Divisions on 'Jemmy' (Anonymous)

The Jemmy ballad tune is 8 bars long and used as the basis for many divisions, i.e. variations. It appears uncredited to specific composers, notated in French lute tablature for lyra viol, identified in eight different manuscripts under the titles 'Jamy,' Jemy,' Jemmy,' 'Jemmye' and 'Put up thy dagger, Jennie.' None of these sources was published. The sets of variations are all slightly different from each other and each is presented here in two forms. The first for each source is a staff notation transcription with the tablature underlaid. The second versions are the plain tablature, on a smaller number of pages, so that players can cope more easily with page turns. Some versions repeat the variations found in earlier sources, but by changing the order and/or by inserting new material. Other versions are almost entirely unica. By presenting all 8 lyra viol settings (for a single viol, in scordatura), players and scholars will easily be able to compare versions. The chronology for the manuscripts' dates is as follows:

• Cu Dd.5.20, 22v-23v: Jemmy, f f h f h, Holmes, early 1600s
• Cu Nn.6.36, 35v-36r: Jamy, f f h f h, Holmes, early 1600s
• Och 439, p114 and 116: Jemy, f f h f h, Robert Taylor autograph, prior to 1620
• Lbl Add. 56279, 8v-9r: Jamy, f f h f h, Stirrop, pre-1629
• Ob D.245, p124-125: untitled, f f h f h, Merro, late 1620s, early 1630s
• Mp 832 Vu 51, p50-53: Jemmye , f f h f h, Manchester, 1660s
• CHEr DLT/B 31, 5r-6v: Jemmÿ, f f h f h, Leycester, c1670
• DU Mus. 10455: Put up thy Dager Jennie, d e f h f, Blaikie, 1683/1692

This tune does not appear in any lute sources. There are 3 keyboard settings (one by Giles Farnaby) but all of those are later than the earliest viol settings. The ‘Jemmy’ title (in some form of that spelling) appears with almost all the lyra viol settings (dating back as far as the end of the 16th century) but no specific early broadside ballad has been found from that time. A text from a later source can however be associated, since it has the name and fits the rhythm of the tune. Note that this text does not align with its generally assumed innuendo!

Put up thy Dagger Jamie,
and all things shall be mended,
Bishops shall fall, no not at all
when the Parliament is ended.

Which never was intended,
but only for to flam thee:
We have gotten the game, wee'll keep the same,
Put up thy Dagger Jamie.