One of my favourites, too.  Apologies for any duplications or omissions in the following:

From the notes to the Penguin Book (1959):

"This tender melancholy song has remained long in the affection of country singers.  Its age is uncertain.  A version of the ballad was published in Newcastle late in the 17th century, but it may not have been new then.  It is still to be found among folk singers in the South of England.  Some call it The Week Before Easter, and sing the first verse:

The week before Easter, the morn bright and clear,
The sun it shone brightly, and keen blowed the air,
I went up in the forest for to gather fine flowers,
But the forest won't yield me no roses.

Mrs. White's text has been slightly amended with lines from two other Somerset versions collected by Cecil Sharp in 1904 (FSJ, 12-13).  Other versions have been printed from Devon, in Songs of the West (Baring Gould and others, 1905) and Sussex (FSJ vol. I, p.23)"  -R.V.W/A.L.L.

This version was collected by Cecil Sharp, from Lucy White of Hambridge, Somerset, in 1904, and was first published in the Folk Song Journal, vol. II, p.14

@courting@death @plant @infidelity @marriage

Versions on the DT:

Week Before Easter
Three Weeks Before Easter
The False Bride
It's Only My Auld Sheen (False Bride)
Forlorn Lover
I Loved a Lad
I Ainse Loved a Lass
I Courted a Wee Girl
Lambs on the Green Hills

In the Forum:

I Once Loved a Lass

There is also an entry at the Traditional Ballad Index: The False Bride (The Week Before Easter; I Once Loved a Lass)

There are several broadside versions (some duplicated) at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads.  The most useful are:

Forlorn Lover  Coles, F. (London); Vere, T. (London); Wright, J. (London) Date: between 1663 and 1674
Forlorn Lover  (printer and date unknown)
False Hearted Lover   W. Pratt, Printer, 82, Digbeth, Birmingham   Date: c.1850

These last are all large images.

See also  Dancing at Whitsun, an evocative song written to the best-known Week Before Easter tune by Austin John Marshall in the late 1960s for Shirley Collins, and first recorded on her album Anthems In Eden (1969).Malcolm

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Traditional Ballad Index Entry:

False Bride, The (The Week Before Easter; I Once Loved a Lass)

DESCRIPTION: The singer reports that the woman he once loved is going to be wed to another. He mopes around in various ways -- e.g. looking for flowers out of season. His friends fail to lift his spirits. He declares his intent to die in hopes of forgetting her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1675 (broadside); also printed in the reign of James II (1685-1688)
KEYWORDS: love infidelity courting marriage death wedding lyric
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(South,Lond)) Ireland Canada(Newf) Australia
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 187-188, "I Think by This Time He's Forgot Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 152, "The False Bride" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 175, "It Wasna My Fortune to Get Her" (1 text)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 37, "The False Bride" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN2765, "A week before Easter"; ZN2766, "The week before Easter"
DT 848, FLSEBRDE FLSEBRD2* FLSEBRD3* FLSEBRD4 FLSEBRD5* FLSEBRD6* FLSEBRD7* FLSEBRD8
Roud #154
RECORDINGS:
Bob Copper, "The False Bride" (on FSB1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Bonny Brown Jane"
cf. "If I Were a Fisher" (floating verses)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Forlorn Lover
I Ainse Loved a Lass
I Loved a Lass
Lambs on the Green Hills
The Week Before Easter
Three Weeks Before Easter
File: K152

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Copy-pasted from the link cited above.
-Joe Offer-