ABSTRACT
This was one o f the pieces revised by Allan Ram say for publication in The Tea-Table Miscellany (1724). It was, in Ram say’s words, one o f those old verses ‘ that wanted to be cleared from the dross o f blundering transcribers and printers . . It is unlikely that we will ever know how much ‘dross’ Ram say felt called upon to clear away, but we can say that the greater part o f his published text appears to have sired most o f the versions current in Scotland today. Am ong Scots Travellers it is not unusual to find occasional stanzas o f the ballad larded with words and whole phrases in the cant.
