Author Topic: Add: Peggy Bond [Peggy Bawn]

dmcg

 Posted - 16 Jan 04 - 12:24 pm
As I went o'er the Highland hills
To a farmer's house I came.
The night being dark and something wet,
I ventured into the same,
Where I was kindly treated,
And a pretty lass I spied,
Who asked me if I had a wife,
But marriage I denied.

I courted her the lae long night
Till near the dawn of day,
When frankly she did say to me
"Alang with you I'll gae;
For Ireland is a fine country,
And the Scots to you are kin,
So I will gang along with you
My fortune to begin."

Day being come and breakfast o'er
To the parlour I was ta'en;
The gudeman kindly asked me
If I'd marry his daughter Jane.
"Five hundred marks I'll give her
Besides a piece of lan';"
But scarcely had he spoke the word
Till I thought of Peggy Bawn.

"Your offer, Sir, is very good,
And I thank you too," said I,
"But I cannot be your son-in-law,
And I'll tell you the reason why:
My business calleth me in haste,
I am the King's servant bound,
And I must gang awa' this day
Straight to Edinburgh town."

Oh, Peggy Bawn, thou art my own,
Thy heart lies in my breast;
And though we at a distance are
Yet I love thee still the best.
Although we at a distance are
And the seas between us ror,
Yet I'll be constant, Peggy Bawn,
To thee for evermore.



Source: Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Dec 1936


Notes:

From 'MS 18', Richard Hugill's Book, from Frank Kidson's collection (Early 19th Century)

Anne Gilchrist wrote:

Duffy, writing in 1845, remarks that "the existance of this ballad is traceable for a century - it is probably much older. It bears strong evidence of having been written in Ulster, where it holds its ground with undiminished popularity to this day." A scrap of a Manx-Gaelic version (probably a translation from the Ulster song), to a simpler form of the tune, was noted by Dr Clague in the Isle of Man. See Journal, vol viii, p 308. Moore wrote his "Song of Innisfail" (They came from a land beyond the sea) to the tune "Peggy Bawn" but as far as I am aware this is the first time the original song and its tune have been printed together, under its proper title. It is possible that this tune was also sung to the "Peggy Bawn" or "Molly Bawn (or Vaughn)" ballad best known in England as "The Shooting of his Dear." ... It seems probable that the "Peggy Bawn" tune is a modernised version of the Scottish ballad-air "Earl Richard".


Database entry is here.





dmcg

 Posted - 16 Jan 04 - 12:49 pm
Molly Bawn, referred to above, is in the database.




Malcolm Douglas
 Posted - 16 Jan 04 - 02:41 pm
Roud 661. A few examples from oral currency are listed, the most recent from the repertoire of the late Walter Pardon of Norfolk. Quite widely printed on broadsides as Peggy Band and Peggy Bann. Examples at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads also include Peggy Band's answer:

Peggy Band

Alfred Moffat, Minstrelsy of Ireland, 1897 8-9, prints the song as As I gaed o'er the Highland hills, subtitled Peggy Bawn, and comments:

"The Air Peggy Bawn or Fair Peggy, seems to have been a great favourite about a century ago. In 1788 Shield introduced it in his opera Marion, the book of which was written by Mrs. Brooke. It is also to be found in O'Farrell's Irish Music for the Union Piper, circa 1797-1800, Aird's Collection, vol. v., 1797, Holden's Periodical Irish Melodies and other works. A somewhat curious setting is to be seen in 'James Warwick's MS.,' 1807, a little MS. collection of tunes now in the 'James Walker Collection' in the Aberdeen Public Library; it is there entitled Peggy Bawn, thou art my dear. I have been unable to discover the author of the ballad given above; it was very popular during the first half of the century."

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