Branwen, while I was in Belfast (I'm back in Sherwood Forest now) I meant to chase up some press cuttings from when a dear old chum of mine, Gregg Coulson (now dead), took the Oxford University Press to task over its mauling of the ballad. Just didn't get time. They'd be useful, because he and I think the Belfast Telegraph were in touch with Irene, who I think was/is? Calvert's widow. If and when I catch up with the cuttings I'll revive the thread.

I'm pretty dead certain Calvert had nothing to do with Bloat being an advert, and that he wrote it in the circumstances John described. Maybe John might know if there was a Whitman antecedent?