When first from London town I came,
I took my lodging all at some inn,
For full five months I did remain,
But being a stranger I fell in danger,
By doing so, by doing so.
The landlord had one daughter dear,
She was a beauty I do declare,
But above her garters I dare not go,
But being a stranger I fell in danger,
By doing so, by doing so.
Her ruby lips, her eyes so blue,
Which caused me to love her true,
I kissed her rosy lips and cheeks,
But being a stranger I fell in danger,
By doing so, by doing so.
The more I kissed her, this girl being young,
Her eyes did glisten like the morning sun,
In yonder grove I sowed my seed,
But being a stranger I fell in danger,
By doing so, by doing so.
The seeds of love they grew apace,
The tears were ever on her face,
All for to reap it I could not stay,
But being a stranger I fell in danger,
By doing so, by doing so.
Now when this pretty little babe is born,
OH! she must keep it, it is her own,
And reap the seeds which I have sown,
But being a stranger I fell in danger,
By doing so, by doing so.
abc | midi | pdf
Source: Purslow, F, (1972), The Constant Lovers, EDFS, London
Notes:
Frank Purslow's notes are given below:
Hammond D 560/S 46. The tune from Ishmael Cornick of Burstock; the text partly from Ismael Cornick and partly from Mrs Gulliver of Combe Florey. Cornick's text was fragmentary and his tune was four bars longer than Mrs Gulliver's; it was, however, the better tune, so I omitted the first four bars (which were the same as the second four) and re-arranged the text to fit the tune. Baring-Gould published a completely rewritten version is "Songs of the West", but his manuscript text, although probably touched up, agrees in outline with those of the Hammonds' two singers. (See James Reeves's "The Everlasting Circle" no 72; also the Sharp fragment in "The Idiom of the People", No 45) The tune has great affinity with Bold General Wolfe in "Marrowbones".
Sharp found three incomplete sets, whch he called I sowed some seeds from the opening line of one. (Lucy White, Hambridge, Somerset, 13 April 1904; Mrs Glover, Huish Episcopi, Somerset, 10 August 1905: Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs, OUP, 1974, vol. 2 no. 408. Eliza Small, Langport, Somerset, 8 August 1905: unpublished).
A further example, noted by Phyllis M. Marshall from Mrs Nation, Bathpool, Dorset, 1916/7, appears as London Town in The Folk Music Journal, vol. 3 no. 2, 1976; pp. 156-7.
Two broadside examples of the early 19th century can be seen at � Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:
T[he] new batchelor
Roud: 914 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
Child:
Related Songs: Bold General Wolfe [General Wolfe] (melodic)