Famous Flower of Serving-Men, The [Child 106]

DESCRIPTION: Fair (Elise) has lost father, then husband. She disguises herself as a man and seeks service at the king's court, becoming chamberlain. When only an old man is about, she reveals herself in song. The old man tells the king she is female; he marries her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch, from tradition); 1654-1663? (broadside, Euing 111); title found in the Stationer's Register in 1656; "Lady TUrned Serving-man" was in William Thackeray's broadside catalog by 1690
KEYWORDS: death family royalty servant disguise cross-dressing marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South,West),Scotland(Aber,Bord)) US(MA,NE,So) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (35 citations):
Child 106, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 106, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" (7 versions+5 in addenda)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 106, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" (6 versions: #1, #2, #3, #3.2, #4, #4.1)
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "FAMOUS FLOWER OF SERVING MEN, THE"
Percy/Wheatley-ReliquesOfAncientEnglishPoetry III, pp. 86-90, "The Lady Turned Serving-Man" (1 text)
Rimbault-Musical IllustrationsOfBishopPercysReliques L, p. 95, "The Lady Turned Serving-Man" (1 partial text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
Ritson-AncientSongsBalladsFromHenrySecondToTheRevolution, pp. 274-277, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men: or, The Lady Turned Serving-Man" (1 text)
Lyle/McAlpine/McLucas-SongRepertoireOfAmeliaAndJaneHarris, pp. 90-95, "Sweet William" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bonson's #1}
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #118, pp. 1-2, "The Cruel Stepmother" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 163, "The Famous Flower of Serving Men" (4 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Stewart/Belle-Stewart-QueenAmangTheHeather, pp. 95-96, "Dukes and Earls" (1 fragment, 1 tune, possibly this although it is too short to be sure)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, pp. 34-35, "The Flower Of Serving Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 227-232, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" (1 traditional text plus assorted variants and a songster version)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 127-129, "Sweet William" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland3, pp. 77-88, "The Famous Flower of Servingmen" (4 texts plus a fragment, the "A" text being from "The Charms of Melody" rather than tradition; 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 30, "Lament of a Border Widow" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 13, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 62-63, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Bell-Combined-EarlyBallads-CustomsBalladsSongsPeasantryEngland, pp. 192-193, "The Lament of the Border Widow" (1 text)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, p. 409, "Lament of the Border Widow"(1 text)
Sedley/Carthy-WhoKilledCockRobin, pp. 92-98, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 153, "The Lament of the Border Widow"; 166, "The Lady Turned Serving-Man" (2 texts)
Grigson-PenguinBookOfBallads 29, "The Lament of the Border Widow" (1 text)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN2994, "You beauteous Ladies great and small"
DT 106, FLRSERV1* FLRSERV2* BRDRWDO*
ADDITIONAL: John S. Roberts, The Legendary Ballads of England and Scotland (n.d.), pp. 248-249, "The Border Widow's Lament"
Thomas Percy,Reliques of English Poetry (London: J Dodsley, 1765 ("Digitized by Google")) Vol. III, #1.18 pp. 87-92, "The Lady Turned Serving-Man"
Ambrose Phillips, A Collection of Old Ballads (London: J. Roberts, 1723 ("Digitized by Google")), #29 pp. 216-220, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men: or, The Lady turn'd Serving-man"
Joseph Ritson, A Select Collection of English Songs (London: J Johnson, 1783), Vol 2, Ballad #12 pp. 244-249, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men; or, The Lady Turn'd Serving-Man"
G.R. Kinloch, Ancient Scottish Ballads (London: Longman Rees Orme Brown and Green, 1827 ("Digitized by Google"), pp. 95-99, "Sweet Willie"
Jeannie Robertson, "The Famous Flower of Servingmen," School of Scottish Studies Archive SA1954.103,Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches, https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/38037/?l=en, accessed 7/15/2023
Belle Stewart, "Dukes and Earls". School of Scottish Studies Archive SA1978.170,Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches, https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/38037/?l=en, accessed 7/15/2023
Andrew Stewart, "The Dukes and Earls," School of Scottish Studies Archive SA1956.117,Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches, https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/30501?l=en, accessed 7/15/2023
William & Susan Platt, _Folktales of the Scottish Border_, published 1919 as _Stories of the Scottish Border_, republished by Senate Press, 1999, pp. 147-148, "The Lament of the Border Widow" (1 text)
Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #425, "The Bonnie Bower (The Lament of the Border Widow)" (1 text)
Roud #199
RECORDINGS:
Mary Delaney, "My Brother Built Me a Bancy Bower" (on IRTravellers01)
Caroline Hughes, "The Famous Flower of Servantmen" (on FSBBAL1) {Bronson's #3.3 in addenda}
Jasper Smith, "The Small Birds Whistle" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 1(83b), "The Famous Flower of Serving Men, or The Lady Turn'd serving " ("You beauteous ladies great and small"), Elizabeth Andrews (London), 1664-1666; also Wood E 25(75), "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men, or The Lady Turn'd Serving-Man; Harding B 5(112), Harding B 5(111), "The Famous Flower of Serving Men, or The Lady Turn'd Serving Man"; Harding B 5(110), "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men, or The Lady Turned Serving Man"; Douce Ballads 3(30b), "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men, or The Lady Turned to be a Serving Man"; Douce Ballads 4(26), "The Famous Flower, or The Lady Turned Serving Man"; Douce Ballads 1(83b), "The Famous Flower of Serving Men, or The Lady Turn'd serving "
EngBdsdBA 21154, Pepys 3.142, "The Famous Flower of Serving Men, or, The Lady Turn'd Serving-Man" ("You beauteous ladies great and small I'll write unto you one and all"), W. Thackeray and T Passinger (London) , 1686-1688, accessed 13 Apr 2014.
EngBdsdBA 31501, BritLib Roxburghe 3.762-763, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men, or, The Lady Turn'd Serving-Man" ("You beauteous ladies great and small, I write until you one and all"), unknown (London), 1763-1775?, accessed 24 Apr 2014.
EngBdsdBA 33899, NLS Crawford 1384, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men, or, The Lady Turn'd Serving-Man" ("You beauteous ladies great and small"), unknown , n.d., accessed 24 Apr 2014.
EngBdsdBA 31819, UniversityGlasgow Euing 111, "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men, or, The Lady Turn'd Serving-Man" ("You beauteous ladies great and small, I write unto you one and all"), Lawrence Price (London) , 1654-1663?, accessed 24 Apr 2014.
EngBdsdBA 32530, HuntingtonLib Misc 289788, "The Famous Flower of Serving Men, or, The Lady Turned to Be a Serving-Man" ("You beauteous ladies great and small, I write to you one and all"), unknown, 1775?, accessed 24 Apr 2014.
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sweet William
My Father Built Me
The Stepmother
NOTES [492 words]: "The Border Widow's Lament" is given in Child's introduction to "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men," and has been described as "a self-sufficient fragment" of the longer ballad. - KK, RBW
What appears to be the earliest reference to this piece is in the Stationer's Register for 1656. Hyder E. Rollins, An Analytical Index to the Ballad-Entries (1557-1709) In the Register of the Company of Stationers of London, 1924 (I use the 1967 Tradition Press reprint with a new Foreword by Leslie Shepard), #855, p. 78, gives this description of the entry:
"famous flower of servingmen, or the lady turn'd servingman, The (July 14, 1656, ii, 73, Jno. Andrews). [Beg. 'You beauteous Ladies great and small,' by Laurence Price, R[oxburghe] B[allads] VI.567....]"
Bronson has extensive notes about the complicated history of this ballad, where both text and tune seem to have suffered from editorial activity. James Reed, e.g., suggests (in "The Border Ballad," p. 26, printed in Edward J. Cowan, editor, The People's Past: Scottish Folk, Scottish History 1980; I use the 1993 Polygon paperback edition) that Walter Scott rewrote "The Border Widow's Lament." and I incline to agree; it's a little too orderly and neat to be the pure result of tradition.
On p. 1780 of volume 6 of J. Burke Severs and Albert Hartung, editors, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1500, in ten volumes with continuous page numbering; Volume 6 (edited by Hartung), Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1980, David C. Fowler suggests that this was "signed" by Lawrence Price, whose initials also accompany "Robin Hood's Golden Prize" [Child 147] and a couple of non-Child ballads in the Index. - RBW
The title of Jasper Smith's version on Voice11 is from a verse lifted from "The Croppy Boy." The notes for the ballad make it a version of "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" [Child 106]. At best it is an abridgement and corruption of the first verse of the Percy fragment in Child's headnote to "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men" added to the lily-bower verse of Child/Border Widow [shamrock-bower here to go with "Old Ireland free"]; here is Percy: "My mother showed me a deadly spight; She sent three thieves at darksome night; They put my servants all to flight, They robbed my bower, and they slew my knight." Here is a description of Jasper Smith's "The Small Birds Whistle": A girl runs away with a man who leaves her with a baby; her father builds her a bower but "Then my father he owed me a dreadful spite. He sent nine robbers all in one night To take my baby and to do me harm" and that ends the story.
Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Border Widow's Lament" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001))
Bodleian broadsides Douce Ballads 4(26) and Harding B5(111) are identical except for the title and imprint. Note also that Evans has a different version printed about the same period. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: C106

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