The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Edited by Francis James Child. |
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 | The English and Scottish Popular Ballads |  |
279
85
LADY ALICE
Lady Alice.
LADY ALICE—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.’
280
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.
Giles Collins and Proud Lady Anna
LADY ALICE—B
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 'twas 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.
Giles Collin
LADY ALICE—C
1
Giles Collin he said to his mother one day,Oh, mother, come bind up my head!
For tomorrow morning before it is day
I'm sure I shall be dead.
2
‘Oh, mother, oh, mother, if I should die,And I am sure I shall,
I will not be buried in our churchyard,
But under Lady Alice's wall.’
3
His mother she made him some water-gruel,And stirred it up with a spoon;
Giles Collin he ate but one spoonful,
And died before it was noon.
4
Lady Alice was sitting in her window,All dressed in her night-coif;
She saw as pretty a corpse go by
As ever she'd seen in her life.
5
‘What bear ye there, ye six tall men?What bear ye on your shourn?’
‘We bear the body of Giles Collin,
Who was a true lover of yourn.’
6
‘Down with him, down with him, upon the grass,The grass that grows so green;
For tomorrow morning before it is day
My body shall lie by him.’
7
Her mother she made her some plum-gruel,With spices all of the best;
Lady Alice she ate but one spoonful,
And the doctor he ate up the rest.
8
Giles Collin was laid in the lower chancel,Lady Alice all in the higher;
There grew up a rose from Lady Alice's breast,
And from Giles Collin's a briar.
9
And they grew, and they grew, to the very church-top,Until they could grow no higher,
And twisted and twined in a true-lover's knot,
Which made all the parish admire.
| The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | |