Volume 2 — 85 LADY ALICE
Reading edition
A. 'Lady Alice.' a. Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 127. b. Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 418. c. Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 354.
B. 'Giles Collins and Proud Lady Anna,' Gammer Gurton's Garland, p. 38, ed. 1810.
This little ballad, which is said to be still of the regular stock of the stalls, is a sort of counterpart to 'Lord Lovel.' A writer in Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 418, says: This old song was refined and modernized by the late Richard Westall, R. A.
A
a. Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, p. 127, a stall copy. b. Edward Hawkins, in Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 418. c. Notes and Queries, Second Series, I, 354, as heard sung forty years before 1856, "Uneda," Philadelphia.
1 Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window, Mending her midnight quoif, And there she saw as fine a corpse As ever she saw in her life. 2 'What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? What bear ye on your shoulders?' 'We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, An old and true lover of yours.' 3 'O lay him down gently, ye six men tall, All on the grass so green, And tomorrow, when the sun goes down, Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen. 4 'And bury me in Saint Mary's church, All for my love so true, And make me a garland of marjoram, And of lemon-thyme, and rue.' 5 Giles Collins was buried all in the east, Lady Alice all in the west, And the roses that grew on Giles Collins's grave, They reached Lady Alice's breast. 6 The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, And he severed those roses in twain; Sure never were seen such true lovers before, Nor eer will there be again.
B
Gammer Gurton's Garland, p. 38, ed. 1810.
1 Giles Collins he said to his old mother, Mother, come bind up my head, And send to the parson of our parish, For tomorrow I shall be dead. dead, For tomorrow I shall be dead. 2 His mother she made him some water-gruel, And stirrd it round with a spoon; Giles Collins he ate up his water-gruel, And died before 't was noon. 3 Lady Anna was sitting at her window, Mending her night-robe and coif; She saw the very prettiest corpse She'd seen in all her life. 4 'What bear ye there, ye six strong men, Upon your shoulders so high?' 'We bear the body of Giles Collins, Who for love of you did die.' 5 'Set him down, set him down,' Lady Anna she cry'd, 'On the grass that grows so green; Tomorrow, before the clock strikes ten, My body shall lye by hisn.' 6 Lady Anna was buried in the east, Giles Collins was buried in the west; There grew a lilly from Giles Collins That touchd Lady Anna's breast. 7 There blew a cold north-easterly wind, And cut this lilly in twain, Which never there was seen before, And it never will again.
A. a.
12. At midnight mending her quoif.
b.
12. Mending her midnight coif.
33. before the sun.
4. wanting.
53. grow, misprinted.
61. pass by.
62. And severd these.
64. ever there will.
c.
11. at her.
12. A mending her midnight coif.
13. the finest corpse.
14. That ever.
22. Upon your shoulders strong.
23. Sir Giles.
3, 4. wanting.
51. Lady Alice was.
52. Giles Collins all.
53. A lily grew out of.
54. And touched.
6. wanting.