The Death of Queen Jane

(TRADITIONAL.)

[WE have seen an old printed copy of this ballad, which was written probably about the date of the event it records, 1537. Our version was taken down from the singing of a young gipsy girl, to whom it had descended orally through two generations. She could not recollect the whole of it. In Miss Strickland’s Lives of the Queens of England, we find the following passage: ‘An English ballad is extant, which, dwelling on the elaborate mourning of Queen Jane’s ladies, informs the world, in a line of pure bathos,

In black were her ladies, and black were their faces.’

Miss Strickland does not appear to have seen the ballad to which she refers; and as we are not aware of the existence of any other ballad on the subject, we presume that her line of ‘pure bathos’ is merely a corruption of one of the ensuing verses.]

QUEEN JANE was in travailFor six weeks or more,Till the women grew tired,And fain would give o’er.‘O women! O women!Good wives if ye be,Go, send for King Henrie,And bring him to me.’
King Henrie was sent for,He came with all speed,In a gownd of green velvetFrom heel to the head.‘King Henrie! King Henrie!If kind Henrie you be,Send for a surgeon,And bring him to me.’
The surgeon was sent for,He came with all speed,In a gownd of black velvetFrom heel to the head.He gave her rich caudle,But the death-sleep slept she.Then her right side was opened,And the babe was set free.
The babe it was christened,And put out and nursed,While the royal Queen JaneShe lay cold in the dust.
So black was the mourning,And white were the wands,Yellow, yellow the torches,They bore in their hands.
The bells they were muffled,And mournful did play,While the royal Queen JaneShe lay cold in the clay.
Six knights and six lordsBore her corpse through the grounds;Six dukes followed after,In black mourning gownds.The flower of Old EnglandWas laid in cold clay,Whilst the royal King HenrieCame weeping away.

The Wandering Young Gentlewoman;

OR, CATSKIN.

[THE following version of this ancient English ballad has been collated with three copies. In some editions it is called Catskin’s Garland; or, the Wandering Young Gentlewoman. The story has a close similarity to that of Cinderella, and is supposed to be of oriental origin. Several versions of it are current in Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Wales. For some account of it see Pictorial Book of Ballads, ii. 153, edited by Mr. J. S. Moore.]

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