The Ploughboy's Dream; from Vaughan Williams's Journey into Folk by Caroline Davison

Vaughan Williams didn’t note down the exact date in December [1903] when he heard ‘The Ploughboy’s Dream’ sung by Mr Garman, but it was probably sung a couple of days after Christmas when he collected further songs from another local resident near Leith Hill Place. ‘The Ploughboy’s Dream’ was sung by Mr Garman who, contrary to Vaughan Williams’s notes, lived at Ockley (not Forest Green), a couple of miles south of the composer’s family home.

In this song, the ploughboy says that he has ‘put [the dream] down in rhyme’ so that other boys can ‘read and sing’ it. Surrey-based researcher, Irene Shettle, points out that the words were written in the 18th century by the poet and artist, Reverend William Mason (1724 – 1797). They were included in a series of late-18th century ballad sheets printed under the title of ‘CHEAP REPOSITORY for Moral and Religious Tracts’ in an attempt to compete with scurrilous broadsides, and to improve the morals of the general population.