Lady Alice- Bell (England) 1846 Child A a.
In 1846, the Percy Society issued to its members a volume entitled Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, edited by Mr. James Henry Dixon. The sources drawn upon by Mr. Dixon were intimated by Robert Bell whose volume included included several newly published ballads such as Lady Alice.
Bell's notes: This old ballad is regularly published by the stall printers. The termination resembles Lord Lovell and other ballads.
Lady Alice- Version A; Child 85
a. Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 127, a stall copy.
1 Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window,
Mending her midnight quoif,
And there she saw as fine a corpse
As ever she saw in her life.
2 'What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall?
What bear ye on your shoulders?'
'We bear the corpse of Giles Collins,
An old and true lover of yours.'
3 'O lay him down gently, ye six men tall,
All on the grass so green,
And tomorrow, when the sun goes down,
Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen.
4 'And bury me in Saint Mary's church,
All for my love so true,
And make me a garland of marjoram,
And of lemon-thyme, and rue.'
5 Giles Collins was buried all in the east,
Lady Alice all in the west,
And the roses that grew on Giles Collins's grave,
They reached Lady Alice's breast.
6 The priest of the parish he chanced to pass,
And he severed those roses in twain;
Sure never were seen such true lovers before,
Nor eer will there be again.