Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) - Sung by Miss Alfreda Adelaide Marion Peel (1890–1953, she never married) of Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on August 9, 1932. She was the daughter of William Charles Peel (1863–1930) and Marion Georgiana Frances Chandler (1865–1897). Miss Alfreda Peel first recalled a fragment from the singing of her grandmother, Mrs. Marion Chandler, originally of Bristol, England, later living in Salem, Virginia. Her memory of the song was later refreshed by hearing it sung by her uncle, Henry St. Lawrence Chandler (1869–1926), of Chicago, Illinois, when he was visiting Virginia about 1924. Alfreda Peel said her family came from England, and her grandmother's family all fought with the Stuarts.
00:00:00 Mary Hamilton - Alfreda M. Peel
00:04:33 Mary Hamilton - Texas Gladden
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
We get a chance to listen to some of the very same people Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles met and noted songs from in the 1910s.
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional Virginia version of Mary Hamilton (Child 173). This text, if authentic, and it appears to be, is an important version of Child 173, one of few recorded texts to preserve the original story about the infanticide. Nearly all recent texts have reduced the ballad into a short lyrical lament in which no reason for Mary Hamilton's hanging is given.
What makes the text slightly suspicious is that Alfreda M. Peel first sent two fragmentary texts to Davis on May 14, 1922 and on April 23, 1922, which were all she could recall of the song at the time, having heard it as a little child from her grandmother, Marion Chandler, who originally came from Bristol, England. The fragments are the "standard" lyrical lament with none of the infanticide story.
On August 9, 1932, Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. recorded Miss Peel singing the longer ballad which she learned from her uncle, St. Lawrence Chandler, of Chicago, Illinois, when he was visiting Virginia about 1924. On the same date when the phonograph recording was made Davis also transcribed the text from the singing of Miss Peel and her aunt, Miss Letha Chandler, of Salem. This text differs only very slightly from that taken from the record.
Miss Peel later taught the ballad to Texas Anna Smith Gladden (1895–1966) of Salem, the two women were near neighbours and shared a love for old ballads. Alan Lomax recorded it from Mrs. Gladden in August 1941.
Song transcription:
Word has come from the kitchen,
And word has come to me,
That Mary Hamilton's slain her babe
And thrown him in the sea.
Down came the old Queen,
Gold tassels in her hair,
"O Mary Hamilton, where's your babe?
I heard it greet so sair.
"Mary put on your robes of black,
Or yet your robes of brown,
That you can go with me today
To see fair Edinburgh town."
She put on her robe of black, [*]
Nor yet her robe of brown,
But she put on her robe so white
To see fair Edinburgh town.
When she went up the Canno' gate,
The Canno' gate so free,
Many a lady looked o'er her casement
And wept for this ladye.
When she went up the Parliament stair
A loud, loud laugh laughed she.
But when she came down the Parliament stair,
A tear was in her ee.
"O, bring to me the red, red wine,
The best you bring to me,
That I may drink to the jolly bold sailors
That brought me o'er the sea.
"Little did my mother think,
When first she cradled me,
That I should die so far from home,
So far o'er the salt, salt sea.
"Last night there were four Maries,
Tonight there'll be but three;
There was Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton
And Mary Carmichael and me.
"Last night I washed the old queen's feet,
And carried her to her bed;
Today she gave me my reward,
The gallows hard to tread.
"They'll tie a napkin 'round my eyes
And ne'er let me see to dee;
They'll ne'er let on to my father and mother
That I'm far away o'er the sea.
"Last night there were four Maries,
Tonight there'll be but three;
There was Mary Beaton and Mary Seaton
And Mary Carmichael and me."
[*] The MS text reads "put not on", which the sense demands
Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) - Sung by Miss Alfreda Adelaide Marion Peel (1890–1953, she never married) of Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on August 9, 1932. She was the daughter of William Charles Peel (1863–1930) and Marion Georgiana Frances Chandler (1865–1897). Miss Alfreda Peel first recalled a fragment from the singing of her grandmother, Mrs. Marion Chandler, originally of Bristol, England, later living in Salem, Virginia. Her memory of the song was later refreshed by hearing it sung by her uncle, Henry St. Lawrence Chandler (1869–1926), of Chicago, Illinois, when he was visiting Virginia about 1924. Alfreda Peel said her family came from England, and her grandmother's family all fought with the Stuarts.
00:00:00 Mary Hamilton - Alfreda M. Peel
00:04:33 Mary Hamilton - Texas Gladden
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
We get a chance to listen to some of the very same people Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles met and noted songs from in the 1910s.
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional Virginia version of Mary Hamilton (Child 173). This text, if authentic, and it appears to be, is an important version of Child 173, one of few recorded texts to preserve the original story about the infanticide. Nearly all recent texts have reduced the ballad into a short lyrical lament in which no reason for Mary Hamilton's hanging is given.
What makes the text slightly suspicious is that Alfreda M. Peel first sent two fragmentary texts to Davis on May 14, 1922 and on April 23, 1922, which were all she could recall of the song at the time, having heard it as a little child from her grandmother, Marion Chandler, who originally came from Bristol, England. The fragments are the "standard" lyrical lament with none of the infanticide story.
On August 9, 1932, Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. recorded Miss Peel singing the longer ballad which she learned from her uncle, St. Lawrence Chandler, of Chicago, Illinois, when he was visiting Virginia about 1924. On the same date when the phonograph recording was made Davis also transcribed the text from the singing of Miss Peel and her aunt, Miss Letha Chandler, of Salem. This text differs only very slightly from that taken from the record.
Miss Peel later taught the ballad to Texas Anna Smith Gladden (1895–1966) of Salem, the two women were near neighbours and shared a love for old ballads. Alan Lomax recorded it from Mrs. Gladden in August 1941.
Song transcription:
Word has come from the kitchen,
And word has come to me,
That Mary Hamilton's slain her babe
And thrown him in the sea.
Down came the old Queen,
Gold tassels in her hair,
"O Mary Hamilton, where's your babe?
I heard it greet so sair.
"Mary put on your robes of black,
Or yet your robes of brown,
That you can go with me today
To see fair Edinburgh town."
She put on her robe of black, [*]
Nor yet her robe of brown,
But she put on her robe so white
To see fair Edinburgh town.
When she went up the Canno' gate,
The Canno' gate so free,
Many a lady looked o'er her casement
And wept for this ladye.
When she went up the Parliament stair
A loud, loud laugh laughed she.
But when she came down the Parliament stair,
A tear was in her ee.
"O, bring to me the red, red wine,
The best you bring to me,
That I may drink to the jolly bold sailors
That brought me o'er the sea.
"Little did my mother think,
When first she cradled me,
That I should die so far from home,
So far o'er the salt, salt sea.
"Last night there were four Maries,
Tonight there'll be but three;
There was Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton
And Mary Carmichael and me.
"Last night I washed the old queen's feet,
And carried her to her bed;
Today she gave me my reward,
The gallows hard to tread.
"They'll tie a napkin 'round my eyes
And ne'er let me see to dee;
They'll ne'er let on to my father and mother
That I'm far away o'er the sea.
"Last night there were four Maries,
Tonight there'll be but three;
There was Mary Beaton and Mary Seaton
And Mary Carmichael and me."
[*] The MS text reads "put not on", which the sense demands
