Sweet William- Evilsizer (MI) 1934 Gardner
[From: Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan by Gardiner and Chickering; 1939. Their notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
5 SWEET WILLIAM AND LADY MARGARET
(Fair Margaret and Sweet William, Child, No. 74)
This widely disseminated ballad is quoted in Act II, Scene 8, and in Act III, Scene 5, of Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle (1610). The Michigan version is a marked composite, containing many details which occur only in variants from localities widely removed from one another. In general it is most similar to Child B, although it has something in common with A and C. For additional forms and discussion see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 134-139; Cox, pp 65-77; Davis, pp. 221-239; Eddy, No. 8, Flanders and Brown, pp. 213-214; Mackenzie, pp. 25-26, Scarborough, pp. 103-105; and Sharp, I, 132-145. The present version was sung in 1934 by Mr. Otis Evilsizer, Alger.
1 O 'twas on one merry May morning
Sweet William arose all dressed in blue.
"O it's tell me that long, long love
That's between Lady Marg'ret and you."
2 "O I know no harm of her," says he,
"And I hope that she knows none of me,
For tomorrow morning by eight o'clock
Lady Marg'ret my bride shall be."
3 As she was standing in her hall,
A-combing back her hair,
It was there that she spied Sweet William and his bride,
As to the churchyard they drew nigh.
4 O it's down she threw her ivory comb,
And with silk she tied up her hair;
And out of the hall this fair damsel went
And nevermore was seen there.
5 As the day was gone and the night came on,
. . . .
Lady Marg'ret's ghost appeared alone
A-standing at Willie's bed feet.
6 "O it's how do you like your bed?" said she,
"And it's how do you like your sheet?
And it's how do you like that gay lady
That lies in your arms asleep?"
7 "O it's well do I like my bed," said he,
"And it's well do I like my sheet;
But the best of all is that gay lady
That stands at my bed feet."
8 When the night was gone and day came on,
. . . .
Sweet William he said he was troubled in his head
From a dream that he had last night.
9 "Such dreams, such dreams,
I fear they are not good,
For I dreamed that my hall was all full of wild swine,
And my bride's bed was swimming in blood."
10 "Go call up your merry maidens all,
By one, by two, by three;
And last of all bring my own dear bride,
That Lady Marg'ret we may go and see.
11 "O is she in her own bowery?
Or is she in her hall?
Or is she in her own bay coach
With her merry maidens all?"
12 "O she's not in her own bowery,
Nor is she in her hall;
But she is in her own coffin
Lying out against the wall."
13 "Take down those sheets, those sheets," cried he,
"Made out o£ your silk so fine,
That I may kiss those clay-cold lips,
For ofttimes they've kissed mine.
14 "Take down those sheets, those sheets," he cried,
"Made of your Holland so fine,
For today they are over Lady Marg'ret's corpse,
And tomorrow they'll be over mine."
15 Lady Marg'ret she died as it might be today;
Sweet William he died as tomorrow.
Lady Marg'ret she died of a pure, pure love;
Sweet William he died of sorrow.
16 Lady Marg'ret was buried under a rose
Sweet William in under a willow;
And they both grew tall, and they both grew together,
And they tied in a true lover's knot