Hi,

To clarify my statement about the Lord Thomas broadside:

The North American versions are similar to Child D, the traditional English version, as reflected by the broadside, which is titled "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" and dates back to the c.1670s.

Child says, "The English version of this ballad, 'Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor,' given, with alterations, in Percy's Reliques, III, 82, 1765,[1] is a broadside of Charles the Second's time, printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger, and licensed by L'Estrange, who was censor from 1663 to 1685. This copy has become traditional in Scotland and Ireland."

Child D, the English broadside, did not enter tradition in Scotland, Ireland, England or The United States for that matter. We know this because stanza 4 of the broadside is rarely found in tradition. The broadside was taken by a printer from tradition and stanza 4 was either added or it was peculiar to that version.

If the US versions were based on the broadside, stanza 4 would have shown up- it didn't.

Richie