Cam Ye O'er Frae France, and sundries

First the sundries, because they're shorter:

1. I am in Williamsburg for my internship at the Millinery Shop, and have been for a month, and it's beautiful, and I'm learning all the things, and I'm enjoying myself very much.

2. I made a black silk market bonnet (using the excellent pattern put out by my fellow intern Maggie - "Undressing the Historical Lady" - which may be found here), and I wear it a lot, and I love it. If you want a market bonnet, I highly recommend it, as the instructions were very clear. This was my first experience with hats of any sort, and it was extremely smooth and quick to put together.


3. To prove item the first and item the second, here are some further photos:

And now for the entertainment part of the evening (that is, the song):

Earlier this summer I recorded another song, this time with the enormous help of Douglas Romanow, who arranged and produced the track. Obviously, it sounds way better than the stuff I normally post, and has actual instruments and stuff. This is fitting, since a) it's one of my favourite songs of all time, and, b) it's quite challenging to sing, which makes the recording studio setting more conducive to a good end result.

The song in question is Cam Ye O'er Frae France, an upbeat and gloriously insulting Jacobite rebellion song from about 1715. It's in early-18th century Scots, which can make it a bit difficult to understand, so I'll include a set of lyrics and my approximate translations below. An excellent and far more thorough work-through of the song may be found here.



And here are the lyrics:

Cam ye o'er frae France? Cam ye down by Lunnon? 
Saw ye Geordie Whelps and his bonny woman? 
Were ye at the place ca'd the Kittle Housie? 
Saw ye Geordie's grace riding on a goosie? 

[Did you come over from France? Did you come over through London? 
Did you see /King George/ and his /mistress/ (prostitute)? 
Were you at the place called the /brothel/ (the royal palace)? 
Did you see His Royal Grace riding on a /prostitute/ (his mistress)?] 

Geordie, he's a man there is little doubt o't; 
He's done a' he can, wha can do without it? 
Down there came a blade linkin' like my lordie; 
He wad drive a trade at the loom o' Geordie. 

[George is a man; there is little doubt of it. 
He's done all he can (sex w/ his wife); who can do without it (but it's not enough and she can't do without it - so...) 
Down there came a blade, acting like My Lord (A man came to be her lover and acted/slept with her/ like the king) 
He would drive a trade (weave cloth) at King George's loom (he would impregnate the Queen, perhaps)] 

Though the claith were bad, blythly may we niffer; 
Gin we get a wab, it makes little differ. 
We hae tint our plaid, bannet, belt and swordie, 
Ha's and mailins braid—but we hae a Geordie! 

[Though the cloth were bad (though the fruit of the Queen's loom - the prince - is ill-gotten), blithely may we gamble, 
For if we get that cloth, it makes little difference: 
We have lost our plaid, hats, belts, and swords, 
Our houses and broad lands - but we have a George! (Either way we get a George - the current king or his potentially-bastard son)] 

Jocky's gane to France and Montgomery's lady; 
There they'll learn to dance: Madam, are ye ready? 
They'll be back belyve belted, brisk and lordly; 
Brawly may they thrive to dance a jig wi' Geordie! 

[King James (in the Jacobites' view, the rightful king) has gone to France with the Queen; 
There they'll learn to make war: Madam, are you ready? 
They'll be back swiftly, belted, ready, and lordly; 
Strongly and battle-ready may they thrive to fight King George!] 

Hey for Sandy Don! Hey for Cockolorum! 
Hey for Bobbing John and his Highland Quorum! 
Mony a sword and lance swings at Highland hurdie; 
How they'll skip and dance o'er the bum o' Geordie! 

[Hey for /a highland general/! Hey for /a kin leader/! 
Hey for /another general - so called because he kept switching sides/ and his gathering of more highland leaders! 
Many a sword and lance swings at the horde of highlanders; 
How they'll skip and dance over the bum of George!] 

Repeat first verse.

See what I mean? Gloriously insulting! The history surrounding this song is well worth a read, as well. Some fascinating stuff.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the song and the photos! I'm posting pretty regular updates on my facebook page with photos from the Millinery Shop and from around town, so feel free to follow me there. I'm nearing completion on a new gown, so I'll be posting that soon, too.

The Lowlands of Holland: A new recording of an 18th century song

Alongside being a costumer, I am a singer. And my favourite thing, of course, is period music. =) Folk songs, especially. I particularly like the pithy political ones (Cam Ye O'er Frae France is my all-time favourite at the moment) and laments about drowned lovers, press-gangs, ghost ships, faeries, and all things sad and creepy. The Lowlands of Holland, known originally as "The Sorrowfull Lover's Regrate" or "The Maid's Lament for Her Lost Love," combines a bit of the political with a lot of the sad lament, and appeals to my Dutch heritage, so I was eager to find the original lyrics and record it.

You can find this and other songs on my bandcamp page, which I try to update whenever I have time to record things. I have no accompaniment or fancy recording equipment here in Halifax so this one's just a capella and untweaked, but hopefully people will enjoy it. I'm going to embed the song here so that you can listen as you read more about the song, if you so wish. It's quite long. It's worth listening to the end (or jumping to the end...), though, as it ends quite amusingly with a heartfelt prayer followed by the charmingly blunt "...I have no more to say."


For quite a while I've been looking around for an original publication of the lyrics to The Lowlands of Holland. In this particular pamphlet, from 1776, the song was titled "The Sorrowfull Lover's Regrate, or The Low-lands of Holland," and it can be found in the Edinburgh library. My university, thankfully, gives me access to their 18th century collections online, and I was able to get a facsimile of the original page.

(Let me know if you want a higher-res version)

Alas, the 1760 garland version referenced by early 20th century collectors is still nowhere to be found online, and of course earlier oral traditions, perhaps dating to the Anglo-Dutch Naval Wars of the 1670s (hinted at in alternative verses describing Holland as cold and full of money - European Holland - instead of warm and full of sugar cane - Surinam, Brazil, or some other part of New Holland), are now thoroughly lost.

Many versions hint more strongly at the presence of a press-gang to force the young husband off to sea, and place the events more firmly within the context of a war. Yet this late-18th century version still provides a window into the lot of seafarers and their families, as well as British views of Holland's New-World territories as merely an extension of itself. The strong connection drawn here between Holland and its colonial territories (to the point where only the presence of sugar cane tells the listener that 'the Lowlands of Holland' are not Holland itself) is particularly interesting in light of the fact that Britain was, at that moment, losing a large chunk of its own territory in North America, and could no longer draw that strong connection between itself and the arms of its own empire. Yet the verses concerning Holland's strength on the sea and its expansive ambitions also illustrates strongly that Britain was much more concerned with the encroachments of other empires in Jamaica and the Caribbean than it was with the departing Americans.

Hope you enjoyed it! My bandcamp page has a few other recordings on it (some medieval music, and one of my own compositions), and I'll be adding more to it as I find time to record things. I'll try to post here when I do.