Rich Lady from London- Hart (VA) 1921 Davis A
[Davis: Traditional Ballads of Virginia; 1925; Davis defers to Sharp and classifies these ballads as version of 295 "The Brown Girl." The problem is he and John Stone name all the versions "The Brown Girl" although there is no "brown girl" in the ballad and the classification is wrong. At that time (1925) is easy to see why he would go along with Sharp, still we are left with versions titled, 'The Brown Girl." I've changed the title for all such versions. Davis's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
50. THE BROWN GIRL
(Child, No. 295)
The Virginia contribution of eleven texts and three melodies more than doubles the- gleanings of this ballad in America. For other American items, see Barry, No. 19 (and melody from Vermont in Journal XVIII, 295; and Campbell and Sharp, No. 36 (six texts and five tunes from North Carolina and Virginia). The Virginia items are reported in Bulletin, Nos. 5, 7, 8, 9,
11. One fragment of this ballad combined with "The Death of Queen Jane" (Child, No. 170) was not reported in the Bulletin but appears as Virginia, No. 35, which see.
The Virginia variants A to J seem to belong to a single version of the ballad, one that has little in common with either of the Child versions, though its phraseology is occasionally reminiscent of Child B, not of A. The Campbell and Sharp texts A to F represent the same version, which we may therefore call the usual American version. In it the girl is no longer brown, and the
lovers have exchanged positions; the man is now the proud one who, once scorned, will not forgive and thus save the life of the sick girl, upon whose grave he will rather dance. These essential changes and others mutt be made in Child's summary, which runs thus: "A young man who has been attached to a girl sends her word by letter that he cannot fancy her because
she is so brown (he has left her for another maid in B). She sends a disdainful reply, He writes again that he is dangerously ill (he is love-sick in B), and begs her to come to him quickly and give him back his faith. She takes her time in going, and when she comes to the sick man's bedside, cannot stand for laughing. She has, however, brought a white band with her, which she
strokes on his breast, in sign that she gives him back the faith which he had given her. But as to forgiving and forgetting, that she will never do; she will dance upon his grave." The Virginia version of the unrelenting male lover over-cruel to the dying Sally because she has rejected him is certainly less moving and less grateful than the picture of the proud brown girl who
refuses the death-bed advances of her once scornful lover. The name Sally or Sarah gives place once to Marthy, in Virginia F.
The style of the Virginia ballad shows unmistakably the influence ol the broadside-press.
Indeed, it is with some hesitation that these texts have been definitely assigned to "The Brown Girl." But if they are not strictly a version of that ballad, they may well be, and almost certainly are, founded on "The Brown Girl " or perverted from it. Hence, and also following the authority of Campbell and Sharp, they are printed here as variants of the ballad rather
than as appendices to it.
A. [Rich Lady from London] "The Brown Girl." Collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mr. George Hart, of Konnarock, Va. Washington County. November 8, 1921. "Mr. Hart learned it from his sister years ago. He sang seventeen ballads for me. We sat under a tree in the mountains for nearly six hours without getting out of our seats, while he sang and recited ballads and I copied them" (Mr. Stone).
1 There was a rich lady, from London she came,
She called herself Sally, pretty Sally, by name.
Her riches was more than the king doth possess,
Yet her beauty was more than her wealth at the best.
2 There was a young gentleman, a rich merchant's son,
And the least of his income was five hundred pound;
He was tangled in love and he knew not for why,
'T was on this fair damsel could scarce cast an eye.
3 "I don't scorn for to hate you or any other man,
But as for to love you, it's more than I can,
So drop your intentions and end your discourse,
For I never will marry you, at least ways I'm forced."
4 Six months had rolled around, full six months had passed,
Till this fair young damsel proved sick at the last.
She was tangled in love and she knew not for why,
She sends for this young man she once did deny.
5 "Am I the doctor you sent for so sly
Or am I the young man you once did deny?"
"O you are the doctor can kill or can cure,
And without your assistance, I'm ruined, I'm sure."
6 "O Sally, O Sally, pretty Sally," says he,
"O don't you remember when you slighted me,
You laughed at my courtship, you have slighted me with scorn,
And now I'll reward you for things past and gone."
7 "For things past and gone, love, forget and forgive,
And grant me some longer in this world to live."
"I never will forgive you, enduring of my breath,
But I'll dance on your grave when you are laid in the earth."
8 So off her finger she pulled a gold ring,
Saying, "Take this and wear it while dancing on me."
"Your ring I'll deny, and your body I'll disdain,
So now I will leave you in sorrow and pain."