No. 247: Lady Elspat
[There are no known US or Canadian traditional versions of this ballad.]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnote (There is one footnote for this ballad)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Text A (Changes for the text A b are found in End-Notes.)
5. End-notes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: 247. Lady Elspat
A. Roud No. 4023: Lady Elspat (3 Listings)
2. Sheet Music: 247. Lady Elspat (Bronson gives two music examples and texts)
3. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A a- A b with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative: 247. Lady Elspat
A. 'Lady Elspat.'
a. Jamieson-Brown Manuscript, p. 19. Printed in Jamieson's Popular- Ballads, II, 191.
b. "Scottish Songs," Manuscript, fol. 30, Abbotsford Library, N. 3, in the handwriting of Walter Scott, about 1795.
This ballad was No 10 of the fifteen of Mrs. Brown's which were obtained by William Tytler from Professor Thomas Gordon in 1783: Anderson to Percy, December 29, 1800, in Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 177, where the first stanza (of twelve) is cited. These transcripts were accompanied with the airs. In b, which is now ascertained to be in the handwriting of Walter Scott,[1] there is a mawkish stanza after 4, and another after 9, which do not occur in a, and many verbal variations. These two stanzas are not likely to have been inserted by Scott, for, so far as we know, the ballad has been preserved only by Mrs. Brown. As for the other variations, we are not in a condition to say which are Mrs. Brown's, which Scott's.
An appointment for an elopement made by Lady Elspat with Sweet William is revealed to her mother by an eavesdropping page. William is bound with his own bow-string and brought before the Lord Justice. The mother accuses him of stealing her jewels; Lady Elspat denies this, and says that his only crime is too small an estate. The judge sees no fault in the young man (whom he discovers to be his sister's son!), hands him over to Lady Elspat, and promises the pair as much land as a valuable horse of his can ride about in a summer's day.
Truly not impressive in story or style, and very fit to have been forgotten by Mrs. Brown.
Translated from Jamieson by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 196, No 30; by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder, p. 118, No 26; by Loève-Veimars, p. 337.
Footnote:
1. Mr. Macmath informs me that all the traditional pieces in "Scottish Songs" are in the hand of Scott, of about 1795. At folio 11 (the top part of which has been torn away), Scott says: "These ballads are all in the Northern dialect, but I recollect several of them as recited in the south of Scotland divested of their Norlandisms, and also varying considerably in other respects. In a few instances where my memory served me, I have adopted either additional verses or better readings than those in Mr. Tytler's collection. Such variations can excite no reasonable surprise in any species of composition which owes preservation to oral tradition only."
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
This ballad was No, 10 of the fifteen of Mrs. Brown's which were obtained by William Tytler from Professor Thomas Gordon in 1783.
Child's Ballad Text
'Lady Elspat'- Version A a; Child 247 Lady Elspat
a. Jamieson-Brown Manuscript, p. 19. Printed in Jamieson's Popular- Ballads, II, 191.
1 'How brent's your brow, my Lady Elspat!
How golden yallow is your hair!
Of all the maids of fair Scotland,
There's nane like Lady Elspat fair.'
2 'Perform your vows, Sweet William,' she says,
'The vows which ye ha made to me,
An at the back o my mother's castle
This night I'll surely meet wi thee.'
3 But wae be to her brother's page,
Who heard the words this twa did say!
He's told them to her lady mother,
Who wrought Sweet William mieckle wae.
4 For she has taen him Sweet William,
An she's gard bind him wi his bow-string
Till the red bluide o his fair body
Frae ilka nail o his hand did spring.
5 O it fell once upon a time
That the Lord Justice came to town;
Out has she taen him Sweet William,
Brought him before Lord Justice boun.
6 'An what is the crime, now, madame,' he says,
'Has been committed by this young man?'
'O he has broken my bonny castel,
That was well biggit with lime and stane.
7 'An he has broken my bonny coffers,
That was well banded wi aiken ban,
An he has stoln my rich jewels;
I wot he has them every one.'
8 Then out it spake her Lady Elspat,
As she sat by Lord Justice knee;
'Now ye hae taul your tale, mother,
I pray, Lord Justice, you'l now hear me.
9 'He has na broken her bonny castel,
That was well biggit wi lime and stane,
Nor has he stoln her rich jewels,
For I wot she has them every one.
10 'But tho he was my first true love,
An tho I had sworn to be his bride,
Cause he had not a great estate,
She would this way our loves divide.'
11 An out it spake the Lord Justice,
I wot the tear was in his ee;
'I see nae fault in this young man,
Sae loose his bans, an set him free.
12 'Take back your love, Lady Elspat,
An my best blessing you baith upon!
For gin he be your first true love,
He is my eldest sister's son.
13 'There is a steed in my stable
Cost me baith gold and white money;
Ye's get as mieckle o my free lan
As he'll ride about in a summer's day.'
End-Notes
a. 31. to our.
53. has he.
b. 13. maids in.
21. said.
31,2. And this beheard her mother's foot-page,
Who listed the words thae twa.
33. He tauld them ower to.
42. Gart bind: his ain.
44. hands.
After 4:
They threw him into dungeon-keep;
Full little he reckd the pain;
But sair he mournd each springing hope
That was blasted a' sae sune.
51. fell out.
52. That wanting.
53. And they hae.
54. him to thole a deadly doom.
63,4. For gin I judge frae his gentle look
I think he is where he should na stand.
7. 'Yet has he broken my highest towr,
Was bigged strong wi stane and lime,
And stolen forth my rich jewels
Frae my coffer bound wi aiken beam.'
81. out and spak sweet.
82. sat near hir mother's.
83. hae ye tauld.
84. Justice, hear you.
91,2. has not broken her highest towr, Was bigged strong wi stane and lime.
94. ane.
After 9:
'Yet has he stolen a dearer pledge,
Not frae my mother, but frae me;
For he has stolen a virgin's heart
Should have waited for ane o high degree.'
101. first fair.
111. Then out and spake the good.
113. nae harm.
114. his hands.
121. love, sweet Lady.
123. first fair.
13. Wanting, and probably also in W. Tytler's copy.
Additions and Corrections
To be Corrected in the Print.
387 b, last line but one of note. Read owes its.
Trivial Corrections of Spelling.
387 a, 11. Read brent is.