Hi Steve,

O hone! O hone! you're right!!! TYVM!

Corrected:

"The Queen of Hearts" Wright, Printer, 113, Moor-Street, Birmingham c. 1833

1. Oh my poor heart-- my heart is breaking
For a false young man or I am mistaken
He is gone to Ireland long time to tary,
Some Irish girl I'm afraid he will marry.

2. The Queen of Hearts and the ace of sorrow,
He is here today and gone to-morrow,
Young men are plenty sweethearts few
But if my love leaves me what shall I do.

3. When he comes in, I gaze all around him,
When he goes out my poor heart goes with him,
To meet is a pleasure, to part is a sorrow,
He is here to-day and gone to-morow.

4. I wish I was on yonder mountain
Where gold & silver I could have for coun[t]ing
I could not count it for thinking on him
He is not kind to me, what makes me love him?

5. I love my father and likewise my mother,
I love my sister and also my brother
I love my friends and relations too,
I will forsake them all, and follow you.

6. My father will give me both houses and land
If I'll consent to be at his command,
At his command I never will be,
I will forsake them all, and go with thee.

7. O Billy O Billy I love thee well,
I love you better than tongue can tell,
I love thee dearly, and dare not show it,
You do the same, and no one shall know it.

8. But when her father came to hear,
That he was a courting his daughter dear,
He had him press'd and sent to sea,
To keep him from her sweet company.

9. He had not been there passing years three,
On board the ship called the Royal victory
It was his misfortune there for to fall
And killed he was by a cannon ball.

Baring Gould's version is attributed to two different sources- not exactly sure which one is right;

1) In his notebook it's "sung by a nanny on a train journey from Tavistock to Yelverton" dated 1897.

2) It was printed in 1905 in the new and revised (i.e. 3rd) edition of Songs of the West (now out of print). It is reprinted here by courtesy of Messrs. Curwen and Sons Ltd. According to a note it was sung by a workman engaged on the Burrow-Tor reservoir at Sheepstor, the water supply for Plymouth, 1894.

Richie