On Tue, 19 Dec 2000 17:38:02 +0000, David Kilpatrick wrote:
>>
>Maybe not Bowdlerized, given the number of version of the song - and this
>episode is mythical one, I think.
>
According to Child, Gilbert Hay, the tenth Earl of Errol, married Catherine
Carnegie (Daughter of an Earl, as I recall) on January 7, 1658. Errol died
in 1674 without having had any children. Their marital problems _may_ have
produced a hearing in 1659. There _was_ a family court case, but the
records were trashed. There is no known info on it. The whole song is -
oral tradition if not myth.
I've never found anything to show he married any milkmaid & that does seem
unlikely. We know he never recognized any child - from either side of the
bed. But the song serves many lessons in morality, law, the legal nature
of marriage (with conditions under which dowry becomes payable) etc.
>What I should have said is that the word city isn't used. Of course cities
But the distinction between Town and Country is common and frequent enough.
And there's frequent distinction between the rural market town and the -
well, very large town. I don't think, eg, The Merchant's Son would have
had the same troubles in a village-with-inn.
As has been said, "city" is a special legal status - varying but certainly
with greater legal autonomy and privledge than a "village" or even an
"incorporated village" (very common in the US.) It's more than just a big
community. US & UK share some commonalities here - City Charter granting
its status and (although don't put any bar bets on it) status equivalent to
County - ie, not subject to superior laws of the township or county. As
well, as has been said, the right to enact local ordinance and elect Mayor
& city council (although an "incorporated village" may do this last, too.)
>It's part of that great egalitarian,
>levelling sort of thing in ballad language (esp in Scots);
I think so too.
But I wouldn't (and don't think you meant to) make too much of it.
Remembering that a) there just weren't that many cities in Scotland and b)
or perhaps therefore, most of the ballad action occurs in the country,
whether of common or gentle folk.
As I walked into Glasgow city
Nancy Whiskey I chanced to smell
I walked in, sat down beside her
Seven long years I loved her well
(C. Weaver)
And as she rode into Glasgow town,
The city for to see,
The bailiff's wife and the provost's wife
Cried, "Ach, and alas for thee."
(Mary Ham)
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -
I am Abby Sale - in Orlando, Florida
Boycott South Carolina!
http://www.naacp.org/communications/press_releases/SCEconomic2.asp
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