English and Scottish Ballads Volume II Part 17

They werena weel lyen down, And scarcely fa'n asleep, Whan up and stands she, fair Annie, Just up at Willie's feet. 130

"Weel brook ye o' your brown brown bride, Between ye and the wa'; And sae will I o' my winding sheet, That suits me best ava.

"Weel brook ye o' your brown brown bride, 135 Between ye and the stock; And sae will I o' my black black kist, That has neither key nor lock."

Sad Willie raise, put on his claise, Drew till him his hose and shoon, 140 And he is on to Annie's bower, By the lei light o' the moon.

The firsten bower that he came till, There was right dowie wark; Her mither and her three sisters 145 Were makin' to Annie a sark.

The nexten bower that he came till, There was right dowie cheir; Her father and her seven brethren Were makin' to Annie a bier. 150

The lasten bower, that he came till, [O heavy was his care!

The waxen lights were burning bright,]

And fair Annie streekit there.

He's lifted up the coverlet, 155 [Where she, fair Annie, lay; Sweet was her smile, but wan her cheek; O wan, and cald as clay!]

"It's I will kiss your bonny cheek, And I will kiss your chin; 160 And I will kiss your clay-cald lip; But I'll never kiss woman again.

"The day ye deal at Annie's burial The bread but and the wine; Before the morn at twall o'clock, 165 They'll deal the same at mine."

The tane was buried in Mary's kirk, The t.i.ther in Mary's quire; And out o' the tane there grew a birk, And out o' the t.i.ther a brier. 170

And ay they grew, and ay they drew, Untill they twa did meet; And every ane that past them by, Said, "Thae's been lovers sweet!"

19. That is, my slumbers are short, broken, and interrupted. J.

60. _Duplin town._ Duplin is the seat of the earl of Kinnoul, from which he derives his t.i.tle of viscount. It is in the neighborhood of Perth. It is observable, that ballads are very frequently adapted to the meridian of the place where they are found. J.

FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM.

From Percy's _Reliques_, iii. 164.

"This seems to be the old song quoted in Fletcher's _Knight of the Burning Pestle_, acts ii. and iii.; although the six lines there preserved are somewhat different from those in the ballad, as it stands at present. The reader will not wonder at this, when he is informed that this is only given from a modern printed copy picked up on a stall. Its full t.i.tle is _Fair Margaret's misfortunes; or Sweet William's frightful dreams on his wedding night, with the sudden death and burial of those n.o.ble lovers_.

"The lines preserved in the play are this distich:

"You are no love for me, Margaret, I am no love for you." Act iii. 5.

And the following stanza:

"When it was grown to dark midnight, And all were fast asleep, In came Margarets grimly ghost, And stood at Williams feet. Act ii. 8.

"These lines have acquired an importance by giving birth to one of the most beautiful ballads in our own or any other language: [Mallet's _Margaret's Ghost_.]

"Since the first edition, some improvements have been inserted, which were communicated by a lady of the first distinction, as she had heard this song repeated in her infancy."

The variations in Herd's copy, (i. 145,) and in Ritson's (_Ancient Songs_, ii. 92,) are unimportant.

In the main the same is the widely known ballad, _Der Ritter und das Magdlein_, Erk, p. 81, Hoffmann's _Schlesische Volkslieder_, p. 9; _Herr Malmstens Drom, Svenska Folkvisor_, iii. 104; Arwidsson, ii.

21; _Volkslieder der Wenden_, by Haupt and Schmaler, i. 159-162 (Hoffmann); in Dutch, with a different close, Hoffmann's _Niederlandische Volkslieder_, p. 61: also _Lord Lovel_, _post_, p.

162.

As it fell out on a long summer's day, Two lovers they sat on a hill; They sat together that long summer's day, And could not talk their fill.

"I see no harm by you, Margaret, 5 And you see none by mee; Before to-morrow at eight o' the clock A rich wedding you shall see."

Fair Margaret sat in her bower-window, Combing her yellow hair; 10 There she spyed sweet William and his bride, As they were a riding near.

Then down she layd her ivory combe, And braided her hair in twain: She went alive out of her bower, 15 But ne'er came alive in't again.

When day was gone, and night was come, And all men fast asleep, Then came the spirit of fair Marg'ret, And stood at Williams feet. 20

"Are you awake, sweet William?" shee said,[L21]

"Or, sweet William, are you asleep?

G.o.d give you joy of your gay bride-bed, And me of my winding-sheet."

When day was come, and night 'twas gone, 25 And all men wak'd from sleep, Sweet William to his lady sayd, "My dear, I have cause to weep.

"I dreamt a dream, my dear ladye, Such dreames are never good: 30 I dreamt my bower was full of red swine, And my bride-bed full of blood."

"Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured sir, They never do prove good; To dream thy bower was full of red swine, 35 And thy bride-bed full of blood."

He called up his merry men all, By one, by two, and by three; Saying, "I'll away to fair Marg'ret's bower, By the leave of my ladie." 40

And when he came to fair Marg'ret's bower, He knocked at the ring; And who so ready as her seven brethren, To let sweet William in.

Then he turned up the covering-sheet; 45 "Pray let me see the dead; Methinks she looks all pale and wan, She hath lost her cherry red.

"I'll do more for thee, Margaret, Than any of thy kin: 50 For I will kiss thy pale wan lips, Though a smile I cannot win."

With that bespake the seven brethren, Making most piteous mone, "You may go kiss your jolly brown bride, 55 And let our sister alone."

"If I do kiss my jolly brown bride, I do but what is right; I neer made a vow to yonder poor corpse, By day, nor yet by night. 60

"Deal on, deal on, my merry men all, Deal on your cake and your wine:[L62]

For whatever is dealt at her funeral to-day, Shall be dealt to-morrow at mine."

Fair Margaret dyed to-day, to-day, 65 Sweet William dyed the morrow: Fair Margaret dyed for pure true love, Sweet William dyed for sorrow.

Margaret was buryed in the lower chancel, And William in the higher: 70 Out of her brest there sprang a rose, And out of his a briar.

They grew till they grew unto the church top, And then they could grow no higher; And there they tyed in a true lovers knot, 75 Which made all the people admire.

Then came the clerk of the parish, As you the truth shall hear, And by misfortune cut them down, Or they had now been there. 80