It is arguable whether the ballad concerning the Scottish lord who is ransomed by his wife and that concerning the English poacher who hangs are variants of the same ballad or two different ballads with some elements in common. Child consigned the latter to an appendix, which seems reasonable. He considered the first two stanzas of his F to have crept into the former from the latter, which seems plausible.

The latter seems to have been more widely collected and has certainly been more widely sung in the Revival, but the opening (which is fairly consistent in most versions) is confused. The lady's calling for a horse, to take her to plead with the judge, surely ought to happen before the narrator encounters her on London Bridge.

Richard