Sun Shines Fair on Carlisle Wall- Gilpin; 1866
"The Sun Shines Fair on Carlisle Wall" appears without attribution in Sidney Gilpin's Songs and Ballads of Cumberland, 1866, with the following heading:
This fine old ballad was known to Sir Walter Scott in childhood, and is quoted by him in Albert Graeme's song in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel." Many copies of it exist, to which different burdens are attached. How quaintly and delicately has the old minstrel expressed the incidents revealed in this tragedy.
This song is based on Sir Walter Scott's poem It was an English Ladye Bright. It was reprinted in Henry W. Longfellow, ed., Poems of Places (England I), [1876], pp. 126-128. Linda Adams' version of 'Sun Shines Fair' is available on CD: Various Artists 'Ballads' Fellside FECD110. Adams learned it from one of her schoolteachers, an Ann Dickens. Where Ms. Dickens got it is not known.
THE SUN SHINES FAIR ON CARLISLE WALL- Sidney Gilpin's Songs and Ballads of Cumberland 1866
SHE leaned her head against a thorn,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa';
And there she has her young babe born,
And the lyon shall be lord of a'.
"Smile no sae sweet, my bonnie babe,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa';
An ye smile sae sweet ye'll smile me dead,"
And the lyon shall be lord of a'.
She's howket a grave by the light o' the moon,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa';
And there she's buried her sweet babe in,
And the lyon shall be lord of a'.
As she was going to the church,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa';
She saw a sweet babe in the porch,
And the lyon shall be lord of a'.
"O bonnie babe, an ye were mine,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa';
I'd clead you in silk and sabelline,"--
And the lyon shall be lord of a'.
"O mother mine, when I was thine,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa';
To me ye were na half sae kind,
And the lyon shall be lord of a'.
"But now I'm in the heavens hie,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa';
And ye have the pains of hell to dree"--
And the lyon shall be lord of a'.
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Walter Scott based his It was an English Ladye Bright, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel, on it:
It was an English Ladye Bright- Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
1 It was an English ladye bright,
2 (The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall,)
3 And she would marry a Scottish knight,
4 For Love will still be lord of all.
5 Blithely they saw the rising sun
6 When he shone fair on Carlisle wall;
7 But they were sad ere day was done,
8 Though Love was still the lord of all.
9 Her sire gave brooch and jewel fine,
10 Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall;
11 Her brother gave but a flask of wine,
12 For ire that Love was lord of all.
13For she had lands both meadow and lea,
14 Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall,
15And he swore her death, ere he would see
16 A Scottish knight the lord of all.
17 That wine she had not tasted well
18 (The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall,)
19 When dead, in her true love's arms, she fell,
20 For Love was still the lord of all!
21He pierced her brother to the heart,
22 Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall:--
23So perish all would true love part
24 That Love may still be lord of all!
25And then he took the cross divine,
26 Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall,
27And died for her sake in Palestine;
28 So Love was still the lord of all.
29Now all ye lovers, that faithful prove,
30 (The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall,)
31Pray for their souls who died for love,
32 For Love shall still be lord of all!
Notes
1] This ballad is taken from "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" (1805); it is represented as sung at the wedding festivities by Albert Graeme:
"And first stept forth old Albert Graeme,
he minstrel of that ancient name:
Was none who struck the harp so well,
Within the Land Debateable;
Well friended too, his hardy kin,
Whoever lost, were sure to win;
They sought the beeves that made their broth,
In Scotland and in England both.
In homely guise, as nature bade,
His simple song the Borderer said."
Scott says the residence of the Graemes was chiefly in the Debateable Land, so called because it was claimed by both kingdoms. The ballad imitates the simple minstrelsy of the Border and the burden, according to the author, is derived from an old Scottish song beginning--
"She lean'd her back against a thorn,
The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa':
And there she has her young babe born
And the lyon shall be lord of a'."