Is this a folksong, tho? Not trying to start yet another definition dispute; but I have ever been struck with how little variation in texts there is in various versions of this, and none that I have ever heard in the tune: far less than one would expect for a true traditional artefact.

The proverb usages noted above are very interesting, in that they seem to predate the time of the song, Charles II - House of Hanover. The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs gives the date of the song as 1720, 70 years earlier than the Douce date noted above in Jim's most helpful post of 15 JUL 09.

But, as I say, the song seems subject to much less variation than one would expect of a true folksong, however one may regard that notoriously slippery locution.

Which leads me to ask, has anyone ever heard or come across any authorial speculation or attribution? And did it indeed much predate the Douce collection broadside version noted above?

~Michael~