Hi,

Thanks for the posts Jim, Percy did publish the changed text in a later edition- (I'll try and find it). As for the toucher/gifts I think they are different- and part of the gifts are "seven ships" - a stanza which closely resembles The House Carpenter (Child 243).

This info about the gifts is from Riley p. 37-38 who has taken it from Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe's notes in James Johnson, The Scots Musical Museum IV- 1853:


Charles Kirkpatrick Sharp identifies himself as the "learned correspondent" referred to by Stenhouse:

In this note Mr. Stenhouse alludes to me. Unluckily I lost the paper I found at Hoddam Castle, in which Barbara Allan was mentioned.

He adds the observation that the peasants of Annandale sang many more verses than have appeared in print, "but they were of no merit, containing numerous magnificent offers from the lover to his mistress--and among others some ships in sight, which may strengthen the belief that the song was composed near the shores of Solway. I need scarcely add that the name of Grahame, which the luckless lover generally bears, is still quite common in and about Annan."

TY Lighter for New Christy Minstrels version.

Little Robyn- it's interesting that many English versions (and many US versions as well) have the name --Barbara Ellen.

Richie