Ok. So I think 73: Lord Thomas and Fair Annet and 74: Fair Margaret and Sweet William should have been classified as the same ballad because they have the same plot, just a different ending. Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, the Scottish version, involves murder and has strong racist and Protestant overtones. With Fair Margaret and Sweet William, the English version, it's the usual death of love sickness. I prefer to go primarily with plot when it comes to classifying a ballad...

Below is the Scottish variant of the rose-briar motif which appears in five out of four versions of Lord Thomas and Fair Annet:

Sweet Willie was buried in Mary's kirk,
And Annie in Mary's quire,
And out o the ane there grew a birk,
And out o the ither a brier.

And ae they grew, and ae they threw,
Until the twa did meet,
That ilka ane micht plainly see
They were true lovers sweet

A birk is a birch, however, it also refers to a broom. I like that last it's a nice alternative floating verse. When I see this particular ending, I believe I am looking at a group that views or has identified the original rose-briar motif as Catholic, Norfolk Catholic as a matter of fact. There's an altar tomb in the high chancel of Ludlow Church where lies a Knight of "popish sentiments" and his Lady Alice. And, Walter Pardon's version of Lord Lovel has burial in the "high chancel" just like in "Fair Margaret and Sweet William." None of Child's versions of Lord Lovel have "high chancel" and "lower". Hmmm...Looks like an alternate theory for the origin of the rose and briar motif could be formulated and tested...But my money's still on Tom.

I think also that these two ballads 73 & 74 are analogous to the idealized English "Three Ravens" and the pragmatic Scottish "Twa Corbies." Most scholars believe "Twa Corbies" was derived from, or should I say that it is a Scottish reply to, "Three Ravens." I think the same thing has happened here.