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Lady Alice
By Frank Sidgwick
The Text of this little ballad is given from Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England.
It should be compared with Lord Lovel.
LADY ALICE
1.
Lady Alice was sitting in her bower-window,
At midnight mending her 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 to-morrow, 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 e'er will there be again.
Extra Info:
[Annotations:
1.2: 'quoif,' cap. The line should doubtless be:-- 'Mending her midnight quoif.']
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