The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #174642   Message #4234900
Posted By: Acorn4
25-Jan-26 - 04:23 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Songs starting with 'My name is ...'
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs starting with 'My name is ...'
By coincidence I've just finished writing this one - it's about a serving maid burned at the stake in Leicester in 1605 for aiding and abetting in the murder of her mistress, for the crime of petty treason:-

Alice Grimbold’s Tale

My name is Alice Grimbold, in Leicester was employed
In a position as a humble serving maid.
For the killing of my mistress, guilty I was found
And to be burned at the stake my sentence handed down.

1.Now Agnes was the landlady of the Blue Boar Inn
Famous from that time when Richard was the King,
And on that fateful final night before that battle it fell
He brought his own bed to that inn, so that he might sleep well

2.For many years within that room that bed it had stayed put
And many a gust slept well within without a second thought
Now before Agnes’s husband died, a rumour spread around
When that couple unexpectedly new wealth seem to have found

3. The bed had a false bottom, and contained within
A hoard of gold and silver coins hidden by that King
Until one day by accident, Agnes found this store
When a single coin fell out and rolled onto the floor.

4. I met one Thomas Harrison, a rake and a roaring blade
He courted me with a promise that we would be married
But he proved a false knave to be, that led me to my fate
To be thrust into those flames tied unto that stake

5. Now Thomas Harrison he did plot to steal away this store
And to this end intrigued with one by name Edward Bradshaw
And to this end I was led astray, accessory to be
And my inside knowledge used to commit this felony.

6. This couple they then hired a room to bring about this plan
Myself and the other maid were tied and taken to the barn
But as part of this cunning plan, I was the set free,
That chest of gold and silver to locate the keys

7. Now Agnes was securely bound but made a dreadful scene
And being so terrified she began to scream
Bradshaw the to silence her put his fingers down her throat
Which led at last to the result that poor Agnes choked

8. Now this said Thomas Harrison very soon was caught
And along with Edward Bradshaw to trial was soon brought
And as an accomplice I was brought to trial
And of my involvement I could make no denial

9. Those wretches soon were guilty found and on the gallows hanged
But for the murder of my mistress I too was condemned
For the crime of petty treason was decreed my fate
That I would be taken on that day to be burned at the stake.

10, A curse on Thomas Harrison and that path he made me tread,
And on Edward Bradshaw who killed poor Agnes dead
A curse upon that wretched law that fell so hard on me
Just a poor serving maid treated so badly

My name is Alice Grimbold, in Leicester was employed
In a position as a humble serving maid.
For the killing of my mistress, guilty I was found
And to be burned at the stake my sentence handed down