US & Canada Versions: 201. Bessy Bell & Mary Gray
[Following Halliwell's inclusion of two verses of Bessy Bell and Mary Gray in his 1842 book, The Nursery Rhymes of England, the nursery rhyme verses appeared in the US in Mother Goose's Melodies (James Miller, N.Y., 1869) which was reprinted in Mother Goose's Melodies, or, Songs for the Nursery - Page 21, 1878; No. 24. It also appears as version A in BBM, 1926. The second stanza in the nursery rhyme is not found in the ballad (see Child A) and the second stanza's inclusion shows that version is based on the nursery rhyme.
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray,
They were two bonny lasses;
They built their house upon the lea,
And covered it with rashes.
Bessy kept the garden gate,
And Mary kept the pantry;
Bessy always had to wait,
While Mary lived in plenty.
These two verses, reprinted in BBM, 1929 (Barry A), were collected in Virginia in 1916 (see Davis A) and with minor variation in Maine in 1928 (Barry B). Other single stanza variants of the ballad/nursery rhyme have been found in Virginia (Davis B-D). Cox's version (west Virginia) has the first stanza and a different floating-type stanza for the second.
Nearly one dozen total traditional versions have been collected in North America. The Moores' version (from Oklahoma, sung by a Scottish immigrant) has three stanzas as well as Gainer's (although of doubtful authenticity). The ballad in America is even more fragmented than the ballad in the British Isles. Three missing version are listed at the bottom of this page.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
CONTENTS: (Individual versions listed below are attached to this page on left column- click to open; or click the highlighted blue title below)
1) Bessy Bell and Mary Gray- (NY) 1869 Miller (Nursery Rhyme)
2) Bessie Bell and Mary Gray- MacPherson (OK) pre1895
3) Betsey Bell and Mary Gray- Tabb (VA) 1913 Davis B
4) Bessie Bell and Mary Gray- Hughes (WV) 1915 Cox
5) Bessie Bell & Mary Gray- Grinnan (VA) 1916 Davis A
6) Bessie Bell and Mary Gray- Fleming (VA) 1921 Davis C
7) Bessie Bell and Mary Gray- Coleman (VA) 1921 Davis D
8) Bessy Bell & Mary Lee- Young (ME) 1928 Barry B
9) Bessy Bell & Mary Gray- Ball (VA) 1936 Scarborough
10) Bessie Bell and Mary Gray- Myers (WV) 1975 Gainer
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NOTES: TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF VIRGINIA; Davis, 1929 (included are Davis A and B)
38 BESSY BELL AND MARY GRAY (Child, No. 201)
Except for the one West Virginia fragment, the four Virginia fragments are the only texts of this ballad recorded in America. The first stanza, generally found alone, seems to be fairly well known in the state. It accords very closely with the first stanza of the Child text. The second stanza of Virginia A does not appear in the Child version, seems, indeed, rather out of key with it. Its place, if any, in the four stanzas of the Child version would be between the second and third stanzas.
The two names celebrated by the ballad survive in Virginia not only in oral tradition but also as place names, applied to the two graceful little mountains which dominate the city of Staunton, in Augusta County. These names, however, may not have been taken directly from the ballad, but from two hills or mountains named from the ballad heroines in the County of Tyrone, Ire-
land. Waddell's Annals of Augusta County, pp. 362-364, recounts the story of the Scottish ballad, with a quotation from its first stanza, and records that "these names were carried from Scotland to Ireland, and applied to two mountains in County Tyrone, near the town of Omagh; and by our Scotch-Irish ancestors they were brought to the Valley of Virginia." See also Peyton's
History of Augusta County, p. 106. A most interesting letter (of December 15, 1913) about this ballad and its local currency has been received from a distinguished Virginian who is a resident of Staunton, Mr. Armistead C. Gordon, who says: "The ballad of 'Bessie Bell and Mary Gray', as you know, contains the versified legend from which the two little mountains near Staunton
take their names. The fact that these names mark the path of migration along which the Scotch settlers of the Valley of Virginia came on their way from Ayrshire to Ulster and thence to Virginia is more widely known than is the old ballad itself. These names were carried from Scotland to Ireland and applied to two mountains in County Tyrone, near the town of Omagh; and
by the immigrants into the Valley from the North of Ireland in the first half of the eighteenth century they were brought to Augusta County. Other early settlers called another hill in Bath County, on the Cowpasture River, about a mile below Windy Cove Church, by the name of Betsie Bell or Bessie Bell, showing thereby how they cherished the associations of their former life in the old country. It would seem that the historical impression made by these names would have tended to preserve the ballad itself, but I have found no indication of its having done so. When I came to Augusta County to live, now nearly thirty-five years ago, I heard in a family where I frequently was a visitor, and among whose members were some elderly ladies, a variant of this ballad that I have never seen in print, and which does not appear either in Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe's Ballads, nor in those in the smaller book of Dr. F. J. Child. This variant consists of a fifth verse, as follows:
Bessie kept the garden gate,
And Mary kept the pantry;
Bessie always had to wait,
While Mary lived in plenty.
This verse, however, I have no doubt, came to the old lady who recited it, not through tradition but out of a curious little volume of Scotch Ballads belonging to her husband, was a Scotchman and which unfortunately disappeared many years ago."[1]
Professor Jaines M. Grainger also gives an interesting if less well-established tradition concerning the names, "You know also I have no doubt, of the two mountains near Staunton which are known as Bessy Bell and Mary Gray. Tradition says that two girls by these names were lost on the mountains, and being caught by wolves, one was killed on Bessie Bell and the other on Mary Gray. This is very interesting to me as evidence of a familiarity with the ballad in that section. Several people have told me they had known the first stanza of the ballad all their lives, but had no idea it was a ballad." This tradition about the mountains takes no account of the ballad origin of the names, and is therefore hardly to be trusted.
The original Scottish tradition on which the ballad story is founded is to the effect that the two girls were intimate friends, Mary Gray's father being laird of Lednock and Bessie Bell's of Kinvaid; that while Bessie Bell was on a visit to Mary Grey, around 1645, the plague broke out and the two sought refuge from it by building themselves a bower near Lednock House, where for some time they lived; but before long the plague overwhelmed them, the infection being brought, it is said, by a young man who was in love with one or both of them and who were accustomed to bring them food; they were buried near the lower, in a spot which has been marked and is frequently visited by Pilgrims.
The Virginia fragments are reported in Bulletin, No. 5, p. 9 and No. 9, p. 7, and in C. A. Smith, p. 2. Add Cox, No. 22. For additional references see Cox, P. 134 and Journal, XXX, 325. Virginia B was the first text of this ballad to be found in America. No melody, Virginian or American, has been recorded.
A. "Bessie Bell and Mary Gray." contributed by Miss G. B. Grinnan, of University, Va. Gloucester Ctunty. August 12, 1916.
1. Bessie (or Betsy) Bell and Mary Gray,
They were twa bonnie lassies;
They built a house upon the lea,
And covered it with rushes.
2 Bessie (or Betsy) kept the garden gate,
And MarY kePt the Pantry;
Bessie (Betsy) always came too late
While Mary lived in Plenty.[2]
B. " Betsey Bell and Mary Gray." Collected by Professor James M. Grainger. Sung bi Miss Jennie Tabb, of Farmville, Va.; Amelia County. December 21, 1913.
O Betsey Bell and Mary Gray,
They were twa bonnie lasses;
They biggit a brig on Yonder brae
And thichet it o'er with rashes.[3]
1 The rest of the letter is of more general interest, and may be relegated to a foot-note: "I fancy that it is for the most part among the ignorant or illiterate, untouched by the influences of the printing press, that variants of the old ballads will be
found to have come down by tradition in America, The people of this immediate section, as far as my observation goes, seem to have brought very little, if any, of the ballad tradition with them from the old county, but the historical and religious tradition is still strong among them; and since my first coming here I have heard us a contemporary story of a nurse hushing a crying child with the threat to 'Make Claverse catch it.' I am also told that the gentleman known in Scotland as 'the de'il' is sometimes mentioned in staunch Prebyterian households in the valley of Virginia as 'the old Clavers'; but I do not vouch for this for I am not sure that I have ever heard the spoken expression."
2 Compare the stanza in Mr. Gordon's letter, quoted in the head-note above.
3 "Miss Jennie Tabb and her mother, formerly of Amelia County,-now living in Farmville, both say they have always known a stanza running like this. . . . . The Bessie' of the original has become Betsey' and-the 'bower' has turned to a 'brig.' The latter changed as evidently made after the first stanza became completely dissociated from the rest of the ballad, as a 'bridge' couldn't possibly function in the story or be thatched with rushes. Neither Miss Tibb nor her mother (who is just 60) had ever heard any more of the ballad. Former President John A. Cunningham, of this school, used to quote the stanza whenever he saw two pretty girls together, one of them was named Bessie Bell. It seems that 'Betsey' is the form of the name used for
one of the twin mountains near Staunton." Professor Grainger, letter of Dec. 21, 1913.
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
201. BESSY BELL AND MARY GRAY
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 278 / Cox, F-S South, 134 / Cox, W. Fa. School Journal and Educator, 428 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 432 / Mother Goose's Melodies (James Miller, N.Y., 1869) / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mis, 191.
Local Titles: Bessy (Betsey) Bell and Mary Gray.
Story Types: A: The first four lines of the Child ballad exist as a song by themselves. Examples: Davis (C, D).
B: The first four lines of the Child ballad, with a nursery stanza added, exist as a nonsense rime.
Examples: Barry (A), Davis (A).
C: A two-stanza song is made up of the first stanza used by Types A and B in addition to a stanza on the green, not red or yellow, shoes the girls wore. Examples: Cox, F-S South.
D: The first stanza is that of Type A, The second stanza tells of the death, coming from the town and killing the girls.
Examples: Scarborough.
Discussion: This ballad is based on the old Scottish story concerning two girls, Mary Gray, daughter of a laird of Lednock; and Bessy Bell, daughter of the laird of Kinvaid. When the latter girl was visiting the former in 1645, a plague broke out. The two women sought refuge in a bower. However, before long they were infected by a young man who was in love with one or
both and who brought them food. They were buried near-by. The London Times of July 8, 1832 (and again of July 8, 1932) prints a report of the fencing in of the girls' grave by Lord Lynedoch in order to protect it from sightseers.
Davis, Trd Bid 7a, 432 reports that there are two mountains in County Tyrone in Ireland that have the same names as the girls. These titles have also been given to twin peaks near Staunton, Va. For further details consult Child, IV, 75 --6.
The American texts are fragmentary, but this condition seems to be the rule in the New World. Davis, of. cit., 433 notes that "several people have told me they had known the first stanza of the ballad all their lives, but had no idea it was a ballad". Type A is of this sort. Compare it with Child's text, Stanzas I or 4. See also Ramsay's Poems, Edinburgh, 1721, 80 as quoted by Child, IV, 75. Type E is found as a nursery rime in Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England, 1874, and is the most common American type. Type C seems to have been corrupted by The Gypsie Laddie (Child 200), while Type D constitutes an incomplete form of the Child text. See Stanzas I and 2 in Child.
BESSY BELL AND MARY GREY
Source Fowke, Ring Around the Moon p.88
Performer Goldenberg, Mrs.
Place collected Canada
Collector Fowke, Edith
TWO BONNIE LASSIES
Source Edith Fowke Coll. (FO 77)
Performer Goldenberg, Mrs. A.
Place collected Canada : Ontario : Toronto
Collector Fowke, Edith
BESSIE BELL AND MARY GRAY
Source Gainer, Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills p.74
Performer Myers, Ivy Lee
Place collected USA : West Virginia : Gilmer County
Collector Gainer, Patrick W.
Roud number 237 Roud number search
BESSIE BELL AND MARY GREY
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.86 (version a)
Performer Hensley, Mamie
Place collected USA : Virginia : Bridgetown
Collector Morton, Susan R.
BETSY BELL AND MARY GRAY
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.86 (version b)
Performer Wooding, Nancy C.
Place collected USA : Virginia : Danville
Collector Scales, Bessie A.