Narrative: 4. Molly Bawn (Polly Vaughn/The Shooting of his Dear)
This earliest record of this ballad has been mistakenly attributed to Robert Jamieson in 1799, which was the date Jamieson sent a circular letter to his friends. In the letter was a copy of Jamieson's composed ballad, "Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinoir" based on the ballad story he heard when a child[1]. Seven years later he published[2] a fragment of the ballad, entitled, "Peggy Baun" obtained "from his much-valued friend, professor Scott, of King's College, Aberdeen" who had taken it "from the recitation of one of his maidservants." This fragment was acquired around 1803[3]. Here is the traditional fragment Jameison published in Popular Ballads and Songs, 1806:
Out spak the old father (His head it was grey) 'O, keep your ain country, My son,' he did say.
'O, keep your ain country; Let your trial it come on, &c.
* * * * *
She appeared to her uncle, And to him said she, 'O uncle, dear uncle, Jamie Warick is free.
'Ye'll neither hang him nor head him, Nor do him any wrong; Be kind to my darling, Now since I am gone.
'For once as I was walking, It fell a shower of rain; I went under the hedging, The rain for to shun.
'As he was a-hunting, With his dog and his gun, By my white apron, He took me for a swan.'
This fragment is taken from the end of the ballad after a hunter, in this case named Jamie Warick, goes home and tells his father that he accidentally killed his true love, Molly Baun, thinking he was shooting a swan. The father tells his son not to flee but to stay in his "ain country" and face trial. Molly's ghost appears to her uncle, tells him "Jamie Warick will go free," and explains how she was accidentally killed.
Robert Jamieson was born in 1772 and heard the ballad around 1777[4] when he was a child. The importance of his memory of the ballad is that it establishes an early traditional date of circa 1777. The fragment above, being acquired from a maidservant around 1803, is also important since it was the first extant traditional version published (1806). The 1799 date only pertains to Jamieson's composition. At least four print versions were published before 1800:
1. "A Song, call'd Molly Bawn" was published in The Bottle and Frien'ds Garland; Containing Four Excellent New Songs. I. Damon and Phillis. II. The Bottle and Friend. III. A New Song. IV. Molly Bawn. V. The Macaroni; transcribed by Steve Gardham from the British Library 11621.c.3(4.), printed 1765[5].
2. "Mally Bann" was published in a Scottish chapbook in 1793[6] the contents of ballads are: Logie O' Buchan, Mally Bann, Grigel Maccree, The Young Man's Love to the Farmer's Daughter, and The Braes of Ballanden.
3. "The Youth's Grievance, or the Downfall of Molly Bawn" of 10 stanzas appeared in a Belfast garland 1797[7].
4. A twelve stanza version titled "Mally Bann" was published in a chapbook "The British volunteers. To which are added, God save the king. Mally Bann. Tippling John. Johny Faa, the gypsie laddie[8]" which was printed by J. & M. Robertson, Saltmarket, Glasgow, 1799. BL 11606. aa. 23. 24.2.
Two broadside print versions were made in the US:
1. "Polly Wand, together with the Beggar girl, and Tom Starboard," Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project, BIB ID: 284426. Boston, MA; c. 1810[9].
2. "Polly von Luther and Jamie Randall" J. Andrews, Printer, 38 Chatham St., NY; c. 1857.
As indicated by the different titles of the print versions, the ballad has appeared under a variety of names from which I've chosen the main title as "Molly Bawn." The "B" is pronounced as a 'V" and the name sounds like, "Vaughn" and is also spelled "Vaughan." According to Andrew Kuntz[10], "The title 'Molly Bawn' is an Englished corruption of the Gaelic 'Mailí Bhán,' or Fair Mary (Fairhaired Mary, White Haired Mary)." Other popular titles or spellings include "Molly Bann/Baun" and "Polly Vaughn/Vaughan."
The question remains, is the ballad based on fact? Did the accidental shooting take place, and if so, when and where? According to Bob Askew[11]:
"It seems to be based on a true event. Joyce said that it was very popular in mid and southern Ireland in the 19th century. He noted the earliest version in Ireland and felt that it was based on a true event: 'it obviously commemorates a tragedy in real life'. An article in Ulster Folklife (1972) quoted an 1845 manuscript from Kilwarlin, Co Down, which named James Reynolds and Molly Bann Lavery, born in Lisburn, and educated in Lurgan. The surnames were local, the Laverys were Catholics and the Reynolds Protestants. No archival evidence has yet been found to prove this, but it is likely that it could turn up."
Steve Gardham who has made transcription of the print versions of this ballad at the British Library says, "I'd say the incident/original was probably 1750 or earlier[12]."
In the book, Special Report on Surnames in Ireland: Together with Varieties and Synonymes by Robert E. Matheson[13], he explains that the Moira District has these prefixes, Baun or Bawn before the last name. The "Baun" means white (Ban) and Molly Baun/Bawn would be "fair-haired Molly." The name Baun/Bawn attached to the last name would be Baun-Lavery or Bawn-Lavery with Baun being the most common. Several people are known by their prefixes, for example, "Dan Baun-Lavery" was known by the name, "Dan Baun." Both the Lowry and the Lavery names descend from O Labhradha, an ancient name from province of Ulster. The Baun-Lavery and Baun-Lowery names are known in other districts.
Since a number of traditional versions[14] are titled, "Molly Baun/Ban Lavery" or "Molly Bawn Lowry" it seems that Askew's information warrants closer examination. We know from the print versions that the accidental killing took place before 1780 but not so far before that date that it would have been forgotten. Hugh Shields has reported an Irish poet named Pat Reynolds, who claimed that he was related to "Jamie Reynolds," the fowler[15].
The following partial synopsis of the ballad story was given by Jennifer J O'Connor[16]:
As the sun is setting, Molly Ban Lavery makes her way home from her uncle's when a sudden shower of rain comes on. A green bush is her only shelter, and huddling beneath it, Molly covers herself with her white apron. Meanwhile her lover, the squire James Reynolds, has been hunting all day with his dog. Upon returning home with his gun in hand, he is attracted to a patch of whiteness showing among the green leaves of a bush. In the falling darkness he supposes this must be the whiteness of a swan's feathers, or the light colour of a fawn's breast. Jimmy raises his gun and shoots; despite the dimness his aim is true. He runs to claim his quarry when to his horror and great grief he finds only his sweetheart lying dead under the bush.
Missing from O'Connor's synopsis is revenant ending which is common in most versions of the ballad[17]:
James Reynolds takes his gun, returns home and describes the accident to his father, who advises his son not to run but stay and go to trial. At the trial Molly's ghost appears and testifies to her uncle, explaining what happened and assures him that James will go free. Molly is compared to the pretty girls (or sometimes the lawyers/judges) lined up in a row and she shines in the middle of them like a mountain of snow.
In some versions Molly just appears to her uncle, which makes little sense unless her uncle is at the trial or involved with the trial. His role at the trial is unknown but it's possible he's representing her (or James) in some legal capacity.
The ballad is well-known in Ireland and according to Gardham it is "undoubtedly a northern Irish ballad[18]." It is associated with the ancient Irish melody, "Lough Sheeling" (named after the lake, Lough Sheelin) which was used by Edward Bunting (1773-1843) the Irish collector at least three time in his manuscripts and it was the first melody given to student harpists[19].