Thanks for that insight. I misunderstood, I thought Masefield had "heard" that it came from Rape Of Lucrece, as in he stumbled upon some rumour or had read it somewhere else... and was just one of many who claimed it came from the play. I didn't realize he is the one who originated the statement in 1905.

I was thinking the rumour more likely to be that the song came from some old play -- and a few decided to research this...like Whall, Wood, Masefield etc.. to narrow the roots.

I am just curious how Masefield was able to pinpoint Rape Of Lucrece as a source, or did he just read through a bunch of plays until he found one that had a seduction sequence that seemed to have some antiquity. Curious?

Thanks,
Brian