The Cruel Sister- Mrs. Brown 1783; Child B- Twa Sisters; Derived from Mrs. Brown's recitation, and were originally obtained by William Tytler.
According to Bertrand Bronson, "Mrs. Brown was regarded by Child as one of the best and most authentic of all his sources, and we have no desire to pull her down from that place of eminence. [See: Bronson's 1945 article, Mrs. Brown and the Ballad, (article is attached to Recordings & Info page)]
Anna Gordon Brown was born at Old Machar, Aberdeen, in 1747, and died in the same place, in 1810. Her father, Thomas Gordon, was Professor of Humanity at King's College, Aberdeen; and her husband, the Rev. Andrew Brown, D.D., Aberdeen, was minister at Falkland and later at Tranent. Robert Anderson characterized Mrs. Brown to Bishop Percy in the following highly relevant terms:
"Mrs. Brown is fond of ballad poetry, writes verses, and reads everything in the marvellous way. Yet her character places her above the suspicion of literary imposture; but it is wonderful how she should happen to be the depository of so many curious and valuable ballads." [John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century ... (London, 1817- 1858), VII, 90.]
Mrs. Brown herself records that in 1783, at the request of William Tytler, she had compiled a manuscript with a large number of her pieces, intending it for him. But when he requested further to have the tunes also recorded, as she writes,
"My Father ordered Bob Scott [her nephew, later Professor of Greek at Aberdeen], then a very young boy & a mere novice in musick to try to do it & he & I set to work. but [sic] found the business so crabbed that in order to abridge our labours a little we selected what we thought the best of the Ballads whose tunes being added in the best manner we could were sent" to Mr.
Tytler. [Mrs. Brown to A. F. Tytler, 23 Dec., 1800, tr. in HCL, Child MSS, X, 85.]
The result was two manuscripts, the first with 20 texts and second with 15 texts and tunes. The second disapperared but was copied by Joseph Ritson. The only one of the three which includes tunes as well as words is the second, ie the fifteen ballads in William Tytler's Brown Manuscript of 1783, which was lent to Scott in 1795 and in 1800, ie before his Minstrelsy was published.
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In his English and Scottish Popular Ballads Child describes the four versions of B:
[Version] B.
a. 'The Twa Sisters,' Jamieson-Brown Manuscript, fol. 39.
26, 27, 28. An it has been written in as a conjectural emendation by Jamieson, he did it play, [it/he] playd; and it is adopted by Jamieson in his printed copy: see below, d 26, 27, 28.
b. 'The Cruel Sister,' Wm. Tytler's Brown Manuscript, No 15.
The first stanza only, agreeing with a 1, is given by Anderson, Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 178.
c. 'The Cruel Sister,' Abbotsford Manuscript, "Scottish Songs," fol. 21.
Evidently a copy of Mrs. Brown's version, and in Scott's manuscript it has the air, as all the Tytler-Brown ballads had. Still it has but twenty-three stanzas, whereas Dr. Anderson gives fifty-eight lines as the extent of the Tytler-Brown copy of 'The Cruel Sister' (Nichols, Illus. Lit. Hist., VII, 178). This, counting the first stanza, with the burden, as four lines, according to the arrangement in Scott's manuscript, would tally exactly with the Jamieson-Brown manuscript B a. It would seem that B c had been altered by somebody in order to remove the absurd combination of sea and mill-dam; the invitation to go see the ships come to land, B a 7, is omitted, and "the deep mill-dam" substituted, in 8, for "yon sea-stran." Stanza 17 of c, "They raisd her," etc., cited below, occurs in Pinkerton, N 20, and is more likely to be his than anybody's.
d. 'The Twa Sisters,' Jamieson's Popular Ballads, I, 48.
Jamieson, Popular Ballads and Songs, I, 48, says that he gives his text verbatim as it was taken from the recitation of the lady in Fifeshire (Mrs. Brown), to whom both he and Scott were so much indebted. That this is not to be understood with absolute strictness will appear from the variations which are subjoined. Jamieson adds that he had received another copy from Mrs. Arrott of Aberbrothick, "but as it furnished no readings by which the text could have been materially improved," it was not used. Both Jamieson and Scott substitute the "Binnorie" burden, "the most common and popular," says Scott, for the one given by Mrs. Brown, with which Mrs. Arrott's agreed. It may be added that Jamieson's interpolations are stanzas 20, 21, 27, etc., and not, as he says (I, 49), 19, 20, 27, etc. These interpolations also occur as such in the manuscript.
Additionally Child adds: Scott printed in 1802 a copy (C) compounded from one "in Mrs. Brown's Manuscript" (B b) and a fragment of fourteen stanzas which had been transcribed from recitation by Miss Charlotte Brooke, adopting a burden found in neither, Jamieson followed, four years after, with a tolerably faithful, though not, as he says, verbatim, publication of his copy of Mrs. Brown's ballad, somewhat marred, too, by acknowledged interpolations. This text of Mrs. Brown's is now correctly given, with the whole or fragments of eleven others, hitherto unpublished.
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Notes and queries By Oxford Journals- May 1874 [This is a query by Child to get a copy of Mrs. Brown's MSS]
The Tytler And Glenriddell Ballad Manuscripts.—Alexander Fraser Tytler lent Ritson a collection of ballads containing Willie's Lady, Clerk Colvin, Brown Adam, Jack the Little Scot, Chil Brenton, the Gay Goss-Hawk, Young Bekie, Rose the Red and White Lillie, Brown Robin, Willie o' Douglas-Dale, Kempion, Lady Elspat, King Henry, Lady Maisry, and the Cruel Sister. These ballads were derived from Mrs. Brown's recitation, and were originally obtained by William Tytler. This important collection, which seems to have been in two manuscripts, for Alexander Tytler lent two manuscripts to Scott of ballads obtained from Mrs. Brown, has not been heard of, so fat as I know, since Scott referred to it in the Introduction to his Minstrelsy (p. 230 of the standard edition). A manuscript of Jamieson's, containing the same ballads, has been most liberally placed in my hands by Dr. David Laing, but it is desirable to see both versions.
May I once more ask the attention of those who are interested in ballads to these missing Tytler MSS. (of which the family at present know nothing), and also to one more desideratum, the Glenriddell MS., compiled by Mr. Riddell of Glenriddell, and lent to Scott by Mr. Jollie, bookseller at Carlisle?
F. J. Child.
Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.
[Eventually Mary Frasier Tytler did acquire access and copied for Child the manuscripts in her father's estate containing nine items and referred to as the “Fraser Tytler–Brown manuscript.”]
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THE CRUEL SISTER- From Anna Gordon Brown; 1783 Child 10- The Twa Sisters; Version B
1 There was twa sisters in a bowr,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
There was twa sisters in a bowr,
Stirling for ay
There was twa sisters in a bowr,
There came a knight to be their wooer.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
2 He courted the eldest wi glove an ring,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
He courted the eldest wi glove an ring,
Stirling for ay
He courted the eldest wi glove an ring,
But he lovd the youngest above a' thing.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
3 He courted the eldest wi brotch an knife,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
He courted the eldest wi brotch an knife,
Stirling for ay
He courted the eldest wi brotch an knife,
But lovd the youngest as his life.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
4 The eldest she was vexed sair,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
The eldest she was vexed sair,
Stirling for ay
The eldest she was vexed sair,
An much envi'd her sister fair.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
5 Into her bowr she could not rest,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Into her bowr she could not rest,
Stirling for ay
Into her bowr she could not rest,
Wi grief an spite she almos brast.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
6 Upon a morning fair an clear,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Upon a morning fair an clear,
Stirling for ay
Upon a morning fair an clear,
She cried upon her sister dear:
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
7 'O sister, come to yon sea stran,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
'O sister, come to yon sea stran,
Stirling for ay
'O sister, come to yon sea stran,
An see our father's ships come to lan.'
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
8 She's taen her by the milk-white han,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
She's taen her by the milk-white han,
Stirling for ay
She's taen her by the milk-white han,
An led her down to yon sea stran.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
9 The younges[t] stood upon a stane,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
The younges[t] stood upon a stane,
Stirling for ay
The younges[t] stood upon a stane,
The eldest came an threw her in.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
10 She tooke her by the middle sma,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
She tooke her by the middle sma,
Stirling for ay
She tooke her by the middle sma,
An dashd her bonny back to the jaw.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
11 'O sister, sister, tak my han,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
'O sister, sister, tak my han,
Stirling for ay
'O sister, sister, tak my han,
An Ise mack you heir to a' my lan.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
12 'O sister, sister, tak my middle,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
'O sister, sister, tak my middle,
Stirling for ay
'O sister, sister, tak my middle,
An yes get my goud and my gouden girdle.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
13 'O sister, sister, save my life,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
'O sister, sister, save my life,
Stirling for ay
'O sister, sister, save my life,
An I swear Ise never be nae man's wife.'
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
14 'Foul fa the han that I should tacke,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
'Foul fa the han that I should tacke,
Stirling for ay
'Foul fa the han that I should tacke,
It twin'd me an my wardles make.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
15 'Your cherry cheeks an yallow hair
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
'Your cherry cheeks an yallow hair
Stirling for ay
'Your cherry cheeks an yallow hair
Gars me gae maiden for evermair.'
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
16 Sometimes she sank, an sometimes she swam,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Sometimes she sank, an sometimes she swam,
Stirling for ay
Sometimes she sank, an sometimes she swam,
Till she came down yon bonny mill-dam.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
17 O out it came the miller's son,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
O out it came the miller's son,
Stirling for ay
O out it came the miller's son,
An saw the fair maid swimmin in.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
18 'O father, father, draw your dam,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
'O father, father, draw your dam,
Stirling for ay
'O father, father, draw your dam,
Here's either a mermaid or a swan.'
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
19 The miller quickly drew the dam,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
The miller quickly drew the dam,
Stirling for ay
The miller quickly drew the dam,
An there he found a drownd woman.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
20 You coudna see her yallow hair
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
You coudna see her yallow hair
Stirling for ay
You coudna see her yallow hair
For gold and pearle that were so rare.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
21 You coudna see her middle sma
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
You coudna see her middle sma
Stirling for ay
You coudna see her middle sma
For gouden girdle that was sae braw.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
22 You coudna see her fingers white,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
You coudna see her fingers white,
Stirling for ay
You coudna see her fingers white,
For gouden rings that was sae gryte.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
23 An by there came a harper fine,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
An by there came a harper fine,
Stirling for ay
An by there came a harper fine,
That harped to the king at dine.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
24 When he did look that lady upon,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
When he did look that lady upon,
Stirling for ay
When he did look that lady upon,
He sighd and made a heavy moan.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
25 He's taen three locks o her yallow hair,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
He's taen three locks o her yallow hair,
Stirling for ay
He's taen three locks o her yallow hair,
An wi them strung his harp sae fair.
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
26 The first tune he did play and sing,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
The first tune he did play and sing,
Stirling for ay
The first tune he did play and sing,
Was, 'Farewell to my father the king.'
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
27 The nextin tune that he playd syne,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
The nextin tune that he playd syne,
Stirling for ay
The nextin tune that he playd syne,
Was, 'Farewell to my mother the queen.'
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay
28 The lasten tune that he playd then,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh
The lasten tune that he playd then,
Stirling for ay
The lasten tune that he playd then,
Was, 'Wae to my sister, fair Ellen.'
Bonny Saint Johnston stands upon Tay