Hi, Steve.

Thanks for your clarification of publication dates, but I'd like to ask if you have any explanation as to how these various versions evolved into what singers were actually singing in later collections.

Please note that this is not in any way a criticism of your posts, but I'm coming to this as a ballad singer and I include Barbara Allan in my repertoire (in a version from the Scottish Greig-Duncan Collection which begins 'In Scotland I was born and bred/In London I was dwelling').
My version includes the bequests -- a guinea gold watch on a silver chain and, a china basin fu' o tears.

I'd very much like to hear your thoughts on how these accretions became part of ballad text, and I'd also love to know if you've ever been a singer of these great stories.

(This isn't an attempt at entrapment! I'm just curious to explore the connection between scholars and singers.)