ABSTRACT
Though this is a fairly com m on song in southern England, little appears to have been written about it. Certain o f its stanzas are found in other songs. O ur fourth and fifth stanzas (A-text), for instance, form the opening o f a broadside entitled ‘A Dialogue between a Town Spark and his M iss’ :
She: Did you not promise me when you lay by me That you would marry me, can you deny me?
