Hi,

I'm posting The Brake o' Briars. I'm not sure why it's attached to another song-(anyone?) so I'm just including the appropriate text. I assume both songs are sung to the same melody. (?) I have a copy of the Gillington's "Songs of the Open Road."

The Brake o' Briars- Sung by Miss Edith Sebbage, Trotton, Sussex, 1911. Noted by Miss D. J. Marshall

Then the match was made to go a-hunting,
Down in those woods where briars grew;
And there they did the young man murder;
In the Brake of Briars there him they threw.

Then they rode home the same night after,
They rode home most speedily;
"You're welcome home, my own two brothers,
But pray tell me where's your servant man?"

We lost him as we rode a-hunting,
Down in the woods where briars grow;
Where we lost him we could not find him,
And what became of him we do not know.

Then she went to bed the same night after;
She went to bed immediately,
She dreamt to see her own true loved one;
He was covered all over in great drops of blood.

She rose early the next morning,
To search the woods where briars grow;
And as she dreamed so there she found him;
In the Brake of Briars he was killed and thrown.

Then she pulled a handkerchief from her bosom,
And wiped his eyes as he lay as blind;
She oft time weeped in sorrow, saying,
"There lies a dear bosom friend of mine."

Then she rode home the same night after,
She rode home most speedily;
She poisoned herself and her own two brothers:
All four of them in one grave do lie!

Richie