There was a shepherd's daughter,
Who kept sheep on yon hill;
There came a young man riding by,
Who swore he'd have his will
Fol lol lay, Fol lol di diddle lol di day

He took her by the lilly white hand
And by the silken sleeve;
. . . . .
Fol, etc

. . . . .
Or tell to me your name.
Fol etc

Oh some the call me Jack, sweetheart,
And some they call me Will;
But when I ride the king's high-gate
But name is sweet William"
Fol, etc


abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Traditional Tunes, A collection of Ballad Airs, ISBN 1-86143-081-7

Notes:
Collected by Frank Kidson from Benjamin Holgate. This version is fragmentary. Please see the discussion thread for more complete versions.

Child's A text, the only English example he had, is from two broadsides in the Roxburghe Ballads. Nearly contemporary with these are broadside examples of the late 17th and early 18th centuries at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

The beautiful shepherdess of Arcadia. A new pastoral song Printed for W. Whitwdood [sic] in Duck-lane. Douce Ballads 1(11b)

The beautiful shepherdess of Arcadia. A new pastoral song. Douce Ballads 4(33)

The beautiful shepherdess of Arcadia. A new pastoral song Printed between 1711 and 1732 by T. Norris, at the Looking-glass on London- bridge. Douce Ballads 1(21b)

The beautiful shepherdess of Arcadia. A new postoral [sic] song Printed for W. Whitwood, in Duck-Lane [London] Douce Ballads 1(14a)

The beautiful shepherdess of Arcadia: a new pastoral song of a courteous knight, and a supposed shepherd's daughter of Arcadia in Peloponesus Printed by T. Norris, at the Looking-glass on London-bridge. And sold by J. Walter, at the Hand and Pen in High Holborn. Vet. A3 b.43(2)

The beautiful shepherdess of Arcadia: a new pastoral song Printed between 1670 and 1697 by A. Milbourn, London. MS. Hearne's Diaries 66(171a)

Roud: 67 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
Child: 110