Hughie Grame [Child 191]

DESCRIPTION: Hugh the Graeme is taken for horse thieving. Many pray for his life, but the Bishop (of Carlisle) is bitterly opposed and has his way. (Hugh is executed.) The reason is that the Bishop has seduced Hugh's wife, and the horse stealing was in retaliation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1697 (broadside, Bodleian Douce Ballads 2(204b))
KEYWORDS: execution revenge adultery robbery
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber,High))
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Child 191, "Hughie Grame" (9 texts)
Bronson 191, "Hughie Grame" (7 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 191, "Hughie Grame" (5 versions: #1, #2, #3, #4, $5)
Chambers-ScottishBallads, pp. 292-293, "Highie Graham" (1 text)
Dixon-ScottishTraditionalVersionsOfAncientBallads XV, pp. 73-76, "Sir Hugh, the Graeme" (1 text)
Lyle/McAlpine/McLucas-SongRepertoireOfAmeliaAndJaneHarris, pp. 124-125, "Hughie Graham/Hughie Grame" (2 texts)
Greig/Duncan2 271, "Sir Hugh the Graeme" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Stokoe/Reay-SongsAndBalladsOfNorthernEngland, pp. 98-99, "Hughie the Graeme" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, pp. 410-411, "Hughie the Grame"; pp. 411-412, "Hughie Graham" (2 texts)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 143, "Hughie the Graeme" (1 text)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN287, "As it befel upon one time"; ZN1008, "Good Lord John is a hunting gone"
DT 191, HUGRAME* HUGRAME2*
ADDITIONAL: J Woodfall Ebsworth, The Roxburghe Ballads (Hertford: The Ballad Society, 1888 ("Digitized by Microsoft")), Vol. VI, Part 3 (Part 18), pp. 595-597, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Mid-summer of the year")[1672-92]; pp. 598-599, "Sir Hugh in the Grimes Downfall" or "A New Song Made on Sir Hugh in the Grime, Who Was Hang'd for Stealing the Bishop's Mare" ("Good Lord John is a hunting gone Over the hills and dales so far")[c1770?] (2 texts)
James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #342, pp. 474-476, "Hughie Graham" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1792)
Roud #84
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl, "Hughie the Graeme" (on ESFB1, ESFB2) {Bronson's #6}; Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Hughie Grame" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {for tune cf. Bronson's #4}
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Don. b.13(51), "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befel upon one time"), P. Brooksby (London), 1672-1696-1844; also 4o Rawl. 566(9), Douce Ballads 2(204b), "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime"
EngBdsdBA 20766, Pepys 2.148, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), P. Brooksby (London) , 1672-1696?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 31062, BritLib Roxburghe 3.344-345, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh-in-the-Grime" ("As it fell out upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), unknown, 1720?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 30748, BritLib Roxburghe 2.294, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), P. Brooksby (London), 1672-1696?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.Grime" ("As it fell out upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), unknown, 1720?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 31128, BritLib Roxburghe 3.456-457, "Sir Hugh in the Grimes Downfall" or "A New Somg Made on Sir Hugh in the Grime, Who Was Hang'd for Stealing the Bishop's Mare" ("Good Lord John is a hunting gone Over the hills and dales so far"), L. How (London), 1741-1762?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
EngBdsdBA 32803, NLS Crawford 121, "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the Grime" ("As it befell upon one time about Midsummer of the year"), P. Brooksby (London), 1672-1696?, accessed 05 Dec 2013.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gallant Grahams" (lyrics)
cf. "Druimionn Dubh" (tune, according to Burns)
cf. "Young Johnson" (theme of ransoming condemned prisoner)
NOTES [221 words]: Broadsides Don. b.13(51), EngBdsdBA 32803 and EngBdsdBA 30748 appear to be the same edition as Ebsworth pp. 595-597.
Broadside EngBdsdBA 31128 is the same edition as Ebsworth pp. 598-599. - BS
I've always wondered if this song has become disordered. In the version sung by Ewan MacColl, for instance, Hughie makes a great jump *before* his trial. It would make more sense if he made the Big Leap afterward in an escape attempt.
Such a thing is attested. After the Battle of Sedgmore (for which see "The Monmouth Rebel"), an man named Jan Swayn or John Swain was arrested. "The story goes that Jan Swayn asked his escorts to allow him to demonstrate his prowess as a long-jumper to his family just one more time, and surprisingly they agreed. The young man, however, proceeded to make three gigantic jumps, not one, and disappeared into the woodland. To this day in Lodley Wood beside the main road are to be seen three stone markers, separated by distances of 13 ft. 8 in., 13 ft. 3 in., and 14 ft. respectively at the reputed site of this achievement" (see David Chandler, Sedgemoor 1685: From Monmouth's Invasion to the Bloody Assizes (Spellmount, 1985, 1999), p. 83. There was a John Swayne who was considered one of Monmouth's rebels and eventually pardoned, although proof of the great jumps seems to be lacking). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: C191

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