"The Four Maries", as this ballad is sometimes called, are
generally supposed to he the four maids-in-salting to Mary, Queen
of Scots. Mary Seaton. Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming and Mary
Livingston. History suggests that our heroine was NOT one of
these but that the ballad is based on a confusion of names snd
events. (1) In Queen Mary'a court in the 156O's, there was a
liaison between a French girl and the Queen'a apothecary, (2) In
the court of Czar Peter of Russia in 1718-1719, there was an
'affair between a Mary Hamilton and an officer named Orloff. It
has been put forward that there Was perhaps an older balled that
was called into use when the Mary Hamilton affair arose. The
emotional pull of the ballad is strong, its narrative simple and
clear. I learned this song from the singing of that magnificent
Texas woman, Hally Wood. It is rather moving to think of a Texas
singer telling the story of a doomed woman moving down ancient
Edinburgh streets and laughing on the steps of Parliament ...
| 1 |
My mother was a brave woman,
A brave woman and bold,
She sent me to the queen's court
When scarce eleven years old. |
| 2 |
The queen's meat was so sweet,
The wine it was so fine,
That I had lain in the old king's arms
And rued it all sin, syne. |
| 3 |
News is to the kitchen
News has come to me
That Mary Hamilton's borne a babe
And thrown him in the sea. |
| 4 |
Down came the old queen
Gold tassels round her head;
Mary Hamilton, where's the babe
That lay all in your bed? |
| 5 |
Mary, put on your robe of black,
Put on your robe of brown;
Mary, come along with me
To ride to Edinburgh town, |
| 6 |
She didn't put on the black, the black,
She didn't put on the brown,
She put on her brightest white
To ride to Edinburgh town, |
| 7 |
As she rode up the Canongate
The Canongate rode she;
The ladies leaned over their casements
And wept for that lady. |
| 8 |
As she walked up the Parliament Stairs
A loud, loud laugh gave she.
When she walked down the Parliament Stairs
She was condemned to die. |
| 9 |
Go bring me the red wine,
The reddest that may be;
I'll drink a toast to the sailory boys
Who brought me over the sea. |
| 10 |
Lest night I washed the old queen's feet,
Put gold round her hair;
Today she gave me my reward
The gallows to be my share. |
| 11 |
They'll put a kerchief round my eyes
They'll never more let me see;
They'll never let on to my mammy and my daddy
I died way over the sea. |
| 12 |
Last night there were four Maries,
Tonight there'll be but three;
There's Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton,
Mary Carmichael and me. |
