Hi,

I'm reviewing the US/Canada versions. I've seen three references to a Nithdale ballad from Cunningham but I believe that is not the source. Here's what he said:

From Alan Cunningham's Works of Robert Burns: With His Life, Volume 4 (1834). Cunningham writes: 'An old Nithsdale song seems to have been in the Poet's thoughts when he wrote this exquisite lyric. Martha Crosbie, a carder and spinner of wool, sometimes desiring to be more than commonly acceptable to the children of my father's house, made her way to their hearts by singing the following ancient strain:-

    "Who is this under my window?
    Who is this that troubles me?"
    "O, it is I, love, and none but I, love,
    I wish to speak one word with thee.

I don't see where Cunningham says it's a Nithdale ballad and I think it was collected in London at his father's house. Do you agree? Was father's house in London in 1834? Where is Martha Crosbie from?

Richie