Hi,

This is a more modern version of 3rd branch. Here are the first seven stanzas of this print (see Bodleian for last two) the suicide (hard to read) is next:

The Rambling Boy- Pitts broadside

1. I am a wild and a rambling boy,
My lodgings are in the Isle of Cloy,
A wild and a rambling boy I be,
I'll forsake them all and follow thee.

2. O Billy! Billy! I love you well,
I love you better than tongue can tell
I love you well but dare not shew,
To you my dear let no one know.

3. I wish I was a blackbird or thrush,
Changing my notes from bush to bush,
That all the world might plainly see,
I lov'd a man that lov'd not me,

4. I wish I was a little fly,
That on his bosom I might lie.
And all the people fast asleep,
Into my lover's arms I'd softly creep.

5. I love my father I love my mother,
I love my sisters and my brothers
I love my friends and relations too,
I would forsake them all to go with you

7. My father left me house and land,
Bid me use it at my command;
But at my command they shall I never be;
I'll forsake them all love and go with thee.

Anyone with additional versions or comments?

Richie