Lord Lovel & Lady Nancy- Wintemberg (ON) 1919
[From the article: Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy; a Traditional Ballad by W. J. WINTEMBERG. Presented by Lawrence J. Burpee, F.R.S.C. Read; May Meeting, 1919. The melody was recorded and transcribed by C. M. Barbeau. Some notes from the article follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
Although in the United States the collection of folk ballads has been carried on for some time, the Canadian field has until recently been neglected. That there is abundant material in Canada has been shown by Mr. C. M. Barbeau's large collections from both French and English-speaking Canadians.
So far only one version of "Lord Lovel," a traditional ballad handed down orally in Great Britain, probably for several centuries,
has been recorded in Canada. It was recited to us by Mrs. Katherine H. Wintemberg, who learned it from an old woman, when a child, near Nenagh, Grey County, Ontario.
English and American Variants
With the exception of a few minor differences, it is substantially the same as version H of Francis Child's monumental collection of English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Child's sources for his variant have a London broadside in Dixon's Poems and Davidson's Universal Melodist (I, 148).
The most marked differences between our variant and that of Child's are to b e found in 5 and 9. Child's fifth stanza:
"So he rode and he rode, on his milk-white steed,
Till lie came to London town,
And there he heard St. Pancrais bells,
And the people all mourning round."
By the ninth stanza Lady Nancy- not Lord Lovel is laid in the church, and he "was laid in the choir."
Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy- Mrs. Katherine H. Wintemberg, who learned it from an old woman, when a child, near Nenagh, Grey County, Ontario.
Lord Lovel stood at his castle-gate
A-combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Bell
To wish her lover good speed,
To wish her lover good speed.
"Where are you going. Lord Lovel ?" she said,
"Where are you going?" said she,
"I'm going away, Lady Nancy Bell,
Strange countries for to see, see,
Strange countries for to see."
"When will you be back. Lord Lovel?" she said,
"When will you be back?" said she.
"In a year or two or three, at the most,
I'll return to my fair Nancy, cy,
I'll return to my fair Nancy."
He had not gone but a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When anguishing thoughts came into his mind.
Lady Nancy Bell he would see, see.
Lady Nancy Bell he would see.
He rode and he rode on his milk white steed
Till he came to London town,
And there he saw the church-steeple top,
And the people all mourning round, round.
And the people all mourning round.
"Oh, what is the matter?" Lord Lovel he said,
"Oh, what is the matter?" said he.
"A lord's lady is dead," a woman replied,
"And we call her Nancy, cy.
And we call her Nancy."
He ordered her grave to be opened wide.
The shroud to be turned down.
And there he kissed her clay-cold lip,
Till the tears came trickling down, down.
Till the tears came trickling down.
Lady Nancy died, as it might be, to-night;
Lord Lovel died as to-morrow.
Lady Nancy died of pure, pure grief;
Lord Lovel died of sorrow, sorrow,
Lord Lovel died of sorrow.
Lord Lovel was laid in St. Bernard's church ;
Lady Nancy was laid in the choir.
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose;
And out of her lover a brier, brier.
And out of her lover a brier.
They grew and grew to the church-steeple top,
Where they could grow no higher;
And there entwined in a true lover's knot,
For all true lovers to admire, mire.
For all true lovers to admire.