Hi,

I'm not sure where Gregory (Victorian Songhunters) got his information, since the part about Harland seems to be incorrect. When Harland printed three versions (one was Rimbault's), he never mentioned that he saw or had a copy of the broadside of Rimbault's, he only provided a 1656 date (same as Musarum Deliciae second edition):

Here are Harland's notes from "Ballads and Songs of Lancashire Chiefly Older Than the 19th Century" as edited by John Harland, 1865:

Again, Dr. Rimbault gives another version of the ballad, evidently earlier than that last cited, and which he states to be the production of a James Smith, D.D. (Oxford), born 1604, and died 1667 ; respecting whom Wood says “he was much in esteem with the poetical wits of the time, particularly with Philip Massinger, who called him his son.” We append this ballad (as printed from an old broadside copy of 1656), omitting the burden after the first verse:
* * * *

The text is the same as given by Rimbault in Notes and Queries.

Richie