The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #4811   Message #26742
Posted By: Bruce O.
28-Apr-98 - 10:57 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Lass of Islington
Subject: RE: bawdy song prostitute takes john to court
Jeannie Robertson's version (traditional) is on Prestige International's 13006, 'Scottish Ballads and Folk Songs'. Sedley's version (that in DT) is not a traditional text. The songs is also without music in 'Philomel; being a select collection of only the best songs', 1744, and repeated in an expanded edition as vol. 1 of 'The Comic Miscellany', 1756. Sedley mentioned the book of 1744, but didn't give its title. His attribution of the original tune to Wm. Byrd is undoubtably wrong. The tune was mentioned in 1593, long before Byrd's variations appeared in the Fitzwiliam Virginal Book.