Origins/Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted

Subject: The Highwayman Outwitted
From:
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:37 AM

Does anyone have the tune for The Highwayman Outwitted? I'm also interested in any good Lincolnshire songs. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: DMcG
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:45 AM

I think I've heard this to "The Crafty Maid's Policy" (in DT)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: MMario
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:48 AM

if anyone *does* have the tune to Highwayman outwitted and could post it - that would be graciously gratifying! it is one of the DT's "missing tunes"

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:50 AM

Lots of traditional versions under various titles, lots of different tunes. Did you have any particular one in mind?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: MMario
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:57 AM

Did Laws give a tune direction in 'american balladry'?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:58 AM

The DT set is from a broadside with no tune indication. As I said, there are a lot of different possible tunes for it; we may never find a probable, but I'm holding out for that for now rather than make do with a third-best not unlikely.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Kate
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 12:06 PM

I'm interested in any tunes that are available. I realise that this is pretty open ended but I have never heard this song only read it when trying to find songs from my home county. I'll have a listen to "The Crafty Maid's Policy" tune though. Thanks.

Subject: ADD: The Highwayman Outwitted (Yorks)
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 02:51 PM

There are a couple of versions in this previous discussion: THE DEVONSHIRE FARMER'S DAUGHTER/ THE FARMER FROM CHESHIRE

Snuffy seems never to have got round to posting the tune(s), though. The song turns up in all sorts of forms and localised to all sorts of places. The Roud Folk Song Index actually gives it two consecutive numbers; 2637 and 2638; the majority of the "farmer's daughter" variants are in the latter group.

Traditional versions have been found all over the English-speaking world (including Tristan da Cunha!), but I haven't found any tunes noted in Lincolnshire. The nearest, geographically speaking, would probably be the following, which Frank Kidson got from Mrs. Kate Thompson of Knaresborough; date unspecified but likely during the 1880s or 1890s.

THE HIGHWAYMAN OUTWITTED

(Noted by Frank Kidson from Mrs. Kate Thompson of Knaresborough.)

It's of a rich farmer in Cheshire,
To the market his daughter would go,
Not thinking that any would harm her,
She'd often been that way before.

She was met by a rusty highwayman,
Who caused the young damsel to stand.
"Your money and clothes now deliver
Or else your sweet life is at hand."

He stripped this fair damsel stark naked,
And gave her his bridle to hold,
And there she stood shivering and shaking,
Near starved unto death with the cold.

She put her left foot in the stirrup,
And mounted her horse like a man;
Over hedges and ditches she galloped,
Crying, "Catch me, bold rogue, if you can."

The bold rogue he soon followed after,
Which caused him to puff and to blow.
Thank God that he never did catch her,
Till she came to her own father's door.

"Oh daughter! dear daughter! what's happened?"
"Oh father! to you I will tell;
I was met by a rusty highwayman,
Thank God! he has done me no harm."

"Put the grey mare in the stable,
And spread the white sheet on the floor."
She stood there and counted the money,
She counted five thousand and more.

From The Journal of the Folk Song Society, vol.I, issue 5, 1904. A midi of the tune will doubtless appear in time at the Mudcat Midi Pages; meanwhile, it can be heard via the South Riding Folk Network site:

The Highwayman Outwitted (midi)

As for folk songs collected in Lincolnshire, try to get hold of Patrick O'Shaughnessy's books; you can still get More Folk Songs from Lincolnshire and Yellowbelly Ballads Part Two through the English Folk Dance and Song Society, for example.

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Thread #29700   Message #382520
Posted By: Snuffy
25-Jan-01 - 05:18 PM
Thread Name: Help: Unusual Devon songs
Subject: Lyr Add: THE DEVONSHIRE FARMER'S DAUGHTER^^

Deni,

Here's The Devonshire Farmer's Daughter, and The Farmer from Cheshire (recorded in Suffolk). See also The Highwayman Outwitted which the Digital Tradition database has assigned the number DT #682. Here the farmer is from Lincolnshire. This thread gives a Scottish version where it's the farmer who outwits the highwayman.This tale seems to be pretty widespread, so I don't know if you'd count it as a Devon song. See also The Crafty Farmer and the Crafty Boy in the DT for similar table turning exploits (Child #283).

The Cheshire version is notable not only for its economic telling of the tale, but also for the fact that it doesn't rhyme until verse 5!

THE DEVONSHIRE FARMER'S DAUGHTER

In Devonshire lived a rich farmer,
His daughter to market did go.
Believing that no-one could harm her,
Oft-times she did ride to and fro.

It happened to be on a Wednesday,
A great deal of corn she had sold.
She's gone to receive every penny.
They paid her in silver and gold.

In a portmantle she put it,
In this portmantle put she.
For fear of some beggars or troopers
A robbing all on the highway.

One gay, gallant trooper she's met with
He bade this poor damsel to stay.
But she would not have stayed for the heavens,
But galloped along the highway

He pulled this young girl from her saddle
He gave her his bridle to hold.
While she's in the shaking and [babering?]
O almost a-froze with the cold.

She off with her foot in his stirrup
And away she did ride like a man.
"Come follow me, follow me, trooper.
Come follow me home if you can."

He run, but he could not get after:
His boots they were baffled in snow.
"Come, rein up, my pretty young damsel.
I'll give you back your money and gold."

"No matter, no matter," she shouted,
"You can keep it all now, if you will.
For I've leaved you a bag full of farthings,
A sum of five shilling to tell."

She rode over hills, over mountains,
Till she came to her father's own gate.
Her father was sorely affrighted.
To see her come home in her whites.

"And where have you been to my daughter?
O where have you tarried so long?"
"Some very rough wooers I have met with,
But still I have suffered no wrong.

He looked in the trooper's portmantle,
And in the portmantle he found
Large pieces of gold and of silver
Which mounted to six hundred pounds.

"Here's six hundred pounds here, my daughter.
And I will add six hundred more.
And you now have a plentiful fortune
To keep the cold wind from the door."

DT#682
Laws L2
Recorded by George Deacon (vocal) & Marion Ross (harmonium) originally on Transatlantic. Reissued on compilation double-CD The best of English Folk, 1999. Essential ESCD770.

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THE FARMER FROM CHESHIRE

There was a rich farmer in Cheshire,
And his daughter to market would go.
Thinking of no harm or danger,
For she'd been on that highway before.

She met with an uncivil roadster,
Two pistols he drew from his side.
Saying "Deliver up your money and clothing
Or you will die in distress."

He stripped that poor lady star-naked,
But she mounted that mare like a man.
She galloped over hedgerow and ditches
Till she came to her dear father's door.

"O daughter, o daughter, what's happened?
Why stayest you late from the fair?"
O father, I've been in geat danger,
But the villain has done me no harm."

She put the grey mare in the stable,
And spread a white cloth on the floor.
She counted her money twice over,
And she counted a thousand and more.

But now she's a carriage to ride in,
And a coachman to ride by her side,
Servants to wait at the table,
And plenty of money besides.

DT#682
Laws L2
Collected 1985-87 by John Howson at Wickham Skeith, Suffolk from the singing of Charlie Stringer. Songs Sung in Suffolk Vol 3, (1988), Veteran Tapes VT103

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: GUEST,G.Jarrold
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 03:22 PM

the tune for this can be heard on "English Songs And Dances" by "Magpie Lane"on"Beautiful Jo"c.d bejocd-6

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 04:37 PM

For comparison's sake, I refer you to The Crafty Farmer

The old farmer is riding to his landlord's house to pay his whole year's rent. A highwayman confronts him, and the farmer foolishly(?) confides what his errand is, and that there's forty pounds in his bags, under his saddle rig.

The highwayman shows weapons and makes him dismount. "Give me the bags with the money", in effect. The old man throws the bags over the hedge, "Take it, if ye'll have any", and when the highwayman chases after it the farmer steals the highwayman's horse, with saddle, weapons, and loot, and goes home.

Essentially the same plot as The Highwayman Outwitted. My personal druthers, I like this one the better of the two.

I know the tune to this one, and sing it occasionally. If anyone needs this tune, I can email an MP3 of it.
Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 09:33 PM

The point I was trying to make (nearly 3 years ago, now) was that there are a lot of overlapping songs that tell essentially the same story. They are carried by a good few different tunes, so "Jarrold"s confident assertion that "the tune" for "this song" (which version of it? There are a great many) can be found on one particular record doesn't tell us anything very helpful without specific details.

The Crafty Farmer strand belongs to Roud 2637. It's usually called The Yorkshire Bite, but was very popular in Britain, America and Canada; so there are lots of versions (with various titles) and lots of tunes. Which one did you mean, Dave?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Tradsinger
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 01:27 PM

Our Band Puzzlejug has recorded a local (Gloucestershire) traveller version of the Yorkshire Bite, entitled Jack and the Robber. I also learnt an Appalachian version of the same ballad to a nice modal tune some years ago (from an American visiting England). I like to think that it is in the same tradition as Jack and the Beanstalk and the Appalachian Jack Tales. Would anyone like to comment on that?

The [Rich] Farmer of Leicester/Cheshire/Sheffield has been collected from lots of English traditional singers - Wiggie Smith, the Copper Family, Mary Ann Haynes and so on. It's particularly popular with gypsy singers and most gypsies who have more than about 10 songs in their reportoire know it. It's not heard much in folk clubs, though. The tune varies but versions are usually similar.

Hell, I have even recorded a version of it myself.

Gwilym

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Feb 05 - 08:21 AM

Only four years since I posted the words and two-and a half since Malcolm pointed out I hadn't posted the tunes. Must have slipped below the radar. Anyway, better late than never.

X: 271
T:Devonshire Farmer's Daughter
M:2/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=110
D:George Deacon/Marion Ross 1973
K:Eb
B,|E2FG|A2GF|FE3-|E2z
w:In De-von-shire lived a rich far-mer
E|E2GB|c2Bc|G4- |G2z
w:his daugh-ter to mar-ket did go
F|E2GB|c2BA|GE3-|E2z
w:Be-liev-ing that no-one could harm her
F|G2FE|G2CD|E4- |E2z||
w:Oft times she did ride to and fro

X: 272
T:Farmer From Cheshire
M:3/4
L:1/4
S:Charlie Stringer, Wickham Skeith, Suffolk
K:G
D|GGG|AGA|BG2-|G2
w:There was a rich far-mer in Che-shire*
B/c/|ddd|cAG|A3-|A2z
w:And his daugh-ter to mar-ket would go*
ABc|dBG|FE2-|E2
w:Think-ing of no harm or dan-ger*
c/c/|BAG|AEF|G2-|G2
w:For she'd been on that high-way be-fore*

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 12 Feb 05 - 04:25 PM

Malcolm Douglas:

The version of The Crafty Farmer that I know and sing is essentially the same, in both text and tune, as the one in the DT, to which I provided a link.   Of the course MIDI in the DT is rather lifeless, but it's the same tune all right. I think there's a few notes of variation in the second phrase, at "I hope it will give ye content", but otherwise the same.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Origins/Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Aug 13 - 04:45 PM

Highwayman Outwitted, The [Laws L2]

DESCRIPTION: A highwayman stops a merchant's daughter. When she dismounts, her horse runs home with her money. He abuses her and strips her, then has her hold his horse as he bundles up his gains. She jumps on the horse and rides home, still naked but with his money
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(142))
KEYWORDS: outlaw escape clothes
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Laws L2, "The Highwayman Outwitted"
Logan-APedlarsPack, pp. 133-136, "The Maid of Rygate" (1 text)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 448, "Highwayman" (1 text)
Hamer-GreenGroves, pp. 16-17, "The Merchant's Daughter and the Highwayman" (1 text, 1 tune)
OShaughnessy-MoreFolkSongsFromLincolnshire 12, "The Rich Farmer's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 21, "The Highway Robber" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 226-228, "The Rich Merchant's Daughter" (1 text, 2 tunes)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 89, "The Highwayman Outwitted" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, pp. 40-41, "The Highwayman Outwitted" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 682, HIOUTWIT
ST LL02 (Full)
Roud #2638
RECORDINGS:
Mike Kent, "The Rich Merchant's Daughter" (on PeacockCDROM)
Wiggy Smith, "There Was a Rich Farmer at Sheffield" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(142), "The Highwayman Outwitted by the Farmer's Daughter," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 11(92), Firth c.17(17), "The Lincolnshire Farmer's Daughter"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Crafty Farmer" [Child 283; Laws L1]
NOTES [144 words]: It's just possible that this has a real-life origin, though I doubt it: David Brandon, in Stand and Deliver! A History of Highway Robbery, pp. 29-31, reports that one Isaac Atkinson held up a young woman, who -- apparently thinking he wanted something harder to recover than her money -- threw a bag of coins in the ditch. Atkinson, instead of either pursuing his seduction or doing anything to control the girl, simply jumped off his horse to pick up the coins.
The girl then flew away on her horse, and by chance his horse followed. She was able to report where she had left him, and he was taken and hanged.
Brandon, however, cites no sources; I almost wonder if his tale wasn't based on this song, or perhaps on something like "The Crafty Farmer" and/or "Lovely Joan."
For a bit more on Atkinson, see the notes to "The Crafty Farmer" [Child 283; Laws L1]. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LL02

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THE HIGHWAYMAN OUTWITTED (DT Lyrics)

In Lincolnshire lived a rich farmer,
And his daughter to market would go;
Thinking that no body would harm her,
As she rode away to and fro.

Till she met with a lusty highwayman,
Her pockets he drew from her sides;
And as she stood shivering and shaking,
He gave her the bridle to hold.

From stirrip to saddle she mounted,
She threw her legs over like a man;
All the way that she gallop'd, she shouted
Now catch me you rogue, if you can.

This highwayman soon followed after,
A bullet from his pistol let fly;
He ran, but he could not come at her,
His boots they so hampered his knees.

As she rode over her father's green pasters,
It had just struck a eleven by the clock;
Her father was sorely afrighted, to see
Her ride home in her smock.

O daughter what has been the matter, you
Have tarried so long from your home?
O father I have been sorely afrighted,
But still I have come to no harm.

Then he pulled from behind her, a
Port mantell with several articals more;
And ninety score of bright guineas,
He tumbled them out on the floor.

O father this is a grand portion,
It will keep the wild wolf from the door;
O daughter it is a grand portion,
Unto thee I will give as much more.

Then here is a health to the lass,
That the risk of her life she has run;
She tricked the highwayman compIetely
Out of his horse, money and gun.

DT #682
Laws L2
@outlaw @trick
Reprinted from a broadside by Harkness in the Houghton Library
at Harvard University in Laws American Balladry From British
Broadsides.
filename[ HIOUTWIT
SOF
oct96

Subject: RE: Origins/Tune Req: The Highwayman Outwitted
From: and e
Date: 09 Jun 23 - 04:41 PM

        THE DAMSEL FROM CHASHAW
        (Learned in Malad [Idaho] about 1912;
        Probably brought from England or Africa
        by my Talbot ancestors.)

        There lived a fair Damsel in Chashaw,
        Who often to market would go,
        Thinking no one would harm or molest her
        As she travelled the road to and fro.

        She met with a lofty highwayman;
        Two pistols he held at her breast,
        Saying "Stand and deliver your oney,
        Or else you will die, I confess!"

        He stripped this poor damsel most naked,
        And took from her wallet her gold;
        And as he sat counting her money,
        He gave her the bridle to hold.

        She put her foot into the stirrup,
        And into the saddle she sprang;
        And away she dashed over the prairie,
        Crying, "Catch me, bold rogue, if you can!"

        She dashed over the hills and high mountains
        Till she came to her father's farm-side;
        And then with a tear and a whisper,
        Her father he then did arrive.

        "Oh, daughter, oh, what's been the matter,,
        That's kept you so long from the farm?"
        "Oh, enough, oh, enough's been the matter;
        But the rogue he has done me no harm!"

        This fair damsel she still lives in Chashaw,
        And her husband along with her dwells;
        And the little ones they all sit and listen,
        While the story of the robber she tells.

        N.B. Chashaw from Cheshire or Chester?

Pg 23,
Songs and Ballads: Folk Material and Old Favorites, undated [c1933].

See online here:

https://archive.org/details/1933-1972jameskennethlarson/page/n23/mode/1up


This is the first[?] collected version in North America of the "Maid of
Rygate" branch of songs that includes the titles "The Highwayman Outwitted" and
"The Cheshire Farmer’s Daughter" and is Laws L2; Roud 2638.