulcimer, Greenhays GR 714, LP (1984), trk# 12 (Four Marys/Maries)
Robertson, Jeannie. Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 5. The Child Ballads, Vol. II, Caedmon TC 1146, LP (1961), trk# A.07 [1950s] (Four Marys/Maries)
Robertson, Jeannie. Songs of a Scots Tinker Lady, Riverside RLP 12-633, LP (1956), trk# B.02 (Four Marys/Maries)
Roberts, Robin. Fair and Tender Ladies, Tradition TLP 1033, LP (1959), trk# A.08
Simmons Family. Ozark Mountain Dulcimer, Dancing Doll DLP 212, LP (197?), trk# A.08 (Four Marys/Maries)
Unknown Hitchhiker. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p 28 [1941] (Four Marys/Maries)
Mary Hamilton's Last Goodnight [Ch 173]
Rt - Mary Hamilton
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p219 [1928]
---------------
Summary: Malcolm Douglas from Mudcat Forum
Malcolm Douglas: Well, yes; but since it appears that the term "Maries" for ladies-in-waiting derived specifically from the remarkable fact of Queen Mary's having had four ladies-in-waiting who were all called Mary, that doesn't really get us all that far; though it might be, since those ladies-in-waiting were all famously called Mary, that a fictional addition to the group (or a real character introduced from elsewhere) might automatically be given that name.
Since this thread has returned from the dust of yesteryear, perhaps I should clear up one or two points which were left hanging and may mislead the unwary.
Barry Finn stated that the ballad had been found prior to 1718, subsequently quoting a statement made in the Viking Book of Folk Ballads to a "troublesome fact that some form of the ballad seems to have circulated in Scotland before 1719". The editor, Albert Friedmann, cited no authority for this statement. It may be based in part on a misunderstanding of a comment made by John Knox in his History of the Reformation, and quoted by Child (III 382, footnote; and above, in a slightly different form). Having commented upon the case of one of Queen Mary's ladies of the bedchamber, a Frenchwoman who became pregnant by the queen's apothecary and was condemned for infanticide, Knox continued:
"But not yet was the court purged of whores and whoredom, which was the fountain of such enormities; for it was well known that shame hasted marriage betwix John Semple, called the Dancer, and Mary Livingston, surnamed the Lusty. What bruit the Maries and the rest of the dancers of the court had, the ballads of that age did witness, which for modesty's sake we omit."
The scandal involving an anonymous French lady of the bedchamber and the lesser scandal involving Marie Livingston were entirely separate. There is no evidence that the ballads referred to by Knox were in any way related to the ballad of Mary Hamilton: Child himself commented: "As to the 'ballads' about the Maries mentioned by Knox, I conceive that these may mean nothing more than verses of any sort to the discredit of these ladies." (Child V, 299, footnote).
Lesley Nelson's comment at The Four Marys (referred to above) that "There is speculation that the "apothecary" was Lord Darnley in disguise" is also puzzling. She quotes no source for the anecdote, but since the event took place in 1563 and Darnley did not come to Scotland until 1565, it is worth mentioning only in case someone should unwisely attach any credence to it; particularly as the guilty apothecary, and the Frenchwoman, were both hanged in 1563. (Child, V, 298). Presumably Lesley's reference to "Other versions of this ballad (circa 1563)" are based on Friedmann's (seemingly baseless) speculation.
Child did revise, to an extent, his initial thought that an origin in the Russian incident was the only tenable basis for the ballad. This was in the light of two factors. The first was the discovery of a version (his example U: Child IV 509) which contains the lines
My love he was a pottinger,
Mony drink he gae me,
And a' to put back that bonnie babe,
But alas! it wad na do.
This from a text of 16 stanzas communicated to Walter Scott, 7th January, 1804, by Rev George Paxton, Kilmaurs, near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire (afterwards professor of divinity at Edinburgh); from the mouth of Jean Milne, his "aged mother, formerly an unwearied singer of Scottish songs." The mention of a "pottinger" (apothecary) suggested that there may after all have been a connection with the incident of 1563; what it did not prove was that the ballad is of that period.
The other factor was an article by Andrew Lang in Blackwood's Magazine (September 1895, p. 381 ff.) Lang and Child both felt it unlikely that "a ballad, older and superior in style to anything which we can show to have been produced in the 18th, or even the 17th century, should have been composed after 1719" (the date of the Russian incident involving a Mary Hamilton), and Lang's argument persuaded Child that his earlier, reluctant feeling that the Russian incident had to be the root was now more improbable than the alternative (though also still improbable) explanation; but this is "gut feeling", not firm evidence, and Child reached no firm conclusion (though Joe F implied otherwise earlier on) but left the matter open. This may be the other root of Friedmann's assertion.
All this is scarcely news; everything I have said here was known a century ago, and has been available all along to anybody with a set of Child or access to a decent public library. Nevertheless, things like this have to be repeated from time to time, because so few people read appendices or footnotes; and because so many prefer fakelore to what might actually be true. And we don't know what the truth is here, of course; perhaps the Russian incident involving a Mary Hamilton is just a coincidence, and perhaps it isn't. If we are to look for an answer solely to the time of Queen Mary, however, then the unfortunate heroine was probably not a Hamilton, nor even a Mary; but a Frenchwoman whose name we do not know, far from home and doomed by tragic circumstance.
For little did father or mother wit,
The day they cradled me,
What foreign lands I should travel in,
Or what death I should die.
Child IV 507-8 (version S)
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Bruce O. - Mudcat post
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 02:49 PM
Here's my new 'history' of our ballad. It seems that Queen Mary's chamblerlain, an Italian composer named David Rizzio, must certainly be the one who learned about the affair of the French woman named Mary Hamilton and the Lord Darley, the apothecary, and wrote a disguised account of it and extended the tale to its logical conclusion as "Mary Hamilton", and, of course, composed our beloved tune for it. To Darnley it wasn't well enough disguised, so taking slight umbrage at Rizzio he and friends subsequently murdered him. The English got a very much whitewashed version of the tale, because in the ballad of Lord Darly [Darnley], (ZN1112 in my broadside ballad index) we find:
There dwelt a stranger in the court,
Sinior Dauid calde by name,
He was the first that went about,
This treason vile to frame.
The English were never told what this treason vile was, but now we have cleverly deduced it. Darnley didn't outlive him by much, but he wasn't killed for infanticide as far as I have been able to discover
Plausibily can fill in most gaps in our histories quite well.
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The Fiddler's Companion:
FOUR MARY'S WALTZ. Scottish, Air and Waltz. G Major. Standard. AA (Kerr): AB (Perlman). The melody is an adaptation of a famous Scottish song that usually goes by the title of "Mary Hamilton" or "The Queen's Maries," whose chorus goes:
***
Last night there were four Maries, tonight there'll be but three,
There was Mary Beaton and Mary Seaton, Mary Carmichael and me.
***
The ballad, a lament before the fourth Mary's execution, is based on a germ of truth. Four female children were selected to accompany the six year old Scottish Princess Mary when she was sent to France and by the time they returned in 1561 the Maries had become her ladies in waiting. However, Evelyn Wells in her book The Ballad Tree, finds that the ballad maker(s) either confused or purposefully wove a tale involving Queen Mary, the real Maries who were part of her entourage, various other famous Scots ladies to whom the taint of scandal was attached (who may or may not have been named Mary) and an actual recorded tragedy. It is fact that one of the Queen's French waiting-woman was hanged for murdering her illegitimate infant, sired by the Queen's apothecary, and this event was the germ of the ballad, perhaps "enhanced" for effect. Source for notated version: Sidney Baglole (b. 1912, Southwest Lot 16, East Prince County, Prince Edward Island; now resident of Freetown) [Perlman]. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 428, pg. 48. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 168.