THE WHORES LAMENT

As I walked down by King James's Hospital
King James'es hospital one morning in May
There I espied a handsome young Hooker
All wraped in white linen as cold as the clay

Come sit down beside me my own dear Sister
Come sit down and dont mind if I cry
For the bubo's are aching and my poor heart is breaking
And with sad meditations I am going to die.

Then beat the drums lowly and play the fife slowly
Play the dead march as I'm carried along
Take me to the church-yard and lay the sod oer me
For I am a young whore and know I've done rong.

Go send for the Minister for to pray ore me
Go send for the Doctor to heal up my wound
And send for the young man that first did seduce me
So I may see him before I go home

So cruel was the man that first did seduce me
That he did not tell me in time
That I might aplyed to the pills of white mercury
Now I am a young whore cut down in my prime.

Then beat the drums lowly and play the fife slowly
Play the dead march as I'm carried along
Take me to the church-yard and lay the sod oer me
For I am a young whore and know I've done rong.

Once on the street I drest in the fasion
Once on the street I dreast so gay
But it was first to the dance house and then to the ale house
And then to the Whore House and now to the clay

Let six jollie gamblers go cary my coffin
Let six flameing Whores go sing a song
And in their hands cary a bunch of wild roses
So that they cant smell me as they cary me along.

Then beat the drums lowly and play the fife slowly
Play the dead march as I'm carried along
Take me to the church-yard and lay the sod oer me
For I am a young whore and know I've done rong.
---

"The Whore's Lament" is another good example from the "The Unfortunate Rake" family.

From Robert W. Gordon's Inferno-"Adventure" Collection; #3920 –
No date or contributor info but c.1924
Gordon's "Inferno" Collection is in the Archive of Folk Song, Library of Congress. The typescript is the unedited bawdy examples, torn from his great collection. Gordon was born 9/2/1888 in Bangor Maine (d. 3/29/1961) and was the first head of the Archive, 1928-1932.

All spelling as per typescript. I suggest the order of drums lowly and pipes slowly was a one-off error by the singer and I decided to sing it as drums lowly and pipes slowly.

"Whore's Lament" is almost certainly the pre-Bowdlerized version of "The Bad Girl's Lament" as sung by Wade Hemsworth. No tune is given but with a little squeezing, it scans well to Hemsworth's tune.

The only other example I've come across, likely from tradition, is by Hedy West but I haven't heard that. See Hedy West CDs.

Assuming "Whore" isn't a counterfeit (and I don't think it is, other versions, Unfortunate Lass, etc are similar enough) it is a little unusual in retaining the 'pills of white mercury' element. This was most often dripped from other versions.