Lord Bateman- Rogers (NS) pre1902 published in 1919 Mackenzie B
[No date given, learned before 1902. From: The Quest of the Ballad by William Roy Mackenzie, 1919. Reprinted partially as version B in Ballads and Folk Songs from Nova Scotia, Mackenzie 1928. Excerpt from Quest below. According to Ancestry.com, David Rogers was born around 1855 in Pictou County.
This is based on the print versions of the ballad as found in The Forget Me-Not Songster of c.1844 and other print versions in the New England area which are identified by the opening line:
In India lived a noble lord,
The first half of stanza two was not remembered- it is:
2. He had gold and he had silver,
And he had house of high degree.
R .Matteson 2014]
Both Dave and Sandy [Rogers] had vigorously survived the allotted period of the life of man, but Dave still held the superior and somewhat contemptuous attitude towards a relatively youthful and ignorant brother which had been the conventional relation of their earlier days. "What!" exclaimed Dave with scorn, when I told him of Sandy's recital of "Lord Bateman," "did Sandy try to make ye believe that he knowed that song? Well, I'm jist very doubtful if Sandy knowed it. I'm very doubtful if he knowed it. There used to be two people that could sing that song an' sing it right. One o' them was me father an' one was me, an' me father's been dead now for close onto seventeen year."
Lord Bateman- Dave Rogers, Pictou County, learned from his father before 1902.
In India lived a noble lord,
His riches was beyond compare.
He was the darling of his parents,
Of their estate the only heir.
In India lived a noble lord,
His riches was beyond compare.
And yet he could never be contented
Until a voyage he took to sea.
He sailed east and he sailed west,
Until he came to a Turkish shore.
There he was taken and put in prison,
Where he could neither see nor hear.
For seven long months he lay lamenting,
He lay lamenting in irons strong,
Till he chanced to see the brisk young lady
Who set him free from his prison chains.
The gaoler [1] had one only daughter,
A brisk young lady gay was she.
As she was passing the prison door
She chanced Lord Bateman for to see.
She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And opened it without delay.
"Have you got gold, and have you got silver?
Have you got houses of high degree?
And what would you give to a fair lady
If she from bondage would set you free?"
"Yes, I've got gold, and I've got silver,
And I've got houses of high degree.
And all I'd give to a fair lady
If she from bondage would set me free."
"It's not your gold, nor yet your silver,
Nor yet your houses of high degree.
All that I want to make me happy,
All that I crave is your fair body.
"Let's make a bargain and make it strong,
For seven long years that it may stand,
That you will wed with no other woman,
And me to wed with no other man."
When seven long years were gone and past,
When seven long years were at an end,
She packed up her richest clothing,
Saying, "Now I'll go and seek my friend."
She sailed east and she sailed west
Until she came to an Indian shore.
It's there she could not be contented.
All for her true love she did inquire.
She inquired for Lord Bateman's palace
At every corner of the street.
She inquired for Lord Bateman's palace
Of every person she chanced to meet.
And when she came to Lord Bateman's palace
She knocked so loudly on the ring,
And none was so ready as the brisk young porter,
To rise and let this young lady in.
She asked, "Is this Lord Bateman's palace?
Or is the lord himself within?"
"O yes, O yes," said the brisk young porter,
"He and his new bride has just come in."
She wept, she wept and wrung her hands,
Crying, "Alas, I am undone!
I wish I was in my native country
Across the seas there to remain.
"Go tell him to send me one ounce of bread
And one bottle of his wine so strong,
And ask him if he's forgot the lady
That set him free from his prison strong."
The porter went unto his master
And kneeled low down on his knees.
"Arise, arise, my brisk young porter,
And tell me what the matter is."
"There is a fair lady stands at your gate,
And she doth weep most bitterly.
I think she is the finest creature
That I ever wish my eyes to see.
"She's got more rings on her forefinger,
Around her waist she wears diamond strings,
She's got more gold about her clothing
Than your new bride and all her kin.
"She wants you to send her one ounce of bread,
One bottle of your wine so strong.
She wants me to ask if you've forgot the lady
That set you free from your prison strong."
He stamped his foot upon the floor.
He broke the table in pieces three,
Saying, "Adieu, adieu to my new wedded bride,
For this fair lady I'll go and see."
It's up and steps the new bride's mother,
And she was a lady of high degree,
Saying, "You have married my only daughter."
"Well, she is none the worse of me.
"Since my fair one has arrived
A second wedding there shall be.
Your daughter came on a horse and saddle,
She shall go home on a coach and three."
He took this lady by the hand,
He led her over the marble stones,
He changed her name from Susanna fair,
And now she's the wife of Lord Bateman.
He took her by the lily-white hand,
He led her through from room to room,
He changed her name from Susanna fair,
And now she's the wife of Lord Bateman.
1. jailor