Bailiff's Daughter- Buckley (MA-RI) 1939 Linscott
[From: Folk Songs of Old New England by Eloise Hubbard Linscott, 1939. Linscott traces this to a descendant of Mary Ann Buckley Tetlow who emigrated from Heywood, England to Providence, Rhode Island in 1842.
R. Matteson 2015]
Bailiff's Daughter of Islington - Sung by Mrs. Asenath Buckley (Slade) of Fall River, Mass. pre-1939.
1 There was a youth, and a well-beloved youth,
And he was the Squire's son.
He loved the bailiff's daughter dear,
That lived in Islington.
Yet she was coy and would not believe
That He did lover her so,
No, nor at any time would she,
Any countenance to him show.
2. But when his friends did understand
His fond and foolish mind,
They sent him up to fair London,
An apprentice for to bind.
And when he had been seven long years a-growing,
And never his love could see,
Many a tear have I shed for her sake
When little she thought of me.
3. Then all the maids of Islington
Went forth to sport and play,
All but the Bailiff's daughter dear.
She secretly stole away,
And as she went along the highroad,
The weather being hot and dry,
She sat down upon a green bank,
And her true love came riding by.
4. She started up with a color so red,
Catching hold of his bridle rein,
"One penny, one penny, kind sir," she said,
"Will ease me of much pain."
"Before I give you a penny, sweetheart,
Pray tell me where you were born?"
"At Islington, kind sir," she said,
"where I have had many a scorn."
5. "I prithee, sweetheart, tell to me,
Oh, tell me whether you know
The Bailiff's daughter of Islington,"
"She is dead, sir, long ago."
"If she be dead, then take my horse,
My saddle and bridle also,
For I will to some far country,
Where no man shall me know."
6. "Oh, stay, oh, stay, thou goodly youth,
She standeth by thy side.
She is here alive, she is not dead,
And ready to be thy bride."
"Oh, farewell, grief, and welcome, joy,
Ten thousand times therefore!
For now I have found my own true love,
Whom I thought I should never see more."