Giles Collins & Proud Lady Anna- Ritson 1810 Child B
[Ritson says the songs: ". . .were collected from a literary gentleman deceased; who supposed he preserved each piece according to its original idiom. . ."
Below Child's text is the original nearly identical text from Ritson.
R- Matteson 2012]
'Giles Collins and Proud Lady Anna'- Version B; Child 85 Lady Alice
Gammer Carton's Garland, p. 38, ed. 1810.
1 Giles Collins he said to his old mother,
Mother, come bind up my head,
And sent to the parson of our parish,
For tomorrow I shall be dead, dead,
For tomorrow I shall be dead.
2 His mother she made him some water-gruel,
And stirrd it round with a spoon;
Giles Collins he ate up his water-gruel,
And died before 'twas noon.
3 Lady Anna was sitting at her window,
Mending her night-robe and coif;
She saw the very prettiest corpse
She'd seen in all her life.
4 'What bear ye there, ye six strong men,
Upon your shoulders so high?'
'We bear the body of Giles Collins,
Who for love of you did die.'
5 'Set him down, set him down,' Lady Anna she cry'd,
'On the grass that grows so green;
Tomorrow, before the clock strikes ten,
My body shall lye by hisn.'
6 Lady Anna was buried in the east,
Giles Collins was buried in the west;
There grew a lilly from Giles Collins
That touchd Lady Anna's breast.
7 There blew a cold north-easterly wind,
And cut this lilly in twain,
Which never there was seen before,
And it never will again.
-----------------
From "Gammer Gurton's Garland: or, the nursery Parnassus; a choice collection of pretty songs and verses, for teh amusement of all littel good children, who can neither read nor run," by Joseph Ritson 1810
PART IV.
GILES COLLINS AND PROUD LADY ANNA.
Giles Collins he said to his old mother,
Mother, come bind up my head;
And send to the parson of our parish,
For to-morrow I shall be dead, dead,
For to-morrow I shall be dead.
His mother she made him some water-gruel,
And stirr'd it round with a spoon;
Giles Collins he ate up his water-gruel,
And died hefore 'twas noon, noon,
And died before 'twas noon.
Lady Anna was sitting at her window,
Mending her night-robe and coif;
She saw the very prettiest corpse,
She'd seen in all her life, life,
She'd seen in all her life.
What bear ye there, ye six strong men,
Upon your shoulders so high?
We bear the body of Giles Collins,
Who for love of you did die, die,
Who for love of you did die.
Set him down! set him down! Lady Anna she cry'd,
On the grass that grows so green;
To-morrow before the clock strikes ten,
My body shall lye by his'n, his'n,
My body shall lye by his'n.
Lady Anna was buried in the East,
Giles Collins was buried in the West;
There grew a lilly from Giles Collins,
That touch'd Lady Anna's breast, breast,
That touch'd Lady Anna's breast.
There blew a cold north-easterly wind,
And cut this lilly in twain,
Which never there was seen before;
And it never will again, again,
And it never will again.