Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

93. Lamkin

P. 320. The negroes of Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia, have this ballad, orally transmitted from the original Scottish settlers of that region, with the stanza found in F (19) and T (15):

Mr. Lammikin, Mr. Lammikin,
oh, spare me my life,
And I'll give you my daughter Betsy,
and she shall be your wife.

"They sang it to a monotonous measure." (Mrs. Dulany.)

The following are mostly trivial variations from the spelling of the text.

321 b, note ‡. Read Balcanqual.

331 b, 3¹. Read nurice.

This page most recently updated on 18-Apr-2011, 17:02:17.
Return to main index