The English and Scottish Popular Ballads :: :: University of Virginia Library

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.’

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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

[_]

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 '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

[_]

Miss M. H. Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, p. 46,

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.

University of Virginia Library

85 LADY ALICE

Lady Alice.

LADY ALICE—A

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Giles Collins and Proud Lady Anna

LADY ALICE—B

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Giles Collin

LADY ALICE—C

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LADY ALICE