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ROSE OF BRITAIN'S ISLE Both high and low attention give And quickly you shall hear It's of a maiden fair and gay Who lived in Lincolnshire Her cheeks like blooming roses red On a face appeared a smile This fair one's name was lovely Jane The rose of Britain's Isle She was a farmer's daughter His pride and only joy And when eighteen she fell in love With her father's apprentice boy Young Edmond lived contented Jane did his heart beguile By all above, he cried, I love The rose of Britain's Isle Oh when her father came to know This couple a courting were He in an angry passion flew How dreadful he did swear Saying, If you bring disgrace on me I'll send you many a mile With great disdain you'll cross the main From the rose of Britain's Isle Young Edmond on board a ship was sent To sail across the main While Jane at home did weep and mourn Her bosom swelled with pain She dressed herself in sailor's clothes And in a little while On board of the ship with Edmond went The rose of Britain's Isle They had not been many days at sea When a storm it did arise And when young Edmond went aloft Jane wept with tearful eyes Twas little did young Edmond know That Jane did on him smile Or by his side did stand his bride The rose of Britain's Isle It was when they came near the coast of Spain The enemy gave the alarm And by a ball, young Jane did fall Which shattered her left arm The seamen ran to lend their aid While Jane in agony smiled The surgeon beheld some maid Tis the rose of Britain's Isle Young Edmond he was sore surprised And troubled with much pain And when young Jane recovered They were both sent home again And the people were with wonder struck And the villagers did smile Saying, you're welcome back, young Edmond And the rose of Britain's Isle Her father being dead and gone Most joyful to relate And all his gold, he willed to Jane Likewise a large estate And they were married while the bells did ring And the villagers did smile Long and happy may young Edmond reign With the rose of Britain's Isle DT #447 Laws N16 @transvestite @love @sailor @farm version from Nova Scotia filename[ ROSEBRIT SOF |
Rose of Britain's Isle (per Malcolm: The DT file names no source, but the text given is nearly identical to the one in Edith Fowke's Sea Songs and Ballads from Nineteenth Century Nova Scotia (1981), and may perhaps derive from that book, with one or two words mis-remembered. Fowke commented: "Although at least four different broadside printers issued this ballad in England, it does not seem to have survived in British tradition, nor has it been reported in the United States. However, it has been quite popular in Canada, turning up in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario. The text here is one stanza longer than any of the traditional versions I have seen. It is remarkably close to the texts given by Creighton and Manny except that they lack the seventh stanza." The Fowke text came from Fenwick Hatt's notebook of sea ballads, made around the 1880s. Helen Creighton gives a set in her Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia (1932), which was noted from Mr. Ben Henneberry of Devil's Island c.1929. This is probably as close as we are likely to get to a tune for the DT example, though, as ever, I stress that we can't know whether or not that text was ever sung to this tune or one like it. Midi made from the Creighton example. ) |
