US & Canada Versions: 173. Mary Hamilton
[This ballad is rare in North America and, for that matter, in The British Isles. Very few authentic complete traditional versions have been found on this side of the pond. Of the 23 versions in my collection 4 are ballad recreations, many are derived from print or some non-traditional source and most are fragments. One is a cover song (Texas Gladden covering the Peel version) and another (the Hally Wood version) is an arrangement mysteriously based Child J that has been covered by several other singers. A singing tradition of the ballad was never established here and only one complete traditional version, the Davis version (from Alfreda Peel), seems to be authentic and even that is questionable.
The age of this ballad in North America is unknown but it seems to appear only after the Civil War. In 1884 Oliver Ditson printed a shortened 5 stanza version and about that time a similar version was published in the Franklin Square Song Collection. This print version, written usually in Scottish brogue, began circulating (see examples below) and entered tradition (Barry calls this the secondary tradition of the ballad). The shortened Scotch ballad form (print or broadside form possibly derived from an Edinburgh broadside printed by J. Sanderson, Canongate), collected mainly in the Northeast and Canada, was printed in several publications (mentioned above also listed by Coffin) in the late 1800s and nearly identical versions are found in collections as Barry B (from the Scottish singer Marjory Kennedy), Creighton A, B and Flanders A, B. This form of the ballad had some circulation in North America as the following two examples attest. In 1916 this text was printed in the Sunday Portland paper as follows:
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN PORTLAND, JUNE 11, 1916.
SOME FAVORITE POEMS AND REQUESTS FOR THEM CONTINUE
Both Old and New Verse Are Popular and Variety of Subjects Appeal:
"The following is founded on an old ballad supposed to be the death chant of Mary Hamilton, one of the 'Four Marys' who were maids of honor to Queen Mary of Scotland. "The fourth and fifth stanzas are comparatively modern; if any other stanzas of the original ballad are in existence. I have not seen them." Ivy D. Morgan.
THE FOUR MARYS.
Last nicht there were four Marys,
This nicht there'll be but three;
There was Mary Beaton, an' Mary Seaton,
An' Mary Carmichael, an' me.
Oh, little did my mither think,
When first she cradled me.
That I would dee sae far frae hame,
Or hang on a gallows tree!
They'll tie a napkin roun' my een,
An' they'll no let me see tae dee;
An' they'll ne'er let me on to my father an' mither,
But I'm awa' o'er the sea.
I wish I could lie in our aine kirkyard,
Aneath the auld yew tree;
Where ye pu'd the gowans and thread the rowans
My brothers, my sisters an' me.
But little I'll care for a nameless grave
When I'm home In eternity;
So I'll pray that the faith o' the de'ein' thief
By grace may be granted tae me.
Last nicht there were four Marvs,
This nicht there'll be but three;
There was Mary Beaton, an' Mary Seaton,
An' Mary Carmlchael, an' me.
The above text given by Morgan was taken from a print source (not mentioned). According to Barry (see his notes below) this version is the secondary tradition of the ballad. It was in the repertoire of Scottish singer Marjory Kennedy-Frasier in the 1880s and the text is very similar to the Morgan text above (RM). Since Barry B is Scottish it will not be given under US & Canadian versions.
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The same version was sung in California by Mrs. Mary Horn in 1891. From Santa Catalina Island 1887-1915 by Catherine Maclean Loud we have the following entry:
Early Spring – April, 1891
Mrs. Mary Horn, a small wiry woman, made her home with the Wheelers. She was the widow of Capt. Horn and had sailed with her husband from England to New Zealand and India through many years. She had been loyal help in the Wheeler’s California Bakery, “Cape Ann Bakery” in Oakland, and continued to serve her best in Avalon in their rental rooms and baker. While she worked she sang countless Scotch songs which she had learned in her home on the Shetland Islands. Two songs were sung endlessly, “Four Marys” and “No, John, No.” The Four Marys was a Scotch ballad of the attendants of Mary, Queen of Scots.
1st Stanza –
“Last nicht there were four Marys,
This nicht there’ll be but three,
There was Mary Beaton, and Mary Seaton
and Mary Carmichael and me.
4th Stanza -
But little care I for a nameless grave
If I’ve hope for eternity
And I’ll pray that the Faith of the dee’in thief
May be granted through grace to me.”
Note: Recalled by Geneva Wheeler who heard Mary Horn sing.
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The first published "traditional" version of Mary Hamilton titled, "Word has gone from the kitchen," was reportedly collected by Carey Woofter in West Virginia and published in Combs "Folks Songs of the Southern United States" in 1925. Woofter, however, is not a credible source and this version is likely a ballad recreation from Child A. The fragments (A and B) published by Davis from Virginia in 1929 are from the same singer, Miss Peel, who also taught a more complete version to Texas Gladden which was recorded by Lomax in 1941. According to Davis, the source of additional stanzas of this text came from her uncle St. Lawrence Chandler in 1924. That Peel, who was searching everywhere for this ballad since 1920, would suddenly finds additional stanzas from her uncle in 1924 to complete the fragment she knew, seems unlikely and I suspect print sources (Child A).
Few traditional versions have been found in Appalachia. Sharp found none and aside from the Niles and Woofter versions (not credible sources) only the 1929 Peel fragment which became a full version by 1932, remains. Niles, in his Ballad Book, claims his father's version to be the only complete version in America. Davis, in More TBVa 1960, gives Peel's complete version and two fragments. If you add Gainer's short ballad recreation to Woofters, West Virginia still has no authentic traditional version.
The ballad has been found in the Northeast and Canada. Flanders gives versions A-C from New England; Barry in BBM, 1929 gives a version from New Brunswick (A), a stanza from Mary Hamilton taken from another Maine ballad (C) and a stanza with tune from MA in BFSSNE. Creighton also gives two short versions from Canada. These version resemble the shortened print versions as found in Franklin Square Song Collection (1887) and an Edinburgh broadside by Sanderson.
Several versions have been collected in the mid-west and west. Almeida Riddle's version from Arkansas is reported in her 1970 book (by Abrahams). Two fragments were remembered in 1964 after Abrahams' singing. It was recorded by Max Hunter in 1965 and thrice in 1970 by John Wolf and may be heard on-line. Apparently it was learned from distant memories and a print version written down by her sister when Almeida was young. She gives her sources but it seems to be based on print. Randolph gives a fragment from Missouri; Owens one from Texas; Max Hunter one from Arkansas and one from Missouri as well as Riddle's version; the Moores a version from Oklahoma; and a version was recorded by Cowell in California in 1939.
Texas singer Hally Wood's version (covered by Peggy Seeger and also The Patons) is an adaptation of Child J. Jean Ritchie, who sang the ballad (youtube) with her sister Edna in 1966, indicates a Kentucky source but in all likeliness the ballad is from print and adapted later from Jeannie Robertson who she met in the British Isles circa 1952 while on a Fulbright Scholarship.
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The following complete version, crafted from unknown sources was published in the 1949 "Northern Junket."
"Northern junket" by Ralph G. Page, 1903-1985. Published 1949.
Mary Hamilton (The Four Marys)
Contributed by Willie Holt; Tune from Mr. Leonard Stevens, Exeter , R.I.
Words from various sources.
Word's gone to the kitchen,
Word's gone to the hall,
That Mary Hamilton's gang with bairn
From the highest Stuart of them all.
He courted her in the kitchen,
He courted her in the hall.
He courted her in the laigh cellar,
And that was the worst of all.
She tied it in her apron,
And throwed it in the sea,
Saying "Sink ye, swim ye bonny wee babe
You maun get no mair of me."
Oh Mary, put on your robes of black,
Or else your robes of brown,
For you must, go this night with me
To see fair Edinb'ro town.
I will not put on my robes of black,
Or else, my robes of brown,
But I'll put on my robes of white
To shine through Edinb'ro town.
As she walked up the Cannon- gate
She laughed loud laughters three,
But as she came down that Cannon- gate
The tears blinded her ee.
Oh little did my mother ken,
The day she cradled me
Of the lands I was to travel in
The death I was to dee."
Last nicht I washed the queen's own feet
And lay her gently down.
And all the thanks I've got this nicht
Is to hand[sic] in Edinb'ro town.
Last nicht there were four Marys,
Tonicht there be but three.
There was Mary Eaton, Mary Seaton,
Mary Carmichael and me.
R.M.: Since this was a Christmas issue perhaps "hand" instead of "hang" in the penultimate stanzas is more appropriate!!! However this does lend some credence to a traditional rendering of the ballad.
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Below and attached to the Peel version are the excellent notes by Barry, Coffin/Flanders and Davis (see Peel version). Barry B (Scottish) and C (one stanzas from Mary Hamilton found in another Maine song) are not included as version but may be viewed in Barry's note below.
There is only one version from North America where the full name "Mary Hamilton" is used and that is Niles' version purported to be from his father. So Mary Hamilton is not a local title -- it has been changed to the "Four Marys" in most cases.
R. Matteson 2015]
CONTENTS: (to access individual version click on blue highlighted title below or on the title as it is attached to this page on the left-hand column- in green)
1) Four Marys- Bullard (MO) c.1870 Randolph -- Two stanza fragment from Randolph, Ozark Folksongs- Vol. 1, British Ballads and Songs. Sung by Mrs. Linnie Bullard, Pineville, Mo., July 7, 1926. Learned from neighbors near Jane, Mo., shortly after the Civil War.
2) Four Maries- Treat (MA) c1880 Barry BFSSNE -- My title. From BFSSNE, Vol. 3, page 8, 1931. Fragment, with the melody, sent in June, 1931, by Miss Mary C. E. Jackson of Swampscott, Mass., as sung in the 1880's by Mrs. Seville Martin Treat of Lynn.
3) Four Marys- Horn (CA) 1891 Loud -- From Santa Catalina Island 1887-1915 by Catherine Maclean Loud. Sung by Mary Horn of Oakland California in 1891.
4) The Four Marys- Riddle (AR) c1906 Hunter/Wolf REC -- From a recording by Max Hunter in 1965 and several recordings from Wolf Folklore circa 1970. Also published in A Singer and her Songs; Abrahams, 1970. Sung by Almeida Riddle who learned some of it when she was a little girl from her sister.
5) Mary Hamilton- Niles (KY) pre-1916 Niles A
6) Four Marys- Chalmers (OK) c.1920 Moores
Mary Hamilton- Peel/Chandler(VA) 1922 Davis A, B,
Mary Hamilton- Burris (WV) 1924 Woofter/Combs
Four Maries- McGill (NB) 1928 Barry A
Four Maries- Horton/Roberts (VA) 1932 Peel/Davis
The Purple Dress- Mateby (NC) 1934 Niles B
Four Maries- Voorhies (VA) 1935 Peel/Davis CC
The Four Marys- a hitchhiker (TX) 1941 Owens
The Four Marys- Gladden (VA) 1941 Lomax REC
The Four Marys- Lansing (MA) 1944 Flanders B
Four Marys- Ritchie (KY) c.1950 REC
Four Marys- Letson (NS) 1950 Creighton A
The Four Marys- Campbell (VT) 1951 Flanders C
The Four Marys- Kilbride (MA) 1953 Flanders A
Four Maries- Leslie (NB) c1954 Creighton B
Four Marys- Hally Wood (TX) c.1957 Seeger REC
Four Marys- Robinson (AR) 1958 Max Hunter
Mary Hamilton- Bell (WV) pre1975 Gainer
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NOTES: BRITISH BALLADS FROM MAINE, Barry 1929
Of "Mary Hamilton" Child published twenty-eight different versions, the largest number for any ballad with which he dealt. yet it has almost disappeared from tradition in the British Isles. Even so indefatigable a collector as Gavin Greig was able to recover only two short versions, one of them not wholly traditional, and a fragment. Dr. J. H. Combs, in Folk-songs du Midi des Etats-Unis, p. 142, has published an excellent text from West Virginia, which is very close to Child A.
There is a reference in JAFL, XXXVI, 204, to a Virginia fragment, with melody.
Mrs. McGill's version belongs to a group which represents a secondary tradition of the ballad. Some of the versions in this group have been influenced by the intrusion of two stanzas of recent and known authorship. The feature of this secondary tradition, is its brevity: the details of seduction and infanticide have either disappeared entirely, or have left only a trace. To this group belong the following:
1. Maine A, --Mrs. McGill's version;
2. Child BB;
3. Gavin Greig's B-text;
4. "The Four Maries": a, Methven Simpson Co., Ltd., Dundee (no date); b, W. F. Shaw (copyrighted, 1884), reprinted in 1-10 Scotch songs, arranged and revised by Thomas a, Becket, Jr., Oliver Ditson Co., Boston.
5. A copy in J. P. McCaskey's Franklin Square song Collection, VI, 75.
The close relationship of the foregoing versions to one another is shown partly by the music since all except Child BB, the melody of which was never recorded, are sung to nearly identical versions of a single air. The editor of Greig's Last Leaves, states, on page 109, that "in 1881, Mr. Colin Brown printed in 'The Thistle,' an air which is but slightly different" from the air to which Greig's B-text was sung. This version of the melody we have not seen.
"The Four Maries" was sung at the Scottish Entertainments of the well-known scotch singer, David Kennedy, by his daughter, Miss Marjory Kennedy, about 1882-1884 [Marjory Kennedy-Fraser 1857-1930; David Kennedy died aged 61 in 1886 in Ontario, Canada, while on a tour.]. The text of this version is as follows:
B. THE FOUR MARIES
Last nicht there were four Maries,
This nicht there'll be but three,--
There was Mary Beaton an' Mary Seaton,
An' Mary Carmichael an' me.
Oh, little did my mither think,
When first she cradled me,
That I would dee sae far frae hame,
Or hang on a gallows tree.
They'll tie a napkin round my e'en,
An' they'll no let me see to dee,--
An' they'll ne'er let on to my father an' mither,
But I'm awa' o'er the sea.
I wish I could lie in our ain kirk-yard,
Aneath the auld yew-tree,
Where we pu'd the gowans an' thread the rowans,
My brothers, my sisters an' me.
But little care I for a nameless grave,
If I've hope for eternity,--
So I'll pray that the faith o' the deein' thief
May be granted thro' grace unto me.
The editor of the music says in a note signed C.C.M.: "In the version here presented only the first three stanzas are from the old ballad: the two last are from the pen of a lady resident in Dundee, and have not before been published." The text of B, in a form with only such minor variations as the substitution of "hope" instead of "faith" in the third line of the last stanza, is found in an Edinburgh broadside, printed by J. Sanderson, Canongate. A copy of this broadside is in the Harvard University Library. It is likely that the broadside has largely helped to give the modern stanzas additional currency, with the result that they have passed into oral tradition. Child BB has the fourth stanza of our B text, with "hazel" for "auld yew"' and in the third line: "where aft we played in the long simmer nichts," a touch of sentimentality that goes the broadside one better. Grieg B has the two modern stanzas, with not much change except that in the third line of the last stanza, the text reads: "for it was for the blood of the dyin' lamb." The third stanza of our B, is in Child BB, and in Greig B, in the latter with slight changes, in the former, with "kerchief" for "napkin," and with the last two lines altered:
And they'll spread my story thro land,
Till it reaches my ain countrie.
As it stands in our B, and in the texts of Child BB, and Greig B, it is a blend of two stanzas, namely, the one relating to the hanging, as we have it in our A-text, in the fifth stanza, and the one found in Child A and many other texts:
Here's a health to the jolly sailors,
That sail upon the sea,
Let them never let on to my father and mother
That f cam here to dee.
Since Mrs. McGill's text not only has the stanza in question in what was certainly its original form, but also lacks the two thin-blooded modern stanzas, the inference is that it has come from a tradition of "Mary Hamilton" which antedates the influence of the Edinburgh broadside, and the refurbishing touches of the pen of the lady resident in Dundee.
The evidence of the textual criticism is corroborated by a study of the melodies, which fall into two groups, distinguished by the form of the first two phrases. In Mrs. McGill's air, which agrees in this respect with the air to Gavin Greig's B-text, and with the music of the Kennedy Family version as sung to the first stanza, the opening phrases are as follows:
[music]
A different form of the same phrases is found in the air published by McCaskey, as "old Scotch," in the Franklin Square Song Collection:
[music]
We have already seen that there can be no question of any influence on Mrs. McGill's version of "Mary Hamilton," of the Kennedy Family version, since the texts of the two versions are so different, and Mrs. McGill's text lacks the two modern stanzas. The text of the McCaskey version, which has but four stanzas, is very close to Mrs. McGill's, --that is, stanzas 1, 3, 4 correspond to stanzas 1, 3, 4 of her version.
Stanza 2 of the McCaskey text gives the full form of the second stanza, as it must have been in Mrs. McGill's:
Oh! often hae I dressed my Queen,
And put gowd on her hair,
But noo hae I gotten for my reward,
Sair death to be my share.
Yet as the McCaskey melody differs in the first two phrases from Mrs. McGill's melody, any influence of print from this source, too, is excluded.
With the combined testimony of text and melody now before us, we may proceed to a tentative conclusion as to the place of Mrs. McGill's version in the tradition of "Mary Hamilton." The conclusion is, that it is nearer to the common source of our group of secondary texts than any other of this group. The McCaskey version, derived independently from the same source, has kept the same text, while the melody has been changed. A fragment of a text similar to Mrs. McGill's and sung to the same melody, was the source of the Kennedy Family version, which has the two modern stanzas. This version passed again into oral tradition and is the source both of Child BB and of Greig B. That Greig B is not wholly traditional is clear, since it not only has the melody, tonally and structurally identical, except for one note, with the Kennedy melody, as sung to the first stanza, but also both of the modern stanzas. Yet it has an allusion to the infanticide:
"But I mysel am Mary Mill,
The flower o a' the three;
But I hae kill't my bonnie wee son,
An' weel deserved to dee."
The last two lines of this stanza are represented in Child H 12 (Kinloch's version). We have the name of the heroine as Mary Moil in Child S, given in other texts variously as Myle, Miles, Mild, and even as a by-name, "Mary Mild" in Child A, C, V, X. As no trace, either of the infanticide, or of any form of the name Mary Moil is found in any other text of the group under consideration, it is at least to be suspected that Greig B is a conflate text, due to the fusion of a fragment of the older tradition of the ballad, bearing the name Mary Moil, with a form which goes back no farther than the Kennedy Family text.
C. "Peter Amberley" from Minstrelsy of Maine by Eckstrom and Smyth, p. 100
5. Here's a due unto a dearer friend, I mean my mother dear,
who reared a son, who fell as soon as he left her tender care.
Little did my mother know, when she sang sweet lullaby,
What counties I might travel in, or what death I might die."
The old woods song of "Peter Amberley" has much of the conventions of the old popular ballad, incremental, repetition and relative climax. It is not surprising, then, that a well-known stanza of "Mary Hamilton" should have entered into the text. "Mary Hamilton" must, therefore, have at one time been fairly well known in the locality where "Peter Amberley" was composed. We would expect to find versions still current in the region of the Miramichi, and on Prince Edward Island. We have been independently informed by two reliable persons, one of whom knew him well, that the late Lawrence Gorman, the woods poet, was the author of "Peter Amberley."
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Flanders' Ancient Ballads; Notes:
Mary Hamilton
(Child 173)
The story behind the ballad of "Mary Hamilton" has baffled scholars. It is known that Mary Stuart had four maids-in-waiting named Mary, who went with her to France in 1549 and returned with her in 1561. Their last names were Seaton, Beaton, Livingston, and Fleming-- not Seaton, Beaton, Carmichael, and Hamilton as the song would tell us. All eventually left the Queen's service and married, excepting Mary Seaton, who became a nun. No scandal has been associated with any of the four. It is also known that a French girl and an apothecary of the Queen had an affair about 1565. The girl was executed in December of that year for killing her newborn baby. Finally, there is an account of a similar event that occurred in the court of peter of Russia in 1718-1719 Mary Hamilton, a Scottish lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine, fell in love with Ivan Orlof, an aide de-camp. Mary, accused of killing an illegitimate child born of this indiscretion, was executed on March 14, 1719, and Orlof was exiled to Siberia. Exactly how these pieces fit together may never be known. Andrew Lang, Blackwood's Magazine, September, 1895; Child, III, 380-f.; and A. H. Tolman, MLA, XLII, 4ZZ:, have tried to come up with a suitable answer. It may well be that all three situations have contributed to the folksong-- the four Maries and the fate cf the-French girl fusing, the ballad later adopting the name Hamilton from the parallel Russian event.
"Mary Hamilton" has been collected from time to time in America, but it is rare here and in Britain. Josiah Combs, Folk-Songs des Etats-Unis (Paris, 1926), 141, found a full variant of Child A, but usually the song is collected as a lyric lament of a girl on a gallows with little of the story retained. This is the form the song took when it was printed in J. P. McCaskey's Franklin Square Song Collection and in other songsters. It is also the form typical of New England, as given by Phillip Barry in British Ballads from Maine, 258. The Flanders A und B texts are copies of the version of the ballad that was sung at David Kennedy's Scottish Entertainments by Marjory Kennedy in the early 1880's. The final two stanzas of this form of the song were supposedly written by "a lady resident in Dundee"; however, an Edinburgh broadside printed by J. Sanderson, Canongate, contains the same two stanzas, and similar lines can be found in Child BB and the Greig and Keith B version. In Flanders C, Mr. Campbell is probably mistaken in associating his additional lines with his "Mary Hamilton" fragment.
See Coffin, 116-117 (American), 119 Greig and Keith, 108-109 (Scottish), for a start on a bibliography; The Child A text and the Barry A fragment are used in a discussion of ballad Poetry in JAF, LXX, 208-214.
The three tunes for Child's are almost identical. For melodic relationship to the entire group see DV, p. 590, No.36, almost identical); BES, p. 258(very close); and ROI, P. I52 (not so close).
A. As sung by Mrs. Frances Kilbride of Brookline, Massachusetts, who learned it from hearing her father and mother sing it , Mr. MacGregor, Mrs. Kilbride's father, was born in Scotland, and came to this country with his daughter, who was twenty-four years of age at the time. Mrs. Kilbride was born in Glasgow. when three months old, she was taken by her parents to the North coast (outside of Aberdeen), at which place she remained, until coming to America. M. Olney, Collector; September 21, 1953. structure: A B C D (2,2,2,2); Rhythm B; Contour: arc; scale: major.
The Four Marys
Last nicht there were four Marys;
This nicht there'll be bur three.
There was Mary Beaton and Mary Seaton
And Mary Carmichael and me.
Oh, little did my mither think,
When first she cradled me,
That I would dee sae far frae hame
Or die on a gallus tree.
They'll tie a napkin roun' my een
And they'll ne'er let me see to dee;
And they'll ne'er let on to my faither and mither,
But I'm awa' o'er the sea.
I wish I could lie in our ain kirk-yard
Aneath the auld yew-tree,
Where we pu'd the gowans and thread the rowans,
My brothers, my sisters, and me.
But little care I for a nameless grave,
If I've hope for eternity;
So I'll pray that the faith o' the deein' thief
May be granted thro' grace unto me.
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[Notes from the Moores' "Ballads and Folk Songs from the South-West," 1964. ]
35 Mary Hamilton
History tells us that Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, had four ladies-in-waiting whose names were Mary. They represented the honorable families of Fleming, Livingston, Seton, and Beaton. In this ballad (Child, No. 173 ) the names "Hamilton" and "Carmichael,, have replaced "Livingston" and "Fleming." Sir Walter Scott was of the opinion that the ballad took rise from an accusation made by John Knox involving a Frenchwoman of the court and the queen's apothecary (see Child, III, 382). In the same context, Professor Child quotes Knox to this effect: "The woman conceived and bore a child, with common consent, the father and mother murdered. Yet were the cries of the newborn bairn heard; search was made and mother and father were apprehended and so both were bound damned to be hanged upon the public streets of Edinburgh." History records an identical story in the Russian court during reign of Czar Peter; a Mary Hamilton was executed in 1719. Child remarks, however, that "there is not a trace of an admixture of the Russian story with that of the French woman and the queen's apothecary, and no ballad about the French woman is known to have existed" (see Child, III,383). Time and the imagination of men substituted Mary Livingston and Lord Henry Darnley, the Queen's husband, for the guilty pair. In 1790, Robert Burns quoted the ballad, which probably "arose between 1719 and 1763," according to Child. For references, see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, 258-64; Child, III, 379-99; Davis, 421-22; Journal, Vol. XXXVI, 204; Motherwell, II, 184-93; Ord, 457; Owens, 63-65 ; and Randolph, I, 151.
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On Child 76 and 173 in Divers Hands by A. H. Scouten; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 64, No. 251 (Jan. - Mar., 1951), pp. 131-132
Readers of Professor Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia will recall that Miss Alfreda M. Peel of Salem, Virginia, contributed a large number of ballad texts and tunes. In fact, one of her important "finds" was three stanzas of Child I73 ("Mary Hamilton").
In the spring of 1922 she secured two versions from Mrs. Marion Chandler and in November 30, 1923, she obtained the tune as well. From her interest demonstrated in connection with these texts, one might assume that Miss Peel had sent to the Ballad Society all the stanzas she could find; indeed Mr. Davis quotes her as saying this about her findings: "... which I believe are all that have been found in this country." (p. 48.) Meanwhile Miss Peel had recorded Child 95 ("The Maid Freed from the Gallows") from the singing of Mrs. Texas Gladden on May 27, 1917, in Salem. This entry is the only one in Davis's book that derives from Mrs. Gladden. But in 1941 Alan Lomax was able to secure for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress a recording in Salem from Mrs. Texas Gladden of Child 173, in ten stanzas. Since the singer apparently did not know this ballad in 1917 or as late as I923, one's curiosity is stirred. But the question is easily resolved for us in the printed sheet issued for this recording (AAFS32B) by the editor, Dr. B. A. Botkin. In the introduction to the text, Dr. Botkin tells us that the singer "learned the song from Miss Alfreda M. Peel, of Salem." Here a new query arises concerning where Miss Peel learned the version that she taught Mrs. Gladden. In turning to the text of Mrs. Gladden's version, the reader will find that the words bear a remarkable
similarity to Child's "A" recension. The chief difference is that most of the Scotch dialect has been removed. Otherwise, her stanza I is Child's A I; stanza 2 is A 4, with the distinguishing phrase "old Queen"; stanzas 3 and 4 are A 6 and 7; stanzas 5, 6, and 7 are a blend or condensation from A Io, 8, 9, and 12. Then in stanza 5 interesting evidence appears: Mrs. Gladden sings "Cannogate," whereupon the editor inserts "Canongate" in brackets; but "Cannogate" is precisely the reading of Child A o1. In stanzas 8 and 9 appear the first intrusions; here Mrs. Gladden sings "Oh, tie a napkin o'er my eyes, / And ne'er let me see to dee." Now these two lines are from one of the two versions contributed by Miss Peel to Mr. Davis and the Ballad Society in I922. And the other lines extraneous to Child A ("And carried her to her bed" and "The Gallows hard to tread") are, respectively, Davis A 3, lines 2 and 4.
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Four Marys- Jean and Edna Ritchie; 1966
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrPTrkpO6EQ
The Ritchie sisters sitting on the porch in Viper, Ky. singing the Four Marys. Filmed by George Pickow in 1966.
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Four Marys- Collected Fowke? Mrs Isaac Ireland
“Ah, little did my mother think, when first she cradled me,
The lands I was to travel in, and the death I was to dee.
“Last night I washed the Queen's feet, and put the gold in her hair,
And the only reward I find for this, the gallows to be my share.”
“Cast off, cast off my gown,” she cried, “but let my petticoat be,
And tie a napkin 'round my face, the gallows I would not see.”
Then by and come the King himself, looked up with a pitiful eye,
“Come down, come down, Mary Hamilton, tonight you'll dine with me.”
“Ah, hold your tongue, my sovereign liege, and let your folly be;
For if you'd a mind to save my life, you'd never have shamed me here.
“Last night there were four Marys, tonight there'll be but three,
There was Mary Beaton, and Mary Seton, and Mary Carmichael, and me.”
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Mary Hamilton- Joan Baez (source?)
Word is to the kitchen gone,
and word is to the Hall
And word is up to Madam the Queen,
and that's the worst of all
That Mary Hamilton has borne a babe
To the highest Stuart of all
Oh rise, arise Mary Hamilton
Arise and tell to me.
What thou hast done with thy wee babe
I saw and heard weep by thee
I put him in a tiny boat
And cast him out to sea.
That he might sink or he might swim
But he'd never come back to me
Oh rise arise Mary Hamilton
Arise and come with me.
There is a wedding in Glasgow town
This night we'll go and see
She put not on her robes of black
Nor her robes of brown.
But she put on her robes of white
To ride into Glasgow town
And as she rode into Glasgow town
The city for to see.
The bailiff's wife and the provost's wife
Cried Alack and alas for thee
You need not weep for me she cried
You need not week for me.
For had I not slain my own wee babe
This death I would not dee
Oh little did my mother think
When first she cradled me.
The lands I was to travel in
And the death I was to dee
Last night I washed the Queen's feet
And put the gold in her hair.
And the only reward I find for this
The gallows to be my share
Cast off cast off my gown she cried
But let my petticoat be.
And tie a napkin round my face
The gallows I would not see
Then by them come the king himself
Looked up with a pitiful eye.
Come down come down Mary Hamillton
Tonight you will dine with me
Oh hold your tongue my sovereign liege
And let your folly be.
For if you'd a mind to save my life
You'd never have shamed me here
Last night there were four marys
tonight there'll be but three
It was Mary Beaton and Mary Seton
And Mary Carmichael and me.
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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
173. MARY HAMILTON
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 258 / BFSSNE, III, 8 / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 141 / Davis, Trd Sid Va, 4.2,1 / Franklin Square Song Collection (J. P. McCaskey), VI, 75 / no Scotch Songs, Thomas a Becket, Jr. (Ditson, Boston) / Randolph, OzF-S, 1, 151 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old WrU Bids, 42.
Local litles: Mary Hamilton, The Four Marys.
Story Types: A: Mary Hamilton, one of Queen Mary of Scotland's four servants named Marie, is with child by a member of- the court. She throws the baby in the sea when it is born, but Queen Mary suspects and discovers the truth. Mary Hamilton is condemned to burn at the stake or hang. After telling the people not to weep for her and drinking a toast or two, Mary Hamilton rues the outcome of her life before she dies.
Examples: Combs.
B: A lyric lament at the stake or gallows, with almost no trace of the story, has been found.
Examples : Barry (A), Davis (A).
Discussion: The Type A text from West Virginia is close to Child A. The lyric laments (Type B) come from the end of the ballad where Mary makes her last piteous remarks before the execution. They resemble Child BB. The events narrated in the ballad may be based on either the story of an incident in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1563 in which a French woman servant and the Queen's apothecary were concerned or the affair in Czar Peter of Russia's court in 1718 19 involving one Mary Hamilton and an officer named Orloff, or both. See Child, III, sSoff., and Tolman, PMLA, XLII, 422.
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Missing versions:
The four Maries [sound recording] Sidney Robertson Cowell, collector
Singer: Charlotte MacInnes, Oakland, California 02-15-1939