Ballad of Little Musgrave: Text

Our family surname is derived from Musgrave. We've posted on The Ballad of Little Musgrave. We believe some event is the basis for this ballad.

Our last post, on the historical setting, dated the events to the reign of King Henry VIII and his Reformation; the move from a Catholic to a Protestant England. In this post, we'll attempt to uncover the original story.

Out of the fourteen collected variations of this ballad (at this link), we think the oldest is 81A.

Outside Evidence

One stanza of the ballad was sung in a play, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (wikilink),  in 1607.

And some they whistled, and some they sung,

"Hey, down, down!"

And some did loudly say,

Ever as the Lord Barnet's horn blew,

"Away, Musgrave, away!"  

This is the earliest reference we have to this song. The first criteria for the initial version must contain this verse. This eliminates twelve versions and leaves 81A and 81B. The latter, 81B, is a fragment. For now, we focus on James Child version 81A.

Analysis of Text

It fell one holy-day,

Refrain: Hay downe

As many be in the yeare,

When young men and maids together did goe,

Their mattins and mass to heare,

Little Musgrave came to the church-dore;

The preist was at private masse;

But he had more minde of the faire women

Then he had of our lady[’s] grace.

The setting established in our post on the history of the ballad is assumed for this analysis. Holy-day was a holiday.

The phrase Hey, downe is the border ballads equivalent to tra-la-la. It's what you do to keep the time when you forget the words. We're not convinced the original writer of this ballad wrote these words. This version was probably passed on orally.

Of greater importance are the religious ceremonies. Mattins were a service of morning prayer in various churches, especially the Anglican Church. Mass is service of the Roman Catholic Church.  Our Lady of Grace is also Catholic.

We believe this reflects the tensions about religion at the time. This is the only version with Catholic overtones. In version 81C, beside checking out the ladies, the Protestant 'Little Mousgrove would to the church and pray.'

"And some of them whistld, and some of them sung,

And some these words did say,

And ever when my lord Barnard’s horn blew,

‘Away, Musgrave, away!’ "

This version omits the 'Hey, down, down' from the play. 'It seems less contrived; it flows. We think it original to the saga.

The verse indicates lord Barnard is blowing his horn and some of his men are shouting to warn Musgrave off. In the very next stanza, Musgrave speaks.

‘Methinks I hear the thresel-cock,

Methinks I hear the jaye;

Methinks I hear my lord Barnard,

And I would I were away.’

A thresel-cock is a thrush; a jay is in the crow family. 

'Lye still, lye still, thou Little Musgrave,

And huggell me from the cold;

’Tis nothing but a shephard’s boy,

A driving his sheep to the fold.

‘Is not thy hawke upon a perch?

Thy steed eats oats and hay;

And thou a fair lady in thine armes,

And wouldst thou bee away?’

We're inclined to believe these four stanzas are original on a literary basis. Granted, the premise is subjective. It 'feels' right. We have Lord Barnard's horns and the friends yelling, Away, Musgrave, away. Immediately, Musgrave wishes he were away. But Lady Barnard can't imagine why he would want to be away. 

All three members of this love triangle have expressed their thought about Musgrave going away. 

Not only do we think this original, but we believe this triad of 'away's carries some special significance we don't fully understand. The repetition feels like something a bard could easily remember and make the high point of his performance. 

But something more interesting is Little Musgrave's "hawke upon a perch' and 'steed eat(ing) oats and hay'

In the ballads' later editions, Musgrave is believed commoner or a peasant. But falconry was the sport of landed gentry, not lower classes. This throws a different light on the whole story.

And then there's this:

The name (Musgrave ed.) is presumed to have been derived from Musgrave, Mewsgrave, or Musgreave: 'the keeper of the king's hawks, or the king's equerry.' Wikipedia

We're not convinced this is the origin of our name. Still, Mugraves held high positions, were Wardens of the Marches, and may be known for keeping the hawks. Or was Musgrave planning on a hunt with his own bird while on holiday?

With that my lord Barnard came to the dore,

And lit a stone upon;

He plucked out three silver keys,

And he opend the dores each one.

He lifted up the coverlett,

He lifted up the sheet:

‘How now, how now, thou Littell Musgrave,

Doest thou find my lady sweet?’

‘I find her sweet,’ quoth Little Musgrave,

‘The more ’tis to my paine;

I would gladly give three hundred pounds

That I were on yonder plaine.’

In later editions, Musgrave boldly pronounces his love for  Lord Barnard's wife. Here, once again, he wishes he were away on the plains. But the Lady Barnard is bold. She proclaims she will pray for Musgrave but never for her husband. This is the only version in which...

He cut her paps from off her brest;

Great pitty it was to see

That some drops of this ladie’s heart’s blood

Ran trickling downe her knee.

We're convinced this is original. In later versions, Lady Barnard's heart is pierced or head gashed, but none have this specificity.

Because of this one stanza, no one likes this version. 

So ask yourself this. If a version is edited, would it be made more horrific or would it be tamed for the masses? Do artists make tame works edgier or tame edgy works?

In this post, we've explained why we believe - of the versions we've studied - 81A of the Child Ballad collection is the earliest form of The Ballad of Little Musgrave. In the next, we'll examine the location of the story.

Christy Moore - Little Musgrave

Part of a series on The Ballad of Little Musgrave.

1. Distinguished Surname      4. Versions       7   Origin.     
2. Border Reivers                   5.  History        8.  Author               
3. Ballad                                 6. Text              9. Story
                                              10. Minstrels

Have you been following this series on the Ballad of Little Musgrave? Do you have any thoughts on it? Tell me below in the comment section.