Then why, Stower, did Pepys think of it as a Scotch song? ~ Mrs Knipp was not Scottish. He and she were accustomed to sing together; so he would have known her repertoire and he liked to hear her sing this one solo.

"to my Lord Bruncker's, and there find Sir J. Minnes and all his company, and Mr. Boreman and Mrs. Turner, but, above all, my dear Mrs. Knipp, with whom I sang, and in perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of "Barbary Allen;" 2 Jan 1666

It was, by his tone, obviously a song he was familiar with ("her little song)", rather than this being his first hearing:


As to the suggestion that Mrs Knipp would have been singing for the company's delectation a song whose details derived from the recent Plague...!

~M~