The Habergam attribution was asserted in Dr Whittaker's History of the Parish of Whalley (1801) and repeated by Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, 1855-9, II, 521). I expect Lesley got it from Chappell, but I don't think it's taken too seriously now. Chappell himself said: "If I were required to name three of the most popular songs among the servant-maids of the present generation, I should say, from my own experience, that they are Cupid's garden, I sow'd the seeds of love, and Early one morning.

The more we find out about the history of popular song, the fewer "folk" songs remain which may actually have arisen among "the folk". That doesn't really matter; it's what happened to the songs after they escaped captivity and began, so to speak, to breed in the wild that is particularly interesting. Whatever people think of Cecil Sharp as a person, this forum -for example- wouldn't be here if it weren't for his work, and the folk music revival simply wouldn't have happened.