Billy

It was probably "Bendigo's Sermon" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It's available by following the pages here.

It has been set to music, hence the guitar chords.

:-)

PS I don't think we need to spend too much time on what I originally put in as an example of a major methodological pitfall anyway ... I wasn't expecting to draw any conclusions from it, just to show what damage some assumptions can make. One or two of you seem not to have read the original post!!!

Perhaps Greg's got it right, though I suspect that Dido's a later insertion anyway. Anyone care to speculate in the relationship between Dido and Bendigo?

BTW the Duke of Buckingham might be held to be ubiquituous to this song (he's in all the versions I've come across so far, up to the earliest recorded here), in which case it might prove indicative of a likely TPQ date.

Here, I should say that it's often important to speculate and not be too worried when people show that you're wrong. It's near impossible to progress knowledge without getting it wrong occasionally; all that's needed is a little humility.

;-)