%ISOlat1; %ISOlat2; %ISOnum; %ISOpub; ]> The Famous Flower of Serving-men: / OR, / The LADY turned to be a SERVING-MAN. / Her Love being slain, her Father dead, / Her Bower robb'd, her Servants fled; / She dress'd herself in Man's Attire, / She trimm'd her Locks, she cut her Hair, / And thereupon she changed her Name, / From fair Alice to sweet William, University of California - Santa Barbara The Early Modern Center Director Patricia Fumerton 1775-1775 Early Modern Center, University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 05/04/2012 32530

The University of California makes a claim of copyright only to original contributions made by Early Modern Center participants and other members of the university community. The University of California makes no claim of copyright to the original text. Permission is granted to download, transmit or otherwise reproduce, distribute or display the contributions to this work claimed by The University of California for non-profit educational purposes, provided that this header is included in its entirety. For inquiries about commercial uses, please contact:

Patricia Fumerton Early Modern Center - English Department University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93105 United States of America EMail: pfumer@english.ucsb.edu

T35325 YOU beauteous Ladies great and small, / I write to you, one and all Information in this section of the Source Description refers to the original ballad manuscript. 1: 289788 The Famous Flower of Serving-men: / OR, / The LADY turned to be a SERVING-MAN. / Her Love being slain, her Father dead, / Her Bower robb'd, her Servants fled; / She dress'd herself in Man's Attire, / She trimm'd her Locks, she cut her Hair, / And thereupon she changed her Name, / From fair Alice to sweet William, The Famous Flower of Serving-men: OR, The LADY turned to be a SERVING-MAN. Her Love being slain, her Father dead, Her Bower robb'd, her Servants fled; She dress'd herself in Man's Attire, She trimm'd her Locks, she cut her Hair, And thereupon she changed her Name, From fair Alice to sweet William, The Famous Flower of Serving men: OR, The LADY turned to be a SERVING MAN. Her Love being slain, her Father dead, Her Bower robbed, her Servants fled; She dressed herself in Man's Attire, She trimmed her Locks, she cut her Hair, And thereupon she changed her Name, From fair Alice to sweet William, 1775-1775

This document follows the guidelines specified for TEI.

XML Generated Automatically at 5/4/2012 12:02:47 PM Using EMC

XBallad Parsing Engine developed by Carl Stahmer.

TEI Template developed by Gerald Egan and Modified by Carl Stahmer

All apostrophes are encoded as '.

Any dashs occurring in line breaks have been removed;

All dashs are encoded as ‐ and all em dashes as —.

 Early Modern Center Ballad Project Keyword Taxonomy advice affliction/ health alcohol Americas animals/ nature Bible/ biblical figures buildings/ architecture catastrophe children class clothing/ appearance country/ nation crime death economics/ commerce entertainments family folklore gender holidays/ seasons infidelity labor/ craft law London love maritime marriage military/ war monstrosity mythology/ Classical news nobility/ court politics/ government procreation punishment race/ ethnicity religious concepts religious figures religious groups royalty rural life servitude sex/ sexuality supernatural/ magic travel trickery/ deceit urban life vice violence virtue vulgar humor youth/ age Library of Congress Subject Heading Taxonomy 5/4/2012 Santa Barbara, California, United States of America clothing/ appearance death gender marriage royalty servitude Ballads, English 17th century Broadsides, England 17th century 5/4/2012 12:02:47 PM XBallad Davis, Mary Jane Created XML Version of Ballad 5/4/2012 12:02:47 PM Transcription Supervisor Meyer, Shannon Transcription of ballad manuscript 5/4/2012 12:02:47 PM Double-Key Comparison and Merging Meyer, Shannon Transcription of ballad manuscript 5/4/2012 12:02:47 PM Transcriptionist Two Bell, Erik Transcription of ballad manuscript 5/4/2012 12:02:47 PM Transcriptionist One Becker, Charlotte Transcription of ballad manuscript 6/21/2011 Checker Percy Ross Edited Ballad Catalogue Record 6/21/2011 Checker Percy Ross Edited Ballad Catalogue Record 6/14/2011 Checker Bethany Wong Edited Ballad Catalogue Record 6/14/2011 Checker Bethany Wong Edited Ballad Catalogue Record 6/14/2011 Checker Bethany Wong Edited Ballad Catalogue Record 5/16/2011 Bibliographer Shannon Meyer Initial Ballad Catalogue Record Created
<seg n="1" rend="left"><hi rend="italic">The Famous Flower of Serving-men:</hi></seg> <seg n="2" rend="left"><hi rend="italic">OR,</hi></seg> <seg n="3" rend="left"><hi rend="italic">The LADY turned to be a SERVING-MAN.</hi></seg> <lb/> <seg n="4" rend="left"><hi rend="italic"><hi rend="bold">Her Love being slain, her</hi> F<hi rend="bold">ather dead,</hi></hi></seg> <seg n="5" rend="left"><hi rend="bold"><hi rend="italic">Her Bower robbd, her Servants fled;</hi></hi></seg> <seg n="6" rend="left"><hi rend="bold"><hi rend="italic">She dressd herself in Mans Attire,</hi></hi></seg> <seg n="7" rend="left"><hi rend="bold"><hi rend="italic">She trimmd her Locks, she cut her Hair,</hi></hi></seg> <seg n="8" rend="left"><hi rend="bold"><hi rend="italic">And thereupon she changed her Name,</hi></hi></seg> <seg n="9" rend="left"><hi rend="bold"><hi rend="italic">From fair</hi> Alice <hi rend="bold">to sweet</hi> William,</hi></seg> <lb/> <seg n="10" rend="left"><hi rend="italic">To the Tune of, <hi rend="bold">Floras</hi> F<hi rend="bold">arewell;</hi> or <hi rend="bold">Summer Time.</hi></hi></seg>
YOU beauteous Ladies great and small, I write to you, one and all Whereby that you may understand What I have sufferd in this Land. I was by birth a Lady fair, My Fathers chief and only Heir: But when my good old Father dyd, Then I was made a young Knights Bride. But when my Love built me a Bower, Bedeckd with many a fragrant Flower; A braver Bower you never did see, Than my true Love did build for me. But there came Thieves late in the Night, That robbd my Bower and slew my Knight
And after that my Knight was slain, I could no longer there remain. My Servants all from me did fly, In the midst of my sad Extremity: And left me by myself alone, With Heart more cold than any Stone. Yet though my Heart was full of Care Heavn suffered me not to despair; Wherefore in Haste I changd my Name, From fair Alice to sweet William. And therewithal I cut my Hair, And drest myself in Mans Attire; With Doublet, Hose and Bever-hat, And a Gold Band about my Neck.
A Silver Rapier by my side, So like a Gallant I did ride; The Thing that I delighted on, It was to be a Serving-man. Thus in my sumptuous Mans Array, I bravely rode along the Way; And at the last it chanced so, I unto the Kings Court did go Then to the King I bowed full low, My Love and Duty for to show, And so much Favour I did crave, That I a Servants-place might have. Stand up, brave Youth the King replyd, Thy Service shall not be denyd; But tell me first what thou canst do, Thou shall be fitted thereunto. Will thou be Usher of my Hall, To wait upon my Nobles all? Wilt thou be taster of my Wine, To wait upon me when I dine; Or wilt thou be my Chamberlain, To make my Bed so soft and fine? Or will thou be one of my Guards? And I will give the great Reward. Sweet William with a smiling Face, Said to the King, if it please your Grace To shew such Favour unto me, I your Chamberlain would be. The King did then the Nobles call, To ask the Council of them all: Who gave Consent, sweet William he, The Kings own Chamberlain should be. Now mark what strange Things came to pass As the King one Day a Hunting was, With all his Lords and Noble Train, Sweet William did at Home remain. Sweet William had no Company then, At home with him but an old Man; And when she saw the House was clear, He took a Lute which he had there. Upon the Lute sweet William playd, And to the same he sung and said,
With a pleasant and most noble Voice, Which made the old Man to rejoice. My father was as brave a Lord, As ever Europe did afford; My Mother was a Lady bright, My Husband was a gallant knight. And I myself a Lady gay, Bedeckd with glorious rich Array; The bravest Lady in the Land Had no more pleasures at Command. I had my Music every Day, Harmonious Lessons for to play, I had my Virgins fair and free, Continually to wait on me. But now, alas! my Husbands dead And all my Friends are from me fled; My former Joys are past and gone, For now I am a Serving-man. At last the King from Hunting came, And presently upon the same, He called for the good old Man, And thus to speak he thus began. What News what News old man quoth he, What News has thou to tell to me, Brave News the old man then did say, Sweet William is a Lady gay. If this be true thou tellest to me, Ill make thee Lord of high Degree: But if thy words do prove a Lie, Thou shalt be hangd up instantly. But when the King the Truth had found, His Joys did more and more abound: According as the old man did say, Sweet William is a Lady gay. Therefore the King without delay, Put on his glorious rich array Upon her Head a Crown of Gold, Which was most famous to behold. And then for fear of further Strife, He took sweet William for his Wife; The like before was never seen, A serving man to be a Queen.