Recordings & Info 213. Sir James the Rose/Sir James the Ross
[According to Coffin: The Child Sir James the Rose ballad is not in America. The American texts are highly sophisticated and based on Sir James the Ross, a song Child, IV, 156 thought to have been composed by Michael Bruce.
The Roud Index (Attached, No. 2274) lumps both ballads together: Sir James the Rose/Sir James the Ross as does the Child Collection (below).
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index (2 entries)
3) Child Collection Index
4) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
5) Folk Index
6) Mainly Norfolk (lyrics and info)
7) About Michael Bruce
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 2274: Sir James the Rose/Sir James the Ross (89 Listings)
Alternate Titles
Sir James the Ross
Sir James the Ross, the Young Laird of Balethen
Traditional Ballad Index: Sir James the Rose [Child 213]
DESCRIPTION: James the Rose (has killed a squire, and) is forced to flee. He asks his leman's help. She, under pressure, tells his pursuers of his hiding place. James is taken and killed. His leman regrets her actions
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1781 (Pinkerton)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: "O heard ye of Sir James the Rose ... he has killed a gallant squire An's friends are out to take him." He visits his lover, the nurse at the House of Marr. He tells her he is looking for a place to hide. Her pursuers ask if she has seen him. As they are about to leave she tells them where he is hiding. He tries to buy them off but they kill him and give his heart to his lover. In despair she drops from sight. "A traitor's end, you may depend, Can be expect'd no better."
KEYWORDS: love death betrayal revenge hiding
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Child 213, "Sir James the Rose" (1 text)
Bronson 213, "Sir James the Rose" (27 versions+1 in addenda, but a large fraction of these are "Sir James the Ross")
GlenbuchatBallads, pp. 19-21, "Sir James the Ross, the Young Laird of Balethen" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 213, ]JAMEROS2
ADDITIONAL: Peter Buchan, Gleanings of Scarce Old Ballads (London, 1825 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 9-11, "Sir James the Rose (Old Way)"
Roud #2274
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(50), "Tragedy of Sir James the Rose," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1869; also RB.m.143(157), "Sir James the Ross"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir James the Ross" (general plot) and references there
NOTES: Child has only one version of 213 ("O heard ye of Sir James the Rose") but acknowledges a different ballad: "'Sir James the Ross, A Historical Ballad' (sometimes called 'The Buchanshire Tragedy'), was composed by the youthful Michael Bruce (1767) upon the story of the popular ballad, and has perhaps enjoyed more favor with 'the general' than the original." - BS
===
Traditional Ballad Index: Sir James the Ross
DESCRIPTION: Matilda's father wants her to marry John Graham rather than James Ross. James kills John's brother and hides with Matilda while she sends her page to raise John's men. The page betrays James to John Graham. James is killed and Matilda commits suicide.
AUTHOR: Michael Bruce?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1825 (Buchan)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: "Of all the Scottish northern chiefs... The bravest was Sir James the Rose." He leads 500 warriors. He loves Matilda, daughter of "Buchan's cruel lord," who prefers that she wed Sir John the Graham. John's brother Donald spies on James and Matilda and hears her say "the grave shall be my bridal bed If Graham my husband be." Donald confronts James and is killed. He tells Matilda he has killed Donald and must hide because his own men are "far far distant." He plans to go to raise his men but she convinces him to hide and send a page to raise his men. The page meets Graham and twenty of his men and tells where James is hiding. James fights bravely. Matilda pleas for his life but he is mortally wounded. She kills herself on James's sword. With his dying effort James kills Graham.
KEYWORDS: love death suicide betrayal revenge hiding brother father
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) US(NE) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (13 citations)
Greig #39, pp. 1-3, "Sir James the Rose" (1 text plus 2 fragments)
GreigDuncan2 235, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "Sir James the Rose" (16 texts, many very short, 14 tunes) {A=Bronson's #7, C=#4, D=#3, E=#5, F=#11, G=#12, I=#1, J=#13, K=#10, L=#8, M=#20, N=#19; most of these have no text or only a few lines}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 284-291, "Sir James the Ross" (1 text from manuscript)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 147-154, "Sir James, the Rose" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #25}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 239-254, "Sir James the Ross" (3 texts, 1 tune; of the three texts, "C" is short, while "A" is based on penciled changed George Edwards wrote in the margin of BarryEckstormSmyth) {Bronson's #25}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 75-79, "Sir James the Ross" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #27, 26}
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 23-25, "Sir James the Ross" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 7, "Sir James the Ross" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 715-719, "Sir James the Rose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 18, "Sir James the Ross" (2 texts, 3 tunes)
Mackenzie 11, "Sir James the Rose" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #16}
DT 213, JAMEROSE
ADDITIONAL: Peter Buchan, Gleanings of Scarce Old Ballads (London, 1825 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 11-18, "Sir James the Rose (Modern Way)"
Roud #2274
RECORDINGS:
Peter Ryan, "Sir James the Rose" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(50), "Tragedy of Sir James the Rose," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1869; also RB.m.143(157), "Sir James the Ross"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Child Maurice" [Child 83] (tune)
cf. "Sir James the Rose" [Child 213] (general plot)
NOTES: Child has only one version of 213 ("O heard ye of Sir James the Rose") but acknowledges a different ballad: "'Sir James the Ross, A Historical Ballad' (sometimes called 'The Buchanshire Tragedy'), was composed by the youthful Michael Bruce (1767) upon the story of the popular ballad, and has perhaps enjoyed more favor with 'the general' than the original." Coffin, _The British Traditional Ballad in North America_ (Philadelphia, 1950), pp. 128-129: "The Child 'Sir James the Rose' ballad is not in America. The American texts [including Pound's from Nebraska] are highly sophisticated and based on 'Sir James the Ross,' a song Child, IV, 156 thought to have been composed by Michael Bruce [disputed by Coffin citing Barry citing Keith 'that Michael Bruce is mistakenly considered the composer....']." Mackenzie regarding his two versions: "[They] represent 'Sir James the Ross,' an unacknowledged adaptation by Michael Bruce, of the old Scottish ballad 'Sir James the Rose' (Child, No. 213)." Confirming Coffin's observation, Karpeles-Newfoundland, Peacock, Creighton-SNewBrunswick, and Creighton-Maritime all are derived from the same text as MacKenzie's.
Greig: "The version now generally known and sung is the one we give. Its composition is credited to Michael Bruce (1746-1767), the author of the well-known 'Ode to the Cuckoo.'"
GreigDuncan2: "Greig does not give his source for the 53-stanza text he prints and, as it may have been a collated text rather than a version from tradition, it is not included here; it resembles A and B."
Greig's text follows Buchan with a few word and punctuation changes. Buchan's text is twenty-six and a half 8-line verses; Greig's is 53 4-line verses. - BS
===
NAME: Sir James the Ross, the Young Laird of Balethen: see Sir James the Rose [Child 213]
===
Child Collection- Child Ballad 213: Sir James the Rose
Child --Artist --Title ---Album --Year --Length --Have
213 Alex Robb Sir James the Rose The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
213 Angelo Dornan Sir James the Ross The Helen Creighton Collection No
213 Bell Duncan Sir James the Rose The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
213 Black Jimmie Mason Sir James the Rose (1) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
213 Black Jimmie Mason Sir James the Rose (2) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
213 Charles Finnemore Sir James the Ross (1) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
213 Charles Finnemore Sir James the Ross (2) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
213 Elizabeth Robb Sir James the Rose The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
213 George McKay Sir James the Ross The Helen Creighton Collection No
213 Hanford Hayes Sir James the Rose (1) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
213 Hanford Hayes Sir James the Rose (2) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
213 Hanford Hayes Sir James the Rose (3) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
213 James Christie Sir James the Rose The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
213 Peter Pratt Sir James the Rose The Great Silkie - Songs from the Orkneys 1980 No
213 Steeleye Span Sir James the Rose Rocket Cottage 1976 6:03 Yes
213 Steeleye Span Sir James the Rose The Official Bootleg 2004 No
213 Steeleye Span Sir James the Rose Folk Rock Pioneers in Concert 2006 5:48 Yes
213 Steeleye Span Sir James the Rose The 35th Anniversary World Tour 2004 2004 5:44 Yes
213 Steeleye Span Sir James the Rose Original Masters 1997 6:10 Yes
213 Steeleye Span Sir James the Rose Present - The Very Best of Steeleye Span 2002 6:06 Yes
213 Steeleye Span Sir James the Rose Another Parcel of Steeleye Span - Their Second Five Chrysalis Albums 1976-1989 2010 6:11 Yes
213 Unknown Singer Sir James the Rose The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
213 William Ross Sir James the Rose The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
213. SIR JAMES THE ROSE
Texts: American Speech, I, 481 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 284 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs NSct 48.
Local Titles: Sir James the Rose, Sir James the Ross.
Story Types: A: The Ross Story: James the Ross learns at a meeting in the woods with his true love Matilda that she must marry the hated John Grames on her father's orders. Donald Grames overhears the conversation between the lovers and, after the girl departs, makes himself known to Ross. Ross kills the eavesdropper. Fearful of revenge by the Grames clan, Ross then sets out to get aid from his kinsman, stopping en route to awaken Matilda and tell her what he has done. She detains him and hides him, saying that a page will rouse his clansmen. The page, however, meets John Grames on the way, tells him what has taken place, and is bribed into revealing James' whereabouts. When the Grames come to Matilda's house, they find
Ross sleeping in the wood much to the dismay of the girl. Ross is able to kill four (or fifteen) of his attackers before John Grames stabs him from behind. Matilda then kills herself, and the page follows suit.
Examples: Am Speech, I, 481; Barry; MacKenzie (A, B).
Discussion: The Child Sir James the Rose ballad is not in America. The American texts are highly sophisticated and based on Sir James the Ross, a song Child, IV, 156 thought to have been composed by Michael Bruce. Barry, Brit Bids M?, 290 i, citing Alexander Keith (editor) in Greig's Last Leaves of Traditional Bids, points out that both the Ross (not in Child's collection) and Rose (which Child printed) ballads are derived from eighteenth century broadsides and stall copies and that Michael Bruce is mistakenly considered the composer of the former. He also points out on Keith's authority that the Ross version has ousted the Rose in Scotland and that his American copy of Ross is identical with the 1768 and oldest known Scottish (150 Scots Songs, London, 1768) text of the story. His version being that old and well established in oral tradition, Barry therefore rates the Ross texts as a primary, rather than a secondary, form of the story in America. Also see MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 48. MacKenzie's A version is particularly sophisticated. The Pound, American Speech, Nebraska version does not differ materially from the northern texts.
---------------------
Folk Index: Sir James, the Ross [Ch 213A]
Leach, MacEdward / The Heritage Book of Ballads, Heritage, Bk (1967), p 91
-----------------------
Mainly Norfolk: Sir James the Rose
[Roud 2274; Child 213; Ballad Index C213; trad.]
Steeleye Span recorded this track for the last (and one of the finest) album of their “classic” line-up, Rocket Cottage and a second time for the CD Present to accompany the December 2002 Steeleye Span reunion tour. A live performance from The Rose Theatre Tewkesbury on April 20, 2004 was published on the CD The Official Bootleg.
Lyrics
Oh have you heard Sir James the Rose,
The young heir of Loch Laggan?
For he has killed a gallant squire
And his friends are out to take him.
And he's gone to the House of Marr,
The Nurse there did befriend him.
And he has gone upon his knees
And begged for her to hide him.
“Where're you going Sir James?” she said,
“Where now are you riding?”
“Oh I am bound to a foreign land
But now I'm under hiding.”
Chorus
Where shall I go?
Where shall I run?
Where shall I go for to hide me?
For I have killed a gallant squire
And they're seeking for to slay me.
Then he's turned him right and round about
And rolled him in the bracken,
And he has gone to take a sleep
In the lowlands of Loch Laggan.
He had not well gone out of sight
Nor was he past Milstrethen
When four and twenty belted knights
Came riding o'er the leathen.
“Have you seen Sir James the Rose,
The young heir of Loch Laggan?
For he has killed a gallant squire,
And we're sent out to take him.”
Chorus
“You'll see the bank above the mill
In the lowlands of Loch Laggan,
And there you'll find Sir James the Rose
Sleeping in the bracken.”
“You must not wake him out of sleep,
Nor yet must you afright him,
Just run a dart right through his heart
And through the body pierce him.”
They sought the bank above the mill
In the lowlands of Loch Laggan,
And there they found Sir James the Rose
Sleeping in the bracken.
Chorus
Then up and spake Sir John the Graeme
Who had the charge a-keeping,
“It'll never be said, dear gentlemen,
We killed him while he's sleeping.”
They seized his broadsword and his targe
And closely him surrounded,
And when he woke out of his sleep
His senses were confounded.
Now they have taken out his heart
And stuck it on a spear,
They took it to the House of Marr
And gave it to his dear.
Chorus
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Patrick Montague for correcting the lyrics.
-----------------
About Michael Bruce
ENGLISH POETRY 1579-1830: SPENSER AND THE TRADITION
Michael Bruce (1746-1767)
Michael Bruce was a weaver's son who with the assistance of his neighbors was educated at Edinburgh University. He taught school briefly before dying of consumption at an early age. Bruce was brought to public notice by a 1779 essay in Henry Mackenzie's journal, The Mirror, that somewhat misleadingly represented the poet as an untutored genius. Bruce's poems were frequently reprinted throughout the nineteenth century; several were claimed by his editor, John Logan.
TEXT RECORDS:
1765 Daphnis, a Monody.
1765 ca.Ode: To a Fountain.
1765 ca.The Last Day. A Poem.
1767 ca.Elegy: To Spring.
PUBLICATIONS:
Poems on several occasions, ed. J Logan. 1770.
Poems. 1782.
The Buchanshire tragedy: or Sir James the Ross. 1776.
Sir James, the Ross, an heroic Scottish ballad. 1796.
Poems. 1796.
Poetical works, ed. Thomas Park. 1808.
Lochleven and other poems, ed. W. Macklevie. 1837.
Poems on several occasions, ed. A. B. Grosart. 1865.
Life and complete works, ed. James Mackenzie. 1914
Life and complete works, ed. J. G. Barnet. 1927.
--------------------
Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 07
BRUCE, MICHAEL (1746-1767), poet, the fifth of eight children of Alexander Bruce, weaver, was born at Kinnesswood, a hamlet in the parish of Portmoak, on the eastem shore of Lochleven, Kinross-shire, on 27 March 1746. His father was an elder of the seceding church which adhered to Thomas Mair of Orwell, Kinross-shire, elected from the anti-burgher synod for holding that ‘there is a sense in which Christ died for all men.' Bruce, who was a quick and delicate boy, was early taught to read and write, and was made useful as a ‘wee herd loon’ in tending sheep. At the village school his great companion was William Arnot, to whose memory he wrote ‘Daphnis’ in May 1765. At the age of eleven he had resolved to be a minister. When he was about sixteen his father received a bequest of 200 merks Scots (11l. 2s. 2d.), which he devoted to his son’s education. Bruce was enrolled in the Greek class at Edinburgh University under Robert Hunter on 17 Dec 1762. He attended three sessions at Edinburgh, not confining himself to the arts course (for in 1763 he took Hebrew along with natural philosophy), and taking pleasure in belles lettres and poetry. He acquired as his letters show an admirable prose style and contributed some poems to the Literary Society. Leaving the university in 1765, he became schoolmaster at Gairney Bridge in the parish of Cleish, Kinross-shire on the western side of Lochleven. He had twenty eight pupils at the rate of 2s. a quarter and free board with their parents in rotation. He wrote a poetical appeal to the managers for a new table, and contemplated the publication of a volume of poems. While boarding in the house of one Grieve of Classlochie he fell in love with his pupil his host's daughter Magdalene. He celebrates her in his 'Alexis' (under the name of Eumelia) and in two songs. She married David Low. Still eager for the ministry Bruce found that the anti-burgher synod would not receive him as a student owing to his connection with Mair. Accordingly he applied to the burgher synod and was enrolled in the classes of John Swanston minister at Kinross. In 1766 he looked out for a new school and found one at Forrest Mill, near Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire. To this period belongs his correspondence with his father's apprentice David Pearson, who had settled at Enster Balgedie, near Kinnesswood. He fell ill being in fact seized with consumption but was for the time restored through the skill of John Millar, M.D. to whom he addressed some grateful lines, enclosed to Pearson on 20 Nov 1766. On 7 Dec he mentions his 'Lochleven' as being 'now finished'. David Arnot (with whom Bruce had kept up a literary correspondence often in Latin) is portrayed in it as Agricola; Lælius is thought to be George Henderson, a college friend, who died in 1793. At length ill health forced him to resign his school in the course of the winter, and he made his way home on foot. In the spring he penned his touching 'Elegy' on his own approaching death. On 5 July (6 July, Anderson) 1767 he was found dead in his bed. His father (of whom there is a memoir by Pearson in the Edinburgh 'Missionary Chronicle,' 1797) followed him on 19 July 1772.
During Bruce's life his ballad of 'Sir James the Ross' was printed in a newspaper His 'Lochleven,' his 'Pastoral Song,' and his song 'Lochleven' no more (in both of which Peggy is Magdalene Grieve) appeared in the 'Edinburgh Magazine.' At the time of his death, John Logan his class fellow, then tutor in the family of Sir John Sinclair, undertook to bring out a volume of his friend's poems, and for this purpose got possession of most of Bruce's manuscripts, consisting of poems and letters, and especially a quarto volume into which, in his last illness he had transcribed his poems. Not till 1770 did Logan issue the small volume of 'Poems on several Occasions, by Michael Bruce,' Edinburgh 12mo, prefixing a very well written biographical preface. It contains but seventeen pieces, including some by different authors; 'the only other author ever specified by Logan was Sir John Foulis, bart., to whom the Vernal Ode is ascribed by Dr Anderson' (Grosart). Pearson maintains that the whole contents of the volume were known to him as Bruce's except this ode, the 'Ode to the Fountain,' 'Ode to Paoli,' 'Chorus of Elysian Bards,' and 'Danish Odes.' Moreover to Bruce's companions the volume appeared strangely defective. His father at once said 'Where are my son's Gospel sonnets?' He went to Edinburgh for the manuscripts and got some of the papers but never recovered the aforesaid quarto. The chagrin hastened the old man's death. In the 'Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement' of 5 May 1774 the 'Ode to the Cuckoo' from the 1770 book, appears as a contribution signed 'R.D.;' in the next number the piracy is exposed and the real initials of the thief are said to be 'B.M.' A charming paper in the 'Mirror' (No. 36, Saturday, 29 May 1779, signed 'P.,' and ascribed to William Craig, one of the lords of session drew public attention to Bruce's genius, as exhibited in the 1770 volume. Two years later Logan published 'Poems, by the Rev. Mr. Logan, one of the ministers of Leith,' 1781, 8vo. The first piece in this volume is the 'Ode to the Cuckoo,' with a few verbal changes from the 1770 issue; at the end are nine hymns, the first and fifth being revisions of hymns already in print. All these hymns and adaptations are claimed for Bruce by his brother James, who says he had heard them repeated. The Scottish kirk adopted them into its 'Paraphrases' in 1781, and from this source they have been introduced into innumerable hymn-books. With regard to the 'Ode to the Cuckoo' on which the controversy mainly turns, there is an accumulation of evidence. Bruce writes that he had composed a 'poem about a gowk.' A copy of the ode in Bruce's handwriting is said to have been seen by Dr. Davidson of Kinross, and by Principal Baird of Edinburgh. Pearson affirms that Alexander Bruce read the poem aloud from his son’s quarto book, a few days after Michae1’s dleath. It was never seen in Logan’s handwriting before 1767, the year in which he obtained Bruce’s manuscripts. After publishing his own volume, Logan in 1781-2 tried to prevent by law a reprint of the 1770 book ; but it was reprinted at Edinburgh for a Stirling bookseller in 1782. It was reprinted in 1784, 1796, and 1807. Against Logan it is urged that his posthumously published sermons (1790-1) show plagiarisms; and that he claimed as his own (using them as candidate for a chair at Edinburgh) a course of lectures afterwards published in his lifetime by Dr. W. Rutherford. The vindication of Bruce‘s authorship of the contested poems and hymns was ably undertaken by William Mackelvie, D.D., of Balgedie, in his ‘Lochleven and other Poems, by Michael Bruce; with Life of the Author from original sources,’ Edinburgh, 1837, 8vo, and has been further pursued bythe Rev. Dr. Grosart, in his edition of Bruce’s ‘Works,’ 1865, 8vo, with memoir and notes. On the other hand, the claim of Logan is advocated in David Laing's ‘Ode to the Cuckoo, with remarks on its authorship, &c.,’ 1873 (privately printed). A strong point is that the Rev. Thomas Robertson, minister of Dalmeny, writes to Baird on 22 Feb. 1791, saying that he and Logan had looked over the manuscripts of Bruce together; and the cuckoo ode is not among those he identifies as Bruce's. In the article ‘Michael Bruce’ in the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’ (ninth edition, 1876, iv. 393) stress is laid on the admission of Logan's author-ship of the ‘Ode to the Cuckoo’ by Isaac D’Israeli, Thomas Campbell, Robert Chambers, and David Laing The writer erroneously supposes that Bruce’s title to this ode was first (after Logan’s claim) brought forward by Mackelvie. The letters of Pearson (29 Aug. 1795) and Joseph Birrel (31 Aug. 1795), claiming the ode for Bruce, are given by Anderson in his life of Logan (1795). Later defences of Logan`s claim will be found in the ‘Brit. and For. Evangelical Review,' 1877 and 1878, articles by John Small, M.A. reprinted separately) and Rev. R. Small. It is not easy to relieve Logan of the charge of having appropriated Bruce’s poem; at the same time his alterations, so for as they can be traced, appear to be improvements on the original work.
[Life. by Robert Anderson, M.D., in his British Poets, vol. ix. 1795. pp. 273 sq., 1029 sq., 1221 sq.; Miller’s Our Hymns, their Authors and Origin. 1866, pp. 242 sq., 247 sq.; Shairp, in Good Words, November 1873 ; authorities cited above.]
--------------------