The Child Ballads from England and Wales in JMCC
The Child Ballads from England and Wales in the James Madison Carpenter Collection
David Atkinson
Folk Music Journal, Vol. 7, No. 4, Special Issue on the James Madison CarpenterCollection (1998), pp. 434-449
The Child Ballads from England and Wales in the James Madison Carpenter Collection
DAVID ATKINSON
James M adison C arpenter br ought the a cademic leg acy o f Francis Ja mesC hild t o bear upon folksong co llecting in England, an dp lacedC hildb alladsfroEmn glandan d Walesa longside
thosefromS cotlanadn dA mencaT. heb alladsfromEn glanda nd Walesi n the Carpenter
Collectioanr ed essnbeadn dt hei mportanocfe t heC ollectiotno thes tudyo f traditionsaoln g
andb alladriyn Englanids outlinedS.o med f ferenvte rsionosf a singleb alladty pec ollectebdy
Carpentienr E nglanadr eb rieflcyo mpared.
ON A TYPEWRITTESNH EETin his CollectionJ, amesM adisonC arpenteerl aborated
uponh is claimt hath is plannedb ut neverp ublisheded itiono f'Britisha ndA merican
TraditionaBla lladsw' ouldb e 'them ostv aluablceo llectiono f Childb alladws itht unes
everp ublished'.Al mongo thert hings,h e specificallmy entionedth ati t wouldb e the
only traditionaclo llectiont o includeb oth Britisha nd Americanv ersionso f Child
balladst:h e former' collectedd uringf ortyt housandm ileso f travelt hroughB ritain,
placinsgi deb ys idev ersionsfroLman d'Es ndt oJohno Groats('e mphasiasd ded)t;h e latter
collectedf romn ineS outhernst atesI. n fact,n ot onlyh adB ritisha ndA mericanb allads
not been printedt ogethers inceF ranciJsa mesC hild'ss tandaredd itiono f Ne English
andS cottisPho pulaBr alladsb,2u t neitherh adb alladcs ollectedf roms ingingi n England
andW alesb eenp laceda longsideth osef romS cotlandC. arpenterE'sn glishb alladas re
primarilfyr omt he southm idlandasn dC omwallw, ith a few fromo therp lacest;h ese
lasta rem ostlyf roms hantys ingersin seaportsa, s area ll the balladfsr omW ales.
The particulaart tentionth atC arpentegra vet o the Childb alladiss scarcelysu rprising.
He was, aftera ll, workingu ndert he auspiceso f Harvardw, hereF ranciJsa mes
Childh ads pentv irtuallyth e wholeo f his academilci fe,a ndh e hadt he actives upport
of Child'sd esignatedsu ccessorG, eorgeL ymanK ittredge[3].C hild'sw ork svitht he
balladsa, ndt he long-runnindg ebatea boutb allado riginst hatf ollowedh is death,h ad
provideda focus for ideasa boutn ativec ulturea nd nationali dentity,a ll of which
servedt o ensurea privilegedp lacef or the balladisn the developmenotf an American
theoryo f folklore.4It alsol ent a scholarlyc astt o the activityo f folksongc ollecting
in North Americaa, nd a glancea t the publishedc ollectionsw ill regularlyfi nd the
Childb alladgs roupedt ogethera t the beginninga, s in the placeo f honour.
In England,o n the other hand, the Child balladsw ere much less obviously
privilegedb y the earlyc ollectors, even though C ecil Sharp e specially w as i nfluenced
by Child's ideas. C hild himself had been suppliedw ith copieso f balladsc ollected
directlyf roms ingersb y SabineB aring-Gouldb,u t he mades omewhate rraticu se of
thism atenala, ndt he traditiono f ballads ingingin Englandis onlys parselrye presented
in 7XeE nglisha ndS cottisPho pulaBr allads.Ns ot leastb ecauset he revivalo f interesitn
Scottish singing traditions began a century before its English counterpart, Child's
edition, its title notwithstanding, is dominated by Scottish ballads.[6] Carpenter was
arguablyt he firstt o bring the academicl egacy of Child directlyt o bearu pon folksong
collecting in England and, even though the majority of his ballads are from Scotland,
his attention to Child balladsf rom Englanda nd Wales distinguishesh is work from
that of his English predecessorsa, nd even to a degree from that of Child himself.
The present brief survey of the ballad texts from England and Wales concentrates
upon the material which Carpenter evidently intended to go into his 'British and
AmericanT raditionaBl allads',w hich is included on Reels 4-7 of the microfilmc opy
of the Carpenter Collection.7 Given the unfinished state of this projected ballad
edition, the unedited state of the Carpenter Collection as a whole, and the necessity
of relying on microfilmed materials, it is not at present possible to provide much
more than a preliminary discussion of the ballads and some indication of lines of
enquiry which may prove fruitful. On Microfilm Reel 4 are texts of Child ballads,
mostly from Scotland, England, and Wales, with the different versions of each mostly
groupedt ogether and the balladsa rrangedin alphabeticaol rderb y their generic titles
(which are not always Child's titles, however). The ballad texts are largely typewritten,
but they are frequently a ltered by hand. These texts have the appearanceo f rough
draftsa nd they may representt he actual t ypescripts C arpentert ook down in the field
from his informants'd ictation.I n some cases,o ther titles, some of which may be the
informants'o wn, are given along with the genericb alladt itle. The informantsn' ames
and addressesa re given at the top of the text, along with snippetso f other contextual
information about their ballad versions, such as who they were learned from, or the
fact that the singer never saw a copy in print; some of this contextual information,
however, is crossed through by hand. There are also a number of ballad texts copied
from printed or manuscript sources (including Scottish material collected by the
Reverend James B. Duncan and Gavin Greig, and English texts from various sources
including the Journal of the Folk-Song Society).
On Microfilm Reels 5 and 6 are fair copies of the ballad texts. They include most
but not all of the ballad texts from Microfilm Reel 4 and incorporate the handwritten
alterations; there are also some additional texts, notably ballads collected later in
America. However, the contextual information crossed through on Microfilm Reel
4, and also a few of the texts, are omitted. On Microfilm Reel 7 are transcriptions
of ballad tunes, often with more than just one stanza of the words but usually with
no other information than the singer's name. These include many of the tunes to the
texts on Microfilm Reels 4 and 5-6, as well as a number of tune transcriptionfso r
which there are no typewritten texts. Elsewhere in the Carpenter Collection there
are a very few additional ballads, along with further copies of ballad texts and tunes,
more balladsf rom printeds ources,a nd variousn otes aboutb allads.S ome of the ballads
are also to be found as sound recordings, although it is not always possible to know
who is singing them.
Table 1 lists Carpenter'sb alladsf rom England a nd Wales, and the informants f or
each of them. Table 2 lists the informants and their ballads; variant titles; addresses
and other pieces of information, including details crossed through but still legible on
Microfilm Reel 4; tune transcription(sw ith text); sound recordings,w here they are
readily identifiable by the singer's name; the places where a few of the ballad versions
have been reprinted; and some known and possible connections between the informants
and other song collectors. The information presented in Tables 1 and 2 is
The Elfin Knight
(King Ethelred and Cheeld-Vean)
Jim Thomas MS.,
14 Union Street,
Cambome, Cornwall,
England
[In the days when the Saxon Kings invaded England,
each one taking up their his sections for to rule
Ethelred farther north, Diddi*mus?Mhe?r e in Comwall,
The King Approached a cheeld-vean-(Little child) and said:]
(King Ethelred)
'Good morning, fair maid'.
'Good morning, Sir', she said. [Edgar,
'Can you make a shirt without a needle? Ethelred]
'Can you sew without a seam?
Can you wash in a well where the water never stream?
'Can you dry in a hedge where the sun never shine?'
(Cheeld-Vean)
'Yes, Kind Sir, that I can.
'Can you plough with a ram's hom
And harve with a bushy thome?
'Saw it with a pepper dredge
In a field without a hedge?
'Then maw it with a sheepshiers
And bind it up in seven years?
'And mow it in a mouse's hole,
And thrash it with a shoesole?
'Do it all and not complain;
Then come to me again
'And you shall have your shirt made'.
Figure 1
'King Ethelred and Cheeld-Vean', Jim Thomas's version of 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2)
Courtesy o f the James M adison C arpenter Collection, Archive o f Folk Culture, AmericanF olklifeC enter, Libraryo f Congress
conflated from Microfilm Reels 4-7, occasionally supplemented with information
from elsewhere in the Collection. Some of Carpenter'se rrorso ver names and geography
have been silently corrected. Two of the ballads are reproduced in Figures 1
and 2.
It has to be acknowledgedt hat uncertaintys till surroundst he provenanceo f some
of the ballads in the Carpenter Collection.[8] For the present, though, Tables 1 and 2
list seventeen Child ballads( i.e. ballad,' types', each with a separaten umber in The
Englisha nd ScottishP opularB allads)p, lus 'The Holy Well' and 'The Bitter Withy'.[9]
There are some seventy-three individual ballad texts and/or tunes (i.e. ballad
'versions'), f rom some fifty-one different i nformants.[10] A few comparative fi gures m ay
be useful here. There are 305 Child ballad types in all, and tunes to forty-six of them are printedi n TheE nglisha nd ScottishP opularB alladsC. arpenter'so wnvf iguresf or his
British and American ballads are 123 ballad types, with tunes to 114 of them, and
from Scotland, England, and Wales, 116 ballad types, with tunes to 107 of them.'1
The ballads from Scotland, England, and Wales comprise 611 separate texts and 788
The Maid to the Gallows
William Titchener,
Station Road,
Stanfordin the Vale,
England.
Learnedf rom singersi n the village.
'Ragaman, Jagaman, stay a while,
O stay for all thee sorrow,
For I think I see my own truelove
Come tripplin over the stile.
'O love, 0 love, has thee brought any gold?
Or any white money to set me free?
Or b'ist thee come to see me hung
All on the high gallows tree?'
'O love, 0 love, I've brought thee no gold,
Nor any white money to set thee free,
But I'm afraid I'm come to see thee hung
On the high gallows tree'.
The briar, the briar, the prickley briar
That pricked my heart so sore, 0.
If I ever get out of the prickley briar,
I'll never get in it no more.
'Ragaman, Jagaman, stay a while,
An' stay for all thee sorrow,
For I think I see my own dear father
Come tripplin over the stile.
'O father, 0 father, hast tee [sic-DA] brought me gold?
Or any white money to set me free?
Or b'ist thee come to see me hung
On the high gallows tree?'
'O son, 0 son, I've brought thee gold
An' some white money to set thee free,
For I've not come to see thee hung
All on the high gallows tree'.
Figure 2
William Titchener's version of 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' (Child 95)
Courtesyo f theJamesM adisonC arpenteCr ollectionA, rchiveo f Folk CultureA, mericanF olklifeC enterL, ibraryo f Congress
tunes, and come from aroundt wo hundredd ifferenti nformants.[12] T here aret herefore
many more ballads from Scotland than from England and Wales. On the other hand,
the numbero f differenti nformantsp oints to a fairb readtho f ballads ingingi n England
and Wales, and several of them gave Carpenter other songs as well.[13] Tables 1 and 2
list the ballads and their singers.
The Child balladsi n the CarpenterC ollection are not unrepresentativoe f what
is now known about ballad singing in England, in spite of the relatively small size of
his sample in comparison with, say, Cecil Sharp's collecting. Some 360 versions of
forty-seven Child ballad types are indexed to Sharp'sE nglish manuscripts.'4'L ady
Isabel and the Elf-Knight' ('The Outlandish Knight') (Child 4), 'The Broomfield
Hill' (Child 43), 'Young Beichan' ('Lord Bateman') (Child 53), 'The Unquiet Grave'
(Child 78), 'Bonny BarbaraA llan' (Child 84), 'The BaffledK night' (Child 112), 'The
Gypsy Laddie' (Child 200), and 'The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)' (Child
Table 1
Ballads from England and Wales in the Carpenter Collection
BALLAD SINGERS
'The Elfin Knight' W. Belcher
(Child 2) Jim Cox
Daniel Fisher
Edward Newitt
Daniel Price
Jim Thomas
'Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight William Buder
(Child 4) William Hands
[under the tide 'Fause Sir John' in the William Newman
Carpenter Collection] Sarah Phelps
'The Three Ravens' George Cook
(Child 26)
[under the tide 'The Twa Corbies' in the
Carpenter Collection]
'The Broomfield Hill' Arthur Nightingale
(Child 43) Sarah Phelps
William Titchener
'Young Beichan' Sam Bennett
(Child 53)
['Lord Bateman' is under this tide in the
Carpenter Collection]
'The Cherry-Tree Carol' Mrs E. Heather
(Child 54) Tom Miners
Henry Thomas
Jim Thomas
Bessie Wallace
'Lady Maisry' Arthur Nightingale
(Child 65) Mrs Arthur Nightingale
'Lord Lovel' Sam Bennett
(Child 75)
'The Unquiet Grave' Thomas Clappem
(Child 78) George Giles
Arthur Nightingale
Sarah Phelps
Charles Rose
Jack Rose
Tom Tanner
'Bonny Barbara Allan' Sam Bennett
(Child 84) Thomas Bunting
Mrs Cobb
J. Price
Charles Terry
H. L. Terry
Richard Terry
'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' William Butler
(Child 95) A mummer from Chadlington
William Titchener
Bessie Wallace
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The ChildB alladsfromE nglanda nd Wales 439
Table 1. Continued
BALLAD SINGERS
'The Baffled Knight' Sam Bennett
(Child 112) William Fender
Mark Page
David Price
'The Gypsy Laddie' Herbert Blades
(Child 200) Joseph Bound
George Giles
William Hands
Harry Wiltshire
'Our Goodman' William Alder
(Child 274) Sam Bennett
Pub singers,B ampton
H. L. Terry
Richard Terry
Jim Thomas
Bessie Wallace
'The Farmer's Curst Wife' James Garricy
(Child 278) Thomas Hunt
Pub singers,B ampton
Richard Warner
'The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)' William Fender
(Child 286) W. Rennie
Richard Warner
('Captain Ward and the Rainbow' [Child 287]) J. Price
['As We Were A-Sailing', not the Child ballad]
'The Mermaid' Thomas Ginovan
(Child 289)
'The Holy Well' Phyllis Berryman
Miss L. Blamey
Sam Heather
Littleg irl singers,P raze
Maude Reynolds
Sidney Veal
'The Bitter Withy' Mrs H. Coffins
[Sidney] Veal
286), which were all collected by Carpenter, all feature among Sharp's top ten Child
ballad types for numbers of versions collected. A cumulative listing from indexes to
the six manuscript collections of Sharp, George B. Gardiner, the Hammond brothers,
Clive Carey, Percy Grainger, and Frank Kidson gives some 687 versions of sixtythree
Child ballad types. Sixteen of Carpenter's seventeen Child ballad types occur
among thirty types for which there are seven or more versions in this cumulative
listing.
Unsurprisingly, romantic and tragic themes predominate among the ballads Carpenter
collected in England and Wales, as indeed they do in The English and Scottish PopularB allads.' The OutlandishK night' is possibly the most common Child ballad
in England,c losely followed by 'Bonny BarbaraA llan' and the revenantb allad' The
Unquiet Grave'. Comic balladsa re representedb y 'Our Goodman' (Child 274) and
'The Farmer'sC urstW ife' (Child 278). Carpenterc ollectedv ersionso f 'The Farmer's
Curst Wife' which are adapted to a shanty form with a 'Blow the man down' refrain.
He also found a somewhat nautical version of 'The Baffled Knight', in which the
male characteris 'a sailor,/Witha true seaman'sa ir', and shantys ingersg ave him 'The
Golden Vanity' and 'The Mermaid' (Child 289). These ballads from seaports may be
thought of as sharings omething of the internationasl tatuso f shanties.
A typescript essay by Carpenter on 'Christmas Mummers and Cornish Carols',
which referst o the mixtureo f Christiana ndp re-Christiantr aditionst o be encountered
in Cornwall,m ay suggesth e had a particularin teresti n a quasi-Christians,u pernatural
group of ballads.'5 Here Carpenter discusses 'The Elfin Knight' alongside 'The Bitter
Withy', 'The Holy Well', 'The Cherry-Tree Carol' (Child 54), 'Dives and Lazarus'
(Child 56), and 'The Camal and the Crane' ('King Herod and the Cock') (Child 55).
In fact, the whole group of balladsb asedo n Christianl egendsa rguablyh as a particular
association with England. Carpenter collected 'The Cherry-Tree Carol', 'The Holy
Well' (which appears only ever to have been collected in England) and 'The Bitter
Withy' in Cornwall, but not 'The Carnal and the Crane' or 'Dives and Lazarus'.
Another common English ballad is 'The Elfin Knight', a 'riddle' or 'wit combat'
ballad,w hich is perhapsb est known as 'ScarboroughF air'o r as the seeminglyn earnonsense
song 'An Acre of Land'. In Cornwall, however, Carpenter came across a
remarkablev ersion entitled 'King Ethelreda nd Cheeld-Vean' (Figure1 ).16 This text
retainsa confrontationasl tructureb ased aroundg ender and power differences,a s in
'ScarboroughF air'a nd other wit combatb allads,b ut here the female characteris said
to be a little child ('cheeld-vean').'7 She not only says that she is able to carry out
the seemingly impossible tasks set by the king, but also counters them by setting some
of her own. Carpenter'st ypescripts eems to suggestt hat this is an adaptationo f the
ballad to a local legend, which perhapst ook the form of a chantefablae,l though a
glance at collections of Cornish folklore has not provided any analogues.
Carpenter,t hen, came acrossa varieda nd fairlyr epresentativep arto f the English
tradition of ballad singing. While such an observation poses questions way beyond
the scope of the present discussion-touching, for instance, on the concept of
'Englishnesso' n the one hand, and on the significanceo f balladrya s an aesthetica nd
culturalc ategoryo n the other- Carpenter'sw ork could indirectlyb e creditedw ith
raising them.18 For the first time since Child, and arguably even for the first time
altogether, his Collection places ballads from oral tradition in England alongside their
Scottish counterparts, and the post-Child, American academic perspective that
Carpenter brought to bear upon his fieldwork resulted in a collection that discloses
a patterni n traditionasl inging that had not previouslyb een made properlya pparent.
All the same, Carpenter's collecting was not completely unconnected with that
of his English predecessorsa, nd he may have consciouslyf ollowed in their footsteps
and sought out some of their informants. The south midlands area had already been
visited by Cecil Sharp, Percy Grainger and Alfred Williams earlier in the century,
and Peter Kennedy collected there in the 1950s. Williams had previously collected
'The GypsyL addie'f rom George Giles at Filkins.A t Bampton,C arpenter'isn formant
Harry Wiltshire had learned 'The Gypsy Laddie' some fifty years previously from
Shadrach ('Shepherd') Hayden, from whom both Sharp and Williams had collected
this same ballad. Among the most celebrated of Carpenter's English singers was Sam
Bennett of Ilmington, who was also a Cotswold morris fiddler. Phonograph recordings
of some of his fiddle tunes and a couple of songs were made by Grainger; Sharp
collected songs and tunes from him and, when Kennedy recorded him again, he sang
a song under the title 'Blow Away the Moming Dew' (though it is seemingly rather
different from 'The Baffled Knight' collected by Carpenter).
Sharp had already collected shanties in Bristol but Carpenter seems to have been
more or less the first to collect in Cardiff and Barry Docks. Tom Miners sent songs
from the west of Cornwall to Sharp, who also collected in the area in person, taking
down 'The Holy Well' from Sam Heather and Sidney Veale (sic) and 'The Cherry-
Tree Carol' from Jim Thomas. Miners continued collecting in collaboration with
H. E. Piggott and J. E. Thomas, and published songs from James (presumably Jim)
Thomas. The Cornish collector Ralph Dunstan also had 'Our Goodman' from Jim
Thomas, though Carpenter himself seems to have had his ballads from a manuscript
of Jim Thomas's (the present whereabouts or even existence of which appears to be
unknown), and may not have collected from him in person. However, another of
his informants, Bessie Wallace, was Jim Thomas's granddaughter and learned songs
from him. It looks very much as if Jim Thomas was well known as a local singer
who, along with Tom Miners, may have been an important link in the dissemination
and recovery of songs in the Camborne area.
One thing that the Carpenter Collection emphasises is the substantial scope that
remains for investigating the networks of collectors and informants that run through
the English folksong revival from its very beginning. Another area for research is into
the transmission of particular songs that have been collected on more than one occasion.
According to handwritten notes, after Carpenter had collected six stanzas of
'The Holy Well' from Sidney Veal, he read him the ten-stanza version that Sharp
had collected from him in 1913; he firmly denied ever having known it and insisted,
'These six verses are all I ever knew of "The Holy Well" .[19] Another sort of comparison
is exemplified by the nine stanzas of 'Lady Maisry' known by Mrs Arthur Nightingale
and the five known by her husband; they were sung to different tunes and look
very much as if they were learned independently.[20]
Carpenter's collection of English ballads is not only in some degree representative
but also includes some individually very interesting versions. While the constraints of
space prohibit full discussion, it is worth briefly looking at his texts of a single ballad
type, 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' (Child 95). This has been the subject of
an extensive comparative study by Eleanor Long, which assists the identification both
of characteristic and of more unusual features in the texts collected by Carpenter.[21]
William Titchener's version (Figure 2) begins with a seemingly unique initial address,
to 'Ragaman, Jagaman', followed by an equally (and grammatically) obscure injunction,
'stay for all thee sorrow', in the second line.[22] In the fourth line the dialect
word 'tripplin' replaces a more mundane participle such as 'coming'.[23] The phrase
'white money', to ransom the prisoner, also seems worthy of note. Most remarkable,
though, is the sequence of relatives/friends in this particular version. It is his true love
whom the condemned man sees crossing the stile first, but she has only come to see
him hang; instead it is his father who finally brings the ransom that will save him
from the gallows.[24]
Another version of the ballad, called 'The Prickalalie Tree', collected by Carpenter
from an Oxfordshire mummer, begins with the injunction, 'stop your horse', and the
Table 2
Ballad i nformants fr om Englanda nd Walesi n the CarpenterC ollection
Exceptw here indicated,e ntriesr efert o Carpenter'tsr anscriptionosf the texts of ballads
South Midlands
Alder, William, StationR oad, Stanford-in-the-ValBe,e rkshire( now in Oxfordshire)
* 'Our Goodman' (Child 274) 'The Old Milkin Cow'. Heard in Curragh Camp, Ireland,
nearc lose of SouthA fricanW ar. [+tune transcription]
Belcher, W., Drayton,B erkshire( now in Oxfordshire)
. 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2) 'A Bunch o Green Holly an' Ivy'
Bennett, Sam, Ilmington,W arwickshire
* 'YoungB eichan'( Child5 3)-'Lord Bateman'.[ = tune transcription+;s ound recording]
. 'LordL ovel' (Child 75). Leamedf rom older brotherJ, amesB ennett. [+tune transcription;
+ sound recording]
'BonnyB arbaraA llan'( Child8 4). [ = tune transcription+; soundr ecording]
. 'The BaffledK night'( Child1 12) 'Blow Away the MorningD ew'. Learnedfr omm embers
of family.[ +tune transcription+; soundr ecording]
* 'Our Goodman'( Child2 74). FromJohnG regoryt, he carterf, ifty or sixtyy earsa go. [+ tune
transcription+; soundr ecording]
PercyG raingerc ollecteds ongsa nd fiddlet unesf rom SamB ennett,I lmington,i n 1908.
Cecil Sharpc ollecteds ongsa nd tunesf rom SamB ennett( agedf orty-one),I lmington,i n 1909.
Peter Kennedy collected songs from Sam Bennett, Ilmington, in 1950, including 'Blow Away
the MorningD ew' (SamB ennetta ndC eciliaC ostello, 'Downb y theG reenwooSdid e-i-'o: Songs
s BalladsW: arwicksh&ir eB irmingha[mca ssetteF, SA-60-098,F olktrackRs ecordings,1 975]).
Bunting, Thomas, SherborneG, loucestershirbe,y Burford,O xfordshireA. gamekeeper
'BonnyB arbarAa llan'( Child8 4) 'BarbarAa llen'.L eamedf romf atherJ, amesB unting,s ixty
years ago. [+tune transcription]
Butler, William, Bampton, Oxfordshire
'LadyI sabela nd the Elf-Knight'( Child4 ) 'The OutlandishK night'.[ = tune transcription]
. 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' (Child 95). [= tune transcription]
Clappem, Thomas, 26 Driffield,C irencesterG, loucestershire
. 'The Unquiet Grave' (Child 78) 'Cold Blows the Wind'. Learned from mother, seventy
years ago. [+tune transcription]
Cobb, Mrs, SappertonG, loucestershire
* 'BonnyB arbaraA llan'( Child8 4) 'BarbarAa llan'
Co11ins,M rs H., BroadwayW, orcestershire
. 'The Bitter Withy'. [Text typed as prose, followed by the name of Mrs H. Collins]
Cook, George, Park Street, Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire
. 'The Three Ravens' (Child 26) 'Three Old Crows'. Learned sixty years ago in Station
MorrisbergC, anada( 350 milesf rom Quebec)
Cox, Jim, HamptonfieldsM, inchinhamptonG, loucestershire
* 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2) 'Sing Holly and Ivy'
Fisher, Daniel, Weston, Newbury, Berkshire
. 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2) 'A Bunch of Green Holly and Ivy'. Learned as a lad, from
someone in village, fiEy years ago. Never saw in print
Giles, George, Church House, Filkins, Oxfordshire
* 'The Unquiet Grave' (Child 78) 'Cold Blows the Winter Wind'
. 'The Gypsy Laddie' (Child 200)- 'The Daggle Tailed Gypsies O'. Learned tune from old
streets ingers ixty yearsa go. Never saw in print. [+tune transcription+; sound recording]
Alied Williamsc ollected' The GypsyL addie'( 'The Draggle-TailedG ipsies')( Child2 00) Som
GeorgeG iles,F ilkins( AlfredW illiams,F olk-Songosf theU pperT hame[sL ondon:D uckworth,
1923], pp. 121-22; Williams Colleciion Ox. 260).
Table 2. Continued
Hands, William, Willersey, Gloucestershire
* 'LadyI sabela nd the Elf-Knight'( Child4 )- 'The OutlandishK night'.F romf atherf orty-five
years ago. [+tune transcription]
* 'The GypsyL addie'( Child2 00)- 'Seven GypsyL addies'F. romf athera t ChippingC ampden,
forty-five years ago. [+tune transcription]
'LadyI sabela nd the Elf-Knight'( 'The OutlandishK night')i s reprintedin Roy Palmer,T he
Folkloroef Gloucestersh(iTriev erton:W estcountryB ooks, 1994), pp. 248-50.
Hunt, Thomas, Weald, Bampton, Oxfordshire
* 'The Farmer'Cs urstW ife' (Child2 78). Learneds ixty-fivey earsa go fromo ld singersp, erhaps
his father;m ore likely from drinkersin pubs. [+tune transcription]
A mummer, from ChadlingtonO, xfordshire
* 'The MaidF reedf romt he Gallows'( Child9 5) -'The PrickalaliTe ree'. [+tune transcription]
Newitt, Edward, Oxfordshire
* 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2) -'Green Holly and Ivy'. [+tune transcription]
Newman, William, Stanway Hill, Stanway, Gloucestershire
* 'LadyI sabela nd the Elf-Knight(' Child4 ) -'The OutlandishK night'.L earneda s a boy, fifty
years ago. Tune same as Nightingale
(PercyG raingerc ollecteds ongsf romW illiamN ewman,S tanton,G loucestershirwe,h ich is close
by Stanway, in 1907.)
Nightingale, Arthur, Didbrook, by Winchcombe, Gloucestershire
. 'The Broomfield Hill' (Child 43)
* 'LadyM aisry'( Child6 5). [+tune transcription+;s ound recording]
* 'The UnquietG rave'( Child7 8) 'ColdB lows the WinterW ind'. Learneda t Winchcombe,
fifty/fifty-fivey earsa go. [+tune transcription+; soundr ecording]
Nightingale, Mrs Arthur, Didbrook, Gloucestershire
* 'LadyM aisry'( Child6 5). Learnedfr omm otheri n Didbrook,f iftyy earsa go. [+tune transcription;
+ sound recording]
Phelps, Sarah, 7 Council Houses, Avening, Stroud, Gloucestershire
. 'LadyI sabela nd the Elf-Knight'( Child4 ) -'The OutlandishK night'.L earneda s a girl over
fifty yearsa go; fromm other,a nd neighboursn; everl earnedf romp rint.[ +tune transcription]
. 'The BroomfieldH ill' (Child4 3) 'The Wager'.L earnedfr oms ister,M rsL ong, 90 Pretoria
Road, BordesleyG reen,B irminghamo; ver fortyy earsa go. [+tune transcription]
. 'The Unquiet Grave'( Child7 8)- 'Cold Blows the Wind o'er My True Love'. Learneda s a
girl, over fifty years ago, likely from mother; mother knew the song. [+tune transcription]
'The BroomfieldH ill' ('The Wager')i s reprintedi n Palmer, The Folkloreo f Gloucestershire,
pp. 250-52.
Price, Daniel, [?]
* 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2). [ tune transcription]
Price, David, Oxfordshire
. 'The Baffled Knight' (Child 112) 'Blow Away the Morning Dew'
Price, J., Oddington, near Islip, Oxfordshire
* 'BonnyB arbaraA llan'( Child8 4)- 'BarbarAa llan'.1 934
. 'CaptainW arda nd the Rainbow('[ isted as] Child 287). 1934
The song listeda s 'CaptainW arda nd the Rainbowi's in fact 'As We Were A-Sailing',w hich
can be found in variousp laces,i ncludingT raditionTalu nesA: Collectioonf BalladA irs,e d. by
FrankK idson( Oxford:C has.T aphouse,1 891), pp. 99-100; W. Roy Mackenzie,B alladas nd
Sea SongsfromN ovaS cotia( CambridgeM, A: HarvardU niversityP ress,1 928), pp. 223-24; A
Sailor'sG arlande,d . by John Masefield2, nd edn (London:M ethuen,1 908), pp. 292-93.
Pub singers, Bampton, Oxfordshire
* 'Our Goodman' (Child 274). [ sound recording]
. 'The Farmer'Cs urstW ife' (Child2 78). [=sound recording]
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444 DAVID ATKINSON
Table 2. Continued
Rose, Charles, South Littleton,W orcestershire
* 'The Unquiet Grave' (Child 78). [= tune transcription]
Rose, Jack, [?]
* 'The Unquiet Grave' (Child 78). [ =tune transcription]
Tanner, Tom, CheringtonA, vening,b y Stroud,G loucestershire
* 'The Unquiet Grave' (Child 78). [+tune transcription]
Terry, Charles, Long Compton, Warwickshire
* 'BonnyB arbaraA llan'( Child8 4)- 'BarbarEa llen'. Fromh is father
Terry, H. L., Foxcote Hill, Ilmington,S hipston-on-StourW, arwickshire
* 'Bonny BarbaraA llan' (Child 84)- 'Barbara Allan'. Old shepherdJ, ohn Carter,C ompton
Scorpion, Shipston, 30 years ago; would be ninety if living. [+tune transcription]
* 'Our Goodman' (Child 274)-'My Old Man Came Home Last Night'. From mother, Mrs
G. E. Terry. [+tune transcription]
Terry, Richard, [?]
* 'BonnyB arbaraA llan'( Child8 4). [ soundr ecording]
* 'Our Goodman' (Child 274). [ sound recording]
Titchener, William, StationR oad, Stanford-in-the-ValBe,e rkshire( now in Oxfordshire)
* 'The Broomfield Hill' (Child 43)-'The Wager'. From Charles Clements, the Doctor in
mummers, over forty years ago. [+tune transcription]
* 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' (Child 95). Leamed from singers in the village. [+tune
transcription]
Wiltshire, Harry, Bampton, Oxfordshire
. 'The GypsyL addie'( Child2 00) 'The DaggleT ailedG ypsies'F. romS hadrachH ayden,f ifty
yearsa go. [+tune transcription+;s ound recording]
Cecil Sharp collected songs from Shepherd Shadwick (sic) Ha(y)den (aged eighty-three/four;
eighty-nine), Bampton, in 1909, 1910, and 1914, including 'The Gypsy Laddie' ('Wraggle
Taggle Gipsies') (Child 200) and 'Young Beichan' ('Lord Bateman') (Child 53) (Sharp
MSS 2308/2103-04, 2371/-).
Cecil Sharpc ollecteda song fromM rsW iltshireg, randdaughter-in-laowf ShadwickH aden,i n
1914 (SharpM SS2 943/-).
Alfred Williams collected songs from Shadrach Haydon (sic), Hatford, Berkshire/Bampton,
including' The GypsyL addie(' 'TheD raggle-TailedG ipsies')( Child2 00) and' YoungB eichan'
('LordB ateman')( Child5 3) (WilliamsF, olk-Songosf the UpperT hamesp, p. 120-21, 147-49;
Williams Collection Ox. 195, [195a]).
Peter Kennedy collected 'The Gypsy Laddie' ('The Daggle-Tailed Gipsies, O') (Child 200),
preceded by talk about Shepherd Haden and Cecil Sharp, from Bert Wiltshire (aged fiftythree),
Bampton, in 1957 (BBC 26368).
Cornwall
Berryman, Phyllis, Hughville Street, Cambome, Comwall
. 'The Holy Well'. From MS of Miss PhyllisB errymanw, ho leamed it traditionally[.+ tune
transcription]
Blamey, Miss L., 69 SouthgateR, edruth,C ornwall/CambomeC, omwall
. 'The Holy Well'. Received about 1925 vocally, from some singer in Redruth. Leamed in
public school, evidently from Sharp version. [+tune transcription]
Table 2. Continued
Heather, Mrs E., West Charles Street, Camborne, Comwall
* 'The Cherry-TreeC arol'( Child5 4). Fromh er fatherJ, . Heather.[ +tune transcription]
Heather, Sam, 10 WillingtonR oad, Camborne,C ornwallB. orn at RamsgateC, ornwall,1 858
. 'The Holy Well'. Learnedf rom olders ingersa s child (seventy-seveny earso ld) seventyy ears
ago; never saw in print. 1934. [+tune transcription]
Cecil Sharpw as sent a copy of 'The Holy Well' from Mr S. Heather,B arripperC, ornwall,
which is close by Cambome, by Tom Miners in 1912; Sharp collected 'The Holy Well' from
SamuelH eather( agedf ifty-five),C ambornei,n 1913 Ujoumaolf t heF olk-SonSgo ciet5y ,[ 1914],
3; Sharp MSS 2838/2235-36).
Little girl singers, Praze, Cornwall
* 'The Holy Well'. [ sound recording]
Miners, Tom, Penponds, Cambome, Cornwall
. 'The Cherry-TreeC arol'( Child5 4). [+tune transcription+; sound recording]
Tom Miners, Camborne, sent 'The Cherry-Tree Carol' (Child 54) to Cecil Sharp in 1912
(Sharp MSS 2744/-).
Reynolds, Maude, EastH ill, TuckingM ill, CamborneC, ornwall
* 'The Holy Well'. Learnedfr om Mrs CarolineT homas,w ho was eighty-twow hen she died,
a year ago. Never saw in print. [+tune transcription]
Thomas, Henry, CarrallacTk errace,S t Just,C ornwall.H enryT homasS enior.E ightyy earsa ge
* 'The Cherry-TreeC arol' (Child 54). From singingo f his mother,w ho learnedi t from her
grandmotherA, nne Williamsm, arried1 778. His mothera n offspringw ithoutm arriagel;o ver
not allowedt o marryh er on accounto f her poverty.M r Thomasa huge fair-skinnedD ane
or Angle, said that he did not learn more of Cornish carols because they were too gloomy,
almost all in minor key; were lonesome. House overlooking the sea, two or three hundred
yards away. An authority on Old Cornish language. Over six hundred words worked out
with meaningsS. oughtb y everyone.H is discoveryo f meaningo f word 'pall'o r 'poll',m eaning
not 'head',b ut 'toe'. Firstt hought it meant 'snout';t hen the passage,' Washn ot only my
head, but also my feet and every one of toes'. [+tune transcription]
Thomas, Jim, 14 Union Street,C amborneC, ornwallD. ied February1 934, at age of eighty-four.
Jim ThomasM S: songsl earnedf romt raditiond; id not readm usic;l ikelyc opiedb y severaol ther
collectors
. 'The Elfin Knight'( Child2 )- 'King Ethelreda nd Cheeld-Vean'J. im ThomasM S
* 'The Cherry-TreeC arol'( Child5 4)- [alsoa s] 'WhenJ osephW asa n Old Man'.J im Thomas
MS
* 'Our Goodman'( Child2 74) 'Whiskerso n a Baby'sF ace'.J im ThomasM S
Cecil Sharpc ollecteds ongsf romJ ./JimT homas( ageds ixty-five),C ambome,i n 1913 and 1914,
including' The Cherry-TreeC arol'( Child5 4) (Uoumoaflt heF olk-SonSgo ciety5 , [1914], 11-
12; Sharp MSS 2821/-).
T. Minersa nd H. E. Piggottc ollected' The Nine Joys of Mary'( alson oted by Carpenterfr om
Jim ThomasM S) fromJ amesT homas,C ambornei,n 1915 (Joumaolf t heF olk-SonSgo ciety5,
[1916], 319-20).
J. E. Thomas and T. Miners collected 'Holly and Ivy' from James Thomas (aged seventy-seven),
Union Street,C ambornei,n 1924 (Joumaolf theF olk-SonSgo ciety8, [1929], 113-14).
RalphD unstanc ollecteds ongsf romJimT homas,C ambornei,n 1931,i ncluding'O urG oodman'
('Whiskerso n a Baby'sF ace') (Child 274) (RalphD unstan,C ornisDh ialecatn dF olkS ongs
[TruroJ: ordan'sB ookshop/LondonR: eid Bros, 1932], p. 11).
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446 DAVID ATKINSON
Table 2. Continued
Veal, Sidney (or Samuel), 3 New Road, Troon, Comwall [Samuel is corrected to Sidney for
'The Holy Well' but not for 'The Bitter Withy', though they are probably from the same
informant]
* 'The Holy Well'. Learneda t aboutt he age of five (now seventy-sevenf)r omh is mother,M rs
SarahV eal, St Columb Major;n ever saw in print. Sung as a Christmasc arol. Recorded
December 1934. [+tune transcription]
* 'The Bitter Withy'. [ = tune transcription]
Cecil Sharpw as sent a copy of 'The Holy Well' from SydneyV eale (sic),C amborneb, y Tom
Miners in 1912; Sharp collected 'The Holy Well' from Sydney Veale, Cambome, in 1913
(Trooni s closeb y Camborne()J ournaolf t heF olk-SonSgo ciety5, [1914],1 -2; SharpM SS2 826/
2233-34).
Wallace, Bessie, Camborne, Cornwall
* 'The Cherry-Tree Carol' (Child 54)-'When Joseph Was an Old Man'. Jim Thomas MS.
Sung by MissB essieW allace,g randdaughtewr,h o learnedf rom grandfatheJra, mesT homas,
Camborne, Cornwall; never saw in print. Recorded December 1934 [+tune transcription;
+ sound recording]
. 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' (Child 95) -'The Golden Ball'. From her grandfather,
Jim Thomas
* 'Our Goodman' (Child 274) -'Whiskers on a Baby's Face'. Jim Thomas MS. Sung by Miss
Bessie Wallace, 14 Union Street, Camborne, Cornwall. [+tune transcription+; sound
recording]
OtherP lacesin England
Blades, Herbert, Hunton, Yorkshire
. 'The GypsyL addie'( Child2 00)-'The Seven GypsyL addies'[. +tune transcription]
Bound, Joseph, MyrtleH ill, Pill, Somerset,n earB ristol,G loucestershireA. t sea 1860. Eightytwo
* 'The Gypsy Laddie' (Child 200). [ tune transcription]
Ginovan, Thomas, MerchantV enturersA' lmsH ouse, Bristol,G loucestershire
. 'The Mermaid' (Child 289) [also as] 'The Stormy Winds'. Recorded 1928
Page, Mark, Newcastle-upon-TyneN, orthumberland
. 'The Baffled Knight' (Child 112)-'Blow the Winds Heigh Ho!' Heard when he was a
ploughboy.[ +tune transcription+; sound recording]
Rennie, W., South Shields, Co. Durham
. 'The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)' (Child 286)- [also as] 'The Lowlands'. [=tune
transcription+; soundr ecording]
Wales
Fender, William, 16 SydenhamS treet,B arryD ocks
. 'The BaffledK night'( Child1 12) 'Blow Ye Windsi n the Morning'.F roma SwanseaC ape
Homer. [+sound recording]
. 'The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)' (Child 286) -'Low Lands'
Garricy,J ames, CardiffT. o sea 1876
. 'The Farmer'Cs urstW ife' (Child2 78)- 'Blow the Man Down'
Warner, Richard, Cardiff.F irsts hipped1 877
. 'The Farmer'Cs urstW ife' (Child2 78)- 'Blow the Man Down'
* 'The Sweet Trinity( The GoldenV anity)'( Child2 86)-[also as] 'LowlandsG, oldenV anity'.
Recorded 1928
'The Farmer'Cs urstW ife' ('Blow the ManD own') is reprintedin Roy Palmer,' Cruisingw ith
Carpenter'E, nglishD ance& Song,4 7.2 (1985), 15.
protagonist is identified as 'Joe'.25 The line in the second stanza, 'To keep myself
from the cold grey ground', seems to be a variant of more usual forms such as 'To
keep my body from the cold clay ground'. Most interestingly, the following line,
'An' my eye from the prickalaliet ree', effectivelyi ntegratest he 'pricklyb ush', which
is usually confined to the refrain, into the body of the narrative. The 'eye' remains
largely unexplained, although its juxtaposition with the notion of pricking creates a
poetically effective image for a man recoiling from the gallows. This time it is his
truelove who brings the ransom to set him free.26
The version from Bessie Wallace is fairly similar to other English and American
texts in which the protagonist is saved from the gallows by the restitution of a lost
golden ball.27 It does not have an accompanying prose narrative or explanation,
although these are often found with this form of the ballad. A single stanza copied
by Carpenter from a newspaper, however, is prefaced by a summary of the 'golden
ball' narrative:'F ather,m other, sister,b rothert hey all fail-lover bringsg olden ball,
which a frog had restored to him from the well into which it had been thrown'.28
This explanation has quite possibly been influenced by the folktale 'The Frog King,
or Iron Henry'. Carpenter'sla st version of 'The Maid Freedf rom the Gallows'i s the
tune transcriptionfr om William Butler, which provideso nly the text of the 'prickly
briar' refrain.29
These versionso f 'The Maid Freedf rom the Gallows'c an be regardeda s characteristic
of the Child ballads collected by Carpenter in the way that they encompass a
blend of the typical and the idiosyncratic. The value of such a collection-and of
the potentiallye ndlesss cholarlye xerciseo f accumulatingC hild balladt exts and tunes,
of which Carpenter'sw ork is an especiallyf ine instance-lies in just this combination
of the representativea nd the unique. Carpenter'sc ollection of balladsf rom England
and Wales embodies some of the editorial problems of the Carpenter Collection as
a whole but at the same time it suggests some of its research potential. For the first
time, Carpenter brought the academic tradition of Child to bear directly upon ballad
collecting in England and, with the comparative possibilities of a ballad edition, his
collection of 'British and American Traditional Ballads' offers valuable new material
both for the studyo f balladrya t largea nd for researchi nto traditionasl ong in England
in particular.
Notes
1 The James Madison Carpenter Collection, AFC 1972/001, Archive of Folk Culture, American FolklifeC enter, Libraryo f Congress.A microfilmc opy of the Collection is held at the VaughanW illiams MemorialL ibraryL, ondon, VWML MicrofilmR eels 46-55, and it is on this copy that the presents tudy is based.T he quotationi s from 'Britisha nd AmericanT raditionaBl allads',u npublishedt ypescript,A FC 1972/001, Folder 67 (Box 3A); on Microfilm Reel 5.
2 The Englisha nd ScottishP opularB allads,e d. by FrancisJ ames Child, 5 vols (Boston: Houghton,
Mifflin, 1882-98; repr. New York: Dover, 1965).
3 See Julia C. Bishop, "'Dr Carpenter from the Harvard College in America": An Introduction to
James Madison Carpenter and His Collection', in this issue of Folk MusicJournal.
4 The standarda ccount of Child's legacy is D. K. Wilgus, Anglo-AmericaFno lksongS cholarshispin ce
1898 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1959), with a more contentious version in Dave
Harker,F akesongT: he Manufacturoef British' Folksong1' 700 to the PresenDt ay, PopularM usic in Britain
(Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1985), pp. 101-37. For some broader perspectives on Child
and the ballad in American scholarship and culture, see Michael J. Bell, "'No Borders to the Ballad
Maker'sA rt": FrancisJ ames Child and the Politics of the People', WesternF olklore4, 7 (1988), 285-307;
Michael J. Bell, "'The Only True Folk Songs We Have in English": James Russell Lowell and the
Politics of the Nation',J ournaol f AmericanF olklore1, 08 (1995), 131-55; David E. Whisnant,A ll ThatI s
Nativea nd Fine: The Politicso f Culturein an AmericanR egion,T he Fred W. MorrisonS eriesi n Southern
Studies (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983); Rosemary Levy Zumwalt, American
FolklorSe cholarshiAp: Dialogueo f Dissent,F olkloristics( Bloomingtona nd IndianapolisI:n dianaU niversity
Press, 1988).
5 David Atkinson, 'Sabine Baring-Gould'sC ontributiont o The Englisha nd ScottishP opularB allads',
in Balladsi nto Books:T he Legacieos f FranciJsa mesC hild:S electedP aperfsr om the 26th InternationBala llad
Conferenc(eS IEF BalladC ommissionS),w ansea,W ales,1 9-24July 1996, ed. Tom Cheesmana nd Sigrid
Rieuwerts (Bern: Peter Lang, 1997), pp. 41-52. Child, V, 397-404, 'Sources of the Texts of the English
and Scottish Ballads', gives some indication of the use of English sources in The English and Scottish
PopularB alladsI. t is worth noting that Baring-Gouldi ncluded quite a varietyo f songs from oralt radition
among the texts he sent to Child and seemingly made little special effort to select ballad texts per se,
even though he was aware of Child's scholarly work.
6 The earlierp rintedb roadsidet radition,h owever, is stronglyr epresentedi n The Englisha nd Scottish
PopularB alladsa nd, since many of these were printedi n London, at leasts ome sort of Englishp rovenance
can be claimed for a substantianl umber of well-known ballads.
7 MicrofilmR eel 4 correspondst o AFC 1972/001, Folders4 4-57; Reel 5 to Folders5 8-80; Reel 6
to Folders 81-99; Reel 7 to Folders 100-124. There is also additional material to be found here: songs
of other kinds, tunes, draftso f essaysa nd notes on various subjects,l ists, short bibliographiesl, etters,
mummers' play texts, and so on.
8 Difficulties arise out of such things as the contextual information crossed through on Microfilm
Reel 4; occasions where ballads from printed sources are not clearly identified; and the ballad texts
included on Microfilm Reel 4 but not incorporated into the fair copies on Microfilm Reels 5-6.
Particularp roblemsi nclude a text of 'The BitterW ithy' headedw ith the title of a printeds ource (though
it is not a precise copy of it) but also with the names 'James Roberts, Bradford-Dr. Hamley Rowe,
Bradford' crossed through (AFC 1972/001, Folder 53 (Box 2, Packet 2J); on Microfilm Reel 4). There
is confusion, too, over the name of Sidney or Samuel Veal who sang 'The Holy Well' and 'The Bitter
Withy', though the probability is that there was only one informant, i.e. Sidney Veal (AFC 1972/001,
Folder 45 (Box 2, Packet 2B); on Microfilm Reel 4; AFC 1972/001, Folder 84 (Box 4D); on Microfilm
Reel 6; AFC 1972/001, Folder 111 (Box 5, Packet IL); on Microfilm Reel 7; AFC 1972/001, Folder
158 (Box 7, Packet 2B); on Microfilm Reel 9.
9 'The Holy Well' and 'The Bitter Withy' are often discussed along with Child's ballads on Christian
legends (the 'religious'b allads)a lthought hey are not in TheE nglisha ndS cottishP opulaBr alladsC. arpenter
also included among his balladt exts a song listed as a version of 'CaptainW ard and the Rainbow('C hild
287), but which is actually a song called 'As We Were A-Sailing', which has nothing to do with the
Child ballad apart from the name of the ship, and is not counted here.
10 Groups like 'pub singers' and 'little girl singers' are each counted as one informant.
'British and American Traditional Ballads'.
12 'British and American Traditional Ballads', and Julia C. Bishop, "'The Most Valuable Collection
of Child Ballads with Tunes Ever Published": The Unfinished Work of James Madison Carpenter', in
Ballads into Books, p. 84. Given the unedited state of the Carpenter Collection, it is difficult to be exact
about any of these figures.
13 A few of these other songs are reprintedi n Everyman'Bs ooko f BritishB alladse, d. by Roy Palmer
(London: Dent, 1980), pp. 42-43, 122-23, 174-76; Roy Palmer, 'Cruising with Carpenter', English
Dance& Song,4 7.2 (1985), 14-16; Gwilym Davies, 'PercyG rainger'Fs olk MusicR esearchi n Gloucestershire,
Worcestershirea, nd Warwickshire,1 907-1909', FolkM usicJourna6l,. 3 (1992), 344.
14 All of these comparativef iguresc ome from the discussiono f the Child balladsi n Englandi n David
Atkinson, 'An EnglishB alladT radition?L' judskbe aladem edi zrocilomin sodobnostjo/Ballbadetsw eenT radition
and ModernT imes,e d. by MarjetkaG olez, Proceedingso f the 27th InternationalB allad Conference,
Gozd MartuljekS, lovenia, 13-19 July 1997 (LjubljanaZ: alozbaZ RC SAZU, forthcoming),w here some
of the problemso f such numericala nalysisa re also outlined. It is difficultt o be exact becauset he figures
are basedo n indexes and not on detailede xaminationo f the manuscriptsa, nd some versionsa re arguably
not truly Child ballads. So far as the latter problem is concerned, some effort has been made here to
count the same kinds of versions as Carpenter includes as Child ballads in his collection: in particular,
'An Acre of Land' is counted with 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2), and 'Mother, Mother, Make my Bed'
is counted as 'Lady Maisry' (Child 65).
15 AFC 1972/001, Folder 158, Box 7 (Packet 2B); on Microfilm Reel 9.
16 The text is collated from the two typescriptsin the CarpenterC ollection: AFC 1972/001, Folder
56, Box 2 (Packet 2M); on Microfilm Reel 4; and AFC 1972/001, Folder 77 (Box 3K); on Microfilm
Reel 5. The material enclosed in square brackets appears in only the first of these texts, where the four
introductoryli nes arec rossedt hrough( 'their'a nd 'Diddimus??a' rem ore heavilys coredo ut in Carpenter's
typescript), and 'Edgar, Ethelred' is handwritten at the side of the text.
17 See The EnglishD ialectD ictionaryB, eingt he CompleteV ocabularoyf All DialectW ordsS till in Use, or
Knownt o Have Beeni n Use Duringt he Last TwoH undredY earsF, oundedo n the Publicationosf the English
DialectS ocietya ndo n a LargeA mounto fM ateriaNl everB eforeP rintede, d. by JosephW right, 6 vols (London:
Henry Frowde, 1898-1905), 'chiel(d', sb. 3; 'child', sb. 3; 'child-vean', int.; 'vean', adj.; 'wean', sb.;
OxfordE nglishD ictionary',c hild', n. lb, 8b; 'wean', n.
18 Some of these questions are touched upon in Atkinson, 'An English Ballad Tradition?'
19 AFC 1972/001, Folder 45 (Box 2, Packet 2B); on Microfilm Reel 4; AFC 1972/001, Folder 84
(Box 4D); on Microfilm Reel 6.
20 AFC 1972/001, Folder 46 (Box 2, Packet 2C); on Microfilm Reel 4; AFC 1972/001 Folder 88
(Box 4H); on Microfilm Reel 6; AFC 1972/001 Folder 114 (Box 5, Packet 10); on Microfilm Reel
7; AFC 1972/001, 12-inch Discs, AFS 14,983B (Carpenter Disc No. 306); AFS 14,984A (Carpenter
Disc No. 307).
21 Eleanor Long, 'The Maid' and 'The Hangman'M: yth and Traditionin a PopularB allad,F olklore
Studies, 21 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971).
22 AFC 1972/001, Folder 48 (Box 2, Packet 2E); on Microfilm Reel 4; AFC 1972/001, Folder 93
(Box 4M); on Microfilm Reel 6. The latter text is reproduced in Figure 2.
23 OxfordE nglishD ictionary',t ripple',v .' 'To trip, move lightly; to dance, skip'.
24 Variant texts in the Carpenter Collection for this ballad from William Titchener, including that
which accompaniest he tune transcriptionp, resenta somewhatd ifferentlya rrangedv ersionw hereby the
father both refuses the ransom and then brings it (AFC 1972/001, Folder 48 (Box 2, Packet 2E); on
Microfilm Reel 4; AFC 1972/001, Folder 116 (Box 5, Packet 1Q); on Microfilm Reel 7). The tune
transcriptionis reproducedi n Julia C. Bishop, 'The Tunes of the English and Scottish Balladsi n the
JamesM adisonC arpenterC ollection', in this issue of FolkM usicJournaTl.h ere is probablya lso a sound
recording of William Titchener singing this ballad (AFC 1972/001, 12-inch Disc, AFS 14,987B (Carpenter
Disc No. 314)).
25 AFC 1972/001, Folder 48 (Box 2, Packet 2E); on Microfilm Reel 4; AFC 1972/001, Folder 93
(Box 4M); on Microfilm Reel 6.
26 There are againd ifferencesb etween the typescriptt ext of this versiona nd the text that accompanies
the tune transcriptiont,h e most interestingo f which is the substitutiono f 'the eye-berryt ree' for 'the
prickalaliet ree' (AFC 1972/001, Folder 116 (Box 5, Packet 1Q); on MicrofilmR eel 7). There may be
a sound recording of the Chadlington mummer among the unidentified recordings of 'The Maid Freed
from the Gallows'( AFC 1972/001, 12-inch Discs, AFS 14,864B (CarpenterD isc No. 70); AFS 14,944A
(CarpenterD isc No. 227); AFS 14,944B (CarpenterD isc No. 228)).
27 AFC 1972/001, Folder 48 (Box 2, Packet 2E); on Microfilm Reel 4; AFC 1972/001, Folder 93
(Box 4M); on Microfilm Reel 6.
28 AFC 1972/001, Folder 48 (Box 2, Packet 2E); on Microfilm Reel 4. This text, titled 'The Golden
Ball' is apparentlyf rom The WestB ritona nd CornwalAl dvertiserT, hursday,3 0 December 1934, p. 11,
under the heading 'By Comish Firesides', and contributed by Tom Miners, Penponds; it is seemingly
attributed to 'Blewett, Truro'.
29 AFC 1972/001, Folder 116 (Box 5, Packet 1Q); on Microfilm Reel 7.