Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/371

 9- s. iv. NOV. is, 421 NOTES AND QUERIES. Quoth he, "Your note I'le change, although now so sweetly sing ye ! " Unto a Ship-master he went, that sailed to Viryinny. Saying, "Good Sir, I know of women you are lacking, I now have one that I can spare, and her I can send packing. The times are very hard, I'll sell my wife for money ; She is a proper handsome Lass, and fitting for Virginny. [SECOND PART, TO THE SAME TUNE.] " If she be young and fair, Sir, I will entertain her; Then tell me your lowest price, for I must be some gainer." "Ten pounds," he answered, "I cannot bate a penny: She is good Merchandize, you know, when you come to Virginny." " Bring her aboard my Ship, and there you shall be paid, For suddenly we must be gone, time must not be delay'd/ He went home to his wife, saying, " I am now ready. Sweet-heart I must leave England now, and go unto Virginny. " One thing of thee I beg, that you 'II see me take Shipping!" This joyful news reviv'd her mind, and set her heart Unto her self she said "Now, farewell, goodman Ninny! My love with me shall merry be, when thou art at Virginny. " To Gravesend 1 will go, wherean I now must leave thee, A Bottle of Strong-water good I will bestow upon thee: 'Twill comfort thy poor heart, my dearest love and honey, For I do fear you will be Sea-sick, in sailing to Virginny." They coming to the Ship, the Master bid them welcome, Into his Cabin they were brought, whereas his guest comes seldom. He steps forth to her Husband, and paid him down his money, Who straight took boat and row'd away, and sent her to Virginny. She seeing him go thence, and that she there was stay'd. Then did she cry most bitterly, and said she was betray'd : " Dear Husband, take me with you, I '11 never more offend thee !" " Send you good shipping" (he did say), " and well unto Viryinny." Then strait they set up sail, and had good wind and weather, Full seven long weeks they were at sea, before that they came thither. He for a Maiden sold her, for fifty pound in money, And she another Husband got, when she came to Virginny. Her Lover ne'r could tell what became of his sweeting, Which divers times, both night and day, had many a merry meeting ; The good-man now lives quiet, and with his friends is merry, Now divers do entitle him "a Merchant of Virginny." Thus I conclude my song, hoping there's none offended, And where that things are done amiss, I wish they may be mended: Beware, you Scolding Wives, if no fair means will win ye, Lest that your Husbands you entrap, and send you to Virginny. [Finis coronat opus.] Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright [B.-L.]. Traditional and provincial versions of old ballads arc almost invariably corrupted in text, each successive generation departing further from the original, owing to ignorance and imperfect memory more than from any voluntary innovation. Nevertheless, we often recover lost words, or lines, or stanzas, and sometimes useful fragments, when there is no available printed copy or early manu- script. As to the entrapping young men and sending them to work in the plantations, " that is another story," as Rudyard Kipling says. (Why Punch's "Vagrant" belaboured him so brutally in No. 3040 need not be asked. It was not murder, but suicide.) J. W. EBSWORTH. The Priory, Ashford, Kent. SIR WALTER SCOTT'S SCOTTISH DIALECT (9th S. iv. 242, 330). — Whoso thinks and deliberately states—as a writer does at the last reference—that "as the language of Scot- land, Gaelic cannot be superseded," adds him- self as a unit to a curious and interesting group. He ranks, e.g., with that inquiring London citizen who desired to learn from a Scottish visitor to the metropolis whether or not Scotland might be as large as Norwich. He will also find himself in the company of those scrupulous observers whose clear con- ception of a Scotsman is a man that says "she"and " whateffer " when he means he and at any rate. Finally—for only typical speci- mens can be given from the crowd of critics, historiaifi. and delineators—he must take position along with that gifted artist whose imaginative cartoon represents Young Lochin- var as a Gordon Highlander nimbly vaulting into the saddle before the damsel of his daring choice ! In sober earnest, there are hundreds of thousands of us who call ourselves Scots- men, located for good or ill, as Fortune has willed it, between Tay and Solway, and as