Virginian Maid's Lament, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer, a woman, was sold after seven years service, by Captain Welsh to Madam Guy. She tells how "we are yoked in a plough," badly fed and "whipt at every meal," and must keep her baby quiet. She wants to return to Scotland. "I'm weary, weary, O"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: ordeal slavery America Scotland baby servant
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig/Duncan6 1095, "The Virginian Maid's Lament" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 186-187, "The Virginian Maid's Lament" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Peter Buchan, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1875 (reprint of 1828 edition)), Vol II, pp. 205-206,322, "The Virginian Maid's Lament"
Roud #3919
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Slave's Lament
NOTES [66 words]: One Greig/Duncan6 fragment has the singer sold to Madam Guy and separated from a lover.
Buchan: "The practice of kidnapping or stealing children from their parents, in the north of Scotland, from 1735 down to 1753, a period of eighteen years inclusive, and selling them for slaves to the planters of Maryland, Virginia, &c. in North America, is too notorious to require any illustration here." - BS
Last updated in version 2.7
File: GrD61095

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