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

Sir Walter Rawleigh has built a ship,
In the Neatherlands
Sir Walter Rawleigh has built a ship,
In the Neather-lands
And it is called The Sweet Trinity,
And was taken by the false gallaly.
Sailing in the Low-lands

137

2

‘Is there never a seaman bold
In the Neather-lands
Is there never a seaman bold
In the Neather-lands
That will go take this false gallaly,
And to redeem The Sweet Trinity?’
Sailing, etc.

3

Then spoke the little ship-boy;
In the Neather-lands
Then spoke the little ship-boy;
In the Neather-lands
‘Master, master, what will you give me
And I will take this false gallaly,
And release The Sweet Trinity?’
Sailing, etc.

4

‘I'll give thee gold, and I'le give thee fee,
In the Neather-lands
I'll give thee gold and I'le give thee fee,
In the Neather-lands
And my eldest daughter thy wife shall be.’
Sailing, etc.

5

He set his breast, and away he did swim,
Until he came to the false gallaly.

6

He had an augor fit for the [n]once,
The which will bore fifteen good holes at once.

7

Some ware at cards, and some at dice,
Until the salt water flashd in their eyes.

8

Some cut their hats, and some cut their caps,
For to stop the salt-water gaps.

9

He set his breast, and away did swim,
Until he came to his own ship again.

10

‘I have done the work I promised to do,
For I have sunk the false gallaly,
And released The Sweet Trinity.

11

‘You promised me gold, and you promised me fee,
Your eldest daughter my wife she must be.’

12

‘You shall have gold, and you shall have fee,
But my eldest daughter your wife shall never be.’
For sailing, etc.

13

‘Then fare you well, you cozening lord,
Seeing you are not so good as your word.’
For sailing, etc.

14

And thus I shall conclude my song,
Of the sailing in the Low-lands
Wishing all happiness to all seamen both old and young.
In their sailing in the Low-lands

The Goulden Vanitie; or, The French Galley; or, The Lowlands Low

THE SWEET TRINITY (THE GOLDEN VANITY)—B

[_]

a. Logan's Pedlar's Pack, p. 42, as sung about 1840 by Mr P. S. Fraser, of Edinburgh, and obtained by him orally. b. As sung by Mr George Du Maurier to Mr J. R. Lowell, 1884. c. Motherwell's MS., p. 420; from Mr John Cleland, marble-cutter, Glasgow, who had it of Mr Forrester, Stirling. d. Communicated by Mrs Moncrieff, as taught to a relative of hers by an old Scottish lady about 1830. e. Findlay MSS, I, 161, “from Strang, Divinity Student, 1868.” f. Sharpe's Ballad Book, 1880, p. 160, note by Sir Walter Scott.

1

There was a gallant ship, and a gallant ship was she
Eck iddle du, and the Lowlands low
And she was called The Goulden Vanitie.
As she sailed to the Lowlands low

2

She had not sailed a league, a league but only three,
Eck, etc.
When she came up with a French gallee.
As she sailed, etc.

3

Out spoke the little cabin-boy, out spoke he;
‘What will you give me if I sink that French gallee?’
As ye sail, etc.

4

Out spoke the captain, out spoke he;
‘We'll gie ye an estate in the North Countrie.’
As we sail, etc.

138

5

‘Then row me up ticht in a black bull's skin,
And throw me oer deck-buird, sink I or swim.’
As ye sail, etc.

6

So they've rowed him up ticht in a black bull's skin,
And have thrown him oer deck-buird, sink he or soom.
As they sail, etc.

7

About, and about, and about went he,
Until he cam up with the French gallee.
As they sailed, etc.

8

O some were playing cards, and some were playing dice,
When he took out an instrument, bored thirty holes at twice.
As they sailed, etc.

9

Then some they ran with cloaks, and some they ran with caps,
To try if they could stap the saut-water draps.
As they sailed, etc.

10

About, and about, and about went he,
Until he cam back to The Goulden Vanitie.
As they sailed, etc.

11

‘Now throw me oer a rope and pu me up on buird,
And prove unto me as guid as your word.’
As ye sail, etc.

12

‘We'll no throw you oer a rope, nor pu you up on buird,
Nor prove unto you as guid as our word.’
As we sail, etc.

13

Out spoke the little cabin-boy, out spoke he;
Then hang me, I'll sink ye as I sunk the French gallee.
As ye sail, etc.

14

But they've thrown him oer a rope, and have pu'd him up on buird,
And have proved unto him far better than their word.
As they sailed, etc.

Golden Vanity; or, The Low Lands Low; or, Low in the Lowlands Low; or, The Golden Vanity; or, The French Gallio; or, The French Gallolee; or, The Turkish Galley; or, The Lowlands Low

THE SWEET TRINITY (THE GOLDEN VANITY)—C

[_]

a. Stall-copy, Pitts, Seven Dials, Logan's Pedlar's Pack, p. 45. b. Long's Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect, p. 145. c. Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, I, 238, compounded from the recitation of an old woman of Buckie, Banffshire, and a chap-book copy. d. Baring-Gould and Sheppard, Songs of the West, No 64, Part III, p. 24, Part IV, p. xxxi, taken down from James Olver, Launceston (an improved copy). e. Buchan's MSS, II, 390, 414. f. Motherwell's MS., p. 392, and Note-Book, p. 50, from the recitation of Agnes Lyle, 24th August, 1825. g. Macmath MS., p. 80, from the recitation of Miss Agnes Macmath, 1893; learned at Airds of Kells, Kirkcudbrightshire.

1

‘I have a ship in the North Countrie,
And she goes by the name of The Golden Vanity;
I'm afraid she will be taken by some Turkish gallee,
As she sails on the Low Lands Low.’

2

Then up starts our little cabin-boy,
Saying, Master, what will you give me if I do them destroy?
‘I will give you gold, I will give you store,
You shall have my daughter when I return on shore,
If ye sink them in the Low Lands Low.’

3

The boy bent his breast and away he jumpt in;
He swam till he came to this Turkish galleon,
As she laid on the Low Lands Low.

4

The boy he had an auger to bore holes two at twice;
While some were playing cards, and some were playing dice,
He let the water in, and it dazzled in their eyes,
And he sunk them in the Low Lands Low.

5

The boy he bent his breast and away he swam back again,
Saying, Master take me up, or I shall be slain,
For I have sunk them in the Low Lands Low.

6

‘I'll not take you up,’ the master he cried;
‘I'll not take you up,’ the master replied;

139

‘I will kill you, I will shoot you, I will send you with the tide,
I will sink you in the Low Lands Low.’

7

The boy he swam round all by the starboardside;
They laid him on the deck, and it's there he soon died;
Then they sewed him up in an old cow's-hide,
And they threw him overboard, to go down with the tide,
And they sunk him in the Low Lands Low.