English Versions 74. Fair Margaret & Sweet William
[upcoming- under construction]
CONTENTS:
75. "Fair Margaret and Sweet William"
Hammond, /FSS, III, No. 11 (1907), p. 64. Also in Sharp, 1908-12, I, p. 31. Sung by Mrs. Crawford, West Milton,
Dorset, May 1906.aR
1. Fair Marg'ret is up at her higher chamber window
A-combing out her hair.
She saw sweet William and his bride,
As they were riding there.
2. Down she flung her ivory comb,
And up she bound her hair,
Straightway out of the room she went,
And never more went there.
3. Sweet William dreamed such dreams that night
Such dreams that were no good;
He dreamed his bowels were full of wild swine
And his bridemaid full of blood.
--------------------------
64. [Fair Margaret and Sweet William] Kidson, /FSS, II, lVo, g (19o6), p. 299. Sung by Kate
Thompson, Knaresbro', - Yorkshire .' Learned c. 1850.
pI
This version is sung by A. L. Lloyd, Riverside Lp rcc., RLp rz_
6zj (Bz), ed. K. S. Goldstein.
1. There sat two lovers on yon hill,
See on yon hill so high,
They sat together for a long summer's eve,
And they never could tell their mind,
And thcy never could tell thcir mind.
2. Miss Margaret sat in her bedroom,
Combing out her long brown hair;
Who should she spy but her own true lovc,
Riding by with a lady fair.
3. She had a pen-knife in her hand,
And it was long and sharp;
She made no more of the use of it,
But she rammed it to her heart.
4. The day being spenq the night coming on,
When all was fast asleep; -
Miss Margaret appeared at twelve o'clock,
And stood at his bcd-fcet,
5. Saying "How do you like your soft feather-bed?
How do you like your sleep?"
"Very well I like my soft feather-bcd,
Very well I like my sleep,
But much 'better I like this pretty fair maid,
That lies in my arms asleep.
6. "Oh, can I see Miss Margaret alivef
Or can I see her dcadl
Or can I kiss those clay-cold lips,
I that once were cherry-red?"
7, "You cannot see Miss Margaret alive, i
But you can see her dead; I
And you can kiss those clay-cold lips, I
That oncc were cherry-red."
---------------------
Bronson 36. "William and Margaret"
Sharp MSS, 1082/1084. Sung by Mrs. Jane Chapman, West
Harptree, Somerset, August 28, 1906.
pI
As Miss Margaret was sat in her bower one day
A-combing out her hair,
'Twas then she saw Sweet William and his wife
Coming out of the church of St. Air.
'Twas down she threw her ivory comb
And back she threw her hair,
And out of the bower she withdrew herself
Never to sit there any more.
O where is Miss Margaret, is she in the parlour,
Or is she in the hall?
No, no, she's in her bedchamber
With her face turned unto the wall.
Then back he threw the curtain wide
And down he threw the sheet,
And thcn he kissed her lily-cold lips ten thousand tlmes o'er
While she lied fast asleep.
What have you prepared for Miss Margarct's wedding?
Sweet biscuits and white wine.
I'll have you prepare the same for me
Betwixt eight o'clock and nine.
---------------
40. [Fair Margaret and Sweet William]
Sharp MSS., 1802/. Sung by William Walter, Glastonbury,
Wells Union, Somerset, August 26, 1908.
m I (inflected VII)
This is obviously a variant of the "Valentine's Day" pa:rs:
Sharp notcs that the B's marked with a cross wcre somctimes fr2.
tcncd.
They mingled tingled tangled in a true love knot
Till they could not grow any higher.
[No more words.]
--------------------
"Margaret and william" [Mallet]
Greig MSS., IV, p.r; text, Bk. 762, LII, p. 10. Al n I
, p 55 sung by Mrs. Jaffray 1910
1. When a' was wrapt in dark midnight,
And a' was fast asleep,
In glidcd Margrer's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.
e. Her face was likc the April morn,
Clad in a wintry cloud,
And clay<old was her lily hand I
That held her sable shioud. I
3. So shall the fairest face appear,
- When youth er agc arc flown,
7.
Why could ye win my virgin heart
Yct leave that heart to break
8. That face, alas, no more is fair,
Those lips no longer red;
Dark are mine eyes now closed in death,
And every charm is fled.
9. The hungry worm my sister is,
The winding sheet I wear;
And long and weary lasts our night
Till the last morn appear.
Thc birds did sing & morning smile,
And showed her glistering head,
Pde William shook in every limb,
Then raving left his bed.
He hied him to thc fatal spot
Where Margret's body lay,
And stretchcd him on the grecn grass turf
That wrapped her brcathless clay.
12. And thrice he called on Margret's name,
And thrice he wept full sore;
Then laid his check to the cold earth,
And word spake never more.
__________________
[Below are Chappell's articles, asserting that Mallet's "William and Margaret" was based on an earlier broadside, charges picked up by Child and published in his ESPB of 1885. The stamp on a broadside is dated by Chappell as 1711 and the date of this stamp since has been questioned (Swaen). See David Atkinson's examination of "William and Margaret" in my Recording & Info section.]
Fair Margaret's Misfortunes
From: The Roxburghe Ballads, Volume 6
By William Chappel
"You are no love for me, Margaret,
I am no love for you."
—The Knight of the Burning Pestle, iii. 3.
"When it was grown to dark midnight
And all were fast asleep,
In came Margaret's grimly ghost
And stood at William's feet."
—Ibid., ii. 8 (Beaumont and Fletcher, 1610).
THAT there is a close relation existing between the two ballads (reprinted on pp. 645 to 649) devoted to the tragedy of Lord Thomas the Forester with Fair Eleanor, and the present ballad of "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" (on p. 641)—better known as "Margaret's Ghost," cannot fail to impress every thoughtful reader, and suggest the suspicion that they are all three variations of one tale. In two of them the " Brown Girl," alias "Brown Bride," whose wealth is her chief or only charm, holds little prominence of character and position; but in the one beginning "Lord Thomas he was a bold Forester" she is the malignant and uncontrollable fury whose sudden outburst of (not altogether unreasonable) jealousy impels her to murder her beautiful rival. She cannot brook Eleanor's quietly contemptuous criticism, "Methinks she looks wondrous brown!" and by her savage resentment she draws down on her own head the punishment which her intended husband is not unwilling to inflict. In the other Roxburghe version (p. 645), "The Unfortunate Forester," the deserted Eleanor stabs herself, and is not stabbed by the Brown Girl; who, for anything asserted to the contrary, might survive them all. This guiltlessness and final safety of the Brown Girl combine to set a wide division between the two versions.
After all, the resemblances and coincidences with "Lord Thomas" in "Fair Margaret's Misfortunes" are little beyond what maybe called the common stock-in-trade of a ballad-monger's art. Chief are, the friendship that had well-nigh blossomed into love, and the reckless manner in which the girl, who knows herself to have been secretly beloved, publicly avows her affection and despair.
Footnotes:
The incidents of the growth and intertwining of a Rose and a Briar above the graves of lovers occur also in " Lord Lovel," and other ballads of similar date. These were "stock properties," transferable like the woodcuts.
At the close of his labours in Editing these Roxburghe Ballads (on pp. 666-676 of vol. iii.), our revered friend Mr. William Chappell, F.S.A., mentioned this broadside, and hoped for the discovery of an earlier issue than those which remain alone accessible. We partially follow his suggestion of adopting [but square-bracketted], as true text, the quotations from The Knight of the Pestle, written in 1610. Against his decision in re David Malloch, alias Malett, the Supreme Court refuses to sanction any appeal. Dismissed with costs.
[Roxburghe Collection. Duece III. 27]
Lady Margaret's Misfortune
or
Sweet William's Dream on his Wedding Night
With the Sudden Burial and Death of those Lovers
AS it fell out upon a day,
Two lovers they sat on a hill; [set]
They sat together a long summer's day,
And could not take their fill. [talk]
"I [am] no [love for] you, Margaret, ["I see no harm by you"]
And you [are no love for] me; ["see none by me"]
Before to-morrow at eight o [the]clock
A rich wedding you shall see.
Fair Margaret sat in her bower-window,
A combing of her hair;
And there she espy'd sweet William and [his] bride,
As they were a riding near. 12
Down she laid her ivory comb,
And up she bound her hair;
She went away forth from the bower,
But never more came there.
"When day was gone, and night was come,
And all men fast asleep,
There came the spirit of fair Margaret,
And stood at William's bed-feet.
"God give you Joy, you true lovers,
In bride-bed fast asleep;
Lo! I am going to my green-grass grave,
And I am in my winding-sheet."
When day was come, and night was gone,
And all men wak'd from sleep,
Sweet William to his Lady said,
"My dear, I've cause to weep.
"I dream'd a dream, my dear Lady,
Such dreams are never good;
I dream'd thy bower was full of red swine,
And my bride-bed full of blood."
"Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured Sir,
They never do prove good,
To dream thy bower was full of swine,
And thy bride-bed full of blood."
He called [up] his merry men all,
By one, by two, and by three;
Saying, "I'll away to Fair Margaret's Bower,
By the leave of my Lady."
And when he came to Fair Margaret's Bower,
He knocked at the ring;
So ready were her seven Brethren
To let Sweet William in.
The[n] he turn'd up the covering sheet,
Pray let me see the dead,
Methinks she looks both pale and wan,
She has lost her cherry red.
"I'll do no more for thee, Margaret,
Than any of thy kin,
For I will kiss thy pale wan lips,
Tho' a smile I cannot win."
With that bespoke the seven brethren,
Making most piteous moan,
"You may go kiss your jolly brown dame,
And let our sister alone."
"If I do kiss my jolly brown dame,
I do but what is right;
For I made no vow to your sister dear,
By day nor yet by night.
"Pray tell me then how much you'll deal,
Of white bread and your wine ?—
So much as is dealt at her Funeral to-day,
To-morrow shall be dealt at mine."
They never do prove good;
Fair Margaret dy'd to-day, to-day,
Sweet William he dy'd [on] the morrow;
Fair Margaret dy'd for pure true-love,
Sweet William he dy'd for sorrow.
Margaret was buried in the lower chancel,
And William in the higher;
Out of her breast there sprang a rose,
And out of his a briar. 72
They grew as high as the church top,
'Till they could grow no higher;
And there they grew in a True Lover's Knot,
That made all people admire.
Then came the clerk of the parish,
As you this truth shall hear,
And by misfortune cut them down,
Or they had now been there. 80
Printed and Sold in Aldermary Church-Yard, Bow-Lane, London. [White-letter, with two woodcuts, one on p. 641; the other of a funeral.]
__________________
David Mallet and the Ballad of William and Margaret- Chappell
The Antiquary, Volume 1
edited by Edward Walford, George Latimer Apperson
IT is now more than 150 years since David Mallet claimed the authorship of this excellent and famous old ballad. Mallet had not left the University of Edinburgh when he gave his copy to Allan Ramsay to print as "An Old Ballad," with his own initials at the end. His name was then Malloch, which he changed into Mallet when he came afterwards to England. The extent of Malloch's .workmanship upon the old ballad consisted in having changed the first two lines, in transposing a stanza, and making a few verbal alterations which are either immaterial or modern and deteriorating. Within the last seven years two copies of an earlier broadside edition than any now known have been brought to light, and one of these having been purchased for the British Museum will be standing evidence against Mallet's claim to the authorship. The second was bought by Mr. J. Harvey, at the sale of Sir Alexander Spearman's library, by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, on the 9th of January, 1878. It was lot 314, and is thus described in the auctioneers' catalogue: "William and Margaret, an old Ballad of seventeen verses, set to music. Black letter, with the halfpenny postage stamp, circa 1680." It was not correctly described as a "postage" stamp—postage was at that date in private hands—but it is an Inland Revenue Stamp of 1711, bearing the motto of Queen Anne, as well as of other regnant queens from Elizabeth, "Semper eadem." While the glorious wars of the Duke of Marlborough were loading the people with fresh taxes every year, one of these was laid "upon all books and papers commonly called pamphlets, and for and upon all newspapers" [here the words "or papers" are interlined on the roll] "containing publick news, intelligence or occurrences, which shall &c. For every such pamphlet or paper containing in halfe a sheet, a sheet, or any lesser pieces of paper soe printed, the sume of one halfe penny sterling." The Act is xoth Anne, c. 18, sec. cxiiL 1711, A.D. I quote from "Statutes at Large," because in that usually good authority, Haydn's "Dictionary of Dates," nth edit, under "Newspapers," I find "first stamped in 1713," instead of in 1711. It was only on the first passing of the Act that ballads were taxed under the interlined words. It had not been designed, and the claim was so speedily withdrawn that it is quite a rarity to find a stamp upon a ballad. In any case, a stamp of Queen Anne's reign would suffice to disprove Malloch's claim. It will be remembered that the ballad is quoted by Old Merrythought in Fletcher's play, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, the date of which is 1611, and this reprint of 1711 is entitled, "William and Margaret, an Old Ballad." Malloch copied the title " Old Ballad," although he contradicted it by adding his own initials at the end of his version. The old ballad commences; When all was wrapt in dark midnight,
And all were fast asleep,
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.
Malloch retained the third and fourth lines, changing the first and second to:
'twas at the fearful midnight hour,
When all were fast asleep.
This is as in Allan Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, vol. ii. 1724; but in his Poems, 8vo, 1743, and izmo, 1759, Mallet changed them to:
Twas in the silent solemn hour,
When night and morning meet.
This is very unlike the style of an old ballad. Instead of the conciseness and simplicity of diction by which they Tire characterised, Mallet takes half a line to express the word "midnight" of the original, changing it into "When night and morning meet." Again, instead of:
This is the mirk and fearful hour,
When injured ghosts complain,
Mallet has:
This is the dumb and dreary hour, &c.
Also, instead of:
Now birds did sing, and morning smile,
And shew her glistering head,
Mallet has in his Poems the hackneyed simile:
The lark sung loud; the morning smil'd
With beams of rosy red.
Mallet's version was firstprinted in Edinburgh, in 1724, the veryyear in which the first volume of The Hive was printed in London. In the first, second, and third editions of The Hive this ballad was printed from the old copy, but in the fourth edition, 1732, the changes introduced by David Mallet were adopted. The ballad had then reacquired an extensive popularity, owing to the discussions upon M ,i Hull's claim. Aaron Hill picked up a 12mo edition on Primrose Hill, of which he gave account in The Plain Dealer, of 24th July. 17 24. That was a fragment of an old Garland. Again, the true copy was printed in 1725, in the 3rd volume of "Old Ballads," 12mo, which, on the authority of Dr. Farmer, were edited by Ambrose Philips.
Mallet could not decipher the tune of the Ballad, although printed on the old copy, be
cause he knew nothing of music. It required some knowledge of old musical notation to do that, because it is printed with the C clef upon the first line, now called the soprano clef. Therefore the original tune is unknown in Scotland to this day.
It is not probable that Mallet knew, at the time, that a fragment of the ballad was sung by old Merry thought in Fletcher's play of The Knight of the Burning Pestle, in 1611; because, in changing the first two lines, he sacrificed the quotation by which the true copies are identified with it.
If any reader at the British Museum would like to see the broadside copy of 1711, he should write on a ticket|1876, f. Old Ballads folio|Lond.|v.y.| It is at page 107 of that volume. Members of the Ballad Society will find an exact reprint (with the tune) in Appendix to vol. iii. of the reprint of the Roxburghe Ballads, just issued.
Wm. Chappell, F.S.A.
________________________________
The Roxburghe Ballads, Volume 3; Chappell [This is the most extensive article; it includes the origin broadside text that Mallett used.]
In taking a present farewell of the members, I beg their indulgence for adding one ballad which, although not included in either of the two large collections, is in a detached volume of the same Library. Not only is it one of the best of our old ballads, but also there is literary interest attached to it, the authorship having been claimed by David Mallet in 1723, and this edition refuting that claim. The volume containing it was purchased for the British Museum by Mr. Boone, the bookseller, in 1871, consequently since the publication of my Popular Music of the Olden Time, in which it would otherwise have been included, because it supplies the long forgotten tune. By a singular coincidence, after the lapse of a hundred and fifty years, a second copy of the same edition of the ballad has been brought to light, it having been sold by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson only last year. It was Lot 314 of the library of the late Sir Alexander Spearman, and was brought to tho hammer on the 9th of January, 1878. It is thus described in the auctioneer's catalogue: "William and Margaret, an Old Ballad of seventeen verses, set to music, black letter, with the original halfpenny postage stamp, circa 1680." I had small faith in a "halfpenny postage stamp, circa 1680," but attended the auction on the day of sale, without having sufficient time to examine the copy before it was under the hammer. Mr. J. Harvey purchased it for eleven shillings, and by his permission, I submitted it to a careful scrutiny. The supposed postage stamp proved to be one of the Inland Revenue stamps for the halfpenny duty on newspapers, imposed in Queen Anne's reign, and bearing the usual motto of a regnant Queen, "Semper eadem."
The tune of the ballad is printed in what is now termed the soprano clef, properly the C clef, set upon the lowest line. For the convenience of subscribers, I here reproduce the melody in modern notation, omitting the base. Any one who has the privilege of a reader's ticket at the British Museum can see the copy from which it is taken, by writing for "William and Margaret, an Old Ballad," giving the reference " 1876. f. 1, p. 107—London, n.d. folio." The Act of Parliament for stamps upon newspapers passed in 1711 (10th of Anne, cap. 19, sect. 101). Scotland was exempt from stamp duty until 1806. The Act was not intended to apply to ballads, and they were speedily excepted from its operation. An instance of this will be seen by referring to fol. 70 of the same volume: "The Weeping Church-men, Being a Mourning Copy of Verses on the departure of our late Soveraign Queen Anne, who departed this Life, August the first, 1714. Tune of Troy Town." It presents a portrait of Queen Anne, with her crown on her head, and the motto, "Semper eadem," in capital letters round the top of her dress. "London: Printed for Tho. Norris at the LookingGlass on London Bridge." That has no stamp, and it is indeed quite a rarity to find a ballad which has one.
Public attention was first drawn to the ballad of William and Margaret by Aaron Hill, the dramatist, in The Plain Dealer, No. xxxvi. on Friday, July 24, 1724. Within the same year it was published with Mallet's alterations by Allan Ramsay in his Tea Table Miscellany. In the next year, 1725, it was reprinted from the older copy in vol. iii. of Old Ballads, 12mo.; which, on the authority of Dr. Farmer, were edited by Ambrose Phillips, the pastoral poet and dramatic author. Phillips's version could not have been copied from Mallet's, because it omits all his alterations, and agrees with the Queen Anne copy here reproduced. It is, in fact, a reprint from the old ballad quoted by Fletcher, which was supposed to have been lost. Allan Ramsay was not one who would scrutinize too closely a claim which would add to the reputation of one of his countrymen. In fact, Ramsay set the example of making unfounded claims, having himself appropriated, among a multiplicity of other English productions, his friend Gay's ballad of "Black-eyed Susan," and printed it as Scotch. Therefore, when he addressed "Mr. David Malloch, on his departure from Scotland," (Poems by Allan Ramsay, ii. 169, edit, of 1751), he did not hesitate to give him the credit of the ballad he had claimed. Malloch changed his name to Mallet only when he arrived in England. At the time when Allan Ramsay thus addressed him, Malloch had never left Scotland. He was then a student in the University of Edinburgh. It would have puzzled Mallet to say who made that tune for him, and wrote it out in antiquated notation. It is in the ancient reciting style, of the Chevy Chase order, and very unlike a Scotch tune. It wus never printed to his words, and seems to have been little, if at all, known in Scotland. Not quite so in England, for, without going beyond the volume already quoted, we find at fol. 160, "Wonder upon Wonder; or, the Cocoa tree's answer to the Surrey Oak. To the tune of William and Margret." It is a parody upon the old ballad, and begins:
"'Twas in the dark and dead of night
Hard by St. James's Square,
Where many a Squire, and many a Knight,
Brimful of wine and care."
This is dated in pencil, 1756.
The tune has the appearance of being much older than Queen Anne's reign. It is not of the dance order, but one eminently suited for recitation, as an old minstrel would have chanted it.
William and Margaret- the old Minstrel tune- from a black-letter ballad
[music]
When Malloch first gave the ballad with his alterations to Allan Ramsay, it can hardly be supposed that he had read Beaumont and Fletcher's plays. They would not have been included in the curriculum of University education. But he afterwards claimed that he had done so, and that he had founded his ballad upon the lines quoted by Old Merrythought in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, which are as follows:
"When it was grown to dark midnight,
And all were fast asleep,
In came Margaret's grimly ghost
And stood at William's feet."
If he had so intended, why did he alter those very lines?
There is another way of accounting for this. He had the ballad in the printed copy before him, but changed these first lines to avoid detection when he passed it off as his own.
Mallet's first version, given by him to Ramsay, begins:
"'Twos at the fearful midnight hour,
When all were fast asleep,
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet."
He here takes the word "glided " from the printed copy, and not from Fletcher.
When Mallet afterwards published it in his own name, in his Poems, 8vo. 1743, and again in 12mo. edit, of 1759, he changed it to:
"'Twas in the silent solemn hour,
When night and morning meet."
This is more unballad-like than the first. Instead of the characteristic conciseness, and the simplicity of expression, in the old minstrel ballad, he took half a line to express "midnight," as "When night and morning meet."
It is equally clear that Aaron Hill, although a writer for the stage, had not noticed this quotation from the ballad in Fletcher's play. He says: "I am never more delighted than when I meet with an opportunity to unveil obscure merit, and produce it into notice. . . . My having taken up, in a late perambulation, as I stood upon the top of Primrose Hill, a torn leaf of one of those Hulfpenny Miscellanies which are published for the use and pleasure of our nymphs of low degree, and known by the name of Garlands ... I fell unexpectedly upon a work, for so I have no scruple to call it, that deserves to live for ever! and which (notwithstanding its disguise of coarse brown paper, almost unintelligible corruptions of sense from the blunders of the press, with here and there an obsolete low phrase which I have alter'd for the clearer explanation of the author's meaning) is so powerfully filled throughout with that blood-curling, chilling influence of Nature working on our passions (which Criticks call the Sublime), that I never met it stronger iu Homer himself; nor even in that prodigious English genius, who has made the Greek our Countryman. The simple title of this Piece was, 'William and Margaret. A Ballad."
Hill then goes on to spoil the ballad by his modernizations. One stanza will suffice as an example:
"When Hope lay hush'd in silent Night
And woe was wrapped in Sleep,
In glided Marg'ret's pale-ey'd Ghost,
And stood at William's feet."
"I am sorry," says Hill, "that I am not able to acquaint my Reader with his name, to whom we owe this melancholy Piece of finished Poetry; under the humble title of a Ballad."
It is to be regretted that the Garland of which Hill speaks has not yet been found; we will therefore turn to the simple ballad as it stands in the black-letter edition of Queen Anne's time.
[Brit. Mm. Coll. 1876. f. 1, folio 107.]
William and Margaret, An Old Ballad.
When all was wrapt in dark Mid-night,
And all were fast asleep,
In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.[1] 4
Her face was like the[2] April Morn,
Clad in a wintry cloud,
And Clay cold was her Lilly hand,
That held the3 Sable Shrowd. 8
So shall the fairest Face appear
When Youth & Years are flown;
Such is the Robe that Kings must wear
When Death has reft their Crown. 12
Her Bloom was like the springing Flow'r,
That sips the Silver Dew;
The Rose was budded in her Cheek,
And opening to the View. 16
But Love had, like the Canker Worm,
Consum'd her early Prime:
The Rose grew pale, and left her Cheek;
She dy'd before her Time. 20
"Awake!" she cry'd, "thy true Love calls,
Come from her Midnight grave;
Now let thy Pity hear the Maid,
Thy Love refus'd to save! 24
"This is the mirk and fearful[4] Hour
When injur'd Ghosts complain,
And dreary[5] graves give up their Dead,
To haunt the faithless Swain. 28
"Bethink thee, William, of thy fault,
Thy Pledge, and broken Oath;
And give me hack my Maiden-Vow,
And give me hack my Troth. 32
"How could you say my Fape was fair,
And yet that Face forsake?
How could you win my Virgin-Heart,
Yet leave that Heart to break ?[6] 36
"How[7] could you promise Love to me,
And not that Promise keep?
Why did you swear mine Eyes were bright,
Yet leave those Eyes to weep? 40
"How could you say my Lip was sweet,
And made the Scarlet pale?
And why did I, young witless Maid!
Believe the flattering Tale? 44
"That Face, alas! no more is fair;
These lips no longer red;
Dark are mine[8] Eyes, now clos'd in Death,
And every Charm is fled. 48
"The hungry Worm my Sister is;
This Winding-Sheet I wear:
And cold & weary lasts our Night,
Till that last Morn appear. 52
"But hark! The Cock has warn'd me hence:
A long and last ADIEU!
Come see, false Man, how low she lies,
That dy'd for Love of you!" 56
Now Birds did sing, and Morning smile,
And shew her glistering Head;[9]
Pale William shook in ev'ry Limb,
Then, raving, left his Bed. 60
He hy'd him to the fatal Place
Where Margaret's Body lay,
And stretcht him on the green Grass Turf,
That wrapt her Breathless Clay. 64
And thrice he call'd on Margaret's Name,
And thrice he wept full sore;
Then laid his Cheek to the cold Earth,[10]
And Word spake never more. 68
Footnotes:
1 Having already referred to the changes Mallet made in the first stanza, the following notes are upon his other deviations from the text.
2 an April.
3 her sable.
4 Mallet changes "mirk and fearful" to "dumb and dreary." "Mirk," signifying gloomy darkness, as of a dungeon and as imagined of hell, is a good A.S. word, which continued in use down to the time of Spenser and Hohnshed. It was perhaps first changed into " murk" in Shakespeare's time, but the older and more correct spelling is still in use. Mallet must have had but an imperfect knowledge of English when he made his deteriorating change.
5 "And dreary" changed to "Now yawning."
6 Mallet transposes this stanza for the next.
7 How changed to "Why" in this and in the next stanza.
8 Mine changed to "my."
9. Mallet here rejects "glistering head," though glistering and glittering are the same: so he changed the two lines to
"The lark sung loud; tho morning smil'd
With beams of rosy red."
In his Allan Ramsay version he had—
"The lark sung out, the morning smil'd,
And rais'd ner glist'ring head;
Pale William quak'd in every limb."
10. Mallet changes " the cold earth " to " her cold grave."
----------------------
The broadside has no printer's name to it, but in its place, the following:
"N.B.—This Ballad will sing to the Tunes of Montrose's Lilt Rothes's Lament, or the Isle o' Kell."
The above notice tells the story of the edition. The ballad was reprinted for the Chapmen who travelled into Scotland, to sell their books and ballads. The proper tune is printed with the words, but, it being unknown in Scotland, three others are indicated, to any of which the words may be sung. Mallet's acquaintance with the ballad was undoubtedly owing to the purchasing of a copy from one of these Chapmen.
Black-letter printing continued in favour to a later date in Scotland than in England.
There was a considerable trade in English ballads carried on by these Chapmen, both in Ireland and in Scotland. We find by the Registers of the Stationers' Company, that there were six London ballad publishers in partnership in the trade with Ireland, and on some ballads we see, after the address of the publisher, "Where English and Irish Chapmen can be supplied with [chap] books and ballads." The trade with Scotland was of later growth. It may be said to have commenced in 1679, when James, Duke of York and Albany, was sent to Scotland as "Commissioner," by Charles II., pending the discussion on- the Exclusion Bill in the Houses of Parliament. Ballads had been virtually prohibited in Scotland for nearly a century before that date. In 1574, the Regent Earl of Morton had induced the Privy Council to issue an edict that "nane tak upon hand to emprent, or sell, whatsoever book, ballet, or other werk," without its being examined and licensed, under pain of death, and confiscation of goods." This drove away the Dutch printer Robert Lekpreuik from Scotland, and it was only by obtaining fresh assistance from Holland, that the first Scotch Bible could be printed. In August, 1579, two poets of Edinburgh, a schoolmaster and a "notar," were hanged for having cast reflections upon Morton, for his "sinistrous dealing" by their ballads; and in October of the same year, the Estates passed an Act condemning bards, minstrels and songsters as sturdy beggars and vagrants (R. Chambers's Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 94, 125 and 131). Other Acts followed, like one against singing carols, in November, 1581. Next, the clergy refused to marry any couple without a deposit of "ten punds Scots," to be forfeited if they had a fiddler at or after the wedding. Although the Scotch pound was only twenty pence, this was a heavy penalty for the poorer classes.[1]
Such being the state of the laws in Scotland, it was only during the Civil War that ballads could be published, and then without the printers' names. James, however, knew the influence of ballads upon the common people in England, and thought he could gain a little popularity in Scotland by their means. He therefore permitted them, and perhaps the first was "The Banishment of Poverty, by his R.H., J. D. A." [James Duke of Albany] "to the tune of The Last Good Night." A copy of this was included in the collection of the late eminent David Laing. From this small beginning sprung a trade with England which became considerable in the last century, both as to ballads and songs with music.
Dr. Percy considered "William and Margaret, one of the most beautiful ballads in our own or any language," and it cannot be said to have gained from Mallet's changes. Percy was mistaken in supposing the other two lines quoted by Old Merrythought, in the play of The Knight of the Burning Pestle, to have ever formed part of "William and Margaret," although the distich is:
"You are no love for me, Margaret,
I am no love for you."
This is part of the other ballad which he has printed under the title of "Fair Margaret and Sweet William," having derived it "from a modem printed copy, picked up on a stall." He could not have hit upon a more obviously incorrect version. The reason that he did not recognize it is because, in his copy, the very two lines quoted by Old Merrythought are corrupted into:
"I see no harm by you, Margaret,
And you see none by me."
This foolish alteration deprives the ballad of the very subject of its story, which might be defined by the title of an old play, as "The Miseries of inforced Marriage." It is on the last meeting of two lovers, and is told with true ballad conciseness.
With Old Merrythought's restoration, the opening stanzas will be:
As it fell out on a long summer's day,
Two lovers they sat on a hill;
They sat together that long summer's day,
And could not talk their fill. 4
[" I am no love for you, Margaret,
And you are no love for me;]
Before to-morrow at eight o' [the] clock,
A rich wedding you shall sec." 8
Fair Margaret sate in her bower-window
A combing of her hair;
There she espied sweet William and his bride
As they were a riding near. 12
Down she laid her ivory comb,
And up she bound her hair;
She went away, forth from the bower,
But nevermore came [she] there. 16
When day was gone, and night was come,
And all were fast asleep.
Then came the spirit of fair Margaret,
And stood at William's bed-feet." 20
This fifth stanza is the one which has seemed to connect the two ballads, but they are obviously distinct. This ballad had the more enduring popularity, if we may judge by the number of editions. Perhaps it was owing to the idea expressed in the eighteenth and nineteenth stanzas, so often copied in recent days:
Margaret was buryed in the lower chancell,
And William in the higher;
Out of her breast there sprang a rose,
And out of his a briar.
They grew as high as the church top,[2]
Till they could grow no higher;
And there they grew in a true lover's knot,
Which made all the people admire.
It is to be hoped that some member of the Ballad Society may be able to indicate an older copy of this ballad than is included in any of the public collections to which only we have access. The Roxburghe copy is very modern, as is the one which Percy followed, entitled, "Fair Margaret's Misfortunes; or, Sweet William's frightful Dreams on his Wedding night, with the sudden Death and Burial of these noble Lovers." The first line is generally a better index-guide than the title, because in reprinting the older ballads the publishers frequently changed the titles, in order to give an air of novelty to their editions. Ritson's edition {English Songs, ii. 232, edit. 1813) is older than Percy's, but is still very modern, and judging from the late chapman's copy appropriated by David Herd as Scotch, we must look to private English collections for early editions. Our old ballads deserve more attention than they have received. We have let many of them slip from us by neglect, and the reputation of our northern friends has been enhanced by adopting them. W. C.
Footnotes (after ballad text):
1. Other ordinances against music and ballads in Scotland will be found in the excellent Antiquarian Repertory, London, 1775-84, 4to. 4 vols, with plates, and reprinted with additions in 1807-9. Francis Grose, Thomas Astle, and other good antiquaries were concerned in this work.
2 "Church top," quere "steeple top." The metre indicates it.