Queen Mary (Auld Maid's Lament)

DESCRIPTION: The girl (perhaps "Queen Mary") is of an age to be courting but has no suitors. She dresses well, and goes out when she can, but finds no takers. Her mother laments the girl's fate, as does the girl herself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 ("G.W.," "Girls' Game, from the Banks of Forth" in _Scottish Notes and Queries_)
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting playparty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber,High)) Canada(Newf) US(SW)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Greig/Duncan7 1373, "Nae Bonnie Laddie Will Tak Me Awa" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan8 1605, "Queen Mary" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 62, "The Scotch Lassie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 46, "The New Dress" (1 fragment, which appears to be this but might be "Nae Bonnie Laddie...")
Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame 79, "Queen Mary" (6 texts, 1 tune)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #385, "My name is sweet (Jennie), my age is sixteen" (1 text)
DT, QUENMARY
ADDITIONAL: Ed Cray,"Jump-Rope Rhymes from Los Angeles" in Western Folklore, Vol. XXIX, No. 2 (Apr 1970 (available online by JSTOR)), p. 124, ("My name is Queen Mary") (1 text)
Katharine (Tynan) Hinkson, "The Girls' Room" in Christabel R. Coleridge and Arthur Innes, editors, The Monthly Packet (London, 1896 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. XCII, pp. 346-347, "Queen Mary" ("My name is sweet Mary, my age is sixteen")
Edward W.B. Nicholson, editor, Golspie: Contributions to its Folklore (London, 1897 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 198-199, ("My name is Queen Mary") (1 text, 2 tunes)
G.W., "Girls' Game, From the Banks of Forth" in [John Bulloch?, editor,] Scottish Notes and Queries (Aberdeen, 1889 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. II, No. 6, November 1888, p. 91, "Sweet Mary" ("Sweet Mary, Sweet Mary! my age is sixteen") (1 text)
Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; note to #389, ("Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is sixteen") (1 short text)
Roud #6281
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (I)" (theme, lyrics)
NOTES [78 words]: The relationship between this piece and "Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (I)" is extremely vexed -- to the extent that it is impossible to tell which fragments go with which song. Frankly, I'd probably lump them if Roud didn't split them (and then, seemingly, mis-file some of the versions -- aided and abetted by Ford, who had two songs of this type). As a starting point, playparties and courting games go with this piece; full-fledged songs with the other. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: HHH230

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