Little Matthy Grove- Stanley (ME) 1925 Barry F a
[From Barry Eckstorm, Smythe; British Ballads from Maine, 1929. Extensive notes which I assume are mainly from Barry may be found US and Canada versions page.
R. Matteson 2015]
LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD
(Child 81)
F. Two fragmentary texts from two daughters of the late Joseph Gilley, one of the early settlers upon the Cranberry Islands, off Mount Desert. Mrs. Phebe J. Stanley, eighty-six years old, was born upon these outer islands and has spent most of her life there. she says she learned the song when very young, living upon Outer Duck Island, off Mount Desert, one of the most inaccessible islands upon the coast. Mrs. Nancy Stanley, a younger sister of Mrs. Phebe, gave what she could recall and
said that she did not remember ever hearing anyone but her father sing the ballad.
Fa. [Little Matthy Grove] From fragments taken down by the editors, October, 1925 from the singing of Mr. Phebe J. Stanley of Baker Island; from a written copy several months later by Mrs. Maude L. King, wife of the light keeper of Baker Island; and from a second. text taken down by the editors, September, 1926. Mrs. Stanley did not hesitate at all in reproducing the lines, but most of the ballad was gone.
1 "Rise up, my Little Matthy Grove,
And come along with me."
2 "I dare not, I dare not,
[I dare not] for my life;
For I know by the rings on your fingers
You are Lord Arnold's wife."
3 "And what if I am? And what if I ain't?
And what is that to you?
Lord Arnold has gone to the King's castle.
Lady somebody for to see.
Mrs. Stanley was sure it was not "King Henry for to see"; she could not "remember the lady's name," but thought "it was tit for tat between Lord Arnold and his wife." "The little foot-page had heard them talking and sometimes he swum and sometimes he ran to tell Lord Arnold."
4 "O, is my castle burn-ed down?
Or is my tower won?
Or is my gay lady brought to bed
Of a daughter or a son?"
5 "Your castle is not burn-ed down,
Nor is your tower won,
Nor is your gay lady brought to bed
With a daughter or a son."
"His friend tried to warn Little Massy Grove," for
6 He blew his bugle loud and long.
7 "Lay down, lay down, Little Massy Grove
And keep my back from the cold;
For it's nothing but my father's men
Driving the.sheep to the fold."
8 "Rise up, rise up, my Little Massy Grove
And come along with me,
And cloth-ed you shall be;
For it never shall be said
That I fought with a naked man.
9. "You shall have the first fair stroke
And I shall have the other,
So what more could I have done
Had he been my own dear brother?"
10. The very first stroke Massy Groves gave
He struck Lord Arnold full sore;
And the very first stroke Lord Arnold struck
Massy Grove's head rolled on the floor.
11. He took his lady by the hand
And led her through the hall,
And when he came to the uppermost room
He slew her before them all.
"And then," said Mrs. Stanley, "he made way with himself." Stanley's characterization was dramatic throughout. The people of the ballad seemed entirely real to her, and several times she gave her opinion of their actions in pithy comment.