16 is our age of consent. It is not 18, as often confused, eg by Kingsley Amis in his novel Girl 20. Nor is it a law of nature but a piece of mid-C19 legislation ~~ I have read idiotic essays about Will Shax showing people breaking the law in R&J when no such law existed at the time.

Re female collectors ~~ you overlook eg Lucy Broadwood, Iona Opie ... tho the earlier ones like Broadwood did suffer from informants reluctant to sing them songs becoz they were, as they said, "outway rude".

~M~