Fair Mary- Hoyt (VT) c.1795 Flanders B
[My date, which is possible. From Flanders, Ancient Ballads, version B, 1963. Their (Coffin's) notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
Willie o Winsbury
(Child 100)
"Willie o Winsbury" is to be found once in a while in the New World, but except in Newfoundland it enjoys little currency. Josiah Combs recorded an incomplete text from West Virginia in his Folk-Songs des Etats-Unis (Paris, 1926), 140. and Barry lists a questionable fragment lodged in Child 99 "Johnny Scot." Otherwise, one must go to the Flanders archives or to a book like Elisabeth B. Greenleaf and Grace Mansfield, Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland, (Cambridge, Mass., 1924), 28, for versions. The A and B texts below are somewhat different from the Newfoundland tradition, although the hero is named Barbour in both an English rather than a Scottish trait. Flanders B, where the hero is first down rather than last and where the King's version is unmotivated, is somewhat worn, but Flanders A is a particularly full example. Flanders C1 and C2 are much like Child D from the Percy Papers. Jean-Smith, 117 (English), and Greig and Keith, 75-77 English), give further listings for this ballad.
All three of the tunes for Child 100 are related. Analogues in other collections are rare and seem largely confined to Northeast of the continent. For melodic relationship to the entire group, see GN, 28, 30, 32.
B. [Fair Mary]. Miss Alice and, Miss Mary Harvey of Woodstock, Vermont, on a summer's day in 1934, each sat with a little notebook into which, some three years before, they had written words sung by their mother, Mrs. Rebecca S. Harvey, who came to Vermont in 1853. She had, sung these old songs to them in their childhood, many years ago. She had learned them from her grandmother, Mrs. Rebecca Hoyt, who was born about 1780. The words in the two notebooks agreed. But when it came to the tune, the sisters paused to think it over and changed a G at the word "thin," in the first phrase of "pale and thin," to an F. But the' tune is given below as it was sung without any hesitation, the first time. Printed in BFSSNE, IX, 6, and in Country Songs from Vermont, 4. H. H. F., Collector; Summer, 1934.
Fair Mary
Fair Mary, she sat at her father's castle gate,
A-watching the ships coming in;
Her father came and sat by her side,
For he saw she looked pale and thin,
For he saw she looked Pale and thin.
"Are you sick, are you sick, dear Mary?" he said,
"Are you sick, are you sick?" quoth he,
"Or are you in love with a jolly sailor lad
Who sails the distant seas,
Who sails the distant seas?"
"I am not sick, dear father," she says,
"I am not sick," quoth she,
"But I'm in love with a jolly sailor lad;
John Barbour is his name,
John Barbour is his name."
"Is it so, is it so, dear Mary?" he said.
"Is it so, is it so?" quoth he.
"If you're in love with a jolly sailor lad,
Then hang-ed he shall be,
Then hang-ed he shall be!"
Then the old man he called up his merry, merry men,
By one, by two, by three.
John Barbour had been the very last man,
But now the first was he,
But now the first was he.
"Will you marry my daughter?" the old man said,
"Will you marry my daughter?" quoth he,
"Will you sing and play and dance with her
And be heir to my houses and lands?
And be heir to my houses and lands?"
"Yes, I'll marry your daughter," the young man said,
"I'll marry your daughter," quoth he,
"I'll sing and play and dance with her,
But a fig for your houses and lands,
But a fig for your houses and lands!
"Altho' John Barbour is my name
I'm the Duke of Cumberland,
And for every pound that you give her,
I'll give her ten thousand pounds,
I'll give her ten thousand pounds."